The dental products of this invention can be used to treat and prevent periodontal disease. They contain a synergistic mixture of poloxamers, and/or poloxamer congeners, plus xylitol. These active ingredients are present in specific amounts. It is also necessary to eliminate all irritants from the dental products of this invention. The dental products of this invention include a dentifrice paste or gel, powder, granules, disintegrable tablet, and a mouthwash, lozenge, and chewing gum.

75% of the US population suffer from periodontal disease, also known as pyorrhea or gum disease. This epidemic costs billions of dollars a year and causes much pain, whether or not the disease is treated. And many of the people diagnosed with periodontal disease must endure draconian "maintenance therapy" three to four times a year for the rest of their lives.
According to the Merck Manual 14.sup.th ed., page 2104, R. Berkow, ed., Merck & Co., Rahway, N.J., 1982!, the most common types of periodontal disease are gingivitis and periodontitis. Gingivitis (early stage gum disease) is an inflammation of the gingivae (gums), characterized by swelling, redness, change of normal contours, and bleeding. If gingivitis is allowed to progress, periodontitis (late stage gum disease), characterized by loss of tooth-supporting bone, will follow.
Again, according to the Merck Manual, the greatest single cause of periodontal disease is poor hygiene, indicated by the appearance of bacterial plaque and tartar (calcified plaque). It is felt that plaque and tartar are more sinister when they occur below the gum line than when they occur at or above the gum line. A well known periodontist has stated, "Plaque control is the alpha and omega of prevention, healing, and maintenance of periodontal health." S. Ramfjord, J. Clin. Periodontol., 14, 433 (1987)!
Daily brushing and flossing will prevent the majority of gum disease. But there still remain a number of unanswered questions:
1. Why do so many people practice poor oral hygiene? PA1 2. Why do some people who practice good oral hygiene (including some periodontists) nonetheless contract periodontal disease? PA1 3. Why do many of those who spend thousands of dollars on periodontal therapy subsequently practice poor oral hygiene? PA1 4. Why do some maintenance phase periodontal patients, who faithfully practice good oral hygiene, continue to experience the ravages of periodontal disease?
The aim of this patent is to answer these questions, and thereby improve the lives of many people. The dental products of this invention represent a significant adjunct in the treatment and prevention of periodontal disease.

Dental products to treat and prevent periodontal disease


According to embodiments of the present invention, there are disclosed an organic thin film transistor (OTFT) array substrate, a display device and a method for manufacturing the same, which are capable of improving quality of a channel. The OTFT array substrate comprises: a transparent substrate, a gate line and a data line which are formed on the transparent substrate, and a pixel unit which are defined by crossing of the gate line and the data line; the pixel unit including an organic thin film transistor (OTFT) and a pixel electrode; on a channel region of an active layer of the OTFT, there is provided a first passivation layer unit.

An organic thin film transistor (OTFT) is a logic unit device employing an organic semiconductor for an active layer. As compared to an inorganic transistor, the OTFT has the following main advantages. (1) There are more film technologies for forming an organic thin film, such as Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technology, molecular self-assembly technology, vacuum evaporation, ink-jet printing, and so on, and thereby the manufacturing process can be made to be simple, diversified, and at a low cost; (2) organic materials are easy to be obtained; (3) the manufacturing process of the OTFT can be more simple, does not require strict regulation on ambient conditions, and does not have a harsh requirement on purity, and thus costs of a device can be reduced effectively, and the device has characteristics of being suitable for large-area processing, flexible substrate compliance, and low costs for process. Owing to the above merits, the OTFT holds promising application prospective in the field of flat panel displays.
However, in accordance with the manufacturing process of an OTFT at present, in the course of producing a conductive thin film on an active layer and patterning the conductive thin film with a photolithography process (i.e., in the course of producing a first contact layer unit, a second contact layer unit, and source and drain electrodes), a portion in the active layer functioning as a channel may be damaged to a certain degree; the quality of the channel directly affects the quality of the OTFT, and in turn, the quality of a display panel is affected.

OTFT array substrate, display device and method for manufacturing the same


A mounting device is provided for mounting a window regulator drive unit on a molded plastic mounting panel. A plurality of flexible tabs are molded integral with the mounting panel and adapted to engage with the window regulator drive unit to retain the drive unit on the mounting panel. A molded plastic cap is adapted to fit over the drive unit and has integrally molded mounting fingers for engaging with complimentary integrally molded mounting fingers provided on the mounting panel so that rotation of the plastic cap causes inter-engagement of the mounting fingers and the drive unit is captured between the cap and the mounting panel. The cap has slots therein which become engaged with projecting lugs of the flexible tabs upon rotation of the cap relative to the mounting panel so that the flexible tabs become blocked and cannot be disengaged from their respective engagement with the drive unit. In addition, at least one of the mounting fingers has a ramp surface thereon so that the cap progressively wedges the cap into tighter engagement with the mounting panel to further assure retention of the cap on the mounting panel.

In Compeau et al., a molded plastic mounting panel is provided for mounting a window and a window regulator in a vehicle door. The mounting panel is comprised of a one-piece plastic molded member having a central planar mounting plate adapted to mount the window regulator, and a plurality of spaced apart spokes molded integrally with the center planar mounting plate and radiating generally forwardly and/or rearwardly therefrom to mount a guide channel. The guide channel receives the edges of the window.
The window guide channels are integrally molded with the radiating spokes. The spokes are hollow tubular members of generally circular cross section. A plurality of aperture mounting brackets are molded integrally with the spokes for receiving fasteners by which the mounting panel is mounted on the vehicle door. A plurality of snap fasteners are integrally molded with the mounting panel for snap together fastening of such door operating hardware as the window regulator, window regulator motor (in cases of powered operation), door handle and door latch control rods.
The present invention provides a new and improved mounting device for reliably mounting the window regulator on the mounting panel.


A screw compressor is disclosed, which includes a male rotor and a female rotor and an oil separator. The oil separator includes an outer cylinder, an inner cylinder located inside the outer cylinder, and an introducing flow path. An upper end portion of the inner cylinder is held by the oil separator and an outer wall of the inner cylinder is held independently of the inner wall of the outer cylinder. A diameter of an inner wall of the outer cylinder is configured so that the diameter is gradually reduced along a swirl flow path. Moreover, refrigerant that flowed in swirls and goes down along the swirl flow path. The separated gas refrigerant flows from a lower end portion of the inner cylinder into the inner cylinder and goes up and the separated oil flowing down along the inner wall surface of the outer cylinder.

In general, screw compressors used in refrigeration cycles include: a male rotor (main rotor) and a female rotor (sub rotor) whose rotating shafts are substantially parallel to each other and which are rotated in engagement with each other; a main casing (housing) having a bore for housing the male rotor and the female rotor; a discharge casing (housing wall) that covers the opening of the bore in abutment against the discharge side end face of the main casing in the direction of the rotor shafts; a vertical cylindrical oil separator; and an oil sump for collecting oil separated at the oil separator.
One of the vertical cylindrical oil separators is centrifugal oil separator. In the centrifugal oil separator, oil is caused to adhere to a wall surface by centrifugal force induced by a swirl flow in a separation space. The oil adhering to the wall surface flows down along the wall surface and is collected in an oil sump (sump chamber) provided at the lower part. In general, the centrifugal oil separators are so configured that gas flowing therein is discharged from the upper part of the separation space.
As mentioned above, oil contained in gas discharged from the compression mechanism portion of a compressor is separated and recovered by separating action utilizing centrifugal force. An example of these methods is the cyclone separation disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 and 2. In this conventional example, gas and oil discharged from a compression mechanism portion are guided into a cyclone oil separation space provided at the upper part of an oil tank and separated from each other utilizing centrifugal force.

Screw compressor and chiller unit provided with same

Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning Technology (Hong Kong) Limited


Medical dressings and medical dressing kits that can be used to provide negative pressure wound therapy. The medical dressings include one or more normally-closed valves, and may include stand-off elements, barrier elements, closure elements, and septum elements. The medical dressing kits may further include pumps, fluid traps, and/or fittings.

The length of time over which medical dressings may remain in place over wounds may be limited by many factors. Among the factors that may limit the usable life of a medical dressing is the accumulation of fluids within the wound. Some medical dressings have incorporated absorbent materials to increase the time over which the medical dressings may remain in place over wounds. For example, absorbent materials such as hydrocolloids, foams, hydrogels, nonwovens (such as alginates and carboxymethylcelluloses), and combinations thereof have been used to increase the useful life of medical dressings.
Other approaches to increasing useful life of medical dressings have included the use of negative pressure wound therapy in which fluids are removed from the beneath the wound dressings without requiring removal of the dressings from the patient. Dressings adapted for delivery of negative pressure wound therapy (such as those described in, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,969,880; 5,261,893; 5,527,293; and 6,071,267 (all to Zamierowski)) often have constructions that can compromise the sterility of the wound over which they are placed. These products often require a tube or wound drain that is introduced either through a multi-piece dressing or under a single piece dressing. In either case, it is difficult (if not impossible) to obtain a good seal between the tube or wound drain and, during treatment, air can leak into the wound. That air can carry contamination into the wound and/or impair the effectiveness of the pressure-based therapy.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,333 describes a wound dressing for chest wounds with a one-way valve. The dressing may also be used in conjunction with a "suction producing device" that is inserted into the one-way valve. Negative pressure is applied by inserting the suction-producing device through the valve.

Medical dressings with valve and kits containing same


The present invention is to provide an optical subassembly with a co-axial package that enables to sense the temperature of the devices mounted within the subassembly with a relatively inexpensive chip thermistor. The subassembly includes a co-axial package and a FPC board to connect the subassembly to the outer circuit. The thermistor is mounted on the FPC board such that one electrode thereof is connected to a pattern formed on a surface opposite to a surface facing the subassembly and the other electrode is soldered to a via hole connecting two surfaces of the FPC board and this via hole is soldered directly to the subassembly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical subassembly installed in an optical transceiver, in particular, the invention relates to a receiver optical subassembly.
2. Related Prior Art
The conventional receiver optical subassembly (ROSA) is configured to install a temperature sensing device such as a thermistor and to adjust a bias voltage applied to a light-sensing device based on a temperature sensed by the thermistor. Especially, when an avalanche photodiode (APD) is used as the light-sensing device, it is required to adjust the bias voltage applied thereto based on an ambient temperature because the multiplication factor of the APD strongly depends on the temperature of the device. Japanese patent application published as JP-H05-243588A has disclosed an optical module installing the APD and a heat sink that serves as a bottom plate of the module package. On the bottom plate is installed a Peltier device, and the APD is mounted on the cooled plate of the Peltier device with a thermistor. The thermistor senses the temperature of the cooled plate to adjust the magnitude of the driving current supplied to the Peltier device. Thus, the temperature of the APD can be controlled.
When the optical subassembly is applied to an optical communication system whose bit rate is relatively low, for instance, slower than 2.5 Gbps, the optical subassembly is unnecessary to sense the temperature of the light-receiving device with the thermistor. However, if the bit rate of the optical communication system reaches 10 Gbps, or greater than 10 Gbps, it is typically adapted so that a box-shaped package, referred to as a butterfly package, is configured to mount a wiring substrate made of ceramic material on a bottom plate made of metal such as Kovar or copper tungsten (CuW), and to transmit signals on the interconnections that satisfies the impedance matching condition on the ceramic substrate.
Such a butterfly package generally provides enough space to install components therein compared with a cylindrical package, which is referred to as a co-axial package and is widely applied to the optical subassembly, and to form lead terminals in the side or bottom of the package to output the sensed signals from the thermistor. The thermistor installed in the package senses the case temperature of the package, which corresponds to the operating temperature of the APD to adjust the bias voltage applied thereto. Various characteristics of the APD, such as the breakdown voltage and the carrier multiplication factor, strongly depend on the temperature and, when the operating or ambient temperature of the APD varies, the bias voltage must be adjusted depending on the temperature.
However, the butterfly package has a fatal disadvantage that the price thereof is generally expensive compared to the co-axial package. Because the co-axial package is widely used not only in the optical communication system but also various consumer products, the price of the co-axial package is far cheaper than that of the butterfly package. In other words, this is the subject confronted with the optical subassembly.
Although the co-axial package has a great advantage in the price thereof compared to the butterfly package, the space for installing the components is quite small and restricts the number of lead pins that can electrically communicate with the outside of the package. The number of lead pins is restricted to from 4 to 6 at most. While, the standard ROSA requires 5 lead pins at least for the power supply of the pre-amplifier in the ROSA, the ground, the signals complementary to each other output from the pre-amplifier, and the bias voltage to the APD. This example assumes that the grounds for the preamplifier and that for the APD are common, but the grounds may be independent to each other depending on the application which requires an additional lead pin.
A standard ROSA has an outer shape with a diameter of 4 mm to 5.6 mm, which restricts the number of lead pins to be from 4 to 6 as already mentioned. Furthermore, the ROSA is necessary to install a sub-mount to mount the APD and capacitors to bypass the bias voltage to the APD. Thus, it may be said that the co-axial package has no space to add the thermistor therein.
FIG. 4 is a plan view of the conventional ROSA. The APD 14 is mounted in a center portion of the stem 2 through the die-capacitor 9. The APD 14 is mounted on the upper electrode 10 of the die-capacitor 9. In the immediate side of the die-capacitor 9 is directly mounted with a pre-amplifier 25 on the stem 2, and other die-capacitors, 17 and 18 are mounted on the stem 2 in the other side of the pre-amplifier 25 with respect to the APD 14. These die-capacitors operate as a bypassing capacitor for the power supply of the pre-amplifier 25 and for the bias voltage to the APD 14, respectively. These components are installed within an area surrounded by four lead pins, 5 to 8. The ground lead pin is directly attached to the surface opposite to the surface illustrated in FIG. 4 and the ground lead does not pass through the stem 2. Although this ROSA has the stem whose diameter is about 5 mm, recent requests are to make the diameter thereof as small as possible.
Thus, five lead pins are preserved for the signals, the bias supply, and the ground, and 4 lead pins except for the ground lead pin is necessary to pass through the stem. When the components are installed within the area surrounded by these 4 lead pins on the upper surface of the stem, it may leave almost no space to add another lead pin to transmit the signal relating to the temperature of the APD.
Moreover, two types of thermistor are available in the market, that is, a chip thermistor and a die thermistor. The former device has a larger size compared to that of the latter device and two electrodes of the former device are necessary to be soldered to the substrate. While, the latter device, the die thermistor, has two electrodes in the top and bottom surfaces thereof, in which only the bottom electrode is necessary to be soldered, while, the top electrode may be wire-bonded. However, the die thermistor is generally expensive compared to the chip thermistor.

Optical subassembly installing thermistor therein


An architecture for an improved non-volatile memory device supporting multiple memory interface options is disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the improved memory device includes a magnetic random access memory (MRAM) array and at least one memory interface block, which is configured for accessing a different type of memory array other than the MRAM array. A smart MRAM interface block is also included and coupled between the plurality of memory interface blocks and the MRAM array. The smart MRAM array is configured for accessing the MRAM array using commands intended for the MRAM array, as well as commands intended for the different type of memory array. A method for operating the improved non-volatile memory device is also disclosed herein.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to electronic circuits, and more specifically, to a memory circuit architecture including a magnetic random access memory (MRAM) array and a smart memory interface block. The smart memory interface block is uniquely configured for accessing the MRAM array using commands intended for the MRAM array, as well as commands intended for a different type of memory.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following descriptions and examples are not admitted to be prior art by virtue of their inclusion within this section.
Numerous types of semiconductor memory are currently available in the marketplace today. Though an array of storage elements is commonly included within each type of memory, the storage elements of different memory types often differ in both architecture and function. For example, a memory storage element can be volatile or non-volatile. Types of volatile memory include memory that must be periodically refreshed (e.g., DRAM) or memory that will lose its programmed state if power is removed from the memory circuit (e.g., SRAM). Unlike volatile memory, however, non-volatile memory is able to maintain its stored contents when power is removed from the memory circuit. Types of non-volatile memory include read-only memory (such as ROM, PROM, EPROM and EEPROM), magnetic random access memory (MRAM), battery-backed SRAM (BBSRAM) and Flash memory.
In some cases, a system designer may include more than one type of memory device within a given product or system to accommodate different memory functions. In other cases, the system designer may use different types of memory in different products or systems. For example, a system designer may include a static random access memory (SRAM) device within a system to provide efficient, low capacity storage caching. In addition, the system designer may include a Flash memory device within the same system, or within a completely different system, for non-volatile, high capacity storage caching. Therefore, system designers and/or manufactures must often maintain an inventory of each type of memory device they tend to use. This is both costly and inconvenient, especially since the design, manufacture and/or overhead costs associated with each type of memory device could be on the order of $1 M, or more.
In some cases, the costs associated with upgrading a circuit or system may also be prohibitively expensive for the manufacturer. For example, system board layouts are typically designed with a particular memory product(s) in mind. After selecting one or more types of memory devices to be used in a system, the system designer selects an appropriate memory interface circuit and designs a board layout to accommodate the selected type(s) of memory. Later, if the designer wants to change the type of memory used, he/she must redesign the board or change the memory interface on the board to accommodate the new type of memory. This is a major inconvenience for the system designer and may increase the time-to-market for the system, as well as the costs associated with the overall design/manufacturing process. For example, as mask costs continue to grow, the cost of even a single mask change becomes significant, thereby facilitating the desire to reduce or altogether avoid mask changes.
For at least these reasons, it would be desirable to provide a non-volatile memory device that can be used as a drop-in replacement for one or more different types of memory devices. Such a memory device would reduce the costs associated with designing, manufacturing and maintaining an inventory of different memory products, as well as the costs incurred when upgrading a system to include a new memory device. The improved memory device could then be incorporated into existing system designs without requiring hardware/software changes to be made to the system layout or operation.

Universal memory circuit architecture supporting multiple memory interface options


A basic clock generated from a crystal oscillator is delayed by a constant time in each of a plurality of delay elements connected in series. Consequently, internal clocks which differ in phase by a predetermined amount are outputted from the delay elements. Output signals of the delay elements are inputted to a clock selector. The clock selector selects any one of the internal clocks on the basis of a beam detection signal indicating the timing of the scanning of a photoreceptor by a laser beam to output the same as a video clock. The clock selector selects any one internal clock whose phase difference from the beam detection signal is closest to a predetermined phase difference out of the internal clocks, the phase difference from the beam detection signal meaning the time difference between the time when the beam detection signal has a predetermined phase angle and the time when the internal clock has a predetermined phase angle. A horizontal synchronizing signal is generated by counting a video clock at the timing based on the beam detection signal. The video clock outputted from the clock selector is synchronized with the beam detection signal with high precision. As a result, the horizontal synchronizing signal generated can be synchronized with the beam detection signal with high precision.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video clock generating circuit used in an image forming apparatus using a laser beam, such as a laser beam printer and a digital copying machine, for generating a video clock for defining a data processing operation for each pixel. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a horizontal synchronizing signal generating device for generating a horizontal synchronizing signal for synchronizing laser beam scanning and image data processing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a laser beam printer conventionally used, an image is printed as follows. A photoreceptor is scanned by a laser beam subjected to modulation based on data corresponding to an image to be printed. Then, an electrostatic latent image formed on the photoreceptor is developed into a toner image, and the toner image is transfered and fixed to paper. In such a laser beam printer, the scanning of the photoreceptor by the laser beam and the modulation of the laser beam based on the image data must be synchronized with each other. Therefore, a beam detection signal corresponding to the timing of the scanning of the photoreceptor by the laser beam is generated by, for example, detecting the laser beam in a predetermined position, and a so-called horizontal synchronizing signal which is synchronized with the beam detection signal is generated. This horizontal synchronizing signal is synchronized with the laser beam scanning. Accordingly, if the laser beam is subjected to the modulation corresponding to the image data in accordance with a video clock inside of the laser beam printer on the basis of the horizontal synchronizing signal, an electrostatic latent image corresponding to a desired image can be formed on the photoreceptor. The above described video clock is a clock for defining a processing operation corresponding to image data for each pixel, which is generally generated independently of the beam detection signal.
FIG. 11 is a timing chart for explaining the technique of generating a horizontal synchronizing signal which has been conventionally used in the laser beam printer. Line (a) of FIG. 11 shows a beam detection signal, FIG. 11 (b) shows a video clock, and line (c) of FIG. 11 shows a horizontal synchronizing signal. In this conventional technique, the timing (time t1) of the first rising of the video clock after the falling of the beam detection signal is detected. The horizontal synchronizing signal is so generated as to fall in synchronization with the first rising of the video clock after the falling of the beam detection signal and to have a pulse width corresponding to a constant number of periods of the video clock from this falling.
In the above described conventional technique, a time interval .DELTA.t between the falling of the beam detection signal and the falling of the horizontal synchronizing signal depends on the relationship between the beam detection signal and the video clock. Therefore, variation corresponding to a maximum of one period of the video clock may occur in the time interval .DELTA.t. This variation causes the time relationship between the laser beam scanning and the horizontal synchronizing signal to differ for each scanning line formed on the photoreceptor by the laser beam. Consequently, the image formed on the paper is shifted by a maximum of one pixel between a plurality of scanning lines.
In order to reduce the shift of the image, the frequency of the video clock for synchronizing the beam detection signal and the horizontal synchronizing signal must be significantly increased. In this case, however, the processing speed of a horizontal synchronizing signal generating circuit is significantly increased, thereby to make it difficult to design the circuit, and a high frequency signal is handled, thereby to make it very difficult to take measurements against noise.

Video clock generating circuit and horizontal synchronizing signal generating device in image forming apparatus using laser beam


An acid gas sorbent composition is disclosed. The composition comprises a compound having the following formula: (SiO2)x(OH)y F.B wherein F optionally exists and said F is at least one of the following: a functionalized organosilane, a sulfur-containing organosilane, or an amine-containing organosilane; and wherein B is a hygroscopic solid at a preferred water to solid molar ratio of about 0.1 to about 6, and more particularly, B is a basic inorganic solid including, but not limiting to, alkali or alkali-earth metal oxides, hydroxides, carbonates, or bicarbonates, containing at least one of the following metal cations: calcium, magnesium, strontium, barium, sodium, lithium, potassium, cesium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, dysprosium, scandium, ytterbium, yttrium, or erbium; wherein the molar ratio of y/x is equal to about 0.01 to about 0.5.

Current emission control strategies for acidic gas species (e.g., HCl, SO2, and SO3) rely on solid sorbents for removal of pollutants from exhaust gas streams. The reduction of HCl, SO2, and SO3 are achieved by injection of basic sorbents into a dry scrubber or upstream of particulate control devices (e.g., electrostatic precipitator, fabric filter, or Venturi separator). In particular, basic materials are injected into the flue gas stream to contact the gas and neutralize acid gases, including hydrogen halides, SO2, SO3, and other acid gas species. Typical sorbents include hydrated lime (i.e., Ca(OH)2), sodium carbonate (i.e., Na2CO3), sodium bicarbonate (i.e., NaHCO3), and trona (i.e., Na2CO3.NaHCO3.xH2O). Although sodium-containing sorbents can be effective, they are often prohibitively expensive owing to localized availability and their propensity to foul power plant equipment. Additionally, sodium-containing sorbents are often soluble in water, and can potentially leach into the surrounding environment after the ash is landfilled. On the other hand, hydrated lime is relatively inexpensive; however the reactions between acid gases and hydrated lime are often less efficient than with their sodium-containing counterparts. Accordingly, there exists a need for improved sorbents for control of acidic gas species emissions from gas streams.

Silica containing basic sorbent for acid gas removal


The present invention is a content display device provided with: a main device including a plurality of telephone terminals under control; and a content delivery server for delivering a content to the main device. A content delivery server 30 includes a content converting unit for converting data received from the WEB server into text information. A main device 20 is provided with: a content-display control unit for editing the acquired content information; a transmission control unit for analyzing from which telephone terminal a content acquisition request is made and also for delivering the edited content information; and a storage unit for storing content request information including a location of the content delivery server and a parameter number necessary at the time of obtaining the content information. The telephone terminal includes a button unit for finalizing a plurality of tables of contents displayed on the display unit and parameters.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a content display device in which rather than using a special device such as a personal computer for information provided on the Internet, text information of a WEB content is made displayable on a telephone terminal under the control of a main device, and the present invention relates also to a content display method therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, in private exchange systems used by a service provider, telephone receivers are provided, as telephone terminals (extension terminals), to a PBX (Private Branch Exchange) or a main device. The telephone terminal and an external communication network, such as a public network, and the telephone terminals are switched and connected with each other by the PBX or the main device so as to enable communication therebetween. In this type of system, a telephone receiver provided with a liquid crystal display (LCD) as a display unit for displaying a call destination or a call source is used as a telephone terminal.
In such a private exchange system, the information displayed on the display unit of the telephone terminal is mainly that which is unique in the system such as information about telephone numbers, times, and operation states of a call destination and a call source. In other words, such information is not inherently that which is obtained from outside by accessing a homepage, etc., on the Internet.
As a result, Patent Document 1 proposes a digital exchange device in which real-time information provided from an information providing server on the Internet is designed to be displayed on a display unit (LCD) of a telephone terminal and also an information providing system.
This digital exchange device is that which accommodates a telephone terminal having a display unit and is connected via a predetermined communication network to a server device for providing predetermined real-time information. The digital exchange device includes the following configuration of:
acquisition-request sending-out means for periodically sending out an acquisition request for real-time information to the server device via the communication network;
real-time information receiving means for receiving the real-time information sent from the server device via the communication network in response to sending-out of the acquisition request;
format-converting means for converting the real-time information received by the real-time information receiving means into a format usable in a telephone terminal;
real-time information storing means for storing the real-time information converted by the format-converting means; and
real-time information displaying means for sending out the real-time information stored by the real-time information storing means to the telephone terminal so as to be displayed on a display unit.
According to the aforementioned configuration, the real-time information provided from the server device will be automatically acquired via the communication network by periodically sending out the acquisition request to the server device. The real-time information is converted into a format displayable on the telephone terminal and accumulated in a memory of the digital exchange device. The real-time information accumulated in the memory is transmitted to the telephone terminal and displayed on the display unit.
Therefore, a user requires no operation for accessing the server device on the communication network and is able to acquire in a timely manner the real-time information provided by the server device at all times. The real-time information incoming from the server device via the communication network is converted into a format for the telephone terminal, and then, sent out to the telephone terminal. Thus, a processing load of the telephone terminal can be kept low and a new communication infrastructure does not need to be constructed for acquiring the real-time information, thereby implementing the system at a low cost.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2003-70036
However, according to the aforementioned device, the user requires no operation for accessing the server device on the communication network and is able to acquire in a timely manner the real-time information provided by the server device at all times, whereas there is a problem that the user is not able to select various kinds of information that the user wishes to obtain because it is not configured so as to acquire the information needed by the user at a time needed by the user.
That is, there is desired a system in which improvement and convenience of operability are secured at the time of browsing information when acquiring necessary information selected by the user from an information providing server on the Internet as in a case of a data communication system using a personal computer with a simple configuration not needing a personal computer.

Content display device and content display method


An oxidatively stabilized adhesion promoter composition for hot-melt adhesives is disclosed. The oxidatively stabilized adhesion promoter composition comprises a poly(vinylmethylether), said poly(vinylmethylether) having a number average molecular weight of from about 5,000 to about 1000,000, and an oxidative stabilizer antioxidant consisting of polymerized 1,2-dihydro-2,2,4-trimethylquinoline having a number average molecular weight of from about 350 to about 750. The said polymerized 1,2-dihydro-2,2,4-trimethylquinoline can be used with a secondary antioxidant comprising an organic compound of sulfur and trivalent phosphorus. The trivalent phosphorus compound can be a phosphite selected from the group consisting of tris-(2,4-di-tert-butylphenyl) phosphite, tris(mono-nonylphenyl) phosphite, bis(2,4-di-tert-butylphenyl) pentaerythritol diphosphite, distearyl pentaerythritol phosphite, and mixtures thereof. The oxidative stabilizer antioxidant is present in the poly(vinylmethylether) in an amount from about 0.01 weight percent to about 2.0 weight percent. The oxidatively stabilized adhesion promoter composition can contain up to about 1000 parts per million of hydroperoxides measured at room temperature and has a carbonyl index of less than about 2.9 as measured by infrared spectroscopy after exposure to a high temperature for a prolonged period.

This invention relates to oxidatively stabilized adhesion promoters for hot-melt adhesives which comprise stabilized poly(vinylalkylethers) of improved oxidative stability containing an initial level of hydroperoxides up to about 1000 parts per million before exposure to elevated temperatures. The oxidatively stabilized poly(vinylalkylethers) have a carbonyl index of less than about 2.9 after exposure to high temperatures for prolonged periods. The oxidatively stabilized polymers have a number average molecular weight of from about 5,000 to about 100,000 and contain from about 0.01 weight percent to about 2.00 weight percent of polymerized 1,2-dihydro-2,2,4-trimethylquinoline as an oxidative stabilizer and antioxidant. Secondary antioxidants such as organic compounds of sulfur and trivalent phosphorus are optionally present.
This invention also relates to improved hot-melt adhesive compositions effective in binding polyolefins to themselves and to other materials which are based upon an oxidatively-stabilized poly(vinylalkylether) and, more particularly, to hot-melt adhesive compositions which strongly bind polyolefins, in particular polyethylene, polypropylene, and ethylene-propylene copolymers, to themselves and to other substrates including Kraft paper, burlap, glass and metals, and which are formulated from an oxidatively-stabilized poly(vinylmethylether) (PVME) a thermoplastic resin, and, optionally, a tackifier resin. The PVME is stabilized against color degradation under prolonged heat at elevated temperatures.
Polyvinyl alkyl ethers are known to be subject to oxygen, heat, and light and to suffer depolymerization or breakdown in molecular weight to lower molecular weight polymers and to the alcohols from which the monomers are derived. The alcohols can further oxidize to aldehydes, ketones and acids. A number of stabilizers and antioxidants have been proposed to overcome the influence of oxygen, heat and light which cause chain cleavage, cross-linking and reactions with oxygen. These aging processes affect the polymer's adhesive properties and can cause degradation of the polymer to form a gel-like substance and/or a skin formation.
It has been taught, U.S. Pat. No. 2,985,617, that polymers of 2-3 carbon atoms such as polymerized vinyl ethers prepared by use of a Ziegler catalyst, such as the material formed from a trialkylaluminum with titanium tetrachloride, can be stabilized against the effect of thermal processing by a small amount of a polyvinyl chloride heat stabilizing agent selected from the group consisting of alkaline earth metal salts, epoxidized organic oils and esters, epoxy resins, organo-tin compounds, organo-lead compounds, organic phosphites, and substituted ureas. Weak bases are taught as being useful in stabilizing polymers of 2-3 carbon atoms against the effects of thermal processing.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,521,950 teaches that incorporation of small amounts of p-hydroxy-N-phenylmorpholine in polymerized vinyl alkyl ethers can retard depolymerization of these polymers by heat. However, the use of this compound as a stabilizer suffers from the disadvantage of discoloration of the polymer. The addition of an amount of an alkali so that the polymer has a pH value of at least 9 as measured by a glass electrode is taught as a means of improving the color of the polymer containing the heat stabilizing compound.
Polymerized 1,2-dihydro-2,2,4-trimethylquinoline is known in the art as a stabilizer of polyesters for protection against degradation due to heat and oxygen but discoloration of the stabilized polyester occurs. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,620,824 teaches use of 2,2,4-trimethyldihydroquinoline to stabilize polyethylene terephthalate modified with polyethers such as methoxy polyethylene glycol. The presence of a alkylated hindered bisphenol is required to prevent the discoloration of the stabilized polyester caused by the use of 1,2-dihydro-2,2,4-trimethylquinoline.
Hot-melt adhesives containing polyvinylmethylether are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 2,970,974 teaches a hot-melt adhesive compatible composition consisting essentially of up to 75 wt. percent poly(vinylmethylether) and a modifying agent selected from the group consisting of rosin and ester derivatives thereof. U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,978 teaches a hot-melt adhesive comprising a poly(vinylalkylether), preferably a poly(vinylmethylether), and a thermoplastic resin selected from the group consisting of C.sub.2 to C.sub.6 polyolefins and copolymers. Other examples of polyolefins utilized in hot-melt adhesives are ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers and styrene-isoprene block-copolymers.
Because of their attributes, it is expected that hot-melt adhesives will tend to be more the adhesive of choice in high speed packaging operations. Increase in packaging line speeds to 400 or more cartons per minute has made instant setting adhesives essential. Hot melt adhesives with improved characteristics are therefore of continuing interest.
Hot melt adhesives are typically used or applied at temperatures of from about 170.degree. C. to about 210.degree. C. They are therefore subject to decomposition as evidenced by the development of discoloration, skinning, charring or change in viscosity. The purpose of an antioxidant is to maintain the original properties of the hot-melt adhesive, so as to be thermally stable and permanent. The loss of antioxidant activity from hot-melt adhesives therefore can reduce the utility of the hot-melt in a typical application.
Hot-melt adhesives can be prepared in granular form, lump form or as a rope-like material. They can be applied to the substrate by several different methods. Frequently, the hot-melt adhesive is made fluid by heating in a large feed-stock vessel. The hot-melt adhesive is then applied to the substrate with the aid of rolls or pumps. Pot life of the hot-melt adhesive, i.e., the hot-melt adhesive remaining fluid at the elevated temperature for long periods of time without depolymerizing or discoloring or developing a skin, becomes of critical importance in maintaining packaging line speeds and product quality.
Polyethylene, polypropylene, and ethylene-propylene copolymers are widely used in many applications which require adhering these plastics to themselves as well as to other materials. However, adhesives do not form strong bonds to untreated polyolefin surfaces. The difficulties encountered in developing adequate adhesion to polyethylene and polypropylene can be attributed in large part to the non-porous and non-polar characteristics of these materials. In addition, the presence of surface materials such as mold release agents, slip agents, antioxidants, polymerization impurities, and low-molecular-weight surface polymers further deteriorates surface conditions for adhesion. Various surface preparation procedures, including etching with sodium dichromate-sulfuric acid solution, treating with flame, corona discharge, electron beam, laser light, ultraviolet radiation, hot chlorinated solvent, and applying chemically reactive primers have been developed to afford a polyolefin surface that is more receptive to conventional adhesives. However, such pretreatment adds significant cost to a finished assembly and can reduce the economic incentive to use polyethylene or polypropylene in place of more expensive plastics. Further, some surface treatment procedures, e.g., corona discharge, are only applicable to thin, flat surfaces and cannot be used in many existing applications.
Poly(vinylalkylethers) have been widely used in adhesive formulations, the specific alkyl group of methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, n-butyl, isobutyl, t-butyl, stearyl, benzyl and trimethyl determining to a large extent the hot-melt adhesive application. Of the alkyl groups, the methyl ether compound offers a larger potential number of applications as a component of a hot-melt adhesive formulation. Improvement of poly(vinylmethylether)-based hot-melt adhesives by use of an oxidatively-stabilized poly(vinylmethylether) to reduce tendency to oxidative degradation and gel and skin formation will therefore be of wide utility in the art because of the large number of possible applications. Typical applications for poly(vinylmethylether) will be in bonding polyethylene, polypropylene and ethylene-propylene copolymers.
A hot-melt adhesive with improved oxidative resistant properties which strongly bonds untreated polyethylene, polypropylene, and ethylene-propylene copolymers would represent a significant achievement and present opportunities to not only market a new family of adhesives, but also open many new markets for such polyolefins in the areas of automobiles, appliances, fabrics, etc. Additionally, hot-melt adhesives with improved oxidative-resistant properties such as with use of the invented composition would find extensive use with other substrates.
Poly(vinylalkylethers) and particularly poly(vinylmethylether) have long been used in hot-melt adhesive formulations with many different antioxidants. One such antioxidant is the 3.5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyhydrocinnamic acid triester of 1,3,5-tris-(2-hydroxyethyl)-a-triazine-2,4,6-(1H.3H.5H) trione with a molecular weight of 1042 commercially available under the trademark "Vanox SKT." Other antioxidants that have been used include, for example, tris(di-t-butyl-p-hydroxybenzyl)trimethylbenzene (Ionox 330), alkylated bisphenol (Naugawhite), zinc dibutyl dithiocarbamate (Butyl Zimate), and 4,4'-methylene bis(2,6-di-tert-butylphenol) (Ethyl 702), tetrakis[methylene(3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyhydrocinnamate) methane] (Irganox 1010), lauryl stearyl thiodipropionate (Plastanox 1212), and dilauryl 3,3'-thiodipropionate (Plastanox LTDP), 2,6-di-tert-butyl-p-cresol (BHT) and the like.
However, such antioxidants do not provide sufficient protection against oxidative degradation to a poly(vinylmethylether) hot-melt formulation at high temperatures over an extended period of time as measured by the carbonyl index of aged samples as determined by infrared spectra.
Now it has been found that an improved poly(vinylmethylether) hot-melt formulation with improved protection against oxidative degradation at high temperatures over an extended period of time as measured by the carbonyl index of poly(vinylmethylether) formulations can be obtained by incorporating a stabilizer, polymerized 1,2-dihydro-2,2,4-trimethylquinoline into a poly(vinylmethylether) before the poly(vinylmethylether) has a hydroperoxide content greater than about 1000 parts per million (ppm), preferably less than about 500 ppm, more preferably less than about 300 ppm. An initial presence of greater than 1000 ppm of hydroperoxides reduces the oxidative stabilization of the poly(vinylmethylether) to an unacceptable level when the poly(vinylmethylether) is exposed to an elevated temperature for a prolonged period.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a new and useful adhesion promoter composition comprising PVME and an antioxidant, the composition initially containing up to about 1000 ppm of hydroperoxides measured at room temperature, and wherein the carbonyl index of the adhesive composition after exposure to 350.degree. F. for a period of up to about 104 hours is no more than about 2.9.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide a composition of PVME with excellent characteristics as to color and heat stability, with improved resistance to discoloration, skinning and charring.
It is still further an object of this invention to provide a new and useful adhesion promoter composition comprising PVME characterized by outstanding oxidatively stabilized properties. The oxidatively stabilized composition comprising PVME is employed in hot-melt formulations to obtain improved characteristics as to the lessened development of discoloration, skinning, charring, or change in viscosity upon prolonged application of heat.

Oxidatively-stabilized poly(vinylmethylether) for hot-melt adhesives


The invention relates to a cylindrical elastomeric bearing with wide angular deflection comprising three cylindrical elements: a central element (1) and two lateral elements (2, 3) arranged either side of the central element (1). Each torsible cylindrical element is made up of a deformable elastomeric central part, relatively flexible angularly and relatively rigid radially, which is rigidly locked to an inner armature and to an outer armature; the outer armature (6) of the central element (1) and the inner armature (8, 11) of each lateral element (2, 3) are rigidly locked together so as to form a single part, the common armature (13). The inner armature (5) of the central element (1) is mounted on an inner sleeve (14) to which it is rigidly locked, and the outer armature (9, 12) of each lateral element (2, 3) is mounted in an outer sleeve (15) to which it is rigidly locked; inner sleeve (14) and outer sleeve (15) are coaxially arranged in such a way that the outer sleeve (15) and the inner sleeve (14) can rotate in relation to each other about their common axis with virtually no possibility of radial deflection.

This invention relates to a cylindrical elastomeric bearing with wide angular deflection and being relatively rigid radially, which is mounted between an inner sleeve and an outer sleeve, in such a way that the outer sleeve and the inner sleeve can rotate in relation to each other about their common axis with virtually no possibility of radial deflection. These types of cylindrical elastomeric bearings, in accordance with the invention, which function without any lubrication, can be mounted in particular on a gyroplane rotor head between the hub body and each blade to form a pitch changing articulation for the blades.
Many types of bearings are already known that offer some flexibility between the inner part and outer part, and which are used in particular in the structures that connect each of the blades of a gyroplane to the body of the rotor hub.
French Patent No. 2 358 316 refers to these types of connecting structures, its object being a helicopter rotor comprising a rotor hub that rotates about a substantially vertical axis, and which includes a set of rotor blades. According to this patent, the hub is provided, for each blade, with a bending element which extends substantially radially from the hub, and which is elastically flexible in the blade's beating plane. In accordance with this invention, the hub comprises a pitch changing articulation at the end turned towards the outside of the bending element, and which comprises a substantially tubular portion. This substantially tubular portion is fitted, on the side of the end turned towards the outside, with means for fixing the rotor blade. Moreover, this tubular portion is fitted so as to pivot on an inner bearing and an outer bearing, in relation to the axis of the rotor. These two bearings are made of an elastomer, and are mounted separately from each other on a spindle which extends the bending element. An elastic assembly designed to work in shear is associated with the outer bearing so as to allow drag movements of the tubular portion and of its associated blade. These drag movements are made about the geometric center of the inner bearing. The inner bearing comprises two elementary elastomeric bearings mounted on a support about the geometric center of this inner bearing. The outer surface of one of the elementary elastomeric bearings is mounted so as to be locked in rotation in the tubular portion, while the outer surface of the second elementary bearing is fixed to the spindle by means of a thrust device. This thrust device allows the forces due to the centrifugal force to be transmitted to the hub via the inner bearing. According to this invention, the outer bearing comprises an annular elastomeric component which has an inner surface fixed to the spindle and an outer surface which is fixed to the inside of a coaxial sleeve. The above mentioned elastic assembly working in shear is thus housed between this coaxial sleeve and the corresponding inner surface of the tubular portion. The elastic assembly working in shear comprises a shearing annular elastic component of which one surface is fixed to a collar formed by an extension of the coaxial sleeve and which extends perpendicularly to the axis of the tubular portion, and whose other opposing surface is fixed to a collar provided inside the tubular portion. The shearing elastic component is made from a visco-elastic synthetic material whose suitable hysteretic properties give it an automatic damping effect when it is subjected to shearing movements.
French Patent No. 2 358 316 therefore relates to an elastomeric bearing which allows radial deflection so as to provide the articulation assembly with a certain degree of drag flexibility in the plane of the rotor, by rotating about the center of the inner bearing, which then acts as a trunnion. Moreover, to introduce damping into this drag pseudo-articulation, this invention uses elastic elements made of a visco-elastic material exhibiting strong hysteretic properties. This results in a bearing comprising two parts: a first part, made up of the inner bearing and the outer bearing, allowing limited angular deflection about the axes of these bearings, and a second part formed by an elastic assembly working in shear, which allows the tubular portion to move angularly in relation to the spindle with elastic return and damping of these movements.
The type of rotor defined in this patent has the drawback that the connecting structures used between the hub body and each blade are complex structures combining several functions: angular deflection about the blade axis to allow pitch change control, and drag angular deflections with their damping.

Cylindrical elastomeric bearing with large angular deflection

Aerospatiale Societe National Industrielle


The present disclosure concerns a device including a first switch, a diode, and a passive resistive element electrically in series between conduction and control terminals of the first switch, a terminal of the diode located on the side of the first switch being coupled to a node of application of a potential variable with respect to the potential of said conduction terminal.

Controlled switches are used, in particular, in switched-mode converters. The switches are alternately set to the on and off states at a switching frequency. Switched-mode converters are used to deliver a voltage and/or a current, from a power supply having voltage/current values different from the values of the voltage/current to be delivered. For example, an AC-DC (alternating current-direct current) switched-mode converter enables to obtain a DC voltage from an AC voltage such as that of an electric network or of an alternator. Other controlled switches are used in various logic circuits, such as inverters.
Such controlled switches typically comprise field-effect transistors. In certain applications, the transistors are called high electron mobility transistors HEMT, that is, achieving a conduction between the drain and the source via an interface between wide bandgap semiconductors, the electrons being mobile along said interface. The semiconductors may be gallium nitride GaN and aluminum-gallium nitride AlGaN. It is then spoken of a GaN HEMT-type transistor.
Document US 2004/136212 describes a voltage step-up transformer having a structure decreasing noise.
Document US 2007/0195556 describes a control circuit for a power communication device.
Document US 2013/0088378 describes a switching circuit for generating a radio frequency pulse signal, a radio frequency pulse signal generation circuit, and a device detecting target objects.
Document EP 0055941 describes a DC/AC converter capable of operating at high frequencies.
Document US 2006/0132194 describes a power MOSFET control circuit and method.
Document US 2013/214824 describes a control circuit.

Driver circuit for controlling a switch and circuits comprising same

Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives


A method for customizing header pages, footer pages, and/or separator pages is disclosed. According to one aspect, a user interface is displayed. The user interface comprises user interface elements through which a user can specify user-customized content that is to appear on an additional page that is to be printed with the pages of an electronic document. A user-generated representation of the content is received through the user interface. A printer driver generates modified print data based on additional print data, which represents the additional page, and original print data, which represents the electronic document. The modified print data causes the printing device to print the user-customized content on a header, footer, or separator page. As a result, when the printing device receives the modified print data, the printing device prints the header, footer, or separator page, with the user-customized content, in addition to the pages of the electronic document.

Printing devices, such as printers, copy machines, and multi-function peripherals (MFPs) such as the Ricoh Aficio Color 6513 system, are often designed to print header, footer, and/or separator pages in conjunction with the pages of an electronic document. As described herein, a "header" page is a page that is printed before the first page of an electronic document, a "footer" page is a page that is printed after the last page of an electronic document, and a "separator" page is a page that is printed in between at least two pages of an electronic document.
Header pages, footer pages, and separator pages may be considered to be separate from an electronic document itself. For example, when a user instructs a word processing application to print an electronic document, the original print data that represents the electronic document does not contain data for the header page, footer page, or separator pages that are described herein. Such header, footer, and separator pages are automatically added to the print data stream after the user instructs the word processing application to print the document. For example, header, footer, and separator pages might be added to the print data stream by a printing device upon receiving a print data stream that consists only of data that represents the electronic document.
Since it is common for multiple users to send electronic documents to the same printing device, header pages and footer pages are useful for separating one user's printed documents from other users' printed documents. This separation helps prevent unfortunate incidences where one user accidentally takes, along with his printed documents, another user's printed documents from an output tray of the printing device. The header pages and/or footer pages help to visually separate the printed documents in the output tray so that users can tell where one user's printed documents end and another user's printed documents begin. Alternatively, header pages and footer pages can help to separate multiple copies of the same printed document where the printing of the multiple copies was initiated by a single user.
Separator pages, on the other hand, are useful for separating sheets of print media within a printed document. Some types of print media, such as transparency sheets, tend to stick together when they come in contact with each other. Once transparency sheets become stuck together, it can be difficult and time-consuming to separate them. Additionally, because of their transparent nature, it can be difficult, when viewing a stack of transparency sheets, for a person to determine the printed contents of each transparency sheet individually. Looking down at a stack of unseparated transparency sheets, one often sees the contents of all of the sheets, and cannot tell which sheet contains which content. By automatically interleaving transparency sheets and other kinds of media with opaque, non-sticking separator pages, a printing device can obviate the problems described above.
Separator pages are typically blank. Sometimes header or footer pages are blank. Other times, some rudimentary, non-customizable information is printed on the header or footer pages. The scant information that is printed on a header or footer page is often hard-coded and cannot be changed or customized by a user of the printing device.
The inability of a user of a printing device to change, either substantially or easily, the printed contents of header, footer, or separator page is unfortunate. If the printed contents of header and footer pages could be customized easily by users of a printing device, then the users might find it easier to distinguish between multiple printed documents sitting in the printing device's output tray. The users might not need to scrutinize the header and footer pages as carefully to determine whose printed document was whose.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for a printing device that allows users to customize header, footer, and separator pages, and that allows them to do so through easily-used and convenient means.

Printing user-created custom header/footer/separator pages from the printer driver


The present invention aims to provide a film for forming a protective layer that is capable of preventing cracks in a low dielectric material layer of a semiconductor wafer while suppressing an increase in the number of steps in the manufacture of a semiconductor device. This object is achieved by a film for forming a protective layer on a bumped wafer in which a low dielectric material layer is formed, including a support base, an adhesive layer, and a thermosetting resin layer, laminated in this order, wherein the melt viscosity of the thermosetting resin layer is 1×102 Pa·S or more and 2×104 Pa·S or less, and the shear modulus of the adhesive layer is 1×103 Pa or more and 2×106 Pa or less, when the thermosetting resin layer has a temperature in a range of 50 to 120° C.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a film for forming a protective layer in which a support base, an adhesive layer, and a thermosetting resin layer are laminated, in this order.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, because the distance between circuits is becoming shorter as the circuit pattern formed on a semiconductor chip is becoming finer, the capacitance between adjacent circuits is becoming greater. A phenomenon occurs according to which a signal traveling in the circuit becomes slow (signal delay) in proportion to the increase in capacitance. It has been proposed to lower the capacitance between circuits by forming a low dielectric material layer on the circuit using a material having a low dielectric constant, a so-called low-k material (low dielectric material).
Examples of the low dielectric material layer include a SiO2 film (relative permittivity k=4.2), a SiOF film (k=3.5 to 3.7), and a SiOC film (k=2.5 to 2.8). Such a low dielectric material layer is formed on a semiconductor wafer by a plasma CVD method, for example.
However, such a low dielectric material layer is very brittle, and may cause cracks in a dicing step of the semiconductor process and operational abnormality of the semiconductor element. A method of removing the low dielectric material layer first using a laser (laser scribing) and then dicing the material with a blade or the like has been employed recently (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-093273, for example).

Manufacturing semiconductor device with film for forming protective layer


Disclosed herein is an illuminated multifunctional pocket knife/light. The casing or handle has at least one hollow channel within which is disposed at least one light bulb, and one power source out of contact with one another. Activation of switch completes electrical circuit thus activating the light source/s. Alternative embodiments illustrate different positions for various switch components. The handle can be partially or entirely constructed from a light transmissive or optical wave dispersing material which guides light through the handle and assists in illuminating the blade/implement and its surrounding work surface. The casing supports the desired tool/implement in the field of light. The casing houses at least one chamber in which one or more blades/implements are connected. Blades/implements are fixed in permanent position or folding/collapsible for the purpose of storing and protecting the implements until use. Alternative embodiments further illustrate that blade/tool fixtures may be either locking or non locking. Alternative embodiments also illustrate that flashlight, compass, whistle, survival capsules and weighing scale are detachable or permanent components of the casing. The compass module is a cap housing a light source and a liquid or dry chamber in which a translucent dial is seated.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrically illuminated pocket knife/light.
2. Prior Art
Knives combined with flashlights assemblies are known in prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,621 which was issued to Edward Jenkins on Jun. 14th, 1988 discloses a knife handle containing a light positioned in one end directly opposite the fixed blade. Another reference incorporating a similar fixed blade configuration is that of R. D. Brown issued on Dec. 13, 1932 as U.S. Pat. No. 1,890,841. Here again Brown uses a configuration that does not allow for the light pattern created from the bulb to illuminate the blade and cutting surface. U.S. Pat. No. 2,588,162 granted to P. F. Riggio for his "Magazine tool handle" features a tubular casing that serves as a housing for various detachable implements. The light source is positioned in the opposite end that of the tool/implements when they are attached for use. U.S. Pat. No. 3,370,163 granted to D. Brill on Feb. 20th, 1968, discloses a molded pliable member comprised of a pair of slots directed therethrough one for holding a fixed implement and one parallel channel housing a flashlight assembly. Brill's apparatus shines light on the tool and work place however the device provides no means for storing or protecting the implement and it is intended to be detached from the implement after use. U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,757 granted to Nalbandian et al of Aug. 11th, 1981 features an illuminated screw driver or hand tool. The tool is positioned in the pattern of light however the handle is not designed to store the implements. U.S. Pat. No. 1,515,751 granted to L. E. Polhemus on Nov. 18th, 1924 shows a combined folding knife and pistol. U.S. Pat. No. 2,822,615 issued to C. I. Durst and Hazel Thompson on Feb. 11th, 1958 shows a light attachment accessory for use with an electric drill.
The problem with the afore cited references is that none of them combine a light source that shines on the implement and work area with a quickly accessible storage compartment for easy quick extension of desired implement.
The pocket knife/light is unique in that it combines the implement storing capacity of standard pocket knife technology and the illumination capacity of standard flashlight technology to achieve a compact casing that can disperse light on the desired implements and work area as well as store various blade/implements.


Embodiments provide a shell module that accommodates form factors that define operational and aesthetic aspects of a modular device. Operational form factors of the shell module include constituent components that provide functional capabilities of the modular device. These constituent components are manipulated and powered by a core module, upon engagement thereto. In particular, the core module includes a power-source component for supplying power to the shell module and a processing component for managing the constituent components. The process of engagement includes executing a recognition procedure to determine a configuration of the shell module. The recognition procedure includes extracting available properties from the constituent components, utilizing the properties to determine an identity of each of the constituent components, and integrating operational control of the constituent components with the processing component. Accordingly, the core module communicates with the constituent components as if they are native to the core module.

The present invention relates generally to the field of mobile devices, and more particularly to mobile devices that have various components which may be disarticulated by physically separating a shell module and a core module.
Mobile devices, including personal digital assistants (PDAs), handsets, and other computing devices, often express aesthetic features or provide operational aspects that are specific to that particular mobile device. Each of these "form factors" are tailored to a specific ergonomic or functional role. Accordingly, the capabilities and design of a mobile device is limited to the form factors accommodated therein. However, it is often the situation that one type of mobile device with a first set of form factors (e.g., ruggedized case with a durable keypad for an exposed environment) may be inappropriate for another context, which may necessitate a type of mobile device with a second set of form factors (e.g., touch-sensitive screen with a clamshell hinge for an office environment). Purchasing multiple mobile devices to satisfy each anticipated context of use may be cost-prohibitive, while carrying multiple mobile devices may be cumbersome if not unmanageable.
Further, transferring information between multiple phones is inconvenient and unsophisticated. For instance, memory cards (e.g., SIM cards) allow for transferring certain static information between mobile devices. Memory cards and other present forms of information transfer require a plurality of steps to complete the transfer and are not adapted to transfer an entire "user identity" (e.g., operating systems, applications, preferences, and content) between multiple mobile devices. Accordingly, employing a base unit that is engageable with various shells comprising distinct form factors, would provide a robust method of extending the features and functions of a mobile device to satisfy the demands of a particular context, and enhance a user's experience when integrating a system architecture of the mobile device with disparate capabilities.


An organic based emulsion-breaking formulation for use in treating well bores drilled in oil-bearing mud that is not eco-toxic and is optimally compatible with formation fluids comprises:                as the emulsion-breaking agent, at least one constituent selected from non-ionic amphiphilic compositions obtained by reacting at least one polymerized vegetable oil with at least one aminoalcohol and alkyl esters (for example C1 to C8) of fatty acids derived from natural, vegetable or animal oils;        optionally, at least one wetting agent selected from anionic surfactants;        and optionally at least one solvent;the assembly being as a mixture in an organic base.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to treating well bores drilled in oil-base mud. More particularly, it relates to an emulsion-breaking formulation for use in treating well bores drilled in oil-base mud, preferably non-ecotoxic and optimally compatible with formation fluids, which comprises at least one constituent selected from non-ionic amphiphilic compositions obtained by reacting at least one vegetable oil polymerized with at least one aminoalcohol and alkyl esters (for example C1 to C8) of fatty acids derived from natural, vegetable or animal oils; optionally, at least one wetting agent selected from anionic surfactants; and optionally, at least one solvent (or diluent); said emulsion-breaking formulation being used in an organic base to limit phenomena of emulsion formation in situ and re-saturation of the well edges with an aqueous phase. The invention also concerns formulations of the same type weighted with mineral fillers.
An oil-base formation is damaged when a well is shown to be less productive than well analysis tests predict. The mechanisms of formation damage depend on the type of reactions produced between the well fluid, and the formation and rock fluids under operating conditions (pressure and temperature of the zone and the mud). An alteration in the producing formation close to the well is due to deleterious interactions between the formation fluids and the foreign fluids introduced. If the well fluids are shown to be responsible for the damage, a chemical treatment is necessary to restore the characteristics of the reservoir. It has to cause the destruction of the external and/or internal cake and clean the damaged zone at the well edges. Such a treatment may or may not be combined with an acidic matrix treatment.
As a general rule, oil-base well fluids generate little filtrate, have good rheological properties and form a thin, permeable cake. In contrast, they contain chemical additives (surfactants) charged with emulsifying the water into the form of droplets in the continuous oil-base phase and with making the solid particles used as a weighting agent or viscosifying agent wettable by the oil. Such surfactants, in a large excess of concentration in the fluid to maintain the stability of the reverse emulsion, can penetrate into the formation with the filtrate.
In particular, three types of damage can be envisaged with oil-base fluids:                the formation of an emulsion in the reservoir, resulting from interactions between the filtrate from the oil-base mud (which principally contains oil and surfactants) and the reservoir fluids (brine and oil). The emulsifying agents introduced in excess into the formulation can come into contact with the formation. Substantial shearing at the constriction caused by the pores in the presence of an emulsifying agent can lead to the formation of a very stable, highly viscous emulsion causing a reduction in the effective mobility of the hydrocarbons present;        an alteration in the initial wettability of the reservoir rock. The emulsifying type products generally transform the initially water-wettable rock into a rock with intermediate wettability, which may even be oil-wettable, which can cause a modification in the oil permeability and thus reduce the mobility of the oil; and        deposition of fine mobile particles in the pores (reduction of absolute permeability).
The chemical composition of the filtration cake must be carefully considered when designing treatment fluids. The cake is principally constituted by emulsified water droplets that act as colloidal particles and combine with solid particles in suspension in the fluid to form a cake. The stability of the emulsion, the type and nature of the solids influences both the fluid loss and the cake's filtration properties. The choice of treatment product must take into account the parameters necessary for washing the cake and leaching of the formation.
The envisaged treatment concerns:                dissolving or dispersing the weighting agents present in the cake;        and attack of the additives contained in the filtrate.
Thus, the treatment must be adapted to the type of mud used. The principal parameters to be considered are:                the type of damage and its extent;        the characteristics of the reservoir (porosity and permeability);        the type of formation (nature of rocks and acid solubility);        possible contaminants (water, mud—water-base mud and oil-base mud, cements, bacteria);        the compatibility of the treatment fluid with the contaminants;        the bottom pressure and temperature;        the treatment time; and        the physical limitations of the well equipment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An improvement in the design of a drilling fluid aimed at reducing damage can be completely ruined by using an unsuitable procedure and/or cleaning fluid. The solutions for treating cakes and oil-base mud in current use are in the aqueous form and generate considerable additional damage, and can even block the well. A number of examples of treating well bores using surfactants used in the aqueous phase can be found in the literature (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,681,165, 4,595,511 4,681,164 and 5,110,487). The use of oil-base surfactants to break emulsions has been reported (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,614,101, 5,256,305 and 4,416,754), but the aim was not an application to oil field production.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Organic emulsion-breaking formula and its use in treating well bores drilled in oil-base mud

Abstract: Such a formulation can be weighted by mineral fillers.


A polymer having at least one urea linkage prepared by: (i) reacting (a) at least one diisocyanate, polyisocyanate, or mixture thereof, having isocyanate groups, and (b) at least one fluorinated compound selected from the formula (I):Rf(CH2CF2)p(CH2CH2)q(R1)r—XH  Formula (I)wherein                p and q are each independently an integer of 1 to 3;        r is 0 or 1;        X is —O—, —NH— or —S—;        R1 is a divalent radical selected from the group consisting of —S(CH2)n—,

Various compositions are known to be useful as treating agents to provide surface effects to substrates. Surface effects include repellency to moisture, soil, and stains, and other effects, which are particularly useful for fibrous substrates and other substrates such as hard surfaces. Many such treating agents are fluorinated polymers or copolymers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,766 discloses polyfluoro nitrogen containing organic compounds useful to provide oil repellency, water repellency, soil repellency and/or soil release properties to substrates treated therewith. Compounds exemplified contain mixtures of perfluoroalkyl groups having predominantly eight or more carbons.
Most commercially available fluorinated polymers useful as treating agents for imparting repellency to substrates contain predominately eight or more carbons in the perfluoroalkyl chain to provide the desired repellency properties. Honda et al., in Macromolecules, 2005, 38, 5699-5705 teach that for perfluoroalkyl chains of greater than 8 carbons, orientation of the Rf groups is maintained in a parallel configuration while for such chains having less than 6 carbon atoms, reorientation occurs, which decreases surface properties such as contact angle. Thus, shorter chain perfluoroalkyls have traditionally not been successful commercially.
It is desired to improve particular surface effects and to increase the fluorine efficiency; i.e., boost the efficiency or performance of treating agents so that lesser amounts of the expensive fluorinated polymer are required to achieve the same level of performance or have better performance using the same level of fluorine. It is desirable to reduce the chain length of the perfluoroalkyl groups thereby reducing the amount of fluorine present, while still achieving the same or superior surface effects.
There is a need for polymer compositions that significantly improve the repellency and stain resistance of fluorinated polymer treating agents for fibrous substrates and hard surface substrates while using lower levels of fluorine. The present invention provides such compositions.

Fluororpolymer compositions and treated substrates

Abstract: n is an integer of 2 to 4;        s is an integer of 1 to 50;        R2, R3, and R4 are each independently hydrogen or an alkyl group containing 1 to 6 carbon atoms; and        Rf is a linear or branched chain perfluoroalkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms; and        (ii) reacting with (c) water, a linking agent, or a mixture thereof and methods for treating substrates to obtain surface effects is disclosed.


A computer-implemented method of providing invitations to a shared communication space, performed by a server system, includes providing the shared communication space, which includes content associated with a set of characteristics, and identifying a user, in accordance with a set of characteristics associated with the user and the set of characteristics associated with the content in the shared communication space. The method further includes sending to the identified user a invitation to participate in the shared communication space, and upon acceptance of the invitation by the user, enabling access by the user to the shared communication space by the user and enabling the user to exchange information with other participants in the shared communication space via the shared communication space.

On-line collaboration tools can permit a community of users to collaborate on projects, share information, meet and discuss issues, and make presentations, all on-line. They can be used with various sizes and types of user communities such as work teams, social networks, and other associations of users. However, a particular user community must be defined and set up by an administrator. The administrator determines and defines the membership of the community as well as members' permissions and rights with respect to a collaboration space. Oftentimes, the administrator will need to modify the membership of the community to reflect various changes in the community and/or permissions with respect to the collaboration space. The administrator also configures and maintains the collaboration space itself. In some instances, the rights and responsibilities of an administrator can be delegated to one or more members of the community. Such collaboration spaces, therefore, tend to require more than an insignificant amount of overhead to set up and maintain.


A computer-implemented method, executable by a vehicle computing system (VCS), includes determining that a connection between a wireless device and a VCS has been lost. The method further includes determining if a driver is present in the vehicle, upon a lost link detection. The method additionally includes waiting until an enter-event occurs and then attempting to re-establish a connection between the wireless device and the VCS. This last step may be conditional upon a determination that a driver is not present.

BLUETOOTH communication systems provide the ability to wirelessly connect a plurality of devices to each other, but a limitation on such a network is generally that it has a smaller range than more conventional wireless networks. As a result, if two devices in communication over a BLUETOOTH network, for example, a vehicle computing system and a wireless mobile device, are separated by more than a certain distance, the signal between those devices may be lost. In the preceding example, a driver stopping to get gasoline, for example, and leaving the proximity of the vehicle, may break a BLUETOOTH connection to the vehicle.
Additionally, vehicle computing systems may have no current method for handling an upcoming disconnect, since the system may not be aware that a disconnect is about to ensue until the connection is actually broken. Data transfer can thus be abruptly interrupted, or applications running in conjunction with the vehicle computing system can have their functionality interrupted.

Methods and apparatus for lost connection handling


An articulated connection of at least two elements of a folding top mechanism of a convertible vehicle is provided, with a pivot pin, on which at least two elements are mounted next to one another rotationally with respect to the longitudinal axis of the pivot pin, wherein at least one bushing is located on the pivot pin on which a first element is mounted on its hollow cylindrical section, and for which an elastically formed collar extending in the radial direction is formed with an undulating profile in the axial direction, which is designed to compensate for axial and/or radial play between the first element and a second element. The collar has at least one recess forming a material lug extending from the outer edge to the hollow cylindrical section.

Articulated connections of the aforementioned type having various designs and composed of metal or plastic are known in practice. These bushings are used in articulated connections between two elements which can rotate relative to one another, one of the elements generally being mounted on the hollow cylindrical section of the bushing and a collar separating the two elements from one another in the axial direction of a pivot pin.
To prevent excessive friction between the two rotatably connected elements, it is necessary to provide play between these elements, in particular for metallic surfaces of the elements which are moved with respect to one another.
For applications in which such axial play is undesired for avoiding rattling noise during operation or for ensuring a precise operational sequence, which is the case, for example, for an articulated connection or hinge between elements of a folding top mechanism of a convertible vehicle, a lubricant may be provided between the mutually rotatable parts, which, however, requires additional operating means and more intensive maintenance for the articulated connection.
It is also known in practice to use bushings made of self-lubricating plastic, Teflon, for example, between the surfaces of the articulated connection which are in rotary contact with one another in order to reduce the friction between the surfaces and simultaneously reduce the maintenance effort. A disadvantage of such plastic bushings, however, is that the flexibility of the joint is greatly increased in the articulated region, thereby impairing the precision of motion of, for example, the folding top mechanism.
DE 295 16 619 U1 discloses a hinge for the articulated connection of two arms of a folding rod assembly which for minimizing friction, maintaining operating characteristics, and ensuring increased rigidity of the articulated region has a bushing which is made of liquid crystal-polymer base material and is situated between a pivot pin and the arms of a folding rod assembly supported on the pivot pin. However, such a bushing ensures a play-free connection only for a limited time, since the liquid crystal-polymer base material wears out during operation.
Although a spring washer may be used to compensate for axial play resulting from such a bushing during operation, an additional component is necessary for the articulated connection.
An articulated connection is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,599,056 between two components of a folding top of a convertible vehicle in which bushings having an inclined collar are arranged on a pivot pin between the two components to be joined in order to achieve noise reduction. The available elasticity of the connection and the time period over which the damping properties can be maintained to the required extent are greatly limited in this design.
Examples of bushings used in articulated connections from other areas of technology are known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,349, U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,631, DE 197 31 305 A1, DE 103 40 279 A1, DE 1 575 454 B and FR 2 120 604 A.

Bushing and hinged joint comprising such a bushing


There is provided polymeric particles having a particle size between about 60 nm and about 1000 nm and comprising a polymer, the polymer comprising a hydrophobic backbone, a near infrared absorbing segment having attached thereto a near infrared absorbing chromophore having an absorption peak between about 700 nm and about 1100 nm; and a near infrared transparent segment. Method of manufacture these particles are also provided. A coating composition comprising the above-polymeric particles and a reactive iodonium oligomer is also provided. Finally, a negative-working lithographic offset printing plate comprising a substrate; a hydrophilic under layer; and a laser imageable upper layer, wherein the laser imageable upper layer comprises the above polymeric particle is also provided.

On-press developable negative-working lithographic offset printing plates are known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,569,573 teaches lithographic printing plates comprising a laser imaging layer containing microencapsulated oleophilic materials in hydrophilic polymer binders.
EP 0 770 495 teaches lithographic printing plates comprising near infrared absorbing materials, polymer binders and thermoplastic particles capable of coalescing under heat.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,983,694 teach on-press developable negative-working offset printing plates coated with near infrared sensitive coating compositions comprising thermoplastic polymeric particles, such as polystyrene or poly(acrylonitrile-co-styrene) particles, non-reactive hydrophilic polymer binder and near infrared absorption dyes.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,261,740 teaches negative-working offset printing plates coated with near infrared sensitive coating compositions containing methoxymethacrylamide copolymers, phenolic resins, iodonium salts and near infrared absorption dyes.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,124,425 and 6,177,182 teach on-press developable negative-working offset printing plates coated with thermally reactive near-infrared absorbing copolymers, which undergo cross-linking reactions via cationic polymerization upon exposure to near infrared radiation. The near infrared chromophoric moieties are functionalized to the polymeric backbone via ether and ammonium bonds. These near infrared absorbing polymers are prepared as homogenous solutions.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,960,422 teaches to prepare negative-working offset printing plates, which contain a near infrared sensitive base-coat compositions comprising molecular near infrared dyes, radical generators, radical polymerizable urethane compounds, reactive polymer binders and other additives.
EP patent No. 1234662 teaches to prepare negative-working offset printing plates, the coating compositions of which contain a near infrared absorber, onium initiators and urethane polymers comprising poly(ethylene oxide) side chains. These urethane polymers do not absorb near infrared radiation.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,969,575 and 7,001,704 teach on-press developable negative-working offset printing plates having an image-forming layer, which comprise near infrared absorbing microcapsules and acid generator compound. Similarly, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,001,673 and 7,078,145 teach to prepare on-press developable negative-working offset printing plates. The coating compositions comprise near infrared absorbing microcapsules, which were prepared via emulsification with a high speed homogenizer of the oil phase containing hydrophobic polymers, near infrared absorbers and initiators in hydrophilic polymer water solutions. The preparation of these microcapsules is complicated and these coatings exhibit poor scratch resistance and require an overcoat layer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,037,102 and EP Application No. 1117005 teach to prepare negative-working photosensitive coating compositions comprising copolymers grafted with poly(ethylene oxide) side chains. These copolymers do not absorb near infrared radiation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,582,882 teaches to prepare "graft" polymers and copolymers for use in offset printing plates comprising poly(ethylene oxide) side chains, which are grafted on non-crosslinked hydrophobic polymer backbone. These polymers do not absorb near infrared radiation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,899,994 and co-pending US patent applications No. 2003/0157433; 2003/0064318 and 2005/0123853 teach on-press developable negative-working offset printing plates, which are coated with thermally imageable compositions containing polymer binders, initiator systems and polymerizable components. The described polymer binders are non-crosslinked copolymers having polyethylene oxide and polypropylene block, or graft copolymers co-polymerized with hydrophobic monomers, such as styrene, substituted styrene, alpha-methylstyrene, acrylate ester, methacrylate ester, acrylonitrile, acrylamide, methacrylamide, vinyl halide, vinyl ester, vinyl ether and an alpha-olefin. The polymerizable components are viscous liquid oligomers containing multiple acrylic and methacrylic functional groups. The initiator system contains near infrared absorption dyes and radical producing compounds, such as triazine and iodonium salts.
All of these coating compositions and printing plates show some disadvantages such as having a tacky surface, which causes difficulties for handling and storage, exhibiting phase separation and/or surface crystallization upon storage, requiring high laser power to achieve imaging, having poor substrate adhesion and consequently failing to provide sufficient run length on press, not being developable on-press due to dye staining causing background toning, exhibiting poor scratching resistance, requiring an over-coating layer and/or a special substrate surface treatment and being expensive or difficult to manufacture.
There thus remains a need for new materials and new coatings for lithographic plates that would overcome some or all of the drawbacks of the prior art.
The present description refers to a number of documents, the content of which is herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.

Reactive near infrared absorbing polymeric particles, methods of preparation and uses thereof