The invention relates to a method for producing low cost integrated microwave assemblies, where a photoresist layer is deposited onto a substrate, a portion of the photoresist is selectively removed, a first conductive layer is applied, and, a second portion of the photoresist is removed leaving isolation walls and cavities. Electrical components are placed in the cavities and a first dielectric layer fills the cavities. Vias are created in the first dielectric material exposing the electrical contacts, a second conductive layer is applied into the vias and over the first dielectric material. The second conductive layer is patterned by removing a portion of the second conductive layer creating a signal line pattern in the second conductive layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of microwave circuits, and more particularly, to a method for producing an integrated microwave assembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An integrated microwave assembly (IMA) is an electronic unit functioning at microwave frequencies of above approximately 2 GHz and typically consists of interconnected electrical components inside the IMA and input/output ports outside the IMA to allow connection of the IMA to external assemblies or components.
Electrical components inside the IMA typically consist of transistors, passive circuits, capacitors, chips and the like. These components when placed on the same IMA can interact with one another. This interaction is very undesirable for components which are operated at frequencies above approximately 10 Ghz. To prevent this undesirable interaction between components on the IMA, metallic isolation walls are typically provided on the IMA between electrical components.
One method used to fabricate an IMA with good metallic isolation walls is to machine individual cavities in a non-metallic block of material such as duroid in which to place the electronic chips. Isolation walls are added to the block by creating a plurality of vias around each chip and around each interconnection between chips. These vias are filled with a metallic substance, typically plated copper and/or silver filled epoxy, to create a metallic isolation wall. To obtain good isolation typically requires three isolation walls around each of the electrical components requiring a large amount of real estate on a IMA which limits the number of chips which can populate each IMA.
Another method used to fabricate an IMA with good isolation walls is to machine individual cavities in a metallic substrate, such as aluminum, to various depths. The individual components and chips are placed in the respective cavities such that the portion of the metallic substrate that surrounds each cavity provides electrical isolation between chips.
Although machining cavities on a metallic substrate provides good isolation walls, it is expensive and time consuming since each cavity has to be individually machined inhibiting fabrication of a large number of IMA's by a batch process technique. In addition, the machining cavities results in tolerance limitations which prevent such cavities from being produced with the close tolerances necessary to produce IMA's having repeatable microwave characteristics. Consequently, there is substrate-to-substrate variation of the microwave characteristics of such nominally identical substrates.
In addition to machining tolerances, the electrical chips themselves have fabrication tolerances which results in variations in the location of the chips and the height of the contact pads. If uncertain exists in the location of the electrical components and chips, the length of the interconnection between the chips is uncertain resulting in the inductance added by the interconnection being unknown and variable from substrate to substrate. Manual tuning is typically required to compensate for the unknown inductance created by fabrication and placement tolerances.
Manual tuning typically requires adding an additional tuning circuit to the IMA which takes up valuable space and requires time and expertise to tune the circuit for optimized performance. If an IMA can be fabricated to sufficiently accurate dimensions, known inductance will not be added to the IMA such that manual tuning would not be required.
One method used to more closely control the amount of inductance added to the IMA is to use a laminating process to interconnect the electrical components instead of using wire or ribbon bonding. For this method, a polyimide dielectric film is laminated across the top of the components and the substrate. Vias are laser drilled in the film to expose the contact pads on the electronic components to which it is desired to make contact. A metallization layer which is deposited over the polyimide film layer extends into the via holes and makes electrical contact to the contact pads disposed thereunder. This metallization layer is patterned to form various connections between components on the integrated microwave assembly. However, applying a polyimide dielectric film can cause damage to an IMA circuit since the lamination process involves the application of substantial pressure to the polyimide film which can damage, destroy or modify the performance of the chips and components underneath the polyimide dielectric film.
What is needed therefore, is a method to produce an IMA which provides good isolation between internal components, particularly at frequencies above approximately 10 Ghz, compact isolation walls, and accurate dimension such that after fabrication manual adjustment is not required. The method should not require a laminating process guarding against damage to the IMA. In addition, the method should provide for batch processing to lower the cost of each Integrated Microwave Assembly.

Method of making compact integrated microwave assembly system


A tube or pipe clamp has two clamp members that are pivotably connected to one another at respective hinge-forming ends thereof. The tube or pipe clamp has a locking device that includes a shaft and a locking element operatively attached to the shaft, the shaft being pivotably attached to one of the clamp members. The other clamp member has a pair of prongs defining a slot for receiving the shaft of the locking device, the locking element being engageable with the prongs to lock the clamp members to one another at ends thereof opposite the hinge-forming ends. The prongs each have at least one projection on a side facing away from the one clamp member. Each of the projections is disposed proximate the free end of the respective prong.

This invention relates to tube or pipe clamps.
Tube clamps are used extensively in industry to fixedly attached two adjacent tubes end to end in a flanged ferrule tube connection. The ferrules have angled (conical) surfaces. A tube clamp captures the ferrules and contacts them on the conical faces. By clamping the clamp diametrically, the contact on the angled surfaces causes a linear force component to squeeze the ferrules together in a direction that squeezes a gasket disposed between them.
Industry has various problems with this type of clamp, including loosening of the wing nuts, causing them to sometimes swing open.
Participants in the industry and industry standards-creating bodies have attempted to solve this problem by introduction of standard component configurations and new products. Products include metal-to-metal ferrules with fixed gasket space, various durometer gaskets, hard gaskets, gasket appendages to achieve fixed ferrule-to-ferrule distance, torque-limiting nuts and live load nuts.


The invention is a magnetic mounting apparatus for electronic devices used to film sports motion, personal content, and hands-free video and music streaming. The mounting apparatus includes a silicone coated threaded magnet, a clamp lined with a rubber mold, and an adjustable toggle latch locking clasp that allows attachment to rods or shafts of varying widths. The threaded magnet is of sufficient magnetic force to securely support the electronic device. Such electronic devices include and are not limited to smart phones, tablets, and cameras. A metal ferrous plate is attached to the electronic device with adhesive, thereby providing a secure magnetic connection between the mounting apparatus and electronic device.

Sports athletes practice to improve performance persistently. Particularly, golf is recognized as one of the most difficult and competitive sports. While there are many well-known methods and practices, the integration of technology and biomechanical data has become more prevalent in the sports industry to assist athletes in improving performance. Some methods include training with professionals and training alone with self-teaching tutorials. Working with professional trainers or instructors can be costly and practicing alone lacks the in-depth analysis to critical improvement observations. There is an inherent need to record, monitor, and analyze a player's performance, such as a golf swing, for improved results.
This invention is specifically for documenting golf swings. During training and practice, digital documentation is essential to reviewing and analyzing for progressive improvement. Electronic devices are often positioned at specific angles and orientations to optimize the field view.
There are many self-standing tripods and mounting apparatuses for documenting on an electronic device known in the market. However, tripods and mounting apparatuses can be large, heavy, unstable in the wind, and cumbersome to travel around with. In other cases, the mounting apparatuses are flimsy and difficult to attach and detach the electronic device onto the mounting apparatus. The electronic device is often secured to the mounting apparatus with a clamp mechanism or a threaded fastener.
The magnetic mounting system is directed to resolve and improve the problems of existing mounting apparatuses. Not only does this solve the issues related to photographing and filming, it provides hands-free viewing access to the electronic device. As streaming has become readily available, golfers and other athletes are able view their electronic device at a preferred angle whether they are streaming their favorite sports games or viewing data outputted by a golf simulator. The invention has a cradle free design that permits safe and easy one-handed device use.

Magnetic mounting apparatus for electronic devices


A sensor element for a thermal type flowmeter including a ceramic substrate, a thin film, resistor of platinum provided on the outer surface of the ceramic substrate and an outer protective layer of glass provided for protecting the resistor. The glass contains Na.sub.2 O and K.sub.2 O in a total amount of up to 3 mol %. The sensor element has a temperature coefficient of resistance approximate to the bulk value of platinum, and can be fabricated with little variation.

The present invention relates generally to a sensor element that is primarily used for a thermal type flowmeter for measuring the flow rates of fluids, especially a gas such as air, and more specifically relates to such a sensor element that is excellent in functional properties such as a temperature coefficient of resistance.
A thermal type flowmeter is designed to measure the flow rate of a fluid by making use of the fact that the quantity of heat which is taken away from an electrically heated, heat-generating resistor by a surrounding fluid is variable due to the flow rate of that fluid. A sensor element used for this thermal type flowmeter is broken down into two types, one being the above-mentioned heat-generating resistor and the other a resistor for sensing the temperature of a fluid.
These sensor elements are required to have a large yet stable temperature coefficient of resistance; a resistance value as low as 5 to 30 .OMEGA. for the heat-generating resistor; and a resistance value as high as 100 to 1,000 .OMEGA. for the temperature-measuring resistance. These sensor elements are also required to have a low heat capacity as and respond quickly to the flow rate and temperature of a fluid.
A known example of the sensor element is an alumina pipe of 0.5 mm in diameter and 2 mm in length, with a platinum wire of 20 .mu.m in diameter wound there around. While this temperature coefficient of resistance is stable at a high value close to the bulk value of platinum due to the use of the platinum wire, this resistance value is low due to some limitation on the diameter of the platinum wire.
In order to overcome the problem mentioned above, it has been proposed to use a spirally wound thin film of platinum as a sensor element. However, a problem with the thin film of platinum is that its temperature coefficient of resistance is not only low but deviates largely as well, because it is likely to be affected by its production process and impurities.
A primary object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a sensor element that has a resistance value capable of being increased, as desired, and a large yet stable temperature coefficient of resistance and can be easily fabricated.

Sensor element for a thermal type flowmeter


An active energy ray-curable resin composition, particularly an active energy ray-curable coating composition, both comprising:. (A) a resin having oxetane functional groups and epoxy groups in the molecule, and PA1 (B) a photo-induced cationic polymerization initiator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel active energy ray-curable resin composition.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Active energy ray-curable resin compositions having photo-induced cationic polymerizability have advantages, for example, in that their polymerization is not affected by oxygen. Therefore, they are finding a number of usages such as coating composition and the like. They, however, have a drawback in that their sensitivity to active energy ray to give rise to photo-induced cationic polymerization is inferior to the sensitivity of unsaturated groups to active energy ray to give rise to photo-induced radical polymerization.
In order to alleviate the drawback, it was attempted to use a resin having an oxetane group(s) as a crosslinking functional group. This attempt, however, is not satisfactory from the standpoint of photo-sensitivity.


A process and device for the manufacture of plastic fiber boards made of balls of expanded glass, expanded clay, pumice granules, mica, or a similar material and a foamed organic binder, such as epoxy resin, PU phenol resin, or the like. The binder is mixed with the balls, foamed, and hardened in a matrix space formed between two mold plates (1, 2) positioned at a distance one from the other. In order to obtain a particularly light but stable plastic fiber board, uniformly distributed recesses opening toward the internal sides of the plates are provided to contain the mixture located between the two mold plates during compression and before hardening. The device employed to implement the process includes two mold plates (1, 2), which are brought together in a press to compact the introduced therebetween. The inner surface of each mold plate (1, 2) is provided with a plurality of uniformly distributed, conical mold bodies (4, 5), whose cross-sections running parallel to the mold plate surface decreases in the direction of the other mold plate.

The invention relates to a process, and a device for implementing the process for the production of plastic fiber boards using balls of expanded glass, expanded clay, pumice granules, mica, or a similar material and a foamed organic binder such as epoxy resin, PU phenol resin, or the like, or an inorganic binder, which is mixed with the balls, foamed, and then hardened between two mold plates positioned from each other at a given distance while a matrix is formed.
In a process of this type known to the prior art (DE-OS 37 15 487) the expanded glass ball artificial resin mixture fills the entire space bordered by the level mold plate surfaces, with the exception of small air space between the expanded glass balls. The weight of such plastic fiber boards and the quantity of material needed for their production basically depends on the material compression achieved by pressure applied to the material before hardening. As cores of sandwich elements, plastic fiber boards of this type, in which the cover layers serve as tension elements, are highly stable and have a high load-bearing capacity.

Process and device for the production of plastic fiber boards


A transmission mechanism between at least one accessory and engine members for driving the rotor of a rotorcraft, the transmission therebetween being selectively either in isolation or in combination. An intermediate shaft is interposed between a main drive shaft for the rotor and a secondary drive shaft for the accessory, for driving the accessory from an engine member allocated to driving it. This intermediate shaft engages directly on the main shaft and meshes with an accessory drive gear via freewheels to enable the gear to be driven either by the engine member or from the main shaft in the position for combined drive together with the rotor, the rotor being driven by the other engine member or autorotation in the event of both engine members failing.

It is recalled that in the field of rotorcraft, in particular helicopters or the like, it is common practice to drive the rotor by means of a plurality of engine members, in particular by means of a pair of engines. It is also recalled that at least one of the engine members is also used to drive accessories of the rotorcraft, such as an alternator or a compressor, for example. At this stage of the description, it should be observed that the number and the kind of such accessories are not limiting on the scope of the present invention.
A general problem posed lies in the dual purpose of the engine members of the rotorcraft, i.e. both driving the rotor, and for at least one of them, also driving the accessories. This problem is made particularly difficult to solve in that it is common practice to drive the accessories independently of the rotor while the rotorcraft is on the ground, either while preparing to take off or while waiting, in particular. To this end, it is common practice for one of the engine members to be allocated to driving the accessories, while the connection between the rotor and the set of engine members is interrupted.
More precisely, the engine member for driving the accessories is in communication firstly with a main drive shaft for the rotor via a selective drive member, such as a positive clutch mechanism or the like, and secondly it is in communication with a secondary shaft for driving the accessories. These dispositions are such that when the selective drive member is moved, the engine member for driving the accessories can either drive the accessories alone, or else it can drive both the accessories and also the rotor.
In particular during a stage while the rotorcraft is being prepared, prior to setting the rotor into rotation, the connection between the engine member for the accessories and the main shaft is interrupted, with only the accessories being driven by this engine member. Thereafter, once this preparation stage has come to an end, the connection between the engine member for driving the accessories and the rotor is established via the selective drive member. Likewise, during a waiting period for the rotorcraft during which drive to the rotor is temporarily interrupted, the selective drive member must be moved to break the connection between the main shaft and the engine allocated to driving the accessories, while nevertheless continuing to drive the accessories.
Patents FR 2 140 107 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,782,223 disclose a device comprising a large number of parts that turns out to be complex, bulky, and relatively fragile.
At this stage in the description, it should be observed that it is also common practice to interpose rotary differential mechanisms between the engine members and the associated main shafts for driving the rotor, where said rotary differential mechanisms may be constituted in particular by freewheels or the like. These freewheels are even more important when the rotor presents significant inertia, and they serve to ensure that no harm is done due to a relative speed difference between the rotor and one or other of the main shafts for driving it in association with the corresponding engine member. Nevertheless, it is common practice to operate the selective drive member (clutch) that is interposed between the main drive shaft of the rotor and the engine member for driving the accessories, by moving it in an axial direction, and that making such an axial movement is made difficult or even impossible beyond an acceptable threshold of rotary speed difference between the rotor and the engine member allocated to driving the accessories.
To overcome this difficulty, it is common on passing from the position for driving the accessories alone to the position for driving both the accessories and the rotor, to wait for said speed difference threshold to be reached prior to moving the selective drive member and causing the rotor to be driven from both engine members. Conversely, while the rotor is being driven by both engine members, the selective drive member is moved axially, and then only the engine member for driving the accessories is maintained in operation. Since moving the selective drive member is made difficult because of the difference in speed of rotation between the engine members, in particular on going from the position for driving the accessories alone to the position for driving the accessories together with the rotor, it is commonly accepted that drive to the accessories needs to be interrupted momentarily until a sufficiently close match has been achieved between the drive speeds of the various rotary members relative to one another.
In use, it has been found that such a general organization for the transmission mechanism is not fully satisfactory, in particular because of the risk of losing accessory function during the period of waiting for the speeds to match, as mentioned above, and/or in the event of any of the engines breaking down. Interrupting drive to the accessories, even if only momentarily, is harmful since the accessories might include in particular an air conditioner or an alternator for powering memory members, so interrupting the alternator can have the consequence of losing information. Nevertheless, in particular compared with the drawback of undesirable extra weight, the practice in this field tends to ignore this lack of satisfaction.
This practice is particularly accepted given that operating constraints for accessories, and in particular for the alternator, require them to be driven in compliance with minimum and maximum speed thresholds, thereby tending to make the transmission mechanism structure significantly more complex and making it inconceivable to achieve a structure that would enable those thresholds to be guaranteed while driving accessories under all circumstances.

Transmission mechanism between accessories and engine members for driving the rotor of a rotorcraft


A comparator circuit of the present invention comprises first and second bipolar type transistors for amplification of the input and reference voltages and first to fourth MOS type transistors for comparison and latching of the amplified input and reference voltages according to the first driving signal and fifth and sixth MOS type transistors provided between the first/second bipolar transistors and the first to fourth MOS type transistors for turning on and off according to the second driving signal, all on a single stage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a comparator circuit to compare two input data and particularly relates to a comparator circuit embodied with a small number of elements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Comparator circuits are commonly used in electronic circuits including those for A/D converters. With recent progress of high definition TVs and other sophisticated devices, higher precision A/D converters are required, and comparator circuits are also desired to have higher precision.
FIG. 4 shows an example of a conventional comparator circuit. This circuit was given in IEEE Journal of Solid-state Circuits (Vol. 3, No. 6, December 1988, Page 1346).
Referring to FIG. 4, this comparator circuit has a two-stage configuration with a differential pre-amplifier on the front stage and a comparison/latch circuit on the rear stage. At the differential pre-amplifier on the front stage, input voltage V.sub.IN and reference voltage V.sub.ref are, via an input buffer, input to the bases of the first and second NPN transistors Q1 and Q2, which constitute a differential pair so that the potential difference (V.sub.IN -V.sub.ref ) is amplified.
The amplified signal is input to the comparison/latch circuit on the rear stage. The input signal is, via an input buffer, input to the bases of the third and fourth NPN transistors Q3 and Q4, which constitute another differential pair. When the comparator driving signal .phi. is at the logical level "H", the input and the reference voltages are compared. If V.sub.IN is larger than V.sub.ref, the output Q.sub.N becomes "H" and the output Q.sub.R becomes "L". Then, when the comparator driving signal .phi. becomes "L", the latch signal (inverse of the signal .phi.) changes from "L" to "H" and keeps the same output.
The comparator circuit of FIG. 4 comprises 22 NPN transistors and 12 resistors. The number of comparator circuits needed for a parallel type A/D converter with N bits is 2.sup.N -1. If N=10, 1023 comparator circuits are needed. In other words, the higher the resolution improves, the larger the required number of comparator circuits becomes.
When a large number of comparators are needed for a higher resolution, conventional comparator circuits with many elements as described above involve drawbacks of large chip size and increased current consumption.


A video segment on a preselected subject is captured by recognizing a graphic associating the video segment with the subject and capturing the video segment upon such recognition. In an embodiment, one or more graphics to be recognized are pre-identified.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of video capturing and more particularly to capturing video segments associated with a preselected subject.
2. Background of the Related Art
General video capturing techniques, and the hardware and software necessary for implementing the techniques, are relatively well-known and developed. Less developed are techniques and associated hardware and software for capturing specific segments of video concerning or associated with a particular defined subject. For example, it might be desirable to capture all video carried over one or more channels which concerns or is associated with a current event, such as a war or criminal trial. In other instances, it might be desirable to capture all video concerning a particular person, such as a United States president or famous sports figure. Certain experiments have been conducted using image recognition software for identifying particular, preselected images in video which relate to or depict a certain subject for capture. Currently, image recognition technology is expensive and does not provide sufficient accuracy to ensure that all or at least a large percentage of video segments on or associated with a particular subject will be recognized for capture. Furthermore, it is not always certain that a particular searched-for image will appear in every video segment on or associated with a preselected subject. For example, not every video segment on or associated with the president of the United States includes the president's image.
Audio recognition technology also can be used for video capture, e.g. by searching for the speech of a certain person or person(s) and recording the associated video (and, of course the recognized audio). Audio recognition technology, when used for video capture, has faults similar to those of video recognition technology used for video capture: It is expensive and not sufficiently accurate for the purpose.
Certain broadcasters have employed editors who review video and manually index the video segments which comprise the video according to the subject matter to which the segments pertain. Video segments on selected subjects are thus easily located at a later time. This technique generally is accurate but obviously is labor intensive and therefore inefficient.

Video capturing using on-screen graphics


A method for producing a sandwich-type panel with structural and acoustic properties and formed of a core with an open cellular structure. The method includes the steps of forming first and second skins by superimposing and hot-pressing at least two fabric plies of mineral or synthetic fibers impregnated with a thermoplastic resin, of forming in one of the skins perforations with a diameter of between about 0.5 and 1.5 mm, with a vacuum proportion of empty spaces on the surface of the skin of between about 10 and 25%, of after preparation of the skins applying on one face of the skins an epoxy adhesive coating, of forming a sandwich including the open cellular structure with the two skins on its opposing faces, and then of hot-pressing the sandwich at an appropriate temperature so as to polymerize the adhesive. During hot-pressing the pressure and duration are set so as to avoid any full or partial obstruction of the perforations of the perforated skin.

Although the following description concerns its application for forming in particular, plane fuselage bulkheads, the invention clearly can be used in any other field where it is necessary or desirable to use slightly lightened sandwich type structures having good mechanical resistance and acoustic properties.
It is known that turboprop aircraft can pose sound insulation problems in the internal cockpit, especially regarding noises and vibrations generated by engines, propellers, aerodynamic noises, etc . . . .
Up until now, the problem of sound insulation has not been satisfactorily resolved, especially regarding the passenger cabin relative to the cargo portion and the specific purpose of the invention is to provide a new type of panel suitable for making bulkheads for passenger cabins.
These bulkheads need to be structural elements, that is, able to bear loads or stresses. The loads or stresses of bulkheads may be extremely significant. In fact, they must contain the luggage in the load bay should the aircraft be forced to make a crash-landing, or resist any abrupt depressurization of the cabin or load bay.
In addition, these bulkheads on the load bay side need to be aesthetic, that is, be decorated so as to match the rest of the cabin.
Currently, there are no panels available satisfying the usual constraints as regards lightness and fire-resistance, but also the above-mentioned various requirements.
The structural panels intended to reduce the effects of a crash-landing do not have any noise-deadening properties.
Moreover, there are sandwich type panels formed of a honeycomb core flanked on one side with a perforated metallic sheet and on the other side with a non-perforated metallic sheet used for their sound-reduction properties, for example as coverings at certain locations of the pod of a turbo-propeller so as to absorb, at least partially, the sound energy of high speed gas flows.
However, these structures have been revealed to lack solidity when it is desired to use them in severe environments for attenuating noise and preserving structural integrity.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,166,149 concerns panels of the type mentioned above but more sophisticated as regards the nature of the composite perforation covering mounted on one of the faces of the honeycomb core. This covering is firstly made of a glass fibre lattice preimpregnated with polymerized resin to stiffen the lattice before being bonded to one of the faces of the honeycomb. A sheet made of a porous material is then bonded to the outer face of the lattice, said sheet being covered with a thin decorative perforated and possibly movable covering, said covering not directly concerned with stiffening the unit. If the panel of U.S. Pat. No. 3,166,149 is considered as being able to be used as bulkheads, its structural rigidity and resistance are nevertheless inadequate to resist significant forces, such as those occurring during a crash-landing.
In addition, the materials generally used to form the honeycomb core and the non-perforated covering, namely an aluminum strip and an aluminum sheet respectively, result in composite structures possessing excessive surface mass.

Method for producing a panel or the like with structural and acoustic properties and panel obtained by said method

Aerospatiale Societe Nationale Industrielle


The structure of the hanger mount for a shower room includes a wall mount, base and hanger connector. There is a rotatable bolt seat that can be placed on the external end of the protruding bar on the wall mount pivotally, and a groove is placed on one side of the rotatable bolt seat. The through opening on the external end of the base is for the rotatable bolt seat to go through the external surface of the base, and a protruding block is placed on one side of the through opening that can be connected to the grooves of the rotatable bolt seat, driving the base and the rotatable bolt seat. A screw hole can be screwed in with the rotatable bolt seat, having a perfect look without holes and simplifying the structure so that assembling is more convenient and practical.

The conventional structures of a shower mount are mostly positioned by screws and pins, as seen in FIGS. 4 and 5 and disclosed in Taiwan Patent No. 399686 for structure thereof. This conventional structure usually causes the hanger mount for the shower to show the head of the screws and the holes for the screws on one side, which affects the look and value of the product tremendously. In terms of assembling, it is not convenient because it must rely on hand tools.
Thus, to overcome the aforementioned problems of the prior art, it would be an advancement in the rt to provide an improved structure that can significantly improve the efficacy of the device.
To this end, the inventor has provided the present invention of practicability after deliberate design and evaluation based on years of experience in the production, development and design of related products.


The present invention provides a system and method for reliably transferring Dual Tone Multiple Frequency (DTMF) signals originating at a MS through an IP based GSM network. In general, when a MS sends a DTMF request, it is processed in the IP network by a logical application module in a MSC, which, based on the disclosed processing, activates another logical application module in an appropriate gateway (for independent, remote, tone generation), and then the logical application module in the gateway directs the production of the DTMF signal towards the interworking or destination network.

The invention relates generally to telecommunications and more particularly to a system and method of sending Dual Tone Multiple Frequency (DTMF) tones through a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network having an Internet Protocol (IP) based backbone transport network.
Dual Tone Multiple Frequency (DTMF) tones are used to allow a telephone network user to, for example, interact with voice mail systems, to perform electronic banking, or to direct the functioning of an Advanced Intelligence Network (AIN) service. Traditionally, in a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), DTMF tones are generated by the terminal (hand set). However, in GSM, if DTMF tones were transmitted from a Mobile Station (MS) handset, the DTMF signals would be mutilated by the GSM voice transcoder, and could not pass recognizably through the network. Thus, for a MS in a GSM network to send DTMF tones, a tone generation request message (rather than the actual tone) is sent from the MS to a Mobile Switching Center (MSC). The tones are then typically generated by the MSC and sent to a destination device.
Networks utilizing Internet Protocols (IP) are readily available, offer defined system interface protocols, and have the ability to reliably transmit voice data. IP-based transport networks may also simultaneously support the transport of other data types, such as Internet traffic or voice over IP (VolP) traffic for wireline networks. IP transport networks typically have lower capital costs, lower recurring costs, and lower tariffs than traditional circuit-switched networks. Accordingly, IP networks may soon be used as a communications backbone suitable for providing a platform to carry GSM network traffic, thus providing the same functionality as a circuit-switched network at lower cost. The benefits provided by the IP network, however, comes at a cost.
Since the voice data is being carried through an IP network, the circuit-switched devices in the MSC are no longer operable. Therefore, the MSC cannot directly insert DTMF tones on request from the MS. Therefore, there does not exist a reliable system or method of transferring a DTMF tone through an IP based GSM network. Therefore, there exists the need for a system and method of sending DTMF tones reliably through a GSM based telecommunications network that uses an IP network as a backbone.
The present invention provides a system and method for reliably transferring DTMF tones through an IP based GSM network. In general, when a MS sends a DTMF request (typically a DTAP message called xe2x80x9cStart DTMFxe2x80x9d), it is processed in the IP network by an MSC. The MSC activates an internal software module and an appropriate gateway (for independent, remote, tone generation), and then a processor in the gateway directs the production of the DTMF signal towards the destination network or MS.
According to one aspect of the present invention, provided is a system for sending DTMF tones through an IP based GSM network. The system generally comprises a mobile switching center having a first logical application module which receives a Direct Transfer Application Part (DTAP) message and converts the DTAP message into a Device Control Message (DCM). The system also contains a gateway coupled to the mobile switching center and the IP transport network, and which has a second logical application module that directs the generation of the tone.
The system may provide the capacity for the first logical application module to process the DTAP message and send a corresponding device control message to the second logical application module. In addition, the second logical application module may send a failure message to the first logical application module when tone generation is not possible to attempt or the attempt fails (e.g. congestion in tone-generating equipment). The second logical application module may also select the tone generation method and direct the creation and routing of the tone to the interworking or destination communication system. The gateway of the system may be in communication with a PSTN, an IP network, or another MS.
The method of supporting DTMF tone sending in an IP based GSM network utilizes the steps of receiving a DTAP command from a GSM MS, converting the DTAP command at the MSC into a device control message to the gateway, instructing a tone generator to generate a tone, and sending the tone to the interworking communication system. The interworking communication system utilized in this method could be a PSTN or other circuit-switched network.
Likewise, another method of supporting DTMF tone sending in a IP based GSM network utilizes the steps of receiving a DTAP command from a GSM MS, converting the DTAP command at the MSC into a device control message to the gateway, and selecting a tone generator method compatible with the interworking IP network. The tone generator method could comprise the steps of ordering a tone generator to generate a tone delivered as voice payload to the interworking IP network. The voice payload may be in the form of UDP, RTP, or other standard IP-based payload format, in accordance with the voice payload format of the interworking IP network. Alternatively, the tone generator method could comprise the step of converting the device control message to an IP telephony control message that is routed to the interworking IP network""s control node (e.g. an H.323 Gatekeeper) for this call.
Alternatively, another method of supporting DTMF tone sending in an IP based GSM network could comprise the steps of receiving a DTAP command from a GSM MS, converting the DTAP command at the MSC into a device control message to the gateway, ordering a tone generator to generate a DTMF tone, and delivering the DTMF tone from the tone generator to a destination GSM MS.

System and method for supporting DTMF tone sending in an IP based GSM network


A container having a pouring spout for pouring oil into an engine (14). The container has a cap (24) which is screwed onto a neck portion (16) of the container. The cap (24) has radial ribs (32) tapering toward the cap bottom (28). The end of the neck portion (20) has a reduced diameter and is aligned with a breakable portion (28a) formed in the cap bottom. In use, the container is inserted in an inverted position so that the spout attends into an inlet opening (11) of the engine. Radial ribs (32) are wedged in the inlet opening by applying an axial force to the container body (10), and the body is then rotated with respect to the immovable cap (24). As a result of this rotation, the reduced-diameter portion (20) of the container neck moves axially toward the breakable portion (28a) until the portion (20) breaks it, thus opening the container and allowing the oil to flow into the engine oil tank (14). Provision of ribs (32) forms air gaps (34) between the outer surface of the cap (24) and the inlet opening (11). This accelerates outflow of the oil. A part of the breakable portion (28a) remains with an increased thickness, so that the broken portion does not fall into the oil tank of the engine but remains connected to the container. The oil filling operation is clean, and the used container can be conveniently discarded as a single unit. In the second embodiment, a cap (24a) is snapped on a neck portion of the container, and the axial displacement of a container body (10a), which breaks a bottom portion (29), is performed manually, i.e., without the use of threads.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to containers for liquid material, particularly, to containers with pouring spouts for dispensing liquids from the container in an inverted position into a receiving tank.
2. Description of Prior Art
The efficient delivery of oil to the inlet of a vehicle's engine is difficult to achieve in practice, in view of the complexity of automobile engines which often have poorly-accesible oil inlets. Thus, it is difficult to avoid spilling or dripping of oil onto adjacent engine parts and the ground; this mars engines' appearance and contaminates the environment.
Most often the engine's oil sump is filled with oil by using an oil container with a removable threaded cover. The oil is poured into the engine through an oil-filling port directly or via a funnel. A user holds the funnel in one hand and the oil container in another hand. Because of its high viscosity and the need to let air into the container, the oil flows slowly and in spurts. Since the funnel blocks the flow of air to the oil tank, the user often raises the funnel to form an air gap between the funnel and the oil inlet hole of the engine.
Upon completion of the oil pouring operation, three dirty, oily parts remain, i.e., a funnel which has to be kept in the car trunk, an empty oil container, and a threaded cover. The funnel must be cleaned and wiped, while the container and its cover must be discarded.
The pouring operation described above is inconvenient, requires two-hands, leaves the user with dirty hands, causes splashing of oil, and is disadvantageous from the environmental point of view.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,655, issued December 1990 to D. Gallucci, describes a pouring spout which is screwed onto a threaded neck of an oil container for pouring in an inverted position. The spout has a tubular shape, one end of which is connected to the oil container and the other of which has a dispensing opening and a closure sleeve. The closure sleeve is slidingly moveable between a first position, in which the dispensing opening is blocked, and a second position, in which the dispensing opening is open.
Since the closure sleeve is slidingly fitted onto the tube, the connection between the closure sleeve and the tube is not sealed against leakage of oil.
The assembly of a container with the pouring spout consists of three separate parts, i.e., the container, the tubular portion, and the closure sleeve. The pouring spout is complicated in structure, expensive to manufacture, and the presence of a long tubular portion increases the length of the spout as a whole.
The same patent discloses another embodiment in which the closure sleeve and the tube have a bayonet joint in the form of a pin, pressed into the tube, and an angular slot, formed in the closure sleeve. This embodiment requires an additional assembly operation of pressing the pin into the tube.

Container having a self-opening pouring spout


This invention provides a storage medium on which there is stored a cell library to design a semiconductor integrated circuit to satisfy low power consumption and high speed operation and a design method using the cell library. The cell library is registered with at least two kinds of cells which are different in delay and power consumption while having the same function and the same shape. To satisfy the specification of the semiconductor integrated circuit, one cell is selected from at least two kinds of cells of the cell library.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit device, particularly to a semiconductor integrated circuit device suitable for a high speed and low voltage operation, and a storage medium on which a cell library is stored.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are widely used MOSFETs each having features of a high integration density and low consumption power, in semiconductor integrated circuit devices currently fabricated. A MOSFET has a threshold voltage by which ON-OFF characteristics of the FET are determined. In order to increase a drive ability and improve an operating speed in a circuit, there is a need for setting a threshold voltage to a low value.
However, when a threshold voltage is set to an excessively low value, there arise problems that an MOSFET cannot perfectly be turned off due to subthreshold characteristics (tailing characteristics) of the MOSFET, a subthreshold current (hereinafter "leakage current" is used) is increased and thereby consumption power is very large, as described in 1993 Symposium on VLSI Circuits Digest of Technical Papers, pp. 45–46 (May) 1993.
Generally, in order to increase a threshold voltage of a MOSFET, there have been employed methods in which a thicker gate oxide film is adopted or a higher impurity density is provided undera gate oxide film. In other words, in designing a semiconductor integrated circuit device which is constructed of MOSFETs, a desired operating frequency and consumption power are first considered and a threshold voltage is then determined, which is finally followed by determination of process conditions in semiconductor fabrication.
MOSFETs in a semiconductor integrated circuit device generally have a constant threshold voltage. According to an invention made in recent years, however, there has been proposed a semiconductor integrated circuit in which a substrate bias voltage is changed according to an operating state, standby or active, and thereby a threshold voltage of a MOSFET is controlled, as described in IEEE International Solid State Circuits Conference Digest of Technical Papers, pp. 166–167, 1996.
According to the published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 8-274620, there has been proposed a technique that in the case where a semiconductor circuit is constructed with a plurality of functional blocks, a substrate bias voltage is independently selected in each functional block and a MOSFET with a low threshold voltage is provided in a block in whose operation a high speed is important, while a MOSFET with a high threshold voltage is provided in a block in whose operation a high speed is not important.
There has been a further proposal in IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuit, Vol. 30, No. 8, pp. 847–854, August 1995 that a power source supply line and a pseudo-power source supply line are provided in a circuit and a switching MOSFET is disposed therebetween, wherein a main circuit is supplied with a source voltage from the pseudo-power source supply line and in a standby state, the main circuit is not supplied with the source voltage by turning off the switching MOSFET, so that low consumption power is realized. In the article, there has also been proposed that the switching MOSFET has a higher threshold voltage as compared with MOSTETs constituting the main circuit in order that the switching MOSFET is kept the ON state in the active operating condition, while acting no switching.
As described above, there has been proposed in the prior art that a threshold voltage of a MOSFET is controlled by changing a substrate bias voltage according to operating states, standby or active; or a substrate bias voltage is independently selected in each functional block and a MOSFET with a low threshold voltage is provided in a block in whose operation a high speed is important, while a MOSFET with a high threshold voltage is provided in a block in whose operation a high speed is not important.
Besides, there has been proposed in the prior art that a high threshold voltage is used in a specific MOSFET for which a switching speed is not required in an operation. However, in the method that threshold voltages of MOSFETs are uniformly increased in a standby state and those are again uniformly decreased in an active operating state, increase in consumption power due to leakage current cannot be avoided in order to secure a high speed operation in the active operating state. Besides, the inventors of the present invention has discovered through a study conducted by them that there is actually present a case where a necessary operating speed is different in a different logic gate among logic gates even in the same functional block.
FIG. 11 shows a frequency distribution of delays in paths between flip-flops in a semiconductor integrated circuit operated at 100 MHz. The abscissa is used for plotting values of delays in paths and the ordinate is assigned to values of the number of paths respectively corresponding to the delay values. In order to operate at 100 MHz, a frequency distribution of delay values in the entire paths is necessary to be confined within a range less than a delay value of 10 nsec like the frequency distribution (1) shown in the figure. When an operating speed of the semiconductor integrated circuit is operated at 125 MHz, the entire paths has to fall in a frequency distribution less than a delay value of 8 nsec. To match such a condition, according to the prior art, there was two choices; one is to change process conditions and the other is to uniformly lower threshold voltages of MOSFETs constituting a circuit by changing a substrate bias source.
As a result, for example, a distribution of delay values is changed like the frequency distribution (2) of FIG. 11. In this case, however, consumption power by a leakage current is increased and there arises a risk that a required condition posed on consumption power is not met. Besides, in the case where consumption power is required to be further reduced, according to the prior art, there was again two choices; one is to change a process condition and the other is to uniformly increase threshold voltages of MOSFETs constituting a circuit by changing a substrate bias source. As a result, a distribution of delay values is changed like the frequency distribution (3), for example. That is, an operating speed is lowered and thereby 100 MHz cannot be realized.
Consequently, a compromise must be accepted determining whether an operating speed is attached with a grater importance or lower power consumption is chosen with priority.

Semiconductor integrated circuit device, storage medium on which cell library is stored and designing method for semiconductor integrated circuit


A computerized method of providing and allowing secure selective sharing of account information between users of an Internet information aggregation system. A grantor user creates one or more view pages, each of the view pages having a plurality of monitors therein. A unique visitation access code is assigned to each of a plurality of grantee users of the system. The grantor uses the visitation access codes to selectively grant visitation access to the grantor's view pages to selected grantees. When a grantee logs onto the Internet information aggregation system via a processor, such as a computer or a mobile device, the system allows the grantee user to select one of the grantors' view pages, whereupon the system displays the selected grantor's view page on the grantee user's display.

In the past year or so, a small number of Internet service providers have begun to provide certain information aggregation services. In the Internet context, information aggregation refers to the process of gathering data and other information from selected web sites and displaying the data on users' personal computers (PC's) and wireless devices. Although the development of Internet information aggregation systems is still in its infancy, the number of service providers offering information aggregation services is beginning to grow.
A successful information aggregation system must overcome a number of difficulties associated with operating in an Internet environment. Such difficulties include: accessing and retrieving data from a variety of diverse web-sites; accessing and retrieving secure data from a variety of secure web-sites; updating data on a timely basis; displaying data in a useful and user friendly format; maintaining the confidentiality of client data through encryption and decryption; organizing and maintaining large amounts of data; accurately and rapidly retrieving stored data; and updating and maintaining user account information.
A key feature of information aggregation systems is the ability to carry out Programmatic Data Extraction ("PDE"). In the context of Internet information aggregation systems, PDE refers to a process by which a host information aggregation server mimics the login characteristics of a client and, once logged onto an institute or web site, picks up needed information from the institute or web site. In essence, the host server makes institutes/web-sites believe that the host server is the client, thus enabling the host server to retrieve the client's secure data. The host server can then display the secure data for the user in the host server's information aggregation system.
Existing Internet information aggregation systems do not provide a function that permits online interactive sharing of financial and non-financial account information (emails, rewards etc.) as well as other personal information (like personal profile, medical records etc.) among users of the system. On existing systems, a user located in one location who has aggregated certain information ("grantor") is unable to assign the right to other users ("grantees") to view his or her personal information on grantee's computer. Likewise, a grantee located in one location is unable to view the grantor's information on his or her computer. The ability to selectively and easily share online aggregated personal information securely would significantly expand the uses and functionality of Internet information aggregations systems. However, in order to preserve the security of account information, the account sharing system must implement sufficient security measures. For example, grantors and grantees should not be required to disclose their login IDs and passwords to one another in order to share account information. The information should not be emailed or sent out unsecurely to each other. Additionally, the account sharing system should preferably be easy to use. For example, a grantor should be able to readily assign or revoke sharing privileges to his or her grantees. The grantor and grantees should also preferably be able to access shared information through various media like the Internet, mobile phones, PDA and other wireless handheld devices.
Internet based email and other messaging services, which allow users to exchange messages in real time, have become very common. E.g. MSN Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger. But these messages are not secure and can be easily intercepted by third parties, without the sender and recipient being aware of the interception. The availability of a messaging system that can be used to exchange messages securely between two or more users can resolve this problem. Through the new mechanism described herein, users will be able to send messages securely to selected recipients.
Multi-column layouts for displaying information and data have been around for many years. For example, newspapers typically use a three-column layout. Multi-column layouts are also used in data tables and in accounting systems. Web pages of Internet web sites frequently employ multi column layouts in a fixed format. See e.g. www.cnn.com. However, up to now, such web sites have not provided a simple means for altering the location and appearance of the information contained in the three-column layout to each user. Additionally, no one other than applicant has employed a multi column (e.g. three column) display layout in an Internet information aggregation system (for an example of applicant's three column layout. See FIG. 2 or visit www.umonitor.com). Applicant's system allows users to design various views with multi column layouts to create sets of information that can be shared with other users.
The applicant is a leading developer of information aggregation software, and has pioneered many of the innovations that are presently appearing on the Internet information aggregation market. The inventors have identified various problems associated with information aggregation systems, and have invented a system that is easy to read, use, and modify. There is thus a need for an information aggregation system having the following described characteristics and advantages over the prior art.

Secure selective sharing of account information on an internet information aggregation system


A process to increase the amount of resistant starch in a starch product to at least about 15% resistant starch using a high amylose starch, such as HYLON V or HYLON VII, as the starting starch, consists essentially of the steps of gelatinizing a starch slurry, enzymatically debranching the starch, and isolating the starch product by extrusion or drying. A further increase is obtained by the addition of an inorganic salt to the debranched starch before isolation.

This invention relates to a process for the manufacture of a starch product containing at least about 15% amylase resistant starch from a starch that contains at least 40% amylose.
Starch, a complex carbohydrate, is composed of two types of polysaccharide molecules: amylose, a mostly linear and flexible polymer of D-anhydroglucose units that are linked by alpha-1,4-D-glucosidic bonds, and amylopectin, a branched polymer of amylose chains that are linked by alpha-1,6-D-glucosidic bonds. Starch is digested predominantly in the small intestine by the enzyme alpha-amylase. Alpha-amylase hydrolyzes alpha-1,4-glycosidic bonds, and therefore hydrolyzes the amylose fraction of starch almost completely to simple sugars. Alpha-amylase does not hydrolyze the alpha-1,6-D-glucosidic linkages, resulting in less complete hydrolysis of the amylopectin fraction.
It is known that certain starch processing operations result in the transformation of starch into starch that is resistant to amylase, known simply as resistant starch. Resistant starch is not digested by amylases in the small intestine, but passes into the large intestine where, research literature indicates, it behaves with properties similar to soluble and insoluble dietary fiber. Resistant starch, thus, has reduced caloric value because it resists digestion, and it is likely to be a factor in the prevention of diverticulosis and colon cancer and lowering blood cholesterol levels.
It is generally believed that resistant starch is formed when the amylose fraction of starch is retrograded or recrystallized after the gelatinization of starch. The theory is that the flexible linear amylose molecules align themselves after gelatinization into tight linear configurations that can form helices or spheres making many of the alpha-1,4-glucosidic linkages inaccessible to alpha-amylase. Normally, as described in the literature, the process for the formation of resistant starch by retrogradation is cumbersome involving the initial gelatinization and then the cooling of starch, frequently with repeated cycles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,051,271 issued on Sep. 24 1991 to Iyengar, et al. discloses a process for preparing a food grade, insoluble bulking agent from starch involving a retrogradation followed by enzymatic or chemical hydrolysis. To prepare the insoluble bulking agent the starting starch first is dispersed in an aqueous medium and then subjected to extended incubation at temperatures down to 4.degree. C. This step is stated to transform the starch structure to double-helical crystalline regions interspersed with amorphous regions. The reference states that since the retrogradation of amylose is retarded by the presence of amylopectin in the starch, the process can be accelerated by enzymatic conversion of amylopectin to amylose prior to retrogradation by the use of debranching enzymes, such as pullulanase or isoamylase, or by partial hydrolysis with alpha-amylase. The retrograded starch is then subjected to enzymatic or acid hydrolysis to eliminate the amorphous regions and to produce a starch that is essentially free of amorphous regions and that contains at least 90% crystalline material.
This and other reported methods for preparing resistant starch call for cycles of heating and cooling, or isolation of the resistant starch by removing non-resistant materials through enzyme or chemical hydrolysis. These methods are tedious and commercially impracticable and the need remains for a commercially feasible process.

Process for making amylase resistant starch from high amylose starch

National Starch and Chemical Investment Holding Corporation


A self locking enclosure and method of self locking an enclosure which provides an enclosure having a hingedly coupled lid which locks by operation of a latch which allows a first occurrence of the lid in the closed condition and subsequent operation of the lid to the open condition and which locks upon the second occurrence of the lid in the closed condition.

A self locking enclosure and method of self locking an enclosure which provides an enclosure having a hingedly coupled lid which locks by operation of a latch which allows a first occurrence of the lid in the closed condition and subsequent operation of the lid to the open condition and which locks upon the second occurrence of the lid in the closed condition.
A variety of conventional lock boxes allow a locked access panel to be opened for placement of objects inside the lock box. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 975,455; 1,110,779; or 1,219,360. The lock box is subsequently unlocked and the object placed inside the lock box retrieved by the recipient of the object.
A significant problem with conventional lock boxes can be that the lock box must be unlocked to place the object in the lock box for delivery. This necessitates the person placing the object in the box to have possession of a key, code, combination, signal element, or other information which allows the locked panel to be unlocked for placement of the object in the lock box. One solution to this problem has been the use of a post office boxes or residential lock boxes to which the postal service employee has a form of access means. However, with the increased use of mail order or electronic sales (for example over the Internet) and the increased use of commercial carriers to deliver parcels to residences, many parcels are left in front of the residence outside of any secured area or in an unsecured enclosure.
Despite advances in the art of locked boxes in which objects can be placed, there remains a need for novel embodiments of lockable enclosures which can be opened without having possession of unlocking elements or means to unlock an access panel such as a key, combination, code, signal, or the like to allow placement of an object(s) within the lockable enclosure and then upon subsequent closure self lock.


Disclosed is a non-volatile semiconductor memory device and the manufacturing method thereof. The non-volatile semiconductor memory device comprising a semiconductor substrate, and a group of gates electrically isolated from each other and formed on the semiconductor substrate, wherein the group of gates comprises a floating gate formed with a first conductive layer, a control gate formed with a second conductive layer laminated on the floating gate and select gates formed with the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer/formed on both the opposite side of the floating gate and the control gate and with an interposing impurity diffusion region formed on the semiconductor substrate, and wherein the select gates formed with the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer forms contacts on a field oxidation layer, thereby being connected with each other. The gate of the select transistor is formed as a first conductive layer by a self-aligned etching process and a butted contact process. Meanwhile, prior to forming a tunnel oxidized film, a buried n.sup.- layer is formed on a tunnel region pattern so as to be self-aligned, thereby reducing a distance between the select transistor and the storage transistor to within photolithographic processing limits so as to realize the high-integration of the EEPROM.

The present invention relates to a non-volatile semiconductor memory device and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly, to a non-volatile semiconductor memory device having a selective transistor having a butted contact structure and a manufacturing method thereof.
In data processing systems, the information storage apparatus is of much significance. The semiconductor memory devices are classified into a volatile memory device which loses the contents of the memory if power is not supplied and a non-volatile memory device which holds the contents even without a supplied power. However, non-volatile memory devices have limited application because its contents cannot be easily altered, as well as having other operational difficulties.
However, non-volatile memory devices adopting a MOS floating-gate structure have been widely used. Such devices utilize floating gates made of conductive material which is electrically isolated from the semiconductor substrate. Here, since the gate is capacitively coupled with the semiconductor substrate, it forms a MOS transistor for sensing the charged state of the floating gate. The MOS transistor is in either a conduction state ("ON") or a non-conduction state ("OFF") according to the presence or absence of floating gate charges, so as to store logic bits "1" or "0". As the mechanism for applying such charges to the floating gate, and their removal, hot electrons produced by avalanche breakdown and tunnelling effects have been used.
Among such non-volatile semiconductor memory devices, demand has increased for electrically erasable & programmable read only memories (EEPROMs) which electrically store and erase the data.
The structure of the conventional EEPROM cell, as disclosed in "ISSCC 82, National Semiconductor" (page 108, 1982) and "IEEE Electron Devices" (page 1178, 1982) is described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. Here, FIG. 1 shows a planar structure of the cell and FIG. 2 shows a vertical structure of the cell.
The cell of the EEPROM in which two transistors form a single cell (shown as a dotted line in FIG. 1). comprises a select transistor 3 which is used for selecting the cell and a storage transistor 4 which plays the roll of storing electrons in a floating gate. As shown in FIG. 2, in the cell structure of the conventional EEPROM, the gate of the select transistor is formed as a second conductive layer for forming a control gate which is formed on the floating gate of the storage transistor composed of a first conductive layer. Also, a buried N.sup.+ layer 5 is formed below a tunnel oxidation film 2 which causes tunnelling to occur when the programmed data is erased.
Operation of the EEPROM cell formed as above is described below with reference to an equivalent circuit diagram of the cell shown in FIG. 3.
When the programming of the cell is erased, a high voltage of 15 V to 20 V is applied to a control gate C/G of storage transistor 4, and a proper voltage is applied to a select gate S/G of select transistor 3. By doing so, if a bit line voltage of 0 V is applied to the buried N.sup.+ region, the electrons are charged in the floating gate by means of tunnelling electrons resulting from the strong electric field between the floating gate and the buried N.sup.+ region.
Cell programming is performed as a result of the tunnelling of the electrons of the floating gate due to high voltage applied to the buried N.sup.+ region by applying 0 V to control gate C/G and applying a high voltage of 10 V to 20 V to the bit line and select gate S/G of the select transistor.
By repeating an operation such as that described above, the cell in which data is programmed or erased is read by a sensing amplifier for sensing the current passing through the bit line according to the presence or absence of the electrons in the floating gate, with 1-3 V applied to the bit line, Vcc supplied to the select gate and 2-3 V applied to the control gate.
As described above, for EEPROM cell programming, since high voltage is applied to the bit line, two transistors constitute a single cell and a tunnelling region is required, the application of such cells is difficult in high integration density. Here, the limitation of cell integration is primarily due to the tunnelling region being formed inside the floating gate. Another limiting factor is that the buried N.sup.+ region must be formed so as to match the tunnelling region. Since the gate of the select transistor is formed of the second conductive layer, the floating gate of the storage transistor is formed of the first conductive layer. Thereafter, when the gate of the select transistor and the control gate of the storage transistor are formed of the second conductive layer, the etching process of the second conductive layer should be taken into consideration. Accordingly, the distance between the select transistor and the storage transistor increases beyond the photolithography limitations, which also leads to difficulty in realizing high integration. Also, the floating gate formed of the first conductive layer is misaligned with the control gate formed of the second conductive layer.

Non-volatile semiconductor memory device and manufacturing method thereof


The lift chair has a base frame, an extendable/retractable chair occupant positioning apparatus attached to the base frame, a reversible D.C. motor for extension and retraction of the chair occupant positioning apparatus relative to the base frame. A control means is connected to the D.C. motor for actuation of the chair occupant positioning device. A power supply is connected to the control means for motor control. A chair occupant carriage is supported by the base frame. The carriage has a seat and a back portion.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to lift chairs for use by elderly, disabled and infirm persons. The lift chair reclines from a normal, upright, seated position to a position in which the chair back has reclined and a leg support platform has moved from vertical to horizontal to provide support for the reclining occupant's leg. The lift chair can be returned from the reclining position to an upright position whereupon the lift chair can be actuated through a continuous range of motion to lift and pitch forward thereby assisting the chair occupant in arising from the chair.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,138,402 discloses an invalid chair having a pivotally mounted seat or cushion portion, divided into front and rear cushioned sections. A four bar linkage is utilized to lift the rear cushioned section separating the same from the front cushioned section and is actuated by a bell crank shaped link 63. Two links 19, 22 and plate portions between pivots 21 and 23 at the front and pivots 36 and 37 at the rear form a parallelogram or four-bar linkage support. This support produces rotation of a front cushioned section 31 and upward and forward movement of chair frame 24 from the position illustrated in FIG. 1 of '402 to the position illustrated in FIG. 2 of '402 (Column 3, lines 41-48 and FIGS. 1 and 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,138,402). A motor drives a lead screw in a direction to move a nut 41 to the rear in '402. This moves operating links 58 and bell crank link 63 to the rear, causing projecting end 66 thereof to engage a cross-brace 29. This, in turn, moves links 19 and 20 counterclockwise, rotates the front cushioned section 31 about a pivot 21 and raises chair frame 24 upwardly and forwardly to the position illustrated in FIG. 2 of '402. This raises and slides the occupant forwardly from the rear cushioned section into a standing position (Column 4, lines 20-27 of '402).
'402 also discloses an ottoman or leg support structure as an option in FIG. 4 thereof. By moving a switch actuating element 69 of a switch 67 to position for raising chair frame 24, the motor of '402 is reversed to drive a nut to the rear, permitting springs 91 to return the ottoman of '402 to its nested position, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 of '402. The switch is released at this point unless the occupant desires to be raised to standing position in which case holding the switch in the position for retracting the ottoman continues to drive nut 41 to the rear on lead screw 39, thereby moving the chair frame to a raised position as illustrated in FIG. 2 of '402 (Column 5, lines 3-13 of '402).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,960 discloses a reclining elevator chair which, in a first mode of operation, has drive means which drives a reclining mechanism to tilt the back of the chair and extend and retract the leg rest. In the second mode of operation, the drive means drives the elevator mechanism to raise the seat of the chair and tilt it slightly forward. Near the upper end of the elevation range of the chair seat, the mechanism is effectuated to tilt the seat back rearwardly to avoid imposition of objectionable pressure on the occupant of the chair (Column 1, lines 20-28 of '960). Transfer between the first and second modes of operation is effectuated by a ram acting through a part of its range of extension to swing a crank about its pivot to drive a recliner mechanism in the first mode. When the ram acts through a different part of its range, it abuts the crank against the seat frame to inactivate the recliner mechanism and drives the elevator mechanism in the second mode (Column 1, lines 31-37 of '960).
In the first mode of operation, the power actuated drive means drives the recliner actuator means or mechanism to tilt the chair back 12 to a recline position illustrated in FIG. 3 of '960 and to simultaneously extend and tilt a leg rest 16. In a second mode of operation, the same drive means drives elevator means or mechanism to raise seat 14 and tilt it forwardly as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 11. Sides 10, back 12 and leg rest 16 rise along with seat 14 in the second mode of operation (Column 2, lines 27-30 and 32-37 of '960).
The elevator means or mechanism includes two sets of paired laterally spaced arms 26 and 28 pivotally connected at the rear ends by pintles 30, 32 to corresponding plates 24 at opposite sides of the chair. The forward ends of swing arms 26 and 28 are pivotally connected to corresponding laterally spaced seat support plates 34 illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 9 of '960 (Column 2, lines 54-60 of '960).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,939 discloses a device for converting a recliner chair to a recliner-lift chair.
Use of paired laterally spaced arms 26 and 28 as disclosed in '960 has been implemented in a manner to drive a lift chair seat portion using a bracket and pivot arrangement as illustrated in FIG. 26 where a prior art linkage mechanism is illustrated isometrically and partially broken and is designated generally 500. A drive extension shaft from a motor is designated 502 and is connected via a collar 504 and a pin 506 to a pair of plates 508 defining a bracket designated generally 510 which is fixedly connected to a cross-bar 512 of a T-member designated generally 514. A leg portion 516 of T-member 514 is pivotally retained in a bracket 518 defined by two parallel plates 520 with the point of pivotal connection between leg 516 and bracket 518 being defined by pivot rod 522. Bracket 518 is secured to a cross-member 524 of a lift chair frame by welding; cross-member 524 is elevated together with the lift chair upon drive extension shaft 502.
Pivotally connected to cross-bar 512 are a pair of chair seat portion support arms 526 which are pivotally connected to extension tabs 528 formed at the ends of and integrally with cross-bar 512. with pivotal connection between extension tabs 528 and seat portion support arms 526 effectuated via pins 530.


A cutting tool assembly comprising a tool holder formed with an insert retaining pocket having a pocket base wall and in which is releasably mounted a cutting insert and a shim. The cutting insert is of a substantially prismatic shape having an upper surface, a lower surface and side relief flank surfaces and at least one cutting corner defined therebetween and presenting at least one cutting edge formed by the intersection of the upper surface and a corresponding number of the side relief surfaces adjacent thereto. The shim generally correspondes in shape and size to the cutting insert, the insert and the shim being releasably mounted in the pocket by clamping means so that an upper supporting surface of the shim supports the lower surface of the cutting insert and a lower bearing surface of the shim bears against the pocket base wall at least a portion of the shim's lower bearing surface being formed, substantially in the region supporting the cutting corner, with a pattern of protrusions adapted to indent the pocket base wall.

The cutting tool assembly of the kind to which the present invention applies comprises a tool holder formed with an insert retaining pocket and a cutting insert located therewithin so as to present an operative cutting corner and associated cutting edges. The cutting insert has a lower surface for bearing against the pocket's base wall either directly or indirectly via a correspondingly shaped and sized shim. A shim is typically prepared from a material harder than that from which a tool holder is prepared. As such, its use is preferable because it acts to absorb cutting forces, particularly the tangential component thereof, acting on an insert's operative cutting corner, thereby preventing damage to a relatively expensive tool holder. Mostly, the shim is independently secured into the retaining pocket by holding means such as split tubular pins, threaded sleeves, and the like whilst the cutting insert is secured therein by holding means such as locking screws, central locking pins, levers, wedges, clamps, and the like.
For the purpose of accurate positioning of a shim on a pocket's base wall and increasing the area of contact therebetween and with the cutting insert, it is common practice to grind the shim's upper and lower surfaces. In theory, this practice is designed to prevent the plastic deformation occurring at the front portion of a pocket's base wall supporting an insert's operative cutting corner as caused by the considerable bending moment thereon as applied by a cutting forces' tangential component. However, in practice, even the slightest deformation occurring at the front portion of a tool holder's pocket base wall leads to an unstable seating of a shim which, in turn, leads to vibrations during machining operations. As such, a shim can no longer act effectively as an absorbing cushion and the tool holder body is rendered of no further use.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new chip cutting tool assembly comprising a cutting insert and preferably a shim in which means are provided for substantially reducing or avoiding the above-referred disadvantage.

Cutting insert having patterned hard bottom surface for forming an indented seat on a tool holder


A disposable substantially dry foamable product is described including a water-insoluble substrate such as a flexible web, the substrate having first and second major surfaces, with a plurality of moguls spaced apart on the first major surface and a foamable composition deposited in major amounts on the second surface and a minor amount on the first surface. A method for producing the product is also described which employs the moguls in juxtaposition to a guide roller to establish space between a surface of the roller and the first surface of the substrate. Foamed composition is deposited onto the second surface which by seepage through apertures in the substrate allow a minor portion of the coating composition to deposit on the first surface of the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a substantially dry, disposable foamable wipe article with physical features allowing for improved manufacture. The article is especially useful for personal cleansing and conditioning of skin or hair.
2. The Related Art
Traditional personal cleansing vehicles have been in the form of gels, bars and pourable liquid products. These forms are highly effective for cleansing purposes. Nevertheless, they are somewhat boring and, indeed, have some deficiencies. Often consumers combine the cleaning chemicals delivered by gels, bars and liquids with a wash cloth. Advantages of a cloth include improved spreadability, abrasive action and a pleasant ergonomic handfeel. Realization of such advantages for combining cleansing chemicals with a wipe have led to a rather large body of technology.
Among the most recent additions are a series of disclosures concerning substantially dry, disposable personal cleansing products activated upon use by wetting. Illustrative is U.S. Pat. No. 5,972,361 (Fowler et al.) disclosing a disposable, single use personal care cleansing and conditioning product wherein a lathering surfactant and oil soluble conditioning agent are during manufacture each separately applied to a substrate. Similar disclosures are found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,074,655 (Fowler et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,951,991 (Wagner et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,132,746 (Hasenoehrl et al.).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,043 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,863,663, both to Mackey et al., describe typical procedures for manufacture of dry wipes. Application of the chemicals to the substrate is reported to be either through spraying, rotogravure coating or by screen printing. Coatings are simply applied to either or both surfaces of the substrate. FIG. 2 describes a system where the substrate passes between a pair of presses thereby simultaneously coating each surface of the substrate. Amounts of transferred surfactant or conditioning emulsion is reported to be controlled by either of two general adjustments. One of these is by control of the width of the nip area between the contact cylinders or other nip areas of the presses. The second general manner of adjustments is achieved through a change in the relief (valley depth) or print pattern on the areas of the cylinders contacting the substrate.
Among problems associated with the process is selectivity of deposition, especially where different amounts and patterns of chemicals must be deposited on opposite sides of the substrate web. In particular, it may be desirable to produce a wipe where one surface bears a major amount of cleansing chemicals and the opposite surface is limited to a much smaller amount, but the latter being deposited in defined areas. Articles of this type have the advantage that, with the aid of cues, the consumer will wet the chemically heavier deposited side and obtain instantly a richer foam. On the other hand, for those consumers who have missed the cue, there still will be a small amount of foam generated on the side not intended for cleansing.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a disposable, substantially dry cleansing product which includes a wiping substrate and a foamable composition wherein a major portion of the composition is applied onto one side of the wiping substrate and a minor portion on the other.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a disposable, substantially dry cleansing product formed as flexible wiping cloth, with one surface of the wiping cloth having a different surface topography and a different amount of composition deposited thereon than an opposite second surface.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a disposable, substantially dry cleansing product in a process which readily allows coating of juxtaposed opposite surfaces of a wiping substrate but requiring application of the foamable composition to only a first of those surfaces.
A substantially dry cleansing product is provided which includes:
(i) a water insoluble substrate defined by juxtaposed first and second major surfaces, the first major surface being formed with a plurality of upwardly projecting moguls spaced apart from one another; and
(ii) a foamable composition including a lathering surfactant wherein more of the composition is deposited on the second major surface than on the first major surface of the substrate
Also provided is a method for producing a cleansing article which includes an apertured water-insoluble substrate having first and second major surfaces opposite one another, the first major surface being formed with a plurality of spaced apart moguls, and the article delivering a foamable composition including a lathering surfactant, the method including:
feeding the substrate onto a guide roller, the first major surface of the substrate being juxtaposed against a surface of the guide roller;
applying the foamable composition to the second major surface of the substrate while the first major surface remains juxtaposed against the guide roller; and
allowing a minor amount of the applied foamable composition to transfer through the apertured substrate from the second to the first major surface.

Cleansing wipe article and method of manufacture


A computer-implemented system and method for capability zone-based manufacturing quality control are provided. A specification for manufacturing a part feature is obtained, the specification including a nominal and a tolerance. A plurality of measurements for the feature are obtained. A difference is determined between the nominal and each of the measurements. The difference for each of the measurements is compared to the tolerance. Each of the measurements is assigned into one of a plurality of capability zones of measurements based on the comparison. Visual representations of the capability zones into which the measurements were assigned are displayed.

Quality control is an essential component of parts manufacturing and can be regulated at statutory, administrative, and industry levels. For example, in the aerospace industry, in addition to government regulations, quality control procedures must follow the AS9100 system to comply with the industry standard. In particular, compliance with applicable rules generally requires a part manufacturing process to produce parts with characteristics, or features, that satisfy a set of requirements set down in a specification. The specification includes a nominal, or a target value, for the features. As producing a feature dimensioned precisely to the nominal value is statistically unlikely, the specification also includes a manufacturing tolerance, which is a range of acceptable variations from the nominal. The smallest value within the tolerance is called a lower specification limit. The highest value within the tolerance is called an upper specification limit. The ability of a manufacturing process to produce part features that are within the specification is referred to as the capability of the process.
Controlling process capability may not be sufficient to ensure usability of manufactured parts. Depending on a part, features of the part may gravitate towards the upper specification limit or the lower specification limit. For example, if a part includes a hole, the features of the part associated with the hole tend to be produced closer to the lower specification limit, which allows for the hole to be enlarged if necessary. On the other hand, if a part includes a concave surface, production of features of the part associated with the surface may gravitate towards the upper specification limit, which allows for the surface of the part to be reduced if necessary. As a result, the manufacturing processes may produce mating parts that are both within tolerance, but which are incompatible with each other. As a number of interacting parts grows, the problems caused by these incompatibilities accumulate. For example, aerospace parts manufacturing involves complex supply chains with large number of suppliers, small quantities of parts produced, and high requirements for precision in parts manufacturing. Building a commercial airplane may require on the order of 650,000 parts, and involve on the order of 20,000 people manufacturing the parts. As each part has on average ten features, there are 6,500,000 potential areas of conflict involved in putting the parts together to make the airplane. The incompatibilities between the parts require the parts to be either modified or replaced, increasing the cost and the time required to produce the airplane.
The situation is further exacerbated due to a lack of an easy way to see whether a particular parts manufacturer produces particular features of parts close to the nominal, or whether these features gravitate towards upper or lower specification limits. As a result, when a customer needs particular mating parts, the customer has no easy way of knowing whether the parts produced by different manufacturers will be compatible with each other.
Current technology is not sufficient to effectively address these challenges. For example, statistical process control ("SPC") is a quality control method that uses statistical techniques to identify a cause for variation among part features produced using the same process. SPC involves periodically sampling of part features being manufactured, and calculating a mean of the measured samples. SPC further uses a control chart to visualize the variation among the parts. The mean is set as a centerline on the chart and three standard deviations away from the mean are shown as upper and lower control limits. While certain variation in output is inherent in any manufacturing process, SPC assumes that special causes for variation, such as a malfunction in a production machinery, exist when certain sampling patterns occur, such as a sampling point falling outside the upper or the lower control limits on the chart. The identification of the special variation allows the parts manufacturer to remove the cause for variation, and ideally, to control the manufacturing process. Thus, SPC allows to keep dimensions of features of parts within a certain distance from the mean, without bringing the features of the manufactured parts closer to the nominal. Furthermore, SPC is only effective when there is a small number of variables involved, and as the number of variables increases, the identification of the cause for the special variation can become impracticably difficult. Thus, in industries such as the aerospace industry, where there is a large number of variables involved in parts manufacturing and where outsourcing of part manufacturing and creation of vast supplies chains are common, the effectiveness of SPC is even more limited.
Therefore, there is a need for an efficient way to organize and present data regarding how close to the nominal are part features produced under certain circumstances.

Computer-implemented system and method for capability zone-based manufacturing quality control


In a mailbox having walls that define an interior space and a door which allows access to the interior space, an apparatus for illuminating the interior of the mailbox comprises a housing adapted to be affixed to the interior of the mailbox, the housing including an illumination source; a mount to affix the housing to the interior of the mailbox; a magnetic switch in operative engagement with the illumination source to light the illumination source, the switch operating in an off state and an on state; and, a magnet, affixed to the door, which moves between a first position and a second position so as to determine the state of the magnetic switch.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mailboxes and in particular to the interior lighting of mailboxes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Although mail is generally delivered during daylight hours, it is often collected from the mailbox by the recipient during the evening hours when there is little or no ambient light. Even when it is clear that there is mail in the box, under low light conditions visual inspection does not easily reveal whether some of the mail has slid to the rear of the box, out of immediate reach. Typically, a person must then reach in and feel by hand for the presence of additional parcels or envelopes. In addition to the inconvenience and uncertainty associated with feeling by hand for the mail, many people, indeed, have a fear of sticking their hands into unlit places.
Though there have been previous attempts to supply light to the inside of a mailbox, all have problems with ease of installation, ease of service, and/or other limitations. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,154,393 requires power from inside the home. U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,012 requires the threading of wire through the box itself, will only work in conjunction with metal mailboxes, and requires the user to push a button in order to activate the light.