A remotely controllable circuit breaker device for interrupting current in a circuit path between a source and a load includes local and remote monitoring capabilities and a gear mechanism for reliable remote control of the interruption mechanism. The device includes a first contact and a second contact cooperatively arranged in the circuit path so as to provide current from the source to the load. At least one of the contacts is disposed on a contact carrier which is movable for interrupting the current provided to the load. The gear mechanism includes a motor with a rotatable shaft which responds to open and closed control signals generated from a remote location, and a gear, rotatably responsive to the rotatable shaft, for controlling the contact carrier so that the circuit path is interrupted and established, respectively. The gear mechanism controls the contact carrier using a coupling arrangement, which has a first part coupled to the contact carrier and a second part coupled to the gear. A manual override mechanism is utilized to render the coupling arrangement non-responsive to the motor. The manual override mechanism includes a manually operated member interlocked to a slide mechanism which is coupled to the gear. The slide mechanism and gear being in one position to enable the remote control mechanism to be responsive to remote control signals and in another position to disable the remote control mechanism to render it non-responsive to the remote control signals. The manually operated member is biased by a spring so that when it is released from a fixed position it pulls the slide mechanism and thusly the gear into a position where the gear no longer will move the contact carrier in response to rotation of the motor shaft.

Remote control circuit breakers are commonly used for temporary interruption of electrical service during peak use hours and for programmable lighting control of industrial locations. By opening and closing on demand from a remote location, these circuit breakers provide a significant improvement over manually operated circuit breakers in terms of convenience.
A variety of operating mechanisms have been employed to realize remote control of circuit breakers. One of the more common types of remote control mechanisms energizes a solenoid to hold the circuit breaker in the open position. Such energization must be continuous to prevent the circuit breaker from moving to the closed position.
Improved remote control mechanisms have included the use of a motor to operate the opening or closing of the contacts. The motor is coupled to one of the contacts through a gear, which rotates simultaneously with the shaft of the motor to cause the circuit breaker contacts to open and close.
Further improved remotely controlled circuit breaker mechanisms are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,051 entitled "Remote Controlled Circuit Breaker" and U.S. Pat. No. 5,532,660entitled "Manual Override Mechanism for a Remote Controlled Circuit Breaker" which are assigned to the same assignee as the present application and the disclosures therein are incorporated herein by reference. The remote controlled circuit breaker disclosed in these patents includes a gear driving means responsive to OPEN and CLOSE control signals generated from a remote location for moving a moveable one of a pair of electrical contacts through associated gear means in order to correspondingly interrupt or establish a circuit path.
In all such remote controlled circuit breaker mechanisms, it is desirable to provide an override mechanism for manually controlling the circuit breaker when necessary by disabling or overriding the remote control mechanism for the circuit breaker. U.S. Pat. No. 5,532,660provides an example of such an override mechanism. However, mechanisms of this type may not operate as efficiently as necessary.
The remote control mechanism in U.S. Pat. No. 5,532,660 includes a slide mechanism which is coupled to a gear for enabling and disabling the remote control mechanism. The slide mechanism and the gear are movable between a fixed position, which renders the remote control mechanism responsive to remote control signals and a non-fixed position, which allows free movement thereof and renders the remote control mechanism non-responsive to the remote control signals.

Manual override mechanism for a remote controlled circuit breaker


A light-emitting diode (“LED”) device includes a plurality of LEDs. Each LED in the plurality of LEDs is adjacent to at least one other of the plurality of LEDs. At least one of the plurality of LEDs has a radiation with a full-width-half-maximum greater than 50 nm.

The invention relates to light-emitting diode ("LED") devices, and more particularly to LED devices having a plurality of LEDs arranged in an array for use in flash applications.
An LED is a semiconductor device capable of emitting light when an electric current flows through it. LEDs are used in many applications, such as electronic displays, traffic signals, and video signs. LEDs emit monochromatic light, i.e., the wavelength of light emitted by an LED falls within a narrow range, typically about 20-50 nanometers ("nm"). However, different types of LEDs emit different wavelengths (colors) of light. LEDs are often characterized by the full-wave-half-maximum ("FWHM"), which is the spread of wavelength emitted by an LED at 50% of maximum radiation power.
FIG. 1 is a plot of a typical spectral emission of an LED illustrating the LED's FWHM. The output is shown in arbitrary units of light radiation, and the FWHM is the difference between λ1 and λ2.
LEDs are also used in appliances such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants ("PDAs"), and digital cameras. LEDs are used in mobile camera phones in the flash module. In this application, an LED module acts as an illumination source and is activated when a picture is taken when there is insufficient ambient light, or when back-fill lighting is desired. At least three LEDs are typically used in a flash module, a red LED (i.e., an LED emitting red light), a green LED, and a blue LED.
FIG. 2 shows three plots of three LEDs in arbitrary units versus wavelength. A first plot 20 shows the output from a blue LED, a second plot 22 shows the output from a green LED, and a third plot 24 shows the output from a red LED. The combined spectral emission of these three LEDs is not ideal because it is peaky and discontinuous. A gap 23 occurs between the second plot 22 and the third plot 24. Peaky, discontinuous spectral emission from a flash module can result in poor image quality, such as unfaithful reproduction of the color of the subject. Hence, an LED flash module providing better color image quality is desirable.

Light-emitting diode flash module with enhanced spectral emission


An elongated work assembling method and system for fastening a flexible elongated work having an integrated fixing member to a receive body includes a first placing step or apparatus for placing and fixing the elongated work on an attaching mechanism arranged at one side along a continuous convey direction of the receive body, a first fastening step or apparatus for fastening the placed elongated work to the attaching mechanism in substantially the same fastening state as a final fastening state to the receive body, a clamping step or apparatus for clamping the elongated work in the fastening state in the attaching mechanism, a fastening state releasing step or apparatus for releasing the fastening state of the elongated work to the attaching mechanism, a moving step or means for detaching from the attaching mechanism the elongated work released from the fastening state, and moving the detached elongated work to the receive body, and a second fastening step or apparatus for finally fastening the moved elongated work to the receive body from the other side along the continuous convey direction. The elongated work is fastened to the receive body through the above-mentioned assembly steps or assembly apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an elongated work assembling method and system for assembling an elongated work having flexibility to a receive body and, more specifically, to a technique suitably applied to an elongated work having flexibility such as bumpers, side laces, a rear trunk lace, a decoration garnish, and the like for a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a technique for assembling, e.g., front and rear bumpers as elongated works to the front and rear portions of a vehicle body, various proposals have been made to improve work efficiency, and to improve positioning precision of attaching positions. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. 63-2780 discloses the following technique. That is, bumper jigs for clamping a bumper comprise nut runners, and the bumper satisfactorily clamped through the nut runners is attached to a vehicle body.
This disclosure will be described in detail below. A set table for placing a bumper and attaching bolts at predetermined positions, and a robot attached with jigs for clamping the bumper at its operating end are arranged beside a bumper fastening station of a vehicle assembling line. Each jig has a bumper receiver for gripping a bumper, a chucking pad, and a nut runner. A bumper placed on the set table and the attaching bolts are simultaneously received in a single operation, and the bumper is attached in a state wherein the bumper is aligned with the bumper attaching portion of the vehicle body.
When a work to be attached to a vehicle body is an elongated work such as a bumper, and the elongated work supported by jigs attached to an arm of a robot is to be aligned with the work attaching portion of a vehicle body, a plurality of reference pins or reference holes are set to match with the central positions of a plurality of reference holes or reference pins, and are then engaged with each other. Thereafter, the elongated work is attached and fastened to the work mounting portion of the vehicle body.


The present disclosure relates to a vehicular work machine (10) that is adapted for handling at least two different interchangeable tools (4). The machine (10) also comprises a user control device (11) and a water supply arrangement (31) that is adapted to distribute water for retaining dust that is created when a tool (4) is used, The water supply arrangement (31) comprises a controllable valve (24) that is arranged to control the flow of the water that is distributed via at least one nozzle (29). The user control device (11) is arranged for selection of a desired tool, where at least one selectable tool is associated with a certain predefined water setting. Each water setting relates to a certain relative flow of distributed water during a certain time that is related to the time said tool (4) is chosen and performing a certain work procedure, and/or to the time said tool (4) is chosen and ready to perform a certain work procedure.

Machines referred to as demolition robots are remote-controlled working machines intended for different demolition operations, in which the operator walks beside the machine and controls its different movements. He does this using a remote control that has two control sticks and a series of different buttons and knobs. The machine is used in several different working modes. It is first moved up to the working surface, e.g. a wall, to be demolished. Its support legs are then lowered so that the machine stands steady. This is a set-up mode. The actual demolition work then begins in a work mode.
Remote demolition robots are often put to work in various materials and using different tools. Very often, the work gives rise to a lot of dust that is created when a tool is working on an object that is to be demolished. For example, concrete dust is unhealthy to breathe and also impairs visions making it difficult for a person controlling the demolition robot to see what is happening at the moment. It is therefore desired to minimize the creation of such dust that freely may expand in the air. Such free concrete dust can affect components of a demolition robot in a negative way, may cause undesirable health effects and generally pollutes the environment.
Some remote demolition robots are for this purpose equipped with a water supply, where a flow of water is directed towards the tool in question in such a way that a large quantity of the dust is mixed with the water and thus retained and kept from expanding in the air. This principle is for example disclosed for an excavating and crushing machine in the document JPH 09100636 where water nozzles are positioned on a tool, where the water supply may be turned on and off by means of a switch.
It is now desired to provide an enhanced control of such a water flow, for example enabling the flow of water to be held at a minimum while maintaining a proper function.
There is thus a need for an enhanced control of a dust retaining water flow for a remote demolition robot or any other suitable vehicular work machine.

Vehicular work machine and method for vehicular work machine water control


Each of a plurality of digits within a reconfigurable end effector is both rotated and maneuvered for grasping by a single small motor coupled to a drive shaft for the digit through a load-responsive two-speed drive arrangement. The drive arrangement couples the motor directly to the drive shaft through a slip clutch for rapid digit positioning for light load or no load conditions on the digit, then alternatively through an oscillating sprag clutch arrangement for incrementing the drive shaft at a substantially different gear ratio for low speed, high force movement of the digit when substantial loads are encountered. High breakaway friction prevents back drive of the drive shaft without the need for braking apparatus. The motor also rotatably drives a turret in which the digit is mounted through a second slip clutch until a desired rotational position is reached. The turret is locked in the selected rotational position by deenergizing a solenoid to allow a pivoting pawl to wedge a ball into one of a plurality of detents in the turret. An optical sensor responds to the presence of the detents to determine the rotational position of the turret. The drive shaft is axially movable in response to substantial loads on the digit against the resistance of a compressible sprain spring, and a Hall Effect sensor determines the load on the digit by measuring the axial movement. A pair of rotary optical position sensors are employed to determine the rotational positions of the drive shaft and the shaft of the motor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to end effectors used in robotics and other applications, and more particularly to reconfigurable end effectors having a plurality of digits mounted for rotational and pivoting movement to accomplish the grasping of objects of various different shapes.
2. Description of Related Art
End effectors, sometimes referred to as mechanical hands or robotic hands, are employed for a wide range of applications where mechanical manipulation is required. In particular, virtually any industrial or other application of robotics requires an end effector of some type to provide a manipulation capability. Accordingly, a wide variety of different types of end effectors are known in the art and a great deal of effort has gone into their design and development.
There are various types of end effectors including those designed for specific industrial applications and those which are application non-specific and are reconfigurable to adapt to various tasks. Application non-specific end effectors are typically designed to provide a high degree of reconfigurability and manipulation capability. Such effectors are typically complex, have a large degree of freedom and employ complex actuation mechanisms. They may attempt to emulate the human hand, and are often referred to as robotic hands. Typically, robotic hands employ three or four digits, with each digit having two or three degrees of freedom. Examples of robotic hands include the Utah-MIT dextrous hand described in Machine Design (Jun. 26, 1986), page 40, the so-called Salisbury hand described in Robots, Philip de Ste. Croix, ed. (Salamander Books 1985), page 53, and the reconfigurable hand manufactured by Victory Enterprises Technology, Inc. of Austin, Tex.
A further example of a reconfigurable end effector or robotic hand is described in co-pending application Ser. No. 07/512,042 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,140 of Bartholet, RECONFIGURABLE END EFFECTOR, filed Apr. 17, 1990 and commonly assigned with the present application. The end effector described in the Bartholet application employs three digits, each having two pivoting degrees of freedom and a rotational degree of freedom. The digits have an asymmetrical configuration, with two of them rotating about an offset axis and a third rotating about a non-offset axis, allowing the digits to reconfigure about a payload. Each digit includes an actuation mechanism for driving the pivoting degrees of freedom, and including a differential transmission mechanism therein in conjunction with a double parallelogram configuration formed by the moving segments. Such arrangement provides a selective enveloping or parallel vice grip grasping action.
Although end effectors such as that described in the Bartholet application have various advantages over previous end effectors so as to be capable of functioning in a highly advantageous and effective manner for many applications, there is room for further improvements in such devices. Typical of such devices is a digit actuation mechanism having a motor directly coupled through a speed reduction mechanism of fixed gear ratio and a clutch/brake mechanism to a drive member such as a lead screw to provide the pivoting action of the digit. The actuation mechanism must be capable of handling high mode loads encountered by the digit, while at the same time being capable of moving the digit at a reasonable speed to the different desired positions thereof. This typically requires a relatively large motor, which makes it even more difficult to design a small end effector with adequate power.
Sensing of the digits to determine their positions and load conditions in presently known end effectors typically requires relatively complex arrangements of strain gauges and other instruments, due in part to the need to constantly monitor the gripping and the rotational positions of each digit independently. Momentary malfunctioning of the control system can result in loss of registration. In some cases the striking of another digit or immovable object is not sensed in time, and damage to the digit results.
Where the digits are operated by lead screws, lead screws of the circulating ball type are often required in order to minimize friction, but at considerable expense. Back driving of the lead screw can also be a problem, and typically a brake is required to prevent this from happening. Typical arrangements for rotating the digits are somewhat inefficient, and some require energy wasteful active devices to lock the digits in their desired rotational positions. Registration and tracking of digit rotation can be difficult. Certain arrangements of the prior art end effectors require two motors per digit, one to rotate the digit and the other to provide pivoting movement of the various segments of the digit.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide a reconfigurable end effector which overcomes the disadvantages of prior art end effectors. Among other things, each digit would desirably be operated by a single motor of relatively small size. The actuation mechanism for the digit should preferably be of economical construction and capable of preventing back drive without the need for separate braking apparatus. It would also be desirable to provide an actuation mechanism which simplifies the sensing operation.

End effector with load-sensitive digit actuation mechanisms


An apparatus for detecting leaks in fluid lines having any type, size, or style of fitting, the apparatus comprising in general a source of pressurized gas which is delivered into the fluid line to be tested. The fluid line is sealed on one end by a blanking plug mounted in a bracket, where the blanking plug sealingly mates with any type of fitting. The other end of the fluid line is connected to the gas source by an injector plug mounted in a bracket, the injector plug also sealingly mating with any type of fitting.

This invention relates generally to the field of equipment used to test fluid lines, such as hosing or tubing used to convey gases or liquids. More particularly, the invention relates to such equipment used to detect leaks or improper connection of fittings in high pressure fluid lines by introducing a gas under relatively high pressure into the fluid line and monitoring the line for a loss in pressure. Even more particularly, the invention relates to such equipment which provides easily connected and disconnected universal plug-type fittings which seal the open ends of the fluid line being tested.
There are a multitude of situations where it is required or at least desirable to test fluid lines for leaks. The fluid lines to be tested may be attached to operating equipment, may be removable for testing, or may have been newly fabricated. Fluid lines may be conduits for air, gases, water, fuel, hydraulic fluid, oil, etc., and may be fabricated of polymers, rubber, or metal such as steel or aluminum, which have permanently attached fittings, typically threaded or snap-fit, for connecting the fluid lines to other components of the operating system. Known systems for testing fluid lines for leaks using high pressure gas typically require a large number of connector fittings, since the fluid line fittings may comprise any of a large number of varying styles and sizes. The fittings on the fluid line have to be matched with comparable fittings on the testing equipment.
It is an object of this invention to provide for a fluid line leak detection apparatus or system which is universal in adaptability, in that the apparatus or system can be used with any type of fitting or connector on any type of fluid conduit. It is a further object to provide such an apparatus or system which comprises means to seal the fluid line to be tested, means to deliver a gas at relatively high pressure into the fluid line, and means to detect a leak in the fluid line by indicating a loss of pressure within the sealed and pressurized line. It is a further object to provide such an apparatus or system which is quickly and readily connected and disconnected to any type of fitting, tube, or hose.

Leak detection apparatus for tubular fluid lines with fittings


A network device to provide per-user firewall capabilities. The network device identifies a user associated with a received frame and a role of the user. The network device determines the firewall actions to be taken for the frame based on the role of the associated user. The user role may be dynamically changed by an administrator or automatically. A user role may be altered based on the authentication level of the user. The network device provides a system where a customized authentication experience may be provided for each user and services and permissions may be managed on a per-user basis.

1. Field of the Invention
The embodiments of the invention relate to a method and apparatus for applying firewall rules and actions on a per-user basis. Specifically, embodiments of the invention related to a method and apparatus for identifying a user and a user role for packets or frames being processed by a network element.
2. Background
Private networks such as local area network (LANS) or virtual LANs (VLANs) often utilize a switch or set or switches to route data traffic between the devices on the private network and between devices on the network and remote devices accessible through a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet or similar networks. The switches and devices may communicate over a wired communication line or over wireless communication channels. The switches are responsible for routing data and enforcing network wide rune.
The private network and the devices on the network are vulnerable to attack by malicious hackers and similar threats. Hackers and similar threats seek to gain access to computers on the private network to gain access to their resources or utilize them for their own purposes. It is difficult to maintain and secure the network at each of the devices on the network as they may have different platforms requiring different types of security programs. Instead of or in addition to security protection installed at each of the devices of the network, a switch on the network that provides the link to the WAN may include a firewall. A firewall is a program that is executed by the switch that filters incoming data to block malicious data traffic and implements similar policies on the network.
The firewall implements its filter and protection as a set of policies that govern which traffic is allowed to enter the private network from the WAN. These firewall policies are applied globally to all incoming traffic to protect the private network. For example, a firewall policy may restrict data traffic to a set of defined ports. All devices on the private network that wish to receive data from or send traffic to devices on the WAN must utilize these ports or the data traffic will be blocked by the firewall.


A folding electric scooter comprises a chassis. The front end of the chassis is disposed with a front wheel and a handlebar used to control the direction of the front wheel. The handlebar is a folding structure. The rear end of the chassis is pivotally coupled with a rear rack. The rear rack is disposed with a rear wheel, a motor and a battery. The motor and the battery are used to offer the power to the rear wheel. In addition, the rear rack is disposed with a folding four-bar linkage, which forms the seat. By such arrangements, when the folding electric scooter is not in use, the four-bar linkage can be folded to fold the seat, and the handlebar can be synchronously folded, thus minimizing the whole volume to facilitate the transportation and the storage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a folding electric scooter, and more particularly to a folding electric scooter whose seat and handlebar can be folded to minimize the whole volume for facilitating transportation and storage.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The electric scooter has been developed for a long time. As for the elders or the persons who are unable to walk, the electric scooter really acts as an excellent vehicle. The electric scooter made by the general producer comprises a fixed frame, so its whole volume is big, thus causing problems during transportation or storage. In order to solve the abovementioned problems, an electric scooter structure disclosed in Taiwan Pat. No. 092219550 is disposed with a folding device on the handlebar stem thereof. When the electric scooter is not in use, the handlebar stem can be folded to reduce the volume. This design can only fold the handlebar stem, but the seat cushion and the back cushion cannot be folded, so the folding effect is limited.
Additionally, a seat folding structure for an electric scooter disclosed in Taiwan Pat. No. 088212636 is to provide a design that a back cushion of the seat can be folded onwards to abut against the seat cushion. Only the back cushion of the seat of the electric scooter can be folded in this design, so the total size of the electric scooter cannot be properly reduced, thus still causing the storage problem. Hence, it is necessary to make the improvement.
In order to effectively solve the abovementioned relevant problems, based on the accumulative research technology and experience in the field of the electric scooter, after many times of experiments and tries, the applicant of the present invention has developed a folding electric scooter whose seat and handlebar can be synchronously folded.

Pihsiang Machinery Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


Disclosed are methods, computing devices, and computer-readable mediums for transferring privacy settings. For example, a method includes determining location information indicative of a location of a computing device. Further, the method includes determining one or more applications installed on the computing device and on one or more other computing devices that are configured to access the location information. Yet further, the method includes transferring a privacy setting of the computing device to the one or more other computing devices. In addition, the method includes determining accesses of the one or more applications to the location information indicative of the location of the computing device.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Preserving the privacy of information continues to be a major challenge to users of electronic devices. Various individuals in the electronics marketplace such as product engineers, architects, designers, and manufactures continue to face obstacles for delivering of robust solutions to protect private information. Yet, strong consumer demands for improving connectivity, enabling higher data rates, and adding more flexibility to existing designs continue to grow. As such, the priority for protecting private information tends lag behind such stronger consumer demands.
Meanwhile, users of electronic devices increasingly continue to exchange information abundantly through Internet services, possibly by installing multiple applications and freely communicating with other devices. Thus, such Internet services, applications, and other devices are increasingly opening the gateways for accessing private information, possibly belonging to numerous users. In particular, private information such PIN numbers, passwords, financial records, and/or important information may be made available to other entities.

Intelligently transferring privacy settings between devices based on proximity


In a state in which a subject is absent, blank data is collected by a self-radioactivity element typified by Lu-176 (S1). In a state in which the subject is present, transmission data is collected by the self-radioactivity element (S2). Emission data is collected by γ rays emitted from the subject injected with a radiopharmaceutical (S3). Absorption-corrected data is calculated based on the blank data and the transmission data (S4 to S7), and the emission data is absorption-corrected using the absorption-corrected data (S8). Although such background data obtained by the self-radioactivity is originally abandoned, the background data is rather used for the absorption-corrected data. Stable absorption correction can be thereby conducted.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nuclear medicine diagnosis device, a form tomography diagnosis device, a nuclear medicine data arithmetic processing method, and a form tomogram arithmetic processing method for obtaining nuclear medicine data or form tomograms of a subject injected with radiopharmaceutical based on radiant rays generated from the subject.
(2) Description of the Related Art
The nuclear medicine diagnosis device, that is, an ECT (Emission Computed Tomography) device will be described while taking a PET (Positron Emission Tomography) device as an example. The PET device is configured to detect a plurality of gamma (γ) rays generated as a result of annihilation of positrons and to reconstruct tomograms of a subject only when a plurality of detectors detects the γ rays simultaneously.
Specifically, a radiopharmaceutical containing a positron-emitting radionuclide is administered into the subject and detectors each constituted by many detector components (such as scintillators) detect pair annihilation γ rays of 511 KeV emitted from within the subject injected with the radiopharmaceutical. If the two detectors detect γ rays in certain time, it is assumed that the detectors detect γ rays simultaneously. The detected γ rays are calculated as pairs of pair annihilation γ rays and a pair annihilation generation point is identified to be on a line of each pair of detectors detecting the γ rays. By accumulating such coincidence count information and performing a reconstruction processing, positron-emitting radionuclide distribution images (that is, tomograms) is obtained. The technique is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 7-113873 and 2000-28727.
To keep quantitative performance and imaging quality high in the nuclear medicine diagnosis, it is essential to absorb and correct the coincidence count information data (also referred to as "emission data"). Absorption of the coincidence counting data by the PET device depends on a path on which the γ rays pass through the subject and does not depend on γ ray generation points (positron pair annihilation generation points). Normally, therefore, an external radiant source irradiating radiant rays of the same type (γ rays in this case) as that of the radiopharmaceutical is employed. An inverse of a transmission factor or an absorption correction value obtained from an absorption coefficient map is multiplied by emission projection data, whereby form information (also referred to as "transmission data") based on the γ rays irradiated from the external radiant source and transmitted by the subject can be absorption-corrected. Recently, a technique for converting form information obtained from an X-ray CT device integrated with a PET device (PET-CT device) in place of the external radiant source into an absorption coefficient map and for using the absorption coefficient map for absorption correction has been adopted.
However, if it is difficult to mount the external radiant source or the like and an interior of the subject can be assumed as a uniform absorber, a technique for estimating a contour of the subject from the emission data or images, assuming the interior as a uniform absorber and performing absorption correction on the uniform absorber is adopted. This technique is disclosed in, for example, KITAMURA Keiji, ISHIKAWA Yoshihiro, MIZUTA Tetsuro, YOSHIDA Eiji and YAMAYA Taiga: "Development of Various Data Correction Method in jPET-D4", Next-generation PET Device Research and Development Report 2005, pp. 47 to 51.
Recently, particularly in development of high resolution PET, scintillators (LSO, LYSO, LGSO, etc.) including Lu-176 have been often used as the scintillators constituting each detector in light of a high emission amount, short luminescent decay time and high γ ray blocking capability during conversion of radiant rays into light by the scintillators. These characteristics are the basis for and have influence on performances of the PET device, that is, high resolution (size reduction of each scintillator), high counting rate (accelerated event processing) and high sensitivity (high probability of γ ray detection).
However, the element Lu-176 is a radioactive substance and three γ-decays (300 KeV 94%, 202 KeV 78%, 88 KeV 15%) occur concurrently to follow a beta decay (β-decay) (99.9%, maximum 596 KeV). Due to this, there are cases where a plurality of (two or more) arbitrary radiant rays among these radiant rays is counted coincidentally. This coincidence count cannot be subtracted as "random coincidence count". However, in collection of data in PET, a energy lower limit threshold (300 to 400 KeV) is normally set so as to remove low energy background such as scatter components, as disclosed in, for example, Andrew L. et al.: "On the imaging of very weak sources in an LSO PET Scanner", IEEE MIC 2007, Conf Rec. MO7-5, S Yamamoto et al., "Investigation of single, random, and true counts from natural radioactivity in LSO-based clinical PET", Ann Nucl Med, vol. 19, pp. 109 to 114, 2005. Components other than the γ-rays (511 KeV) are removed from detection target positrons (that is, radiopharmaceutical). It is reported that self-radioactivity of Lu-176 can be suppressed to almost an ignorable level by setting this energy lower limit threshold to about 400 KeV. In this way, the self-radioactivity of Lu-176 may possibly become background noise, so that it is a main conventional object to suppress the components.
Meanwhile, it is necessary to suppress the self-radioactivity during coincidence counting. A technique or the like for daily checking of detectors (each including a photo multiplier tube (PMT) and an electric circuit) using the self-radioactivity is proposed. The technique is disclosed in, for example, Christof Knoess et al.: "Development of Daily Quality Check Procedure for the High-Resolution Research Tomograph (HRRT) Using Natural LSO Background Radioactivity", IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., vol. 49, No. 5, P2074, 2002.
The conventional absorption correction method using the external radiant source and X-ray CT images as stated above is highly accurate and effective. Nevertheless, if the detectors are located to be proximate to the subject with views of improving sensitivity and spatial resolution, a space for mounting a collimated external radiant source, a mechanism that rotates the radiant source (radiant source rotation mechanism) and the like is not often secured. Furthermore, in case of a PET mammography device applied to mammograms for detecting a breast cancer, it is necessary to make a body (breast) of a subject as proximate to the detectors as possible. If an interior of the subject can be considered a uniform absorber, the technique for extracting a profile of the subject from emission data and images, regarding the interior as the uniform absorber and conducting an absorption correction is used. However, if radioactive accumulation is quite small on edges of the subject, the profile cannot be extracted and profile extraction accuracy is deteriorated. Moreover, since distribution is extremely offset on the edges of the subject, the profile extraction accuracy may possibly be deteriorated. In this way, stable profile information cannot be acquired and stable absorption correction cannot be conducted depending on an accumulation situation of the radiopharmaceutical.

Nuclear medicine diagnosis device, form tomography diagnosis device, nuclear medicine data arithmetic processing method, and form tomogram arithmetic processing method


A roll bar assembly capable of punching through a rear window on deployment comprises a deployable u-shaped roll bar fitted with a pin made of hard material. The pin may be fixed to an upper surface of the roll bar or may be housed inside the top portion of the roll bar and deployed at the appropriate moment by pyrotechnic means.

Many convertible vehicles are provided with roll bars or hoops for protecting the driver and passengers in the event of the vehicle overturning. Some roll bars currently found on motor vehicles are fixed in position and some are stowed in a retracted position out of sight and deployed when required.
GB-A-157543 discloses a deployable roll bar which pivots from a horizontal stowed position to a vertical deployed position. The roll bar is located behind the front seat of a vehicle and is triggered by means of a pyrotechnic device in conjunction with a sensor responsive to vehicle rotational acceleration or angle of rotation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,396 discloses a deployable u-shaped roll bar that is stowed in a retracted position in the headrest or backrest of a seat and which extends upwards above an occupant's head in a deployed position. The roll bar's deployment system includes a spring-loaded release member and a hold member so that on deployment, the roll bar may be forced upwards by the action of the spring and locked in an extended position by the hold member.
GB-A-2,184,586 discloses sensor means for controlling deployment of a roll bar. A first sensor comprises an inertia switch located centrally in the vehicle and a second sensor means comprises switches located on the rear wheels of the vehicle, each switch being closed when the rear wheel suspension is completely extended, and a third sensor comprising a tilt switch. This combination of switches facilitates deployment of the roll bar when overturning of the vehicle is imminent and inhibits deployment when the vehicle is lifted in a workshop or is driven over a hump.
When designing either fixed or deployable roll bar arrangements for motor vehicles, certain constraints have to be taken into account.
Firstly packaging constraints must be considered, so that the roll bar can be located in the vehicle optimally.
Additionally for protection, the static or deployed position has to be sufficiently high in order to offer a protective 'zone' in which the occupants are retained, thus avoiding or minimising contact between an occupant's head and the road surface when the vehicle is rolling or static on the ground.
Further, there must be allowance for the operation of a roof-folding mechanism and the travel envelope when folding or unfolding the roof.
Deployable roll bars must be able to reach a point where protection is afforded irrespective of the position of the roof, i.e. up or down.
Known roll bar arrangements meet the above constraints by virtue of roof design. That is, the roof is positioned so that it clears the roll bar in its deployed condition, thus allowing the roll bar to function in either case of roof position, up or down. This has led to a compromise on the styling, aerodynamics and other factors related to the roof design, this being undesirable from a marketing and competitive point of view.
Thus there is a need for a deployable roll bar which will operate within the constraints mentioned above and which will allow design freedom with regard to the overall appearance of the vehicle, particularly the roof-line, the size and location of the rear window and the possibility of utilising glass as the material for the rear window.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A core assembly for coil units and a method for producing the same which can suppress a raise of temperature are provided. A secondary core (21) made of a ferrite includes a pair of core members (25, 25) which are symmetrical with respect to each other and are adapted to be coupled to each other. Each core member (25) is provided in its coupling surface (44) with a groove or apertune (43). When the core members (25, 25) are coupled to each other, the integrated grooves (43, 43) define a flow path (40) adapted to flow a cooling medium in the secondary core (21). Thus, it is possible to form a flow path in a core made of a sintered material which is too hard to be worked.

This invention relates to a core assembly for coil units which charges an electric car and to a method for producing the same.
In general, a magnetic coupling device includes a core assembly which constitutes a magnetic circuit for magnetically coupling a primary coil in a primary coil unit connected to an external power source device to a secondary coil in a secondary coil unit connected to a battery in the electric car. When both units are interconnected and the primary coil is energized, an induction electromotive force is generated in the secondary coil by a generated magnetic flux to charge the battery.
In such a magnetic coupling device, it is impossible to prevent a core of the core assembly from generating a heat due to a hysteresis loss of a magnetic material and the like. Consequently, there was a problem in which the magnetic coupling device as a whole is brought into a raise in temperature by a heat source of the core upon charging the battery.

Core assembly for coil units and method for producing the same


Routing communication in a data processing system. Communication is routed from a communication client having no own communication stack through a first own communication stack of a first communication bridge, and through a second own communication stack of a second communication bridge. Routing between the communication client and the first and the second communication bridges uses a communication mechanism that does not include an own communication stack. One of the first or the second communication bridges is configured to act as a master communication bridge, and the other of the second or the first communication bridges is configured to act as a slave communication bridge.

One or more aspects relate in general to data processing systems, and in particular, to routing communication between computing platforms of a data processing system and external networks.
In recent years the capacity of mainframe class servers has grown, and the quantity of data they are required to handle has grown with them. As a result, the existing prior art computer architectures required modifications to support an order of magnitude increase in the bandwidth. In addition, new Internet applications increased the demand for improved latency. Adapters were needed to support more users and a larger number of connections to consolidate the external network interfaces. The combination of all of the above requirements presented a unique challenge to prior art server I/O subsystems. An enhanced version of an I/O architecture for the mainframe is called queued direct I/O (QDIO). The architecture was initially exploited for Gigabit and Fast Ethernet adapters. More recently the architecture was exploited by the OSA-Express (Open System Architecture-Express) network adapter for Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and high speed Token Ring connections, and it was exploited by socket network communication for internal virtual machine to virtual machine (logical partition to logical partition) connections. In each of these features, the TCP/IP stack is changed to tightly integrate the new I/O interface and to offload key TCP/IP functions to hardware facilities. For external communications, the offloaded functions are performed by the OSA-Express hardware microcode. The result is a significant improvement in both latency and bandwidth for sockets-based messaging which is transparent to the exploiting applications.
In a multiprocessor environment or a logically partitioned computer as described above, it is often desirable to move data from one processor to another or from one partition to another one. Yet, on an operating system level, it is a significant challenge to develop new network device drivers for each new hardware to be used for communication, as e.g., a TCP/IP communication.
US 2013/0332678 A1, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, discloses a method for exchanging data with a targeted host using a shared memory communications model. A shared memory communication (SMC) component provides a transparent sockets based communications solution in two variations: a local variation (when the virtual hosts reside on the same physical computing platform having direct access to the same physical memory) by locating a shared memory buffer element in reliance on a connection status bit array; and a remote variation when the virtual servers reside on separate physical computing platforms, by locating a remote memory buffer element in reliance on Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) technology. In both variations, the SMC component copies control information to the targeted host's storage. The SMC component updates a targeted logical partition's local producer cursor based on the control information. The SMC component alerts the targeted host indicating data is available to be consumed. The SMC component copies application data to an application receive buffer. The SMC component determines that an application completes a receive operation. The SMC component, updating the targeted logical partition's local consumer cursor to match the targeted logical partition's producer cursor, is responsive to a determination that the application completed the receive operation.

Routing communication between computing platforms

International Business Machines Corporation


A search keyword improvement apparatus includes a unit extracting a word as an additional keyword candidate from a new document, number of times of appearance of the word in the new document being greater than number of times of appearance of the word in each of a first documents except for the new document, if the new document and a new search target identification information item which is used to search the new document are accumulated, a unit generating a first search query based on an input keyword, a second search target associated with the input keyword, and one of the additional keywords, and generating a second search query, a unit moving the additional keyword candidate and the third search target identification information item, if the desired search result is selected from a third search result list corresponding to the second search query.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information search field, and more particularly to a search keyword improvement apparatus, server and method, which enable appropriately narrowed information to be searched for by expanding a keyword input by a user for information search.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a technique of performing information search by a simple operation, there is known a technique of acquiring an auxiliary keyword from a co-occurrence ratio keyword database, based on a keyword designated by a user, and performing a search using the designated keyword and auxiliary keyword (see, for example, JP-A 2006-79366 (KOKAI)).
Since in the conventional technique, defined keywords are not updated, an accurate search result may not be acquired when, for example, the property of documents as search targets is changed or new documents appear.

Search keyword improvement apparatus, server and method


A display rack having a foundation consisting of a back, top, bottom and sides and a core which can be folded to fit within the foundation creating multiple shelves within the rack. The core is assembled within the rack through the use of ears and slots without the need of screws, snaps, clamps, buttons, or the like to hold the assembled structure together. The shelves of the rack may be separated by a divider which also is assembled within the foundation through the inner connection of the ears provided on the divider fitting into slots cut and formed into the foundation. The sections of the rack which are created by the shelves and divider can be further sub-divided into compartments by the use of wings are formed in the core and are connected to the core by a pivot hinge which allows the wing to swing into the sections of the rack and form compartments. A clear strip extends from one side of the rack to the other across the face of each section and the clear strip has a leaf which extends over the seat of the shelf to hold the material being displayed within the compartments. The clear strips have arms on each ends which wrap about the sides of the display rack and fingers which tuck into openings in the back of the back to secure the clear strip to the rack.

The present invention relates generally to display racks and more particularly to display racks made of corrugate cardboard or similar materials which can be cut into a pre-designed pattern and folded in order to create the unique display rack of the present invention.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that point of sale displays often occur with the use of display racks and that such display racks, when assembled, are bulky and space consuming. The bulk of such display racks and the space required for their use is acceptable once the display rack is assembled and in place at the retail establishment using it. However, getting the display rack to the retail establishment oftentimes requires shipping the display rack through commercial carriers and the like. Extra bulk increases the expense of such shipments and, in addition, if the display rack is shipped in its assembled condition, it oftentimes gets damaged in transition. Such display racks are particularly susceptible to damage when they are made of corrugate cardboard and the like, being rather fragile and subject to being crushed by excess weight being placed upon them.
For the foregoing reasons, it is desirable to have a display rack made of corrugate cardboard or of similar substance which can be shipped in a disassembled condition. Such a rack, in its disassembled condition is preferably shipped as flat packaging without exposing the display rack to the risk of being crushed during transit. To this end, there have been several attempts to design a display rack which can be manufactured through the use of several pieces that can be shipped in a flat condition and when received at the retail facility, folded and assembled to create a useful point of display device. One such attempt is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,135,093 issued to Abrams in 1938. Abrams device shows a display rack with compartments that can, in turn, be subdivided; but the device, in order to have multiple compartments requires a large number of pieces to be assembled and is therefore time consuming and awkward to put together.
Another feature that is desirable in a point of sale display rack is the ability to show the product being sold, such as greeting cards, packets containing flower seed or garden seed, brochures and pamphlets, etc. through the compartments of the display racks. The U.S. Pat. No. 2,491,652 to Feerick attempts to meet this need by providing a spring across the front of the rack in order to hold the contents of the compartments in place and yet display the contents to the purchasing public. However, the Feerick disclosure has the disadvantage of the open bottom of the compartment which would allow the material displayed in the compartments to slip out of the compartment onto the floor.
The deficiencies of the prior art have left a need for a display rack that is simple to manufacture, easy to assemble, can be shipped in a flat unassembled fashion with a minimum number of pieces, can clearly display the merchandise being offered for sale and which will contain the merchandise in a secure fashion to keep it from falling from the rack.
The display rack can also be shipped assembled at a reduced weight as compared to, and without breakage as experienced with, hard plastic racks.


A Coupled Multiple Output Resonator (CMOR) having two symmetric modules 10,20, is created by adding self-feedback (SFB) mirrors 104,106 aligned with apertures 100,102, in output scraper mirrors 14,24, respectively, to a conventional Multiple Output Resonator (MOR). The SFB mirrors re-inject a portion of the output beams 34,42 back into the resonator cavity as adjoint beams 108,110 which alter the modes of the system such that the CMOR only lases at desired modes where all the output beams 34,42 are in-phase. The CMOR provides substantially constant acceptable mode discrimination for more than 4 modules with only one SFB mirror per module and no additional external coupling paths between modules, thereby allowing the system to be scaled to any number of lasers without reduction of target intensity. Also, the SFB mirrors are small and are easily controlled to compensate for cavity mirror variations to maintain the desired mode discrimination.

It is known in the field of high-powered lasers that if N individual lasers, each having a single output and sufficient self-feedback (SFB) to sustain lasing action, are each focused on a distant target, the peak intensity seen at the target will be equal to N.times.I; where N is the number of lasers and I is the intensity of a single laser. However, if the N lasers are coupled, i.e., phase-locked or running at the same frequency or mode, such that the phase between output beams is a constant, and they are in-phase with each other, the intensity seen at the target will be N.sup.2 .times.I (i.e., the coherent sum).
One way of providing N.sup.2 I output intensity is to use coupled standing wave resonators, as is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,339, to Sziklas et al., entitled "Laser Array Having Mutually Coupled Resonators". In that case, each individual standing wave resonator has a bi-directional optical coupling signal going from one laser to the next, i.e., mutual feedback (MFB). However, to maintain phase lock, the cavity length of each laser must be kept to within approximately .+-. .lambda./20, of an integer multiple of a wavelength of each other (depending on the number of lasers and type of coupling used). It is difficult to achieve this level of cavity length matching due to vibration and thermal effects and because it requires controlling large, e.g., 1 foot in diameter, water-cooled mirrors for high-power lasers.
Another way of achieving N.sup.2 I output intensity at a distant target is to use one large laser cavity (i.e., not individual lasers), such as a folded cavity, and tap-off output beams at various different locations in the cavity. Such a laser is called a Multiple Output Resonator (laser) or MOR, as is known. The advantage of using an MOR is that minor changes in the main resonator cavity length do not affect the coherence (or phaseability; discussed hereinafter) of the output beams because they are inherently coupled by being part of the same cavity.
In a typical MOR, the output beams are tapped-off from physically different locations in the MOR cavity, and the MOR (like most lasers) lases at a plurality of optical frequencies or axial (or longitudinal) modes spaced in frequency by the well known equation c/2L, where c is the speed of light, and L it the total length of the entire MOR cavity. The MOR may also be viewed as a number (N) of "modules", or "elements", i.e., symmetric cavities that make-up the larger MOR cavity. Thus, N modules in an MOR is analogous to N coupled standing wave resonators.
For a symmetrically configured MOR with two modules and, thus, two output beams, output scraper mirrors are positioned such that for a given frequency (or mode), and odd multiples of c/2L therefrom (called "odd modes" herein), the output beams are 180 degrees out of phase with each other. Similarly, in a symmetric MOR, the output beams are physically spaced such that at frequencies equal to the even multiples of c/2L (called "even modes" herein) from the same given frequency the output beams are in-phase with each other. Thus, although the spectral content of each output beam is identical (i.e., same frequency spacing and power output), the phase distribution for each spectral line is not identical. In general, this spectral phase mismatch renders the output beams "unphaseable".
More specifically, for a two-module, dual output beam MOR, the adjacent axial modes of the combined output beams are either in-phase (i.e., even modes) or 180 degrees out of phase (i.e., odd modes). Consequently, simultaneous operation of the MOR laser on adjacent axial modes precludes coherent superposition of the two output beams. Therefore, when the beams are interfered at the target, the even modes form an interference pattern with a peak (or node) in the center, and the odd modes form a pattern with a null (or anti-node) in the center. Thus, when the two intensities are combined the resultant peak intensity seen at the target is NI, not the desired N.sup.2 I.
One way to restore phaseability to the output beams of the MOR is to add cumbersome external delay lines, one for each output, to make it appear as though the output beams are being tapped-off from the same location in the cavity.
It is known that the characteristic equation (or denominator of the transfer function) of a laser system typically has complex roots (or eigenvalues) one corresponding to each mode (i.e., each resonating/lasing optical frequency). It is also known that the magnitude of each eigenvalue provides an indication of the optical loss (or feedback loss) per pass around the laser cavity for a given mode. The greater the magnitude of the eigenvalue, the lower the feedback loss. Also, the phase of each eigenvalue provides an indication of the actual lasing frequency or mode.
For a small number of coupling lasers (e.g., less than four), the phaseability problem of the MOR does not exist for coupled standing wave resonators. The act of coupling not only serves to phase-lock (i.e., frequency-lock) the lasers, but also makes the system operate on a single set of "supermodes" (different than the modes of an individual standing wave laser). Also, the coupling modifies the mode spectrum from a single standing wave resonator such that one set of supermodes has less loss (i.e., greater eigenvalue magnitude) than all others; thus, the laser system will only lase at those supermodes (frequencies). Further, each member of a supermode set has the same output phase distribution. Thus, for a system with less than four lasers the lasers will naturally lase on a dominant supermode set that ensures all the beams will be in-phase with each other for all the adjacent supermodes in the lasing supermode set.
However, in order to maintain a constant acceptable eigenvalue magnitude (or loss) difference for coupled resonators with more than four coupled lasers, each laser must be coupled to every other laser in the system, typically called "tight" coupling. Such a coupling configuration gets quite complex and cumbersome for a large number of lasers because of the high number of interconnects between lasers. This is especially true for high power, physically large lasers, e.g., lasers that are about 20 feet long.
If a coupling configuration other than tight coupling is used for coupled resonators, such as "series" coupling (where each laser is only coupled to adjacent lasers in the system), the eigenvalue magnitude difference decreases (like 1/N.sup.2) as the number N of lasers increases. Thus, as the number of lasers increases, it becomes more difficult to distinguish between one mode and another, and the system will begin to lase at modes that cause phaseability problems.
In the case of the MOR, the eigenvalues are all the same magnitude for any number of lasers. Thus, the eigenvalue magnitude difference is essentially zero and the MOR will lase at both the even and the odd modes (discussed hereinbefore).
Therefore, it is desirable to achieve a coupled laser system having a large number of lasers (e.g., greater than four) that provides the N.sup.2 I intensity effect, that is not highly sensitive to cavity length variations and does not require precise control of cavity lengths. Also, it is desirable to have a system that has an acceptable eigenvalue magnitude (or loss) difference which allows the laser to lase only at the desired modes and has an loss difference that remains substantially constant (or above a desired threshold) as the number of lasers is increased, thereby providing a "scalable" laser system, i.e., a laser system that may be scaled to any number of lasers while maintaining the desired N.sup.2 I intensity scaling of the coherent sum.

Scalable laser system using a coupled multiple output resonator


A self powered electric vehicle charging connector locking system for locking and unlocking a charging connector of an electric vehicle charging cord includes an electric vehicle charging station and an electric vehicle charging connector locking holster. The electric vehicle charging station includes an electricity control device to energize and de-energize the charging cord to control a supply of electricity available to flow through the charging cord. Current does not flow through the charging cord when it is de-energized and some amount of current is capable of flowing through the charging cord when it is energized. The electric vehicle charging connector locking holster includes a charging connector locking holster inlet to receive the charging connector of the charging cord and a locking unit to lock the charging connector in the locking holster when it is inserted into the charging connector locking holster inlet and unlock the charging connector from the locking holster responsive to the charging cord becoming energized.

1. Field
Embodiments of the invention relate to the field of charging stations for electric vehicles; and more specifically, to a self powered electric vehicle charging connector locking system.
2. Background
Electric vehicle charging stations are used to deliver energy to electric vehicles for charging. These charging stations may be located in publicly accessible locations and may include attached charging cords where one end is terminated at the charging station (and securely retained within the charging station) and the other end terminates in a connector (such as a connector conforming to the SAE Electric Vehicle and Plug in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Conductive Charge Coupler standard, document number J1772, published January 2010 ("SAE J1772 standard")). Typically the charging cord connector is not secured when the charging station is not in use, which allows the charging cord to be used in an inappropriate manner and can damage the cord and/or connector. For example, the charging cord may be subject to being used as a jump rope, may be wrapped around objects, etc.
Some charging connectors (e.g., connectors conforming to the SAE J1772 standard) are designed to be locked in an electric vehicle charging inlet during electric vehicle charging such that the connector cannot be removed while the vehicle is charging. The locking mechanism that locks these charging connectors is controlled by the electric vehicle, and is typically tied to the car door locking system.

Self powered electric vehicle charging connector locking system


A friction winch assembly for securing automobiles or other heavy objects to a transporting vehicle includes a spindle rotatably mounted on the transporting vehicle, a ratchet gear axially mounted on said spindle, and an actuator cap for threaded engagement on said spindle. A chain or other flexible elongated member is connected at one of its ends to the spindle for winding or unwinding thereon, and at its other end to the automobile. To wind the chain and secure the vehicle, the actuator cap is rotated with a tool for longitudinal movement along the spindle toward the ratchet until longitudinal movement is limited by a collar affixed to the spindle. The actuator cap, ratchet and spindle eventually frictionally engage each other sufficiently so that they rotate synchronously with the spindle while the chain is wound, until the chain tension secures the automobile. To release the automobile from the friction winch assembly, the actuator cap is rotated in the reverse direction, with a pawl pivotally mounted on the transporting vehicle engaging the ratchet and precluding its rotation. The torque from the chain maintains engagement between the ratchet and actuator head until the chain is sufficiently unwound, at which time the actuator cap and ratchet disengage.

This invention relates to devices for restraining, securing, lifting, or pulling heavy objects and, more particularly, to restraining vehicles such as automobiles during their transportation. While automobiles are discussed herein, the invention is useful for tieing down, securing, lifting, or pulling other heavy objects, which may or may not be transported.
Various devices have been used for tieing down and securing automobiles for over the road transportation. For example, automobiles are sometimes chained to a long rotatable spindle mounted on the transporting vehicle. The spindle terminates in a gear and pawl assembly. The pawl locks the gear in the desired position once the gear and spindle have been turned sufficiently to tighten the chain. To loosen the chain in a controlled manner, the pawl has to be regularly disengaged from the gear. This is done by first rotating the gear in the tightening direction sufficiently to clear the pawl from the teeth of the gear, and then rotating the gear in the loosening direction until the pawl again engages the gear, at which time the same steps must be repeated to release the chain. This is a slow, cumbersome procedure requiring two hands and some concentration. Inasmuch as these tiedown devices are sometimes located in difficult-to-reach locations on the transporting vehicle, the operation of the tiedown devices can be very awkward.

Friction winch assembly for restraining heavy articles


Methods and systems for compensating for delay or jitter are provided. The methods, for example, may include, but are not limited to receiving, by a processor, one or more data streams from one or more electronic devices, transmitting, by the processor, the one or more data streams to one or more displays, determining, by the processor, delay and jitter in the one or more data streams transmitted by the processor, and requesting, by the processor, at least one of the one or more electronic devices to adjust a respective data stream via a communication system.

Vehicles may have multiple displays, for example, a display in a dashboard to provide navigation and entertainment options to passengers in a front seat and one or more screens in a back seat to entertain passengers in a rear portion of the vehicle. Passengers may wish to stream media or other applications from a mobile phone or other electronic device to one or more of the displays.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide systems and methods for effectively streaming media or other applications from a mobile phone or other electronic device to one or more of the displays. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.

System and method for compensating for delay and jitter


The invention involves the use of supercritical or near-critical fluids for the inactivation of viruses, especially enveloped or lipid protected viruses, and nonenveloped, protein encased viruses, viral-like particles and other pathogens in any matrix, but preferably in solutions containing biologically active proteinaceous products of natural or genetic engineering origin or in semi-solid or solid support matrices which are thermally labile or sensitive to conventional viral inactivation techniques. Novel apparatus also are provided.

Infectious viruses, unless inactivated, can be readily transmitted from biological products derived from human plasma as well as recombinant-DNA and monoclonal antibody sources. The hepatitis B virus (HBV) as well as the agents of non-A and non-B hepatitis (NANBHV) have plagued patients, physicians and manufacturers for many years. In recent years, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)--the etiologic agent of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)--has become a very serious and epidemic problem. In several instances, coagulation factor concentrates have transmitted HIV to hemophiliacs, some of whom have subsequently developed AIDS (an estimated 65% of the 20,000 hemophiliacs in the United States are infected with HIV, Wall Street Journal, Dec. 27, 1990. Morgenthaler, a leading researcher in this field, states in his preface to Viral Inactivation in Plasma Products (1989) that: "Clearly, there is a need for methods that inactivate viruses in blood, without causing harm to the components intended for therapeutic use."
Viral inactivation of recombinant-DNA products is still a major and active concern for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries as well as the regulatory agencies. The FDA in Points to Consider in the Manufacture and Testing of Monoclonal Antibody Products for Human Use states that: "It is strongly recommended that validated procedures . . . which remove and/or inactivate viruses and DNA if present be employed during purification. . . ." For reasons of safety and public health, the quest is to discover and develop processes for inactivating viruses without denaturing the biologically active products which are commonly labile and quite sensitive to conventional viral inactivation techniques.
There exists substantial difficulty in inactivating viruses in the presence of thermally labile and sensitive proteins without utilizing additives which may be carcinogenic, toxic and/or damaging to biologically active compounds. These additives, which must be removed in a sterile post-process step, place an additional cost and time burden on conventional viral inactivation techniques.
Embodiments of this invention provide novel methods and apparatus for inactivating viruses, especially enveloped or lipid-coated viruses, and nonenveloped, protein encased viruses in proteinaceous products without incurring substantial denaturation.

Viral inactivation method using near critical, supercritical or critical fluids


The present disclosure relates to signal transmission methods, network devices, and terminal devices. One example method includes sending, by a network device, N first reference signals to a terminal device, where N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1, sending, by the network device, physical layer control signaling to the terminal device, where the physical layer control signaling is used to trigger the terminal device to send a channel quality measurement result of the N first reference signals to the network device, and is used to instruct the terminal device to send M second reference signals to the network device, and M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1, receiving, by the network device, the channel quality measurement result from the terminal device, and receiving, by the network device, the M second reference signals from the terminal device.

A communications system usually uses different types of reference signals. One type of reference signals are used for channel quality measurement, for example, measurement related to radio resource management (radio resource management, RRM). This type of reference signals may be a cell-specific reference signal (cell-specific reference signal, CRS), so as to implement user channel quality measurement and cell selection and handover. Another type of reference signals are used for channel state information measurement, so as to schedule a terminal device. The terminal device obtains channel state information based on channel quality measurement of a channel state information-reference signal (channel state information-reference signal, CSI-RS).
To reduce a relatively large propagation loss caused by a relatively high frequency band, a signal (including a reference signal) transmission mechanism based on a beamforming technology is used, and a transmission loss in a signal propagation process is compensated by using a relatively large antenna gain. A beamforming signal includes a first-type cell-specific reference signal or a second-type user-specific reference signal. In addition, a receive beamforming technology of a base station is also considered, and beamforming may include any one of analog-domain beamforming, baseband-domain beamforming, or hybrid beamforming in an analog domain or a baseband domain. During downlink signal transmission, both beamforming on a transmit side of the base station and beamforming on a receive side of the terminal device may dynamically change. To track a beamforming change, the terminal device may obtain one or more optimal formed beams based on channel quality measurement of a plurality of reference signals on different formed beams.
In the prior art, when a signal is transmitted based on the beamforming technology, once a user moves, a direction of a formed beam corresponding to the transmitted signal may not match a moved user location. Consequently, a problem of frequent receive signal interruptions occurs. To track a formed-beam change in a signal transmission process, a result of channel quality measurement based on the beamforming technology needs to be reported. Channel quality measurement may be completed based on a synchronization signal or a cell-specific reference signal obtained after beamforming. The user performs handover between different formed beams more dynamically and frequently than handover between cells. Therefore, a dynamic measurement report mechanism is also required. Similar to a report of CSI information, a report of a channel quality measurement result of the formed beam may also be sent by the terminal device to the base station by using a physical uplink control channel or a physical uplink shared channel.
In a signal transmission process based on a formed beam, both optimal formed beams on a transmit side and a receive side need to be obtained by maximizing a signal beamforming gain and corresponding channel quality. According to a signal transmission method usually used in the prior art, a base station side and a terminal device side need to perform beam scanning and beam training on a formed transmit beam and a formed receive beam respectively, so as to complete selection of an optimal pair of a transmit beam and a receive beam.
In conclusion, in the prior art, the base station side and the terminal device side perform beam scanning and beam training on the formed transmit beam and the formed receive beam respectively. Consequently, time doubles for training optimal beams on the receive side and the transmit side, processing complexity is increased, and resource utilization efficiency is reduced.

Signal transmission method, network device, and terminal device


A method for driving a component placement device, the component placement device having a machine frame, component pickup units and a subframe, the first and second component pickup units configured to be movable in a direction of travel, the method comprising: moving at least one of the component pickup unit in the direction of movement relative to the subframe, the component pickup units and the subframe configured for a reactive force to be exerted on the subframe by the moving of the at least one of the component pickup units; determining a counterforce to be exerted against the subframe substantially opposite a direction of the reactive force, the counterforce determined by an auxiliary control unit, wherein the counterforce at least partially counteracts the reactive force; and applying the counterforce to the subframe substantially in the opposite direction of the reactive force by at least one drive unit.

A component placement device is described in applicant's European patent application EP 1 937 050 A1.
In said known described placement device, the machine frame supports a number of subframes. Each subframe is provided with a guide, over which a component pickup unit is movable in a direction of movement parallel to the guide. Each component pickup unit is further movable relative to the subframe in a direction transversely to the direction of movement. The guides extend parallel to each other. Disposed under the component pickup units is a conveying device that extends transversely to the direction of movement for transporting substrates. Each subframe at least comprises a motor for moving the component pickup unit in the direction of movement. Components are picked up from component pickup positions by means of the component pickup unit, after which the component pickup unit is moved to a position above a desired position on the substrate, whereupon the component is placed on the desired position on the substrate.

Methods for component placement utilizing a counteracting force drive


An edge bead removal process is disclosed. The process includes providing a wafer having a feature layer, coating a photoresist on the feature layer, rotating the wafer, and removing an edge bead from the wafer by removing an edge bump portion from the edge bead and removing an edge region from the edge bead.

The fabrication of various solid state devices requires the use of planar substrates, or semiconductor wafers, on which integrated circuits are fabricated. The final number, or yield, of functional integrated circuits on a wafer at the end of the IC fabrication process is of utmost importance to semiconductor manufacturers, and increasing the yield of circuits on the wafer is the main goal of semiconductor fabrication. After packaging, the circuits on the wafers are tested, wherein non-functional dies are marked using an inking process and the functional dies on the wafer are separated and sold. IC fabricators increase the yield of dies on a wafer by exploiting economies of scale. Over 1000 dies may be formed on a single wafer which measures from six to twelve inches in diameter.
Various processing steps are used to fabricate integrated circuits on a semiconductor wafer. These steps include deposition of a conducting layer on the silicon wafer substrate; formation of a photoresist or other mask such as titanium oxide or silicon oxide, in the form of the desired metal interconnection pattern, using standard lithographic or photolithographic techniques; subjecting the wafer substrate to a dry etching process to remove the conducting layer from the areas not covered by the mask, thereby etching the conducting layer in the form of the masked pattern on the substrate; removing or stripping the mask layer from the substrate typically using reactive plasma and chlorine gas, thereby exposing the top surface of the conductive interconnect layer; and cooling and drying the wafer substrate by applying water and nitrogen gas to the wafer substrate.
The numerous processing steps outlined above are used to cumulatively apply multiple electrically conductive and insulative layers on the wafer and pattern the layers to form the circuits. The final yield of functional circuits on the wafer depends on proper application of each layer during the process steps. Proper application of those layers depends, in turn, on coating the material in a uniform spread over the surface of the wafer in an economical and efficient manner.
The photolithography step of semiconductor production is a complex process which can generally be divided into an eight-step procedure including vapor prime, in which the surface of the wafer substrate is cleaned, dehydrated and primed to promote adhesion between the photoresist material and the substrate surface; spin coating, in which a quantity of liquid photoresist is applied to the substrate either before or during rotation of the substrate; soft bake, in which most of the solvent in the resist is driven off by heating the substrate; alignment and exposure, in which a mask or reticle corresponding to the desired circuit pattern is aligned to the correct location on the substrate and light energy is applied through the mask or reticle onto the photoresist to define circuit patterns which will be etched in a subsequent processing step to define the circuits on the substrate; post-exposure bake; develop, in which the soluble areas of photoresist are dissolved by liquid developer, leaving visible islands and windows corresponding to the circuit pattern on the substrate surface; hard bake, in which the remaining photoresist solvent is evaporated from the substrate; and develop inspect, in which an inspection is carried out in order to verify the quality of the resist pattern.
Resists which are determined by development inspection to be defective can be removed through resist stripping for re-processing of the substrate. Those resists which are determined not to be defective are subjected to etching, in which those areas of a conductive layer on the substrate not covered by the photoresist are etched and those areas covered by the photoresist are protected, leaving the circuit pattern in the conductive layer on the substrate. Alternatively, the photoresist may cover an electrically-insulating dielectric layer, in which case the areas of the dielectric layer not covered by the photoresist are etched and those areas covered by the photoresist are protected, leaving the circuit pattern etched in the form of vias, trenches, or both vias and trenches in the dielectric layer. The vias and/or trenches are then filled with metal in a deposition process to form the circuit pattern.
Spin coating of photoresist on wafers is carried out in an automated track system using wafer handling equipment which transport the wafers between the various photolithography operation stations, such as vapor prime resist spin coat, develop, baking and chilling stations. Robotic handling of the wafers minimizes particle generation and wafer damage. Automated wafer tracks enable various processing operations to be carried out simultaneously. Two types of automated track systems widely used in the industry are the TEL (Tokyo Electron Limited) track and the SVG (Silicon Valley Group) track.
Photoresist materials are coated onto the surface of a wafer by dispensing a photoresist fluid typically on the center of the wafer as the wafer rotates at high speeds within a stationary bowl or coater cup. The coater cup catches excess fluids and particles ejected from the rotating wafer during application of the photoresist. The photoresist fluid dispensed onto the center of the wafer is spread outwardly toward the edges of the wafer by surface tension generated by the centrifugal force of the rotating wafer. This facilitates uniform application of the liquid photoresist on the entire surface of the wafer.
In addition to photolithography, photoresist is often used as a sacrificial layer in etchback processes, such as copper etchback processes, in which topography created by surface features on the wafer is smoothed using an etching process. The sacrificial photoresist layer is deposited on the wafer and fills voids and low spots on the surface features. Dry etching of the photoresist layer is then carried out to smooth the surface features by removing high features at a faster rate than low features. The etching process is continued until the photoresist layer reaches a final thickness, with the photoresist material still filling the low-lying areas.
FIG. 1A illustrates a wafer 10 having deposited thereon a feature layer 12 having surface features (not shown) to be reduced in size in an etchback process. Accordingly, as the wafer 10 is rotated on a wafer support (not shown), liquid photoresist 14 is initially deposited from a photoresist dispenser 16 onto the feature layer 12 at the center of the wafer 10. The photoresist 14 will serve as a sacrificial layer during the subsequent etchback process.
As shown in FIG. 1B, the rotating motion of the wafer 10 causes centrifugal force to pull the photoresist 14 to the edge of the wafer 10. This causes the formation of an edge bead 17 which includes an annular edge bump 18, having an edge region 20, at the edge of the wafer 10 and layer 12.
As shown in FIG. 1C, prior to the etchback process, the edge region 20 of the edge bump 18 is removed in a one-step edge bead removal (EBR) process carried out at the end of the photoresist-coating step. The EBR process is typically performed by spraying a small quantity of solvent (not shown) on the underside of the wafer 10 as the wafer 10 is rotated. The solvent laps up over the edge of the wafer 10, thus dissolving and removing the edge region 20 from the edge bump 18. Accordingly, a reduced edge bump 18a, having a reduced height as compared to that of the edge bump 18, remains at the edge of the wafer 10 after the EBR step.
The wafer 10 is then subjected to the etchback process, in which dry etching is used to reduce the size of features fabricated in the feature layer 12. After the etchback process, as shown in FIG. 1D, a small quantity of photoresist 14 remains on the wafer 10 in the form of edge bump remnants 18b. These edge bump remnants 18b are a significant source of contaminant particles, which flake off and tend to contaminate active devices subsequently fabricated in and on the feature layer 12, thereby increasing defect densities of devices on the wafer 10. Accordingly, an edge bead removal method is needed for the complete removal of an edge bead from a wafer, particularly prior to an etchback process.
An object of the present invention is to provide a novel method which is capable of decreasing defect densities in devices fabricated on a wafer.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel multi-step edge bead removal (EBR) process for the substantially complete removal of an edge bead from a wafer.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a multi-step EBR process which is effective in removing an edge bead from a wafer prior to an etchback or other process.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a novel EBR process which may include the removal of an edge bump portion from an edge bead, followed by the removal of an edge region from the edge bead, to prevent or at least minimize the formation of potential device-contaminating particles during a subsequent etchback process.

Multi-step EBR process for photoresist removal


A solid state switch that employs a controller driven input and MOSFET power switching devices is disclosed. The controller can test for a short-circuit on the load side of the MOSFET power switching devices before putting the switch in a sustained conductive state.

A switching circuit, such as a relay or a triac, is typically employed to switch high voltage/power circuits with a lower voltage/power control signal. The control signal is generated by a secondary (control) device. Current switching applications (for example a Class 2 application switching a voltage less than 30V) typically use switching technologies including relays or triac devices. Other applications may include opto-isolated Field Effect Transistors (FET); typically, these circuits are limited to maximum load currents of a few milliamps (mA).
FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of an exemplary relay switch 100 that works through energizing (VCon) a coil 110 that acts as a magnet to pull down a gate 120 that connects a high voltage (VHigh) to the power circuit and enables a current flow. Latching relays (not illustrated) can have one or two coils. An impulse closes the circuit and a feedback loop keeps the gate closed. A reverse pulse opens the circuit or a second coil is energized to open the circuit.
The following limitations with relays are based on the analysis of a Class 2 application operating below 30V alternating current (AC). These limitations may also apply to circuits operating outside the 30V AC range:                When used in an application such as thermostat control, the operating voltage is typically 24V and the dissipation is 140 mW (for a non-latching relay). The operating range of a thermostat is between 18 and 30V, and at 30V the power dissipation increases to 220 mW. The thermostat control can typically run three devices (i.e. three loads each having an associated relay) resulting in a total power dissipation of approximately 600 mW. This adds significant heat to a temperature sensitive thermostatic control.        A further limitation of relays is arcing. Arcing occurs when the load current momentarily bridges the air gap as the relay gate opens. This causes electromagnetic (EM) noise and radio frequency (RF) interference that can adversely affect the operation of the thermostat, or other devices, particularly RF devices. In addition, when opening the relay gate, the sudden cutting off of control current in the relay coil also causes a momentary voltage spike in the control circuit potentially causing failure in the electrical components of the device.        Secondary parts such as voltage suppressors can be used to reduce the voltage arcing, although these add to cost and space requirements on circuit boards.        A relay can also degrade over time and may be ineffective when switched from a high power to a low power application. The contact surfaces wear out which degrades their ability to form a proper contact in a low power application.        The relay is also limited in the number of times it can switch in a lifetime, typically from 100K to 1M operations.        Switching of the relay is limited to a few cycles per minute.        In the event of a controller failure, the coil may be latched and continue running the appliance indefinitely (applies to latching relays only).        There is no inherent short circuit protection on a relay device.        Relays (regular and especially the latching type) are typically more expensive and occupy more volume than corresponding solid state devices.
The following limitations with triacs are based on the analysis of a Class 2 application operating below 30V AC. These limitations may also apply to circuits operating outside the 30V AC range:                Triacs can only operate in an AC application (i.e. with an AC powered load).        Triacs require a switching current and have a typical voltage drop of 1-2V. They are not suitable for millivolt (mV) applications.        A limitation to triacs also relates to brownout conditions. In a brownout condition, the controlled voltage can drop to 18V. If a triac operates with a 2V drop, an overall 16V signal may be too low for proper operation.        Since the control signal is 5 to 20 mA, the heat dissipation can be significant.        Triacs usually require secondary circuitry to isolate the source and switching voltage. This is commonly done with opto-couplers which add to overall costs of the device.        By way of an example, a Triac switching 300 mA of current per circuit with 3 circuits active at once having a 2V drop will dissipate 1.8 W of power, which will add significant thermal offset to a thermostat application where accurate temperature readings are desired. In comparison, an exemplary MOSFET circuit in a similar application will dissipate 0.054 W of power.        Triacs may have leakage current through the device. In a low power application, the small (leakage) current may be interpreted as a false signal.
What is needed is a switching mechanism for switching high voltage/power circuits with a lower voltage/power control signal that mitigates some or all of the disadvantages described above.


A medical electrical lead, which may be useful in coupling an implantable medical device, is comprised of a first and second lead. The first lead has a first electrode coupled adjacent a distal end portion thereof. The distal end portion of the first lead is anchorable in the coronary sinus of a patient. The second lead is coupled with and moveable along the first lead. The second lead has a second electrode located thereon wherein the position of the first and second electrodes may be varied relative to one another by movement of the second lead along the first lead. A rubber tip holds the relative position of each electrode.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for electrically stimulating a heart, and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for positioning a multi-electrode lead to stimulate and/or sense activity in the heart.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since the introduction of the first implantable pacemakers in the 1960s, there have been considerable advancements in both the field of electronics and medicine, such that there is presently a wide assortment of commercially available body-implantable electronic medical devices. The class of implantable medical devices now includes therapeutic and diagnostic devices, such as pacemakers, cardioverters, defibrillators, neural stimulators, and drug administering devices, among others. Today's state-of-the-art implantable medical devices are vastly more sophisticated and complex than early ones, capable of performing significantly more complex tasks. The therapeutic benefits of such devices have been well proven.
Modem electrical therapeutic and diagnostic devices for the heart require a reliable electrical connection between the device and a region of the heart. Typically, a medical electrical "lead" is used for the desired electrical connection. One type of commonly used implantable lead is a transvenous lead. Transvenous leads are positioned through the venous system to attach or electrically connect at their distal end to the heart. At their proximal end, they are typically connected to the electrical therapeutic and diagnostic device, which may be implanted. Such leads normally take the form of a long, generally straight, flexible, insulated conductor. Among the many advantages of transvenous leads is that they permit an electrical contact with the heart without physically exposing the heart itself, i.e., major thoracic surgery is not required.
The specific design of transvenous leads is varied, depending upon the region of the heart to which it is to be connected. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,070,104 discloses an implantable lead capable of stimulating and/or sensing multiple chambers of the heart. Multiple electrodes are located on the lead and spaced apart so that multiple chambers may be separately stimulated and/or sensed. The structure and size of patients' hearts varies considerably. Accordingly, the optimal locations for positioning the electrodes within a vein may vary substantially, depending on the anatomy of the patient The spacing of the electrodes, however, is relatively fixed. Thus, optimally positioning the electrode associated with the ventricle of the heart may produce less than optimal positioning of the electrode associated with the atrium, or vice versa.

Method and apparatus for placing a coronary sinus/cardiac vein pacing and defibriliation lead with adjustable electrode spacing