A prefabricated bathroom module for receiving a wheeled assembly such as a wheelchair, a walker, a piece of wheeled cleaning equipment, or the like. In a preferred embodiment, the bathroom module includes two floor surfaces, a first one of which is adapted to receive liquids thereon. The first floor surface that receives the liquids is inclined toward the second floor surface so the liquid is directed toward this second floor surface. A drainage trough is positioned between the first and second floor surfaces for collecting the liquid from the first floor surface and for preventing liquid from moving between the two floor surfaces. The trough contains an aperture and drain for removing liquid collected in the trough. The bathroom module includes at least one bathroom fixture, such as a shower, which may be connected to existing plumbing in the structure in which the module is installed.

Prefabricated bathroom modules have been developed for residential, institutional and commercial buildings to make installation of bathrooms in such structures easier, faster, and less expensive. The modules are substantially self-contained so as to minimize the amount of work required to install the module. Bathroom modules are factory-equipped with a floor, walls, ceiling and bathroom fixtures, such as a toilet, shower, sink and vanity. The modules include plumbing connection points that inter-connect the building's water supply and sewage lines to the fixtures within the module.
In a conventional bathroom module that includes a vanity portion and a shower portion, as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,713, the vanity portion typically contains cabinets, flooring, and fixtures which are best kept dry. The shower portion, on the other hand, gets wet during normal use or is sprayed with water or other liquids for cleaning. Such bathroom modules also have dams projecting above the floor between the shower portion and vanity portion to prevent water in the shower portion from traversing into and soaking the vanity portion.
One problem with conventional bathroom modules is that the dams prevent wheeled assemblies from moving easily between the vanity portion and the shower portion. Such wheeled assemblies include wheelchairs or walkers required by disabled bathroom module users, as well as wheeled cleaning devices, such as mop buckets and the like.
In one style of a conventional bathroom module, the vanity portion is designed to become wet, for example, for purposes of cleaning. A drawback with this type of bathroom module is that the dam requires drains be installed on each side of the dam to drain the entire bathroom module. The use of two drains can increase the cost of the module and increase the complexity of fabricating the module.
Accordingly, there is a need in this field for a bathroom module which is fully accessible to wheeled assemblies and which does not require installation of two separate drains. The present invention fulfills this need and provides further related advantages.

Bathroom module accessible to wheeled assemblies


The present invention relates to planar electrochemical sensors with membrane coatings used to perform chemical analyses. The object of this invention is to provide unit-use disposable sensors of very simple and economical construction, preferably with only a single membrane coating on an electrode. The invented devices are potentiometric salt-bridge reference electrodes constructed with a heterogeneous membrane coating of a conductor. The heterogeneous membrane is a formulation that concurrently supports non-volatile species transport through an electrolyte compartment and gas transport through a hydrophobic compartment.

Prior-art electrochemical sensors typically consist of an electrochemical cell with two, sometimes three electrodes. The first electrode is responsive to a chemical species in the test solution and is called the indicator electrode. The second electrode called the reference electrode is typically non-responsive to changes in the composition of the test solution. In polarography a third, current-injecting counter electrode is sometimes used.
As is appreciated by those in the art, the performance of an electrochemical sensor as part of a chemistry analyzer for quantitative measurement of chemicals in aqueous solutions is determined by its dose-response curve. For a linear sensor this can be uniquely determined by two coefficients: a slope and an intercept. For a dose-response curve that is non-linear, three or more coefficients may be required. As is also known in the art, a sensor's coefficients vary over time if it is used more than once. The coefficients also vary to some extent from sensor to sensor because no two sensors can be manufactured identically. Therefore, a calibration is generally required to uniquely determine a sensor's dose-response curve. In an automated chemistry analyzer the calibration is provided by fluidic elements (calibration fluids, pumps, valves, conduits etc.) contained within the analyzer. If a sensor is deployed as a reusable device, the chemistry analyzer's calibration fluidics often provides for at least two calibration points and a wash solution. This is because the slope and intercept of the dose-response curve can change through repeated uses. For a unit-use device no calibration would be required if the slope and intercept were sufficiently reproducible from sensor to sensor during manufacture and storage. A single calibrator would be required if either one of the coefficients was reproducible, the other not, and two calibrators if neither coefficient was reproducible (more calibrators could be required for devices with non-linear dose-response curves).
Often the goal of a manufacturer of chemistry analyzers is to produce sensors sufficiently cheaply so that they can be deployed as unit-use devices, thus eliminating or simplifying the chemistry analyzer's often very complex fluidics required for the washing and calibrating of multiple-use sensors. To this end, manufacturers have investigated planar technologies for low cost sensor manufacture. Such planar technologies also purport to provide appropriate control of the materials of construction and manufacturing processes to achieve device-to-device reproducibility in high volume production.
Sensors made by planar technology have included both thick-film and thin-film micro-fabrication technologies. Thick film processed devices such as plastic diagnostic strips are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,548 for example. Devices made by planar technology also include thick film processed planar substrates as in hybrid circuit or printed circuit manufacture. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,133,735, 4,225,410 for example disclose devices with electrodes made by thick film fabrication processes such as plating, screen-printing, dispensing and the like.
Micro-fabrication technology with its proven superior dimensional control also has been used to make devices for unit-use applications. Micro-fabrication technology employs wafer-level processes such as photolithography on silicon wafers. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,062,750 4,933,048 and 5,063,081 disclose devices containing electrodes made by thin-film micro-fabrication processes on silicon substrates.
Regardless of which of the above variants of planar technology is being used, planar devices of the prior art have been complex to manufacture and are therefore still relatively expensive.
To better appreciate the complexity of prior-art planar sensors, consider their typical components of construction. A planar electrochemical sensor of the prior art is a device consisting of one or more metal conductor elements on a planar insulating substrate. One region of the metal conductor element is provided for connection to an external measuring circuit. A planar electrode is formed in another region of the metal conductor element. The planar electrode of such a prior-art electrochemical sensor consists typically of one or more additional metal layers and metal salt over-layers over-coating the metal conductor element. Planar electrodes are typically then coated with several additional functional layers as outlined below.
The planar electrode of the planar sensor is typically coated by an integral electrolyte medium. This integral electrolyte may be a liquid aqueous solution or, more commonly, a solid hydrophilic layer such as a gel material that acts like an aqueous electrolyte. In use of the planar sensor, the planar electrode region and its integral electrolyte over-layer is immersed in an aqueous solution to be tested. Chemical species from the test solution permeate into the integral electrolyte layer, dissolve and often react with other reagents contained within the integral electrolyte layer. Components of the integral electrolyte layer undergo electrochemical reaction at the electrode surface generating a current or a voltage. When the measured current or voltage of the sensor is selectively proportional to the concentration of a species in the test solution that is transported from the test solution into the sensor there is the basis for an indicator electrode for that species. If the voltage is independent of test solution composition there is the basis for a reference electrode. In prior-art electrochemical sensors it is generally required that chemical reagents within the integral electrolyte layer be at constant concentrations during the time of the measurement.
It is generally required that chemicals contained within the test solution that are deleterious to the sensor reactions be rejected from the integral electrolyte layer. As is known in the art such contaminants may affect chemical reactions within the integral electrolyte layer, or they may themselves be electro-active and cause a voltage or current that interferes with the measured voltage or current due to the species being analyzed. Retention of reagent chemical and rejection of contaminants is often achieved by interposing one or more materials between the integral electrolyte and the test solution. Transport of the sensed species from the test solution into the integral electrolyte layer takes place through the interposed materials by diffusion or through holes or pores in those materials. In many cases of prior-art planar sensors it is also necessary to interpose an additional semi-permeable layer between the electrode and the integral electrolyte layer. The purpose of this electrode-modifying layer is to allow transport of the chemicals of the sensor reaction while rejecting electroactive interferents or species that poison the electrode.
In summary, as described above, planar electrochemical sensors of the prior art including prior-art reference electrodes generally consist of numerous elements. The resulting devices are complex to manufacture and relatively costly. To further illustrate their complexity, the devices of the prior art addressed by the current invention are described in more detail in the following section.
Potentiometric Salt-Bridge Reference Electrode Prior Art
Salt-bridge reference electrodes of the prior art consists of an electrode, usually silver—silver chloride contacted by an integral reservoir of a concentrated aqueous solution of a salt with equi-mobile ions, typically potassium chloride. The integral aqueous electrolyte reservoir is called the salt bridge. The electrolyte reservoir contacts the test solution at a constrained-flow liquid junction. An ideal salt-bridge reference electrode of this design has an essentially constant electrode potential and essentially zero response slope for the duration of its use. As is known in the art of reference electrodes, the total electrode potential is the sum of the potential difference between the electrode and integral salt-bridge electrolyte and the liquid-junction potential difference which is between the salt-bridge electrolyte and the test solution. The constant electrode potential of such prior-art reference electrodes is achieved firstly because the potential determining chloride concentration of the salt-bridge electrolyte at the silver—silver chloride electrode surface remains essentially fixed for the duration of use. This is achieved both because the rate of chloride efflux from the reservoir into the test solution is sufficiently small because of the constrained-flow junction and because the electrolyte reservoir is sufficiently large. Secondly, the response slope of such salt-bridge reference electrodes is also small when the liquid junction potential difference is small as is the case when the salt-bridge electrolyte contains a concentrated salt with anions and cations of nearly equal mobility, such as with the use of a concentrated potassium chloride electrolyte.
Planar potentiometric salt-bridge reference electrodes of the prior art have used the same approach as the classical salt-bridge reference electrode described above. U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,824 describes a planar silver—silver chloride electrode on a planar silicon substrate, and a silicon cover-plate including a micro-fabricated cavity and porous region. The cavity becomes the integral salt-bridge reservoir when it is filled with concentrated potassium chloride before use. The porous silicon element forms the region of the constrained-flow liquid junction that contacts the test solution. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,602 describes a planar silver—silver chloride electrode and a cover layer defining a cavity over the electrode. The cavity, when filled with electrolyte, becomes the integral salt-bridge reservoir. There is a small aperture providing a flow-constraining liquid junction contact to a test solution. U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,659 describes a planar silver—silver chloride with a micro-fabricated, elongated cavity in a cover plate. When the elongated cavity is filled with electrolyte it becomes the integral salt bridge reservoir. The flow of electrolyte out of the salt-bridge is constrained because the cavity is elongated and its opening is small. These and other prior-art planar reference electrodes with integral electrolyte cavities are relatively complex assemblies and therefore costly. They must be filled with concentrated salt-bridge electrolyte before use, or, if filled in the factory, they must be stored wet. Consequently, they are impractical for unit-use applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,964 describes a fluidic cassette for blood measurement containing a dry-stored silver—silver chloride electrode without an integral salt-bridge electrolyte over-layer and a spaced apart indicator electrode. In use a calibrator solution is introduced over the pair of electrodes serving to calibrate the indicator electrode prior to its subsequent exposure to the test solution. The calibrator solution also fills an empty cavity region of the cassette over the silver—silver chloride electrode and remains there to form a liquid junction with the test solution when it is subsequently introduced into the cassette. Thus, this patent teaches how to automatically fill a reference electrode's salt-bridge reservoir without significantly adding to the complexity of the reference electrode itself, because the device already requires a calibrator solution and the patent teaches that the calibrator solution can be the same as the salt-bridge filling solution. However there is added fluidic complexity and cost, and the significant limitation on this invention is that there is no single composition of the calibrator solution that is satisfactory both to accurately calibrate the indicator electrode and provide for a low-response liquid junction. For acceptable performance in blood it is known in the art that the salt-bridge electrolyte should have a potassium chloride concentration of about 1M or even larger for the liquid junction potential component of the reference electrode to be acceptably small and constant. Known calibrator solutions for blood do not provide this concentration
Janata in Solid State Chemical Sensors, Janata J. and Huber R. J. (eds.), Academic Press Inc., Orlando 1985, pp101–103, describes an ion-sensitive field effect reference electrode with an integral salt-bridge reservoir formed by a hydrophilic gel layer coating the electrode. Sinsabaugh et al. in Proceedings, Symposium on Electrochemical Sensors for Biomedical Applications, Vol 86–14, Conan, K. N. L. (ed.), The Electrochemical Society, Pennington, N.J. 1986, pp66–73, describe a planar reference electrode consisting of a silver—silver chloride electrode over-coated by an integral salt-bridge reservoir formed by a latex membrane. In this device there are in total three coating steps onto the conductor element and its support. The Janata and Sinsabaugh devices were intended for multi-use sensor applications utilizing a calibrator solution. In a typical measurement, the reference electrode, with its salt-bridge reservoir over-layer, and a spaced-apart indicator electrode are first immersed in a calibrator solution. The integral reservoir equilibrates to the concentration of the calibrator solution. When the electrode-pair is then immersed in a test solution, the indicator electrode responds rapidly but, because of its integral constrained-flow reservoir, the potential difference between the silver—silver chloride and the salt-bridge electrolyte over-layer responds slowly. If the reservoir thickness is sufficient (several hundred micrometers) the response is slow enough to constitute a constant potential over the time that the indicator electrode responds (approximately 10s). During multiple uses, the composition of the salt-bridge gradually approaches the concentration of the calibrator and test solutions in which it is immersed. These reference electrodes in multi-use application are once again limited in utility for accurate blood measurements because the liquid junction component of the reference electrode potential is not sufficiently small or constant due to the salt-bridge reservoir concentration being too low. Both these papers are silent on the use of their salt-bridge reservoirs as dry-reagent formulations in unit-use reference electrodes. Both papers are silent on the incorporation of redox chemicals into the salt-bridge reservoirs and the use of such in reference electrodes constructed with salt-bridges coating metals. The Sinsabaugh paper is also silent on the water vapor transport properties of their heterogeneous membrane formulation.
Because of the complexity of manufacture of reference electrodes containing integral fluid reservoirs and because of the difficulty of their storage and preparation for use, a dry-reagent reference electrode is highly desirable for unit-use applications. An integral dry-reagent salt-bridge reservoir that contains only dry salts must first acquire water so that the salt-bridge reservoir can 'wet up' to its operational concentration. In all of the above-mentioned prior-art devices the transport of species through the salt-bridge reservoir and from the salt bridge to the contacting solution is through an electrolyte phase. Water influx for wet-up if the prior-art devices were initially prepared in the dry state is through the same path as potassium chloride efflux. Thus, in a device featuring a constrained flow salt-bridge design with a sizeable reservoir that is required to maintain constancy of chloride concentration at the silver—silver chloride surface, the time for water uptake also will be large. Also, the potassium chloride of the salt bridge electrolyte will escape from the reservoir into the solution while the reservoir is acquiring water from the solution for its wet-up. Therefore, reference electrodes with dry reagent reservoirs according to the above prior have not been successfully deployed in unit-use applications.
The above wet-up problem was addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,933,048, which describes a dry-reagent salt-bridge reference electrode made by planar micro-fabrication. In this device there is a first insulating layer on a planar substrate that supports a conductor for connection to a measuring circuit. A second insulating layer covers the conductor except in a region that defines the electrode opening. There are films of silver, then silver chloride formed over the conductor in the electrode region. A solid hydrophilic material containing potassium chloride is formed over the silver chloride. This layer constitutes the integral salt-bridge reservoir. In this device, the salt-bridge reservoir extends well beyond the silver—silver chloride electrode edge and is further coated by a hydrophobic water vapor-permeable over-layer, except for a region of the salt bridge that is far removed from the silver—silver chloride where the salt-bridge contacts the test fluid defining the liquid junction. This unit-use salt-bridge reference electrode was designed to rapidly wet-up during use from its dry storage state, and to essentially retain a constantly high concentration of potassium chloride in the integral salt-bridge reservoir for a period after full wet-up and through the time of the measurement. These desired properties are obtained in the device of the '048 patent by providing a short diffusion path for rapid water influx into the integral reservoir through the water vapor-permeable over-layer and a long diffusion path for the potassium chloride in the salt-bridge along the length of the integral reservoir. In use, water necessary for the proper function of the salt bridge is rapidly incorporated into the initially dry potassium chloride layer within a few seconds by diffusion through the gas permeable over-layer. The concentration of the internal salt-bridge electrolyte rapidly reaches a steady state value after a wet-up period of a few seconds, which is maintained for a period sufficient to perform the potentiometric measurement. However, this device is complex to manufacture, consisting of five layers on top of the conductor element and its insulating support.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,508 describes a graphite reference electrode with a hydrophilic coating containing a redox couple manufactured with non-planar conventional technology.
In summary, planar reference electrodes of the prior art consist of a silver—silver chloride electrode contacting an integral salt-bridge electrolyte reservoir consisting of concentrated potassium chloride. These devices are either manufactured with water already incorporated into the salt-bridge reservoir, or, are dry-reagent devices with a gas permeable coating that facilitates water transport into the salt bridge. The salt bridge makes connection to the test solution through a small, flow-constraining orifice or other flow limiting physical constriction fabricated on the device in planar technology. The connection of the salt bridge to the test solution is at a point removed from the silver—silver chloride electrode, so that an integral reservoir of electrolyte is present between the solution and the electrode
Prior-art planar electrochemical sensors including planar salt-bridge reference electrodes require numerous electrode materials and membrane coatings to achieve the desired functionality. Prior-art planar electrochemical sensors, therefore, are still complicated and relatively expensive to produce. In addition to being relatively costly, such devices generally still also require at least a single, in-use calibration fluid step to achieve a performance equivalent to laboratory analyzers. Even sensor designs that use micro-fabrication technology (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,063,081 and 5,514,253 for example) with its high levels of dimensional precision have failed to achieve the standard of performance (reproducible slope and intercept of the response) required for use without a calibration step in a fluidics-free analyzer.
Thus there remains a significant need to provide planar electrochemical sensor devices for precise quantitative analysis which are sufficiently simple in design and construction for use as cost-effective unit-use devices.


An actuating unit for a hydraulic brake system for automotive vehicles for shortening the actuating travel of the brake power booster to pre-charge the brake system. The actuating unit includes a master cylinder and a pneumatic brake power booster connected upstream thereof. A first sealing seat (10) of a control valve (9) of the brake power booster (1), which control valve is arranged in a control housing (8), is designed separately of the control housing (8) to be slidable within limits in relation thereto. The first sealing seat (10) is held on a stop (18) on the booster housing during a predefinable actuating stroke of the control housing (8) and, respectively, of a movable wall (5) generating the boosting force. After the required actuating travel of the brake power booster, the first sealing seat (10) is carried away from the stop (18) which causes a connection between the working chamber (7) and the vacuum chamber (6).

A similar actuating unit is disclosed in German published patent application 34 01 402, which is the priority application for U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,083. This document discloses an actuating unit having a valve piston which actuates the control valve of the vacuum brake power booster and is coupled to the input member. The control housing accommodates the control valve, or a sleeve in operative connection with the control housing, and extends through a wall of the master brake cylinder in sealed relationship thereto. Upon actuation, these elements plunge with their ends remote from the input member into the pressure chamber of the master cylinder. In this system, on failure of the boosting force, the input member acts upon a piston having an effective cross-sectional surface which is smaller than that piston surface upon which the boosting force is acting. The arrangement of the component parts mentioned above is chosen such that the actuating travel of the control valve corresponds to the travel of the master cylinder piston so that in the event of pre-charging of the brake system (applying of brake shoes and/or supplying of a low braking pressure), a large pedal travel or actuating travel of the input member is required.

Actuating unit for a hydraulic brake system for automotive vehicles


A network element employing a universal mapper enables multiple services to be mapped onto a physical medium (metallic link with a particular physical layer protocol) so that the number of service mappers, and hence the complexity of the network element, may be reduced, the cost of provisioning the device may be reduced, and new services may be deployed, such as Ethernet over T1. The universal mapper may be configured to generate frames for transmission over multiple physical mediums utilizing a protocol known as Generic Framing Procedure (GFP). Using this embodiment, services such as ATM, Frame Relay, Ethernet, IP/PPP, Voice, and Infiniband may be transported in GFP frames over metallic links operating using xDSL, T1/E1, T3/E3, or cable access technologies by utilizing a single GFP framer and a single set of service mappers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communication networks and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for encapsulating services for transportation over metallic physical mediums.
2. Description of the Related Art
Data communication networks may include various routers, switches, nodes, hubs, proxies, and other network devices coupled to and configured to pass data to one another. These devices will be referred to herein as "network elements." Data is communicated through the data communication network by passing data packets, cells, frames, or segments (collectively referred to herein as Protocol Data Units (PDUs)) over communication links extending between the network elements. A particular PDU may be handled by multiple network elements and cross multiple communication links as it travels between its source and its destination over the network.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example network architecture in which subscribers 10 are configured to communicate with a central office 12 over links 14. The central office aggregates signals from multiple subscribers and passes the signals onward toward the network 16. There are several technologies that may be used to connect subscribers with the central office, the most prevalent of which is the use of copper twisted pair wires, commonly referred to as subscriber loops. A given subscriber loop may have multiple segments. Other metallic links exist as well, such as metallic links formed using multiple twisted pair wires, and metallic links formed using coaxial cables used to provide cable television signals to cable television customers. Copper links in a communications network, such as subscriber loops and television cables, will be referred to herein as "metallic links." This defined term is to be understood to encompass links made of copper as well as other metallic materials should such materials be used to form communications networks. The term "metallic link" does not include materials such as optical fibers that are not electrically conductive.
There are many physical layer protocols which may be used to define how data is to be transmitted over a particular metallic link. For example, signals may be formatted according to one of the T1/E1/DS1 protocols, the T3/E3/DS3 protocols, or another of the T/E/DS protocols. Additionally, signals may be formatted using one of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) protocols, such as Asymmetrical DSL (ADSL), High-bit-rate DSL (HDSL), Rate Adaptive DSL (RDSL), Symmetric DSL (SDSL), or Very high speed DSL (VDSL), although this list is not definitive as other DSL protocols may exist and may be developed in the future. These, and other DSL-based technologies, will be referred to herein collectively as xDSL. Other technologies, such as one of the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) protocols, also adopted as a protocol known as ITU J.112, one of the EuroDOCSIS protocols, or the 802.14 protocol, may also be used to format signals for transmission over cable television metallic links. A given physical layer protocol (layer 1 protocol) instantiated on a given metallic link will be defined herein as a particular "physical medium."
A subscriber may have a single computer connected to the metallic link 14 or may have a group of computers connected, e.g., over a Local Area Network 18. A network element configured to interface between the subscriber's computer or LAN 18 the metallic link 14 will be referred to herein as Subscriber Premises Equipment (SPE). The computer or local area network may desire to communicate over the metallic link using one or more higher layer (layer 2 or layer 3) protocols, such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Frame Relay, Ethernet, Internet Protocol/Point-to-Point Protocol (IP/PPP), Voice, and Infiniband, depending on the configuration of the local area network and the purpose for the communication. Other layer 2 (link layer) and layer 3 (network layer) protocols exist and this list of protocols is not definitive. Layer 2 and layer 3 protocols will be collectively referred to herein as "services." Traffic from the subscriber LAN that is required to exit the LAN, as well as voice traffic, will traverse the SPE and be forwarded by the SPE to the central office over the metallic link.
The large number of physical mediums to be supported as well as the large number of services that can be provisioned over the physical mediums may cause problems for the central office. Specifically, the central office needs to provision specific ports on access devices to handle each of the physical mediums. Additionally, each of the ports must be provisioned to handle traffic formatted according to the particular service for that subscriber.
FIG. 2 illustrates one conventional network access device 20 that may be utilized at a central office to interface with various physical mediums. As shown in FIG. 2, a network access device will typically include one or more line interface units 22, each of which acts as a physical interface to a particular type of physical medium. For example, in the illustrated embodiment, there is a set of line interface units configured to interface with metallic links operating using one of the xDSL protocols, a set of line interface units configured to interface with metallic links operating using T1/E1 protocols, a set of line interface units configured to interface with metallic links operating using T3/E3 protocols, and a set of line interface units configured to interface with metallic links operating according to one of the cable television standards, such as DOCSIS. Each line interface unit is associated with a particular port which interconnects the network access device with the metallic link to the subscriber. A given network access device may be configured to interface with any number of physical mediums and may have hundreds or more ports.
Signals received through a line interface unit are conditioned and passed to a framer 24 which removes physical layer specific information from the signals and reassembles frames passed over the subscriber loop. Because the different physical mediums format data differently for transmission, a different framer is required for each type of physical medium supported by the network access device. Reassembled frames are passed to a service mapper 26 configured to reassemble protocol data units to restore the original protocol data units, e.g. packets, delivered by the LAN to the SPE, so that the protocol data units may be handled by the network element and forwarded onto the remainder of the network. Where the network access device is connected to an optical network, the protocol data units are then passed to an optical interface 28 for transmission from the network access device onto the higher communication bandwidth resources afforded by the network 16.
In a conventional network access device, such as the network access device illustrated in FIG. 2, one framer is required for each physical medium supported by the network element. Additionally, for each framer, a set of service specific mappers is required to enable the network access device to map protocol data units onto the particular physical medium. Thus, if a network access device was to support N types of physical layer protocols (e.g. xDSL, T1/E1, T3/E3, and Cable) and M types of services (e.g. ATM, Frame Relay, Ethernet, IP/PPP, Voice, and Infiniband) the network access device would need to implement NxM service mappers. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, for example, the network access device would need to implement 24 different service mappers. Accordingly, the number of service mappers becomes increasingly large as the number of types of physical mediums supported by a network access device increases and as the number of services supported by a given network element increases.
Additionally, provisioning ports on the network access device becomes increasingly more complex as the number of supported services increases. Specifically, in addition to requiring the network access device to keep track of which ports are to use which physical layer protocol, the network access device is also required to pay attention to the type of service provisioned over that port and to cause the appropriate service mapper to be associated with the port assigned to the particular subscriber. Where the subscriber changes its internal network configuration, for example to migrate from Frame Relay to Ethernet, the network provider is required to reconfigure the port assigned to the customer (possibly manually) to cause traffic from that port to be sent to the new service mapper.
Moreover, certain services cannot be transmitted over certain physical layer protocols. For example, the T1 physical layer protocol requires Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) to be used as a link-layer protocol. Where the client desires to run Ethernet over a T1 subscriber loop, the SPE is required to terminate the Ethernet connection and reformat the data to be transmitted over the T1 subscriber loop using PPP. The reverse process occurs at the central office whereby the PPP frames are discarded and Ethernet frames are recreated. This creates additional overhead and prevents a true Ethernet network from being formed where the traffic must traverse a T1-provisioned link.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to alter the characteristics of how communications between subscribers and the central office takes place to reduce the complexity of the network access device and simplify operation to reduce the amount of overhead associated with operating the network access device.

Method and apparatus for encapsulating services for transportation over metallic physical mediums


Disclosed is an improved jack structure, includes a main body, a cover, two protective covers, a lock piece and a conductive piece. When an object is inserted into a single one of insertion holes each corresponding to one of the protective covers on the main body, a corresponding one of the protective covers is pushed to move. A protrusion of the pushed protective cover then pushes an urging portion of the lock piece and the urging portion is stopped by the other one of the protective covers. Therefore, the improved jack structure can be prevented from being inserted with an acute object and thus from occurrence of electric shock.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved jack structure, and more particularly to an improved jack structure in which a lock piece and protective covers are disposed for sealing jack holes when an acute metal material is inserted, thus preventing electric shock from occurring accidentally.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In household environment, there are many electrical sockets or jacks for connecting the appliances to power. For a home with a child, the jacks are likely exposed to danger since the child may curiously insert some conductive material into the jack holes. This is a great concern to the parents. When this occurs, electric shock would be caused.
To solve this problem, a plastic jack cover has been in common use. On the plastic jack cover, two columns are provided which can be inserted into the jack holes. As such, the jack holes cannot be inserted with anything else. However, the child might possibly detach the jack cover, stultifying the safety design of the plastic jack cover and still causing the safety issue to be concerned.
In view of the above discussion, the conventional jack structure still has some shortcomings to be addressed and thus has to be improved. Accordingly, the inventors have made an effort in the related field and finally developed successfully an improved jack structure of the present invention.


A gas control assembly for a forced air furnace which includes a support frame having a top surface and two contiguous side walls which define an enclosure. A planar one piece burner assembly which has a plurality of burners and having two opposite side edges with one edge containing indexing means is positioning in a predetermined location within the enclosure of the support frame. A elongated gas manifold having a closed end and an open end which is configured to mate with the burner assembly to provide a source of combustible fuel to each of said burners is connected in fixed engagement to the support frame at its closed end through a hole in one side of said support frame and by a bracket at the open end which is attached to the other side of said support frame. The side walls of the support frame also contain slots which mate with edges of the burner assembly to provide for proper alignment of the burner assembly.

The present invention is directed to a furnace that provides heated circulation air to an interior comfort space. More particularly the invention is directed to a gas control assembly for a forced air furnace that eliminates extra parts and provides for improved burner alignment and fitup.
Unless certain design features are provided, burners can be incorrectly installed upside down or backward. In addition, when burners are individually installed, the alignment of burner becomes a concern along with the requirement for an additional support for the individual burners. Many conventional burner support structures for forced air furnaces do not effectively function to shield flames from stray air currents and require multiple screws and intermediate parts. Furthermore, these conventional prior art support structures do not provide for design features which assure accurate burner alignment or prevent misassembly. Generally conventional support structures while requiring extra parts and fasteners, result in a continuing problem with respect to burner alignment and assembly.
It can therefore be seen that there is a continuing need in the field for a simple design which will provide for accurate burner alignment and assembly and which reduce the number of parts for the gas control assembly.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide for a gas control assembly which provides for improved burner alignment.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide for a burner support structure which assures accurate burner assembly.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a gas control assembly which can be easily assembled with a minimum of parts and fasteners.
The present invention is directed to a gas control assembly that provides for improved alignment for the burners and reduces the number of required parts for the complete assembly.
The complete assembly includes a rigid support frame, a ganged burner assembly and a manifold which is connected to a gas valve. The support frame has three continuous surfaces, roughly in the form of an inverted xe2x80x9cUxe2x80x9d which form a space in which to mount the burners. Ovals or equivalent means are embossed in the sides of the support which function to prevent the burners from being misaligned. Round protrusions or dimples of differing lengths are also included in the side walls and prevent the burners from being installed upside down or backward. When matched to an indexing notch in the ganged burner assembly, the burners and manifold will properly fit together. If the notch and a slot in the dimple are mismatched, the manifold will not fit into the support.
A punched and flared hole is also provided in one side of the support and the sheared edge with screw lances provide a tight tolerance by which to locate the manifold while requiring only two screws to hold the entire assembly together. The lances provide improved manifold alignment since the mounting holes are not subject to additional tolerance stack up present when using holes in bent flanges.
The ganged burner assembly provides the advantage of fewer parts to handle, and eliminates any alignment problems between burners. This design also eliminates additional support which would be required for individual burners. The burners assembly also contains an integrated flame sensor bracket and igniter bracket attachment. Incorporating these brackets into the burner assembly eliminates extra parts and fasteners while providing improving alignment and fitup.


The gate bus lines, the data bus lines, TFTs, etc. are formed on one glass substrate. Also, linear structures arranged in parallel with the gate bus lines are formed simultaneously with any one of the gate bus lines and the data bus lines. Then, a positive resist film is formed over the substrate, and then only a surface layer is cured by irradiating the ultraviolet ray onto the resist film. Then, the annealing is applied to the resist film. Since the linear structures are present under the resist film, a cross section of the resist film is corrugated by the annealing and thus wrinkle-like roughness extending in the almost same direction as the structures are formed on the surface. Then, the reflective electrode is formed on the resist film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device having a reflective electrode on a surface of which wrinkle-like fine roughness is provided and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As the liquid crystal display device, there are the transmissive liquid crystal display device for displaying the image by controlling a quantity of transmitted light every picture element and the reflective liquid crystal display device for displaying the image by controlling a quantity of reflected light every picture element. The transmissive liquid crystal display device needs a dedicated light source called a backlight, while the reflective liquid crystal display device employs the surrounding light (the sunlight or the electric lamp light) as the light source. Therefore, the reflective liquid crystal display device possesses the advantages of making possible further reduction in thickness, weight, and power consumption and also lessening eye fatigue in the long-time use over the transmissive liquid crystal display device. The reflective liquid crystal display device makes it possible to implement a display such as a paper that is impossible for the transmissive liquid crystal display device to use.
In general, the reflective liquid crystal display device has such a configuration that the TN (Twisted nematic) liquid crystal is sealed in the panel being constructed by a pair of substrates and also the polarization plate is arranged on one surface side of the panel (For example, Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) Sho 55-48733 (Patent Literature 1), Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) Hei 2-236523 (Patent Literature 2), and Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) Hei 6-167708 (Patent Literature 3)).
FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing the reflective liquid crystal display device of this type. A TN liquid crystal 13 is sealed between a first substrate 11 and a second substrate 14. A transparent plate such as a glass plate is employed at least as the substrate on the display surface side (the second substrate 14). A reflective electrode 12 made of metal or the like is formed on a surface of the first substrate 11 on the liquid crystal 13 side. A transparent electrode 15 made of ITO (Indium-Tin Oxide) or the like is formed on a surface of the second substrate 14 on the liquid crystal 13 side. An alignment film (not shown) for deciding the alignment direction of the liquid crystal molecules when no voltage is applied is formed on surfaces of the reflective electrode 12 and the transparent electrode 15 respectively. A phase plate 16 is arranged on the second substrate 14, and a polarization plate 17 is arranged on the phase plate 16.
FIG. 2A is a schematic view showing the alignment direction of liquid crystal molecules when a voltage is not applied between electrodes in the liquid crystal display device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B is a schematic view showing the alignment direction of the liquid crystal molecules when the voltage is applied between the electrodes. Although the liquid crystal molecules 13a are aligned between the electrodes 12, 15 while twisting helically in practical use, this twist of the liquid crystal molecules 13a is ignored from FIGS. 2A and 2B.
As shown in FIG. 2A, the liquid crystal molecules 13a are aligned in parallel with the substrates 11, 14 when no voltage is applied between the electrodes 12, 15. Then, liquid crystal molecules 13a tend to align vertically along the electric field when the sufficient voltage is applied between the electrodes 12, 15. However, as shown in FIG. 2B, since the liquid crystal molecules 13a located in vicinity of the substrates 11, 14 still remain in almost parallel with the substrates 11, 14 by the anchoring effect, the liquid crystal molecules 13a located near the substrates 11, 14 have a smaller inclination to the substrates 11, 14 due to the influence of such effect. In this manner, if portions in which the direction of the liquid crystal molecules is not changed even when the voltage is applied are present, the retardation is generated to enhance the luminance in the dark display and thus the contrast characteristic is degraded.
In order to avoid such disadvantages, it has been proposed to design the phase plate while taking account of the residual retardation at the time of voltage application (Y. Itoh, N. Kimura, S. Mizushima, Y. Ishii and M. Hijikigawa, AM-LCD 2000 digest, p. 243 (2000): (Non-Patent Literature 1)). However, even if such design is applied, it is difficult to eliminate the retardation over the full wavelength range.
FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing an example of another liquid crystal display device in the prior art. The liquid crystal display device of this type is called the VA liquid crystal display device because the vertical alignment (VA) liquid crystal is employed. The VA liquid crystal display device is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,701,028 specification: (Patent Literature 4), for example.
In the VA liquid crystal display device, a vertical alignment liquid crystal 23 is sealed between a first substrate 21 and a second substrate 24. A reflective electrode 22 is formed on a surface of the first substrate 21 on the liquid crystal side. A transparent electrode 25 is formed on a surface of the second substrate 24 on the liquid crystal side. Surfaces of the reflective electrode 22 and the transparent electrode 25 are covered with a vertical alignment film (not shown).
Also, a phase plate (¼ wavelength plate) 26 is arranged on the second substrate 24, and a polarization plate 27 is arranged on the phase plate 26.
In the VA liquid crystal display device constructed in this manner, as shown in FIG. 3, liquid crystal molecules 23a are aligned in the direction perpendicular to the substrates 21, 24 in the condition that no voltage is applied between the electrodes 22, 25. As a result, the retardation is not generated at the time of dark display, and thus the contrast characteristic can be improved in contrast to the TN liquid crystal display device shown in FIG. 1.
In the reflective liquid crystal display device, it is commonly practiced to avoid extreme change in lightness of the image due to the location from which the panel is viewed, by providing a fine roughness on the surface of the reflective electrode. For example, in Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) Hei 9-292504 (Patent Literature 5), the technology to generate the roughness on the surface of the reflective electrode at random with a high density has been proposed. The purposes of this are that interference of a light due to the repeating pattern of the roughness is prevented by increasing randomness of the roughness to prevent the change in color of the reflected light and that a rate of flat portions is reduced by increasing a density of the roughness to reduce a specular reflection component.
Also, the applicant of this application has proposed a method of forming wrinkle-like fine roughness on the surface of the reflective electrode via simple steps by using the photoresist (Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) 2002-221716 (Patent Literature 6), and Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) 2002-296585 (Patent Literature 7)). In this method, only a surface layer of the photoresist film is cured by irradiating the ultraviolet ray, or the like onto the photoresist film, and then the annealing is applied to the photoresist film. Accordingly, the wrinkle-like fine roughness is formed due to a difference in the thermal deformation characteristic (thermal expansion coefficient or thermal contraction coefficient) between the surface layer and the deep portion of the photoresist film. Then, the reflective electrode having the fine roughness on the surface is formed by forming a metal film made of aluminum, or the like on the photoresist film and patterning this metal film.
In order to implement the bright display in the reflective liquid crystal display device, it is important to optimize the reflecting surface of the reflective electrode. That is, taking account of the situation of practical use, if the reflecting surface of the reflective electrode is formed to reflect mainly the light incident on the panel from the upper side in the normal direction of the panel, a utilization efficiency of light can be improved and thus the bright image can be obtained.
For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, in Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) Hei 9-127501 (Patent Literature 8), the reflective liquid crystal display device in which a reflective electrode 32 having a blaze (sawtooth)-like reflecting surface and a light scattering body 36 are combined together has been proposed. In this reflective liquid crystal display device, the panel is constructed by sealing a liquid crystal 33 between a pair of substrates 31, 34 and the light scattering body 36 is arranged on the substrate 34 side.
However, in the method set forth in Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) Hei 9-127501, the production process is very complicated because the blaze-like reflecting surface is formed by the transfer by virtue of the die. In addition, since the blaze-like reflecting surface is formed as a specular surface and is combined with the scattering plate, the light is scattered in both cases when the light is incident on the panel and when the light is emitted from the panel, and therefore the image becomes obscured.
In C. J. Wen, D. L. Ting, C. Y. Chen, L. S. Chuang and C. C. Chang, SID'00 digest of technical papers, p. 526 (2000) (Non-Patent Literature 2), the reflective liquid crystal display device in which the roughness is provided on the blaze-like reflecting surface of the reflective electrode, as shown in FIG. 4B, by using the photolithography method has been proposed. According to this method, the roughness is formed on a reflecting surface of a reflective electrode 42 by applying plural times the photolithography step repeatedly. Then, a liquid crystal 43 is sealed between a substrate 41 and a substrate 44.
In Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) Sho 57-102680 (Patent Literature 9), the technology to limit an average inclination angle of the roughness so as to converge the scattered light within a predetermined limited range and thus get the bright display has been proposed. In addition, in Japanese Patent No. 3187369 Specification (Patent Literature 10), the reflective electrode in which the existence rate of the inclination angle in the particular range is increased as the inclination angle is increased has been proposed. Also, the reflective liquid crystal display device in which the uniform brightness can be obtained in the effective viewing angle is disclosed.
(Patent Literature 1)
Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) Sho 55-48733
(Patent Literature 2)
Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) Hei 2-236523
(Patent Literature 3)
Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) Hei 6-167708
(Patent Literature 4)
U.S. Pat. No. 4,701,028
(Patent Literature 5)
Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) Hei 9-292504
(Patent Literature 6)
Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) 2002-221716
(Patent Literature 7)
Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) 2002-296585
(Patent Literature 8)
Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) Hei 9-127501
(Patent Literature 9)
Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) Sho 57-102680
(Patent Literature 10)
Japanese Patent No. 3187369 Specification
(Non-Patent Literature 1)
Y. Itoh, N. Kimura, S. Mizushima, Y. Ishii and M. Hijikigawa, AM-LCD 2000 digest, p. 243 (2000)
(Non-Patent Literature 2)
C. J. Wen, D. L. Ting, C. Y. Chen, L. S. Chuang and C. C. Chang, SID'00 digest of technical papers, p. 526 (2000)
However, according to above all methods in the prior art, there exist the problems that the step of shaping a reflecting surface of the reflective electrode into a predetermined shape becomes complicated and thus an increase in production cost is brought about.

Liquid crystal display device and method of manufacturing the same


A screening method for identifying an individual having a pre-disposition towards having a cancer is disclosed, which screening method comprises the steps of:    (a) obtaining a test sample comprising a nucleotide sequence comprised in the MYH gene of the individual or an amino acid sequence of a polypeptide expressed thereby; and    (b) comparing a region of the test sample sequence with the corresponding region of the wild type sequence,whereby a difference between the test sample sequence and the wild type sequence signifies that the individual is pre-disposed to having the cancer; and wherein the difference comprises a specified variation.

BER pathways play a major role in the repair of mutations caused by reactive oxygen species that are generated during aerobic metabolism, as described in Nature 362, 709-715(1993). Oxidative DNA damage has been implicated in the aetiology of degenerative diseases, ageing and cancer (Mutat. Res. 250, 3116 (1991), but evidence linking inherited deficiencies of BER to these diseases has, until recently, been lacking.
8-Oxo-7,8-dihydrodeoxyguanine (8-oxoG), the most stable product of oxidative DNA damage, is highly mutagenic, since it readily mispairs with A residues (Nature 349, 431-434 (1991)), leading to an increased frequency of spontaneous G:C→T:A transversion mutations in repair-deficient bacteria and yeast cells. In E. coli, three enzymes, mutM, mutY and mutT, function synergistically to protect cells from the deleterious effects of guanine oxidation (J Bacteriol. 174, 6321-6325(1992)). The mutM DNA glycosylase removes the oxidised base from 8-oxoG:C base pairs in duplex DNA; the mutY DNA glycosylase excises A residues misincorporated opposite unrepaired 8-oxoG during replication; and mutT is an 8-oxo-dGTPase preventing incorporation of 8-oxo-dGMP into nascent DNA. Human mutM, mutY and mutT homologues have been identified and termed hOGG1 (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.(USA) 94,8016-8020 (1997)), hMYH (or MYH) (J. Bactiol. 178, 3885-3892(1996)) and hMTH (J. Biol. Chem. 268,23524-23530 (1993)), respectively. Patent specification No. WO 97/33903 also discloses a human MutY polypeptide and DNA encoding it, together with its potential use in diagnosing a cancer or a susceptibility to a cancer.
Very recently in our International Patent Application WO (PCT/GB2002/003591) we have shown that mutations in the human base excision repair gene MYH (Accession No. NM—012222) cause an autosomal recessive trait characterised by multiple colorectal adenomas and high colorectal cancer risk.
Registers for patients and families with colorectal polyposis are widely established at regional or national level in many countries. They serve to co-ordinate proactive genetic testing, colonoscopic surveillance and surgical management across extended families. In the United Kingdom most polyposis registers are managed by regional clinical genetics services covering geographically defined populations of one to five million. The most important form of colorectal polyposis is familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), an autosomal dominant disorder caused by mutations of the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene. FAP is associated with hundreds or thousands of adenomatous polyps and leads to colorectal cancer in virtually all cases unless treated by prophylactic colectomy. Traditionally, all patients with >100 macroscopic colorectal adenomas are diagnosed as FAP. Classification of cases with less than 100 adenomas has been problematic. Some are associated with inherited mutations at specific locations within the APC gene and are classified as attenuated FAP (AFAP). The possible importance of other loci has been unclear.
The prevalence of MYH polyposis is unknown but it is unlikely to be confused with FAP or AFAP in families showing vertical transmission of polyposis. However, many patients with FAP/AFAP or with multiple colorectal adenomas (with or without colorectal cancer) occur as sporadic cases and others may have affected siblings with unaffected parents. Such cases may result from de novo APC gene mutations or gonadal mosaicism in a clinically unaffected parent. However, we hypothesised that some cases might be attributable to undiagnosed recessively transmitted MYH polyposis. If correct this would have important implications for family management. If an APC gene mutation is assumed, management for relatives of sporadic cases is based on a 1-in-2 risk to their offspring but a very low risk to their siblings. By contrast, the risks associated with MYH polyposis are 1-in-4 for the siblings of apparently sporadic cases, but extremely low for their offspring. Hence detection of MYH polyposis is important for accurate genetic counselling, genetic testing and effective planning of surveillance colonoscopy for extended families.
To identify families in which mutations of MYH rather than the APC gene might be causative, we applied the following selection criteria in six well established regional polyposis registers in the United Kingdom: 1) a family history showing no vertical transmission of polyposis 2) at least 10 colorectal adenomas with or without colorectal cancer in the index case 3) no clearly pathogenic mutation in the APC gene identified during genetic testing. We then sought MYH mutations in blood DNA samples from affected index cases. In previous reports (Al-Tassan et al. Nature Genet 2002, 30:227-232; Jones et al. Hum Mol Genet 2002, 11: 2961-7; Sieber et al. New Engl. J. Med. 2003, 348: 791-799), 31 out of 36 mutant alleles characterised in Caucasian patients with biallelic MYH mutations and colorectal polyposis were either Y165C (18 alleles) or G382D (13 alleles). Therefore, in Caucasian index cases we first assayed for these mutations by sequencing of exon 7 (for Y165C) and by BglII restriction enzyme digestion (for G382D). In cases heterozygous for either Y165C or G382D we screened for mutations affecting the second MYH allele by sequencing its 16 coding exons. Since different MYH mutations appear to be important in non-Caucasians (Jones et al. Hum Mol Genet 2002, 11: 2961-7) we sequenced all exons of MYH in all non-Caucasian index cases.
In addition to the mutations that we have previously identified in MYH (International Patent Application WO PCT/GB2002/003591), we identified four novel mutations: Q324X (C to T at nucleotide 970), W117R (T to A at nucleotide 349), 347−1 G to A and 891+3 A to C.

Screening methods and sequences relating thereto


The present disclosure discloses to a sampling circuit board for a battery module and a battery module. The sampling circuit board for a battery module comprises a main board comprising a plurality of electrical connection areas; and a plurality of sampling terminals respectively electrically connected to the plurality of the electrical connection areas, and an end of each of the sampling terminals extends away from the main board, and each of the sampling terminals connected to one of the electrical connection areas of the main board via a connection member, wherein the connection member comprises a main body and at least one hook assembly provided on the main body, and the hook assembly laminates and attaches one of the sampling terminals and one of the electrical connection areas of the main board.

The voltage sampling and thermal management system inside a battery is the core unit of the battery management system. The voltage and temperature sampling in a traditional battery module is collected through a harness isolation board. However, due to a cumbersome manufacturing process, it is not easy for the harness isolation board to be produced automatically and with high efficiency and low cost, and the market's competitive needs cannot be met.
In the related art, a flexible circuit board may be used as a sampling circuit board to replace a conventional harness isolation board. The sampling circuit board includes a main board and a plurality of sampling terminals protruding outward from the main board.
At present, a connection process between the main board and the sampling terminals in the sampling circuit board includes brazing, riveting, dispensing and etc. The brazing process is relatively complicated, and the connection area is large, which is not beneficial to the structure design of the module sampling. The riveting combined the dispensing process is complicated, and the structural adhesive may penetrate between the two electrical connection surfaces in the dispensing process, which may increase the contact resistance of the sampling connection.
Therefore, a sampling circuit board for a battery module and a battery module with higher connection stability between the main board and the sampling terminals are desired.

Sampling circuit board for battery module and battery module

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited


There is provided a framework to record to a blockchain unique identification (signatures) of physical items which have unique, random properties. Physical items are analysed using spectral imaging to determine the unique identifications. Hardware is shown to perform the analysis and various nodes of a peer-to-peer network are shown and described, which nodes may be configured to provide proof of location, privacy, trust and authentication. The solution can work even if the item is modified in some way if a subset of the unique properties remain.

Blockchain technologies implement distributed ledgers on peer-to-peer networks. Data is stored securely using cryptography and various consent mechanisms are employed with a view to ensuring data stored in a block of the distributed leger is accurate and reliable.
Blockchains provide a way to trace unique digital items without reliance on a third party. Blockchains breakdown when mapping to physical real-world items due to the requirement of having to trust some sort of the third party. As Satoshi mentions in his paper, reliance on a third party immediately destroys/diminishes the use of blockchain—despite current hype around "putting it on the blockchain".

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Physical item mapping to blockchain framework


A method for preparing a solid processing composition in the form of granules for a silver halide black-and-white photographic material is disclosed, comprising the steps of:. (i) mixing powdery photographic processing chemicals, PA1 (ii) granulating a mixture of the processing chemicals while stirring to form granules, and PA1 (iii) drying the granules,. wherein in step (ii), granulation is carried out with the addition of water in an amount of 4 to 6% by weight, based on the processing chemicals; said granules having a bulk density of not less than 1.1 g/cm.sup.3.

A silver halide light sensitive photographic material (hereinafter, also simply referred to as photographic material), after exposure, is processed according to the process, such as developing, fixing, washing and stabilizing. Processing is carried out conventionally using an automatic processor, in which, in general, a replenishing solution is replenished so that activity of a processing solution is constantly maintained. The replenishment is intended to dilute the concentrations of materials leached out of the photographic material, to correct for the evaporating amount and to replenish consumed components.
The processing solution is conventionally prepared diluting processing chemical concentrates with water. Recently, the silver halide photographic material can also be continuously processed with supplying a solid processing composition.
The solid processing compositions is generally divided into two or more parts. In the method which is generally used in practice for preparing the solid processing composition, however, problems arise such as dust being easily produced; and when the granular size is varied, the stability of the preparation is lowered; and further when subjected to running process, marked staining occurs. Further, another serious problem also arises, such as marked deterioration in the drying speed of the processed photographic materials.
The solid processing composition was deteriorated in hardness and abrasion resistance so that significant dust was produced in usage thereof, leading to handling problems and harmful physiological effects. Accordingly, there has been a strong desire to solve the foregoing problems.

Solid processing composition for silver halide light sensitive photographic material and preparing method thereof


To have a problem of occurrence of the same failure in failure detection of a microcontroller. A microcontroller has a CPU and a data access control circuit. The data access control circuit performs two types of accesses: an individual access in which a data access of the CPU is performed for each thread, and a shared access in which a data access of the CPU is performed by executing two threads. The data access control circuit detects a failure of the CPU by making a comparison between the command and the address, respectively, in the shared access generated by executing the two threads.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit device, and also relates to a technique capable of being applied to detection of a failure of a microcontroller, which is a computer for control.
A microcontroller is a device which is incorporated in equipment, such as household appliance, AV equipment, mobile telephone, automobile, and industrial machine and which performs control of each piece of equipment by performing processing in accordance with programs stored in a built-in memory, and the microcontroller is usually configured as a semiconductor integrated circuit.
In a part of equipment such as an automobile, high reliability is required for parts including the microcontroller because a failure of a control device may lead to an accident, and also the parts are designed so that the safety function is operated to prevent the equipment from reaching a dangerous state by detecting a failure when it occurs. It is necessary for the microcontroller not only to detect a failure of a sensor and actuator by diagnosing them, but also to detect a failure of the microcontroller itself.
Among a variety of methods for detecting a failure of a microcontroller, there is frequently used a method in which duplexed functional blocks (for example, CPU, which is a central operation unit (also called a central processing unit, central operation processing unit), hereinafter, the central operation unit is represented as CPU) having the same function are provided, and a failure of the functional block is detected by comparing output signals of each functional block. This detection method is called duplexing processing. The effectiveness of this method is based on the assumption that failures of the duplexed functional blocks occur independently and the same failure does not occur at the same time. In the case where the same failure has occurred in both the functional blocks at the same time, the erroneous outputs agree with each other, and thus it is not possible to detect the failure.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-171581 (Patent Document 1) discloses a method for diversifying the design data of duplexed functional blocks, operation timings, and arrangement on the chip, in order to prevent occurrence of the same failure described above.
Furthermore, a method of using one or two CPUs to perform duplexing processing by two threads is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4531060 (Patent Document 2) and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-44078 (Patent Document 3).

Semiconductor integrated circuit device and microcontroller


A joystick controller has a lever mounted for pivotal movement relative to a housing, a seat member affixed to the housing, and a slider member biased towards the seat member. The seat member has a profiled surface that cooperates with a corresponding surface of the slider member. In one aspect, the profiled surface includes at least one lock position for engaging the slider member at a predetermined angle of pivotal displacement of the lever about a first axis. The slider member is shaped to allow pivotal movement of the lever about a second axis, without movement of the slider member, but to prevent movement of the lever about the first axis when engaged in the lock position. In another aspect, the profiled surface has a profile in a first direction whereby the biasing force remains substantially constant when the lever is pivotally displaced about a first axis, and a profile in a second direction whereby displacement of the lever about a second axis displaces the slider member so as to alter the biasing force.

Joystick controllers are used in a wide variety of control applications. One example is in the control of an excavator bucket. Movement of the bucket is actuated by hydraulic pistons, which are controlled by electrical signals provided by the joystick. The joystick has a lever, which is mounted for pivotal movement relative to a fixed body. Movement of the lever in one direction, by pivoting the lever about a first axis, controls the raising and lowering of the bucket. Movement of the lever in a second direction, by pivoting about a second axis (usually orthogonal to the first axis), controls orientation of the bucket (i.e. moves the bucket by turning it to the left or the right).
When excavating earth it is frequently required to place the bucket controls into a so-called float configuration, in which the raising and lowering controls are over-ridden so that the bucket drops under its own weight to the ground. In the float configuration, the bucket stays at the ground and rests on the terrain. There is no hydraulic influence over its vertical position. However, it is still desirable that an operator of the excavator should be able to control the left-right orientation of the bucket using the joystick while leaving the bucket level free to move with terrain change. A float configuration can be achieved with a joystick that has a lock facility to prevent movement of the joystick lever in the direction that controls vertical movement of the bucket. When the joystick is locked, the vertical controls are over-ridden.
One such joystick controller has been described in GB 2,313,175. This joystick has a bush that can slide up and down a shaft of the lever and is biased by a spring against a cradle mounted on the joystick body. The cradle has a recess, which engages a shoulder of the bush when the joystick lever has been displaced by a certain angle about a first axis (say the x-axis), to hold the lever at that angle.
A problem with this arrangement is that, when in the locked position, pivotal movement of the joystick in the other direction about the orthogonal y-axis can only be achieved by a corresponding pivotal movement of the bush and cradle. This means that the cradle must be mounted to the joystick body in such a way that it is allowed to pivot about the y-axis. Furthermore, this joystick uses a gimbal arrangement by which the joystick lever is mounted to the body for pivotal movement. Nowadays it is often preferable to use a ball and socket arrangement for mounting the joystick lever.
Many known joystick controllers include a return-to-centre arrangement, so that when the lever is displaced and subsequently released it is biased back towards a central position. The degree of biasing force also provides a tactile feedback by which the operator can sense the extent of displacement. However, there are many applications where it may be required to keep the joystick at a displacement in one (e.g. x) direction. It is a problem to achieve this while still retaining the return-to-centre feature in the orthogonal y direction.


A fuel supply system for an aircraft includes a fuel tank configured to supply fuel to an engine of an aircraft, a boost pump in operational communication with the fuel tank, wherein the boost pump is configured to control at least one of a fuel level and a fuel pressure in the fuel tank, and an electronic controller in communication with the boost pump and configured to control the boost pump. The electronic controller is configured to receive received information including (i) fuel information, (ii) flight information, and (iii) aircraft information, and configured to control the boost pump based on the received information.

Embodiments of the invention are directed to fuel boost pumps and more particularly to fuel boost pumps that automatically compensate for maneuvers of an aircraft.
In a typical aircraft layout, such as a helicopter, a fuel tank is located in a lower portion of the aircraft and the engine driving a rotor of the aircraft is located in an upper portion of the aircraft. During operation, fuel is drawn through a fuel pipe from the fuel tank by means of a suction pump located adjacent the main engine. As aircraft increase in size, the fuel head between the fuel pump and the tank increases, resulting in an increase in the suction required to supply fuel to the engine.
Furthermore, the maneuvers that the helicopter can undertake may be extreme, which may result in a risk that a combination of the head of fuel between the pump and the tank, and the high acceleration experienced during extreme maneuvers mean that the absolute pressure at the inlet to the suction pump may approach or fall below the true vapor pressure of the fuel. This can cause fuel vapor to be evolved and can cause dissolved air to come out of solution. If the proportion of gas and/or vapor to liquid fuel at the inlet of the pump exceeds the pump capability, the fuel flow to the engine may be interrupted or significantly restricted, thereby resulting in loss of engine power or an engine failure.


An on-machine-seamable papermaker""s fabric has a base structure which is a flattened array of a spirally wound multicomponent yarn. The flattened array has two layers, two sides, a length, a width and two widthwise edges. In each turn of the spiral winding, the multicomponent yarn has a substantially lengthwise orientation and is joined side-by-side to those adjacent thereto by a fusible thermoplastic material in each of the two layers. The multicomponent yarn forms seaming loops along the two widthwise edges. At least one layer of staple fiber material is needled into one of the two sides of the base structure and through the two layers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the papermaking arts. More specifically, the present invention relates to press fabrics for the press section of a paper machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
During the papermaking process, a cellulosic fibrous web is formed by depositing a fibrous slurry, that is, an aqueous dispersion of cellulose fibers, onto a moving forming fabric in the forming section of a paper machine. A large amount of water is drained from the slurry through the forming fabric, leaving the cellulosic fibrous web on the surface of the forming fabric.
The newly formed cellulosic fibrous web proceeds from the forming section to a press section, which includes a series of press nips. The cellulosic fibrous web passes through the press nips supported by a press fabric, or, as is often the case, between two such press fabrics. In the press nips, the cellulosic fibrous web is subjected to compressive forces which squeeze water therefrom, and which adhere the cellulosic fibers in the web to one another to turn the cellulosic fibrous web into a paper sheet. The water is accepted by the press fabric or fabrics and, ideally, does not return to the paper sheet.
The paper sheet finally proceeds to a dryer section, which includes at least one series of rotatable dryer drums or cylinders, which are internally heated by steam. The newly formed paper sheet is directed in a serpentine path sequentially around each in the series of drums by a dryer fabric, which holds the paper sheet closely against the surfaces of the drums. The heated drums reduce the water content of the paper sheet to a desirable level through evaporation.
It should be appreciated that the forming, press and dryer fabrics all take the form of endless loops on the paper machine and function in the manner of conveyors. It should further be appreciated that paper manufacture is a continuous process which proceeds at considerable speeds. That is to say, the fibrous slurry is continuously deposited onto the forming fabric in the forming section, while a newly manufactured paper sheet is continuously wound onto rolls after it exits from the dryer section.
The present invention relates specifically to the press fabrics used in the press section. Press fabrics play a critical role during the paper manufacturing process. One of their functions, as implied above, is to support and to carry the paper product being manufactured through the press nips.
Press fabrics also participate in the finishing of the surface of the paper sheet. That is, press fabrics are designed to have smooth surfaces and uniformly resilient structures, so that, in the course of passing through the press nips, a smooth, mark-free surface is imparted to the paper.
Perhaps most importantly, the press fabrics accept the large quantities of water extracted from the wet paper in the press nip. In order to fill this function, there literally must be space, commonly referred to as void volume, within the press fabric for the water to go, and the fabric must have adequate permeability to water for its entire useful life. Finally, press fabrics must be able to prevent the water accepted from the wet paper from returning to and rewetting the paper upon exit from the press nip.
Contemporary press fabrics are produced in a wide variety of styles designed to meet the requirements of the paper machines on which they are installed for the paper grades being manufactured. Generally, they comprise a woven base fabric into which has been needled a batt of fine, nonwoven fibrous material. The base fabrics may be woven from monofilament, plied monofilament, multifilament or plied multifilament yarns, and may be single-layered, multi-layered or laminated. The yarns are typically extruded from any one of the synthetic polymeric resins, such as polyamide and polyester resins, used for this purpose by those of ordinary skill in the paper machine clothing arts.
The woven base fabrics themselves take many different forms. For example, they may be woven endless, or flat woven and subsequently rendered into endless form with a woven seam. Alternatively, they may be produced by a process commonly known as modified endless weaving, wherein the widthwise edges of the base fabric are provided with seaming loops using the machine-direction (MD) yarns thereof. In this process, the MD yarns weave continuously back-and-forth between the widthwise edges of the fabric, at each edge turning back and forming a seaming loop. A base fabric produced in this fashion is placed into endless form during installation on a papermachine, and for this reason is referred to as an on-machine-seamable fabric. To place such a fabric into endless form, the two widthwise edges are brought together, the seaming loops at the two edges are interdigitated with one another, and a seaming pin or pintle is directed through the passage formed by the interdigitated seaming loops.
Further, the woven base fabrics may be laminated by placing one base fabric within the endless loop formed by another, and by needling a staple fiber batt through both base fabrics to join them to one another. One or both woven base fabrics may be of the on-machine-seamable type.
In any event, the woven base fabrics are in the form of endless loops, or are seamable into such forms, having a specific length, measured longitudinally therearound, and a specific width, measured transversely thereacross. Because paper machine configurations vary widely, paper machine clothing manufacturers are required to produce press fabrics, and other paper machine clothing, to the dimensions required to fit particular positions in the paper machines of their customers. Needless to say, this requirement makes it difficult to streamline the manufacturing process, as each press fabric must typically be made to order.
In response to this need to produce press fabrics in a variety of lengths and widths more quickly and efficiently, press fabrics have been produced in recent years using a spiral technique disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,656 to Rexfelt et al., the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,656 shows a press fabric comprising a base fabric having one or more layers of staple fiber material needled thereinto. The base fabric comprises at least one layer composed of a spirally wound strip of woven fabric having a width which is smaller than the width of the base fabric. The base fabric is endless in the longitudinal, or machine, direction. Lengthwise threads of the spirally wound strip make an angle with the longitudinal direction of the press fabric. The strip of woven fabric may be flat-woven on a loom which is narrower than those typically used in the production of paper machine clothing.
The base fabric comprises a plurality of spirally wound and joined turns of the relatively narrow woven fabric strip. The fabric strip is woven from lengthwise (warp) and crosswise (filling) yarns. Adjacent turns of the spirally wound fabric strip may be abutted against one another, and the helically continuous seam so produced may be closed by sewing, stitching, melting or welding. Alternatively, adjacent longitudinal edge portions of adjoining spiral turns may be arranged overlappingly, so long as the edges have a reduced thickness, so as not to give rise to an increased thickness in the area of the overlap. Further, the spacing between lengthwise yarns may be increased at the edges of the strip, so that, when adjoining spiral turns are arranged overlappingly, there may be an unchanged spacing between lengthwise threads in the area of the overlap.
In any case, a woven base fabric, taking the form of an endless loop and having an inner surface, a longitudinal (machine) direction and a transverse (cross-machine) direction, is the result. The lateral edges of the woven base fabric are then trimmed to render them parallel to its longitudinal (machine) direction. The angle between the machine direction of the woven base fabric and the helically continuous seam may be relatively small, that is, typically less than 10xc2x0. By the same token, the lengthwise (warp) yarns of the woven fabric strip make the same relatively small angle with the longitudinal (machine) direction of the woven base fabric. Similarly, the crosswise (filling) yarns of the woven fabric strip, being perpendicular to the lengthwise (warp) yarns, make the same relatively small angle with the transverse (cross-machine) direction of the woven base fabric. In short, neither the lengthwise (warp) nor the crosswise (filling) yarns of the woven fabric strip align with the longitudinal (machine) or transverse (cross-machine) directions of the woven base fabric.
In the method shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,656, the woven fabric strip is wound around two parallel rolls to assemble the woven base fabric. It will be recognized that endless base fabrics in a variety of widths and lengths may be provided by spirally winding a relatively narrow piece of woven fabric-strip around the two parallel rolls, the length of a particular endless base fabric being determined by the length of each spiral turn of the woven fabric strip, and the width being determined by the number of spiral turns of the woven fabric strip. The prior necessity of weaving complete base fabrics of specified lengths and widths to order may thereby be avoided. Instead, a loom as narrow as 20 inches (0.5 meters) could be used to produce a woven fabric strip, but, for reasons of practicality, a conventional textile loom having a width of from 40 to 60 inches (1.0 to 1.5 meters) may be preferred.
Those of ordinary skill in the art will immediately recognize, however, that the press fabrics shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,656 are available only in endless form. As a consequence, their use has been limited to press sections having cantilevered press rolls and other components, which permit an endless press fabric to be installed from the side of the press section.
Accordingly, there remains a need for an on-machine-seamable press fabric, which, like the press fabrics shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,656, does not require the weaving of a complete base fabric having a length and a width specified by the papermaker. That need is met by the present invention.
The present invention, therefore, is an on-machine-seamable papermaker""s fabric which includes an unwoven on-machine-seamable base structure.
In its broadest form, the base structure is an array formed by spirally winding a multicomponent yarn in a plurality of abutting, non-overlapping turns. The multicomponent yarn has a plurality of individual yarn strands and at least one thermofusible strand of a thermoplastic material having a melting point lower than that of the individual yarn strands. Alternatively, the multicomponent yarn has a plurality of individual yarn strands and a coating of a thermoplastic material having a melting point lower than that of the individual yarn strands.
When the multicomponent yarn is spirally wound to a desired width, portions of the array are exposed to heat at a temperature sufficient to melt the at least one thermofusible strand or coating, but not the other individual yarn strands, of the multicomponent yarn. The fused thermoplastic material of the thermofusible strand, strands or coating flows between adjacent turns of the multicomponent yarns in the array. When the fused thermoplastic material is allowed to solidify, it joins the adjacent multicomponent yarns to one another in a side-by-side manner.
The array of multicomponent yarns is flattened, and, as such, has two layers, two sides, a length, a width and two widthwise edges. The multicomponent yarn in each of the plurality of turns has a substantially lengthwise orientation in each of the two layers. Along the two widthwise edges of the flattened array are a plurality of seaming loops formed by the multicomponent yarn. The seaming loops, preferably, are formed by every other turn of the multicomponent yarn.
At least one layer of staple fiber material is needled into one of the two sides of the base structure and through the two layers.
The present invention will now be described in more complete detail, with frequent reference being made to the figures identified below.

Base structure for seamed papermaker""s fabrics


A container and lid assembly is described for storing or transporting contents therein. Embodiments provide a protective security feature in the container and lid assembly. In at least some aspects of the invention a container body is disclosed having an opening, and a lid body is configured to cover the opening of the container body to form an assembly. An extended bumper portion is disposed at a periphery of the container body and substantially at the opening, wherein the bumper portion comprises a removable tear strip integrated into the material of the bumper portion. The tear strip is configured to prevent access to security mechanism of the assembly.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to storage vessels and, more particularly, containers and lids.
Related Art
In modern commerce and applications, containers are used in a vast array of applications, some more demanding than others.
To be economically and environmentally efficient, containers (like other manufactured items) need to use a minimum amount of material. Not only does this reduce the waste that results at the end of the container's useful life, it also reduces the costs of materials to manufacture the container, reduces the transportation costs that can be involved in using the container, and provides other benefits. For containers made from plastic or similar materials, the costs of materials and the costs of achieving ecological responsibility can be substantial.
On the other hand, many or even most containers require some degree of reliable structural integrity. Among other things, they may be stacked three or four (or more) high on pallets for storage and/or transportation, and there may be other pallets or objects stacked on top of those stacks.
Square, rectangular or other cornered containers can more efficiently use a given volume of space on a pallet and/or in a warehouse or retail store (as compared to conventional round plastic buckets). They can benefit from the foregoing reduction in material usage and can provide design and performance challenges as compared to non-cornered containers.
Design and performance characteristics for a container or other product also may be important with respect to material selection. For example, in certain applications, one material may be preferred or even required instead of another (e.g., polypropylene instead of polyethylene) in order to meet performance criteria (such as the ability to withstand anticipated vertical compression loads or other forces).
In addition, reducing the nonmaterial costs of manufacture also improves the economic and ecological considerations of making and using a given container. For example, to the extent that the energy requirements for making a given container can be reduced, the economic and environmental characteristics of the container and fabrication process are also improved. For applications and processes such as injection molding of plastic containers or other products, a lower injection pressure (to inject the plastic into a mold) can mean that less energy is needed to manufacture that product.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide methods and apparatus for containers having sufficient strength and durability to withstand heavy loads and predictable storage and handling risks, while reducing costs and usage of materials and providing other benefits.
Containers (such as plastic injection-molded buckets or pails or the like) come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Commonly, these have generally flat and/or smooth curved sidewalls. Sometimes reinforcing ribs or other features are formed or provided on the exterior and/or interior of the container. In many applications, the containers are designed to be nestable and stackable. When the containers are filled, the stacking loads can be substantial, and the sidewalls typically have to be designed and tested to support and withstand certain threshold requirements (to avoid failure when they are dropped or stacked, etc.).
When sufficient force is exerted downwardly on such containers, the container can collapse or "fail." Commonly, this failure begins with or includes the weakest point of the container sidewall buckling in or out (toward or away from the inside of the container). Among other situations, such loading and buckling failures can occur when filled containers are stacked too high on top of each other. Even for unstacked single containers, however, sufficient force can cause such a failure.
Thus, there is a need to provide a container with improved strength and durability that can withstand heavy loads (such as weight imposed by stacking filled containers, or any other kind of force applied downwardly) without bending or crumpling.
In addition, containers may need to include provisions for being child resistant, for example, to prevent access to hazardous materials. Improved features may also be necessary in order to prevent unintentional access to container contents, such as in storing or transporting hazardous materials.
Tear strips have commonly been provided to enable relatively easy removal of lids from their associated containers. They can also provide some evidence of tampering with respect to the sealed container (e.g., whether the sealed container has been opened previously). Such tear strips have been provided within injection-molded lids, among others.
Within injection-molded lids, however, it can remain relatively difficult for a user to grasp the end of the tear strip to initiate removal of the tear strip. Simple tabs formed at the end of the tear strip remain relatively unsatisfactory in that regard, at least in comparison to the present invention. Other approaches do not provide a reusable lid to cover the container opening once the tear strip is removed, require more complicated molding, may be less capable of being stacked and nested (especially with other existing containers and lids), and have other shortcomings.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved solution incorporating a tear strip combination.