A packet forwarding apparatus 200 transmits an inputted packet A to a first output port that is one of a plurality of output ports and transmits a dummy packet A storing the packet length of packet A to the other output port. A shaping unit 100-1 corresponding to the first output port uses the packet length of the packet A and a shaping unit 100-2 corresponding to the port other than the first output port uses a packet length in the dummy packet A so as to control the bandwidth of the packet A to be transmitted, thus controlling the total bandwidth of the packet A.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a packet forwarding apparatus for controlling the bandwidth of a packet flowing on a network for example, and a method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a packet type communication system employed in an IP network, a large number of users can share the same line, thereby making it possible to reduce the cost per bandwidth. Due to the low cost of the packet type communication system, there are moves to achieve telecommunication networks and business networks of enterprises with IP networks in place of private networks which have heretofore been used. It is required for IP networks to ensure quality of service (QoS) for voice data and mission critical data that have been achieved through private networks and achieve high availability.
In order to ensure the QoS, it is necessary that a packet forwarding apparatus constituting an IP network has a QoS control mechanism for ensuring QoS for voice data and mission critical data. As a QoS control mechanism, there is known a shaping function for example. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-315034 (document 1) describes a shaping apparatus for carrying out the shaping function. The shaping apparatus described in document 1 includes a queue for storing a cell of a fixed-length packet for each virtual connection (VC) and transmits a packet from the queue with a predetermined bandwidth for each VC to ensure a bandwidth for each VC. For example, an administrator of an IP network disposes this shaping apparatus at a port where traffic concentrates and assigns VC to voice data and mission critical data, thereby making it possible to ensure QoS for the data.
As another shaping apparatus, there is known Weighted Fair Queuing (WFQ). A shaping apparatus of WFQ based on an algorithm called Self Clocked Fair Queuing (SCFQ) is described in document 2 (S. Golestani, "Self-Clocked Fair Queuing Scheme for Broadband Applications", In proc. of INFORCOM' 94, pp. 636-646, 1994.). The shaping apparatus described in document 2 manages a plurality of k's (where k=1 to N) and has weight Wk for each session k. When a packet p_k_i arrives at the shaping apparatus, the shaping apparatus stores the packet p_k_i into a queue and calculates variable F_k_i for each packet p_k_i according to the following equation.F—k—i=L—k—i/Wk+max(F_(k−1)—i,V(ta—k—i))
where, L is a packet length of packet p_k_i, ta_k_i is an arrival time of packet p_k_i, and V(t) is a function that returns a value of F_k_i of a packet outputted at time t. For the output of a packet, packet p_k_i having the minimum F_k_i is outputted, thereby implementing packet output in proportion to weight Wk of each session. For example, the administrator of the IP network assigns one session k to voice data and mission critical data to ensure the bandwidth for Wi/(total sum of Wk)×port bandwidth, thereby making it possible to ensure QoS for the data.
On the other hand, a link aggregation technology for achieving high availability of a packet forwarding apparatus is described in document 3 (Link Aggregation according to IEEE standard 802.3ad (http://www.triumf.ca/canarie/amsterdam-test/References/wp-lag-e.pdf)). According to the link aggregation technology, a plurality of physical ports (physical links) are treated as one logical link aggregation group which can be treated as in the case of one physical port. Even if one physical port of the link aggregation group fails, at least one physical port functions normally; therefore, there is no break in communication between packet forwarding apparatuses connected through the link aggregation group. Accordingly, the administrator of the IP network connects between packet forwarding apparatuses using a plurality of ports to which link aggregation is applied instead of a single port, thus making it possible to enhance network availability.
Further, a fast reroute technology for achieving high availability in a multi protocol label switching (MPLS) network in which a label switching path (LSP) is set is described in document 4 (IETF Internet Draft draft-ietf-mpls-rsvp-lsp-fastreroute-07.txt "Fast Reroute Extensions to RSVP-TE for LSP Tunnels"). This document describes a one-to-one backup method for protecting traffic flowing along an LSP and a facility backup method. According to the document, the one-to-one backup method sets one backup LSP corresponding to a protected LSP, and the facility backup method sets one backup LSP corresponding to a plurality of protected LSPs. When a failure occurs on a protected LSP, traffic flowing along the LSP is detoured along the backup LSP. The administrator of the IP network sets up a backup LSP for a protected LSP to implement the detour, thereby greatly enhancing network availability.

Packet forwarding apparatus with transmission control function


History information indicating a history of how respective items of help information have been displayed in a data processing apparatus is formed and stored. A function of outputting a list of the history information is provided. A center data processing apparatus collects, via a communications network, such history information from one or many user data processing apparatuses which the center apparatus manages. This collection is achieved either in response to the center apparatus sending a request or by a function of each user apparatus such that each user apparatus automatically sends the history information to the center apparatus periodically. The thus-collected history information is integrated and thus numbers of times of display of help information are summed for every item of history information or for every item of operation guidance information. Instead, the thus-collected history information may be individually stored.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and a system managing information indicating how predetermined information has been used, in particular, to a method and a system managing information indicating how help information has been used.
There are data processing apparatus and communications terminal apparatus which have a well-known help function. The help function will now be described. For example, if a user of a relevant apparatus having the help function wishes to know how to use the apparatus, the user may input a predetermined help-information supply request: For example, the user may manipulate a specific help key provided on the apparatus. The help key may be either an actual key as a part of hardware or a virtual key realized by a software program. In response to the key manipulation, the apparatus automatically selects a set of help information, from among previously stored sets of help information, appropriate for a current internal state of the apparatus. The apparatus then displays the thus-selected set of help information indicating how to use the apparatus.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2186417 discloses a help information control method and apparatus managing help data in a manner in which help data is relevant to execution states of application programs.
By using the help function, the user can obtain information for manipulating the apparatus and thus appropriately use even complicated functions of the apparatus. For this purpose, the apparatus previously stores therein the sets of help information so that a set of help information, appropriate for a current internal state of the apparatus, may be selected from among the sets of help information in response to the help-information supply request being input.
Further, the help function may supply help information while the apparatus is displaying previously stored operation guidance information of the apparatus. The operation guidance information is automatically displayed on a screen of the apparatus as a temporary screen and indicates how to manipulate the apparatus, for example, how to press a certain operation key, while a predetermined data processing operation is being performed.
In such a case, the help information explains contents of an item of the operation guidance information currently being displayed. For this purpose, the apparatus previously stores therein the sets of help information so that a set of help information, appropriate for an item of the operation guidance information currently being displayed, may be selected from among the sets of help information in response to the help-information supply request being input.
2. Description of the Related Art
An apparatus having the help function stores a plurality of sets of help information appropriate for a single internal state of the apparatus. Thereby, the user may obtain various information, for manipulating the apparatus, relevant to the current internal state of the apparatus which may include a particular item of help information which the user actually wishes to obtain. In response to the help-information supply request being input, the apparatus displays the plurality of sets of help information one by one according to a predetermined display order.
The predetermined display order is ordinarily determined by a designer of the apparatus during a stage in which the apparatus is being designed. The predetermined display order may not be one precisely appropriate for an actual user's demand. Thus, the user may wait, for long time, for a particular item of help information which the user actually wishes to obtain while the plurality of sets of help information are being displayed one by one according to the predetermined display order. Thus, the help function may not always be convenient for the user.
Instead of supplying the plurality of sets of help information one by one in the predetermined display order, a brief list of the plurality of sets of help information may be first displayed. Then, the user may select a set therefrom. In such a case, an excessive time may be required for the user to locate a relevant set of help information, due to causes that, for example, the list includes too many items and/or a description of each item in the list is too broad to understand contents thereof easily. Further, the plurality of sets of help information may include ones which are not actually necessary for users.
Further, there is a case where the help function supplies help information explaining contents of an item of previously stored operation guidance information currently being displayed as mentioned above. In this case, the previously stored operation guidance information is ordinarily produced by a designer of the apparatus during a stage in which the apparatus is being designed. However, it is difficult for the designer to produce the operation guidance information precisely appropriate for an actual user's demand. Therefore, the thus-produced operation guidance information may not be one precisely appropriate for the actual user's demand. As a result, the user may not sufficiently understand the operation guidance information and thus may frequently require a display of help information further explaining the operation guidance information.

Method and system managing information indicating how predetermined information has been used


Provided is a snap button in which a swaged portion of a to-be-swaged pin is not visible from users. The snap button comprises a snap button body and a cap to be connected to the snap button body with a cloth interposed between them. The snap button body includes a base; a pin to be swaged, which protrudes from an inner surface of the base, the inner surface being placed to face the cloth; and an engaging portion provided on an outer surface opposite to the inner surface of the base. The cap comprises a cap body including a cap base; and a metal eyelet attached to an inner surface of the cap base, the inner surface being placed to face the cloth. The eyelet comprises a cylindrical portion for receiving the pin which has pierced the cloth and swaging the pin on the inner surface of the cap base.

The present invention relates to a snap button, more particularly to a snap button comprising a male snap button body or a female snap button body and a cap or a fastener, which is connected to the male snap button body or the female snap button body with a cloth interposed between them.
As one type of a snap button, there is known a snap button comprising a resin snap button body and a cap. In the snap button, a to-be-swaged pin is provided in the snap button body, and this pin is swaged on the cap side after it has pierced a cloth. Thereby the snap button body is fixed to the cloth together with the cap. When the snap button is a male snap button, the male snap button body may also be referred to as a stud, and when the snap button is a female snap button, the female snap button body may also be referred to as a socket. The snap button of the above type provides an advantage that it can be designed such that the thickness of the snap button body in the axial direction is thinner than that of a conventional snap button, where a to-be-swaged pin is provided in a fastener, and the pin is swaged on a snap button body side after it has pierced a cloth.
In the snap button of the above type in which the to-be-swaged pin is formed in the snap button body, the to-be-swaged pin that has pierced a cloth is passed through a through-hole of the cap and then swaged in a concave portion on an outer surface (a surface opposite to the surface facing the cloth) of the cap. Therefore, there has been a problem that the swaged portion of the pin appears on the outer surface of the cap and is visible to users in a state where the snap button body and the cap have been attached to the cloth. Thus, there has been a case where such a snap button is not used for fashionable clothing, for example. Further, there has been a case where in a snap button in which a to-be-swaged pin is provided in a fastener, a swaged portion of the to-be-swaged pin may be visible from the outside of the snap button body in a state where the snap button body is attached to a cloth by the fastener.


A ladder surface acoustic wave filter includes a series arm connecting an input terminal and an output terminal, at least one parallel arm connecting the series arm and a ground terminal, at least one series arm resonator provided in the series arm, and at least two parallel arm resonators provided in at least one parallel arm and connected to each other in series. In the ladder surface acoustic wave filter, a connection point between at least the two parallel resonators connected to each other in series is grounded through an inductor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ladder surface acoustic wave filter, to be more specific, a ladder surface acoustic wave filter that has desired transmission characteristics and a reduced size.
2. Description of the Related Art
An existing surface acoustic wave filter has been widely used as a filter for a mobile communication device and an intermediate frequency (IF)-stage filter for a television receiver.
Further, as a surface acoustic wave filter with low loss, which has a large pass band and is excellent in selection characteristics, such a ladder surface acoustic wave filter has been known to constitute a ladder filter circuit by alternately arranging a series arm resonator and a parallel arm resonator between an input terminal and an output terminal.
In the ladder surface acoustic wave filter, various efforts have been made in designing a circuit in order to obtain desired transmission characteristics (frequency attenuation characteristics). For example, in the ladder surface acoustic wave filter disclosed Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-173245, an inductor is provided between the parallel arm resonator and the ground so as to shift a resonance point of the parallel arm resonator to the low frequency side and form a second resonance point (sub-resonance point) at the high frequency side relative to an anti-resonance point. This enlarges the pass band of the ladder surface acoustic wave filter and forms an attenuation pole in a stop band at the high frequency side relative to the pass band so as to obtain the desired transmission characteristics.
In the above-mentioned existing ladder surface acoustic wave filter, when an inductance value of the inductor that is provided between the parallel arm resonator and the ground is large, there is a problem that the ladder surface acoustic wave filter is increased in size due to the inductor. In particular, when the sub-resonance point of the parallel arm resonator is desired to be formed at the lower frequency side, the inductance value of the inductor that is provided between the parallel arm resonator and the ground needs to be increased in some cases. The increase in the inductance value of the inductor increases the ladder surface acoustic wave filter in size in some cases.
For example, when the inductor that is provided between the parallel arm resonator and the ground is formed on a mounting substrate or a mounting package, the mounting substrate or the mounting package is increased in size, resulting in a problem that the ladder surface acoustic wave filter is increased in size. To be more specific, when the inductor is formed on the mounting substrate having a configuration in which a plurality of ceramic layers are laminated, an inductor electrode formed of a conductive material is arranged between the ceramic layer and the ceramic layer. When an inductor having a large inductance value is required as the inductor that is provided between the parallel arm resonator and the ground, the inductor electrode needs to be long, so that the mounting substrate needs to be made larger in a planar dimension in order to ensure an arrangement space therefor.
Also in the case where the inductor that is provided between the parallel arm resonator and the ground is prepared as a separated inductor component and is mounted on the mounting substrate or the mounting package together with a piezoelectric substrate on which the series arm resonator and the parallel arm resonator are formed, when the inductor having a large inductance value is required as the inductor that is provided between the parallel arm resonator and the ground, a large inductor component needs to be used and a space needs to be ensured on the mounting substrate or the mounting package in order to mount the large inductor component thereon. This results in a problem that the ladder surface acoustic wave filter is increased in size.


A connecting member 1 for achieving electric conduction is composed of a contacting and surrounding portion 2 for surrounding a battery terminal B, right and left holding portions 3 confronting each other, and elastic force applying portion 5 having end surfaces to be abutted against each other. A connecting bolt 6 to be inserted into the holding portions 3 is split into two portions connected to each other, i.e. half-split members 6A and 6B and recessed inserting grooves 7 for holding a cable C and engaging means 8 to be meshed each other are defined on the surfaces of the half-split members 6A and 6B. The connecting bolt 6 is inserted into the inserting grooves 4 from the one side of the holding portions and a hut 10 is tightened to the male portion of the connecting bolt 6 projecting from the other side thereof and the cable C is fixed to an outside of the holding portions 3. With this arrangement, the cable C is easily inserted and stably fixed and has strong rigidity and thus a mounting job can be simply and securely performed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a terminal connecting device for very simply making connection to the terminal of, for example, a car battery.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, these kinds of terminal connecting devices for a car battery are arranged such that, for example, a connecting member formed substantially to an ohm-character shape is disposed to surround a battery terminal and the end portions of the connecting member are tightened by bolts and nuts. Then, a cable end is connected to the male screw portion projecting from the connecting member and tightened by a butterfly nut. At this time, a connecting terminal having a through hole is connected to the cable end by caulking, welding or the like and the through hole of the connecting terminal is engaged with the above male screw portion.
Further, a cable is fixed by making use of a tightening action of bolt and nut in such a manner that a cable end is inserted into the inserting portion of an opening defined to a bolt itself and the cable is fixed by being strongly tightened by a nut tightened to the screw portion of the bolt. For example, refer to the specification of Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 25547, Japanese Utility Model Publication Nos. Sho 2-5180, Sho 35-26653, Sho 37-19755 and the like, and further to Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei 3-13969 proposed by the applicant.
Nevertheless, according to the above conventional connecting devices, since a connecting terminal is connected to a cable end beforehand, a thin plate-shaped electric conductive sheet terminal cut substantially to a flat T-shape must be prepared and the opposite ends thereof must be caulked to bundle a cable wire and connected thereto. Moreover, in a connecting job, the connecting member must be connected to a battery terminal by bolt and nut and further butterfly nuts must be tightened to the male screw portion of the connecting terminal at two positions. This job is very time-consuming and the arrangement of the connecting devices is complex and expensive.
Further, since the conventionally proposed structures tightened by bolt and nut disclosed in the above publications have a bolt with a hole into which a cable is inserted, unless the twisted thin wires of a cable end are brought together (in the case that the cable is composed of the twisted thin wires), the cable cannot be smoothly inserted into the hole and thus a connecting job is time-consuming. In addition to the above, since various small parts are assembled for the wire to be connected and fixed, the structures are complex and expensive and the handling thereof is very troublesome.
Further, since the terminal connecting device disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei 3-13969 proposed by the applicant has a bolt having a male screw portion to which a groove-shaped inserting portion is defined and this portion is inclined with respect to the axial center of the bolt, it is found that a cable can be easily inserted into the inserting portion and stably fixed under pressure, whereas the cable does not have a sufficient strength and may be broken by an external impact or the like. Further, in addition to the above problem, when a strand cable composed of thin wires is inserted into the inserting portion, these thin wires may be caught by the opening edge of the inserting portion and not be smoothly inserted thereinto.
Thus, taking the above into consideration, an object of the present invention is to provide a terminal connecting device having a simple structure and capable of being easily mounted, and by use of which not only can the cable be easily inserted and held so that working efficiency can be improved, but also the cable can be stably fixed with sufficient strength.


A method and system for performing textured mapping of a target area is provided. According to the method, input is received that defines a textured image. Tiles are generated from the textured image used to cover the target area in an aperiodic tiling pattern.                According to one aspect, the textured image is obtained by scanning one or more texture images into memory.        According to another aspect, to cover the target area an aperiodic tiling pattern is selected. Textured tiles based on the aperiodic tiling pattern are then generated and applied to the target area.        According to another aspect, to apply the textured aperiodic tiles to the target area, the target area is covered with one or more aperiodic tiles that are based on a selected aperiodic tiling pattern. A corresponding textured tile is then mapped to each of the one or more aperiodic tiles.

The use of computer graphics has begun to play a large part in our every day lives and activities. For example, many movies feature scenes that contain objects and images that are generated through the use of computer graphics. Computer architecture programs allow users to graphically design buildings and plan landscaping layouts. Several television shows, cartoons and commercials depict animated characters and images through the use of computer graphics.
For many graphical applications, it is desirable for objects to be presented in as realistic a form as possible. One method of producing a realistic image of a particular object is by scanning a picture of the object into memory. Once the object image is scanned into memory, it can be manipulated and graphically displayed as required by the particular application.
For certain graphical applications, a large textured region, such as a section of ocean, a concrete wall, or large area of grass, is needed for a particular scene or setting. For example, a particular architectural design application may require that a large area of grass be displayed for a particular landscaping layout.
One method of applying texture to a region (the "target area") is through the use of a process known as texture mapping. Texture mapping is generally performed by acquiring a digital image that depicts the texture ("texture image") that is to be applied to the target area. The texture image may be acquired, for example, by scanning a photograph of something that has the desired texture. Alternatively, the textured image may be created using a computer aided drawing package, such as Microsoft® Paint, or generated as an artificial texture through the use of a computer. Once the texture image has been acquired, one or more "tiles" are generated based on the texture image. The process of creating tiles from a texture image is referred to herein as generating texture tiles. After the textured tiles have been generated, non-overlapping copies of the tiles are applied to the target area in a way that covers the target area.
The process of applying tiles to a particular area is generally referred to as "tiling". Tiling is performed by covering the target area, without gaps or overlaps, using a closed set of tiles. The pattern in which the tiles are applied is referred to herein as the tiling pattern. The peripheral shapes of the tiles dictate what type of tiling patterns are possible. For example, when rectangular tiles are used, the tiling pattern is typically a rectangular grid.
FIG. 1 illustrates a tile 102 depicting a grass texture that can be used to cover a particular surface for simulating an area of grass. In this example, a single rectangular tile 102 was generated from a texture image. FIG. 2B illustrates a target area 200 covered with copies of tile 102 in a grid-like tiling pattern. The grid-like tiling pattern used to cover target area 200 with copies of tile 102 is an example of the type of periodic tiling patterns used by conventional texture mapping methods.
Periodic tiling patterns are patterns that have both a translational symmetry and a rotational symmetry. Translational symmetry is an invariant isometry in a given direction through a given distance. Isometry is a mapping of the Euclidean plane onto itself which preserves all distances. Symmetry is defined as an isometry that maps any given set onto itself. Thus, if a target area is tiled using a periodic tiling pattern, by starting at a particular point within the target area and taking a finite area of radius "R" around the point, by moving another radius R away, the exact same texture can be found that is contain in the area around the point.
Rotational symmetry, on the other hand, is an invariant isometry about a given point (central rotation) through a given angle.
For example, in FIG. 2A, the tiling of target areas 206 and 208 are respectively performed using translation and rotation symmetry. In this example, tiles at locations 202 and 204 in target area 206 are symmetrically translated to the right to tiling locations 210 and 212, respectively. Conversely, tiles at locations 214 and 216 in target area 208 are symmetrically rotated clockwise for respectively tiling locations 218 and 220. Tiles at locations 202, 204, 210, 212, 214, 216, 218 and 220 have been shaded so that they may be more easily identified. The symmetries apply to the underlying grid expanded infinitely in both horizontal and vertical directions on the page. An infinite square grid translated parallel to one of the sides of a square, by the length of a square's side is identical to the original grid (i.e. a translational symmetry). The same infinite grid rotated a quarter turn clockwise about the corner of any square is identical to the original grid (i.e. rotational symmetry).
A drawback with using conventional texture mapping methods is that the translational symmetry of the tiling patterns cause certain displacements, called "periods", to be formed. These periods are like repeating puzzle pieces that form repeating sub-patterns that are easily detected over the target area.
For example, as is seen in FIG. 2B, applying tile 102 to target area 200 using a periodic tiling pattern causes a readily discernable rectangular sub-pattern to be produced. This sub-pattern is easily detected by the human eye, thus causing the texture of the target area 200 to appear as a linear repetition of the tiling pattern of tile 102. As a result, the "seams" between the tiles becomes noticeable, thus defeating the goal of creating a region that appears to have a relatively-uniform texture.
In an attempt to reduce the noticeability of seams, some texture mapping methods alternate between using the original tile, and modified images of the tile. The modified images are typically produced by rotating, translating and/or mirroring (i.e. flipping over) the original tile in order to tile the target area. However, because periodic symmetry is inherent in these methods, discernable sub-patterns are also evident on the target areas.
Based on the foregoing, it is highly desirable to provide a mechanism for tiling a target area with a texture image without creating discernable sub-patterns.


A receiver is described, the receiver comprising an ABB filter stage, an ADC stage. The ABB filter stage comprises an ABB filter stage input configured to receive an analog baseband, BB, signal and an ABB filter stage output configured to provide a filtered analog BB signal. The ADC stage comprises an ADC stage input configured to receive the filtered analog BB signal and an ADC stage output configured to provide a digital BB signal. The ADC stage comprises an ADC comprising an ADC input configured to receive the filtered analog BB signal or a signal derived therefrom as an ADC input signal, and wherein the ADC is configured to perform an analog-to-digital, A/D, conversion of the ADC input signal to derive the digital BB signal.

The bandwidth of the radio channel in telecommunications systems is getting wider and wider, from hundreds of kilohertz range in 2 G to tens or even hundreds of megahertz range in 4.5 G and 5 G. This increase in bandwidth requires an ever increasing flexibility especially for radio receiver baseband filtering prior to analogue-to-digital conversion. Furthermore, the receiver silicon area and current consumption should be minimized as more and more receivers have to be integrated on the same chip to support diversity, Multiple Input Multiple Output, MIMO, and carrier aggregation requirements in 4 G and 5 G.
In order to tackle the area and power reduction requirements, several solutions of merging filtering and continuous-time delta-sigma analogue-to-digital converters (ΔΣ ADCs) have been published in recent years.
With present solutions, a feedback digital-to-analog converter DAC injects its signal at the same point where a down converted and almost unfiltered radio frequency, RF, signal is injected. This leads to very low clock jitter specifications thus increasing power consumption and silicon area for the clock generation and distribution.
The main problem with the present solutions for filtering ADCs is that they do not solve the right problem. The present solutions present an energy efficient solution in the medium frequency range (5 . . . 20 MHz), but for wider bandwidths the frequency and phase response of the main ADC affects the total filtering response thus rendering the design very difficult and increasing current consumption. On the other hand, at narrower bandwidths, there is already enough noise shaping in the main ADC so that noise shaping boost of the merged filter is not required.
Another problem with the current solutions is the limited usability with very wide filter bandwidths in respect to the ADC sampling frequency i.e. with low oversampling ratio, OSR.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A vehicle subframe includes a hollow body part and a loft suspension support part provided to a left end part of the body part. The left suspension support part has a left front connecting part, and the left front connecting part is opened downward ward and laterally outward, whereby a left suspension arm is connected from a laterally outward side. A parting line mark of the subframe is formed in a bottom end part of a front connecting wall, and is formed in a laterally outward side part of the front connecting wall so as to extend upward from the bottom end part along the laterally outward side part.

In certain vehicles, a cast subframe is provided to the rear of a power plant (an engine/transmission unit) in the vehicle body and suspension arms are supported on left and right sides of the subframe. The subframe has a front wall sloping upward toward the rear of the vehicle body.
The suspension arms have a front connecting part connected to a leading-side part of the subframe, and a rear connecting part connected to a trailing-side part of the subframe. Consequently, loads inputted to the suspension arms are transferred to the leading-side part or the trailing-side part of the subframe via the front or rear connecting part of the suspension arms.
The loads transferred to the leading or trailing-side part of the subframe are transferred to the side parts of the subframe between the leading- and trailing-side parts (see JP-A 2012-136195, for example).
In the subframe of Patent Document 1, a front wall is formed sloping upward toward the rear of the vehicle body. Consequently, a join part ("parting line" below) of a casting mold (a fixed mold and a movable mold) used when the subframe is cast is positioned in a bottom part of the subframe. A crease mark (i.e. parting mark) of the parting line is formed in the bottom part of the side part of the subframe due to the parting line being positioned in the bottom part of the subframe. Due to the parting mark being formed in the bottom part of the subframe (the side parts), it is thought that stress concentrates in the parting mark when a load are transferred from the suspension arms to the side parts of the subframe.
Thus, the subframe needs to be made reliably strong, in which regard there is scope for improvement.


A programmable I/O element for an I/O terminal of a logic array is suitable for operating according to high speed I/O modes such as double data rate and zero bus turnaround. The I/O element may include an input block with two registers for registering input signals from the terminal upon alternate clock edges. In addition or alternatively, it may include an output block with two registers that separately register output signals from the array on the same clock edge and a multiplexer that alternately outputs those signals. For bidirectional terminals, the multiplexer output is connectable to the I/O terminal via an output buffer, and an output enable block provides an enable signal to a gating input of the output buffer. Programmable delays may be included in the input, output, and output enable paths, in particular to provide a slower turn-on time than turn-off time for the output buffer.

Programmable logic devices (PLDs) are integrated circuit devices containing a number of logic elements that can be selectively programmed to implement a wide variety of logic circuit designs. PLDs are commonly used in digital electronic systems together with other devices such as processors, bus drivers, and memory devices. For example, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) is a PLD that contains an array of logic blocks that represent the individual elements of the logic circuit design being implemented. Each logic block is programmably configured and the blocks are programmably interconnected to implement a user's desired logic functions and circuit design. Similarly, a complex PLD (CPLD) has a limited number of relatively large, user-programmable logic blocks—each of which is similar to a small PLD—that communicate with each other across an interconnect matrix.
In a PLD, input/output (I/O) terminals are used to provide data, control, address and clock signals to and from the configured logic blocks in the device. For example, memory controller logic blocks in FPGAs and CPLDs commonly read to and write from memory such as synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM) or static random access memory (SRAM). The memory may be on the same integrated circuit device as the PLD or on a separate device. As used herein, an "I/O terminal" may refer to a terminal that is used as a unidirectional input terminal, exclusively as a unidirectional output terminal, or as a bidirectional terminal that can be configured to act either as an input or an output terminal at any one time. Since the size of a PLD circuit design depends on the number of logic blocks and the number of I/O terminals available, the use of bidirectional I/O terminals is often desirable to permit a given number of logic blocks to be implemented in smaller-sized device. Typically, the I/O terminals are physically implemented in an integrated circuit device as pins, pads, balls or some other type of terminal structure.
An I/O element circuit is often needed to provide an interface between an I/O terminal of a PLD logic array and an external device (or circuit) such as memory. The requirements of an I/O element circuit depend on the type of I/O terminal (i.e., input, output, or bidirectional) and on the I/O standard being used to communicate. Generally, a separate I/O element circuit is associated with each I/O terminal of the PLD. For bidirectional I/O terminals capable of being used for both reads and writes, the I/O element circuit typically provides an output enable (OE) signal that acts to selectively enable/disable write operations via the terminal. I/O element circuits, also referred to as I/O cells, can be programmably implemented as functional logic blocks, similar to the blocks in a PLD logic array.
Two I/O standards in particular, double data rate (DDR) and zero bus turnaround (ZBT), are frequently used in high speed data transfer applications. In the DDR I/O standard, data is clocked on both the rising and falling edge of a clock signal, effectively doubling the data rate of DDR SRAMs and SDRAMs. With the ZBT standard, synchronous fast SRAM devices are designed to provide 100% bus utilization by eliminating all idle clock cycles when turning the data bus around from a write operation to a read operation (or vice versa). This enables considerably faster operation in systems that require frequent and random read and write access, such as in networking and telecommunications applications.
In view of the above, there is a need for an I/O element circuit capable of allowing a logic device's I/O terminal to operate in high speed data modes, especially a DDR I/O mode and a ZBT I/O mode. It would be particularly desirable if such an I/O element circuit were capable of being programmably configured to operate in the different I/O modes.

Programmable I/O element circuit for high speed logic devices


A cellular telephone motorcycle mounting apparatus is provided for mounting a cellular telephone to a motorcycle gas tank is disclosed. The inventive device includes a front portion, a back portion, a pair of lateral portion, a top portion and a bottom portion forming a rectangular enclosure, the rectangular enclosure being designed for receiving a cellular phone, the bottom portion having a transverse slit separating a bottom portion top section and a bottom portion bottom section, and the lateral portions having opposing slits extending along a length thereof, the opposing slits being aligned and joined with the transverse slit, the opposing slits and transverse slit defining an opening in the rectangular enclosure, a pair of opposing handle portions, each handle portion being disposed along a back portion longitudinal edge, an aperture formed in the top portion, the aperture being designed for receiving a cellular phone antenna, a plurality of magnets fixedly attached to a back portion outside surface for attachment to a motorcycle gas tank and a pair of zippers for releasably closing the opening in the rectangular enclosure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cases for cellular telephones and more particularly pertains to a new cellular telephone motorcycle mounting apparatus for mounting a cellular telephone to a motorcycle gas tank.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of cases for cellular telephones is known in the prior art. More specifically, cases for cellular telephones heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art cases for cellular telephones include U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,654; U.S. Patent Des. 317,452; and U.S. Patent 352,031. Means for mounting sound systems and the like to motorcycles are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,658; U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,184; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,001,779.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new cellular telephone motorcycle mounting apparatus. The inventive device includes a front portion, a back portion, a pair of lateral portion, a top portion and a bottom portion forming a rectangular enclosure, the rectangular enclosure being designed for receiving a cellular phone, the bottom portion having a transverse slit separating a bottom portion top section and a bottom portion bottom section, and the lateral portions having opposing slits extending along a length thereof, the opposing slits being aligned and joined with the transverse slit, the opposing slits and transverse slit defining an opening in the rectangular enclosure, a pair of opposing handle portions, each handle portion being disposed along a back portion longitudinal edge, an aperture formed in the top portion, the aperture being designed for receiving a cellular phone antenna, a plurality of magnets fixedly attached to a back portion outside surface for attachment to a motorcycle gas tank and a means for releasably closing the opening in the rectangular enclosure.
In these respects, the cellular telephone motorcycle mounting apparatus according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of mounting a cellular telephone to a motorcycle gas tank.

Cellular telephone motorcycle mounting apparatus


A plurality of first pixels P1 corresponding to color filters of two or more colors constitute a pixel group. A plurality of the pixel groups are arranged so that each of the pixel groups corresponds to one of second pixels P2. The light which is transmitted through the color filters enters first photoelectric conversion units of the first pixels P1 corresponding to the color filters. The light which is transmitted through the pixel group enters a second photoelectric conversion unit of the second pixel P2 corresponding to the pixel group. The number of colors of the color filters corresponding to the plurality of first pixels P1 that constitute the pixel group, and the number of the first pixels P1 corresponding to each color are equal to each other among the plurality of pixel groups.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid-state imaging device having a plurality of substrates.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-097010, filed on May 8, 2014, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Description of Related Art
Solid-state imaging devices having a plurality of substrates have been disclosed. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2013-247548 discloses a solid-state imaging device having a first substrate in which photoelectric transducers for imaging signals are arranged, and a second substrate in which photoelectric transducers for auto-focusing are arranged. An auto-focusing operation is attained by processing signals based on signal charges generated by the photoelectric transducers arranged in the second substrate.


A smart card has a repository having a first data element and a value added function. The card further has an operating system having a data element access function for sequencing to said repository and a microprocessor for executing said data element and said value added function in accordance with said access function.

An integrated circuit card is often defined as an International Standards Organization, ISO, standard card with an embedded circuit chip. The IC card may have a microprocessor, in which case it is sometimes termed a smart card. An advantage of integrated circuit cards is that the data in the card is usually quite secure, i.e. the data cannot be easily read out or changed by an unauthorized user. The security is much greater than with magnetic cards or optical track cards The security, light weight of the card (the card is typically the size of a conventional credit card), ability to hold data and perform a variety of applications has made the cards increasingly; about 1 million new cards are put into service each day.
The smart card is often referred to as the invention about 25 years ago of a Frenchman, Roland Moreno, U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,916. An introductory text on smart cards and their applications may be found in Ayer, Kenneth R. and Schuler, Joseph F., Smart Card Primer, 1994, Minneapolis, Minnesota, The Schuler Consultancy.
Integrated circuit cards are usually the size of a conventional credit card, with six or eight small electrical contacts on one face. The newer type of card is of the "contactless" type, i.e the contacts are not electromechanical and there is no physical contact. There is a small loop or antenna inside the card, which makes electromagnetic or induction contact with a card reader or terminal. This type of card is shown for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,874,934 and 5,206,495 presently owned by the same assignee as in this application. When the term "contacts" is used it includes both the electromechanical and electromagnetic contacts.
The mechanical and electrical specifications of the cards are standardized, and one set of standards is published by ANSI, American National Standards Institute, 11 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036 under the title "Identification cards-Integrated circuits cards with contacts" ISO 7816-1 and ISO 7816-2. Such cards are manufactured by and are commercially available from several companies, including applicant's assignee, Gemplus Card International, avenue du Pic de Bertagne, Parc d'Activites de la Plaine de Jouques, 13420, Gemenos, France.
Proposed higher numbered parts to ISO 7816 deal with electrical signals and transmission protocols, interindustry commands for interchange numbering systems and registration procedure for application identifiers, interindustry data elements, etc. Certain applications of the card, e.g. in mobile telephones, and in financial transactions have their own standards. Telecommunication standards are defined by GSN, and financial transaction cards have proposed standards in ISO 9992 and 10202. There are sets of European standards from the European Telecommunication Standards Institute ETSI and the European Committee for Banking Standards ECBS, as well as the Commite Europeene de Normalisation CEDN.
In most countries, the ISO physical and electrical card size standards are used. The application standards are semi-standardized, and may have variations among providers of the goods or services. E.g., one group of banks may have one standard or convention for use of bank cards, while another group of banks might have a slightly different one. But these modifications are add ons to the various standardized applications, whether mobile telephone on the GSM, or electronic purse on EMV, or pay TV, etc. Each standard, must be rigidly adhered to by all systems operators, all terminals, and cards used in these applications It becomes difficult to add value to these standardized protocols, as the agreed to protocols must not be changed.
The term "transaction" is defined to mean any type of interchange between the smart card and a remote processing system (computer system). The interchange could be on-line or off-line depending on the application and security architecture of the interchange The access point is the point of service for the smart card. This could be an intelligent device with a smart card reader and communication capabilities
The development of microprocessor based smart card operating systems to date has been driven and limited by smart card international standards and specifications (for example ISO-IEC 7618, ETSI TE9 and EMV). The specifications define the functions or commands that the operating system should have in order to support the application segment to which it caters (e.g. the ISO-IEC 7816-4 defines commands for a general purpose operating system, or the EMV specifications, which define commands for a payment card). These operating systems usually provide a subset of standardized commands as well as commands proprietary to the smart card supplier. These commands normally provide smart card administrative commands as well as commands that add value to the operating system Administrative commands are needed to help manage the smart card life cycle. Value added commands allow solution providers to innovate and build new applications using the smart card, e.g. the payment based MPCOS card is often used in identification based applications. Traditional smart card operating systems are conservative in nature. They are small, and the number of value added functions is few. This is due in part to the long cycle time needed to mask an operating system into the smart card ROM. To allow modifications to these operating systems, software hooks for filters are normally provided by the operating system. A filter is a small piece of software code that is loaded into the smart card nonvolatile memory in the early stage of its life cycle. The filter extends the functionality of the operating system as it allows new commands to be accepted by the operating system. These commands are intercepted by the operating system and passed to the filter code to be executed. The process of developing and loading the filter requires intimate knowledge of the operating system and chip internals. The information needed to perform this task is usually confidential in nature. A filter may also permit looking into the internals of the operating system, thus, the loading and execution process is usually protected by cryptographic means.
With the increased use of smart cards and standard applications (for example GSM, EMV), more and more card issuers are looking towards value added functions to be added to a standard operating system. The filter type of process becomes ineffective, as it is too cumbersome. Coupled to this, there is an increased demand for more and more complex smart card acceptor devices, e.g. GSM handphones, or point of sales terminals, which are expected to accept and interact with a set of standard applications as well as the value added application,. the latter being inserted by the card issuer or acceptor device owner.
An aspect of the present invention is to permit easy addition of added value programs to the standardized application with no change to the accepted standards, and minimal or no change to the readers and central offices operating on the standard.
In operation, a card is inserted into a reader, also called terminal, interface device, or access point. Remote from the reader is a computer system, which performs the accounting, tracking of the cards and use of the cards, the goods and services provided by the cards, and supervision of the transactions between the cards and the readers. In the GSM telephone system, the remote computer is a telephone switch, which handles the call in addition to the payments for the calls, which are tied to the IC-cards.
It might be helpful to have a specific example for the present invention.
A multifunction smart card is one that can be used in two different applications, e.g. a pre-paid telephone card to make calls from a public telephone booth equipped with a reader; and an electronic "purse", to pay for purchases from self-service vending machines, such as gasoline from a gasoline pump, or candy from a vending machine.
In addition to the application transaction, it is desirable to permit the system to give added value to the card user when goods or services are purchased. For example, frequent flier miles might be given for each dollar of gasoline purchased, or points could be given for the purchase of a certain number of candy bars. The points would then be redeemable for a prize, e.g., an extra candy.
At the present time, when added value is to be given to a transaction, that added value is calculated in the reader or in the remote system and then transferred to the card. This has a number of disadvantages First, there is a security risk in transferring data between the card and the reader, and between the reader and the central computer. Encryption is used, but it adds to the complexity and cost of the overall operation The reader must be updated to provide the added value, e.g. points, or frequent flyer miles, which awards may change from time to time, and which may vary from card user to card user, thus potentially presenting a very complex reader calculation or central office calculation As goods and services are dispensed from a stand-alone gas pump or vending machine, without a real time link to a central computer, the calculation and the updating of the added value is moved to the vending machine to administer.

Smart cards, systems using smart cards and methods of operating said cards in systems


In a spray nozzle (10), a carrier (12) defines a spray aperture (20), a groove (30) surrounding the spray aperture for receiving an o-ring (32), a first locating bore (26) for slidably receiving an orifice plate (14) seated against the o-ring (32) and for aligning the orifice plate with the spray aperture, and a second locating bore (28) for slidably receiving a swirl unit and aligning the swirl unit (16) with the orifice plate and spray aperture. The swirl unit (16) defines on its peripheral surface a recessed flat (58) forming a fluid passageway between the swirl unit and carrier. The swirl unit (16) includes a swirl chamber (60) defined by a curvilinear surface (62) formed within the swirl unit, and an inlet port (64) formed in fluid communication between the swirl chamber and fluid passageway. The nozzle body (18) is threadedly received within the carrier (12) behind the swirl unit (16) to axially press the swirl unit, and in turn press the orifice plate (14) against the adjacent surface of the carrier.

Spray nozzles having centrifugal swirl chambers upstream of the spray orifice have been employed for various uses, such as spray drying, aeration, cooling, and fuel injection. A typical such nozzle is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,793 to Tate et al. which shows in FIG. 1 a nozzle body, an orifice plate defining a spray orifice, and a swirl chamber block received within the nozzle body. A retainer member is threadedly engaged behind the swirl chamber block for retaining and positioning the swirl chamber and orifice plate within the nozzle body. For spray drying applications, fluid containing suspended and dissolved solids is supplied to the nozzle under pressures generally in the range of 500 p.s.i. to 5000 p.s.i. This mixture passes through the nozzle at high velocity, resulting in rapid wear to the swirl chamber block and orifice plate. Because of this rapid wear, the swirl chamber block and orifice plate may require frequent replacement.
In the design of the '793 patent, replacement of these worn components is difficult. In practice, one might place the retainer member on a flat surface with the end for retaining the swirl chamber block facing upwardly. One would then place the swirl chamber block into the recess formed in the end of the retainer member. Next, one would place the nozzle body on a flat surface with its inlet end facing upwardly and the orifice plate would be inserted into the counter-bore formed in the nozzle body. The next step would be either (i) to invert the retainer member and swirl chamber block and insert the inverted components into the nozzle body, or (ii) to invert the nozzle body and orifice plate, and place the inverted components over the retainer member and swirl chamber block. In either case, for the inverted parts, the wear component (either the swirl chamber block or orifice plate) would tend to fall out, thus making assembly extremely difficult.
Another possible assembly method would be to place the retainer member on a flat surface with its downstream end facing upwardly, and to place the swirl chamber block into the recess formed in the upwardly-facing end of the retainer member. Next, the orifice plate would be balanced on top of the swirl chamber block. Finally, the inverted nozzle body would be placed over the stack formed by the retainer member, swirl chamber block and orifice plate, and the nozzle body then would be threaded onto the retainer member. However, this final operation would be problematic because the orifice plate would tend to move during assembly, thus making it difficult to locate the orifice plate within the counter-bore formed in the nozzle body.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved spray nozzle, and improved wear components for such nozzles, including swirl units and orifice plates, which overcome the above-described drawbacks and disadvantages encountered in assembling prior art spray nozzles.

Swirl unit, orifice plate, and spray nozzle including same


The present invention provides a targeted multi-layered drug delivery system for the delivery of cytotoxic agents to B-cells.

Despite years of research into the development of new methods of treatment, cancers of the lymphoid system, lymphomas and certain leukemias, remain quite common. For example, more than 63,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with lymphoma each year, including more than 56,000 cases of non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL). In addition, there are about 10,000 cases of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and 4000 cases of acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) diagnosed in the United States each year. Approximately 85% of the NHL, CLL, and ALL cases as a group are derived from B lymphocytes. The prognosis for those affected by these diseases is often poor, as the survival rates for lymphoma patients remain low. New methods for treating these diseases are needed.
While traditional treatments for lymphoma typically depend on the type of lymphoma as well as the medical history of the patient, first-line treatment for many lymphomas typically includes chemotherapy. Such chemotherapy will often entail the administration of a "cocktail" of compounds, e.g., the formulation CHOP, which includes cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone. In addition, certain first-line cancer treatments also include other forms of cancer therapy, such as radiation or antibody therapy. In many cases, patients respond initially to such first-line treatments, but subsequently suffer a relapse, i.e., a tumor reappears or resumes growing. Following one such relapse, patients are often treated with further chemotherapy, e.g., with CHOP or with other formulations, or, in some cases, the patients are treated with other procedures such as bone marrow transplantation.
Antibody therapies take advantage of the fact that lymphoid cells express cell surface markers that are restricted to specific lymphoid cell types. For example, the antibody most frequently used for the treatment of B cell-derived lymphomas and leukemias, Rituxan, specifically binds to CD20, which is restricted in its expression to B lymphocytes. Rituxan is used as a naked antibody and effectively depletes both normal and cancerous B cells. Rituxan has been approved for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory, low-grade or follicular, CD20-positive, B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), in which scenario it has shown a response rate of about 50% and a median duration of response, defined as progression free survival, of about 1 year. Rituxan has also been approved for the first-line treatment of diffuse large B-cell, CD20-positive, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (DLBCL-a type of NHL) in combination with CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone) or other anthracycline-based chemotherapy regimens. In this scenario, the addition of Rituxan extends progression free survival over that seen with chemotherapy alone by about 1.5 years. Multiple mechanisms of action are thought to contribute to Rituxan's cytotoxic effect, including antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity and complement dependent cytotoxicity. The long residence time of CD20 on the cell surface and its resistance to internalization following antibody binding contribute to the ability of Rituxan to focus these natural immune functions on the cancer cell.
The success of Rituxan has spurred multiple drug development programs focused on CD20. Two radiolabelled antibodies specific for CD20, Zevalin and Bexxar, are already on the market. Several companies have new CD20-specific antibodies in clinical development. Antibody mimetics targeting CD20 are also in various stages of development. While future CD20-specific biologics may provide further improvement in response rate and duration of response over those attained with Rituxan, it is nearly certain that there will still be many patients who do not respond at all to CD20-targeted therapy or who will require a different class of drugs following relapse.
CD22 is another surface molecule restricted in its expression to B lymphocytes. CD22 is expressed in 60-80% of B cell malignancies. Naked antibodies and radiolabelled antibodies have shown encouraging results in treating NHL, either as monotherapy or in combination with chemotherapeutics or Rituxan. Further, the fact that CD22, unlike CD20, readily internalizes following antibody binding has opened the door to the development of immunotoxins, antibodies that are conjugated to toxic moieties that are released once inside the target cell. While immunotoxins are often very potent, they frequently cause undesirable toxicities, including death. The toxicities seen with immunotoxins are thought to derive in large part from extracellular release of the toxins.
Mantle cell lymphoma is an example of an aggressive, non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Mantle cell lymphoma is found in lymph nodes, the spleen, bone marrow, blood, and sometimes the gastrointestinal system (lymphomatous polyposis). Mantle cell lymphoma is generally characterized by CD5-positive follicular mantle B cells, a translocation of chromosomes 11 and 14, and an overexpression of the cyclin D1 protein. Like the low-grade lymphomas, mantle cell lymphoma appears incurable with anthracycline-based chemotherapy and occurs in older patients with generally asymptomatic advanced-stage disease. However, the median survival is significantly shorter (3-5 years) than that of other lymphomas; hence this histology is now considered to be an aggressive lymphoma.
Drugs that specifically target B lymphocytes are also candidate therapeutics for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. Most notably, Rituxan has been approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Additional anti-CD20 antibodies and antibody mimetics as well as biologics targeting CD22 are also likely to be effective in treating rheumatoid arthritis as well as other autoimmune diseases.

Compositions and methods for treating B-cell malignancies


A spacer to facilitate cooling, stacking, and handling of meat includes first and second channels, preferably of identical cross-sectional shape, placed transverse to each other so as to define multiple interconnected passageways for conducting conditioned air therethrough when placed in a stack of alternating layers of boxed meat and spacers. The channels include lateral flanges which are bonded to each other at a plurality of intersections by adhesive, and may also be joined by pressing a section of material from one lateral flange through the thickness of a section of the other lateral flange followed by clinching the sections together. The clinched sections hold the intersections together until the adhesive cures, and also contribute to the ultimate joint strength. The first channels further include outwardly protruding embossments and the second channels include apertures for receiving the embossments, the apertures and embossments acting as locaters to locate adjacent spacers when stacked on each other for storage while awaiting use.

The present invention relates to a spacer for the food industry useful to facilitate cooling, storage and transportation of packaged meat and the like.
Heretofore, the meat packaging industry has primarily used wood and plastic separators to separate cartons or boxes of processed meats ready to be cooled before shipping or storage. However, the wood and plastic separators are deficient in several ways. Wood and plastic are poor conductors of heat and thus slow the cooling process. Further, the present spacers of wood and plastic do not provide for maximum cross-flow of air. Still further, they are not as durable or repairable as is desired. At the same time, disposal is becoming increasingly expensive due to environmental concerns. For example, wood spacers commonly must be burned as opposed to landfilled. Wood also has the particular problems of splintering and is highly absorbent of liquids such as blood. Further, wood cannot be cleaned and sanitized by conventional methods.
One instance is known where an aluminum separator or spacer was used. The 40 inch by 48 inch spacer consisted of 15 hat-shaped channels, seven of which were oriented transversely to the others and interconnected thereto by rivets, the spacer having a total weight of about 24.5 pounds. However, this spacer presents opportunities for improvement. First, it is desirable that a spacer for use in this application be light in weight so that it is easily handled. Further, there is a risk that rivets will break loose over time and fall into the boxed meat. Hence, it is desirable to use a fastenerless system of attachment which avoids possibilities of contamination, and yet also provides the degree of strength desired so that the spacer does not break apart over time while in service. Still further, it is desirable to utilize materials and material bonding techniques offering improved strength over traditional lower-strength extrudable aluminums connected by rivets so that weight is minimized, and overall performance and service life are increased. It is also desirable to reduce striations and the like to reduce the tendency to entrap blood, meat particles, and the like on the spacer. Additionally, it is desirable to provide a spacer that can be stored in uniformly square stacks without tending to skew, to facilitate material handling.
Thus a device is needed which is light in weight, durable, repairable, cleanable, has high strength, and which facilitates cooling of packages of meat and otherwise improves upon the problems noted.


A microelectronic package having a substrate, a microelectronic element, e.g., a chip, and terminals can have conductive elements electrically connected with element contacts of the chip and contacts of the substrate. Conductive elements can be electrically insulated from one another for simultaneously carrying different electric potentials. An encapsulant can overlie the first surface of the substrate and at least a portion of a face of the microelectronic element remote from the substrate, and may have a major surface above the microelectronic element. A plurality of package contacts can overlie a face of the microelectronic element remote from the substrate. The package contacts, e.g., conductive masses, substantially rigid posts, can be electrically interconnected with terminals of the substrate, such as through the conductive elements. The package contacts can have top surfaces at least partially exposed at the major surface of the encapsulant.

Microelectronic elements such as semiconductor chips typically are provided in packages which provide physical and chemical protection for the semiconductor chip or other microelectronic element. Such a package typically includes a package substrate or chip carrier which can include a panel of dielectric material having electrically conductive terminals thereon. The chip is mounted on the package substrate and electrically connected to the terminals of the package substrate. Typically, the chip and portions of the substrate are covered by an encapsulant or overmolding, so that only the terminal-bearing outer surface of the substrate remains exposed. Such a package can be readily shipped, stored and handled. The package can be mounted to a circuit panel such as a circuit board using standard mounting techniques, most typically surface-mounting techniques. Considerable effort has been devoted in the art to making such packages smaller, so that the packaged chip occupies a smaller area on the circuit board. For example, packages referred to as chip-scale packages occupy an area of the circuit board equal to the area of the chip itself, or only slightly larger than the area of the chip itself. However, even with chip-scale packages, the aggregate area occupied by several packaged chips is greater than or equal to the aggregate area of the individual chips.
Certain multi-chip packages can be referred to as "die stacked packages", in which a plurality of chips are mounted one above the other within a common package having an external interface. This common package can be mounted on an area of the circuit panel which may be equal to or just slightly larger than the area typically required to mount a single package containing a single chip. The die-stacked package approach conserves space on the circuit panel. Chips or other elements which are functionally related to one another can be provided in a common stacked package. The package may incorporate interconnections between these elements. Thus, the circuit panel to which the package is mounted need not include the conductors and other elements required for these interconnections. This, in turn, allows use of a simpler circuit panel and, in some cases, allows the use of a circuit panel having fewer layers of metallic connections, thereby materially reducing the cost of the circuit panel. Moreover, the interconnections within a die-stacked package often can be made with lower electrical impedance and shorter signal propagation delay times than comparable interconnections between individual packages mounted on a circuit panel. This, in turn, can increase the speed of operation of the microelectronic elements within the stacked package as, for example, by allowing the use of higher clock speeds in signal transmissions between these elements.
One form of chip package which has been proposed heretofore is sometimes referred to as a "ball stack." A ball stack package includes two or more individual units. Each unit incorporates a unit substrate similar to the package substrate of an individual package, and one or more microelectronic elements mounted to the unit substrate and connected to the terminals on the unit substrate. The individual units are stacked one above the other, with the terminals on each individual unit substrate being connected to terminals on another unit substrate by electrically conductive elements such as solder balls or pins. The terminals of the bottom unit substrate may constitute the terminals of the package or, alternatively, an additional substrate may be mounted at the bottom of the package and may have terminals connected to the terminals of the various unit substrates. Ball stack packages are depicted, for example, in certain preferred embodiments of U.S. Published Patent Applications 2003/0107118 and 2004/0031972, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
In another type of stack package sometimes referred to as a fold stack package, two or more chips or other microelectronic elements are mounted to a single substrate. This single substrate typically has electrical conductors extending along the substrate to connect the microelectronic elements mounted on the substrate with one another. The same substrate also has electrically conductive terminals which are connected to one or both of the microelectronic elements mounted on the substrate. The substrate is folded over on itself so that a microelectronic element on one portion lies over a microelectronic element on another portion, and so that the terminals of the package substrate are exposed at the bottom of the folded package for mounting the package to a circuit panel. In certain variants of the fold package, one or more of the microelectronic elements is attached to the substrate after the substrate has been folded to its final configuration. Examples of fold stacks are shown in certain preferred embodiments of U.S. Pat. No. 6,121,676; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/077,388; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/655,952; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/403,939; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/408,664; and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/408,644. Fold stacks have been used for a variety of purposes, but have found particular application in packaging chips which must communicate with one another as, for example, in forming assemblies incorporating a baseband signal processing chip and radiofrequency power amplifier ("RFPA") chip in a cellular telephone, so as to form a compact, self-contained assembly.
Despite all of these efforts in the art, still further improvement would be desirable.

Stackable molded microelectronic packages with area array unit connectors


Systems and methods for integrating collaborative services with content. Collaboration services are provided to a user in the context of content such that the user may collaborate with other contacts or users within the context of the content. The collaborative services are accessed through a pane or window that initially displays a list of experts and peers as well as frequently asked questions links, availability data and configuration data. When a contact is selected, more details about the selected contact are provided to the user including a contact block that indicates how the user may collaborate with the selected contact. The contact block identifies modes of communication such as e-mail, instant messaging, video conferencing, threads, telephone, and the like. When a mode of communication is selected, the user may collaborate with the selected contact. The context of the content is often supplied to the selected contact to improve the collaboration.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for providing collaborative services. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for providing collaborative services within the context of content and more specifically to systems and methods for providing collaborative services within the context of an online course delivered to a user over a network such as the Internet.
2. Background and Relevant Art
Older technologies or ideas are constantly being rethought and improved as new ideas are implemented. This is evident in the Internet arena, which has brought significant improvements to our lives by revolutionizing many of our older technologies. Many of the technological changes have a significant impact on how certain activities are conducted.
For instance, catalogs provide people that do not want to go and visit a brick and mortar store with the ability to order and purchase the goods and services that are described in the catalogs. A consumer fills out an order form and mails the completed order form to the company that provided the catalog. Upon receipt of the order form, the catalog company will fill the order and ship the order to the consumer. While mail order catalogs still exist, some of these companies are taking advantage of the Internet and allowing users to shop online. The Internet streamlines the process of ordering goods and services and a consumer is able to enjoy their newly purchased products much sooner than if they ordered the same products from a catalog because the order is received much sooner by the catalog company and order processing is more automated.
In a similar manner, many people have chosen to take mail order courses instead of attending school or college or for other reasons. Mail order courses, however, are often a relatively slow process that can take a significant amount of time because the assignments and completed homework are sent back and forth between the teacher and the learner by mail. When it comes time to take a test for the mail order course, the user may be required to travel to a testing center in order to ensure that the test is fairly taken. The travel requirement, however, seems to defeat the purpose of a course that is taken by mail.
The Internet, however, has revolutionized this industry as well and courses that were previously taken by mail may now be taken online. Taking an online course provides distinct advantages. The course can be accessed at almost any time of the day or night and the user can take the course from the comfort of their own home. The users are not required to physically go to a classroom as all content is accessible from their computers. The pace of an online course can vary. Some online courses allow users to proceed at their own pace, while other courses are accelerated. In fact, many universities and colleges offer online courses that can be taken by almost anyone in the world including currently enrolled students.
Online courses or online learning, however, also has disadvantages. One disadvantage is related to the communication or interaction that a learner or user has with her peers or her teachers or with other experts. For instance, the course content is presented to the user over the user's computer and may include multimedia content. However, the user is unable to ask a question or comment on a particular topic in the context of the course and communication with other users is limited to written communication out of the context of the course.
If the user does have a question, it is possible that the user may send an e-mail to the instructor or course manager. However, the course will continue and the user will have to wait until they receive an answer to their e-mail. In addition, sending an e-mail typically requires the user to leave the context of the online course and enter their e-mail application. By the time the user is able to return to the online course, they may have lost valuable time and may have to repeat some of the course in order to refresh their memory with regard to the content that they were studying.
Instant feedback or communication with various peers within the context of the course's content is not usually possible. In a structured online course, for example, where a user is required to meet certain deadlines, the course may continue without interruption and the user must simply rely on himself or herself to correct misunderstandings without undue delay. The users do not have the support or advantage of interacting with their peers, who may be able to provide significant help. The users are unable to ask questions that have immediate feedback and cannot share their insights with others. The overall objective of most online courses is to increase learning or facilitate the learning process. The inability of users to interact with their peers while reading through static material is a detriment to online learning and is partly responsible for the attrition rates of online courses.

Providing collaborative services with content


A bow press for securing an archery bow having limbs. The bow press has a main frame to support other components of the bow press. The main frame includes a main frame cross member, an adjustment mechanism mounted to the main frame, a bow limb flexing assembly mounted to the main frame cross member adapted for receiving the archery bow, and a limb inside contact assembly adapted to secure the archer bow against the bow limb flexing assembly and mounted to the adjustment mechanism, whereby the limb inside contact assembly can be moved to due to actuation of the adjustment mechanism.

The present invention generally relates to servicing of archery bows. More specifically, the present invention relates to a bow press used to bend limbs of an archery bow to allow servicing of the archery bow.
Bow presses currently in use tend to be cumbersome to use when servicing an archery bow. Bow presses currently in use put stress on the archery bow due to the where the limbs are bent to service the archery bow. What is need is an easy to use bow press which reduces the stress on the limbs of the archery bow.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a bow press to service archery bows.


A support system for a gas turbine engine is provided. The support system includes a load-bearing unit that includes a first flange, a support element supporting the load-bearing unit and having a second flange, a fastener connecting the first flange and the second flange, a first super-elastic shape memory alloy component in contact with the first flange, and a second super-elastic shape memory alloy component in contact with the second flange. The first and the second super-elastic shape memory alloy components are configured to deform when a load exerted by the fastener exceeds a threshold load value of the fastener.

The present disclosure relates generally to gas turbine engines and, more particularly, to a support system for a gas turbine engine having shape memory alloys.
Gas turbine engines typically include a rotor assembly, a compressor, and a turbine. The rotor assembly of a gas turbine engine includes shafts, couplings, sealing packs, and other elements required for optimal operation under a given operating condition. The rotor assembly has a mass that generates a constant static force mainly due to gravity, and a dynamic force mainly due to imbalances in the rotor assembly during operation. For example, during operation of the engine, a fragment of a fan blade of the gas turbine engine may become separated from the remainder of the blade. Under such conditions, a substantial unbalanced static and rotary load may be created within the damaged fan. Fan blade out may also cause the engine to operate with a lesser capability, necessitating repair.
To minimize the effects of potentially damaging, abnormal unbalanced static and rotary loads, gas turbine engines often include support components for the fan rotor support system that are sized to provide additional strength. However, increasing the strength of the support components increases an overall weight of the engine and decreases an overall efficiency of the engine under its normal operation without substantial rotor imbalances. To address abnormal unbalanced load, the engines may also utilize a bearing support that includes a mechanically weakened section, or primary fuse, that permanently decouples the fan rotor from the fan support system. As a result, subsequent operation of the gas turbine engine may be significantly impacted.
Accordingly, an improved rotor support system that is configured to accommodate unbalanced or increased loading conditions without resulting in a permanent decoupling of the fan rotor from the rotor support system would be desirable.

Support system having shape memory alloys