Fibers of linear polyethylene or polypropylene are solution spun, cooled, dried in hot air and hot drawn. Drying and hot drawing are carried out by passing a moving filament of the wet polymer through a hot air dryer having an air temperature of at least 55.degree. C., preferably at least 60.degree. C., then heating and hot drawing a moving filament of the dried fiber. Optional steps include wet drawing the fiber prior to drying, and solvent exchange of the original solvent, e.g. decalin, for a more volatile solvent.

It is well known in the fiber industry that high modulus, high tenacity fibers can be prepared from rigid, wholly aromatic chain polymers such as aramid ("Kevlar", which is a registered trademark of E. I. duPont de Nemours & Co.). Although "Kevlar" has become widely used, its high cost limits its use primarily to specialty products.
Patents and scientific literature suggest that high strength fibers can be produced from flexible chain polymers, in particular polyethylene. As far as the current applicants are aware, however, no processes for producing flexible chain polymer fibers have been commercialized.
Processes for making fibers of polyethylene and other flexible chain polymers by solution spinning are well known. One example of such process is that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,908 to Smith et al. According to Smith et al, a polyethylene gel fiber is formed by solution spinning, immediately cooled in a water bath at room temperature, and thereafter simultaneously heated, dried and stretched. A number of other references also describe solution spinning processes for producing polyethylene fibers in which heating, drying and stretching, or drawing as it is also known, are carried out simultaneously. For example, an article by Smith et al in Polymer, 1980, Vol. 21, November, pgs. 1341-1343, shows that solution spun polyethylene gel fibers which are simultaneously drawn and dried at elevated temperature immediately after they are generated have higher tensile strength at the same draw ratio than do filaments which are dried at room temperature and then subsequently drawn.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,413,110 describes processes for making high tenacity, high modulus polyethylene and polypropylene fibers by solution spinning, followed by cooling, solvent exchange and drying the fiber. The inventors report that they have a dense, void-free structure from the time of spinning until the dried, low-void fiber is obtained. This is achieved by slow cooling between the spinerette and the bath, which is achieved with a long air gap (at least 7.5 cm). In different modes of operation, the fiber is stretched either before solvent exchange, or after drying, or in two stages, one before solvent exchange and the other after drying. In each case the fiber is drawn in a heated tube. The methods of drying as reported in the examples are air drying at room temperature and vacuum evaporation at 22.degree.-50.degree. C. (No details as to drying are given except in the examples). Hot stretch (hot draw) feed roll speeds tend to be quite low, for example 2 or 4 cm/min.
European Patent Application, Publication No. 0055001 discloses a process for making filled polyethylene filaments by solution spinning followed by stretching. Stretching temperatures are from 75.degree. to 135.degree. C. The filament can be stretched without substantial solvent evaporation, or a portion of the solvent may be removed (preferably to less than 10 percent by weight of solvent) by various means such as washing, evaporation or hot air drying, followed by stretching. Filament speeds are not disclosed.
None of the drying conditions employed in the references cited above lend themselves to high speed continuous processing.

Process for forming high strength, high modulus polymer fibers


Embodiments are described for preventing downward flow of substantial surface water into an underground ventilation duct communicating upwardly to a ground surface opening. The embodiments comprise a support having a top opening and an opening in a lower portion above a floor. The opening in the lower portion is for venting communication with a proximate portion of the ventilation duct. The support supports at least one seat and paired buoyant gate set. The seat is mounted perpendicularly relative to the gate and a portion of a passageway under the seat for fluidly communicating beyond such portion to the top opening of the support and to the proximate portion of the ventilation duct. The buoyant gate is positioned lower than the seat and the passageway, is of sufficient size to block the passageway, and is responsive to water rising in the support by floatingly pivoting upwardly until engaging the seat, thereby blocking the passageway. In an embodiment, the seat of at least one set is mounted under the top opening spaced from one of the opposing sides a horizontal distance nominally equal to a fraction applied to a length for the particular opening, the fraction having the numerator 1 and a denominator which is the sum of 1 plus the number of seat and gate sets, and the buoyant gate has a seat engagement height nominally equal to the same fraction applied to the same opening length.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to fluid control by water gates and more particularly, to pivoted gates responsive to water pressure.
2. Background Art
Prior patents by the present invent or have addressed preventing surface storm waters from entering and flooding lower levels of buildings or underground garages (U.S. Pat. No. 6,623,209) and preventing storm waters from storm sewers back flowing through street gutters into surface streets (U.S. Pat. No. 7,101,114). These inventions do not address the problem of surface storm waters entering and flooding underground tunnels and chambers through ventilation ducts connecting the underground chambers or tunnels to air at ground surface. Such chambers and tunnels include, without limitation, underground transportation tunnels for road vehicles, trains, and subways, and underground chambers, such as associated with a complex of connecting tunnels and shafts, for example as used for such things as underground hydroelectric-power plants, or with underground utilities which require ventilation, such as underground transformer rooms. In the case of subway systems, solutions have been suggested for reducing entrance of runoff water from street level grate openings through the ventilation ducts down into the underground systems, such as raising the subway grates above sidewalk level, but these are often not only costly to implement for each sidewalk grating area but also largely impracticable because much of the available sidewalk area available for pedestrians, already at a premium, is sacrificed to the solution.

Automatic flooding protection for underground ventilation ducts


A semiconductor device comprising a substrate having a first crystal orientation and an insulating layer overlying the substrate is provided. A plurality of silicon layers are formed overlying the insulating layer. A first silicon layer comprises silicon having the first crystal orientation and a second silicon layer comprises silicon having a second crystal orientation. In addition, a method of forming a semiconductor device providing a silicon-on-insulator structure comprising a substrate with a silicon layer overlying the substrate and a first insulating layer interposed therebetween is provided. An opening is formed in a first region of the silicon-on-insulator structure by removing a portion of the silicon layer and the first insulating layer to expose a portion of the substrate layer. Selective epitaxial silicon is grown in the opening. A second insulating layer is formed in the silicon grown in the opening to provide an insulating layer between the grown silicon in the opening and the substrate.

An important aim of ongoing research in the semiconductor industry is increasing semiconductor performance while decreasing power consumption in semiconductor devices. Planar transistors, such as metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) are particularly well suited for use in high-density integrated circuits. As the size of MOSFET and other devices decrease, the dimensions of source/drain regions, channel regions, and gate electrodes of the devices, also decrease.
The design of ever-smaller planar transistors with short channel lengths makes it necessary to provide very shallow source/drain junctions. Shallow junctions are necessary to avoid lateral diffusion of implanted dopants into the channel, since such diffusion disadvantageously contributes to leakage currents and poor breakdown performance. Shallow source/drain junctions, with a thickness on the order of 1000 Å or less, are generally required for acceptable performance in short channel devices.
Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology allows the formation of high-speed, shallow-junction devices. In addition, SOI devices improve performance by reducing parasitic junction capacitance.
In a SOI substrate, a buried oxide (BOX) film made of silicon oxide is formed on single crystal silicon, and a single crystal silicon thin film is formed thereon. Various methods for fabricating such SOI substrates are known. One such method is Separation-by-Implanted Oxygen (SIMOX), wherein oxygen is ion implanted into a single crystal silicon substrate to form a buried oxide (BOX) film.
Another method of forming a SOI substrate is wafer bonding, wherein two semiconductor substrates with silicon oxide surface layers are bonded together at the silicon oxide surfaces to form a BOX layer between the two semiconductor substrates.
Another SOI technique is Smart Cut®, which also involves bonding first and second semiconductor substrates through oxide layers. In the Smart Cut® method, the first semiconductor substrate is implanted with hydrogen ions prior to bonding. The hydrogen ion implanting subsequently allows the hydrogen ion implanted semiconductor substrate to be split from the bonded substrates leaving behind a thin layer of silicon bonded to the surface of the second semiconductor substrate.
Semiconductor device performance can be further enhanced by 50% or more by fabricating a P-type MOSFET (PMOSFET) on silicon with a <110> crystal orientation rather than a conventional <100> orientation. However, the performance of a N-type MOSFET (NMOSFET) formed on <110> silicon may be degraded compared to a NMOSFET formed on silicon with a <100> orientation.
Semiconductor device performance can also be enhanced by fabricating fully depleted MOSFETs on very thin silicon films, such as films with a thickness of about 30 nm or less. Fully depleted MOSFETs provide reduced current leakage and are desirable for high performance devices. However, it is difficult to modify the threshold voltage of fully depleted MOSFETs with conventional techniques, such as adjusting a halo dose. It is desirable to modify the threshold voltage of MOSFETs to create high and low threshold voltage devices. Semiconductor devices comprising MOSFETs with a range of different threshold voltages reduces the power consumption of the chip.
The term semiconductor devices, as used herein, is not to be limited to the specifically disclosed embodiments. Semiconductor devices, as used herein, include a wide variety of electronic devices including flip chips, flip chip/package assemblies, transistors, capacitors, microprocessors, random access memories, etc. In general, semiconductor devices refer to any electrical device comprising semiconductors.

Silicon-on-insulator semiconductor device with silicon layers having different crystal orientations and method of forming the silicon-on-insulator semiconductor device


The present invention relates to compounds of the general formula (I) and the salts thereof, preferably the pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof; in which R has the meaning explained in the description, a process for their preparation and the use of these compounds as medicines, especially as renin inhibitors.

Piperidine derivatives for use as medicines are known, for example from WO97/09311. However, especially with regard to renin inhibition, there is still a need for highly potent active ingredients. In this context, the improvement of a compound's pharmacokinetic properties, resulting in better oral bioavailability, and/or it's overall safety profile are at the forefront. Properties directed towards better bioavailability are, for example, increased absorption, metabolic stability or solubility, or optimized lipophilicity. Properties directed towards a better safety profile are, for example, increased selectivity against drug metabolizing enzymes such as the cytochrome P450 enzymes.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Substituted piperidines as renin inhibitors


The invention relates to a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system, particularly a flat, modular air conditioning unit for a motor vehicle, including an essentially box-shaped casing with a length y, a height z and a width x, and several air guiding and air distribution devices placed between an air inlet and an air outlet. Air conditioning devices, including a heat exchanger and a fan, are also provided. According to the invention the air conditioning devices are linearly arranged one after another along the length y of the casing. The heat exchanger is inclined relative to the length y of the casing by an angle a′ and relative to the width x of the casing by an angle b′ such that y>x>z.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system for a motor vehicle. More particularly it relates to a flat, modular HVAC system having minimal packaging requirements.
2. Prior Technology
During the design of a motor vehicle, the shape and dimensions of the vehicle body are defined. This determines the maximum amount of space available for each vehicle system and component to be installed. The result of this process, that often takes place parallel to the design and aerodynamic development of the vehicle, is often referred to as establishing the packaging requirements of components. The packaging requirements of HVAC systems, particularly air conditioning units, requires intensive development work because such equipment requires significant space.
Such development work is focused first on the geometry of the HVAC system (i.e. to make it smaller), and second on the position of the HVAC system within in the vehicle such that it does not interfere with the vehicle's passengers. As a result, the HVAC system may be placed, for example, in the instrument panel and/or front partition panel to maximize the foot space available to the driver and front seat passenger. Nevertheless, current HVAC systems still require excessive mounting space in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle, despite the optimized packaging and geometry.
In DE 100 42 683 A1 a known air conditioning unit is disclosed. The air conditioning unit has a first flat casing part extending in a first main extension plane, whereby the first flat casing part includes a fan and at least one directly downstream first flow channel section with an evaporator body arranged within. Further, a second flat casing part extending essentially in a second main extension plane is provided that includes a second flow channel section arranged downstream of the first flow channel section, with a heating body arranged in it as well as at least one downstream air outlet openings. This invention is characterized by the fact that the second flat casing part is connected to the first flat casing part forming an angle greater than 0° and smaller that 180° between both main extension planes.
Another air conditioning unit is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,708,513. Here the air conditioning unit comprises a compressor with a compressor drive, an interior heat exchanger, an expansion element, an external heat exchanger and, if applicable, an internal heat exchanger. This unit is characterized by the fact that it is established as independent flat module, which is intended, in a cooling mode, to cool and, in a heat pump mode, to heat. The compressor is a high-power small-volume carbon dioxide compressor. The compressor drive is integrated into the module, with a power supply compatible with a single power source.


An article carrying apparatus for carrying, in a carrying direction, an article placed on a carry face of a carry section making use of a vibration, includes: the carry section provided with the carry face of which the carrying direction is linearly restricted; and a vibration applying mechanism that applies the vibration to the carry section. The vibration applying mechanism includes: a first cam mechanism for converting a motion that has been input from a predetermined drive source into a reciprocating linear motion in a first direction that has at least a component in the carrying direction, and for transmitting the reciprocating linear motion to the carry section; and a second cam mechanism for converting a motion that has been input from a predetermined drive source into a reciprocating linear motion in a second direction that has at least a component in a normal direction of the carry face, and for transmitting the reciprocating linear motion to the carry section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to article carrying apparatuses.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, various types of article carrying apparatuses for carrying articles such as bulk components while lining them in rows and supplying the articles one at a time have been proposed. Such apparatuses are generally called "feeders," and various types of feeders exist, including vibration- and belt-type feeders, although vibration-type feeders are the most common. A vibration-type feeder is an apparatus for carrying an article placed on a carry face, which vibrates, by making use of, for example, the phenomenon of relative sliding of the article with respect to the carry face.
One example of such a vibration-type feeder is a linear feeder that carries articles over a straight path. The carrying mechanism of such a linear feeder is described below with reference to FIG. 15A to FIG. 15C.
This feeder is provided with a carry section 410 having a carry face 412a whose carrying direction is linearly restricted, and the carry section 410 vibrates between a second position X2 and a first position X1 set in the front and the rear in the carrying direction (hereinafter, this is also referred to as "reciprocating movement"). As shown in FIG. 15A, when moving toward the forward second position X2 during reciprocating movement, relative sliding of the article W with respect to the carry face 412a is inhibited so that the article W moves together with the carry section 410, whereas as shown in FIG. 15B, when moving toward the rear first position X1, the article W slides relative to the carry face 412a and only the carry section 410 moves to the first position X1 while the article W remains at the forward second position X2. By repeating this reciprocating movement, as shown in FIG. 15C, the article W is fed forward with respect to the carry face 412a in small increments, thereby achieving carrying of the articles.
Methods for controlling the state of this relative sliding include a first method of changing the inertia that acts on the article W itself during reciprocating movement, and a second method of changing the friction that occurs between the article W and the carry face 412a during reciprocating movement.
The first method is achieved by using different acceleration amounts for the forward direction and the backward direction during reciprocating movement of the carry section 410 in the carrying direction. For example, as shown in FIG. 15A, the carry section 410 is moved to the forward second position X2 at as uniform a velocity as possible, thus reducing the rearward inertia that acts on the article W and allowing the article W to move together with the carry section 410 to the second position X2. In contrast, the carry section 410 is moved to the rear first position X1 with a large acceleration (see FIG. 15B), thus causing a large forward inertia to act on the article W that in turn causes the article W to remain at the second position X2 while only the carry section 410 moves to the first position X1.
On the other hand, the second method adds additional vibration, in the normal direction of the carry face 412a, to the carry section 410 (which is hereinafter also referred to as "reciprocating movement") as it moves back and forth in the carrying direction. For example, as shown in FIG. 15A, when moving to the forward second position X2, the carry section 410 is accelerated upward to increase friction and inhibit relative sliding. Conversely, as shown in FIG. 15B, the carry section 410 is accelerated downward when moving to the rear first position X1 to reduce friction and bring about relative sliding.
Ordinarily, these two methods are combined to effectively control relative sliding and thereby increase the carrying ability of the article carrying apparatus. In other words, the ability to carry the article W is increased by applying, to the carry section 410, vibration having a carrying-direction component in an inertia term and a normal-direction component in a friction term, and further, setting the motion path defining that vibration most suitably for the required specifications, such as the type of the article W to be carried and the carrying capacity.
Expanding upon the above discussion, the problems with such conventional linear feeders are examined below.
FIG. 16A and FIG. 16B respectively show a plan view and a lateral view of a linear feeder of a first conventional example. This feeder 501 is provided with a carry section 510 having a horizontal carry face 512a in which the carrying direction of the article W is in the horizontal direction, plate springs 550 provided on the forward and rear sides in the carrying direction in order to support the carry section 510, and a vibration applying mechanism 520 that causes reciprocating linear motion of the carry section 510 in a direction tilted by a predetermined angle θ with respect to the horizontal direction. Due to this reciprocating linear motion of the carry section 510 between a point A and a point B located obliquely above and forward of point A, an article W that has been placed on the carry face 512a is carried forward in the horizontal carrying direction a little bit at a time.
Here, the reciprocating linear motion direction of the carry section 510 is tilted from the horizontal direction by a predetermined angle θ in order to create vibration components in two directions—these being a carrying-direction component in the inertia term and a normal-direction component in the friction force term—from the unidirectional reciprocating linear motion linking point A and point B. Carrying by relative sliding is thus achieved by appropriately setting a velocity pattern for this unidirectional reciprocating linear motion and appropriately accelerating the carry section 510 in the carrying direction and the normal direction (for example, see JP 2003-40424A (pages 3 to 5, FIGS. 1 to 6)).
However, the motion path of the carry section 510 of the first conventional example is a unidirectional reciprocating linear motion, and thus changing the velocity pattern of the carry section 510 also changes the degree of acceleration in both the carrying direction and the normal direction. Consequently, when setting the velocity pattern, it is possible to give only one of these two directions priority and the other direction has to be ignored. That is, the first conventional example has a poor degree of freedom with regard to setting the motion path of the carry section 510, and it is difficult to achieve a setting at which both the inertia and friction become ideal.
One example of a linear feeder that solves this problem is a feeder 601 according to a second conventional example, which is shown in the lateral view of FIG. 17, with which it is possible to independently set the reciprocating movement in a substantially horizontal direction acting as the carry direction, and the reciprocating movement in the vertical direction acting as the normal direction. The feeder 601 is provided with a carry section 610, a base section 680 that supports the carry section 610 via a plate spring structure 650, and a vibration applying mechanism 620 that is provided in the base section 680 and that applies vibration to the carry section 610.
The plate spring structure 650 is provided with a plate spring 652 that is arranged substantially horizontally and that supports the carry section 610 in such a manner that it can be moved back and forth in the vertical direction, and a plate spring 654 that is disposed vertically and that supports the carry section 610 via the plate spring 652 in such a manner that it can be moved back and forth in the substantially horizontal direction. The vibration applying mechanism 620 is provided with two electromagnets 630 and 660 for adding vibration in the substantially horizontal direction and the vertical direction, and the carry section 610 is provided with two stays 632 and 662 to correspond to these electromagnets 630 and 660. By applying an alternating power to the electromagnets 630 and 660, the carry section 610 is suitably moved back and forth in the vertical direction and the substantially horizontal direction, thereby carrying the article W placed on its carry face 612a forward in the carrying direction (for example, see JP 11-278634A (pages 2 and 3, FIGS. 6 to 8)).
In general, the sinusoidal waveform is the voltage waveform of an alternating power that can be readily used.
However, using a sinusoidal waveform, it is not possible to generate a complex motion path such as one that is asymmetrical with regard to the first half and second half of a single cycle of reciprocating movement. For example, from the standpoint of relative sliding as regards the reciprocating movement in the substantially horizontal direction, it is sufficient in the forward pass to move the carry section at as uniform a velocity as possible and in the return pass to move it in an accelerating manner, but the shape of a sinusoidal waveform is point symmetric with regard to the first half and the second half of a single cycle, and therefore cannot be used to generate such reciprocating movement. Further, creating a voltage waveform having a special shape other than a sinusoidal waveform requires special devices and cannot be performed with ease.
In other words, the feeder 601 of the second conventional example is superior to that of the first conventional example in that the motion path of the carry section 610 can be set independently for both the carrying direction and the normal direction, but the problem of a voltage waveform having a special shape being difficult to obtain cannot be avoided, and thus one cannot say that the feeder 601 has an excellent degree of freedom with regard to setting the motion path of the carry section 610.
Also, using electromagnets 630 and 660 gives rise to the possibility of magnetizing the article W if the article W is magnetic, and this means that there are types of articles W that cannot be carried by the article carrying apparatus 601.
Further, because the carry section 610 is supported by elastic members, such as the plate springs 652 and 654, that have low rigidity, the motion path of the carry face 612a is significantly affected by the elastic deformation of the plate springs 652 and 654. Consequently, there is a possibility that even though the intended motion path may be achieved at portions of the carry face 612a proximate to the stays 632 and 662 to which the motion is input, the motion path may stray from the design with increasing distance in the carrying direction from the stays 632 and 662. This may result in so-called carry nonuniformities, that is, the problem of carrying the article faster or slower depending on the position in the carrying direction, and in extreme cases, there is the possibility that, depending on the position in the carrying direction, the article W may be carried in backwards.


A projector has a housing, a light source positioned within the housing to generate light, a fan positioned beside the light source to dissipate heat generated by the light source, and an air vent positioned beside the fan to guide heat out of the housing. The air vent reduces turbulence, and thus noise, by the addition of at least one guiding rib. The guiding rib causes heat to flow fluently through the air vent and out of the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a projector, and more particularly, to a projector with a vent that has a guiding rib.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Projectors are common devices used for displaying still images or motion videos onto a screen. As a result, projectors are widely used in businesses to make presentations, or to facilitate training. To accomplish these ends, the projectors have some form of light-emitting source. Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a diagram of a prior art projector 10. The projector 10 comprises a housing 11, a light source 12 installed in the housing 11, a fan 13 installed on the housing 11, and an air vent 14 installed next to the fan 13. Typically, the light source 12, in addition to producing light, also generates a significant amount of heat. So as to avoid damaging the projector 10, the light source 12 is equipped with the fan 13 and the air vent 14. The fan 13 and the air vent 14 together facilitate radiation of heat away from the light source 12, and out of the housing 11.
One shortcoming of the prior art projector 10 lies in the design of the air vent 14. Because the air vent 14 is curved, heat flowing in the air vent 14 exhibits turbulence, which slows heat flow in the air vent 14, and reduces the ability of the projector 10 to dissipate heat. Furthermore, the turbulence generates noise, which reduces audibility of the presenter, and affects audio quality in a case of taping the presentation.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a projector with an improved air vent that increases heat dissipation, and reduces noise caused by turbulence in the air vent.
Briefly, a projector according to the claimed invention comprises a housing, a light source positioned within the housing, a fan positioned beside the light source to dissipate heat from the light source, and an air vent positioned beside the fan to direct heat away from the housing. The air vent comprises at least one guiding rib for guiding the heat so as to increase a flow rate of the heat through the air vent.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the guiding rib in the air vent of the projector increases a flow of heat in the air vent, which increases heat dissipation, and reduces noise.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, which is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.


An improved semiconductor device manufacturing system and method is shown. In the system, undesirable sputtering effect can be averted by virtue of a combination of an ECR system and a CVD system. Prior to the deposition according to the above combination, a sub-layer can be pre-formed on a substrate in a reaction chamber and transported to another chamber in which deposition is made according to the combination without making contact with air, so that a junction thus formed has good characteristics.

This invention relates to a semiconductor device manufacturing method and system, and more particularly, to a semiconductor manufacturing process with a multi-chamber system.
There has been known a plasma CVD system in which reactant gas is activated by glow discharge alone. The known process is considered advantageous compared with conventional thermal CVD systems in that a deposition process can be carried out at a relatively low temperature. Further, the deposited layer thus formed contains hydrogen or halogen as a recombination neutralizer, which can impart an improved p-n, n-i or p-i junction to the layer.
Such a glow discharge CVD system, however, has a low deposition speed which is required to be increased by a factor of 10 to 500 for commercial applicability.
On the other hand, a CVD system enhanced by ECR is also known in which a deposition process is carried out at a pressure lower than 1.times.10.sup.-2 torr, e.g., 1.times.10.sup.-2 to 1.times.10.sup.-5 torr. According to this method and system, a 5000 A to 10 microns thick layer can be deposited at a rate of 10 to 100 A/sec. However, when a plurality of layers are desired to be deposited, it requires a substantially longer time.

Semiconductor device, manufacturing method, and system

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


An information transmission method and device for preventing a client from getting an impression that they are being kept waiting for a response, even when the go response contains a large amount of data. A search request is made from an information communication system of a vehicle, an information providing center receives the request, and searches a database to obtain a search result. If the search result contains data of more than one data type such as texts and images, a data group is formed for each data type and the amount of data for each data group is calculated. Transmission order is determined by arranging the data groups in an ascending order of data amount from smallest to largest. The transmission order is further determined for each data group by arranging data in an ascending order from smallest to largest, and data is transmitted to the vehicle in this order.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information transmission method and device for obtaining a search result (information) of more than one data type to respond to a request from a client.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, various types of on-line information provider systems are available. An information provider system including an information providing center for providing information to an on-vehicle navigation system and the vehicle is one such example. Receiving a request from a vehicle for transmission of certain information, the information providing center searches its own database for the requested information and transmits a response to the request. Recent navigation systems can handle information such as news and advertising in addition to information on maps and route guidance. While responding to some transmission requests, such as a request for a road map around a destination, requires only one item of information, more than one item of information may be simultaneously needed to respond to other requests, such as a request for information on restaurants near a certain station A. The information providing center is usually formed by a server system equipped with a variety of databases for providing information so as to respond to clients"" requests for transmission of a variety of information. However, as the center may not store all the required information, it may have access to an external database system so as to retrieve information to be supplied as a response.
Search requests made from a vehicle to the information providing center include those for detailed maps covering a destination, news, information on facilities (location, services provided, and so on) the client wishes to use, and the like. When receiving a request to search for xe2x80x9crestaurants in a certain areaxe2x80x9d, for example, the information providing center searches the database for information on the restaurants of interest, and responds by sequentially transmitting the search results. The information on restaurants generally includes the address, telephone number, introduction articles, location, and photos of the restaurants showing their appearance. Such information is in the form of text, image, or audio data, or combination thereof, supplied from the information providing center.
At the vehicle, data transmitted from the information providing center can be sequentially presented at its display, or the information can be monitored with speech output. FIG. 8 schematically shows an example of a display showing information on restaurants.
Conventionally, however, the information providing center simply transmits search results in order, regardless of the amount of each piece of information in a response. If the information providing center first transmits a large amount of data to a vehicle, the data cannot be immediately presented on an on-vehicle display. In other words, clients (such as users of a mobile terminal on a vehicle or the like) feel that they are being kept waiting because a long time period is required for display of the data. If image data or the like is first transmitted, the users ay strongly feel that they are being kept waiting, whereby the users wonder if there is something wrong with a communication channel.
The present invention has been conceived to solve the above problem, and an object thereof is to provide an information transmission method and device for preventing, as much as possible, a client from getting an impression that they are being kept waiting, even if a large amount of data is contained in a response.
In order to achieve the above object, an information transmission method for a server to transmit a response to a client""s request for information transmission according to a first aspect of the present invention includes the steps of: identifying the type of data in the response; obtaining the amount of transmitted data for each data type in the response; controlling the order of data transmission based on the thus obtained amount of transmitted data for each data type; and transmitting the response in the data transmission order set by the above step of controlling the data transmission order.
An information transmission method for an information providing center to transmit a response to a request from a vehicle for information transmission according to a second aspect of the present invention includes the steps of: identifying the type of data in the response; obtaining the amount of transmitted data for each data type in the response; controlling the order of data transmission based on the thus obtained amount of transmitted data for each data type; and transmitting the response in the data transmission order set by the above step of controlling the data transmission order.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the step of controlling the transmission order in the information transmission method of the above first or second aspect includes the step of sequentially arranging data in an ascending order so that the data of the type having the smallest data amount is put first in order.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the step of controlling the transmission order in the information transmission method of the above first or second aspect includes the step of sequentially arranging data of a type in an ascending order so that the data having the smallest amount is put first in order among the data of that data type when a plurality of data items are contained in the data type.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the information transmission method of the above first or second aspect further includes a step of dividing search results into units when a plurality of search results are included in a response, and the step of controlling the transmission order includes the step of determining data transmission order for each unit.
According to the above aspects, regardless of the order of search requests or search results (information) obtained by searching databases, data is arranged in an ascending order of the data amount for each data type and, when a plurality of data items are included in a data type, data is further arranged in an ascending order of the data amount for each type or unit so that data with the smallest amount is first transmitted. Since information is transmitted in the above manner, a client receiving the information does not feel that they are being kept waiting because the information begins appearing shortly after a search request is made.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the above step of controlling the transmission order in the first or second aspect includes the step of dividing search operations into groups based on databases when a plurality of databases should be searched to obtain a response so as to control the data transmission order for each group. By thus performing a search on the basis of databases, overhead accompanied with switching databases is reduced, contributing to a reduction in time for retrieval of requested information. As a result, a client receiving the information does not feel kept waiting because he/she can receive the information more shortly after making a search request.
Especially, the method according to the second aspect which prevents a client from feeling kept waiting is very advantageous for a person on board because the person, who waits for the information in a vehicle that is relatively small in terms of space while moving to a destination or the like, would feel there is a longer wait relative to a general server system.
Further, an information transmission device according to the present invention includes means for implementing the information transmission method according to the above aspects.

Information transmission method and device


A receptacle for containing fluids constructed of a single wall wherein the foci of the well is offset from the foci of the perimeter, such that the resulting wall is of purposely differential thickness, to a point of maximal width. This may be of unitary construction from commonly used materials, utilizing the inherent insulating properties of the material selected, lowering manufacturing complexity and cost. In an application as a thermal container for beverages, the thickest aspect of the receptacle provides thermal insulation without interior or exterior insulating materials or internal air or vacuum chambers, and shifts the balance or center of gravity toward the holder, allowing more ease of lift. The specially shaped handle of the preferred embodiment, the present invention further enhances comfort and safety by reducing the potential for hand-burning, providing an ergonomic lifting grip which is beneficial to individuals with hand or wrist impairments.

Drinking containers in modern times have been fabricated in both insulated and non-insulated constructions for use with beverages of various types. Since ancient times drinking cups for hot beverages such as tea have been designed with a handle external to the outer surface with two, or occasionally one, point(s) of attachment of sufficient dimension to support the weight of the container and maximum volume of liquid when lifted. Containers used for cold or room-temperature beverages, water and wine glasses for example, may have an insulating stem or no insulation at all. Insulated containers have the advantage of preserving the thermal properties of the beverage for longer than a conventional non-insulated mug or glass. They may have the further advantage of protecting the holder from discomfort, cold or even scalding, depending upon the specific design. Insulated containers have the disadvantages of manufacturing complexity, additional weight or size, or the constraint of having to incorporate non-conventional (e.g., plastics, not glass or ceramic) compounds, which may affect taste or "mouth feel," and/or to affix separate or cumbersome external insulators.
Notwithstanding these disadvantages, the desirability of insulated containers is evident from the popularity of so-called travel mugs. For simplicity of reference, insulated drinking containers of all types will be hereinafter may be termed insulated containers or "mugs," without limitation as to usage or design. Conventional glass or ceramic mugs of greater-than-usual wall thickness will have additional insulating properties due to dissipation of heat or preservation of cold by dint of the extra mass. These heavy mugs are generally more difficult and uncomfortable for the drinker to hold than an ordinary mug, particularly for persons with hand or wrist infirmities such as carpal-tunnel syndrome or arthritis. Thus, such persons and others may prefer the use of conventional, thinner-walled mugs for their comfort, with some additional risk to scalding or freezing. However, even conventional mugs with external handles have the property of placing the center of gravity considerably distal to the users' grasp, particularly when full of liquid, exerting an tortional pressure on the wrist and fingers.
Typically, there are three approaches to manufacturing an insulated mug. First is an inherently low thermally conducting material such as Styrofoam or similar, which is semi-porous, may lack rigidity and feels unlike household mugs. Second, an external insulator is affixed, permanently (e.g., foam handle or "grip-strip") or removably (e.g., cardboard collar for paper coffee containers). Third, a double-walled container in which the inner cavity is either a vacuum or filled with air or insulating material.
In the prior art, conventional and externally insulated mug-bodies have circular cross-sections with their single or double-walls of constant and uniform thickness. The conventional handle for single wall mug is curvilinear and attached at either the top or at both ends to the mug body, while the insulated double-wall mug has either a handle or a grip strip for convenience. Insulated mugs are the generally of a double-wall type of construction with the space between the walls either vacuum sealed for optimum insulation or not vacuum sealed for nominal insulation. Placement of a handle farther from the outer perimeter of the mug provides further insulating properties, but at an increasingly distal center of gravity, giving the mug an unbalanced feeling, placing more strain on the holder's wrist.
A recent example of the affixation of insulation in the prior art is Mott et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,685,047, entitled Glass Beverage Container with Thermally Insulated Exterior Surface. Mott discloses a mug made of glass whereupon an insulating material such as latex or Neoprene is permanently bonded to the external handle. While Mott reduces thermal transfer, notably of cold, and is limited to glass, the disadvantages of weight and manufacturing complexity are not addressed. Another recent example is Kolowich, U.S. Pat. No. 6,634,417, Thermal Receptacle with Phase Change Material. Kolowich discloses a four-part structure encasing interstitial phase-change material wherein the structure of the side walls taper toward the top opening but are of uniform thickness at any horizontal cross-section, such that hot liquids are rapidly cooled, followed by release of the absorbed heat to maintain warmth. The receptacle disclosed in Kolowich functions to reduce temperature at first, for applications such as baby formula, requires expensive production equipment and special materials. The handle pictured in Kolowich is incidental. Kolowich does not address ergonomics. Another further example is Toida et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,419,108, "Insulated Beverage Containing Device." Toida discloses various embodiments of a two-piece, separable container structure with an overlaying sleeve or ring, the interstitial space forming a vacuum, with an inner container of glass, plastic or ceramic, and an outer surface shielded from thermal transfer. No handle is disclosed. Toida reduces weight but requires fabrication, in effect, of two containers that function only in conjunction with their counterpart. Thus none of these recent examples from the prior art address manufacturing simplicity nor ergonomic function.
The manufacture of mugs of the double-wall type of construction requires several production and assembly steps. Additional complexity may be introduced in promotional or commercial settings where the mug is to have affixed trademark or advertising graphics due to the containers' generally circumferential outer wall. The first glance legibility of the decoration or printed material on conventional circular shaped mugs is limited by their inherent curvature field of vision.
The instant invention achieves its insulating and ergonomic properties through a purposefully differential wall thickness achieved by offsetting the foci of the interior fluid-holding chamber of the container from the foci of the entire receptacle. In the preferred embodiment, the foci of the well will be distal to the handle of the receptacle. In the preferred embodiment the resulting elliptical configuration facilitates graphics by the somewhat flattened shape of the receptacle body. Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Receptacle with offset foci of well and perimeter


A method of and apparatus for producing a thin/thick effect yarn provides a thin/thick effect by segmentwise stretching of a filamentary precursor yarn which is combined with a fully-stretched filamentary precursor yarn so that the latter supports the former. The combination can be effected by twisting, nub entanglement or winding of one yarn around the other.

It is already known, in connection with filament yarns, i.e. yarns which are spun from synthetic resin filaments and can be single-thread and/or multiple filament yarns, to produce a thick/thin effect or a thin/thick effect in the yarn by selectively stretching of certain regions to thin the yarn while allowing intervening portions of the yarn to be stretched to a lesser extent or not stretched at all and thereby form thicker regions.
In practice, however, such yarns have not been highly successful since, especially because of the poor crystalline characteristics of the lesser stretched regions, the strength of the yarn can deteriorate rapidly or is limited, especially under the influence of light. The products which are produced have the drawback that the strength of the yarn is limited and, especially with time and exposure to light, tends to reduce drastically. Threads or yarns can then fail, especially with intensive multi-year exposure to intensive light because their strength over time can drop to a third of the starting strength while the elongation to break can fall from say 30% to about 5%, representing a significant qualitative decline.

Method of and apparatus for producing thick/thin effects in an incompletely-oriented filamentary precursor yarn


An apparatus includes a control circuit comprising (i) a first differential data strobe input/output circuit having a first set of driver and termination control inputs and (ii) a second differential data strobe input/output circuit having a second set of driver and termination control inputs. The first and the second sets of driver and termination control inputs are independently programmable. The first and the second differential data strobe input/output circuits operate in a first mode when the first differential data strobe input/output circuit is connected to a first memory device having a first data width and the second differential data strobe input/output circuit is connected to a second memory device having the first data width. The first and the second differential data strobe input/output circuits operate in a second mode when the first differential data strobe input/output circuit and the second differential data strobe input/output circuit are connected in parallel to a single memory device having a second data width.

Random access memory (RAM) provides fast, cost-effective, volatile storage for computing devices. The Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) provides memory standards for storage devices. One such standard currently in use is the DDR4 SDRAM (double data rate fourth generation synchronous dynamic random-access memory) standard, which provides higher module density, lower voltage specifications, and higher data rate transfer speeds than previous standards (i.e., DDR, DDR2, and DDR3). Dynamic random access rams (DRAMs) are available with different data widths. Four bits wide DRAMs and eight bits wide DRAMs are generally identified as x4 DRAM and x8 DRAM, respectively.
Conventional techniques to support both x8 DRAMs and x4 DRAMs in the same memory controller or data buffer typically have the disadvantage of requiring multiplexing logic in the data strobe (DQS) path. When a controller or data buffer circuit is designed with matching DQ-DQS receivers, the delay penalty in the DQS path also applies to the data (DQ) paths, which hurts latency performance of the device.
It would be desirable to implement support for multiple widths of dynamic random access memories (DRAMs) in DDR controllers and/or data buffers without incurring a penalty of additional multiplexing logic.

Support for multiple widths of DRAM in double data rate controllers or data buffers


A Hall element is placed under an outside rotor at an identical angular position to a centerline between two adjacent outer teeth. This structure allows narrowing a dead band of the Hall element when it senses a leakage magnetic flux.

FIG. 7 shows a conventional brushless motor which includes stator 110, rotor 120 and Hall elements 130 working as a magnetism sensing device. Stator 110 includes multiple coils 115 wound on teeth 113 of a stator iron core. Each one of coils 115 is coupled together, thereby forming a three-phase stator winding. Rotor 120 includes rotor iron-core 121 and multiple rotor-magnets 123. Rotor 120 is held to be rotatable inside stator 110.
Hall element 130 is placed under rotor-magnet 123 substantially at an identical angular position to a centerline of teeth 113. Hall element 130 senses a magnetic flux leaking from rotor-magnet 123, thereby sensing a position of the rotor.
FIG. 8 shows an array of rotor-magnets 123 and its leakage flux working on Hall elements 130. The reference marks "Bop" and "Brp" shown in FIG. 8 indicate threshold values for Hall elements 130 to sense the leakage flux, and widths "a" and "b" show dead bands existing when Hall elements 130 senses the leakage flux. A greater dead band causes Hall elements 130 to sense the rotor position not so accurately, and incurs vibration and noise of the motor. A smaller dead band is thus desirable for the magnetism sensing device of brushless motors.
Related art of the magnetism sensing device of brushless motors is disclosed in patent document 1.
Patent Document 1: Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-14521.


A system operable to: receive a request for an application unit from a first device; generating a key for the application unit; look up segment cache indices corresponding to the application unit, according to the key; and determine whether the segment cache indices are available. Where the segment cache indices are available, the system may retrieve a segment cache using the segment cache indices; and then retrieve the application unit using the retrieved segment cache. Otherwise, where the segment cache indices are not available, the system may communicate the request to a second device to receive a response from the second device including the segment indices. Further, the system may receive the response from the second device; store a segment index sequence for the application unit in an application optimizer cache based on the response; and retrieve the application unit via the segment index sequence.

In a segment caching system, communication of redundant data may be reduced across a network (such as LAN/WAN) by using data redundancy reduction techniques. However, some data redundancy reduction techniques can be application unaware. For example, in one technique, nodes of a network may exchange indices of redundant data instead of the redundant data, because the redundant data may be already stored in a cache of a receiving node. Although this last mentioned technique reduces the amount of redundant data communicated over a network, such a technique may not reduce application requests/responses and respective indices that need to be communicated over a network.


Example implementations relate to application-specific policies for failing over from an edge site to a cloud. When an application becomes operational within an edge site, a discovery phase is performed by a local disaster recovery (DR) agent. I/O associated with a workload of the application is monitored. An I/O rate for data replication that satisfies latency characteristics of the application is predicted based on the incoming I/O. Based on results of tests against multiple clouds indicative of their respective RTO/RPO values, information regarding a selected cloud to serve as a secondary system is stored in an application-specific policy. The application-specific policy is transferred to a remote DR agent running in the selected cloud. Responsive to a failover event, infrastructure within a virtualized environment of the selected cloud is enabled to support a failover workload for the application based on the application-specific policy.

As businesses attempt to better address the needs of cloud customers and with advances in edge computing, compute functionality is drifting towards the data generation site. This in turn increases the importance of business critical applications that may be running at edge sites as well as the data generated at the edge sites, as such data now carries more business relevance than before. Meanwhile, edge sites may represent harsh and/or hostile environments for Information Technology (IT) infrastructure thereby increasing the likelihood of failures.

Application-specific policies for failover from an edge site to a cloud

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


A turbine engine fan disk including a cylindrical rim including in its outer periphery substantially axial slots for mounting blade roots and opening out to a radially upstream face of the rim is provided. A shroud extends from the rim and connects with a rotary drive shaft. A cylindrical lip extends upstream from the upstream face of the rim. The inside surface of the disk having a cylindrical portion extended upstream by a portion of greater diameter that forms a setback that is axially offset upstream relative to the upstream radial face of the rim.

A turbine engine fan comprises a disk carrying blades having roots engaged in substantially axial slots formed in the outer periphery of the disk. The blades are held radially on the disk by co-operation between the shapes of their roots and the shapes of the slots in the disk, the blade roots being of the dovetail type, for example. Inter-blade platforms are mounted on the disk between the fan blades.
A fan of that type is described in document FR 2 930 595 in the name of the Applicant, and in that document the annular disk does not have balance weights or balance hub, but comprises a rim having upstream and downstream radial faces into which the mounting slots for the blade roots open out. A cylindrical lip extends axially from the upstream radial face of the rim and a groove is formed in the lip upstream from the blades for the purpose of mounting means for retaining the blade roots axially.
The blades are also held axially in the downstream direction by bearing against an annular cheek plate that is fitted onto the downstream end of the rim and that is fastened thereto by bolting, which cheek plate includes an inner annular flange for fastening to the upstream end of a shaft of the turbine engine.
The inside surface of the disk includes a cylindrical portion connected upstream to a larger-diameter portion forming a setback situated downstream from the upstream radial face of the rim.
In operation the radial forces generated by the rotating fan blades generate tangential stresses in the disk in its portion presenting the slots for mounting the blade roots. In addition, bending stresses are created by the above-mentioned lip, in particular in the zone of the setback.
Thus, in that zone, the tangential stresses and the bending stresses are cumulative, thereby leading to risks of the disk breaking or becoming degraded.


A cardiac rhythm management system provides a phonocardiographic image indicative of a heart's mechanical events related to hemodynamic performance. The phonocardiographic image includes a stack of acoustic sensor signal segments representing multiple cardiac cycles. Each acoustic sensor signal segment includes heart sounds indicative of the heart's mechanical events and representations of the heart's electrical events. The stack of acoustic sensor signal segments are aligned by a selected type of the heart's mechanical or electrical events and are grouped by a cardiac timing parameter for presentation.

A heart is the center of a person's circulatory system. It includes a complex electromechanical system performing two major pumping functions. The left portions of the heart, including the left atrium and the left ventricle, draw oxygenated blood from the lungs and pump it to the organs of the body to provide the organs with their metabolic needs for oxygen. The right portions of the heart, including the right atrium and the right ventricle, draw deoxygenated blood from the organs and pump it into the lungs where the blood gets oxygenated. These mechanical pumping functions are accomplished by contractions of the myocardium (heart muscles). In a normal heart, the sinus node, the heart's natural pacemaker, generates electrical signals, called action potentials, that propagate through an electrical conduction system to various regions of the heart to excite myocardial tissues in these regions. Coordinated delays in the propagations of the action potentials in a normal electrical conduction system cause the various regions of the heart to contract in synchrony to such that the pumping functions are performed efficiently. Thus, the normal pumping functions of the heart, indicated by hemodynamic performance, require a normal electrical system to generate the action potentials and deliver them to designated portions of the myocardium with proper timing, a normal myocardium capable of contracting with sufficient strength, and a normal electromechanical association such that all regions of the heart are excitable by the action potentials.
The function of the electrical system is indicated by electrocardiography (ECG) with at least two electrodes placed in or about the heart to sense the action potentials. When the heart functions irregularly or abnormally, one or more ECG signals indicate that contractions at various cardiac regions are chaotic and unsynchronized. Such conditions, which are related to irregular or other abnormal cardiac rhythms, are known as cardiac arrhythmias. Cardiac arrhythmias result in a reduced pumping efficiency of the heart, and hence, diminished blood circulation. Examples of such arrhythmias include bradyarrhythmias, that is, hearts that beat too slowly or irregularly, and tachyarrhythmias, that is, hearts that beat too quickly. A patient may also suffer from weakened contraction strength related to deterioration of the myocardium. This further reduces the pumping efficiency. For example, a heart failure patient suffers from an abnormal electrical conduction system with excessive conduction delays and deteriorated heart muscles that result in asynchronous and weak heart contractions, and hence, reduced pumping efficiency, or poor hemodynamic performance.
A cardiac rhythm management system includes a cardiac rhythm management device used to restore the heart's pumping function, or hemodynamic performance. Cardiac rhythm management devices include, among other things, pacemakers, also referred to as pacers. Pacemakers are often used to treat patients with bradyarrhythmias. Such pacemakers may coordinate atrial and ventricular contractions to improve the heart's pumping efficiency. Cardiac rhythm management devices also include defibrillators that deliver higher energy electrical stimuli to the heart. Such defibrillators may also include cardioverters, which synchronize the delivery of such stimuli to portions of sensed intrinsic heart activity signals. Defibrillators are often used to treat patients with tachyarrhythmias. In addition to pacemakers and defibrillators, cardiac rhythm management devices also include, among other things, devices that combine the functions of pacemakers and defibrillators, drug delivery devices, and any other devices for diagnosing or treating cardiac arrhythmias. Efficacy of a cardiac rhythm management device is measured by its ability to restore the heart's pumping efficiency, or the hemodynamic performance, which depends on the conditions of the heart's electrical system, the myocardium, and the electromechanical association. Therefore, in addition to the ECG indicative of activities of the heart's electrical system, there is a need to measure the heart's mechanical activities indicative of the hemodynamic performance, especially with the patient suffers from a deteriorated myocardium and/or poor electromechanical association.
For these and other reasons, there is a need for monitoring both electrical and mechanical activities of the heart for diagnostic and therapy evaluation purposes.

Method and apparatus for phonocardiographic image acquisition and presentation


A method for controlling an item of electrical equipment of a motor vehicle including a device for controlling the item of equipment including a microcontroller, which is configured to generate an AC electrical signal for controlling the item of equipment characterized by its duty cycle, and a driver interface that is characterized by a maximum operating temperature threshold beyond which the driver interface is inoperative. The method includes determining the internal temperature of the driver interface, comparing the determined internal temperature with a first predetermined warning threshold and decreasing the duty cycle of the electrical signal when the first warning threshold has been exceeded so as to limit the power of the electrical signal and thus to keep the internal temperature of the driver interface below its maximum operating temperature threshold.

A motor vehicle comprises, in a known manner, a plurality of items of electrical equipment that are controlled by a device that is commonly referred to as the body control module (BCM).
This device makes it possible for example to activate the controls for the vehicle lights (brake lights, indicator lights, fog lights, etc.), the controls for the front and rear windshield wipers or the control for unlocking the doors of the vehicle.
To this end, the device comprises a plurality of connectors, each connected to an item of equipment, and a microcontroller allowing each item of equipment to be driven via a dedicated driver interface, commonly called a "driver", that is connected to the associated connector.
This driver interface takes the form of an electronic circuit allowing current to be delivered to the item of equipment according to on-off switching performed by a transistor or a relay, for example.
Such a driver interface is configured to operate up to a predetermined maximum operating temperature threshold, for example 150° C., beyond which it becomes inactive, thereby preventing the corresponding item of equipment from being controlled.
More specifically, some of these components may be destroyed if the maximum operating temperature threshold is reached, while some other components have an integrated thermal trip that inhibits the driver interface until the temperature of said components falls back below another previously defined temperature threshold and yet other components have an integrated thermal trip that definitively inhibits the driver interface.
However, it is observed that the temperature of the driver interface can often exceed this maximum operating temperature threshold, in particular when the ambient temperature is high and when the items of electrical equipment of the vehicle are in use.
It is therefore important to ensure that some of these items of equipment are not deactivated and that they are always operational, in particular the brake lights and the indicator lights of the vehicle, in order to guarantee the safety of the driver and of his or her passengers.

Method and unit for controlling electrical devices of an automotive vehicle


The invention is a super elastic bone plate and inserter. The bone plate has a plate section with openings for screws at fixed or variable angles, an optional compression slot, and a pronged section (i.e. the claw foot), which is generally transverse to the long axis of the plate for insertion, and after deployment returns to an angle of less than 90° to impart compression at a bone/bone interface, e.g. to cause fusion between bone segments. The inserter, which has a first leg with a frictional fit holding block for the plate and a second leg with a holding and activation mechanism for the super elastic pronged section. The invention also relates to a method of bone fusion using the plate system.

Over 1.8 million orthopedic trauma fixation procedures were performed in the US in 2016, and the market is expected to reach over $4 billion by 2025. The fastest growing part of the market is the staple fixation segment, which is also expected to remain the fastest growing through to 2025. The primary drivers for growth are reportedly a reduced operating time as compared to screws, and plates. Plates are generally metallic frameworks with a broad outline and thickness to support bone segments fixed to the framework or "plate" by screws, pins, or nails that extend through the plate. The plates are wider, thicker and longer than alternative fixation means that overlay the bone surface in the form of staples or mesh. Thus, plates provide additional material to allow for specialized screw interaction, like locking or polyaxial screws and an outline and fixation angles that provides bridging for fusion and even reduction of typical bone break patterns. They generally have a bone-facing surface that corresponds to the bone segments and a top surface which corresponds to the topography of the bottom surface separated by a constant through thickness, at least for a portion of the plate. Bone staples generally have a long thin rectangular central bridging member which joins a pair or more of opposing legs that extend downward from the bridge member.
While the state of the art has advanced the use of bone staples, there remain cases in which an implant that presents the advantages of a plate along with the dynamic compressive and holding abilities of a staple, or in this case, a multiply pronged plate, can be of great advantage in ease of use and in a mechanical advantage. The particular invention provides these advantages in the pronged plate, and in the system for its use. In particular, the inserter is capable of single handed use, and is able to deform the prongs of the plate to cause the super elastic deformation, while permitting easy and reliable deployment of the claw portion of the plate in bone.
The design can be used for single use in which case cost will be a greater consideration, drawing in materials and manufacturing methods that meet economic requirements while presenting a design that is sufficiently strong to reliably accomplish the job. This means that the inserter provides that the claw foot portion of the plate can be deformed, inserted into pre-drilled pilot holes and tamped into position across a bone divide, all in a design that is quick, reliable, and easy to use, and advantageously single-handedly and the plate portion can be used to provide the support and scaffolding that is often desired in a plate, along with a unique combination of active and fixed compression fixation which offers multiple advantages.

Claw foot bone plate and plate inserter system with fixed and active compression, and method for its use


An optical waveguide device includes a wiring substrate, a connection pad formed in the wiring substrate, an optical waveguide in which a first cladding layer, a core layer, and a second cladding layer are formed of the wiring substrate in this order, an opening portion formed in the second cladding layer in a region including the connection pad, a contact hole formed at least in the first cladding layer on the connection pad, and being communicated with the opening portion of the second cladding layer, an optical element, including a connection terminal, connected to the connection pad through the contact hole, and underfill resin filled in the opening portion of the second cladding layer and the contact hole, and sealing a lower side of the optical element, wherein a part of the opening portion or the second cladding layer is exposed from the optical element.

Recently, the development of backbone communication lines mainly based on optical fiber communication technologies is proceeding steadily and, in such a situation, the transmission speeds of electric signals in electrical devices and information terminals are becoming a bottleneck. Against such background, instead of the conventional electric circuit substrate in which all signal transmissions are made by using the electric signal, the optoelectronic composite substrate of the type that transmits high-speed parts by the light has been proposed, in order to compensate the limit of transmission speed of the electric signal.
In the optoelectronic composite substrate, a light signal is transmitted by an optical waveguide which is constructed such that a core layer is surrounded by cladding layers. Then, an optical element is mounted on the cladding layer of the optical waveguide such that the optical element is optically coupled to the light path conversion mirror.
A related art is disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-215371, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No, 2007-187871, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2009-69668, and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-277060.


A stackable container system having a plurality of individual containers wherein each container is snapped onto and securely fastened to another similarly configured container. Each container has a lid securely tethered to the side of the container by an integrally molded strap such that the lids of the individual containers do not get lost or misplaced. The container lids are configured so as to securely engage the container sidewall by a snap-fit design having a conveniently placed thumb tab to facilitate the quick and easy release of the lid. A removable divider may be positioned within each container receptacle to compartmentalize the receptacle such that individual component parts can be stored in a single container and not become mixed or interspersed during storage. Each container of the stackable system may comprise a transparent material for the visual inspection of the contents contained therein prior to opening the container. The containers may be individually color coded so as to make for easier and quicker identification of any one container comprising the stackable system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to containers that are stackable, in particular, to a stackable container system wherein a plurality of similarly constructed containers are snapped together to form a stackable system of individual receptacles.
2. Background and Prior State of the Art
Stackable containers have been devised wherein one container can be stacked on top of the previous container and subsequently fastened together such that the stacked containers become interlocked. One way of achieving the fastening of one container to a second container has been by threading the bottom of one container to the top of the second container. Another way of fastening containers together involves a plurality of pins in one container which engage slots in a second container.
One problem with threading engagement or the use of pins to fasten containers together is that such container systems are costly to construct. Furthermore, the threading engagement or the use of pins in a container system increases the time required to engage and disengage the containers from each other. This can often be an annoyance.
Another problem is that when the containers are disengaged, one of the containers is subsequently without a lid. Contamination of the contents of a second or bottom container is thus difficult to avoid because the contents are temporarily unprotected.
Another problem with stackable container systems commonly found in the art is that in the systems where the individual containers each have a separate removable lid, the user may have opened several containers. As a result, because the individual receptacles have separate removable lids, there may be confusion as to which lid attaches to which container. In some instances, if the user replaces the wrong lid onto one of the individual receptacles, there may be some inadvertent contamination of the contents.
Also, where the lids are separately removable, there is the possibility that one or more lids belonging to the stackable system may be lost or misplaced. If one or more lids belonging to the stackable system are lost or misplaced, additional lids have to be obtained or the individual receptacle that is missing the lid may have to be discarded.
Stackable containers commonly found in the art are also often constructed such that a fixed number of receptacles are contained in the stackable system. Once the fixed number of containers within the stackable system have been filled, another complete container system must then be acquired because the system lacks the flexibility to add or remove one or more container receptacles to the stackable system.
Another difficulty which often arises with the use of the prior art type container systems stems from an inability to easily distinguish one container from another. When use is made of a plurality of such receptacles, it is often difficult to ascertain the contents of the individual receptacles without first opening them or taking the system of containers completely apart.


A piston-cylinder assembly has a principal structural group including a cylinder and another principal structural group including a piston rod which has a part-length axially displaceably arranged within the cylinder. The piston rod adopts a default stroke position without external displacement forces acting on the piston-cylinder assembly, the default position being determined by positioning equipment. The positioning equipment includes at least one energy accumulator which acts in the inward and outward movement directions of the piston rod as a function of the stroke position of the piston rod. The at least one energy accumulator includes a tension spring arrangement and a compression spring arrangement. Each of the tension spring arrangement and the compression spring arrangement has a first end which acts in a stationary manner on one of the first and second principal groups and a second end which acts on the other of the first and second principal groups at least with the piston rod outside the default stroke position.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a piston-cylinder assembly including a cylinder and a piston rod which is axially displaceably arranged in the cylinder, the piston rod adopting a stroke position determined by positioning equipment when no external forces are acting on the piston-cylinder assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are applications in which a piston-cylinder assembly is required to adopt a particular stroke position without external force. An example of such an application is when the piston-cylinder assembly is connected to a switching lever which adopts a central switching position and is moved to a switching point by an actuating force in a first direction. When the actuating force is removed, the piston-cylinder assembly is to resume the central switching position. In the event of an opposed actuating force in a second direction, the piston-cylinder assembly is also required to resume the original central switching position after actuation of the switching lever. Of course, the piston-cylinder assembly may be required to aim for a position other than the central switching position after actuation, as defined by a specific application.
For such applications, a piston-cylinder assembly is disclosed in reference WO 98/40232 as a bidirectionally acting damper with a self-centering mechanism. The principal structural groups of this damper include a cylinder and a piston rod which is axially displaceably arranged relative to the cylinder with a part-length of the piston rod within the cylinder. The piston rod adopts a stroke position which is determined by positioning equipment when no external displacement forces act on the assembly. The positioning equipment includes an energy accumulator which acts in the inward and outward movement directions of the piston rod as a function of the stroke position of the piston rod.
In this damper, an assembly problem exists in that a circumferential bead is required to be produced as a final step of the method on a transmission pipe as part of the positioning equipment. The bead serves as a stop for the entrainment of a sliding sleeve. The production of the bead introduces a the manufacturing risk that the shape of the transmission pipe will be adversely influenced here which may cause functional problems of the piston-cylinder assembly. In addition, inaccuracies regarding the intended centered stroke position may be expected.
A further disadvantage of this damper in comparison with a conventional damper is that the transmission pipe introduces a substantial additional weight. The transmission pipe has to transmit tensile and compressive forces and is dimensioned accordingly. Furthermore, the transmission pipe has a length approximately corresponding to the sum of the length of the cylinder and half the inward travel of the piston rod. Such a long and rigid pipe is necessarily heavy.
Furthermore, both the inner diameter and the outer diameter of the two sliding sleeves have to be produced to very narrow tolerances in order to achieve sufficiently accurate guidance. If the production tolerances selected are too wide, jamming forces or skewed positions of the transmission pipe may arise. However, very narrow tolerances seriously increase costs.
It is an object of the present invention to produce a piston-cylinder assembly having two principal structural groups including a cylinder and a piston rod which adjust automatically to a default stroke position and can be produced at a reduced production cost by comparison with the prior art.
The object of the present invention is met by a piston-cylinder assembly having a tension spring arrangement and a compression spring arrangement used as energy accumulators. Each of the compression spring arrangement and the tension spring arrangement have a first end that acts in a stationary manner on one of the two principal structural groups and a second end that is operatively connected to the other principal group when the piston rod is outside the default stroke position.
The present invention does not require a transmission pipe and thereby obviates that problems of the prior art associated therewith.
Accordingly, the number of parts has been reduced compared to the prior art and the use of a tension spring arrangement and a compression spring arrangement allows different restoring forces to be achieved for different piston rod positions.
The compression spring arrangement may be arranged outside the cylinder such that its second end is operatively connected via a switching device supporting the forces of the compression and tension spring arrangements with one of the two principal structural groups. The switching device effects the separation of the effect of the force on the piston-cylinder assembly as a function of the piston rod position, the compression spring arrangement not being active in the area of action of the tension spring arrangement.
To this end, the switching device has a sliding sleeve which is axially movably arranged relative to the two principal groups. The sliding sleeve blocks the effect of the force of one of the two spring arrangements via a stop from a default stroke position of the piston rod.
The two spring arrangements may engage on the same sliding sleeve. Ultimately, there is only one moving element, in comparison with the three moving elements known from the above-mentioned prior art.
To simplify the structural arrangement, the sliding sleeve is mounted to be axially movable on the cylinder. The sliding sleeve has a fit connection only in the area of contact with the cylinder. Double fits are not required because a transmission pipe is not required.
To achieve reliable restoration of the piston rod into the default stroke position, the compression spring arrangement is always under a prestress, independently of the stroke position of the piston rod.
The stop is formed on the piston rod outside the envisaged stroke range of a piston arranged on the piston rod so that the fixing of the stop to the cylinder does not exert any influence on the track properties of the cylinder for the piston.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. It should be further understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.


An angle measuring device for measuring an absolute angular position is described herein. The angle measuring device comprises a flexible pulling element guided directly or indirectly via a shaft whose angle of rotation (φ) is to be detected, with different circumferential speeds (v1, v2) developing at the inner circumference of the flexible pulling element during a rotational movement of the shaft. A change in position of the flexible pulling element relative to the rotational movement occurs, and the angle of rotation (φ) of the shaft is inferred from this change in position.

1. Field of the Invention
One aspect of the present invention relates to an angle measuring device, and a use thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Angle measuring devices are frequently used to detect the steering angle in motor vehicles, for example, in order to determine the steering angle in driving-dynamics control (ESP). Furthermore, it is also necessary to detect the steering angle in motor vehicle control systems which perform an active steering intervention.
In this regard, angle measuring devices are known which can measure the absolute angle within a revolution as well as the number of the revolutions.
In addition, it is known that special demands are placed on the availability of the steering angle measurement due to the possibility of active steering interventions being performed by a motor vehicle control system. Thus, a special demand of a motor vehicle control system of this type being placed on the angle measuring device is to know about the steering angle during the time directly after the activation of the motor vehicle although steering movements or indirect steering movements, provoked by external disturbances, can occur also outside the vehicle operation and must be taken into account.
Published application EP 1 238 891 B1 discloses a steering angle sensor which includes a mechanically coupled counting wheel for detecting the number of revolutions in addition to a code disc whose position and, thus, the absolute angle during a revolution is sensed by sensors. The absolute angle is calculated from a combination of the output signals of two magnetic field sensors and the position of the counting wheel. To be able to perform an absolute angle measurement with this sensor directly after start of the motor vehicle, it is necessary to supply the steering angle sensor with voltage also during an inactive vehicle state, with the result that the electric energy supply of the motor vehicle is highly stressed depending on the duration of this state. Furthermore, the mechanics is relatively complicated and susceptible to wear.
Published application DE 103 44 267 A1 describes a method using a semi-relative steering angle sensor. When the ignition of the vehicle is switched off, the steering angle sensor senses steering wheel movements and stores them electronically. When the ignition is activated, in case disturbances could not be registered, data is used to calculate the current steering angle. A shortcoming of this system resides in the fact that both the sensor and the electronic memory must be supplied with energy in the inactive vehicle state, which burdens the vehicle battery. Furthermore, the angle is subsequently calibrated in the event of disturbances and cannot be sensed directly by the steering angle sensor. The calibration is executed by identifying straight travel during driving, with this straight travel being judged based on the temporal variation of the yaw rate.
It is disclosed in publication EP 0 874 751 B1 to employ a mechanical counter in addition to an angle-of-rotation sensor which measures the absolute angle within a revolution by means of a code disc. In this arrangement, the mechanical counter is coupled mechanically to the code disc, counting the revolutions. Thus, the absolute angle of rotation is sensed at any time also beyond a revolution. Disadvantageous in this construction is the rather complicated mechanics of the code disc and the counter, as well as the torque transmission of the mechanical coupling, which is susceptible to wear and does not function noiselessly.
An angle measuring device, which measures an angle absolutely and with a high angular resolution over a range of several revolutions, with the resulting angle of one or more angular variations being sensed by the device also in the condition of the electronics being deactivated is described herein. The objective is to avoid constant energy supply of the sensors or a technically sophisticated independent waking in the case of a movement to be registered so that the angle measuring device is only active when the motor vehicle is active. Another objective is that the device shall exhibit least possible wear, develop least possible noise and shall be cost-effective.

Angle measuring apparatus for measuring an absolute angular position