An electric field expansion type main lens portion is constituted by including a focus electrode to which a focus voltage on a first level is applied, an anode electrode to which an anode voltage on a second level higher than the first level is applied, and two auxiliary electrodes to which a voltage on a third level higher than the first level and lower than the second level is applied and which are arranged between the focus electrode and the anode electrode. An electrode length of each of the two auxiliary electrodes along an electron beam traveling direction is constituted so as to differ in accordance with a difference in potential between electrodes arranged at front and rear positions in the electron beam traveling direction of each auxiliary electrode.

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-225812, filed Jul. 26, 2000, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cathode ray tube apparatus, and more particularly to a cathode ray tube apparatus provided with an electron gun structure having an electric field expansion type main lens with a large diameter.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, demands for realizing the high resolution of a cathode ray tube apparatus has been increased, and a beam spot diameter on a phosphor screen which is a large factor for determining the resolution is determined by the focusing performance of an electron gun structure for emitting electron beams.
This focusing performance is generally determined by a diameter of a main lens, a virtual object image diameter relative to the main lens, the magnification of the main lens and others. That is, the beam spot diameter can be decreased as the diameter of the main lens is increased, as the virtual object image diameter is reduced and as the magnification of the main lens is reduced, thereby improving the resolution.
For example, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, there is known an electron gun structure having an electric field expansion type main lens with a large diameter. This electron gun structure includes two intermediate electrodes Gm1 and Gm2 arranged between a focus electrode G5 and an anode electrode G6. An electric field between the focus electrode G5 to the anode electrode G6 is expanded in a traveling direction of electron beams by applying a potential between the focus electrode G5 and the anode electrode G6 to the intermediate electrodes Gm1 and Gm2.
As described above, the main lens in this electron gun structure expands an electric field in the main lens along the electron beam traveling direction and forms the gentle potential gradient, thereby constituting a long-focusing lens. As a result, the beam spot diameter on the phosphor screen is decreased, and the resolution is improved.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 64-38947 discloses an electron gun structure including two intermediate electrodes. In this electron gun structure, an application voltage of the focus electrode is approximately 6 kV to 9 kV, and an application voltage of the anode electrode is approximately 25 kV to 30 kV.
A voltage which is approximately 40% of the anode voltage is applied to a first intermediate electrode arranged on the focus electrode side, and a voltage which is approximately 65% of the anode voltage is applied to a second intermediate electrode arranged on the anode electrode side. These two intermediate electrodes are constituted in such a manner that their electrode lengths in the electron beam traveling direction are equal to each other.
However, in order to sufficiently exploit the characteristic of such an electric field expansion type main lens, the electrode length of each electrode, an opening diameter and the potential distribution thereof must be appropriately set. In the above-described structure, however, the density of the potential gradient differs in the vicinity of the first intermediate electrode and the second intermediate electrode.
That is, a difference in potential between the electrodes on the both sides of the first intermediate electrode, namely, a difference between voltages applied to the focus electrode and the second intermediate electrode (assuming that the focus voltage is 25% of the anode voltage, a difference in potential is 65%xe2x88x9225%=40%) dominantly acts on the electric field in the vicinity of the first intermediate electrode. Further, a difference in potential between the electrodes on the both sides of the second intermediate electrode, namely, a difference between voltages applied to the anode electrode and the first intermediate electrode (a difference in potential is 100%xe2x88x9240%=60%) dominantly acts on the electric field in the vicinity of the second intermediate electrode. Thus, when the electrode length of each of the first intermediate electrode and the second intermediate electrode and a distance between these electrodes are equal to each other, the density of the potential gradient in the vicinity of the second intermediate electrode becomes stronger than that of the potential gradient in the vicinity of the first intermediate electrode. Therefore, the potential gradient constituting the electric field expansion lens becomes locally uneven.
In order to make the electric field expansion type lens to function as a lens with a larger diameter (long-focusing lens), the electric field expansion type lens must be constituted as if it is a part of the central axis of a large lens. That is, when the potential gradient in the electric field expansion type lens is uniform, the lens with a larger diameter can be obtained, and the aberration component accepted by the electron beams can be further reduced.
Therefore, the electric field expansion type lens having the considerable unevenness in the potential gradient disclosed in the prior art described above can be said that its lens is not constituted as a lens with a sufficiently large diameter.
Furthermore, in the above-mentioned electron gun structure, an opening diameter and an electrode length of each intermediate electrode are not explicitly described. However, the appropriate relationship is required for the opening diameter and the electrode length of each of these intermediate electrodes.
For example, if the electrode length is sufficiently long with respect to the opening diameter of the intermediate electrode, the following problem occurs. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, when the electrode length L1 is long with respect to the opening diameter "PHgr" to some extent, the discontinuity is produced in the potential gradient in the vicinity of the center of that intermediate electrode. Therefore, the gentle potential gradient formed from the focus electrode to the anode electrode is interrupted in the vicinity of the center of that intermediate electrode. The electric field expansion type lens having such discontinuity can be also said that its lens is not constituted as a lens with a sufficiently large diameter.
As described above, in the prior art electron gun structure, since the opening diameter and the electrode length of each electrode constituting the electric field expansion type lens and a distance between the respective electrodes are not appropriately set, the potential gradient constituting the electric field expansion type lens becomes uneven or the potential gradient is interrupted. Therefore, there occurs a problem that the lens with a sufficiently large diameter can not be constituted.
In view of the above-described problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cathode ray tube apparatus which can fully bring out a lens characteristic of the electric field expansion type main lens and obtain an excellent image characteristic in the entire phosphor screen.
In order to solve the above-described problem and achieve this aim, there is provided a cathode ray tube apparatus according to claim 1, comprising:
an electron gun structure having an electron beam formation portion for generating at least one electron beam and a main lens portion for focusing an electron beam generated from the electron beam formation portion onto a phosphor screen; and a deflecting yoke for generating a deflecting magnetic field for deflecting an electron beam emitted from the electron gun structure in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction,
wherein the main lens portion is constituted by including: at least one focus electrode to which a focus voltage on a first level is applied; at least one anode electrode to which an anode voltage on a second level higher than the first level is applied; and at least two auxiliary electrodes to which a voltage whose level is higher than the first level and lower than the second level is applied, and
wherein an electrode length of each of at least two auxiliary electrodes along a traveling direction of the electron beam differs in accordance with a difference in potential between electrodes arranged at front and rear positions in an electron beam traveling direction of each electrode.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.


A label holder is provided for mounting on a shelf channel. The label holder includes a front panel, a back panel connected to the front panel with a common bottom edge with a cavity there between. The label holder also has a protective flange along a top edge of the back panel and a shelf clip portion separated from the back panel by a common top edge. The shelf clip portion includes an upward retaining flange for engaging the shelf and includes a downward angled engaging portion terminating in a catch flange and a curved resilient hinge portion that is configured to encompass the catch flange and terminate in an upward flange. The shelf clip portion provides resilient clamping onto the shelf. The catch flange is configured to engage a lower shelf channel flange as the curved resilient hinge wraps an arcuate channel of the shelf.

This invention relates to a label holder for mounting on channels of shelves for shelf units and the like. Typical shelf units are Lozier or Madix brand shelving units that provide arcuate shelf channels (a.k.a. "C-channels") for holding product information labels or for holding label holders for replaceable labels that are insertable into a clear sleeve. Label holders are typically extruded from a resilient plastic and include at least a clear front panel behind which a product information label can be inserted. Known label holders can be difficult to install and if they are easy to install, they may be unstable or subject to dislodging. What is needed is an improved label holder design with ease of installation and robust stability.


To provide an attachment structure of a swash plate support, that is, an attachment structure which suppresses an unstably fixed state of the swash plate support and realizes easy attachment and detachment of the swash plate support to and from a casing. A casing of a piston pump and a swash plate support which is attachable to the casing include a displacement preventing device and a rotation preventing device. In the swash plate support and the casing, since an engaging pawl portion of the displacement preventing device engages with an engaging portion, relative displacements in a first direction and a second direction along the rotational axis are prevented, and since a pin member of the rotation preventing device fits in the pin fit hole, relative rotations around the rotational axis are prevented.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a part of a piston pump 1 of a first prior art. The piston pump 1 includes, in a casing 2, a cylinder block which is rotatable in a rotational direction A1 around a rotational axis L1 by a rotational shaft 3. In the cylinder block, a plurality of piston chambers are formed, and cylinder ports connected to the piston chambers are formed. A piston fits in each piston chamber. Each piston is provided at a first end portion thereof with a shoe, and each shoe is pressed toward a swash plate 4 which inclines with respect to a virtual flat surface perpendicular to the rotational axis L1. In sync with the rotation of the cylinder block, each piston carries out a reciprocating displacement including an extending stroke and a retracting stroke.
The swash plate 4 is supported by a swash plate support 5 so as to be tiltable around a tilt axis L2 orthogonal to the rotational axis L1. A stroke length of each piston changes by tilting the swash plate around the tilt axis L2, and this changes the amount of hydraulic oil sucked into each piston chamber. In the casing 2, a pin 6 fits in an inner peripheral portion thereof. The pin 6 is provided such that a part thereof projects from the inner peripheral portion in a first direction along the rotational axis L1. The swash plate support 5 is attached to the casing 2 by causing the pin 6 to fit in the casing 2 in a state in which the rotational shaft 3 is inserted into the swash plate support 5. With this, the rotation of the swash plate support 5 around the rotational axis L1 is prevented. Thus, an angular displacement of the swash plate around the rotational axis L1 due to vibrations, etc. is prevented, and an unstably fixed state of the swash plate 4 is suppressed (Patent Document 1 for example).
FIG. 11 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a part of a piston pump of a second prior art. A piston pump 10 includes a casing 11, a rotational shaft 12, a cylinder block, a plurality of pistons, a plurality of shoes, a swash plate 13 and a swash plate support 14, and is constructed in the same manner as the piston pump 1 of the first prior art. The swash plate support 14 is attached to the casing 11 in such a state that the rotational shaft 12 is inserted into the swash plate support 14. The swash plate support 14 is fastened to the casing 11 with a plurality of bolts 15 which penetrate through the casing 11 from its outer side to its inner side. With this, the rotation of the swash plate support 14 around the rotational axis L1 and the displacement of the swash plate support 14 in directions along the rotational axis L1 are prevented. Thus, the angular displacement of the swash plate around the rotational axis L1 due to vibrations, etc. and the displacement of the swash plate in the above directions caused by the displacement of the rotational shaft in the direction along the rotational axis L1 can be prevented, and the unstably fixed state of the swash plate is suppressed (See Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication 59-90782 (page 2, FIG. 1))

Attachment structure of swash plate support and hydraulic apparatus

Kabushiki Kaisha Kawasaki Precision Machinery


A method and apparatus provides a user interface with respect to a plurality of applications and includes storing operation information regarding common operations performed in the plurality of applications of a device, generating a function window for performing at least one operation performed in the plurality of applications based on the stored operation information, and displaying the generated function window.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a method and system to provide a user interface with respect to a plurality of applications, and more particularly, to a method and system to provide a user interface to perform common functions of a plurality of applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of terminals, such as a personal computer (PC) including a touch pad, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smart phone, a portable media player (PMP), an MP3 player, etc., have become popular. A user interface of an application of each terminal is prepared in accordance with an input device, such as a mouse, a keyboard, a remote controller, a touch, etc. Furthermore, since the terminals include various executable applications, users have difficulty in recognizing applications and knowing what functions are performed by the applications, and also in inputting a command for executing a desired function of a specific application in a timely fashion.
It is inconvenient for users to input commands for executing a plurality of applications. The terminals do not provide common shortcut key functions with respect to the plurality of applications. Furthermore, the terminals do not provide effective selection and arrangement of the shortcut keys.

Method and system to provide a user interface with respect to a plurality of applications


According to one embodiment, a patterned magnetic storage medium is disclosed herein. The magnetic storage medium includes a magnetic domain, a substantially non-magnetic region laterally adjacent to the magnetic domain, and an exchange spring structure disposed between the magnetic domain and the laterally adjacent non-magnetic region wherein the exchange spring structure comprises implanted ions.

Patterned features in magnetic media are used for storing digital data that can be erased and rewritten. Patterned magnetic media is used in memory devices, such as magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM) and magnetic logic, and is being developed for use in storage devices, such as disk or tape drives. Patterned magnetic media on a disk or tape substrate can be referred to as bit-patterned magnetic media. In patterned magnetic media for storage devices, some of the patterned features are designed as storage elements of digital bits of data and other patterned features are designed for functions, such as providing servo information to position a read/write head.
Magnetic storage devices may store data in magnetic storage media by controlling the orientation of the magnetic field of a storage element. Writing techniques include generating a magnetic field through a storage element, which then induces a magnetic material (such as cobalt-based or iron-based particles, grains or domains) of the storage element to align with the induced magnetic field. When the induced magnetic field is removed, the alignment of the magnetic material of the storage element may remain. Reading techniques include various methods for measuring or sensing a magnetic orientation of the magnetic material of a storage element.
Generally, the magnetic material that is used to store data in disk drives and tape drives has adequately high magnetic moment density that can be reliably sensed by a read head. Highly magnetic materials have a large magnetic moment density, which promotes a strong and highly interactive magnetic field. Accordingly, magnetic materials with large magnetic moment densities generally make it easier to sense a magnetic orientation of the material because the field is easier to measure and/or sense.
Additionally, the magnetic material used to store data conventionally is a hard magnetic material. Hard magnetic materials tend to have a higher coercivity compared to softer magnetic materials. The higher coercivity of hard magnetic materials allows them to more stably maintain a magnetic orientation. Accordingly, using hard magnetic materials may allow a magnetic storage media to store data for long periods of time without refreshing or rewriting each bit of information. However, the high coercivity of a material may also make it more difficult to perform a write operation on the material. For example, in order to properly perform a write operation on a hard magnetic material, the magnetic field induced during a write operation may be required to have a higher magnitude or the induced magnetic field may be required to be applied for a longer period of time. Such additional requirements can lead to limitations on the areal density of magnetic elements formed in the medium because a higher magnitude magnetic field may affect nearby storage elements if the elements are too close to each other. Further, such additional requirements can also lead to slower write times because changing the magnetic orientation of a magnetic element with a magnetic field of a given amplitude may take longer.
Another challenge with patterned magnetic media is the reduced stability of the orientation of magnetic elements having smaller anisotropy and volume. Thermal affects alone, or in combination with static magnetic fields of neighboring storage elements, may induce smaller-sized magnetic elements that have low anisotropy to spontaneously change orientation. This results in the loss of stored information and loss of data. Because patterned magnetic media generally uses smaller and smaller portions of material for storing magnetic fields to increase storage density, the magnetic instability of a storage element becomes more and more of a limiting factor.
Several techniques are known for patterning bit-patterned magnetic media. Prior techniques relied on an etching process for forming the patterns of storage elements in data storage media. However, such techniques may require the planarization of the etched disk, which, if needed, result in increased cost and labor, as well as a reduction in yield. Accordingly, recently there has been a desire to develop certain techniques to mitigate the shortcomings of etching-based processes. For example, masked ion-beam and masked plasma immersion ion implantation lithography have proven to be an efficient alternative for producing patterned media.


A universal serial bus (USB) component tester for testing a USB component that has a plug and a USB port includes a connector, a USB port, and a first indicator. The connector includes a first power pin, a first data pin connected to the first power pin, a second data pin, and a first ground pin connected to the second data pin and also connected to the first data pin via a first resistor. The USB port includes a power terminal connected to a power supply, a first data terminal, a second data terminal, and a grounded ground terminal, and the first data terminal is connected to the second data terminal via a second resistor. The first indicator includes a first terminal connected to the first data terminal via the second resistor, and a second terminal connected to the second data terminal.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to testers and, particularly, to a universal serial bus (USB) component tester.
2. Description of Related Art
Today, USB components are broadly applied in serial communication solutions and become more and more important. A USB component generally includes USB ports and plugs. After manufacturing, the USB component needs to be tested. A general method for testing USB components uses some ordinary USB devices such as USB pointing devices, USB keyboards, USB hard disk drives, and/or a motherboard etc., to directly connect to the USB ports, and the plugs, and check if the USB ports and plugs work or not. However, this method requires plugging or unplugging the USB devices and/or the motherboard to or from the USB ports separately and frequently, which is unduly laborious and time-consuming. In addition, because this method utilizes USB pointing devices, keyboards, hard disk drives, etc. and the motherboard, it is costly.
What is needed, therefore, is to provide a USB component tester to overcome the above described shortcomings.

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A system, method and article of manufacture are provided for detecting an orphaned server context. A collection of outstanding server objects is maintained and a list of contexts is created for each of the outstanding server objects. A compilation of clients who are interested in each of the outstanding server objects are added to the list. Recorded on the list is a duration of time since the clients invoked a method accessing each of the contexts of the outstanding server objects. The list is examined at predetermined intervals for determining whether a predetermined amount of time has passed since each of the objects has been accessed. Contexts that have not been accessed in the predetermined amount of time are selected and information is sent to the clients identifying the contexts that have not been accessed in the predetermined amount of time.

This application is related to United States Patent Applications entitled A SYSTEM, METHOD AND ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE FOR A DEVELOPMENT ARCHITECTURE FRAMEWORK and A SYSTEM, METHOD AND ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE FOR MAINTENANCE AND ADMINISTRATION IN AN E-COMMERCE APPLICATION FRAMEWORK, both of which are filed concurrently herewith and which are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
The present invention relates to improving system performance and more particularly to detecting and cleaning up orphaned server contexts.
An important use of computers is the transfer of information over a network. Currently, the largest computer network in existence is the Internet. The Internet is a worldwide interconnection of computer networks that communicate using a common protocol. Millions of computers, from low end personal computers to high-end super computers are coupled to the Internet.
The Internet grew out of work funded in the 1960s by the U.S. Defense Department""s Advanced Research Projects Agency. For a long time, Internet was used by researchers in universities and national laboratories to share information. As the existence of the Internet became more widely known, many users outside of the academic/research community (e.g., employees of large corporations) started to use Internet to carry electronic mail.
In 1989, a new type of information system known as the World-Wide-Web (xe2x80x9cthe Webxe2x80x9d) was introduced to the Internet. Early development of the Web took place at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory. The Web is a wide-area hypermedia information retrieval system aimed to give wide access to a large universe of documents. At that time, the Web was known to and used by the academic/research community only. There was no easily available tool which allows a technically untrained person to access the Web.
In 1993, researchers at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) released a Web browser called xe2x80x9cMosaicxe2x80x9d that implemented a graphical user interface (GUI). Mosaic""s graphical user interface was simple to learn yet powerful. The Mosaic browser allows a user to retrieve documents from the World-Wide-Web using simple point-and-click commands. Because the user does not have to be technically trained and the browser is pleasant to use, it has the potential of opening up the Internet to the masses.
The architecture of the Web follows a conventional client-server model. The terms xe2x80x9cclientxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cserverxe2x80x9d are used to refer to a computer""s general role as a requester of data (the client) or provider of data (the server). Under the Web environment, Web browsers reside in clients and Web documents reside in servers. Web clients and Web servers communicate using a protocol called xe2x80x9cHyperText Transfer Protocolxe2x80x9d (HTTP). A browser opens a connection to a server and initiates a request for a document. The server delivers the requested document, typically in the form of a text document coded in a standard Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) format, and when the connection is closed in the above interaction, the server serves a passive role, i.e., it accepts commands from the client and cannot request the client to perform any action.
The communication model under the conventional Web environment provides a very limited level of interaction between clients and servers. In many systems, increasing the level of interaction between components in the systems often makes the systems more robust, but increasing the interaction increases the complexity of the interaction and typically slows the rate of the interaction. Thus, the conventional Web environment provides less complex, faster interactions because of the Web""s level of interaction between clients and servers.
A system, method and article of manufacture are provided for detecting an orphaned server context. A collection of outstanding server objects is maintained and a list of contexts is created for each of the outstanding server objects. A compilation of clients who are interested in each of the outstanding server objects are added to the list. Recorded on the list is a duration of time since the clients invoked a method accessing each of the contexts of the outstanding server objects. The list is examined at predetermined intervals for determining whether a predetermined amount of time has passed since each of the objects has been accessed. Contexts that have not been accessed in the predetermined amount of time are selected and information is sent to the clients identifying the contexts that have not been accessed in the predetermined amount of time.
In one embodiment of the present invention, after waiting a preselected amount of time for receiving a response from one of the clients, the context may be deleted if a response from one of the clients is not received within the predetermined amount of time. In another embodiment of the present invention, a response may be received from one of the clients requesting that one of the contexts be maintained. In such an embodiment, upon receipt of the response, a time the context was last updated may be updated to a current time.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, a queuing delay may be accommodated for a response from the clients. In one aspect of the present invention, each of the clients may maintain a collection of all objects the client is interested in. The clients then may send requests to keep alive any objects the clients are currently interested in.


Different methods for the preparation of high purity NaAlCl4 are disclosed. The methods includes charging a feed having an intimate mixture of aluminum chloride, sodium chloride, and aluminum metal, to a reactor at an initial temperature less than about 80° C., carrying out a solid state reaction to form a solid NaAlCl4 at an intermediate temperature less than about 145° C., melting the formed solid NaAlCl4 at an elevated temperature greater than about 150° C. to produce molten phase NaAlCl4, holding the reactor at a raised temperature greater than about 165° C. to substantially complete formation of colorless NaAlCl4 and filtering the reactor contents at a final temperature greater than about 165° C.

The invention relates generally to preparation of sodium chloro-aluminate, and particularly to an improved process for the preparation of high purity sodium chloro-aluminate.
A battery is a component used to store a portion of the energy in mobile systems such as electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles (for example locomotives, off-highway mining vehicles, marine applications, buses and automobiles), and for stationary applications such as uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems and "Telecom" (telecommunication systems). The high-temperature sodium/metal halide electrochemical cells are generally targeted for use in industrial transportation, telecommunication, and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) batteries. These cells could potentially offer high energy density, high power density, longer cell life, and lower cost-requirements for many of these applications.
Sodium/nickel chloride batteries are one of the most widely used batteries among the many types of sodium/metal halide batteries. Sodium/nickel chloride batteries utilize molten sodium as the anode, nickel chloride as the cathode, and molten sodium chloro-aluminate (alternately sodium tetrachloroaluminate, NaAlCl4) as a secondary molten electrolyte in the cathode.
Production of NaAlCl4 normally includes reacting aluminum chloride with sodium chloride and then purifying the product obtained to the required grade to be used in a sodium/nickel chloride battery. Fabrication of a large batch of NaAlCl4 usually takes 2-3 days' time until a sufficiently pure, clear colorless melt is formed. Impurities in the electrolyte reduce battery performance and may result in rupture of the cell. Sufficient information is not available about any in-situ determination of the reaction completion or the determination of the amount of impurities present in the formed product. It would therefore be desirable to develop a commercial method for the speedy production of NaAlCl4 with accurate measurement of reaction completion and in-built measures for purifying the NaAlCl4 product and measuring the impurity level of the product.

Method for preparing sodium chloro-aluminate


In various embodiments, an iterative decoder may compute, from sign bits of log likelihood ratios associated with x bits of a plurality of bits of encoded data, a first combination of the x bits having a higher associated log density ratio than any other combination of the x bits. In various embodiments, the iterative decoder may further be configured to compute m combinations of the x bits having m highest associated log density ratios, based on reductions in log density ratios associated with one or more sub-combinations of the x bits and the computed first combination of the x bits. In various embodiments, a variable node associated with the iterative decoder may be updated with the m combinations of the x bits.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure. Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in the present disclosure and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section. An error correction code ("ECC") decoder may be used to decode pluralities of encoded bits, also referred to as "codewords," on a channel. For example, a memory controller may use an ECC decoder to handle bit errors and recover data associated with an ECC codeword stored in non-volatile memory ("NVM"). As another example, an ECC decoder may be used to handle bit errors and recover data associated with an encoded incoming data on a wired or wireless communication channel.
An iterative decoder such as a non-binary low-density parity-check ("LDPC") decoder may process a codeword multiple times. Each iteration may bring the codeword closer to the original data. In one form of iterative decoding called "extended min-sum," symbols and associated probabilities that the symbols are correct may be passed between variable nodes and check nodes corresponding to relationships between the variable nodes. During iterative decoding, a predetermined number m of symbols having the highest associated probabilities may be computed for various purposes, such as variable node updating.

Updating variable nodes associated with an iterative decoder


A method for bonding a first ceramic element and a second ceramic element utilizes a silver powder paste composed of silver particles dispersed in a volatile vehicle. A film of the paste is applied and dried onto a faying surface of each element. The elements are assembled with the films in contact and heated to sinter the silver particles into an integral silver layer that is bonded to the faying surfaces, thereby bonding the elements together. The method is particularly well suited to manufacturing a stripline filter, wherein the sintered layer not only bonds the ceramic elements, but also forms a metallic feature, such as a resonator, of the filter.

This invention relates to a method for forming a structure comprising ceramic elements bonded by a sintered silver layer. More particularly, this invention relates to a method for bonding ceramic elements that includes applying a thick film of a paste comprising a silver powder to the faying surfaces, and sintering the silver powder to produce an integral layer bonding the surfaces.
In a radio transmitting or receiving device, a stripline filter is employed to select signals within a relatively narrow frequency band, referred to as a passband, and to shunt signals having frequencies outside the passband. The stripline filter comprises a metallic resonator sandwiched between ceramic elements and capacitively coupled to an external ground plate for shunting the unwanted signals.
One method for manufacturing a stripline filter comprises soldering silver films applied to surfaces of preformed ceramic elements. The silver films are applied in a superposable pattern corresponding to the desired configuration of the resonator. The silver films are formed by applying a paste composed of silver powder dispersed in a volatile solvent containing an organic binder. The paste is dried to remove the solvent and fired to vaporize the binder and to sinter the silver particles into an integral layer.
To bond the elements together, a film of a solder paste is applied to one of the sintered silver films. The solder paste comprises particles composed of a low melting solder alloy and dispersed in a solvent vehicle, similar to the silver paste. A common solder for this purpose is composed of a tin-base alloy containing about 5 weight percent silver. The elements are arranged with the second silver film resting against the solder particulate film. The assembly is then heated at a temperature, typically less than about 300.degree. C., sufficient to melt the solder alloy and fuse the solder to the adjacent silver films. Upon cooling, the solder resolidifies and bonds to the silver films, thereby joining the ceramic elements into an integral structure.
Upon soldering, the molten solder wets the silver films, which is essential to forming a strong solder bond. In contrast, molten solder does not wet ceramic surface, and does not bond directly to the ceramic element, thus necessitating the silver films. The resulting metal layer thus comprises silver films bonded to the ceramic and solder-bonded to an intermediate reflowed tin-base alloy film.
In bonding the ceramic elements utilizing an intermediate solder film, additional steps are required to apply to solder paste, thereby adding to the cost of the product. Oxides and other contaminants on the silver surface inhibit wetting by the solder alloy and thus interfere with the formation of a strong solder bond. Furthermore, silver is soluble in the molten solder alloy. Thus, there is a tendency for silver to leach from the film into the solder alloy. Accordingly, it is necessary to carefully control the reflow time and temperature to avoid complete dissolution of the silver film that would otherwise prevent bonding to the ceramic. Still further, subsequent processing steps are limited by the solder reflow temperature, since higher temperatures are accompanied by a melting of the solder alloy, which would allow the elements to shift or cause further leaching of the silver film.

Silver paste sintering method for bonding ceramic surfaces


A display system and a data transmission method thereof are provided. When a first frame stored in a frame buffer and a plurality of second frames to be outputted by an audio and video (AV) source are the same, the AV source set a AV control signal corresponding to a self-refresh mode, and a timing controller controlled by the AV control signal accesses the first frame to output a display data. When the first frame and the second frames are different from each other, the AV source sets the AV control signal corresponding to a normal mode, and sets a AV data signal according to the second frames, and the timing controller controlled by the AV control signal outputs the display data corresponding to the received second frame or accesses the frame buffer to output the display data according to timings of the AV data signal and the display data.

Generally, a display apparatus may display a corresponding image according to a frames provided by an audio and video (AV) source. However, under the circumstance of displaying static images, the display apparatus may still receive the frames transmitted from the audio and video source continuously, and display the same image. In order to reduce the power consumption when the display apparatus receives the frames to display the static images, a frame buffer for storing an entire frame may be disposed in the display apparatus. Thus, under the circumstance of displaying dynamic images, the display apparatus may display a corresponding image according to a frame provided by the audio and video source, and under the circumstance of displaying static images, the display apparatus may store the static frame in the frame buffer, and the display apparatus displays according to the static frame stored in the frame buffer.
Nevertheless, when the audio and video source provides the dynamic frame again, it is possible that the operation timing of the display apparatus may not synchronize with the operation timing of the frame provided by the audio and video source, and therefore, the image displayed by a display panel may be affected when the display apparatus directly provides the dynamic frame to a driving circuit of the display panel. Thus, providing new dynamic frames to the driving circuit of the display panel without affecting the operation of the display panel has become one of the design concerns for this type of display apparatus.

Display system and data transmission method thereof


A system for resolving packet errors and busy acknowledgments for packets in a ring network, to maintain continued packet distribution on the network with support for strongly ordered, nonidempotent commands. Each consumer node on the network maintains a record of the sequence of packets that have passed through that node, and the state of each of the packets at the time it passed through, including a record of the last known good packet and its sequence number. When a producer node detects an error condition in an acknowledgment for a packet, resends all packets beginning with the last known good packet. Each consumer node is able to process or reject the resent packets, including packets that may already have been processed, which it is aware of due to the packet and state records for all packets. Strong ordering is thus supported, since the sending order of packets can be maintained for processing due to the resends, and nonidempotent commands are supported due to the consumer nodes' ability to determine whether they have already processed a given packet, and to send an acknowledge-done reply if that is the case. A retry queueing system is used which allows the system to effectively interleave busy retry loops with an error retry loop, thus accommodating both error retries and busy retries while preserving strong sequential ordering, if desired, of the sent packets.

The present invention is directed to a system for support of packet transmission in processor-based networks using serial interconnects. In particular, the system of the invention provides dynamic ordering support for packets in response to errors in such networks, in particular in ringlet topologies, combined with busy conditions at nodes on the network.
Serial interconnects in computer systems are subject to a number of different types of service interruptions. For example, when a node on a network encounters a CRC (cyclical redundancy check) error in a packet, that packet cannot be accepted. The node that sent the packet learns, generally indirectly (such as by a timeout or through the use of idle packets) of the error, and eventually must resend the packet.
Resending the packet may not be a simple matter, especially if the network implements an ordering scheme, such as relaxed memory ordering (RMO), strong sequential ordering (SSO), or orderings of other or intermediate stringency. In a packet-switched network with such an ordering scheme, packets preceding and following a packet giving rise to a CRC error may need to be resent by the producer node to the target node.
When busy acknowledgments are received by a producer node from a consumer node, a way must be found to retry sending the packets when the consumer node was busy, and at the same time accommodate retrying of packets sent when the consumer node or another consumer node gave rise to an error. In particular, a system is needed that can accomplish these types of retries while preserving SSO and supporting nonidempotent commands.

System for preserving sequential ordering and supporting nonidempotent commands in a ring network with busy nodes


A primer composition comprising an alkoxysilyl-containing polyamide-imide resin, an epoxy resin, a curing promoter, and an organic solvent forms a cured coating having heat resistance and water resistance through brief low-temperature heating and helps bonding of epoxy resin molding compound to semiconductor members.

For the purpose of improving surface properties of molded parts made of metals or plastics, cured coatings of organosilicon compounds are often formed on the surface of molded parts, as is well known in the art. This approach, however, suffers from a problem of very poor adhesion between metals and organosilicon compounds except for the combinations of certain metals with organosilicon compounds having a limited chemical structure.
There remained a demand for adhesion promoters and primer compositions capable of improving the adhesion between them. Exemplary compositions include a primer composition based on a polyalkylene imine and an epoxy bond-containing trialkoxysilane as disclosed in JP-B 54-28430; a composition comprising a compound obtained by ester exchange of a polyester or polyether polyol with an alkoxysilane and a polyisocyanate as disclosed in JP-B 48-41697; a methyl methacrylate based composition as disclosed in JP-A 52-138565; a primer composition based on an epoxyalkyltrialkoxysilane as disclosed in JP-A 54-81378; a primer composition comprising a certain silane and an acid anhydride as disclosed in JP-A 54-155229 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,038; and a composition comprising a co-hydrolysate of two or more silanes and a methylol melamine alkyl ether as disclosed in JP-A 55-99930.
Unfortunately, all these compositions fail to impart fully satisfactory adhesion, hot water resistance and heat resistance to objects.
It is a common practice to encapsulate semiconductor members such as transistors, diodes, ICs and LSIs with resin materials such as epoxy resins. The encapsulation of semiconductor members with resin materials often causes the semiconductor members to be degraded by water and ionic impurities that migrate thereto from the resin materials. In one proposed solution to this problem, a semiconductor member is coated with a polyimide resin having good heat resistance, electrical properties and mechanical properties for protection, prior to the encapsulation with a resin material. In general, the polyimide resin can impart excellent properties like heat resistance to the objects. Since the polyimide resin is insoluble in solvents other than some high-boiling organic solvents, it is a common practice that the polyimide resin in a polyamic acid state as a precursor thereof is dissolved in an organic solvent, and the solution is coated onto a semiconductor member, followed by heat curing (for imidization) to form a cured coating.
In forming the polyimide resin coating by this method, however, the heat treatment for converting polyamic acid to polyimide requires a high temperature of at least 300° C. and a long time. The high temperature, long term heating involved in this method is disadvantageous from the process aspect and from the standpoint of energy saving. On the other hand, insufficient heating will allow the polyamic acid to be left in the structure of the resulting resin. The residual polyamic acid can cause to decline the moisture resistance, corrosion resistance and other properties of the polyimide resin. In particular, when the resin material is used as an insulating protective coating on semiconductor members, such decline of resin properties can cause degradation and short life to the semiconductor members, raising a serious problem. It is desired to overcome these problems.
In the current semiconductor art, packages become smaller in both size and thickness, and the surface mount technology becomes the mainstream of the component-on-substrate mounting technology. Under the circumstances, prior art epoxy resin compositions become short to maintain reliability. In addition, solders have lately been replaced by lead-free solders, which raises the solder reflow temperature up to 260° C. If packages are subjected to soldering after moisture absorption, cracks can occur in the packages or even in the absence of cracks, a substantial loss of moisture resistance can take place. From this standpoint too, there remains a need for a heat resistant primer composition of quality.
JP-A 5-009254 and JP-A 6-116517 disclose siloxane-modified polyamide-imide resins. These resins have insufficient bond strength to copper foil and still suffer from the problems including lower glass transition temperature (Tg) and degraded heat resistance of cured film.

Primer composition for semiconductor-encapsulating epoxy resin molding compound and semiconductor device


Display calibration systems and related methods are disclosed that use photo-sensitivity of LEDs to correct for variations between LEDs during initial production and over lifetime for display systems. The display devices include arrays of LEDs and use photo-sensitivity of the LEDs to correct for variations between LEDs. Such LED arrays can produce images directly as in LED billboards and sports arena scoreboards, and smaller Organic LED (OLED) displays, or can produce the backlight for LCD screens for instance. Variations in LED brightness and color can be compensated for in order for such a display to have uniform color and brightness. This compensation is performed in the embodiments disclosed by measuring the signal induced on each LED by uniform incident light as a measurement of the photo-sensitivity of the LEDs.

Displays using LEDs for illumination are becoming increasingly popular in commercial and residential environments. Digital billboards that can sequence through multiple advertisements are beginning to replace fixed signs along roadways and in front of businesses. Similarly, large video displays for instant replay are almost mandatory for large sports stadiums. LCD televisions are gaining market share from other technologies including plasma displays, and recently the Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (CCFL) for LCD backlighting is being replaced by LED backlighting. Organic LEDs (OLED) displays, which were confined to research laboratories until very recently, are now being offered in commercial products.
LEDs are popular for such display applications due to the low cost, high energy efficiency, and long lifetime, however, variations in light output between individual LEDs and LEDs from each color component group limit performance and increase cost. For instance, the amount of light produced by an LED for a given current can vary by a factor of two to one or more between LEDs within a manufacturing lot and between lots, which when combined with the light produced by different color LEDs in a display pixel for instance, the blended color produced can vary tremendously. Likewise, the wavelength of the light produced by such LEDs can vary by 20 nm or more which produces a clearly visible color shift. Consequently, LED vendors typically sort LEDs into groups or bins with narrower specifications. LED customers may either purchase only specific bins for a higher price or design products that can tolerate wider tolerances, which may limit performance.
Further, an LED array that is designed and calibrated to produce uniform brightness and color when manufactured will degrade with use. As LEDs age, the light produced for a fixed current may increase or decrease over some amount of time and then will continue decreasing until end of life. Different color LEDs have different average aging characteristics, which may varying widely between individual LEDs. Consequently, perfectly built LED arrays will develop a grainy appearance with a different hue over time.
Displays with such arrays typically are recalibrated periodically over time to compensate for changing LED characteristics, which can be costly and time consuming. For instance, stadium displays produced by Daktronics, such as the one installed in the UT Austin football stadium, is apparently re-calibrated every two years, which takes a team of people roughly three days and nights. Special cameras with telescopes focus on each individual LED to determine brightness and color, which is fed back to the display controller. Billboards, which operate continuously, typically must be re-calibrated much more frequently to maintain optimum performance, which is costly and produces much downtime.
LED backlights for LCD televisions for instance produce white light from either phosphor coated blue LEDs or a combination of multi-color LEDs, such red, green, and blue. Such light typically passes through a diffusing layer before being applied to the back of the liquid crystal layer, which combines the light from the LEDs to produce uniform light behind the liquid crystal. Smaller displays typically have LEDs placed along one side of the display and inject light into specially shaped diffusing elements, while larger displays from Sony and Samsung for instance have arrays of LEDs behind the liquid crystal layer that match the physical dimensions of the display and typically use thin diffusing elements to produce uniform light from the LED point sources.
Displays with arrays of LEDs for backlighting have at least two advantages over display with LEDs along one or more sides. First, illumination generally is more uniform across the display, and second, the illumination from each LED in the array can be independently adjusted to improve the contrast ratio, which is called "local dimming" in the industry. However, illumination is more uniform only if the light output from each LED, or combination of LEDs for RGB backlights for instance, is the same. As in LED billboards and stadium displays, such arrays can be calibrated during manufacturing, but illumination uniformity and color, in particular with RGB backlights, will change over time for the reasons previously discussed.
LCD backlighting from multi-color LEDs, such as RGB, enables a display to produce a wider range or gamut of colors than backlighting from white LEDs, but is more difficult to control. LCDs with RGB backlights along one or more sides typically use three photo-sensors to detect the average intensity of each color component, which is fed back to the LED driver circuitry to maintain the proper mix of colors. Since the special light diffusing layer in such displays is effective at mixing the light from all the LEDs, the color across the entire display may be controlled using a single set of three photo-sensors. Although such photo-sensors and associated feedback circuitry is costly, the improved color gamut is sufficient to justify a higher price.
High end large screen LCD televisions with LED backlighting have recently been introduced by companies such as Samsung and Sony, which have arrays of LEDs that enable local dimming for high contrast ratios. At least some of such Samsung products have arrays of white LEDs, while at least some of such Sony products have arrays of RGB LEDs to support a wider color gamut. It is unclear how Sony maintains the proper color point, but such Sony products are sold for nearly twice the price of such Samsung products. The relatively simple approach described previously for RGB LED backlights along one or more sides of the display that uses one set of three photo-sensors to detect the intensity of each color component is not possible with such Sony products that support local dimming. Many sets of photo-sensors distributed throughout the array of RGB LEDs would typically be necessary to maintain uniform brightness and color across such a display.
A need exists for a means to maintain uniform brightness and color across an array of multi-color LEDs, such as RGB, used to directly produce images in the case of LED billboards and stadium displays, for instance, and indirectly in the case of LCD backlighting without the expense and complexity of on site pixel by pixel calibration in the case of LED billboards and stadium displays for instance, and special photo-sensors in the case of LCD backlights.


A method and device for carrying out immunoassays in which non analyte specific binding of heterophilic antibodies to a labeled antibody in a capture region produces an incorrect measure of the amount of an analyte attached to the antibody. Immunoglobulin from the same animal source as the labeled antibody is added to the sample fluid to prevent non-specific binding of the heterophilic antibodies in the capture region. One part of specific binding pair is added to said antibody or its label capable of binding to a second part of the binding pair immobilized in a control region downstream of said capture region for trapping the portion of the labeled anti-body which is not bound to the analyte. Preferably said binding pair is biotin/avidin or fluoroscein/anti-fluoroscein.

This invention relates generally to testing of biological fluids such as blood, urine, and the like, more particularly to immunoassays which employ antibodies to detect antigens.
Immunochromatographic strip formats have become increasingly popular for qualitative and semi-quantitative assays, particularly those which use visual detection schemes. This type of immunoassay involves the application of a liquid test sample suspected of containing an analyte to an application zone of an immuno-chromatographic strip. The presence of the analyte is typically indicated by a color which develops at a particular region of the strip. For example, pregnancy tests in which the analyte is human chronic gonadotropin (hCG).
Generally, a sample is brought into contact with an antibody to the analyte (i e, an anti-analyte antibody) which binds to the analyte, the antibody being labeled with a detectable moiety which, after separating the bound and free portions of the antibody, is used to indicate the amount of the analyte present. In order to collect the analyte bound to the antibody, a second anti-analyte antibody binding to a second epitope of the analyte may be immobilized on a test strip to capture the analyte bound to the first antibody. If the second anti-analyte antibody is not immobilized on a test strip, a pair of binding partners, typically a substance and its antibody, may be used to collect the second anti-analyte antibody. The first part of the binding pair is attached to the second anti-analyte antibody and the second part of the binding pair is immobilized at a specific location in a test strip to bind to the first part of the pair, thus immobilizing the analyte bound to the labeled first anti-analyte antibody so that it can be measured.
Usually, a test strip is comprised of a matrix material through which the test fluid, which may have the analyte suspended or dissolved therein, can flow by capillarity from the application zone to a detection zone where a detectable signal, or absence thereof, reveals the presence of the analyte. Typically, the strip will include means for immunospecifically binding the analyte to be detected with its specific binding partner which bears a detectable label. In one such scheme, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,446,232, the strip contains an enzyme labeled, mobile binding partner for the analyte which is in a zone downstream from the sample application zone. If analyte is present in the test sample, it will combine with its labeled binding partner to form a complex which can flow along the strip to a detection zone which contains a substrate for the enzyme label capable of providing a colored response in the presence of the enzyme label. The strip also contains a zone in which analyte has been immobilized, so that the labeled binding partner which does not combine with the analyte, due to absence of analyte in the sample, will be captured and thereby prevented from reaching the detection zone. There have been published various modifications of this technique, all of which involve some specific binding system in which the presence or absence of analyte in the test sample is determined by the detection or lack thereof of labeled binding partner in the detection zone. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,108 there is disclosed a similar scheme with the addition of an immobilized capture reagent for the enzyme labeled binding partner in the detection zone to concentrate the enzyme label and enhance its ability to react with the enzyme substrate to thereby render the assay more sensitive.
Not all of the schemes for immunochromatography rely on an enzyme labeled binding partner/enzyme substrate to provide the signal for detection of the analyte. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,311 there is disclosed a multi zone test device for the specific binding assay determination of an analyte and an immobilized binding partner therefore together with a detection zone for receiving labeled reagent which migrates thereto from the reagent zone. The detection zone contains an immobilized form of a binding substance for the labeled reagent. The labeled reagent bears a chemical group having a detectable physical property, so that it does not require a chemical reaction with another substance. Exemplary of such groups are colored species, fluorescers, phosphorescent molecules, radioisotopes and electroactive moieties U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,734 describes the use of gold sols as labels for antibodies which are detectable without a chemical change.
The present invention relates to a method of overcoming interference with the results of immunoassays by non-specific binding of heterophilic antibodies in the sample to the labeled antibody. It was found that false positive results were occurring because an unbound labeled antibody was being retained in the detection region where it was expected that only those labeled antibodies which had bound to the target antigen (i e, the analyte) would be found. That is, the measurement of the amount of the bound antibody by using the label indicated the presence of the antigen, when none were present. Displacing the non-specific binding of the heterophilic anti-bodies was possible, but this created another difficulty, which was overcome by the present inventors, as will be seen in the description below.

Use of dual conjugated labels in the elimination of serum interference in immunochromatographic assays


There is disclosed an improved method for manufacturing wheels in a production line by: hot-shaping metal into wheel-shaped articles which are larger in some areas than the wheels to be formed and which have a plurality of complexly-curved inner and outer surfaces; cooling the wheel-shaped articles and removing excess metal from some areas of the wheel-shaped articles. The improvement comprises: inspecting at least some of the wheel-shaped articles at a plurality of points along a transverse plane through the inner and outer surfaces of each article being inspected and at a plurality of transverse plane locations about the perimeter of each such article with a contactless gauging system recently after the articles have been hot-shaped to determine whether the articles are within dimensional requirements to form a wheel therefrom. The improvement further comprises taking corrective action to the hot-shaping operation to minimize the number of unacceptable wheel-shaped articles that are being formed after finding an article which is not within dimensional requirements.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to field of visual or non-contact inspection systems and methods. In this field, objects or parts of an object are visually scanned to produce profile images. The invention particularly relates to a system and method for gauging the thickness of a light-reflective, contoured object, such as a vehicle wheel, without destroying the object being gauged and without physically contacting said object in order to take any measurement readings thereof. The system and method of this invention may be used to gauge the thickness of a hot vehicle wheel, such as one recently removed from a forging press or tempering oven. The invention is designed for on-line inspection of various intermediates within the wheel manufacturing process but may also be positioned apart from the wheel manufacturing area. In any event, this system reduces scrap levels, eliminates the waste associated with processing pre-machined wheels which do not meet dimensional specifications and improves the ability to monitor manufacturing equipment for defects.
2. Technology Review
The field of contactless measuring has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. Because of the accuracy and speed that various systems provide, contactless measuring methods are finding their way into more and more product manufacturing operations and/or post-manufacturing inspection stations.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,869, there is claimed a method and apparatus for determining the contour of a varying contoured object surface. The method and apparatus employ optical triangulation-based coordinate measurement machines and robotic guidance of its light sensors to accurately measure such complex shapes as the teeth of a gear, or turbine blades.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,163 shows a method and apparatus for determining surface shapes using reflected laser light. This system incrementally moves a laser light source in a rectilinear path along a track, and pivotal about the track. Light reflected from the object's surface is maximally polarized when its angle of incidence equals Brewster's Angle. Information about the position of the light source is then fed to a computer which reconstructs the shape of the surface being scanned by plotting a two-dimensional view of the spatial points detected by this system's sensing means.
The non-contact gauging system set forth in U.S Pat. No. 4,798,469 employs a cone of light as its optical means to determine the relative locations of various features of an object, such as its size and shape. The system utilizes both incident and reflected light from a disc-like spot illuminated on the surface of the object being gauged. Preferred embodiments of this system include multiple gauge heads, all operated through a single microcomputer.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,803,645, there is claimed a method and apparatus for measuring the coordinates of an object viewed from at least three different directions. The method of measuring object coordinates with this apparatus requires deriving correlations between the observed coordinates and those from a measured reference point.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,447 shows a method and apparatus for gauging railroad wheels for warping, rotundity and tape size. Although this apparatus may employ a plurality of lasers and receivers, the second and third lasers combine to measure the wheel's outside diameter at successive angular cross-sections and not across any sort of thickness plane through the wheel.
The method and apparatus for measuring the tread quality of a railroad wheel from U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,964 illuminates the wheel's circumference while the wheel remains on a railroad car passing over a particular measuring area of railroad track. The lasers and camera sensors of this system produce analog signals representing the wheel's quality of tread or profile. Such information is then digitized and supplied to a central processing unit for determining whether said wheel should be subjected to an automatic wheel truing operation.
Prior to the present invention, vehicle wheels had to be cooled to the point where they were safe to contact for manually measuring various cross-sectional thicknesses with known and other elaborate caliper gauging devices. Such devices often had to be adapted for taking readings of the wheel's contours, while themselves fitting over and about the wheel's various inner and outer surface contours. In some cases, precision of the measurements taken were sacrificed in order to obtain approximate thickness readings of certain wheel regions. Much time was lost waiting for the forged wheel blank to cool, then wrestling with taking multiple measurements thereof. During this time, literally hundreds of wheels would be forged with the same undetected processing error being passed on to each successive wheel. The wheel inspection system of this invention makes such prior measuring practices seem almost prehistoric by comparison.


A power receptacle for a portable electronic device suitable for connecting a power plug is provided. The power plug has a tubular terminal and a clamping terminal in the tubular terminal. The power receptacle includes an insulating housing, an anode terminal, and a cathode terminal. The insulating housing has a receiving cavity, and the power plug is suitable for being plug in the receiving cavity. The anode terminal disposed in the insulating housing is located at the central part of the receiving cavity. The cathode terminal disposed in the insulating housing is located at a side of the receiving cavity. During a process of plugging the power plug into the receiving cavity, the tubular terminal contacts the cathode terminal, and then the clamping terminal contacts the anode terminal, so that the power plug is electrically connected to the power receptacle.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a power receptacle. More particularly, the invention relates to a power receptacle for a portable electronic device.
2. Description of Related Art
A direct current (DC) power receptacle is a most important connection port of a notebook computer, and power supplying and battery charging all rely on the DC power receptacle. Although the power receptacles are continuously developed by various manufactures, there are still problems in security and reliability of the power receptacle.
According to an existing technology, during a process of plugging a power plug into the power receptacle, an anode terminal of the power plug generally contacts an anode terminal of the power receptacle first, and then a cathode terminal of the power plug contacts a cathode terminal of the power receptacle, so as to achieve the electrical connection.
However, during the above process, if the power plug or the power receptacle has a poor structure design or the power plug is only plugged into the power receptacle by a half, i.e. only the anode terminals of the power plug and the power receptacle are connected, a contact impedance of the terminals is increased due to such instable connection state, so that once such abnormal power supplying state lasts for a long time, a structure of the power receptacle or the power plug can be damaged due to overheating, or even the whole device is burnout.
Therefore, it is necessary for those related practitioners to develop a power receptacle without the above problem.

Power receptacle for portable electronic device


In forming a panoramic picture image by compositing picture images dividedly imaged, the invention corrects deviations of images of an object at overlap regions caused by a difference in fields of view of imaging means or movement of an object to be imaged in which a picture image forming apparatus includes a picture image inputting device, a frame memory for storing divided picture images inputted from the picture image inputting device, a picture image position calculating unit for calculating positions of compositing the divided picture images, a picture image parallax sampling and processing unit for sampling parallax information among picture images from picture images including parallaxes in the overlap regions among contiguous divided picture images, an intermediate picture image forming and processing unit for forming a plurality of intermediate picture images from the picture images including the parallaxes and a picture image composition and processing unit for compositing a panoramic picture image from the divided picture images where the deviations of images in the overlap regions are corrected by the picture image parallax sampling and processing unit and the panoramic picture images are composited performing an interpolation by the intermediate picture images formed by the intermediate picture image forming and processing unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a picture image forming apparatus for forming a composite panoramic picture image from a plurality of still digital picture images.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are known methods for jointing a pair of digital picture images including images of a same object and having overlap regions where the plurality of digital picture images overlap each other, to form a panoramic picture image or a highly fine (high resolution) picture image, for example, a method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 3-182976(1991), in which two characteristic particles which are granular portions having high concentration in picture image, are sampled in each of a pair of picture images having overlap regions and the picture images are jointed together with a line connecting these as a joint line, and a method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 5-122606(1993), in which the pair of picture images are jointed together at a region minimizing a difference in concentration.
There is disclosed a method described in "Picture Image Analysis Handbook", page 466, issued by Tokyo University Publication Association where in jointing a pair of picture images, the picture images are not jointed by a line such as a joint line but color tone is smoothed such that a change in concentrations of the two picture images does not become discontinuous at surroundings of the joint line.
A camera is supposed to provide a picture image describing a view in a imaging range by one imaging operation. In imaging a digital picture image by using the camera, there are a case where pan-imaging by hand holding is carried out, a case where pan-imaging is carried out by using a tripod, a case where imaging is performed by installing a plurality of cameras having overlapped imaging ranges.
Pan-imaging indicates plural times of imaging operation where the imaging range of a camera is moved in the horizontal direction where at each imaging operation, portions of an object are included in the imaging range in performing preceding or succeeding imaging operation.
For example, as shown by FIG. 4, cameras 301 and 302 capable of imaging an object included in imaging ranges 307 and 308 each having a predetermined size by one imaging operation, are arranged such that the imaging ranges 307 and 308 overlap, to image objects 309 and 310. In this case, optical axes 303 and 304 of lenses 301a and 302a of the cameras intersect with each other by making an angle 305. In FIG. 4, a portion 311 where the imaging ranges 307 and 308 overlap is indicated by attaching hatched lines. The objects 309 and 310 are disposed in the portion 311. Distances (hereinafter, referred to as depth) from the camera 301 to the objects 309 and 310 differ from the depths from the camera 302 to the objects 309 and 310, respectively. Overlapped states of the objects 309 and 310 differ in view from the cameras 301 and 302 and therefore, a portion 321 of the object 310 is not seen from the camera 301 and seen from the camera 302.
FIGS. 5A and 5B show picture images 313 and 314 obtained by the cameras 301 and 302 through the imaging operation. The picture image 313 includes object images 317 and 318 representing the objects 309 and 310. The picture image 314 includes object images 319 and 320 of the objects 309 and 310.
Alternately, only one camera may be arranged in the same manner as in the camera 301 of FIG. 4. First the objects 309 and 310 are imaged by the camera, and then the camera is moved from the position where the optical axis of the lens coincides with the optical axis 303, to the position where the optical axis of the lens coincides with the optical axis 304, to image the objects 309 and 310 at the latter position. In this case, the positional relationship between the camera and the objects 309 and 310 in the first imaging operation equal to that between the camera 301 and the objects 309 and 310, and the positional relationship between the camera and the objects 309 and 310 in the second imaging operation is equal to that between the camera 302 and the objects 309 and 310. Consequently two picture images obtained in this case are equal to two picture images obtained by the cameras 301 and 302.
In carrying out pan-imaging by hand holding or imaging by a plurality of cameras, positions of the lenses 301a and 302a of the cameras 301 and 302 are shifted as shown by FIG. 4. Further, in many of combinations of camera and tripod, the rotational center of a camera does not coincide with the lens center of the camera and accordingly, more or less movement of the position of lens is caused even in the case where pan-imaging is carried out by using a tripod. These differences in the position of lens give rise to a parallax caused by a difference in depths of objects in the picture image.
For example, as shown by FIGS. 5A and 5B, although the portion 321 is imaged in the image 320 of the object 310 in the picture image 314, the portion 321 is not imaged in the image 318 of the object 310 in the picture image 313. Therefore, according to the picture images 313 and 314, respective shapes and overlapped states of the images 317, 318; 319, 320 of the objects 309 and 310 in the overlapped portion 311 of the imaging ranges 307 and 308 do not coincide with each other.
Accordingly, when a panoramic picture image 323 shown by FIG. 5C is formed by jointing the picture images 313 and 314 such that the positions of the picture images 313 and 314 are made to coincide with each other in order to make the images 317 and 319 of the object 309 coincide with each other, the images 318 and 320 of the object 310 do not coincide with each other but are shifted from each other. Conversely, when a panoramic picture image 324 shown by FIG. 5D is formed by jointing the picture images 313 and 314 such that the positions of the picture images 313 and 314 are made to coincide with each other in order to make the images 318 and 320 of the object 310 coincide with each other, the images 317 and 319 of the object 309 do not coincide with each other but are shifted from each other. Further, when a moving body is an object, in the case where respective imaging operations are shifted over time, with the movement of the body the position and the shape of the image of the object are changed in the respective picture images and therefore, the images of the object do not coincide with each other also in the case where a panoramic picture image is formed from these picture images as described above.
Further, according to the conventional picture image jointing technology, picture images are jointed by a joint line of a straight line or a straight line having a width. However, when there are differences among picture images as described above, picture images cannot often be composited adequately. Particularly, even when portions of picture images are naturally jointed, there causes shift or doubled imaging on joint lines in respect of portions resulting in parallax or including a moving body thereby causing significant deterioration in the quality of a panoramic picture image.


A bag system with a small bag insert includes a large bag and a small bag. The large bag has a cavity with an inner wall. The small bag is sized to fit inside the large bag. The small bag is removably attached approximate to a top half of the inner wall of the large bag via an attachment system.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The disclosure generally relates to handbags, tote bags, purses, clutches, cosmetic bags, etc., and namely to a bag system with a small bag insert.
2. Description of Related Art
The disclosure relates generally to handbags, tote bags, purses, clutches, cosmetic bags, etc. with a small bag insert, a method of using the same, and a method of manufacturing the same.
A tote bag, as used herein, may refer to a large and often unfastened bag, with parallel handles that emerge from the sides of its pouch. A standard tote may be made of sturdy cloth, perhaps with thick leather handles and/or bottoms. Common fabrics may include heavy canvas, possibly dyed, or treated to resist moisture and mold, jute, and in more recent times heavy nylon and other easy-care synthetics have become common. However, although the instant disclosure may be directed toward a tote bag, the invention is not so limited and other similar hand bags, purses, diaper bags, work bag, weekend bag, carry-on bag, travel bag, etc. or the like, can also be used and are thus considered a part of the instant disclosure.
In today's society, people are becoming increasingly busier and on the go constantly. Fashion conscious women (and possibly men) may therefore be in need of a fashionable bag that can meet the various demands of her (or his) day. In some instances, the person may require the space of a larger bag, like a tote for traveling, going to the gym, etc. In other instances, the person may desire a smaller bag and leave the bulky tote behind, like a purse, clutch, cosmetic bag, etc. for going to dinner, a night out on the town, etc. Thus, there is clearly a desire for two separate size bags that are fashionable and convenient to carry. However, in most cases, especially with people on the go, they may desire both the larger bag for space at certain times in the day and the smaller bag for ease and convenience for other times in the day. Typically, a person desiring both bags would be required to stack, balance, etc. the bags on one's shoulders or arms and lug around both bags. In addition, the person would be required to transfer the essentials (wallet, makeup, etc.) from one bag to another depending on which one is being using at the time, which may waste time and may often lead to misplaced items. Another problem with this multiple bag setup is that these bags often do not match, which is highly undesirable for fashion conscious people.
Therefore, it is readily apparent that there is a recognizable unmet need for a bag system (like a tote bag or other similar bags, like a hand bag, purse, diaper bag, travel bag, work bag, weekend bag, carry-on bag, the like, etc.) with a small bag insert that is fashionable, convenient, and easy to operate. The instant disclosure is designed to address at least some of the above mentioned problems by providing a bag system with a small bag insert.

Bag system with a small bag insert and method of manufacture and use thereof


A method for forming a high-luminescence Si electroluminescence (EL) phosphor is provided, with an EL device made from the Si phosphor. The method comprises: depositing a silicon-rich oxide (SRO) film, with Si nanocrystals, having a refractive index in the range of 1.5 to 2.1, and a porosity in the range of 5 to 20%; and, post-annealing the SRO film in an oxygen atmosphere. DC-sputtering or PECVD processes can be used to deposit the SRO film. In one aspect the method further comprises: HF buffered oxide etching (BOE) the SRO film; and, re-oxidizing the SRO film, to form a SiO2 layer around the Si nanocrystals in the SRO film. In one aspect, the SRO film is re-oxidized by annealing in an oxygen atmosphere. In this manner, a layer of SiO2 is formed around the Si nanocrystals having a thickness in the range of 1 to 5 nanometers (nm).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to integrated circuit (IC) fabrication and, more particularly, to an electroluminescence (EL) device with a silicon-rich oxide (SRO) film having a refractive index of about 1.72, to optimize photoluminescence (PL).
2. Description of the Related Art
The generation of light from semiconductor devices is possible, regardless of whether the semiconductor material forms a direct or indirect bandgap. High field reverse biased p-n junctions create large hot carrier populations that recombine with the release of photons. For silicon devices, the light generation efficiency is known to be poor and the photon energy is predominantly around 2 eV. The conversion of electrical energy to optical photonic energy is called electroluminescence (EL). Efficient EL devices have been made that can operate with small electrical signals, at room temperature. However, these devices are fabricated on materials that are typically not compatible with silicon, for example type III-V materials such as InGaN, AlGaAs, GaAsP, GaN, and GaP. An EL device built on one of these substrates can efficiently emit light in a narrow bandwidth within the visible region, depending on the specific material used. Additionally, type II-VI materials such as ZnSe have been used. Other type II-VI materials such as ZnS and ZnO are known to exhibit electroluminescence under ac bias conditions. These devices can be deposited onto silicon for use in light generating devices if special (non-conventional) CMOS processes are performed. Other classes of light emitting devices are organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si), and polymer LEDs.
Silicon has conventionally been considered unsuitable for optoelectronic applications, due to the indirect nature of its energy band gap. Bulk silicon is indeed a highly inefficient light emitter. Among the different approaches developed to overcome this problem, quantum confinement in Si nanostructures and rare earth doping of crystalline silicon have received a great deal of attention. In particular, Si nanoclusters (nc) embedded in SiO2 have in recent years attracted the interest of the scientific community as a promising new material for the fabrication of a visible Si-based light source. Alternatively, Er-doped crystalline Si has been extensively studied to take advantage of the radiative intra-4f shell Er transition. Room-temperature operating devices with efficiencies of around 0.05% have been achieved. The device efficiency is very low and the process temperature is very high, normally over 1100° C.
However, these pioneering efforts in creating visible luminescence emanating from porous room-temperature silicon (Si), have spurred a tremendous amount of research into using nano-sized Si to develop a Si-based light source. One widely-used method of fabricating nanocluster Si (nc-Si) is to precipitate the nc-Si out of SiOx (where x<2), producing a film using chemical vapor deposition (CVD), radio frequency (RF)-sputtering, or Si implantation. This film is often called silicon-rich silicon oxide (SRSO) or silicon-rich oxide (SRO). Using the CVD or RF-sputtering processes, with a high-temperature annealing, a photoluminescence (PL) peak in the SRSO can typically be obtained in the wavelength range of 590 nanometers (nm) to 750 nm. However, these SRSO materials exhibit low quantum efficiency and have a stability problem, which reduces the PL intensity height over time, and limits their application to EL devices.
Er implantation, creating Er-doped nanocrystal Si, is also used in Si-based light sources. However, state-of-the-art implantation processes have not been able to distribute the dopant uniformly, which lowers the light emitting efficiency and increases costs. At the same time, there has been no interface engineering sufficient to support the use of such a dopant. Using the Si/SiO2 superlattice structure to control crystal size results in a slow, high-temperature deposition process that cannot simultaneously control both the Si particle size and the quality Si nanocrystal/SiO2 interface. The device efficiency is very low, which limits the device applications. In order to improve the device efficiency, a large interface area must be created between nanocrystal Si and SiO2.
A simple and efficient light-emitting device compatible with silicon, and powered by a dc voltage would be desirable in applications where photonic devices (light emitting and light detecting) are necessary. Efficient silicon substrate EL devices would enable a faster and more reliable means of signal coupling, as compared with conventional metallization processes. Further, for intra-chip connections on large system-on-chip type of devices, the routing of signals by optical means is also desirable. For inter-chip communications, waveguides or direct optical coupling between separate silicon pieces would enable packaging without electrical contacts between chips. For miniature displays, a method for generating small point sources of visible light would enable simple, inexpensive displays to be formed.
It would be advantageous if a Si-based EL device could be fabricated that emitted PL with a high intensity.
It would be advantageous if a simple, easy to measure characteristic of SRO films existed, that could be used as guide to fabricate a Si EL device with optimized PL intensity.

Method of forming high-luminescence silicon electroluminescence device


To provide a high image-quality, low cost, and small sized imaging lens suitable for an imaging lens which is compact and which has high density pixels, and with aberrations corrected satisfactorily. An imaging lens is configured from a first lens, a second lens, a third lens, and a fourth lens arranged in the named order from an object side, wherein both surfaces of each lens are formed from aspheric surface, and a diffraction optics surface exerting chromatic aberration correction function is arranged on any one surface from a surface of the first lens on an object side to a surface of the third lens on the object side, and each lens is configured from plastic material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging lens which forms on an imaging element such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) sensor or a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) sensor an image of an object, and relates to a small-sized imaging lens to be mounted on a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) such as a cellular phone and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, camera functions are mounted on almost all cellular phones. Recently, cellular phones with high-resolution camera function comparable with a digital still camera mounted thereon have been introduced. Imaging devices realizing such camera function are being downsized further in accordance with increasing demands for downsizing and slimming cellular phones. Inevitably, imaging lenses fixed to the imaging devices are also subjected to intense demands for downsizing. Further, imaging lenses realizing high optical performance capable of being applied to increasing pixels and increasing resolution of the imaging element are being demanded intensely.
Accompanying the downsizing and increasing pixels of the imaging element, pixel size is miniaturized further and the density thereof is increased. Recently, imaging elements with a pixel pitch of less than 1.4 micron are proposed. As the performance required for the imaging lens corresponding to such imaging element, the simple accomplishment of small aberrations is not enough. This is because bright optical system having sufficient resolution, that is, imaging lens with larger aperture ratio, is demanded intensely. Conventionally, imaging lens having a three-lens configuration has been widely proposed. However, imaging lens having four-lens configuration and five-lens configuration are also being proposed, so as to be adopted in above-described imaging elements.
For example, the imaging lens according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-219079 (Patent document 1) comprises, in order from an object side, a positive first lens with a surface on the object side having a convex shape, a negative meniscus second lens with a concave surface facing an image side, a positive meniscus third lens with a convex surface facing the image side, and a positive or a negative fourth lens with both surface formed from aspheric surface and with a surface on the image side having concave shape in the vicinity of an optical axis. In such configuration, by setting the Abbe number of the first lens and the second lens to a preferable range, it becomes possible to obtain the correction effect of an axial chromatic aberration and a chromatic aberration of magnification, and by setting a ratio of a focal length of the second lens and the first lens and a ratio of a focal length between the third lens and the fourth lens, it becomes possible to secure telecentric properties and to correct the axial chromatic aberration and the chromatic aberration of magnification, while downsizing the overall lens system. Further, the imaging lens according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-264180 (Patent document 2) and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-197665 (Patent document 3) propose practical lens solving the problems of the four-lens configuration, by utilizing the five-lens configuration.
According to Patent document 1, it becomes possible to obtain comparatively favorable aberration. However, in order to obtain sufficient resolution while corresponding to the small-sized, high-density imaging element as is explained above, a large aperture ratio such as F/2.4 is required. In Patent document 1, the total track length (TTL) is long, so that it is not suitable for downsizing. Further, it is difficult to realize favorable aberration correction while securing large aperture ratio. Patent document 2 and Patent document 3 propose practical lenses by solving the problems of the four-lens configuration, however, it is disadvantageous in cutting down costs since a large number of lenses must be used to configure the imaging lens. Further, since a large number of lenses sensible to manufacturing tolerance is used, it is disadvantageous also from the viewpoint of manufacturing cost. Also, since glass material is heavily used, it is disadvantageous from the viewpoint of reducing cost. Further, in Patent document 2 and Patent document 3, when plastic material is selected for decreasing cost, since the applicable lens material is extremely limited, it is difficult to achieve both correction of chromatic aberration and correction of other various aberrations.


A vehicle includes a roof molding made of an elastic member disposed in a groove on a roof top surface formed in a coupling portion coupling a roof panel and a right side panel. The roof molding includes a lid portion covering an upper side of an opening portion of the groove. The roof panel includes a slope face descending toward the groove between a base face and the groove. An end of the lid portion of the roof molding extends to the slope face and is in contact with the slope face.

A vehicle may include a roof molding disposed in a groove formed by a roof panel and a side panel.
Patent Document 1 listed below discloses a structure including a roof molding configured to be inserted in an upward groove formed within a plane which is one step below a base face covering a substantial portion of a roof panel. The roof molding includes a lid portion covering an upper side of a groove opening. The lid portion is formed to extend beyond the opening toward the roof panel and the side panel. The roof molding further includes a column portion attached to an undersurface of the lid portion to extend downward, and a leg portion extending along the width of the groove under the column portion. The leg portion is inserted in the groove to fix the roof molding to the groove.
Patent Document 2 listed below discloses a structure including a roof molding configured to be buried in a groove in a region further inward with respect to an opening portion of the groove. The roof molding has a lid portion having a downward convex shape under the opening portion. The roof molding further includes, on an undersurface of the lid portion, a securing protrusion protruding horizontally to be continuously urged strongly against a side wall in the width direction of the groove.