Systems, devices, and methods are described that allow more comprehensive interaction between users of a telecommunication system. For example, a described method comprises: receiving, from a first communication unit, a request to establish a voice communication call between a first user of the first communication unit and a second user of a second communication unit; receiving, from said first communication unit, additional information with regard to said request; and presenting, by said second communication unit, an indication of said request to establish said voice communication call and said additional information to said second user.

In known telecommunication systems, the recipient of a telephone call may be provided with an identity of the caller. The identity of the caller may be displayed, e.g., in the form of a name, a phone number, or some other information that was previously stored along with the caller's name or phone number. Being informed about the caller's identity, the recipient may then decide whether he wishes to answer the call. The recipient may be informed about calls that the recipient missed in the past, along with the identities of the callers.
However, in the known telecommunication systems, the recipient of a call may only decide whether to answer the call or whether to call back based on the identity of the caller. Yet, even if the caller and the recipient do not know each other well, the call may still be of high importance. The known systems do not provide a possibility for the caller to express the importance of his call to the recipient in case the recipient does not answer the call.
There is thus a need for advanced calling capabilities such that the users of a telecommunication system may interact more comprehensively with each other.


A dielectric composition for firing at a low temperature having a high dielectric constant εr, a high Q value, and a low temperature coefficient τf of the resonance frequency is provided. The dielectric composition includes a main composition of x.BaO-y.TiO2-z1.Nd2O3-z2.La2O3-z3.Sm2O3-t.Bi2O3, (x+y+z1+z2+z3+t=1, 0.070≦x≦0.300, 0.385≦y≦0.844, 0.010≦z1≦0.130, 0.000≦z2≦0.120, 0.000≦z3≦0.120, and 0.075<t≦0.185). The dielectric composition also includes a glass component containing at least 0.1 weight percent or more of B2O3 in an amount of 0.05 to 20 weight parts with respect to 100 weight parts of the main composition.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a low temperature-fired porcelain having a high dielectric constant εr and to an electronic part using such porcelain.
2. Related Art Statement
In high frequency circuit radio instruments such as cellular phones, top filters, interstage filters, local filters, etc. are used as high frequency circuit filters, and a laminated type dielectric filter is used as an interstage filter.
In order to produce a dielectric-laminated filter, a plurality of green sheets are produced from a powdery ceramic material to constitute a dielectric, and a given electrode pattern is formed on each of the green sheets by printing with a given conductive paste. A laminate is then obtained by laminating the resulting green sheets, and the laminate is fired so that the conductive paste layers and the green sheets are simultaneously fired to densify the laminate.
At that time, a metallic conductor having a low melting point, such as a silver-based conductor, a copper-based conductor or a nickel-based conductor is generally used for the electrode. The melting points are, for example, 1100° C. or lower. Ag has a melting point of about 950 to 960° C. For this reason, the dielectric needs to be sintered at a firing temperature lower than the melting point of the metal constituting the electrode.
The assignee has disclosed a dielectric composition for firing at a low temperature in Japanese patent publication H5-319922A.
It has recently been demanded to further miniaturize electronic parts and thus to further improve the dielectric constant εr of a dielectric porcelain composition. For example, the lower limit of dimensions of a dielectric laminate filter obtainable is 2.0 mm×1.25 mm when the dielectric composition having a dielectric constant of 80. When a dielectric porcelain composition having a dielectric constant of 110 or higher is used, the lower limits of the dimensions of the filter can be reduced to 1.6 mm×0.8 mm.
An object of the present invention is to provide a dielectric composition for firing at a low temperature having a high dielectric constant εr, a high Q value, and a low temperature coefficient τf of resonance frequency.

Dielectric compositions for firing at low temperatures and electronic parts


The present invention relates generally to novel systems and methods for polymerizing nanoparticles within a polymer matrix and to novel methods for fabricating materials containing nanoparticles in a polymer matrix.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to novel systems and methods for polymerizing nanoparticles within a polymer matrix and to novel methods for fabricating materials containing nanoparticles in a polymer matrix.
2. Description of the Related Art
Polymers are substances made of "many parts". In most cases the parts are small molecules which react with each other to form a larger molecule having hundreds, thousands, or millions of the small molecules linked together. A molecule used in producing a polymer is a monomer. A polymer made entirely from molecules of one monomer is referred to as a homopolymer. Chains that contain two or more different repeating monomers are copolymers.
The resulting molecules may be long, straight chains, or they may be branched, with small chains extending out from the molecular backbone. The branches also may grow until they join with other branches to form a huge, three-dimensional matrix. Variants of these molecular shapes are among the most important factors in determining the properties of the polymers created.
The size of polymer molecules is important. This is usually expressed in terms of molecular weight. Since a polymeric material contains many chains with the same repeating units, but with different chain lengths, average molecular weight must be used. In general, higher molecular weights lead to higher strength. But as polymer chains get bigger, their solutions, or melts, become more viscous and difficult to process.
Life as we know it could not exist without polymers. Proteins, with large numbers of amino acids joined by amide linkages, perform a wide variety of vital roles in plants and animals. Carbohydrates, with chains made up of repeating units derived from simple sugars, are among the most plentiful compounds in plants and animals. Both of these natural polymers are important fibers. Proteins are the basis for wool, silk and other animal-derived filaments. Cellulose as a carbohydrate occurs as cotton, linen and other vegetable fibers. The naturally occurring form of the base polymers limits the properties of these fibers. Some, like linen and silk, are difficult to isolate from their sources, which makes them scarce and expensive. There are, of course, many other sources of proteins and cellulose. Wood pulp is an example of a cellulose source. Natural polymers, however, tend to be very difficult to work with and form into fibers or other useful structures. The inter-chain forces can be strong because of the large number of polar groups in the molecular chains. Thus, natural polymers usually have melting points that are so high that they degrade before they liquefy.
The most useful molecules for fibers are long chains with few branches and a very regular, extended structure. Thus, cellulose is a good fiber-former. It has few side chains or linkages between the sugar units forcing its chains into extended configurations. However, starches, which contain the same basic sugar units, do not form useful fibers because their chains are branched and coiled into almost spherical configurations. Synthetic polymers offer more possibilities, since they can be designed with molecular structures that impart properties for desired end uses. Many of these polymers are capable of dissolving or melting, allowing them to be extruded into the long, thin filaments needed to make most textile products.
Synthetic polymer fibers can be made with regular structures that allow the chains to pack together tightly, a characteristic that gives filaments good strength. Thus, filaments can be made from some synthetic polymers that are much lighter and stronger than steel. Bullet-proof vests are made from synthetic fibers.
There are two basic chemical processes for the creation of synthetic polymers from small molecules: (1) condensation, or step-growth polymerization and (2) addition, or chain-growth polymerization.
In step-growth polymerization, monomers with two reactive ends join to form dimers (two parts joined together), then "trimers" (three parts), and so on. However, since each of the newly formed oligomers (short chains containing only a few parts) also has two reactive ends, they can join together; so a dimer and a trimer would form a pentamer (five repeating parts). In this way the chains may quickly great length achieve large size. This form of step-growth polymerization is used for the manufacture of two of the most important classes of polymers used for textile fibers, polyamide (commonly known as nylon), and polyester.
There are many different commercial versions of polyester in a wide variety of applications, including plastics, coatings, films, paints, and countless other products. The polymer usually used for textile fibers is poly(ethylene terephthalate), or PET, which is formed by reacting ethylene glycol with either terephthalic acid or dimethyl terephthalate. Antimony oxide is usually added as a catalyst, and high vacuum is used to remove the water or methanol byproducts. High temperature (>250° C.) is necessary to provide the energy for the reaction, and to keep the resultant polymer in a molten state.
PET molecules are regular and straight, so their inter-chain forces are strong—but not strong enough to prevent melting. PET chains are long and "rigid" and their inter-chain forces, while somewhat strong, do not allow for significant alignment of groups on the chain that would interact strongly with other chains. In contrast, with cellulose the inter-chain forces are almost as strong as the hydrogen bonding that occurs in water. Thus, PET is a "thermoplastic" material; that is, it can be melted and then solidified to form specific products. Since its melting point is high, it does not soften or melt at temperatures normally encountered in laundering or drying. Another important property of PET is its Tg, or "glass transition temperature". When a polymer is above its glass transition temperature, it is easy to change its shape. Below its Tg, the material is dimensionally stable and it resists changes in shape. This property is very important for textile applications because it allows some fibers, and the fabrics made from them, to be texturized or heat-set into a given shape. This can provide bulk to the yarn, or wrinkle resistance to the fabric. These set-in shapes remain permanent as long as the polymer is not heated above its Tg. Because its chains are closely packed and its ester groups do not form good hydrogen bonds, polyesters are also hydrophobic (i.e., they do not absorb water). This property also requires special dyeing techniques.
There are also many important classes of synthetic polyamides (nylons) and they have a wide variety of commercial uses. These are usually distinguished from each other by names based on the number of carbon atoms contained in their monomer units. As with polyesters, polyamides are formed by step-growth polymerization of monomers possessing two reactive groups. Here, the reactive functions are acids and amines. The monomers used may have their two reactive functions of the same chemical type (both acids, or both amines), or of different types. Thus, nylon 6,6—a very common fiber polymer—is made by reacting molecules of adipic acid (containing six carbons in a chain, with an acid function at each end) with hexamethylene diamine (also six carbon atoms, with amine functions at each end). In another variant the diamine contains ten carbons atoms, the product designated nylon 6,10.
The other common polyamide fiber polymer is nylon 6. Its monomer has six carbons in the chain, with an amine at one end and an acid at the other. Thus only one form of monomer is needed to carry out the reaction. Commercial production of nylon 6 makes use of caprolactam, a derivative that provides the same result.
As with the polyesters, nylons have regular structures that permit good inter-chain forces, imparting high strength. Both nylon 6 and nylon 6,6 have melting points similar to PET, but have a lower Tg. Also, since the amide functions in nylon chains are good at hydrogen bonding, nylons can be penetrated by water molecules. This allows them to be dyed from aqueous media, unlike their polyester counterparts.
In addition to nylon, there is another commercially important group of synthetic polyamides. These are the aramids, which contain aromatic rings as part of their polymer chain backbone. Due to the stability of their aromatic structures and their conjugated amide linkages, the aramids are characterized by exceptionally high strength and thermal stability. Their usefulness for common textile applications is limited by their high melting points and by their insolubility in common solvents. They are expensive to fabricate, and they carry an intrinsic color that ranges from light yellow to deep gold.
The polyurethanes, another group of step-growth polymers, are produced by the reaction of polyols and polyisocyanates. For fiber purposes, this class of linear polymers is formed from glycols and diisocyanates. Usually, the reactions are carried out to form block copolymers containing at least two different chemical structures—one rigid, and the other flexible. The flexible segments stretch, while the rigid sections act as molecular anchors to allow the material to recover its original shape when the stretching force is removed. Varying the properties of the segments, and the ratio of flexible to rigid segments controls the amount of stretch. Fibers made in this way are classified as spandex and they are used widely in apparel where stretch is desirable.
Chain-growth polymerization occurs when an activated site on a molecule, such as a free radical or ion, adds to a double bond, producing a new bond and a new activated location. That location then attacks another double bond, adding another unit to the chain, and a new reactive end. The process may be repeated thousands, or millions, of times, to produce very large molecules. This is usually a high energy process and the intermediate species are so reactive that, in addition to attacking available monomer, they also may attack other chains, producing highly branched structures. Since these branches prevent the molecules from forming regular structures with other molecules, their inter-chain forces are weak. The resulting polymers tend to be low-melting and waxy.
The breakthrough in making chain-growth polymers useful for fibers and for most commercial plastics came with the development of special selective catalysts that drive the production of long, straight polymer chains from monomers containing basic carbon-to-carbon double bonds. Ethylene and propylene form the simplest chain-growth polymers. Since their polymer chains contain no polar groups, these polyolefins must rely on close contact between the molecular chains for strength. Thus, the physical characteristics of polyethylene are very sensitive to even a small number of chain branches. Very straight chains of polyethylene can form strong crystalline structures that exhibit exceptional strength. Protective fabrics made from this type of highly structured polyethylene are virtually impossible to penetrate or cut.
Polypropylene is more complicated. Even without chain branching, each monomer unit adds one methyl group pendant to the chain. The arrangement of these side groups is described as the "tacticity" of the polymer. A random arrangement is considered "atactic", or without tacticity. Regular arrangement with all side groups on one side of the chain is "isotactic", and a regular alternating structure is "syndiotactic". Polypropylene molecules can only pack closely in an isotactic arrangement. Synthesis of these polymers was a major challenge, but several stereoselective catalysts are now available, and high-density polypropylene has become a commodity product. Fibers made from it are lightweight, hydrophobic and highly crystalline. Their resistance to wetting gives them good moisture wicking and anti-staining properties. This also makes them virtually undyeable, except when the dye is applied to the polymer in its molten state—a process know as solution dyeing.
By contrast, the pendant nitrile functions in polyacrylonitrile are sufficiently polar to produce very strong inter-chain forces. Pure homopolymers from acrylonitrile are non-thermoplastic and difficult to dissolve or dye. Thus, for most commercial acrylonitrile polymers, small amounts of other monomers with bulky side chains are introduced to force the chains apart, to reduce the inter-chain forces. Common co-monomers for these fiber applications include vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate, acrylic acid, and methyl acrylate.
There are also a number of complex, specialty fiber polymers with methods of synthesis that are not easily classified. These materials are occasionally used in high performance materials where the complex structures impart exceptional strength, thermal stability, electrical conductivity, and others desirable properties. They include PBI (polybenzimidazole) and sulfur.
Most synthetic and cellulosic manufactured fibers are created by "extrusion"—forcing a thick, viscous liquid (about the consistency of cold honey) through the tiny holes of a device called a spinneret to form continuous filaments of semi-solid polymer.
In their initial state, the fiber-forming polymers are solids and therefore must be first converted into a fluid state for extrusion. This is usually achieved by melting, if the polymers are thermoplastic synthetics (i.e., they soften and melt when heated), or by dissolving them in a suitable solvent if they are non-thermoplastic cellulosics. If they cannot be dissolved or melted directly, they must be chemically treated to form soluble or thermoplastic derivatives. Recent technologies have been developed for some specialty fibers made of polymers that do not melt, dissolve, or form appropriate derivatives. For these materials, the small fluid molecules are mixed and reacted to form the otherwise intractable polymers during the extrusion process. Most manufactured fibers are produced using a spinneret, a metal cap with minute holes, through which a polymer is forced under pressure to produce fibers.
The spinnerets used in the production of most manufactured fibers are similar, in principle, to a bathroom shower head. A spinneret may have from one to several hundred holes. The tiny openings are very sensitive to impurities and corrosion. The liquid feeding them must be carefully filtered (not an easy task with very viscous materials) and, in some cases, the spinneret must be made from very expensive, corrosion-resistant metals. Maintenance is also critical, and spinnerets must be removed and cleaned on a regular basis to prevent clogging.
As the filaments emerge from the holes in the spinneret, the liquid polymer is converted first to a rubbery state and then solidified. This process of extrusion and solidification of endless filaments is called spinning, not to be confused with the textile operation of the same name, where short pieces of staple fiber are twisted into yarn. There are four methods of spinning filaments of manufactured fibers: wet, dry, melt, and gel spinning.
Wet spinning is the oldest process. It is used for fiber-forming substances that have been dissolved in a solvent. The spinnerets are submerged in a chemical bath and, as the filaments emerge, the filaments precipitate from solution and solidify. Because the solution is extruded directly into the precipitating liquid, this process for making fibers is called wet spinning. Acrylic, rayon, aramid, modacrylic and spandex can be produced by this process.
Dry spinning is also used for fiber-forming substances in solution. However, instead of precipitating the polymer by dilution or chemical reaction, solidification is achieved by evaporating the solvent in a stream of air or inert gas. The filaments do not come in contact with a precipitating liquid, eliminating the need for drying and easing solvent recovery. This process may be used for the production of acetate, triacetate, acrylic, modacrylic, PBI, spandex, and vinyon.
In melt spinning, the fiber-forming substance is melted for extrusion through the spinneret and then directly solidified by cooling. Nylon, olefin, polyester, saran and sulfur are produced in this manner. Melt spun fibers can be extruded from the spinneret in different cross-sectional shapes (round, trilobal, pentagonal, octagonal, and others). Trilobal-shaped fibers reflect more light and give an attractive sparkle to textiles. Pentagonal-shaped and hollow fibers, when used in carpet, show less soil and dirt. Octagonal-shaped fibers offer glitter-free effects. Hollow fibers trap air, creating insulation and provide loft characteristics equal to, or better than, down.
Gel spinning is a special process used to obtain high strength or other special fiber properties. The polymer is not in a true liquid state during extrusion. Not completely separated, as they would be in a true solution, the polymer chains are bound together at various points in liquid crystal form. Strong inter-chain forces cause liquid crystal alignments between molecules, resulting in an increased tensile strength of the fibers. In addition, the liquid crystals are aligned along the fiber axis by the shear forces during extrusion. The filaments emerge with an unusually high degree of orientation relative to each other, further enhancing their strength. The process can also be described as dry-wet spinning, since the filaments first pass through air and then are cooled further in a liquid bath. Some high-strength polyethylene and aramid fibers are produced by gel spinning.
While extruded fibers are solidifying, or in some cases even after they have hardened, the filaments may be drawn to impart strength. Drawing pulls the molecular chains together and orients them along the fiber axis, creating a considerably stronger yarn. It will be appreciated that filler materials, such as inorganic fillers, can be added to polymeric matrices, more specifically, to polymeric fibers so as to confer a variety of desired chemical and physical properties.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,618,872, issued to Pohl et al. discloses the use of monodisperse, non-porous, spherical particles based on SiO2, TiO2, ZrO2, Al2O3, V2O5, Nb2O5 or mixed systems thereof, which are optionally modified on the surface by covalently bonded organic groups, as fillers in organic matrix materials, the refractive index of the particles being adapted to the refractive index of the organic matrix according to the use.
Nano-phase or nano-structured materials, i.e., nanoparticles or materials with grain sizes less than about 100 m (0.1 μm), are of great interest because such materials have properties different from and often superior to those of conventional bulk materials. Examples include greater strength, hardness, ductility, and sinterability; size dependent light absorption, greater reactivity among others. There has been considerable progress in determining the properties of nano-phase materials, small amounts of which have been synthesized (mainly as nano-size powders) by a number of processes including colloidal precipitation, mechanical grinding, and gas-phase nucleation and growth. Extensive reviews have documented recent developments in nano-phase materials. See Gleiter, H. (1989) "Nano-crystalline materials," Prog. Mater. Sci. 33:223-315 and Siegel, R. W. (1993) "Synthesis and properties of nano-phase materials," Mater. Sci. Eng. A168:189-197.
The potential applications of nano-phase materials include wear resistant coatings, thermal barrier coatings, ductile ceramics, new electronic and optical devices, and catalysts, among others. However, before the benefits of this emerging technology can be realized in the form of commercial products, two challenging problems need to be addressed, namely, (1) controlled, high-rate synthesis of nano-size powders, and (2) assembly of these powders into nano-structured materials. Controlled synthesis implies that the particles are uniform in size, composition and morphology, and are substantially unagglomerated, and generally requires that the consolidation or assembly be done in-situ to avoid contamination or to control the "nano-structure" of the resulting material. Nanoparticles have been made from metals (for example, Pd, Cu, Fe, Ag, Ni), intermetallics (for example, Al52 Ti48), and metal oxides (for example, TiO2, Y2O3, ZnO, MgO, Al2O3).
Interest in nanoparticles has grown over the last two decades because of the unusual properties these particles possess, properties that generally arise from the large surface area to volume ratios of the particles, but also from their size. Once formed, the nanoparticles can be used in a powder form, used as a coating material, or condensed into nano-phase materials. If denser nano-phase materials are desired than achievable through cold pressing, the nano-phase particles can be condensed using a hot pressing technique or sintered after the initial cold pressing step.
Nano-phase materials exhibit a variety of properties. For example, nano-phase metals have been reported with a yield stress and microhardness of three to five times greater than the same metals processed using conventional techniques. Nano-phase ceramics exhibit vastly improved ductility and malleability. One producer of nano-phase ceramics has demonstrated plastic, if not superplastic, deformability of a TiO2 nano-phase sample by pressing a cylinder of the material into a disk. The compressed disk did not exhibit any cracks or flaws.
Particle formation techniques include chemical and physical vapor deposition, mechanical attrition, gas phase pyrolysis and condensation, electrodeposition, cryochemical synthesis, laser pyrolysis, and gel synthesis. These techniques typically produce quantities on the order of grams per hour, quantities that are sufficient for research, but generally insufficient for most commercial applications.
However, such use of nanoparticles in polymeric matrices does not provide control of particle spacing within a polymer fiber. Accordingly, there remains a need for systems and methods by which nanoparticles can be controllably spaced within polymeric fibers.

Methods for material fabrication utilizing the polymerization of nanoparticles

Science Applications International Corporation


A beam monitoring assembly (10) that provides near-field imaging, far-field imaging and power measurements of a laser beam (12) in real-time for alignment and performance verification purposes. The monitoring assembly (10) includes a holographic beam splitter (24) that splits the laser beam (12) from the laser resonator cavity into a series of separate split beams (28, 30, 32) having varying beam powers. One of the split beams (28) is directed to a power meter (36) to measure the power of the beam (12). One of the split beams (28) is directed to a near-field camera (42) that provides a near-field image of the beam (12). Another one of the split beams (30) is directed to a heat dump (52) that absorbs and removes the beam's energy from the assembly. Another one of the split beams (32) is directed to a far-field lens (46) that focuses the split beam (32) onto a far-field camera (50) that provides a far-field image of the beam (12). The near-field and far-field images of the beam (12) are displayed on an operator control panel in real time. Suitable computer electronics (38) and camera electronics (58) are provided to process the electrical signals from the power meter (36) and the cameras (42, 50).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a beam monitoring assembly that monitors a laser beam for alignment and performance verification purposes and, more particularly, to a beam monitoring assembly that provides real time, non-intrusive monitoring of the near-field and far-field spacial mode and beam power of a laser beam using beam optics included in a laser head enclosure.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
High power, solid state lasers, such as diode slab lasers, that are used for many purposes, such as cutting, drilling and welding of various materials for precision laser machining (PLM), electronics manufacture, medical treatment, nuclear fusion, laser weapons, etc., are known in the art. A solid state slab laser will include one or more gain modules each having a solid state laser gain medium, such as a crystal of neodymium yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG), Yb:YAG, Ti: sapphire or neodymium glass (Nd:glass), and an optical pumping source to produce a population inversion in the gain medium. The gain medium typically has a slab configuration with a rectangular cross-section, an optically polished major side and end faces. The optical pumping source generally is one or more diode arrays positioned adjacent to the side faces of the slab. The laser gain medium absorbs light radiation from the diode arrays to create a population inversion within the medium to produce a laser beam output. The end faces of the slab are preferably formed at a non-perpendicular angle to the side faces so that light travels longitudinally in a zig-zag pattern through the laser gain medium as it is reflected off of the side faces. A high power solid state slab laser of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,555,254 issued to Injeyan et al., Sep. 10, 1996, and U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 08/683,585, filed Jul. 15, 1996, titled "Diode Laser Pumped Solid State Laser Gain Module", and assigned to the assignee of the instant invention.
The diode arrays are switched on and off or pumped in a controlled manner to generate a pulsed laser beam emitted from the gain medium that has a particular pulse rate and pulse width. The light output of the diode arrays can be accurately tuned to the absorption line of the active material of the laser gain medium to achieve a high pumping efficiency. An increase in the pulse rate and/or pulse width increases the power output of the laser beam. The diode arrays are fired in a controlled manner to set the pulse width and pulse rate of the output beam. The firing of the various diode arrays for multiple gain modules can be controlled independently of each other in sequence to further control the overall pulse width and rate for the laser beam, or generate a continuous wave (CW) beam. Therefore, depending on the particular application, the pulse rate and pulse width of the beam output is controlled for efficient laser operation for that application.
The type of solid state laser described above currently has a wide application in PLM. To perform a PLM operation, a laser operator will calibrate or program a controller that controls the laser to operate the laser beam at a desired power level and machining sequence to perform the desired machining operation. A single machining operation may include various degrees of cutting, welding, and drilling of a single workpiece or multiple workpieces. For example, the machining operation may require a welding operation and then immediately thereafter, drilling of a series of holes and/or cutting the workpiece. The welding operation generally requires different power levels than cutting and drilling operations, and the welding process itself may require different laser power levels. For example, welding around a corner of the workpiece may require a decrease in power because the welding operation may have to be slowed down and the resulting higher power may damage or burn the material of the workpiece at the slower speed. Further, the laser can be calibrated to weld a certain material, such as steel. If the operator then changes to a different material, such as a different steel, aluminum, copper, etc., different laser settings and output parameters would be required.
It is necessary to align the resonator cavity components of a laser for proper laser operation. To do this, a visual representation of the beam needs to be provided. Also, laser machines for PLM operations generally require a very bright and stable optical beam. It is therefore desirable to visually monitor beam quality and beam performance during a machining operation to maintain high precision machining. This image may also be used in an electronic image processing system that can actively control the alignment of the laser. It is important to verify the performance of the laser beam without interrupting the laser operation during material processing on factory floors, because the down-time of the laser system affects production schedules, and poor beam quality from varying output power effects product quality.
In order to provide beam alignment and monitor beam performance during a machining operation, it is beneficial to display the near-field and far-field images of the beam. The near-field image is the image of the beam as it leaves the laser, and the far-field image is the image of the beam at its focus, such as when it contacts the workpiece. In order to have a suitable beam performance for machining operations such as cutting and drilling, the near-field image of the beam needs to have a high degree of intensity and wave front uniformity, and the far-field image needs to have a high degree of beam circularity and intensity uniformity.
Optical systems are known for displaying the near-field and far-field images of a laser beam. However, these optical systems are typically large compared to the laser itself, and are not readily compatible to being combined with existing laser systems because of cost, complexity and size.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a beam monitoring assembly that provides beam alignment and performance capabilities by non-intrusive monitoring of the near-field spacial mode and the far-field spacial mode of a laser beam in a small compact package that can be readily positioned in a laser head enclosure.


An advanced infrared (IR) Sensor based on the present invention would add the following two elements to a basic staring IR sensor using a 2 dimensional array of detector elements to significantly enhance the detection sensitivity of the device. The added features are: (1) Additional optics or modification to the normal optics to scan the image over a small fraction of the array dimensions so that each point in the image is sampled by a number of different detector elements, and (2) signal processing to combine the multiple samples for each image point so as to exclude the effects of "dead", "weak" or excessively noisy detector elements and average out the element to element sensitivity variations and calibration/correction imperfections of the "normal" elements. The effect of this process would be to provide an output which contained no "dead" picture elements (pixels), with root-mean-square (RMS) spatial noise reduced by approximately a factor of the square root of the number of image samples averaged and with dramatic suppression of the extreme values in the output variation statistics. In addition, the performance improvements outlined above can be accomplished using detector arrays having a large number of bad elements which would normally make them unacceptable for use.

The invention relates to the field of infrared sensors in which infrared radiation is detected with an array of photodetectors, converted to electrical signals and then electronically displayed, recorded or used for automatic detection and/or track of targets. Major fields of use include night vision devices such as the forward looking infrared (FLIR) systems, surveillance systems, and sensor/tracking systems for weapon control. The invention finds greatest utility in detecting extremely weak objects or objects whose emitted radiation has been strongly attenuated by atmospheric conditions and in using detector arrays with a substantial number of defective elements. Prior art systems are known to use two-dimensional arrays and scanners along with coolers for detectors and focusing optics. These are the common building blocks of modern infrared sensors. Pat. No. 4,806,761 to Carson et al. employs a two-dimensional detector array which is carried by and mounted on the focal plane of an optical/electronics module which has embedded in it amplifying, filtering and multiplexing circuitry utilizing MOSFET transistors. Carson et al. suggests use of a limited nutation scanning mode to modulate the incoming radiation and to allow comparison and calibration to remove the low frequency (1/f) noise from the lead selenide photodetectors. The main thrust of the Carson et al. device is to achieve acceptable performance out of inexpensive detector materials by using Z-technology electronics packaging and signal chopping/scanning to solve problems of excessive low frequency (1/f) noise and overcome the inherent low sensitivity of lead selenide photodetectors.
Another prior art Pat. No. 4,728,804 to Norsworthy employs a scanner and multiplexer to reduce processor complexity and the number of electrical connections required between the elements of the sensor.
Another prior art Pat. No. 4,767,9374 to Norsworthy employs a scanner and special detector array geometry to permit a high frame rate with reduced target scan rate, reduced processor complexity as well as reducing the number of electrical connections required between the elements of the sensor.
Problems associated with the patents discussed above and the prior art in general is an inability to fully benefit from the use of high density two-dimensional arrays of the most sensitive photodetector materials such as HgCdTe, InSb, etc. Prior art devices using high density two-dimensional arrays of highly sensitive detector materials ar limited by the spatial noise or residual detector nonuniformity which remains even after array calibration and normal electronic correction. Prior art devices also suffer from an inability to remove the effect of dead or totally nonfunctioning detector elements. Although some cosmetic improvement to the images may be made by electronics, missing information is still missing.
It is very difficult or costly to build large two-dimensional arrays of detectors from some materials where all the detectors have an acceptable responsivity and noise level. As a result, the majority of highly sensitive large format focal plane arrays have some detectors which are "dead" or "weak" or "noisy". "Dead" detectors have either no measurable responsivity or responsivity of an extremely low level. "Weak" detectors have measurable responsivity, but it is so low that an unacceptably noisy signal results after amplification. "Noisy" detectors may have normal responsivity but they have a noise level significantly greater than the array average. Even acceptable detector elements have a range of responsivities and hence produce a nonuniform display with spatial (fixed pattern) noise. Spatial noise from acceptable detectors can be (and normally is) partially corrected by a 2 (or sometimes 3) point linear correction process. However, such processes are inexact, and result in residual errors from several sources.
A major feature of Applicants' invention is the ability to use a photodetector array that otherwise would be unacceptable due to the number of defective or out of tolerance elements and still get a high level of performance. For instance, one faced with equipment design could spend the resources to use a photodetector array that was 99.9 percent defect free with associated problems and costs in attempting to obtain a near perfect array or could use Applicants' method and/or device to obtain superior results with an array that is only 95 percent defect free.
Thus, it is an object of this invention to reduce spatial noise resulting from residual compensation errors.
A further object is to teach a method and device to reduce or eliminate the effects of dead, weak or noisy photodetectors which view or scan an image point.
It is a further object to teach an Advanced IR Sensor which more fully benefits from large, high density, high quantum efficiency photodetector arrays made from such materials as HgCdTe and InSb.
Yet another object is to teach a method of obtaining high performance from a photodetector array with reduced costs.
It is still a further object of the present invention to teach a system which addresses the effects of spatial defects and nonuniformity which remain after gain and level correction.

Method and device for improved IR detection with compensations for individual detector response

The United States of America as represented by the United States Secretary of the Navy


There are a first stopper and a second stopper positioned on a main body of a satellite receiver. A cover having a block is coupled with the main body of the satellite receiver. The block of the cover is capable of sliding between the first stopper and the second stopper when the cover is coupled with the main body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a satellite receiver, and more particularly, to a satellite receiver having a cover.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Since typical satellite receivers are positioned outside, a cover is usually coupled with a satellite receiver to protect signal transmission connectors of the satellite receiver from rain. Generally, the cover is a plastic cover. However, the main body of a satellite receiver is typically made of aluminum alloy, and thereby includes a plastic main body to receive the connector of the cover. The prior art relies on plastic-to-plastic connector of the cover to the satellite receiver, and therefore has increased cost.


A device for retaining a printed circuit board is provided, which includes a first side plate and two second side plates. The first has at least one first rib perpendicularly protruding therefrom, each of the second side plate has at least one second rib perpendicularly protruding therefrom. The second ribs of the two second side plate are located in a same plane, and the plane that the second ribs of the two second side plates are located is spaced from that the first rib is located. When a printed circuit board (PCB) is placed in the device, the first rib presses against one side surface of the PCB, and the second rib press against the other side surface of the PCB, so that the PCB is retained in the device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a circuit board clip apparatus, and more particularly to a clip apparatus using a frame to clip a printed circuit board (PCB).
2. Related Art
Fixing a printed circuit board (PCB) into a housing of an electronic device in the art is achieved by the use of screws or push pins. As for a small PCB, a plurality of fixing holes are formed in the PCB near the the edges of the PCB. Then, the PCB is placed onto the housing of an electronic device that the PCB is going to be fixed onto, and the fixing holes of the PCB and the screw holes of the housing are aligned. Screws are then passed through the fixing holes and screwed into the screw holes of the housing, so as to fix the PCB onto the housing. A push pin used to fix the PCB includes a post portion protruding from the housing, a hook portion formed on one end of the post portion, and a base portion form on the other end of the post portion. For fixing the PCB onto the housing with the push pin, the PCB is pressed against the inner side of housing of the electronic device. Then, the latch portion and the post portion of the push pin is passed through the fixing hole of the housing, and the the base portion of the push pin is engaged within the fixing hole of the housing, so as to fix the push pin on the housing. In the meanwhile, the latch portion of the push pin is engaged within the fixing hile of the PCB, or catch the edge of the PCB, so as to fix and support the PCB on the housing.
However, fixing the PCB by the use of screws or push pin has disadvantages. Fixing the PCB by the use of screws is time consuming, and it require to be performed with tools, such as screw driver. During fixng is performed, it is difficult to align the fixing holes of the PCB and the screw holes of the housing of the electronic device, and the screws or the screw driver may be blocked or collided by the parts and components around the PCB. And also, the PCB may be scraped by screws or tools, such as screw drivers, thus fixng with screws is inconvenience. Fixing the PCB by the use of push pin is time saving and convenient, the latch portion of the push pin occupied a portion of surface area of the PCB, that is, this portion of surface area of the PCB must be preserved for push pin, such that it is not economical as for a small PCB with relative small area. The screws for fixing the PCB also occupy portion of surface area of the PCB.

Device for retaining a printed circuit board


Systems and techniques for an optical scanning microscope and/or other appropriate imaging system includes components for scanning and collecting focused images of a tissue sample and/or other object disposed on a slide. The focusing system described herein provides for determining best focus for each snapshot as a snapshot is captured, which may be referred to as “on-the-fly focusing.” The devices and techniques provided herein lead to significant reductions in the time required for forming a digital image of an area in a pathology slide and provide for the creation of high quality digital images of a specimen at high throughput.

Molecular imaging identification of changes in the cellular structures indicative of disease remains a key to the better understanding in medicinal science. Microscopy applications are applicable to microbiology (e.g., gram staining, etc.), plant tissue culture, animal cell culture (e.g. phase contrast microscopy, etc.), molecular biology, immunology (e.g., ELISA, etc.), cell biology (e.g., immunofluorescence, chromosome analysis, etc.), confocal microscopy, time-lapse and live cell imaging, series and three-dimensional imaging.
There have been advances in confocal microscopy that have unraveled many of the secrets occurring within the cell and the transcriptional and translational level changes can be detected using fluorescence markers. The advantage of the confocal approach results from the capability to image individual optical sections at high resolution in sequence through the specimen. However, there remains a need for systems and methods for digital processing of images of pathological tissue that provide accurate analysis of pathological tissues, at a relatively low cost.
It is a desirable goal in digital pathology to obtain high resolution digital images for viewing in a short period of time. Current manual methods whereby the pathologist views a slide through the ocular lens of a microscope allows a diagnosis upon inspection of cell characteristics or count of stained cells vs. unstained cells. Automated methods are desirable whereby digital images are collected, viewed on high resolution monitors and may be shared and archived for later use. It is advantageous that the digitization process be accomplished efficiently at a high throughput and with high resolution and high quality images.
In conventional virtual microscopy systems, imaging techniques can produce individual images that may be significantly out of focus over much of the image. Conventional imaging systems are restricted to a single focal distance for each individual snapshot taken by a camera, thus, each of these "fields of view" has areas that are out of focus when the subject specimen being scanned does not have a uniform surface. At the high magnification levels employed in virtual microscopy, specimens with a uniform surface are extremely rare.
Conventional systems use a pre-focusing technique to address the high proportion of out-of-focus images that is based on a two step process that includes: 1) determining, in a first pass, the best focus at an array of points, separated by n image frames, arranged on a two-dimensional grid laid on the top of a tissue section; and 2) in another pass, moving to each focus point and acquire an image frame. For points between these best focus points, the focus is interpolated. While this two step process may reduce or even eliminate out-of-focus images, the process results in a significant loss in the speed of acquiring the tiled images.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a system that overcomes the significant problems inherent in conventional imaging systems and efficiently provides focused, high quality images at a high throughput.


Disclosed are novel pyrimido compounds that are inhibitors of Src family of tyrosine kinases. These compounds and their pharmaceutically acceptable salts are anti-proliferative agents useful in the treatment or control of solid tumors, in particular breast, colon, hepatic and pancreatic tumors. Also disclosed are pharmaceutical compositions containing these compounds and methods of treating cancer.

Protein kinases are a class of proteins (enzymes) that regulate a variety of cellular functions. This is accomplished by the phosphorylation of specific amino acids on protein substrates resulting in conformational alteration of the substrate protein. The conformational change modulates the activity of the substrate or its ability to interact with other binding partners. The enzyme activity of the protein kinase refers to the rate at which the kinase adds phosphate groups to a substrate. It can be measured, for example, by determining the amount of a substrate that is converted to a product as a function of time. Phosphorylation of a substrate occurs at the active-site of a protein kinase.
Tyrosine kinases are a subset of protein kinases that catalyze the transfer of the terminal phosphate of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to tyrosine residues on protein substrates. These kinases play an important part in the propagation of growth factor signal transduction that leads to cellular proliferation, differentiation and migration.
For example, the Src family of non-receptor tyrosine kinases has been specifically implicated in cancer cell modulation and growth. See D. H. Boschelli and F. Boschelli, "Small molecule inhibitors of Src family kinases," Drugs of the Future 2000, 25(7):717–736. Src over expression has been detected in colon, breast, hepatic and pancreatic tumors, as well as in certain B-cell leukemias and lymphomas. Id at 719. Increased Src expression and activity has also been shown to correlate with an increase in tumor malignancy. Id at 719. Thus, Src inhibitors can be useful as antitumor agents.
There are several examples of small molecule inhibitors of protein kinase catalytic activity. In particular, small molecule inhibitors typically block the phosphorylation of substrates by tightly interacting with the protein kinase ATP binding site (or "active site"). See WO 98/24432 and Hennequin L. F. et. al., J. Med. Chem. 2002, 45(6), pp1300. Several of these compounds inhibit multiple targets. For example, W099/61444 (Warner-Lambert) discloses bicyclic pyrimidines and bicyclic 3,4-dihydropyrimidines of formula
that are asserted to inhibit cyclin dependent kinases Cdk1, Cdk2 and Cdk4 as well as the growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase enzymes PDGFR and FGFR. Some compounds are also asserted to inhibit Cdk6.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,150,373 (Hoffmann-La Roche Inc.) discloses bicyclic nitrogen heterocycles of formula
that are stated to inhibit the T-cell tyrosine kinase p56lck.
WO 01/29041 A1 and WO 01/29042 (F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG) disclose alkylamino substituted bicyclic nitrogen heterocycles of formula
that are stated to inhibit p38 mediated cellular functions and are thus inhibitors of cellular proliferation.
WO 01/64679 A1 (SmithKline Beecham) discloses 1,5-disubstituted-3,4-dihydro-1H-pyrimido[4,5-D]pyrimidin-2-one compounds of formula
that are stated to be useful in treating CSBP/P38 kinase mediated diseases.
There continues to be a need for easily synthesized, small-molecule compounds effective in inhibiting the catalytic activity of protein kinases, in particular the Src family of non-receptor tyrosine kinases ("SFKs"), for treating one or more types of cancers, particularly solid tumors. It is preferable that such small molecule inhibitors also possess advantageous bioavailability profiles. It is thus an object of this invention to provide such compounds and pharmaceutical compositions containing these compounds.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Pyrimido compounds having antiproliferative activity


A collapsible traffic barrier system is disclosed which includes a steel vault having a top treated with anti-skid material. A rod is rotatably mounted to support members inside the vault, wherein the rod extends across the vault from end to end. A plurality of bollards are coupled to the rod substantially near the first end thereof, whereby rotation of the rod rotates the bollards so as to extend the second ends of the bollards above the vault in a vertical direction, or raised position. An actuator having a first end anchored within the vault and a second end is coupled to the rod by means of an arm. The actuator is a worm-drive mechanism disposed for rotating the rod. A stop is anchored to the bottom of the vault for engaging the first ends of the bollards when the bollards are in the raised position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an automatic collapsible self-contained, below-grade traffic barrier bollard system which can be installed with a minimum amount of excavation and minimum on-site construction. The system may be installed into a foundation perimeter and features a novel and unique rapid deployment system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the recent terrorists' attacks and threats of further attacks, security has become of utmost concern to businesses, local, state and federal governments and especially the military. Many security devices are currently available, such as traffic barricades. These traffic barricades come in a wide variety of types adapted for general and specific purposes. However, the present invention relates specifically to collapsible road traffic barriers and barricades.
Collapsible road traffic barriers and barricades are well known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,185, which issued to Eikelenboon on Aug. 29, 1989, discloses a collapsible road traffic barrier comprised of a foundation pit, a frame located in the foundation pit, an expandable traffic barrier element mounted in the frame, at least one energy absorption element extending from a rear wall of the foundation pit to a rear side of the frame, and at least one stretching element connected between the front side of the frame and the front wall of the foundation pit. A large disadvantage of this prior art device is that once a vehicle crashes into the device it is difficult and time consuming to repair afterwards.
Another example is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,737, which issued to Nasatka, et al, on Jul. 25, 1989, discloses a vehicle barricade comprised of a frame to which a traffic barrier plate is pivotally mounted for being moved between a passage and a blocking position. Here again, this prior art device is difficult and time consuming to repair after a crash. Moreover, the hydraulic actuator is slow in activation.
Still another example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,158,696, which issued to Brodski, provides a system that prevents motorists from crossing railroad tracks such that when the warning gates are down during the approach of a train, this invention provides for a plurality of piercing cogs that retract from the ground when the railroad crossing gates are closed. The device of this invention pierces the tires of vehicles crossing thereover but does not stop the vehicles from passing therethrough. Moreover, this prior art device has a similar problem of being difficult and time consuming to repair following a crash.
Yet another example is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,426, which issued to Perea on Nov. 10, 1987. The traffic barrier disclosed in this patent comprises a vault buried within and transverse to the roadway. The vault has within a latched plurality of traffic barrier arms that may be raised by any powered means, or manually, and the raised traffic barrier arms being positioned within the vault so that impact forces are transmitted directly to the vault, and to a foundation, and little or no load is supported by a pivoting mechanism disposed therein. This device has a similar problem of being difficult and time consuming to repair following a crash.
Accordingly, it is seen that there exists a need for an automatic self-contained collapsible traffic barrier bollard system, which can be installed with minimum excavation and on-site construction into a foundation perimeter and features a novel and unique rapid deployment system, and which is capable of being repaired in a brief amount of time. Ideally, the device of the present invention should encompass rapid deployment, portability, and ease of replacement.
The prior art collapsible road traffic barriers, as identified above, fail to provide the benefits intended with the present invention, such as providing an automatic self-contained collapsible traffic barrier bollard system that is easy to repair after a crash. Additionally, prior art techniques do not suggest the present inventive combination of component elements as disclosed and claimed herein. The present invention achieves its intended purposes, objectives and advantages over the prior art device through a new, useful and unobvious combination of component elements, which are simple to use, are reasonably simple and inexpensive to manufacture, assemble, test and may be manufactured of readily available materials.

Automatic self contained collapsible traffic barrier bollard system


According to one embodiment, a memory controller in an embodiment includes an encoding unit configured to generate a first parity group from first group data including first and second unit data using G1 (x), generate a second parity group from second group data including third and fourth unit data using G1 (x), and generate a third parity group from the first and second group data and the first and second parity groups using G2 (x), a root of which continues form a root of G1 (x). The memory controller writes the first to fourth unit data and the first to third parity groups in different pages of a nonvolatile memory.

In a NAND flash memory (hereinafter referred to as NAND memory), data is written in a unit of data called page unit. The data in a page unit (a page data) is written in one page of the NAND memory. An error correction circuit protects each of the page data written in the one page of the NAND memory through error correction encoding. In addition, for stronger protection, the error correction circuit sometimes performs processing of the error correction encoding for a plurality of the page data.

Memory controller, storage device and memory control method


A photoinitiator compound is functionalized with alkoxy groups so as to be soluble in alkoxy-containing monomers. The photoinitiator has a formula of R1—(OR2)n—OC(═O)—R3, wherein R1—(OR2)n— represents an alkoxy group and R3 represents a photoinitiator structure. The photoinitiator may be used in a composition for incorporation into inks.

Described herein are photoinitiators that are soluble in various monomers for use in inks or toners, more particularly for use in ultraviolet (UV) curable inks.
For inks, coatings and toners, it is particularly desirable that the photoinitiator be odorless and not affect the color of the ink negatively, for example, by itself exhibiting a color upon curing.
IRGACURE® 2959 is an inexpensive commercially available photoinitiator. However, IRGACURE® 2959 has limited solubility, especially in monomers with alkoxy functional groups such as those used in UV curable inks and coatings. The solubility problem discussed herein leads to incomplete or inconsistent curing which affects image quality and durability. A photoinitiator with improved solubility is desired to address such potential issues.

Photoinitiator functionalized with alkoxy groups


A process for making a metal-polymer composites suitable for shaping into container end panels having improved resistance to feathering and angel hair formation. A polymer coating is applied to a metal sheet. The polymer coating includes at least one cured polymer selected from polyolefins, anhydride modified polyolefins, epoxies, and phenoxies. The polymer coating on the composite is then irradiated with an electron beam, thereby scissioning chains in the cured polymer. The metal sheet preferably comprises an aluminum alloy and the polymer coating preferably comprises maleic anhydride modified polyropylene.

Metal sheet coated with a thermoplastic resin on one or both sides has long been used for shaping into bodies and end panels for food and beverage containers. The coating is applied by a variety of processes including roll coating, reverse roll coating, spraying, electrocoating, powder coating, and lamination. Coatings are applied to the metal sheet in order to improve corrosion resistance, formability, and appearance.
Electron beam radiation is used in the prior art to cure a coating material after it has been applied to a substrate. "Curing" is a common name for the process in which an organic coating applied to a substrate is polymerized to or nearly to the maximum extent practical, and in addition, curing drives off of all or nearly all of the solvent if any is present. The curing of a coating may involve polymerization from monomers, or the chain lengthening (cross linking) of oligomers or polymers, or any combination thereof. The average molecular weight of the polymer chains is increased, and any solvents which might be present are largely driven off. Electron beam curing may be defined as the above curing process induced by electron beam irradiation. Solvents are frequently not present in electron beam cured formulations, and therefore are frequently not driven off in the curing process. In electron beam curing, the electron beam ionizes specific molecules, which initiate a free radical reaction in the uncured coating and causes polymer cross linking (increasing average polymer molecular weight). A typical example of electron beam curing is in U.S. Pat. No. 4,452,374, granted to Hitchcock et al. In this patent, the polymer coating is cured by "cross linking the (polymer) via the use of conventional high energy electron beam irradiation techniques". Many other examples exist in the patent literature and published references. However, the curing treatments are stopped when full polymerization is reached or approached. This is because added energy, whether thermal, electron beam, or other, will begin to break polymer bonds, shorten chain length, reduce average molecular weight, and deteriorate the coating properties if energy application is continued beyond the point of full polymerization. Such property deterioration may include embrittlement, loss of strength, adhesion failure, and or yellowing of the polymer coating. With no nearby reactive materials present to continue the polymerization process, application of added energy causes the polymers to simply undergo a scission process in which chains are shortened and average molecular weight decreases.
Polymer coatings which are applied as fully polymerized materials do not receive a curing step after they are applied to a metal substrate. In extrusion coating, a polymer which has already been fully polymerized is melted and extruded onto the metal surface. A small amount of additional heating may be used to assure that the molten polymer flows into microscopic porosity in the substrate, but no further polymerization takes place, and no additional heating or irradiation is applied to cure the coating, drive off solvents, or further polymerize the coating molecules. In powder coating, fully polymerized powdered polymers are applied to the substrate, and then heated to melt them into a coherent mass and induce adhesion to the substrate. Again, however, no further polymerization takes place, and no heating or irradiation is applied to cure the coating, drive off solvents, or further polymerize the coating molecules.
Coating processes most commonly used commercially at the present time require solvent based systems that generate vapors. In order to provide a more environmentally acceptable coating process not requiring any solvents, extrusion coating of thermoplastic polymers onto metal surfaces has been proposed. Some prior art patents disclosing extrusion coating onto metal include Smith et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,702; Levendusky et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,919,517; Hitchock et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,452,374; and Schmid et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,942,285 and 6,153,264.
Extrusion coated aluminum alloy sheet performs adequately for some purposes. However, the highly ductile nature of thermoplastic polymers leads to problems when the polymer coated sheet is formed into end panels for food and beverage containers. The first problem, called "feathering" or "membraning", occurs when the thermoplastic coating separates from the metal when a pull tab or stay on tab is opened. A thin sheet of the separated coating is visible, either partially covering the container spout or sticking out from the opened panel. A second problem is called "angel hair", in which polymer coating pushed into the score line on the end panel forms fine filaments when the end is opened, thereby creating an undesirable appearance. The fine filaments of coating are free to enter the container through the opening or to enter the consumer's mouth. Angel hair sometimes also forms at the peripheral edges of polymer coated metal disk blanks for can bodies and at the top edges of polymer coated can bodies.
Accordingly, there still remains a need to provide polymer coated metal sheet having improved resistance to feathering and angel hair formation when the coated sheet is shaped into container end panels.
A principal objective of the present invention is to provide a process for making a metal-polymer composite including a polymer coating having scissioned polymer chains in order to improve resistance to feathering and angel hair formation.
Some advantages of the invention are that the process is inexpensive, can be performed quickly, and is capable of being operated without generating pollutants.
Additional objectives and advantages of our invention will become apparent to persons skilled in the art from the following detailed description of some particularly preferred embodiments.

Process for making a metal-polymer composite having an irradiated polymer coating


The present invention provides a thermal flow rate measurement device that is capable of highly accurate correction of the temperature of an intake gas flow rate using a two-dimensional correction map that stores a correction value in association with temperature and intake gas flow rate. A gas flow rate measurement device that corrects a flow rate detection signal using a correction amount in which the correction amount is a correction amount in which a position displaced from a grid point of an orthogonal grid on a correction map 100A is an acquisition point 102, and stores positional information of the acquisition point 102 on the correction map 100A, and, at a time of flow rate measurement, determines a reference input flow rate that refers to the correction map 100A on the basis of the positional information from a flow rate detection signal, determines a reference input temperature that refers to the correction map 100A on the basis of the positional information from a temperature detection signal, and determines a correction amount corresponding to an input flow rate of an input flow rate Q axis corresponding to the reference input flow rate and an input temperature of an input temperature T axis corresponding to the reference input temperature.

An automotive engine requires measurement of intake gas flow rate to control a fuel injection amount. A type of device for measuring an intake gas flow rate includes a thermal flow rate measurement device that uses a heat resistor. The thermal flow rate measurement device is configured to perform heat transfer between a flow rate detection unit formed in a flow rate detection element and an intake gas flow rate, which is a measurement target, to measure an intake gas flow rate. The thermal flow rate measurement device can measure the intake gas flow rate with high accuracy by correctly correcting thermal effects from measurement environments.
An automotive thermal flow rate measurement device is attached to an intake pipe for introducing intake gas to the engine. Therefore, it is subjected to heat generated by the engine, temperature changes in natural environments, and effects of temperatures that change depending on heat from a vehicle body heated by direct sunlight. Accordingly, the thermal flow rate measurement device requires highly accurate correction of the intake gas flow rate to reduce the temperature effects. The thermal flow rate measurement device reduces the temperature effects by correcting a detection signal of the intake gas flow rate on the basis of gas temperature, substrate temperature, or the like.
Meanwhile, as a thermal flow rate measurement device that performs adjustment to bring a detection signal closer to target output characteristics, a thermal gas flow rate meter described in JP 2007-071889 A (PTL 1) is known. In the thermal gas flow rate meter of PTL 1, a heating resistance element having temperature-dependent property is arranged in a gas flow channel and a gas flow rate is measured from an output value of a gauge circuit having the heating resistance element. The thermal gas flow rate meter includes an arithmetic circuit having a map data related to gas flow rate-output characteristics. The arithmetic circuit divides a region of map data more finely in a low flow region than in a high flow region of the gas flow rate, and corrects the output characteristics with respect to each gas flow rate region. Thus, the thermal gas flow rate meter of PTL 1 achieves highly accurate gas flow rate measurement by means of a small-scale circuit configuration (see the Abstract).


Mutants of CC chemokines, which contain at least two mutations in the cationic site of the 40's loop and which, relative to the wild-type molecule, have a reduced GAG-binding activity. In particular it has been found that such mutated chemokines are effective in the treatment of multiple sclerosis and/or demyelinating diseases. A triple mutant of RANTES is the compound showing the best results.

Chemokines constitute a family of small pro-inflammatory cytokines with leukocyte chemotactic and activating properties. Depending on the position of the first conserved cysteines, the chemokine family can be divided in C—C, C—X—C and C—X3—C chemokines (Baggiolini M. et al., Adv Immunol. 1994, 55:97-179; Baggiolini M. et al., Annu Rev Immunol. 1997,15:675-705; Taub D. et al., Cytokine Growth Factor Rev. 1996,7(4):355-76).
Many C—X—C chemokines such as interleukin-8 (IL-8) are chemotactic for neutrophils, while C—C chemokines are active on a variety of leukocytes including monocytes, lymphocytes, eosinophils, basophils, NK cells and dendritic cells.
The NH2-terminal domain of chemokines is involved in receptor binding and NH2-terminal processing can either activate chemokines or render chemokines completely inactive.
N-terminal variants of synthetical C—C chemokines have been tested for their activity as inhibitors or antagonists of the naturally occurring forms. MCP-1, MCP-3 and RANTES missing the 8 to 9 NH2-terminal amino acids are inactive on monocytes and are useful as receptor antagonists (Gong J H et al., J Exp Med. 1995,181(2):631-40 and Gong J H et al., J Biol Chem. 1996, 271(18):10521-7).
Extension of RANTES with one methionine results in almost complete inactivation of the molecule and Met-RANTES behaves as an antagonist for the authentic one (Proudfoot A E et al., J Biol Chem. Feb. 2, 1996;271 (5):2599-603).
WO 99/16877 relates to amino-terminally truncated RANTES, lacking NH2-terminal amino acids corresponding to amino acid residues 1, 1-2, 1-3 or 1-4 of the naturally-occurring RANTES and having chemokine antagonistic activity, as well as cDNA sequences encoding them, their use in therapy and/or in diagnosis of the diseases, in which an antagonistic activity of the chemokine effects is required. RANTES (3-68) is the preferred truncated chemokine antagonist.
Even if the chemoattractant activity of RANTES and of CC chemokines in general has been studied mainly in connection with the specific cell membrane receptors, RANTES can interact also with Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), highly variable, branched sugar groups added post-translationally to several proteins, generically called proteoglycans (PGs). Such proteins are present on cell membrane, in the extracellular matrix and in the blood steam, where isolated GAGs can also be present.
The interaction with GAGs is a feature common to many cel-signaling soluble molecules (interleukins, growth factors). PGs, or isolated GAGs, can form a complex with soluble molecules, probably at the scope to protect this molecule from proteolysis in the extracellular environment It has been also proposed that GAGs may help the correct presentation of cell signaling molecules to their specific receptor and, eventually, also the modulation of target cell activation.
In the case of chemokines, the concentration into immobilized gradients at the site of inflammation and, consequently, the interaction with cell receptors and their activation state seem to be modulated by the different forms of GAGs (Hoogewerf A J et al., Biochemistry 1997, 36(44):13570-8). Therefore, it has been suggested that the modulation of the such interactions may represent a therapeutic approach in inflammatory disease (Schwarz M K and Wells TN, Curr Opin Chem Biol. 1999, 3(4):407-17) and in HIV infection (Bums J M et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci U.S.A. 1999, 96(25):14499-504).
The structural requirements and functional effects of GAG-RANTES interaction have been studied in various models. RANTES binds GAGs on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) at micromolar concentrations with an affinity and a specificity higher then other chemokines, like MCP-1, IL-8, or MIP-1 alpha. Such interaction appears to be not simply electrostatic but also depending by other parameters like length and N- and O-sulfation of the GAGs (Kuschert G S et al., Biochemistry 1999, 38(39):12959-68). GAG-defective cell lines still can bind chemokines but the presence of cell surface GAGs greatly enhances their activity on the receptors when they are at low concentrations (Ali S et al., J Biol Chem 2000, 275(16):11721-7). Other experiments showed that GAGs, heparin sulphate in particular, facilitate the interaction of RANTES with the cell surface of macrophages and the consequent inhibition of HIV infection, a result consistent with the well-known resistance of these cells, poorly expressing heparin sulphate, to antiviral effects of RANTES (Oravecz T, et al., J Immunol. 1997,159(9):4587-92).
Soluble GAGs compete with cell membrane GAGs, and they can act as specific inhibitors of RANTES-induced activation surface (Appay V, et al.; Int Immunol 2000, 12(8):11737-82), or as suppressor HIV infection (Bums J M, et al.; Proc Natl Acad Sci U.S.A. 1999, 96(25):14499-504).
Some structure-function studies tried to identify the RANTES domain responsible of the interaction with GAGs, since the traditional consensus sequence (BBXB, where B is a basic residue and X can be any residue) is too generic. An epitope-mapping study was performed by using a monoclonal antibody, raised against recombinant human RANTES, capable to block both the antiviral effects and the mobilization of intracellular calcium mediated by RANTES (Bums J M et al., J. Exp . Med. 1998, 188(10):1917-27). This approach allowed to define the residues 55-66 as necessary both for such activities and for GAG interaction, arguing that GAGs interaction may have a complementary or distinct function from the one mediated by canonical receptors, as also suggested in a study on RANTES variants having altered aggregation properties (Appay V et al., J Biol Chem 1999, 274(39):27505-12).
The region 55-66, which represents the C-terminal alpha-helical segment, is homologous to the GAG-binding domain of other chemokines, like IL-8 (Witt DP and Lander AD, Curr. Biol. 1994, 4(5):394-400), and contains a cationic site containing lysine and arginine (KKWVR) (SEQ ID NO: 39). Such binding region is distinct from the binding site for cell receptors, which is located at the N-terminus (Pakianathan DR et al., Biochemistry 1997, 36(32): 9642-8), and contains some residues involved in the aggregation of RANTES monomers, even though such disaggregating mutations seem not to affect the interaction with GAGs (Czaplewski L. G. et al., J. Biol. Chem. 1999, 274(23): 1607784; WO 98/13495).
RANTES contains another cationic site (RKNR) at residues 44-47 which is conserved in the GAG binding domain of other chemokines, like MIP-1α (Koopmann W and Krangel MS; J. Biol. Chem. 1997, 272(15):10103-9) and MIP-1β (Koopmann W et al., J Immunol. 1999, 163(4):2120-7).
Human RANTES variants containing single mutations in these cationic sites have been disclosed as RANTES antagonists having potential therapeutic applications in the treatment of HIV infection and inflammatory or allergic diseases (WO 99/33989).
It has also been disclosed that only a triple mutant of RANTES, in which three residues at positions 44, 45 and 47 have been substituted with Alanine, has lost the GAG-binding ability (A Proudfoot et al., Chemokine Gordon Conference, Session I, Jul. 24, 2000, personal communication).

Chemokine mutants in the treatment of multiple sclerosis


In an amplifier stage a first FET receives the input signal at its gate electrode. The drain of the first FET is connected to the drain of a second FET, and both drains are connected to the same drain voltage supply. The amplifier stage output is from the drain of the second FET. A third FET has its drain connected to the drain voltage supply and its source connected to the reference voltage supply. The physical characteristics of the third transistor are selected to produce a voltage of a fixed value that is applied as a bias to the source of the second transistor to compensate for an offset of the amplifier stage input signal voltage. A fourth FET has its drain connected to the drain voltage supply and its source connected to the drain of the third FET. The drain of the fourth FET is connected to the gate of the second FET. The physical characteristics of the fourth FET and the current flowing through it determine the gain of the amplifier stage. The third and fourth FETs are not in the signal path. Several stages can be connected in cascade with only one pair of said third and fourth transistors connected to the source and gate of the second transistor of each stage.

In applications such as fiber optic communication systems, a common type of amplifier is the so-called "trans-impedance amplifier". Such amplifiers have a relatively wideband frequency response and low noise. Stable gain for the amplifier is another desired characteristic. One stage of a trans-impedance amplifier is typically implemented by MOSFET technology using two field-effect transistors (FETs) of the same type. Several stages of this type are connected in cascade to complete the amplifier.
In a single stage of the amplifier, the input signal is applied to the input (gate) electrode of one FET whose output (drain) is connected to the input (gate) of the second FET. The first and second FETs are both operated in the common source mode, that is, their sources are connected to ground. The drain electrodes of the two transistors are connected together and are also connected to a drain voltage source. The amplified output signal is taken from the connected drain electrodes of the two FETS.
It is desirable for the trans-impedance amplifier gain to be constant when operating under varying ambient conditions. The gain depends on such factors as the physical characteristics of the transistors, the input current and the operating conditions. Any variation of the physical characteristics of one FET relative to another in an amplifier stage affects the stability of the overall amplifier gain. Also, the gain of an amplifier stage is sensitive to offsets of the input voltage. That is, if the input voltage has a quiescent voltage other than OV, then the amplifier will operate on portions of the gain curve other than where it was designed to operate and the gain will vary. Another disadvantage is that it is somewhat difficult to design such an amplifier to have a desired gain characteristic.

Wide band process independent gain controllable amplifier stage


In an engine system, an ignition timing is changed in accordance with operation parameters of an engine. The engine system includes an exhaust gas clarifying equipment with a catalyst to clarify the specified components in the exhaust gas, catalyst temperature detecting unit for estimating or detecting the temperature of the catalyst, torque fluctuation detecting unit for detecting the state of fluctuation of an output torque of the engine, and ignition timing calculating unit for calculating the final ignition timing on the basis of the detected results of the torque fluctuation detecting unit and the catalyst temperature detecting unit.

The present invention relates to an engine system and engine control method, in which a catalyst can be warmed up fast after the start of an engine when the engine and the catalyst is still in a cold state.
Harmful components in exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine cause the problem of air pollution. Therefore, a catalyst converter is generally used in the internal combustion engine, which converts the harmful materials to harmless materials.
The catalyst converter does not work sufficiently when the temperature of the catalyst does not reach the predetermined temperature. Therefore, the harmful componentsbpare not processed and emitted as they are, when the catalyst is in a cold state (for example, just after the start of an engine). In order to solve such the problem, various methods of warming up fast the catalyst have been proposed in the prior art.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-205376 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-213125 disclose a method of activating fast a catalyst due to increased temperature of exhaust gas, in which the amount of correction of retard of an ignition timing is increased according to the temperature of the engine in a cold state, that is, the increasement state of the temperature of a coolant, or the elapsed time after the start of the engine.
It is, however, difficult to warm up the catalyst with giving a comfortable feeling of acceleration in the prior art, because the ignition timing is retarded due to indirect informations such as the temperature of the coolant of the engine, etc.


For realizing a mobile communication network highly compatible with the Internet and improving channel efficiency and battery conservation in a mobile communication system including a plurality of base stations connected to IP network, a plurality of mobile stations locating in a cell formed by base station, and a server, connected to the IP network, for managing location information of the mobile stations, wherein a set of cells constitutes a paging area, whereas the server manages information of a standby mobile station as location information of mobile stations about paging area in which mobile station locates; the server determines whether a mobile station is in standby state or not when a base station transfers to the server a packet addressed to the mobile station and, if the mobile station is in the standby state, copies the packet by the number of the base stations corresponding to the paging area related to the mobile station and multicasts thus copied packets.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paging method in a mobile communication system based on Internet Protocol (hereinafter referred to as IP); the mobile communication system; a server, a base station, and a mobile station constituting this system; and a paging program executed in the server.
2. Related Background Art
A second generation cordless telephone system referred to as PHS (Personal Handyphone System) has been known (ARIB RCRSTD-28 Version 3.2: Second Generation Cordless Telephone System Standard). An incoming packet addressed to the mobile station in this system is received, a server refers to the location information of the destination mobile station in a PHS service control station, and a paging control packet is broadcasted in a paging area including a cell where the mobile station locates in. Also, using PCH (paging channel), paging control packet is broadcasted from the base station to the mobile station.
On the other hand, a digital car phone system referred to as PDC (Personal Digital Cellular) has been known (ARIB RCR STD-27H: Digital Car Phone System Standard). An incoming packet addressed to the mobile station in this system is received, a server refers to the location information of the mobile station in HLR (home location register) in the case of users within a home network or in GLR (gateway location register) in the case of roaming users, and a paging control packet is broadcasted for a plurality of base stations within a paging area in which the mobile station has registered its location information, using PCH (paging channel), paging control packet is broadcasted from the base station to the mobile station.
Meanwhile, a mobile IP technique has been known. The outline of mobile IP will now be explained with reference to FIG. 9. It is assumed that a terminal 91 is about to communicate with a portable terminal (mobile host, hereinafter referred to as MH) 98 such as cellular phone or mobile terminal. Suppose that the MH 98 is in the cell of a foreign agent (hereinafter referred to as FA) 95. The terminal 91 transmits a packet 92 addressed to the MH 98.
Thus transmitted packet 92 is transferred to a home agent (hereinafter referred to as HA) 93, where an address X corresponding to the FA 95 whose cell the MH 98 located in is added to the transferred packet, to generate a packet 94. Thereafter, the packet 94 is transferred to the FA 95. The FA 95 eliminates the added IP address X, and transfers the resulting packet 97 to the MH 98. As a consequence, the terminal 91 and the MH 98 communicate with each other.
Suppose that the MH 98 moves from the cell of the FA 95 to the cell of another FA 96. Thus moved MH 98 reports its own IP address and the IP address Y of FA 96 to the HA 93 and, at the same time, its own IP address to the FA 96. In the subsequent communication addressed to the MH 98, the HA 93 adds the IP address Y of the FA 96 to the packet, thus generating a packet 99. As a consequence, MH 98 can continue communicating even after the MH 98 moves from the cell of the FA 95 to the cell of the FA 96.
However, the above-mentioned techniques about PHS and PDC have not been concerned with the implementation of IP, and may not achieve high compatibility with the Internet, thus failing to consider their application to future mobile communication systems using IP networks.
Also, in mobile IP since there is only one FA whose cell an MH located in, hand-over is executed every time the MH moves between cells. Namely, even if the MH is in the idle state, it must register its location information to the HA and the FA whose cell the MH moved into when transiting between cells. This increases the control traffic at the time of registering the location information, and the increase may worsen channel efficiency and enlarge battery consumption, thus being unsuitable for high-speed, large-capacity multimedia mobile communication systems using IP networks for covering a large area.

Packet based mobile communications system with multicast paging of standby mobiles


Gate wire is formed on a transparent glass substrate, and a gate insulating film, an amorphous silicon layer, a doped amorphous silicon layer and Cr layer are deposited in sequence. After patterning the Cr layer, the doped amorphous silicon layer and the amorphous silicon layer, an ITO (indium-tin-oxide) layer is deposited and patterned, and then the exposed portions of the Cr layer and of the doped amorphous silicon layer are removed. A passivation film is deposited and patterned to form a plurality of contact holes over the ITO layer, and then a conductive layer is deposited and patterned to form a data line which is connected to the ITO layer through the contact holes.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thin film transistor substrate for a liquid crystal display and a manufacturing method thereof, in particular, to a thin film transistor substrate having buffer layers and a manufacturing method thereof
(b) Description of the Related Art
A thin film transistor liquid crystal display is a widely used display and is manufactured by using several photo masks.
A conventional substrate for liquid crystal display is described with reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 shows a cross sectional view of a conventional thin film transistor for a liquid crystal display shown in the specification of Korean Patent Application No. 95-52714. A gate pattern including a gate electrode 33a is formed on a substrate 31 and an anodic oxidation film 35 is formed on the gate pattern. A gate insulating film 37 is formed thereon and an active pattern 39 is formed on the gate insulating film 37 at the position corresponding to the gate electrode 33a. An indium-tin-oxide (ITO) is formed on the active pattern 39 and the gate insulating film 37 and divided into two portions 410 and 420 with respect to the gate electrode 33a. One of the portions is a source electrode and the other is a drain electrode. A passivation film 43 covers the source electrode, the drain electrode and the active pattern 39. The passivation film 43 has a contact hole exposing the portion 420, and the portion 420 contacts a data line 45 through the contact hole.
However, in this thin film transistor, contact resistance between the active pattern 39 and the ITO film 420 is large because the active pattern 39 directly contacts the ITO film 420. In addition, the portion of the data line 45 which plays a role of contact pad may not be protected because the data line 45 is formed over the ITO film 420.

Thin film transistor substrate for a liquid crystal display having buffer layers and a manufacturing method thereof


A lid opening and closing system for a waste container having an opening and a lid for covering the opening, the system including a proximity sensor, which may be a capacitive proximity sensor, for sensing the presence of a user's hand or body near the waste container and for sending a control signal. A drive system is connected to the lid for causing the lid to move from a closed position, where the lid covers the opening, to an open position, where the waste container is positioned to accept waste, and then back to the closed position in response to the control signal. The proximity sensor being more sensitive to the user's hand or body approaching from the top of the waste container rather than from the front, sides or back of the waste container.

Waste receptacles are provided in various public and private locations for the purpose of providing a convenient place to deposit waste for collection and temporary storage. Such containers must have an opening through which the waste can be deposited. This opening is often equipped with a lid to keep the waste enclosed within the container and to prevent unpleasant odors, generally associated with waste, from escaping. The lid also limits viewing of the unsightly contents of the waste container. One of the main difficulties with such lids is that users must physically contact the lid to gain access to the container and deposit the waste. Often a user's hands are full with the waste to be deposited, or other items, leaving no easy means by which to open and close the lid. In other situations, the lid itself becomes contaminated with waste and the user does not wish to touch the lid in order to open it.
These deficiencies have been addressed by developing automatically operating lids for waste containers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,212, issued to Feigleson, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,770,935, issued to Smith and Wells, describe waste containers having a vertical opening in a sidewall and a door hinged from a top edge of the opening. An infrared detector is mounted near the opening to sense the presence of a person within a predetermined proximity in front of the container. A motor is mounted inside the container and connected to the door by a cable or an arm and cable assembly. When a user approaches the container, the infrared detector activates the motor, which opens the door. When the user departs, the motor reverses and the door is closed. One problem with this system is that depositing waste through an opening in a vertical sidewall is more difficult than through an opening in the top of the container. In the former case, a user must reach well into the container to properly deposit the waste, thus possibly exposing the user's hand and arm to waste material. If the user does not reach far enough into the container, waste can be spilled down the outside wall. The above-noted systems, as disclosed, are not easily adaptable to a lid mounted within a horizontal opening. Moreover, the infrared detectors are designed to sense the presence of a user in front of the container. Thus, a person merely passing in front of the container, or standing next to the container, but not wishing to deposit waste, may inadvertently trigger the sensor and cause the lid to open, unnecessarily releasing odor and contaminants from the waste container.
This latter problem is addressed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,932,982 to Pezzelli. In the system described by Pezzelli, the sensor is mounted on the inner periphery of a recessed bay in a vertical sidewall of the container or the container's lid, thus limiting the inadvertent detection of objects beyond this inner periphery. One problem with the system described by Pezzelli, is that a user must move his hand, or portions of the waste material, within range of the sensor before the door will open. Because of the location of the sensor within the recessed bay, this often results in physical contact between the user's hand or the waste material and the door before the door opens. The door is likely to become contaminated if waste material comes in contact with the door. Moreover, the system described by Pezzelli, has not addressed the above-described problems associated with waste containers having vertical openings in their sidewalls.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,609,122 to Ziegenbein, describes an automatic touch-actuated door opener for a waste container. Again, this system is designed for operation on a door suspended in a vertical opening in the container sidewall, and requires physical contact between the user and the door to actuate opening. The requirement for physical contact between the user and the door can result in contamination of the door due to spillage of waste.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,150,939 to Lin, describes a waste container having a door located in a horizontal opening in an upper side thereof. The door is opened when an electric eye mounted on a control panel located toward the back of the device senses a user within a predetermined space. U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,467 to Day, describes a waste container having a lid located in the top of the container that will open automatically in response to infrared sensors mounted on the front of the container to sense the presence of a person. One problem with these systems is that a person merely passing in front of the container, or standing next to the container, but not wishing to deposit waste, may inadvertently trigger the sensor and cause the lid to open, unnecessarily releasing odor and contaminants from the waste container.
What is needed then, is an automatic lid opening and closing system for a waste container that remedies the deficiencies inherent in the prior art.

Automatic lid opening and closing system for a waste container