Illumination of the skin by substantial, monochromatic light emitted by LEDs, produces positive therapeutic effects for the treatment of a wide variety of skin conditions. Arrays of LEDs comprising multiple emission colors are preferred light sources for these applications, however, achieving uniform and efficient illumination of a skin target area in close proximity is difficult due to the point-like emission and narrow divergence of lensed LEDs. An illumination apparatus and method, provides a LED system that produces uniform and efficient illumination by combining a well-distributed computed arrangement of each of the LED colors on the array, to enhance the spatial overlap of individual LED outputs across the target area with a diffuse secondary reflector between the LEDs having high reflectivity to further enhance illumination uniformity by allowing light to bounce between LED array panels and the skin.

Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The presently claimed invention relates to phototherapeutic treatment and more particularly to an apparatus, system, and method for phototherapeutic treatment of skin conditions and mood/sleep related disorders using light emitting diodes (LEDs).
Background Art
Exposure of the skin to lights having specific colors in the ultraviolet, visible, and/or near-infrared spectral ranges is a proven method for the treatment of a wide range of conditions. This method, also known as phototherapy, is being used successfully for treating skin conditions such as psoriasis as described in Ultraviolet Radiation Physics and the Skin, Diffey B L, Phys. Med. Biol. vol. 25 (3), pp. 405-426 (1980), acne vulgaris as described in Phototherapy with Blue (415 nm) and Red (660 nm) Light in the Treatment of Acne Vulgaris, Papageorgiou P, Katsambas A, Chu A, British Journal of Dermatology, vol. 142(5), pp. 973-978 (2002) (hereinafter Papageorgiou), vitiligo as described in A Retrospective Study of Narrowband-UVB Phototherapy for Treatment of Vitiligo in Malaysian Patients, Adauwiyah J, Suraiya H H, Med. J. Malaysia 65(4), pp. 297-299 (December 2010), as well as treating various seasonal affective disorders as described in Influence of a Mindfulness Meditation-Based Stress Reduction Intervention on Rates of Skin Clearing in Patients With Moderate to Severe Psoriasis Undergoing and Phototherapy (UVB) and Photochemotherapy (PUVA), Kabat-Zinn J, Wheeler E, Light T, Skillings A, Scharf M J, Cropley T G, Hosmer D, Bernhard J D, Psychosom. Med., vol. 60, pp. 625-632 (1998). Phototherapy is often indicated for the treatment of neonatal jaundice as disclosed in Numbers Needed to Treat with Phototherapy According to American Academy of Pediatrics Guidelines, Newman T B, Kuzniewicz M W, Liljestrand P, Wi S, McCulloch C, Escobar, G J Pediatrics, vol. 23 (5), pp. 1352-1359 (May 2009) and in supporting wound healing as described in Light Therapy and Advanced Wound Care for a Neuropathic Plantar Ulcer on a Charcot Foot, Sutterfield R, J Wound Ostomy Continence Nurs., vol. 35(1), pp. 113-115 (January-February 2008). Phototherapy has also been shown to be beneficial for reducing undesired pigmentation as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,991,644, entitled Method and System for Controlled Spatially-Selected Epidermal Pigmentation Phototherapy with UVA Leds, to Spooner, et al., (Jan. 31, 2006), and supporting skin rejuvenation by increasing the amounts of collagen and elastic fibers, as described in A Prospective, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blinded, and Split-Face Clinical Study on LED Phototherapy for Skin Rejuvenation: Clinical, Profilometric, Histologic, Ultrastructural, and Biochemical Evaluations and Comparison of Three Different Treatment Settings, Lee S Y, Park K H, Choi J W, Kwon J K, Lee D R, Shin M S, Lee J S, You C E, Park M Y, J. Photochem and Phtobio. B: Biology, vol. 88(1), pp. 51-67 (2007), hereinafter (Lee).
Specific colors of light are particularly effective for treating certain conditions. For example, light having primary wavelengths of 633 nm (red) and 830 nm (near-infrared) is effective for collagen and elastic fiber production in skin rejuvenation, as discussed in Lee. Light of 700 nm (near-infrared) and 530 nm (green) wavelengths can increase fibroblasts for accelerated wound healing as described in Effect of LED Phototherapy of Three Distinct Wavelengths on Fibroblasts on Wound Healing: A Histological Study in a Rodent Model, Cavalcanti de Sousa A P, Santos J N, dos Reis Jr. J A, Ramos T A, de Sousa J, Cangussu M C T, Pinheiro A L B, Photomed and Laser Surgery, vol. 28(4), pp. 547-552 (2010) and light of 415 nm (blue) and 660 nm (red) is effective in supporting the treatment of acne vulgaris as discussed in Papageorgiou.
LEDs are a cost-effective means of producing the desired wavelengths, the relatively narrow spectral power distributions, and the relatively low optical power levels desired for phototherapy. A phototherapy device incorporating a plurality of LEDs with different colors is particularly attractive and can be used for the treatment of multiple conditions. Uniform illumination of the skin is essential for the treatment of skin conditions to ensure an unvarying stimulation of the treatment area. Furthermore, the light emitted by the LEDs should reach the treatment area in order to maximize the illumination efficiency, thus, allowing the use of fewer and/or lower-power LEDs.
LEDs are incoherent light sources that emit light with a wide angular (Lambertian) distribution compared to lasers that emit a narrow beam of light. Lenses (primary optics) are often directly integrated with the LED chip into a single package in order to redirect most of the LED chip light output into a relatively narrow cone in the forward direction.
Ideally, an LED phototherapy device uses all the emitted light to illuminate the subject's skin treatment area in a uniform manner. In order for the device to be cost-effective and produce a high quality light for phototherapeutic applications, both high illumination uniformity and high illumination efficiency are necessary. However, these two properties tend to be mutually exclusive because of the inherent divergence of the LED output. For example, at a substantial distance between an LED array and a subject (e.g. >0.5 foot), the illumination uniformity is generally high because the diverging light output of the individual LEDs overlap. However, the efficiency is low because much of the emitted light misses the subject's treatment area. In contrast, the illumination efficiency is high at a close distance (e.g. <0.5 foot) where the LED array is "near the skin" of the subject; in this case, the illumination is non-uniform because of reduced overlap of the diverging LED outputs.
Non-uniform illumination of the skin treatment area is not desirable. However, when using LEDs with different colors and intensities arranged on a panel, it is difficult to obtain a uniform illumination of a given treatment area in close proximity. This is because lensed LEDs are substantially point-like light sources that typically emit light into a relatively narrow forward cone. Yet close proximity of the LED array to the skin is preferable in order to make best use of the emitted light (high illumination efficiency).
FIGS. 1A through 1F illustrate the problem. These figures represent the calculated illumination of a fixed-area target surface placed parallel to a LED array at different distances. The representative arrangement in this example comprises 22 LEDs with a divergence of ±15° and placed on a 10×7 rectangular grid with a LED spacing of 17.8 mm and 21.5 mm in the horizontal and vertical directions, respectively. FIG. 1A shows the efficiency of 99.0% at 1 inch, FIG. 1B shows the efficiency of 90.0% at 3 inches, FIG. 1C shows the efficiency of 79.5% at 6 inches, FIG. 1D shows the efficiency of 62.0% at 12 inches, FIG. 1 E shows the efficiency of 39.7% at 24 inches, and FIG. 1F shows the efficiency of 21.8% at 48 inches. For example, the spatial intensity distribution on a target surface (fixed area) in close proximity (1 inch) and parallel to a planar array of LEDs is highly non-uniform (FIG. 1A). Moving the target surface away from the LED array (FIGS. 1B-F) improves the spatial intensity distribution due to the greater spatial overlap of the diverging LED outputs; however, it comes at the expense of a reduced irradiance of the target surface as much of the light misses the target surface due to divergence. Space constraints further exacerbate the problem when an array of LEDs with several different colors is used and uniform illumination of the target area for each of those colors is preferable. Given a certain number of LEDs, the challenge is to find an LED arrangement and device design that gives both high illumination uniformity and high illumination efficiency.
Existing systems have the LEDs in rows or arranged for ease of manufacturing, but not based on optimal performance for the skin. Some systems require the user to move the device across the skin manually in an attempt to illuminate, uniformly all portions of the treatment area. Other devices require the user to lay stationary and move the LED panel to achieve uniform illumination; and still other devices use a large number of LEDs with the subject at a significant distance to achieve uniform illumination. These complexities and associated costs often limit existing devices to only one or two colors.
Several prior art approaches (and combinations of those) have been used in an attempt to solve the problem of achieving uniform and efficient illumination of a subject's skin.
Some devices are intended for use at a relatively large distance between the LED panel and the subject. At the large distance, the outputs of the individual LEDs mix well and produce a favorable, uniform illumination. An example of this approach is a LED panel described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,896,693 that is intended to be used at distances greater than 6 inches and up to several feet.
Other devices use a linear array of LEDs mounted in rows on an arm structure that moves back and forth on a semicircle with the subject stationary at the center of the arc. This can be combined with a relatively large distance (>6 inches) between the LEDs and the subject. The motion of the LEDs relative to the stationary subject and the distance creates a substantially uniform illumination of the subject's skin. An example is the MAX device marketed by MAX LED Technologies (Montreal, Quebec; http://www.maxledtechnologies.com). Another example are small handheld LED devices that have to be moved around the subject's skin like the ones marketed by Sirius Beauty (http://www.siriusbeauty.com), Bright Therapy (http://brighttherapy.com/acne-lamp-led-green-red-blue-infrared-led-cluster-with-3-detachable-treatment-heads.html), LightStim (http://www.lightstim.com), and many others. It is time consuming and tiring to use a small handheld device to cover large areas of the body, thus, making it less likely to sustain consistent use by the consumer.
Some devices use a large number of LEDs of a single color in the panel. Increasing the number of LEDs increases the spatial overlap of their outputs and produces a substantially uniform illumination. An example is the device marketed by Omnilux (http://www.omnilux.co.uk).
Other devices use secondary optics such as light guides and transmissive diffusers placed between the LED sources and the target area in order to achieve a substantially uniform illumination. Examples are U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,077,544 and 5,876,107 in which a transparent member (light guide) is used in conjunction with a LED source. Another example is a device marketed by Beauty Essence Co. that uses intricate mirror-like reflectors around each LED (http://www.amazon.com/Charming-Foldable-Machine-Rejuvenation-Dynamic/dp/B008X0WEUI/ref=sr_1_1?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1398647823&sr=1-1).
Some devices use a non-uniform spatial distribution of the LEDs in an array, optionally combined with individually adjusted LED intensities to achieve a substantially uniform illumination of a target surface. An example is U.S. Pat. No. 7,131,990.
In general, the above prior art approaches have a small treatment area and/or only a few (typically 1 or 2) colors. Most systems have non-uniform illumination, and some have complex moving parts. All these disadvantages make these devices less user-friendly and effective for the consumer.
The specific drawbacks of the above-described approaches are:                Relatively large distance: The drawback is that much of the emitted, highly divergent light does not reach the subject's skin and the irradiance is low, resulting in reduced phototherapeutic effects.        Motion of the LEDs: The disadvantage is that the device is larger and more complex/costly (compared to a device with stationary LEDs) because of the motion apparatus. In addition, the relatively large distance between the LEDs and the subject reduces the effective irradiance.        Large number of LEDs: The disadvantage is that the large number of LEDs comes at increased cost and power consumption. Furthermore, such devices often use only one or two therapeutic colors due to space/cost constraints.        Secondary optics: The disadvantage is that the added optical elements can make the device bulky, heavier, less efficient, and more expensive.        Non-uniform spatial distribution of the LEDs: There are infinite numbers of possibilities to arrange LEDs non-uniformly on a panel. Different arrangements produce different degrees of illumination uniformity. Non-uniform arrangement of LEDs is an effective way to achieve uniform illumination, and it is used in the presently claimed invention; however, the LED arrangement is paramount to the efficiency of the system.
Several units provide LED light therapy to the consumer, but in various other forms. Some are small, round or triangular shaped heads containing ˜30 LEDs integrated into a handle; others are panels that contain one or two colors in various configurations; even others, as a bendable pad or a single panel. None achieves substantial, uniform illumination for four colors.
While arrangements of LEDs on arrays that achieve uniform illumination of a target area have been described, those arrangements typically follow simple and often symmetric patterns (such as alternating two colors on a grid). With multiple colors of LEDs having different light intensities for each color and a given number of LEDs in each color (to achieve the desired overall optical power level in each color), especially for three or more colors, it is not obvious how to best arrange the LEDs so that each emission color achieves the best possible illumination uniformity and illumination efficiency of a target surface. The computational method disclosed herein is an efficient way to identify LED arrangements that offer the desired properties. A given light intensity per color can be obtained for any number of colors with optimized light output uniformity on a given target.
Therefore, there is a need for a LED phototherapy device that has a plurality of colors, achieves a substantially uniform illumination for each color over a treatment area in close proximity without the need for moving the device, and is cost effective.

Multicolor light emitting diode treatment system with uniform illumination


A broadside small array microphone beamforming apparatus comprises first and second omni-directional microphones, a microphone calibration unit, and a directional microphone forming unit. The first and second omni-directional microphones respectively convert voice from a desired near-end talker into first and second signals. The second and first omni-directional microphones and the desired near-end talker are respectively arranged at three points of a triangle. The microphone calibration unit receives the first and second signals and correspondingly outputs first and second calibration signals. The directional microphone forming unit receives the first and second calibration signals to generate a first directional microphone signal with a bidirectional polar pattern. The adaptive channel decoupling unit receives the first calibration signal and the first directional microphone signal to generate a first main channel signal and a first reference channel signal for noise detection.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to small array microphone beamforming, and in particular to a broadside small array microphone beamforming apparatus with a narrow beam facing a near-end talker.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many communication system and voice recognition devices are designed for use in noisy environments. Examples of such applications include communication and/or voice recognition in cars or mobile environments (e.g., on street). For these applications, the microphones in the system pick up not only the desired voice but also noise as well. The noise can degrade the quality of voice communication and speech recognition performance if it is not dealt with in an effective manner.
Noise suppression is often required in many communication systems and voice recognition devices to suppress noise to improve communication quality and voice recognition performance. Noise suppression may be achieved using various techniques, which may be classified as single microphone techniques and array microphone techniques.
Thus, effective suppression of noise in communication system and voice recognition devices is desirable.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Broadside small array microphone beamforming apparatus


A telematics system for a vehicle to be towed is provided. The telematics system includes a vehicle communication network configured to receive vehicle data from at least one vehicle system of a plurality of vehicle systems. The telematics system also includes a telematics module configured to determine a towing mode status of the vehicle, generate telematics data based on the vehicle data, and transmit the telematics data to a remote access system based on the towing mode status of the vehicle indicating that the vehicle is configured to be towed.

Modern vehicles can include a number of sensors that support monitoring of various vehicle systems, such as speed sensors, tire pressure sensors, fuel level sensors, door sensors, parking assist sensors, and the like. Vehicle system sensors are typically active when the vehicle is powered and in an operable state. Sometimes vehicles may be towed by a towing vehicle. When towing a vehicle in a flat-towing configuration, such as behind a recreational vehicle, the road wheels of the towed vehicle make contact with a driving surface and can add to the total mileage of the towed vehicle. This towed vehicle mileage may not be accurately accounted for within the towed vehicle if a powered odometer system is used. Towed vehicle mileage may result in reduced tire life or reduce the life of other wear-related vehicle components; however, the towed vehicle mileage may not reduce the life of various vehicle engine-related components. Accordingly, tracking towed vehicle mileage within the towed vehicle may be desirable.
An occupant of a towing vehicle may desire to monitor the status of various vehicle systems of a towed vehicle while it is being towed. It may also be desirable to control select subsystems of the towed vehicle from the towing vehicle.


Provided is a content converting method and system. The content converting method and system may extract web content elements from collected web contents, may extract domain elements from a web page including the web contents, may match the extracted elements with broadcast content elements and thus, may enable the web contents to be played in a broadcast receiving apparatus.

As the Internet has been developing and has been widely used, a great number of people obtain information through the Internet.
In addition, as demand for the Internet increases, contents including images, articles, and the like are provided to users through web pages. More and more, various types of web contents produced online are being provided and an amount of web contents are also increasing compared with an amount of broadcast contents produced by broadcasting stations. Therefore, viewers or users want to play the web contents using broadcast receiving apparatuses, such as an Internet protocol television (IPTV), and the like.
The format of the web contents is different from the format of the broadcast content played in the broadcast receiving apparatus. For example, content providers may generate an electronic program guide (EPG) suitable for each service environment to provide information associated with the same content in a TV, PC, and mobile service environment, such as 3Screen.
Therefore, the broadcast receiving apparatus may use a converting apparatus converting web contents into the format for a broadcasting service, to use the web contents.
Also, there is a desire for a method of playing the web contents produced online in the broadcast receiving apparatus by transmitting the converted contents.

System and method for converting content


A polycarbonate copolymer includes: a repeating unit represented by a formula (1) below; and a repeating unit represented by a formula (2) below, in which the repeating unit represented by the formula (1) is formed from a bischloroformate oligomer having an average number of monomer units n represented by a formula (100) below in a range from 0.1 to 1.3. In the formulae (100) and (1), Ar1 represents a group represented by a formula (3) below. In the formula (2), Ar2 represents a divalent aromatic group. In the formula (3) below, X1 represents a single bond or an oxygen atom. R11 each independently represents a methyl group or an ethyl group.

A polycarbonate copolymer has been used as a material for moldings in various industrial fields because of its excellent mechanical characteristics, thermal characteristics and electrical characteristics. Recently, the polycarbonate copolymer has often been used in a field of a functional product requiring optical characteristics of the polycarbonate copolymer as well as the above characteristics. In accordance with such an expansion in application, the polycarbonate copolymer has been demanded to have a variety of performance. Not only a typically used polycarbonate copolymer but also polycarbonate copolymers having various chemical structures have been proposed.
The functional product is exemplified by an electrophotographic photoreceptor in which the polycarbonate copolymers are used as a binder resin for functional materials such as a charge generating material and a charge transporting material.
The electrophotographic photoreceptor has been demanded to have a predetermined sensitivity, electrical characteristics and optical characteristics in accordance with electrophotography process to be applied. A surface of a photosensitive layer of the electrophotographic photoreceptor is repeatedly subjected to operations such as corona electrification, toner development, transfer onto paper, cleaning and the like. Accordingly, electrical and mechanical external-forces are applied on the surface of the photosensitive layer every time such operations are performed. Consequently, the photosensitive layer provided on the surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor is required to have durability against these external forces in order to maintain electrophotography image quality for a long period of time. Moreover, since the electrophotographic photoreceptor is typically manufactured by dissolving a functional material and a binder resin in an organic solvent and film-casting the obtained solvent on a conductive substrate and the like, the electrophotographic photoreceptor is required to have solubility in the organic solvent and stability of the obtained solvent.
Polycarbonate copolymers disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 to 3 have been known as polycarbonate copolymers satisfying the above properties.
Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2 disclose a polycarbonate copolymer containing 1,1-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) cyclohexane (bisphenol Z) and biphenol. Patent Literature 3 discloses a PC copolymer containing: 4,4′-dihydroxy-3,3′-dimethylbiphenyl; and 1,1-bis(3-methyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)cyclohexane or 2,2-bis(3-methyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)propane (bisphenol C).
As a high quality image has been increasingly used in recent years, an AC/DC superimposing electrification method in which an AC voltage is superimposed on a DC voltage is used as a method of electrifying a surface of a photosensitive layer of the electrophotographic photoreceptor. According to the AC/DC superimposing electrification method, stability of the electrophotographic photoreceptor is improved, whereas an electrical discharge amount of a surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor is drastically increased since the AC voltage is superimposed. For this reason, a resin is deteriorated to increase wear volume of the electrophotographic photoreceptor. Accordingly, the electrophotographic photoreceptor has been required to have electrical strength in addition to the mechanical strength.

Polycarbonate copolymer, coating liquid using same, molded body, and electrophotographic photosensitive body


A process for forming a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device by a deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) process during which a substrate overlying a cavity is etched to form trenches that breach the cavity to delineate suspended structures. In order to eliminate or at least reduce heat and/or charge accumulation that accelerates the DRIE etch rate of certain suspended structures, means are provided to electrically and/or thermally tie the suspended structures to each other and/or the surrounding bulk substrate. As a result, the process window is increased to allow slower-etching structures to be etched to completion without overetching the more rapidly-etched structures.

The present invention generally relates to micromachined devices, and particularly microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices formed by deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) processes. More particularly, this invention relates to structures and methods for improving yields and device reliability of MEMS devices formed by DRIE processes.
A wide variety of MEMS devices are known, including accelerometers, rate sensors, actuators, motors, microfluidic mixing devices, springs for optical-moving mirrors, etc. As an example, rotational accelerometers that employ MEMS devices are widely used in computer disk drive read/write heads to compensate for the effects of vibration and shock. Other applications for rotational accelerometers that use MEMS devices include VCR cameras and aerospace and automotive safety control systems and navigational systems. Rotational rate sensors and accelerometers have been developed whose MEMS devices are fabricated in a semiconductor chip. Notable examples of rotational rate sensors include a plated metal sensing ring disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,751 to Putty et al., and electrically-conductive, micromachined silicon sensing rings disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,093 to Sparks and U.S. Pat. No. 5,872,313 to Zarabadi et al., all of which are assigned to the assignee of this invention. U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,062 to Rich, also assigned to the assignee of this invention and incorporated herein by reference, discloses a MEMS device that employs a disk-shaped semiconductor proof mass for sensing rotational acceleration. Rich""s proof mass is suspended above a cavity by a number of tethers that extend from the perimeter of the proof mass to the rim of a substrate surrounding the proof mass. The tethers allow the proof mass to rotate about an axis perpendicular to the plane containing the proof mass and tethers. Fingers extend radially outward from the proof mass and are interdigitized with fingers extending radially inward from the substrate rim. Pairs of the cantilevered fingers of the proof mass and rim are capacitively coupled to produce an output signal that varies as a function of the distances between adjacent paired fingers, which in turn vary with the angular position of the proof mass as it rotates about its axis of rotation.
Sensors of the type described above are capable of extremely precise measurements, and are therefore desirable for use in a wide variety of applications. However, the intricate proof masses and associated sensing structures required for such sensors must be precisely formed in order to ensure the proper operation of the sensor. For example, Rich""s device requires a sufficient gap between paired interdigitized fingers to prevent stiction and shorting, yet paired fingers must also be sufficiently close to produce a sufficient capacitive output signal for the sensor. Increasing the area of the fingers to achieve greater capacitive coupling increases the capacitive output for a given finger gap. However, traditional etching techniques have not generally been well suited for mass-producing semiconductor micromachines with high aspect ratios necessary to etch closely-spaced fingers in a relatively thick substrate. For example, with conventional etching techniques it is difficult to achieve a 10:1 aspect ratio capable of forming interdigitized fingers spaced three micrometers apart in a silicon layer that is thirty micrometers thick. In addition to operational considerations, there is a continuing emphasis for MEMS devices that are lower in cost, which is strongly impacted by process yield, yet exhibit high reliability and performance capability. Consequently, improvements in the processing of MEMS devices for sensing and other applications are highly desirable.
Deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) is a known process capable of performing deep, high aspect ratio anisotropic etches of silicon and polysilicon, and is therefore desirable for producing semiconductor MEMS of the type taught by Rich. However, DRIE is a young technology practiced largely for research and development. Accordingly, to take advantage of the unique capabilities of the DRIE process, its etch idiosyncrasies must be determined and reconciled to render it suitable for high volume manufacturing. In practice, a difficulty of micromachining Rich""s MEMS using the DRIE process has been that, even with individual etch times calculated for each semiconductor wafer, it is difficult to not overetch or underetch certain features in the wafer. Overetching a wafer typically causes significant damage to the proof mass fingers and can render the device nonfunctional, leading to a significant reduction in wafer yield. On the other hand, underetching causes undesired electrical connections that also render the device nonfunctional. Because of nonuniformities that exist in the product wafers and the highly specialized DRIE equipment. it is not unusual to have both overetched and underetched devices on wafers processed by DRIE. The interdigitated fingers of Rich""s MEMS can overetch while other regions of the wafer are being etched to completion. The cause of this overetch is believed to be that, once the trenches that delineate the fingers breach the underlying cavity, the etch starts to degrade both the sides (lateral erosion) and the backside of the proof mass fingers. This phenomenon is due in part to etch lag, which as used herein refers to the reduced etch rates that are observed for narrower trenches in comparison to wider trenches. As a result, larger parasitic gaps that separate adjacent pairs of capacitively coupled fingers etch faster than the smaller capacitive gaps between paired fingers. The fact that there can be underetched and overetched die on a wafer indicates that the DRIE process window is smaller than is desirable for producing intricate MEMS devices such as Rich""s.
The same etch lag and erosion phenomenon noted for Rich""s MEMS device is believed to occur with essentially any suspended feature DRIE etched from a substrate above a cavity. Consequently, though the DRIE process has the capability of performing deep, high aspect ratio anisotropic etches in silicon and polysilicon, the etch lag and erosion phenomenon associated with the DRIE process complicates the ability to utilize the DRIE process in the micromachining of essentially any suspended feature (e.g., cantilever, bridge, proof mass, finger, tether, etc.) used in a wide variety of devices, such as actuators and passive circuit elements, in addition to linear and rotational motion and acceleration sensors.
The present invention provides a process for forming a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device by a deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) process during which a substrate overlying a cavity is etched to form trenches that breach the cavity to delineate MEMS structures, including suspended elements. A particular example is the fabrication with a DRIE process of a semiconductor MEMS device used to sense motion or acceleration, and therefore includes a proof mass suspended above a cavity so as to have an axis of rotation perpendicular to the plane of the proof mass, as taught by Rich, Sparks and Zarabadi et al. While the invention will be discussed in reference to such MEMS devices, the invention is applicable to essentially any structure that can be fabricated by forming a trench in a substrate overlying a cavity.
According to the invention, the isolation of structures during the DRIE process accelerates the etch rate of such structures, possibly due to electrochemical and/or thermal influences. The present invention is directed to eliminating heat and/or charge accumulation on the structures in order to minimize or prevent an accelerated etch. As a result, DRIE processing in accordance with the present invention increases the process window by allowing slower-etching structures (e.g., structures delineated at least in part by a relatively narrower trench or trenches) to be etched to completion without overetching more rapidly etched structures (e.g., structures delineated with relatively wider trenches). The invention makes possible the use of a more reliable etch time that can account for variations that exist across a given wafer, between wafers within a lot, and between lots.
The present invention achieves the above objects with a process that entails forming a microelectromechanical device by DRIE etching a semiconductor layer having a first portion that surrounds a second portion suspended over a cavity. The DRIE process forms trenches in the semiconductor layer, some of which breach the cavity to delineate structures from the second portion of the semiconductor layer. A first of the structures remains physically in contact with the first portion of the semiconductor layer, while one or more trenches physically separate a second structure from the first structure and the first portion of the semiconductor layer. Consequently, the first structure is electrically and thermally coupled to the bulk of the semiconductor layer, while the second structure is relatively electrically and thermally isolated from the bulk of the semiconductor layer by the trenches. The invention is based on the determination that electrical and thermal isolation of a structure leads to accelerated etching of the isolated structures while other slower-etching structures are etched to completion, and as a solution provides conductive means that electrically and thermally interconnect the otherwise isolated structure (i.e., the second structure delineated by the trenches from the second portion of the semiconductor layer) with the remaining bulk (i.e., the first portion) of the semiconductor layer.
Consequently, during DRIE etching of the semiconductor layer to form the trenches that delineate the structures, heat and charge accumulation that would otherwise occur on the second structure relative to the first structure is minimized as a result of the conductive means maintaining the first and second portions of the semiconductor layer at a substantially common potential and as a result of the conductive means conducting heat from the second portion to the first portion of the semiconductor layer. After the DRIE etch. or as a result of the DRIE etch. the conductive means is interrupted (e.g. severed) to prevent undesired shorting that would otherwise occur through the conductive means.
In view of the above, it can be seen that the present invention provides a DRIE etching process by which structures of desired geometries can be more reliably and precisely formed. As a result, the present invention is able to take advantage of the deep etching capability of the DRIE process, while compensating for etch idiosyncrasies that adversely affect the structural integrity and durability of a MEMS device, so as to improve yields and device reliability.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will be better appreciated from the following detailed description.

Deep reactive ion etching process and microelectromechanical devices formed thereby


An on-vehicle terminal apparatus for a DSRC system includes a mobile station mounted on a car, a radio tag mounted on the car separately from the mobile station, and a first communication device provided for communication with the mobile station and a base station installed on a road. Information transmitted to the base from the mobile contains car information which serves to determine operation of application for which the DSRC system is employed. Tag information recorded in the tag contains the car information. The mobile station includes a second communication device for communication with the tag. The car information transmitted to the base station is acquired from the radio tag through the second communication means.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an on-vehicle terminal apparatus for a dedicated short range communication system (hereinafter also referred to as the DSRC communication system only for the convenience of description) which apparatus is destined to be mounted on a motor vehicle having a radio tag installed therein. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with a technique for making it possible to utilize motor vehicle information without need for recording the vehicle information in the on-vehicle terminal apparatus itself to thereby render unnecessary the processing of recording the motor vehicle information which will otherwise have to be executed e.g. every time the on-vehicle terminal apparatus is lent out in the rental or the like business, whereby the handleability or serviceability of the on-vehicle terminal apparatus for the OSRC communication system is significantly enhanced.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, the system designed for carrying out toll collection transactions by making use of the DSRC communication (this system is generally known as the electronic toll collection automatic system or ETC system in abbreviation) has widely been adopted at the toll charge stations on the toll roads for the purpose of mitigating the traffic jam.
In the electronic toll collection automatic system (hereinafter also referred to as the ETC system), the toll charged for using the toll road is automatically collected at the toll station through radio-communication-based transaction between the ETC-dedicated on-road equipment which is installed at the site of the toll station (hereinafter this equipment will be referred to as the base station) and the on-vehicle terminal apparatus for the ETC system which is installed on the motor vehicle (hereinafter this apparatus will also be referred to as the mobile station or simply as the on-vehicle apparatus).
With the ETC system mentioned above, the time taken for the toll collect transaction is shorter than the time required for the toll collection by man power at the ordinary toll station. As a result of this, the number of the motor vehicles capable of passing through the gate within a predetermined time can be increased, which in turn contributes to mitigation of the traffic jam, as is known in the art.
In this conjunction, the toll charged for using the toll road generally differs in dependence on the types of the motor vehicles in many cases. Accordingly, in the ETC system, the amount of the toll as charged will have to be made different in dependence on the types of the motor vehicles.
Such being the circumstances, the vehicle type information is recorded in the on-vehicle apparatus for the ETC system so that the amounts of tolls which differ in dependence on the types of the motor vehicles can be charged on the basis of the vehicle type information. In that case, the records of the vehicle type information in the ETC-destined on-vehicle apparatuses are ordinarily placed under the management of a specific institution or organization with a view to preventing the illegal or unauthorized use of the records.
As exemplary or typical ones of the techniques concerning the on-vehicle terminal apparatuses for the DSRC communication systems known heretofore, there can be mentioned "a method of issuing on-vehicle apparatuses in an electronic toll collection automatic system" disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 175783/1999 (J-P-A-1999-175783), "a gate apparatus, an on-vehicle apparatus, an on-vehicle apparatus set-up method, a toll collecting transaction method and an admission/leaving method" disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 307151/2001 (J-P-A-2001-307151), "on-vehicle apparatus for a toll collecting transaction system" disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 16493/2003 (J-P-A-2003-16493) and "ETC-destined on-vehicle apparatus" disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 150994/2003 (J-P-A-2003-150994), by way of example.
In order to reduce or mitigate sufficiently the traffic jam with the aid of the toll collecting transaction system mentioned above, it is required that a number of motor vehicles traveling on the toll road, being aided with this system, exceeds a predetermined number. To this end, the number of the users of the ETC-destined on-vehicle apparatus must be correspondingly increased.
However, in order to utilize the system mentioned above, the user must purchase (or rent) the ETC-destined on-vehicle apparatus. In this conjunction, it is however noted that the user who uses the toll road less frequently does not dare to purchase the ETC-destined on-vehicle apparatus from the economical viewpoint in view of the fact that the effect is low for the cost involved in installing the ETC-destined on-vehicle apparatus on his or her car. For this reason, the use of the ETC-destined on-vehicle apparatus is not widely spread at present.
On the other hand, there has been proposed a method of lending out the ETC-destined on-vehicle apparatus only at the time of using the toll road to thereby promote the installation of the ETC-destined on-vehicle apparatus. In that case, however, very troublesome procedure is required because of the necessity of recording the motor vehicle information in the ETC-destined on-vehicle apparatus upon every lending out thereof. For this reason, the number of the users who resort to the ETC-destined on-vehicle apparatus rental method remains small.
The reason for such unpopularity as mentioned above may be explained by the fact that because the processing of recording the vehicle type information in the ETC-destined on-vehicle apparatus is executed under the management of a specific institute or organization for the purpose of preventing the illegal or unauthorized use, as pointed out previously, a lot of time is required for the user to complete the processing procedure of writing the motor vehicle information, which is effected every time the user hires the ETC-destined on-vehicle apparatus.
In the on-vehicle terminal apparatus for the DSRC communication system known heretofore, the processing of recording the vehicle type information in the ETC-destined on-vehicle apparatus is ordinarily executed under the management of the specific institution, as is described in every one of the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publications enumerated previously. Consequently, difficulty has been encountered in spreading widely the use of the ETC-destined on-vehicle apparatus, which in turn means that the effect of mitigating the traffic jam has not yet been achieved regardless of introduction of the toll collecting transaction system based on the DSRC system, giving rise to a problem remaining to be solved.

On-vehicle terminal apparatus for dedicated short range communication system


A sealed accumulator (1) having an electrochemical bundle (9) including at least one positive electrode and one negative electrode arranged in a container (2); positive (6) and negative (7) current output terminals arranged on a cover (5) of the container and respectively connected to the positive and negative electrodes; a circuit-breaker including a connecting piece (10) and a membrane (20), electrically insulated from the connecting piece and suitable for deforming under the effect of an overpressure in the container, to break the connecting piece. The connecting piece extends over the top of the cover of the container and conducts an electric current between an electrode of one polarity and its current output terminal. The connecting piece is dimensioned to allow the passage of a current greater than 50 A.

Safety devices exist which prevent the accumulation of gases inside the container of a sealed accumulator and allow their evacuation when the internal pressure exceeds a pre-determined value.
The known safety devices are generally constituted by valves. Document U.S. Pat. No. 5,523,178 describes an accumulator valve. However, this valve has the drawback of being of complex design. When of simple design, valves have the disadvantage of opening only for high pressures, or opening for only a narrow range of pressures.
In addition, it is necessary for an accumulator safety device to also act as a circuit-breaker suitable for stopping the overload reaction quickly by interrupting the electric circuit in the accumulator. The circuit-breaker function also allows the appliances connected to the accumulator to be insulated electrically and irreversibly.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 6,274,264 describes an accumulator safety device comprising on the one hand a circuit-breaker intended to interrupt the electric path between an internal electrode connected to the electrochemical bundle and a current output terminal when the pressure in the accumulator exceeds a pre-determined threshold; and on the other hand a valve constituted by a cover portion having thinner sections, suitable for tearing when the pressure in the accumulator exceeds another pre-determined threshold higher than the first.
In addition, a safety device for an accumulator is known from the document U.S. Pat. No. 6,392,172, comprising a circuit-breaker integrated into a side wall of the container and suitable for interrupting the electric path between an internal electrode connected to the electrochemical bundle and a current output terminal when the pressure in the accumulator exceeds a pre-determined threshold.
Document FR-A-2,756,421 describes a circuit-breaker terminal which passes through the cover of an accumulator container. The circuit-breaker comprises a circular rupture component having weakened points on its periphery and welded at its centre to a membrane. In normal operation, the membrane with the rupture component ensures the electric continuity between the internal electrode and the current output terminal. In the event of malfunction and an increase in the pressure inside the accumulator container, the membrane abruptly deforms, taking with it the centre of the rupture component which breaks on its periphery between its weakened points. Electrical continuity is thus interrupted, but tightness preserved by the membrane.
The known circuit-breaker devices limit the passage of the current delivered by the accumulator to around 20 A due to a high internal resistance of the order of 0.5 to 2 mΩ. The circuit-breakers of the prior art are dimensioned to break or deform at a limit pressure value of the order of 7 to 10 bar, in order to fulfil their circuit-breaker function and interrupt the electric path. They must not therefore be too thick. Against this, they cannot conduct a large current, for example of the order of 50 A, for applications with high-power elements.
There is therefore a need for a sealed accumulator equipped with a circuit-breaker safety device which is of simple design and can be applied to large currents for high-power appliances.

Sealed accumulator equipped with a safety device


A method of performing an inference task on a knowledge graph comprising semantic triples of entities, wherein entity types are subject, object and predicate, and wherein each semantic triple comprises one of each entity type, using a quantum computing device, wherein a first entity of a first type and a second entity of a second type are given and the inference task is to infer a third entity of the third type. By performing specific steps and choosing values according to specific prescriptions, an efficient and resource-saving method is developed that utilizes the power of quantum computing systems for inference tasks on large knowledge graphs. An advantageous value for a cutoff threshold for a cutoff based on singular values of a singular value tensor decomposition is prescribed, and a sequence of steps is developed in which only the squares of the singular values are of consequence and their signs are not.

Semantic knowledge graphs (KGs) are graph-structured databases consisting of semantic triples (subject, predicate, object), where subject and object are nodes in the graph and the predicate is the label of a directed link between subject and object. An existing triple normally represents a fact, e.g., (California, located in, USA) with "California" being the subject, "located in" being the predicate and "USA" being the object. Missing triples stand for triples known to be false (closed-world assumption) or with unknown truth value. In recent years a number of sizable knowledge graphs have been developed. For example, the currently largest KGs contain more than 100 billion facts and hundreds of millions of distinguishable entities.
The large number of facts and entities in a knowledge graphs makes it particularly difficult to scale the learning and inference algorithm to perform inference on the entire knowledge graph.
In the fields of tensor decomposition and matrix factorization, among others the following algorithms have been developed so far:
In the publication by Jie Chen and Yousef Saad, "On the tensor svd and the optimal low rank orthogonal approximation of tensors", SIAM Journal on Matrix Analysis and Applications, 30(4):1709-1734, 2009 (hereafter cited as "Chen et al."), the singular value decomposition of tensors is described.
In the publication by Dimitris Achlioptas and Frank McSherry, "Fast computation of low-rank matrix approximations", Journal of the ACM (JACM), 54(2):9, 2007 (hereafter cited as "Achlioptas et al."), methods for fast computation of low-rank matrix approximations of large matrices are described.
In the publication by Maximilian Nickel et al., "A review of relational machine learning for knowledge graphs", Proceedings of the IEEE, 104(1):11-33, 2016 (hereafter cited as "Nickel et al."), some fundamental mathematical properties regarding knowledge graphs are described.
In the fields of quantum computing, several methods and algorithms have been developed so far.
For example, the publication by S. Lloyd et al., "Quantum principal component analysis", arXiv: 1307.0401v2 of Sep. 16, 2013 (cited hereafter as "Lloyd et al."), describes a method of using a density matrix (or: a density operator) ρ, for determining eigenvectors of unknown states.
In the publication by I. Kerenidis et al., "Quantum Recommendation Systems", arXiv: 1603.08675v3 of Sep. 22, 2016 (cited hereafter as "Kerenidis et al."), a quantum algorithm for recommendation systems is described.
In the publication by P. Rebentrost, "Quantum singular value decomposition of non-sparse low-rank matrices", arXiv: 1607.05404v1 of Jul. 19, 2016 (cited hereafter as "Rebentrost et al."), a method for exponentiating non-sparse indefinite low-rank matrices on a quantum computer is proposed.
In the publication by A. Kitaev, "Quantum measurements and the Abelian Stabilizer Problem", arXiv: quant-ph/9511026v1 of Nov. 20, 1995 (hereafter cited as "Kitaev"), a polynomial quantum algorithm for the Abelian stabilizer problem is proposed. The method is based on a procedure for measuring an eigenvalue of a unitary operator.
In the publication by V. Giovannetti et al., "Quantum random access memory", arXiv: 0708.1879v2 of Mar. 26, 2008 (hereafter cited as "Giovannetti et al."), a method for implementing a robust quantum random access memory, qRAM, algorithm is proposed.
The publication by Ma et al., "Variational Quantum Circuit Model for Knowledge Graphs Embedding", arXiv: 1903.00556v1 of Feb. 19, 2019 (hereafter cited as "Ma et al."), variational quantum circuits for knowledge graph embedding and related methods are proposed.
A basic textbook about quantum information theory is the textbook by Nielsen et al., "Quantum computation and quantum information", Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521635035 hereafter cited as "Nielsen et al.".

Quantum machine learning algorithm for knowledge graphs


For use in a trip unit, a transformer assembly is provided in a compact and cost effective form. The assembly includes a toroidal transformer between a pair of busses, and plastic retainers around a conductor which connects the busses. Each of the plastic retainers are molded as a plastic part which features: a flat portion separating the transformer axially from the adjacent bus, a tubular section attached to the flat portion which protrudes through the center of the transformer and serves to separate it radially from the bus, and a set of ribs protruding from the tubular, flat portions which serve to slightly penetrate the insulation material in the center of the transformer and grip the transformer to prevent it from rotating, and a lip protruding from the flat portion which causes the retainer to stop rotational motion relative to the bus.

Transformers are typically employed in electronic trip circuit breakers for current sensing and powering of an electronic trip unit. This is the case, for example, in the implementation described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,089,928, issuing on Feb. 18, 1992 to Durivage, III, et al. and entitled, "Processor Controlled Circuit Breaker Trip System Having Reliable Status Display."
Toroidal transformers are particularly attractive for this application, because they are not easily influenced by adjacent magnetic fields and they tend to have low excitation current compared to other constructions. However, toroidal transformers, due to their geometric shape, are unwieldy to secure in a sufficiently fixed position to protect them from shock and vibration caused by handling and shipping, and magnetic fields. Due to both mechanical and electromechanical forces, the transformer tends to move relative to its mounted position, and this exerts a stress on the lead wires emanating from the toroidal transformer. For instance, because of their shape, toroidal transformers tend to rotate due to vibration and general movement of the mounting structure. After sufficient rotation in one direction, the lead wires emanating from the transformer become the only structure which limits the rotation, and this can damage the lead wires. Furthermore, a current transformer normally needs supplementary insulation to provide sufficient dielectric strength between the bus and the secondary winding.
One method of overcoming these problems is to pot the transformer in a cup with a suitable potting compound, or to pot it directly without the benefit of a cup. The assembly may then be provided with means to secure it in position and the potting, or potting and cup, may provide supplementary insulation as well. The potting process, however, is relatively messy, costly and it increases the overall size of the assembly.
Toroidal transformers are also sometimes attached to printed wiring boards with a generally conical washer and a screw.

Transformer assembly with improved retainer and insulator


A process for making bis(ether anhydrides) employs alkylamines having low melting temperatures thus allowing for novel intermediate process steps for preparing bis(ether anhydrides). The alkylamines have alkyl groups which contain at least three carbon atoms and have boiling temperatures in the range of 48 to 250.degree. C. at atmospheric pressure. As a result of using these amines, liquid alkylamines now can be employed in the imidization process step. The N-alkyl nitrophthalimides prepared from the recovered imidization product according to this invention can now be purified using liquid/liquid extraction or vacuum distillation. The alkyl nitrophthalimides prepared according to this invention provide for displacement reactions which now can be run at a high solids level. Likewise, the exchange reaction can be run at a higher solids level, and thus achieves an efficiency level which is higher than conventional processes.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to processes for preparing bis(ether anhydrides). In particular, safer and more efficient imidization, nitration, displacement and exchange reactions leading to the preparation of bis(ether anhydrides) are made possible as a result of conducting the imidization step with a liquid alkylamine wherein the alkyl group of the alkylamine preferably contains at least three carbon atoms.
2. Brief Description of the Background Art
Processes for preparing bis(ether anhydrides) are well known. Bis(ether anhydrides) are intermediates used to prepare polyetherimides which are well known components for plastic automobile parts and the like. Biphenol dianhydride and bisphenol A dianhydrides are two frequently used intermediates. Processes for preparing such bis(ether anhydrides) can involve four intermediate steps. Those process steps comprise:
(1) an imidization step in which "make-up" n-alkyl phthalimide is synthesized from an alkylamine and phthalic anhydride,
(2) a nitration step in which the n-alkyl phthalimide is nitrated,
(3) a displacement reaction step in which the nitro substituent on the phthalimide ring is displaced and a bisimide is formed, and
(4) a transformation step ("exchange reaction") in which the bisimide is transformed to dianhydride, preferably by reacting the bisimide with phthalic anhydride in the presence of triethylamine and water. The exchange also can be carried out by a process in which the bisimide is hydrolyzed, acidified and dehydrated to form the desired bis(ether anhydride). The resulting product can then be employed to prepare polyetherimides such as ULTEM.RTM. polyetherimides commercially available from General Electric Co. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,020,089 to Markezich (imidization); U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,809 to Groenaweg et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,429 to Odle (nitration); U.S. Pat. No. 4,257,953 to Williams, III et al. (displacement); and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,957,862 and 3,879,428, both to Heath et al. (exchange reaction).
As with many commercial chemical synthesis processes, there remains a need and desire to improve the process from economic, environmental and overall efficiency aspects. We have specifically identified the use of methylamine in the preparation of the "make-up" phthalimide as an aspect of the existing process that, if avoided, could lead to process improvements.
The disadvantage presented by methylamine is twofold. Methylamine is not only toxic, but also its boiling temperature is relatively low, therefore rendering it gaseous at temperatures under which make-up phthalimide is synthesized. As a result, methylamine requires special toxic gas equipment when preparing the "make-up" phthalimide. In addition, at least two condensers are typically employed to condense methyl phthalimide to its more practical liquid form. The liquid condensate which forms in the condenser, however, solidifies on the walls of the condenser and creates blockages. As a result, the condenser is taken off stream and another condenser is utilized while the blocked condenser is heated to remove the residue. The second condenser is similarly removed once it becomes blocked. A safer and more efficient process thus is desired.
In addition, the resulting methyl-derived phthalimide has a high melting temperature and thus must be stored at temperatures of about 133.degree. C. or higher in order to keep the "make-up" phthalimide in liquid phase for further processing.
The overall efficiency of nitrating methyl phthalimide is relatively low because recycling the methyl phthalimide nitrating agent requires a relatively inefficient nitration concentration system. After nitrating the phthalimide ring to form a methylnitrophthalimide, the nitrophthalimide product and the nitrating agent are recovered. N-methyl nitrophthalimide usually is recovered by removing the nitrating agent and solvent via a falling film evaporator. A falling film evaporator, however, is only capable of concentrating N-methyl nitrophthalimide to about 50% solids. Attempts to remove any more nitric acid results in the precipitation of the methylnitrophthalimide product from the solution. As a result, methylnitrophthalimide reaction product solution is quenched into weak nitric acid. The resulting precipitate is washed in countercurrent fashion on a belt filter. In order to be recycled for later nitration, the remaining dilute nitric acid must be recovered in a nitric acid concentrator and sulphuric acid concentrator (NAC/SAC) system. Both the belt filter and NAC/SAC system are quite inefficient as they employ about two pounds of water for every one pound of methylnitrophthalimide produced.
The N-methyl nitrophthalimide product then is dried by partitioning the product from water into toluene. Handling environmentally hazardous organic solvents thus is required. Organic solvents also are required in the displacement reaction which forms the bisimide.
Further problems and inefficiencies are presented when extracting the by-products created by the displacement reaction of methylnitrophthalimides with the salts of sodium bisphenol. These by-products typically are extracted at temperatures of about 85.degree. C. using alkali solutions at concentrations of about 1 to about 5% alkali. Extractions with such solutions can cause hydrolysis of the desired bisimide product, and as a result, the time, temperature and alkali concentration must be monitored in order to minimize such hydrolysis.
Displacement reactions with N-methyl nitrophthalimides also can be carried out to only about a 22% solids level in the bisimide reaction mixture. If the reaction is allowed to run to a higher solids level, bisimide product precipitates out of the solvent. In addition, substantial amounts of organic solvents are required for processing mixtures at these levels of solids. Running this reaction to a higher, and thus more efficient, solids level thus is difficult and limited.
Inefficiencies also occur in the exchange reaction with bisimides derived from methyl amines. The reaction influent of the preferred exchange reaction comprises bisimide and excess phthalic anhydride and triethylamine, as well as the accompanying transimidization products of both reactants, e.g., bisimide, imide acid, diacid, phthalic acid, and N-methyl phthalimide. By-products typically are removed by extracting the imide products into toluene, thereby driving the equilibrium and leaving only tetra acid salts in the aqueous phase. These acid salts then are stripped of water and triethylamine to leave the desired dianhydride. Methyl-derived bisimides, however, have a limited solubility in toluene, and, therefore, throughput of reaction product solids in the exchange reaction of these bisimides is low, e.g., about.12%. Greater efficiency is desired.

Process for preparing bis (ether anhydrides) using alkylamine derived bisimides having low melting temperatures


A switcher for selectively routing a plurality of input signals to a plurality of output signal ports. The switcher includes a motherboard disposed in a housing, and a switch card for routing ones of the input signals to an output card, wherein the output card functions to amplify signals received from the switch card. The output card and the switch card are also disposed in the housing, and are electronically coupled to each other and to the motherboard by a signal bus on the motherboard. A controller card is provided for controlling the routing of the input signals to the output signal ports. The controller card, the output card, and the switch card are electronically coupled to each other and to the motherboard by a control bus on the motherboard. A first input frame adapter card is provided for receiving the input signals and providing the input signals to the switch card and the motherboard, and a first output frame adapter card having the output signal ports is provided for receiving amplified signals from the output card and outputting the amplified signals from the switcher. The input frame adapter card and the output frame adapter card are detachably coupled to the housing and to the signal bus on the motherboard.

Switchers are typically used in audio/video production and broadcasting studios for selectively routing large numbers of input signals to output port signals. Such switchers are typically disposed in a housing mounted in a computer rack, and are controlled by a general purpose computer or micro-processor. A typical switcher contains a motherboard disposed in the housing, and a plurality of switch cards for routing various input signals to one or more output cards. Each output card typically functions to amplify signals received from a switch card. Separate frame input and frame output cards are also typically hard wired to the motherboard. The frame input cards function to receive the various input signals into the switcher, and provide the input-signals to a switch card and the motherboard. Each frame output card has output signal ports for receiving amplified signals from an output card and outputting the amplified signals from the switcher.
One significant drawback of the aforementioned switchers is their lack of scalability. More particularly, since the frame input cards and the frame output cards are typically hard wired to the motherboard, it is cumbersome to upgrade or modify a switcher to include further frame input cards and further frame output cards after the switcher has been installed. As a result, a user of a switcher who lacks a present need for a switcher with many frame input and frame output cards, but who anticipates needing a switcher with further capabilities in the future, may be required to purchase and install a switcher with more capacity or capabilities than presently required, in order to avoid having to replace the unit at a later date in order to gain further capacity. In view of this problem, it would desirable to provide a scaleable switcher which could be installed with a minimum number of frame input and frame output cards, and which could be easily and economically upgraded or modified on-site to include further or alternative frame input and frame output cards when desired by the user.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a switcher which can function with a minimum number of frame input and frame output cards, and which can be easily and economically upgraded on-site to include further frame input and frame output cards.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a switcher which can be easily modified on-site to handle different types of input and output signals.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become more fully apparent from the description and claims which follow or may be learned by the practice of the invention.

Scalable switcher with detachably securable frame adapter cards for routing audio and video signals


A transmission device including a body, an input member extending along the body, and having a rotational axis, a gear assembly connected to the input member, having an inner gear, one or more intermediate gears engaged with the inner gear; and an outer gear engaged with one or more intermediate gears, wherein in a first position the gear assembly is configured to rotate at substantially the same rate as the input member and axial movement of at least one component to a second position, in a direction substantially parallel to the axis of rotation, allows the gear assembly to provide to an output member a different output rate relative to the input member, and an actuator movable between a first position at which the gear assembly moves to its first position and a second position at which the gear assembly moves to its second position, the actuator moves under hydraulic pressure.

The invention relates to a transmission device. In particular, the invention relates, but is not limited, to a transmission device for drilling earthen material.
Reference to background art herein is not to be construed as an admission that such art constitutes common general knowledge in Australia or elsewhere.
The drilling of earthen material may take a variety of forms. Rotary earth drilling typically involves, amongst other things, using an attachment (or bit) to drill a hole in the ground. A similar process, normally in the construction industry, also involves winding piles (e.g. poles) into the ground much like a screw into wood. Commonly, a single speed transmission is used in rotatory earth drilling and/or screw piling.
A compromise between torque and speed is a typical problem associated with transmissions and, in particular, single speed transmissions in rotatory earth drilling and/or screw piling. That is, as a torque requirement is increased, the speed of drilling is required to be reduced in a single speed transmission. In practice, this typically results in a single speed transmission being geared for maximum torque to overcome the most difficult stages of drilling and/or piling. This maximum torque results in a lower speed which may waste operator time where a lower torque/higher speed drilling job is required.
There have been attempts to improve on the compromise between torque and speed in single speed transmissions for rotatory earth drilling and/or screw piling. For example, variable speed hydraulic pump motors have been included on auger drilling assemblies to provide different speeds and torque. However, this approach is limited by the hydraulic pressure in the system, the characteristics of hydraulic motors and fails to take advantage of the variations possible using a mechanical transmission with a number of gears. Furthermore, optimal pump settings are typically based on torque of the drilling attachment and not the pressure in the system. This may lead to lag in the system.
Other transmissions have also been proposed for the drilling of earthen material but these transmissions are typically complex and expensive. Furthermore, technology relating to vehicle transmissions also appears unsuitable for drilling earthen material given the large drilling forces associated therewith.
It is an aim of this invention to provide a transmission device which overcomes or ameliorates one or more of the disadvantages or problems described above, or which at least provides a useful alternative.
Other preferred objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.


Wristwatch including a case (1) for accommodating a movement (4), luminous elements carried by the bezel or by the middle part of said case, a source of energy (44, 45) and an electronic circuit (33) housed in said case to control the power supply of said luminous elements and at least one control element (5), characterized in that at least one luminous element is formed by a finger (11-15) made of flexible materials, supported by said case and extending beyond the latter.

The present invention concerns a timepiece including luminous elements, and more particularly such a timepiece of the wristwatch type in which at least one luminous element can permanently be seen.
Jewellery pieces or timepieces including luminous sources intended to produce either solely a decorative effect, or to provide in addition a determined piece of information, which may or may not relate to the time base in the case of a timepiece, are already known. In a non limiting manner, reference can be made to French Patent No 2 183 763, which discloses a decorative timepiece constituted for example by a watch whose bezel supports bulbs preferably of the electroluminescent type, said bulbs being able to be switched on or off by means of a switch. In British Patent No 2 218 895 the luminous sources are diodes embedded in the bezel of a wristwatch, or arranged on the periphery of the space between the dial and the crystal; the circular case then has a free ring of significant width for housing electric supply batteries and an electronic circuit allowing the lighting mode of the different diodes to be controlled via pressure on a push button. In British Patent No 2 204 429, the luminous sources have different colours and are connected to the time base to give a time indication.
The devices of the prior art have in common the fact that they are compact and generally voluminous and only produce a luminous effect to the extent that the light emitting source, which is completely integrated in the device, is not masked, as may be the case when a sleeve of a piece of clothing covers a wristwatch.


A registration artifact (10) for use in registering two or more fluoroscopic images includes a plurality of radio opaque spheres (12, 14, 16) and a plurality of trackable markers, such as optical reflectors (20, 22, 24 and 26), mounted to a radio transparent body (11). A tracking system locates the position of registrable artifact using the trackable markers for registering the fluoroscopic images with respect to a known frame of reference.

Conventional fluoroscopic registration artifacts have X-ray transparent bodies holding radio-opaque fiducials in predetermined and fixed positions on the registration artifact. The fiducials show up as distinct dots on an X-ray and used to coordinate and register to a common coordinate system multiple X-ray images of a patient taken from different perspectives. The registration artifact remains fixed in position from one image to the next in order to register the images, as an assumption is made that the fiducials in the respective images are in the same positions.
In certain situations, it is advantageous or necessary to relocate the registration artifact. For example, in some instances it is difficult to fit the registration artifact and the relevant anatomy within the fluoroscopic field in the fluoroscopic images due to the particular anatomy or physical configuration of the patient. An obese patient may present such challenges, for example.
One solution has been to track the position of fluoroscope in an operating room rather than use a registration artifact. However, tracking the fluoroscope requires expensive modifications to the fluoroscope.

Fluoroscopic registration artifact with optical and/or magnetic markers


In a wavelength division multiplexed optical transmission system wherein the zero dispersion wavelength of the optical fiber transmission path 224 is in the 1550 nm region, among multiplexed optical signals, the wavelengths of either of at least two optical signals are allocated between 1450 nm and 1530 nm, or between 1570 mn and 1650 nm.

The present invention relates to a wavelength division multiplexed optical transmission system which transmits a wavelength division multiplexed optical signal using a dispersion-shifted fiber.
Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) transmission technology is a technology in which optical signals of differing wavelength (optical frequency) are multiplexed, and transmitted via one optical fiber transmission path. Here, the optical signal is the optical output of a light source directly modulated by a data signal (direct modulation type), or an optical transmission wave output from a light source modulated by a data signal using an external modulator (external modulation type), and this wavelength is determined by the light source wavelength.
By disposing along the optical fiber propagation path optical amplifiers which amplify the optical signal as-is, and compensating the transmission loss of the optical fiber transmission path, it is possible to extend the span between regenerative repeaters which are necessary for discriminative reproduction processing at the electrical step. This optical amplifier can increase the transmission capacity of an installed optical fiber transmission path by many times the number of wavelengths simply by altering the transmission and receiving apparatuses for wavelength division multiplexing use because it possesses a function in which optical signals of differing wavelength are amplified together. For example, the amplification wavelength bandwidth of an erbium doped optical fiber amplifier (EDFA) is between 1.53 xcexcm and 1.56 xcexcm, and by multiplexing optical signals at wavelength intervals of 0.8 nm in this wavelength band, about 30 channels of optical signals can be transmitted through in one optical fiber.
However, installed dispersion-shifted fibers transmit optical signals of a designed zero-dispersion wavelength. When transmitting wavelength division multiplexed optical signals in this dispersion-shifted fiber, cross-talk due to four-wave mixing, a non-linear optical effect, is generated, and because of this the input power to the transmission path fiber could not be increased. In the following this problem will be explained in detail.
The propagation loss of a silica optical fiber is minimal in the 1.5 xcexcm to 1.6 xcexcm region. A dispersion-shifted fiber is designed so that the wavelength dispersion is zero in the 1.55 xcexcm wavelength region, and by suppressing waveform degradation due to wavelength dispersion at this wavelength, the transmission distance can be increased. In addition, while the International Standards Organization has stipulated that the zero dispersion wavelength of a dispersion-shifted fiber is allocated between 1.525 xcexcm and 1.575 xcexcm, practically the distribution is roughly between 1.535 xcexcm and 1.565 xcexcm, centered on 1.550 xcexcm, and up to the present, these have been widely installed.
In contrast, when optical signals of differing optical frequencies are input into an optical fiber, new optical frequencies dependent on the difference in input optical frequencies are generated based on third-order non-linearity within the optical fiber. This is called xe2x80x9cfour-wave mixing,xe2x80x9d and is a phenomenon wherein, for example, an optical frequency f1+f2xe2x88x92f3 is generated from input optical frequencies f1, f2, and f3. This four-wave mixing is more easily generated the smaller the dispersion value of the input optical wavelength, or the larger the input power of each individual wavelength.
If the optical frequency intervals between the wavelength division multiplexed optical signals input into this kind of optical fiber are uniform, the optical frequency newly produced by four-wave mixing will conform with one optical wavelength among those of the optical signal, and strong noise will be generated by mutual interference. In addition, even when the optical frequency intervals of the wavelength division multiplexed optical signal are not uniform, the optical power of the original optical signal is consumed in the generation of four-wave mixing, and this produces strong noise; When the optical frequency interval of the wavelength division multiplexed optical signal has even spacing, excess noise originating in four-wave mixing is generated by an input power per wavelength from about xe2x88x925 dBm, and when the spacing is uneven, it is generated by an input power per wavelength from about xe2x88x922 dBm. Because of this, the optical power that can be input into the optical fiber transmission path cannot exceed this value, and as a result, the transmission distance is limited.
The object of the present invention is to provide a wavelength division multiplexed optical transmission system which can use dispersion-shifted fibers installed in an optical transmission path and transmitting wavelength division multiplexed optical signals, and can increase the permissible optical input power to a dispersion-shifted fiber.
The present invention is a wavelength division multiplexed optical transmission system or a wavelength division multiplexed optical transmission method wherein among wavelength division multiplexed optical signals the wavelengths of either of at least two optical signals are between 1450 nm and 1530 nm, or between 1570 nm and 1650 nm when a dispersion-shifted fiber whose zero dispersion wavelength is in the 1550 nm region is used as a transmission path.
In this manner, by limiting the used wavelength bandwidth, the influence of four-wave mixing in the dispersion-shifted fiber can be avoided. Thus, it is possible to enlarge the permissible input power to the dispersion-shifted fiber.

Wavelength division multiplexing optical transmission system

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation


A flap actuating system for use in an aircraft comprises a carriage for supporting and guiding a flap which is engageable with and translationally movable along at least one linear bearing rail. A linear actuator of the flap actuating system has a linearly actuatable coupling element coupled to the carriage and a drive element configured to linearly actuate the coupling element in a direction substantially parallel to a movement direction of the carriage along the linear bearing rail. The drive element is arranged substantially parallel to the movement direction of the carriage along the linear bearing rail.

The present invention refers to a flap actuating system for use in an aircraft.
Aircraft airfoils are designed such that their geometry of the airfoil profile is adjustable or adaptable to the varying boundary conditions prevailing in different states of the course of a flight, such as during landing, take-off or cruise. Flap arrangements are known for selectively actuating a flap connected to an airfoil main body to extend into or retract from an air flow boundary layer of the airfoil so as to selectively vary the aerodynamic lift generated by the airfoil. Such conventionally known flap arrangements have a complex construction requiring a complex support and actuating mechanism for selectively extending and retracting the flap arrangement. For reducing the complexity of such flap arrangements, it is known to provide linear rolling-element bearings in the airfoil main body for supporting and guiding the flap so as to, upon translationally moving a carriage supporting the flap along a linear bearing rail, extend or retract the flap.

Flap actuating system for use in an aircraft


A liquid ejecting head is operable to eject liquid toward a target medium. A light emitter is operable to emit light. A light receiver is adapted to receive the light emitted from the light emitter, and operable to output a signal in accordance with an amount of the received light, thereby detecting a position of the liquid ejecting head. A transparent member is elongated in a first direction and disposed between the light emitter and the light receiver. A line pattern is provided with the transparent member so as to oppose the light emitter, and including light transmitting sections and light shielding sections which are alternately arranged in the first direction with a first pitch. Each of the light transmitting sections is adapted to allow the light emitted from the light emitter to pass through. Each of the light shielding sections is adapted to shield the light emitted from the light emitter. A width of each of the light transmitting sections in the first direction varies relative to a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The light receiver includes a substrate elongated in the first direction. A plurality of light receiving elements are arrayed on the substrate in the first direction such that positions of adjacent light receiving elements relative to the second direction are made different in accordance with the width of each of the light transmitting sections.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a position detector, and a liquid ejecting apparatus incorporating the same.
2. Related Art
In an ink jet printer, a carriage and a printed subject such as paper are driven by a motor. Incidentally, in order to perform position control and speed control, an encoder is generally used. The encoder includes a photo sensor and a scale. The photo sensor includes a light emitting element and a light receiving element the scale includes a light transmitting section which transmits light emitted from the light emitting element, and a light shielding section which shields light emitted from the light emitting element. These light transmitting section and light shielding section are repetitively arranged at a fixed pitch to form an array (hereinafter, referred to as an light receiving element array).
In such the encoder, recently, there is a problem of attachment of ink mist. Namely, recent printers which perform printing with high precision can eject minute ink droplets from a printing head. These minute ink droplets readily become ink mist and drift inside the printer. Therefore, as such the printer is used for a while, solidified ink mist is piled on the scale.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-81691A (JP-A-2005-81691) teaches that a partition member is arranged between a carriage belt and a scale to prevent the attachment of the ink mist onto the scale. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-202963A (JP-A-2004-202963) discloses a configuration for correcting, in a case where duty factor of a signal outputted from a light receiving element decreases due to the attached ink mist, the duty factor of the output signal so as to become 50%.
Incidentally, the light emitting element is arranged such that the optical axis thereof is located at the center of the light receiving element array. With such an arrangement, when light passes through the light transmitting section of the scale at the end of the array of the light receiving elements, the light travels in a direction oblique with respect to the optical axis. Therefore, there is an increase in the percentage of the light having passed through the light transmitting section of the scale being received not by a light receiving element opposing the light transmitting section but by a light receiving element adjacent thereto, which is covered with a light shielding section.
As mentioned above, when there is increased the quantity of light entering the light receiving element covered with the light shielding section at the end of the light receiving element array, an accurate encoder signal cannot be obtained, which in turn induces a detection failure. When ink mist has adhered to the light transmitting section as mentioned above, there may arise a case where diffraction of light or the like is induced by adhesion of ink mist. Accordingly, a detection failure becomes more likely to arise.
In JP-A-2005-81691, the flow of ink mist is restricted by placing a partition member, to thus prevent adhesion of ink mist to the scale. However, this document does not disclose any means effective for preventing the light receiving element covered with a light shielding section from receiving undesired light (i.e., a detection failure).
JP-A-2004-202963 discloses a configuration for correcting a signal. However, this document does not disclose any means effective for preventing the light receiving element covered with the light shielding section from receiving undesired light either.

Position detector that prevents erroneous detection of a scale and liquid ejecting apparatus incorporating the same


Gamma correction of a video signal voltage applied to respective pixels of a display device can be accomplished without modulating a ramp voltage. The display device includes a common voltage generating circuit which selectively outputs a high-potential-side common voltage or a low-potential-side common voltage to common electrodes in response to an alternating signal, a data storage circuit, a reference data generating circuit which, a ramp voltage generating circuit, a plurality of comparing circuits which compare data stored in the data storage circuit and the reference data generated by the reference data generating circuit, and a plurality of sampling circuits which sample the ramp voltage generated by the ramp voltage generating circuit in response to comparison results of the comparing circuits and output the sampled ramp voltage as a video signal voltage to respective video lines. The reference data generated by the reference data generating circuit is changed non-linearly with respect to time.

The present invention relates in general to a display device, and, more particularly, the invention relates to a technique which is effective when applied to the gamma correction of a video signal voltage that is applied to respective pixels in a display device.
A liquid crystal display module of the TFT (Thin Film Transistor) type has been popularly used as a display device in a notebook type personal computer and the like. As this type of liquid crystal display module, a liquid crystal display module which uses polysilicon in a semiconductor layer of a thin film transistor (TFT) (hereinafter also referred to as a "polysilicon-type liquid crystal display module") has been known.
In this polysilicon type liquid crystal display module, the following known method has been employed. That is, display data within one horizontal scanning line period is stored, reference data which is sequentially increased or decreased within one horizontal scanning line period is generated, and the stored display data and the reference data are compared. Then, when the stored display data and the reference data coincide with each other, a video signal voltage generated by a video signal voltage generating circuit is sampled and is applied to respective pixels (hereinafter referred to as "PWM method") (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A-6-178238 (patent literature 1) and JP-A-11-272242 (patent literature 2)).
As the above-mentioned video signal voltage generated by the video signal voltage generating circuit, a voltage in having a voltage waveform which is in the form of an inclined wave (a so-called "ramp voltage") is used.


Methods, systems, and computer program products for moving a container-based application from a source HCl cluster to a target HCl cluster. An HCl storage cluster data replication mechanism operates to copy data and metadata from a plurality of storage devices that constitute a storage pool of the source HCl cluster. A container-based application replication mechanism operates to copy data and metadata from an executable container that is running on a node of the source HCl cluster. Periodically (1) the state of the container-based application is saved using the container-based application replication mechanism, and (2) the state of the storage cluster data of the HCl storage cluster is saved using the HCl storage cluster data replication mechanism. The saved state of the container-based application including its application data and metadata are combined with the saved state of the storage cluster data to bring-up the container-based application at the target HCl cluster.

Use of container-based computing (e.g., based on Docker containers) has become ubiquitous. The benefits of container-based computing has inspired the code development communities to extend container-based computing to include easy-to-implement and easy-to-maintain applications (e.g., pods of executable containers) that can be deployed on a wide range of computing platforms. Various intra-container facilities provide application storage capabilities, however such intra-container storage capabilities are limited in several dimensions. Some container-based application deployments extend the executable container model to avail of storage capabilities (e.g., storage cluster) that are implemented outside of the container. This extension provides applications that are composed of one or many containers to configure a storage clusters that go far beyond the built-in, intra-container storage facilities of executable containers.
Unfortunately, merely availing such storage clusters to executable containers fails to address the high-availability, fast recovery, and portability demands of modern computing. Therefore, what is needed is a technique or techniques that address these technical problems.


An induction charging device for an electrically operated motor vehicle may include at least one charging assembly. The at least one charging assembly may include a charging coil, a ferrite assembly, a metal shielding plate, and a temperature-control assembly through which a fluid is flowable. The charging coil may be inductively couplable to a primary coil such that a motor vehicle battery is inductively chargeable. The ferrite assembly may include a plurality of rotatable ferrite plates arranged next to one another. When in a closed position, a respective ferrite plate may be arranged parallel to the charging coil and may shield the metal shielding plate from the charging coil. When in an open position, the respective ferrite plate may be arranged at an angle relative to the charging coil and may partially shield the metal shielding plate from the charging coil.

Induction charging devices are already known from the prior art and are employed for the contactless charging of a battery in a motor vehicle. There, an external primary coil is inductively coupled to a secondary coil in the motor vehicle. An alternating current flows through the primary coil which generates an electromagnetic field about the primary coil. The electromagnetic field induces an alternating current in the secondary coil which is rectified by the power electronics and fed to the battery.
In order to reduce the charging losses in the induction charging device, the electromagnetic field about the secondary coil is influenced by a magnetic ferrite plate. Nevertheless, electromagnetic field emissions develop in the induction charging device whose magnitude increases with the charging power. The field emissions can be removed by means of a metal plate—mostly of aluminium—in order to protect electronic devices in the motor vehicle and exclude a negative effect on the health of a human being.
During the shielding of the electromagnetic field, eddy currents are generated in the metal plate which can lead to a severe heat development in the metal plate. The generated waste heat can damage the power electronics in the induction charging device and therefore has to be discharged to the outside. For this purpose, a cooling arrangement through which a cooling fluid can flow can be heat-transmittingly arranged on the metal plate, so that the waste heat generated in the induction charging device is transferred via the metal plate to the cooling fluid.
The waste heat can be dissipated to the surroundings or utilised for heating a lubricant in the motor vehicle, such as is proposed for example in DE 10 2011 088 112 A1. Disadvantageously the motor vehicle is not in operation during the charging so that the generated waste heat is not utilisable and dissipated to the surroundings. Furthermore, the quantity of the waste heat generated during the charging is relatively low because of small currents and high voltages.