A method and system for connecting, capturing, managing and predicting outcomes for an improved care for home based patients by collecting data from caregivers and home-based patients. The method and system implemented as a mobile technology is more efficient and effective method for delivering healthcare that will ease the caregiving burden. Providing resources and information to communicate, capture and deliver by the caregivers (formal and informal), patients and healthcare providers communicate helps integrate essential data and care. Through the use of this mobile technology and associated devices vital information from informal caregivers, which is currently not regularly used in remotely located patients, can be captured and implemented in the decisions and adjustments to patients' care plans. In addition, the technology helps with adherence of patient specific treatment guidelines for home-based patients.

Today's healthcare system contains much inefficiency that does not utilize easily available resources. These inefficiencies include, but are not limited to collecting and utilizing the best available data, healthcare spending waste, failing to involve all parties involved in a patient's treatment experience and not using existing technologies to capture patient's relevant data while they are in remote locations, like the patient's home. Some of the main causes for these inefficiencies include failure to coordinate care and the unnecessary complexity of our current antiquated health care system. In this regard, our existing healthcare is incredibly limited and not implemented in a way that can yield improved outcomes for all types of patient treatment, including for patients in clinical trials and patients receiving care at home. As a result, our current healthcare system is highly dependent on the individual patient's treatment at a "traditional brick and mortar" facility, whether it be a doctor's office, clinic, clinical-trial site, hospital/emergency room, or the like, which is unnecessary and results in a lot of valuable data never being captured, used or assessed. In addition, our current healthcare system is overly dependent on the patient's judgment of if and when they will even seek treatment at one of these at a "traditional brick and mortar" facility, which is another unnecessary inefficiency. In addition, the patient may forego or delay seeking treatment, possibly due to medical ignorance, fear of seeking healthcare, cost constraints or some other factor that in turn causes a medical condition to substantially worsen when it could have otherwise been prevented or more easily treated.
This litany of inefficiencies results in the delivery of uncoordinated healthcare and causes critical patient data to become fractured and decentralized. In addition, critical patient data becomes much less considered in its entirety when treatment options are considered. Moreover, since current means of healthcare are ultimately delivered through "traditional brick and mortar" facilities, there is often substantial waste of healthcare resources. Plus, the current healthcare system, wrought with these inefficiencies, does not specifically address patients being treated in a remote, home-based and/or clinical-trial setting.
There is a need to update and integrate the system to provide more efficient approaches and save resources and time.

Method and system to integrate data, analyze and develop improved care plan for a patient at home


A rotor blade for a driven horizontal rotor of a rotary-wing aircraft comprises an elongated main body which includes a leading edge, a trailing edge, and an upper surface extending between the leading edge and the trailing edge. The rotor blade further comprises at least one flap having a front end and a rear end and mounted to the main body at its front end swiveling about a swiveling axis running in parallel to the radial or spanwise axis of the rotor blade. The flap has a basic position in which it lies flat against the upper surface of the main body. Further, the flap is passively swiveled by aerodynamic forces and inertial forces about its swivel axis to raise above the upper surface of the main body, and a reset force acts upon the flap to reset it into its basic position on the surface of the main body.

The airspeed of helicopters is inter alia limited by aerodynamic effects at the rotor blades. Due to the superposition of rotational speed and air speed, high flow velocities are present on the advancing side of the horizontal rotor which if too high can result in local shock waves at the advancing rotor blades. On the retreating side of the horizontal rotor, the flow velocity at the rotor blades with regard to the surrounding air is reduced. In an inner area close to the rotor axis, the flow velocity may even be reversed, resulting in a flow from the trailing edge to the leading edge of the rotor blade. For the purpose of providing equal lift distribution or ascending forces on both sides of the horizontal rotor, despite the strongly differing rotor blades speeds with regard to the surrounding air, the incidence or angle of attack of the rotor blades has to be increased on the retreating side and decreased on the advancing side of the horizontal rotor. Thus, the incidence of the rotor blades has to be periodically varied over each rotation of the horizontal rotor of a helicopter flying forward. These variations result in varying angle of attack and may locally cause a dynamic stall. The dynamic stall causes a short increase in lift followed by a sharp reduction or loss of the lift. As a result, there are strong variations in the drag and in the pitch moment of the rotor blade. This high frequency transient aerodynamic effect results in high structural loads on the rotor blades and the entire drive and control system of a helicopter, which is accompanied by a strong excitation of vibrations. A further increase of the air speed of a helicopter is not possible without taking measures to unload its horizontal rotor.
In a rotor blade for a helicopter known from DE 198 08 196 C2, a movable flap is provided at the trailing edge of the rotor blade. The angle of the flap is actively adjustable with regard to the remainder of the rotor blade. The flap is connected to the main body of the rotor blade via a flexible fiber joint. By means of the flap of this known rotor blade, it is intended to increase the rotor performance and to simultaneously reduce the vibration level. The connection of the flap to the main body via the flexible fiber joint is intended to reduce the wear in the area of the flap as compared to flaps which are connected via common two-part pivot joints. The known rotor blade having an actively operated flap is very complex as compared to a rotor blade without flap.
A rotor blade with advanced behavior with regard to stall occurring at strongly varying angles of attack is known from DE 10 2005 018 427 A1. Here, devices are arranged in the area of the profile front edge (leading edge) to enhance the behavior at increased angle of attack. These devices include at least one passive vortex generator which is at or close to the stagnation point of the rotor blade with low angles of attack so that it is out of function, and which emerges out of the boundary layer of an accelerated flow on the underpressure side of the rotor blade with increased stall angles so that it starts to operate at higher angles of attack.
Up to now, there is no system ready for serial production for controlling the dynamic stall at rotor blades of helicopters. The selection of the blade profile and the profile distribution in radial direction have an influence. In this selection, however, other boundary conditions are to be met. For example, a wide area of Mach and Reynolds numbers and of angle of attack have to be covered. In practice, the area in which dynamic stall occurs is up to now avoided by limiting the overall air speed.
Experimental research in a wind tunnel has been carried out with regard to surface flaps on airfoils of fixed wing airplanes to evaluate the potential of these devices to suppress the reversed flow that can occur locally on the airfoils when the flow separates at high angles of attack (see Meyer, Robert K. J., "Experimentelle Untersuchungen von Rückstrombremsen auf Tragflügeln zur Beeinflussung von Strömungsablösungen", Disseration TU Berlin Hermann-Föttinger-Institut für Strömungsmechanik, Mensch & Buch Verlag, ISBN 3-89820-205-4).
DE 198 59 041 C1 discloses an adjustable blade profile for a rotor blade of a rotary wing airplane. The blade profile is adjustable about an axis running in parallel to the radial axis of the rotor blade. This adjustment of the entire blade profile shall take place automatically due to variations of the lift operating against an elastic means under the influence of the centrifugal force on the rotor blade. This concept, however, has not been applied in practice.
The conditions at a rotor blade of a helicopter basically differ from the conditions at an air foil of a fixed wing airplane. The particularity of a helicopter is the blade velocity with regard to the surrounding air, which strongly varies periodically during one rotor revolution. The stall at a rotor blade of a helicopter thus takes place within much shorter time, and generally the stall emerges from the leading edge of the blade profile. At fixed-wing airfoils, the stall mostly begins at the trailing edge.
A four-bladed rotor of a helicopter of the 2,000 kg-class (such as the helicopter EC 135), for example, rotates at a frequency of 6.5 Hz corresponding to an angular speed of 41 rad/sec. The dynamic stall due to the variation of the angle of attack of the rotor blade over each rotation takes place in an azimuthal area of about 60°, which equals approximately 1 rad. This area is passed by the rotor blade within approximately 0.02 sec.
Considering a helicopter, the dynamic stall occurs at high forward flight speeds and limits the maximum flight speed of the helicopter. For a fixed wing airplane, stall occurs at too low air speeds and limits the minimum air speed.
There still is a need for a rotor blade in which the negative effects associated with dynamic stall, such as loss of lift, increase of drag and pitching moment and thus increased vibrations and loads and component stress, is shifted towards higher angles of attack and thus to higher forward flight velocities by means of simple devices not affecting the integrity of the main body of the rotor blade.

Rotor blade with integrated passive surface flap

Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft-und Raumfahrt e.V.


A headrest with pivotable side support members and safety features. A head support assembly according to one embodiment includes a first wing member including a deformable plastic wing frame portion. The head support assembly also includes a center member that includes a plastic center frame portion to which the first wing member is pivotably coupled. The forward pivoting of the first wing member is limited an acute angle.

1. Field
The present disclosure generally relates to headrests. More particularly, the present disclosure pertains to headrests that may be used in connection with or be integrally formed with vehicle seats, such as car seats, train seats, airplane seats, child seats, or which may be used in conjunction with or form a part of furniture, stretchers, beds, or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, a passenger in a passenger vehicle, such as an automobile, airplane, bus or train, suffers significant neck strain when resting since seats in such passenger vehicles typically provide support only to the back portion of the passenger's head. More specifically, since seats in such passenger vehicles are not designed to keep the passenger's head in a substantially upright, vertical orientation relative to the passenger's torso (e.g., when the passenger is at rest or sleeping), neck strain may result due to the natural instability of an unsupported head when no muscles are being used to support the head.
In order to alleviate such neck strain, various devices have been developed. For instance, pillows designed to fit around the backside of the passenger's neck have been developed. Such neck pillows are inflatable with air or consist solely of a foam material. However, such neck pillows generally do not provide adequate support to inhibit neck strain due to their readily deformable or "sponge-like" nature. Further, use of such neck pillows tends to allow the entire body of the user to slide sideward because lateral acceleration causes the passenger's body to slip against the seat. In addition, such neck pillows typically do not allow passengers to adjust the configuration of the device to suit the passenger's tastes or dimensions.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Winged headrest with safety features for vehicular use


A high velocity arc spray apparatus includes a transferred-arc-plasma torch assembly which forms a transferred-arc column. A metal feedstock is fed into the transferred-arc column at an angle such that no portion of the metal feedstock is closer to the transferred-arc-plasma torch assembly than the leading edge of the metal feedstock in the feeding direction. A power source is coupled to both the metal feedstock and transferred-arc-plasma torch assembly for creating an electrical potential difference between the metal feedstock and the transferred torch assembly.

Thermal spray processes have been employed broadly in numerous industries to apply protective coatings to a variety of substrates including metal, ceramic, plastic and paper. More recently, thermal spray methods have been utilized for the fabrication of high-tech composite materials a coatings and as freestanding near-net-shape structures. By heating and accelerating particles of one or more materials to form a high-energy particle stream, thermal spraying provides a method by which materials starting in wire or powder form may be rapidly deposited on a substrate. While a number of parameters dictate the composition and microstructure of the sprayed coating or article, the velocity and temperature of the particles as they impact the substrate are important factors in determining the density and uniformity of the deposit.
One prior art thermal spray technique is the utilization of a combustion flame to spray metals and other materials, in powder, wire or rod form onto a substrate. A mixture of a fuel gas such as acetylene and an oxygen-containing gas (oxy-fuel) are flowed through a nozzle and then ignited at the nozzle tip. The material to be sprayed is metered into the flame where it is heated and propelled to the surface of the substrate. The feedstock may comprise a metal rod or wire which is passed axially into the center of the flame front or, alternatively, the rod or wire may be fed tangentially into the flame. Similarly, a metal powder may be injected axially into the flame front by means of a carrier gas. Some powder only combustion flame guns utilize a gravity feed mechanism by which a powdered material is simply dropped into the flame front. Conventional flame spraying, however, is typically a low velocity thermal spray process in the subsonic range and usually produces coatings which have a high degree of porosity.
Another spraying technique is known as plasma spraying. Plasma spraying utilizes a high-velocity gas plasma to spray generally powdered or particular material onto a substrate. To form a plasma, gas is flowed through an electric arc in the nozzle of a plasma spray gun, causing the gas to ionize into a plasma stream. The plasma stream thus formed is at an extremely high temperature, often exceeding 10,000 degrees C. The material to be sprayed, typically particles of about 20 to 100 microns, are entrained in the plasma and may reach a velocity exceeding mach 1. While plasma spraying can produce high density coatings, it is a complex procedure which requires expensive equipment and considerable skill on the part of an operator for proper application.
In another thermal spray technique known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,546,415, an electric arc is generated in an arc zone between two consumable wire electrodes. As the electrodes melt, the arc is maintained by continuously feeding the electrodes into the arc zone. The molten metal at the electrode tips is atomized by a blast of generally cold compressed gas. The atomized metal is then propelled by the gas get to a substrate forming a deposit.
Conventional electric-arc thermal sprayed coatings are generally dense and reasonably free of oxide, however, the process requires that two consumable wires (electrodes) be fed to the spraying apparatus resulting in several disadvantages. Firstly, the spray gun, which is often desired to be lightweight and easily handleable, is bulky and cumbersome due to the number of heavy electrical power cables and electrically insulated wire feed conduits which are required. Also, instabilities in the spraying process occur due to unavoidable irregularities which are inherent in the process of feeding two wires simultaneously and precisely to the arc zone in the spray gun. Such wire feed instabilities result in inconsistent characteristics in the coating characteristics often detrimental to coating quality. In addition, since molten particles are initially formed from both an anode and a cathode, two distinctive particle size ranges are produced from the two electrodes, which is not conducive to forming a uniform coating structure.
An arc spray system known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,852, provides variation of the arrangement of flowing the atomizing gas through and around the arc-zone. However, this technique only provides improved atomizing, at subsonic velocities and also does not resolve the difficulties incurred because of dual-wire feed instabilities.
To improve the velocity of the atomizing gas, an arrangement was devised as known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,788,402 whereby a plasma jet is formed in a manner so that the plasma gas is accelerated to sonic or supersonic velocity as it exits the anode nozzle of the plasma torch. Two wires are simultaneously fed into the exiting, high velocity ionized gas stream at acute angles to the axis of flow of this plasma stream. These two wires are electrically energized with respect to each other and an arc is formed between the two wires, through the ionized plasma jet stream. Such an arrangement provides a means of atomizing the metal particles formed from the melting ends of the two wires at very high velocities which could be sonic or even supersonic. However, such an apparatus still requires the simultaneous feeding of two consumable wires, not resolving the instability problems associated with the simultaneous feeding of two wires.
A method is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,140,380 to form several plasma streams angularly displaced around a central axis. A single wire is fed along the central axis of this configured multi-plasma torch and is melted by the heat of the plasma and the molten particles are atomized and propelled to a substrate to form a coating by the combined plasma streams at the converging point of these multiple plasma streams. In this configuration, the heat available to melt this single wire is only that which is obtained by convection from the plasma stream. Also, the velocity of the converging plasma streams is relatively low and therefore the atomizing and propelling of the metal particles occurs at low velocity, thereby not producing high density pore-free coatings.
A single wire arc apparatus and process is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,064,114 in which a single wire is fed through the central axis of a plasma torch. This wire acts as a consumable electrode being fed into an arc chamber. An arc is struck between this wire and a coaxially aligned outlet nozzle. Gas is fed into the arc chamber, coaxial to the electrode wire, where it is expanded by the electric arc and causes a highly heated gas stream carrying metal from the electrode tip to flow through the nozzle. This jet of gas coaxial to the electrode wire also assists in converting the electrode wire tip which is being melted by the electric arc, into a stream of fine metal droplets.
It is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,085,750 to provide a metal plate in the pathway of the torch to bend and direct the flow path of the heated gas stream. There are several deficiencies with this type of metal spray process. Firstly, the velocity of this process is subsonic, yielding deposits which are quite porous and resulting coatings which are comprised generally of relatively large particles. Additionally, a great deal of difficulty can be encountered in preventing build-up of the metal droplets on the walls of the outlet nozzle.
An arrangement is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,370,538 in which a single wire is fed at an acute angle into a plasma stream internally within a dual stream torch. A transferred-arc is established between the cathode of the plasma torch and the wire anode, thereby melting the tip of the wire. Sufficient gas flow in the plasma stream is established to help to initially atomize the molten metal at the wire tip. This gas flow is at a relatively low velocity but at high temperature and the initially atomized particles are subsequently moved into a second, cooler, very high velocity gas stream for further atomization and acceleration. This second gas stream is derived from combusting an oxy-fuel mixture in a separate combustion chamber which is also an integral part of the proposed thermal spray torch. The hot combustion product, gas, is directed to coaxially combine with the plasma stream containing the partially atomized molten metal particles. One of the drawbacks of such an apparatus is the high degree of complexity of the equipment of combining several processes (plasma, combustion and wire arc) in one assembly along with the extremely fine balance of control of these three processes to get them to work in harmony with each other. In addition, the operation of such an apparatus is very expensive, requiring large consumptions of fuel gas and oxygen. Additionally, when the wire is fed at an acute angle into the plasma stream and an arc is struck between the wire tip anode and the cathode electrode of the plasma torch, secondary arcs (double arcing) can randomly occur between the wire and the anode nozzle of the internal plasma torch. Double arcing is a condition in which a shorter electrical path is found for the transferred-arc current to flow from the cathode electrode through internal arcing within the torch to a second arc which will form between a point on the outer surface of the torch and the wire. Such secondary (double) arcs can be destructive to the internal plasma torch and to the overall spray torch.
Another system is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,604,306 in which two separate torches are employed, namely a plasma torch and a high velocity combustion torch. The plasma torch is described as a transferred-arc type torch in which an arc is struck between the cathode electrode of the torch and the tip end of a wire which is fed into an initially formed pilot plasma stream at an acute angle relative thereto. The molten particles which are partially atomized and accelerated from the transferred-arc zone are injected into a "quiescent zone" formed at the exit of a high velocity oxyfuel gun. The same disadvantages apply to this configuration as those pertaining to U.S. Pat. No. 4,370,538 previously mentioned. Since the wire is fed into the plasma stream at an acute angle, secondary arcing between the wire and the plasma torch anode pilot nozzle commonly occur due to this physical configuration resulting in damage and destruction of the plasma torch. In addition, the apparatus is complex requiring critical mechanical alignment between the plasma torch and oxy-fuel combustion torch and the process is very costly to operate.
One solution to the problem of secondary arcing is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,977. A high velocity annular gaseous sheath is formed concentrically about the transferred-arc column to form an arc column guide restricting the arc column to within a region closely spaced radially from the axial extension of the nozzle, such that the arc column cannot penetrate this sheath. When the wire motion is stopped or the wire is withdrawn from the arc-zone, the arc to the tip of the wire is extinguished by the cold, high velocity annular gas flow. This solution to secondary arcing creates greater complexity and bulkiness to the spray apparatus as well as increasing the operating cost of such a system by requiring an additional high volume of high velocity flow of compressed air. In addition, it is not always useful to have a high volume of high velocity cold air impinging on the coating being formed on the substrate and can actually be detrimental to achieving the highest quality of coating characteristics.
Prior art thermal spray methods have been used to form composite materials by simultaneously spraying two or more distinct materials. Ceramic-ceramic composites, ceramic-metal composites known as "cermets", and metal-ceramic composites, known as "metal-matrix composites" have been formed as coatings and as freestanding near-net-shape articles. Materials may also be fabricated by forming a first particle stream using one spray gun and then combining the first stream with a particle stream from another gun to form a combined spray at the target surface.
A method of manufacturing a composite material by combined melt-spraying is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,395. The use of a conventional single-wire combustion spray gun to melt and spray the main constituent metal onto a substrate is combined with an injection means which injects discontinuous fibers as a reinforcing material, together with compressed air into the metal spray wherein the discontinuous fibers are mixed into the metal spray. A composite material is thus formed on a substrate. The limitations of this type of technique are that the resulting deposits contain oxide formations surrounding each metal particle as well as a high degree of porosity resulting from the lowvelocity nature of the process. Both of these factors result in deposits which do not have superior properties. In addition, the use of two separate spray guns to form composite coatings is difficult and unwieldy. It would therefore be desirable to provide a single spray gun which could be used to form composite materials such as metal-matrix composites which are high density essentially oxide free deposits.
Another means of thermal-spray forming composites such as metal-matrix composite materials as a coating or as freestanding near-net-shape articles, is described in currently pending U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 07/247,024 of co-inventor Daniel R. Marantz. This device combines in a single apparatus a high velocity (operating in the trans-sonic range) oxy-fuel type spray gun with a two-wire electric-arc spray head. In this apparatus, the high velocity combustion products are directed at the arc-zone established between the two wires, where it acts to atomize and propel the molten metal formed in the arc, from the two wires to a substrate or article to be coated. Simultaneously, a powder feedstock of the reinforcement particles is fed into the combustion process within the high velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) gun. This reinforcement particle, typically a refractory oxide or carbide, is heated and accelerated within the HVOF gun and is combined with the metal particles formed from the two-wire electric-arc. As the metal and reinforcement particles imbed themselves into the substrate, they are subsequently covered up by the splatting metal particles. This process produces a high density composite coating or bulk metal-matrix composite material.
There are several limitations and drawbacks to this process. First, since an oxy-fuel process is employed, large amounts of oxides are formed, surrounding each of the metal-matrix particles. This oxide formation weakens the interparticle bonding, thus forming a metal-matrix which is mechanically inferior to the wrought starting material. In addition, since the mechanism of reinforcement particle loading in the metal-matrix is based on the impact of the hot particle onto the coated surface, the hardness of the metal-matrix material employed plays an important role in how much, if any, reinforcement particle imbeds itself into the metal-matrix. Loading of reinforcement into the metal-matrix does not occur at all in harder materials such as steel and nickel based alloys. Only very low loading (less than 5%) are obtainable in medium hardness materials such as copper and its alloys. In softer materials, such as aluminum and aluminum alloys, reasonable loadings of 10 to 15 percent can be obtained. However this appears to be the limiting degree of loading obtainable.
Another method for thermal spray forming composites is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,977. In this method a single wire is fed at an acute angle into a plasma stream in which a transferred-arc is established between the plasma stream and the tip of the wire. Simultaneously, a stream of carrier gas carrying powder feedstock is directed into the plasma upstream from the wire (between the plasma anode nozzle and the tip of the wire). The powder feedstock thus injected combines with the melted metal particle formed on the tip of the wire and each are propelled to the substrate all together, thus forming a composite structure in the resulting coating. However, since the powder particles and carrier gas are injected upstream from the tip of the melting wire, the cold carrier gas and entrained particles impinging into the transferred-arc causes the plasma stream to be cooled which, combined with the kinetics of interaction of the carrier gas stream and the plasma gas stream causes erratic arc conditions resulting in large non-uniformity in the resulting composite coating. Also, because of these interacting conditions and the resulting loading, the percent of secondary material included within the metal-matrix is limited to a low level.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a single wire electric spray gun which may be used to form composite materials such as metal-matrix composites and which achieves the benefits of supersonic plasma-arc powder and wire spraying.

High velocity electric-arc spray apparatus and method of forming materials


A method of restarting a virtual machine (VM) running in a cluster in a first data center, in a second data center, includes: transmitting images of VMs, including a first VM, running in the cluster of hosts at a first point in time to the second data center for replication in the second data center; generating difference data representing a difference in an image of the first VM at a second point in time and the image of the first VM at the first point in time; transmitting the difference data to the second data center; setting the first VM to be inactive in the first data center; and communicating with a control plane in the second data center to set as active, and power on, a VM in the second data center using the replicated image of the first VM updated with the difference data.

In a virtualization system running within an on-premises network, hosts within the on-premises network have one or more virtual machines (VMs) instantiated therein. For high availability (HA) systems that require maintaining of services with a high degree of availability, hosts run in clusters, across which load balancing and migration of VMs in the event of failure of one of the hosts to another of the hosts in the cluster are provided. In HA systems of today, customers have to reserve one or more hosts in the on-premises network for failover capacity. Many of the reserved hosts for failover capacity, however, remain idle. There have been solutions to share failover capacity among different clusters in the on-premises network but they still require an investment in hosts that may remain idle for long periods of time.

Cloud restart for VM failover and capacity management


A method for processing a source frame is disclosed. The method generally includes the steps of (A) generating an intermediate frame by digitally processing the source frame, wherein the intermediate frame has an intermediate resolution and has an intermediate color space, (B) generating a video frame by down-sampling the intermediate frame, wherein the video frame has a video resolution lower than the intermediate resolution and has a video color space different than the intermediate color space, (C) generating a video stream by compressing the video frame with a video encoding technique and (D) generating a still picture by formatting the intermediate frame with a picture formatting technique, wherein (i) the still picture has the intermediate resolution and (ii) generating the still picture occurs substantially simultaneously with generating the video stream.

Many cameras now offer the ability to capture still pictures and video sequences. However, compromises are made on the still picture quality and performance when recording video. For example, processing of the video information limits a rate at which consecutive still pictures can be recorded. Furthermore, the video recording is interrupted when the still pictures are captured. In particular, the recorded video misses several video frames while the camera is processing the still picture instead of processing the video.

Camera with high-quality still capture during continuous video capture


A communication system includes a main station (MS) and a plurality of substations (SX/SZ) which include each a transceiver and are all connected in parallel to first (UL) and second (DL) unidirectional links on which recurrent first and second cells of fixed length are transmitted in opposite direction. Each of these cells contains a plurality of signalling channels smaller than the number of substations. When a substation has to transmit data it starts an allocation procedure wherein the substation cooperates with the main station and by which a channel is allocated to it. Afterwards prior to transmitting the data the substation transmits a request signal in the allocated channel and starts transmission after having received from the main station a grant signal in the homologous signalling channel of a second cell. De-allocation of a channel occurs as soon as the latter is no longer needed.

Such a communication system is already known from the article "The QPSX Man" by R. M. Newman et al, published in IEEE Communications Magazine. April 1988, Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 20-28. In this known system the signalling channels of each first cell are allocated to respective ones of a like number of priorities and each substation having data of a certain priority to be transmitted is able to write a data transmission request signal in the signalling channel allocated to this priority of a first cell. But since there is only a single such signalling channel per cell conflicts could occur and to avoid this each substation includes an additional receiver to assess the busy/free state of the concerned signalling channel of a received first cell before possibly writing a transmission request signal therein. Further, each substation is provided with means including an additional transmitter to monitor the use of the data channels of the second cells as a function of the request signals received in the signalling channels of the first cells. Both the additional receiver and the additional transmitter and the circuitry associated therewith have for effect that each substation is of relatively complex structure and therefore relatively expensive.
It should be noted that if the above known system processes data of a same priority the first cells only include a single signalling channel for transmitting request signals so that also in this case conflicts between the stations can occur and additional transmitters and receivers have to be provided.

Communication system including allocating free signalling channels to individual substations having data to transmit


A display device includes movable members arranged to face a display screen of a liquid crystal display panel, a movable member driving mechanism, a display controller that controls the display of an image in a first display area and controls the display of a predetermined mark in a second display area on the liquid crystal display panel, and a drive controller that controls the movable member driving mechanism to move the movable members in accordance with a movement of the mark displayed. The display of an image object in the first display area and the display of the mark in the second display area are controlled so that the position of the image object displayed in the first display area corresponds to the position of the mark displayed in the second display area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device that displays an image on a display screen of a liquid crystal display panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Display devices configured such that an image is displayed on a display screen of a liquid crystal display panel are known. In a display device having a liquid crystal display panel, the response speed of liquid crystal varies in accordance with variations in the temperature of the liquid crystal display panel due to changes in the ambient temperature or internal temperature of the display device. Hence, the variations in the response speed of liquid crystal may cause variations in the speed of switching between images on the display screen of the liquid crystal display panel or may cause variations in the motion on a moving image. For this reason, a display device of the related art (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-4203) is configured to store compensation data in advance in a memory in association with temperatures, read the compensation data associated with the actual temperature from the memory when displaying an image, and control gray-scale data representing the image using the compensation data to correct for a reduction in response speed. This display device can suppress variations in the response speed of liquid crystal in a liquid crystal display panel, and provide stable display of an image (still image, moving image) on a display screen of the liquid crystal display panel.
A display device is available which includes a movable member arranged to face a display screen of a liquid crystal display panel and which is configured such that the movable member is moved and an image object displayed on the display screen is moved accordingly so that the movable member and the image object displayed on the display screen are associated with each other. For example, an on-vehicle display device ("cluster display device") is available which, as illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B, includes a first movable semi-circular frame member 20a and a second movable semi-circular frame member 20b which are shaped in semi-circular arcs. The first movable semi-circular frame member 20a and the second movable semi-circular frame member 20b are arranged to face a display screen 120 of a liquid crystal display panel 12. The first movable semi-circular frame member 20a and the second movable semi-circular frame member 20b are linearly moved and a first image object IOa of a speedometer and a second image object IOb of a tachometer, which are displayed on the display screen 120, are moved accordingly so that the first movable semi-circular frame member 20a and the first image object IOa (i.e., the speedometer) displayed on the display screen 120 are associated with each other and the second movable semi-circular frame member 20b and the second image object IOb (i.e., the tachometer) displayed on the display screen 120 are associated with each other. Such an on-vehicle display device provides a user with the image objects IOa and IOb (i.e., the speedometer and the tachometer) displayed on the display screen 120 of the liquid crystal display panel 12 as live views displayed integrally with the movable members (i.e., the first movable semi-circular frame member 20a and the second movable semi-circular frame member 20b).
In such a display device, it is desirable that the relative positions of the movable members with respect to the display screen of the liquid crystal display panel be detected. Using the relative positions allows the image objects to be displayed on the display screen of the liquid crystal display panel so that the positions of the image objects match the detected positions of the movable members, and also allows the movable members to move so that the detected positions of the movable members are associated with the positions of the image objects displayed on the display screen. The positions of the movable members may generally be detected using a potentiometer such as a linear position sensor (LPS).
The resistance of a potentiometer such as an LPS may vary due to temperature changes, and may also change with time. For this reason, it is desirable that corrected data for resistance values be stored in advance in association with temperatures in order to accurately detect the positions of the movable members using a potentiometer. In addition, it is also desirable that relationships between the positions and the resistance values be calibrated each time the potentiometer is used for a certain duration of time.
In order to move a movable member and move an image object displayed on the display screen accordingly so that the movable member and the image object displayed on the display screen are accurately associated with each other, as described above, a large amount of corrected data is required to correct the response speed of liquid crystal, and a large amount of corrected data is also required to correct the resistance of the potentiometer. Additionally, the characteristics of changes in the response speed of liquid crystal in accordance with temperature changes may differ depending on the type of liquid crystal (for example, twisted nematic (TN), vertical alignment (VA), or in-plane switching (IPS)). Hence, in terms of such types of liquid crystal, a larger amount of corrected data may be required. It is therefore difficult to move a movable member and move an image object displayed on a display screen accordingly so that the movable member and the image object displayed on the display screen are accurately associated with each other.


A stapler movable between a rest position and a stapling position and having a front end and a rear end. The stapler includes a base, a staple magazine coupled to the base and configured to hold staples, and a driver blade operable to drive staples out of the staple magazine during stapling operations. The stapler further includes an elastic member coupled to the driver blade and operable to move the driver blade during stapling operations. The elastic member utilizes potential energy to move the driver blade during stapling operations. The driver blade is positioned above the staple magazine when the stapler is in the rest position and the magazine is extendable from the front end of the stapler to allow a user to load staples in the magazine. The stapler is configured such that only the potential energy of the elastic member can operate the driver blade during stapling operations.

The invention relates to staplers, and more particularly, to staplers utilizing potential energy to assist in operating the staple drive mechanism. Potential energy or spring assisted office staplers have traditionally been of two types; either a stationary adaptation of powerful tacker-type models or a stationary stapler whose spring assist cannot achieve full power to drive and clinch the required sheet capacity without additional user applied force.
Typically, in a tacker-type stapler the staples are driven into the target object but the leg of staples are not bent. The strong force that is required for driving the staples is obtained by releasing the pressure that is accumulated in a spring or elastic member. Further, this structure that stores pressure in the spring can be of many different types but all are typically structured such that when the stapler is not in operation, the blade is located in front of the staples and when the blade is lifted, the staples move forward in the magazine. The blade is then lowered to drive one of the staples that has been pushed forward. This entire series of operations are executed in one instant with a powerful flow of force. Such a tacker is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,145,728. A stationary stapler adaptation of a similar mechanism is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,918,525.
In this type of tacker-type stapler configuration, when nothing is being stapled, there is a danger of staples flying out of the tacker inadvertently and it was necessary to develop a more complex structure in order to prevent such erroneous operations. Further, what is then seen in the tacker-type is a stationary configuration which requires loading the stapler from the rear due to the driver being in front of the staples and not lifted except during stapler operation. As a result, when the staples are reloaded, either the base or the magazine frame would have to be rotated and opened and the staples would then be fed. As such, more complex structures were adopted for each of inadvertent operation and staple reloading.
In the second type, spring assisted power has been applied within stationary staplers with a raised driver and without rear staple loading. However, previous approaches achieved very limited power gain given the limitations of known spring trigger mechanisms, known driver engagement mechanisms or other related linkages. These constructions only partly automate the function of the stapler and require additional manual force be applied to the driver when a stapler is operated at its sheet capacity, otherwise the staple would not be fully clinched under the paper. A stationary stapler adaptation of such an assist mechanism is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,063.
Both known types utilize locking mechanisms which act directly on the driver blade. These locking mechanisms intermittently experience functional problems including reduced power transmission to the driver, premature component failure, unreliable actuation and difficulty in returning to the rest position.


A magnet roll including a cylindrical permanent magnet having a surface thereon a plurality of magnetic poles which extend along an axis of the magnet roll and an electroconductive ceramic layer formed at least on a circumferential surface of the cylindrical permanent magnet. The electroconductive ceramic layer may be TiC, WC, TiN, TiCN, CrN, ZrN, HfN, Ti+TiN, and Cr+CrN. The magnet roll is used in a developing method of developing a latent image on a photosensitive drum by a magnetic developer while applying a bias voltage to a developing zone, in which the number of the magnetic poles (N) satisfies the relation: N.gtoreq.(V.sub.1 /V.sub.2).times..pi.D/6, wherein V.sub.1 is a peripheral speed (mm/s) of the photosensitive drum, V.sub.2 is a peripheral speed of the magnet roll and D is an outer diameter (mm) of the magnet roll.

The present invention relates to a magnet roll for use in an image forming apparatus utilizing electrophotography or electrostatic recording, such as a copying machine, a printer, etc., and a developing method using the magnet roll.
The image forming apparatus conventionally used includes a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine, etc. In the image forming machine utilizing an electrophotographic technique or an electrostatic recording technique, the image is produced by successive steps comprising (1) forming an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the information being reproduced on a surface of a photosensitive drum (image-bearing member) by exposing the uniformly charged photosensitive surface to image light; (2) magnetically attracting a magnetic developer (one-component developer comprising a magnetic toner, or two-component developer comprising a toner and a magnetic carrier) on a rotating developer feed roll disposed closely opposing the photosensitive drum, and (3) transporting the magnetic developer to a developing zone where the electrostatic latent image on the photoconductive drum attract toner from the magnetic toner to produce toner images.
The developer feed means mainly comprises a hollow cylindrical sleeve made of non-magnetic material, a permanent magnet roll interiorly mounted in the sleeve to effectively retain the magnetic developer on the sleeve surface and transport the magnetic developer to a developing zone, a shaft supporting the rotating sleeve or permanent magnet, and a doctor blade to regulating the magnetic developer layer on the sleeve surface within a suitable thickness. The developer feed means is partially received in a housing for storing the magnetic developer, and the permanent magnet roll is located opposite to the photosensitive drum with a constant, small spacing (developing gap).
Under the recently increasing demand for improving the image quality, supplying an image forming apparatus of low cost, and reducing the size of the image forming apparatus, various proposals have been made on the developing unit which is a major part of the image forming apparatus. Of such proposals, there has been proposed a sleeve-less development where a magnetic developer is directly retained on a surface of a rotating magnet roll having no sleeve (sleeve-less magnet roll) and transported to a developing zone. For example, JP-B-54-39139 discloses a developing unit where a surface of a sleeve-less magnet roll having a electroconductive rotating shaft is covered with an electroconductive layer and a developing current is allowed to flow between an photosensitive surface and the electroconductive layer via electroconductive toners by electrically interconnecting the electroconductive layer and the rotating shaft and grounding the photosensitive surface and the rotating shaft or connecting them to a bias source. JP-A-62-201463 discloses a developing method where a developer is transported to a developing zone by retaining the developer on a rotating sleeve-less magnet roll having an electroconductive surface and a plurality of magnetic poles on the surface, and the development is conducted while applying a bias voltage including zero bias between an image-bearing member and the magnet roll.
In the conventional sleeve-less development mentioned above, the developer is necessary to be biased in the developing zone, particularly in the reverse development, to attain a high image quality with less background fogging. Therefore, it has been proposed to coat the sleeve-less magnet roll with an electroconductive layer such as a plating layer, or make the entire body of the magnet roll electrically conductive by producing a resin-boned magnet from a material blended with an electroconductive powder. However, the proposed technique of making a plating layer involves several problems. For example, since a sintered magnet such as a ferrite sintered magnet is porous with a great number of voids, a plating solution penetrates into the magnet roll when the magnet roll is subjected to electroplating or electroless plating. The penetrated solution is difficult to be thoroughly removed from the magnet body to cause corrosion of the magnet roll. Also, the binding strength between the surface of a permanent magnet and the plating layer is usually insufficient. Further, the addition of the electroconductive powder to the material for the resin-bonded magnet reduces the magnetic force of the resultant resin-bonded magnet because the content of the ferromagnetic powder is reduced according to the addition amount of the electroconductive powder.

Magnet roll and developing method using the same


A stitch cam for a circular knitting machine using needles having operating butts of a predetermined height, includes a support body having a front facing surface, a first cam plate fixedly attached to the front facing surface, and a second cam plate movably attached to the fixed cam plate. When assembled, the first and second cam plates define a closed cam track having a spacing sized for accommodating the operating butt of the needles. The movable cam plate includes a pin for engaging a spiral cam cylinder of the support body to provide linear motion of the movable cam plate relative to the first cam plate to alter the position of at least a portion of the closed cam track in order to selectively raise and lower the stitch level of the needles in a circular knitting machine. The movable cam plate includes a pair of narrow angled cam track defining sections which fit into corresponding slotted portions of the fixed cam plate, defining a path of travel, and include a geometry which allows the remainder of the needle to contact only the fixed cam plate. A shim member placed between the cam plates and support body allows radial adjustment of the stitch cam relative to a needle supporting element, such as a cylinder or dial, and facilitates movement of the movable cam plate relative to the front surface of the support body, particularly when dissimilar materials are used.

Circular knitting machines are known include a first needle supporting element- e.g. a cylinder, having a plurality of radial grooves defined along its periphery in which the needles are accommodated and can slide axially. Each needle includes a heel or butt having a predetermined height protruding from the grooves for engaging within a path defined by a plurality of shaped cams which are mounted on a supporting structure and are arranged with a front cam surface facing the needle supporting element.
In circular machines having two needle beds, two needle supporting elements are perpendicularly arranged, since a dial is arranged above the cylinder having a plurality of radial grooves in which other similar needles are accommodated and face the needles carried by the cylinder. Similarly, the needles of the dial also have at least one protruding heel which protrudes upwardly from the grooves of the dial and engages within paths defined by other cams mounted on a supporting structure arranged upwardly facing the dial.
The relative motion between the supporting structures of the cams and the respective needle supporting element causes the needles to follow the paths defined by the cams, moving the needles along the respective grooves of the cylinder and dial to grip the thread fed by thread guides and to form stitches. In circular machines, the relative motion occurs about the axis of the knitting machine, which coincides with the axis of the cylinder and with the axis of the dial.
Known stitch cams, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,927 to Pernick, lower the needles of the cylinder or move the needles of the dial after the needles have engaged the thread fed by a thread guide, to cast off the previously formed stitches in a synchronized manner. The stitch cam according to the above patent includes a fixed lower cam portion and an upper movable cam portion which are each mounted to a supporting body. The lower movable portion is adjustable from a minimum to a maximum along a line which is parallel to the angular slope of the cam to move diagonally. This adjustment is made externally through the use of an cylindrical cam utilizing an Archimedean spiral which is contained within the supporting body and is interconnected to the movable portion which slides along an obliquely angled surface of the supporting body to raise and lower the needles by a corresponding amount.
A number of problems are encountered in the above described stitch cam. First, the cam requires sliding contact between the obliquely angled surface of the upper movable portion and the corresponding angled surface of the supporting body. Therefore, dissimilar materials cannot be used for the contacting parts without producing excessive wear and producing frictional forces which could render the cam partially or completely inoperative.
A second problem is the requirement of an angled contacting surface in the supporting body which requires additional time and labor to fabricate and introduces additional potential tolerancing dilemmas between the three major components, ie: the supporting body, the movable upper cam portion and the lower fixed cam portions. Alignment between the three components must be tightly held in order to provide smoothness of movement, which is critical, particularly given the high speed and synchronous steps involved in an automatic circular knitting production operation. Variations in tolerancing may also occur when the movable cam portion is shifted to change the stitch level, wherein contacting portions of the needle separate from the heel may contact the surfaces of the fixed cam portion and the movable cam portion, thereby increasing the probability of needle breakage against a discontinuous portion or the cylinder in the case of adjacent cam assemblies having different stitch levels, and ultimately causing unwanted production delays.
Yet another problem is an inability for the needles to transition between adjacently disposed cam units on a cam supporting bed in the circular knitting machine, introducing a greater probability of needle breakage due to excessive vibration due caused by discontinuity in between adjacent closed cam tracks, particularly in machines having a smaller radius, and therefore being more pronounced between cams with different stitch levels.
Still another problem generally encountered in stitch cam units of the prior art is an inability to provide radial adjustment; that is, relative to the cylinder or other needle supporting element facing the cam.

Stitch cam for a circular knitting machine


A head support system that has a fixation arc system that is adjustable both vertically and horizontally and is mounted to a patient support structure. The fixation arc system is positionable adjacent to, and provides lateral support for, the patient's head. A pin support is connected to, and extends from the fixation arc system. A pin is adjustably mounted to the pin support and contacts the patient's head to provide a lateral fixation thereof. The pin has a centerline that is rotatable about two axes of motion substantially perpendicular to the pin centerline.

During surgical procedures, one or more devices may be used to support a patient's head. For example, there may be a need to provide a static support for a patient's head; and typically, a static head support includes one or more pads that provide a static subjacent support of the patient's head in a prone or supine position. Such a static head support is mounted on a crossbar that extends transversely off the end of a patient support such as an operating table. Alternatively, a stabilization device, such as a skull clamp, is also used to support and stabilize a patient's head, and such a skull clamp is also mounted on the crossbar. In some applications, both static head support and skull clamp stabilization are desired, and then both devices must be mounted on the crossbar. In those situations where both subjacent support and lateral stabilization are required, having to mount both devices from the same crossbar member is complicated, inflexible and inconvenient. Therefore, there is a need to provide a support structure for a head support and a stabilization device that is more convenient and flexible to use.
Children around two years old and younger also present special issues with respect to a head support system. Such young children do not often have a bone structure that permits the use of known skull clamps, and therefore, other head support systems are required. While it is known to use a horseshoe pad to support a child's head, a horseshoe pad does provide any lateral support or stabilization of the child's head. Therefore, there is a need for a head support system for a child that provides both subjacent and lateral support of the child's head.
Therefore, there is a need to provide structure for more flexibly mounting head support and stabilization devices.


An storage locking apparatus including a case attached to an end edge of the storage, a locking member slidably supported by the case for engaging with and disengaging from the supporting member, a first urging member for always urging the locking member in a direction of the supporting member, an operating handle pivotably supported axially by the case for unlocking the storage by being pivoted from a side of the supporting member to a side of the storage, and lever mechanisms for sliding the locking member against the first urging member by pivoting the operating handle in which the supporting member dispenses with a containing portion in a recessed shape as in a prior art by providing an operating space between the supporting member and the operating handle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement in an storage locking apparatus such as, for example, glove box openably and closably attached to an instrument panel of an automobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
A locking apparatus of this kind of a prior art is constructed by a constitution in which whereas a central portion of a glove box door is integrally formed with a containing portion in a recessed shape, a locking member engaging with and disengaging from a striker provided on a side of an instrument panel is liftably supported at inside of the containing portion in the recessed shape and the locking member is elastically urged to an upper side by urging spring pressure, an operating handle is pivotably supported axially by two side walls of the containing portion in the recessed shape and a front end side of the operating handle is continuously provided with an engaging arm for engaging with an engaging portion of the locking member (refer to JP-A-2000-272429).
Further, in actual use thereof, when the glove box is disposed at a closed position, the locking member is moved up by the urging spring pressure and a front end portion of the locking member is engaged with the striker and therefore, thereby, the glove box is locked to the closed position, on the contrary, in the case of unlocking the glove box, when the operating handle is operated to pivot from a lower side to an upper side by putting the finger into a large operating space partitioned at a lower portion of the containing portion, at this occasion, the engaging arm of the operating handle is engaged with the engaging portion of the locking member to move down the locking member against the urging spring pressure and therefore, thereby, a state of engaging the locking member and the striker is released and the glove box is permitted to move in an opening direction.
Therefore, although the locking apparatus of the prior art achieves at least an advantage of capable of simply locking and unlocking the glove box, the operating space of putting the finger between the operating handle and the glove door needs to partition in view of a relationship of pivoting the operating handle from the lower side to the upper side and therefore, the glove door is integrally formed with the containing portion in the recessed shape, however, since the containing portion is significantly projected to an inner side of the glove box, there is a concern of constituting a hindrance in putting small articles into and from the glove box, or restricting an effective space of the glove box.


The present invention is to provide a method of restoring closed-eye portrait photo, which comprises the steps of detecting the locations and range of the eyes of a portrait photo being taken, retrieving a patch of a designated range of the eyes area and its neighboring area which represents the expression of the eyes and its neighboring area, determining whether the eyes of said patch are open or closed by using an eyes state classifier, temporarily storing said patch as an open-eye templet when it is determined that the eyes are open, detecting the locations and range of the eyes of a subsequently taken portrait photo, calculating an eyes restoration area when it is determined that the eyes are closed, replacing the closed-eye patch with said open-eye templet, and performing fusion operation toward said eyes restoration area to ensure that each portrait photo generated is with the eyes opened.

As the innovation of the digital photographing technology in recent years, various electronic devices (such as digital camera, digital video, notebook and mobile phone etc.) equipped with digital photographing component keep emerging. Not only the quality of the photos are getting much better, but the size of the devices become more compact and the prices thereof are getting cheaper as well which make said electronic photographing devices more and more popular. Therefore, to develop an electronic device with intellectual photographing function that fulfills the basic photographic requirements of most of the users and is capable of compensating the lack of photographing technique has become the current trend of the designers and manufacturers of all kinds of electronic photographing devices.
Generally, the conventional electronic photographing device is mainly used to take portrait photos. When taking a portrait photo, the conventional electronic photographing device will try to capture the most appropriate photo by constantly scanning the human face in order to present the best appearance of the model. And to most of the users, the best appearance of the model is that the model keeps a smiley face and with the eyes opened. Therefore, when taking a portrait photo, the photographer is expected to capture the moment that the model has a smile on the face. However, due to lack of communication or mutual understanding, the model is often not aware of the moment that the photographer takes the photo which leads to closed eyes and unnatural expressions. Even when the model is informed to keep the smiley face for taking the photo, still the model could closed the eyes unexpectedly for being unable to maintain the same expression for a long time, thus makes a smiley face turn into an unnatural expression. And all these cases will lead to portrait photos with unnatural or plain expressions and aren't well satisfying. Especially when taking photos of various people or children, the problems stated above are nearly inevitable, and it will be such a great pity without a well-shot photo for the memorable day. Thus, it is the major objective of the designers and manufacturers of all kinds of electronic photographing devices to develop a photo restoration technique which enables the electronic photographing device to determine whether the portrait photo taken is with the eyes closed and to proceed an automatic restoration process to restore the unnatural expression to a normal one when it is determined that the eyes are closed, such as to automatically restore a closed-eye portrait photo to an open-eye portrait photo, thereby ensures the quality of each portrait photo generated and substantially increases the possibility of making a well-shot photo.

Method of restoring closed-eye portrait photo


A method for inhibiting the deposition of pitch on and/or for removing pitch from the surfaces of pulping and papermaking machinery by adding an effective amount of a melamine formaldehyde-type polymer to a pulp slurry or furnish in contact with said machinery.

The present invention relates to the use of melamine aldehyde-type polymers to inhibit pitch deposition in pulping and papermaking processes. More particularly, this invention relates to inhibiting the deposition of pitch on machinery used in pulping and papermaking processes and to the removal of pitch from machinery used in pulping and papermaking processes.
Pitch continues to be a problem in pulp and paper mills. It is believed that the problems caused by the build up of pitch on pulp and papermaking machinery and in the final paper cost the pulp and paper industry many millions of dollars per year in lost production. Pitch, as used herein, may be generally defined as any resin-based deposit of widely varying composition originating in the extractive fraction of wood. The extractive fraction of wood is one of the four principal components of wood. The other three are cellulose, lignin, and hemicellulose. The extractive fraction is defined as a complex mixture of substances which are soluble in water, alcohol, benzene, ether, and/or acetone. The extractive fraction, which generally makes up from about 3% to 10% of the weight of wood, contains such components as low molecular weight carbohydrates, terpenes, aromatic and aliphatic acids, alcohols, tannins, color substances, proteins, lignins, alkaloids, and soluble lignins.
Pitch is a major problem in pulp and papermaking because it (1) agglomerates and also occludes other matter to form visible "dirt" in the final paper, (2) plates out and collects on machinery used in pulping and papermaking process such as screens, filters refining equipment, pulp washers, and paper machines, and (3) reduces pulp brightness and brightness stability. The composition and amount of pitch deposited on pulping and papermaking machinery and in the final paper varies with the time of the year the trees are harvested, the type of wood, and the type of the pulping process used. For example, wood pulped from trees cut in the early spring and fall generally contains more pitch than wood pulped from trees cut at other times during the year. Pitch deposited in softwood Kraft mills tends to have a relatively larger abietic acid to fatty acid-ester ratio than pitch found in hardwood Kraft mills, and pitch deposit problems are generally somewhat more severe in sulfite mills. The sulfite pulping process removes only about one half of the resins and fatty esters leaving a considerable portion of these materials encapsulated within the cellulose fibers. However, these encapsulated materials are released by the shearing forces of pulping and papermaking processes and thus pitch deposits are more prevalent in the stock preparation area and on the paper machine. Pitch problems can be quite bothersome in mechanical pulp mills, including groundwood, TMP, CTMP, and semi-chemical pulping processes, particularly those that utilize softwoods. This is because there is little chemical degradation of the fatty acid esters and resin esters. Therefore, those materials are not washed out and tend to remain dispersed in the aqueous system of the pulping process.
The presence of calcium carbonate in the pulping process exacerbates the problem of pitch deposition on pulp and papermaking machinery. Crystallized calcium carbonate can provide nucleation sites for precipitated metal soaps thereby producing hydrophobic particles which coalesce with other particles to form a pitch deposit.
There have been many attempts over the years to eliminate pitch problems by adding pitch control agents to pulping and/or papermaking processes. While more thorough pulp washing may help to reduce pitch problems, the most common methods of treatment involve the addition of dispersants or adsorbant fillers to the furnish. For example, treatments may involve the use of alum, talc, anionic pitch-control agents such as polynaphthalene sulfonates or modified lignosulfonates, cationic pitch control agents such as polyquaternary ammonium polymers, methylcellulose derivatives and nonionic surfactants. None of these treatments are believed to be particularly effective.
Examples of the use of poly quaternary ammonium polymers as pitch control agents can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,582,461. The '461 patent discloses the use of water soluble dicyandiamide-formaldehyde condensates to prevent pitch deposition on machinery used in pulping and papermaking processes. By contrast, the instant invention utilizes water insoluble acid colloids.
Examples of attempts to control pitch with other types of compounds or processes are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,812,055; 3,895,164; 3,896,046; 3,992,249; 4,313,790.
Zirconium chemicals have also been used to control pitch. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,361.
The instant melamine formaldehyde-type polymers are widely used in water treatment, particularly in the treatment of paint spray booths. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,656,059, 4,629,572, 4,935,149 and 5,068,279.
However, the use of melamine formaldehyde-type polymers to control pitch deposition in papermaking is not known or suggested in the art.
As indicated above, the present invention relates to the inhibition and/or control of pitch in papermaking operations. A copending, commonly assigned application (U.S. Ser. No. 08/023,988; filed Mar. 1, 1993) relates to the control of "stickies" using substantially the same chemistry as is discussed herein. While pitch is defined as the material comprising naturally occurring resinous materials and gums liberated during the screening, heating and refining processes that occur during papermaking, stickies are defined as synthetic additives which enter into paper furnishes. More particularly, stickies are defined as adherent deposits caused by organic materials used in paper and board converting operations which are typically introduced into paper machine furnishes with recycled fibers. The word "stickies" is derived from the fact that the resultant deposits stick to wires, felts, and other parts of paper machine. Stickies are a diverse mixture of synthetic materials ranging from hot-melt and pressure-sensitive adhesives to binders and coatings for inks or wet strength resins. Polymeric examples include, for example, polyethylenes, polybutadiene-styrenes, polyvinylacetates and polyacrylates.

Melamine formaldehyde polymer for pitch control method


A nuclear fuel assembly for use in a pressurized water reactor comprising a top nozzle and a bottom nozzle, fuel rods loaded and supported by grids in cells thereof and interconnected between a lowermost grid and the top nozzle, and a filter member interposed between the lowermost grid and the bottom nozzle. To prevent the intrusion of foreign matters such as linear ones in cooling water under flow into the fuel assembly, the filter member is configured to have upward conical protruding portions and downward conical protruding portions below the fuel rods and below a crossing comer area of walls of the grid cells, respectively, so that the upward protruding portions may be defined therein each with four through-holes for flowing water, thus forming a curved crisscross solid face in a vertically projected shadow zone of the fule rod whereas the downward protruding portions may be defined therein each with a through-hole of a curved crisscross form for flowing water in a vertically projected shadow zone of the crossing comer area of the cell walls. Because of the construction, a total projected area of the through-holes over a lower core plate is nearly zero.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a nuclear fuel assembly designed for use in a puressurized water reactor (PWR), which assembly is fitted with a filter member on a bottom nozzle thereof in order to avoid damage of fuel rods due to foreign matters which intrude into the passageway of a primary cooling water.
2. Description of Related Art
A nuclear fuel assembly for use in a PWR is, as well known, composed of a top nozzle and a bottom nozzle; a plurality of fuel rods, and control-rod guide thimble tubes and an instrumentation tube arranged in a transversely spaced relation to extend vertically between the top and bottom nozzles, thus forming a fuel bundle or cluster, the thimble tubes and the instrumentation tube being interconnected rigidly between the top and bottom nozzles; and grids supporting and inserting the fuel bundle in cells thereof and axially spaced apart from one another.
With such a conventional fuel assembly, a typical bottom nozzle is illustrated in FIG. 6 at 30 and constructed of a quadrangle plate body 31 defined with a plurality of threaded bores 33 for fixedly inserting therein the thimble tubes as a skeleton element of the fuel assembly and a multitude of through-holes 34 for flowing water, and four legs 32 vertically extending from the plate body 31 at its corner parts and supporting the plate body 31 at a predetermined distance spaced apart from a lower core plate 40.
In a PWR including the aforesaid fuel assemblies, a primary cooling water is routed from through-holes (not shown) apertured in the lower core plate 40 into the bottom nozzle 30, past the through-holes 34 and then through the fuel assembly, via the interstices between the grids and fuel rods to reach the top nozzle. The cooling water thus having passed through through-holes of the top nozzle is then flowed through a steam generator to reach the lower core plate 40, whereby a cycle of circulation of flowing water through the PWR is performed.
Here, foreign matters such as metal pieces are mingled within the the cooling water system and often get caught between the the fuel rods after passing through the bottom nozzle in its through-holes. The foreign objects thus caught may be vibrated by reason of the current of the cooling water and are likely to damage the fuel rods.
In order to cope with the foreign objects, heretofore, various attempts to improve the trapping capability of the bottom nozzle or the lowermost grid have beem made with a view toward avoiding the entrance of the foreign objects into the fuel assembly.
The improvement of the bottom nozzle in the trapping capability was carried out by reducing the diameter of the through-holes, apertured in the bottom nozzle, for flowing water, or by fitting the bottom nozzle with a filter member. A problem with these approaches, however, is that they entail an increase in the pressure loss of the fuel assembly, and consequently, there was a limitation in diminishing the hole diameter of the through-holes or the mesh diameter of the filter member. Hence, it was difficult to impede the intrusion of such foreign objects that have a smaller cross-section than the size of a projected shadow of the through-holes over a lower core plate.
On the other hand, the improvement of the lowermost grid was conducted by lowering the position of the grid down to a position coming into contact with the top face of the bottom nozzle, or by attaching dimples for trapping foreign objects within the grid cells. The lowered installation of the lowermost grid is designed for dividing the through-holes in the bottom nozzle by the grid straps thereby to impede the intrusion of further foreign objects of a much smaller cross-section into the fuel assembly.
However, these prior art countermeasures against foreign objects have been proved to have little impeding effect on the aforesaid foreign objects that have a smaller cross-section than a maximum projected shadow dimension of the through-holes. More specifically, when flowing water test with a water containing foreign objects was conducted and the bottom nozzle was observed, the prior art measures were effective for foreign objects with a diameter of at least 4 mm in minimum cross-section, but nearly of no use for linear foreign objects with a diameter of 2 mm and downward, e.g. wires having a smaller cross-section.

Nuclear fuel assembly for pressurized water reactor


A noise reduction key structure is disclosed. The noise reduction key structure is applied to an electronic device having a housing and a substrate, the substrate being installed in the housing, the housing having a key portion, the noise reduction key structure comprising: a switch element which is installed on the substrate in response to the key portion; and an encapsulation which has a hole, wherein the hole encapsulates on the up side of the substrate, so that the substrate and the encapsulation together encapsulate the switch element into a chamber of the encapsulation, whereby when the key portion is pressed down, the key portion triggers the encapsulation to further trigger the switch element, and the encapsulation can reduce the noise of triggering the switch element.

(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a key structure, and more particularly, to a noise reduction key structure that can reduce noise of triggering keys
(2) Description of the Prior Art
In modern life, there are many kinds of electronic produces that are widely used by people, and people usually operate these electronic produces through various interfaces, for example, keyboards, mice, touch panel, and hand-writing board. In daily life, the most widely input device in the electronic produces is keyboards. Nowadays, computers still use pressing keyboards, moving mice, and touching panels to control inputs.
First, please refer to FIG. 1 which shows a key structure in the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, an electronic device 1 has a housing 11, a substrate 12, and two key structures 10a, 10b, wherein the housing 11 has two key openings 110a, 110b, the key structure 10a includes a switch element 14a and a key portion 13a, the key structure 10b includes a switch element 14b and a key portion 13b. Accordingly, the electronic device 1 in the FIG. 1 is a structure that shows a part of touch board of a notebook computer, and the substrate 12 is a printed circuit board.
The switch element 14a, 14b are mounted on the substrate 12, the key portions 13a, 13b are respectively mounted in the key openings 110a, 110b, and are exposed to outside. The key portions 13a, 13b have an elastic restoration force. When the up sides of the key portions 13a, 13b are pressed, then down sides the key portions 13a, 13b will trigger the switch elements 14a, 14b. When the up sides of the key portions 13a, 13b are not pressed, then the key portions 13a, 13b will return to their original positions through the elastic restoration force.
However, when triggering the key structures 10a and 10b, there is a noise that bothers people. The noise is from an inner structure of the switch elements 14a, 14b. Because the switch elements 14a, 14b are different from each other, the reasons that cause the noise are different. The following will take tact switches for example to find out the reasons that cause the noise.
Please refer to FIG. 2 which shows a structure of a switch element 14. As shown in FIG. 2, the switch element 14 includes a key cap 141, a metal piece 142 and a pedestal 143. The pedestal 143 has a first electrode 151 and two second electrodes 152a, 152b. The metal piece 142 is an O-shaped electrical conductive piece, and covers an inner of the pedestal 143, and the key cap 141 is installed on the metal piece 142.
Again, please refer to FIGS. 3A and 3B, both of which show a sectional views of the switch element 14 in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 3A, the switch element 14 is not triggered yet, and the first electrode 151 and second electrode 152a, 152b are not electrically conductive yet. As shown in FIG. 3B the switch element 14 is triggered, the key cap 141 is pressed down by an external force. At that time, down edge of the key cape 141 will exert a force on an up side of the metal piece 142 to make the metal piece 142 deform, and further make the first electrode 151 and these two electrodes 152a, 152b electrically conductive. When the force that is exerted on the upper side of the key cap 141 is removed, then the metal piece will return back to its original O-shaped through the elastic restoration force, and thus the key cap 141 will return back to its original position, too.
The noise is produced during the time of deformation process of the metal piece 142; moreover, the electronic device 1 is a close space which can be a resonance space that can produce resonance, and further amplify such a noise.
The noise from the switch element 14 can be obviously observed in notebook computers and mice, because computers and their peripherals are needed by modern people in work and leisure time, and people always click and input through triggering keys, so that the noise can make the user and people who surround the user upset. Therefore, how to utilize material and various structure to further reduce and even eliminate such a noise is a top priority for research and development engineers to solve, so that user who uses the electronic device 1 and people who surround the user cannot be bothered by the noise.


A liquid crystal display is provided. The liquid crystal display includes: a substrate; a thin film transistor; a pixel electrode; a roof layer; a plurality of microcavities; and a partition wall. The thin film transistor is disposed on the substrate. The pixel electrode is disposed on the thin film transistor. The roof layer faces the pixel electrode. The microcavities are between the pixel electrode and the roof layer, the microcavities include a liquid crystal material. The partition wall is between the microcavities, and the partition wall is perpendicular to the roof layer.

(a) Field
The present application relates to a liquid crystal display and a manufacturing method thereof.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display as one of flat panel display devices that are widely being used includes two display panels where field generating electrodes such as a pixel electrode and a common electrode are formed, and a liquid crystal layer is interposed therebetween.
The liquid crystal display generates an electric field in a liquid crystal layer by applying a voltage to the field generating electrodes, to determine orientations of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer and control polarization of incident light, thereby displaying an image.
A technique of forming a cavity in a unit of a pixel and filling the cavity with liquid crystals to implement a display has been developed for one of the liquid crystal displays. This technique serves to manufacture a display by forming a sacrificial layer with an organic material and the like, forming a roof layer at an upper portion of the sacrificial layer, removing the sacrificial layer, and filling an empty space formed through the removal of the sacrificial layer with liquid crystals through a liquid crystal injection hole, instead of forming an upper panel on a lower panel.
However, the technique requires a lengthened process time for removing the sacrificial layer.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Liquid crystal display and method of manufacturing the same


A capacitive touch screen sensing apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a protecting layer; a sensing layer under the protecting layer for sensing a touch to generate a position signal; and a DC common voltage signal layer electrically connected with a DC voltage for shielding against signal interferences.

FIG. 1 is a conventional touch screen. The touch screen comprises a display controller 130, a touch panel 150, a sensing circuit 155 and a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel 170. In general, the touch panel 150 is fabricated on the LCD panel 170. The display controller 130 receives a video signal and converts the video signal to a panel control signal transmitted to the LCD panel 170 so that the LCD panel 170 displays the image according to the panel control signal. When one touches the touch panel 150, the touch panel 150 generates a sensing signal to the sensing circuit 155, and the sensing circuit 155 outputs according to the sensing signal a position signal that represents a touch point where one touches the touch panel 150.
FIG. 2A is a diagram of the LCD panel. The LCD panel 170 is generally divided into two regions—a display region 112 and a non-display region 114. The display region 112 comprises a thin film transistor (TFT) array, and the non-display region 114 comprises a gate driver 120 and a source driver 125 for controlling transistors in the TFT array. The panel control signal outputted from the display controller 130 controls the gate driver 120 to generate a gate driving signal and the source driver 125 to generate a source driving signal. The panel control signal further comprises a common voltage signal Vcom for controlling the inversion of a liquid crystal on the LCD panel 170. The gate driving signal controls respective TFTs within the TFT array to whether turn on or turn off, and the source driving signal provides brightness data to a pixel. In FIG. 2A, in a portable electronic device application, the display controller 130 can be integrated with a timing controller (TCON), the gate driver 120 and the source driver 125.
The video signal comprises a vertical synchronization signal Vsync, a horizontal synchronization signal Hsync, a red signal, a green signal and a blue signal. The time to display a scan line on the LCD panel 170 is a period of the horizontal synchronization signal Hsync, while the time to display a frame on the LCD panel 170 is a period of the vertical synchronization signal Vsync. That is, if the LCD panel 170 has M scan lines, the gate driver 120 can generate M gate driving signals, and one period of the vertical synchronization signal Vsync equals M periods of the horizontal synchronization signal Hsync. According to the horizontal synchronization signal Hsync, M gate driving signals can be turned on sequentially.
FIG. 2B is a diagram of the vertical synchronization signal Vsync, the horizontal synchronization signal Hsync, the common voltage signal Vcom and the gate driving signals. The period of the vertical synchronization signal Vsync begins from the start of the low level, and one period of the vertical synchronization signal Vsync equals a plurality of periods of the horizontal synchronization signal Hsync. According to the horizontal synchronization signal Hsync, a plurality of gate driving signals can be turned on sequentially, and a frequency of the common voltage signal Vcom is a half of a frequency of the horizontal synchronization signal Hsync. As mentioned, in the portable electronic device application, the display controller 130 can be integrated with the timing controller, the gate driver 120 and the source driver 125, with the common voltage signal Vcom being present in the integrated display controller 130.
During a vertical blanking interval (VBI), the red signal, the green signal and the blue signal do not output any data, while the common voltage signal Vcom also remains at the low level.
FIG. 3 is a diagram of a conventional capacitive touch panel. The capacitive touch panel comprises a first sensing layer 151, a second sensing layer 152 and a shielding layer 153. Generally, the first sensing layer 151 and the second sensing layer 152 respectively comprise a plurality of sensing components, each of which can be viewed as a capacitor.
When one touches the capacitive touch panel, an equivalent capacitance of the touch point is changed. By detecting the change in the equivalent capacitance of the touch point, the sensing circuit 155 can detect the actual position of the touch point and output a corresponding position signal. The shielding layer 153 is mainly for isolating the panel control signal from the sensing signal so that the sensing signal is not undesirably affected by noises from the panel control signal.
FIG. 4 is a diagram of a conventional capacitive touch sensing apparatus 40. The apparatus 40 comprises a protecting layer 420, a touch panel 450, a sensing protection layer 457 and a Vcom signal layer 480. The protecting layer 420 protects the capacitive touch sensing apparatus 40 from scratches that may be caused by touching. The sensing protection layer 457 protects the touch panel 450. The touch panel 450 comprises a first sensing layer 451, a second sensing layer 452 and a shielding layer 453. Generally, the first sensing layer 451 and the second sensing layer 452 comprise a plurality of sensing elements, and each sensing element can be viewed as a capacitor. Since sensing elements of the sensing layers 451 and 452 are usually capacitors, the touch panel 450 is additionally provided with the sensing protection layer 457 for protecting the touch panel 450 from deformation.
When one touches the capacitive touch panel, an equivalent capacitance of the touch point is changed. Hence, the capacitive touch sensing apparatus 40 can use such characteristic to detect the actual position of the touch point and output the position signal. Since signals in the conventional Vcom signal layer 480 are alternating current (AC) signals that are constantly transitive, significant noise interference imparted to the touch panel 450. To render shielding effects against the noise interferences, the shielding layer 453 is provided to isolate the Vcom signal layer 480 and the touch panel 450 from each other. However, helpful to reduce noise interference, the shielding layer 453 increases the manufacturing cost and also reduces transmittance of the touch panel 450. Further, during the manufacturing process of the touch panel 450, the shielding layer 453 needs to be adhered with the second sensing layer 452 and the sensing protection layer 457, and so the manufacturing cost increases from having to discard the entire touch panel 450 in the event of an adherence failure. Further still, due to the additionally provided shielding layer 453, the touch panel 450 includes not three layers but four layers, which compromises the transmittance of the capacitive touch sensing apparatus 40.
FIG. 5 is a diagram of the relation between a conventional source driving signal and a common voltage signal Vcom. The conventional touch sensing apparatus uses an AC Vcom signal. For example, the AC Vcom signal swings from −1V to 4V, and then a source swing of the source driving signal need an inversion signal of −1V to 4V to provide a voltage difference of 5V between the source driving signal and the AC Vcom signal; that is, the source driving signal provides a working voltage range of 5V.
To accommodate the AC Vcom signal adopted in the conventional touch sensing apparatus, the four-layered capacitive touch sensing apparatus is needed. As discussed above, the conventional four-layered capacitive touch sensing apparatus is not only costly but also has unsatisfactory transmittance. Therefore, there is a need for a capacitive touch sensing apparatus that overcomes the above shortcomings.

Capacitive sensing apparatus and method applied to touch screen using the capacitive sensing apparatus