A propulsion system for spaceships wherein a first electromagnetic projectile launcher (EMPL) accelerates "smart" projectiles into space and on appropriate trajectories to rendezvous with a distant spaceship at some later time. The smart projectiles stabilize themselves in space using a system of on board thrusters operated by computers. Laser beams and radio transmissions are directed at the spaceship and are monitored by sensors aboard the spaceship. Computers on board the spaceship determine any necessary course corrections for the projectiles based upon the spaceship's sensor system. Appropriate commands are radioed to the projectiles which execute the commanded maneuvers to alter their trajectories. The spaceship carries a second EMPL and a nuclear-powered electricity generating facility to provide electricity to operate the EMPL. The spaceship, the second EMPL and the nuclear power facility are all rotated axially about the long axis of the EMPL to provide both gyroscopic stabilization and also artifical gravity for the crew of the spaceship. The second EMPL is used to catch the projectiles which transfers the momentum of the projectiles to the spaceship thereby accelerating it in the desired direction. Additional acceleration of the spaceship is achieved by again launching the captured projectiles in a direction opposite to the desired direction of motion of the spaceship. The spaceship can be decelerated in a similar manner. Mars can be reached in two months using this system.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to propulsion systems for spaceships, specifically, to a system which uses primarily momentum transfer to propel the spaceship instead of fuel. The "propellent" in this propulsion system consists of numerous "smart" fast-moving projectiles most of which are not carried on board the spaceship. It is this last point where this invention differs from all previous propulsion systems.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
We shall restrict the following discussion to spaceships which will carry live human crews whose intention is to return to Earth alive eventually; however, the propulsion system described herein can be used to propel one-way human crew spaceships as well as unmanned spaceships. This technique can also be used to transfer material from point to point across vast distances of space where either or both points may be in space. The material transferred may be fuel, water, raw materials, finished products or anything else we wish to transfer. We use the term spaceship to refer to any man-made device which is sent into space for any purpose, whether or not it is carrying humans.
Nearly all spaceship propulsion systems currently known involve some type of fuel which is carried on board the spaceship. Said fuel is expelled from the spaceship at some rate and velocity. The force produced by this expulsion of fuel acts on the spaceship in the opposite direction to accelerate the spaceship according to Isaac Newton's third law of motion.
There are only two "fuelless" spaceship propulsion systems which are well known; namely, starsailing, in which light pressure from a nearby star such as our Sun, pushes the spaceship which consists mostly of a huge sail. It is questionable if this method of propulsion can be used to move humans from planet to planet. The other fuelless system is the interstellar ramjet, wherein the fuel used by the spaceship is actually the hydrogen gas which exists in interstellar space. This method is of no use for travel within our Solar system.
In general the relative velocity of such a spaceship is limited by the amount of fuel carried on board and is roughly equal to the integral of the acceleration over time. At the present time there are no extraterrestrial refueling facilities, consequently current spaceships must carry fuel for the return journey as well. In fact a great deal of valuable fuel is wasted because its only use is to push the fuel that will be needed later. The net result is
(a) that current propulsion systems limit the payload to a few percent (usually less than five percent) of the total initial mass of the spaceship. Said payload includes: the crew, their food, air, waste facilities, cameras, control and communications equipment, and all other equipment needed to accomplish the goals of the mission. PA1 (b) The cost of a single space voyage is exceptionally high. PA1 (c) Due to the relatively low velocity attainable with current propulsion systems, the duration of a space voyage to the nearest planets, Mars or Venus, is excessive, perhaps as long as a year. PA1 (d) Also due to the low velocity, the ultimate range of current propulsion systems is also limited. PA1 (e) Assuming the crew doesn't succomb to boredom or claustrophobia, the long trip in a microgravity environment may severely endanger the health of the crew due to bone calcium loss. PA1 (f) Only a small crew can be accommodated which means not only a high cost per person, but also that very few people will be able to enjoy the "fantastic voyage" and political support for the project will be low.
This also leads to a number of other undesirable results:

Spaceship propulsion by momentum transfer


A hydraulic control apparatus is disclosed which includes: a base body; and a housing to be fixed to one surface of the base body. The housing includes an opening facing the one surface of the base body. The opening includes a flange portion formed on and projected outwardly from an opening edge portion. The flange portion includes a screw-formed housing fixing hole for fixing the housing to the base body using a fastening member and a reference hole for provisionally fixing the housing when assembling parts to the housing. The reference hole is formed by lightening the flange portion and arranged parallel to the housing fixing hole.

For example, JP-2009-006855-A discloses a hydraulic control apparatus which includes a base body and a housing. The housing includes a housing fixing hole formed in the surface thereof facing the base body, and the base body includes a housing mounting penetration hole. The housing is mounted onto the base body by inserting a housing fixing screw into the housing mounting penetration hole of the base body from the back surface to the front surface (housing mounting surface), and by thread-tightening the leading end of the fixing screw with a female screw of the housing fixing hole of the housing.
When electric parts, such as a solenoid coil (electric part assembly) to be mounted on an electromagnetic valve and an ECU, are assembled to the housing, or when a cover is fixed to the housing, the housing will be fixed provisionally. In view of manufacturability, it may be attempted to provisionally fix the housing by inserting a provisionally fixing pin into the housing fixing hole. However, such method is not preferable since the provisionally fixing pin inserted into the housing fixing hole also contacts the female screw formed therein. To avoid the contact between the female screw in the fixing hole and the fixing pin, the housing can be simply gripped as a provisional fixing without using the fixing pin. But, in this case, the gripping part of a sufficient size may be required, resulting in the complicated structure.

Hydraulic control apparatus and method for manufacturing the same


For laser sintering, a material includes at least one powder that has been treated by heat to modify at least one of: a melting temperature of the at least one powder; and a recrystallization temperature of the at least one powder and results in the narrowing of the melting curve of the treated material relative to the untreated material. The heating can include a series of heating steps. The treatment improves the efficacies of the SLS process and product quality.

The disclosures herein relate in general to powder based additive manufacturing, and in particular to a method and system for heat induced sintering or melting with pretreated material for additive manufacturing.
A commercial used method for powder based additive manufacturing is selective laser sintering ("SLS") processing. This process is useful for solid freeform fabrication of three-dimensional objects. For SLS processing, viable materials include polymers (e.g., nylon type materials). Nevertheless, a wider range of such materials is desired.

Method and system for laser sintering with pretreated material


A modular system is described which can provide high frequency monitoring of power use and responsive control as well as enabling network connectivity for centralised monitoring and operation. One modular system consists of a communications bus, end caps, and a combination of the modules providing communications, power metering, relay control and battery backup. Each modular system can be configured with a combination of modular units as needed for the application. A combination of bus communication monitoring and tilt detection provides security against external tampering after installation.

Demand on electrical grids fluctuates depending on a number of factors including, for example, seasonal effects and the time of day. Industrial and domestic users have differing electrical needs, with industrial users in particular requiring very stable and predictable supply. Fluctuations in the power supply for certain industrial processes may have very serious consequences, ranging from damage to process equipment to process failure as a result of a loss or other interruption of a stable power supply. It is desirable therefore to provide a means of ensuring that power supply is capable of being monitored with a high degree of accuracy and furthermore that rapid changes in demand across an electrical grid can be catered for in real time and with a high degree of flexibility.
Providing reliable means for monitoring and controlling power use can provide for additional stability in an electrical grid whereby, for example, certain electricity users can reduce their demand by turning off or turning down certain electrical loads for a period of time. Other users may be able to operate back-up generation or battery systems for a period of time to counter the impact of a source of instability. Furthermore, some users may be able to run low-cost generation if they operate combined heat and power (CHP) generation or other, low-cost generation on a regular schedule.


Polyester yarn is produced from melt spun filament by prestretching the filaments individually in counterflow with a gaseous medium and then afterstretching the polyester filaments with an individual titer of 1.0 dtex to 7.5 dtex with a stretching ratio of 1:1.5 to 1:1.15 at a temperature of 80.degree. to 250.degree. C. The filaments are collected and then wound up as a yarn at a speed of 5000 to 8000 m/min.

A process of this type is known in which microfilaments with an individual titer less than 1.0 dtex are drawn through a heating zone with a withdrawal speed up to 8000 m/min for final stretching and are subjected to blowing in counterflow. After this known process, full stretched synthetic resin threads are produced without after treatment which can be worked up into especially fine and tight fabrics (see PCT/DE 9100420).

Process and device for producing polyester yarns


A CMOS device having many output channels at least one of which channel includes a first pair of pull-up/pull-down of transistors between a "noisy Vcc and noisy ground", a second pair of pull-up/pull-down of transistors between a "quiet Vcc and quiet ground", and logic to switch the transistor pairs such that initial switching of an output is powered by the noisy Vcc and ground, and maintenance of an output state is powered by the quiet Vcc and ground. Quiescent channels are decoupled from active channels and will hold their assigned output levels.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to integrated CMOS (Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) circuits, and more particularly to circuit design techniques which reduce output ringing in very fast CMOS output buffers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The need for increasing levels of throughput and improved performance in CMOS systems requires high speed and high dynamic drive current for CMOS output buffers that transfer signals from chip to circuit board or to back planes. This high speed and high drive can be easily achieved by modern submicron CMOS processing, but there are a few undesirable side effects.
With current technology, all internal chip nodes can slew very fast, resulting in a higher rate of change of current (di/dt) in all switching transistors. Since output devices are designed large to handle high levels of dynamic current, their di/dt rates can be very high. Chips that have several outputs switching simultaneously can have a total di/dt in the common ground or power lead inductances of over 500 mA/ns, and can develop large transient potential differences between the chip power traces and the external power connections. (The term "lead" inductance refers to the series combination of bonding wire, package pin inductance and inductance of the metal power bussing on the chip itself.)
FIG. 1 shows a prior art CMOS output driver arrangement comprising a buffer 10. Package lead inductances are represented as equivalent inductances L1, L2 and L3. An external load capacitance, C.sub.L, is typically 50 picofarads (pfd). In Order to construct a high-speed driver, an NMOS transistor 12 and a PMOS transistor 14 should be sized large enough to dynamically sink or source about 100 milliamps. A typical high-speed CMOS chip will have many such drivers that all share common on-chip power and ground rails, e.g., nodes 16 and 18. A particular area of concern is the case where most of the outputs simultaneously switch from logic HIGH to LOW by turning on transistors 12. This will generate a voltage fluctuation of the on-chip node 16 ground compared to an external system ground 20. This condition is commonly known as "ground bounce". Also, when many outputs simultaneously switch from LOW to HIGH by turning on transistors 14, there will be a "Vcc bounce" of node 18.
FIG. 2 shows some representative "bounce" signals 30 on nodes 16 (waveform 32) and 18 (waveform 34) when many buffer circuits 10 are switching simultaneously. The major problem caused by these bounce signals is that they can feed through to the outputs of any quiescent buffers sharing nodes 16 and 18. If a quiescent buffer is supposed to have its output at ground, it will, instead, have an output signal that looks like waveform 32 having a pulse amplitude "A". Likewise, if a quiescent buffer is supposed to have its output at Vcc, it will, instead, have an output signal that looks like waveform 34 having a pulse amplitude "B". If amplitudes A and B are large enough, the supposedly quiescent outputs can falsely trigger any inputs to other chips they are driving downstream.
The prior art has attempted to correct these kinds of ground and supply bounce problems. Different approaches have been tried, but all have achieved less than a complete solution. The most common work-around solution is to slow down the rate of change of the Vgs voltage driving the gates of transistors 12 and 14 by inserting an appropriate delay network between the buffer's input and the transistors. If the gate drive to the transistors 12 and 14 is slowed down enough, amplitudes A and B, in FIG. 2, will be reduced. However, in order to have a significant bounce reduction, a buffer driving a fifty picofarad load might have to slow its throughput delay from two nanoseconds to eight nanoseconds. The exact amount of slowdown required depends on the package pin inductance and the number of outputs that could be switching simultaneously. A delay that is long enough for a case when all outputs are switching, will be excessive for cases when fewer than that number are switching. With some devices now having more than 32 outputs, the bounce solution chosen can have a major influence on a device's high-speed performance.
A common technique employed to control ground bounce involves distributing the current running through pull-down devices. Multiple pull-down devices each handle a reduced portion of the whole current and are successively turned on via a delay chain. Consider the prior art found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,201 by Martinez. The circuit of Martinez uses a P-type Metal Oxide Semiconductor (PMOS) pull-up transistor and a N-type Metal Oxide Semiconductor (NMOS) pull-down transistor as a pair of strong driving elements. (The parasitic, but "unavoidable series inductance to system ground" is shown as a discrete inductor, and a matching inductor to V.sub.cc.) A PMOS pull-up transistor and a NMOS pull-down transistor form a pair of weak driving elements. The weaker pair are designed to turn on prior to the stronger pair via delays introduced by a pair of inverter transistors. The main idea is that the large current spike created when a large lumped device is turned on will be decreased in intensity if a previously activated weaker device dissipates some of the initial discharge energy. The gain of the stronger devices
can be slightly lower than would otherwise be required. The United States Patent of Boler et U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,187, avoids using a PMOS pull-down as a weaker device, and instead uses another NMOS pull-down transistor. This weaker pull-down transistor has a smaller gain than the main NMOS pull-down. The delay is introduced by an R-C network that includes a resistor (and stray capacitance), instead of an inverter chain. U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,389, by Wu et al., discloses a circuit that essentially uses the same current distribution as above, but uses a different method of achieving the delay for the second, stronger pull-down transistor. The delay in turning on the second, stronger pull-down transistor results from a closed loop control that waits for the high-to-low transition of the output to reach a certain level before a pull-down transistor is activated. This assures an adequate time spacing between the two current spikes. None of the prior art above directly monitor or control the particular electrical parameter that results in ground bounce, namely, the time rate of change of the pull-down current (di/dt). The sensitivities to process, temperature, and operating voltage also go largely neglected. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,482, of Ganger, directs itself to limiting the output voltage slew rate in telecommunications applications. A pair of fixed capacitors, and a pair of constant current sources, are each used to perform slew rate limiting and to insure linearity. Several undesirable consequences result from the implementation. Biasing circuits are required to provide N-bias and P-bias potentials, thereby requiring an accurate source externally and therefore extra I/O pins. Alternatively, internally generated biases would necessitate generators with large static DC currents to sustain a reasonable noise rejection ratio. A complementary pair of push-pull transistors and are never mutually exclusive because their gates are not pulled completely up to Vdd or down to Vss when intended to be off. This results in large leakage currents that are usually unacceptable in digital circuits. And since the push-pull transistors are never quite off, parasitic capacitive coupling in their gates to Vdd and Vss will cause the push-pull transistors to amplify any high-frequency noise on the Vdd and Vss supply rails. Slew-rate control is confined only to the saturation region of the output transistors when static biasing is used. Since the value of capacitors do not change to accommodate the push-pull transistors transition from their saturation region to their linear region, the linearity control fails at this stage and throughout the linear region of operation. The capacitive coupling provided by capacitors will couple any output transition back to the gate of the supposedly off transistor to cause it to turn on. While the resulting current contention has the effect of further limiting the voltage slew rate of the output, it inadvertently dumps even more transient and DC current to Vss, which actually increases ground bounce in digital circuits.
Lien, et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,933,574, disclose a BiCMOS output driver that is intended to maximize switching speed and to minimize ground bounce. A bipolar transistor in the output is not permitted to go into saturation. A pair of transistors, connected in an inverter configuration, develop a signal that indicates when the bipolar transistor pulls-down the output below a predetermined point. Three gate delay times after the output falls below a second predetermined level, a second transistor in parallel with the bipolar transistor is switched.
The prior art has more-or-less been directed at controlling ground bounce for channels that are actively switching their outputs from high-to-low. The popular technique, described above, is to use two output pull-down transistors to ease up on the rate of output slew from high-to-low. What is needed is a solution that addresses the problem of quiescent channels that are already low and become unsettled by local ground bounce induced by a neighboring output channel. The present invention provides such a solution.

Apparatus and method to prevent the disturbance of a quiescent output buffer caused by ground bounce or by power bounce induced by neighboring active output buffers


A new and improved multipurpose hand-held tool, especially adapted to be used by rescue workers to extract victims from damaged motor vehicles, includes a handle, a head, a foot, and a saw blade that projects from the bottom of the foot. The head is connected to the handle and includes a first head end, a middle head portion, and a second head end. The foot, which is connected to the handle, includes a first foot end, a middle foot portion, a second foot end, and a bottom side. In a first embodiment, a first cutter, which is pyramidal shaped, is connected to the first head end and has a sharp, pointed edge. A second cutter is connected to the second head end and has a long, flat, axe blade. The first foot end includes a pointed hook edge, especially adapted for prying; and the second foot end includes a hammer head. In a second embodiment, a hammer head is connected to the first head end; and an axe head cutter is connected to the second head end. The first foot end includes a bifurcated claw with two pointed hooked tips, especially adapted for removing nails and prying; and the second foot end includes a pointed, pyramidal end. In both embodiments, the saw blade includes a toothed portion which projects from the bottom of the foot and also includes a portion that passes through the bottom side of the foot and into a slot in the handle to which it is secured by screws.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to hand-held tools used to pry or break glass and wood and metallic materials, and more particularly, to a tool especially adapted to break into motor vehicles in order to facilitate removal of accident victims.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Often times when motor vehicles undergo accidents, the motor vehicle bodies are bent and damaged so that doors and windows cannot be opened in the normal manner. In such cases, it is necessary for rescue personnel to break into the motor vehicle in order to treat and remove the accident victims.
In order to break into the damaged vehicle, it is often necessary to cut through metal. At other times in order to gain entry in the vehicle, it is necessary or desirable to break glass which is present in the windshield or side windows. Sometimes it is necessary or desirable to both cut metal and break glass.
One often used tool in the prior art for breaking into motor vehicles is the common axe. Although in some ways effective, there is often a very undesirable side effect that accompanies the use of an axe on window glass; and that is that the glass will shatter and spray over the victim and even over a rescue worker who may have already gotten inside the vehicle to tend to the victim. It would be desirable, therefore, if a tool were provided that reduces the amount of glass that may fall upon a victim and/or rescue worker when a glass window is broken.
Moreover, a damaged motor vehicle may present a variety of challenges to a person trying to gain entry into the damaged vehicle. Not only may it be necessary for glass to be broken, but it may also be necessary to pry apart vehicle parts. Cutting by swinging an axe blade may be carried out. At other times, the rescuer may prefer to make a small hole, as opposed to using an axe blade, for beginning a sawing operation. At still other times, a rescuer may prefer to use a blunt tool for, in essence, hammering.
In an emergency rescue situation, it would be difficult and very burdensome for a rescue worker to bring along an assemblage of separate tools for cutting, sawing, piercing, prying, and hammering. Being burdened with a plurality of tools to accomplish these separate functions could slow the rescuer down and undesirably tire the rescuer out. It would also be very inconvenient for a rescuer to place one tool down and pick up another tool in rapid succession at a rescue site. In this respect, it would be desirable if a rescuer had a single tool that could be used to carry out the plurality of functions such as cutting, sawing, piercing, prying, and hammering.
The prior art seems to be deficient in disclosing a single tool that would provide a rescuer with the plurality of functions mentioned above. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,834 of Holloway discloses a combined pry bar and nail puller, but this tool does not provide components to be used for cutting, sawing, piercing, or hammering. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,945 of Hearn et al, there is a disclosure of a pry bar wedge member, but neither does this tool provide elements to carry out the functions of cutting, sawing, piercing, or hammering.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,440 of Scott discloses a combination hood support, jack crank, lug wrench, and wheel cover apparatus. However, this combination tool does not provide means for cutting, sawing, piercing, or hammering as would be desirable for a rescue worker. U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,033 of Fosberg discloses a forcible entry tool which includes an elongate pry bar having at one end a cutting section which includes a pivoted gripping block and a cutting blade. The device disclosed in this patent is not designed for sawing, piercing, and hammering.
The following design patents disclose pry bars: U.S. Pat. No. Des. 277,359 of Schiller; and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 301,301 of Buckley. Neither of these designs discloses a tool that can perform all of the functions of cutting, sawing, piercing, prying, and hammering that may be necessary in a rescue operation.
Thus, while the foregoing body of prior art indicates it to be well known to use hand tools for cutting and prying, the provision of a simple and cost effective device is not contemplated which can perform all of the operations of cutting, sawing, piercing, prying, and hammering in a single tool. The foregoing disadvantages are overcome by the unique multipurpose tool of the present invention as will be made apparent from the following description thereof. Other advantages of the present invention over the prior art also will be rendered evident.


A fluid cartridge has a bottle to retain a volume of fluid. An ejector chip resides in fluid communication with the bottle and causes ejection of fluid upon activation of fluid ejectors. Control logic coordinates ejector activation with dose control logic and temperature control circuitry. The dose control logic pre-specifies an amount of fluid to be ejected and prevents further ejection upon reaching the amount. Meanwhile, the temperature control circuit inhibits any ejection until a temperature of the fluid is within a predefined acceptable range. Bottle modularity, fluid dispense-areas and group-control of the ejectors facilitate certain designs.

The ability to accurately dispense liquids has broad applications in the laboratory automation and healthcare fields. Within the field of Point-of-Care (POC) diagnostics it is anticipated that applications will exist where it is desirable to deliver a precise amount of liquid to a predefined area. It is further anticipated that these applications will necessitate control devices where small size and portability will be highly valued.
There presently exist many methods for delivering fluids within the laboratory and POC fields. These include mechanical methods such as metered dose inhalers (MDI), peristaltic and piezo pumps and manual pipettes. These methods often have limited precision or would require a large area to incorporate within a portable device. It is therefore desirable to develop a new system to enable the next generation of POC devices.
Advantageous traits of such a system are small size, flexible volumes and high precision. Since the controllers which will incorporate these devices may have limited electrical input and output capabilities it is also desired to enable a simplified control interface. A further requirement is the ability to dispense a range of liquids while limiting any undesirable chemical interactions within the device.
A novel fluid delivery system meeting these needs is fully described is this disclosure.

Fluid cartridge and system for dispensing fluid


An apparatus for controlling a switched reluctance motor with use of a power conversion circuit. In the apparatus, a command voltage setter sets a command voltage for a coil of the motor, where the command voltage is set to change gradually during either or both of a ramp-up period and a ramp-down period of the command voltage. A voltage controller controls an applied voltage to the coil to the command voltage set by the command voltage setter by operating the power conversion circuit.

(Technical Field)
The present invention relates to a control apparatus for a switched reluctance motor.
(Related Art)
A known control apparatus for a switched reluctance (SR) motor, as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3255167, controls a current flowing through a coil of the SR motor to a command current with use of a hysteresis comparator. More specifically, this apparatus uses a positive direct-current voltage (VDC), a zero voltage and a negative direct-current voltage (−VDC) to be applied to the coil of the SR motor. This is intended to reduce a switching frequency and the ripple in the current flowing through the coil and thereby reduce harmonic core losses and noise of the SR motor caused by switching of the inverter.
In the apparatus as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3255167, to control the current flowing through the coil of the SR motor to the command current, a voltage applied to the coil is switched from a zero voltage to a positive DC voltage, or from a zero voltage to a negative DC voltage. This will cause an interlinkage magnetic flux waveform of the coil to be distorted and to include many harmonic components. There may therefore be concern that the effect of the apparatus to reduce the harmonic core losses and noise of the SR motor is not exhibited sufficiently.
In consideration of the foregoing, it would therefore be desirable to have a control apparatus for an SR motor, capable of advantageously reducing harmonic core losses and noise in the SR motor.

Control apparatus for a switched reluctance motor


A liquid sample is dropped onto the upper surface of a transparent and cylindrical light-transmitting body (22), and the liquid sample is maintained as a droplet by the surface tension. From above the liquid sample, a transparent cover plate (25) is lowered down to the position where the lower surface thereof touches a spacer (23) in order that the liquid sample is held in the small gap formed between the upper surface of the light-transmitting body (22) and the lower surface of the transparent cover plate (25). A measurement light is provided into the liquid sample held in this manner from immediately above it, and passes through the liquid sample. The transmitted light emitted downwards through the light-transmitting body (22) is introduced into a spectro-detecting unit to be spectro-measured. The measurement optical path length can be adjusted by the height of the spacer (23). This enables an easy transmission spectro-measurement of an extremely small amount of liquid sample.

A conventional spectrophotometer such as an ultraviolet visible spectrophotometer which has been widely and generally used includes an optical system. In the optical system, for example, a light emitted from a light source is wavelength-dispersed by a spectroscope, a measurement light having a specific wavelength is taken out, the measurement light is delivered onto or into the sample placed in a sample chamber, and the light which has passed through the sample is detected. In the sample chamber, various types of sample cells and sample change mechanisms are placed in accordance with the purpose of analysis, the kind of sample, and other factors (for example, refer to Patent Document 1 or other documents). For example, in the measurement of the liquid sample's transmission characteristics such as transmissivity and absorbance, a polygonal or cylindrical cuvette cell for holding a liquid sample is generally used. The interior volume of a general cuvette cell is more than a few mL and it is required to prepare a sufficient quantity of liquid sample to fill the cuvette cell.
In recent years, an ultraviolet visible spectrophotometer as previously described has been used in the field of biochemistry, such as quantifying protein and DNA. In such cases, the quantity of the liquid sample to be analyzed is usually extremely small. In particular, in a DNA-related analysis, a sample is precious and expensive. In some cases, it is necessary to perform an analysis with a liquid sample of less than a few μL. A cuvette cell as previously described cannot be used for the purpose of analyzing such a small amount of liquid sample. In this connection, a container suitable for spectro-analyzing such a small amount of liquid sample is conventionally known.
Patent Document 2 or other documents for example disclose a sample cell for measuring a trace liquid sample. This is a capillary cell which siphons and holds a liquid sample by using a capillary action. However, even such a capillary cell generally requires a liquid amount of more than a few μL and a liquid sample less than this amount cannot be analyzed. In addition, a capillary cell has disadvantages in that injecting a liquid sample into the cell is cumbersome and cleaning after a measurement is troublesome.
On the other hand, as an apparatus capable of spectro-analyzing an extremely small amount (approximately 1 μL) of liquid sample, a spectrophotometer ND-1000 which is sold by NanoDrop Technologies Inc. in the United States is recognized (refer to Non-Patent Document 1). The schematic configuration of the sample holding unit in this spectrophotometer is illustrated in FIG. 9. In the sample holding unit, the downward end face of a light-delivering optical fiber 41 held by an upper base 40 and the upward end face of a light-receiving optical fiber 43 held by a lower base 42 are placed in such a manner as to face each other in the vertical direction. The lower base 42 is immobile, whereas the upper base 40 is vertically movable.
In placing a liquid sample, the upper base 40 is moved upwards for example and the liquid sample is dropped onto the upward end of the light-receiving optical fiber 43. After that, the upper base 40 is moved once downwards to the position where the downward end face of the light-delivering optical fiber 41 almost touches the upward end face of the light-receiving optical fiber 43 (refer to FIG. 9(a)). Then, the upper base 40 is drawn up to a predetermined position. This makes the liquid sample S vertically bridge the space between the downward end face of the light-delivering optical fiber 41 and the upward end face of the light-receiving optical fiber 43, forming a catenoid shape due to the surface tension, as illustrated in FIG. 9(b).
In this state, the liquid sample S between the light-delivering optical fiber 41 and the light-receiving optical fiber 43 can serve as an optical connector. Accordingly, the measurement light which has been delivered through the light-delivering optical fiber 41 passes through the liquid sample S to be sent into the light-receiving optical fiber 43. Generally, the optical path length in a liquid sample is set to be approximately 1 mm, and a very small amount (i.e. approximately 1 through 2 μL) of liquid sample can be analyzed.
However, this spectrophotometer has a disadvantage in that a light quantity loss occurs unless the optical axis of the light-delivering optical fiber 41 is coincident with that of the light-receiving optical fiber 43. Hence, the accuracy of the mechanism for vertically moving the upper base 40 and the positional accuracy of both the bases 40 and 42 are required to be sufficiently high, which increases the cost by that much. In addition, since the optical fibers 41 and 43 constituting the measurement optical system directly contact with the liquid sample S, the sample change operation is far more troublesome and time-consuming compared to the case, for example, of inserting a sample cell in a measurement light path in a sample chamber space or the like as previously described. Above all, it takes time to perform the measurement of a great number of samples while automatically changing the samples.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H05-315324
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H05-302893
[Non-Patent Document 1] "NanoDrop ND-1000 Overview," [online], NanoDrop Technologies Inc., [Sep. 25, 2006], internet <URL: http://www.nanodrop.com/nd-1000-overview.html>


Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture for assigning alias addresses to base addresses. An assignment is provided of base addresses to the devices. The base addresses are used to access the devices assigned to the base addresses. An assignment is provided of a plurality of alias addresses to an alias address pool. The alias addresses in the alias address pool are capable of being dynamically assigned to the devices to service I/O requests to the devices. An Input/Output (I/O) request to access one target device comprising one of the devices is processed. A determination is made as to whether the base address assigned to the target device is available. One alias address is assigned to the target device in response to determining that the base address is not available. The I/O request is issued to the assigned alias address to transmit the request to the target device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, system, and program for assigning alias addresses to base addresses.
2. Description of the Related Art
In certain computing environments, multiple host systems may communicate with multiple control units (CUs) (also known as storage controllers, storage subsystems, enterprise storage servers, etc.) providing access to storage devices, such as interconnected hard disk drives through one or more logical paths. The interconnected drives may be configured as a Direct Access Storage Device (DASD), Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), Just a Bunch of Disks (JBOD), etc. The control unit may configure one or more logical subsystems (LSSs), where each LSS is configured to include multiple volumes.
The host system may include a channel subsystem that maintains information to access volumes in an LSS from the control unit. The channel subsystem includes subchannels, which provides state tracking for the execution of the I/O operations for the channel subsystem and provides information on paths connecting the host to a volume in an LSS. The host operating system maintains a unit control block (UCB) providing information on a base unit address assigned to one volume and the subchannel that the channel subsystem uses to access the volume on the base device. The channel subsystem is aware of individual subchannels and the paths they have. The customer initially assigns aliases to bases via external tools to the CU. The operating system can dynamically change the binding of aliases to bases given changes in the workload requirements. Further, the control unit may assign alias addresses to the base addresses for volumes, where the alias addresses are used to allow concurrent I/O requests to be directed to the same volume. The UCB for a base volume maintains information on the alias addresses assigned to that volume. The host processes the information in the UCB to address an I/O operation to a volume. In particular, the host initiates an I/O operation toward a volume by initiating a channel program which consists of a series of I/O instructions, such as a chain of channel command word (CCW) commands, at the subchannel.
The control unit maintains a different view of the system. The control unit is provided a base unit address for each device (volume) and zero or more alias unit addresses for each base unit address. After assigning a base address to each volume (device), the remaining addresses can be allocated as alias addresses to the base addresses. The control unit uses the unit addresses to physically access the volumes.
An I/O operation or chain of CCW commands can be simultaneously executed toward the same logical volume using the different base and alias unit addresses for the logical volume. In this way, the executed CCW commands are all directed toward the same logical volume using different addresses, wherein each address uses one of multiple channel paths to reach a single logical volume. This allows a single host to concurrently execute multiple I/O operations against a single volume. The number of aliases provided for a base may be set according to the size of the volume and the number of concurrent users. In certain cases, only a few aliases may be needed to accommodate network traffic for a particular base address for a volume. Further, the number of aliases associated with a logical volume may be dynamically changed by the Work Load Manager (WLM) based on the goals for the work load.
The host first attempts to access a volume (I/O device) through the base UCB for the volume. If the base UCB is unavailable, i.e., concurrently servicing another I/O operation, then the host may use one of the available alias UCBs assigned to that base UCB to concurrently access the volume. The host system then performs the I/O operations through the subchannel associated with the UCB and the channel paths provided for that subchannel. The use of alias addresses and reassigning alias addresses to different base addresses are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,185,638, 6,170,023, and 6,167,459.

Assigning alias addresses to base addresses

International Business Machines Corporation


A method of controlling a robotic surgical system is provided, where the robotic surgical system including an arm having an instrument with jaws and an access port each coupled to the arm. The method includes detecting a position of the instrument, and opening the jaws of the instrument, in response to a determination that a distance between the position of the instrument and a position of the access port is greater than a predetermined distance.

Robotic surgical systems are increasingly being used to perform minimally invasive medical procedures. Typically during such medical procedures, a patient is placed on a platform adjacent a robotic system, and a clinician is positioned at a console remote from the robotic surgical system. The clinician provides input to a user interface, such as an input controller or handle, to manipulate a tool coupled to an arm of the robotic system, for example, an end effector, that acts on the patient.
The robotic surgical system can include a tower supporting a robot arm, and at least one end effector such as forceps or a grasping tool mounted to the robot arm via a wrist assembly. In such a configuration, during the medical procedure, the end effector and the wrist assembly are inserted into a small incision (via a cannula) or a natural orifice of a patient to position the end effector at a surgical site within the body of the patient
Oftentimes when the tool is removed from the surgical site within the body of the patient, the tool includes bodily fluids and/or tissue thereon. To optimize instrument performance, the bodily fluids and/or tissue are preferably removed from the tool prior to re-insertion into the patient. Although a surgical technician is typically positioned bedside and tasked with cleaning the tools, the technician will often wear protective gloves or other clothing, which though needed, may cause inefficiencies during the surgery. In particular, as the tools are increasingly being designed to improve surgical precision, the end effectors being implemented are increasingly becoming smaller and smaller in dimension, thus becoming more difficult for surgical technicians to manipulate, especially while wearing the protective gloves. Prior to removing the tool from a patient, an end effector of the tool typically passes through an access port. End effectors of these tools typically had to be aligned with the access port opening in order for the tool to be removed from the access port. For example, a pair of jaw end effectors often had to be moved to the closed position for the jaws to fit through the port opening. The closed jaws made it difficult to clean the jaws prior to reinserting the tool into the patient. There is a need for easier accessibility and cleaning of minimally invasive surgical tools during surgery.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Robotic surgical system control scheme for manipulating robotic end effectors


A method and apparatus for controlling transmit power levels of a plurality of different data streams transmitted from at least one base station to a mobile station in a mobile radio communication system is described. A stream of power control commands is formed at the mobile station in accordance with either the first or second received data stream. A power control signal is formed at the mobile station from the first stream of power control commands and transmitted to the base station.

I. Field
This invention relates to the field of communications systems and, in particular, to a method for controlling the transmission power level of multiple data streams sent from one or several base stations to a mobile station in a mobile radio telecommunication system.
II. Background
In a mobile telephone communication system, one or several base stations transmit information, such as voice information, or data, or both to a mobile station. Each base station supports one or several sectors. For example in EIA/TIA-95-A CDMA systems it is common that each base station supports three individual sectors, with each sector transmitting different information. Voice and data transmissions from a base station to one or more mobile stations typically occur on a forward link traffic channel. A mobile station receives the information from the forward link traffic channel, decodes the information, and determines a frame error rate associated with the decoded information. The frame error rate of the decoded information can be adversely affected by, for example, fading conditions in the forward link channel. Furthermore a traffic channel can be transmitted from several base stations or several sectors of the same base station. The mobile station will then combine the signals from the different sectors for improved decoding, in a process that is often referred to in the prior art as soft-handoff. The set of base station sectors transmitting the same data signal is usually named an "active set". It will be understood by those skilled by the art that the term soft handoff refers to soft handoff between different base stations as well as soft handoff between different sectors of the same base station.
In some mobile radio communication systems such as, for example, mobile radio systems that use code division multiple access (CDMA) modulation, the frame error rate at the mobile station is used to control the transmit power level sent to the mobile on the forward link traffic signal. For example, in such systems a desired ratio of signal to noise powers is derived from the desired frame error rate. An estimate of the actual signal to noise ratio received by the mobile is then used to generate a stream of power control commands that is sent from the mobile station back to the base stations in the active set. Each power control command in the stream causes the base station to either increase (by, for example, 1 dB), decrease (by, for example, 1 dB) or hold constant the transmit power sent to the mobile station on the forward link traffic channel.
Using such a power control system allows the mobile station to cause the base station to increase the transmit power to compensate for conditions such as a fade. Likewise, the power control system permits the base station to save power when the channel conditions are more favorable and a predetermined error rate can be maintained using a lower transmit power.
In modern mobile telephone communication systems, several data streams (e.g., fax transmissions, internet transmissions, voice calls etc.) can be transmitted to a mobile station concurrently. In systems such as CDMA systems, the transmission of such data streams can occur on the same forward link traffic channel (i.e., frequency channel). In such cases, each data stream (e.g., voice, fax, internet, etc.) transmitted from a particular base station to the mobile station on a given forward link is modulated using a different spreading code often called a Walsh code that permits each data stream to be separately demodulated at the mobile station. Different base stations can transmit on the forward link with the same spreading code when they utilize a different scrambling code (often called PN code).
Where multiple data streams are transmitted from a one or several base stations to a mobile station on one or several forward links, the transmit power level of each of the data streams should be controlled as described above. However, sending a separate stream of power control commands on the reverse link from the mobile station back to each base station in order to control the transmit power of each data stream results in a substantial increase in system overhead.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a system for forward link power control that minimized the overhead required to send power control commands from the mobile station back to a base station in cases where the base station is transmitting multiple data streams to the mobile station.

Forward link power control of multiple data streams transmitted to a mobile station using a common power control channel


A method and circuit for reducing SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) transmission data errors by adjusting the period of sending two consecutive ALIGN Primitives. The method reads a counting value of an 8b/10b coding error counter at a predetermined period and adjusts the period of sending two consecutive ALIGN Primitives according to the counting value. Because the system dynamically adjusts the period of sending two consecutive ALIGN Primitives according to the channel condition, the SATA transmission data errors can be reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and a device for reducing SATA transmission data errors, and more particularly to a method and device for reducing SATA transmission data errors by adjusting the period of sending ALIGN Primitives.
2. Description of the Related Art
The serial ATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment, hereinafter referred to as SATA) is an interface specification promoted by the companies of APT, Dell, IBM, Intel, Maxtor, Seagate, etc. The SATA specification is applied to the interface of a hard disk drive or an optical disk drive to replace parallel ATA/ATAPI interface that has been used for a long time. The SATA interface specification specifies two pairs of differential signal lines to replace the original 40 or 80 signal lines connected in parallel. Serializing the original data can reduce the size and voltage and increase the speed. The specification also introduces some new functions, such as flow control and error resending, to control the data stream.
FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration showing communication layers in the SATA specification. As shown in FIG. 1, the SATA interface connects a host 11 to a device 12. The device 12 may be an optical storage device or a hard disk drive, or other devices with the SATA interface. The communication layers in the SATA specification include four layers, which are respectively a first layer (physical layer), a second layer (link layer), a third layer (transport layer) and a fourth layer (application layer). The physical layer is responsible for converting digital and analog signals. That is, the physical layer receives and converts a digital signal sent from the link layer into an analog signal and sends the analog signal to the other side. The physical layer also receives and converts the analog signal, which comes from the other side, into a digital signal and outputs the digital signal to the link layer. The link layer encodes and decodes the digital data. That is, the link layer encodes the data coming from the transport layer and outputs the encoded data to the physical layer. On the other hand, the link layer decodes the data coming from the physical layer and outputs the decoded data to the transport layer. The transport layer constructs and deconstructs the FIS (Frame Information Structure). The detailed definition of the FIS can be found in the SATA specification. The application layer is in charge of buffer memory and DMA engine(s).
During the serializing process, the sending device converts the parallel data (e.g., data in bytes or words) into a serial bit data stream. In addition to the typical data, the SATA specification defines some data control codes with four bytes, which are referred to as primitives, for controlling the sending and power management of the sending device and the receiving device. For example, a X_RDY primitive (transmission data ready primitive) represents that the sending device is ready to send data, and a R_RDY primitive (receiver ready primitive) represents that the receiving device is ready to receive data.
FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration showing a packet sent through the SATA interface. Two devices communicate with each other to send the packet according to the X_RDY primitive (transmission data ready primitive) and the R_RDY primitive (receiver ready primitive). Then, the sending side sends a packet content, which is packed by a SOF primitive (start of frame) and an EOF primitive (End of frame). After the packet content is sent completely, the sending side sends a WTRM primitive (wait for frame termination primitive). If there is no any error about the CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) check in the link layer, the receiving side responds with a R_OK primitive (reception with no error primitive) after it receives the WTRM primitive. If there is an error about the CRC check, the receiving side responds with a R_ERR primitive (reception error).
In order to let the receiving device distinguish the beginning position of the serialized data, the SATA specification defines an ALIGN Primitive for the synchronization of the physical layer at the receiving side and for searching of the beginning bit. The sending side is specified to send at least two consecutive ALIGN Primitives within 256 double words.
However, this new interface specification still cannot impeccably process the noise interference. For example, if the received ALIGN Primitive has been polluted by noise, the physical layer may not be able to correctly find the initial bit of each double word in the following data stream such that the system receives a series of error data until the next ALIGN Primitive is correctly decoded. The malfunctioned range is proportional to the period of the appeared ALIGN Primitives.

Method and circuit for reducing SATA transmission data errors by adjusting the period of sending ALIGN primitives


An improved antenna for use with a hand-held, portable cellular telephone in the 800 to 900 megacycle range for greatly increasing the range and signal efficiency of transmission and receipt, eliminating dead spots, and for reducing or eliminating ground radiation on the user while the device is being used, wherein the antenna includes matched input impedance, a resonance circuit of capacitance and inductance, and a high impedance connected to the end of the antenna radiating element. The high impedance allows the device to be voltage-fed from a single element, altering the radiation pattern both for transmission and receipt.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an antenna for transmission and receipt of RF signals on a hand-held, portable cellular phone and in particular, to an improved antenna having reactance cancellation for improved antenna efficiency, improving the transmission and receipt signal efficiency, and reducing or eliminating the RF field immediately in contact with the cellular phone user.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cellular telephones operating in the 800 to 1900 megacycle RF frequency range are well known in the art. More specifically cellular communication may occur in frequency ranges including 824-924 MHz, 1750-1870 MHz, 1750-1780 MHz, 1840-1870 MHz and other high frequency ranges which are being developed. In recent years, hand-held, portable cellular phones in these and other ranges have become quite common. However, problems which continue to exist include inadequate efficiency in signal transmission and signal radiation around and through the phone user at levels which have adverse health results. One deficiency in current hand-held, portable telephones is that numerous cell sites are required because of the limited range of each unit. Such hand-held cellular phone units also exhibit from time to time breakup and distortion in the signal receipt or transmission, and often, certain locations do not permit their use because of the total signal shadow. Cellular phones also radiate an RF wave pattern that typically includes a ground wave or negative signal that is transmitted around and through the user while the hand-held phone is in use; that is, while the phone unit is held to a person's ear to allow the person to hear or to talk while the device is radiating. A milligauss electromagnetic field detecting unit can be used around a cellular phone in use to show certain electromagnetic radiation patterns that are in contact with certain areas of the user's head and upper torso.
Typically, cellular phones use a Marconi-type antenna which has positive and negative wave patterns that include a ground wave. Conventional antennas are typically current-fed, two-element systems that use the phone case as a counterpoise or ground plane to help achieve impedance matching with the 50 ohm output impedance of the phone. Current fed systems normally comprise a parallel LC reactance circuit, having adjustable inductance, connected to a phone output. Examples of these antenna systems may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,474,453 issued to Ireland; 4,238,799 issued to Parfitt; 2,648,771 issued to Cork; 4,730,195 issued to Phillips, et al; 4,940,989 issued to Austin; 5,214,434 issued to Hsu; 5,214,437 issued to Hensler; and 3,155,751 issued to Roll, and German reference issued Nov. 4, 1981 to Koehler. As can be seen by Ireland and Koehler, the capacitor is typically connected electrically in parallel to the inductance by making a direct conductive link.
It is known that the impedance at the center of a conventional antenna is approximately 72 ohms, and that for maximum efficiency, the impedance of the phone should match the impedance of the signal output device. Thus, although the impedance at the center of a conventional antenna is approximately 72 ohms, the impedance approaches 50 ohms when the phone is hand-held because of the natural capacitance in one's body. Accordingly, RF wave energy is transmitted around and through the user's body. Recent studies show that this can be harmful to the user.
Experimental results suggests that AC electric and magnetic fields increase the risk of certain cancers and other physiological and psychological harms. Radiated signals from a cellular phone antenna surround the body with an electromagnetic field that can produce adverse results in the body. Based on recent studies, these fields are produced by cellular phone antennas which are typically current fed Marconi systems, as noted, that use the phone output as a ground return such that only 50% of the signal is transmitted away from the antenna. Current fed antennas comprise quarter-wave (1/4 wavelength) antennas to match 1/4 wavelength systems in conventional phones. In contrast, voltage fed antennas comprise 1/2 wavelength antennas which are capable of approaching full signal transmission, i.e. 100%, so as to limit or substantially eliminate a cellular phone user's exposure to that portion of signal typically left behind in quarter-wave antennas. The problem is that an antenna can not be voltage fed unless it is 1/2 wavelength and a 1/2 wavelength antenna can not be connected to a current fed 1/4 wavelength system. Since conventional phones are 1/4 wavelength current fed systems, 1/2 wavelength antennas can not be effectively used.
While the elimination of counterpoise has been addressed in the background art, the problems noted above have not been fully addressed. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 3,474,453, issued Oct. 21, 1969 to F. E. Ireland, Applicant herein, shows a whip antenna with adjustable tuning that could be used to eliminate problems with the earth or surrounding structures for transmission purposes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,584,587, issued Apr. 22, 1986 to F. E. Ireland, Applicant herein, shows a tunable antenna with coupling at the input that can be used without a counterpoise.
It is desirous to improve cellular phone signal transmission to reduce the adverse affects of signal generated fields and one way to increase signal transmission efficiency would be to provide a 1/2 wavelength antenna that is operable in a 1/4 wavelength cellular system. Therefore, there exists a need for an antenna system that is able to achieve antenna efficiency through impedance matching without radiating the actual user. The present invention overcomes problems in the prior art by providing an improved antenna having more efficient RF signal radiation transmission and receipt. The antenna system is used with a hand-held, portable cellular phone to increase signal efficiency, both in transmission and receipt distance range, to eliminate ground distortion or building structure distortion through improved signal efficiency, and to eliminate RF radiation patterns associated with ground waves from the body areas of the user of a hand-held, portable cellular telephone. The instant invention accomplishes its results with an antenna system that converts a 1/4 wavelength system into a 1/2 wavelength system using reactance cancellation.

Cellular phone antenna with reactance cancellation


A water extractor includes a plurality of layers of low pressure zones and a plurality of channels of high pressure zones. The low pressure zone layers alternate, in a radial direction, with the high pressure zone channels. At least one of the low pressure zones is configured to enable a flow to enter, from at least one high pressure zone, to at least one low pressure zone.

The present invention generally relates to apparatus and methods for the treatment of airstreams in an environmental control system (ECS) and, more particularly, to remove humidity from airstreams using an integrated heat exchanger system having a water extraction device.
In an aircraft environmental control system, humidity must be removed from the air prior to delivery to the pressurized cabin or equipment/electronics. The humidity can be removed by cooling the air below the water saturation temperature in reheater and condenser heat exchangers thus condensing most of the water vapor in the air into droplets. The droplets must then be separated from the air before the air is recuperatively heated in the reheater, and expanded and cooled in the cooling turbine.
Past high pressure water extraction loop designs include a condenser, a reheater, and a water extractor. However, the designs can be large, heavy, have many parts and components, and typically provide an installation challenge in many ECS applications. It is difficult to package the length required for current water extractor designs.
As can be seen, there is a need for an improved heat exchanger system that includes water extraction.

High pressure water extraction device with shave off edge that feeds a low pressure chamber and internal helix feature to improve water collection and drainage


A method of manufacturing conductive cobalt oxyhydroxide, including providing a positive electrode, a negative electrode, a CoOOH precursor, and a basic solution to form a combination; applying a current to the positive electrode to form conductive CoOOH on the positive electrode; then removing the conductive CoOOH from the combination, is disclosed.

The invention relates to the synthesis of cobalt oxyhydroxide.
Cobalt oxyhydroxide (CoOOH) can be used, for example, in the manufacturing of batteries. A battery typically includes one or more galvanic cells (i.e., cells that produce a direct current of electricity) in a finished package. In each cell, two electrodes are separated by an electron insulator, but are joined by an ion-carrying path. The electron-carrying path of the battery is external; the path proceeds, via a conductor, through a device where work is done. The ion-carrying path of the battery is internal and proceeds via an electrolyte.
The electrodes are usually composed of dissimilar metal compounds. The positive electrode, or cathode, is the oxidizing electrode. This electrode accepts electrons from the external circuit and is reduced during the electrochemical reaction. The negative electrode, or anode, is the reducing electrode. This electrode releases electrodes to the external circuit and is oxidized during the electrochemical reaction. The electrolyte generally is composed mainly of an ionizable salt dissolved in a solvent.
Batteries may be rechargeable; such batteries are called "storage" or "secondary" batteries. Storage batteries can be recharged by passing current through the cells in the opposite direction of discharge current flow. The chemical conditions of the battery are restored, and the cells are ready to be discharged again. Primary batteries, on the other hand, are meant to be discharged to exhaustion once, and then discarded.
An example of a rechargeable battery is a metallic oxide-hydrogen storage battery. The positive electrode of this battery includes a metal oxide, such as nickel hydroxide; the negative electrode includes a hydrogen storage alloy; and the electrolyte includes an alkaline solution.
An example of an electrode reaction in a nickel hydroxide-hydrogen storage battery is as follows.
Positive electrode: ##STR1##
The positive electrode may be sintered or non-sintered. A sintered positive electrode may be formed by coating an electrochemically conductive substrate, such as punched steel plate, with a slurry containing nickel powder; the substrate is then sintered to obtain a porous sintered substrate. The pores of the substrate are filled with an active mass (e.g., nickel hydroxide) using a solution infiltration method, in which the substrate is infiltrated with a nickel salt solution, then treated with an alkaline reagent. Non-sintered electrodes may be prepared by directly coating a porous substrate with a paste containing the active mass, thereby filling the pores of the substrate.
Since nickel hydroxide (Ni(OH).sub.2) is not a conductive material, a conductive path must be formed to charge all of the Ni(OH).sub.2 particles in the electrode. One way to form a conductive path is to add a cobalt compound, such as cobalt oxide (CoO), to the Ni(OH).sub.2. During cell use, the CoO is converted to a more conductive form of cobalt, CoOOH. The CoOOH forms a conductive network, allowing the Ni(OH).sub.2 to be fully charged and discharged, as shown in Equation (1).

Electrochemical synthesis of cobalt oxyhydroxide


An electrical combination includes a battery pack and a power tool. The battery pack includes two battery pack connectors which are connected with the same electrode of a battery of the battery pack. A circuit of one battery pack connector has a resistance greater than that in another circuit of another battery pack connector. The power tool includes corresponding tool connectors. When the battery pack is connected with the power tool, the power tool is supplied with a small current by the battery pack firstly, and then is supplied with a large current, so the electric spark is eliminated when the terminals of the battery pack contact with the terminals of the power tool.

A motor control system of power tools generally includes a large capacity capacitor. When a battery pack is connected with the power tool, the voltage at the capacitor is low, the battery pack charges the capacitor, and a large current is generated at the moment of charging. So electric spark may be generated at the connection pieces, which may corrode the connection pieces.
The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.


An electrical connector assembly includes an insulative housing (1) with a plurality of terminal passages (12), a plurality of contacts (2) received in the corresponding terminal passages, and a shell (5) enclosing the insulative housing. The shell has a top shell (51) and a bottom shell (52) assembled with each other, the bottom shell comprises a frame-shaped base portion (520) and an extension portion (523) extending backwards and bent downwards from the base portion. The base portion defines a top wall (5201), a bottom wall (5202) and a pair of side walls (5203) connecting with the top wall and the bottom wall, the extension portion has a bottom surface lower than the bottom wall of the base portion and a pair of side portions bent upwards from lateral edges of the bottom surface, the side walls of the base portion and the side portions of the extension portion have a locking mechanism engaging the base portion with the extension portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an electrical connector assembly, and more particularly to an electrical connector assembly used for high definition signal transmission.
2. Description of Related Art
Developed by Sony, Hitachi, Thomson (RCA), Philips, Matsushita (Panasonic), Toshiba and Silicon Image, the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) has emerged as the connection standard for HDTV and the consumer electronics market. HDMI is the first digital interface to combine uncompressed high-definition video, multi-channel audio and intelligent format and command data in a single digital interface.
An electrical connector in accordance with HDMI standard comprises an insulative housing, a number of contacts received in the insulative housing, and a metallic shell shielding the insulative housing. U.S. Pub. No. 2005/0255752A1 published to Huang on Nov. 17, 2005 discloses an electrical connector compatible with HDMI transmitting protocol, the electrical connector has a shielding member with a pair of retaining arms extending rearwards from lateral sides and a rear shell with a pair of locking portions bent inwards, and each retaining arm defines a cutout therein, the locking portions are inserted into the corresponding cutouts to make the shielding member be assembled with the rear shell. However, the linking area therebetween maybe unstable and the assembling process thereof is complicated. Chinese patent No. 2930006Y published on Aug. 1, 2007 discloses another electrical connector, the electrical connector has a shielding member extending rearwards to form a bottom shell, a bottom wall of the shielding member extends rearwards to form a supporting portion of the bottom shell, and the supporting portion defines a pair of side walls bent downwards and separate from the front segment of the shielding member, but the shielding member is shaky easily, so the assembling member may be disengaged from each other.
Correspondingly, it is desired to have an electrical connector assembly with improved shell to address the problems stated above.

Electrical connector assembly with an improved shell


Massage pressure devices are fitted onto a chair which has a rocking back, either conventional rocking chair or an office chair with pivoted an spring-loaded back, so that massage is applied to the back of a person seated in and rocking the chair. The massage pressure devices are rollers or pads which are mounted so that the amount of massage pressure and the position of the massage pressure are adjustable in accordance with the user""s desires. The massage pressure drive mechanism includes a reference to the base so that the massage pressure devices are driven up and down the chair back as the chair back rocks back and forth. In a conventional rocking chair, the truck carrying the massage pressure rollers is adjustable in both pressure of the devices against the back and the position thereof. In an office-style chair, the position of the pressure devices and the force of the massage pressure devices against the chair back are controlled by adjusting the position of the mounting tube and the spring extension.

This invention is directed to a chair having a flexible back support with massage rollers pressing forward to flex the back support. A drive linkage drives the rollers up and down the back support as the back is rocked.
Most chairs support the principal weight of the person by posterior engagement on the seat of the chair. However, a back support is necessary for long-term, comfortable sitting. Both the seat and the chair back are preferably configured to properly engage the person so that loading is most comfortable. Many office-type chairs have adjustments to achieve this end. Many chairs are configured so that at least the back rocks with respect to the floor. In the class known as xe2x80x9crocking chairs,xe2x80x9d the seat an back are fixed with respect to each other. They are supported on rockers which permit the chair structure to rock with respect to the floor. In other cases, particularly office chair the structure of the chair may be non-rocking with respect to the floor, but the back can rock back and forth with respect to the seat. Various levels of comfort are achieved by providing the rocking feature.
It would be desirable to utilize the rocking motion of the back to cause therapeutic motion of rollers working on the person""s body through the back of the chair.
In order to aid in the understanding of this invention, it can be stated in essentially summary form that it is directed to a chair with massage rollers. The chair is configured so that rollers make contact with the portions of an individual seated in the chair through the chair back. The rollers are connected to the non-rocking part of the chair, which is stationary so that the rollers move against a portion of the chair to thus cause manipulation of the muscles of the seated person.
It is, thus, a purpose and advantage of this invention to provide a chair with massage pressure devices such as rollers or pads which act through the chair onto the person seated in the chair as the person rocks in the chair.
It is another purpose and advantage of this invention to provide a massage roller structure which is useful in a conventional rocking chair or any kind of chair where the seat rocks with the back as well as with a chair where the back is pivoted with respect to the seat, with the massage rollers moved by the relative motion of the back to cause massage activity.
It is another purpose and advantage of this invention to provide massage rollers or pads and mounting therefor which can be attached an already existing chair to add the feature of massage thereto.
It is a further purpose and advantage of this invention to provide a chair with massage rollers wherein the height and/or the force of the massage rollers against the chair can be adjusted.
It is a further purpose and advantage of this invention to provide massage rollers, in association with a chair with a rocking back, of such adjustable nature as to permit adjustment of the roller position and/or the roller pressure.
It is a further purpose and advantage of this invention to supplement or replace the spring or bias mechanism which is used in many office chairs to allow the back to return after flexing backward under a load and utilize that motion to drive a massage mechanism.
It is another purpose and advantage of this invention to provide massage rollers which can be attached to a suitable chair with rocking back so as to convert the chair into one having massage rollers actuated by rocking of the chair back.
Other purposes and advantages of this invention will become apparent from a study of the following portion of the specification, the claims and the attached drawings.

Seating products with self powered dynamic massage units


The invention relates to immobilization methods, in particular for immobilizing indicator molecules on supports such as sensors and to sensors having those molecules immobilized to their surface. Non-covalent immobilization of macromolecular indicator molecules on those supports via mechanical interlacing with polymers at the surface of a support and via ionic bonding via charged moieties of indicator molecules and ionic groups on the surface of the support are disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to immobilization methods and, in particular, for immobilizing indicator molecules on supports such as optical sensors, and to sensors having those indicator molecules immobilized on their surfaces.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,417 describes a fluorescent-based sensing device comprising indicator molecules and a photosensitive element, e.g., a photodetector. Broadly speaking, in the context of the field of the invention, indicator molecules are molecules where one or more optical characteristics of which is or are affected by the local presence of an analyte. Indicator molecules have been used to measure a wide array of analytes, such as glucose, oxygen, toxins, pharmaceuticals or other drugs, hormones, and other metabolic analytes. These indicator molecules are often classified based on the chemical principal on which their activity is based. For example, the activity of many indicators, such as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,344,360, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, are based on the principle of luminescence, in particular fluorescence. U.S. Pat. No. 6,344,360 describes a fluorescent indicator molecule containing a fluorescent lanthanide metal chelate complex whose fluorescence emission intensity is increased by the presence of certain sugars. Other categories of indicator molecules include calorimetric indicator molecules which change their color in the presence of an analyte and indicator molecules which change absorbency at a particular wavelength.
Indicator molecules vary widely in their chemical compositions and properties. For example, indicator molecules may be monomeric or polymeric and/or hydrophilic or hydrophobic.
Indicator molecules have been immobilized on supports, such as sensor surfaces, by attaching the indicator molecule at the surface of the support. Immobilizing indicator molecules on inert polymeric substrates poses a particular challenge, since those substrates have to be modified to create or chosen to provide attachment points for the indicator molecules.
Molecules can be immobilized on a substrate in different ways. Immobilization is often based on covalent links between the substrate and the immobilized molecule. To facilitate immobilization, inert substrates are generally avoided, as those require pretreatments, e.g., with U.V. or with harsh acids such as nitric acid to achieve oxidation of the substrate to create reactive sites. These pretreatments are generally associated with undesirables, such as instability of the immobilization product or the handling of harsh acids. Thus, more readily modifiable supports, such as polyacrylamide supports, are generally chosen to attach molecules of interest. A polyacrylamide support can, for example, be readily modified, for example, by attaching through reactive amine groups, which enables attachment of a wide variety of molecules, including haptenes, peptides, carbohydrates and oligonucleotides.
The immobilization of molecules, such as indicator molecules, on optical sensors poses some unique challenges. For example, it is important that the immobilization method does not interfere with the function of the optical sensor. Also, certain immobilization methods might result in the discoloration of a support and thus, interfere with its function as optical waveguide. Known immobilization methods can also change the optical properties of the surface by, e.g., causing bubbling or rippling of the surface, thus disrupting the optical path of a sensor or adversely affect material properties. Thus, there is a continuing need for improvements in the way indicator molecules are immobilized on an immobilization substrate. This need is particularly conspicuous in the context of immobilizing indicator molecules on sensor bodies, in particular on optical sensor bodies, used as long term implants.

Non-covalent immobilization of indicator molecules


This invention is directed to a process of preparing alkyl N-alkylanthranilate, specially Methyl N-methylanthranilate, represented by Formula (I), in a one pot synthesis, using available and cheap commercial chemicals such as Isatoic anhydride, solid sodium hydroxide, dimethyl sulfate and methanol. Purity of the crude product is about 97% and yield 85%.

Methyl N-methylanthranilate (DMA) is a valuable compound used in the flavouring and fragrance industry and is also reported to be a bird repellent described in patent U.S. Pat. No. 2,967,128.
Several methods are known for the preparation of DMA.
A classical route is N-methylation of methyl anthranilate with a methylating agent as dimethyl sulfate or methyl iodide, cited in patent DE 3936229. To avoid dimethylation, reductive methylation with formaldehyde and hydrogen has been described in patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,633,009. Reaction scheme 1.

To prepare methyl anthranilate, 2H-3,1-benzoxazine-2,4(1H)-dione (isatoic anhydride) is reacted under alkaline conditions
with methanol as disclosed in patent IN 146359. Reaction scheme 2.

As disclosed by Staiger, J. Org. Chem. (1959), 24, 1214-19, N-methylisatoic anhydride reacts with methanol under alkaline conditions to produce Methyl N-methylanthranilate.
Hardtmann, J. Heterocycl. Chem. (1975), 12 (3), 565-72 prepares N-substituted isatoic anhydride by reacting the N-sodium salt of isatoic anhydride, prepared from sodium hydride, with alkyl halides. The N-benzyl derivative of isatoic anhydride is prepared using potassium carbonate and benzyl chloride.

Process for the preparation of alkyl n-alkylanthranilate


A method and an apparatus are disclosed for managing multiple software component versions. The method and apparatus detect a version change to one software component on a network. Then, the method and apparatus automatically identify other software components that both need to be changed to remain compatible with the changed software component and also depend on the changed software component.

The methods described in this section could be practiced, but have not necessarily been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the methods described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Computer networks that use routers, switches and other network elements are commonly managed using network management software systems. Examples of network management systems include Resource Management Essentials from Cisco Systems, Inc., San Jose, Calif., HP OpenView from Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, Calif., and others. Such network management systems are commonly used to manage multiple devices with various software components.
One of the shortcomings of these network management software systems is the use of mediation layers to handle multiple types of devices. These layers are responsible for converting data from different types of devices to a common format that can be consumed by the network management systems. As the network management systems manage increasing number of types of devices, the designs of such layers become more complex because of the need to accommodate more conversions. As a result, the operations of the network management systems become less efficient and less stable.
Another shortcoming of these network management software systems is the lack of automatic tracking and managing capabilities for multiple software component versions. Specifically, if a change in a software component version is detected, many such systems require a user of the systems to manually identify other software components that may be affected by the change, discard the outdated versions of the affected components, and download and install appropriate versions of software. In addition, the user often needs to manually shut down and restart the network management software systems for the newly installed software to take effect.
Based on the foregoing, there is a clear need for improved network management methods or systems that overcome the stated drawbacks of the current systems. There is a need to flexibly and effectively manage multiple types of devices and various software component versions.

Dynamic handling of multiple software component versions for device management


A method for fabricating a back-illuminated semiconductor imaging device on a semiconductor-on-insulator substrate, and resulting imaging device is disclosed. The device includes an insulator layer; a semiconductor substrate, having an interface with the insulator layer; an epitaxial layer grown on the semiconductor substrate by epitaxial growth; and one or more imaging components in the epitaxial layer in proximity to a face of the epitaxial layer, the face being opposite the interface of the semiconductor substrate and the insulator layer, the imaging components comprising junctions within the epitaxial layer; wherein the semiconductor substrate and the epitaxial layer exhibit a net doping concentration having a maximum value at a predetermined distance from the interface of the insulating layer and the semiconductor substrate and which decreases monotonically on both sides of the profile from the maximum value within a portion of the semiconductor substrate and the epitaxial layer. The doping profile between the interface with the insulation layer and the peak of the doping profile functions as a “dead band” to prevent dark current carriers from penetrating to the front side of the device.

Thinned, back illuminated, semiconductor imaging devices are advantageous over front-illuminated imagers for high fill factor and better overall efficiency of charge carrier generation and collection. A desire for such devices is that the charge carriers generated by light or other emanation incident on the backside should be driven to the front side quickly to avoid any horizontal drift, which may smear the image. It is also desirable to minimize the recombination of the generated carriers before they reach the front side, since such recombination reduces overall efficiency and sensitivity of the device.
These desires may be achieved by providing a thin semiconductor layer and a high electric field within this layer. The field should extend to the back surface, so that the generated carriers, such as electrons or holes, can be driven quickly to the front side. This requires additional treatment at the backside of the device, which adds to complexity of the fabrication process. One current technique includes chemical thinning of semiconductor wafers and deposition of a "flash gate" at the backside after thinning. This requires critical thickness control of the backside flash gate. Another technique involves growth of a thin dopant layer on a wafer back using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Still another known method used to provide a desired electric field is to create a gradient of doping inside the thinned semiconductor layer by backside implant of the layer followed by appropriate heat treatment for annealing and activation.
These methods can not be easily included in conventional semiconductor foundry processing, and require more expensive custom processing. They are therefore often not cost-effective and not suitable for commercial manufacturing.
Back-illuminated imaging devices may be designed to operate at wavelengths ranging from less than 100 nanometers (deep ultraviolet) to more than 3000 nanometers (far infrared). An important factor that affects the sensitivity of back illuminated imagers is the absorption depth of radiation in the semiconductor bulk. In general, the radiation will be absorbed within a region close to the back surface of the device. For maximum device efficiency, all charge carriers generated in this region must reach optical detection components situated on the opposing front side of the device. A general method that is employed to increase the sensitivity of a thinned back-illuminated imager is to implant p-type or n-type dopant at the backside and, with later heat treatments, create a dopant concentration profile which decreases in the direction toward the front side of the thin substrate. In the case of p-type doping, such doping concentration gradient gives rise to an electric field tending to drive light-generated electrons toward the front side. In the case of n-type doping, such doping concentration gradient gives rise to an electric field tending to drive light-generated holes toward the front side.
Another problem encountered with the design and operation of back-illuminated imagers is the presence of dark current. Dark current is the generation of carriers (electrons or holes), exhibited by a back-illuminated imager during periods when the imager is not actively being exposed to light. Dark current is detrimental to back-illuminated imager operation because excess dark current signal collected along with a desired optically generated signal results in higher levels of fixed pattern and excess random shot noise. The offset signal produced by dark current is seen as a non-uniform shading in a displayed image. Assuming that an imager employs signal electrons, the excess dark current noise is proportional to the square root of the number of dark current electrons in a pixel. Since dark current noise is uncorrelated with other imager noise sources, the noise due to dark current adds to the overall noise from other sources in quadrature. Dark current noise increases with increased temperature.
Accordingly, what would be desirable, but has not yet been provided, is a device and method for effectively reducing the amount of dark current reaching front imaging components in back-illuminated imaging devices.

Dark current reduction in back-illuminated imaging sensors and method of fabricating same


The invention concerns a vane cell machine with a stator and a rotor having radially displaceable vanes arranged in guides, said vanes bearing on an inside of the stator and bordering, together with the rotor, the stator and a side wall, work chambers at each axial end of the rotor. It is endeavored to provide a vane cell machine that has a good internal tightness, in which the wear is still kept small. For this purpose, in a radially internal area the side wall comprises an insert that is axially movable in the side wall and has a pressure application surface axially inside and axially outside.

Such a vane cell machine is, for example, used as amplification pump before or after a pressure converter in a circuit of a reverse osmosis system. In a reverse osmosis system, water, for example saltwater, is pumped through a membrane and purified or desalinated water is then available on the outlet side of the membrane.
As, in such a machine, the rotor rotates in relation to the stator and a high pressure rules in the work chambers at least once during each rotation, it must be ensured that the vane cell machine is tight towards the inside and towards the outside. An internal leakage would reduce the efficiency. An external leakage is undesirable anyway.
Therefore, the rotor and the side wall must therefore bear on one another with a certain force, in order to keep internal leakages as small as possible. However, this force is not allowed to be too large, as the friction between the side wall and the rotor would thus cause a too large wear.

Vane cell machine having plates containing axial moving inserts bearing against the rotor


A rotary pump includes: a housing featuring a housing inlet and a low-pressure space on a low-pressure side of the pump and featuring a housing outlet and a high-pressure space on a high-pressure side of the pump; a delivery chamber; a delivery rotor in the delivery chamber; a setting structure which can be moved in a first setting direction and, counter to the first setting direction, in a second setting direction in order to perform a setting movement which adjusts the specific delivery volume of the rotary pump; and at least a first setting chamber for charging the setting structure with a setting pressure which acts in the second setting direction, wherein the fluid pressure in the high-pressure space acts on a pressure equalization surface on the outer circumference of the setting structure resulting in an external additional force which acts on the setting structure in the first setting direction.

Rotary pumps such as the invention relates to in particular have a so-called setting structure for adjusting the specific delivery volume. In vane cell pumps in particular, this setting structure is formed by a setting ring which surrounds the delivery chamber of the vane cell pump and whose inner contour delineates the individual delivery cells radially outwards. Adjusting the setting structure increases or decreases the specific delivery volume, i.e. the delivery volume per revolution of a pump rotor, depending on the setting direction. Rotary pumps, in particular vane cell pumps, are for example known from the prior art in which a restoring element, in particular a restoring spring, acts on the setting structure in the direction of the maximum specific delivery volume. The setting structure is adjusted by charging one or more setting chambers with the pressure of a setting fluid, wherein the setting chamber or chambers is/are arranged along the setting structure in such a way that the setting fluid acting on the setting structure generates a force in the opposite direction to the force of the restoring element. The setting fluid required for adjusting is expediently diverted, on the high-pressure side of the pump, from the fluid to be delivered.
The forces acting on the setting structure, in particular the external forces such as the restoring force of the restoring element and the setting force generated in the setting chamber, and optionally setting forces generated in one or more other setting chambers, are in equilibrium depending on the operating state of the rotary pump. By changing the force equilibrium, it is possible to change the specific delivery volume of the pump by adjusting the setting structure. In rotary pumps of this type, the setting force or forces must overcome the restoring force of the restoring element in order to govern the pump, i.e. reduce the specific delivery volume. This means that the setting chamber or chambers and the restoring element are mutually adjusted such that the setting forces generated by means of the setting chamber or chambers must overcome the restoring force of the restoring element in order to govern, for example as a function of the rotational speed of the pump.
In addition to the external forces described above, internal forces also act on the setting structure. These internal forces are generated by the fluid pressure of the fluid situated in the delivery chambers, which acts on the inner contour of the setting structure. Internal force components which are directed radially outwards act on the inner contour of the setting structure in a distribution over the circumference. Adding up the individual internal force components gives a resultant internal force directed radially outwards. Depending on the effective direction of the resultant internal force, this can lead to unintentional regulating characteristics in the pump. Depending on the effective direction of the internal force, the pump can for example govern prematurely and unintentionally, or the setting pressure required for governing is increased by the magnitude of the internal force, leading to delayed governing of the pump.

Rotary pump having an adjustable specific delivery volume and a pressure equalization surface