An apparatus is provided that uses a consumable item, of given type, requiring occasional renewal. The apparatus has a first operating mode in which it only works with a subset of consumable items of the given type; the apparatus also has a second operating mode in which it is not restricted to working with consumable items of the aforesaid subset. The apparatus is changed from its first mode to its second mode following a determination that the apparatus has reached a predetermined time or usage threshold for being in its first mode. The change to the second mode is preferably effected in response to a release code generated either by the apparatus itself or by a remote system following the determination that the predetermined time or usage threshold being reached. Advantageously, the consumable items can be used to pass usage data to a remote system.

It is known (for example from US 2004/0172532) to provide a consumable item, such as a ink cartridge, with an integrated circuit chip enabling it to be authenticated by an apparatus, such as a printer. The chip stores a private key of a public/private key pair, and includes functionality for responding to a challenge issued by the apparatus by encrypting an element included in the challenge using the stored private key, and returning the encrypted element to the challenging apparatus. The apparatus decrypts the returned encrypted element using the public key associated with an authentic consumable item and only if the result of this decryption matches the original element included in the challenge does the apparatus accept the consumable item as a genuine one.
Using such an arrangement, it is possible to ensure that only genuine consumable items are used with an apparatus. This has advantages for a manufacturer providing warranty services because the manufacturer can be certain that any defects arising in the apparatus are not as a result of consumable items of doubtful provenance and quality having been used for the apparatus. However, a user of the apparatus may feel aggrieved that his/her freedom to use consumable items from any source has been removed.
There are other situations where different parties have different interests in relation to controlling the source of consumable items to be used in an apparatus. For example, a user may opt to obtain possession of a printer through a lease-purchase arrangement by which legal title to the apparatus only passes to the user after a predetermined lease period. During the lease period the lessor will wish to ensure that the consumable items used are not harming the apparatus which the lessor still owns; however, the user will always wish to have a free choice of the source from which he/she obtains consumable items for the apparatus as this ensures that the price is kept reasonable through operation of market forces.
It is an object of the present invention to provide increased flexibility in the management of an apparatus using a consumable item, of given type, requiring occasional renewal.

Apparatus that uses consumable items and a method of managing such apparatus

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A method of manufacturing semiconductor laser device including a GaN wafer includes forming a semiconductor layer on the GaN wafer and on which ridge portions are formed. Grooves are formed in the semiconductor layer such that each groove is disposed in line with the scribe marks, between each of the ridge portions and an upstream scribe mark. The grooves are curved and convex outwardly towards a downstream side, and each groove has an apex on a cleavage line. The side extending from the apex preferably does not form an angle of 60 degrees with respect to a cleavage direction or the cleavage line.

In manufacture of a semiconductor laser, the wafer is cleaved into a plurality of bars by application of appropriate pressure after forming scribe marks on the wafer. However, it has been difficult to cleave a GaN wafer, since GaN crystal is highly stable.
To address this problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-242570 (1998) discloses a wafer cleaving method, which includes forming on the wafer an auxiliary cleavage region layer having notches and cleaving the wafer along these notches. Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-64237 discloses another wafer cleaving method, which includes forming in the wafer a primary guide trench and a secondary guide trench having a smaller width than the primary guide trench such that the primary guide trench extends from an edge of the wafer to its center portion and these guide trenches are coupled together with their central axes coincident, and then cleaving the wafer along the direction in which these trenches extend.
However, the wafer cleaving methods of the former publications are disadvantageous in that the methods require re-growing a predetermined semiconductor layer region to form the auxiliary cleavage region layer. Further, it is difficult to accurately cleave a GaN wafer in a desired plane by the method of the latter publication, which forms guide trenches only at an edge of the wafer. The reason for that is that a GaN wafer tends to cleave in directions at an angle of 60 degrees with respect to a desired cleavage direction since GaN crystal is in a hexagonal system.
Another conventional method for accurately cleaving a GaN wafer in a desired plane has been to form scribe marks on a per-chip basis instead of forming the scribe marks just at an edge of the wafer. However, if these scribe marks are misaligned, that is, if one of the two facing scribe marks is not on the desired cleavage plane, cleaving the wafer using those scribe marks may result in a cleaved surface having a step-like portion. Such a step-like portion tends to be formed at a position intermediate between the two scribe marks, especially at the ridge portion of the semiconductor laser since the ridge portion is likely to suffer stress concentration. This may result in degraded characteristics of the semiconductor laser since the ridge portion includes the light-emitting region.
FIG. 12 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a ridge portion 101 having a step-like portion, or streaks, formed due to cleavage. This step-like portion is herein referred to as a defective portion 102. In FIG. 12, the defective portion 102 extends into that part 103 of the ridge portion 101 through which the emitted light widens, which adversely affects the characteristics of the light.
The present invention has been devised in view of the above problems. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacture of a semiconductor laser that allows cleaving the wafer in a desired plane.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacture of a semiconductor laser that prevents the cleaved surface from having a step-like portion.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.

Method for manufacturing a semiconductor laser


High gain, multi-pattern multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna systems are disclosed. These systems provide for multiple-polarization and omnidirectional coverage using multiple radios, which may be tuned to the same frequency. The MIMO antenna systems may include multiple high-gain beams arranged (or capable of being arranged) to provide for omnidirectional coverage. These systems provide for increased data throughput and reduced interference without sacrificing the benefits related to size and manageability of an associated access point.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to wireless communications. More specifically, the present invention relates to multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless antennas.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In wireless communications systems, there is an ever-increasing demand for higher data throughput and a corresponding drive to reduce interference that can disrupt data communications. For example, a wireless link in an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 network may be susceptible to interference from other access points and stations, other radio transmitting devices, and changes or disturbances in the wireless link environment between an access point and remote receiving node. In some instances, the interference may degrade the wireless link thereby forcing communication at a lower data rate. The interface may, however, be sufficiently strong as to disrupt the wireless link altogether.
One solution is to utilize a diversity antenna scheme. In such a solution, a data source is coupled to two or more physically separated omnidirectional antennas. An access point may select one of the omnidirectional antennas by which to maintain a wireless link. Because of the separation between the omnidirectional antennas, each antenna experiences a different signal environment and corresponding interference level with respect to the wireless link. A switching network couples the data source to whichever of the omnidirectional antennas experiences the least interference in the wireless link.
Diversity schemes are generally lacking in that typical omnidirectional antennas are vertically polarized. Vertically polarized radio frequency energy does not travel as efficiently as horizontally polarized energy with respect to a typical wireless environment (e.g., a home or office). Omnidirectional antennas also generally include an upright 'wand' attached to the access point. These wands are easily susceptible to breakage or damage. Omnidirectional antennas in a diversity scheme, too, may create interference amongst one another or be subject to the same interference source due to their physical proximity. As such, a diversity antenna scheme may fail to effectively reduce interference in a wireless link.
An alternative to a diversity antenna scheme involves beam steering of a controlled phase array antenna. A phased array antenna includes multiple stationary antenna elements that employ variable phase or time-delay control at each element to steer a beam to a given angle in space (i.e., beam steering). Phased, array antennas are prohibitively expensive to manufacture. Phased array antennas, too, require a series of complicated phase tuning elements that may easily drift or otherwise become maladjusted over time.
Another attempt to improve the spectral efficiency of a wireless link includes the use of MIMO antenna architecture in an access point and/or receiving node. In a typical MIMO approach, multiple signals (two or more radio waveforms) are generated and transmitted in a single channel between the access point and the remote receiving node. FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary access point 100 for a MIMO antenna system having two parallel baseband-to-RF transceiver ("radio") chains 110 and 111 as may be found in the prior art.
Data received into the access point 100 from, for example, a router connected to the Internet is encoded by a data encoder 105. Encoder 105 encodes the data into baseband signals for transmission to a MIMO-enabled remote receiving node. The parallel radio chains 110 and 111 generate two radio waveforms by digital-to-analog (D/A) conversion and upconversion. Upconversion may occur through the use of an oscillator driving a mixer and filter.
Each radio chain 110 and 111 in FIG. 1 is connected to an omnidirectional antenna (120 and 121, respectively). As with a diversity scheme, the omnidirectional antennas 120 and 121 may be spaced as far apart as possible from each other or at different polarizations and mounted to a housing of the access point 100. The two radio waveforms are simultaneously transmitted, affected by various multipath perturbations between the access point 100 and the MIMO-enabled remote receiving node, and then received and decoded by appropriate receiving circuits in the remote receiving node.
Prior art MIMO antenna systems tend to use a number of whip antennas for a number of transmission side radios. The large number of whip antennas used in a prior art MIMO antenna system not only increase the probability that one or more of the antennas may be damaged during use but also creates unsightly 'antenna farms.' Such 'farms' are generally unsuitable for home or business applications where access points are generally desired, if not needed, to be as small and unobtrusive as possible.
There remains a need in the art for wireless communication providing increased data throughput and reduced interference. An access point offering said benefits should do so without sacrificing corresponding benefits related to size or manageability of the access point.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Horizontal multiple-input multiple-output wireless antennas


Methods and systems for determining one or more parameters of a tuned circuit forming part of a wireless energy transmission system in an implanted (or implantable) medical device are described. The method involves energizing the tuned circuit then receiving a signal back from it. This signal is then analyzed to determine a property of the circuit such as its quality factor (Q) or resonant frequency. Also described herein is a method and system for determining the implantation depth of a component of an implanted medical device. The method involves determining the position of a magnetic element which is mounted in a fixed physical relationship with the component of the medical device. The methods can be performed on an implanted medical device without the need to explant the device.

Field of the Invention
The present technology relates generally to the testing of an aspect of, an implantable medical device. In one form, a parameter of a tuned circuit forming part of an implantable medical device is tested. In another, a location of a part of an implantable medical device is tested.
Related Art
Implantable medical devices are used to assist recipients with a wide range of conditions including sensory, motor or cognitive conditions. One group of implantable medical devices are auditory prostheses, such as middle ear implants, cochlear implants, brain stem implants, auditory mid-brain implant and other devices which provide acoustic, mechanical and/or electrical stimulation to a recipient to assist with hearing. Many implantable medical devices include an internal unit which is implanted in a recipient and an external unit which performs energy-consumption intensive processing or other functions that must be performed outside the body. In such systems there is a requirement for energy (power) and/or data to be delivered transcutaneously from the external unit to the implanted unit. This is generally performed wirelessly, as a physical link between the external and internal units may cause discomfort to the recipient and may be a potential source of infection.
To illustrate transcutaneous wireless inductive energy transmission FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic block diagram of an implantable cochlear implant system 1. The system 1 includes an external unit 3 having a microphone 7, a sound processor 8 and a radio frequency (RF) transmitter 10. The system 1 is powered by a battery 9 that is located in the external unit 3. Since the external unit 3 is typically worn behind the recipient's ear, there is a constraint on the size and weight of the external unit 3 and consequently there is a need for efficient usage of the power of the battery 9.
In order to transmit energy to the internal unit 5, the external unit 3 is provided with an external coil 11 that is coupled to a radio frequency transmitter 10. The transmitter 10 generates a radio frequency alternating in current in coil 11, which generates an oscillating magnetic field. That field extends through the recipient's skin 13 and interacts with an implanted coil 17 that is located so as to enable inductive coupling with the external coil 11. The received signal is induces an EMF in the implanted coil 17 of the implanted unit 5 of the system 1. A signal 16 may also be transmitted from the implanted unit 5 to the external unit 3, for example to provide telemetry about the status of the implanted unit 5.
Generally speaking, the implanted unit 5 includes: circuitry 19 that rectifies and regulates the received RF signal 15; a data decoder 21 that extracts the data encoded in the received RF signal 15; and an amplifier 23 that drives an actuator 25 based on the decoded data. The actuator may, for example, include an array of electrodes that stimulate the auditory nerve of the cochlea of the recipient to give a sensation of sound (also referred to as a 'sound percept'). FIG. 2 illustrates a simplified circuit diagram of components involved in the transfer of electrical energy from the external unit 3 to the implanted unit 5.
The RF transmitter 10 is part of the external unit 3 and connects an RF source 12 (in commercially available cochlear implant systems, e.g., from Cochlear Limited, Sydney Australia, the RF source operates, e.g., at a frequency of 5 MHz) to the transmitter coil 11.
The separation distance, d, between the coils 11 and 17, which are typically positioned with their centres on a common axis, is determined by the depth at which the internal coil 17 is implanted in the recipient's body. This depth is sometimes known as the skin flap thickness (SFT), as the implantation depth is determined by the thickness of the flap of skin overlying the coil 17. In practice, the SFT may be in the range, e.g., from about 0 mm to about 12 mm, but is preferably as low as safely possible in order to maximise efficiency of coupling between the external coil 11 and the internal coil 17. The separation distance d affects the transfer of electrical energy to the implant (link efficiency) and modulates the electrical voltage that is generated in the implant electronics. However, typically the separation distance d is not accurately known.
The internal coil 17 forms part of a tuned (resonant) circuit 101 along with a tuning capacitor 130. Electrical energy to sustain the device's functionality is extracted from the tuned circuit 101 by rectifying the received RF signal, using a transformer 100 and a rectifier diode 102, and storing the received electrical energy in a storage capacitor 104. The voltage across the storage capacitor is denoted is the implanted unit's supply voltage 107. A primary voltage protection diode 106 is provided to shunt excess voltages, that might be generated by external sources, to a level that is considered safe for the operation of the implant electronics. Additional circuitry for protecting the electronics can also be provided.
The supply voltage 107 provides energy to an electrical load 120, which includes a data decoder 21, an amplifier 23 and an actuator 25.
A factor in prolonging battery life in the external unit 3 is the efficiency of coupling between the external coil 11 and the tuned circuit 101 of the internal unit 3. However, even if the initial coupling of the RF link in an implanted medical device is good at implantation, the properties of the circuit may drift over time, leading to reduced efficiency.
For example, over time the properties of the metal from which the implanted coil 17 is made can change. Moreover, the bodily environment in which the implanted coil 17 resides is harsh, and in some situations if the sealing of the implanted coil 17 breaks down, the implanted coil 17 may be exposed to bodily fluids and tissues, which can cause further performance degradation. In some instances, the implanted coil 17 or its connections to other components of the tuned circuit 101 can fail mechanically. This could be caused, e.g., by a bump or knock on the body part on which the coil 17 is mounted.


A method and system for unloading an IMS database. Segments in the segment array are stored in an indexed order or are stored in a relative byte address (RBA) order. In both cases, either an image copy of an IMS database or an actual IMS database processed sequentially may be utilized. For indexed order storage, a lookup table may be created to include a key value and a segment array location. A segment array may be created to store both the root and child segments from the IMS database. For RBA ordered storage, a first segment array may be created to store the root segments from the IMS database in a sequential order. Additionally, a second segment array may be created to store the child segments from the IMS database in a relative byte address (RBA) order.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer software, and more particularly to IMS databases.
2. Description of the Related Art
The current technique of unloading an IMS database is to retrieve the individual database segments in hierarchical order using physical pointers stored within each segment prefix. Retrieving an IMS database in hierarchical order normally results in reading the database blocks in random order, and often reading the same block multiple times during the unload process. Additionally, the I/O operations used during a standard unload of an IMS database are often unanticipated and are generally the lowest performing type of I/O operation.
FIG. 2 illustrates the hierarchical order of segments in an IMS database. As shown, segments 1 and 3 are root segments, and all of the remaining segments are child segments. Retrieving the database record beginning with root segment 1 requires 3 blocks to be read, as follows: read block 1 to obtain segments 1 and 2, read block 6 to obtain segment 52, read block 4 to obtain segment 31. Similarly, retrieving the database record beginning with root segment 3 also requires 3 blocks to be read, as follows: read block 1 to obtain segment 3, read block 4 to obtain segment 32, read block 7 to obtain segment 63.
Therefore, retrieving an IMS database record requires a number of different block reads, resulting in slow access times and long latencies. For at least the foregoing reasons, there is a need for an improved system and method for unload processing of IMS databases in a more efficient manner.

Sequential unload processing of IMS databases


An apparatus for shifting data is disclosed. The apparatus includes a shifter, a register, and a shift post processor. The shifter shifts an operand according to an offset parameter, thereby generating a shifted operand. The register is coupled to the shift post processor to transfer a shift carry operand stored in the register to the shift post processor, and coupled to the shifter to store the shifted operand after any transfer of the shift carry operand. The shift post processor is coupled to the shifter and the register to process the shifted operand to generate an output based on at least a control signal and a mask field. The shift post processor comprises a decoder to decode the offset parameter into the mask field, the mask field having a plurality of mask bits, each of the mask bits corresponding to a bit position of the shifted operand.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer architecture. In particular, the invention relates to processing units.
2. Background of the Invention
Digital processors are usually designed with a fixed word length to facilitate data handling and operation. The typical word length is a power of two and is compatible with memory data size. In many advanced processors, the word length is 32-bit, 64-bit, or 128-bit.
Although these traditional word lengths are useful for many scientific, data processing, business, medical, military, and commercial applications, they may not be convenient for applications where the word length may have any size depending on the type of information to be represented. Examples of such applications include network data processing and packet communications. In these applications, the data items may be represented by the minimum word size to optimize data transfers and switching. In addition, the word size may vary within the same processing unit. Furthermore, even when the data word sizes are comparable with the native word size of the processor, there are cases where blocks of data or long words are processed and these blocks of data may occupy at boundaries that are not aligned with the native word boundary.
Existing techniques to handle data with word sizes larger than the processor's native size are inefficient. These techniques involve execution of a large number of operations to shift and perform logical operations on the data items to be aligned or merged.

Shifter for alignment with bit formatter gating bits from shifted operand, shifted carry operand and most significant bit

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


The present disclosure relates to a tunable waveguide filter input/output coupling arrangement comprising a waveguide part, a coupling iris part and a tunable filter part. The waveguide part runs along a longitudinal extension and has a waveguide width extending perpendicular to the longitudinal extension, and is electrically connected to the tunable filter part by means of the coupling iris part which comprises an opening between the waveguide part and the tunable filter part. The opening is positioned at a certain position along the longitudinal extension. The waveguide part comprises a stub part that has a certain stub length along the longitudinal extension, between an electrical short-circuit end plate and an edge of the opening that is closest to the end plate, where the stub part also has a stub width extending perpendicular to the longitudinal extension.

In wireless communication networks there is radio equipment that in many cases comprises waveguide filters, and for some applications it is desirable to have one or more tunable waveguide filter such as for example short haul diplexers and similar. For a tunable waveguide filter it is further desired to have a bandwidth that is as constant as possible over the tunable range. Practical implementation of tunable waveguide filters with a nearly constant bandwidth is a major design challenge, especially if waveguide cavities are to be used.
Typically, inductive or capacitive irises are used to couple a resonator to another one or to a feeding waveguide. These demonstrate high dispersion properties leading to change in the fractional bandwidth as the filters are tuned. In most cases this undesirable effect limits the application of the tunable filter. One example is disclosed in the paper "A wide band nearly constant susceptance waveguide element", IEEE Trans. On Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. MTT-19, No. 11, pp. 889-891, November 1971, by J. G. Bryan and F. J. Rosenbaun. The disclosed design using a metal non-contacting iris made of a thin rectangular metal strip mounted on a low-loss foam plastic block, is, however, complex in manufacturing since it requires additional substrate and also suffers from loss.
There is thus a need for a tunable waveguide filter with a nearly constant bandwidth that is less complicated and exhibits less loss than prior solutions.

Tunable waveguide filter input/output coupling arrangement


A process and device for determination of the lambda value (λactual) of reformate (10) which is to be supplied to a fuel cell stack (12), by determining the lambda value (λactual) of the no-load voltage (U0) of the voltage on at least one fuel cell element (14). Furthermore, a process and device for lambda control of a reformer, utilizes the process and device for determining the lambda value to controller an actuator of a lambda-controlled reformer (16) for reaction of at least fuel (20) and air (22) into reformate (10), the reformer being connected to a fuel cell stack (12) to supply reformate (10) form the reformer (16) to the fuel stack (12).

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a process for determination of the lambda value of reformate which is intended to be supplied to a fuel cell stack, in which the voltage on at least one fuel cell element is evaluated for determination of the lambda value.
Furthermore, the invention relates to a process for lambda control of a reformer for reacting at least fuel and air into reformate which is intended to be supplied to a fuel cell stack.
The invention also relates to a device for determining the lambda value of reformate which is intended to be supplied to a fuel cell stack, the device having means which can evaluate the voltage on at least one fuel cell element for determining the lambda value.
Moreover, the invention relates to a system comprising a reformer for reacting at least fuel and air into reformate and a fuel cell stack which is supplied with reformate by the reformer, the reformer being lambda-controlled.
2. Description of Related Art
The generic processes, devices and systems of the type noted above are used in conjunction with the conversion of chemical energy into electrical energy. For this purpose, fuel and air, preferably in the form of a fuel/air mixture, are supplied to the reformer. The reaction of the fuel with atmospheric oxygen takes place in the reformer, preferably the process of partial oxidation being carried out.
The reformate which has been produced in this way is then supplied to a fuel cell or a fuel cell stack, electrical energy being released by controlled reaction of hydrogen as a component of the reformate, and oxygen.
As already mentioned, the reformer can be designed such that the process of partial oxidation is carried out in order to produce reformate. In this case, when using diesel as fuel, it is especially useful to carry out preliminary reactions before partial oxidation. In this way, long-chain diesel molecules can be reacted into short-chain molecules with a "cold flame;" this ultimately benefits reformer operation. In general, the reaction zone of the reformer is supplied with a gas mixture which is reacted into H2 and CO. Another component of the reformate is N2 from the air, and depending on the air ratio and the temperature, optionally, CO2, H2O and CH4. In normal operation, the fuel mass flow is adjusted according to the required output, and the air mass flow is adjusted to a lambda value or an air ratio in the region of λ=0.4. The reforming reaction can be monitored by different sensors, for example, temperature sensors and gas sensors.
In addition to the process of partial oxidation, it is likewise possible to carry out autothermal reforming. The process of partial oxidation, in contrast to autothermal reforming, is induced by oxygen being substoichiometrically supplied. For example, the mixture has an air ratio of λ=0.4. The partial oxidation is exothermal so that unwanted heating of the reformer can occur in a problematic manner. Furthermore, partial oxidation tends to increased soot formation. To prevent soot formation, the air ratio λ can be chosen to be smaller and/or some of the oxygen used for oxidation made available by water vapor. Since oxidation proceeds endothermally with water vapor, it is possible to adjust the ratio between the fuel, oxygen and water vapor such that altogether heat is neither released nor heat consumed. The autothermal reforming which is achieved in this way therefore eliminates the problems of soot formation and undesirable overheating of the reformer.
It is likewise possible for other steps of gas treatment to take place following oxidation in the reformer, and especially methanation can be downstream of partial oxidation.
One current fuel cell system is, for example, a PEM (proton exchange membrane) system which can typically be operated at operating temperatures between room temperature and roughly 100° C. Due to the low operating temperatures, this fuel cell type is often used for mobile applications, for example, in motor vehicles.
Furthermore, high temperature fuel cells are known, so-called SOFC ("solid oxide fuel cell") systems. These systems work, for example, in the temperature region of roughly 800° C., a solid electrolyte (solid oxide) being able to take over transport of oxygen ions. The advantage of these high temperature fuel cells compared to PEM systems consists especially in durability relative to mechanical and chemical loads.
One application for fuel cells in conjunction with generic systems includes, besides stationary applications, especially applications in the motor vehicle domain, for example as an auxiliary power unit (APU).
To determine the lambda value of reformate, in the prior art, a sensor (lambda probe) which is provided in the output area of the reformer is often used to measure the oxygen concentration. This constitutes an additional material expenditure which is associated with high costs. Furthermore, tightness problems and/or temperature problems can occur.
3. Description of Related Art
International patent application publication WO 03/094278 A1 discloses generic processes, devices and systems in which a separate lambda probe can be eliminated. According to the teaching of this publication, the lambda value is deduced via the output voltage on one or more fuel cell elements. For this purpose, the pairs of values measured for different operating states from the output voltage and the lambda value are stored. The detection of these pairs of values by measurement engineering is, however, complex and associated with high costs.

Determination of the lambda value of reformate


A recording disk drive comprises a head actuator coupled to a support shaft for relative rotation so as to support a head slider at a tip end of the head actuator. A rectifier plate is located at a location outside an arc defined along a movement path of the tip end of the head actuator. The rectifier plate is thus located downstream of the head slider. The distance between the rectifier plate and the head slider is maintained constant regardless of the position of the head slider. Turbulence of the airflow can reliably be suppressed downstream of the head slider during the rotation of the recording disk.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium drive such as a hard disk drive (HDD). In particular, the invention relates to a recording medium drive comprising: an enclosure; a recording disk incorporated in the enclosure; a head slider opposed to the surface of the recording disk; and a head actuator coupled to a support shaft for relative rotation so as to support the head slider at the tip end of the head actuator.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As shown in FIG. 6 of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-332048, a hard disk drive (HDD) sometimes comprises a ramp member. The ramp member crosses a data zone on the magnetic recording disk in the radial direction of a magnetic recording disk. The ramp member is designed to guide a load bar to an area inside the data zone on the magnetic recording disk. When the magnetic recording disk is driven, the ramp member retreats from the path of movement of the load bar. When a head slider is positioned at a target recording track, the load bar can be prevented from colliding or contacting against the ramp member. When the ramp member retreats from the path of movement of the load bar, the ramp member gets remoter from the path of movement of the load bar at a location closer to the innermost recording track on the magnetic recording disk.
Airflow is generated along the surface of the magnetic recording disk during the rotation of the magnetic recording disk. This airflow acts on the head slider. The airflow causes the head slider to fly above the surface of the magnetic recording disk. In this situation, the turbulence is induced in the airflow downstream of the head slider. The turbulence of the airflow induces a sway of the head slider over the magnetic recording disk. The head slider may be hindered from being accurately positioned. No attention is paid to the turbulence of the airflow in the aforementioned ramp member.

Recording disk drive having rectifier plate and ramp member therefor


In a cylindrical roller bearing assembly with flanges on the outer ring and a comb cage comprising a side ring and separating webs projecting axially from the side ring and which engage axially between the rollers, some of the webs having tabs, which project radially outwardly and engage behind the side surface of one of the flanges of the outer ring, characterized in that at least two tabs are distributed around the circumference and in that two insertion openings with a cross-sectional profile corresponding to that of the tabs are provided on the other flange for the coaxial insertion of the comb cage in the outer roller.

Cylindrical roller bearing assemblies with comb-type cages are not new per se. German Patent DE 2,137,978 shows a cylindrical roller bearing assembly wherein the flange of the outer ring is provided with two diametrically opposed insertion openings. The openings are sized so that the cage can be inserted by rotating it 90.degree. whereupon it is then rotated back into its operating system. It is noted that in these assemblies, the insertion openings must be made very large. Furthermore, the separating webs are limited to a certain length to allow for the rotation and insertion of the cage. Furthermore, it has been observed that it is also necessary for the external radial contour of the separating webs to conform to the shape of the raceway so that it will not be obstructed by the raceway in their rotated position.

Cylindrical roller bearing assembly with comb cage


A surgical system having all of the various pneumatic control sub-systems or sub-manifolds integrally mounted on a common primary manifold. The various required control mechanisms such as valves are likewise integrally mounted to the common manifold and to the sub-manifolds. Within any or all of the sub-manifolds or primary manifolds, volumes of material not necessary for the operation of the manifold are carved or pocketed out and used to form integral accumulators for storing extra pressurized air. The volume of the accumulator can vary according to the pressurized air requirement of the particular manifold, or the overall pneumatic system.

The present invention relates generally to surgical systems and more specifically to surgical systems that control pneumatic devices.
Many microsurgical procedures require precision cutting and/or removal of various body tissues. For example, certain ophthalmic surgical procedures require the cutting and/or removal of the vitreous humor, a transparent jelly-like material that fills the posterior segment of the eye. The vitreous humor, or vitreous, is composed of numerous microscopic fibers that are often attached to the retina. Therefore, cutting and removal of the vitreous must be done with great care to avoid traction on the retina, the separation of the retina from the choroid, a retinal tear, or, in the worst case, cutting and removal of the retina itself.
Conventional vitrectomy probes typically include a hollow outer cutting member, a hollow inner cutting member arranged coaxially with and movably disposed within the hollow outer cutting member, and a port extending radially through the outer cutting member near the distal end thereof. Vitreous humor is aspirated into the open port, and the inner member is actuated, closing the port. Upon the closing of the port, cutting surfaces on both the inner and outer cutting members cooperate to cut the vitreous, and the cut vitreous is then aspirated away through the inner cutting member. This cutting action may be made using an electric cutter, but pneumatically driven probes operating at a relatively high pressure are more common.
Additionally, during typical ophthalmic procedures, air or other fluid may be introduced into the posterior chamber. This air must be of relatively low pressure (on the order of 3-4 psi). As the infusion of fluids into an eye is done at low pressures, this portion of the surgical procedure can extend for some period of time, so to protect against an unexpected loss in power, accumulation of some reserve pressure is desirable. Prior art devices have used pressure accumulators, receivers or tanks to store this reserve pressure. Such devices can occupy a great deal of space inside the surgical console and require pneumatic connection to the appropriate manifold.
Accordingly, a need continues to exist for a surgical system having a simplified, compact construction.

Surgical system having manifolds with integral pneumatic accumulators


A network security system includes a system data store capable of storing a variety of data associated with an encrypted computer network and communications transmitted thereon, a communication interface supporting communication over a communication channel and a system processor. Data corresponding to communications transmitted over the encrypted communication network are received. One or more tests are applied to the received data to determine whether a particular communication represents a potential security violation. An alarm may be generated based upon the results of the applied test or tests.

The present invention is directed to systems and methods for enhancing security associated with electronic communications. More specifically, without limitation, the present invention relates to computer-based systems and methods for assessing security risks and identifying and responding to threats in wireless network environments.
The Internet is a global network of connected computer networks. Over the last several years, the Internet has grown in significant measure. A large number of computers on the Internet provide information in various forms. Anyone with a computer connected to the Internet can potentially tap into this vast pool of information.
The information available via the Internet encompasses information available via a variety of types of application layer information servers such as SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol), POP3 (Post Office Protocol), GOPHER (RFC 1436), WAIS, HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol, RFC 2616) and FTP (file transfer protocol, RFC 1123).
One of the most wide spread method of providing information over the Internet is via the World Wide Web (the Web). The Web consists of a subset of the computers connected to the Internet; the computers in this subset run Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) servers (Web servers). Several extensions and modifications to HTTP have been proposed including, for example, an extension framework (RFC 2774) and authentication (RFC 2617). Information on the Internet can be accessed through the use of a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI, RFC 2396). A URI uniquely specifies the location of a particular piece of information on the Internet. A URI will typically be composed of several components. The first component typically designates the protocol by which the address piece of information is accessed (e.g., HTTP, GOPHER, etc.). This first component is separated from the remainder of the URI by a colon (':'). The remainder of the URI will depend upon the protocol component. Typically, the remainder designates a computer on the Internet by name, or by IP number, as well as a more specific designation of the location of the resource on the designated computer. For instance, a typical URI for an HTTP resource might be:
http://www.server.com/dir1/dir2/resource.htm
where http is the protocol, www.server.com is the designated computer and /dir1/dir2/resource.htm designates the location of the resource on the designated computer. The term URI includes Uniform Resource Names (URN's) including URN's as defined according to RFC 2141.
Web servers host information in the form of Web pages; collectively the server and the information hosted are referred to as a Web site. A significant number of Web pages are encoded using the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) although other encodings using eXtensible Markup Language (XML) or XHTML. The published specifications for these languages are incorporated by reference herein; such specifications are available from the World Wide Web Consortium and its Web site (http://www.w3c.org). Web pages in these formatting languages may include links to other Web pages on the same Web site or another. As will be known to those skilled in the art, Web pages may be generated dynamically by a server by integrating a variety of elements into a formatted page prior to transmission to a Web client. Web servers, and information servers of other types, await requests for the information from Internet clients.
Client software has evolved that allows users of computers connected to the Internet to access this information. Advanced clients such as Netscape's Navigator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer allow users to access software provided via a variety of information servers in a unified client environment. Typically, such client software is referred to as browser software.
Electronic mail (e-mail) is another wide spread application using the Internet. A variety of protocols are often used for e-mail transmission, delivery and processing including SMTP and POP3 as discussed above. These protocols refer, respectively, to standards for communicating e-mail messages between servers and for server-client communication related to e-mail messages. These protocols are defined respectively in particular RFC's (Request for Comments) promulgated by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). The SMTP protocol is defined in RFC 821, and the POP3 protocol is defined in RFC 1939.
Since the inception of these standards, various needs have evolved in the field of e-mail leading to the development of further standards including enhancements or additional protocols. For instance, various enhancements have evolved to the SMTP standards leading to the evolution of extended SMTP. Examples of extensions may be seen in (1) RFC 1869 that defines a framework for extending the SMTP service by defining a means whereby a server SMTP can inform a client SMTP as to the service extensions it supports and in (2) RFC 1891 that defines an extension to the SMTP service, which allows an SMTP client to specify (a) that delivery status notifications (DSNs) should be generated under certain conditions, (b) whether such notifications should return the contents of the message, and (c) additional information, to be returned with a DSN, that allows the sender to identify both the recipient(s) for which the DSN was issued, and the transaction in which the original message was sent.
In addition, the IMAP protocol has evolved as an alternative to POP3 that supports more advanced interactions between e-mail servers and clients. This protocol is described in RFC 2060.
The various standards discussed herein by reference to particular RFC's are hereby incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. These RFC's are available to the public through the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and can be retrieved from its Web site (http://www.ietf.org/rfc.html). The specified protocols are not intended to be limited to the specific RFC's quoted herein above but are intended to include extensions and revisions thereto. Such extensions and/or revisions may or may not be encompassed by current and/or future RFC's.
A host of e-mail server and client products have been developed in order to foster e-mail communication over the Internet. E-mail server software includes such products as sendmail-based servers, Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes Server, and Novell GroupWise; sendmail-based servers refer to a number of variations of servers originally based upon the sendmail program developed for the UNIX operating systems. A large number of e-mail clients have also been developed that allow a user to retrieve and view e-mail messages from a server; example products include Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, Netscape Messenger, and Eudora. In addition, some e-mail servers, or e-mail servers in conjunction with a Web server, allow a Web browser to act as an e-mail client using the HTTP standard.
As the Internet has become more widely used, it has also created new risks for corporations. Breaches of computer security by hackers and intruders and the potential for compromising sensitive corporate information are a very real and serious threat.
Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) offer a quick and effective extension of a wired network or standard local area network (LAN). FIG. 1 depicts a typical LAN 190 including both wired and wireless components. The wired component depicted in FIG. 1 includes a variety of connected systems including local servers 120, local clients 130 and network accessible data storage components 110. By simply installing access points 180A, 180B to the wired network (e.g., Ethernet 150 and router 140), personal computers and laptops equipped with WLAN cards 170A, 170B can connect with the wired network at broadband speeds.
Over the last few years, most deployments of WLANs have conformed to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11b standard that operates over the unregulated 2.4 GHz frequency spectrum. The 802.11b standard offers connectivity of up to 11 Mbps—fast enough to handle large e-mail attachments and run bandwidth-intensive applications like video conferencing. While the 802.11b standard now dominates the WLAN market, other variations of the 802.11 standard, such as 802.11a, 802.11g, and 802.1X, are being developed to handle increased speeds. WLAN vendors have committed to supporting a variety of standards. The various 802.11 standards developed by the IEEE are available for download via URL: http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/802.11.html; these various standards are hereby incorporated by this reference herein.
As businesses connected their LANs to the Internet 160, they installed firewalls 145 to protect their local networks and act as security gates to fend off unauthorized traffic coming from the Internet's information highway such as potential hacker 135. The mobility of air-bound, wireless networks creates security concerns where threats can come from any direction and are not limited to the wired infrastructure. Established security practices of guarding a few wired entry points to the network are no longer effective. A firewall 145 may effectively deter an attack from a wired hacker 135 via the Internet 160; however, wireless hackers 195A, 195B typically enter the LAN 190 through access points 180A, 180B that are already behind the firewall 145. Companies must constantly monitor their airwaves to survey wireless activity and guard against intruders.
Because wireless communication is broadcast over radio waves, eavesdroppers 195A, 195B who merely listen to the airwaves can easily pick up unencrypted messages. Additionally, messages encrypted with the Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) security protocol can be decrypted with a little time and easily available hacking tools. These passive intruders put businesses at risk of exposing sensitive information to corporate espionage.
The theft of an authorized user's identity poses one the greatest threats. Service Set Identifiers (SSIDs) that act as crude passwords and Media Access Control (MAC) addresses that act as personal identification numbers are often used to verify that clients are authorized to connect with an access point. However, existing encryption standards are not foolproof and allow knowledgeable intruders to pick up approved SSIDs and MAC addresses to connect to a WLAN as an authorized user with the ability to steal bandwidth, corrupt or download files, and wreak havoc on the entire network.
Outsiders who cannot gain access to a WLAN can none-the-less pose security threats by jamming or flooding the airwaves with static noise that causes WLAN signals to collide and produce CRC errors. These Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks effectively shut down the wireless network in a similar way that DoS attacks affect wired networks.
Careless and deceitful actions by both loyal and disgruntled employees also present security risks and performance issues to wireless networks with unauthorized access points, improper security measures, and network abuses. Because a simple WLAN can be easily installed by attaching a $150 access point to a wired network and a $100 WLAN card to a laptop, employees are deploying unauthorized WLANs or peer-to-peer wireless connections 175 when IT departments are slow to adopt the new technology.
Incorrectly configured access points are an avoidable but significant hole in WLAN security. Many access points are initially configured to broadcast unencrypted SSIDs of authorized users. While SSIDs are intended to be passwords to verify authorized users, intruders can easily steal an unencrypted SSID to assume the identity of an authorized user.
Authorized users can also threaten the integrity of the network with abuses that drain connection speeds, consume bandwidth, and hinder a WLAN's overall performance. A few users who clog the network by trading large files such as MP3 audio or MPEG video files can affect the productivity of everyone on the wireless network.
The systems and methods according to the present invention provide solutions to these and other security and/or management issues associated with WLANs and/or encrypted computer networks.

Method and system for encrypted network management and intrusion detection


Disclosed are a polyimide precursor composition that includes a polyamic acid selected from compounds represented by Chemical Formulae 1 to 3, and a combination thereof; and a cross-linking agent selected from a compound represented by Chemical Formula 4, a compound represented by Chemical Formula 5, and a combination thereof; an article including a cross-linked polyimide using the same; and a display device including the article.

1. Field
A polyimide precursor composition, an article prepared by using the same, and a display device including the article are disclosed.
2. Description of the Related Art
A colorless transparent material has been researched for diverse purposes such as for an optical lens, a functional optical film, and a disk substrate, but as information devices are being further miniaturized and display devices are providing higher resolution, more functions and greater performance are required from the material.
Therefore, a colorless material having excellent transparency, heat resistance, mechanical strength, and flexibility is continuously sought.

Polyimide precursor composition, article prepared by using same, and display device including the article


Methods for forming or etching silicon trench isolation (STI) in a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) region and a bulk silicon region, and a semiconductor device so formed, are disclosed. The STI can be etched simultaneously in the SOI and bulk silicon regions by etching to an uppermost silicon layer using an STI mask, conducting a timed etch that etches to a desired depth in the bulk silicon region and stops on a buried insulator of the SOI region, and etching through the buried insulator of the SOI region. The buried insulator etch for this process can be done with little complexity as part of a hardmask removal step. Further, by choosing the same depth for both the bulk and SOI regions, problems with a subsequent CMP process are avoided. The invention also cleans up the boundary between the SOI and bulk regions where silicon nitride residuals may exist.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to shallow trench isolations (STI), and more particularly, to methods of forming an STI in a semiconductor device including a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and bulk silicon regions.
2. Related Art
As technologies become increasingly complex, demand for integrated circuits (IC) customer having more functionality is growing. In order to provide ICs with optimum designs, high-performance complementary metal-oxide semiconductors (CMOS) devices are required with additional features such as enhanced dynamic random access memory (eDRAM) or radio frequency (RF) applications. A challenge that arises relative to providing all of these features is that each feature is optimized under different conditions. For example, high-performance CMOS may be completed on silicon on insulator (SOI) wafers but RF and eDRAM may be built in bulk silicon.
Conventional techniques exist for making patterned SOI (part bulk and part SOI) wafers for the purposes of merging the best of "bulk technologies" with the best of "SOI technologies." One such technique that utilizes this approach is integrating eDRAM in SOI. In this case, the eDRAM array blocks are built in bulk silicon and logic is built in the SOI. Another technique that may use this approach is the emerging 65 nm on SOI technology. Substrates at the 65 nm stage may be comprised of Nfets on SOI and Pfets in bulk silicon. This process technology is referred to as "HOT" for Hybrid Orientation Technology.
One challenge facing both examples mentioned above is that fabricators must provide isolation of active diffusions for both SOI and bulk regions. Conventional techniques for providing this isolation require two separate shallow trench processes: one for the bulk silicon and one for the SOI. The above-described process is very complicated and cost-ineffective. In particular, there are a number of challenges with shallow trench isolation (STI) processing relative to patterned SOI versus bulk silicon.
A first challenge relates to the depth of etching for the STI. For SOI regions, the depth of the STI etch is the thickness of the silicon and the etch stops on top of the buried insulator, which is usually under 1000 A in depth. For bulk processes, however, the depth of the STI is much deeper than current SOI thickness, e.g., usually 3500 A or deeper. When patterning the SOI, there are a few choices for selecting an STI etch depth relative to bulk silicon. A first choice is to use the SOI STI etch depth, which does not give enough isolation in the bulk area. A second choice is to use the bulk STI etch depth, which is a very difficult etch to perform in the SOI region. A third choice is to have the STI etch depth in the SOI region equal to the normal depth in the SOI STI process and have the bulk silicon region depth equal to the normal bulk STI depth. This process, however, requires an extra photoresist layer and is likely to cause problems with STI planarization.
A second challenge with STI processing in patterned SOI arises from a particular process defect that is intrinsic to wafers created by using the Separation by Implantation of Oxygen (SIMOX) process. In a patterned SIMOX process, oxide hardmask islands are initially created on a bulk wafer, shielding wafer regions from a high-dose, high-energy oxygen implant. During the formation of the buried oxide (BOX), through a high-temperature oxidation procedure, the edges of the BOX (i.e., the BOX at the SOI-bulk boundary) become thicker than the BOX in the SOI field regions. In many instances along the boundary of the SOI-bulk area, the buried oxide actually breaches the surface of the wafer. Because an oxide etch is needed to remove the oxide that is grown on a SIMOX wafer, those areas where the buried oxide breaches the surface are also etched away leaving small divots on the wafer surface. The wafers then go through pad oxidation and pad silicon nitride (SiN) deposition. In the SiN deposition process, these holes become filled with nitride and can remain on the patterned wafer throughout most of the STI processing if they are not etched during the STI etch process. Once STI has been filled and planarized, pad SiN needs to be stripped off the wafer surface. Divots which form near the surface that have SiN plugged into them become free of SiN after etching, and will remain free of material until the next deposition step, i.e., gate polysilicon. Since polysilicon can be made electrically active—either by doping or conversion to silicide—divots filled with polysilicon can cause device shorting. This problem has been observed in early SOI eDRAM hardware. Thus, patterned SIMOX wafers must incorporate a process whereby nitride residuals lying in sub-surface divots are removed completely.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need in the art for a process the addresses the problems of the related art.

STI formation in semiconductor device including SOI and bulk silicon regions

International Business Machines Corporation


A solid-state lighting fixture assembly having a lighting fixture with a socket configured to receive a plug associated with one or more accessories to allow for easy in-field mounting of accessories, e.g., controls, onto installed lighting fixtures. The socket may be internally electrically connected to an auxiliary power output of a driver and/or to a battery power pack within the lighting fixture assembly, thereby providing direct-current voltage power for the accessory and, also, allowing for signal transmission to and from the accessory. Each accessory includes one or more sensors and communication components to provide the connected lighting fixture assembly with specific capabilities including, but not limited to, motion detection, ambient light level detection, ambient temperature measurement and wireless communications. The wireless communication can also be used to control one or a group of lighting fixtures and transmit sensor data associated with, for example, monitoring space utilization and asset tracking.

Solid-state lighting fixtures are well known in the prior art, particularly in connection with light emitting diodes (LED). Many of these lighting fixtures are provided with accessories, such as, sensors for detecting ambient conditions in controlling light output from the fixtures. The sensors may detect an ambient level of darkness, e.g., detecting dusk or dawn, in determining whether light output is required. In addition, sensors may detect motion, thus causing light activation upon detection of movement of an individual or object (e.g., a vehicle) in an area.
Sensors must be wired and properly connected to a driver of a light fixture to provide power to the sensor and to allow signal transmission to the driver to respond to sensor readings. Since internal wiring is required, sensors are generally factory mounted, with customers pre-specifying the sensors upon ordering light fixtures. Later in-field retrofitting of light fixtures to add sensors, or other accessories, is costly and time intensive due to the typical need to disassemble the light fixtures, possibly even requiring the dismounting of the fixture.

Solid-state lighting fixtures with socket connections for accessories and accessories for use therewith


A signal processing system, especially for use in vibration control, wherein noise-free signals inductive of the timing of a primary source and of the timing of at least one interfering secondary source of periodic vibrations are provided as inputs, together with a vibration input signal derived from a sensor sampling the vibrations, and wherein the signals are processed to produce an output representative of interference free vibration of the primary source.

There have been many attempts to achieve noise reduction by the use of active control and there are many publications relating to these previous systems. Most have dealt with the control of a single source of unwanted vibration, while others have treated multiple sources as a single, more complicated source. For example, in the control of cabin noise in propeller driven aircraft, the individual propellers are separate sources which are physically separate and, since the engine speeds are not identical, not completely coherent. However, previous methods to control aircraft cabin noise, have considered the vibrating cabin walls as a single, distributed source. Vide Warnaka, G. E. & Zalas, J. M. "Active Attenuation of noise in a closed structure." UK Patent 2,132,053: Groves, H. W. "Noise Suppression." UK Patent 2,126,837: Nelson, P. A. & Elliott, S. J. "Improvements in or relating to active noise reduction." UK Patent 2,149,614.
Most active control systems use a measure of the residual vibration at a point where reduction is desired to adjust the actuator drives vide Chaplin, G. "Active attenuation of recurring sounds." UK Patent 1,577,322. This measure will be corrupted by noise, due either to extraneous "background" vibration or to electronic noise. The level of this noise will limit the performance of the control system. If the source of vibration to be controlled is periodic, or almost periodic, in nature then the process of synchronous averaging can be used to reject noise which is not harmonically related to the vibration source. A signal from the vibration source is needed to synchronize the averaging process. This may be a signal from a tachometer or an applied voltage or similar. If the noise is random in nature then the ratio of the signal power to the noise power is increased in proportion to the number of averages. However, if the noise is from another periodic source of not identical speed, the noise to signal ratio is an oscillating function of the averaging time. Reference is made to FIG. A of the drawings, in which the envelope decays only slowly and scales with the best period of the two periodic sources. Conventional active control means then adopt one of two strategies.
The first is to average for a sufficiently long time, compared with the beat period, so that the envelope of the noise to signal ratio has decayed to a small enough value.
The second is to treat the vibration as if it were coming from a single source. This requires the system to adapt on a time-scale short compared with the beat period.
The first method cannot be used if the signal, that is the unwanted vibration, is not constant for long enough. The second method fails if the two fundamental frequencies drift apart producing a very rapid beating.

Signal processing system for sensing a periodic signal in the presence of another interfering signal

Active Noise and Vibration Technologies, Inc.


A slit nozzle which is easily manufactured and in which no capillary action occurs, and an apparatus for supplying a treatment liquid using the slit nozzle are disclosed. The slit nozzle is constructed of a left portion and a right portion joined to each other, one of which is made of metal and the other of which is made of resin. In the apparatus for supplying a treatment liquid using one or more of the slit nozzles, the slit nozzles are provided in a circulating passage of a treatment liquid whose temperature is controlled.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a slit nozzle comprising left and right portions made of different materials, and an apparatus for supplying a treatment liquid using the slit nozzle.
2. Description of Background Art
Conventionally, there has been known a slit nozzle in which an opening of a predetermined width for ejecting a coating liquid is provided, and the nozzle is moved relatively with respect to an object to be treated so as to apply a coating liquid to the object to be treated in a predetermined width. With the slit nozzle having an opening of a predetermined width, it is possible to apply a coating liquid efficiently without wasting the coating liquid.
However, as an object to be treated becomes large, a single slit nozzle has limits with respect to the time and the amount of supplying a coating liquid. For example, if it takes too much time from the start of supplying a coating liquid to the finish, non-uniformity undesirably occurs. This problem occurs when a coating liquid is supplied so as to form a thick coating.
In order to supply a coating liquid so as to form a thick coating, Document 1 has disclosed that a coating liquid is applied to an object to be coated two times by using two application heads (i.e., slit nozzles) each of which comprises left and right portions.
Document 2 has disclosed that a predetermined thickness profile is formed in the ends of a coating film within a short range without non-uniformity by using two application dies (i.e., slit nozzles) each of which comprises left and right portions and has a slit of a width different from that of the other die. By using such two dies, the position where the coating liquid is applied is displaced with respect to the width direction, and the applied area becomes different. As a result of this, it is possible to form a desired thickness profile with respect to the width direction.
Document 3 has disclosed that a coating liquid is applied to an object to be coated by using two dies at the same time, each of which comprises left and right portions, in a state where the coating liquid ejected from a coating apparatus is not layered on the object to be coated.
[Document 1] Japanese Patent No. 3236703 (pages 4-6, FIG. 9)
[Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-102759 (pages 5-10, FIG. 4)
[Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-907 (pages 4-8, FIG. 2)
However, in the conventional art, it is necessary to perform accurate processing to hard metal such as stainless steel or SUS in order to manufacture a slit nozzle because the ejection opening and the ejection width of the slit nozzle needs to be very precise. It takes a lot of time and labor to perform such accurate processing, and also it is expensive.
In addition, even if accuracy of the processing is improved as much as possible, a very small gap is generated partly in the boundary of the two portions of the slit nozzle due to the large width of the slit nozzle, in which capillary action occurs and the treatment liquid soaks therethrough. This small volume of treatment liquid becomes a particle or the like when it is dried and/or cured.
The present invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the object of the present invention is to provide a slit nozzle and an apparatus for supplying a treatment liquid using the slit nozzle in which processing to a slit nozzle is easy, and no capillary action occurs.

Slit nozzle and apparatus for supplying treatment liquid using slit nozzle


In accordance with the principles of the present invention an exercise device is provided that comprises an oscillating platform and a support platform. The oscillating platform is connected to the support platform by a support having a main axis and an oscillating platform axis extending at an angle from the main axis, such that the oscillating platform defines a plane that is non-parallel to a plane defined by the support platform. An oscillating platform stabilizer enables the free angular undulating movement of the oscillating platform. Inertia or momentum of the angular movement of the platform is provided, thereby providing a fluid and continuous change in the angular orientation of the platform.

The benefits of regular exercise have been well established and accepted. However, due to time constraints, inclement weather, and other reasons, many people are prevented from activities such as participating in sports, walking, jogging, running, and swimming. As a result, a variety of exercise equipment has been developed. It is generally desirable to exercise a large number of different muscles so as to provide for balanced physical development, and to achieve optimum levels of exercise. It is further advantageous for exercise equipment to provide smooth and natural motion, thus avoiding significant jarring and strain that can damage both muscles and joints.
While various exercise systems are known in the prior art, these systems suffer from a variety of shortcomings that limit their benefits and/or include unnecessary risks and undesirable features. For example, stationary bicycles are a popular exercise system in the prior art; however, these machines employ a sitting position and require the user's legs to move in a single, fixed, repetitive motion. Cross-country skiing exercise devices are also utilized to simulate the gliding motion of cross-country skiing. While cross-country skiing devices exercise more muscles than stationary bicycles, the substantially flat shuffling foot motion provided by the ski devices limits the range of motion of some of the muscles being exercised.
Treadmills are still a further type of exercise device in the prior art. Treadmills allow natural walking or jogging motions; however, treadmills can enable significant impact loads to be transferred to the hips, knees, ankles, and other joints of the user, particularly when the treadmill is used to simulate running or jogging.
Another type of exercise device simulates stair climbing. Such devices can be composed of foot levers that are pivotally mounted to a frame at their forward ends and have foot-receiving pads at their rearward ends. The user pushes his/her feet down against the foot levers to simulate stair climbing. Resistance to the downward movement of the foot levers is provided by springs, fluid shock absorbers and/or other elements. These devices exercise more muscles than stationary bicycles; however, the rather limited range of up-and-down motion utilized does not exercise the user's leg muscles through a large range of motion. The substantially vertical reciprocating motion of such stair climbing exercise machines can result in substantial impact loads being applied to the hips, knees, ankles and other joints of the user. Further, the up and down reciprocating motion can induce a hyperextension of a user's knee.
A relatively new class of exercise devices is capable of producing elliptical motion that better simulates the natural stride of a person. Elliptical motion is much more natural and analogous to running, jogging, and walking than the linear-type, back and forth motions produced by some prior art exercise equipment. However, these devices that create an elliptical motion are limited to analogizing to running, jogging, and walking motions.
The exercise devices of the prior art largely provide the user with a substantially fixed and limited range of motion that many users' find to be repetitious and uninteresting. It is well known that the more stimulating and enjoyable the experience of exercising is to a user, the longer and more frequently that user will exercise. The very advantage of the exercise equipment described above—the ability to use such equipment conveniently, in a relatively confined space, and in inclement weather—results in exercise devices that are relatively monotonous to use.
Accordingly, a continuing need exists for an exercise device that provides an enjoyable stimulating experience and avoids being relatively monotonous to use. A need exists for an exercise device that enables a user to use his or her own creativity to define the exercise movements. There is also a need for an exercise device that enables the user to exercise muscles in a smooth natural manner, without applying undesirable impact loads to the user's joints. There is also a need for an exercise device that enables a user to improve his or her stability, coordination, rhythm and balance. It would be desirable for such an exercise device to be configured for convenient use in a relatively confined space even in inclement weather.

Exercise device having a movable platform


A photographing system includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element and a fifth lens element. The first lens element has positive refractive power. The second lens element has negative refractive power. The third lens element with positive refractive power has a convex object-side surface and a convex image-side surface. The fourth lens element with negative refractive power has a concave object-side surface. The object-side surface and an image-side surface of the fourth lens element are aspheric. The fifth lens element with refractive power has a concave image-side surface. An object-side surface and the image-side surface of the fifth lens element are aspheric, and the fifth lens element has at least one inflection point formed on the image-side surface thereof.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a photographing system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a compact photographing system applicable to electronic products.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, with the popularity of mobile products with camera functionalities, the demand for miniaturizing a photographing system is increasing. The sensor of a conventional photographing camera is typically a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) image sensor or a CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) sensor. As advanced semiconductor manufacturing technologies have allowed the pixel size of sensors to be reduced and compact photographing systems have gradually evolved toward the field of higher megapixels, there is an increasing demand for compact photographing systems featuring better image quality.
A conventional compact photographing system employed in a portable electronic product mainly adopts a four-element lens structure. Due to the popularity of mobile products with high specification, such as smart phones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), the pixel and image-quality requirements of the compact photographing system have increased rapidly. However, the conventional four-piece lens structure cannot satisfy the requirements of the compact photographing system.
A conventional compact photographing system utilizes fifth-element lens structure for enhancing the image quality and resolution of the photographing system, but the photographing system has a fourth lens element with a concave image-side surface. The outer diameters of the fourth lens element and the fifth lens element would be increased and the total track length of the photographing system would also be increased by such arrangement, so that the compact size demand would be restricted. Therefore, a need exists in the art for providing a photographing system for use in a mobile electronic product that has excellent imaging quality without an excessive total track length.


There is provided an hydraulic reeling-in device for a water-transmitting, flexible hose, having mounting elements, a hose reel, an hydraulic driver kinematically connected to the hose reel, a water inlet connectable to a water-supplying pipe line and a water outlet provided with a connector for the hose. There is further provided a valve having two positions, a first position in which the water is permitted to pass from the water inlet through the water outlet into the hose, and a second position in which water is permitted to pass from the water inlet to the hydraulic driver in order to reel-in the hose, and a tubular member adapted, in the second position of the valve, to conduct water to the hydraulic driver.

Such devices which are intended to replace the bothersome manual rewinding of the hose after use are known. PCT Application WO 03/078797 for instance, discloses a reciprocating water piston motor which drives the reel. The same purpose is accomplished in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,813,627 and 5,560,391, which use a spiral spring that is loaded upon unwinding. Similarly spring-loaded is a device disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 6,488,224 that also features a hydraulic brake governor to maintain a more or less constant rewinding speed. U.S. Pat. No. 6,178,992 uses an electric motor as power source.
All these devices are, however, cumbersome, complex, expensive and, what is most important, unsafe.


An electron emission device includes a first substrate and a second substrate facing each other and forming a vacuum vessel. An electron emission region is provided on the first substrate, and a light-emitting region having a light-emitting area and a non-light-emitting area is provided on the second substrate. The light-emitting region includes at least one phosphor layer formed on the second substrate. At least one anode covers the phosphor layer. The anode is also positioned such that there is no gap between the anode and the non-light-emitting area. The shape of the anode in light-emitting areas follows the shape of the phosphor layer with a gap between the anode and the phosphor layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electron emission device and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to an electron emission device with a light-emitting region having thin metal film capable of improving brightness and color purity of screen and a manufacturing method of the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, electron emission devices include hot or cold cathodes as electron-providing sources. Among the known electron emission devices having cold cathodes are the field emitter array (FEA) type, the metal-insulator-metal (MIM) type, the metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) type, the surface conduction emitter (SCE) type, and the ballistic electron surface emitter (BSE) type. While these electron emission devices are different from each other in terms of specific structure, each generally includes an electron emission source for emitting electrons in a vacuum vessel, and a light-emitting region having phosphor layers facing the electron emission unit to emit light and display desired images.

Electron emission device and manufacturing method thereof


The method is used for downloading firmware upgrades to a non-volatile memory (NVM) of a targeted remote programmable embedded field-deployed device over a communication network. The device is connected to the network and requires no human intervention at the remote site. The firmware includes a small upgrade program which performs programming tasks on the device according to commands received by the server. The method carried out by the upgrade program allows to upgrade the application program, the communication protocol stack, a set of mutable interrupt vector table or itself without the need of additional memory. It also has a bootstrap function which is responsible for verifying the integrity of the firmware upon reset of a device before transferring control to or back to the application program. Upgrades can be either server-initiated (the firmware provider pushes the new version out to the field) or device-initiated (the device pulls the latest firmware version from the server).

In the past, it has been exceedingly difficult to reprogram firmwares associated with field-deployed devices. These firmwares contain data and programs to perform a variety of tasks, including controlling a plurality of output devices in response to a plurality of input devices. The firmware data and programs, hereafter generically referred to as "firmware", are typically stored in a non-volatile memory (NVM) contained in each device. Periodically, it is necessary or desirable to upgrade the firmware of each device in order to fix bugs or to improve the performance thereof.
Several methods were devised in the past to upgrade firmware. One conventional method is that the firmware provider sends the user (or field service personnel) a new NVM containing the upgraded firmware. To perform the firmware upgrade, the old NVM which stores the previous firmware is physically removed (unplugged) from the processor module and replaced with the new NVM containing the upgraded firmware. A typical NVM used in such a scenario is one-time programmable read-only memory (ROM).
A first drawback to this method is that it is causes an undesirable transportation delay. The transportation delay is caused by the fact that the new ROM is a physical unit, which must be transported from the firmware provider up to the field-deployed device. These delays are often extremely expensive and inconvenient for users, especially if devices are taken out of operation pending the arrival of the firmware upgrade.
A second drawback to the above-mentioned method is that it is hardware intensive. Typically, the device must be physically removed from its casing and the ROM must be replaced manually. Although this approach may initially appear simple, replacing the ROM may not be the best solution in many circumstances. For instance, sockets are expensive and are often the source of reliability problems. Conversely, the removal of through-hole ROM chips that have been soldered into a board can be time consuming and difficult. If surface mount packaging is used, then specialized equipment is needed to replace the parts. Yet, even with an experienced person doing the de-soldering, there are always the risks that the whole board be ruined accidentally. Furthermore, if foundry ROM programmed-at-the-mask level is used, then there is the additional issue of the lead-time required to obtain the newer version of the parts.
A third drawback of the conventional method is that it requires additional hardware, namely the NVM itself. The firmware provider must typically incur the additional cost of providing, programming and shipping the new NVM for the purpose of performing the upgrade. Additionally, if the firmware provider does not have any NVM available when the user requests an upgrade, then the user must wait an additional period of time before the upgrade can be performed.
Another method is to replace the ROM type NVM with an electrically erasable and re-programmable, more particularly an alterable non-volatile random access memory, for instance EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory) or Flash memory, and store the firmware therein. Conventional methods used hitherto using such memories typically include a separate interface to the field device, such as a serial port or similar access arrangement, for downloading information. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,335 to Nash et al. teaches such a method. The EEPROM memory is generally divided in 16 kB blocks that can each hold a new version of the firmware, in effect multiplying the memory requirements for an upgradable device. U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,256 to Bealkowski et al. teaches a similar method for upgrading the BIOS firmware on personal computers.
These methods are frequently not suitable, as they generally require an operator to go near the field-deployed device in order to connect a downloading device, such as a personal computer or another programming apparatus. The operation must be repeated for each device to be upgraded. This task is thus very tedious and time consuming. It is consequently a very expensive way of achieving the necessary reprogramming of field-deployed devices. A further drawback is that on-site re-programming is often not possible because of the location of many field-deployed devices. Furthermore, the devices may be enclosed in outdoor housings which would need to be opened to access the download connection. Such openings of the housings are undesirable as adverse weather conditions can wreak havoc with the delicate electronics utilized therein.
Another possible method is to reprogram memories remotely via a network link, thereby eliminating transport delays and most, if not all, hardware manipulations. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,632 to Deegan et al. teaches how to reprogram NVM via an Ethernet connection linking a personal computer to a communication daughter board interfaced to the device's motherboard. The firmware upgrade is downloaded to the daughter board's dual port random access memory (RAM). The daughter board then reprograms the Flash NVM from its dual port RAM. U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,633 to Schrier et al. teaches how to reprogram memories in field devices over a power communications link, by further controlling the amount of current the device under upgrade draws in the process. This method requires doubling the memory requirements because the new firmware is stored in a temporary memory area reserved for new applications. The upper memory is utilized to accept new firmware during download operations. The lower memory contains the normal, or currently running firmware. U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,198 to Nelson et al. teaches a method of remote Flash memory reprogramming that uses techniques of temporary RAM buffering and program execution as it replaces the old firmware with the upgrade. U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,604 to Russell et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,286 to Pyle et al. teach how to remotely alter firmware using similar means, by which the upgrade is first stored to RAM before being loaded in the NVM.
Although the above-cited patents teach various methods of upgrading firmware via a network link, they involve doubling memory requirements to hold the old and new versions of the firmware at a given time during the process, thus adding costs to the devices.

Method of remotely upgrading firmware in field-deployed devices


An combined bottle holder and activity center apparatus for an infant is provided. The apparatus generally comprises at least one mounting strap portion having upper and lower ends; a holding ring portion disposed at a lower end of the mounting strap portion; a support strap portion coupled to at least one of the mounting strap and holding ring portions; and, a plurality of interactive elements coupled in manipulable manner to at least one of the mounting strap and holding ring portions. The holding ring portion defines a looped receiving space for a base portion of a feed bottle. The support strap portion includes an engaging member for retentively engaging a forward portion of the feed bottle. Each of the interactive elements is thematically configured with visual and tactile distinction one from the other.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject combined bottle holder and activity center apparatus for an infant is generally directed to an apparatus for use with an infant car seat or other support structure about an area where an infant may be seated or reclined. More specifically, the subject apparatus is one which may be attached to the support apparatus to safely suspend a feed bottle for a seated or reclined infant's self-feeding therefrom, and do so while presenting a variety of elements for stimulating and interactively engaging the infant. The Apparatus in this manner provides a readily adaptable tool for simultaneously comforting and captivating the infant, and at the same time easing the care giving burden on the infant's parent or other attendant.
The challenges of caring for an infant are well appreciated by adults universally. Even for the most organized and tenderly efficient mothers, the constant all-absorbing nature of the care giving responsibility is at times overwhelming especially when needs of the infant requiring certain immediate response arise frequently at sporadic intervals. The most prominent of such needs may be the frequent feedings required for infants which, for the sake of the infants' health, cannot be deferred or even delayed by any significant amount of time. Unfortunately, the hunger pangs of infants occur quite abruptly, often while the caregiver is tending to another important task. The caregiver must then set the task aside altogether in order to administer the feeding. Some of the most inopportune times for such occurrences may be, for example, while the caregiver is in the process driving, shopping (with the infant seated in a carriage or in a portable car seat carried in the cart), or carrying out household chores.
Typically, when the infant cries out, the caregiver will very shortly, if not immediately, thereafter pull the vehicle over, withdraw to a private location, or otherwise drop the other task at hand in order to tend to the infant. The caregiver will then hold the feed bottle to the infant's mouth for the duration of feeding—which especially for younger infants—amounts to a considerable period of time.
While parental aids are available to help in supporting the bottle during the feeding process, no apparatus heretofore known provides such help in a sufficiently safe, effective, and simple manner to reliably assure the responsible caregiver enough to relinquish any meaningful measure of control over the feeding process thereto. The more effective of the contraptions heretofore known tend to be bulky and complicated to the point of being too cumbersome for use regularly. Even when they are properly used, the resulting assemblies prove overly restrictive and do little to draw and occupy the infant's attention. More often than not, the resulting assemblies also obstruct the caregiver's clear and open view of the infant's face during feeding, hindering the caregiver's ability to monitor the feeding and visually interact with the infant.
Other devices heretofore known fail for various reasons to even provide stable support of the feed bottle. Nor do the known devices provide adequate support while preserving a safe and forgiving structure immediately about the infant's face and body. Consequently, there is a need for an apparatus of simple structure which provides safe and reliable support for a feed bottle, whereby an infant seated or reclined therebeneath may effectively self-feed while being stimulated and mentally engaged during the process.
2. Prior Art
Devices for holding baby bottles are known in the art, as are novelty toy items and baby activity centers.
The best prior art known to Applicant includes: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,938,861; 6,961,961; 4,722,713; 6,213,547; 6,827,317; 6,082,681; 6,003,821; 5,397,039; 4,320,883; D573,662; D266,273; D375,796; 5,704,505; 5,613,657; 5,664,746; 5,135,189; D325,636; 4,630,793; 4,320,883; 6,971,612; 6,601,803; D462,775; 6,598,837; D454,957; 6,598,838; 6,705,576; D451,201; 6,386,490; D438,626; D413,984; D447,872; 6,056,246; D452,196; D443,933; 7,284,790; 7,012,541; 6,824,112; 5,312,282; 5,217,192; 3,512,301; 5,072,843. Such known devices, however, fail to provide the combination of features and advantages provided by the subject apparatus.

Combined bottle holder and activity center apparatus for infant