A relay transport apparatus (400) includes a first transport path, a plurality of first transport sections (63), a plurality of driving sections (64), and a drive transmission section (65). The first transport path is formed so as to couple a carry-in port and a carry-out port. The first transport path includes a plurality of segments (S2a and S2b). The plurality of first transport sections (63) are disposed along the first transport path. The first transport sections are configured to transport the paper sheet carried in from the carry-in port to the carry-out port along the first transport path. The plurality of driving sections (64) correspond to the respective segments. The plurality of driving sections (64) are configured to drive the first transport section in the corresponding segment. The drive transmission section (65) drives the plurality of first transport sections based on an output from a predetermined one driving section (64a) when only the predetermined one driving section operates among the plurality of driving sections. The drive transmission section (65) drives the plurality of first transport sections based on outputs from the corresponding driving sections when the plurality of driving sections operate.

This type of relay transport apparatus is coupled between an image forming apparatus, which forms images on paper sheets, and a post-processing apparatus, which performs post processing on the paper sheets on which images are formed by the image forming apparatus. This relay transport apparatus generally includes a transport path, a transport unit, and a driving unit (for example, a motor). The transport path transports paper sheets from the image forming apparatus to the post-processing apparatus. The transport unit transports the paper sheets along the transport path. The driving unit drives the transport unit. Conventional relay transport apparatuses have two types: one-motor drive system and a two-motor drive system (PATENT LITERATURE 1).
(Relay Transport Apparatus of One-Motor Drive System)
The relay transport apparatus of one-motor drive system includes one motor as a driving unit. This motor drives all transport units. Since this relay transport apparatus includes only one motor as the driving unit, advantageous in reduction in power consumption. However, with this relay transport apparatus of one-motor drive system, since the one motor drives all the transport units, there is a drawback that transport speeds of a plurality of respective transport units cannot be individually changed.
Due to this drawback, for example, in the case where the transport speed is accelerated in the relay transport apparatus and paper sheets (in particular, paper sheets whose length in a transport direction is equal to or more than a predetermined reference length) are transported, the following drawback is present. That is, to increase the transport speed in the relay transport apparatus, the transport speeds of all the transport units need to be increased. However, to carry in the subsequent paper sheet from the image forming apparatus to the relay transport apparatus, the transport speed in the relay transport apparatus needs to be decelerated to match the transport speed at the image forming apparatus side.
Accordingly, to carry in the subsequent paper sheet from the image forming apparatus to the relay transport apparatus, it is necessary to waited for the paper sheet during transport completely to pass though the relay transport apparatus and then decelerate the transport speed in the relay transport apparatus. Subsequently, the subsequent paper sheet needs to be carried in from the image forming apparatus to the relay transport apparatus. Therefore, there is a drawback of long paper interval.
(Relay Transport Apparatus of Two-Motor Drive System)
Meanwhile, the relay transport apparatus of two-motor drive system includes two motors as the driving units. These respective motors drive a plurality of transport units. The plurality of transport units correspond to any one of the respective motors and are driven by the corresponding motors. For example, the transport path of the relay transport apparatus is divided into two. One motor drives the respective transport units in one section (for example, an upstream side). The other motor drives the respective transport units in the other section (for example, a downstream side).
This relay transport apparatus of two-motor drive system has two motors as the driving units. Accordingly, individually driving the respective motors allows changing the transport speeds of the plurality of transport units individually by the respective corresponding motors.
Accordingly, when the paper sheet passes through the segment at the upstream side of the transport path in the relay transport apparatus, only the transport speed of the respective transport units in the segment at the upstream side can be decelerated. That is, when the subsequent paper sheet is carried in from the image forming apparatus to the relay transport apparatus, it is not necessary to wait until the paper sheet during transport completely passes through the relay transport apparatus. This is advantageous in that the paper sheets can be transported at shorten paper interval. However, the relay transport apparatus of two-motor drive system uses two motors; therefore, there is a drawback of large power consumption.

Recording sheet transport apparatus and printing system incorporating same


A plough scraper assembly for use with a conveyor belt which includes a plough scraper, first and second overhead supports which are spaced from each other in the direction of belt movement, first and second levers which are respectively pivotally attached at their upper ends to the first and second supports and, at their lower ends, to the plough scraper, the levers being inclined downwardly in the direction of belt movement, and a spring which biases the scraper towards the belt surface.

This invention is concerned with a plough scraper.
A plough scraper, e.g. of a V or angle shape, is used to deflect material from an inner surface of a return strand of a conveyor belt.
This type of scraper may be mounted on levers or chains to enable the height of the scraper to fluctuate as the belt flaps or otherwise moves in a vertical direction. Substantial flapping movement of a conveyor belt can for example take place when the belt is inclined. A simple yet rather crude approach to ensure that the scraper is kept in contact with the belt is simply to apply weights to the scraper to bias it into position with the belt surface which is to be scraped. This approach however can, under certain conditions, cause the scraper to dig into the belt, an event which can lead to considerable damage.

Scorpio Conveyor Products (Proprietary) Limited


A method is provided for detecting lesions in ultrasound images. The method includes acquiring an ultrasound image, generating a Fisher-tippett (FT) distribution-based edge feature map from the acquired ultrasound image, generating gradient concentration (GC) scores for pixels of the acquired ultrasound image using the FT distribution-based edge feature map, and identifying a candidate lesion region within the acquired ultrasound image based on the GC scores.

Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer related deaths in women across the world. Early detection of breast cancer plays an important role in reducing the cancer related deaths. Recently, the use of ultrasound imaging as a breast cancer screening tool has increased considerably, especially in developing countries. In addition to being relatively inexpensive and safe, using ultrasound images as an adjunct screening tool may provide improved detection sensitivity, especially for young women with relatively dense breast tissue.
But, known methods for detecting lesions in ultrasound images of the breast are not without disadvantages. For example, scanning the patient with the ultrasound probe is highly operator dependent, which may result in inconsistent and/or inaccurate ultrasound scans. Moreover, the relatively low quality of ultrasound images and the addition of artifacts such as speckle noise, shadows, ringing, and/or the like may increase the difficulty of lesion detection within ultrasound images. Known methods for detecting lesions in ultrasound images of the breast may also do a relatively poor job of accounting for the significant variations in the shape, size, echogenicity, and margin characteristics of breast lesions.

Method and system for lesion detection in ultrasound images


A self-servowriting (SSW) method that, with the actuator fully engaged against a compliant structure (e.g., a crashstop), first writes a tightly-spaced open-loop sequence of servo bursts in a segmented spiral path and then continues writing this tightly-spaced sequence under closed-loop servo control while reading back amplitude information from the servo bursts written earlier until the tightly-spaced burst pattern extends over several read-write head (RWH) offset intervals. With the actuator still engaged against the compliant structure, this tightly-spaced startup sequence is then read back by the closed servo control loop to write a number of concentric servo seed tracks, which are then self-propagated across the remainder of the disk surface to produce a final servopattern.

This invention relates generally to self servowriting procedures for hard disk drives and more particularly to a non-iterative low sector rate startup procedure for writing the servo seed tracks necessary for radial propagation of the embedded servo positioning information in a data storage device.
Generally, during the hard drive manufacturing process, the hard drive is placed in a servo track writer (STW) that embeds track position information (servopattern) directly on the disk data storage surface at regular intervals in the tracks between data sectors. The hard drive servo controller is programmed into a chip located in-situ on the printed circuit board. The servo controller is updated with the actual position of the read-write head (RWH) by reading the servopattern and the desired RWH position is determined by the known storage location of the target bit. The difference between the desired and actual position is the position error signal (PES). The servo controller operates a closed servo control loop to minimize the PES by sending to a voice coil motor (VCM) the electrical current level (VCM signal value) necessary to cause an actuator arm to move the RWH into the proper radial position. The servo control loop operates in a track following mode when reading data on a track and in a track seek mode when moving to another track for more data. Operation of the servo control loop may be appreciated with reference to, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,281.
Historically, the servowriting process required special factory STWs operating under laser control in clean rooms, which quickly became a primary manufacturing bottleneck because of the capital and operating costs of STWs and because of the lengthy period (nearly an hour) devoted to the servowriting process for each hard drive. Practitioners in the hard drive manufacturing art devoted significant efforts to overcoming this servowriting bottleneck, and one of the most attractive improvement strategies is to move the servowriting process out of the clean room and into the disk drive device itself, a process denominated "self servowriting."
Self-servowriting (SSW) is an attractive technique because it eliminates the need for costly, external positioning systems, and can be performed outside of a clean room environment. In general, this technique involves using the RWHs installed on the actuator of the disk drive in-situ to initially write the servopattern, which is thereafter used to correctly position the actuator during drive operation by a user. Disadvantageously, the open-loop in-situ servo control loop is unable to position the servopattern with the precision necessary to maintain the high track density expected in modern disk drives (100,000 tracks per inch and more).
The disk drive art is replete with proposals for overcoming this open-loop disadvantage. For example, the STW and clean room may be employed to write a few "seed" tracks to the data storage surface, which may then be later used to "self-propagate" the remainder of the servopattern under closed-loop control of the in-situ servo controller, thereby saving most of the clean-room time normally required for the servowriting process. This practice may be appreciated with reference to, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,949,603; 6,600,620; 6,631,046; and 6,977,789.
For recent disk drive track densities, the read element in the RWH on the actuator may be offset from the write element by several (5 or more) tracks. When this read-to-write element offset is large in terms of track spacing, a combination of readback amplitudes from several earlier-written servo tracks is disadvantageously needed to provide a position signal sufficiently accurate to propagate the next servo track during the self-propagation process. U.S. Pat. No. 5,757,574 proposes a basic method for overcoming this self-propagation disadvantage. Others propose writing servo bursts along a plurality of spiral paths covering the radial extent of the disk surface for later use in controlling self-propagation of a final servopattern. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,906,885; 6,943,978; 6,965,489; 6,992,852; 6,987,636; and 7,016,134 all propose adding a precise spiral servo-burst pattern to the disk surface, sometime with accompanying circular "seed tracks" for later use in self-propagating the final servopattern.
Such techniques generally require some access to the laser-controlled STW in a clean-room at some point during manufacture, which disadvantageously introduces the production bottleneck (if to a lesser degree) discussed above. Other practitioners propose techniques for correcting servopattern position errors by, for example, reading the pattern and storing measured errors in a memory on the hard drive circuit board for later use by the servo control loop. for example, reference is made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,937,420; and 6,061,200. Such methods are of limited efficacy at very high track densities and require additional manufacturing time and complexity.
In view of the above, the art is now replete with proposed self servowriting techniques that require no access to clean-room STWs, thereby completely eliminating that production bottleneck. Naturally, practitioners have long sought SSW techniques that can be initiated from scratch, in-situ, without a clean-room STW, but the rapid increase in track density has provided a continuing and difficult challenge for such solutions. One such proposal employs a magnetic imprinting technique to "print" a rudimentary magnetic pattern onto the disk surface during assembly for later use in self-propagating the final servopattern across the disk surface under closed-loop control of the in-situ servo controller (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 7,099,107). Others propose various "trial and error" techniques for writing "startup" patterns under open-loop in-situ servo control conditions for use in self-propagating the final servopattern. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,668,679 uses an external controller to write a spiral startup pattern by controlling the in-situ electronics under open-loop conditions. The spiral pattern is read back and rewritten repeatedly until certain parameters are attained (if ever), and then the spiral pattern is used to self-propagate the final servopattern across the disk surface. This technique is complex, time-consuming and may not always ensure a useful servopattern in production conditions.
The commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,603,627 (incorporated entirely herein by reference) describes another "trial and error" startup method for creating an initial open-loop set of concentric "seed" tracks using a compliant crashstop to control RWH movement. This method indeed avoids the use of clean room STWs, but the startup process requires a readback and rewrite of the servo seed tracks until certain parameters are obtained before self-propagating the remainder of the servopattern, so the startup process duration and final result are predictable only in the aggregate in a factory setting and may not be controllable. The commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,600,621 (incorporated entirely herein by reference) describes a method for controlling error growth during servo track self-propagation but does not consider the in situ startup problem.
Accordingly, there is still a well-known need in the art for a SSW system that eliminates trial and error from the startup procedure to provide a controlled startup process leading to a final servopattern in a predictable time. These unresolved problems and deficiencies are clearly felt in the art and are solved by this invention in the manner described below.

Single-pass self-servowriting method and system employing a low sector rate startup procedure

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands


The disclosure relates to an improvement in a shell-and-tube heat exchanger particularly intended for products containing fibres (11) or particles.. The improvement comprises a product flow insert (5) consisting of a number of heat transfer tubes (3) with a baffle plate (6) fixedly secured in each end (13) of these transfer tubes (3). En order for fibres (11) and particles to pass the baffle plates (6) without undesirably accumulating, at least that one of the baffle plates (6) which is turned to face towards the direction of flow of the product is designed with flow distributors (12) which wholly or partly surround the tube ends (13) of the heat transfer tubes (3).

Heat exchangers, of which there are a plurality of types, are employed to heat or cool a liquid product. Using, for example, water vapour or water at different temperatures, it is possible to heat or cool to the desired level a product which is preferably in liquid form. Heat exchangers come into use in various process industries and are also common phenomena in food industries such as dairies and juice factories.
One well-known type of heat exchanger is the so-called shell-and-tube heat exchanger which consists of one or more heat exchanger elements which are interconnected together to form a flow system. The heat exchanger elements consist of one or more heat transfer tubes surrounded by an outer shell or jacket tube. The heat transfer tubes are interconnected with one another to form product flow inserts which in turn are interconnected by means of product pipe bends in order to circulate the product which is to be heated or cooled, depending upon the process for which the heat exchanger is employed. The heat exchanger tubes are enclosed in shell or jacket tubes which also enclose the heat transfer medium which may consist of water at different temperatures, water vapour or other types of liquids or gases. One type of shell-and-tube heat exchanger is described in Swedish Patent Specification SE 501908.
A shell-and-tube heat exchanger in accordance with the foregoing description may be employed for treating liquids containing large particles or fibres, such as, for example, orange juice with relatively long fibres. Uncut orange fibres may be as much as 25 mm in length. When the fibrous liquid is caused to pass through the product flow inserts, the liquid from the product pipe bends must be distributed via a baffle plate into the individual heat transfer tubes. In such instance, it is a common occurrence that the fibres "hang" on the edge, at the entry to the heat transfer tubes and accumulate here. Trials have shown that, when the pressure increases in such an event, a complete accumulation of fibres is often flushed out after a while, whereafter the accumulation begins again and this results in an uneven distribution of the fibres in the liquid. Extreme accumulations of fibres may also give rise to productional disruptions and problems involved in cleaning. Large particles may also contribute in forming plugs in the inlets to the individual heat transfer tubes.
One method of obviating these problems is to increase the diameter of the heat transfer tubes so that the fibres and particles may more easily gain access. An extreme solution of this method is the monotube which, however, gives rise to poor heat transfer coefficient, long tubes and long process times. It is therefore desirable to keep the diameter of the heat transfer tubes as small as possible, for large particles heat transfer tubes in conventional shell-and-tube heat exchangers must be selected with an inner diameter which is between 2 and 2.5 times larger than the particles which are to pass through these tubes, which thus reduces the heat transfer coefficient.


A switch mechanism of a piano with a built-in electronic musical instrument, which eliminates the disposition of switches on the surface of a piano to improve the appearance of the piano. An upright piano(1) includes a hammering mechanism(7) which strikes strings in accordance with the operation of a keyboard(3), and thus it serves as an acoustic piano as well as an electronic piano because it has a built-in electronic sound source(9) controlled by the operation of the same keyboard(3). This upright piano(1) includes an inhibition mechanism(13) for inactivating the hammering mechanism(7) in electronic mode, a pedal mechanism(17) having a muffler pedal(16), a control portion(19) driven by a power supply(18) for controlling the electronic sound source in accordance with the operation of the keyboard(3) to produce sounds, and a power supply switch(21) turned ON/OFF by the actuation of the muffler pedal(16) to make and break the electrical connection between the power supply(18) and the control portion(19).

Conventionally, a piano with an electronic mechanism built therein is proposed, in which an acoustic piano is combined with an electronic sound source for providing an acoustic musical performance and a musical performance from an electronic sound source (refer to the patent application laid-open No. 63-216099, and the patent application No. 5-214411 by the applicant of this application). In such piano, during the electronic sounding, musical sound produced by striking strings (referred to as string striking sound hereinafter) can be stopped by various inhibition mechanisms (sound stop means). While string striking sound is stopped, a player can play the piano listening sound from the electronic sound source via a headphone. Therefore, the player can practice the piano without being heard outside in the night time, and various other advantages can be expected.
Since the aforementioned piano is provided with various electronic circuits (for example, a control circuit for controlling the electronic sound source), power switches for electrically connecting and disconnecting the electronic circuits and a power supply need to be disposed on a predetermined position of the piano. Like the other conventional electronic pianos, the power switches are mounted on the surface of the piano by making a hole in the covering material of the piano.
The visible power switches on the surface distinguish the piano from an acoustic piano, and impair the appearance of the piano. Furthermore, the making of holes in the surface of the piano is an additional manufacture process step.
To control electronic sound, the piano with the built-in electronic musical instrument needs to have a volume switch for adjusting sound volume during the musical performance, and can be provided with a tone switch for changing tone.
When a known slide switch or other volume switch, and a tact switch or other tone switch are provided on the surface of the piano, a process step of making a hole in the surface is added to the manufacture process. Additionally, as aforementioned, these visible switches impair the appearance of the piano.

Switch mechanism of piano with built-in electronic musical instrument


Air loaded stripline assemblies and methods for providing same are disclosed. The air loaded stripline assembly includes circuit board layers interconnected to one another. A layer containing a conductive trace forming a stripline is connected to spacer layers. The spacer layers include voids or relieved areas, that define cavities adjacent areas of the stripline layer on which the stripline is formed. Ground plane layers are interconnected to the spacer layers, bounding the cavities. The air loaded stripline assembly can additionally incorporate conductive vias for electrically interconnecting the stripline to other components or assemblies. The air loaded stripline assembly can be formed using conventional printed circuit board techniques.

Dual-band antennas have many applications. For example, systems in which transmit and receive modes are separated in bandwidth are in use or have been proposed. In systems that feature dual-band operation, it is desirable to provide a single antenna aperture that supports both a transmit and receive modes. In order to operate in different bands through a single aperture, diplexers have been used. In concept, diplexers separate the bandwidth of a wide band radiating structure into two narrower bands. Diplexers typically feature filters that selectively feed low and high frequency radiating elements.
Diplexers can be difficult and expensive to implement. For example, one diplexer design that has been used includes ceramic resonator type filters. However, ceramic resonators are heavy and expensive. In addition, they are more bandwidth limited than other designs. For example, they are difficult or impossible to implement at high frequencies (e.g., greater than C band).
Diplexers have also been developed that feature air loaded, suspended stripline filters. These can provide low insertion loss, wide bandwidth, and high rejection. However, air loaded stripline elements have been difficult and expensive to implement. In a typical air loaded stripline element, a conductive element is suspended within a metallic cavity or shielding structure. Such filters have typically been implemented as discrete components that are interconnected to other circuit components, for example through coaxial connectors. As a result, integration with other circuit components can be difficult. As an alternative, designs have been proposed in which transmission line structures are printed on a substrate that is suspended in a shielding channel. Although providing transmission lines in this way can facilitate integration of the stripline within larger circuits, such designs do not avoid the need to encase or surround the stripline within a metal channel. This has been realized using a bottom metallic piece having a groove on one side of the stripline and a metallic cap on the opposite side of the stripline. Accordingly, the filter is relatively difficult and thus expensive to manufacture, and requires the use of a number of different fabrication technologies.


Jewelry articles made from a precious metal alloy having a color that is substantially white and comparable to that of platinum alloys, having liquidus and solidus temperatures comparable to that of white gold alloys, having a relatively slow solidification time when poured from a molten state, having substantial resistance to tarnishing under conditions normally encountered during ordinary human wear, having a cast hardness of about 140 Vickers, and that can be age hardened to at least about 240 Vickers, and whose yield point can be substantially strengthened via age hardening. The preferred composition of the alloy is about forty to fifty-five percent by weight silver; about fifteen to thirty-five percent by weight palladium; about fifteen to twenty-five percent by weight copper; and up to about three percent by weight zinc and/or silicon and up to about one percent by weight of a grain refiner such as iridium and/or ruthenium.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to precious metals, precious metal alloys, and jewelry made therefrom.
2. Prior Art
Jewelry pieces formed from precious metals that are white in color are highly desirable among jewelry consumers. There are many ways to achieve white pieces. However, if one requires that the piece be formed of precious metal, the options become much more limited. Precious metals include silver and gold plus the platinum group metals, namely, platinum, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium, osmium, and iridium.
One option for making a precious metal piece that is white in appearance is to make the piece from platinum. Platinum provides excellent luster, and it is ductile and malleable, making it a good material for making jewelry. Platinum is also highly resistant to corrosion and to wear, when alloyed to increase its hardness. However, platinum has significant drawbacks. Platinum has a very high melting point relative to gold: 3215° F. versus 1948° F. for gold. Molten platinum also cools and solidifies very quickly—on the order of about one second after pouring. The high melting point of platinum significantly effects the efficiency of using platinum in traditional jewelry processes, such as investment casting.
In investment casting, also called lost wax casting, a sprue or "tree" is formed of wax. Wax models of the items to be cast are mounted on each branch of the wax tree. Traditionally, beeswax was used, though today many different types of wax as well as plastics and even frozen liquid metals such as mercury are used. An investment mold is formed around the tree using plaster, ceramics, or other suitable materials. Once the mold has hardened, the wax is removed, typically by heating it and allowing it to melt and run out of the mold. This leaves a void in the mold the same shape as the tree. Molten precious metal may then be poured into the mold. The liquid metal will flow through the mold, filling the space left by the wax. In so doing, the liquid metal will fill the spaces left by the wax models, thereby forming a precious metal casting of the jewelry items. When the metal has hardened, the plaster mold is removed, leaving a precious metal "tree" that should be substantially identical to the wax tree present at the outset of the process. The pieces may then be removed from the tree while the branches and trunk may be reused.
It will be appreciated that the molten metal must remain liquid long enough to fill the tree. Thus, the rate at which a metal cools and solidifies determines how large a tree may be used. Stated differently, metals that cool and solidify quickly can only form a few pieces at a time via lost wax casting.
Because of the rapid cooling rate of platinum, special measures are taken to form platinum pieces via investment molding. The mold is heated to a high temperature, typically about 1500° F. The entire mold is rotated to use centripetal force to quickly pull the molten platinum into the peripheral cavities in the tree. The crucible is also rotated so that the molten platinum leaving the crucible will exit at a higher flow rate, again to promote more rapid filling of the mold.
To achieve an acceleration of the molten platinum flow rate from the rotation of the crucible, it will be appreciated that the outflow aperture should be on the side of the crucible, rather than at the top or the bottom. If the crucible is rotating about a top to bottom axis, for centripetal force to accelerate the flow rate of the molten platinum exiting the crucible, the outflow aperture must be on the periphery of the crucible, rather than on the axis. The outflow aperture, then, will rotate about the axis of rotation of the crucible. For the molten platinum to flow into the mold, the mold must remain aligned with the aperture. Accordingly, the mold is positioned at an approximate right angle to the axis of rotation of the crucible and the mold also revolves about the axis of rotation of the crucible, in synchronicity with the crucible. Thus, in platinum investment casting, the mold is typically positioned laterally relative to the crucible, rather than vertically beneath the crucible and the mold has two degrees of motion: the mold revolves around the crucible's axis of rotation and the mold rotates about its own axis. This rotational molding process is obviously much more complicated than static molding wherein molten metal is simply poured out of a crucible into a stationary, though often pre-heated, mold. Despite the additional effort, typical yields for rotational investment casting of most platinum alloys, with a pre-heated (˜1500° F.) mold, are no more than about five pieces per mold.
Another significant drawback to platinum is its price. Platinum is currently trading at about (US) $1725 per troy ounce, making it very expensive as a jewelry making material.
Another option for making white jewelry pieces is white gold. White gold refers to a group of gold alloys that typically comprise gold and nickel and/or palladium. The majority of the white gold alloy will be gold, which also makes white gold relatively expensive, as gold is currently trading at about (US) $1157 per troy ounce.
However, the fact that white gold is primarily gold, means that white gold alloys are generally corrosion resistant and adequately ductile and malleable for jewelry making purposes.
White gold is superior to platinum in casting efficiency. Depending upon the specific composition of the alloy, white gold will melt between about 1600° F. and 1800° F. Molten white gold also solidifies much more slowly than platinum, typically on the order of about five seconds, when poured into a static mold pre-heated to about 900° F. As a result, lost wax casting "trees" containing many more finished pieces may be obtained with white gold, than with platinum. Trees containing fifty to seventy-five white gold pieces are common.
In addition to cost, another significant drawback is that much white gold, despite its name, is not really white. Rather, it is to varying degrees, somewhat yellow. As a result, white gold pieces are commonly plated with rhodium. Rhodium gives a superb white finish, even compared to the highest quality white gold. However, the rhodium plating is subject to wear, which can be an especially significant issue with a high wear item like a ring. Any wear of the rhodium plating will almost inevitably be uneven. This will result in a contrast between the remaining rhodium plating and the underlying piece. This contrast will seldom be aesthetically pleasing and may be particularly jarring when the underlying piece has a high degree of yellow coloration.
Rhodium is very expensive, currently trading at about (US) $2780 per troy ounce. The use of white gold, to the extent that it involves rhodium plating, will increase the overall cost of the piece and add a step to the manufacturing process. Rhodium plating will also make the piece subject to wear, such that replating will often be required to maintain the appearance of white gold pieces over their lives.
Another problem with white gold is that much of it, especially in the United States, includes nickel. Nickel can be used to obtain an alloy that is sufficiently white so as to not require rhodium plating. However, nickel can also cause an allergic contact dermatitis in persons susceptible to the allergy and who come into contact with the metal. Thus, the presence of nickel in white gold poses an allergic risk to a subset of the population. Nickel can also increase the brittleness of the piece.
Still another option for white jewelry pieces is silver. One of the primary drawbacks of silver is its tendency to tarnish. When polished, silver has a highly lustrous, white appearance. However, after only a brief time in service, it will tarnish, such that frequent polishing is required to maintain the appearance of silver pieces.
Another consideration with silver is its weight. Though lighter than gold and platinum, (the density of gold is about 19.3 grams per cubic centimeter; platinum, 21.4 grams per cubic centimeter), silver has a nice weight at about 10.5 grams per cubic centimeter. By comparison, fourteen karat gold alloys have a density from about 12.9 to 14.6 grams per cubic centimeter, depending upon the make-up of the non-gold portions of the alloy. Likewise, ten karat gold alloys have a density of about 11.4 grams per cubic centimeter. Although pieces made of silver would feel light compared to pieces made of pure gold or platinum, the more relevant comparison is their feel compared to pieces formed of common jewelry making alloys. As illustrated above, silver is only about twenty percent less dense than fourteen karat gold and only about four percent less dense than ten karat gold. Thus, pieces made of silver will not feel markedly lighter than comparably sized pieces made of fourteen karat, or especially ten karat, gold.
Silver has a melting point of about 1763° F. Thus, its melting temperature is comparable with that of gold, less than two hundred degrees (F) separating the two. Like white gold, silver solidifies much more slowly than platinum—remaining liquid on the order of about five seconds when poured into a static mold pre-heated to about 800° to 1000° F.
An advantage of silver is its cost. Silver is currently trading at about (US) $18.00 per troy ounce. Thus, pieces made of silver will cost much less than comparable pieces made of gold or its alloys.
Another advantage of silver is its ductility and malleability. Silver is highly ductile and malleable, making it a good choice for forming jewelry.
Yet another option for white jewelry pieces is palladium. Palladium is whiter than platinum. Thus, unlike white gold, rhodium plating is not needed for palladium jewelry. Palladium has a melting point of about 2831° F., which is higher than gold but much lower than platinum. When molten, common palladium alloys also cool more slowly than platinum, typically solidifying in about five seconds after pouring into a static mold pre-heated to about 900° F., allowing more pieces to be cast using lost wax methods than with platinum. "Trees" including ten to twenty pieces can often be cast using palladium.
At 12.0 grams per cubic centimeter, palladium is more dense than silver, though less dense than gold or platinum. Palladium is very resistant to tarnishing under normal atmospheric conditions. It is also sufficiently ductile and malleable to be worked as jewelry.
A principle drawback of palladium, relative to silver, is its cost. Palladium currently trades at about (US) $515 per troy ounce. This makes it more affordable than gold or platinum, but relatively expensive compared to silver.
In view of the foregoing, precious metal alloys meeting the following objectives and jewelry manufactured therefrom are desired.

Jewelry article of white precious metals and methods for making the same


A packet processing device which can reserve a calculation time for each instruction procedure execution unit independent of the data length of a packet by sequentially selecting an instruction procedure execution unit by a selection signal generation unit and performing a calculation on each packet when packets are consecutively input to a packet access unit is disclosed.

The present invention relates to a packet processing device for performing a predetermined packet process on input packet data in a packet routing device, etc.
Conventionally, communications have been established among terminals interconnected through a network. In view of the growing scale of networks, it has been required to route networks to other networks. For example, a network is set with a LAN (Local Area Network) connected with another LAN, or a LAN connected with a dedicated line. Specifically, a network using an IP (Internet Protocol) has been a leader in this technology. An IP is a connectionless type protocol corresponding to a network layer in an OSI (Open System Interconnection) model of ISO (International Organization for Standardization). In the connectionless type IP communications, unlike the connection type protocol used in reserving in advance a communications path between terminals, a packet routing device for interconnecting LANs realizes the communications among the terminals by performing a routing process on the packets containing communications data. In the routing process in the IP network, it is necessary to perform various packet processes such as a destination table searching process, a header rewriting process, etc.
In the packet process performed in the above mentioned packet routing device, a process of filtering a packet to limit the communications in a network is included in addition to various processes required to route packets such as a process of computing a checksum of a packet header, a process of searching a destination table, a process of rewriting a packet header, etc. These processes are too complicated to be performed using dedicated hardware, and have conventionally been realized in software processes.
FIG. 10 shows the configuration of the conventional packet processing device for performing a packet process using a processor. As shown in FIG. 10, a processor 900 is connected to memory 910 through a bus 920 in the conventional packet processing device. With the configuration, various packet processes are performed in the packet routing device by the processor 900 reading a packet stored in the memory 910.
In the conventional packet processing device using the above mentioned processor 900, packet data has frequently been read and written in the memory 910, it has been difficult to quickly perform the packet process. That is, after the processor 900 stores packet data in the memory 910, the stored packet data is appropriately read, a predetermined process is performed on the read contents, and the process result has to be written to the memory 910. In addition, the processor 900 reads packet data after providing a read address for the memory 910. Similarly, the processor 900 writes packet data after providing a write address for the memory 910. At this time, it takes a longer time to allow data to be read or written after the processor 900 provides an address for the memory 910 than the cycle time of the processor 900.
Furthermore, the consecutive sequence processor 900 can process only one process at a time, and cannot simultaneously perform reading and writing operations. Additionally, it is hard to generate a circuit capable of simultaneously performing reading and writing operations. As a result, the processor 900 cannot simultaneously read and write packet data using the memory 910.
Thus, overhead in reading and writing packet data using the memory 910 is the problem in the process of transferring packet data between the processor 900 and the memory 910, thereby interfering with a high-speed packet process.
In addition, in the conventional packet processing device including the above mentioned processor 900, the processing time allowed for one packet depends on the intervals of consecutively receiving two packets. Therefore, the processing time allowed for the shortest data length of a packet is shortened, thereby causing the problem that the number of steps of executable instruction procedure is smaller. By storing packet data waiting for a process in the memory 910, the processing time can be adjusted when a packet having a short data length is temporarily received, but the memory 910 overflows when a large number of packets having short data lengths are consecutively received, and the number of unprocessed packet data gradually increases. Therefore, a packet processing device is desired which can execute a large number of instruction procedures independently of the type or the data length of a packet if any kind of packet is transferred or received.

Packet processing device processing input packet data in a packet routing device


A method for detecting vibration signatures in a reversible drive is disclosed. The method includes the steps of acquiring digital data representative of vibrations in the reversible drive and identifying and grouping together portions of data in a plurality of groups. The identified portions of data relate to a particular direction of travel of the reversible drive and the plurality of groups relate to travel in different directions of the reversible drive. The method can include the further step of processing at least one of the groups of data using signal processing techniques. A system and computer program product for practicing the method for detecting vibration signatures in a reversible drive are also disclosed.

Predictive maintenance aims to sustain the availability of equipment and avoid catastrophic failures, which may cause severe consequential damage to other components of the equipment before the equipment can be shut down. The avoidance of catastrophic failures often reduces the number of components to be replaced. Predictive maintenance is further beneficial in that equipment down time can be predicted and scheduled. Thus, unscheduled down time can be minimised and delays that may be incurred due to procurement of spare parts can be avoided.
Rotating and reciprocating machinery represent very commonly found types of equipment found in industry and it is for this reason that extensive work has been conducted on techniques to aid predictive maintenance programs on such equipment, including vibration analysis, infra-red thermography and oil analysis.
Two known techniques used in vibration analysis include Time Synchronous Averaging (TSA) and Order Tracking. Both techniques are used in conjunction with a conventional Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to produce a frequency spectrum of the vibration data for analysis to detect vibration signatures indicative of actual or potential fault conditions.
Various vibration analysis techniques are well documented and have a proven record in predicting catastrophic failures. However, an area that has attracted little attention is that of the analysis of frequently reversing drives, particularly such as found in rotating and reciprocating machinery. No techniques are currently known for the successful analysis of equipment vibrations whilst that equipment is accelerating or decelerating and for differentiation between vibration signatures in the forward and reverse directions. One reason is that system dynamics change with speed, direction, and more importantly, with load. Another reason for the limited analysis of frequently reversing drives is that the period during which the equipment runs at a constant speed is normally insufficient for vibration analysis to be performed.
A need thus exists for a vibration analysis technique that can be applied to frequently reversing, rotating, reciprocating and cyclic machinery. Draglines, shovels, winders and cranes, are just some examples of rotating and reciprocating machinery that would clearly benefit from a successful predictive maintenance strategy incorporating advanced vibration analysis techniques such as TSA and Order Tracking.

Vibration analysis for predictive maintenance in machinery


The present invention provides for an interactive figure with a head, body and waist cavities, arms, legs and two motorized wheelbases. The body and waist cavities include a gear mechanism. The motorized wheelbases control the movements of the interactive figure via a relationship between the gear mechanism and motors housed within the motorized wheelbases by distributing power to the motors based on a user's input or a preprogrammed response.

Toy dancing figures are well known in the art and have employed many various aesthetic novelty designs, from flowers (U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,249) and soda cans to fish (U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,351). However, these lack the innovation to create complex animated movements needed for dolls and for various other standing figures. While the prior art is not devoid of dancing dolls, toys or other figures, there are disadvantages in the prior art and areas that need improvement. For instance, one disadvantage exists in animated figures that are fixed on a base in order to provide stability, lacking a more lifelike appearance that free-standing figures provide. These non-free standing figures typically include the mechanisms that create or control the movements of the figure in the base and are often comprised of moveable rods that travel through the legs. These dancing toys may be represented in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,163,992; 6,126,508; 5,601,471; and 5,273,479. Other non-free standing figures incorporate the mechanisms in the upper or lower torso, but since this type of arrangement causes the figure to be top-heavy, the figures rely on the base to keep the figures upright. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,261,148 discloses a twisting figure; U.S. Pat. No. 6,071,170 discloses a figure that vibrates and moves side to side; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,726 illustrates an animated figure that stands and sits.
While free-standing animated dolls are present in the art, these dolls similarly place the mechanisms in the torso, which as mentioned above may cause instability. To compensate for this the dolls typically reduce the speed or rate of animation and movement the dolls produce. As such these dolls typically only walk, illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,441; tap dance, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,238; or sway from one side to another, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,911,617. Another interesting disclosure is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,560, which discloses a free-standing dancing doll. However, the mechanism that powers the movement is situated in the torso of the doll, which as mentioned above may limit the speed of the movements in order to keep the toy upright.
As such there exists a need to improve upon the prior art without the disadvantages outlined above. In addition thereto, typical dancing figures and toys animate in response to detecting music or sound, while others may be simply animated at the same time the figure plays music providing the appearance that the figure is dancing. As such a further improvement over the prior art would include the ability to control the animation of the figure.


A system is provided for adjusting an output power of a multi-stage power amplifier by controlling a supply voltage provided to one or more output amplifier stages of the power amplifier using a switching DC—DC converter. In general, the system includes a power amplifier including an input amplifier stage and one or more output amplifier stages coupled in series with the input amplifier stage. The one or more output amplifier stages receive a variable supply voltage from switching DC—DC conversion circuitry. The switching DC—DC conversion circuitry provides the variable supply voltage based on an adjustable power control signal. By controlling the variable supply voltage provided to the one or more output stages, the switching DC—DC conversion circuitry controls an output power of the power amplifier based on the adjustable power control signal.

In recent years, worldwide demand for wireless cellular communications has increased dramatically. Mobile telephones manufactured to meet this burgeoning demand must adhere to standards such as the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard. Another standard, the Digital Cellular System (DCS) standard, is based on GSM, but is directed towards higher cell density and lower power. A third standard, Personal Communications Services (PCS), is a "catch all" for many digital cellular systems, including GSM, operating in North America. These standards all require precise output power control over a large dynamic range in order to prevent a transmitter located in one cell from interfering with the reception of transmissions from other transmitters in neighboring cells.
One of the primary goals in designing mobile telephones is to reduce power consumption in order to increase battery-life. In large part, the power consumption of a mobile telephone is dependent upon the RF efficiency of a power amplifier in the transmit chain that operates to amplify a transmit signal prior sending the signal to the antenna for transmission. As described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,701,138, POWER AMPLIFIER CONTROL, issued Mar. 2, 2004, which is assigned to RF Micro Devices, Inc. of 7628 Thorndike Road, Greensboro, N.C. 27409 and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, the efficiency of a multi-stage power amplifier may be increased by reducing a supply voltage provided to one or more output amplifier stages of the multi-stage power amplifier as the output power is reduced such that the output stages of the power amplifier continue to operate in saturation.
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,701,138, the supply voltage provided to the power amplifier may be controlled using a voltage regulator. The voltage regulator includes a series pass element, such as a field effect transistor (FET) coupled in series between a source voltage, such as a battery, and an input terminal of the power amplifier. The voltage regulator is controlled to control the supply voltage provided to the input terminal of the power amplifier. However, as output power is reduced, the supply voltage is also reduced. In doing so, the voltage drop across the series pass element is increased, and a larger portion of the power supplied from the battery is dissipated as heat.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a system that further improves the efficiency of a power amplifier.

Power amplifier control using a switching power supply


According to one embodiment, an electronic apparatus includes: a main body that has a bearing hole having a first retaining portion and a second retaining portion; a sub module that has a shaft rotatably coupling with the bearing hole so that the sub module moves between a first position and a second position; and a detent spring that is coupled with the shaft to keep the sub module at the first position and at the second position, the detent spring having a third retaining portion, wherein the third retaining portion couples with the first retaining portion when the sub module is kept at the first position, and wherein the third retaining portion couples with the second retaining portion when the sub module is kept at the second position.

1. Field
One embodiment of the invention relates to an electronic apparatus including a sub-module which is supported so as to rotatably move between a storage position and an expansion position with respect to an apparatus case, and more particularly to a detent mechanism for supporting the sub-module at the storage position and the expansion position.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there has been provided an electronic apparatus such as a cellular phone having a camera function in which a camera module (sub-module) receiving a camera mechanism such as a lens is supported so as to rotately move between at a storage position and an expansion position with respect to an apparatus case in order to realize various photographing styles (for example, see JP-A-2005-90707).
A known cellular phone A shown in FIG. 14 includes a camera module (sub-module) C in an end of an apparatus case B. The camera module C is supported so as to rotatably move to be reversed about an axis O-O between a storage position where a lens unit C1 is oriented to the front surface, as shown in FIG. 14(a) and an expansion position where the lens unit C1 is oriented to the back surface, as shown in FIG. 14(b).
Moreover, the camera module C is configured to be held at the storage position in FIG. 14(a) and at the expansion position in FIG. 14(b) by a detent mechanism described below.
As shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, the camera module C is supported by a holder H disposed in the apparatus case B (see FIG. 14) through a rod R fixed to the camera module C. In addition, a flexible board E connected to the camera module C is extracted from the holder H.
A slider S engages with a guide G fixed to the rod R so as not to move in a shaft direction and not to rotatably move. In addition, the slider S is received in the inside of the holder H so as to be movable.
The slider S is urged toward the bottom surface of the holder H by a compression spring F mounted between the slider S and the guide G. In addition, the camera module C is configured so as to be held at the storage position or the expansion position by engaging a detent protrusion Hp formed in the holder H with a detent groove Sg of the slider S.
In the known cellular phone A, the detent mechanism for holding the camera module C at the storage position and the expansion position includes numerous elements such as the holder H formed with the detent protrusion Hp, the slider S formed with the detent groove Sg, the guide G for guiding the slider S, and the compression spring F for urging the slider S, as described above. Accordingly, the configuration becomes complicated and the above-described constituent elements are laid out along the rod R, thereby causing occupation of a space.


The present invention relates to a light emitting die component formed by multilayer structures. The light emitting die component comprises a semiconductor structure (103) comprising: an n-type layer (104), an active region (106) and a p-type layer (108); a p-contact layer (110) arranged to be in electrical contact with said p-type layer (108); an n-contact layer (116) arranged to be in electrical contact with said n-type layer (104); a first dielectric layer (114) arranged to electrically isolate said p-contact layer (110) from said n-contact layer (116); a thermal spreading layer (120) comprising a first and a second region (120a, 120b) being electrically isolated from each other, wherein said first region (120a) forming an anode electrode of said light emitting die component and said second region (120b) forming a cathode electrode of said light emitting die component; a second dielectric layer (118) arranged to electrically isolate said n-contact layer (116) from said first region (120a) or to electrically isolate said p-contact layer (110) from said second region (120b); a third dielectric layer (122) arranged to electrically isolate said first and second regions (120a, 120b); and an interconnect pad (124) enabling interconnection with a submount (126).

Solid state light sources such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) are among the most efficient light sources available today. LEDs provide longer lifetime, higher photon flux efficacy, lower operating voltage, narrow-band light emission, and flexibility in terms of assembly compared to conventional light sources.
Commonly, III-V semiconductor materials are used to provide high-brightness light emitting devices operating in the ultraviolet, visible or infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The materials used include for example binary, ternary and quaternary alloys of gallium, aluminum, indium, nitrogen, phosphorus and arsenic.
Gallium nitride (GaN) LEDs have recently attracted much attention as efficient light sources, where the combination of GaN with In (InGaN) or Al (AlGaN) further allows for tailoring of the emission energy of the photons emitted by the LED as the band gap of the semiconductor alloy is dependent on ratio of In and/or Al to GaN offering LEDs with colors ranging from red to blue. The GaN based LEDs are therefore successfully used in solid state lighting applications such as illumination, traffic lighting, indoor/outdoor displays, and backlighting electronic displays.
High quality performance of LEDs requires high brightness as well as efficient heat dissipation. Electrical power that is not converted into light emission from the LED converts into heat that must be conducted from the LED to its surroundings, since excess heat in the active region of the LED reduces quantum efficiency and thereby light output. Hence attention must be paid to the thermal architecture of the LEDs as well as to its electronic structure.
A flip-chip (FC) GaN LED die commonly comprises a substrate, said substrate is usually sapphire a low loss transparent material, upon which epitaxially is grown an n-type GaN layer (or layers), a GaN based active region, and a p-type GaN layer (or layers). In FC LED dies, light generated in the active region is extracted from the side of the n-type GaN layer and substrate material. After epitaxial growth, it is required, for biasing the LED, to form proper electrical contacts at the n-type GaN layer, i.e., cathode electrode, and at the p-type GaN layer, i.e. anode electrode. Both p-type GaN and n-type GaN metal contacts are highly reflective in order to redirect the generated light into the sapphire side. Both n- and p-layers are usually electrically contacted from the side of the p-layer. Thus, in order to access the n-layer, openings may be formed by etching away the p-layers and the active region. The n-contact layer electrically contacts the n-type GaN layer through these openings and is usually designed to uniformly distribute the current though the n-type GaN layer, which acts as a lateral current spreading layer. The n-contact layer design aims at avoiding current crowding regions in the active region with a minimum required area of said etched openings.
The LED die is typically attached to a submount, where said anode and cathode electrodes in the die are electrically contacted to metal layers in the submount. The attachment to the submount may e.g. be made by means of stud-bumps.
After die attachment, and in order to improve light extraction, the substrate may be removed by laser-assisted lift-off. Then, the exposed n-type GaN epi surface is roughened by electrochemical etching. The resulting device structure is usually referred to as thin-film-flip-chip (TFFC) LED.
Both FC and TFFC LED die structures commonly consist of a layer stack formed by the following basic elements: GaN layers (n-type GaN layer, active GaN region [typically InGaN] and p-type GaN layer); p-contact layer; at least one dielectric layer to electrically isolate the anode and cathode electrodes; n-contact metal layer; and bonding layer to electrically and mechanically attach die onto a submount or printed circuit board (PCB).
It is generally desirable that this basic combination of layers in the LED die stack can optimally perform the following essential functions: i) lateral current spreading to insure uniform current distribution throughout the active region; ii) lateral thermal spreading to minimize hot-spots and thermal resistance; iii) die interconnection with submount and/or PCB (bonding layer); iv) mechanical stability, particularly in case of TFFC; v) mirror reflection for light extraction; vi) electrical isolation; and vii) metal-semiconductor electrical contact.
As such, each of the layers of the die stack must have one or more of the previous functions, i.e. each layer is referred to as a functional layer, e.g. functional layer p-contact layer has functions v) and vii).
Existing FC die architectures generally present performance limitations in one or more of the seven previously listed essential functions. For example, the stud-bumps interconnect approach (related to functions iii and iv) can confront serious heat-sinking limitations due to the reduced metal interconnect area. This may particularly become critical in case of standard TFFC due to the lack of thermal spreading layers (function ii). Solutions for improved thermal performance has been disclosed but often is the architecture detriment of the die interconnection with submount and/or PCB, which becomes limited in terms of lacking compatibility with SMD technologies. For these solutions also current injection into the n-type GaN layer to minimize current crowding (function i) may be limited.
The multilayer proposal of US20050067624 A1 offers great flexibility to cope with current injection into the n-type GaN layer to minimize current crowding, but this is done by compromising functionally related to either lateral thermal spreading to minimize hot-spots and thermal resistance or die interconnection with submount and/or PCB.
Accordingly, there is a need for a LED die structure wherein functions i)-vii) may be optimized without compromising on another one of the essential functions. This would enable a large degree of freedom in the optimization of the current distribution, thermal spreading and interconnect pad layout of the LED die resulting in improved brightness and/or easier mounting of the LED die to the submount and/or PCB.

Light emitting die component formed by multilayer structures


A method for designing an electronic transactions system and forming a proposal for doing business on a global communications network is disclosed. The invention includes reviewing existing direct sales screening processes, creating new processes, integrating new and existing screening processes, determining and implementing legal terms and conditions for electronic transactions and forming electronic media for posting. Additional steps may include identifying possible transactions based on available products and services, approaching subject matter experts to obtain data, preparing electronic templates and filter mechanisms, and presentation of proposed methods. Steps dealing with legal issues include incorporating terms and conditions of sales through the site, preparing agreements for financial institutions to govern electronic payments, and developing exclusion clauses for traditional third party contracts. Key project personnel create content for an interactive site on a global communications network. A system for filtering and collecting payments electronically may also be implemented.

The present invention relates generally to a method and system of doing business, and more specifically, to a method and system of designing a standardized process for electronic transactions in a large organization of diverse operations.
Electronic commerce (e-commerce) conducted over a global communications network, e.g. the Internet, offers a whole host of opportunities to market and sell products on a worldwide basis. One of the main benefits of e-commerce is that it can be done at a fraction of the cost normally associated with traditional transactions. Further, e-commerce sites can be "open" 24 hours a day to serve customers throughout the world regardless of differing time zones.
However, this brave new world is fraught with uncertainties and risks. As business managers and organizations rush to provide products and services over the Internet, there are many pitfalls which must be guarded against. One such pitfall is the unknown customer—the customer who ultimately ends up being the end user/third party purchaser. For example, it is desirable for legitimate companies to avoid doing business with customers that may have connections to money laundering operations or those with bad credit. Further, in many areas of commerce, there are regulatory issues which must be addressed in order to minimize legal risk to the selling organization. For example, when selling medical related technology, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other organizations, such as the State Department, have various regulations which severely limit commercial transactions both in the United States and abroad. These issues and others need to be addressed immediately before the organization exposes itself to some unforeseen liability by doing business over the Internet. Such problems are exaggerated with large organizations that have diverse operations.
It would therefore be desirable to have a set of process steps defined to implement electronic transaction systems consistently in organizations with diverse operations.

Method of designing an electronic transaction system


Alarms are often required on various vehicles and equipment such as fork lifts, dump trucks, bulldozers, etc. An alarm is disclosed controlled by a microprocessor, which is an integral part of the basic circuit. The alarm has a flat diaphragm, and a novel acoustic lens. The acoustic lens is constructed such that sound emanating from the center of the diaphragm has a direct path to the outside of the alarm. Sound produced around the periphery of the diaphragm must pass through a path containing switchbacks, that serve as an acoustic delay line, so this sound is delayed in exiting the alarm. The result is an alarm that with full sound in the important regions such as behind and to the side rear of the vehicle, but is very quiet for the operator or driver of the vehicle. The microprocessor is relied upon for adjusting alarm output based on source voltage and varying the signal based on ambient noise, as well as specific signals for particular applications.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an alarm. More specifically, the present invention relates to a microprocessor controlled alarm having a unique spatial sound pattern to reduce the noise to persons having to be in close proximity to the alarm, such as an operator of a machine on which the alarm is mounted.
2. Background Art
Alarms are used on mobile machinery and vehicles to warn persons of the danger they may present. Such machinery is used in construction, mining, industrial, and warehouse applications, for instance. Some alarms are sounded only when the vehicle is backed up. An operator of such machinery, such as a fork lift, back hoe, crawler, etc., is subject to the noise of the alarm. Conventional alarms have no particular protection for the operator from intense sound. As a consequence, alarms are often disabled by operators so as to alleviate themselves of the discomfort caused by the noise.
Present day alarms require variable amplifiers and different control circuits for different applications. So, an alarm to be placed on a fork lift used inside a low-ceiled building would be quite different from an alarm placed on a bulldozer used only out in the open in a landfill.
A variable volume horn system for vehicles was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,173,136 by Atkinson. The horn of Atkinson automatically adjusts its signal level based on the ambient noise. The adjustability is effected using a variable output amplifier.
Munson, et al., (U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,085) also disclose a variable volume horn system. This invention also includes a sensor to determine the volume of the horn signal, and a logic unit to adjust the volume whenever the volume drops below a predetermined level.
A more recent invention for a horn used on moving vehicles is that of Gailbreath, et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,603,317. This invention, again, adjusts its signal level based on the ambient noise level. The alarm of the Gailbreath, et al., patent has selectable sound patterns to make the alarm distinguishable from surrounding noise.
In the above patents, no novel housing, or acoustic lens, shapes for the audio transducer are specified. Most such systems utilize a highly directional, truncated horn or similar for the housing; or their goal is a sound pattern that is essentially the same in all directions.
Another issue, not addressed in the prior art, is that of supply voltage. When the alarm supply voltage varies, the usual result is a varying alarm signal, even to the point of being unsatisfactory or failure of the alarm.
Still another facet of the prior art is the shape of the diaphragm and arrangement used in the transducer of an alarm system. The prior art is profuse with dome shaped diaphragms for loudspeakers. For high-fidelity applications, a voice coil is utilized that is not fused to the edge of the dome and the edges of the dome are couched in a well-damped surround to reduce distortion. There is a dearth of prior art alarm systems showing transducer assemblies having good environmental sealing and heat transfer, with the additional benefit of low cost. Current alarm designs have high cost associated with high output levels in almost direct proportion. High fidelity is not an important attribute for an alarm system of the present application.
There is a need, therefore, for a reliable alarm system using a microprocessor to provide functionality such as variable signal level based on the ambient noise, accommodation of varying source voltage, and a plurality of alarm signal types, so the alarm is detectable among background noises. There is also a need for a mobile vehicle alarm system providing a strong alarm signal to the areas most in danger of the vehicle, such as behind the vehicle when it is being backed up, while protecting the operator of the vehicle from high signal strength that might cause hearing damage. An additional need is for a transducer design combining the attributes of good environmental sealing, good heat transfer and low cost, creating a high integrity design housing, allowing the alarm to meet the SAE and ANSI, etc. standard specifications and tests.

Integrated microprocessor controlled alarm


The present invention is a corner section of a conveyor frame assembly that includes removable slide bars and wear strips. The corner section is formed from two side frames of stainless steel joined by multiple stainless steel cross supports. Each of the cross supports is configured to receive a plurality of slide bars formed from a durable plastic material, such as UHMW. The side frames of the corner section also receive a series of support rods positioned to support the lower run of the conveyor belt. Each support rod supports a continuous, lower wear strip and a support puck. The entire corner section can be disassembled and reassembled without the requirement of any external tooling.

The present invention relates to a conveyor assembly for use in a sanitary application. More specifically, the present invention relates to a corner section for a sanitary conveyor assembly in which the corner section includes stainless steel side frame members and conveyor belt support slide bars and wear strips for supporting both the upper and lower runs of the conveyor belt that can be removed without the use of tools.
Presently, conveyors used in the food processing industry must meet strict standards regarding the construction of the conveyor to avoid areas on the conveyor in which water or food product can collect. In most applications, the conveyor frame assembly is formed from a stainless steel material such that the frame assembly can be easily washed and sanitized to avoid the development of harmful bacteria.
In a typical conveyor assembly, the continuous length of conveyor includes straight conveyor sections and curved sections such that the continuous run of the conveyor belt can travel along a desired path of transportation. Typically, both the curved corner sections and the straight conveyor sections include side rails formed from stainless steel. The stainless steel side rails are rolled into a smooth curve of the desired radius to form curved corner sections. Once the stainless steel side rails are rolled into to the desired radius of curvature, cross support members are positioned between the side rails to form the rigid, corner frame.
Although prior art conveyor frame assemblies function relatively well in a sanitary environment, the wash down of the conveyor frame section typically requires the time consuming disassembly of the conveyor frame assembly prior to wash down. For example, the guide rails and the belt support strips must be removed from the conveyor frame assembly prior to wash down. In addition, if the conveyor belt needs to be removed from the conveyor assembly, various guide members and retaining clips must be removed before the conveyor belt can be removed from the conveyor frame. The amount of time required to wash down the conveyor section disables the conveyor, thereby reducing the operating time of the food processing system.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a conveyor corner assembly that eliminates the need for separate tools to disassemble the conveyor frame prior to wash down yet provides the required physical structure to allow the corner section to work properly. A further need exists for a corner section that has a visually pleasing appearance without any visible weld lines.

Washdown conveyor corner section with removable wear strips


The invention comprises stable, antigen-sensitive surfaces containing immobilized antibody modified with a polyethylene glycol spacer arm including a terminal hydrophobic moiety. The surfaces are generally useful in immunoassay procedures, especially microgravimetric assays such as those employing antibody immobilized on piezoelectric crystal surfaces.

1. Field of the Invention
New detection methods for immunoassays which allow the assays to be performed rapidly with a minimum amount of equipment and operator time have been recently reported. In several of these procedures, immune complexes are identified directly, without the use of fluorescent, radiochemical or enzyme labeling methods. These label-independent methods detect immune complex formation based on electrochemistry (Electrochemical Sensors in Immunological Analysis, Ngo, TT ed. Plenum Press, NY N.Y. USA), ellipsometry (J. Colloid Interface Sci. 111:544-554, 1986), optical wave guidance (Sensors Actuators B1:592-596, 1990), surface plasmon resonance (Biosensors 3:211-225, 1988, Z. Phys. 4:299-304, 1983; Biotechniques 11:620-627, 1991), and the piezoelectric effect (Biosensors Bioelectron 5:13-26, 1990; Anal. Chem. Acta 271:111-121, 1989; Anal. Chem. 55:2333-2386, 1983; Science 249:1000-1007, 1990). In spite of obvious advantages for rapid, label-independent biospecific analysis, all of the procedures share the disadvantage of requiring immobilized antibody or antigen. Conventional procedures for preparing such immunoreactive surfaces are not optimal, and newer methods for coupling antibody to solid surfaces have been reported (Ann.N.Y. Acad. Sci. 613:391-395; 439-443, 1990).
2. Description of Related Art
Coating techniques currently in use to prepare immunoreactive surfaces include entrapment of the antibody onto a polymer coated surface (Biotech Letts 8:643-648, 1986), glutaraldehyde crosslinking of antibody onto surfaces (J. Biomed. Mater. Res. 6:565-570, 1970, Clin. Chem. 30:1533-1538, 1984), absorption of antibody onto silanated surfaces (Anal. Chem. 55:2333-2336, 1983), and attachment of antibody to immobilized protein A (Anal. Chem. 59:2760, 1987). These methods, however, generally have the common drawback that each antibody coated surface can be used only a limited number of times before immunoreactivity is lost (see, e.g., Anal. Lett. 24:1283-1292, 1991; Biotechnology 7:349-351, 1989; Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 613:439-443, 1990).


A plate bending machine for bending a plate clamped between a lower die and a pressure die by a blade of a bending die mounted on a bend beam which is controlled in the vertical and horizontal directions. The bend beam has a vertical cross-section of substantially C-shaped configuration, and includes a first bending die attached to an upper portion of the substantially C-shaped configuration and a second bending die attached to a lower portion of the same. Blades are formed on at least one of the first and second bending dies to extend in the upward and downward directions, respectively. The horizontal bend arm may be connected to one end of a vertical bend arm which is disposed substantially vertically, by a shaft B (eccentric shaft).

The present invention relates to a plate bending machine which bends a plate clamped between a lower die and a pressure die by a blade of a bending die mounted on a bend beam which is controlled in the vertical and horizontal directions, and particularly relates to the structure of such a bending section.
As shown in FIG. 4 illustrating a side view of a plate bending machine, for example, there is known a plate bending process which includes the steps of clamping a plate 1 between a lower die 3 and an upper pressure die 2 in cooperation with each other and providing a bend beam 110a on which a bending die 107 is mounted at the tip end thereof, the bending die 107 including an upward extending blade 132 and a downward extending blade 131, whereby the plate 1 can be upward-bent by upwardly pressing the plate through the blade 132 at the approaching position in the underside of the plate and can be reverse-bent by downwardly pressing the plate through the blade 131 at the approaching position in the upper portion of the plate.
In such an arrangement, the bend beam 110a includes a horizontal bend arm 111a connected at one end to a shaft A (or eccentric shaft 113a) and a vertical bend arm 112a having its lower end connected to another shaft D (or eccentric shaft 114a), the upper ends of the horizontal and vertical bend arms being coupled together by a pivot pin 115a.
Therefore, the shafts A and D can cooperate with each other to control the bending trace in the blades.
FIG. 5 A is a front view of a main part of such a plate bending machine while FIG. 5 B is a top plan view of the same.
In these figures, the lower die portion is omitted for simplicity.
These figures schematically represent a linkage and crank mechanism for the sake of clarity.
The rotation of the shaft A (or eccentric shaft 113a) and shaft D (eccentric shaft 114a) is controlled by a drive means 21 such as a servo motor through a speed reducer 23 or the like.
Reference numerals 22 and 28 denote bearing mechanisms which are supported by the corresponding frames (not shown).
Since the structure shown in FIG. 4 can use the blade 132 for upward-bending in the upward direction and the blade 131 for reverse-bending in the downward direction, it is advantageous in that the blade to be used can be selected merely by rotating the eccentric shaft D (eccentric shaft 114a) without exchanging the bending dies which have different blades.
Since the forward end of the plate can more deeply be inserted into such a bending structure as shown in FIG. 4 without interference with the bending die, the width of the plate to be bent can be increased. However, the interference between the lower blade 131 and the lower die 3 must be avoided when the upward-bending trace is to be controlled by the upper blade 132.
Similarly, the interference between the upper blade 132 and the pressure die 2 must be avoided when the reverse-bending is to be carried out by the use of the lower blade 131.
It is also necessary that the eccentricity in the shaft D is equal to the sum of the movement of the bending die required to switch between the upward and reverse bending modes and the movement of the bending die required to perform the bending process. As a result, the bending machine requires a relative large power with increase of its size.
Such a structure as shown in FIG. 6 is also known.
This structure includes a bend beam 110b having its vertical cross-section of substantially inverted C-shaped configuration, and upper and lower bending dies 108 and 109 each of which includes a blade disposed to face the center.
The bend beam 110b including the bending dies mounted thereon is slidable along so-called LM guide blocks 124 and LM (Linear Motion) guide rails 125A in the vertical direction.
When the bending process is to be switched between the upward and reverse directions, the bending process can be carried out after the bending die 108 or 109 has been moved to a position near the plate through the LM guide mechanism without exchanging the bending die as in the arrangement of FIG. 4.
This structure of FIG. 6 is advantageous in that since the blades face the center, the rigidity can easily be ensured against the horizontal pressure from the horizontal bend arm 111b cooperating with the vertical bend arm 112b in its vertical movement when a plate is to be subjected to pushing-bending or ironing-bending.
Since the upward-bending die 109 is separated from the reverse-bending die 108, furthermore, it is relatively easy to avoid the interference of the bending die that is not used for bending.
Since the tip end of the plate interferes with the inner C-shaped wall of the bend beam 110b, however, the width of the plate to be bent is restricted.
Furthermore, the use of the LM guide mechanism causes shaking on bending. Additionally, the production cycle would be elongated since time required to perform the mode-switching step was relatively long in comparison with the structure of FIG. 4.


An FM radar apparatus detects a distance to and/or a speed of a target not only from peak frequencies of beat signals in respective frequency rise and fall regions but also by reusing the peak frequency in the preceding frequency rise or fall region. As a result, it becomes possible to obtain target data at twice the conventional pitch and hence to detect the target more finely and minutely.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a radar apparatus for detecting a target. More particularly, it relates to an FM radar apparatus for detecting a target on the basis of a beat signal (frequency deviation between transmitted and received signals) obtained by mixing a transmitted signal of FM wave with frequency varying with time, and a received signal of reflected wave from the target.
2. Description of the Related Art
FM radar apparatuses, which transmit and receive frequency modulated (FM) signals and detect a target on the basis of a beat signal obtained by mixing transmitted and received signals, are known from, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 5-180931, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 8-211145, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 7-128440, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 6-242230, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 4-142486, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 5-142337 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 5-150035.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. HEI 5-142337 and HEI 5-150035, there are disclosed FM radar apparatuses in which a beat signal is subjected to a frequency analysis using a Fast Fourier transform (FFT) to provide a plurality of peak frequencies, and a distance to and a speed of a target are detected based on the peak frequencies in each of frequency rise and fall regions of a frequency modulated triangular wave (frequency rise and fall domains of FM signal).
In these publications, there are also disclosed an arithmetic operation in which the sum of and difference between the peak frequencies in the rise and fall domains of the beat signal are divided by two to thereby detect the distance and speed. Another arithmetic operation is also disclosed which may be used to detect a relative distance and a relative speed with respect to the target. Herein-below, these arithmetic operations will jointly be called "Doppler shift calculation".
The above two publications teach detection of the distance to and speed of the target from the peak frequencies of the beat signals in the frequency rise region domain and the succeeding frequency fall domain. Other-wise, the distance (relative distance) and speed (relative speed) are detected from the peak frequencies of the beat signals in the frequency fall region and the succeeding frequency rise region.
In the conventional FM radar apparatus thus arranged, the distance and speed data relative to the target can be obtained at each cycle of frequency sweep of the frequency rise region and frequency fall region in combination. However, for detecting the target in more detail, it is necessary to obtain data relative to (at least one of the distance and speed of) the target at an accelerated pitch.


The present invention relates to a process for preparing phosphorus compounds and intermediates.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for preparing phosphorus compounds and intermediates.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Deblon (Thesis No. 13920, ETH Zurich, 2000) and Maire (Thesis No. 14396, ETH Zurich, 2001) disclose that transition metal complexes of olefin-phosphine compounds are particularly suitable for homogeneous catalytic reactions, especially hydrogenations and hydrosilylations. Typically, they are prepared by using secondary phosphines (see also Thomaier et al., New. J. Chem. 1998, 947–958 and Deblon et al., New. J. Chem. 2001, 25, 83–92), which is unsatisfactory for industrial use due to their spontaneous combustibility and associated safety requirements.
There is therefore a need to develop a process for preparing olefin-phosphine compounds which does not require the use of secondary phosphines.


A memory controller includes an error correction code (ECC) module for performing ECC decoding based on read data received from a non-volatile memory device for performing an on-chip valley search (OVS) read operation. A read voltage modification module receives status bits representing a latch that latches the read data among a plurality of latches included in the non-volatile memory device to store result values of the OVS read operation and determine whether to change a read voltage based on the status bits when the ECC decoding is successfully performed.

The disclosure relates to a storage device, and more particularly, to a storage device for changing a read voltage and a method of operating the same.
A semiconductor memory device is implemented by using a semiconductor such as silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), gallium arsenide (GaAs), or indium phosphide (InP). The semiconductor memory device may be classified into a volatile memory device and a non-volatile memory device.
On the other hand, as the semiconductor memory device is requested to have a high capacity, in order to improve a degree of integration, a multi-leveling method of increasing the number of bits stored by cell and a scaling method of reducing a circuit line width are used. As the number of bits stored by cell increases, overlap of a threshold voltage distribution increases and the circuit line width is reduced. Accordingly, a distance between neighboring memory cells is reduced and coupling is generated. Therefore, it may be requested to correctly read data based on an ideal read voltage.

Storage device and method of operating the same


Methods and systems for synchronizing a reset signal with a local clock that drives a circuit. In the circuit, the reset signal can be used to reset one or more flip-flops, memory devices, and/or logic. Sychronization of the reset signal allows the reset signal to change at an appropriate time period in relation to the lock clock signal driving the circuit. This ensures the circuit will remain stable during reset, and no data will be lost as it is processed in the circuit. Other aspects of the invention can include using a plurality of reset signals (e.g., software, hardware, local software, etc.) to form the reset signal and using a reset control system to control resets during testing of the circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to synchronization of reset signals.
2. Background Art
Integrated circuit chips typically include circuits that can be reset by one or more reset signals. The reset signals include hardware-based reset signals and/or software-based reset signals. Reset signals can be active low or active high. Active low reset signals reset circuits when the reset signal goes low. Active high reset signals reset circuits when the reset signal goes high. The following discussion applies to active low and active high reset signals.
Reset signals can be used in synchronous and/or asynchronous systems. In synchronous systems, reset signals take effect on a clock cycle subsequent to the reset signal. In asynchronous systems, reset signals take effect immediately, without regard to a clock cycle.
When a synchronous system is to be reset, the reset signal needs to go away at a good time relative to a local clock signal that drives the circuit. For example, a trailing or rising edge of an active low reset signal should not occur near a transition of the clock signal. Otherwise, the reset signal may not be adequately captured by the circuit. If the reset signal is not adequately captured by the circuit, a timing violation occurs that can cause instability within the circuit and/or cause a test of the system to fail. Thus, reset signals should be synchronized with the local clock so that the reset signal occurs sufficiently between rising edges of the local clock.
There are a number of situations where a reset signal may not be properly synchronized with a local clock signal. One situation is where a reset signal is generated in a first clock domain having a first frequency, but is used in a second clock domain having a second frequency. Another situation is where there is delay between a reset signal generator and a circuit that utilizes the reset signal. The delay can be the result of physical distance between the reset signal generator and the circuit that utilizes the reset signal. Alternatively, or additionally, the delay can be the result of circuit components coupled between the reset signal generator and the circuit that utilizes the reset signal
Therefore, what is needed is a system and method to synchronize a reset signal with a local clock.

Systems for synchronizing resets in multi-clock frequency applications