In accordance with a component mounting apparatus, a component stored in a component feeder is held by a component holding member and is then mounted in a mounting position on an object. The apparatus functions to, when a mounting posture of the component in which the component is mounted onto the object is inclined with respect to a basic posture of the component by a mounting angle, hold the component from the component feeder by the component holding member that has preliminarily been rotated to the mounting angle in such a direction as to depart from a reference posture of the component holding member prior to the mounting of the component on the object. And afterwards, the component holding member is rotated in a specified direction to finally return the component holding member to the reference posture, and then the component is mounted on the object.

The present invention relates to component mounting method and apparatus for mounting, for example, a component such as an electronic, mechanical, or optical component to a specified position on an object to be mounted such as a printed circuit board. More particularly, the invention relates to component mounting method and apparatus which make it possible to mount the component on the object with high precision, by driving a rotating mechanism so that the component will be rotated in one direction, with a view to suppressing the occurrence of lost motions of the rotating mechanism in correcting the postural angle of the component during the mounting operation.
FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a conventional electronic component mounting apparatus 100 for mounting electronic components. A conveyor 132 conveys circuit boards to and from the electronic component mounting apparatus 100, and further holds the circuit boards during production. Electronic component feeders 133 and 134 store and feed electronic components to be mounted on the circuit boards. The electronic component feeder 133 is a reel type electronic component feeder in which electronic components are stored on a reel, and the electronic component feeder 134 is a tray type electronic component feeder in which electronic components are stored on a tray. A component pickup head 136, which is equipped with a nozzle 138 for picking up an electronic component from the electronic component feeders 133, 134, performs up and down motions, rotating motion and other motions of the nozzle 138. The rotating motion is effected by a rotating mechanism connected to the component pickup head 136. The component pickup head 136 is provided with a second component recognition camera 11 for capturing an image of the electronic component from above. A component recognition camera 137 is provided for capturing, from below, an image of the posture of the electronic component picked up by the nozzle 138. An X-Y robot 135 moves the component pickup head 136 in X and Y directions.
The electronic component mounting apparatus 100 performs the following operations. For picking up an electronic component, the X-Y robot 135 moves the component pickup head 136, i.e. the nozzle 138, to an electronic-component pickup position in the electronic component feeder 133 or 134 and then lowers the nozzle 138 to pick up an electronic component. The nozzle 138 is lifted after the pickup.
Next, as shown at Step ("S" in the drawings) 101 of FIG. 16, the nozzle 138, after picking up the electronic component, is rotated by the rotating mechanism circumferentially of the nozzle 138 about the center axis of the nozzle 138, according to a mounting angle preset for the picked-up electronic component. Subsequently, at Step 102, the X-Y robot 135 moves the component pickup head 136 to the location of the component recognition camera 137, where the posture of the electronic component picked up by the nozzle 138 is recognized by the component recognition camera 137. Next, at Step 103, a difference between the actual angle of the picked-up electronic component and the mounting angle is determined based on the recognition result, and an angular correction for the picked-up electronic component is performed so that the difference value becomes zero. This correction is performed by rotating the nozzle 138, which is effected by again driving the rotating mechanism. Then, at Step 104, the electronic component, picked up by the nozzle 138, is moved to a specified position on the electronic circuit board in the X- and Y-directions by the component pickup head 136, which is moved by the X-Y robot 135. Further with an operation of the component pickup head 136, the nozzle 138 is lowered so that the electronic component is mounted to the specified component mounting position-on the electronic circuit board, where the electronic component is released from the, pickup head. By iterating these operations, electronic components are removed one after another from the electronic component feeder 133 or 134 and mounted onto the electronic circuit board.
The aforementioned rotating mechanism for the nozzle 138 is shown in FIG. 15. The nozzle 138 is fixed to a gear 102 so as to be inserted through center part of the gear 102. The gear 102 is connected to a motor output shaft 105 via a timing belt 101. Accordingly, rotation of the output shaft 105 is transferred to the pickup nozzle 138 via the gear 102 by the timing belt 101, by which the electronic component picked up by the pickup nozzle 138 is rotated to the specified mounting angle.
However, the timing belt 101 or the gear 102 has a backlash. Moreover, depending on whether the angle of the electronic component is too large or too small relative to the target mounting angle, the direction in which the nozzle 138 is rotated differs. Therefore, by rotating the nozzle 138 clockwise, or counterclockwise, or clockwise and counterclockwise together with the gear 102 or the like, there can occur an error in the final mounting angle of the electronic component due to the backlash.
To suppress the occurrence of such errors, the resolution of the timing belt 101 or the gear 102 is enhanced or a mechanism which directly, transforms rotation of the motor output shaft into rotation of the pickup nozzle is adopted, responsive to the required precision. However, this increases the manufacturing cost, and requires a large space for the installation of the motor and the nozzle 138.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


The present invention provides lithium nickelate-based positive electrode active substance particles having a high energy density which are excellent in charge/discharge cycle characteristics when highly charged, and hardly suffer from generation of gases upon storage under high-temperature conditions, and a process for producing the positive electrode active substance particles, as well as a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery. The present invention relates to positive electrode active substance particles each comprising a core particle X comprising a lithium nickelate composite oxide having a layer structure which is represented by the formula: Li1+aNi1−b−cCobMcO2 wherein M is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Mn, Al, B, Mg, Ti, Sn, Zn and Zr; a is a number of −0.1 to 0.2 (−0.1•a•0.2); b is a number of 0.05 to 0.5 (0.05•b•0.5); and c is a number of 0.01 to 0.4 (0.01•c•0.4); a coating compound Y comprising at least one element selected from the group consisting of Al, Mg, Zr, Ti and Si; and a coating compound Z comprising an Li element, in which a content of lithium hydroxide LiOH in the positive electrode active substance particles is not more than 0.40% by weight, a content of lithium carbonate Li2CO3 in the positive electrode active substance particles is not more than 0.65% by weight, and a weight ratio of the content of lithium carbonate to the content of lithium hydroxide is not less than 1.

With the recent rapid progress for reduction in size and weight of electronic equipments such as mobile phones and personal computers, there is an increasing demand for secondary batteries having a high energy density as a power source for driving these electronic equipments. Under these circumstances, the batteries having a large charge/discharge capacity per unit weight and unit volume and high repeated charge/discharge cycle characteristics have been recently noticed.
Hitherto, as one of positive electrode active substance particles useful for high energy-type lithium ion secondary batteries, there is known lithium nickelate LiNiO2 of a layer (rock salt type) structure having a 4 V-order voltage. The LiNiO2 particles are inexpensive and excellent in output characteristics as compared to lithium cobaltate LiCoO2 particles as generally used positive electrode active substance particles, and therefore have been mainly applied to a power source for power tools. In recent years, the LiNiO2 particles also tend to be now applied to a driving power source for electric vehicles in view of their characteristics. However, the lithium ion secondary batteries using the aforementioned LiNiO2 particles as active substance particles therefor have problems such as deterioration in repeated charge/discharge cycle characteristics at a high voltage and generation of gases from the batteries upon storage under high-temperature conditions owing to elution of constitutional ions other than Li+ ion from the active substance particles or incompleteness of the reaction between raw material particles upon synthesis thereof. For these reasons, it has been demanded to further improve powder characteristics of the active substance particles.
It is well known in the art that in the NiO6 octahedron constituting the lithium nickelate-based positive electrode active substance particles, the Ni2+ ion is kept in a low spin state at room temperature, in other words a d-orbital electronic configuration of the Ni2+ ion is represented by t2g6eg1. Therefore, the conventional lithium nickelate-based positive electrode active substance particles have failed to have such a high stability. In addition, the Ni2+ ion has an ionic radius close to Li+ ion, and therefor tends to suffer from structural defects such as cation mixing upon synthesis of the positive electrode active substance. For this reason, it has been contemplated that the Ni3+ ion in the conventional lithium nickelate-based positive electrode active substance particles is substituted with Co3+ ion or Al3+ ion to improve characteristic thereof (Non-Patent Literature 1).
On the other hand, even the lithium nickelate composite oxide particles whose Ni3+ ion is substituted with ions of different kinds of elements still comprise a more than necessary amount of lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide as an impurity phase. These unreacted lithium compounds are main factors causing increase in a powder pH value of the lithium nickelate composite oxide particles, and tend to induce not only gelation of an electrode slurry upon production of the electrode slurry, but also generation of gases from the batteries upon storage under high-temperature conditions when the resulting secondary battery is subjected to charging and discharging cycles. In particular, in order to avoid remarkable adverse influence of the lithium hydroxide, the unreacted substance being present on a surface of the respective particles is carbonated (Patent Literatures 1 and 2), or removed by washing with water and drying (Non-Patent Literature 2).
In order to further improve the lithium nickelate composite oxide particles, there has been proposed the method of subjecting the particles as core particles to surface treatment in which the unreacted lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide is converted into the other lithium compound. The coating film obtained by the surface treatment acts as a protective film against hydrofluoric acid produced by charging and discharging cycles of the resulting battery to prolong a service life of the battery (Non-Patent Literature 3).

Lithium nickelate-based positive electrode active substance particles and process for producing the same, and non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery


A first dielectric (120) and a first floating gate layer (130.1) are formed on a semiconductor substrate (110). The first dielectric, the first floating gate layer, and the substrate are etched to form isolation trenches (150). The first dielectric (120) is etched to pull the first dielectric away from the trench edges (150E) and/or the edges of the first floating gate layer (130E). The trench edges and/or the edges of the first floating gate layer are then oxidized. The trenches are filled with a second dielectric (210.2), which is then etched laterally adjacent to the edges of the trench and the first floating gate layer. A second floating gate layer (130.2) is formed to extend into the regions which were occupied by the second dielectric before it was etched.

The present invention relates to integrated circuits, and more particularly to nonvolatile memories.
FIGS. 1–4 illustrate a nonvolatile memory fabrication process described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,555,427 issued Apr. 29, 2003 to Shimizu et al. These figures show vertical cross sections of the memory structures. A P-well is formed in a semiconductor substrate 110. Tunnel dielectric 120 is formed on substrate 120 on the P-well. First conductive layer 130.1 is formed on dielectric 120 to provide portions of floating gates for the memory cells. A masking layer 140 is formed on layer 130.1. Layers 140, 130.1, 120 and substrate 110 are etched to form isolation trenches 150. The sidewalls of trenches 150 and the layer 130.1 are oxidized, and dielectric 210 is deposited over the structure. Dielectric 210 is subjected to an etch or chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) to expose the top surface of masking layer 140.
Layer 140 is removed. An isotropic etch of dielectric 210 laterally recesses the dielectric sidewalls away from the floating gate portions 130.1, widening the empty areas above these floating gate portions.
Second conductive layer 130.2 (FIG. 3) is deposited over the structure to provide second portions of the floating gates 130. Layer 130.2 is etched or polished to expose the dielectric 210. A planar top surface is provided. Then dielectric 210 is etched down to expose sidewalls of layer 130.2.
Inter-gate dielectric 410 (FIG. 4) and control gate layer 420 are formed over the structure to finish the memory cell fabrication.
The memory cells are programmed by injecting a negative charge (electrons) into their floating gates 130. The cells are erased by removing the negative charge from the floating gates. The cells are read by sensing the charge on the floating gates. These operations require a voltage VFG.S to be induced between the floating gate (FG) 130 and a region of substrate 110. The voltage VFG.S is induced by establishing a voltage VCG.S between the control gate (CG) 420 and the substrate region, as the control gate is capacitively coupled to the floating gate. In order to reduce the maximum voltage VCG.S needed to induce a given voltage VFG.S, one has to increase the "gate coupling ratio" CCG.FG/CFG.S, where CCG.FG is the capacitance between control gate 420 and floating gate 130, and CFG.S is the capacitance between the floating gate 130 and the substrate region. The isotropic etch of dielectric 210 (FIG. 2) serves to increase CCG.FG due to the increased width of the top floating gate portions 130.2 (FIG. 3). The etch-back of dielectric 210 (FIG. 3) to expose the sidewalls of layer 130.2 further increases the capacitance CCG.FG by increasing the capacitive coupling between the sidewalls of layer 130.2 and the control gate 420.

Nonvolatile memory fabrication methods in which a dielectric layer underlying a floating gate layer is spaced from an edge of an isolation trench and/or an edge of the floating gate layer


A sequential control circuit operates according to an input signal. When the input signal is determined at a first state, the sequential control circuit asserts a plurality of control signals in a predetermined sequence. When the input signal is determined at a second state, the sequential control circuit de-asserts the plurality of control signals in a sequence reverse to the predetermined sequence.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a sequential control circuit, and more particularly to a sequential control circuit, which asserts a plurality of control signals in a predetermined sequence and de-asserts the plurality of control signals in a sequence reverse to the predetermined sequence according to a state of an input signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the rapid development of the technology, the typical digital manipulation circuit can be easily designed and formed in the IC chip, and different IC chips have different special functions. Generally speaking, each IC chip has its specific operation mode or method. So, the IC chip manufacturers provide specifications to introduce the pins, the connections and the operations of the IC chips in order to avoid the damage or glitch of the IC chips due to the incorrect usage of the user.
Typically, the specifications of some specific IC chips, such as the LSI-8602 chip, specify the assertion sequence. The IC chip has to be turned on in a predetermined sequence to control the signals to be inputted to different pins, and to be turned off by de-asserting the inputs of the control signals in a sequence reverse to the predetermined sequence. For example, the IC chip can be normally turned on only when the high-level control signals are sequentially inputted to the pins A to D. The sequence cannot be changed or the IC chip may have glitch or error. Furthermore, the IC chip has to be turned off normally only when the low-level control signals are sequentially inputted to the pins D to A. The sequence cannot be changed or the IC chip may have glitch or error.
FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration showing an IC chip requiring the sequential assertion and the sequential de-assertion, and connection wires for the IC chip. In order to make the IC chip 6 operate normally and without error, the designer makes the IC chip 6 to be connected to a microprocessor (or micro controller) 4 and controls the firmware program to control the IC chip 6. As shown in FIG. 1, four input/output ports (I/O-1, I/O-2, I/O-3, I/O-4) of the microprocessor 4 are respectively connected to pins A to D of the IC chip 6. When the IC chip 6 wants to turn on, the firmware program enables the four input/output ports to output control signals 1000, 1100, 1110 and 1111 (1 represents the high level and 0 represents the low level) sequentially. Thus, the IC chip 6 can turn on normally according to the high-level control signals sequentially received by the pins A to D. On the contrary, when the IC chip 6 wants to turn off, the firmware program enables the four input/output ports to output the control signals of 1110, 1100, 1000 and 0000 sequentially. Thus, the IC chip 6 can turn off normally according to the low-level control signals sequentially received by the pins D to A.
However, because the number of pins of the input/output port of the microprocessor 4 is restricted, it is an important subject of the invention to assert the control signals in a predetermined sequence with a less number of input/output pins and low-cost circuit devices.


A mover assembly (16) that moves or positions an object (12) includes a mover output (226), an actuator (230), and a control system (18). The mover output (226) is connected to the object (12), and the actuator (230) causes the mover output (226) to move. The control system (18) selectively directs a drive signal to the actuator (230) in a first mode and in a second mode. In the first mode, a peak voltage and a baseline voltage are sequentially directed to the actuator (230). In the second mode an intermediate voltage is directed to the actuator (230), the intermediate voltage being intermediate the peak voltage and the baseline voltage.

Motors are commonly used as part of an apparatus to make adjustments to the position and/or shape of an object. One type of motor is a piezo-driven motor that utilizes a piezoelectric element to move a mover output. In one design, current is directed to the piezoelectric element in a pulsed fashion to cause movement of the mover output at a plurality of discrete step sizes.
Unfortunately, the rate of movement of the mover output can be limited and/or the resolution of the motor is limited to the discrete step sizes.


A contour/shape detection model may use relatively simple and efficient kernels to detect target edges in an object within an image or video. A co-occurrence probability may be calculated for two or more edge features in an image or video using an object definition. Edge features may be differentiated between in response to measured contextual support, and prominent edge features may be extracted based on the measured contextual support. The object may then be identified based on the extracted prominent edge features.

Recent developments in machine vision have demonstrated remarkable improvements in the ability of computers to properly identify particular objects in a viewing field. Most of these advances rely on color-texture analyses that require targets objects to possess one or more highly distinctive, local features that can be used as distinguishing characteristics for a classification algorithm. Many objects, however, consist of materials that are widely prevalent across a wide variety of object categories. For example, many mammals are covered with hair or fur, making a detector configured/trained to identify the presence of hair/fur a potentially good discriminator between mammals and non-mammals, but not a particularly good discriminator between different mammalian species. Similarly, many trees have leaves, many man-made objects are made of painted metal, and so forth, such that color-texture detectors configured/trained to identify leaves or painted metal are good for some categorizations, but not for others. Much less effort has been made to characterize objects based on shape, or the particular way the component features are arranged relative to one another in two dimensional (2D) image space.
The overarching goal of creating a machine that can see as well as a human has influenced prior researchers to focus on amplification of computing power to match that of the human visual system, i.e., requiring petaflops of computing power. Although historically such computing power has not been available to the vast majority of computer users, the advent of cloud computing and the introduction of graphical processing units, multi-core processors, smart caches, solid-state drives, and other hardware acceleration technologies suggests that access to sufficient computing power per se should not be the major impediment to effective machine-based object recognition going forward. More importantly, the goal remains to develop object-recognition systems that are sufficiently accurate to support commercial applications. Specifically, an algorithm capable of highly accurate object identification in an image, on the level of the typical performance of a Google® search based on a key word, is likely to receive widespread consumer acceptance. Accordingly, a system and method for highly accurate, automated object detection in an image or video frame may be beneficial.

System and method for automated object detection in an image


An active balun device is provided. The active balun device includes: a differential input portion for receiving an external single input signal to output two complementary differential signals; and a differential amplifier connected to the differential input portion in cascade to amplify the two differential signals received from the differential input portion. Thus, the active balun device has a sufficient gain and a desired bandwidth in a semiconductor circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an active balun device, and more particularly, to an active balun device having a sufficient gain and a desired bandwidth in a semiconductor circuit.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Generally, a common source field effect transistor (FET) and a common gate FET are widely used to constitute a wide-band amplifier, characteristics of which are very sensitive to processes and parasitic elements.
In a conventional active balun device, an input signal is provided to sources and gates of common gate and source FETs, and an output signal is derived at drains of the FETs. The signal input to the source is in phase with the output signal at the drain while the signal input to the gate is 180° out of phase with the output signal at the drain. Thus, a phase difference at the two output ports is 180°, realizing active balun. In this case, a change in bias of the transistors connected to the respective inputs and a change in a process leads to a great change in a phase and significantly affects the bandwidth.
Further, such a conventional active balun device has a balun characteristic very sensitive to the bias and sizes of respective devices.
As described above, the conventional active balun device obtains a 180° phase difference using transistors or broadens a bandwidth using an inductor peaking technique in a differential structure, but has a great-sized amplifier due to a change in transistors' performance and the use of the inductor.

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


The present invention relates to a process of making silicon-silicon carbide ceramic using biopreform derived from monocotyledonous caudex plant stem. The present invention also provides a silicon-silicon carbide ceramic made using a biopreform derived from monocotyledonous caudex plant stem.

The duplex silicon (Si)-silicon carbide (SiC) ceramic, hereinafter designated as Si-SiC, shows excellent physico-chemical properties like high oxidation, corrosion and thermal shock resistance, superb high temperature strength and toughness together with other related properties, e.g., Young's modulus, hardness, etc., and therefore, is of great technological importance. These properties can be exploited during the applications of the material in the fields of kiln furniture particularly for heating sanitary wares, saggers, and crucibles for calcining fluorescent powder in fluorescent lamp industries, high speed and high service life domestic and industrial burners, rocket nozzles, recuperators for waste heat utilization in industrial furnaces, heat-exchangers for indirectly fired open/combined cycle gas turbines to generate electric power, ceramic seals for pumps handling corrosive fluids, wear inserts, etc.
SiC ceramics are fabricated from synthetic powders by hot pressing/hot isostatic pressing, pressureless sintering, polymer pyrolysis, chemical vapor deposition, liquid silicon infiltration processing (LSIP) or reaction bonding/reaction sintering. Reference is made to the Ph.D. Thesis ("Reaction sintering of silicon carbide" by O. P. Chakrabarti, University of Calcutta, 1998) and also to an article ("Reactive infiltration of Si—Mo alloyed melt into carbonaceous perform of SiC", by O. P. Chakrabarti and P. K. Das published in the J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 83[6]1548-1550 (2000)), wherein the authors present a detailed review of the different processing routes of SiC ceramics with particular emphasis on the Si or alloyed Si melt infiltration processing of Si—SiC ceramics.
The drawbacks of the referred works in the mentioned reviews, are requirement of expensive synthetic raw powders, complex preform making and difficult machinability of the finished product etc. However, synthesis of ceramic materials from naturally grown plant structures has recently received interests. Plants often possess natural composite structures and exhibit high mechanical strength, low density, high stiffness, elasticity and drainage tolerance. These advantages are because of their hierarchically built anatomy developed and optimized in a long-term genetic evolutionary process. There is a possibility of producing novel ceramic materials with a unique microstructure pseudomorphous to that of naturally grown plant structures. The bio-structure derived ceramic materials would have tailorable properties with numerous potential applications. Synthesis of SiC ceramic from naturally grown plant structures has recently received interest among the material scientists.
References is made (i) to U.S. Pat. No. 3,754,076, titled "Production of silicon carbide from rice husk" by I. Cutler, 21 Aug. 1973) and also to an article ("Formation of silicon carbide from rice hulls" by J. G. Lee and I. B. Cutler, published in the Am. Ceram. Soc. Bull., 54[2] 195-98 (1975)) wherein the authors reported the production of SiC whiskers from thermal decomposition of rice hulls, a waste product, (ii) to an article ("Formation and structure of silicon carbide whiskers from rice hulls" by N. K. Sharma, W. S. Williams and A. Zangvil, published in the J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 67[11] 715-720 (1984)) wherein the authors informed of a study relating to the distribution of silicon (Si) in hulls of common brown Indian rice, carried out to aid in understanding the formation of SiC whiskers and also of ultrafine β-SiC particles by thermal decomposition, (iii) to an article ("Growth of β-SiC whiskers by LVS process", by J. V. Milewski, F. D. Gac, J. J. Petrovic and S. R. Skaggs, published in the J. Mater. Sci., 20, 1160-1166 (1985)) wherein the authors described a vapor-liquid-solid process for the formation of the SiC whisker by the catalyzed thermal decomposition of rice husk, (iv) to Indian Patent 172941 titled "A process for the production of silicon carbide fibers (β-form) from rice husk" by M. Patel, C. B. Raiu, A. K. Ray and A. Karera, 8 Jan. 1994) and also to an article ("Effect of thermal and chemical treatments in rice husk" by M. Patel, A. Karera and P. Prasanna, published in the J. Mater. Sci, 22, 2457-2464(1987)) wherein the authors described the formation of SiC whiskers by carbonizing coked rice husk pretreated with hydroxides of metal catalysts, (v) to an article ("SiC whiskers from rice husks: role of catalysts" by M. Patel and A. Karera, published in the J. Mater. Sci. Letts., 8, 955-956 (1989)) wherein the authors describe the formation of SiC whiskers by carbonizing rice husks without added catalyst, (vi) to an article ("Direct pyrolysis of raw rice husks for maximization of SiC whisker formation" by R. V. Krishnarao and M. M. Godkhindi, M. Chakraborty and P. G. Mukunda, published in the J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 74, 2869-2875 (1991)) wherein the authors described the formation of SiC whiskers by pyrolysis of raw rice husks without any catalyst or precooking, (vii) to an article ("Conversion of raw rice husks to SiC by pyrolysis in nitrogen atmosphere" by R. V. Krishnarao, Y. R. Mahajan and T. J. Kumar, published in the J. Euro. Ceram. Soc., 18, 147-152 (1998)) wherein the authors describe the formation of SiC whiskers by pyrolysis of raw rice husks without precooking, (viii) to an article ("Synthesis and characterization of SiC whiskers from coconut shells" by A. Selvam, N. G. Nairand P. Singh, published in the J. Mater. Sci. Lett., 17, 57-60 (1998)), wherein he authors described a method of producing SiC whiskers by pyrolyzing raw coconut shells soaked with 10% ferrous chloride solution followed by drying. The drawbacks of the referred works are high pyrolysing temperature, poor yield, uneconomical conversion because of the requirement of very large pyrolysing reactor for handling voluminous assemblage of rice husk and unshaped whisker/powder which needs further processing for making shapes of controlled microstructure.
Reference is made to an article ("Biomimetic process for producing SiC wood" by T. Ota, M. Takahashi, T. Hibi, M. Ozawa, S. Suzuki and Y. Hikichi, published in the J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 78[12] 3409-11 (1995)), wherein the authors describe a method of making SiC in wood like structure by infiltrating tetra ethyl ortho silicate (TEOS) into a piece of oak charcoal followed by hydrolysis by treatment with ammoniacal solution and by heat treating the charcoal containing SiO2 gel. The drawbacks of the referred work are requirement of multiple TEOS infiltration followed by subsequent firing, porous final product with unconverted carbon in the structure and incomplete conversion of C to SiC.
Reference is also made to a two-part article ("Biomorphic cellular silicon carbide ceramics from wood: I. Processing and Microstructure" by P. Greil, T. Lifka and A. Kaindl published in the J. Euro. Ceram. Soc. 18, 1961-1973 (1998) and "Biomorphic cellular silicon carbide ceramics from wood: II. Mechanical Properties" by P. Greil, T. Lifka and A. Kaindl published in the J. Euro. Ceram. Soc. 18, 1975-1983 (1998)) wherein the authors describe a method of making cellular SiC ceramics with anisotropic pore structures by infiltrating liquid silicon at 1600° C. for 4 hours without pressure into carbonized woody (beech, oak, maple, pine, balsa and ebony) specimens. Long infiltration cycle, lower product density and microstructure of the final product randomly varying with precursor wood without correlation, constitute the main drawbacks of the referred work.
Reference is made to an article ("Silicon/silicon carbide composites fabricated by infiltration of a silicon melt into charcoal" by D. W. Shin, S. S. Park, Y. H. Choa and K. Nihara, published in the J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 82[11] 3251-53 (1999)) wherein the authors describe a method of making dense Si/SiC composite by infiltrating liquid Si (obtained by melting powder Si) at 1700° C. under vacuum into porous commercial oak charcoal specimen. The drawbacks of the referred work are higher infiltration temperature and difficulty in infiltration procedure likely to be arising out of usage of powdered silicon under vacuum.
Reference is also made to U.S. Pat. No. 6,124,028, titled "Carbonized wood and materials formed thereform" by Denis C. Nagle and Christopher E. Byrne, 26 Sep. 2000) wherein the authors described a method of making SiC ceramic by reacting stoichiometric to greater than stoichiometric quantity of silicon at 1500° C. for 10 minutes to 2 hours in flowing argon, with carbonized wood specimens (red oak, balsa, basswood, maple, white pine, red wood). The drawbacks of the referred work are incomplete infiltration, difficulty in unloading of the final product because of sticking problem and absence of correlation between the product microstructure and structure of the precursor wood.
Reference is made to an article ("Environment conscious ceramics (Ecoceramics)" by M. Singh published in Ceram. Eng. Sci. Proc., 21[4] 39-44 (2000)), wherein the author described a method of fabricating SiC-based ceramics by reactive infiltration by molten silicon at 1450° C. for 30 minutes into pyrolyzed wood specimens (Brazilian Rosewood, Africian Zebra, Ceylon Stainwood, Africian Bubinga, Pau Lope, Australian Jarrah and Indian Mango wood). The drawbacks of the referred work are long infiltration cycles required for processing the ceramic and product microstructures that vary according to the parent plant structure but remain un-correlated.
A wide variety of plants are used for making different varieties of SiC ceramics. Plant shells make possible mostly the production of SiC whiskers or fibers, but the manufacturing processes are just short of being commercially viable. Biological preforms from various naturally grown plant stems including soft woods and hard woods are employed for producing bulk SiC ceramics. In view of the variations in dimensions, compositions and morphology of the naturally grown plant structures, the shape and composition of the bulk SiC produced may vary significantly.
However no studies have been found relating to the selection of the suitability of plant structure in terms of its anatomical and structural features, which after having been transformed to carbonaceous preform, helps in faster infiltration and reaction of liquid through porous contour to get converted to SiC. No study has been done, which relates to overcome the difficulties of withdrawing infiltrated specimen form contacting liquid after the completion of the infiltration and reaction. No study is available which avoids the costly post-infiltration treatment for removal of adhered melt from product surface The present invention has been developed in view of the foregoing and other deficiencies of the prior art.

Process of making silicon—silicon carbide ceramic using biopreform, silicon—silicon carbide ceramic obtained thereby

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research


The present invention provides novel human protein antigens and related antibodies that have been identified as being specifically expressed in association to human Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDA). In particular, novel phosphorylated isoforms of alpha-enolase have been identified in transformed cell lines of pancreatic origin and antibodies binding such isoforms are specifically present in the sera of PDA patients. These proteins and antibodies can be useful for the diagnosis and the treatment of PDA and other cancers having common molecular features.

Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDA) is the most frequent pancreatic cancer and the fourth cause of cancer death in the United States and Europe. Most patients die within 12 months, and only 2% survive five years after diagnosis. Pancreatectomy remains the cornerstone of PDA management and chemotherapy but provides marginal survival benefit (Laheru D and Jaffee M, 2005; Kleef J et al., 2006).
Despite improved surgical and medical management (including the use of monoclonal antibodies, vaccines, and chemotherapy), there are still few and poorly reliable markers for early PDA diagnosis. The most widely used serological marker for pancreatic cancer diagnosis is sialylated Lewis blood group antigen CA 19-9, but its use is mostly directed toward monitoring response to therapy, rather than PDA diagnosis. In fact, this antigen may also be present at elevated concentrations in the sera from patients affected by benign pancreatic diseases (such as chronic pancreatitis or biliary obstruction) providing false positives, and it cannot be used in all cases because it is not expressed at all in 5-10% of the population (Okusaka T et al., 2006).
It is for these reasons that alternative biomarkers arc under evaluation for use in PDA diagnosis, with the aim to limit invasive procedures such as biopsies and histopathological evaluation (Bouvet M, 2004; Brand R, 2001; Goggins M, 2005; Leung T et al., 2005), and for evaluating drug candidates (Cohen S and Meropol N, 2002; Jimeno A and Hidalgo M, 2006).
Various technologies have been recently employed for the identification of candidate PDA biomarkers using large scale analysis of protein expression (either based on RNA or protein levels). In particular, proteomic technologies have been used to detect antigens that elicit a humoral response in the sera of PDA patients by comparing the proteins that are resolved by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE), recognized by serum antibodies from cancer patients, and identified using Mass Spectrometry (Gorg A et al., 2004; Graham D et al., 2005). Variants of this approach for protein separation, selection and characterization have been described under different names in the literature, such as SERPA (Klade C et al., 2001), PROTEOMEX (Lichtenfels R et al., 2003), or SPEAR (Unwin R et al., 2003).
The work hypothesis common to these methodologies is that, by characterizing the B cell repertoire against antigens specifically expressed by cancers (the so-called human cancer immunome), it should be possible to define specific targets that are involved in cancer immunosurveillance and immunoediting, and to understand the mechanisms leading to uncontrolled cell proliferation and metastasis (Drake C et al., 2006; Dunn G et al., 2004).
It has been suggested that immunotherapy can be a valuable approach for the treatment of pancreatic cancer (Laheru D and Jaffee M, 2005). In fact, lists of candidate PDA-specific proteins have been generated on the basis of their elevated expression at the RNA level (WO 04/55519), or of large-scale proteomic analysis of serum samples and/or pancreatic samples (Bhattacharyya S et al., 2004; Cao D et al., 2005; Ceeconi D et al., 2003; Chen R et al., 2005; Gronborg M et al., 2006; Honda K et al., 2005; Koomen J et al., 2005; Rodriguez J et al., 2005; Shen J et al., 2004, Rosty C and Goggins M, 2005; Sinha P et al., 1999; Yu Y et al., 2005). Candidate proteins for PDA diagnosis in sera are Fibrinogen gamma (Bloomston M et al., 2006), DEAD-Box protein 48 (Xia Q et al., 2005), MIC-1 (Koopmann et J al., 2004), PTH-related protein (Bouvet M et al., 2001), and calreticulin (Hong S et al., 2004).
However, reliable biomarkcrs for the carly detection of PDA and its differentiation from other pancreatic pathologies or cancers are still needed.

Antigens and antibodies associated to pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma


A secondary battery state detecting apparatus for detecting a state of a secondary battery installed in a vehicle is provided, which includes a current detecting unit that detects an electric current flowing to the secondary battery, a voltage detecting unit that detects a voltage of the secondary battery, and a determining unit that determines, in a case where an external device is directly connected to terminals of the secondary battery and the secondary battery is charged or discharged without passing through the current detecting unit, whether or not an irregular charging-discharging has occurred, in accordance with a change in a current value and a voltage value detected by the current detecting unit and the voltage detecting unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a secondary battery state detecting apparatus and a secondary battery state detecting method.
2. Background of the Invention
In recent years, automobiles or the like tends to have an increased number of electric devices operated with an electric power accumulated in a secondary battery, and devices associated with the safety in running, such as an electric steering and an electric brake, also tend to be driven by the secondary battery. Accordingly, there is an increasing need in accurately knowing a state of charge (e.g., SOC: State of Charge) of the secondary battery.
In general, when the secondary battery is stable, there is a proportional relationship between its open circuit voltage (OCV) and the state of charge. Accordingly, the state of charge can be estimated by detecting the open circuit voltage. However, in a case of a vehicle such as an automobile, at the time of start-up of an engine, since there is an electric power supply from the secondary battery to each load and also an electric power supply from the alternator to the secondary battery, charging and discharging occur repeatedly. In a rechargeable battery after charging and discharging, the proportional relationship between the open circuit voltage and the state of charge does not hold, since the rechargeable battery is affected by generating and disappearing reactions of ions at a surface of a battery plate by an electrochemical reaction and movement of ions by diffusion or convection of an electrolyte.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Nos. 2009-2691 and 2009-300209 disclose techniques in which an open circuit voltage and a state of charge are accurately estimated even after charging and discharging.
As for an automobile or the like, when the starting up of an engine has become difficult due to an insufficient capacity of the secondary battery, a so-called "jump start" may be carried out as an emergency measures by directly connecting terminals of a secondary battery of a disabled vehicle to terminals of a second battery of a rescue vehicle with a cable, and starting up the engine with a power supplied by the rescue vehicle.
When such a jump start is carried out, since the terminals are connected to each other and an electric current bypasses a current sensor, for example, with the techniques disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Nos. 2009-2691 and 2009-300209, influences by polarization and/or stratification cannot be estimated accurately. Therefore, there is a problem that an estimated open circuit voltage and state of charge include errors. Also, other than the jump start, there may be a case where, for example, a secondary battery is charged by directly connecting a charger to the secondary battery, and in such a case, there is also a problem that the estimated open circuit voltage and/or the state of charge include errors.
On a disabled vehicle side, "blind charging" occurs in which the secondary battery is charged without passing through a current sensor, and on a rescue vehicle side, "blind discharging" occurs in which the secondary battery is discharged without passing through a current sensor. When such blind charging or blind discharging has occurred, an influence by polarization and/or stratification cannot be estimated accurately with the techniques disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Nos. 2009-2691 and 2009-300209. Therefore, the estimated open circuit voltage and state of charge include errors. Therefore, it is necessary to detect occurrences of blind charging and blind discharging and to perform correction for each of them. However, a technique for detecting blind charging and blind discharging did not exist in the related art.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a secondary battery state detecting apparatus and a secondary battery state detecting method that can accurately detect the state of the secondary battery and also detect an occurrence of blind charging and blind discharging, even if an irregular charging-discharging that bypasses a current sensor has been carried out.

Secondary battery state detecting apparatus and secondary battery state detecting method


In a method of forming a polycrystalline silicon film in a process of manufacturing an LCD, a hydrogenated amorphous silicon film is formed on a glass substrate by plasam CVD throughout areas serving as the pixel portion and driver unit of the LCD. A laser beam is radiated on a selected region of the film on the area serving as the driver unit. The energy of the laser beam is set such that hydrogen in the film is discharged without crystallizing the film and damaging the film. The energy of the laser beam is gradually increased to gradually discharge hydrogen from the film. The energy of the laser beam is finally set such that the film is transformed into a polycrystalline silicon film. The amorphous silicon film can be poly-crystallized without damaging the film by the discharge of hydrogen.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of forming a polycrystalline silicon (i.e., polysilicon) film in a process of manufacturing an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display).
2. Description of the Related Art
An LCD using a TFT (Thin-Film Transistor) has received a great deal of attention because the LCD provides very excellent picture quality.
An LCD substrate used in the LCD is schematically shown in FIG. 1. A large number of pixel units U each of which is obtained by combining an TFT 102 to a pixel electrode 103 connected to the drain of the TFT 102 are arranged on a glass substrate 104. For example, several hundred thousands square pixel units U whose side has a length of about several hundreds .mu.m are arranged. A transparent electrode 105 commonly used for the pixel units U is formed to oppose the pixel electrode 103 such that a liquid crystal 106 is formed between the pixel electrodes 103 and the transparent electrode 105, thereby forming a pixel portion 100 as shown in FIG. 2.
A large number of packaged IC chips 107 are arranged on the glass substrate 104 along the peripheral edge of the pixel portion 100. A driver unit 101 is formed by the IC chips 107. These IC chips are independently formed and then adhered to the glass substrate 104. The terminals of each of the IC chips 107 are connected to a source bus and a gate bus connected to each of the pixel units U of the pixel portion 100. For example, the number of gate buses and the number of source buses may reach 400 to 1,920. For this reason, a large number of wiring steps are required to connect the IC chips 107 to the pixel units. This is a factor of increasing the cost of an LCD.
The TFT of each pixel unit does not require its high-speed operation because the TFT causes the pixel of the pixel unit to be displayed as an image. For this reason, an amorphous silicon layer can be used as a semiconductor layer for the TFT. However, each transistor of the driver unit must have an operation speed considerably higher than that of the TFT because a circuit requiring a high-speed switching operation must be mounted on the driver unit. Therefore, a polysilicon film having a field-effect mobility higher than that of an amorphous silicon layer must be used as the semiconductor layer of the driver unit.
The film formation process must be performed at a temperature of about 600.degree. C. or more by, e.g., low-pressure CVD (LPCVD) to obtain a polysilicon layer. However, an inexpensive glass substrate has a thermal strain point of about 600.degree. C. A glass substrate which can withstand a high temperature of about 600.degree. C. is expensive.
Under the above circumstances, a common semiconductor layer which is used for constituting a driver unit, a pixel portion, and a wiring layer cannot be formed on the same glass substrate at the same time. Therefore, a cumbersome and costly operation of adhering IC chips for a driver unit to a glass substrate is inevitable at present.

Method of forming polycrystalline silicon film in process of manufacturing LCD


A massage nozzle is disclosed including a vortex chamber having a water intake section provided to form a vortical flow therein, a spouting port provided to spout the vortical flow to form a negative pressure region, a water-spray plate provided at a distal end of the spouting port, the water-spray plate having an opening at a center thereof and a plurality of water-spray holes around the opening. The water-spray plate allows a large area suction and smooth movement while moving in contact with the skin. Further a movable member having an opening may be provided with at least a part inserted into the vortex chamber. Some part of a first portion of the movable member has a larger outside dimension than the spouting port, allowing physical vibration of the movable member in addition to the suction massage effect.

Massage devices to massage a skin surface of a human body and promote a blood circulation for the purpose of beautification and health enhancement have been widely used. As these conventional massage devices, for example, an electrically-operated shoulder tapping machine, a lumbar kneading machine, a device to let a depressurized suction hole suck a portion of a person's skin and the like are known.
As a massage device using water, one example proposes a massage device provided with an opening to introduce pressurized fluid into a cylindrical body whose one end is closed and the other end is opened in the inner-circumference tangential direction, an opening to introduce outside air into the above-mentioned closed end in the center of the cylindrical body and further, a guide cylinder outside the cylindrical body to suck in the vicinity of a spouting port. Here, a person's skin can be sucked with the negative-pressure region in the vicinity of the spouting port expanded by letting the spouted water flow reversely through the guide cylinder.
In addition, another example discloses a suction washing machine provided with an opened flow-out in a front side of an expanded guide section to let spouted water flow out.
Furthermore, yet another example of a washing machine using the suction effect by the vortical flow discloses a massage washing machine provided with an air-flow separation plate which enable a user to use in the air.
The massage device by using water vortical flow has a problem in that water splashes in all directions from the spouting port. For example, one massage device has a problem in that if using the massage device in the air, the spouted water does not splash so much as long as the guide cylinder is pressed against the skin. However, if the guide cylinder is released from the skin, the spouted water splashes conically in all directions and wets the user, persons around the user, and/or a bathroom's wall in an undesirable manner, causing the user or persons to feel uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, a massage washing machine is provided with an air-water separation plate to prevent water from splashing by separating a spouting section and suction section of vortical flow and applying the vortical flow passed through a passage hole of a one-through plate to a splash-prevention bent section. However, in this massage washing machine, since the spouting section and the suction section are separated, the whole length of the machine has to be designed to be longer, reducing the suction force and preventing a depression or vibration effect due to vortical flow from affecting a skin. In addition, the suction section is smaller than the spouting port so that the area receiving the suction force is smaller. Furthermore, since the suction port is closely stuck to the skin, this brings about a problem in that it is hard to move the main unit of the massage machine.
Meanwhile, as a message method to add to a human body various types of bioeffects such as blood circulation and removal of metabolic decomposition product, and psychological effects such as relaxation and the like, a massage method with physical vibration such as "tapping" or "kneading" is effective as well as the suction massage method to suck and deform a site on the person's skin subject to treatment.
However, the conventional massage devices as described above have emphasized only the suction effect but have not considered the enhancement of massage effect by intentionally generating physical vibration.


To accurately estimate frequency characteristics from structural parameters of a frequency selective surface. A frequency selective surface design apparatus includes an LC generation unit 20 that receives an input of a structural parameter, and generates an inductance L and a capacitance C of a unit cell, a corrected resonance point calculation unit 30 that receives the number n of times of calculation input from an outside, the inductance L, and the capacitance C, models a correction circuit by using a circuit in which a virtual capacitance is connected in parallel via a transmission line to each distribution inductance obtained by division of the inductance L by the calculation number n and the transmission line is terminated at the capacitance C, and calculates a corrected resonant frequency fC from the impedance of the correction circuit, and a characteristic calculation unit 40 that receives inputs of the inductance L, the capacitance C, and the corrected resonant frequency fC, calculates a pre-correction resonant frequency from the inductance L and the capacitance C, obtains a correction coefficient by dividing the corrected resonant frequency fC by the pre-correction resonant frequency, and calculates a corrected return loss and a corrected insertion loss.

Wireless communication services using a channel such as a wireless LAN or LTE have rapidly become popular due to advancement of miniaturization and high functionality of information communication devices. Accordingly, transmission and reception of radio waves to/from wireless communication terminals have been performed broadly and frequently, and there is a concern about influence on other peripheral electronic devices.
As consequences, deterioration of wireless environment, communication failure, threats to security, and the like, are concerns. Techniques for reducing such influence have been demanded.
Frequency selective surfaces (FSS) can be used for the purpose of controlling radio wave environment and electromagnetic environment. The frequency selective surface is configured such that resonators (unit cells) formed with a conductor pattern with dimensions of equal to or less than a wavelength are arranged at intervals, and thus, transmission characteristics/reflection characteristics of incident electromagnetic waves have frequency dependency.
Some frequency selective surfaces have resonance structures with various frequency characteristics. For example, a frequency selective surface having band stop filter characteristics that reflect only a specific frequency is mainly one having a conductor portion as a resonance structure, and there are a ring type, a dipole array type, a trihole type, a patch type, and a Jerusalem cross type (Non Patent Literature (NPL) 1).
The frequency selective surface has a large number of structural parameters to be taken into consideration, and the parameters may conflictingly relate to an increase/decrease in an inductance component and a capacitance component. Further, depending on the way to arrange the unit cells, the characteristics change, and are theoretically complicated (NPL 2).

Frequency selective surface designing device

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation


A system (10) controls the dispensing of valuable commodities, such as beers. The system (10) includes a controller (36), sensors (26, 34), and solenoid-activated valves (24). The dispensing of a commodity begins when an operator identifies himself or herself to the controller (36) after selecting a commodity and quantity. A record of this transaction is recorded in a memory (40) of the controller (36). The controller (36) continues dispensing the selected commodity, determines when the selected quantity has been dispensed, then automatically ceases dispensing the commodity. Reports (178) are generated summarizing dispensing transactions. A variety of operational parameters may be established by a manager. Parameters relevant to the preservation and flow of the commodity, such as temperature and pressure, are monitored, and warnings annunciated (164, 170) if out-of-range conditions are detected.

Commodities are often stored in bulk by merchants and sold off a little at a time in a variety of different transactions. With conventional dispensing devices, in some of the transactions a little more of a commodity may be dispensed and in other transactions a little less of the commodity may be dispensed. In some cases, commodities may be dispensed without collecting money. Accordingly, dispensing of commodities often leads to losses. Moreover, these losses become more significant as the commodity being dispensed becomes more valuable.
Beer represents one such valuable commodity. Beer is often stored in kegs by a bar owner and sold by the glass or pitcher to bar customers. Due the effervescent, perishable nature of beer and the nature of bar operations, dispensing beer from a tap into a container too often results in beer losses.
For example, beer is a perishable commodity that needs to be kept within a temperature range to maintain its quality. Failure to maintain proper temperature may lead to losses. Beer often foams to form a head as it hits a glass or pitcher. A bartender may then let the tap run to overfill the container but otherwise get a desired combination of beer and head. Overfilling containers represents another source of beer losses. The tendency of beer to foam using conventional beer dispensing devices may be controlled by careful attention to details, such as properly positioning a container to receive beer from a tap and maintaining proper beer pressure. Unfortunately, bars are often busy places and bartenders may get distracted while dispensing beer. Moreover, bartenders and owners are typically unaware of beer pressure so long as the pressure is not extremely high or extremely low. Accordingly, undesirably foamy beer leads to other beer losses. In addition, bar owners often employ bartenders. A few bartenders may be tempted to give away beer to friends or otherwise pilfer beer, leading to further beer losses. Conventional beer dispensing devices fail to institute controls which tend to ameliorate such beer losses.
In addition, bar owners face legal requirements in many locations concerning hours during which beer may and may not be dispensed. Failure to comply with such regulations subjects the bar owner to the risk of being assessed with a penalty. Unfortunately, conventional beer dispensing devices do not allow a bar owner to maintain sufficiently tight control over the dispensing of beer to ensure compliance with such regulations. For example, bar owners or managers may not always be present to supervise bar operations, and bartenders may dispense beer after hours in spite of explicit instructions not to do so. In other situations, bartenders may accidentally dispense beer after hours because they are not aware of the time.

Apparatus for dispensing valuable bulk commodities and method therefor


A connection fitting is provided for releasably attaching a first plate-shaped furniture part at a second plate-shaped furniture part. The connection fitting comprises a mounting base portion for attaching the connection fitting at one of the two furniture parts, a locking arm with a first end portion and a second end portion facing the first end portion, and a fixing means. The locking arm at the first end portion is arranged pivotably about a rotation axis (DA) at the mounting portion, and the fixing means is arranged at the second end portion of the locking arm such that it is movable in radial direction relative to the locking arm. Further, a connection fitting system with at least two connection fittings and a furniture part with a connection fitting are provided.

Connection fittings for connecting partition walls or movable screens are known from prior art. Thus, it is known to connect two movable screens by means of one or more angled elements to each other, as shown in FIG. 1. Hereby, two partition walls T to be connected are arranged at a certain angle φ with respect to each other. In the corner of the two partition walls, an angled element W is arranged, and the arms of the angled element W are fastened by means of fixation screws at the respective partition wall. Hereby, it is disadvantageous that the two partition walls T cannot be released from each other or connected to each other without tools. On the other hand, it is disadvantageous that the angled elements W only allow for a placement of two partition walls at a predetermined angle φ. Therefore, a variation of the angle φ is accompanied by a replacement of the angled element W.
An alternative solution from prior art provides for attaching hook-and-loop connections at the front walls of the partition walls facing each other. Then, the partition walls may be arranged at any arbitrary angle with respect to each other and connected to each other. After the connection, the angle between the two partition walls may be varied. Hereby, however, it is disadvantageous that the hook-and-loop connectors are not stable such that the angle between the two partition walls may vary inadvertently, or the connection is released inadvertently. Additional measures have to be taken so as to prevent this.


The techniques discussed herein efficiently perform data-parallel computations on collections of data by implementing a differential dataflow model that performs computations on differences in the collections of data. The techniques discussed herein describe defined operators for use in a data-parallel program that performs the computations on the determined differences between the collections of data by creating a lattice and indexing the differences in the collection of data according to the lattice.

Real world systems, such as a social network system or a roadmap/GPS system, comprise collections of data. Dataflow graphs are used to model the processing being performed on the collections of data so that dataflow processing can be performed as the collections of data change over time. Declarative computer programming allows a computer programmer to define, in a data-parallel program, a set of computations and input/output dependencies between the computations. The set of computations and input/output dependencies defined in a data-parallel program are modeled by the dataflow graph. Accordingly, a dataflow graph provides a representation of different functional paths that might be traversed through a data-parallel program during execution, such that collections of data pertaining to real world systems can be processed and updated as they change over time.
Conventionally, the set of computations used in a data-parallel program are batch-oriented and loop-free, resulting in inefficient performance for data streaming and incremental computational updates to the collections of data for a particular model system (e.g., a social network system or a roadmap/GPS system). For instance, batch-processing retains no previous state of data and/or computations and therefore, batch-oriented systems must reprocess entire collections of data even when the incremental changes that occur over time are minor or small. Meanwhile, loop-free data-parallel programs cannot perform iterations (e.g., loops or nested-loops) when processing an incremental update to a particular model system.


A carton is provided for holding wet books and like materials during transport to and processing at a freezing and freeze drying or vacuum drying facility. The carton is fabricated as a laminated corrugated carton from a high density polymer that may be stored in a flat condition, assembled to hold the books or like and after their processing collapsed for storage. The carton have openings throughout to facilitate extraction of fluids. The cartons are reusable as many as 20 times or more.

If a disaster such as a flood strikes a library, valuable library volumes that have taken years to collect can be completely destroyed by water. Water emergencies are invariably more damaging to books than any other type of disaster, including fire. Unfortunately, water emergencies happen rather frequently in libraries. Water emergencies are caused by a variety of unforeseen problems such as roof leaks, backed up sewer lines, burst pipes, accidental sprinkler system discharge, storm flooding, the result of putting out a fire, among other unforeseen events that often strike without warning. For libraries to salvage books and like materials (hereinafter "books"), that have become water soaked, the standard practice is to place the dripping wet books in a container, freeze the books and then dry them in some manner. After the books have been frozen, the preferred method of drying is vacuum freeze drying. Vacuum freeze drying can be accomplished while the books are in a suitable box that permits air to circulate through the box walls. It has been found that if the books have sustained no damage other than wetting such process can substantially completely restore the books to their original condition, assuming that the initial freezing is undertaken quickly, before fungal growth and decomposition has occurred (usually within 48 to 72 hours).
A problem however arises in that transporting the books to a freeze dry facility requires a voluminous number of carriers, and in order to be prepared to respond quickly to a disaster, it is desirable for libraries to store at least enough carriers to last for the first 24 hours or so until more can be brought in. Generally two types of carries are in use, milk crates or corrugated, cardboard boxes, because both types allow for quick freezing of contents and allow adequate air circulation to facilitate the vacuum freeze drying process.
Unfortunately, an immense storage problem is created for the libraries and vacuum freeze drying facilities that choose to stock milk crates. Apart from the storage problem, however, the commercial milk crate is an ideal carrier because it has bottom and sides molded in a fretwork structure to provide large open spaces, it requires no top for stacking, it is a size that can be handled easily when filled with heavy, wet books, it (the commercial variety) is made of polyethylene so that it has good impact strength at very cold temperatures. Functionally, the milk crates permit rapid drainage, rapid freezing and rapid vacuum freeze drying. From the standpoint of library security, the fact that the milk crate has no top is a slight disadvantage. Nonetheless, milk crates set the standard for this purpose in the industry.
The problem with cardboard boxes is that they soak up water, cannot be reused and at times cannot last even one cycle particularly when the books are very wet. Yet, the California library system stockpiles several thousand cardboard boxes, because they are easily stored, and it is better to have a quantity of cardboard boxes on hand than to have nothing at all in an emergency.
A slight improvement over the plain corrugated box might be boxes that are wax coated to extend their useful lives. Such treatment, however, extends the life of these cartons to maybe two to three uses at best, nowhere near the life span of plastic boxes. Furthermore, the wax coating can produce its own problems. One problem, if the interior surfaces of the cartons are waxed, is that cracking of the wax can cause wax deposits on the covers of the books, particularly books with linen or other coarsely woven surfaces; such a wax deposit could irreparably damage rare books or at least necessitate costly rebinding. An additional problem with wax coated corrugated board is that airflow, necessary to the vacuum freeze drying process, is inhibited by a heavy wax coating. This problem of insufficient airflow can be solved by the strategic placement of enough holes in the container to permit good air circulation, but not so many or such large holes that the container looses its strength. Some wax coated corrugated food boxes may meet these requirements. However, even with the wax coating, migration of water through the wax to the cardboard occurs at times, particularly at folds and at cut edges, where water can be wicked into the interior flutes of the corrugated board. More expensive, more thorough interior and exterior coatings can mitigate this problem. Nevertheless, the life span of coated paperboard containers is still much less than that of plastic boxes. Finally, maintaining the shelf life of wax coated boxes during long term storage can be difficult if the humidity is high (causing moisture absorption) or if the temperature is warm (causing waxed surfaces to stick together).
Another way that library salvage workers have tried to make corrugated boxes last longer is to place large plastic bags inside the boxes before loading the wet books. Then after the books are frozen, the bags are removed for the vacuum freeze drying operation. This is a very labor intensive solution.


An exercise monitoring pedometer for pets is directed toward measuring a pet's exercise over some, period of time, such as a day or week or month. The pet pedometer includes a solid state three-axis accelerometer, a signal processing unit, a CPU, a memory chip and a display with settable controls, and may include a voice recorder/player; or these functions may reside mainly on an application specific integrated circuit. The settable controls are directed toward providing a setting for pet stride size for conversion for walking and running, and for manual resetting. The pet pedometer auto-selects automatically for a pet's stride both a walking stride and a running stride. The present invention may also contain a recorder, typically a solid state recorder, which provide for a recording of the pet “owner's” voice, or selected music, so that the owner may record encouragement, etc., to his/her pet.

Pedometers, in general, have a long history, with continued patented improvements appearing from time-to-time. For example, "Pedometer with game mode", (U.S. Pat. No. 6,302,789, Harada, et al., Oct. 16, 2001) is designed for getting children to get exercise by walking and running.
The "Exercise support instrument," (U.S. Pat. No. 6,705,972, Takano, et al., Mar. 16, 2004), is designed to enhance a person's exercise program. A display for this device may contain a virtual animal, such as a dog; however, this is only a representation of a level of exercise achievement.
In "Pedometer for detecting vibrations in the motion direction," (U.S. Pat. No. 6,836,524, Lee, Dec. 28, 2004), a vibration detector uses frequency filtering to filter out unwanted frequency vibrations of pace detector, while set to detect low level signals.
Takenaka (U.S. Pat. No. 6,254,513, Jul. 2, 2001) describes the use of two piezo-electric sensors suspended on levers, together with an angle of inclination sensor.
Lynch (U.S. Pat. No. 6,698,381, Mar. 2, 2004 describes the use of a sound chip and a speaker to have "Pet Accessories" emit prescribed sounds interactively, upon a pet completing an electrical circuit in pet accessory.
In the case of providing a measuring pedometer for a pet, such as a dog, there are additional considerations. First, one wishes to measure the exercise obtained by the pet while walking and running, but not by other motions which might otherwise register as a "step" on a pet pedometer. Second, pets, such as dogs, have different sizes, such as small, medium and large; it would be desirable to have one pet pedometer which can be set for different size pets. Third, it is desirable to have a lightweight, low cost, rugged pet pedometer. An additional desirable feature might include a recording of the pet "owner's" voice, to encourage or direct the pet, such as a dog, in its exercise activities.


A reinforced cover for a vehicle spare tire storage system. A cover for vehicle spare tire storage system is reinforced through a reinforcing structure including a plurality of radial reinforcing members. The members are formed from a blow molded dual layer cover by pressing together the two layers at certain points to form a series of "tack-offs" or cleats which in turn create channels. A peripheral flange extends perpendicular to the cover around the perimeter of the cover for engagement with the floor of the vehicle. In the preferred embodiment, the reinforcing structure further includes a plurality of arcuate reinforcing members.

1. Technical Field The present invention generally relates to a storage system for a vehicle spare tire. More particularly, the present invention relates to a reinforced cover for a storage system for a spare tire of a vehicle having a rearwardly located storage area, the storage system including a storage tub located below the floor of the vehicle and a reinforced cover therefore.
2. Discussion
Automotive vehicles, such as minivans, vans, station wagons, sport utilities and the like are often purchased for their carrying capacity. These types of vehicles typically include a rear storage area accessible via a lift gate or tail gate. Because such vehicles are not provided with a trunk, packaging issues frequently arise concerning storage of the spare tire. Frequently, the spare tire is mounted in an upright position within the rearward storage area and adjacent one of the vehicle side walls. However, this type of storage significantly impacts the carrying capacity of the vehicle and reduces visibility.
It is also known to mount the spare tire to the underside of the vehicle body. Here, access to the spare tire is difficult. In other arrangements, the spare tire is mounted to the lift gate or on a swing gate positioned adjacent the lift gate. Such arrangements are disadvantageous in that additional weight is carried by the lift gate or the swing gate must be moved out of the way before access to the lift gate may be obtained.
It is also known to store the spare tire within a storage compartment or tub provided below the vehicle's floor. A cover is typically provided for concealing the tub. While the tub does not impede upon the carrying capacity of the rearward storage area and access to the spare tire is relatively easy, the amount of weight which may be positioned directly above the tub is limited due to the load carrying capacity of conventional covers. As a result, larger adults and cargo of significant weight cannot be placed above the tub.

Vehicle spare tire storage system having a reinforced cover


A method for measuring channel delay measures the delay for a message to propagate from a prime site (100, 400) to a remote site (200, 500) via the channel (300, 600). The prime site includes a clock for providing a first value, T1, based on the current time at the prime site. The remote site includes a clock for providing a second value, T2, based on the current time at the remote site. Both clocks are synchronized with a common timing source, such as a GPS satellite timing signal. Therefore, T2 equals T1. In one embodiment, the prime site determines T1, and simultaneously sends a message to the remote site via the channel, the message including T1. Upon receiving the message, the remote site simultaneously determines T2. The remote site decodes the message to determine T1, and then determines the delay based on the difference between T2 and T1.

There are many situations in which it is necessary to measure the one-way delay incurred by messages that are transported between two sites coupled by a channel.
In the past, typically the measurement of a one-way delay through a channel has used a "round-trip" calculation approach. With such a method, typically a central site, A, would first record the initial time, and then send a predetermined signal through the channel that couples the central site to the remote site, B. At the B site, the channel would loop-back on itself, thus coupling the receive path to the transmit path. As a result, the signal would ultimately return to the A site. Upon receipt of the signal, the A site would note the elapsed time. The one-way channel delay would then be calculated by dividing the elapsed time by the value 2.
The problem with such an approach is that it does not take into account the asymmetries between the transmit and receive paths. Thus, it may be that the time needed for the signal to travel from A to B was greater than (or less than) the time for the signal to travel from B to A.
In most real-life applications, such asymmetries can be substantial. As a result, if the application depends on precisely measuring the one-way delay, the above round-trip approach can result in substantial errors.
One application that requires precise measurements of one-way channel delays is simulcast systems. The use of simulcast transmission to increase the effective coverage area of land-mobile radio systems is well known. In simulcast transmission, two or more transmitters, broadcasting the identical message simultaneously on the same frequency, are located so that coverage is available over a larger area than can be covered by the individual transmitters acting alone.
As is known, such simulcast transmission systems require that the message be transmitted from all transmitter sites at exactly the same time. If the message is transmitted by various transmitters at different times, this causes substantial distortion for subscriber units located in an over-lap area where the message is received from multiple transmitters. This distortion occurs when the various transmissions of the message arrive at a receiving subscriber unit with even slight phase or timing differences with respect to each other.
The fundamental problem with achieving proper simulcast operation is how to synchronize message transmissions at all transmitter sites. Typically the messages are formed at a central, or "prime" site, and then delivered by distribution channels to the remote sites for broadcast by the transmitters located there. To guarantee a time-precise arrival of messages at the remote sites, therefore, the delay introduced by the channels connecting the prime to the remote sites must be determined with precision.
In general, each channel will have a different delay. Once these individual delays are exactly known, then simultaneous transmissions of messages from all transmitters may be achieved by compensating for the variations in channel delays. Thus system-wide synchronization of all transmitters may be achieved only if the one-way delays for all channels can be precisely measured.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method for measuring channel delay.


Systems and methods of selecting a data rate for a wireless communication device are disclosed. Data indicative of a power constraint of a first computing device using the wireless communication device may be transmitted to a second computing device. A maximum data rate may be identified based on, at least in part, a power constraint of the first computing device.

1. Field
The present invention generally relates to communication systems. In particular, it relates to radio and/or data rate selections in communication systems.
2. Relevant Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication (e.g., voice, data, multimedia services, etc.) to multiple users. As the demand for high-rate and multimedia data services rapidly grows, there lies a challenge to implement efficient and robust communication systems with enhanced performance.
Communication devices such as broadband wireless modems may be used in wireless communication systems, specifically to provide computing devices with access to the wireless communication systems. The computing devices may have a limited amount of power available for use. The communication devices may use the power obtained from the computing devices. Better control of the power used by the communication device may be desirable.


A touchscreen includes touchscreen electrode elements distributed across an active area of a substrate, and the touchscreen overlays a display. The touchscreen electrode elements are configured to avoid creating moiré patterns between the display and the touchscreen, such as angled, wavy, zig-zag, or randomized lines. In a further example, the electrodes form a mesh pattern configured to avoid moiré patterns.

Touchscreen displays are able to detect a touch within the active or display area, such as detecting whether a finger is present pressing a fixed-image touchscreen button or detecting the presence and position of a finger on a larger touchscreen display. Some touchscreens can also detect the presence of elements other than a finger, such as a stylus used to generate a digital signature, select objects, or perform other functions on a touchscreen display.
Use of a touchscreen as part of a display allows an electronic device to change a display image, and to present different buttons, images, or other regions that can be selected, manipulated, or actuated by touch. Touchscreens can therefore provide an effective user interface for cell phones, GPS devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), computers, ATM machines, and other devices.
Touchscreens use various technologies to sense touch from a finger or stylus, such as resistive, capacitive, infrared, and acoustic sensors. Resistive sensors rely on touch to cause two resistive elements overlaying the display to contact one another completing a resistive circuit, while capacitive sensors rely on the capacitance of a finger changing the capacitance detected by an array of elements overlaying the display device. Infrared and acoustic touchscreens similarly rely on a finger or stylus to interrupt infrared or acoustic waves across the screen, indicating the presence and position of a touch.
Capacitive and resistive touchscreens often use transparent conductors such as indium tin oxide (ITO) or transparent conductive polymers such as PEDOT to form an array over the display image, so that the display image can be seen through the conductive elements used to sense touch. The size, shape, and pattern of circuitry have an effect on the accuracy of the touchscreen, as well as on the visibility of the circuitry overlaying the display. Although a single layer of most suitable conductive elements is difficult to see when overlaying a display, multiple layers can be visible to a user, and some materials such as fine line metal elements are not transparent but rely on their small size to avoid being seen by users.
Further, touchscreens are often used to overlay displays such as LCD display screens that have their own circuitry and patterns. It is therefore desirable to consider the configuration of touchscreen electrode patterns when designing a touchscreen.


Disclosed are various embodiments of worksite systems and methods that render user interfaces to provide features based on permissions of a user account. A user of a client device can create and store incident reports including photographs depicting the incident. The incident report can be synchronized with a remote data store through a synchronization service on an application server. A vehicle status report can also be created and stored on the client device and synchronized with the application server.

In construction, a company can have multiple customers and working crews to service those customers. Each work site requires a different set of tasks to be completed based on what the customer needs. Workers may need to perform training before performing certain functions at a work site. A foreman needs to track the workers on various crews to ensure the work is done on time and with quality. Further, when accidents happen, someone needs to ensure damage from the accident is mitigated.

Systems and methods for worksite safety management and tracking


An MR imaging system comprises a first gradient coil unit(first G coil unit) for providing magnetic gradients superimposed in a static magnetic field, a first RF coil unit for transmitting an RF pulse to a patient and receiving a MR signal from the patient, a second gradient coil unit(second G coil unit) and a second RF coil unit. The second G coil unit is located between the patient and the first G coil unit. In a first operating mode(for example, spin echo scan mode), the second G and RF coil units are moved out the first G coil unit and the first RF coil unit is moved into the first G coil unit by guiding these units along a rail or the second G and RF coil units are drawn out from the first G coil unit and the first RF coil unit is inserted into the first G coil unit so that these units are located in predetermined position. A connection of a gradient power source to the first and second G coil unit and a connection of a duplexer to the first and second RF coil unit are switched so that the gradient power source is connected to the first G coil unit and the duplexer is connected to the first RF coil assembly. In a second operating mode (for example, echo planar scan mode), these units are located inversely and the connections are switched inversely. In one preferred embodiment, the second G coil unit and the first RF coil unit are integrated into an inner unit and these units are moved together by moving the inner unit.

This invention relates to a magnetic resonance(MR) imaging system and more particularly to an MR imaging system for acquiring image data in a rapid scan.
MR imaging is a remarkable technique for a medical diagnosis because a good contrast image for head or spine tissue can be acquired.
An MR imaging system for acquiring image data in a few seconds can suppress an artifact caused by respiratory motion.
Furthermore, there is known a possibility of acquiring image data in a fraction of a second, with echo planar imaging(EPI).
The MR imaging system using EPI operates as follows. First, a 90.degree. pulse is applied; and following the 90.degree. pulse, 180.degree. pulse a is applied. Then gradients are superimposed on a static magnetic field dephase spins. A gradient of reverse polarity is then applied in a predetermined direction to refocus the spins, and a first echo is acquired. The phase encoding gradient is then immediately incremented and the same procedure is repeated and second echo is acquired. In this way, all data in a k-space can be sampled in one shot.
Furthermore, with this technique, motion such as in a heart, elbow or knee of a human body, can be viewed in essentially real time.
However, in order to acquire data in a fraction of a second with EPI, very large gradient amplitudes are required, and large gradient amplitudes require large gradient coil currents. For example, a 5 mT/m gradient requires about 500 A current in a gradient coil in which a human body can fit.
Further, rapid gradient switching, for example at 100 .mu. second, is required.
In a conventional MR imaging system with EPI, a very high voltage gradient coil is required which in turn requires a very high capability-power source such a gradient power source requires extra space for installation and extra cost, and uses a great amount of electric energy.
These problems also occur with other imaging techniques, for example, techniques for imaging blood flow or angiography which also require very large gradient amplitudes, rapid switching capabilities and higher sampling rate.
The Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 64-20835. filed Jul. 16, 1987, and published Jan. 24, 1989, discloses an MR imaging system comprising a gradient coil for superimposing a gradient in three mutually orthgonal axes on a static magnetic field and comprises an inversion gradient coil for applying an alternating gradient, wherein said inversion gradient coil is provided independently from said gradient coil.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,125, issued May 15, 1990, discloses a surface gradient assembly for high-speed, high-resolution NMR imaging comprising at least one substantially planar gradient coil.


An umbrella includes a control mechanism comprising a hollow cylinder, a control block, a press mechanism, a push member, and an actuation block; a shank assembly comprising a support tube, first and second sliding tubes, and a resilient member; a link assembly comprising a pulley mechanism, a main spring, a rope, and a link; a runner and top assembly comprising a runner having peripheral slots wherein one of the slots is secured to the rope, and a hub secured to the cylindrical section and having peripheral slots; and a rib and stretcher assembly comprising ribs, stretchers, and auxiliary spring and rod combinations. Umbrella can be opened by pressing the push button with the main spring being expanded or closed by pressing the push button again with the auxiliary springs being compressed. After closing the umbrella, the main spring can be compressed by urging against a hard object.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to umbrellas and more particularly to such an umbrella having a mechanism capable of opening the umbrella by pressing a push button with a main spring being expanded, closing the umbrella by pressing the push button again with stretcher springs being compressed, or after closing the umbrella compressing the main spring by urging a ferrule against, for example, the ground so that the umbrella can be opened again.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, an umbrella can be classified as one having a telescopic shank and one without a telescopic shank. Also, umbrellas having automatic opening feature are commercially available. For umbrellas with telescopic shank having automatic opening feature, its folding sections are short and thus mechanism for effecting same is simple. To the contrast, for umbrellas without telescopic shank having automatic opening or closing feature, its folding sections are long and thus mechanism for effecting same is complicated. Such umbrella is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,010. However, so far as the inventor is aware, the devices shown in the prior art patents have had no market acceptance.
Typically, a main spring is provided in the shank so that a release of stored elastic energy by pressing a tab will open the umbrella. A plurality of stretcher springs are provided each between the stretcher and the rib so that pressing the stretcher springs will collapse the umbrella. That is, the opening is done by the elastic force of the main spring overcomes the resistance of the stretcher springs and the closing is done by the elastic force of the stretcher springs overcomes the resistance of the main spring which is, however, not feasible in terms of existing technology.
For overcoming the bottle neck, the inventor seeks a solution of making the main spring to be expansible in two steps in which in the first step the elastic force of the main spring is released to open the umbrella and in the second step the elastic force of the main spring is released as an complementary force of the elastic force of the stretcher springs so that the umbrella can be closed easily. Further, the release of the elastic force of the main spring is step by step in a control manner so as to be stable. Furthermore, the elastic force of the main spring is completely released in the umbrella closing step. Thus, a spring restoring step is required so that the main spring can be returned to a compressed state by storing elastic force for a future two-step expansion. This is the novel feature of the invention in the development of mechanism of automatically opening an umbrella without a telescopic shank. It is also known that umbrellas without a telescopic shank as widely used by people. Thus, continuing improvements in the exploitation of an umbrella without a telescopic shank having a novel automatic opening mechanism are constantly being sought.

Umbrella with mechanism for automatic opening or closing


A method of laser shock peening a hard metallic article by firing a laser beam on different points of a laser shock peened surface of at least a portion of the article using a laser beam with sufficient power to vaporize material on the surface around laser beam spots formed by the laser beam at the points on the surface, flowing a curtain of water over the surface upon which the laser beam is firing, and firing the laser beam so as to form a plurality of volumetrically spaced apart laser shock peened protrusions extending into the article from the spots such that the protrusions have deep compressive residual stresses imparted by laser the laser beam. The surface may first be coated with an ablative material which the laser beam vaporizes and the method may be an on the fly method of laser shock peening which further includes continuously moving the article while continuously firing a stationary laser beam which repeatably pulses between relatively constant periods.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to laser shock peened articles and a method of laser shock peening, more particularly, for producing a laser shock peened ripstop array of non-overlapping spaced apart laser shock peened spots having localized compressive residual stresses imparted by laser shock peening.
2. Description of Related Art
Gas turbine engines and, in particular, aircraft gas turbine engines rotors operate at high rotational speeds that produce high tensile and vibratory stress fields within the blade and make the fan blades susceptible to foreign article damage (FOD). Vibrations may also be caused by vane wakes and inlet pressure distortions as well as other aerodynamic phenomena. This FOD causes nicks and tears and hence stress concentrations in leading and trailing edges of fan blade airfoils. These nicks and tears become the source of high stress concentrations or stress risers and severely limit the life of these blades due to High Cycle Fatigue (HCF) from vibratory stresses.
Therefore, it is highly desirable to design and construct longer lasting fan and compressor blades, as well as other hard metallic parts, that are better able to resist both low and high cycle fatigue and that can arrest cracks than present day parts. The above referenced U.S. Patent Applications are directed towards this end. They teach to provide an airfoil of a fan blade with a continuous or volumetric region of deep compressive residual stresses imparted by laser shock peening over at least an inwardly extending portion of laser shock peened surfaces of an article such as the fan blade. These regions are formed by multiple overlapping protrusions of compressive residual stresses imparted by laser shock peening that extend inward from overlapping laser shock peened circles or spots.
The deep compressive residual stresses imparted by laser shock peening of the present invention is not to be confused with a surface layer zone of a work piece that contains locally bounded compressive residual stresses that are induced by a hardening operation using a laser beam to locally heat and thereby harden the work piece such as that which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,838, entitled "Method and apparatus for truing or straightening out of true work pieces". The prior art teaches the use of multiple radiation pulses from high powered pulsed lasers and large laser spot diameters of about 1 cm to produce shock waves on the surface of a work piece similar like the above referenced Patent Applications and U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,698, entitled "Altering Material Properties"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,401,477, entitled "Laser shock processing"; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,957, entitled "Material Properties". Laser shock peening as understood in the art and as used herein, means utilizing a laser beam from a laser beam source to produce a continuous region of strong compressive residual stresses in a continuous region on a portion of a surface. The region is volumetric and produced by the coalescence of individual protrusions extending inward from overlapping laser shock peened circles or spots. Laser peening has been utilized to create a compressively stressed protection layer at the outer surface of a workpiece which is known to considerably increase the resistance of the workpiece to fatigue failure as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,421, entitled "Laser Peening System and Method". Manufacturing costs of the laser shock peening process is a great area of concern because startup and operation costs can be very expensive. The "on the fly" laser shock peening process disclosed in 08/362,362, above is designed to provide cost saving methods for laser shock peening as is the present invention. Prior art teaches to use large laser spots, on the order of 1 cm and greater in diameter, and high powered lasers. Manufacturers are constantly seeking methods to reduce the time, cost, and complexity of such processes. A laser shock peening method that uses a low power laser beam, on the order of 3-10 joules, with a preferred range of 3-7 Joules and laser beam spots having a diameter of about 1 mm is disclosed in co-pending U.S. patent application No. 08/993,194, entitled "LASER SHOCK PEENING USING LOW ENERGY LASER" and this method is directed to reducing time, cost, and complexity of laser shock peening. There is an ever present desire to design techniques that result in such reductions and to this end the present invention is directed.