Isopipes (13) for making a glass or a glass-ceramic using a fusion process are provided. The isopipes are made from a silicon nitride refractory material that is: (a) produced in block form in an atmosphere having a pO2 of less than 0.1 using less than 10 weight percent of one or more sintering aids, (b) machined into an isopipe configuration, and (c) exposed to a partial pressure of oxygen equal to or greater than 0.1 for a period of time and at a temperature sufficient to form a SiO2 layer (31) which exhibits substantially only a passive oxidation mechanism. The SiO2 layer (31) serves as a protective barrier for further oxidation of the silicon nitride during use of the isopipe (13). The isopipes (13) exhibit less sag during use than isopipes composed of zircon.

A. Glass Substrates for Flat Panel Displays
Manufacturers of flat panel displays, such as, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), use glass substrates to produce multiple displays simultaneously, e.g., six or more displays at one time. The width of a substrate limits the number of displays that can be produced on a single substrate, and thus wider substrates correspond to increased economies of scale. Also, display manufacturers need wider substrates to satisfy a growing demand for larger size displays.
In addition, such manufacturers are seeking glass substrates that can be used with polycrystalline silicon devices that are processed at higher temperatures (hereinafter referred to as "poly-silicon" applications). In particular, a need exists for high strain point glass compositions that do not undergo compaction during display manufacture. Such glasses generally require higher forming temperatures, thus leading to a need for improved forming structures (isopipes) for use in the fusion process.
B. Fusion Process
The fusion process is one of the basic techniques used in the glass making art to produce sheet glass. See, for example, Varshneya, Arun K., "Flat Glass," Fundamentals of Inorganic Glasses, Academic Press, Inc., Boston, 1994, Chapter 20, Section 4.2, 534-540. Compared to other processes known in the art, e.g., the float and slot draw processes, the fusion process produces glass sheets whose surfaces have superior flatness and smoothness. As a result, the fusion process has become of particular importance in the production of the glass substrates used in the manufacture of flat panel display devices, e.g., liquid crystal displays (LCDs).
The fusion process, specifically, the overflow downdraw fusion process, is the subject of commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,338,696 and 3,682,609, to Stuart M. Dockerty, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. A schematic drawing of the process of these patents is shown in FIG. 1. As illustrated therein, the system includes a supply pipe 9 which provides molten glass to a collection trough 11 formed in a free-space spanning, refractory body 13 known as an "isopipe."
Once steady state operation has been achieved, molten glass passes from the supply pipe to the trough and then overflows the weirs 19 (i.e., the tops of the trough on both sides; see FIGS. 2 and 3), thus forming two sheets of glass that flow downward and inward along the outer surfaces of the isopipe. The two sheets meet at the bottom or root 15 of the isopipe, where they fuse together into a single sheet, e.g., a sheet having a thickness of ˜700 microns. The single sheet is then fed to drawing equipment (represented schematically by arrows 17 in FIG. 1), which controls the thickness of the sheet by the rate at which the sheet is drawn away from the root.
A vertical temperature gradient imposed on the isopipe is used to manage the viscosity of the glass. At the root of the isopipe, the glass viscosity is typically in the range of approximately 100 to 300 kP.
As can be seen in FIG. 1, the outer surfaces of the final glass sheet do not contact any part of the outside surface of the isopipe during any part of the process. Rather, these surfaces only see the ambient atmosphere. The inner surfaces of the two half sheets which form the final sheet do contact the isopipe, but those inner surfaces fuse together at the root of the isopipe and are thus buried in the body of the final sheet. In this way, the superior properties of the outer surfaces of the final sheet are achieved.
As is evident from the foregoing, isopipe 13 is critical to the success of the fusion process as it makes direct contact with the glass during the forming process. Thus, the isopipe needs to fulfill strict chemical and mechanical requirements to have a lifetime that is not too short and to deliver a quality sheet glass product. For example, the isopipe should not be rapidly attacked by or be the source of defects in the glass. Also, it should be able to withstand a vertical temperature gradient of, for example, 100° C. during use, and transient gradients larger than that during heat up. In addition, the rate of deflection due to creep at the use temperature should be low.
In particular, the dimensional stability of the isopipe is of great importance since changes in isopipe geometry affect the overall success of the fusion process. See, for example, Overman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,437,470, and Japanese Patent Publication No. 11-246230.
Significantly, the conditions under which the isopipe is used make it susceptible to dimensional changes. Thus, the isopipe operates at elevated temperatures on the order of 1000° C. and above. Moreover, the isopipe operates at these elevated temperatures while supporting its own weight as well as the weight of the molten glass overflowing its sides and in trough 11, and at least some tensional force that is transferred back to the isopipe through the fused glass as it is being drawn. Depending on the width of the glass sheets that are to be produced, the isopipe can have an unsupported length of two meters or more. Current business trends are towards ever larger glass sheets requiring ever larger isopipes for their formation. For an isopipe span on the order of 13 feet, the weight of an isopipe made from zircon (see below) is estimated to be in excess of 15,000 pounds.
C. Zircon Isopipes
To withstand the above demanding conditions, isopipes 13 have been manufactured from isostatically pressed blocks of refractory material (hence the name "iso-pipe"). In particular, isostatically-pressed zircon refractories, such as those sold by St. Gobain-SEFPRO of Louisville, Ky., have been used to form isopipes for the fusion process.
Use of a zircon isopipe limits the fusion process in two ways. First, zircon dissolves into the glass at hotter regions near the weirs of the isopipe, and then precipitates in the cooler regions near the root to form secondary zircon crystals. See U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0121287, published Jul. 3, 2003, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. These crystals can be sheared off by the glass flow, and become inclusions in the sheet. Secondary crystals incorporated into the drawn glass are visual defects. Panels with such defects are rejected. Secondary zircon precipitation has been controlled by restricting the weir-root temperature difference to less than about 100° C., thereby limiting the types of glasses that can be fusion formed to the high standards of glass quality required by display manufacturers because only glasses which have the requisite viscosity properties over this temperature range can be used. An isopipe material which did not have the secondary zircon problem would allow the forming process window to be expanded. An expanded operating window, in turn, makes yield improvements possible. Further, some new glasses may require operation in a higher temperature regime where the zircon family is no longer suitable.
Second, zircon also restricts the lifetime and operating temperature range of an isopipe because of its high temperature creep characteristics. Creep is the permanent change in the physical shape of a refractory or other material as a result of an imparted stress usually at elevated temperature. The creep acts in such a way as to relieve the stress, and is usually attributed to grain boundary sliding or material diffusion. An isopipe undergoing creep sags in the middle and deforms the weirs over which the glass flows. When the weirs are no longer straight, the glass flow distribution across the length is disturbed and it becomes more difficult and eventually impossible to manage glass sheet formation, thus ending production.
At high temperature, zircon decomposes to silica liquid and zirconia. Silica liquid at grain boundaries increases the creep rate. This makes firing the refractory a compromise between microstructural quality and creep behavior. Display glass drawn on an isopipe with excessive creep deformation cannot meet the uniform thickness requirements because as discussed above, the weirs deform which changes the mass distribution across the isopipe eventually exceeding the compensational capability of conventional operational tools.
Thus, even though zircon is considered to be a high performance refractory material, in practice, isopipes composed of commercially available zircon exhibit dimensional changes which limit their useful life.
D. Intrinsic Rate of Creep
In view of the foregoing, it is desirable to reduce the intrinsic rate of creep for any material used as an isopipe to: 1) enable use of a wider pipe, 2) extend the fusion draw process to higher temperature glasses (e.g., higher strain point glass that is more compatible with poly-silicon display manufacturing processes), and/or 3) extend the service life of the isopipe and thus minimize process down time and replacement costs.
Analysis shows that the rate of isopipe sag is proportionate to its length raised to the fourth power and inversely proportionate to the square of its height. A doubling in the length of the isopipe (with the same life requirement and temperature capability) requires either a 16 fold decrease in intrinsic creep rate or a four fold increase in height. The current process for fabrication of zircon isopipes (cold isostatic pressing followed by sintering) cannot accommodate a four fold increase in isopipe height. The maximum length for a zircon isopipe which still has a reasonable service life has thus in essence been reached in the art or shortly will be reached with the current isopipe manufacturing technology. Accordingly, the ability to satisfy future requirements of flat panel display manufacturers for larger substrates will be substantially compromised with current technology.
As discussed below, the present disclosure provides isopipes that have significantly improved creep rates compared to isopipes made from commercially available zircon, e.g., well below the 16-fold decrease in creep rate needed to compensate for a doubling in the length of an isopipe. As also discussed below, the isopipes have a silica coating that is compatible with the types of glass compositions used to make substrates for flat panel displays.
Accordingly, these isopipes are well-suited for producing flat glass by the fusion process because they can address some or all of the length, processing temperature, and/or sag problems of isopipes made from existing refractory materials, specifically, commercially available zircon. By addressing these problems, cost reductions can be achieved in, for example, the following ways: (1) longer isopipe lifetimes requiring less rebuild; (2) an expanded process window enabling yield improvements; (3) long term stability of isopipe shape allowing for reduced complexity of operation, especially near the end of an isopipe's life; and/or (4) increased glass delivery temperatures to the isopipe (˜1300° C. and higher) thus allowing the platinum delivery system to be shortened thus reducing material costs.

High delivery temperature isopipe materials


An article of clothing with an on-demand power supply for electrical devices is provided. The power supply includes stiff planar fuel cell devices that are distributed in a plane. The number of fuel cells is dependent on the power requirements for the electrical devices. The planar stiff fuel cells are flexibly interconnected in the plane by a flexible interconnection, which allows the fuel cells to move with respect to each other out of the plane. This further allows the power supply to be nicely integrated in an article of clothing and minimizes negative impact to a body region or to the article of clothing. The electrical and fuel connections between the fuel cells are integrated with the flexible interconnection. To further integrate and increase ease of operation a control system is included to control the on-demand power supply or control power levels for the electrical device.

Nearly all-modern electronic devices require portable electrical power, and power consumption is often a performance bottleneck. Wireless products, such as personal digital assistants, mobile phones, entertainment devices, and next generation laptops in particular have a great demand for sustained power. For long-term, portable operation, fuel cells are an attractive solution. Fuel cells, like batteries, efficiently convert chemical energy into electricity, but have additional advantages, such as higher energy density and the possibility of instant refueling. Accordingly, it would be considered an advance in the art to develop new systems that allow for easy integration of fuel cells into our day-to-day operations and utilize them as an on-demand power supply for these power-hungry products.

Articles of clothing and personal gear with on-demand power supply for electrical devices


A phase shifter comprises: a phase shift unit including a reactance unit having a first variable capacitance device, and a susceptance unit having a second variable capacitance device, T-connected to the reactance unit; and a control unit for outputting a control signal continuously changing the capacitance of the first variable capacitance device and the second variable capacitance device to the phase shift unit. The amount of phase shift can be continuously changed by changing these variable capacitance devices continuously. Moreover, these devices can be formed on a semiconductor, thereby realizing low-voltage driving and high-speed response. Furthermore, the variance of impedance can be prevented by adjusting these two variable capacitance devices, whereby transmission efficiency can be improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a phase shifter.
2. Description of the Related Art
A phase shifter described below is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-196804, for example. That is to say, the phase shifter according to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-196804 comprises an outer conductor, and two inner conductors stored inside of the outer conductor, wherein the two inner conductors comprise two fixed inner conductors connected to two terminals respectively, and a variable inner conductor having a configuration folded back in the shape of a U, which is slidably configured while securing high-frequency connection with the fixed inner conductor. However, the phase shifter according to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-196804 mechanically changes impedance by sliding the fixed inner conductor, and accordingly providing a low-speed operation.
Also, with the first embodiment of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-99425, a phase shifter as shown in FIG. 27 is disclosed. The phase shifter 2000 shown in FIG. 27 includes an SPDT (Single Pole Double Throw) switch 2001, an LPF (Low Pass Filter) 2002 connected with the SPDT switch 2001 through a terminal 2006, an HPF (High Pass Filter) 2003 connected with the SPDT switch 2001 through a terminal 2007, an SPDT 2004 connected with the LPF 2002 through a terminal 2008, and the HPF 2003 through a terminal 2009, having an output terminal 2010.
The circuit diagram of the LPF 2002 included in the phase shifter 2000 is shown in FIG. 28. The LPF 2002 shown in FIG. 28 includes inductors L271 and L272, a capacitor C271, resistances R271 through R273, FETs (Field Effect Transistors) F271 through F273, and a gate bias terminal 2011. Note that the terminals 2006 and 2008 are the same as those shown in FIG. 27. The source of the FET F271 is connected to the terminal 2006, the drain thereof is connected to the inductor L271, and the gate thereof is connected to the gate bias terminal 2011 via the resistance R271. One end of the inductor L271 is connected to the drain of the FET F271, and the other end thereof is connected to the inductor L272 and the capacitor C271. One end of the inductor L272 is connected to the inductor L271 and the capacitor C271, and the other end thereof is connected to the source of the FET F272. One end of the capacitor C271 is connected to the inductor L271 and the inductor L272, and the other end thereof is connected to the source of the FET F273. The gate of the FET F273 is connected to the gate bias terminal 2011 via the resistance R273, and the drain thereof is grounded. The gate of the FET F272 is connected to the gate bias terminal 2011 via the resistance R272, and the drain thereof is connected to the terminal 2008.
First, description will be made regarding the operations of the LPF 2002, prior to description of the operations of the phase shifter 2000. The FETs F271 through F273 are controlled in common by the voltage of the gate bias terminal 2011. In other words, the FETs F271 through F273 are in either an all-on or an all-off state.
FIG. 29A illustrates an LPF 2002a which is an equivalent circuit of the LPF 2002 when the FETs F271 through F273 are all on. In a case that the FETs F271 through F273 are in an all-on state, ideally, the FETs F271 through F273 can be simplified with an equivalent circuit thereof. Accordingly, the LPF 2002a includes the inductors L271 and L272, and the capacitor C271. Here, the inductors L271 through L272 are serially connected between the terminal 2006 and the terminal 2008. Also, one end of the capacitor C271 is connected to a node between the inductors L271 and L272, and the other end thereof is grounded. Note that the inductors L271 and L272 and the capacitor C271 are the same as those shown in FIG. 28, and the terminals 2006 and 2008 are the same as those shown in FIG. 27. The reactance unit of the LPF 2002a comprises the inductors L271 and L272, and the susceptance unit comprises the capacitor C271 alone.
FIG. 29B illustrates the LPF 2002b which is an equivalent circuit of the LPF 2002 when the FETs F271 and F273 are all off. In a case that the FETs F271 through F273 are all off, it can be considered that the FETs are a capacitor having a specific capacity, and accordingly, the FETs are represented by a capacitor in the equivalent circuit. In FIG. 29B, the LPF 2002b includes inductors L271 and L272, the capacitor C271, and the capacitors F271a through F273a. Note that the inductors L271 and L272, and the capacitor C271 are the same as those shown in FIG. 28, the capacitors F271a through F273a correspond to the FETs F271 through F273 shown in FIG. 28, and the terminals 2006 and 2008 are the same as those shown in FIG. 27. Here, the capacitor F271a, the inductors L271 and L272, and the capacitor F272a are serially connected between the terminals 2006 and 2008, in that order. Also, one end of the capacitor C271 is connected to a node between the inductors L271 and L272, and the other end thereof is connected to the capacitor F273a. One end of the capacitor F273a is connected to the capacitor C271, and the other end thereof is grounded. The reactance unit of the LPF 2002b comprises the inductors L271 and L272, and the capacitors F271a and F272a, and the susceptance unit comprises the capacitor C271 and the capacitor F273a.
Next, the LPF 2002a shown in FIG. 29A will be compared with the LPF 2002b shown in FIG. 29B. The reactance unit of the LPF 2002b is configured by adding the capacitors F271a and F272a corresponding to the FETs F271 and F272 to the reactance unit of the LPF 2002a. The susceptance unit of the LPF 2002b is configured by adding the capacitor F273a corresponding to the FET F273 to the susceptance unit of the LPF 2002a. Thus, the standardization reactance between the LPFs 2002a and 2002b and the standardization susceptance between the LPFs 2002a and 2002b are both different. Two different amounts of phase shift of the LPF 2002 can be obtained by generating two different states wherein both the standardization reactance and the standardization susceptance are different by switching operations of the FETs. Though not shown in the drawing, FETs are included in the HPF 2003 shown in FIG. 27, two different amount of phase shift are obtained by switching operations of the FETs in the same way as with the LPF 2002. The amount of phase shift of the phase shifter 2000 is determined by the amount of phase shift of the LPF 2002 and the amount of phase shift of the HPF 2003, and different amounts of phase shift of the entire phase shifter 2000 can be obtained by switching operations of the FETs. For example, with the first embodiment in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-99425, description is made wherein a single phase shifter 2000 can realize switching of 45° and 90° by designing component devices such that the two amounts of phase shift obtained by the LPF 2002 are −67.5° and −22.5°, and the two amounts of phase shift obtained by the HPF 2003 are 22.5° and 67.5°. However, the amount of phase shift obtained by this phase shifter 2000 cannot be continuously changed due to discreteness thereof.
Moreover, with the second embodiment in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-99425, a phase shifter as shown in FIG. 30 is disclosed. The phase shifter 3000 shown in FIG. 30 includes the LPF 3001 and the HPF 3002 connected to an input terminal 3003 and an output terminal 3004. In other words, the LPF 3001 and the HPF 3002 are in parallel with each other.
The LPF 3001 includes inductors L291 and L292, and variable capacitance devices C291 through C293. The variable-capacity C291, the inductors L291 and L292, and the variable capacitance device C292 are serially connected between the input terminal 3003 and the output terminal 3004, in that order. Moreover, one end of the variable capacitance device C293 is connected to a node between the inductors L291 and L292, and the other end thereof is grounded.
The HPF 3002 includes the inductor L293, and the variable capacitance devices C294 through C296. The variable capacitance devices C294 and C295 are serially connected between the input terminal 3003 and the output terminal 3004, in that order. Moreover, one end of the inductor L293 is connected to a node between the variable capacitance devices C294 and C295, and the other end thereof is connected to the variable capacitance device C296. One end of the variable capacitance device C296 is connected to the inductor L293, and the other end thereof is grounded.
The principle of operations for the phase shifter 3000 shown in FIG. 30 will be described with reference to FIG. 31. In FIG. 31, wherein the amount of phase shift is represented by the central angle of a circle, and a signal component is represented by the vector extending in the circumferential direction from the center of the circle. In FIG. 31, a signal component 3010 represents a signal component passing through the LPF 3001 when the amount of passing phase shift of the LPF 3001 is −45°, and a signal component 3011 represents a signal component passing through the HPF 3002 when the amount of passing phase shift of the HPF 3002 is 45°. FIG. 31 illustrates that the amount of passing phase shift θ of the phase shifter 3000 can be obtained by vector synthesis of the signal component 3010 and the signal component 3011. That is to say, the amount of passing phase shift θ of the phase shifter 3000 is determined by changing the input/output impedance of the LPF 3001 and the HPF 3002 and performing vector synthesis without changing the amount of phase shift of the LPF 3001 and the HPF 3002. Note that the input/output impedance of the LPF 3001 and the HPF 3002 is adjusted so as to keep the input/output impedance of the phase shifter 3000 50 Ω. The desired amount of phase shift can be obtained in a specific range determined by the amount of phase shift of the LPF 3001 and the HPF 3002, and the signal components 3010 and 3011 using the above-described principal of operation. Detailed description will be made later.
Furthermore, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-168354, discloses a phase shifter as follows. That is to say, an arrangement has been made wherein in a case that an inductor or a capacitor is connected between the drain and the source of two FETs, and on voltage is applied to the gates of the FETs, the signal input from the drain of the FET is output from the source thereof without any change, on the other hand, in a case that a pinch-off voltage is applied to the gates of the FETs, the FETs go off, and the input signal passes through the inductor or the capacitor. The phase shifter disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-168354 changes 4 types of passing phase by combination of the on/off state of the two FETs. However, this change is a discrete change, and the amount of phase shift is not changed continuously.
Furthermore, with Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-315902, a phase shifter as follows is disclosed. That is to say, this phase shifter includes a conductor path for a high-frequency signal is formed on a first ceramic substrate, a metal film serving as a ground face formed on a second ceramic substrate, and a liquid crystal/resin complex comprising resin and liquid crystal scattered in this resin, which are disposed between both the substrates while the conductor path and the metal film facing each other. Though the phase shifter disclosed in Japanese Unexamined. Patent Application Publication No. 2000-315902 changes the dielectric constant of the liquid crystal/resin complex by control voltage so as to change the amount of phase shift, there is the difficulty that control voltage is high.
Furthermore, with U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,532, a phase shifter shown in FIG. 32 is disclosed. The phase shifter 4000 according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,532 has a configuration wherein multiple unit elements, each made up of a variable capacitance device with one end connected to a node of two inductors serially connected and the other end grounded, are serially connected. That is to say, as shown in FIG. 32, a section S-1 which is a unit element connected to an input terminal Q0, a section S-2 connected to the section S-1 through a node Q1, and so on through a section S-n connected to the section S-(n−1) (not shown) and an output terminal Qn, are included in the present phase shifter. With the first section S-1 which is a unit element, an inductor L1a and an inductor L1b are serially connected between the input terminal Q0 and the node Q1, one end of a variable capacitance device C1 is connected to a node of the inductors L1a and L1b, and the other end the variable capacitance device C1 is grounded. In the same way, with the second section S-2 of which is a unit element, an inductor L2a and an inductor L2b are serially connected between the nodes Q1 and Q2, one end of a variable capacitance device C2 is connected to a node of the inductors L2a and L2b, and the other end the variable capacitance device C2 is grounded. With the final section S-n which is a unit element, an inductor Lna and an inductor Lnb are serially connected between the node Q (n−1) (not shown) and the output terminal Qn, one end of a variable capacitance device Cn is connected to a node of the inductors Lna and Lnb, and the other end the variable capacitance device Cn is grounded. Note that the phase shifter 4000 further includes an bias inductor L311, and a bias capacitor C311, wherein the bias inductor L311 and the bias capacitor C311 are sequentially connected between the output terminal Qn and the ground, and the node between the bias inductor L311 and the bias capacitor C311 serves as a bias voltage input terminal 4003.
More specifically, inductances of respective inductors Lia and Lib (i is an integer 1 through n) are the same, and are each represented by L/2. The capacitance of each variable capacitance device Ci is equally adjusted, and is represented by C. At this time, characteristic impedance Z0 is represented as the following expression. In other words, the characteristic impedance Z0 is a function of capacitance C of the variable capacitance device Ci. However, the characteristic impedance varies since only the dominator within the root varies.
                                          Z            0                                          (            C            )                          =                                            L              C                        -                                          ω                2                                                                            L                  2                                4                                                                        (        1        )
Variance of the characteristic impedance causes impedance-mismatching, leading to a passing loss of the phase shifter due to reflection, and accordingly no variance is preferable. U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,532 discloses that in a case that the phase shifter is configured of a unit element of the first section alone, there is the need to change the capacitance of the variable capacitance device C1 greatly, so that the characteristic impedance varies widely, consequently increasing impedance-mismatching, however, employing multiple sections can reduce the adjustment level for capacitance of the variable capacitance device Ci in each unit element, thereby preventing impedance-mismatching. Ideally, the closer to infinity the number of sections is, the closer to zero the passing loss is, however, in reality, the number of sections is limited, and accordingly, a certain amount of passing loss remains. Thus, transmission efficiency deteriorates.
FIG. 1 illustrates an antenna application known to the Inventor. The example of the antenna application shown in FIG. 1 is a smart antenna comprising an array antenna block 11 formed on a semiconductor substrate 14, a millimeter wave circuit block 12, and a logical circuit block 13. The array antenna block 11 includes multiple antennas 11a. The configuration of each of the antennas 11a is shown in FIG. 2. With the antenna 11a, a receiving unit 21, an attenuator A21, and a phase shifter S21 are serially connected, in that order. An signal received by the receiving unit 21 is attenuated at the attenuator A21, the amount of phase shift thereof is adjusted by the phase shifter S21, and the adjusted signal is output to a signal synthesizing unit 22 within the millimeter wave circuit block 12 shown in FIG. 1. The signal synthesizing unit 22 synthesizes input signals of all the antennas on the array antenna block 11, and outputs the synthesized signal to an unshown demodulator within the millimeter wave circuit block 12, for example.
With the antenna application as shown in FIG. 1, though conditions such as low-voltage driving, continuous variation of phase shift, and high-speed variation of phase shift are required, none of the phase shifters disclosed in the above-described Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2001-196804, 7-99425, 11-168354, and 2000-315902 satisfy all these conditions. While the phase shifter 4000 according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,532 realizes all these conditions, transmission efficiency deteriorates due to the variance of the characteristic impedance accompanied with the above-described variance of the amount of phase shift.


Devices, systems, and methods are provided for detecting and mitigating application programming interface (API) anomalies. A method may include identifying, based on a first data log, first API data associated with a first API call and a first computer service, and identifying an agreement associated with the first computer service, the agreement including criteria associated with the first API data. The method may include determining that the first API data fails to satisfy the criteria. The method may include determining one or more service dependencies, the one or more service dependencies indicating that operation of the first service depends on operation of a second computer service. The method may include determining, based on the one or more service dependencies, one or more services to which to send notifications indicative of the criteria. The method may include sending the notifications to the one or more services.

Computer users increasingly are using computer applications whose execution depends on other computer applications. When one computer service calls another computer service whose execution depends on the execution of one or more other computer services, and when the response to the call results in a network error or data corruption, the computer service that performed the call may detect or be informed of an error, but may not be able to notify the computer service call responder of the error and whether the error was caused by the computer service call responder or another computer service on which the computer service call responder depends. Therefore, there is a need for detecting errors caused by dependency computer services and notifying computer services of the error and the dependency computer service responsible for the error.
Certain implementations will now be described more fully below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which various implementations and/or aspects are shown. However, various aspects may be implemented in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the implementations set forth herein; rather, these implementations are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. Like numbers in the figures refer to like elements throughout. Hence, if a feature is used across several drawings, the number used to identify the feature in the drawing where the feature first appeared will be used in later drawings.

Real-time application programming interface anomaly detection and mitigation


A aesthetically appealing mounting system for an electronic device capable of forming a semi-conductive path for electro-static discharge. The mounting system can include an electrically conductive layer covered by a cosmetic anodized layer with multiple micro-perforations formed through the anodized layer exposing a small portion of the electrically conductive layer. The micro-perforations can be formed by laser-etching the cosmetic anodized layer to provide a grounding path while the micro-perforations remain visually undetectable. A semi-conductive wear layer can be configured to couple with the anodized layer. In some embodiments, the semi-conductive wear layer is in a recess on an electronic device. In some embodiments, the semi-conductive wear layer is comprised of a conformal conductive rubber.

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is the sudden flow of electricity between two electrically charged objects caused by contact, an electrical short, or dielectric breakdown. ESD can cause failure of solid state electronic components such integrated circuits. Static electricity can build up on electronic devices and various conductive components. When an electronic device is mounted to another electronic device or to another component, inadvertent discharge of static electricity between the two devices can damage sensitive electronic components in the electronic device.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a system for mounting an electronic device to a second device that can dissipate any static electricity that builds up on both of the devices.

Sparse laser etch anodized surface for cosmetic grounding


The invention is about a dc/dc converter (1) fitted with switching means (11, 12) having a drive electrode (13, 14) each drive electrode (13, 14) being connected to polarization means (49,50). The switching means are to switch on and off a current coming from a direct source of current 2 and circulating in windings (17, 18, 5) of transformers (6, 7) of the converter. The improvement according to the invention comprises a protection circuit 24 connected to means (44) for detecting the value of current circulating in one of the windings (4, 5, 15, 19, 23) of the transformers. Outputs (47, 48) of circuit 24 are connected to the drive electrode (13, 14) of switching means (11, 12). Protection circuit (24) may be a bistable circuit that will lower voltage at its outputs (47, 48) in a permanent way if detected current has been to high, thus switching off in a permanent way switching means (11, 12). The switching off is made in less than a working period of the switching means (11, 12) and prevent any damage to said switching means.

Known features of such a dc/dc converter 1 as shown FIG. 1 will be hereinafter described. A direct voltage source 2 supplies through connecting means 3 primary windings 4, 5 of two transformers 6, 7 respectively. In the case represented in FIG. 1, the switching means 3 are in the form of a relay 3. Relay 3 comprises a contact 8 and a control coil 9. Current in the control coil 9 is controlled by a circuit 10. The first transformer 6 is a transformer with a low reluctance which can be assimilated to a current transformer. The second transformer 7 is a voltage transformer. In the case represented in FIG. 1, the dc/dc converter is a medium power, self-oscillating, push-pull converter. The currents that can circulate in the primary winding 4 of first transformer 6 are under control of switching transistors 11, 12 whose collector-to-emitter current is dependent upon the value of polarization current of their respective bases 13 14. The polarizing current of each base 13, 14 of switching transistors 11, 12 respectively is coming from secondary windings 15 of transformer 6 and from a feed-back 52, 53 coming from a secondary winding 23 of second transformer 7. Such a dc/dc transformer works as explained below.
When the magnetic flux in a core 16 of first transformer 6 is increasing the current induced in the secondary 15 is in a first direction, and, for instance, current in the secondary is allows first switching transistor 11 to be on. A current in the primary is then flooding through a first winding 17 of primary winding 4, the collector-emitter of first transistor 11, and the primary winding of second transformer 7. When core 16 of first transformer 6 is saturated, flux in the core is no longer increasing, and consequently no more current is induced in the secondary 15 of this transformer. Transistor 11 is off, closing the circuit made by first winding 17, transistor 11 and primary 5 of second transformer 7. Magnetic field in the core 16 will then decrease, whose decreasing creates a decreasing flux in core 16 and then a current in the secondary 15 of first transformer 6. This current is in the opposite direction as the one which was previously circulating. This current will fire on transistor 12 and a current will circulate through a second winding 18 of primary winding 4. The same phenomenon as the one described above will recur at a frequency which is dependent upon the characteristics of the core 16, the windings 4 and 5 and the polarizing means 49, 50 which are connected between secondary winding 15 of first transformer 6 and bases of transistors 11, 12. Such an oscillating phenomenon needs to be initiated, this is done through a starting circuit 22.
The oscillating phenomenon that has just been described induces square waves in the primary windings 5 of the second transformer 7. This produces a square wave output across the secondary windings 19 of said second transformer 7. Those square waves are rectified through rectifiers 20, integrated, and regulated through regulating and integrating circuit 21, in order to get a desired direct voltage. Generally, in a power supply for a cathode ray tube, such as the ones in television sets or monitors, said direct voltage is fed to a full range switch mode power supply (SMPS) (not shown).
One of the most important design criteria for a power supply is reliability. That means among other features in such converters, having over current protection. This is difficult, due mainly to the fact that the input is connected to a low input voltage source; as a consequence, for medium power, the current flowing through transistors 11 or 12 may be high, for instance more than 10 amperes.

Dc/dc converter with a protection circuit


A DSL communication method is used for interconnecting a user and a center by using a 2-wire telephone line and a DSL communications technology so that the user and the center perform an intercommunication. The DSL communication method comprises the step of monitoring a signal-to-noise ratio of an accepted DSL, the step of judging whether or not the signal-to-noise ratio is within a predetermined range, and the step of interrupting the intercommunication once and thereafter reconnecting the user and the center, when the signal-to-noise ratio is judged not to be within the predetermined range for a duration longer than a reference time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a DSL communication method and a DSL communication device and, more particularly, to a DSL communication method which interconnects a user and a center by using a 2-wire telephone line and a DSL (Digital Subscriber Lines) communications technology so that the user and the center intercommunicate, and to a DSL communication device adopting the DSL communication method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an intercommunication according to an xDSL communications technology, such as HDSL (High-bit-rate DSL), SDSL (Symmetric DSL), ADSL (Asymmetric DSL), and VDSL (Very-high-bit-rate DSL) using a 2-wire telephone line, it is difficult to maintain a constant communication quality because a line quality fluctuates due to mutual interferences with a conventionally existing communications technology (telephone, an analog modem communication, an ISDN, etc.) in a frequency band.
Thereupon, for the purpose of adapting to circumstances where a constant communication quality cannot be maintained, the ITU-T recommendations "G.992.1 (G.dmt): Appendix 2" and "G.997.1 (G.ploam)", which are international standards, propose concepts of a method for maintaining an optimal communication quality under constantly changing circumstances by providing a countermeasure named "Dynamic Rate Adaptation" realizable during an online intercommunication against line quality fluctuations.
However, the above-mentioned method requires supports from intercommunicating DSL devices, such as a negotiation between intercommunicating DSL devices, or an exchange of line quality information therebetween. The method functions only when these method supports are in synchronization. Further, the method can be said to be an optional function.
As described above, an intercommunication according to an xDSL communications technology is performed with a constantly fluctuating line quality, which requires an addition of an optional function for maintaining an optimal communication quality under such circumstances. This addition makes DSL devices functionally complicated, and increases apparatus costs. Also, this addition necessitates integrated functions in operating a system including those DSL devices. This raises a problem in interconnecting DSL devices of different vendors at user/center sides.

DSL communication method of performing an interruption and a reconnection when an S/N ratio is outside of a predetermined range for a duration longer than a reference time


An approach for virtual machine migration between hypervisor virtual machines and containers is provided. The approach performs, by one or more computer processors, an initial inspection of an image. The approach assigns, by one or more computer processors, an initial status to the image, wherein the initial status identifies a type of virtualization realization compatible with the image. The approach performs, by one or more computer processors, a series of checks for container incompatibilities. The approach determines, by one or more computer processors, whether the image can be realized as a container. Responsive to a determination that the image can be realized as a container, the approach realizes, by one or more computer processors, the image in a container based virtualization.

Virtualization creates a level of indirection or an abstraction layer between, for example, a physical object and a managing application. Virtualization may be a framework (i.e., methodology) for dividing the resources of a computer into multiple execution environments. A key benefit of virtualization is the ability to run multiple operating systems (OS) on a single physical server and share underlying hardware resources (i.e., partitioning).
OS and application virtualization in cloud computing may be realized using traditional virtual machines (VM) and Linux® Containers (LXC)(Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both). VMs may include a fully virtualized OS within a type 1 (i.e., native, bare metal) or type 2 (i.e., hosted) hypervisor. LXCs are a lightweight virtualization technology able to virtualize a Linux OS (less the kernel) and one or more applications by leveraging features provided by a modern Linux Kernel.
Migrating VMs and containers between servers may include copying the whole contents of a VM (i.e., files, directories, quota limits, configuration settings, etc.) to a container on a server. Traditionally, when migrating a VM to a container, a user may initiate a command to migrate the VM after manually determining the VM to be migrated satisfies various requirements, such that the VM can be realized in a container based environment.

Virtual machine migration between hypervisor virtual machines and containers

International Business Machines Corporation


A sprayer with a changeable volume includes a container, a pump, a first pipe, a second pipe and a nozzle. The container includes an upper wall and a lower wall. The upper wall can be compressed while not containing water and extensible for containing water. The lower wall is connected to the upper wall. The pump is put in a space defined in the lower wall. The first pipe is led to the pump from a space defined in the upper wall. The second pipe is led to the exterior of the container from the pump. The nozzle is connected to the second pipe.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a sprayer and, more particularly, to a sprayer with a changeable volume.
2. Related Prior Art
Referring to FIGS. 9 and 10, a conventional sprayer includes a container 60 formed with a handle 63. The container 60 includes a first space 61, a second space 62 communicated with the first space 61 through a channel (not numbered) and a port 621 communicated with the second space 62. Water can be filled in and poured from the second space 62 through the port 621. The port 621 can be closed of a cap 90. A pump 70 is put in the first space 61. A pipe (not numbered) is led into the second space 62 from the pump 70 through the channel. Then, the channel is sealed. An outlet device 80 includes a pipe 81 connected to the pump 70, a nozzle 83 connected to the pipe 81 and a handle 82 operatively connected to the nozzle 83. In use, water is filled in the container 60 and then sprayed from the nozzle 83. After use, water is poured from the container 60. Being made of a thermosetting plastic, the container 60 occupies a large space although not containing any water. This wastes space and causes inconvenience for shipment and storage. This entails a high cost in shipment.
The present invention is therefore intended to obviate or at least alleviate the problems encountered in the prior art.


A receiver plate-coupler plate assembly for attaching an implement to a machine. The assembly includes a receiver plate member comprising a vertical plate section with at least three perimeter walls extending in a common direction to form a downward facing cavity there between. The vertical plate member attaches to a tool on a plate section surface opposite the perimeter walls. A coupler plate member comprises a vertical plate section positioned against the receiver plate member within the downwardly facing cavity thereof. At least one locking assembly on the coupler plate member reversibly engages the receiver plate member to maintain the coupler plate member within the downward facing cavity thereof. At least one connector assembly secured to the coupler plate member opposite the receiver plate member connects the receiver plate-coupler plate assembly to a machine.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mounting of implements to a machine and, more particularly, to an assembly for mounting of implements to a machine and, most particularly, to a receiver plate-coupler plate assembly for mounting of implements to a machine.
2. Background Information
It is well-known to secure an implement or tool to a machine in order to perform various tasks with the implement thorough use of the machine. In many situations, a single implement is secured to a machine for repeated use in performing a particular task. If the machine can be dedicated for use with a single implement, there is little need to disconnect and reconnect the implement to the machine. However, there are many situations where it is economically prudent to have the ability to connect and/or disconnect a plurality of implements to a single machine in order to perform a variety of tasks, saving both time and expense.
Applicant has devised a mechanical assembly that is suitable for mounting a variety of implements to a single machine. In addition, the mechanical assembly provides facile connection or disconnection between the implement and the machine.


According to the invention, the object is achieved by providing all necessary conditions at optimum level to produce plant and plant parts having higher nutrients and secondary metabolites, when compared to normal plants or grown in tap water. Formulated solution containing balanced nutrients, higher levels of targeted nutrient, required pH, single or multiple eliciting factors, required concentrations of natural preservatives and maintained at required temperature and light facilitated to achieve the above object.

Field of Invention
This invention in general relates to plants and plant parts and in particular to enhancing secondary metabolites and nutrients in plants and plant parts.
Related Art
Plants often selectively absorb and accumulate micro and macro-nutrients from the place where it is growing such as soil, water, substrate, hydroponics and other sources. Lesser amount of micro and macro nutrients in sources/soil not only affects its accumulation in plant/plant parts but also affects both primary and secondary metabolism in plants.
Often deficiency in nutrients in the source is due to varied geographical conditions and prolonged usage of same source (for example, agricultural fields) without any replenishment causing changes in composition of nutrients in the soil. Such deficiency often results in lesser uptake of nutrients by the plants and plant parts. Such deficiency in uptake may result in various undesirable results. For example, such deficiency may result in lesser accumulation of desired nutrients in the fruits and vegetables produced by the plants/plant parts.
In general, plants have an ability to synthesize and accumulate secondary metabolites for its defence purposes, combat stress and aid pollination. These secondary metabolites synthesized and accumulated by plant parts are often used for medicinal, nutritive and cosmetic purposes. Often plants and plant parts are processed to extract these accumulated secondary metabolites. It is therefore desirable to produce the plant/plant part with higher nutrients and secondary metabolites in order increase the processing yield.
According to one aspect of the present invention, secondary metabolites in plants and/or in parts of plants are enhanced by inducing stress condition within the plant.
Another aspect of the present invention, nutrients and metabolites are simultaneously enhanced in a plants or plants part. In an embodiment of the present invention, secondary metabolites and or nutrients in a plant or plant parts are enhanced by growing the plants/plants part in a formulated solutions comprising of natural preservatives, target nutrients and elicitors individually or in combination.
According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, a product of the process is used as source of macro and micro-nutrient with higher levels of secondary metabolites for cosmetic, nutritional, pharmaceutical and therapeutic functions.
Further, in yet another aspect, nutrients are enhanced in plants and plant parts thereby providing natural and bio-available sources.
According to another aspect, the present invention provides cosmetic, nutritional, pharmaceutical and therapeutic products derived from natural source of phytochemicals and nutrients obtained from above technique.
According to another aspect of the present invention, metabolites and nutrients are extracted together or individually. Several aspects of the invention are described below with reference to examples for illustration. It should be understood that numerous specific details, relationships, and methods are set forth to provide a full understanding of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art, however, will readily recognize that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, etc. In other instances, well-known structures or operations are not shown in detail to avoid obscuring the features of the invention.

Enhancing secondary phytochemical and nutrients in plants and plant parts


In a method for processing microscope images, at least one microscope image is provided as input image for an image processing algorithm. An output image is created from the input image by means of the image processing algorithm. The creation of the output image comprises adding low-frequency components for representing solidity of image structures of the input image to the input image, wherein the low-frequency components at least depend on high-frequency components of these image structures and wherein high-frequency components are defined by a higher spatial frequency than low-frequency components. A corresponding computer program and microscope system are likewise described.

Phase objects do not exhibit significant absorption differences in respect of incident light but influence the phase of light passing through. Various contrast methods are known for converting phase differences generated by such samples into brightness differences in a recorded microscope image. An established process is the recording of differential interference contrast images (DIC images). A solid impression is caused therein, i.e., objects in a two-dimensional image appear to have a depth or height. This helps a user with the visual assessment or evaluation of the microscope image, which is one of the reasons for the widespread use of the DIC technique. However, the operation of a DIC microscope is demanding, the required components are comparatively expensive and a combination with other measurement techniques, for example fluorescence image recording, may only be possible to a restricted extent.
Advantages in comparison with the DIC technique are offered by differential phase contrast (DPC), as described in "Quantitative differential phase contrast", Tian et al, Optics Express, 2015, Vol. 23, No. 9. A phase image can be reconstructed by processing two DPC images with mutually perpendicular gradient directions. All that is required for being able to calculate a DPC image is two recordings with opposing half pupil-shaped illuminations. As a rule, further settings of other components are not required. However, the DPC method is disadvantageous in that the DPC contrast cannot measure small phase gradients of the sample as a result of the condenser (a typical NA of a condenser at a large working distance is approximately 0.55) in the case of an objective aperture that is greater than the illumination aperture. The microscope image generated thus loses solidity, which makes the optical assessment by a user more difficult in the case of, e.g., cells. However, in order to be able to present a usual image to the user, as they may know from DIC methods, for example, the invention should be able to generate this solid image impression from the measured images. For improved understanding, reference is made to FIG. 1 which shows a DPC-like image and a DIC-like image, which evokes a better spatial impression than the DPC-like image.
In principle, changes to the apparatus would be conceivable; by way of example, a situation that can also measure small phase gradients could be re-established by restricting the objective aperture to the illumination aperture. However, this restricts the resolution. Moreover, the detection efficiency of a fluorescence recording with the same optical arrangement is reduced as a result of the restrictive objective aperture.
Therefore, the present disclosure concentrates on calculation methods for improving the quality of recorded microscope images. In generic methods for processing microscope images, at least one microscope image is input as input image into an image processing algorithm. An output image is created from the input image by the image processing algorithm. Accordingly, a generic microscope system comprises a microscope for recording a microscope image and a computing device which is set up to carry out an image processing algorithm, wherein the image processing algorithm creates an output image from the microscope image as input image.
By way of example, such a method is described in: "Label-free prediction of three-dimensional fluorescence images from transmitted light microscopy", Chawin Ounkomol et al., bioRxiv 289504; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/289504. Here, use is made of a machine learning algorithm based on a CNN (convolutional neural network), for example to estimate a fluorescence image as an output image from a recorded transmitted light image as an input image. Moreover, a similar method is known from: "Deep learning achieves super-resolution in fluorescence microscopy", Hongda Wang et al., bioRxiv 309641; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/309641. Here, a machine learning algorithm is trained on the basis of a generative adversarial network (GAN) in order to subsequently be able to calculate an output image, a super resolution fluorescence image in this case. In this case, a comparatively low-resolution image is used as input image, in particular a wide-field fluorescence image or diffraction-limited confocal image. Consequently, higher quality images are produced qualitatively in the aforementioned machine learning algorithms by virtue of resorting to taught relationships in respect of how image structures look like in super resolution reference images. Thus, the machine learning algorithms are trained to complement a low-resolution image with details not contained in the input image. In the process, it is not possible to exclude the case that image structures are "hallucinated" in the output image or are invented therein.
However, in general, there is a need for evaluating recorded microscope images by means of image processing algorithms without there being a higher risk of falsifying the sample structure image representations. An exemplary application relates to the DPC images mentioned above in relation to FIG. 1.

Method, computer program and microscope system for processing microscope images


A system in accordance with embodiments of the present invention includes a permeable tissue collection vessel or filter element disposed within a collection container. Collected tissue is deposited within the filter element through an inlet. Fluid that passes through the filter element is withdrawn from the collection canister through an outlet. An access port can be provided in a lid of the collection container to facilitate the removal of collected tissue from the tissue collection vessel.

Microlipoinjection is a process in which fat is taken by a cannula from one spot in the body and reinjected in another place in the body. Microlipoinjection has also been known as liposuction with fat transfer or fat transplantation. In general, microlipoinjection is performed to treat divots and scar indentations from trauma to the face or body, such as may occur as a secondary effect of domestic trauma, surgery or infection. Microlipoinjection can also be used to treat the effects of the loss of the subcutaneous layer of fat due to the normal aging process, either alone or in combination with facelift and fat grafting techniques. Microlipoinjection can also be used for providing filler to reapproximate weakened vocal cords, fill sinuses, or partially close incompetent valves.
Up to about 1990, there were few artificial filler substances available to surgeons. Accordingly, surgeons used human bone, collagen and fat as fillers. However, the use of fat was not very successful, because the instruments and techniques were not sufficiently refined. For example, 50% of the fat may not have lived through the transplantation process. As a result, surgeons would need to implant more fat than would be required if all of the fat survived the process, or the transplantation process would have to be repeated multiple times.
More recently, a number of filler substances, such as Restylane Hyaluronic Acid, Collagen, Fibril, ePTFE (Teflon®), Hylan B Gel, Artecol, BioBlastique and have been used. These substances have proved effective at filling small areas, but the cost for larger areas has become prohibitive. For this reason, as well as interest in the "natural substance" concept, surgeons and their patients have again looked at using fat as a filler.
With the renewed interest in using fat as a filler, techniques have been refined to provide a better fat graft "take" with revascularization. However, the instruments and devices conventionally available to perform the procedure remain clumsy and ill-suited for the procedure. As a result, the procedure has remained difficult to perform, cumbersome, time consuming, expensive and relatively unsuccessful. For example, the conventional process employed in connection with microlipoinjection comprises about 10 steps, some of which can cause damage to a significant percentage of the fat cells. In addition, it is necessary to maintain strict sterility throughout all of the steps. However, sterility is difficult to maintain in connection with centrifuging, which is performed separately from the sterile operating field, and involves ancillary personnel. The basic steps of the conventional microlipoinjection process can be summarized as follows:                Step 1—Liposuction of fat from the donor area, the fat going into a large syringe or canister. The suction aspirate contains the wanted fat, plus the unwanted blood, serum, anesthetic agent, etc. These later substances must be removed for the best lipocyte survival rates.        Step 2—Fat is transferred into several smaller syringes that will fit into a centrifuge. Every time the fat is transferred to another syringe, there is more destruction of fat cells secondary to pressure of the plunger forcing the fat through the narrow outlet of the syringe into the input luer of the next syringe. Caps are placed on the end of the syringe to prevent loss during centrifuging.        Step 3—Centrifuge for several minutes or until the contents are in three layers: the top layer is triglyceride oils, the middle layer is fat, and the lower layer is the remaining blood cell debris.        Step 4—Decant off the top liquid oil and serum from the centrifuge specimen.        Step 5—Place the plunger in the syringe, tip syringe upward and squirt out the red cells and debris, leaving the residual fat in the syringe. Sometimes this has to be repeated, including repeat centrifuging, a number of times for proper separation.        Step 6—Treat contents with irrigation solutions, platelet rich plasma (PRP), albumin, growth hormone, or other substances, by aspirating this substance into the syringe. These substances are considered helpful in ensuring the viability of the lipocyte (fat cell). Some of these substances aid in angiogenesis (establishment of blood vessels) or treat in a manner that encourages lipocyte survival.        Step 7—Gently mix by circular motion.        Step 8—Centrifuge again.        Step 9—Decant off liquid additive.        Step 10—Put the plunger back into the syringe, place an injection needle on the tip and inject the fat into the divot or wrinkle. This injection is conventionally done manually with a control syringe or special manual mechanical gun.
The washing and/or treatment of tissue, for example to remove broken fat cell walls and contents, to remove chemicals introduced during the tissue removal process, and to treat the removed tissue, is often desirable. However, the washing and/or treatment of tissue comprising fat using irrigation solutions is particularly problematic, because conventional techniques for treating or washing the tissue often result in traumatic events for the tissue cells and increase the chance of microbe contamination. In particular, conventional washing techniques have been time-consuming and expose the tissue to the hands of the surgical staff, exposes the tissue to the ambient air, and passes the tissue through different devices. This is because of the techniques involved: first removing the tissue from the body; placing the removed tissue into a wash container; manually mixing sterile solution with the tissue; stirring the mixture; filtering it; centrifuging it; and then transferring it to the appropriate syringe for reinjection. Accordingly, it would be desirable to reduce the time required to rid the specimen of unwanted, broken fat cell walls, broken fat cell contents, as well as chemicals that have been introduced for anesthesia and vasoconstriction and/or to otherwise treat the removed tissue. In addition, it would be desirable to reduce the trauma to cells of removed tissue, and to reduce the chance of contamination of such tissue.


A remote control device comprises a housing cover configured to mate with a touch-enabled surface configured to receive input gestures, and a battery holder disposed between the housing cover and the touch-enabled surface. A first plurality of magnets is disposed in the housing cover. A second plurality of magnets is disposed in the battery holder. The first plurality of magnets in the housing cover is attracted to the second plurality of magnets in a first position of the housing cover relative to the battery holder. The first plurality of magnets in the housing cover is repelled from the second plurality of magnets in a second position of the housing cover relative to the battery holder. The first position and the second position share a rotational axis normal to the touch-enabled surface.

An input device provides data and control signals to an information processing system, such as a computer, television, or radio. Input devices can be characterized by their mode of input (e.g., mechanical input, audio input) and the nature of the input (e.g., discrete input or continuous input). Commonly used input devices include pointing devices which control interactions with and functionality of an information processing system, often via a selection indicator (e.g., cursor, selector) displayed on a user interface of the information processing system.


A completely portable trigger-operated dispensing gun which employs a simple and reliable double reduction gear system for driving one or more axial plungers with an extreme dispensing force, said force being sufficient for dispensing highly viscous materials such as epoxy resin and hardener from a conventional twin cylinder epoxy cartridge having an elongate mixing nozzle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dispensing guns for fluid materials and, more particularly, to a dispensing gun incorporating a double reduction gear for extruding highly viscous materials.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Dispensing guns for highly viscous materials must generate extreme amounts of pressure to the material. This is especially true of conventional industrial epoxy guns. Such guns typically accept twin cylinder cartridges which separately contain the epoxy bonding agent and resin. The gun is operated to drive the bonding agent and resin to one end of the cartridge where the materials are combined and are extruded outward through an extended nozzle. In commercial applications, the nozzle typically comprises a thin tube with an interior arrangement of foils to provide a convoluted, internal passageway for the combined materials. As the epoxy materials are forced through the convoluted nozzle, the foils ensure that the resin and bonding agent are properly mixed before being ejected. However, the pressure needed to drive the epoxy materials through the convoluted nozzle is extreme.
For this reason, the prior art epoxy dispensing guns inevitably employ a motorized or pneumatic drive system.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,934 issued to Hata et al. shows a rack and pinion type electric drive system for extruding fluid material from a nozzle 11. The rack and pinion assembly employs a reduction type gear assembly for increasing torque derived from the electric motor.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,636 issued to Miyata shows an electric dispensing gun which employs a motor and clutch for selectively driving a rack and pinion type piston assembly.
Various pneumatic counterparts are also known to exist.
Unfortunately, electric guns often cannot be operated in the field without a portable generator. Pneumatic guns cannot be operated without a compressor. The guns themselves necessarily incorporate costly precision pneumatic or electrical parts which are inordinately expensive to manufacture. Such constraints render the guns completely useless for many field applications and expensive and impractical for others.
Clearly, there would be great advantages in a manually operated dispensing gun which is capable of developing sufficient force to dispense highly viscous materials such as, for instance, epoxy materials from a conventional twin cylinder epoxy cartridge.

Double reduction gear for dispensing gun


The present invention discloses a signal processing device, a signal processing method and a speaker. The signal processing device comprises a multi-band dynamic range controller, wherein the multi-band dynamic range controller receives an audio signal and includes a first band splitting unit and a resonant band adjustment unit; the first band splitting unit is configured to split the audio signal into multiple bands and obtain at least one resonant band therefrom, which has a resonant frequency band signal in a resonant frequency range of the audio signal; and the resonant band adjustment unit is configured to adjust the resonant frequency band signal based at least on a resonant band dynamic range control gain and output an adjusted resonant frequency band signal for combination with other band signals into a compression output signal.

A speaker device or loudspeaker device is a kind of electro-acoustical transducer, which converts an electrical signal into a sound or sound wave.
A multi-band dynamic range control or multi-band dynamic range controller (MBDRC) can be used between the input and the speaker device of a speaker to adjust the dynamic range of the input audio signal. In the prior art, the MBDRC splits an input audio signal into three bands, i.e. a bass band, a middle band and a treble band. The MBDRC processes the signals of the three bands, respectively, by applying a band-dependent gain to each of them. The processed signals are then combined together to generate an output signal, which will be output to the speaker device. The speaker device is a device in the speaker which acts as a transducer, such as a MEMS device, a membrane and so on.
If an audio signal is too high, the speaker device may be damaged. In order to restrain the audio signal within a limit, a displace protection circuit may be provided before the audio signal reaches the speaker device. In the prior art, the displace protection circuit includes a displacement predictor and a limiting filter LF. The displacement predictor produces a control factor for the limiting filter to retrain the audio signal within the limit.
There is a demand in the art that a new solution for processing the signal of a speaker shall be proposed to address at least one of the problems in the prior art.

Signal processing device, method and speaker


A spray applicator apparatus and method for applying material to tubing and cold roll formed sections in a closed environment includes foam rubber wipes which are secured at the entrance and exit openings for the tubing. The wipe at the entry opening serves to remove particles and the wipe at the exit opening services to equally disperse excess material on the tubing. Within the enclosure are atomizing spray nozzles which apply material to the outer surface of tubing. The material may be applied to tubing during in-line processing, before the tubing is cut or sectioned, and the wipes may be replaced while tubing extends through the enclosure.

This application relates to a spray applicator system used to apply material to tubular products and cold roll formed sections.
Tubing or cold roll formed sections must often be treated with cleaners, rust preventatives, or other treatment materials after being formed. One known method of applying cleaners, or other treatment materials, to tubing is dipping. The dipping operation involves bundling sections of tubing, and placing the tubing in a dip tank containing the desired material. Another known method of applying material to tubing is by the use of a manually guided sprayer. Rust preventatives are often applied in this manner.
Other known methods of applying material to tubing are accomplished during in-line processing. These methods allow for tubing to be treated during the formation operations before the tubing is cut into sections. One known method for applying cleaners is by direct spray. The direct spray method involves placing spray nozzles around tubing after a forming operation. The nozzles are in the open with a collection means or drain under the nozzles. Another known in-line application system is the wipe method. With the wipe method, a saturated cloth is placed around tubing after a forming operation. The cloth is kept saturated by a drip system which continues to apply material to it.
All of the known prior art application methods for treatment of tubing is accomplished in an open environment. With these methods, the treatment material may escape into the air posing environmental problems. Additionally, most prior art methods are inefficient. Excess chemicals must be used which cannot be reclaimed. Further, the most commonly used prior art application methods are not completed in-line, and must be applied to tubing sections after being cut.
To summarize, all of the above application methods have disadvantages depending upon the type treatment and the material being applied. All of the methods involve exposing potentially harmful chemicals to the environment. For most of the discussed methods, it is either impossible, or prohibitively expensive, to reclaim the material used in treatment. Further, none of the known prior art methods allow for a precise amount of material to be applied without waste, or for material to be applied in an enclosed environment.

System for spraying material on tubing and reclaiming excess material


A threaded hair twister that is flexible, easy to use, and light-weight and enables the user to coil the hair into a variety of twists comprised of an elongated resilient body having an opening at one end and an elastic cord attached to a needle-like member at the other end, wherein the needle-like member is threaded into the opening of the elongated body for securing the hair after being rolled into a twist style.

It is known in the prior art to utilize hair shaping devices to style hair into a variety of styles depending on the length of the hair and the desired effect, but none of the teachings incorporate the unique aspects of the present invention. Rather, the prior art shaping and hair retention devices are either bulky, utilize separate clamping means and are not comprised of a unitary simple hair twister and fastener, as in the present invention, to permit the user to create a variety of hair twists simply and efficiently without damaging the hair and causing any discomfort.
The following prior art patents are illustrative of prior devices for wrapping, curling and styling hair.
U.S. Pat. No. 19,228 to Arnold describes a clamp for holding ladies' hair in curls consisting of a rigid tube having elastic straps for setting hair after it is curled about the tube. U.S. Pat. No. 951,066 to Fisher again relates to a rigid hair curler utilizing hair pins and rubber bands for waving the hair. U.S. Pat. No. 2,145,278 to Solomon is directed towards a hair curler comprised of a one piece resilient body and an integrally and swingably connected retaining member. U.S. Pat. No. 2,242,850 to Dusseau relates to a hair curler consisting of a rigid tubular body connected to an elastic cord and having a metal clip pin attached to the other end. The metal clip pin is comprised of two spring arms to be used to straddle the tubular body to clamp a wisp of hair into place. U.S. Pat. No. 2,693,809 to Spencer relates to a to a curler and method of treating hair and discloses a rigid hair curler having an oil or lubricant impregnated body and relatively lubricant free retaining tabs so that when the curler is wrapped with hair, no lubricant escapes onto a pillow when worn during sleep. These prior art patents relate to devices to curl hair and set it, not to devices for creating different hair styles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,723 to Schach is directed towards a hair styling device comprising a peanut shaped outer covering of material capable of clinging to hair, at least one intermediate layer of a resilient film attached along its periphery to the outer covering to form a unitary structure, and a deformable structure in the interior capable of being repeatedly bent to form a variety of shapes. The patent does not disclose a cooperating retention member to hold the hair in the desired twisted shape. Since it relies solely on the hair clinging to the fabric cover it is likely that the hair will not stay in place but unwind, requiring that the hair be retwisted and set again.
The prior art noted above fails to provide or suggest a flexible elongated hair twister having a cooperating retention member to allow an individual to create and to maintain a variety of hair twist styles by manipulating a flexible core into a variety of shapes to create a number of different hair styles with the same device. More particularly, the prior art has failed to provide a light-weight, flexible, low cost hair styling device that allows the individual the options of styling the hair in a French twist, half twist or side twist with the assurance that the hair will stay in place.


An analysis and/or treatment device (100) for at least one smoking article (60). comprising a closable receptacle (4) for receiving the at least one smoking article (60) therein; a reservoir (62) for a fluid treatment material (8, 9); a hollow injection needle. (2) interiorly insertable into the smoking article (60) received in the receptacle (4) and operably connected to the reservoir (62); means (3) for moving the treatment material (9) from the reservoir (62) through the needle (2) into the interior of the smoking article (60); and at least one sensor means (15) provided in the receptacle (4) for detecting at least one parameter characterizing a property of the smoking article (60) and/or characterizing the treatment conditions in the receptacle (4). A method for applying a treatment to a smoking article (60), wherein the smoking article (60) is enclosed by a receptacle (4), and a treatment material (8,9) is inserted into the receptacle (4) and directly into the interior of the smoking article (60) as a function of parameters measured by sensor means (1), said parameters being indicative of at least one of the temperature and the humidity in the receptacle (4) and the smoking article (60).

This invention relates to devices for analyzing, treating or storing cigars or other tobacco products under controlled environment by means of providing a suitable humidity.
Devices for treating smoking articles are known. They generally relate to the treatment of cigarettes, to add aroma substances such as menthol.
For example, GB 262,003 discloses a device for treating a cigarette which includes a cigarette receiver with an open top. A needle is disposed centrally within the receiver for dispensing a treatment fluid throughout the tobacco of a cigarette disposed in the receiver, and a plunger is provided as a means for applying the necessary pressure to deliver a fluid through the needle. An opening is provided only at the tip of the needle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,732,872 discloses an apparatus for the uniform addition of soluble materials to cigarettes, wherein a syringe with a needle and plunger is secured to a carriage and then inserted into a cigarette, which is placed in a cradle. Through the needle, a solution is dispensed throughout the cigarette.
US 2014/0283854 discloses a similar device with a movable needle that can be used for introducing a fluid into the interior of a smoking article, especially a cigarette. The disclosure of this publication is incorporated herein by reference and part citation.
While such devices could perhaps be used to moisten the interior of a tobacco article such as a cigarette or a cigar with water, to establish the desired humidity of the smoking product for consumption thereof, this aspect is not discussed in the said prior art. It would also be impractical to do so, as the effect of such moisturizing would be difficult or impossible to control.
It is generally known to store smoking articles, especially cigars, in boxes or cabinets known as humidors, to provide the desired moisture level and especially keep them from drying out. Generally, the necessary water is supplied by a moist sponge or a moist hydrogel, e. g. a polyacrylate gel, which lets water evaporate into the atmosphere in the humidor.
Humidors are often provided with a simple humidity indicator, such as a hygroscope. Bigger ones may be provided with means for maintaining an even moisture level throughout the humidor cabinet, e. g. a ventilator. However, all these devices rely on the moisture entering the smoking article from the atmosphere in the humidor, thus from the surface of the smoking article into its interior. They rely on the assumption that the smoking article will have the desired moisture, if the atmosphere in the humidor has a certain moisture level, since it is not possible to detect the actual moisture level in the tobacco product.
The ideal moisture level of a tobacco product depends on its nature, and on the preferences of the consumer. Cigars require a different moisture than cigarettes, and a Brazil cigar may call for a different moisture level than a Cuban cigar. Some smokers prefer a higher moisture level than others. It would therefore be highly desirable if a smoking article could be conditioned specifically and individually, according to its nature and the preferences of the consumer.
The prior art provides no means for satisfying these requirements.
What is needed therefore is a means to analyse and treat tobacco products individually and in a controlled fashion to meet the specific needs of the end consumer.

Devices for active humidification and flavouring


A circuit for controlling a bidirectional switch referenced to a first reference voltage by a control circuit supplied by a first voltage and referenced to a second reference voltage. The supply voltage of the control circuit is connected by a diode to a coupling circuit comprising a node, this node being connected to the collector of an NPN transistor having its emitter connected to the second reference voltage and having its base receiving the output of the control circuit, to a first terminal of a capacitor having its second terminal connected to the first reference voltage, to the emitter of a PNP transistor having its base connected to the collector of the transistor, and having its collector connected to the control terminal of the bidirectional switch.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the control of a bidirectional switch by a control circuit, such as a microprocessor, in the case where the control circuit is not referenced to the same reference voltage as the bidirectional switch control terminal.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
As illustrated in FIG. 1, there are many cases in which a control circuit μP supplied between a first voltage V1 and a first reference voltage or first ground G1, is intended to control a bidirectional switch TR referenced to a second reference voltage or ground G2. Bidirectional switch TR is for example intended to switch a load L supplied by the A.C. supply network (currently at 50 or 60 Hz). It is necessary to provide an isolation circuit between the control circuit and the bidirectional switch. A galvanic isolation circuit 1 such as an optocoupler comprising a photoemitter 2 and a photoreceiver 3 is currently used. Photoemitter 2, for example a photodiode in series with a transistor, is connected between supply voltage V1 of the control circuit and ground G1 of the control circuit. Photoreceiver 3, such as a phototransistor, is supplied between a supply voltage V2 derived from the A.C. voltage applied to the load and ground G2. A resistor 4 is arranged in series between voltage V1 and the collector of transistor 2. An impedance 5 is connected between phototransistor 3 and voltage V2. When transistor 3 is controlled to the on state, switch TR is controlled.
Although galvanic isolation circuit 1 is illustrated in FIG. 1 as an optocoupler, this galvanic isolation circuit may also be made in the form of an isolation transformer, for example, a pulse transformer.
Generally, a galvanic isolation circuit is an expensive circuit and often impossible to integrate.

Circuit for the control of a triac without galvanic isolation


A hybrid oxide capping layer (HOCL) is disclosed and used in a magnetic tunnel junction to enhance thermal stability and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in an adjoining reference layer. The HOCL has an interface oxide layer adjoining the reference layer and one or more transition metal oxide layers wherein each of the metal layers selected to form a transition metal oxide has an absolute value of free energy of oxide formation less than that of the metal used to make the interface oxide layer. One or more of the HOCL layers is under oxidized. Oxygen from one or more transition metal oxide layers preferably migrates into the interface oxide layer during an anneal to further oxidize the interface oxide. As a result, a less strenuous oxidation step is required to initially oxidize the lower HOCL layer and minimizes oxidative damage to the reference layer.

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) is widely used in devices requiring out-of-plane magnetization including Spin Torque Magnetic Random Access Memory (STT-MRAM) that has been described by C. Slonczewski in "Current driven excitation of magnetic multilayers", J. Magn. Magn. Mater. V 159, L1-L7 (1996). In STT-MRAM, a magnetic layer with PMA can serve as a free layer, pinned layer, reference layer, or dipole compensation layer. PMA layers are found in various designs of PMA spin valves, magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs), in PMA media in magnetic sensors and magnetic data storage, and within other spintronic devices.
Compared with conventional MRAM, STT-MRAM has an advantage in avoiding the half select problem and writing disturbance between adjacent cells. The spin-transfer effect arises from the spin dependent electron transport properties of ferromagnetic-spacer-ferromagnetic multilayers. When a spin-polarized current transverses a magnetic multilayer in a current perpendicular to plane (CPP) configuration, the spin angular moment of electrons incident on a ferromagnetic layer interacts with magnetic moments of the ferromagnetic layer near the interface between the ferromagnetic layer and non-magnetic spacer. Through this interaction, the electrons transfer a portion of their angular momentum to the ferromagnetic free layer. As a result, spin-polarized current can switch the magnetization direction of the ferromagnetic free layer if the current density is sufficiently high, and if the dimensions of the multilayer are small.
For STT-MRAM to be viable in the 90 nm technology node and beyond, the ultra-small MTJs (also referred to as nanomagnets) must exhibit a MR ratio that is much higher than in a conventional MRAM-MTJ which uses a NiFe free layer and AlOx as the tunnel barrier layer. The critical current density (Jc) must be lower than about 106 A/cm2 to be driven by a CMOS transistor that can typically deliver 100 μA per 100 nm gate width. Furthermore, a ferromagnetic layer with a long retention time is important for device application. To achieve this property that requires a high thermal stability, a free layer made of PMA material is preferred in order to provide a high energy barrier (Eb) and high coercivity. Strong PMA character is induced along an interface of a CoFeB layer or the like and a metal oxide such as MgO, for example. A ferromagnetic free layer must be thin enough so that induced PMA overcomes in-plane anisotropy. Intrinsic PMA is realized in laminated stacks including (Co/Pt)n, (Co/Pd)n, and (Co/Ni)n where n is the number of laminations but the MTJ may suffer from a lower magnetoresistive (MR) ratio than when CoFe or CoFeB is used for the free layer and/or reference layer.
When a memory element uses a free layer with a magnetic moment lying in the plane of the film, the current needed to change the magnetic orientation of a magnetic region is proportional to the net polarization of the current, the volume, magnetization, Gilbert damping constant, and anisotropy field of the magnetic region to be affected. The critical current (ic) required to perform such a change in magnetization is given in equation (1):
                              i          c                =                                            α                                                                                eVMs                                      g                                            h                _                                                                    [                                          H                                                      k                    eff                                    ,                  ∥                                            +                                                1                  2                                                                  H                                                            k                      eff                                        ,                    ⊥                                                                        ]                                              (        1        )            where e is the electron charge, α is a Gilbert damping constant, Ms is the saturation magnetization of the free layer, h is the reduced Plank's constant, g is the gyromagnetic ratio, Hkeff,∥ is the in-plane anisotropy field, and Hkeff,⊥ is the out-of-plane anisotropy field of the magnetic region to switch, and V is the volume of the free layer. For most applications, spin polarized current must be as small as possible.
The value Δ=kV/kBT is a measure of the thermal stability of the magnetic element. If the magnetization lies in-plane, the value can be expressed as shown in equation (2):
                    Δ        =                                            M              S                                                  VH                                                k                  eff                                ,                ∥                                                          2                                      k              B                                    T                                              (        2        )            where kB is the Boltzmann constant and T is the temperature.
Unfortunately, to attain thermal stability of the magnetic region, a large net magnetization is required which in most cases would increase the spin polarized current necessary to change the orientation of the magnetic region.
When the free layer has a magnetization direction perpendicular to the plane of the film, the critical current needed to switch the magnetic element is directly proportional to the perpendicular anisotropy field as indicated in equation (3):
                              i          c                =                              α                                                                                eMsVH                                                k                  eff                                ,                ⊥                                                          g                                      h              _                                                          (        3        )
The parameters in equation (3) were previously explained with regard to equation (1).
Thermal stability is a function of the perpendicular anisotropy field as shown in equation (4):
                    Δ        =                                            M              S                                                  VH                                                k                  eff                                ,                ⊥                                                          2                                      k              B                                    T                                              (        4        )
In both of the in-plane and out-of-plane configurations, the perpendicular anisotropy field of the magnetic element is expressed in equation (5) as:
                              H                                    k              eff                        ,            ⊥                          =                                            -              4                                    π                                                                                M              s                                +                                    2                                            K                U                                  ⊥                                      ,                    s                                                                                M                s                                          d                                +                      H                          k              ,              χ              ,              ⊥                                                          (        5        )            where Ms is the saturation magnetization, d is the thickness of the magnetic element, Hk,χ,⊥ is the crystalline anisotropy field in the perpendicular direction, and KU⊥,s is the surface perpendicular anisotropy of the top and bottom surfaces of the magnetic element. In the absence of strong crystalline anisotropy, the perpendicular anisotropy field of a magnetic layer is dominated by the shape anisotropy field (−4πMs) on which little control is available. However, by enhancing the surface (interfacial) perpendicular anisotropy component, the perpendicular anisotropy (PMA) field is increased. Although MTJ structures with reference layer/tunnel barrier/free layer configuration such as CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB deliver a high MR ratio, there is still a need to enhance the PMA field component in a MTJ for higher thermal stability while maintaining a high MR ratio.

Hybridized oxide capping layer for perpendicular magnetic anisotropy