A tent having a ceiling comprised of a fixed permanent piece of clear flexible plastic material, The tent has a veil which shields or unshields the ceiling of the tent, the veil which when attached to the ceiling protects the interior from excessive heat, direct sunlight or an unencumbered view, or when removed permits an excellent celestial view, The veil functions from within the tents' interior structure. The veil spreads only across the interior surface Of the ceiling of the tent, connecting the outer peripheral edges of the veil to the interior edges of the ceiling, with VELCRO as a means of fastening. This benefit of being able to unshield, or shield the ceiling of the tent from within the interior of the tent structure gives great conveniences, such as privacy, comfort, security, and safety from inclement weather conditions and neighbors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention gives the privacy, comfort, security, convenience, and safety that people would like to have when utilizing a tent with a clear ceiling.
2. Description of the Prior Art
While some have incorporated canvas or nylon flaps over windows or doors conventionally known to the art, these served with limited benefits. These flaps over the windows or doors did not permit the uninhibited viewing of the sky when desired; nor allow relief from the direct sun after receiving a realisticaly great suntan. The usefulness of the veil is improved due to the placement of the veil. Still while some tents have been provided with transparent or netted roofs, no prior art tents have been provided with a novel method of using a veil that could shield or unshield a clear plastic ceiling of a tent while remaining inside the interior of the tents' embodiment; eliminating the need of having to exit from the tents' protection to execute options.
A portable multi-purpose tent assembly, was issued to Stephen R. Gustafson on Jan. 19, 1988 U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,935. This method of by which Gustafson teaches for the application of his roof sections, is one of being which does not apply the roof sections from within the inside of the tent embodiment, but rather his teaches in accordance with (col.3, lines 25-30) and (col.5, line 68-col.6, lines 1-7). His design requires that you should first exit from the tent embodiment and then uncover or remove the roof section and then cover the opening with another section. Beyond it all the apparatus is much more like a sleeping bag which is much to small and confining to climb into with a roof covering and try to replace it from within the apparatuss' interior structure.
French Pat. No. 1,297,389 to Maurer, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,543 to Moss both provided tents with areas in the roof which permitted viewing of the sky. Yet neither taught a means for shielding the roof while remaining inside the tent structure. The desires of the user and the like.
Lastly U.S. Pat. No. 3,028,872 issued to H. W. Cresswell Apr. 10, 1962 provided a transparent plastic roof on greenhouses, yet never incorporated any kind of protective layer to shield the interior, for whatever reasons. Also this invention pertains more towards a shelter for vegation and is not really a tent in the true camping sense.


A pseudo-color image output system has an image input unit for reading a full-color image and outputting multi-valued data of three primary colors, and an image output unit for digitizing the multi-valued data of three primary colors output from the image input unit and for outputting the pseudo-color image by controlling a total area of color dots in a unit area. The image output unit has a plurality of three-dimensional color compensation tables each provided for every type of the image input units connectable to the image output unit, for compensating errors between output and input colors and selector for selecting one of the three-dimensional color compensation tables depending on the type of the image input unit.

The present invention relates to a pseudo-color image outputting system for reading a full-color image such as a color photograph and for outputting a pseudo color image represented by dots with a fixed dot diameter.
Dot printers printing an image by dots with a fixed dot diameter can print a color image by using color materials of Cyan (C), Magenta (M) and Yellow (Y) but cannot print an image with a gray scale (gradation). For this reason, various pseudo-color gray-scale representation methods have been developed for obtaining an output approximate to a full color image using this type of dot printers.
Fundamentally, the pseudo-color gray-scale representation methods represent various colors by changing total areas of dots of each color per unit area. More specifically, a pseudo-color gray-scale representation is implemented by digitizing three primary colors of Red (R), Green (G) and Blue (B) and color-converting into three primary colors in a CMY system represented by an output unit.
A method in which a meshed-pixel distribution method is applied to a color image has been known as the pseudo-color gray scale representation method. ("A pseudo full-color representation method taking account of a color reproduction": Yamada et al, The paper of Information Processing Society of Japan, June 1987 Vol. 28, No. 6, pp 617). According to this method, a color which is actually represented by a dot pattern of a mesh constituted by 2.times.2 dots output from a dot printer is obtained by referring to a preliminarily prepared lookup table (LUT). Then, an error between the color obtained from the lookup table and the color to be represented is compensated with the neighboring meshes.
This method has an advantage that an error between an actually output color and a color to be actually represented can be compensated without performing sophisticated color-mixing calculations. This method, however, requires controls of distribution and concentration of dots in order to prevent the resolution from being lowered, since the process is performed in units of meshes each constituted by 2.times.2 dots. Further, since an accumulation of errors will deteriorate image quality, an additional control is required. These controls will complicates the entirety of the pseudo-color gray-scale representation process. Further, areas accumulated errors of which cannot be fully controlled are caused.
In order to solve the above problem, a method has been developed in which a three-dimensional (3-D) color compensation table is prepared by using a color compensation technology of the meshed-pixel distribution method and the digitizing process is performed in units of dots by performing the color compensation using the 3-D color compensation table. ("A method for preparing a 3-D color compensation table taking account of an image I/O device in a pseudo-color gray-scale representation": Moritani et al., Institute of Electric Field Hokkaido-branch Federation Conference Lecture Papers for the fourth year of Heisei, October 1992, pp 443).
However, an application of the above-described pseudo-color gray-scale representation method to actual systems will pose the following problems.
In the actual systems, the input characteristics of the image input units (image scanners) and ink characteristics of image output units (printers) vary depending on their types. For this reason, a user must prepare the 3-D color compensation table as an initial setting process, depending on the types of the image input unit and the image output unit to be used. This initial setting process is troublesome and a user's burden is heavy. Further, in a system in which a plurality of scanners are connected to a single printer or a plurality of printers are connected to a single scanner, the above-described 3-D color compensation table must be prepared each time the scanner or the printer to be used is switched, resulting in undesirable system operation.

Image processing system for converting a full color image into a pseudo-color CMY dot representation


A sustained release oral pharmaceutical form suitable for single daily dose administration has a neutral microgranule coated with a mounting layer of active ingredient and pharmaceutically acceptable binder; and a coating layer of a hydrophobic coating polymer of a non-water soluble cellulose derivative, and at least 20% of inert load in relation to dry weight of hydrophobic coating polymer. The pharmaceutical form has improved resistance to rapid release of active ingredient, particularly in the presence of alcohol.

The invention relates to a novel oral pharmaceutical form containing microgranules, this form being with the sustained release of at least one active ingredient and with release kinetics enabling notably a single daily dose taken by the patient while preventing this release from accelerating due to the simultaneous consumption of alcohol.
Many sustained-release oral pharmaceutical forms exist on the market. The release of the active ingredient must be controlled according to the therapeutic objective and the pharmacological properties of the active ingredient. Certain active ingredients prove to be highly toxic, even deadly, if the ingested dose exceeds a certain threshold.
It is thus imperative that their "delay" properties are strictly controlled in order to ensure that the rapid release of the active ingredient ("dose dumping") cannot occur, notably when alcohol is consumed at the same time. The consumption of alcohol at the same time as a dose of a drug can indeed alter the pharmaceutical form, which then very rapidly releases all of the active ingredient contained therein. Furthermore, to improve patient comfort, it is desirable to provide a drug that has a pharmacological effect over a long period of time after administration.
For example, this is particularly true for people suffering from severe pain and for whom the pharmacological response must be maintained over a long period with a constant therapeutic level over time.
In order to evaluate the alcohol resistance of pharmaceutical compositions, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suggests performing in vitro dissolution tests to compare the kinetics obtained in 0.1 N HCI medium (representative of gastric pH) with the kinetics obtained in the same medium substituted with 5%, 20% and 40% (v/v) ethanol. According to Walden et al. (The Effect of Ethanol on the Release of Opioids 30 from Oral Prolonged-Release Preparations, Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy, 33:10, 1101-1111, 2007), the fact of exposing in vitro a pharmaceutical form over a period of 2 h is regarded as representative of the exposure time of these pharmaceutical forms in vivo.
Patent EP1189602, known from the state of the art, describes sustained release morphine sulfate microgranules. This document proposes microgranules comprised of a neutral carrier coated with an active layer and a sustained release layer containing a copolymer of methacrylic acid and methyl methacrylate ester as well as hydrophobic silica. However, this form of microgranule has the disadvantage of very quickly releasing the active ingredient in the presence of alcohol, which can be harmful or even lethal to 10 the patient.
Patent application WO2010037854, also known from the state of the art, proposes to use a carrier of neutrals that are insoluble or are made insoluble in water or alcohol to avoid an immediate release of the active ingredient induced by the consumption of alcohol. However, this carrier is limited in terms of its resistance to alcohol since the maximum percentage of ethanol in the dissolution medium is 30% and thus this carrier would not resist large volumes of strong alcohols such as whiskey or vodka. Moreover, this patent application does not make it possible to obtain dissolution kinetics compatible with a single daily administration.
Applications WO2009/036812 and WO2010/034342 relate to pH-dependent controlled-release pharmaceutical compositions comprising opioids whose dissolution kinetics are not appreciably affected by the presence of ethanol. More particularly, these pharmaceutical compositions are essentially comprised of a core containing the active substance onto which is coated a layer of a mixture of polymer and a mixture of inert lubricant.
However, the description forces the use of pH-dependent polymers which can induce changes in behavior in man depending on the individual and the conditions under which the drug was taken (notably with or without food).
An essential objective of the present invention is thus to propose an oral pharmaceutical form containing microgranules with sustained release of at least one active ingredient, making it possible to avoid or limit an immediate release of the active ingredient induced by the consumption of alcohol during the administration of this pharmaceutical form. Furthermore, this pharmaceutical form must be easy to produce industrially and at a lower cost.
Definitions in the context of the present description of the invention:
Neutral Carrier
The term "neutral carrier" or "neutral core" or more simply "neutral" means spherical or quasi-spherical inert carriers of a size between 50 μm and 3 mm, preferentially between 100 μm and 1000 μm, such as those generally used in the pharmaceutical industry as a carrier base for active ingredients for the production of microgranules, for example.
Microgranules
The microgranules of the present invention relate to spherical galenic units, comprised in their center of a neutral carrier, covered with at least one layer containing the active ingredient which itself is covered with at least one polymer layer.
Pharmaceutical Form
The term "oral pharmaceutical form" refers to any oral pharmaceutical form that can be prepared from microgranules comprising the active ingredient, notably a suspension, syrup, tablet, gelatin capsule or sachet.
Sustained Release
In the present application, the term "sustained release" will be used to indicate a release profile of the active ingredient that is modified compared to that which the active ingredient alone would have had in an immediate release system as defined by the European Pharmacopoeia (quantity of active ingredient released in 45 minutes at least equal to 75%, Ph. Eur., 6th edition 2.9.3.)
Alcohol
The term "alcohol" refers to ethanol and the terms "alcohol solution" and "alcohol medium" refer to an aqueous ethanol solution.
The goal of the present invention is to provide a novel oral pharmaceutical composition resistant to the immediate release of the dose of active ingredient due to alcohol and notably enabling a single dose daily.
Preferentially, the expression "resistance to the immediate release of the dose of active ingredient due to alcohol" or "resistance to alcohol" means that the percentage of active ingredient released after 2 hours in a 0.1 N HCI acid-alcohol medium containing alcohol and preferably a quantity of ethanol between 4% and 40% (for example 10%, 20%, 30% or 40%) is not greater by more than 15 percentage points (15% in absolute value) than that released in a medium of 0.1 N HCI.

Alcohol-resistant oral pharmaceutical form


A lithographic apparatus for step-and-scan operation has a three stage structure for the wafer stage. During step-and-scan operation, the long-stroke stage is moved steadily along the row or column of dies to be exposed sequentially. An intermediate scanning stage moves in a figure-of-eight motion relative to the long-stroke stage so that the net movement of the fine stage, which is carried by the scanning stage, is a meander path.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to multi-stage drive arrangements for driving an object along a meandering path. More particularly, the invention relates to the application of such devices in lithographic projection apparatuses.
2. Discussion of Related Art
For the sake of simplicity, the projection system may hereinafter be referred to as the xe2x80x9clensxe2x80x9d; however, this term should be broadly interpreted as encompassing various types of projection system, including refractive optics, reflective optics, catadioptric systems, and charged particle optics, for example. The radiation system may also include elements operating according to any of these principles for directing, shaping or controlling the projection beam of radiation, and such elements may also be referred to below, collectively or singularly, as a xe2x80x9clensxe2x80x9d. In addition, the first and second object tables may be referred to as the xe2x80x9cmask tablexe2x80x9d and the xe2x80x9csubstrate tablexe2x80x9d, respectively. Further, the lithographic apparatus may be of a type having two or more mask tables and/or two or more substrate tables. In such xe2x80x9cmultiple stagexe2x80x9d devices the additional tables may be used in parallel, or preparatory steps may be carried out on one or more stages while one or more other stages are being used for exposures. Twin stage lithographic apparatuses are described in International Patent Applications WO 98/28665 and WO 98/40791, for example.
Lithographic projection apparatuses can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In such a case, the mask (reticle) may contain a circuit pattern corresponding to an individual layer of the IC, and this pattern can be imaged onto a target area (die) on a substrate (silicon wafer) which has been coated with a layer of photosensitive material (resist). In general, a single wafer will contain a whole network of adjacent dies which are successively irradiated via the reticle, one at a time. In one type of lithographic projection apparatuses, each die is irradiated by exposing the entire reticle pattern onto the die in one go; such an apparatus is commonly referred to as a wafer stepper. In an alternative apparatusxe2x80x94which is commonly referred to as a step-and-scan apparatusxe2x80x94each die is irradiated by progressively scanning the reticle pattern under the projection beam in a given reference direction (the xe2x80x9cscanningxe2x80x9d direction) while synchronously scanning the wafer table parallel or anti-parallel to this direction; since, in general, the projection system will have a magnification factor M (generally  less than 1), the speed v at which the wafer table is scanned will be a factor M times that at which the reticle table is scanned. More information with regard to lithographic devices as here described can be gleaned from International Patent Application WO 97/33205.
In a lithographic apparatus, the size of features that can be imaged onto the wafer is limited by the wavelength of the projection radiation. To produce integrated circuits with a higher density of devices and hence higher operating speeds, it is desirable to be able to image smaller features. Whilst most current lithographic projection apparatuses employ ultraviolet light generated by mercury lamps or excimer lasers, it has been proposed to use shorter wavelength radiation of around 13 nm. Such radiation is termed extreme ultraviolet (EUV) or soft x-ray, and possible sources include laser plasma sources or synchrotron radiation from electron storage rings. An outline design of a lithographic projection apparatuses using synchrotron radiation is described in xe2x80x9cSynchrotron radiation sources and condensers for projection x-ray lithographyxe2x80x9d, JB Murphy et al, Applied Optics Vol. 32 No. 24 pp 6920-6929 (1993).
Other proposed radiation types include electron beams and ion beams. These types of beam share with EUV the requirement that the beam path, including the mask, substrate and optical components, be kept in a high vacuum. This is to prevent absorption and/or scattering of the beam, whereby a total pressure of less than about 10xe2x88x926 millibar is typically necessary for such charged particle beams. Wafers can be contaminated, and optical elements for EUV radiation can be spoiled, by the deposition of carbon layers on their surface, which imposes the additional requirement that hydrocarbon partial pressures should generally be kept below 10xe2x88x928 or 10xe2x88x929 millibar. Otherwise, for apparatuses using EUV radiation, the total vacuum pressure need only be 10xe2x88x923 or 10xe2x88x924 mbar, which would typically be considered a rough vacuum.
Further information with regard to the use of electron beams in lithography can be gleaned, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,079,122 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,260,151, as well as from EP-A-0 965 888.
Working in such a high vacuum imposes quite onerous conditions on the components that must be put into the vacuum and on the vacuum chamber seals, especially those around any part of the apparatus where a motion must be fed-through to components inside the chamber from the exterior. For components inside the chamber, materials that minimise or eliminate contaminant and total outgassing, i.e both outgassing from the materials themselves and from gases adsorbed on their surfaces, should be used. It would be very desirable to be able to reduce or circumvent such restrictions.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a lithographic projection apparatus with an improved scanning stage arrangement that can easily drive a substrate stage along a meandering path, for example that required for step-and-scan or sub-field stitching operations.
According to the present invention, these and other objects are achieved in a lithographic projection apparatus that, has a radiation system for supplying a projection beam of radiation; a first object table provided with a first object holder for holding a mask, and provided with a first positioning component; a second object table provided with a second object holder for holding a substrate, and provided with a second positioning component; and a projection system for imaging an irradiated portion of the mask onto a target portion of the substrate. At least one of the first and second positioning components has a first stage having a first range of motion relative to a frame of reference; a second stage supported by the first stage and having a second range of motion relative to the first stage, the second range of motion being smaller than the first range of motion; and a third stage supported by the second stage and having a third range of motion, the third range of motion being smaller than the second range of motion, the third stage comprising a respective one of said object holders.
Current lithography apparatuses are designed for use in clean room environments and therefore some steps have conventionally been taken to reduce possible sources of contamination of wafers that are processed by the apparatus. However, conventional designs of wafer, mask and transfer stages are very complicated and employ large numbers of components for sensor and drive arrangements. Such stages also need to be provided with large numbers of signal and control cables and other utilities. The present invention, though usable in non-vacuum apparatus, has a particular advantage when used in vacuum as it avoids the difficult and detailed task of making such large numbers of components vacuum-compatible, or replacing them with vacuum-compatible equivalents, by adopting the principle of locating as many components and functions as possible outside the vacuum chamber. The present invention thus avoids the need to vacuum-proof many or most of the numerous components, by providing appropriate mechanical feed-throughs with innovative sealing arrangements. Likewise, the present invention avoids difficulties in reducing vibrations inevitable in vacuum apparatuses, particularly where powerful pumps are provided, by isolating as far as possible vibration sensitive components from the vacuum chamber wall.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, at least the first and second ranges of movement are at least two-dimensional. During a step-and-scan operation the first, or long-stroke, stage moves steadily along the row or column of dies to be exposed whilst the second, or scanning, stage performs a figure-of-eight movement relative to the first stage. The sum of the two motions is a meander path. The third, or fine, stage performs positioning adjustments for increased accuracy.
The division of the long-stroke motion for step-and-scan motion between the first and second stages means that the first stage, which is most massive, need not undergo such frequent or large accelerations. The first stage can also act as a balance mass for the second and third stages.
Another aspect of the invention is a device manufacturing method that includes providing a substrate which is at least partially covered by a layer of energy-sensitive material; providing a mask containing a pattern; and using a projection beam of radiation to project an image of at least part of the mask pattern onto a target area of the layer of energy-sensitive material. During the step of projecting an image, at least one of the mask and substrate are mounted on an object table provided with an object holder for holding the mask or substrate, and provided with a positioning component; wherein the positioning component has a first stage having a first range of motion relative to a frame of reference; a second stage supported by the first stage and having a second range of motion relative to the first stage, the second range of motion being smaller than the first range of motion; and a third stage supported by the second stage and having a third range of motion, the third range of motion being smaller than the second range of motion, the third stage including the object holder.
In a manufacturing process using a lithographic projection apparatus according to the invention a pattern in a mask is imaged onto a substrate which is at least partially covered by a layer of energy-sensitive material (resist). Prior to this imaging step, the substrate may undergo various procedures, such as priming, resist coating and a soft bake. After exposure, the substrate may be subjected to other procedures, such as a post-exposure bake (PEB), development, a hard bake and measurement/inspection of the imaged features. This array of procedures is used as a basis to pattern an individual layer of a device, e.g. an IC. Such a patterned layer may then undergo various processes such as etching, ion-implantation (doping) metallisation, oxidation, chemo-mechanical polishing, etc., all intended to finish off an individual layer. If several layers are required, then the whole procedure, or a variant thereof, will have to be repeated for each new layer. Eventually, an array of devices will be present on the substrate (wafer). These devices are then separated from one another by a technique such as dicing or sawing, whence the individual devices can be mounted on a carrier, connected to pins, etc. Further information regarding such processes can be obtained, for example, from the book xe2x80x9cMicrochip Fabrication: A Practical Guide to Semiconductor Processingxe2x80x9d, Third Edition, by Peter van Zant, McGraw Hill Publishing Co., 1997, ISBN 0-07-067250-4.
Although specific reference may be made in this text to the use of the apparatus according to the invention in the manufacture of ICs, it should be explicitly understood that such an apparatus has many other possible applications. For example, it may be employed in the manufacture of integrated optical systems, guidance and detection patterns for magnetic domain memories, liquid-crystal display panels, thin-film magnetic heads, etc. The skilled artisan will appreciate that, in the context of such alternative applications, any use of the terms xe2x80x9creticlexe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cwaferxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cdiexe2x80x9d in this text should be considered as being replaced by the more general terms xe2x80x9cmaskxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9csubstratexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9ctarget areaxe2x80x9d, respectively.

Multi-stage drive arrangements and their application in lithographic projection apparatuses


An apparatus for controlling a throttle of an internal combustion engine of a vehicle receives a signal related to an actual position of the throttle, and a target throttle position signal produced in response to a condition of the vehicle, such as loss of traction of one or more driving wheels. A polyphase motor is connected to control the position of the throttle. A circuit, such as a programmed digital computer, is also provided that is responsive to the target throttle position signal for simultaneously applying driving signals to at least two windings of the polyphase motor to cause the polyphase motor to move the position of the throttle until the signal related to the actual position of the throttle indicates that the throttle is at a position indicated by the target throttle position signal.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrical and mechanical apparatus for controlling a throttle plate of a carburetor of an internal combustion engine in response to loss of traction by a driving wheel, or other similar condition, and more particularly, to improvements in such throttle control devices that provides rapid and accurate throttle control, and can be accomplished in a cost effective manner.
2. Relevant Background
Recently, the automotive industry has begun implementing a so-called traction control feature available on modern vehicles. Briefly, a typical traction control device operates to adjust the position of a throttle plate of the carburetor of the internal combustion engine when loss of traction of one of the driving wheels of the vehicle on which the device is implemented loses traction with the road surface. Typically, a second or supplemental throttle plate is employed in the carburetor, and is operated by a stepper motor. The stepper motor is operated in response to a signal indicating that traction is lost by applying stepping pulses to the stepper motor to close the throttle until traction is regained. At the time traction is regained, pulses are applied to the stepper motor in an appropriate way to move the motor in the opposite direction to reopen the throttle.
One of the most serious drawbacks in presently available traction control systems is in their lack of cost effectiveness. The stepper motors are typically motors having 96 poles to enable a reasonable throttle position accuracy to be realized. Such motors are inherently expensive in and of themselves, and require sophisticated circuitry to properly operate.
In addition, the stepper motor systems typically used are open loop, deriving for their positional accuracy from the inherent nature of a stepper motor which moves a predetermined increment with each step. Consequently, for example, if a throttle is desired to be moved between two known positions, a number of stepping pulses are applied to the motor sufficient to move the motor from the first to second position, without a requirement for positional feedback from the throttle. However, it can be seen that if for any reason one or more of the stepping pulses is ineffective to move the stepping motor, the entire system accuracy is lost. Typically most systems are over-designed to compensate for this, and therefore are more expensive to realize.
Moreover, the accuracy of presently used stepper motor systems depends upon the increments in which the motor can be stepped. The stepper motors generally cannot be positioned at positions in between steps. This shortcoming is one of the reasons that stepper motors used in such environments have typically large numbers of poles (for instance 96), in order to increase the positional resolution that can be achieved by the particular motor.

Apparatus for controlling a throttle plate of a carburetor of an internal combustion engine in response to loss of traction by a driving wheel, or other similar condition


A guard apparatus for the intake of a jet engine includes a generally conically shaped structure that has a plurality of concentric rings of gradually decreasing diameter beginning at a largest ring that affixes to the cowl of the jet engine and progressively smaller diameter concentric rings spaced toward the front end portion of the guard apparatus. The guard apparatus also includes a plurality of longitudinally extended rods each of which forms a structural connection with one or more of the plurality of concentric rings, the rods defining an acute angle with the central longitudinal axis of the guard. Overall, the front end portion of the guard is generally hemispherically shaped defining a generally convex front end portion of the guard apparatus. Each of the longitudinally extending rods is acircular in shape, providing a transverse section that includes a semicircular shaped rear portion and a pointed front portion. The pointed portion is defined by a pair of flat surfaces that intersect along an edge, and the angle between the two flat surfaces is an acute angle. The apparatus is preferably formed of a titanium material or titanium alloy.

1. Field Of The Invention:
The present invention relates to protective guards and covers for jet engines and more particularly relates to an improved guard for the intake of a jet engine wherein the guard includes specially shaped titanium rods that each extend forward of the jet engine and along an inclined path that forms a thirty degree (30.degree.) angle with the central longitudinal axis of the guard. The titanium rods are circumferentially spaced preferably less than ten degrees (10.degree.) apart, and converge at the forward end portion of the guard.
2. General Background:
Each year, numerous accidents occur when foreign objects enter the front intake of a jet engine. Several patents have issued for aircraft engine guards, each attempting to solve this problem.
As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,663,993 entitled "Deicing Apparatus" discloses a screen or mesh type cover that is flat and which surrounds the inlet of an aircraft power plant. The screen or grill is heated to remove ice therefrom during use.
A forwardly extending air duct screen is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,969,941 entitled "Air Duct Screen With Locking Device". The screen includes structural members that are disposed in a spaced apart relation and concentrically about the longitudinal axis of the overall cage or framework.
A retractable guard for an air intake of an engine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,944,631 entitled "Retractable Guards For Air Intakes" issued to T. H. Kerry et al. The Kerry patent discloses a guard that includes two guard portions, each of which is mounted to pivot about an axis extending across the intake duct. The guard portions are disposed to pivot between an operative position in which the guard portions are together, and extend across the entire path of fluid flowing into the duct. One edge of the guard portion co-operates with a corresponding edge of the other guard portion and another edge of each guard portion co-operates with a wall of the duct, and an inoperative position, the guard portions are removed from the path of fluid flowing through the duct. The guard portions are so shaped as to conform with the wall of the duct against which they lie in the retracted position.
An example of a rotating deflector for aircraft engines having propellers is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,121,545 issued to N. S. Meletiou and entitled "Rotary Deflector For Aircraft Engine Intakes".
U.S. Pat. No. 3,196,598 entitled "Inlet Deflector For Jet Engines" issued to W. T. Olson describes an apparatus for obstructing the entry of birds and other foreign objects into aircraft jet engines during ground and flight operations.
An air intake guard for a gas turbine engine is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 3,426,981. The intake guard has blades of streamline section arranged either radially or transversely. The main structure of each blade is rigidly connected from steel or titanium and the nose is made of a deformable materials so as to mushroom on being struck by a large foreign body such as a bird and thereby increase the shielding area.
A screen apparatus for an air inlet is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,844 issued to Frank F. Calvin, Sr. The screen apparatus is particularly useful for preventing ingestion of birds into aircraft jet engines. A screen extends outwardly from the air inlet of the engine to define an exterior surface providing an oblique angle relative to the nominal path of the engine through the air. Birds or other foreign objects which strike the screen are deflected away from the screen and the air inlet by the contact with the oblique angle. A solid nose cone at the forward end of the screen provides an area of relatively high air pressure which tends to deflect objects away from the straight-on impact with the screen. The apertured exterior surface of the screen apparatus has an aggregate aperture area equal to or exceeding the air inlet area of the engine to permit unimpaired engine operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,149,689 entitled "Protective Screen For Jet-Engine Intake" issued Apr. 17, 1979 to John McDonald. In the McDonald device, the forwardly open intake end of a jet engine is screened against birds or other airborne objects using a conical cage formed of an array of metal rods converging on the engine axis, the rods being held together at the vertex of the cone by a solid tip and in am intermediate plane as well as by the cone base by a pair of metal rings. In flight, they are free to vibrate so as to shake off adhering ice particles. De-icing can be further promoted by feeding back exhaust gases from the rear of the engine to the interior of the cage through an external pipe.


An IC card adaptor having a wireless communication function and/or an optical communication function enabling a contact-type IC card to be used as an IC card of a non-contact type. The adaptor includes a power supply, a communication processing section, a transmission/reception section, and a device for establishing a contact-point coupling with an IC card developing at least a portion of a function to read data from the card and to write data therein through a contact-type contact point. An automatic roadway toll charging system employs such an IC card and IC card adaptor, as well as a card reader unit, a license plate identification unit, a comparison/collation unit, and a fee calculation unit to verify proper vehicle passage onto a roadway and calculate a required fee. A vehicle security system is disclosed which verifies proper vehicle passage into a security area.

The present invention relates to an integrated circuit (IC) card adapter which is employed to implement an automatic charging system for charging fees for use on a toll road, an expressway, or the like and to achieve discrimination of a vehicle to which permission for entry into a security zone is granted.
Heretofore, in an automatic charging system utilized to charge fees in a toll road facility or the like, a wireless IC card developing a single dedicated function has been regarded as an identification card of each vehicle, for example, as described in pages 26 to 29 of "Traffic Engineering", Vol. 21, No. 2 issued from the Institute of Traffic Engineering.
However, the wireless IC card or plate has relatively a large size and a heavy weight i.e. the user of the wireless IC card feels inconvenience when carrying the IC plate in a purse or the like. On the other hand, an IC card has already been put to actual use in some financial facilities and the like. In the processing of the IC card, information read and write operations are ordinarily conducted via a contact point thereof. Since the IC card has a smaller size and a reduced weight, transportability thereof is suitable for the user. However, it has been difficult for the IC card to achieve the information read and write operations of a non-contact type, for example, through a radio communication, an optical communication, and the like.
On the other hand, at locations such as a toll gate of an expressway, it is preferable, in consideration of mitigation of the traffic congestion due to the charging operation, to adopt a non-stop automatic charging system using a wireless IC card. If the IC cards used in the financial facilities already put to practice can be processed in the charging system above, the charging operation can be accomplished together with confirmation of the balance of the user's account in a bank; moreover, the traffic data associated with the charging operation can be preserved at the same time, thereby implementing an automatic charging system having a high reliability.

Vehicle security system and automatic roadway toll charging system

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A breather pipe mounted to a fuel tank is divided into an outer pipe and an inner pipe, a flange is integrally formed at an end part of the outer pipe on the tank side, then the flange is projection-welded to a wall part of the fuel tank, ensuring a sealability. An upper end of the inner pipe is inserted and held to a lower end of the outer pipe in the fuel tank, and the outer pipe and the inner pipe are sealed by a sealing member, tapering joint or caulking joint. Thus, the sealability at the joint part is ensured, while enhancing a joint strength without soldering which involves pollution.

This invention relates to a joint structure of a metallic pipe to a metallic container, and particularly relates to a joint structure of a breather pipe to a fuel tank for a vehicle or the like.
A metallic breather pipe for adjusting pressure in a metallic fuel tank and detecting fuel supply amount at fuel supply is mounted to the fuel tank for a vehicle or the like together with an inlet pipe for fuel supply. The breather pipe is jointed to the tank in such a fashion that a part thereof is inserted in the fuel tank. An end part of the pipe which is inserted in the fuel tank is opened at an upper limit of liquid level of fuel in the fuel tank. The other end part of the breather pipe is connected to a vicinity of a fuel injection mouth of the inlet pipe.
The metallic breather pipe is conventionally jointed to the metallic fuel tank in such a manner that: a flange is mounted at a middle part of the breather pipe; the flange is jointed to the tank by, for example, spot welding; then an entire periphery of the pipe at jointed part is sealed by using a solder for keeping a sealed condition between the breather pipe and the tank.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-36878 discloses a technique that: an expanded part (flange or flare) is formed at one end of a metallic pipe and a through hole is formed at a part of a metallic plate at which the metallic pipe is jointed; the metallic pipe is inserted through the through hole of the metallic plate; then the expanded part of the metallic pipe is jointed to the inner periphery of the through hole by projection welding. This reference relates to the joint of the end part of the metallic pipe to one side surface of the metallic plate, which means that there is no disclosure about the joint structure that the metallic pipe passes through and is joined at the middle part thereof to the metallic plate.
Also, well known is a joint structure of a pipe to a tank that in a fuel tank made of synthetic resin a tubular part opening into the fuel tank is formed and a pipe is inserted in the tubular part. This joint structure is, however, different from the joint technique in which the metallic pipe passes through the wall of the metallic fuel tank.
In the conventional technique that the joint part between the metallic breather pipe and the metallic fuel tank is entirely sealed by a solder, lead in the solder is melt out at a cleaning treatment after the process, which involves increased processing cost for preventing pollution of drain due to cleaning. In addition, soldering for sealing the entire periphery requires skilled persons, which means low productivity.
The inventors in the present invention have tried to ensure the sealability without soldering by welding the flange to the wall of the tank by projection welding after the flange is mounted at a middle part of the metallic breather pipe.
However, in this case, the projection welding can be conducted with an ordinary electrode of a projection welding device only when the electrode is divided.
The present invention has its object of ensuring the sealability and joint strength at joint part of the metallic pipe passing through the wall part of the metallic container with projection welding by using the ordinary electrode.


In various embodiments, welding washers are utilized to establish electrical connections between electrically conductive wires and electrically conductive pins.

The welding process has numerous applications in many industries, including the aerospace, automotive, and consumer-electronics fields. Particularly for electronic products, continued reduction of size via dimensional scaling has placed demands on the welding processes utilized to connect disparate parts together. Of the many welding processes, laser welding is particularly useful in small-scale applications due to the ability to focus the laser light on welding areas less than a millimeter in diameter. In laser welding of a wire to an electrical contact, focused light energy is utilized to rapidly heat the weld zone, melting the wire along with the part of the contact to which the wire is being joined. The light energy intensity is controlled by beam size, voltage, pulse width, and may be utilized in single bursts or in pulses repeated at variably timed intervals. Although a variety of lasers may be used for laser welding, one common type of welding laser is a neodymium-doped yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Nd:YAG) laser. A Nd:YAG laser typically requires an inert cover gas such as helium or argon to protect the weld from atmospheric gases (e.g., oxygen) that might reduce the quality of the weld.
Advantageously, since laser light is utilized for joining in a laser-welding process, no current flows through the contact or wire, and there is no impact from electrical current polarity on the weld and no electrical connections to the welded contact. Thus, there is no heat generated in the contact by electrical current flow or resistance thereto. Further, as a laser is accurate and produces an energy pulse of repeatable power and duration, it is readily incorporated into manufacturing processes of practically any scale.
Although the laser welding process is accurate, variability in technician skill and experience may cause variability in products, especially on sub-millimeter-scale weld points. Specific fixtures and automation reduce this variability, but at small scales and in small quantities typical of products under development, the welding process is still manually completed by technicians. Furthermore, because a laser beam is utilized to form the weld, the laser welding process is necessarily limited to joining wires or other materials easily placed within the line-of-sight of the laser beam. In addition, some components to which wires are to be joined via laser welding are easily damaged by the intense laser light utilized in the welding process, which can impact production repeatability and yield. Finally, in typical laser-welding procedures, once a wire is welded to an electrical contact the relative geometry of the wire and the contact is fixed, and force applied to the wire in different directions may result in damage to, or even complete detachment of, the weld. Moreover, in many cases it is necessary to join multiple wires to a single electrical contact having limited surface area.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for techniques and apparatuses enabling repeatable, small-scale laser welding of wires to electrical contacts.


A memory cell array is divided into a plurality of blocks. In altering data for a block (selected block), a moderating voltage is applied to the source or control gate of a memory cell in another block (non-selected block) to moderate stress between the floating gate and source/drain, thereby preventing write error and erase error. In the program operation, the source and drain of a memory cell in the non-selected block are equalized to moderate an electric field between the control gate and source/drain and not to flow a channel current, thereby preventing write error. In carrying out a negative voltage erase method, prior to setting the source line and word line of a cell in a non-selected block to an erase voltage, the source and word lines are equalized. The equalization operation is released after the erase operation, thereby preventing malfunction of a non-selected cell.

All-bit flash erase type memories have drawn attention as electrically erasable, programmable read-only memories (E.sup.2 PROM). Recent requirements for such memories are to provide a function for altering data in each of a plurality of memory blocks in units of blocks. For example a 4M bit device is divided into 16 blocks each having 32K bytes or into 4 blocks each having 256K bytes, and data erasure is required to be performed on the blocks per unit basis. With such block division of a cell array, cells in a plurality of different blocks are connected to the same word line or data line. Therefore, repeating write/erase of a particular block may apply stress to cells in other non-selected blocks.
The degree of such stress will be discussed for cells of two-layered structure. In the case of cells of two-layered structure used in a flash type E.sup.2 PROM, data write is performed in a manner similar to EPROM. Namely, a control gate is applied with V.sub.CG =12 V, a drain with V.sub.D =6 V, and a source with V.sub.S =O V. In this state, hot electrons generated by an avalanche effect are injected to the floating gate. For data erase, the control gate is applied with V.sub.CG =0 V, the source with V.sub.S =12 V. In this state, electrons are taken out of the floating gate as F-N tunnel current between the floating gate and source.
The characteristic structure of such a cell resides in that the gate oxide film under the floating gate is about 100 angstroms thinner than that of an EPROM cell because a tunnel current flows between the floating gate and source during data erase, and that the superposing area of the source n.sup.+ region and the floating gate is made wider than that of EPROM.
In a cell array having a plurality of blocks comprised by cells of such structure, stress applied to a cell in an erase state or write state in a non-selected block is shown in Table 1. A cell in an erase state in a non-selected block connected to a selected word line is applied to an electric field of about 7.5 MV/cm between its floating gate and source, and a cell in a write state in a non-selected block connected to a selected data line is applied to an electric field of about 6.5 MV/cm between its floating gate and drain.
TABLE 1 __________________________________________________________________________ Control Floating Gate Drain Source Gate Stress Potential Voltage Voltage Voltage Voltage Difference V.sub.CG V.sub.D V.sub.S V.sub.FG V.sub.FG - V.sub.D V.sub.FG - V.sub.S __________________________________________________________________________ Cell in Erase State 0 V 0 V 0 V 1 V -- -- Cell in Write State 0 V 0 V 0 V -1.2 V -- -- Non-selected Block Erase cell 12 V Open 0 V 7.4 V -- 7.4 V Same Word Line Write cell 12 V Open 0 V 5.2 V -- 5.2 V Non-selected Block Erase cell 0 V 6 V 0 V 3.2 V 2.8 V -- Same Data Line Write cell 0 V 6 V 0 V -0.4 V 6.4 V -- __________________________________________________________________________
Next, there will be discussed the time period while stress is applied to a cell in a non-selected block during data erase or data write. Consider a 4M bit device divided into blocks at intervals of 32K bytes in the data line direction. Assuming that cells in a block are subject to write/erase as many as 10.sup.5 times with a write time of 10 .mu.s and write occurrence frequency of 25 times for each cell, a cell in a non-selected block is applied with V.sub.CG =12 V during the total time period of 800 sec. Stress of 7.5 MV/cm is therefore applied between the floating gate and source during the time period 800 sec, inevitably leading to write error. As an alternate, consider a 4M bit device divided into blocks at intervals of 32K bytes in the word line direction, a cell in a non-selected block is applied with 6 V at its drain during the total time period 6400 sec. Stress of 6.5 MV/cm is therefore applied between the floating gate and drain during the time period 6400 sec, inevitably leading to erase error.
As described above, a conventional device is associated with the problem that as data write and erase are effected to a selected block, data write error and erase error may occur at non-selected blocks.
In a conventional data erase scheme, electrons accumulated in a floating gate FG are emitted toward the source by applying a high voltage to the cell source, as discussed previously. With this scheme, it is unable to use a source voltage equal to or higher than the breakdown voltage of a source junction, there arises some restriction that cell sources are required to be formed separately in order to allow block erase (simultaneous erase of a plurality of cells contained within one block). Another scheme using a negative voltage has been considered which can erase data without applying a high voltage to the cell source. An apparatus performing such scheme is conceptually shown in FIG. 24, and timings of waveforms used by the apparatus are shown in FIG. 25. Table 2 shows examples of voltages set to cells at different modes.
TABLE 2 ______________________________________ Mode Cell WL DL Source ______________________________________ Erase Selected Cell -10 V 3 V 5 V Non-selected Cell 5 V 3 V 5 V Program Selected Cell 12 V 6 V 0 V Read Selected Cell 5 V 1 V 0 V ______________________________________
This scheme is characterized in that a plurality of memory cells connected to one selected word line can be erased at the same time. It is now assumed that a word line WL.sub.1 is selected and another word line WL.sub.2 is not selected in a data erase mode. Specifically, the selected word line WL.sub.1 is applied with a voltage VWL.sub.1 of -10 V, the non-selected word line WL.sub.2 is applied with a voltage VWL.sub.2 of 5 V, a source voltage VS is set to 5 V, and data lines DL.sub.1 and DL.sub.2 are set to a floating state. In this state, memory cells M1 and M2 enter an erase state, and memory cells M3 and M4 enter a non-erase state. In a program mode (in a data write mode), hot electrons are injected into a floating gate FG. In a read mode, a sense amplifier judges whether a selected cell is being turned on (a cell current flows) or off (a cell current will not flow).
The above-described scheme has the following problems. At the non-selected cells M3 and M4 in the erase mode, WL.sub.2 is set to 5 V, VS is set to 5 V, and DL.sub.1 and DL.sub.2 enter the floating state. As a result, the data lines DL.sub.1 and DL.sub.2 are charged via the non-selected cells M3 and M4 up to (5 V-V.sub.th) where V.sub.th is a cell threshold value. A cell current for charging the data lines DL.sub.1 and DL.sub.2 flows in the non-selected cells M3 and M4 during the time period from t.sub.1 to t.sub.2, therefore leading to a possibility of write error at the non-selected cells M3 and M4. Also in the end of erase mode, electric charges used for charging the data lines DL.sub.1 and DL.sub.2 are discharged so that a cell current will flow during the time period from t.sub.3 to t.sub.4, leading to a possibility of write error. In addition, if charge/discharge relative to the source and word lines is carried out rapidly, a peak current will flow which may break wiring material.


A difference detecting unit (130) compares a captured image (811) divided into a plurality of blocks with a last captured image (812) to be compared with the captured image (811), on a block-by-block basis to detect blocks having differences from the last captured image (812), as differential blocks. In addition, a differential block selecting unit (140) selects one or more difference transmission scheduled blocks to be encoded and transmitted, from the differential blocks. In addition, a cyclic block selecting unit (160) selects one or more cyclic transmission scheduled blocks to be encoded and transmitted, from cyclic blocks other than the one or more difference transmission scheduled blocks among the plurality of blocks. A total value of amounts of code used to encode the respective one or more cyclic transmission scheduled blocks is in a range of a lower limit value and an upper limit value.

An image processing apparatus of Patent Literature 1 limits the amounts of code for intra-prediction and inter-prediction in turn when performing video encoding. In addition, in the image processing apparatus of Patent Literature 1, when the amount of code per picture is expected to exceed a predetermined upper limit, encoding is controlled to suppress the amount of code, by which the exceeding of the upper limit is avoided.

Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and computer-readable recording medium


An interactive display system includes an input device and an image interaction module. The input device has a touch portion including a built-in first light-emitting module and a built-in second light-emitting module. The image interaction module includes a display module, a first image-capturing module, a second image-capturing module and a processing module. The processing module captures invisible light generated by the first light-emitting module through the first image-capturing module, for determining and obtaining the position of the touch portion. The processing module captures visible light generated by the second light-emitting module through the second image-capturing module according to the position of the touch portion, for determining and obtaining a predetermined color light source provided by the visible light generated by the second light-emitting module.

1. Field of the Invention
The instant disclosure relates to an interactive display system and an input device thereof, particularly to an interactive display system and an input device thereof that make a motion trajectory of a touch portion of the input device upon a projection screen correspondingly displayed as images.
2. Description of Related Art
With the technology well developed, the dependence on the electric products has gradually increased in our daily lives. Laptops, mobile phones, digital players, optical projectors and the like have been essential tools in this generation. The above electric products all have an input interface for a user to input an instruction and the instruction will be automatically executed by the operation system inside the electric products.
Nowadays, desktop computers, laptops and other similar host devices can't be more important in our work or study. Moreover, because more and more presentation software have been published, people often save the edited presentation information in their host devices in advance and then show the saved presentation information as displayed images via their host devices. In order to display the presentation information for plenty of audiences, a projector that is electrically connected to the host device is often used so as to project images on the projection screen to generate projecting images. Thereby, via the projector, speakers or lecturers can have the presentation information show for the audiences effectively and vividly, and also the audiences can discuss on and ask questions about the presentation information more conveniently.

Interactive projection display system and input device thereof


The present invention relates to a carbon nanotube/manganese dioxide yarn electrode comprising: a yarn type carbon nanotube yarn which is prepared by twisting a carbon nanotube sheet and has a plurality of pores therein; and manganese dioxide deposited on a surface or in inner pores of the carbon nanotube yarn, and to a yarn type super capacitor comprising the same. The super capacitor has excellent mechanical strength and flexibility while having high specific capacity, energy density, and power density, and thus can retain superior electrochemical performances even under several modifications, such as twisting, bending, and weaving.

There has been a lot of interest in flexible, lightweight, and high-power energy devices for wearable smart cloth and miniaturized electronic applications. To meet the demands for such applications, recent research has focused on dimension conversion of energy devices from three- or two-dimensional (3D, 2D) types to one-dimensional (1D) fibrous structure. Such a trend is well demonstrated in energy generation or conversion fields, for example, fiber photovoltaic cells, fiber piezoelectric generators, fiber thermoelectric generators, and fiber biofuel cells.
As for supercapacitors, one of the next-generation energy storage media for a high level of electrical power and long lifetime, nanowire-microfiber hybrid-structure supercapacitors, a pen ink decorated metal wire supercapacitor, and a self-powered system integrated supercapacitor have recently been reported. Nevertheless, such fiber supercapacitors still suffer from complicated fabrication methods and complex structures and have low flexibility. The fiber supercapacitors are only slightly bendable, which limits their application to large-size devices and wearable and portable electronics where flexibility is needed.
Meanwhile, realizing high electrochemical performance of supercapacitors is another important issue. Especially for supercapacitors based on manganese oxide (MnO2), a promising transition metal oxide as a pseudo-capacitive material with high theoretical capacitance, low cost, natural abundance, and environmental friendliness, overcoming the poor electrical conductivity (10−5-10−6 S/cm) of the MnO2 still remains an unavoidable challenge to be addressed for optimization of its charge storage performance. Accordingly, several research groups have introduced some structural strategies for electrode design in order to enhance the electrical conductivity and facilitate the full utilization of MnO2 by incorporating metal oxide or metal-based nanostructures as an effective electron pathway. For example, a variety of nanowires, such as SnO2, ZnO, ZnSnO4, Co3O4, and WO3, have been grown on the surface of current collectors and nanoscopic MnO2 deposited on them to fabricate core-shell-structured hybrid electrodes [(a) J. Yan et al. ACS Nano 2010, 4, 4247; (b) J. Bae et al. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 1683; (c) L. Bao et al. Nano Lett. 2011, 11, 1215; (d) J. Liu et al. Adv Mater. 2011, 23, 2076; (e) X. Lu et al. Adv Mater. 2012, 24, 938]. In addition, nanotube arrays of Mn have been synthesized and the tube surface oxidized to make a manganese dioxide/manganese/manganese dioxide sandwich-structured electrode [Q. Li et al. Nano Lett. 2012, 12, 3803]. High electrolyte surface area and a fast charge storage process have been effectively achieved by such uniquely designed architectures, resulting in high specific capacitance and rate capability. However, these electrodes require complex multistep fabrication processes for growing nanostructures and they can be sensitive to mechanical deformation such as folding or twisting, thus being unsuitable for real applications.
Korean Patent No. 1,126,784 discloses a hybrid supercapacitor having a non-woven fabric structure in which manganese oxide is deposited on a PAN-based carbon nanofiber produced by electrospinning. The hybrid supercapacitor exhibits the functions of both a high-capacity pseudocapacitor and a double layer capacitor, achieving high energy and power densities. However, due to its low tensile strain or flexibility, the hybrid supercapacitor is difficult to utilize in electronics subjected to high strain rates and wearable and portable electronic textiles.

IUCF-HYU (INDUSTRY-UNIVERSITY COOPERATION FOUNDATION HANYANG UNIVERSITY)


Disclosed is a throttle device for an internal-combustion engine, in which, on one side of the side wall of a throttle body, there are formed a space for mounting a reduction gear mechanism which transmits the power from a motor to a throttle valve shaft and a default opening setting mechanism for holding a throttle valve opening at a specific opening (default opening) when the ignition switch is in off position, and a gear cover mounting frame which edges the mounting space. The frame is formed lower than the mounting level of the reduction gear mechanism. A gear cover for covering the gear mounting space is attached on the frame. A stopper for defining the default opening and a stopper for defining the full-closed position of the throttle valve are juxtaposed so as to enable position adjustments in the same direction. These stoppers serve to stop a default lever and a throttle gear, thereby enabling downsizing, weight reduction, and rationalization of fabrication and adjustments of an electronically controlled throttle device.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a throttle device for an internal-combustion engine and, more particularly, to an electronically controlled throttle device which controls the opening and closing operation of a throttle valve by driving an electric actuator according to a control signal.
2. Description of Related Art
In an electronically controlled throttle device which controls an engine throttle valve by driving an electric actuator (e.g., a D C motor and a stepping motor), there has been known such a technology that the amount of initial opening (default opening) of the throttle valve is set larger than a full-closed position when an ignition switch is in off position (in other words, when no current is being supplied to the electric actuator).
Here, the full-closed position of the throttle valve is not meant by a position in which the intake air passage is full-closed; especially in a throttle device having no bypass around the throttle valve and controlling the idling speed only by means of the throttle valve, the full-closed position is defined as a mechanically full-closed position and an electrically full-closed position which will be described below.
The mechanically full-closed position is the minimum opening position of the throttle valve defined by a stopper. The minimum opening is set at a position where the intake air passage is slightly opened from a full-closed position to thereby prevent the throttle valve from galling. The electrically full-closed position is the minimum opening position within the range of opening used in engine control, and is set, by the control of the electric actuator, at a position of a slightly wider opening than the mechanically full-closed position (e.g., about 1 deg. larger than the mechanically full-closed position).
In the electronically controlled throttle, the electrically full-closed position (the minimum opening for control) and the idle opening (an opening required for controlling the idle speed) do not necessarily agree. This is because the amount of opening of the throttle valve is controlled by a feed-back control system according to an idle speed detection signal in order to keep a target idle speed, and for this purpose the amount of opening is allowed to vary.
The full-open position has also a mechanically full-open position defined by the stopper and an electrically full-open position in which the throttle valve is opened to the maximum control amount of opening. The full-closed position stated herein includes the mechanically full-closed position and the electrically full-closed position as well. In normal control, the throttle valve is controlled within the range from the electrically full-closed position (the minimum opening for control) to the electrically full-open position (the maximum opening for control), so that a part of the throttle valve shaft will not hit on the stopper which determines the mechanically full-closed and full-open positions, when the throttle valve is being controlled to the minimum or maximum opening. Thus it becomes possible to protect the stopper and throttle components from mechanical fatigue, abrasion, and damage, and also to prevent galling to the stopper.
The default opening (i.e., the initial opening when the ignition switch is in off position) is set to the amount of opening of the throttle valve which is opened wider than the full-closed position (the mechanically full-closed position and the electrically full-closed position) (e.g., 4 to 13 deg. wider than the mechanically full-closed position).
The default opening is set from the reason for achieving the air flow rate necessary for fuel combustion for operation to be performed prior to engine warm-up at the time of engine starting (cold starting) without providing an auxiliary air passage (an air passage bypassing the throttle valve). During idling, the throttle valve is controlled towards decreasing the amount of opening from the default opening as the engine warm-up proceeds (in this case, however, the electrically full-closed position is the lower limit position).
Furthermore, the default opening is adopted to meet requirements for insuring self-running (limping home) in the event of a throttle control system trouble or insuring an intake air flow rate necessary for preventing an engine stop, and for preventing the throttle valve from being stuck with a viscous substance, ice, or other, on the inside wall of the throttle body.
As a conventional example of a default opening setting mechanism, various mechanisms have been proposed. A known prior art has been stated in, for example, Japanese Laid-Open No. Sho 63-150449 Patent Publication, U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,815 specification , Japanese Translation of PCT Application No. Hei 2-500677 corresponding to the U.S. patent, Japanese Laid Open No. Sho 62-82238 Patent Publication and its corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,179 specification, Japanese Laid-Open No. Hei 10-89096 Patent Publication, and Japanese Laid Open No. Hei 10-131771 Patent Publication.
There are various types of default opening setting mechanisms, a typical type of which for example is as follows.
One type is of such a system that a default opening setting engagement element (a default lever) which is fitted on the throttle valve to enable the rotation of the engagement element on the throttle valve shaft is engaged via a spring with an element secured on the throttle valve, thereby allowing the default lever to turn together with the throttle valve shaft between the range from the default opening position to the valve full-open position. When the ignition switch is in off position, the default lever is held in contact with the default stopper, to thereby hold the throttle valve opening at the default opening. To close the throttle valve to the default opening or less, the default lever is disengaged from the throttle valve shaft to allow the throttle valve shaft to rotate independently against a spring force towards closing the throttle valve.
Another type is of such a system that, reversely to the above-described system, the default lever and the throttle valve shaft are turned together from the throttle valve full-close position to the default opening position. When the ignition switch is off, the default lever is held in contact with the default stopper to hold the throttle valve opening at the default opening. When the throttle valve is opened over the throttle opening, the default lever is disengaged from the throttle valve shaft, to allow the throttle valve shaft to turn towards opening independently against the spring force.
The electronically controlled throttle device can perform more accurately the air flow rate control suitable for the operation of the internal-combustion engine than a mechanical throttle device which transmits the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal to the throttle valve shaft through an accelerator cable. The component count is increased to provide an electric actuator, a default opening setting mechanism, and a throttle sensor. Therefore, downsizing, weight reduction and simplification, rationalization of fabrication and adjustment jobs, and further improvement in operation stability and accuracy of the throttle body, are demanded.

Throttle device for internal-combustion engine


A vulcanized rubber is formed by a method comprising blending a halogenated unsaturated polymer into a rubber comprised of cis 1-4 polyisoprene to form a vulcanizable polymer blend, adding a vulcanization material to the vulcanizable polymer blend, and vulcanizing the vulcanizable polymer blend to form a homogeneous vulcanized rubber. The method may be used to form a vulcanized rubber comprised of polyisoprene uniformly crosslinked with a halogenated unsaturated polymer that is a reaction product of (i) an unsaturated polymer miscible with polyisoprene and having conjugated dienes that undergo a Diels Alder reaction and (ii) a polyhalogenated cyclopentadiene.

Vulcanized natural rubber is widely used in anti-vibration systems, such as automotive engine mounts, because of its excellent strength, fatigue resistance, high resilience and low level of strain sensitivity particularly at low temperatures. It is and has been the elastomer of choice for the majority of applications involving high stress and cyclic flexing. Unfortunately, vulcanized natural rubber tends to degrade when it is used in high temperature environments (>100° C.) and the temperatures in today's engine compartments are increasing in order to improve engine efficiency, with an industry target of at least 150° C. mentioned. With the industry driving to improve engine efficiencies, vulcanized natural rubber mounts may be more susceptible to early degradation and part failure.
To address the problem of vulcanized natural rubber thermal degradation, heat shields have been described, for example, in US Pat. Appl. No. 2006/0138300. Coatings have also been applied to vulcanized natural rubber to reduce their thermal degradation such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,709,758. Crosslinking modification and saturation of the double bonds have also been used to reduce the thermal degradation of vulcanized natural rubber, but these invariably have led to substantial reduction in desirable dynamic properties particularly at lower temperatures. Additives such as reversion modifiers and antioxidants have also been used such as described in Accelerators and Reversion Modifiers for Natural Rubber (Dr. Arie J. de Hoog, Natuurrubber 9, December 1997). Unfortunately, these methods suffer from reduced dynamic properties, complexity, increased weight, and limited improvement at higher application temperatures (i.e., desired underhood temperatures).
From the above, it would be desirable to provide a vulcanized natural rubber having similar dynamic properties to a vulcanized rubber using standard sulfur vulcanization methods that realizes improved thermal degradation properties and avoids one or more problems of the prior art such as those mentioned above.


A light-emitting device includes: a base having an upper surface; a plurality of light sources located on the upper surface of the base; a first lenticular lens sheet disposed to face the base with the light sources between the first lenticular lens sheet and the base, the first lenticular lens sheet including a first plurality of grooves; a half mirror located on an upper surface side of the first lenticular lens sheet; and a second lenticular lens sheet disposed on an upper surface side of the half mirror, wherein the second lenticular lens sheet includes a second plurality of grooves extending in a direction that intersects a direction in which the first plurality of grooves of the first lenticular lens sheet extend.

The present application relates to a light-emitting device.
In recent years, direct-type surface light-emitting devices using semiconductor light-emitting elements have been proposed for backlight devices for use in display devices such as liquid crystal display devices. In view of function, design, etc., display devices are in some cases desired to be thin, and backlight devices are desired to be thinner. Light-emitting devices for general-purpose lighting applications are also desired to be thin in view of function, design, etc.
With reduction in thickness of light-emitting devices in such applications, unevenness in brightness across the light-emitting surface is generally likely to occur. WO 2012/099145 discloses a technique for reducing unevenness in brightness of a surface light-emitting device, in which a diffusive member is arranged on a portion of a surface of a resin body that seal a light source so as to enhance the uniformity of light emitted from the light source.


A process used during the formation of a semiconductor device comprises the steps of placing a plurality of semiconductor wafers each having a surface into a chamber of a batch wafer processor such as a diffusion furnace. The wafers are heated to a temperature of between about 300.degree. C. and about 550.degree. C. With the wafers in the chamber, at least one of ammonia and hydrazine is introduced into the chamber, then a precursor comprising trimethylethylenediamine tris(dimethylamino)titanium and/or triethylaluminum is introduced into the chamber. In the chamber, a layer comprising aluminum nitride is simultaneously formed over the surface of each wafer. The inventive process allows for the formation of aluminum nitride or titanium aluminum nitride over the surface of a plurality of wafers simultaneously. A subsequent anneal of the aluminum nitride layer or the titanium aluminum nitride layer can be performed in situ.

In the manufacture of semiconductor devices various uses for aluminum nitride (AlN) and titanium aluminum nitride (TiAlN) have been proposed. AlN has been used, for example, as an insulator and as a heat sink. TiAlN has been used for an adhesion layer and as a conductive layer, and both AlN and TiAlN have been used for diffusion barriers. Aluminum nitride compounds are extremely hard substances thereby making them also useful as etch stop layers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,783,483 describes a method of forming an aluminum nitride layer by first depositing a thin aluminum layer by sputtering, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or ion implantation. Next, the aluminum layer is thermally cycled in a nitrogen ambient to form an aluminum nitride barrier layer. An aluminum nitride layer can further be formed in a single step using CVD or reactive sputtering. After formation of a desired layer, aluminum nitride can be patterned using Cl.sub.2 or BCl.sub.3 gas using reactive ion etching (RIE).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,112 describes that titanium aluminum nitride may be deposited by such methods as physical vapor deposition including evaporation, ion plating as well as by DC and RF sputtering deposition, chemical vapor deposition, and plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition. The exact method used depends upon many factors, for example deposition temperature constraints imposed by the composition of the target material.
Prior methods of forming TiAlN and AlN include formation of the material on a single wafer. Single wafer processing is known to be time consuming and therefore expensive, but a process to form a layer of TiAlN or AlN simultaneously over a plurality of wafers has not been feasible as prior precursor technology has not been viable with only thermal decomposition. In addition to costs added from long processing times, single wafer processing is expensive because additional equipment must be purchased to provide adequate manufacturing throughput. Further, previous methods of forming AlN or TiAlN result in layers having varying thickness over device features, for example thinning at the edges of features, which can decrease device performance and yields. A method for forming TiAlN and AlN on two or more wafers simultaneously which also can improve step coverage would increase production throughput, decrease costs, and improve device performance and yields, and would therefore be desirable.

Batch processing for semiconductor wafers to form aluminum nitride and titanium aluminum nitride


A sheet receiving and stacking apparatus has an infeed tray to which sheets are sequentially fed with their printed side facing upwardly starting in order, sheet one to the last sheet of a set or job, and continuing through the last sheet of the set or job, the trailing end of successive sheets being elevated and progressively moved upwardly to form a stack of sheets commencing with the first fed sheet with the last fed sheet of a set or job at the bottom and stacked on an upper run of a sheet elevating device which provides a stacker for stacking sets or jobs in sequential order with the first fed sheet of each set or job on top.. The method of receiving sheets fed sequentially from a printer or copier with an upper printed surface, including the steps of: establishing a sheet infeed location extending horizontally, moving the leading end of successive sheets progressively beneath the previous sheet, while progressively raising the trailing end of successive previous sheets, and stacking a group of said sheets with the printed surfaces facing upwardly in the order fed above said infeed location.

In the processing of sets or jobs fed from a copying or printing machine for stacking or post processing, it is a common procedure in the case of machines which feed the sheets from a printer or copier with the printed side of the sheet facing upwardly, to employ an inverter, so that as the sheets are fed from the printer or copier to the stacking or post processing machines the sheets are stacked in the correct order, printed side down.
The use of a sheet inverter between the stacker or the post processing machine causes a delay in the continuous feeding of the sheets so that inversion of sheets in a sheet inverter limits the upper range of the speed of the sheet delivery without causing a delay in the operation of the sheet printing or copying machine output. On the other hand, inversion of the sheets being fed face up makes necessary the inversion in order to properly stack the sheets from the first to the last sheet of the set or job.
An example of inversion is seen in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 356,656, filed Jul. 19, 1999, co-owned herewith and to which reference may be had. In this apparatus the first sheet fed thereto is stopped at a staging station at which the second fed sheet is positioned beneath the first fed sheet, and then the two sheets are fed together to a receiving station at which the sheets are inverted to first sheet beneath the second and subsequent sheets in order.

Sheet receiving and stacking apparatus and method


An air purifier has a rotatable power plug capable to be inserted directly into a common socket and to be turned around to suit to different directions and positions of various sockets to increase facility in use. Besides, the body of the air purifier is provided with a bulb inside and a bulb switch on an upper side to turn on or turn off the bulb, thus also serving as a lamp lighting at night.

This invention relates to an air purifier, particularly to one of a small size, having a rotatable plug possible to be inserted directly into a common socket and to suit to any position of a socket, quite convenient in use.
The prosperity in industry and commerce has indeed made our lives more convenient and comfortable than ever before, but unfortunately it also has brought us problems of various environmental pollutions, especially air pollution. The air around us is full of ash with bacteria, exhaust from automobiles, toxic smoke and gas exhausted out of factories and the like, which affect our health a great deal.
So various types of air purifiers have been manufactured to improve air quality and ensure people""s health. However, the air purifiers on markets nowadays all are of big sizes and require an additional conductive wire to connect with a socket, thus not only needing a large space for placing it, but also resulting in hindrance when people walk or move things around. Besides, the air purifiers commonly used today have only one function of filtering out air, not conforming to economical gain, nor having good competitive capability of products.
The main objective of this invention is to offer a small-sized air purifier with a rotatable plug capable to be inserted directly into a common socket. The air purifier in this invention has a body provided with two opposite conductors, with one end of each conductor formed into an L-shaped conductive portion to contact respectively with two plug copper strips of a power plug positioned outside the body of the air purifier so as to make electric connection and the power plug capable to rotate by 90 degrees. Thus, by turning around the power plug, its two copper strips will respectively contact with the L-shaped conductive portions regardless of the different positions and directions of the socket, surely convenient in use.
Another objective of this invention is to offer an air purifier having a chamber inside its body for receiving a bulb with a lampshade to cover up the chamber, and a lamp switch separated from the power switch controlling the lamp to let the air purifier used as a night lamp.


Disclosed is a play card 10 which has a folded configuration and an unfolded configuration displaying a raised, or pop-up, figure on a base for the card. The play card 10 comprises a generally rectangular, single, unitary sheet material 12 with a plurality of score lines 22, 24, 14, 34, 15, 60 that are perpendicular to the longitudinal axis x of the sheet material and are each respectively positioned inward from the leading and trailing edges of the sheet material at precise locations. The sheet material 12 is folded inward along certain score lines to provide a base section 16, a central section 18, a back section 20, including a front panel 26, a connector panel 30, and a top panel 28 having a portion of the figure die-cut in outline form into the top panel. The central section 18 is folded to bring the connector panel 30 into an abutting relationship with a portion of the central section 18, and attached thereto to provide a collapsible box-like base structure 50 with a gap 42 between the connector panel and this portion. The gap 42 receives and holds the leading edge 12c of the sheet material 12 when the play card 10 is in the unfolded configuration.

This invention relates to a play card which has a folded and unfolded configuration. In particular, a play card having a printed, pop-up picture of figure of, for example, a celebrity cut in outline form on a collapsible box-like base structure and a back section tucked into position adjacent the base structure.
2. Background Discussion
Sports cards and pop-up type display products are widely used in advertising or as toys. Frequently, they are initially in a folded condition and then unfolded so that a figure of a person or object pops up. The following are patents which depict such conventional products: U.S. Pat. No. Re. 22,109; U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,016,129; 2,148,279; 2,203,578; 2,415,501; 3,090,144; 4,062,138; 4,949,482; 5,010,669. These conventional products do not disclose or suggest the combination of features embodied in the invention disclosed herein.


A heat-treating method of heating and cooling a substrate comprising the steps of carrying the wafer into a heat-treating section by a main arm and mounting the wafer on a heating stage, heating the wafer mounted on the heating stage, lifting the wafer thus heated from the heating stage, approaching a cooling holder to the wafer thus lifted to cool the wafer above the heating stage, and carrying the cooled wafer from above the heating stage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to method and apparatus for heating and cooling a substrate such as the semiconductor wafer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the photolithography process for manufacturing semiconductor devices, the surface of a semiconductor wafer is cleaned, dried by heat, and cooled. It is then coated by photoresist, pre-baked, cooled, pattern-exposed, developed and post-baked. It is further baked (or baking step just before the developing step) between the pattern-exposing step and the developing step and then cooled.
For example, the wafer is pre-baked to a temperature of about 80.degree. C. in a heating unit and it is post-baked to a temperature range of 50.degree. C.-180.degree. C. in other heating unit. After these baking steps, the wafer is cooled to room temperature (about 23.degree. C.) in a cooling unit. In the photolithography process, therefore, it is heated and cooled repeatedly and several times.
However, the conventional cooling unit is located remote from the heating unit. The wafer must be therefore carried from the heating unit into the cooling one. While it is being carried in this manner, its temperature changes variously, thereby making temperature distribution in its plane non-uniform. As the result, resist film becomes uneven in thickness and developing irregularities are thus caused.
A heat-treating apparatus disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 6-29203 is well-known as means for preventing the wafer from changing its temperature like this while it is being carried. This heat-treating apparatus includes a heater of the non-contact type arranged in a baking unit at the upper portion thereof, a cooling plate also arranged in it at its lower portion, and pins moved up and down while supporting the wafer horizontal in it.
In the conventional heat-treating apparatus, however, it is arranged that the wafer is heated by the heater attached to such a position that is above the wafer and not contacted with it. It takes therefore a long time and a lot of heat energy to heat the wafer to a high temperature of 180.degree. C., for example. In addition, it is difficult to make temperature distribution uniform in a plane of the wafer. Further, the heater and the cooling plate thermally interfere with each other because they are housed in the same unit.
Furthermore, the wafer is coated with chemically amplified resist, chemically-amplified resist changes its quality as time goes by after the wafer is post-baked. It must be therefore cooled for a short time after it is post-baked.

Method and apparatus for heat-treating substrate


A signal connector with elastic clamping plates and to-be-pressed-against posts for ensuring secure connection and watertightness includes a connector socket and a connector plug. The connector socket has a base insulating body provided with: plural base connection terminals, two to-be-pressed-against posts, and a longitudinal conical portion and plural transverse conical portions for dividing the base connection terminals into rows. The connector plug has a head insulating body provided with: plural head connection terminals, two elastic clamping plates, and a longitudinal insertion groove for accommodating the exposed head connection terminals and, when the connector socket and plug are connected, for accommodating the longitudinal and transverse conical portions, too. Each elastic clamping plate can press elastically and tightly against the corresponding to-be-pressed-against post to prevent unintended displacement between the connector socket and plug, and water seeping into the signal connector can be guided out by the longitudinal and transverse conical portions.

A signal connector, which refers to any connecting element applied to an electronic or electric device to transmit data or electric signals, can be viewed as a bridge through which signals are transmitted from one such device to another. It follows that the production quality of a signal connector is critical to the reliability of current or data transmission between the electronic or electric devices it connects; more specifically, whether the connected electronic or electric devices can work consistently as designed hinges on the production quality and stability of the signal connector. Currently, depending on design requirements, different kinds of electric or electronic devices (e.g., home appliances, smartphones, and industrial servers) are respectively equipped with different signal connectors for receiving electric or data signals. While each electric or electronic device is enclosed in a casing for protecting the various precision electronic components inside the device, or more particularly for preventing dust and moisture from the outside from contaminating the precision electronic components, a signal connector applied to the device is seldom mounted thereon in a watertight manner. Therefore, once the electric or electronic device is used in a humid environment, ambient moisture is bound to seep into the device through the gap between the device and the signal connector and may end up in the precision electronic components inside the device, causing a short circuit or corrosion. In view of the above, waterproofness has in recent years been an essential feature on the signal connector market.
Generally, the waterproof design of a signal connector is focused on the internal connection terminals, which are used to transmit electric or data signals. These connection terminals are typically inserted into, and thereby mounted on, the signal connector. To ensure waterproofness of such a signal connector, it was common practice to perform an adhesive dispensing operation on the connection terminals of the signal connector sequentially during the manufacturing process, with a view to sealing the insertion gaps corresponding to where the connection terminals are inserted into the signal connector. The adhesive dispensing operation is indeed effective in enhancing the "internal" waterproofness of the signal connector, but "external" waterproofness is overlooked, as explained below with reference to a conventional signal connector. FIG. 1 shows the socket portion 1 of a conventional signal connector, wherein the socket portion 1 includes an insulating base 11 and a plurality of connection terminals 12 inserted in the insulating base 11. During the manufacturing process of the conventional signal connector, the interior of the insulating base 11 is coated with a waterproofing adhesive, which seeps into, and seals when solidified, the insertion gap between the middle section of each connection terminal 12 and the inner wall of the insulating base 11 to waterproof the conventional signal connector as required.
While watertightness is achieved by the waterproofing adhesive sealing the insertion gaps between the connection terminals 12 and the inner wall of the insulating base 11, this watertightness leaves much to be desired. Should the conventional signal connector become dripping wet when the electric or electronic device to which the conventional signal connector is applied is used outdoors, the water clinging to and remaining on the top side of the insulating base 11 may still seep into the conventional signal connector through the gap between the socket portion 1 and the plug portion (not shown) of the conventional signal connector without difficulty, resulting in a short circuit between adjacent connection terminals 12, if not damage to the electric or electronic device itself. Hence, it is an important issue for signal connector designers and manufacturers to devise a simple structure that, without incurring a significant increase in the production cost of the conventional signal connector, can effectively prevent water residue on the signal connector from entering the connector through the gap between its socket and plug portions, lest the connection terminals 12 be short-circuited. The very issue is addressed by the present invention.

Signal connector with elastic clamping plates and to-be-pressed-against posts for ensuring secure connection and watertightness