The invention relates to an inductive sensor unit having one or several coils, which are mounted on a printed circuit board in a planar manner. According to the invention, a change in the inductance of a sensor coil due to leakage currents in the inductive actuator is correlated with the position of the actuator in two respects i.e., with the distance x to the sensor coils and with the overlapping y of the sensor coils. As a result, an inductive push button switch and an inductive position switching device (a sliding switch) are provided. The invention also relates to the evaluation of the inductance by means of reactance measurement. A relative evaluation of the influence of adjacent sensor coils increases the precision of response in push button switches and, generally, a relative evaluation of the influence of adjacent sensor coils is carried out in position switching devices.

The invention relates to an inductive switch apparatus having a sensor unit and can be used in particular for a position switch apparatus that is used in automatic motor vehicle transmissions.
Known in the prior art is a displacement and angle sensor, in particular for determining a gear that has been selected in the motor vehicle field, in accordance with patent DE 198 06 529. The known displacement and angle sensor has four measurement coils that are arranged at right angles to one another on a coil carrier in an X/Y plane and are connected to evaluation electronics. The sensor has a so-called target that can be moved largely parallel to the X/Y plane relative to the measurement coils, thereby inducing voltages in the measurement coils. The evaluation electronics can determine the path traveled in the Y direction and the angle α of the target in a Z/X plane from the induced voltages. The known displacement and angle sensor is distinguished in that the opposing measurement coils are arranged spaced from one another and the adjacent measurement coils at least partially overlap one another.
The older application DE 102 42 385 A1 discloses an inductive sensor unit having at least two sensor coils that are mounted on a printed circuit board adjacent to one another in a planar manner. By an adjacent conductive actuating element the distance x to the sensor coils and the overlap y of the sensor coils can be changed. The evaluation of the changes in inductance that thus arise occurs, as for inductive proximity switches, by including the sensor coils in an oscillating circuit. Such an evaluation of resonance is sensitive to temperature and relatively complex.
Furthermore known in the field of automobiles is widespread employment of mechanical switches, including lock systems, operating elements for the dashboard, seat adjustments, mirror adjustments, etc. Mechanical switches have the disadvantage that they do not work in a wear-free manner. Their service life is limited by the material wear of the contact material, changes in the material (oxidation), and deposits on the switch contacts due to mechanical friction or electrical overloading or due to arcing when turning off.
One particular form of mechanical switches are mechanical sliding switches. A displaceable contact runs over a slide track and thus, depending on the position, produces a contact to various connections (so-called encoding switches). In such a shift gate unit, vibrations that occur in the vehicle lead to increased wear in the sliding contacts and slide tracks.
In modern vehicles, actuating motors these days are generally switched via wear-free power semiconductors, which then however are controlled by non-wear-free switches. In order to design the system completely wear-free, it is necessary to develop novel switches that work without mechanical switch contacts (that is, with sensors).
Known from the prior art are Hall sensors that react to the approach of permanent magnets and thus trigger a switching function. Furthermore known is the use of GMR sensors, which are based on the effect of a change in resistance that is caused by an external magnetic field. The external magnetic field can derive from a permanent magnet or a magnetizable plastic and can initiate appropriate switching functions.
Furthermore known is the use of light barriers and reflex light barriers, which have the disadvantage that they are sensitive to stray light and that the optical components age and can be soiled easily. The use of such sensors furthermore has the disadvantage that they are expensive compared to mechanical switches and inductive switches.
In switching elements, cost-effective printed circuit boards are frequently used as carriers for illumination, displays, or mechanical switches. The presence of such a printed circuit board favors the use of the present invention. The working principle of the inductive coupling of two sensor coils applied to the printed circuit board and their damping by a conductive actuator was disclosed as a cost-effective option for instance in DE 101 25 278. In it, damping strength correlates to the position of the actuator relative to the sensors. In this technology, it can be disadvantageous that the sensors in their practical design must have a minimum size of approx. 10 mm×10 mm on the printed circuit board so that acceptable coupling can be achieved and thus the electronics can be designed simply and cost-effectively. In the printed circuit boards that can currently be economically produced, a local resolution of 0.12 mm is attained, i.e., the conductor width of the sensor windings can be a maximum of 0.12 mm, just like the insulating width between the windings. As a result of this, the transmitter coil and the receiver coil of the sensors can have only approx. 5 windings.
The object of the invention is to influence the inductance of sensor coils using an actuator brought over the coil and to evaluate this change in inductance in a simple manner.


A curved deck treadmill (10) is disclosed as comprising a support frame (12) having a first side (20) and a second opposing side (22) for supporting a deck (56) therebetween. The deck comprises a forward end (58), a near end (60), and an intermediate portion (62) disposed between the first and second ends. The intermediate portion of the deck is preferably formed in a substantially arcuate configuration such that a significant portion of the intermediate portion may be operably disposed dimensionally lower in longitudinal relation to the first and second ends of the deck. Further, a roller assembly (14) is provided preferably comprising a first roller (78) and second roller (86). The first roller may be rotatably disposed contiguous the first end of the deck between the first side and the second side of the support frame. Correspondingly, the second roller is preferably disposed contiguous the second end of the deck between the first and second sides of the support frame. In operation, an endless belt (16) may be rotatably mounted in relation to the roller assembly (14) and operatively disposed in relation to the deck (56), thereby providing a structurally supported arcuate shaped, movable surface on which a user may exercise.

In an effort to generally improve one's health, many people regularly exercise on treadmills by walking, jogging and/or running along a rotating surface. Although exercise treadmills have been found to be useful, the exercise treadmills of the prior art incorporate several inherent disadvantages.
Traditionally, prior art exercise treadmills may be constructed comprising an endless belt rotatably disposed in relation to a plurality of anti-friction rollers which are rigidly secured to a frame. A significant disadvantage of prior art exercise treadmills of this general type may include the uncomfortable vibrating sensation and/or bruising which is commonly realized by a user when attempting to exercise thereon. In addition, if sufficient frictional resistance is not found in relation to the rotation of the free-moving rollers rotatably engaging the belt, a user attempting to exercise on the treadmill may suffer from injuries sustained as a result of an uncontrolled rotation of the anti-friction rollers engaging the belt. In particular, if the rollers supportably disposed in relation to the endless belt are so easily movable, the user may potentially lose his equilibrium or balance and fall from the exercise treadmill resulting in possible injuries.
In an attempt to reduce the potential dangers associated with falling from prior art exercise treadmills comprising anti-frictional, free-moving rollers, those skilled in the art developed rollers providing frictional resistance in relation to the inherent rotation of the rollers and the belt. Prior art exercise treadmills having frictional resistance in relation to the rollers, however, are typically found to have a difficulty in maintaining a sufficient balance between too much resistance and not enough. If, for example, the rollers are incapable of storing sufficient kinetic energy to overcome the established frictional resistance, after the rollers of the treadmill begin to rotate, the belt supportably disposed in relation to the rollers generally will not have the tendency to continue in a rotational motion. In this regard, exercise treadmills of the prior art should generally balance these competing factors and provide a corresponding frictional resistance that accommodates a smooth, continuous movement of the belt, without encountering a series of stops or starts that may result in simultaneous jerking motions in the movement of the endless belt.
To address the foregoing problems associated with frictional resistant roller assemblies, those skilled in the art developed exercise treadmills having a motor disposed in relation to the rollers to provide a means for regulating a constant rotational speed of the rotating endless belt. As realized, prior art exercise treadmills incorporating a motor for driving the rotational speed of the rollers and belt commonly obviate the requirement to balance the resistance and stored kinetic energy customarily needed in prior art exercise treadmills embodying frictional resistance roller assemblies.
A meaningful disadvantage of prior art motorized exercise treadmills includes the general disposition or placement of the motor in relation to the roller assembly and belt. Accordingly, the motor may be generally disposed either in front of, behind, or at one side of the endless belt. The usual placement or disposition of the motor in relation to prior art exercise treadmills, however, typically minimizes valuable space which could be alternatively allocated to the disposition of other internally working components of the treadmill or for the purpose of increasing the walking surface provided by the dimensional size of the belt.
In accordance with prior art exercise treadmills comprising a flat, horizontal or slightly inclined movable surface, the endless belt supportably disposed in relation to the rollers will typically absorb the full impact force of the foot of a user repetitively depressed thereagainst. The impact force sustained by the endless belt of prior art exercise treadmills generally produces a breaking effect which causes temporary stalling of the rotational movement of the belt. This undesirable stalling motion of the belt typically alters the continuity of the user's exercise routine and may further institute jerking movements with each step of the user. As the force or pressure associated with the impact of the user's feet on the flat, horizontal surface increases, the more likely prior art exercise treadmills will realize this breaking effect. In this regard, a heavy person running on a horizontal belt supported by rollers engaging a frame will more likely introduce a consistent breaking effect on the rotational movement of the belt, than a lighter person walking on the same treadmill.
Similarly, exercise treadmills of the prior art were developed to provide a springy and resilient walking surface. Prior art exercise treadmills of this type and the flat surface treadmills of the prior art, however, commonly encourage a form of bobbing effect in relation to the up and down motion of the user's body in relation to the movable surface or belt of the treadmill. This continual bobbing up and down usually makes it nearly impossible for a user to reach and maintain a steady position on the surface of the belt of the treadmill. In addition, because the support structure disposed in relation to the rotating belt is formed to provide a springy and resilient walking surface, a user may feel as if he is wading on the treadmill, rather than walking, jogging or running. Consistent therewith, these types of prior art exercise treadmills are generally unable to satisfactorily simulate natural walking, jogging or running.
Another meaningful disadvantage of exercise treadmills of the prior art is the inherent danger associated with users tending to fall off the back end of the treadmill and become injured. Several attempts have been made to keep a user exercising on prior exercise treadmills from falling off the back end of the endless belt and from the treadmill frame. For example, prior art exercise treadmills were developed by those skilled in the art which include a belt for harnessing the user to the treadmill. Unfortunately, harnessing a user to the treadmill is often found to be as dangerous as falling off the back of the treadmill.
Additionally, exercise treadmills of the prior art may furnish a user with an upright handle to grasp while exercising. While somewhat useful in retaining the user's balance on the rotating endless belt, having to grasp a fixed handle may impede the natural body motion of a user attempting to exercise. Such an encumbrance may be feasible when a user is attempting to walk, but when a user begins to jog or run on prior art exercise treadmills, having to grasp a handle to keep centered on the treadmill may severely interfere with one's natural body motion and further abdicate the inherent physical advantages of the exercise routine.
Another meaningful disadvantage of prior art exercise treadmills is their general inability to reduce the physical impact to the joints and muscles of a user conducting general exercise routines in relation thereto. In this regard, an exercise treadmill which is capable of reducing the physical impact on the knees and back of a user will resolve several barriers left unsolved by known prior art devices, especially in light of providing an operative role in rehabilitative exercises.
Consistent with the foregoing and as illustrated by the number of prior art patents and other disclosures, efforts are continuously being made in an attempt to remedy the above-identified disadvantages. While prior art exercise treadmills may appear generally suitable for their intended purpose, they nevertheless leave much to be desired from the standpoint of effectiveness of operation, safety, reducing the physical impact to the joints and muscles of a user, and simulating the natural body motion of the user exercising thereon. In this regard, the present invention provides for a novel curved deck treadmill which overcomes several deficiencies of exercise treadmills of the prior art and resolves several problems left unsolved by the known prior art.


A drink bottle and support system comprising a bottle having a closed lower end and an open upper end and a side wall therebetween. The side wall of the drink bottle having a generally cylindrical configuration on its exterior face, and an essentially flat configuration on its interior face. The bottle further having an interior and an exterior with insulation therebetween. The bottle also having external screw threads adjacent to its upper end. A cap for the bottle has internal threads coupleable to the threads of the bottle. A pile-type fastener in a rectangular configuration is adhesively secured to the flat face of the bottle. A pad in a rectangular configuration with a pile-type fastener is located over a majority of the extent of the front face of the pad for releasably receiving the pile-type fastener of the bottle. The pad has two belt loops on the interior face of the pad adjacent to the upper extent thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a new and improved drink bottle and support system and, more particularly, pertains to conveniently supporting a bottle on the body of a user.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of device bottles of known designs and configurations is known in the prior art. More specifically, bottles of known designs and configurations heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of supporting bottles on a user through known methods and apparatuses are known to consist basically of familiar, expected, and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which has been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
The prior art discloses a large number of devices for conveniently supporting a bottle on the body of a user. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,563 to Otterson, issued Jun. 23, 1981; U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,016 to Funfstuck, issued Feb. 19, 1985; U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,653 to Shea et al., issued Sep. 3, 1985; U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,092 to Souza, issued Dec. 24, 1985; U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,995 to Lewis, issued Apr. 24, 1989; and lastly, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 291,536 to Crawford et al., issued Aug. 25, 1987.
In this respect, the drink bottle and support system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of conveniently supporting a bottle on the body of a user.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved drink bottle and support system which can be used for conveniently supporting a bottle on the body of a user. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


A transportation system including a guide way defining multiple surfaces, each extending at an angle to the ground and at least one track mounted on one of the surfaces. A vehicle is adapted for movement along the guide way and is adapted to engage a corresponding track on the one surface when the vehicle is moving along the guide way in one direction and is adapted to engage a corresponding track on another surface when the vehicle is moving along the guide way in another direction.

This invention relates to a transportation system, and method of designing same, in which a vehicle travels along a guide way or track.
Public transportation systems, including monorail systems, two-track systems, magnetic levitation systems, etc., are becoming increasingly important as the population of urban areas continues to grow and automobile fuel prices continue to rise. It is important that public transportation systems be economically feasible, yet be large enough to transport a substantial amount of people yet maintain their stability during all operating conditions.
According to most prior designs, a vehicle, or series of interconnected vehicles, move over a track, or guide way, and the design is such that the center of gravity of each vehicle, even when it is loaded with passengers, baggage, etc., and subjected to external dynamic forces, is located within an area defined within the track or guide way to insure that the vehicle maintains adequate stability during all operating conditions. Therefore, in these arrangements, the width of each vehicle, and therefore its capacity, must be kept at relatively low values, which severely restricts the load (i.e., passenger) carrying ability of the vehicle.
Applicant's co-pending application (attorney's docket No. 32195.15) addresses this problem by disclosing a vehicle that has a center of gravity that is laterally spaced from the tracks on a guide way. A range of possible locations of the center of gravity in both the longitudinal and lateral directions of the vehicle can be established thus enabling the vehicles to be designed with a much greater width, and therefore capacity, when compared to standard systems. The disclosure of this application is incorporated by reference.
The present application represents a further improvement of the rail transportation system disclosed in the above application, by enabling bi-directional travel of the vehicles over a single guide way, and by enabling switching from a main guide way to and from an auxiliary guide way.


The present invention relates to a test tray for a test handler. According to this invention, there is disclosed a technique that an insert loaded in a loading part which is arranged in a matrix pattern in a frame of the test tray allows an amount and direction of free movement thereof to be determined in accordance with a location of the loading part, where the insert is loaded, on the matrix, thereby enabling a thermal expansion or contraction of a match plate or the test tray to be compensated.

In general, a test handler supports semiconductor devices, which are fabricated by a preset manufacturing process, to be tested by a tester while moving the semiconductor devices through a fixed route. And, the test handler sorts the semiconductor devices into several classes in accordance with test results thereof. Such a test handler has been already known through a plurality of opened documents.
FIG. 1 is a conceptual plan view for a test handler 100 and a tester docked to the corresponding test handler 100.
Referring to FIG. 1, the test handler 100 includes a loading unit 110, a soak chamber 120, a test chamber 130, a desoak chamber 140, an unloading unit 150 and a pushing unit 160. And, a tester 200 is disposed behind the test chamber 130.
The aforementioned test handler 100 moves the semiconductor devices in the order of the soak chamber 120 and the test chamber 130, where a preset temperature environment is made. After the test handler supports the semiconductor devices to be tested by the tester 200 in the test chamber 130, the semiconductor devices that the tests have been completed are moved to the desoak chamber 140 to return to a normal temperature. At this moment, a test tray 11, as shown in a schematic diagram of FIG. 2, is provided as a carrier for supporting to move and to test a plurality of semiconductor devices at the same time. Referring to FIG. 2, the test tray 11 includes a number of inserts 11-1 arranged in a matrix pattern so as to accommodate the semiconductor devices; a frame 11-2 where loading parts for loading the inserts 11-1 are arranged in a matrix pattern; and combining units for keeping the inserts 11-1 in the loading parts as described later. As such a test tray 11 is provided, an operation of loading the semiconductor devices from a customer tray of the reference numeral 10a to a test tray of the reference numeral 11a is carried out in the loading unit 110, and an operation of unloading the semiconductor devices from a test tray of the reference numeral 11b to a customer tray of the reference numeral 10b is carried out in the unloading unit 150. And, the test tray 11 circulates through the loading unit 110, the soak chamber 120, the test chamber 130, the desoak chamber 140 and the unloading unit 150, i.e, by the circulation of the test tray 11, the semiconductor devices loaded on the test tray 11 are unloaded after moving through the route of the soak chamber 120, the test chamber 130 and the desoak chamber 140. For reference, the test tray 11 circulates through a preset circulation route as described above, but for the sake of convenience in the explanation of FIGS. 1 and 4, the reference numeral of the test tray 11 is marked as 11a, 11b, 11c, 11d corresponding to the points where the test tray 11 is located in the route of the test tray 11.
On the other hand, the tester 200, as shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. 3, includes two inspection substrates named Hi-Fix boards 210a, 210b, and a plurality of sockets 210-1 corresponding to the inserts 11-1 of the test tray 11 are arranged in a matrix pattern on the Hi-Fix boards 210a, 210b. And, a test terminal (not shown) is exposed through each socket 210-1. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 1, the leads of the semiconductor devices loaded on the test trays (two test trays are disposed in upper and lower stages) of the reference numeral 11c and 11d located on the test chamber 130 are in contact with the test terminals of the sockets 210-1, respectively, thereby carrying out the test. In order to make the leads (or ball grid) of the semiconductor devices loaded on the test trays 11c, 11d contact with the test terminals of the sockets 210-1, the aforementioned pushing unit 160 is provided. That is, in order to make the leads of the semiconductor devices contact with the test terminals of the sockets 210-1 by pressing the semiconductor devices of the test trays against the sockets 210-1 of the Hi-Fix boards 210a, 210b, the aforementioned pushing unit 160 includes match plates 161a, 161b facing the test trays 11c, 11d; and a press unit 162 for pressurizing the match plates 161a, 161b, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 4. Pushers 161-1 corresponding to the inserts 11-1 of the test trays 11c, 11d are arranged in a matrix pattern on the match plates 161a, 161b.
FIG. 5 is an extracted perspective view illustrating one of the sockets 210-1 of the Hi-Fix boards 210a, 210b, the inserts 11-1 and the pushers 161-1 as explained above. Referring to FIG. 5, when applying pressure, a guide pin 161-1a of the pusher 161-1 is first inserted into a pusher guide hole 11-1a of the insert 11-1, and then a guide pin 210-1a of the socket 210-1 is inserted into a socket guide hole 11-1b of the insert 11-1 while the insert 11-1 continuously moves to the socket 210-1, thereby making the pusher 161-1, the insert 11-1, and the socket 210-1 combined as a result thereof. Generally, in accordance with the kind of the semiconductor device, the pusher 161-1 can have a structure of directly applying pressure to a semiconductor device or a structure of indirectly applying pressure through the insert 11-1. That is, the route through which the power of the press unit 162 is actually transmitted can be the pusher 161-1→the semiconductor device→the insert 11-1→the socket 210-1; or the pusher 161-1→the insert 11-1→the semiconductor device→the socket 210-1. In order to make the combination of the pusher 161-1, the insert 11-1 and the socket 210-1 appropriately carried out, the guide pin 161-1a of the pusher 161-1 and the pusher guide hole 11-1a of the insert 11-1 are to be made to face each other appropriately at the corresponding locations to each other, and so are the guide pin 210-1a of the socket 210-1 and the socket guide hole 11-1b of the insert 11-1.
On the other hand, the soak chamber 120 and the test chamber 130 has an inferior temperature environment for testing the semiconductor devices, thus the match plates 161a, 161b or the test trays 11c, 11d are thermally expanded or contracted under the influence of the temperature. But, the match plates 161a, 161b and the test trays 11c, 11d are generally made of materials of which the thermal expansion coefficients are different from each other, thus the extents of the thermal expansion or contraction thereof are different. Accordingly, such thermal expansion or contraction acts as a factor that obstructs the guide pin 161-1a of the pusher 161-1 and the pusher guide hole 11-1a of the insert 11-1 to appropriately face each other. If a pushing operation is carried out while the test trays 11c, 11d or the match plates 161a, 161b are thermally expanded or contracted, thereby making the guide pin 161-1a of the pusher 161-1 not inserted into the pusher guide hole 11-1a of the insert 11-1 correctly, then the insert 11-1 might be damaged and ultimately a loose contact between the lead of the semiconductor device and the test terminal of the socket 210-1 might be happened.
Accordingly, in order to overcome such a problem, the insert 11-1 is made to freely move in all directions within the preset limits on the frame 11-2 of the test tray 11, and the contactability of the semiconductor device and the test terminal can be improved through such a freely moving structure. Concretely, if the insert 11-1 can move freely against the frame 11-2 of the test tray 11, the guide pin 161-1a of the pusher 161-1 and the pusher guide hole 11-1a of the insert 11-1 face each other within the limits in which compensation can be made through the free movement of the insert 11-1 even though the test tray 11 or the match plate 161a or 161b is thermally expanded or contracted, thus it is easy to make a combination relationship of the pusher 161-1-insert 11-1-socket 210-1.
FIG. 6, as described above, is a cross sectional view conceptually illustrating a structure where the insert 11-1 is combined to the frame 11-2 of the test tray 11 by a combining unit so as to be able to move freely. As in FIG. 6, the combining unit includes a bolt combining hole 11-3a (also, see FIG. 5) formed in the insert 11-1; a bolt penetration hole 11-3b formed in the frame 11-2 of the test tray 11; and a bolt 11-3c. And, the insert 11-1 is combined to the frame 11-2 of the test tray 11 through the bolt 11-3c so as to be able to move freely. To more concretely describe the combination structure where the insert 11-1 can move freely, for example, as in FIG. 6, the bolt penetration hole 11-3b having a diameter larger than the external diameter of the bolt 11-3c is formed in the frame 11-2 of the test tray 11, and the bolt combination hole 11-3a is formed in the insert 11-1. And then, a head 11-3c1 being one end of the bolt 11-3c is made to be caught by the bolt penetration hole 11-3b and the extended other end of the bolt 11-3c, i.e., a male screw end 11-3c2, passes through the bolt penetration hole 11-3b with room and then is combined to the bolt combining hole 11-3a of the insert 11-1. Thus, ultimately, the insert 11-1 is installed to the frame 11-2 of the test tray 11 to be able to move freely. For reference, as in FIG. 7, the bolt penetration holes 11-3b formed in the frame 11-2 of the test tray 11 of the prior art are all formed in a circle shape having the same diameter 'r', thus the insert located around the center of the test tray and the insert located around the outer part of the test tray all have the same free movement limits.
On the other hand, the test tray 11 of the prior art has 32 or 64 inserts 11-1, thus the test tray 11 is relatively of small size. And, the test temperature has been from 30° C. below zero to 125° C. above zero, thus the thermal expansion or contraction of the test tray 11 or the match plate 161a, 161b can be compensated even only with the aforementioned free movement structure.
However, recently, as the one-time processing capacity of a tester is improved, it is required to make the test tray and the match plate corresponding thereto in a large size so that as many semiconductor devices as possible can be tested at a time. And, it is a trend that the test temperature is also required to be a low temperature of below −45° C. or a high temperature of above 135° C. In this case, the extent of the thermal expansion or contraction of the match plate and the test tray, i.e., the extent of location change of the pusher of the match plate and insert of the test tray, is made larger (recall the edge of the match plate or test tray) as the test tray and the match plate are made in a large size. Such extent of location change is more greatly amplified by a worsened temperature condition. Therefore, the relative location difference of the pusher and the insert corresponding to such a location change also becomes larger. The relative location difference of the insert and the pusher becomes larger as it goes to the outer part of the test tray or the match plate.
Accordingly, in consideration of the outer part of the test tray or the match plate, in case that a large-sized test tray is applied under the inferior temperature condition newly required, it is inevitable for the loose contact between the semiconductor devices and the test terminals or the damages of the inserts to take place because the thermal expansion or contraction of the test tray or the match plate cannot sufficiently compensated only with the aforementioned insert free movement structure. And, such a problem means that the number of the semiconductor devices that can be processed at a time should be limited thereto.


A catheter for use in the extracorporeal treatment of bodily fluids comprises a catheter body having a withdrawal port, an infusion port, and a plurality of lumens therein. The lumens comprise two or more withdrawal lumens that merge to form a single lumen proximal to withdrawal ports for transport of fluids withdrawn from a body vessel through the withdrawal port to an extracorporeal treatment unit, such as a dialyzer. The lumens also comprise an infusion lumen for infusion of treated fluids from the extracorporeal treatment unit through the infusion port into the vessel. The infusion lumen is disposed substantially at the center of the catheter body, while the withdrawal lumens extend longitudinally adjacent the infusion lumen along the catheter body length. A manifold may be provided at the proximal end of the catheter body to include the merger of the withdrawal lumens.

Dual lumen catheters are commonly used for transporting bodily fluids for treatment external of a patient's body, a process generally referred to in the medical field as "extracorporeal" treatment, and thereafter returning the treated fluid to the body. The fluid is withdrawn from the body through one of the lumens of the catheter, generally referred to as the withdrawal, or aspiration, lumen. The fluid is subjected to a treatment process, and thereafter returned to the body through the other lumen, generally referred to as the infusion, or return, lumen.
In many cases, the extracorporeal treatment is carried out as part of a hemodialysis procedure. During hemodialysis, blood is withdrawn from a blood vessel through the aspiration lumen and routed to a dialyzer for cleansing. The cleansed blood is then returned to the vessel through the infusion lumen. When such a catheter is used for hemodialysis, whether for acute (short-term, generally thirty days or less) or longer term hemodialysis, it is generally inserted into the body through the internal jugular vein, subclavian vein or femoral vein. In addition to hemodialysis, extracorporeal catheters can also be used for other procedures, such as pheresis and hemofiltration, in which a fluid is removed from the body for treatment and later returned to the body.
A variety of hemodialysis catheters are commercially available. Among the types of commercially available catheters are: 1) a dual lumen catheter having one lumen (e.g., the blood infusion lumen), that terminates distal to the other lumen (e.g., the blood aspiration lumen). Some catheters of this type are provided with a midline split between the withdrawal and infusion lumens, while others do not have such a split (e.g., the COOK® DDS catheter); 2) a catheter having a slitted valve in the distal tip that acts as a pressure valve opening. This valve opens inwardly for blood aspiration, outwardly for blood infusion, and remains closed when not in use (e.g., the Groshong catheter); 3) a cuffed central venous silicone catheter that is tunneled underneath the skin to reduce infection (e.g., Broviac, Leonard and Hickman catheters); 4) a dual lumen catheter having a tapered tip and two adjacent holes communicating with one lumen just proximal to the tip to assist with outflow, and two adjacent holes communicating with the other lumen (180 degrees removed) just proximal to the first set of holes to assist with inflow (e.g., the Mahurkar catheter); and 5) a dual lumen catheter having a diverting structure consisting of a shoulder that has a straight up distal face and a sloped proximal face to reduce access recirculation and raise pressure in the vicinity of the inlet aperture (U.S. Pat. No. 6,409,700).
One problem with existing multi-lumen catheters is that such catheters can experience decreased flow rates over time. Decreased flow rates may be caused by, among other things, blockage of the aspiration and/or infusion ports in the catheter. Various factors can cause a port to become blocked. One common cause of port blockage is the inadvertent positioning of one or more ports of the catheter against the vessel wall. This positioning hinders the free flow of fluid through the obstructed port, and in some cases, prevents fluid flow altogether. Another common cause of port blockage is the formation of fibrin sheaths along the ports. Fibrin sheaths may be formed, e.g., in response to the vessel wall washing effect or clotting.
Decreased, or restricted, flow is clearly undesirable in a multi-lumen catheter for use in extracorporeal treatment of a fluid, such as a hemodialysis catheter. In order for the extracorporeal fluid treatment to be effective, fluid flow through the catheter must not be restricted in any appreciable way. Thus, it is important to position existing catheters in a manner such that fluid flow is not restricted. Additionally, it is important to insure that all ports are unobstructed.
As indicated above, various attempts have been made in the art to reduce port blockage. Some catheters are provided with side ports at various locations on the catheter, which generally provide some reduction in port blockage, however such ports themselves are subject to blockage when placed against the vessel wall, or as a result of fibrin formation on the port. Other attempts have been made to reduce port blockage by providing the staggered side-by-side dual lumen design described above. Here, the respective aspiration and infusion tubes can be different lengths so that the ports aspirate and infuse the bodily fluid at different axial locations of the catheter, which can also reduce recirculation. While these, and other, arrangements may avoid some problems involved in maintaining adequate flow through the lumens, such catheters can still be subject to suboptimal flow. Some catheters, such as the Mahurkar catheter described above, must be rotated or repositioned if inflow is blocked because the catheter is up against the vein wall. Although each of these techniques may be at least partially effective in reducing some types of blockage, reduced flow rate continues to be a problem in the art.
It is desired to provide a multi-lumen catheter assembly for use in the extracorporeal treatment of bodily fluids, wherein the multi-lumen catheter assembly is structured in a manner to minimize port blockage, and to provide for optimal fluid flow through the lumens of the catheter.


An information system engages in a communications session with a client to process a workflow. A context object stores information describing the session. Transfer objects store data utilized to process the workflow. A client action causes the information system to provide the transfer objects to a workflow engine. The workflow engine processes actions in the workflow utilizing the transfer objects. The information system selects among multiple screen definitions for the client based in part on the context. A transformation module filters the data in the transfer objects to isolate the data that are utilized by the screen definition. The screen definition and filtered data are provided to the client.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains in general to a user interface for a computerized information system. In particular, this invention pertains to a user interface that is highly-customizable.
2. Description of the Related Art
An information system (IS) is used by an enterprise to process and share data. For example, a hospital or other health care organization uses a hospital information system (HIS) to manage data utilized in the day-to-day operation of the hospital. The data can relate to clinical events, patients, orders, scheduling, billing, insurance, etc. The HIS is utilized by various people, including clinicians, such as doctors and nurses, and administrators, such as billing specialists, to perform their respective roles at the hospital.
Different enterprises often prefer to utilize different workflows with respect to the IS. For example, a first hospital might require a patient to provide next-of-kin information upon admission, while a second hospital might not collect kin information at that time. The enterprises would like the user interfaces presented by the IS to track the enterprises' workflows. Thus, the enterprise that collects kin information during admission would prefer that the admissions user interface have a field for entering next-of-kin information, or at least link to another user interface where the information can be provided.
Similarly, end-users in different roles often prefer different process flows and associated user interfaces. For example, a doctor treating a patient in an emergency room might need to see different information than a doctor treating a patient in an outpatient setting. Likewise, a nurse administering medicine might need to see different patient information than a doctor who is ordering a prescription. In another example, a given user might prefer that a user interface is in a particular language.
However, the information systems do not provide this degree of flexibility with respect to workflows or interfaces. The information systems often have a hardcoded workflow, where every interaction with the system traverses through a fixed set of user interfaces, and every user interface collects a fixed set of information. Therefore, significant engineering effort is required to customize the system for different enterprises and/or end-users. This problem is especially acute for vendors of information systems that may need or want to customize the system for many different enterprises and users.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a way to easily customize workflows and user-interfaces for information systems.

Information system supporting customizable user interfaces and process flows


A runoff water vault may be divided into an input chamber which receives runoff water and a second chamber which also separates and stores buoyant and non-buoyant materials separated from the runoff water stream. While the separators in such systems remove particles of different densities than water quite well, they have difficulty in removing neutrally buoyant debris. Screens are added into the water flow stream to catch and remove particles of neutral buoyancy. The screens are mounted in a manner which permits lateral movement of the screen relative to the water flow, such as shaking and/or flexing. Screen movement imparts pressure differential across the screen perforations releasing debris trapped against the screen, so that the debris will fall into an entrainment area and allow increased flow through the screen. The screens may also include one or more turbulator fins for intersecting the water flow and transferring energy to the screen, imparting lateral movement to the screen.

The present invention is an enhancement to structures used for sediment removal from a fluid stream by separation, such as the devices taught in taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,746,911; 6,264,835 and 7,875,174. These type separators typically have three separate flow paths for influent water, and treat contaminated water by separation of floating materials and non-buoyant materials from the water, at varying levels of efficiency depending on the influent flow rate.
When it rains on a parking lot, a road, or other impervious surface, the water will not permeate into the ground as it once did, and instead this water will runoff and discharge directly into a stream or receiving body. Since these impervious surfaces typically have vehicles or traffic on them, an accumulation of pollutants will occur between rain events. This runoff is then concentrated because it is unable to be absorbed into the ground, and the pollutants are concentrated as well. This has caused a severe degradation of our watersheds. Most of the pollutants are typically washed off in the beginning (which is usually the less intense part of the storm), consequently the first runoff water is the most critical to treat. In an effort to minimize the impacts of this, systems have been developed to treat this water by removing the pollutants by separation or filtration.
Because precipitation occurs at variable rates from a small trickle to a monsoon, the system must be able to capture the pollutants and not release them during the high flow events. Consequently treating stormwater creates additional difficulties because the system must be able to clean the water yet be able to pass very intense storms or flooding could occur. Separators are able to remove floating material and materials that sink in water by skimming and settling methods.
In addition, significant amounts of semi-buoyant or neutral buoyant material is also entrained within the fluid flow. Separators in such systems remove particles of different densities than water quite well, however, they can have difficulty in removing neutrally buoyant debris. This neutral buoyancy material can then pass through the system and be discharged, producing a less than optimal treatment of the run off water.

Self cleaning debris screen for runoff water separation apparatus


A recording process comprising the steps of: information-wise exposing to radiation a photosensitive thermally developable photographic material, thereby producing a latent image; and heating the photosensitive thermally developable photographic material, characterized in that the photosensitive thermally developable photographic material is on one and the same holding or guiding means during both the information-wise exposure step and the heating step; and the information-wise exposure step is carried out during the heating step; and a method of increasing the photosensitivity of a photosensitive thermally developable photographic material.

Thermal imaging or thermography is a recording process wherein images are generated by the use of imagewise modulated thermal energy.
In thermography three approaches are known:
1. Image-wise or information-wise transfer of an ingredient necessary for the chemical or physical process bringing about changes in colour or optical density to a receptor element.
2. Thermal dye transfer printing wherein a visible image pattern is formed by transfer of a coloured species from an imagewise heated donor element onto a receptor element.
3. Direct thermal formation of a visible image pattern by image-wise or information-wise heating of a recording material containing matter that by chemical or physical process changes colour or optical density.
Thermographic materials of type 3 become photothermographic if a photosensitive agent is present which after exposure to UV, visible or IR light is capable of catalyzing or participating in a thermographic process bringing about changes in colour or optical density.
Examples of photothermographic materials are the so called "Dry Silver" photothermographic materials of the 3M Company, which are reviewed by D. A. Morgan in "Handbook of Imaging Science", edited by A. R. Diamond, page 43, published by Marcel Dekker in 1991.
DOS 2 248 545 discloses a copying process characterized in that the whole surface of a thermally developable photosensitive silver material is subjected before the complete execution of the exposure to a uniform auxiliary thermal treatment at a temperature, that is within the suitable development temperature range for the photosensitive material, and to thermal development after exposure; and that, in a subclaim, the photosensitive material can also be subjected to auxiliary heating during the exposure thereof. The specification and invention examples give no indication of the efficacity of auxiliary heating during exposure.
Yu. E. Usanov, T. B. Kolesova, L. P. Burleva, M. R. V. Sahyun and D. R. Whitcomb in the preprints of the Society for Imaging Science and Technology (I.S.& T.) 50th Annual Conference held at Cambridge, Mass., USA between the 18th and 23rd May 1997, pages 42 to 45 reported that: Experiments carried out with thermally developed Dry Silver.TM. type 7858 photothermographic materials from 3M and spectrally sensitized model photothermo-graphic materials showed that preheating at temperatures higher than 100.degree. C. followed by cooling prior to flash lamp or sensitometer exposure results in decreased speed during development. Consequently, a decrease in the photosensitivity was observed. Analogous results were also obtained if the materials were exposed during the preheating process. The higher the pre-heating temperature above 100.degree. C. and the longer the time of preheating, the lower the material photosensitivity. It was determined that this phenomenon depends neither on the composition of the silver halides nor on the method of incorporating them into the thermally developable composition.
It is desirable to increase the photosensitivity of photosensitive thermally developable photographic materials to be able to use less powerful heat sources. It is also desirable to achieve such an increase in photosensitivity, while enabling the simplification of photothermographic processing equipment, for example as disclosed in DE-A 196 36 253.0.

Sensitivity-increasing recording process for a photosensitive thermally developable photographic material


An exemplary timing generator includes a coarse delay circuit configured to generate a coarse delayed rising edge signal and a coarse delayed falling edge signal from a reference timing signal; a fine delay circuit configured to generate a fine delayed rising edge signal from the coarse delayed rising edge signal and a fine delayed falling edge signal from the coarse delayed falling edge signal; an edge combiner configured to generate the timing signal based on the fine delayed rising edge signal and the fine delayed falling edge signal; and a masking circuit configured to generate a rising edge masking signal and a falling edge masking signal for controlling when the rising edges and the falling edges of the timing signal are generated.

Timing generators are extensively used in various applications, such as depth-imaging devices. Generally, depth-imaging devices generate images in three dimensions (for example, x-direction, y-direction, and z-direction), allowing depth-imaging devices to detect movement for gesture control and/or other three-dimensional vision applications. Time-of-flight (TOF) sensing is one technique employed by depth-imaging devices. TOF sensing measures a travel time required for light emitted by a depth-imaging device to reach a target and return as reflected light to the depth-imaging device. The travel time (often referred to as a time delay) is measured as a phase shift between the emitted light and the reflected light, which can be used to calculate a distance. Depth-imaging devices include an image sensor for sensing the reflected light and generating analog signals representing imaging information. Timing generators for generating timing signals for operating the image sensor, along with other components of the depth-imaging device, are typically required. Although existing timing generators and associated methods for generating timing signals have been generally adequate for their intended purposes, they have not been entirely satisfactory in all respects.

Timing generator for generating high resolution pulses having arbitrary widths


In a tympanic temperature detector a thermopile is suspended in a rigid structure of high thermal conductivity having a window. That structure is positioned at the rear end of a high thermal conductivity duct through which the tympanic membrane is viewed. The duct is cantilevered within a shield to which it is coupled to a high thermal conductivity joint. Thermal paths to the thermopile and window are tuned to minimize response of the thermopile to thermal perturbations at the tip of the duct.

Radiation detectors which utilize thermopiles, pyroelectric devices and other radiation detectors, to detect the heat flux from target surfaces have been used in various applications. An indication of the temperature of a target surface may be provided as a function of the measured heat flux. One such application is the testing of electrical equipment. Another application has been in the scanning of cutaneous tissue to locate injured subcutaneous regions. An injury results in increased blood flow which in turn results in a higher surface temperature. Yet another application is that of tympanic temperature measurement as an alternative to traditional sublingual thermometers. A true tympanic device relies on a measurement of the temperature of the tympanic membrane in the ear of an animal or human by detection of infrared radiation. The term tympanic device has also been applied to devices which measure temperature of the tympanic membrane area including the ear canal or just the ear canal.

Radiation detector with high thermal stability


A vessel holder and a dish washing machine having the same, in which, when vessels are put into and washed in the dish washing machine, the vessels can be stably washed by improving a fixed state of each thereof. The dish washing machine includes a washing space, a vessel basket installed in the washing space, and includes wires, at least one vessel holder detachably installed to the vessel basket, and allowing a vessel to be inserted thereinto and supported therein. The vessel holder includes a plurality of supports elastically supporting the vessel, and an inserting part provided between the supports and allowing the vessel to be inserted thereinto.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vessel holder and a dish washing machine having the same. More particularly, to a vessel holder and a dish washing machine having the same, in which, when vessels (i.e., cups, dishes, etc.) are disposed and washed in the dish washing machine, the vessel are more stably washed by improving a supported state of each vessel.
2. Description of the Related Art
As disclosed in Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-0136461, a conventional dish washing machine includes a main body having a washing space, a vessel basket provided to be slidable in the main body and having a plurality of wires intersecting with each other, injection nozzle assemblies provided at upper and lower portions of the vessel basket and spraying washing water, and a sump connected with the injection nozzle assemblies by means of guide pipes and pumping the washing water toward the injection nozzle assemblies.
Various vessels, for example, cups including utensils such as dishes and platter are put and washed in the vessel basket. The vessel basket is adapted to fix the dishes and bowls, but not the cups. Hence, when high-pressure washing water is sprayed toward the cups, the cups move around to collide with its surrounding vessels.
Further, an attempt is made to provide a structure for independently fixing the cups themselves, but there is a limitation to the fabrication of such a fixing structure because the diversity of the cups.

Vessel holder and dish washing machine having the same


A cardiac discrimination method in which feature values of a heart related signal (e.g., cardiac biopotentials) determined to be non-baseline are compared with feature values of a heart related signal determined to be normal baseline. The feature values are extracted on an event-basis (a periodically), for obtaining feature values of a complex. For each complex, the feature values form a sequence with the value having the largest absolute value for the sequence given special identity as a fiducial point. The normal baseline complexes' characteristic sequence and a non-baseline complex's sequence are aligned according to the fiducial points, and unoccupied positions on the ends of the sequences resulting from the alignment are filled with zeros to create normal baseline and non-baseline vectors. The similarity value and dissimilarity value of the normalized non-baseline vector with respect to the normalized normal baseline vector are determined. The type of tachycardia (VT or non-VT) and consequently the selection of appropriate therapy are determined by the location in a discrimination plane of a discrimination point, the coordinates of which are equal to the similarity and dissimilarity values. In addition, the location of a similarly generated hemodynamic discrimination point can be used to discriminate hemodynamically stable and unstable tachycardias based on the features derived from events in hemodynamic related signals. Furthermore, physiological indicators may be processed in a similar manner to determine an ideal rate at which the heart should be paced by a pacemaker.

The present invention relates to a method for discriminating between tachycardias based on cardiac biopotentials, to a method for discriminating hemodynamically stable and unstable tachycardias based on cardiac signals, and to a method for controlling rate-adaptive pacing based on the simultaneous inputs of signals from multiple physiological sensors.
In particular, the present invention relates to a certain event-based algorithm for discriminating between tachycardias or for controlling rate adaptive pacing.
Event-based systems and methods are new to the field of implantable cardiac treatment systems. The aforementioned co-pending application relates to event-based processing techniques for tachycardia detection and to a method for discriminating between abnormal rhythms and normal sinus rhythm (NSR) using timing interval-binning and averaging, on an event basis.
Like the co-pending application, the invention of the instant application exploits the advantages of an event-based system, but is directed to a different event-based method for analyzing data related to cardiac function.
It is well known in the art that certain tachycardias are more life-threatening than other tachycardias. For example, it is known that ventricular tachycardia (VT) often leads to ventricular fibrillation if not treated, particularly when accompanied by abnormal hemodynamic activity. On the other hand, non-ventricular tachycardia (non-VT) generally does not lead to more threatening conditions. Examples of non-VT are supra-ventricular tachycardia (SVT) and sinus tachycardia (ST). The ability to distinguish the more threatening tachycardias from the less threatening ones is critical in preventing a more serious cardiac condition from developing, such as ventricular fibrillation. It is also desirable to eliminate unnecessary therapy. There are several methods, heretofore known, used for distinguishing between VT and non-VT.
One such algorithm is based upon rate-only. However, the difficulty with this algorithm lies in the fact that the rates of non-VT and VT can overlap. Therefore, it can be extremely difficult to determine the type of the tachycardia based solely on rate.
Another technique, known as A-V timing, compares the timing of atrial and ventricular biopotentials. While this method works better than the rate-only method, problems occur when the atrial and ventricular rates are equal. Specifically, when the ventricular rate is equal to the atrial rate, it is possible that the heart is in a junctional tachycardia, ST, or VT with retrograde 1:1 conduction. In addition, a drawback of this algorithm is its need for two leads for sensing.
Yet another known technique uses a probability density function (PDF) for discrimination on a morphological basis. This method performs well when differentiating narrow versus wide QRS complexes. However, this technique incorrectly identifies narrow monomorphic ventricular tachycardias and cannot be used with a patient with wide QRS complexes, due to preexisting bundle blocks or aberrant conduction, at rest.
In addition, algorithms are known which discriminate hemodynamically stable from unstable tachycardias by examining a single feature derived from cardiac signals (e.g., pressure, volume, or impedance). The majority of these methods rely on right heart measurements. However, any single feature derived from these measurements may not adequately reflect systemic hemodynamic conditions.
Furthermore, algorithms are known which control rate-adaptive pacing by examining a single feature (e.g., stroke volume, dV/dt, pre-ejection interval, minute ventilation, or activity) derived from physiological signals. However, single feature algorithms do not have the sensitivity and specificity required for precise physiologic pacing in all patients.


The invention disclosed herein is a synthetic reinforcing strand of filaments in which the strand density is reduced by spacing the filaments apart along their length with heat expandable hollow particles such as plastic microspheres expanded into microballoons and the method of making such strands. Also embodied in the invention are methods utilizing such strands in processes for making composite structures.

The present invention is related to strands and bundles of filaments separated by resin containing heat expandable particles applied during the strand-forming operation or subsequently after the strand has been formed. Strands of manufactured filaments of reinforcing materials are usually made of monofilaments drawn from a feeder and gathered into an untwisted bundle which later can be used for reinforcement of composite structures such as glass fiber/resin laminates, pultruded, filament wound, compression molded, or other composite structures. Such strands and bundles can also be twisted into yarns adaptable to being woven into textile fabrics. The invention has application to use in textile fiber structures of a wide spectrum of materials including glass, carbon, polyethyene, nylon, aramid as well as metallic filaments such as of aluminum and steel.
Strands of such monofilaments during formation are usually gathered together over a gathering device in which the filaments are compacted, densifying the strands much more so than is experienced with natural fiber textile strands. In being compacted, the density of the strand approaches the density of the base material of which the filaments are made. The advantage of such strand product as a reinforcing structure is usually the high tensile strength of the monofilaments. A disadvantage of the concentration of filaments is the reduced capability of the strand or bundle to distribute the strength of the filaments in the product in which it is incorporated as a reinforcement. In order to distribute the strength, more strands are often used than are needed for the design strength requirement. For example, in pultrusion, the strands are needed to fill the die and to pull a mass of matrix material through the forming die. If the monofilaments could be spread out, they would serve the latter function but fewer strands would be needed, thereby providing lower finished product density and also an economic advantage, while still providing the desired tensile strength in the product. Such techniques have been attempted in the past by way of using spun roving and by texturizing the strand or bundle to bulk the reinforcement, in addition to using mats. The present invention, however, provides considerably more spacing between filaments in such filament structures than has been possible with much of the prior art.

Synthetic reinforcing strands with spaced filaments


A carbon electrode for a nonaqueous secondary battery is provided, which comprises a metal collector serving to catalyze carbon graphitization, graphite particles, and a carbon material having a lower crystallinity than the graphite particles, the graphite particles and the carbon material being sintered together on the metal collector or in the presence of the metal collector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a carbon electrode for a nonaqueous secondary battery, a preparation process therefor and a nonaqueous battery using the same. More particularly, the invention relates to a carbon electrode for a nonaqueous secondary battery which is highly safe and ensures a high capacity and long lifetime, a preparation process therefor and a nonaqueous secondary battery using the same.
2. Related Art
As portable electronic systems, information systems and the like have been remarkably downsized and lightened, secondary batteries are important components for driving these devices. Among such secondary batteries, a lithium secondary battery has a light weight and high energy density. Therefore, the lithium secondary battery is a promising power source for the driving of a portable system and is now under intensive research and development.
In general, metalic lithium is employed as a negative electrode for the lithium secondary battery. However, a dendrite appears and grows on metalic lithium during repeated charge-discharge cycles, resulting in a short circuit within the secondary battery. This makes it difficult to use metalic lithium for the negative electrode for the secondary battery. To prevent the generation of the dendrite, a proposal has been made that a lithium alloy such as lithium-aluminum alloy is used for the negative electrode instead of metalic lithium. Even with the use of the lithium alloy, repeated charge-discharge cycles or exhaustive charge-discharge process may result in segregation of the alloy, making it difficult to obtain satisfactory charge-discharge cycle characteristics.
To cope with this problem, there have been proposed secondary batteries having negative electrodes which include carbon materials as a host and utilize a lithium-ion intercalation-deintercalation reaction. Such secondary batteries have been researched and developed, and some of them have been put into practical application. The lithium secondary batteries using the carbon materials for the negative electrodes thereof are excellent in the cycle characteristic and safety. However, the carbon materials have a variety of allotropic forms ranging from graphite to amorphous carbon, and the characteristic values thereof vary depending on the allotropic forms. The minute structures (including hexagonal net faces) of the carbon materials are also different depending on the allotropic forms. Various carbon materials have been proposed, as the allotropic forms, characteristic values and minute structures thereof significantly influence the characteristics of the resulting electrodes.
For example, negative electrodes using relatively amorphous carbon materials are disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No. 61-111907 (1986) and No. 62-90863 (1987). Negative electrodes using graphite carbon materials are disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No. 60-221964 (1985), No. 4-155776 (1992) and No. 4-115467 (1992). Negative electrodes using surface-treated graphite carbon materials are disclosed in Japanese unexamined Patent Publications No. 4-368778 (1992), No. 5-114421 (1993) and No. 5-121066 (1993). Negative electrodes using carbon materials having particular minute structures regardless of the crystallinity thereof are disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No. 4-280068 (1992) and No. 4-342958 (1992).
However, these carbon materials are all in the form of powder or fiber, thereby requiring a binder for the preparation of the carbon electrodes. Although the characteristics of the carbon materials are excellent, the electrodes using the carbon materials may not exhibit a desired cycle characteristic in practical applications.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No. 60-36315 (1985) and No. 62-24555 (1987) propose processes for directly depositing a carbon material on a metal substrate to be used as a collector. The preparation of the carbon material is achieved by a vapor phase growth method. The carbon material prepared by the vapor phase growth method has excellent characteristics. Particularly, the carbon material directly deposited on the metal collector requires no binder, and exhibits an excellent conductivity. Therefore, an electrode using the carbon material has a high capacity and exhibits a highly stable cycle characteristic.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No. 59-188578 (1984) and No. 63-24585 (1988), there are disclosed a negative electrode carrying a catalytic substance for catalyzing the polymerization of a polymeric material and a negative electrode including a carbon material deposited on a catalytic substrate, respectively. In the former case, the polymeric material is used as a battery active material, and the catalytic substance is added to catalyze the polymerization of the polymeric material. Therefore, the function of the catalytic substance is different from that of a catalytic substance used in the present invention. In the latter case, the carbon material is graphitized to a greater extent and deposited tightly on the substrate at a low temperature. As is known to those skilled in the art, the negative electrode has a high capacity and exhibits an excellent cycle characteristic.
However, the carbon electrodes and preparation processes therefor described above suffer from several problems.
The chemical vapor deposition method involves a high cost and a difficulty in controlling the deposition of the carbon material to form a uniform film. Although the crystallinity of the carbon material can be improved by increasing the temperature for the deposition of the carbon material, the increased temperature makes it difficult to obtain a carbon electrode having a greater thickness.
Carbon electrodes which are prepared by impregnating a precursor of a carbon material into a metal collector of three-dimensional structure and then solidifying the carbon material are disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No. 4-92364 (1992) and No. 5-347155 (1993). In accordance with the preparation processes disclosed in these publications, the yield of the carbon material from the precursor is low, thereby making it difficult to obtain a high density carbon electrode. Where the metal collector is highly porous, it is difficult to sufficiently catalyze the precursor for carbonization thereof. Further, the precursor should be heat-treated at a temperature lower than a melting point of a metal used for the metal collector. Therefore, the crystallinity of the carbon material cannot be sufficiently increased, resulting in an unsatisfactory charge-discharge capacity of the resulting electrode.
The carbon material may be heat-treated for graphitization thereof after the preparation of the carbon electrode. However, the heat treatment should be performed at a temperature lower than the melting point of the metal used for the metal collector and, therefore, the carbon material cannot be sufficiently graphitized.
Another known carbon electrode uses a powdery active material such as graphite particles as a carbon material. The preparation of the carbon electrode involves a complicated process, in which a graphite material is prepared and pulverized into particles, then the graphite particles are mixed with an appropriate binder, and the mixture is applied on a collector. The carbon electrode using the graphite particles suffers from an irreversible capacity during an initial charge-discharge cycle, which makes it difficult to obtain a higher capacity battery.
To eliminate the irreversible capacity, there is reported a method in which surfaces of the graphite particles are chemically pretreated for reduction thereof, or the graphite particles are coated with an amorphous carbon material.
Such a method improves the initial charge-discharge efficiency, but involves an increased number of process steps for the preparation of the carbon electrode like the aforesaid case. Further, the carbon electrode includes a binder for binding the graphite particles and, hence, the energy density thereof cannot be satisfactorily increased. In addition, the resulting carbon electrode does not exhibit a satisfactory long-term cycle characteristic. Therefore, fundamental solutions to these problems have not been found yet.

Process for preparing carbon electrode for nonaqueous secondary battery


A circuit for a boundary-scan cell for the JTAG Architecture, the circuit including a capture section(50) coupled in cascade to an update section(52),. and each section comprising a flip-flop (34,36)having a clock input for receiving a common clock signal (TCK, TCKB) and a multiplexer having a first input for receiving an input data signal, a second input coupled to an output of the flip-flop, an output coupled to a flip-flop input, and a select input for receiving a control signal for selectively coupling the first or second input to the multiplexer output.

As shown in FIG. 1, the JTAG (Joint Test Action Group) Architecture involves providing an integrated circuit 2 with a boundary-scan cell 4 coupled between each terminal pin 6 and on-chip system logic 8, whereby signals at the boundary of the IC can be controlled and observed using scan testing principles. The cells 4 effectively provide individual stages of a shift register (as shown in FIG. 3), and other integrated circuits connected to the same board (not shown) are likewise coupled to form a very long shift register composed of the individual boundary cells. A boundary cell normally provides a sample capability of input data from the terminal pin, a sample capability of output data from the system logic, a set capability of the output data, and a transparent mode.
The JTAG Architecture is shown in FIG. 2 for implementation on the chip 2 of FIG. 1. The various pads indicated comprise the terminal pins 4 of FIG. 1 and receive the signals indicated TCK, TMS, TRSTB, TDI, and providing an output signal TDO. TAP controller logic 20 is provided which provides the gated clock signals and control signals indicated in FIG. 2 to an instruction register 22, whence instructions in the register are decoded by an instruction D code unit 24 to provide appropriate control signals to a group of registers 26 known as test data registers and comprising a boundary-scan register, a device identification register, a design specific test data register and a bypass register. The output of these registers are coupled via multiplexers 28 and a D type flip-flop 29 to provide output signal TDO.
The JTAG Architecture provides standardized approaches to: (1) testing the interconnection between IC's once they have been assembled onto a printed circuit board, (2) testing the IC itself, and (3) observing or modifying circuit operation during a component's normal operation.
A known implementation of a boundary-scan cell with sample, preload and set capability is shown in FIG. 3 as comprising a data in port DI coupled to a first input of a multiplexer 30 and a first input of a multiplexer 32. The output from multiplexer 32 provides a signal out port DO. A second input of multiplexer 30 is coupled to receive a scan in signal TDI. Multiplexer 30 has a select input coupled to receive a shift/load signal SHDR. The output of multiplexer 30 is coupled to the D input of D-type capture flip-flop 24 whose output is coupled to the D input of an D type update flip-flop 36, whose output is coupled to a second input of multiplexer 32. The output of flip-flop 34 also provides a scan out signal TDO. Multiplexer 32 has a select input coupled to receive a mode signal. Flip-flops 34 and 36 are coupled to receive gated clock signals CKDR, UDDR respectively. The various control signals and gated clock signals are generated by tap controller 20 of FIG. 2.
The implementation shown in FIG. 3 is asynchronous in the sense that the clock signals CKDR, UDDR, are clock signals produced by gating an input clock signal TCK within tap controller 20 of FIG. 2. Such gated clock signals produce problems of racing in a complex design and in practice it will not be possible to check out all race related hazards with a logic simulator. Tracing the source of such hazards (glitches, spikes) and correcting them can be extremely time consuming and expensive.
Further such problems arising from asynchronism imply that CAD tools, in particular ATPG (automatic test pattern generation) software diagnostic tools, cannot be efficiently used, since they require a synchronous environment.

Implementation of the IEEE 1149.1 boundary-scan architecture


A hardware control loop (19) derives an AGC setting for a communication receiver based on signal strength information (16), without incurring program execution delay of a baseband processor.

In conventional (e.g., RF) communication receivers in TDMA systems, the actual RSSI (received signal strength indication) is determined, for example, during a specific period (training sequence) of a communication burst. The RSSI is reported to a DSP or microcontroller (i.e., the baseband processor), which executes a program that uses the RSSI to calculate the optimum AGC setting. This intervention by the microcontroller or DSP slows the process of setting the AGC. This is particularly disadvantageous in some situations.
For example, fast antenna diversity control at high ISN band frequencies (above 2 GHz) can be very advantageous. A slow AGC setting process impedes fast antenna diversity control. As another example, in license free bands, there is typically a need for high receiver linearity. One factor in achieving high receiver linearity is an optimum AGC setting. However, because an optimum AGC is required, the process of setting the AGC is further slowed.
Also, the time required for the baseband processor to receive the RSSI information, execute the program to determine the new AGC setting, and report the new AGC setting to the RF front end (e.g. via a serial interface) is so long that the new AGC setting is not available to the RF front end (in the best case) until the next communication burst. This is particularly disadvantageous when the communication involves real time data streaming.
It is therefore desirable to provide for a faster AGC setting than is conventionally available with baseband processor intervention.
According to the invention, a hardware control loop derives the AGC setting from signal strength information without incurring program execution delay of the baseband processor. This advantageously reduces the time required to set the AGC.

Hardware loop for automatic gain control


A magnetic disk cartridge which is free from the difficulty associated with the color of the cartridge being nonuniform in the area of weld lines which are likely to be formed in the injection molding of a colored synthetic resin, thus impairing the external appearance of the cartridge, and to a method of manufacturing the magnetic disk cartridge. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a magnetic disk cartridge is provided which is formed by injection molding a molten resin prepared by mixing master batch pellets of SAN resin at least 100 gm/10 min in melt flow rate and natural pellets of ABS resin at least 25 gm/10 min in melt flow rate in a ratio of 1:50 to 1:15 by weight. In accordance with another embodiment, a molten resin is injected into a metal mold cavity through a pair of injection gates provided near one end portion of the metal mold cavity, and gas in the cavity is discharged from the metal mold through a degassing arrangement provided at or near a position where a weld line is expected to be formed by the molten resin injected through the pair of injection gates.

The present invention relates to magnetic disk cartridges, and methods for manufacturing magnetic disk cartridges. More particularly, the invention relates to a magnetic disk cartridge which is free from the difficulty that the color of the cartridge is made nonuniform by weld lines which are liable to be formed in the injection molding of a colored synthetic resin, thus impairing the external appearance of the cartridge, and to a method of manufacturing the magnetic disk cartridge.
Disk cartridges employed for micro floppy disks or optical disks are composed of upper and lower half shells relatively small in thickness which are formed by injection molding acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin (hereinafter referred to as "ABS resin" when applicable) or the like.
The upper and lower half shells are formed by first defining a metal mold cavity corresponding to the configuration of a half shell to be formed by upper and lower halves of a metal mold, and then injecting a molten material into the metal mold cavity thus defined through injection gates such as direct gates and submarine gates. The upper and lower half shells are, in general, improved in external appearance by coloring them. For this purpose, a coloring method such as a colored pellet method or a master batch method is employed. More specifically, the resin material to be injected into the metal mold is colored in accordance with the coloring method in advance, and the resin material thus colored is supplied to the injection molding machine to form colored half shells.
In the case of the colored pellet method, natural pellets (stock resin), pigment, and dispersant are mixed together in advance, and the resultant mixture is kneaded with a single or twin screw extruder to form colored pellets. The colored pellets thus formed are used for the injection molding operation. Thus, the method is advantageous in that the pigment is dispersed with high uniformity; however, it is still disadvantageous in that the coloring cost is high.
The aforementioned master batch method employs a pellet-shaped coloring agent called "master batch" in which a pigment having a desired color is mixed to a high density. In the case a molding operation, the master batch is mixed with natural pellets, and the resultant mixture is diluted so as to be colored. The master batch method is advantageous in that, when compared with the above-described colored pellet method, the coloring cost is low, and the automatic weight and mixing operation can be achieved with ease.
In general, in forming upper and lower half shells which are relatively small in thickness by injection molding, the molten resin is injected into the metal mold through two or four gates. In this case, weld lines are formed in the metal mold where at least two streams of molten resin meet. In other words, when the streams of molten resin meet, because the forward portions of the streams of molten resin have already decreased in temperature, they are not sufficiently joined together, thus forming weld lines. The portion including such weld lines is lowered in mechanical strength, often being cracked or deformed. In addition, the portion is liable to contain air pockets or to contain gas, thus further impairing the external appearance of the product.
Particularly in the case where the resin is colored by the master batch method, the kneading operation is carried out only with the screw of the molding machine, so that the degree of kneading is low. Therefore, in this case, the dispersion and adhesion of the pigment with respect to the natural pellets are lower than in the case where the colored pellet method is employed. Hence, when the pigment is localized, being secondarily condensed by the gas pressure, the portion where weld lines are formed is liable to be low in color uniforimity, thus impairing the external appearance. Particularly in the case where ABS resin is employed for the molten resin, the dispersion of pigment is insufficient because of the low adsorption of the butadiene and pigment in the resin. Thus, the product often suffers from color nonuniformity.

Magnetic disk cartridge and method of manufacturing same


The present disclosure relates to semiconductor structures and, more particularly, to a single diffusion break device and methods of manufacture. The structure includes a single diffusion break structure with a fill material between sidewall spacers of the single diffusion break structure and a channel oxidation below the fill material.

Significant progress has been made in the field of semiconductor devices, wherein, in particular, sophisticated CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) techniques may be considered as a main contributor to this development. In the CMOS technique, a large number of P-type and N-type transistor elements may be integrated into a single semiconductor chip and may be functionally connected so as to form highly complex functional units, such as complex control circuitry, microcontrollers, CPUs (central processing units) and the like.
The significant advances in terms of superior performance and increased integration density may be associated with the continuing reduction of critical dimensions of transistor elements, which may enable the integration of several hundred millions or more transistor elements in complex integrated circuits. The capability of reliably producing reduced critical dimensions in every new device generation has been mainly driven by significant improvements in lithography techniques and correlated patterning strategies, wherein even critical dimensions well beyond the optical resolution capabilities of modern lithography equipment may be obtained. For example, defining active regions for transistor elements requires sophisticated lithography and patterning strategies, wherein, typically, two independent patterning sequences are involved, thereby contributing to overall cost and complexity of the manufacturing process.
Current designs can use drain to drain connections with a filler (e.g., dummy gates) that costs at least one cell in standard cell design. For example, in some current designs it is necessary to use two dummy gates to provide the required isolation between active devices. The filler, also, generally increases overall leakage. Due to the overall leakage increase, it is only possible to provide a single voltage type to the drains because there is no physical isolation. In other designs, processes and structures have been shown to reduce stress after etching SOI, which will cause device degradation.


A system and method of synchronizing a media stream involves determining urgency measures and favorability measures. An urgency measure relates to a degree by which a media stream is currently out of synchronization. A favorability measure indicates the disruptiveness or likely noticeability altering the media stream at a particular temporal point. As a media stream becomes more and more out of synchronization, the urgency factor increases, and the system looks for places in the media stream at which units such as video frames or audio samples can be added or subtracted to re-achieve synchronization. When the urgency measure is at lower values, the system selects only points in the media stream having relatively high favorability measures. When the urgency measure increases, the system selects points having relatively lower favorability measures.

Various types of information can advantageously be provided to users in streaming formats, in which the information is rendered as it is received. For example, television and radio stations typically broadcast signals that are rendered on a CRT and a speaker in real-time, as they are received.
In the computer environment, digital streaming media has become commonplace. Media types such as video and audio can be encoded in compressed formats and sent over network communications media or an airwave communications medium as sequences of streaming media units. In the case of video, the streaming media units correspond to sequential frames of video. In the case of audio, the streaming media units comprise sequential audio samples. Streaming makes it possible for requested time-based content to be viewed nearly immediately, instead of waiting until an entire piece of content is downloaded before initiating its playback.
Regardless of the particular type of media or streaming media format, the user-perceivable information encoded by a streaming media signal is often played or rendered at a speed that is determined by the rate that the media units are received. In some cases, the streaming units contain time-stamps indicating relative times at which they are to be rendered. In the latter case, the source of the streaming data ensures that individual units are sent (and therefore received) at a rate that correlates with the timestamps. For purposes of the following discussion, the rate at which the media units are intended to be rendered will be referred to as the nominal rendering rate. Where timestamps are present, the nominal rendering rate will be determined by the timestamps. In other cases, the nominal rendering rate might be determined in other ways, such as by the rate at which the media units are received.
In many situations, the received streaming media units can be simply played at their nominal rate. In other situations, however, circumstances at the receiver dictate playback at a rendering rate that is different from the nominal rendering rate.
As an example, it might be the case that certain rendering hardware operates at a fixed playback rate, so that media units have to be presented at a frequency that differs from the nominal rendering rate. This might happen, for example, when rendering video frames to a fixed-frequency display. When this is the case, the situation can arise where new frames do not arrive fast enough to satisfy the fixed needs of the rendering hardware. Alternatively, frames might arrive too frequently. A similar situation might arise where time-stamped media units arrive more or less frequently than otherwise dictated by the timestamps.
There are other examples in which a received media stream might need to be rendered at a rendering rate that is different from the nominal rendering rate. One common situation is that of simultaneously receiving and rendering two media streams, such as an audio stream and a video stream that are to be synchronized. Another common situation is the simultaneous reception and rendering of first and second video streams on a common set of hardware-such as on a single CRT. This is sometimes referred to as "picture-in-picture."Although it might be possible in this situation to vary the refresh rate of the CRT to match the nominal rendering rate of the first video stream, any mismatch between the nominal rendering rates of the first and second video streams will be difficult to resolve. More specifically, the nominal rendering rate of the first video stream will dictate the actual rendering rate, and the nominal rendering rate of the second video stream might not match this actual rendering rate.
Another example arises in the context of video-on-demand systems. In systems such as this, it is advantageous to initiate a broadcast stream of a given media title at periodic, relatively small intervals. For example, a particular movie might be broadcast every five minutes, resulting in a number of different simultaneous streams of the same movie. Each viewer is then forced to watch one of the broadcast versions of the movie. Suppose, however, that a viewer attempts to begin viewing a movie at a point in time that precedes the next "beginning" of the broadcast version of the movie by an intermediate time, such as two minutes. In this case, it might be possible to initiate a dedicated media stream for this one viewer, and to speed the streaming media transmission and playback so that the viewer eventually catches up with one of the broadcast versions of the movie, at which point the dedicated media stream would no longer be needed. In this case, however, the nominal rendering rate might exceed the capabilities of the playback hardware, causing some of the content to be skipped. This would result in annoying anomalies in the rendered media.
Buffering is often used to compensate for short-term mismatches between reception rate and a desired or actual rendering rate. Received media units are inserted into the head of a memory buffer and rendered from the bottom of the memory buffer. If a mismatch persists for a relatively long period, however, the buffer can eventually overflow or be depleted, resulting in a disruption of the media playback.


An azo compound or a tautomer thereof, wherein the azo compound is represented by the following Formula (1).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a new azo compound, a tautomer thereof and an azo dye, and in particular to a new azo compound, a tautomer thereof and an azo dye that are favorable in hue and superior in light fastness.
2. Description of the Related Art
Azo compounds have been used widely in various fields as dyes, because they absorb various visible lights different in wavelength, for example, as dyes for coloring synthetic resins, printing inks, sublimation-type heat-sensitive transfer materials, and inkjet-recording ink, and more recently, as functional dyes for use in the electronics field. Each azo compound has an absorption spectrum, which is a major property required for an azo compound as a dye. The hue of a dye exerts a significant influence on the hue, texture, and others of the material colored with the dye and a significant impact on visual impression. Accordingly the absorption spectra of dyes have long been studied, and reported in various literature (e.g., J. Fabian and H. Hartmann, "Light Absorption of Organic Colorants", Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1980).
The properties needed for a dye vary significantly according to the applications thereof. Dyes having a favorable hue and dyeing efficiency are desirable for dyeing sheepskin or cowhide, while dyes having a favorable hue and being less water-soluble and thus being resistant to washing are favorable for use in apparels. Thus in many cases, dyes should have multiple functions that meet the specific demands required for a desired application. In addition, there exists a strong need for dyes favorable in hue and light fastness under various conditions for use in printing ink, dyes for sublimation-type heat-sensitive recording materials, or inkjet-recording ink, and various diazo compounds or couplers have been disclosed for such purposes (e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) Nos. 4-59287 and 4-201483, and Mohr, J., J. Parkt. Chem., (2), 79, 1909, 47). However, although improvements have been made to some extent, there is still room for improvement in hue and light fastness.

Azo compound, tautomer thereof, and azo dye

Abstract: In Formula (1), R1 represents a hydrogen atom, alkyl group, aryl group, acyl group, carbamoyl group, alkylsulfonyl group, arylsulfonyl group, or heterocyclic group; R2 represents —NR5R6 or —OR7; R5 and R6 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, alkyl group, aryl group, acyl group, carbamoyl group, alkylsulfonyl group, or arylsulfonyl group; R7 represents an alkyl group or aryl group; R3 represents a hydrogen atom, alkyl group, aryl group, alkoxy group, aryloxy group, acylamino group, carbamoylamino group, alkylsulfonylamino group, or arylsulfonylamino group; n is an integer of 3 to 5; and each R4, of which there are n in number, independently represents an alkyl group, aryl group, alkoxy group, aryloxy group, amino group, alkylthio group, arylthio group, acylamino group, alkylsulfonylamino group, or arylsulfonylamino group, and one R4 may bind to another R4 forming a ring.


A semiconductor device according to an embodiment of the invention includes: a semiconductor substrate; device regions formed on the semiconductor substrate, the device regions having a length direction in a predetermined direction; a plurality of transistors having gate electrodes, respectively, the gate electrodes extending in a direction approximately perpendicular to the predetermined direction, the plurality of transistors having a source/drain region and a channel region having a channel direction approximately parallel to the predetermined direction in the device region; a plurality of SRAM cells disposed in an array, each of the plurality of SRAM cells including the plurality of transistors; and a dummy region made of the substantially same material as that of the device regions, the dummy region being formed between the outermost device regions of the SRAM cells adjacent to each other in the direction approximately perpendicular to the predetermined direction, the dummy region having a length direction approximately parallel to the predetermined direction.

A fin type transistor having a fin structure is known as one of the double gate type transistors each having a channel region held between two gate electrodes in order to enhance controllability for a current by the gate electrode. The fin type transistor has a property which has an advantage to enhance miniaturization of an device, cut-off characteristics and a carrier mobility, and to suppress a short channel effect.
A Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) using fin type transistors is known as a conventional semiconductor device. The SRAM using the fin type transistors, for example, is described in WO 05/036651 (pamphlet).