A method for removing ferric-ferrous oxides from a liquid containing ferric-ferrous oxides and ferrous ions and to a method for determining the amount of ferrous ion in a liquid. The invention has particular utility for use in a method to accurately determine the corrosion rates of ferrometals in contact with aqueous liquids by filtering ferric-ferrous oxides from the aqueous liquid prior to determining the ferrous ion content of the aqueous liquid.

Corrosion is generally a problem in any system in which ferrous metals are in contact with aqueous solutions. Corrosion is the electrochemical reaction of metal with its environment. Corrosion is a destructive reaction which, simply stated, is the reversion of refined metals to their natural state. For example, iron ore is iron oxide. Iron oxide is refined into steel. When the steel corrodes, it forms iron oxide.
The metallurgy of boiler systems are predominantly iron-containing steel in contact with high temperature (approximately 200.degree. F., under 35-350 psig of pressure) aqueous solutions. Most industrial boiler and feedwater systems are constructed of carbon steel and sometimes with copper alloy and/or stainless steel feedwater heaters and condensers. Some have stainless steel super-heater elements.
Corrosion is one of the main causes of reduced reliability in boiler systems. The most common causes of corrosion are dissolved gases such as carbon dioxide and oxygen, under-deposit attack, low pH and attack of areas weakened by mechanical stress resulting in stress and fatigue cracking. Corrosion control in boilers varies with the type of corrosion encountered. Generally, corrosion in boilers may be controlled through procedures such as maintaining proper pH and alkalinity levels, reducing mechanical stresses, operating within design temperature and pressure specifications, by proper application of chemical corrosion inhibiting treatments and by controlling oxygen and boiler feedwater contamination. Generally boiler feedwater should be low in contaminants. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Consensus for Industrial Boilers specifies maximum levels of contaminants for corrosion and deposition control in boiler systems. The consensus is that feedwater oxygen, iron and copper content should be less than 7 parts per billion (ppb) oxygen, 20 ppb iron and 15 ppb copper for a 900 psig boiler and that pH should be maintained between 8.5 and 9.5 for boiler system corrosion protection.
It is commonly held that in boiler systems substantially free of oxygen (i.e., less than about 7 ppb oxygen) that ferrometal corrosion can be expressed in terms of the following equation: EQU Fe+2H.sub.2 O.fwdarw.Fe(OH).sub.2 +H.sub.2.
Therefore, Fe.sup.+2 (ferrous ion) is a useful material to determine the corrosion rate of ferrometals in substantially oxygen free systems such as boilers. However, in the presence of oxygen the following reaction occurs: EQU 3Fe(OH.sub.2).fwdarw.Fe.sub.3 O.sub.4 +H.sub.2 +2H.sub.2 O
Magnetite (Fe.sub.3 O.sub.4) is a complex of the hydroxides of iron (III) and iron (II) which can be expressed by the formula: EQU Fe.sup.3+ !.sup.IV Fe.sup.2+ Fe.sup.3+ !.sup.IV O.sub.4.
Other ferric-ferrous oxide species also exist, however, under the conditions present in most boiler water, magnetite is the most common species. As used herein the term "ferric-ferrous oxide" means magnetite as well as other ferric-ferrous oxide species such as maghemite (.gamma.Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3) and feroxyhyte (.delta.FeOOH) which are ferrimagnetic. Ferric-ferrous oxides are often introduced into a boiler system by boiler feedwater. Ferric-ferrous oxides can also be produced within the boiler through reaction of ferrous ions with trace free oxygen and via electrochemical reactions.
Ferrion chelation chemicals are compounds which form complex undissociated cations with divalent metal ions. Such chelation chemicals include 1,10-phenanthrolinre; 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline; 2,2.sub.1 bipyridine; 2,6-bis(2-pyridyl)-pyridine; 2,4,6-(bis(2-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine; phenyl 2-pyridyl ketoxime; 3-(2-pyridyl)-5,6-bis(4-phenylsulfonic acid)-1,2,4-nitrilotriacetic acid and salts thereof. Certain of these ferrion chelation chemicals react with ferrous ions to form colored species (ferroin reagents) which are useful in the coloromertric determination of ferrous ion concentration. It is generally believed that ferroin reagents do not change color when the reagent complexes with ferric (Fe.sup.+3) ions in water. However, some research suggests that oxides, such as magnetite, may be captured by the ferroin reagents and thus bias ferrous ion content determinations (see Matijevic, E. Han-Chyen, Chang, Interactions of Metal Hydrous Oxides with Chelating Agents: Part V Ferric-ferrous oxides-EDTA, J. Colloid Interface Sci., Fin. Chem. Lett. (1982); and Bohnsak, G. The Solubility of Ferric-ferrous oxides in Water and in Aqueous Solutions of Acid and Alkali (Essen: Vielkan-Verlag, 1987)).
Therefore, conventional techniques to measure ferrous ion content as an indicator of ferrous metal corrosion may inadvertently include some ferric-ferrous oxides concentration in the calculation of ferrous ion thereby yielding higher corrosion rate determinations then are actually occurring in the studied boiler system.
Thus a need exists for a method to remove ferric-ferrous oxides from a liquid containing ferric-ferrous oxides and ferrous ions.
A need also exists for a method to measure the ferrous ion concentration in boiler water without contamination of the rate determination results due to the presence of ferric-ferrous oxides in the boiler water.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a method for removing ferric-ferrous oxides from a liquid containing ferric-ferrous oxides and ferrous ions.
It is also an object of this invention to provide an accurate method to determine the corrosion rate of ferrous metals exposed to a boiler water in a boiler system which contains ferrous ions, ferric ions and/or ferric-ferrous oxides.

Method for removing ferric-ferrous oxides from a liquid


A dialysis apparatus is provided including a multiwell plate, a separations membrane and a template having holes which mate with the wells. The membrane is sealed to one end of the wells by positioning the template about the outer peripheral surfaces of the wells with the membrane being frictionally held therebetween.

This invention relates to laboratory apparatus useful in the assay of biological and biochemical reactants and is particularly concerned with multiwell apparatus capable of performing a separation process such as ultrafiltration, dialysis or reverse osmosis on a sample.
Ultrafiltration, dialysis and reverse osmosis processes all utilize a membrane to effect separation of component pars of a sample. In dialysis, for example, a sample is processed or purified by placing the sample against one surface of a semipermeable membrane and a pure solvent or solvent/solute dialysate mixture against the opposing surface of the membrane. The molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of the membrane is selected to retain the sample, yet allow solutes having a smaller molecular size to pass through the membrane. The small molecular size solutes then diffuse throughout the membrane, driven by the concentration gradient of the small molecular size solute across the membrane. Separation of solutes in the sample is achieved by this mechanism.
In practice, a considerable part of the difficulty in performing dialysis lies in isolating the surface in contact with the sample from the opposing surface of the membrane. Cellulose acetate and regenerated cellulose dialysis membranes are notoriously difficult to seal thermally or with adhesives. It is present common practice to tie knots in tubings formed of these polymeric compositions or to utilize pinch clips in order to contain the sample.
Others clamp a flat membrane sheet between rigid plates, each containing individual receptacles. Samples are placed in the receptacles of the top plate and dialysate is circulated past the bottom plate. O-rings are utilized to seal receptacles in the top plate from one another. When utilizing this apparatus, it is difficult to attain uniform and effective pressure at the individual O-rings since pressure is not directly exerted on the individual O-rings. This lack of effective pressure application can cause undesirable across-talk between the sample receptacles. Also, since the bottom plate must press the membrane against the entire perimeter of each O-ring, the bottom receptacles form pockets dead-ended against the membrane. Air often is trapped in these pockets and prevents solvent from contacting the membrane. Even when solvent fills each pocket, dialysis is impeded because the dialysate in the pockets does not mix well with the bulk solvent.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus for simultaneously dialyzing a plurality of samples while avoiding contamination between samples. In addition, it would be desirable to provide such an apparatus which assures direct contact of a separations membrane with a liquid such as a dialysate.


A method for transmitting a message from a mobile terminal includes determining whether a specific event that occurs during the transmission may be disregarded. The specific event may be an event such as a closing/opening of a folder, a flip, or a sliding cover of the mobile terminal or a receipt of a call from another party. Normally, the specific event causes the mobile terminal to terminate the transmission of the message. However, the user may specify that the specific event may be disregarded, and the transmission may continue without disruption. As an example, an event disregard mode may be set via a menu for one or more specific events to indicate that the specific events may be disregarded. Thus, user's convenience is enhanced and a fast communication service is provided to users.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a message transmission from/to a mobile terminal and, more particularly, to method and apparatus for transmitting a message from/to mobile terminals.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the rapid development in communication technologies, in addition to voice related services, a mobile terminal can provide various supplementary services including a message transmission service, a wireless Internet, games and/or a bell or ringer sound downloading. Among the supplementary services, the message transmission service has been developed and is being provided by mobile communication service provider. The message transmission service includes a SMS (short message service) for transmitting text data within 80 bytes for example. The service also includes a MMS (Multimedia Message Service: multimedia) for transmitting music, images, movies, etc. The message being transmitted and received may be a combination of SMS and MMS.
A user can create a message to be transmitted by using certain keys provided on the mobile terminal and then may transmit the message to another party.
However, in a conventional method, when a specific event occurs such as a user closing a folder (flip or a sliding cover) of the mobile terminal while the message is being transmitted, the message transmission is automatically terminated. For example, after the user initiates transmission of a SMS message and closes the folder of the mobile terminal before transmission of the SMS message is completed, the SMS message transmission is terminated, i.e. disrupted prior to completion.
Thus, in the conventional method, after the user initiates transmission of the message, he/she must wait for the corresponding message to be completely transmitted before closing the folder of the terminal. If the folder is inadvertently closed while the message is being transmitted, the user must recreate the message. This problem is more serious in case of the MMS. For example, the MMS typically includes more data than the SMS. Hence, the flip must be maintained open for a longer time to complete transmission of the MMS.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for transmitting message of mobile terminal


Provided is a liquid-crystalline polyester with good properties obtainable by subjecting a prepolymer consisting of the repeating units represented by formulae (I), (II), (III) and (IV):

1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates to a wholly aromatic liquid crystalline polyester and a method for preparing the same. In particular, the present invention relates to liquid-crystalline polyester which exhibits high heat stability, excellent moldability and flowability as well as excellent mechanical properties.
2. Related Art
Thermotropic liquid-crystalline polyester (which is called as "liquid-crystalline polyester" or "LCP" hereinafter) has good properties including heat resistance, mechanical properties such as rigidity, chemical resistance and dimensional accuracy and is used not only for molded articles but also for a variety of products such as fibers and films. Particularly, personal computers and mobile phones employ highly integrated devices and the art wishes to use downsized, thinner and smaller parts for them. In the information and telecommunication fields, very thin parts, as thin as 0.5 mm or less of the thickness, are sometimes required. Based on the excellent molding properties of LCPs including good flowability and less flash development compared to the other thermoplastic resins, consumption of LCPs has been increasing.
Recently, LCPs are employed for a variety of uses wherein the resins are processed at a high-temperature such as solder-welding and infrared reflow-welding. However, the LCPs produced by polymerization method, such as slurry polymerization or molten acidlysis, do not exhibit sufficient heat resistance.
In order to obtain a LCP with an excellent heat resistance, methods using solid phase polymerization step have been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,582,625, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 2000-248056 and Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. Hei. 11-246654 (the cited references are herein incorporated by reference) disclose methods for producing LCPs, which comprise the steps of preparing powdery or pellet-formed prepolymer with a low polymerization degree and heating said prepolymer in solid phase to give polymers with high polymerization degree. In general, thus obtained LCPs have high melting point besides the high heat resistance and therefore, need to be processed with relatively high temperatures.
Japanese Patent Examined Publication No. H03-55489 proposed LCP obtained by copolymerizing 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid and hydroquinone with a small amount of 6-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid. According to the patent, thus obtained LCP will exhibit good mechanical and thermal properties and provide good moldability.
However, what the Japanese Patent Examined Publication No. H03-55489 disclosed is the LCP obtained by melt polymerization of the monomers and is silent about LCPs which is subjected to heat treatment in a substantially solid state.

Wholly aromatic liquid-crystalline polyester and method for preparing the same

Kabushiki Kaisha Ueno Seiyaku Oyo Kenkyujo


A reverse electrodialysis device using a precipitation reaction, according to one embodiment of the present invention, comprises a first cell stack alternately forming solid salt chambers and precipitation chambers through cation-exchange membranes and anion-exchange membranes which are alternately provided, and a first water-soluble solid salt and a second water-soluble solid salt which are filled in the solid salt chambers, wherein the first water-soluble solid salt and the second water-soluble solid salt are alternately filled in the solid salt chambers, and can react with each other so as to generate a precipitate in neighboring precipitation chambers when water is supplied.

A reverse electrodialysis device (RED) is a device to produce electrical energy, which uses the principle of electrodialysis reversed, including the removal of ions in a solution by electricity. Specifically, such a reverse electrodialysis device includes a cell stack in which cation-exchange membranes and anion-exchange membranes are alternately disposed. As low-salinity water and high-salinity water alternately enter the cell stack, a flow of ions is created to produce electrical energy.
A difference between concentrations of the high-salinity water and the low-salinity water should be maintained to continuously obtain electrical energy from such a reverse electrodialysis device. Accordingly, a pump is required to continuously supply the high-salinity water and the low-salinity water, which causes difficulties in miniaturizing such a device.
In addition, a conventional drug injection device using a reverse electrodialysis device cannot deliver a drug for a long period of time because a voltage decreases rapidly, depending on time.
As a technology related to a reverse electrodialysis device, for example, a solid salt reverse electrodialysis device is disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2017-0036832 published on Apr. 3, 2017.

Reverse electrodialysis device using precipitation reaction, and drug injection device using same

Seoul National University R&DB Foundation


A wiper blade assembly has an elongate carrier strip for supporting on a windshield wiper arm, a pair of spaced, flexible wiper blades depending parallel to one another from the carrier strip with a gap between the blades, and a cleaning member supported in the gap between the blades, the cleaning member having a base portion and a plurality of conical cleaning tips depending from the base portion. The cleaning tips are shorter than the wiper blades so that they do not contact a windshield surface until the wiper blades are deformed in a wiping action, and are more rigid than the blades.

The present invention relates generally to windshield wipers for cleaning and removing moisture from the curved windshields or windows of vehicles or the like, and is particularly concerned with a wiper blade assembly for fitting onto conventional windshield wiper arms.
Conventional windshield wipers have a single flexible blade, which is not always effective in removing all deposits and debris collected on a windshield. Various proposals have been made to provide a wiper arrangement of two wiper blades with a brush arrangement between the blades. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,939,524 and 4,339,839 of Knights both describe wiper arrangements in which one or more brushes is mounted between a pair of wiper blades so as to remove more dirt and debris from the windshield. The brushes have conventional bristles mounted in a spine. However, such bristles will scratch the window surface over time.

Windshield wiper blade assembly including conical cleaning tips


An improved interferometric modulator permits the reduction in size of optical transmitters. In one embodiment, the optical modulator includes amplifiers or attentuators as phase modulators. In another embodiment, two outputs from a combiner are fed to the modulator, thus avoiding the requirement for an input splitter in the modulator. Light passing through the modulator may be both phase-shifted and amplified or attenuated by optical regulator sections located in the modulator. In another embodiment, the transmitter is included as a multiple-wavelength optical communications source, where individual current sources are provided to actuate a number of light sources feeding into the combiner, a processor controls the operation of each light source, and a modulator driver receives a data input signal to be encoded on the output of the source. By combining a number of modulators, a gray scale modulator may be fabricated for producing a gray scale output, rather than a conventional binary level output.

The present invention is directed generally to optical communications, and particularly to a modulated optical transmitter.
Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) is gaining widespread use in optical communications because, unlike conventional communications systems where a higher transmission capacity usually requires faster components, the transmission capacity of a single optical fiber may be increased simply by making more effective use of the available bandwidth, without requiring the use of faster components. Also, WDM permits signals at different wavelengths to be routed to different destinations.
WDM transmitters commonly use a number of independently controllable, fixed single frequency sources whose outputs are combined into a single transmitter output. WDM transmitters typically fall into two categories, namely those in which all optical channels are capable of being modulated simultaneously and independently, and those where a single modulator is used to modulate the output of one or more lasers. Transmitters in the latter category are described as being wavelength selectable. Wavelength selectable WDM transmitters advantageously require only a single RF modulator connection, pose less stringent requirements on the quality of the optical output from the light sources, and may be used with conventional packaging. Consequently, the wavelength selectable transmitter is one of the more commonly used optical communications sources.
An example of a wavelength selectable transmitter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,489, issued to an inventor of the present application. In an embodiment of the disclosed invention, the output from an array of individually actuable semiconductor lasers is combined in a combiner integrated on the same substrate as the lasers. An amplifier amplifies the single output taken from the combiner, and the amplified output is subsequently modulated in a modulator.
Interferometric modulators, such as the Mach-Zehnder modulator, demonstrate several favorable characteristics such as low or zero chirp, high power handling capabilities and low insertion loss. However, interferometric modulators conventionally suffer from the disadvantage of taking up a significant amount of space. This problem is compounded when an amplifier is added to the transmitter. Other types of modulator, for example the electro-absorption filter, take up less space, although they do not offer the same favorable chirp, power handling and insertion loss characteristics.
Factors such as component size and system complexity are important considerations in the development of optical communications systems. In addition, optical losses are generally reduced along with the number of components, i.e. when the system complexity is reduced. There is therefore a need to develop an improved WDM transmitter where the transmitter is smaller, the overall transmitter complexity is reduced, and where transmitter has fewer optical losses.
Generally, the present invention relates to a modulated optical transmitter. An embodiment of the invention is directed to an interferometric modulator that include an optical amplifier or an attenuator as a phase modulation element. The modulator may include combinations of phase shifters, amplifiers and attenuators in each arm for overall control of the output power and depth of modulation.
Other embodiments of the invention are directed to a wavelength division multiplexed optical transmitter that includes a number of individual light sources operating at independent frequencies. Outputs from each of the light sources are combined in an optical combiner. In one particular embodiment, the combiner has two output ports, each feeding into respective arms of an interferometric modulator. In another embodiment, the combiner has four output ports, feeding into two parallel modulators whose outputs are then combined to form a gray scale signal. In another embodiment, the combiner has one output port feeding into a modulator having an amplifier or attenuators disposed in at least one arm.
Advantages of transmitting the output from two combiner ports directly into respective arms of the interferometric modulator include increasing the amount of light entering the modulator and avoiding optical losses associated with an input y-branch of the modulator. The resultant increase in light transmitted by the modulator reduces the need for an amplifier integrated in the transmitter. The reduction in the number of transmitter components also reduces fabrication and system complexity, and reduces the overall size of the device.
Advantages of including amplifier or attenuator elements in the modulator include the ability to optimize the modulator""s on/off ratio, and the overall control of modulator output power.
The above summary of the present invention is not intended to describe each illustrated embodiment or every implementation of the present invention. The figures and the detailed description which follow more particularly exemplify these embodiments.

Optimized interferometrically modulated array source


Pixels including a photoelectric conversion element 1, a signal transfer TFT (thin film transistor) 2 electrically connected to the photoelectric conversion element, and a reset TFT 3 electrically connected to the photoelectric conversion element and for applying a bias to the photoelectric conversion element are two-dimensionally disposed on the insulating substrate, and the photoelectric conversion element 1, signal transfer TFT 2, and reset TFT 3 are electrically connected through a common contact hole 9. A source or drain electrode of the signal transfer TFT 2 and the source or drain electrode of the reset TFT 3 are formed from a common electroconductive layer.

In recent years, manufacturing technology of liquid crystal display panels using thin film transistors (TFT) has been advancing, and upsizing of the panel and the display unit screen is going on. This manufacturing technology is applied to a large-area sensor having a conversion element (photoelectric conversion element) including a semiconductor and a switching element such as the TFT. Such an area sensor (radiation imaging sensor panel) is combined with a scintillator that converts radiation into light, e.g., visible light, and is used in the field of radiation imaging apparatus such as a medical X-ray imaging apparatus.
Heretofore, an imaging method used by medical image diagnosis has been roughly classified into plain radiography for obtaining a still image and fluoroscopic radiography for obtaining a moving image. However, for the moment, the above-described radiation imaging apparatus begins to be used mainly for plain radiography. At the same time, the situation is such that the reading speed is not sufficient for fluoroscopic radiography.
Hence, in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2005/145800 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-218339), one pixel of the area sensor includes the conversion element, a transfer switch (transfer TFT and the like) for transferring a signal from the conversion element, and a reset switch (reset TFT) for resetting the conversion element. This configuration provides a radiation imaging apparatus having a faster reading speed.
In general, the structure of the pixel of the area sensor (radiation imaging sensor panel) is roughly classified into two types, a flat type, which has the conversion element and the switching element on the same flat surface, and a lamination type, which has the conversion element over the upper side of the switching element. The former can simplify the manufacturing process since the conversion element and the switching element can be formed by the same semiconductor manufacturing process. The latter type can form the area of the conversion element larger in one pixel as compared to the flat type since the conversion element is disposed over the switching element. Therefore, an aperture ratio of the pixel can be made large, so that the pixel becomes highly sensitive. For this reason, in Patent Document 1, the lamination type sensor is also described.
FIG. 11 is a plan view of the radiation imaging apparatus using a conventional lamination type structure. Although in fact a scintillator is disposed over the pixel of the radiation imaging apparatus, it is omitted from FIG. 11.
The conventional radiation imaging apparatus includes, within one pixel as shown in FIG. 11, a conversion element (photoelectric conversion element) 101, a transfer switch (transfer TFT) 102, and a reset switch (reset TFT) 103.
An under-electrode of the conversion element and a source or drain electrode of the transfer switch are connected through a contact hole. Similarly, the under-electrode of the conversion element and the source or drain electrode of the reset switch are also connected through a contact hole. Hence, a contact hole is provided for each switching element.

Imaging apparatus and radiation imaging apparatus


There is provided a polishing apparatus capable of detecting uneven wear occurring on a polishing pad and detecting an appropriate replacement timing of the polishing pad. The polishing apparatus detects, every predetermined time, a value of rotation speed or a value of rotation torque of a table drive shaft for rotationally driving a polishing table or a dresser drive shaft for driving a dresser, or a value of swing torque of a dresser swing shaft for driving the dresser; calculates a change quantity thereof based on the value of the detected rotation speed, the value of the detected rotation torque, or the value of the detected swing torque; determines whether or not the change quantity exceeds a predetermined value; and notifies a user of a warning when a determination is made that the change quantity exceeds the predetermined value.

In recent years, semiconductor devices have become smaller and smaller, and device structures have accordingly become more complicated. The process of planarizing the semiconductor wafer surface is assumed to be a very important process in fabrication of the semiconductor devices. A typical technique for use in the surface planarization is chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). In the chemical mechanical polishing, a polishing liquid containing abrasive particles such as silica (SiO2) is supplied to the polishing surface of a polishing pad, and a semiconductor wafer is in sliding contact with the polishing surface, to thereby polish the surface of the semiconductor wafer. The polishing pad may be replaced with a fixed abrasive pad made by bonding the abrasive particles by a binder.
The chemical mechanical polishing is performed using a CMP apparatus. A typical CMP apparatus includes a polishing table having a polishing pad attached to an upper polishing surface thereof, and a top ring for holding a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer, which is a workpiece to be polished. While the polishing table and the top ring are rotated about their respective own axes, the top ring presses the substrate against the polishing surface (upper surface) of the polishing pad at a predetermined pressure and a polishing liquid is supplied to the polishing surface, to thereby polish the substrate surface to a flat and mirror finish. A typical polishing liquid is an alkali solution having fine abrasive particles such as silica suspended therein. The substrate is polished by a combination of a chemical polishing action by the alkali and a mechanical polishing action by the abrasive particles.
When the substrate is polished, the abrasive particles and polishing debris adhere to the polishing surface of the polishing pad. As a result, characteristics of the polishing pad are changed and the polishing capability is lowered. For this reason, as the substrate polishing is repeated, the polishing rate is lowered and uneven polishing occurs. Thus, in order to condition the polishing surface of the deteriorated polishing pad, a dressing device is provided adjacent to the polishing table.
A typical dressing apparatus includes a rotatable dresser head and a dressing member secured to the dresser head. While the dresser head is rotated about its own axis, the dressing apparatus presses the dressing member against the polishing surface of the polishing pad on the rotating polishing table, to thereby remove the abrasive liquid and the cutting debris from the polishing surface and planarize and condition (dress) the polishing surface. A typical dressing member is a workpiece having diamond particles electrodeposited on a surface (dressing surface) in contact with the polishing surface.
Note that the polishing surface of the polishing pad is worn due to polishing of a specific number of substrates and due to the dressing as described above. Thus, when the wear of the polishing pad reaches a certain level, the polishing pad needs to be replaced. The substrate cannot be polished in a state in which the polishing pad is worn, and thus it is necessary to determine an appropriate replacement timing of the polishing pad.
In light of this, in order to detect wear of a polishing, namely, an appropriate replacement timing of the polishing pad, there is known a technique of estimating the service life of the polishing pad based on the rotation speed or the rotation torque of an electric motor for a pad conditioning assembly (see National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2007-529111).
In addition, there is known a technique of detecting rotation torque, sweep torque, and other torque of a conditioning disk for dressing, and then detecting wear of a polishing pad based on the detected values (see National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2011-530809).
However, the CMP device may encounter the need to replace the polishing pad when the entire surface of the polishing pad is worn and uneven wear occurs before the useful service life has elapsed. For example, when the polishing pad is attached to the polishing table of the CMP device, air (bubbles) may be mixed between the polishing table and the polishing pad, resulting in that a mixed air portion of the polishing pad slightly rises with respect to the polishing table. Note that although not limited thereto, some unevenness may occur on the surface of the polishing pad due to other causes. When chemical mechanical polishing is performed on the substrate or dressing is performed on the polishing pad in such a state, the contact pressure of the raised portion of the polishing pad is stronger than that of other portions, causing wear, that is, whereby uneven wear occurs. The chemical mechanical polishing performed on the substrate in the state in which uneven wear occurs on the polishing pad may reduce the planarization of the polished substrate and the polishing rate.
Furthermore, there is known a technique of detecting a frictional force or an impact force occurring between a pad dresser (dresser head) and a polishing pad of a dressing device when the polishing pad of the dressing device is dressed (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-022028).
Furthermore, there is known a technique for a polishing apparatus which calculates an amount of wear of a polishing pad from the height of the polishing pad and diagnoses the state of the polishing surface of the polishing pad based on the amount of wear of the polishing pad and torque or current of a polishing table rotating motor and torque or current of a top ring rotating motor (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2012-056029.
Still furthermore, there is known a technique for a dressing device which detects current flowing in a motor for rotating a polishing table having a polishing surface when the polishing surface is dressed, to thereby detect a friction load acting between the polishing surface and the dresser (dresser head) (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-272549).

Polishing apparatus and wear detection method


Disclosed are a vehicle equipped with an electric motor, which is capable of preventing damage to a mechanical axle-fixing device when a parking range is selected under a specific condition, and a parking control method therefore. The parking control method includes calculating output torque of the electric motor to stop the vehicle when a parking (P) range is selected in the situation in which a specific condition is satisfied, controlling the electric motor in response to the output torque, and activating a driving shaft fixing unit when the vehicle is stopped by the controlling.

Driving is one of the most important factors using vehicles. However, a parking process is no less important than driving in the operation of vehicles because driving generally ends with parking. Various devices are used for a parking process.
For example, a parking range (i.e., a P-range) of a transmission is used to keep a vehicle from moving from the location where the vehicle is parked. This will now be described with reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a view showing the operation principle of a P-range of a general transmission.
Referring to FIG. 1, in the P-range of the transmission, an insertion end 131 of a parking sprag 130 is engaged with a parking gear 120, which is fixedly engaged with the output end of the transmission or to a rotary shaft 110 of a final reduction device, and thus the rotary shaft 110 is mechanically fixed, whereby preventing movement of the vehicle. However, when a large load is applied to the rotary shaft 110, the insertion end 131 of the parking sprag 130 is likely to be damaged, and may be gradually worn to thereby lose its function due to cumulative use.
Recently, with the continued demand for improvement of fuel efficiency of vehicles and stringent regulations on emissions from vehicles in many countries, the demand for environmentally friendly vehicles has increased. As practical representatives thereof, hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs) have been developed.
HEVs, PHEVs and EVs are all equipped with electric motors. In the parking process thereof, creep torque control is applied to the electric motor in order to simulate the low-speed characteristics of a vehicle equipped with an internal combustion engine and an automatic transmission (A/T). Here, the creep torque is a torque that is transmitted to a driving shaft via a torque converter by the idle torque of an engine even when an accelerator pedal is not pressed in an internal combustion engine vehicle equipped with an automatic transmission, and the creep phenomenon is a phenomenon in which the vehicle travels slowly using the creep torque. When the creep phenomenon occurs, the vehicle usually travels at 10 kph or lower. In the case of an environmentally friendly vehicle, it is common to travel using only an electric motor with an engine off for fuel efficiency in a low-speed situation. In this manner, the creep phenomenon is simulated using the electric motor.
FIG. 2 is a view showing an example of creep torque control of a vehicle equipped with a general electric motor.
Referring to FIG. 2, in the situation in which an accelerator pedal is not manipulated, an electric motor of an environmentally friendly vehicle operates in a positive torque mode until the vehicle speed reaches a certain level, and operates in a negative torque mode after the vehicle speed exceeds the certain level in order to simulate rolling resistance. In the graph of FIG. 2, the region in which the electric motor operates in a positive torque mode is a creep torque region in which the creep torque is simulated. The horizontal axis of the graph may represent either a vehicle speed or a value of a brake pedal sensor (BPS).
However, in the case in which electronic control, such as a shift-by-wire (SBW) method, is applied for transmission control, when the shift range is switched to the P-range at a certain vehicle speed (e.g. 2.5 kph) or lower, a parking sprag is immediately engaged with a parking gear. In this case, if the vehicle is not in a completely stopped state, a load may be applied to the parking sprag due to an inclination, the inertia of the vehicle, the creep torque of the electric motor, or the like, which may cause damage to the parking sprag. Even if the parking sprag is not damaged, a vibration and shock may be generated in the vehicle, which may cause discomfort and anxiety to the driver.

Vehicle equipped with electric motor and parking control method therefor


A liquid crystal display device has a framework which includes a first frame for supporting a liquid crystal panel, a second frame having an upper portion for covering a peripheral portion of the surface of the liquid crystal panel and a side extending substantially parallel to the side of the first frame, and third members being in the form of clips detachably attached to the side of the first frame. The second frame is fixed to the first frame via the third members. The liquid crystal display device also includes a mechanism for changing the angle of the display.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, liquid crystal display devices have been widely used in a portable-type information devices. Accordingly, there is a strong demand for reducing the weight, the thickness and the length of the liquid crystal display device. Therefore, it is required that the area of a picture frame region (portion outside the image forming region) of the liquid crystal display device is further decreased.
The liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal panel, which is supported by a panel frame. The liquid crystal display device sometimes includes a liquid crystal panel and a light source unit such as a backlight, and the liquid crystal panel and the light source unit are integrally supported by the frame as a liquid crystal display unit. The above frame comprises a first frame for supporting a bottom portion of the liquid crystal panel and a second frame covering an upper peripheral portion of the liquid crystal panel and fitted on the first frame. The second frame is fixed to the first frame by means of screws. The first and second frames are formed into a substantially rectangular profile.
In order to fix the second frame to the first frame, both the first and second frames include flanges protruding outside the rectangular profile, and these flanges are overlapped one on another and connected to each other by screws extending perpendicular to the display surface. The above structure is described, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No. 11-202787 and No. 2000-47209. However, in the above structure, since the flanges are provided, it is impossible to reduce the area of the picture frame region of the liquid crystal display device.
Therefore, holes (threaded holes) are provided in the fitting regions (the side of the second frame and the side of the first frame) in which the second frame is fitted on the first frame, and the fitting regions are fixed by screws extending parallel to the display surface. The above structure is described, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patents Publication No. 10-282899 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,237, No. 5,835,139 and No. 6,002,457) and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No. 11-6998 and No. 11-85319. However, when the above structure is adopted, the following problems may be encountered. It is difficult to form threaded holes at accurate positions in the first frame made of resin. Especially, when the threaded holes are formed in a resin member, in many cases, metallic members having threaded holes are insert-molded in resin. In this case, it is difficult to form threaded holes at accurate positions.
Also, with an increasing demand for a liquid crystal display device, a self-standing type liquid crystal display device is increasingly supplied. The self-standing type liquid crystal display device is described, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent publication No. 7-56516 and No. 11-259011. In a conventional self-standing type liquid crystal display device, the display device such as a liquid crystal display device is arranged in a housing, and the self-standing device including a tilt mechanism is attached to the housing. For the above reasons, it is necessary that the housing is formed into a structure in which the self-standing device including a tilt mechanism can be suitably attached to the housing. However, in the case of a compact liquid crystal display device, it is impossible to provide such a housing. In this case, a chassis is attached to a frame for supporting the display unit, and the tilt mechanism is attached to the chassis.

Liquid crystal display device having small picture frame region


The present invention provides a handheld smoke filter, the handheld smoke filter includes a housing, wherein one end of the housing is fixedly connected to a smoke spray inlet, the other end of the housing is fixedly connected to a bottom cover, the housing is provided inside with a filter element shell for filtering smoke, the filter element shell is provided with a first sponge layer, an activated carbon filter layer, a second sponge layer and an HEPA filter sequentially disposed from a filter element intake hole to a filter element exhaust hole. The handheld smoke filter of the present invention can use sponge, activated carbon and HEPA for multiple filtrations, so as to collect smoke sprayed from the mouth of a user more effectively, with better filtration effect and better air permeability.

Smoking is harmful to health. If a person in the family smokes, other members of the family can't avoid the harm of secondhand smoke. The harmful ingredients of secondhand smoke can exist in the air, dust and the surface of articles for a long time, and are not easy to dissipate. If smokers smoke frequently, non-smokers will be exposed to the secondhand smoke for a long time, which is very harmful. Therefore, in order to avoid the harm of secondhand smoke to non-smokers, it is necessary to develop a smoke filter for filtering secondhand smoke.
The existing smoke filters applied to secondhand smoke uses environmentally friendly cotton, activated carbon and other materials for filtration, which have poor air permeability and laborious use for users. Moreover, smoke spray inlets of some filters have poor sealing performance, and some secondhand smoke is directly sprayed into the air without filtering, resulting in poor filtering effect.


An information recording medium such as DVD-R, DVD-RW or the like is provided with a user information recording area in which user information can be recorded. The user information recording area has pre-recorded areas for preventing recording/reproduction of the user information, in a plurality of portions. The user information recording area is divided by the pre-recorded areas into a plurality of partial recording areas including a partial recording area smaller than a unit area in which record information of a read-only recording medium is recorded.

In an information recording medium, such as a CD (Compact Disc) and a DVD, a content protection function is incorporated. For example, a DVD format is constructed such that record contents can be reproduced only by a reproducing apparatus capable of performing decryption, by writing information about an encryption key in a lead-in area. Namely, it is designed such that each of a DVD video and DVD reproduction equipment has a "key" for performing the decryption, and only if the keys match, descrambling is performed, and video images can be normally reproduced.
However, lately, not only such a read-only DVD for recording contents (e.g. a DVD-Video), but also a DVD-R (Recordable) capable of writing only once, or a DVD-RW (Rewritable) capable of writing repeatedly are commercially available. Thus, if general disc data, including the encryption key information, is read from the DVD-Video or the like, as a RF signal, and it is hard-copied onto another recording medium, such as the DVD-R and the DVD-RW, the contents are illegally copied from the original DVD.
As a countermeasure against the illegal copying, a patent document 1 discloses a technology of forming embosses in an area out of the writable DVD where the encryption key information is recorded, in copying a DVD-Video or the like, such as the DVD-RW, to thereby make the area non-overwritable in advance. According to this method, the information is copied with the encryption key information lacked, so that it is extremely difficult to decrypt and normally reproduce the copied information.    Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid Open NO. 2000-331412

Information recording medium, information recording device and method, and computer program


A ball tossing game consists of a tossing device that is thrown at a target device. The tossing device may consist of a string or other flexible connector, having a ball on each end thereof. The target has at least one and preferably multiple horizontally-oriented rungs, onto which the tossing device may be wrapped. Additional targets are provided, including a target defined by a vertically oriented post positioned proximate an end of a horizontal rung and perpendicular thereto. In another embodiment, a reduced-length horizontal rung is coupled to at least one of the rungs, and is oriented either above or below the rung. It may be desired to provide, for a single rung, vertically oriented posts and at least one reduced-length horizontal rung.

Tossing games of various kinds are known in the art. One particular game, known as "Top Toss," involves participants throwing a pair of balls, joined by a string, at a multi-rung target. Players win by achieving more string wraps onto a rung than an opponent.
There are several limitations associated with "Top Toss." Prominent among these is the failure of the game to provide multiple target opportunities. Instead, the sole target opportunity presented is that of a rung. Additional target opportunities would increase the excitement of the game, by creating additional ways of scoring points and rewarding tossing accuracy.
The present invention satisfies these needs and provides other, related, advantages.


A diving snorkel having a ventilating portion comprising an assembly of a first pipe portion and a second pipe portion extending in parallel to and communicating with each other, and a main pipe of which the upper end is connected to the first pipe portion, wherein the second pipe portion is provided at its upper end with an air inlet and at its lower end provided with means to prevent the undesirable flow of water into the main pipe 2 through the air inlet as a diver is in the water.

This invention relates to diving snorkels (referred to hereinafter simply as "snorkel" or "snorkels") allowing a diver to breathe as the diver swims under water.
Typical known snorkels generally comprise a ventilating portion including an air inlet, a mouthpiece, a draining portion having a non-return valve, and a main pipe connecting these air inlet, mouthpiece and draining portions, said ventilating portion being positioned above the water surface while the mouthpiece and the draining portion are positioned below the water surface during use of the snorkel. Once a diver has surfaced and the air inlet of the snorkel has been exposed above the water surface, water which has entered the snorkel is partially expelled out from the non-return valve under the effect of a differential water pressure until the water level within the snorkel comes down to the water surface. The non-return valve is adapted to be normally opened downward with respect to the water surface. The diver may intensely breathe out through the mouthpiece to expel out the rest of the water still remaining within the snorkel from the draining portion and the air inlet. Arrangements of such known snorkels are disclosed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Application disclosure Gazette No. 1974-33039 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,080.
When the snorkel is washed by a wave during its use, free breathing by a diver is sometimes hindered by a quantity of water flowing into the snorkel through the air inlet. While any quantity of water flowing into a conventional snorkel can be expelled outwardly therefrom by intense exhalation by the diver, it has been difficult for the conventional snorkel to prevent water from flowing into the snorkel. To solve this problem, various improvements have been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,879,995 discloses an arrangement comprising a first pipe having an air inlet and a second pipe having a mouthpiece wherein the first pipe has a flared end provided with a non-return valve and the second pipe is connected substantially in series with said flared end of the first pipe. This arrangement allows a quantity of water that has flowed into the snorkel to be drained out through the non-return valve with no portion of said quantity reaching the mouthpiece. However, said flared end has a construction which is complicated, resulting in that both the assembly and maintenance of such a snorkel is a time-consuming job.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to effectively inhibit the flow of water which otherwise might enter the main pipe by providing a relatively simple arrangement such that an assembly of first and second pipe portions extending in parallel to each other and communicating with each other is connected to the upper end of the snorkel's main pipe, wherein the wall of the second pipe portion serves as a dam adapted to inhibit the flow of water into the main pipe through a communication port provided between said first and second pipe portions.
The object set forth above can be achieved, according to one embodiment of the invention, by a diving snorkel comprising a ventilating portion provided with an air inlet adapted to be positioned above the water surface, a mouthpiece being positioned below the water surface a draining portion being provided with a first non-return valve adapted to be normally opened downward respect to the water surface, during use of the snorkel, and a main pipe connecting said air inlet with said mouthpiece and said draining portion, wherein said ventilating portion comprises a first pipe portion and a second pipe portion extending in parallel to each other and a communicating port provided to establish communication between these two pipe portions; wherein the first pipe portion has an upper end defined by a top wall and a lower end connected integrally with the main pipe; wherein the second pipe portion has an upper end defined by the air inlet and a lower end having an outlet that will permit the downward drainage of water through the second pipe portion; and wherein the port is provided between the air inlet and said outlet.
Preferably, the first pipe portion and the second pipe portion have a common inner wall separating these two pipe portions and the communicating port is at least partially defined in the first pipe portion by said common inner wall and the top wall.
With the snorkel constructed as described above, a side wall of the second pipe portion extends in front of the communicating port so as to at least partially conceal the port and functions as a dam or a barrier serving to obstruct the flow of water which otherwise might enter the main pipe through the communicating port. Even when the snorkel is washed by wave, the quantity of water flowing into the second pipe portion can be drained out through a non-return valve provided in the lower end of the second pipe portion.


A telecommunications system and method is disclosed for increasing the utilization of available bandwidth, which will simultaneously maximize revenue for wireless service providers. This can be accomplished through a flexible marketing mechanism based on system utilization, which will enable service providers to tailor the system charging rate based upon the current system utilization rate. For example, a mobile subscriber can subscribe to a flexible marketing service, which monitors the number of idle channels within a cell site that the mobile subscriber is currently located in, and sends a Short Message Service (SMS) message to the mobile subscriber offering the mobile subscriber a discounted rate for calls placed within a certain time period when the number of idle channels falls below a desired system utilization ratio.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telecommunications systems and methods for monitoring utilization of traffic channels by mobile terminals within a wireless network, and specifically to maximizing utilization of traffic channels by offering mobile subscribers discounted rates.
2. Background and Objects of the Present Invention
Wireless telecommunications is one of the fastest growing and most demanding telecommunications applications ever. Today it represents a large and continuously increasing percentage of all new telephone subscriptions around the world. A standardization group, European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), was established in 1982 to formulate the specifications for the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) digital mobile wireless radio system in use today, and described in more detail herein.
With reference now to FIG. 1 of the drawings, there is illustrated a GSM Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), such as wireless network 10, which in turn is composed of a plurality of areas 12, each with a Mobile Services Center (MSC) 14 and an integrated Visitor Location Register (VLR) 16 therein. The MSC/VLR areas 12, in turn, include a plurality of Location Areas (LA) 18, which are defined as that part of a given MSC/VLR area 12 in which a mobile station (MS) 20 may move freely without having to send update location information to the MSC/VLR area 12 that controls the LA 18. Each Location Area 12 is divided into a number of cells 22. Mobile Station (MS) 20 is the physical equipment, e.g., a car phone or other portable phone, used by mobile subscribers to communicate with the wireless network 10, each other, and users outside the subscribed network, both wireline and wireless.
The MSC 14 is in communication with at least one Base Station Controller (BSC) 23, which, in turn, is in contact with at least one Base Transceiver Station (BTS) 24. The BTS is the physical equipment, illustrated for simplicity as a radio tower, that provides radio coverage to the geographical part of the cell 22 for which it is responsible. It should be understood that the BSC 23 may be connected to several base transceiver stations 24, and may be implemented as a stand-alone node or integrated with the MSC 14. In either event, the BSC 23 and BTS 24 components, as a whole, are generally referred to as a Base Station System (BSS) 25. The radio interface between the BTS 24 and the MS 20 utilizes Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) to transmit information between the BTS 24 and the MS 20, with one TDMA frame per carrier frequency. Each frame consists of eight timeslots or physical channels. Depending upon the kind of information sent, different types of logical channels can be mapped onto the physical channels. For example, speech is sent on the logical channel, "Traffic Channel" (TCH), and signaling information is sent on the logical channel, "Control Channel" (CCH).
With further reference to FIG. 1, the PLMN Service Area or wireless network 10 includes a Home Location Register (HLR) 26, which is a database maintaining all subscriber information, e.g., user profiles, current location information, International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) numbers, and other administrative information. The HLR 26 may be co-located with a given MSC 14, integrated with the MSC 14, or alternatively can service multiple MSCs 14, the latter of which is illustrated in FIG. 1.
The VLR 16 is a database containing information about all of the Mobile Stations 20 currently located within the MSC/VLR area 12. If a MS 20 roams into a new MSC/VLR area 12, the VLR 16 connected to that MSC 14 will request data about that Mobile Station 20 from its home HLR database 26 (simultaneously informing the HLR 26 about the current location of the MS 20). Accordingly, if the user of the MS 20 then wants to make a call, the local VLR 16 will have the requisite identification information without having to reinterrogate the home HLR 26. In the aforedescribed manner, the VLR and HLR databases 16 and 26, respectively, contain various subscriber information associated with a given MS 20.
The wireless industry is entering a high growth phase in the wireless service product life cycle. Once the produce reaches maturity, wireless network providers will be scrambling to maintain their market share. From a marketing perspective, the wireless providers have three ways of enhancing their revenue. First, wireless providers can expand into new markets, thereby increasing their customer base. Second, wireless providers can expand the use of the product, for example, by suggesting various ways of using the device. Third, wireless providers can increase their revenue by increasing the frequency of use of the service.
This last technique (increasing the frequency of use of the service) provides wireless service providers with additional revenue without installation of new infrastructure. Many wireless service providers are currently paying millions of dollars a year for a license fee to use the wireless frequencies. Hence, any unused frequency is a loss of revenue. It should be noted that the fixed cost for network providers (infrastructure) is extremely high. However, the variable cost of servicing one additional call from the customer is very low by comparison. Therefore, by maximizing the use of available bandwidth, the network providers will simultaneously increase their revenue.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to increase the utilization of available bandwidth, which will simultaneously increase revenue for wireless service providers.

System and method for dynamic flexible marketing based on system utilization


A method for calculating spiral swath paths in an area with irregular boundaries and providing automatic guidance of a vehicle along the calculated spiral swath paths. A baseline swath path is generated, and at least one adjacent swath path is calculated based on the minimum turning radius of the vehicle and associated implement. An algorithm calculates the continuous spiral swath path by monitoring a position data points at the end point of the previous swath path at the starting point of the at least one adjacent swath path, configuring a radius of curvature for each individual swath path determining the radius of curvature for each swath path and joining the individual swath paths into one continuous spiral swath path.

The present invention is directed to a method for calculating spiral swath paths. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a method for calculating spiral swath paths in an area with irregular boundaries and providing automatic guidance of a vehicle along the calculated spiral swath paths.
A path planner may be used to determine one or more path plans for an agricultural vehicle to cover a work area. The work area may represent a field for growing a crop of other vegetation. The vehicle may need to traverse the entire work area or a portion thereof to plant a crop (or precursor thereto), to treat a crop (or precursor thereto), to harvest a crop, or to perform another task associated with the crop of vegetation, for example.
Agricultural vehicles commonly use manual or automatic guidance systems based on satellite positioning system such as global positioning (GPS). These systems typically allow the operator to record a base path of the vehicle and then automatically generate additional swaths parallel to this recorded swath. Often times straight-line guidance is used, or equally spaced curves along the field boundaries or constant elevation lines through the field.
Another common practice in farming is to drive a vehicle along the boundary, then as the vehicle approaches the point at which it entered the field, the vehicle is directed inward to position the vehicle parallel to the first swath path, minimizing any "skip" or "gaps" or in addition, any overlap as practical. The term skip or gaps, as used in this application, is any area left between swath paths. Skip is essentially any area that is not traversed by the vehicle and its associated implement and is therefore not included in the work area. Overlap, as used in this application, is any area or portion thereof that is covered by more than one swath path. Overlap is an area that the vehicle and its associated implement have been driven over repeatedly.
Therefore it would be a great advantage to provide a method for creating spiral swath patterns for use by a vehicle navigation system that streamlines data storage requirements to reduce demands on the storage and computational elements of the navigation system thereby reducing hardware expense of the vehicle guidance system. Further advantages would be realized if the method and apparatus for creating spiral swath patterns for use by a vehicle navigation system was capable of storing path positional data for future use, so that valuable time and energy is saved by eliminating the requirement to create a new baseline swath or provide a boundary before each use of the method. Still further advantages would be realized if the method recognized vehicle/implement limitations in following a defined path and adjusted such paths accordingly. These and other advantages are provided by the method and vehicle guidance system described below.

Method for creating spiral swaths for irregular field boundaries


A blade includes an edge to be pressed against an end portion of a carrier film to fold the end portion upwards from a sheet. A clamp mechanism peels the carrier film off from the sheet by moving while clamping the upwardly folded end portion of the carrier film.

In manufacturing a circuit element, such as a laminated ceramic chip capacitor, a dielectric sheet on which a conductor pattern is printed is used. In order to prepare a dielectric sheet, a paste-type dielectric material is applied on a base film layer called a carrier film. Then, a metal paste is screen printed or otherwise deposited on the applied dielectric material.
During the manufacture of the circuit element, the dielectric sheet is separated from the carrier film. For example, a laminated film including the carrier film and the dielectric sheet is fed to a peel-off device which peels the dielectric sheet off from the carrier film.
For example, in JP 2015-83504A, end portions are cut off from a board whose surface is covered by a protective layer. While end portions of the board are cut off, the protective layer remains unseparated. In this way, the end portions of the board that have been cut off can be used as a holding margin to peel the protective layer off from the board.
For another example, in JP Patent No. 6,324,606, when peeling off a coverlay film protecting a conductor pattern from a release film that is a protective film, a pre-peel-off roll is pressed against the coverlay film to raise the coverlay film from the protective film. The raised portion is used as a peeling start point.
When the end portions of a board are cut, the cut end portions may be separated from the protective layer and scattered around the peel-off device as chips. In addition, when the roll is pressed against the coverlay film, because the roll is in direct contact with the coverlay film, the coverlay film may be damaged.
An object of the present disclosure is to provide a peel-off device that can reduce chips and damages of a sheet when peeling the sheet off from a carrier film that is a base layer.


A communication apparatus includes a physical frame generating device configured to generate a single physical frame which includes a plurality of media access control frames having different destinations and in which frames, of the media access control frames, which have the same destination are consecutively arranged, and a transmitting device configured to transmit the physical frame generated by the physical frame generating device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates a communication apparatus, communication system, communication method, and communication control program which perform media access control (MAC) and, more particularly, to frame aggregation for transmitting a plurality of media access control frames (MAC frames) upon containing them in one physical frame (PHY frame).
2. Description of the Related Art
Media access control (MAC) is control for causing a plurality of communication apparatuses which perform communication while sharing the same medium to decide how to use the medium in transmitting communication data or management frame. Owing to media access control, even if two or more communication apparatuses transmit communication data (or management frame) by using the same medium at the same time, there is less chance of the occurrence of a phenomenon (collision) in which a communication apparatus on the receiving side cannot decode communication data. Media access control is also a technique for controlling access from communication apparatuses to a medium so as to minimize the chance of the occurrence of a phenomenon in which, despite the presence of communication apparatuses having transmission requests, the medium is not used by any of the communication apparatuses.
In radio communication, since it is difficult for a communication apparatus to monitor transmission data while transmitting the data, media access control which is not premised on collision detection is required. IEEE 802.11, which is a typical technical standard for wireless LANs, uses CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance). According to CSMA/CA in IEEE 802.11, the MAC header has the duration value which is the time, in microseconds, required to transmit the data or management frame (also including SIFS interval). In this duration, a communication apparatus which is irrelevant to the sequence and has no transmission right waits for transmission upon determining a virtual busy state of the wireless medium. This prevents the occurrence of collision. The CSMA/CA is designed to reduce the collision probability. IEEE 802.11 defines that the state of a medium is determined on the basis of such a combination of virtual carrier sense on a MAC layer and physical carrier sense on a physical layer (PHY layer), and media access control is performed on the basis of the determination.
IEEE 802.11 using CSMA/CA has increased the communication speed mainly by changing the physical layer protocol. With regard to the 2.4 GHz band, there have been changes from IEEE 802.11 (established in 1997, 2 Mbps) to IEEE 802.11b (established in 1999, 11 Mbps), and further to IEEE 802.11g (established in 2003, 54 Mbps). With regard to the 5 GHz band, only IEEE 802.11a (established in 1999, 54 Mbps) exists as a standard. In order to develop standard specifications directed to further increase communication speeds in both the 2.4 GHz band and the 5 GHz band, IEEE 802.11 TGn (Task Group n) has already been established.
Even if an attempt to increase the communication speed in terms of physical layer succeeds, the effective throughput of communication cannot be improved. That is, when an increase in the communication speed of the physical layer is realized, the format of a PHY frame (PHY header and PHY preamble) ceases to be effective any more. An increase in overhead due to this may hinder an increase in throughput. In a PHY frame, a temporal parameter associated with CSMA/CA is permanently attached to a MAC frame. In addition, a PHY frame header is required for each MAC frame.
As a method of solving the problem of overhead and increasing throughput, a block response (Block acknowledgement) mechanism introduced in recently drafted IEEE 802.11e/draft 5.0 (enhancement of QoS in IEEE 802.11) is available. The block response mechanism can consecutively transmit a plurality of MAC frames without any random backoff (with SIFS interval), and hence can reduce the backoff amount to some degree. However, the overhead of a physical layer header and preamble cannot be effectively reduced. In addition, according to aggregation introduced in initially drafted IEEE 802.11e, both the backoff amount and the physical layer header can be reduced. However, since the length of a physical layer frame containing MAC frames cannot be increased beyond about 4 kbytes under the conventional limitation on the physical layer, an improvement in efficiency is greatly limited. Even if the length of a PHY layer frame can be increased, another problem arises, i.e., a reduction in error tolerance.

Communication apparatus, communication system, communication method, and communication control program


The present invention is designed so that, when a plurality of user terminals with different numerologies are multiplexed in the same carrier, the effect of latency reduction can be achieved effectively. According to the present invention, a user terminal has a receiving section that receives a downlink (DL) signal in a carrier in which a plurality of user terminals with different numerologies are multiplexed, a transmission section that transmits the retransmission control information of the DL signal, and a control section that configures a retransmission control subframe based on the same numerology among the plurality of user terminals, and controls transmission of the retransmission control information in the retransmission control subframes.

In the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) network, the specifications of long-term evolution (LTE) have been drafted for the purpose of further increasing high speed data rates, providing lower latency and so on (see non-patent literature 1). In addition, successor systems of LTE are also under study for the purpose of achieving further broadbandization and increased speed beyond LTE (referred to as, for example, "LTE-A (LTE-Advanced)," "FRA (Future Radio Access)," "4G," "5G," "5G+ (plus)," "NR (New RAT)," "LTE Rel. 14," "LTE Rel. 15 (or later versions)," and so on).
In existing LTE systems (for example, LTE Rel. 10 and later versions), carrier aggregation (CA) to integrate multiple carriers (component carriers (CCs), cells, etc.) is introduced in order to achieve broadbandization. Each carrier is configured with the system bandwidth of LTE Rel. 8 as one unit. In addition, in CA, multiple CCs under the same radio base station (eNB (eNodeB)) are configured in a user terminal (UE (User Equipment)).
Meanwhile, in existing LTE systems (for example, LTE Rel. 12 and later versions), dual connectivity (DC), in which multiple cell groups (CGs) formed by different radio base stations are configured in a user terminal, is also introduced. Each cell group is comprised of at least one cell (CC, cell, etc.). In DC, since multiple CCs of different radio base stations are integrated, DC is also referred to as "inter-eNB CA."
In existing LTE systems (for example, LTE Rels. 8 to 13), downlink (DL) and/or uplink (UL) communication are carried out using 1-ms transmission time intervals (TTIs). This 1-ms TTI is the unit of time to transmit one channel-encoded data packet, and is the processing unit in scheduling, link adaptation and so on.

User terminal and radio communication method


A burn-in test apparatus and a semiconductor device using the same are disclosed. The burn-in test apparatus includes a flag signal generating unit configured to receive an external input signal and an external address externally inputted for a burn-in test and generate a flag signal, and a burn-in test unit configured to receive the flag signal, generate a toggled output enable signal, and drive an input/output line to toggle a signal on the input/output line.

The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a burn-in test apparatus for screening a contact defect.
In a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), in order to shorten a test time and guarantee the operation of a device over several years, a burn-in test is carried out by applying abrupt stress to the device. Such conventional burn-in tests have employed schemes for screening defects in advance by applying stress mainly to Oxide-Nitride-Oxide (ONO) films, cells and bit lines. These screening schemes may include, for example, a scheme for applying stress to an ONO film by applying a high voltage to a word line, writing high-voltage data into a cell using a bit line precharge voltage VBLP and then grounding a VCP voltage, and a scheme for applying stress between adjacent cells or adjacent bit lines by applying voltages of different polarities to the adjacent cells or adjacent bit lines to impress a high voltage therebetween.
Referring to FIG. 15, a semiconductor device comprises an output switch 150 including n-channel metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS) transistors N159 and N160 connected respectively between bit lines BL and BLB and segment input/output lines SIO and SIOB, for transferring data placed on the bit lines BL and BLB to the segment input/output lines SIO and SIOB in response to an output enable signal Yi. The output switch 150 has a single contact because it is small in layout area. However, if at least one of the contacts of such output switches has an initial defect, the quality of a product and the package yield thereof will be degraded, thus adversely affecting reliability of the device. Therefore, there is a need to screen a contact defect of the output switch 150 in advance.


The present invention relates to a method of preparing microfibrillar polysaccharide comprising treating a polysaccharide in an aqueous suspension comprising an oxidant and at least one transition metal, mechanically delaminating said polysaccharide such that microfibrillar polysaccharide is formed. The invention also relates to microfibrillar polysaccharide obtainable by the method.

Microfibrillar cellulose (MFC), the most common microfibrillar polysaccharide, is prepared from wood fibres that have been delaminated to small fragments with a large proportion of the microfibrils of the fibre walls uncovered.
The produced MFC has a high specific surface area that imparts strong binding capacity in paper and fibre structures, high water retention, good stability in water dispersions as well as high viscosity.
The cellulose fibres can be delaminated to microfibrillar cellulose by enzyme treatment, especially by treatment with cellulases which is disclosed in WO 2004/055268. However, delamination of fibres by means of enzyme treatment is many times expensive and/or inefficient.
It would be desired to provide a method that could increase the production capacity in view of the prior art methods in which inter alia fibre clogging has impeded such attempts. It would also be desired to provide a method of preparing microfibrillar cellulose with an increased product consistency, i.e. to provide a suspension having a higher concentration of microfibrils without suffering from fibre clogging, increase in temperature and/or pressure resulting in interruption of the production. It is a further objective to provide a method of preparing MFC having an increased surface charge and stability in view of MFC products known in the art. The present invention intends to provide such a method.

Method of preparing microfibrillar polysaccharide


A method may include receiving a request from a user to play or record a program, wherein the program is associated with dialog text and determining a user profile associated with the user. The method may include associating, in response to receiving the request, the dialog text of the requested program with the user profile. The method may include receiving a search query from the user associated with the user profile and searching the dialog text associated with the user for dialog text that matches the search query. The method may include transmitting, for display, an identification of the program associated with the matching dialog text.

Television program guides typically provide consumers of television and radio content with information about current and upcoming programming, such as broadcast times, broadcast channels, and program synopses. Program synopses tend to be short and lacking in detail. Consumers may search the program guide for current and upcoming content.
While watching a program, the consumer may select an option to watch the "closed captions" or "subtitles" provided with the program. The closed captions or subtitles may include the text of the dialog in the program in different languages, for example. Sometimes closed captions or subtitles may include non-speech elements, such as the identity of the person speaking.


The present invention relates to a coolant composition for fuel cell coolant, comprised of sulfur containing alcohol or sulfur containing phenol having at least one sulfur atom per molecule, which effectively prevents increase of electric conductivity due to oxidation of its base component for a long time. The coolant composition when diluted with water to a predetermined concentration effectively suppresses increase of electric conductivity of the coolant and maintain fluctuation of electric conductivity within the range from 0 to 10 μS/cm so that power generation efficiency of the fuel cell may not be lowered.

A fuel cell is typically formed in a stack structure where a plurality of unit cells are stacked one upon another. In use, heat is generated in the fuel cell. In order to cool the fuel cell, a cooling plate having a coolant passage is inserted every several unit cells. Coolant is circulated in the cooling plates through the coolant passages and cools the fuel cell.
If the electrical conductivity of the coolant is high, electricity generated in the fuel cell tends to partially leak into the coolant, resulting in waste of electricity and reduction of power. Therefore, pure water which is low in electric conductivity and thus highly insulative is typically used as fuel cell coolant.
However, when used in a vehicle fuel cell or a household cogeneration system, such fuel cell coolant will be cooled to the atmospheric temperature when the cell or the system is out of use and may be frozen at a temperature below zero, seriously damaging its cooling plates due to volumetric expansion of the coolant and greatly deteriorating the function of the fuel cell.
In order to prevent such freezing, glycol or alcohol may be blended in coolant as a base component. A fuel cell coolant comprised of water and glycol as a base component and an amine based alkaline additive has been proposed (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2001-164244).


The present invention relates to pigment mixtures consisting of at least two components, component A being SiO2 flakes coated with one or more metal oxides and/or metals and component B being platelet-shaped, acicular or spherical colorants or fillers, and to their use in particular in varnishes, paints, printing inks, powder coating materials, plastics and cosmetic formulations.

The present invention relates to pigment mixtures comprising at least two components, component A being SiO2 flakes coated with one or more metal oxides and/or metals and component B being platelet-shaped, acicular or spherical colorants and/or fillers, and to their use in varnishes, paints, printing inks, plastics, powder coating materials and cosmetic formulations.
With platelet-shaped pigments, hiding power and gloss are often difficult to realize simultaneously to a satisfactory extent. For instance, SiO2 flakes or mica platelets covered with one or more thin metal oxide layers feature interference colors and a high luster but at the same time, owing to the transparent substrate, feature high transparency and hence a comparatively poor hiding power.
DE-A-42 40 511 discloses a pigment mixture which is composed of an interference pigment and a platelet-shaped color pigment. The interference pigment comprises mica flakes or SiO2 flakes coated with metal oxides and the color pigment can be colored SiO2 flakes. This pigment mixture is incorporated into coating materials, printing inks or plastics.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a pigment mixture which is notable for a comparatively high hiding power, which lends itself well to incorporation into the respective system in which it is used and for which at the same time the separation of pigment/colorant in the system is minimal.
Surprisingly, a pigment mixture has now been found which has none of the disadvantages indicated above. The pigment mixture of the invention comprises at least two components, component A being SiO2 flakes coated with one or more metal oxides and/or metals and component B being platelet-shaped, acicular or spherical colorants or fillers. By admixing the colorant to the coated SiO2 flakes it is possible to give the systems in which they are used a multiple flop, the color effect is intensified, and new color effects are achieved. As used herein, the term xe2x80x9cmultiple flopxe2x80x9d refer to color changes as a function of viewing angle.
The invention thus provides a pigment mixture comprising at least two components, component A being SiO2 flakes coated with one or more metal oxides and/or metals and component B being platelet-shaped, acicular or spherical colorants or fillers. By spherical is meant a range of substantially spherical shapes including, e.g., perfect spheres, indented or deformed spheres, etc.
The invention likewise provides formulations, such as paints, varnishes, printing inks, plastics, powder coating materials and cosmetic formulations, which comprise the pigment mixture of the invention.
The coated SiO2 flakes can be mixed with the colorant and/or filler in any ratio. Preferably, the (wt/wt) ratio of component A to component B is about 1:10 to 10:1, in particular about 1:2 to 2:1.
The SiO2 flakes produced on a continuous belt in accordance with WO 93/08237 are based on a platelet-shaped, transparent, colored or colorless matrix and typically possess a thickness of about 0.1 to 5 xcexcm, in particular about 0.2 to 2.0 xcexcm. The length in the two other dimensions is typically about 1 to 250 xcexcm, preferably about 2 to 100 xcexcm and, in particular, about 5 to 40 xcexcm. The SiO2 flakes are provided with one or more metal oxide layers an/or metal layers. Examples of suitable metal oxides or metal oxide mixtures are, e.g., titanium oxide, zirconium oxide, zinc oxide, iron oxides and/or chromium oxide, especially TiO2 and/or Fe2O3. The SiO2 flakes can be coated as described, for example, in WO 93/08237 (wet chemical coating) or DE-A-196 14 637 (CVD process).
The outer metal oxide layer can also be a semitransparent metal layer. Metals suitable for this purpose are, for example, Cr, Ti, Mo, W, Al, Cu, Ag, Au and Ni. Metals can be coated on the SiO2 flakes by conventional methods, e.g., physical vapor deposition (PVD). Preferred pigments have the following layer structure: SiO2 flakes+metal+SiO2+metal oxide.
In order to bring out special color effects, fine particles in the nanometer size range can be introduced into the metal oxide layers of high or low refractive index. Examples of pigments suitable for this purpose are, e.g., finely divided TiO2 or finely divided carbon (carbon black) with particle sizes in the range of about 10 to 250 nm. Through the light-scattering properties of such particles it is possible to exert a controlled influence on luster and hiding power.
Colorants suitable as component B for the pigment mixture of the invention are all acicular and spherical colorants which are known to the skilled worker and have a particle size of about 0.001 to 10 xcexcm, preferably about 0.01 to 1 xcexcm. The pigment mixtures of the invention preferably comprise, as colorants, absorption materials and/or fillers.
The spherical colorants can be, e.g., TiO2, colored SiO2, CaSO4, iron oxides, chromium oxides, carbon black or organic color pigments, such as anthraquinone, quinacridone, diketopyrrolopyrrole, phthalocyanine, azo and isoindoline pigments. The acicular pigments can be, e.g., BiOC1, colored glass fibers, -Fe3O4, or organic color pigments, such as azo pigments, xcex2-phthalocyanine CI Blue 15.3, Cromophtal Yellow 8GN (Ciba-Geigy), Irgalith Blue PD56 (Ciba-Geigy), azomethine copper complex CI Yellow 129, and Irgazine Yellow 5GT (Ciba-Geigy).
Cosmetic formulations (especially decorative formulations) preferably comprise, not only colorants and SiO2 flakes, but also fillers (one or more) or mixtures thereof in amounts (wt/wt) of about 1-50%, preferably about 1-30% and most preferably, about 1-15%, based on the overall solids content of the system.
Suitable fillers can be, e.g., mica, talc, TiO2 and mica, TiO2+BaSO4+mica, mica+silica, silica, silica+TiO2+Fe2SO3, BiOC1, BiOC1+mica, or BiOC1+talc. Some of these products are obtainable, e.g., under the trade names of Merck KGaA: Ronasphere(copyright), Ronasphere(copyright) LDP, Micronasphere(copyright) M, Silk Mica, Satin Mica, Naturaleaf Powder, Low Luster Pigment, Extender W, Talkum feinst gepulvert [finely powdered talc], Biron(copyright), Bital(copyright) and Mibiron(copyright). Other fillers can be, e.g., nylon-12 (from Elf Atochem), nylon-6 (from Elf Atochem), boron nitride, Nylon Powder (from Elf Atochem), polyamide 12 (from Kobo), polyethylene (from Kobo), PTFE (from Presperse), lauroyl lysine (from Ikeda), polymethyl methacrylate (from Ikeda) or calcium aluminum borosilicate (from Presperse).
The pigment mixture of the invention is simple and easy to handle. The pigment mixture can be incorporated into the system in which it is used simply by stirring it in. Laborious milling and dispersing of the pigments is not necessary.
The pigment mixture of the invention can be used, e.g., for pigmenting coating materials, printing inks, plastics, agricultural films, the coating of seeds, food colorings, button pastes, medicament coatings or cosmetic formulations. The concentration of the pigment mixture in the system in which it is to be used for pigmenting is typically about 0.1 to 70% by weight, preferably about 0.1 to 50% by weight and, in particular, about 1.0 to 10% by weight, based on the overall solids content of the system. It is generally dependent on the specific application.
Plastics comprising the pigment mixture of the invention in amounts of about 0.01 to 50% by weight, in particular about 0.1 to 7% by weight, based on the overall solids content of the system, are notable for a particular sparkle effect.
In the coating sector, especially in automotive finishing, the pigment mixture can be employedxe2x80x94for 3-coat systems as wellxe2x80x94in amounts of about 0.1 to 10% by weight, preferably about 1 to 3% by weight, based on the overall solids content of the system. The proportion in which the coated SiO2 flakes are mixed with component B depends on the desired effect. The SiO2 flakes are preferably employed with component B in a proportion (wt/wt) of about 1:4, in particular of about 1:3.
In a coating material, the pigment mixture of the invention has the advantage that the desired color flop effect is achieved by a single-layer coating (one-coat system or base coat in a two-coat system). This color flop is extremely pronounced even under diffuse light. In comparison with coating systems which comprise a mica-based interference pigment rather than the coated SiO2 flakes, coating systems with the pigment mixture of the invention exhibit a more marked depth effect and a glitter effect.
The pigment mixture of the invention can also be employed in decorative and grooming cosmetology. For this embodiment, component B colorants can be, e.g., organic or inorganic color pigments or dyes, of natural or synthetic origin, such as, e.g., chromium oxide, ultramarine, or spherical SiO2 or TiO2 pigments. The concentration of the components and the proportion of SiO2 flakes to component B are dependent on the medium in which they are used and on the effect that is to be achieved. The SiO2 flakes can be mixed with component B pigments in any proportions, the preferred ratio being about 1:10 to 10:1 (wt/wt). The use concentration of SiO2 flakes can range from about 0.01% by weight in a shampoo to about 70% by weight in a compact powder, based on the overall solids content of the system. In the case of a mixture of SiO2 flakes with spherical fillers, such as SiO2, the concentration in the formulation can be about 0.01 to 70% by weight. The cosmetic products, such as nail varnishes, lipsticks, compact powders, shampoos, loose powders and gels, are notable for particularly interesting luster effects and/or color effects. The glitter effect in nail varnish can be increased markedly relative to conventional nail varnishes with the aid of the pigment mixtures of the invention. Furthermore, the pigment mixture of the invention can be employed in bath products, in toothpastes and for enhancing foods, for example as a mass colorant or as a coating.
In the pigmentation of binder systems for, for example, paints and printing inks for intaglio, offset or screen printing, or as a precursor for printing inks, in the form for example of highly pigmented pastes, granules, pellets, etc., pigment mixtures, especially those comprising coated SiO2 flakes with spherical colorants, such as TiO2, carbon black, chromium oxide, iron oxide or organic color pigments, have been found particularly suitable. The pigment mixture is typically incorporated into the printing ink in amounts of about 2 to 35% by weight, preferably about 5 to 25% by weight and, in particular, about 8 to 20% by weight, based on the overall solids content of the system. Offset printing inks may comprise the pigment mixture in an amount of up to about 40% by weight or more. The precursors of printing inks, in the form for example of granules, pellets, briquettes, etc., can contain up to about 95% by weight of the pigment mixture of the invention, not including the binder and additives. The mixing ratio of component A to component B is preferably about 1:10 to 10:1. The printing inks comprising the pigment mixture of the invention exhibit purer hues and their printability is improved owing to the good viscosity values.
The invention hence also provides formulations comprising the pigment mixture of the invention.
In the foregoing and in the following examples, all temperatures are set forth uncorrected in degrees Celsius; and, unless otherwise indicated, all parts and percentages are by weight.
The entire disclosure of all applications, patents and publications, cited above and below, and of German application No. 198 23 864.9 filed May 28, 1998 is hereby incorporated by reference.


A belt pretensioner comprising a pyrotechnical piston/cylinder drive has a vehicle-sensitive mass which is formed by a pivotally mounted base (14), a gas generator (18) inserted therein and a piston/cylinder unit (20). To ensure free pivotability of the base (14), the piston (24) is accommodated in the cylinder (22) with axial and radial clearance. The piston (24) is provided with an annular groove (50) in which an annular seal (52) is arranged. When not subjected to the gas pressure from the gas generator, the annular seal (52) is not in contact with the inner wall of the cylinder (22). Under the gas action the annular seal (52) is moved axially along the conically rising bottom (56) of the annular groove (50) and at the same time radially expanded until it comes into sealing engagement with the inner wall of the cylinder (22).

The present invention relates to a safety belt pretensioner having a pyrotechnical piston/cylinder drive in which the cylinder and piston as well as a base block in which one end of the cylinder is secured from a pivotally mounted vehicle-sensitive mass and a cable secured to the piston is led out of the base block.

Safety belt pretensioner having a pyrotechnical piston/cylinder drive