Thus use of a post detergent step for removing aqueous residue from ware combined with a subsequent step using a potable rinse or a dilute solution of an aqueous food grade rinse aid to rinse alkaline washed ware provides significant advantages. The two step rinse method insures complete and sanitary cleaning of ware while permitting the use of different formulations in the post detergent step and the subsequent rinse step. Such process conditions permit the use of differing times and temperatures in the post detergent step and in the rinse step and permits the use of different formulations in the post detergent step and in the rinse step.

The invention relates to cleaning and rinsing ware in institutional or industrial automatic warewashing machines. More particularly, the invention involves post detergent treatments and rinsing steps for ware that is first cleaned using alkaline detergents leaving clean ware with an alkaline detergent residue on the ware surface. The clean ware is then processed in a procedure involving a post detergent step and a rinse step. The post detergent step involves the use of an aqueous solution of surfactant or chemical rinse additive or agent that can remove a substantial proportion of previously formed detergent residue. This step can leave some amount, typically a small but measurable proportion of rinse aid, food, surfactant, detergent or a combination residue. A subsequent rinse step uses an aqueous potable rinse or an aqueous dilute solution of food grade surfactant to complete the cleaning method and substantially remove such remaining residue.
The use of automatic warewashing machines to clean and rinse ware has been known for many years. Fernholz et al., U.S. Reissue Pat. Nos. 32,818 and 32,763 disclose the use of solid block alkaline cleaning compositions and subsequently rinsing alkaline residues from clean ware. Commonly, after ware is cleaned using alkaline detergents, the ware is often rinsed using a dilute aqueous solution of a typically synthetic polymeric composition comprising at least a block of ethylene oxide in combination with other moieties in the composition to result in an aqueous composition that can cause the rapid sheeting of the rinse water from ware for the intended purpose of leaving a bright, clean, unspotted product. These polymeric materials are typically called rinse aid agents. When dissolved in water a rinse agent forms a rinse solution or composition that, because of the surface energy of the ware and the relationship between the rinse aid and the surface energy, causes sheeting. Warewashing and rinsing processes have been embodied in a variety of institutional and industrial automatic warewashing machines that have automatic control mechanisms that expose ware to a variety of prescraping, scraping, prerinse, alkaline wash, acid wash, rinse, sanitize, post-sanitize, etc. steps. Particularly in large, high volume, multistep warewashing machines, the sequence of steps can be programmed to achieve a desired result.
A variety of cleaning and rinsing processes are known, including Avram, U.S. Pat. No. 5,879,469, which teaches a warewashing system using a basic aqueous wash followed by an acidic aqueous wash. Howland et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,115, shows that aqueous rinse cycles can be effectively controlled to modify dispensing and timing of cleaning chemicals. Young, Jr. et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,679, shows further control systems and in particular directing rinse water recycle into other washing cycle steps. Steindorf, U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,648, and Baum, U.S. Pat. No. 5,589,099, disclose solid food grade rinse aid compositions and improved synthetic ethylene oxide propylene oxide block copolymer based rinse aids. Groult et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,681, show at Column 8, lines 35-55 and elsewhere, the use of multiple rinse steps. Groult et al. appear to show a process involving a first and second rinse step using rinse water followed by a third rinse step using acid or neutral rinsing agents. Jones et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,232,622, show two sequential rinse steps (Column 6, lines 49-64). Jones et al. disclose nothing regarding the compositions used in the rinse cycles, however, the cycles likely contain conventional synthetic alkaline oxide based rinse agents.
Haslop et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,446, discloses ingredients for use in spherical liquid detergent compositions. Haslop et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,943, teaches a variety of ingredients useful for making liquid detergent compositions. Akred et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,467, teaches a variety of compositions and materials used to form non sedimenting liquid detergent compositions. Aronson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,225, teaches a combination of hydrocarbon oils and silicone compositions as antifoam materials. Gentle et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,298, teaches silicone silicate based defoaming compositions. Chun et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,892, teaches machine dishwashing detergent tablets having timed release of enzyme and chlorine bleach and a variety of other ingredients used in making the detergent composition.
Tsukada, Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai 49-126,703, teaches carbohydrate aliphatic ester rinse agents. Miura et al., Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai 50-62,211, teaches polyhydric alcohol containing rinse agents. Miura et al., Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai 51-68,608, teaches polyol aliphatic ester containing rinse agent compositions. Suzuki et al., Japanese Patent Application No. 86-131,272, teaches a rinse agent comprising a polyethoxylated sorbitan fatty acid ester glycerol and a sugar alcohol. Suzuki et al., Japanese Patent Application No. 86-161,193, teaches a similar material. Nantaku, Japanese Patent Application No. 59-187,096, teaches a polyglycerine ester of a C6-8 fatty acid containing rinse agent. Wilson et al., xe2x80x9cRinse Additives for Machine Dishwashingxe2x80x9d, Soap and Chemical Specialties. pp. 48 et seq. (February 1958), discusses the basic technology regarding rinse agent formulation. The use of a rinse composition often remove substantial amounts of alkaline residue but can leave some proportion of food residue and some amount of rinse agent residue.
The use of a food grade rinse aid has attracted increasing attention over recent years. Such surfactants are attractive to people requesting more natural chemical materials in warewashing processes. These food grade rinse aids commonly comprise sucrose fatty acid esters, sorbitan fatty acid esters, glycerol fatty acid esters and other similar materials comprising a natural polyol or polymerized polyol derivatized with one or more fatty acid or other natural hydrophobic moiety. Depending on the nature of the ware, the type and content of soil, the hardness of service water, the temperature of washing, and other variables, a food grade rinse aid often provide a level of rinsing which does not meet or exceed the level of rinsing obtained from synthetic polyalkylene oxide type rinse agents.
While the level of activity of the food grade rinse agent is typically acceptable to most operators, a synthetic polyalkylene oxide rinse aid provide a level of sheeting at an effective concentration that is superior to food grade rinse aids. Further, in many kitchens, a strong desire to use food grade rinse aids in a final stage is evident while the use of a synthetic polyalkylene oxide based rinse aid are not desirable in a final step.
Accordingly, a substantial need exists for warewashing methods that can obtain the advantages of conventional rinsing cycles with desired performance while also obtaining the advantages of food grade rinse aid compositions. Such benefits include clean, well rinsed ware with no residue, spotting or streaking.
We have found improved warewashing methods involving cleaning ware with an alkaline detergent producing clean ware, leaving aqueous alkaline residue, followed by a post detergent regimen. In the post detergent regimen, the clean ware is then contacted with a first aqueous post detergent step using an aqueous composition. The aqueous composition comprises a rinse composition having a rinse agent with a polyalkylene oxide moiety to remove the alkaline residue producing treated ware. The treated ware is then contacted in a rinse step with a rinse composition comprising either a food grade rinse agent or an aqueous or potable water rinse, said aqueous or potable water rinse is substantially free of a synthetic rinse agent, for at least three seconds. To ensure complete sanitization of the ware, a sanitation step is used prior to the post detergent regimen. Such a step can include any technique that reduces the numbers of pathogens to a sanitizing level. Preferably, the method uses a biocide or an elevated aqueous rinse temperature to achieve sanitized ware or both.
Accordingly, the invention is found in a method of cleaning ware involving a first cleaning step using an aqueous alkaline cleaning composition, resulting in cleaned ware having an alkaline residue. The cleaned ware is then contacted with an aqueous composition in post detergent step, the aqueous composition comprising about 10 to 500 ppm, of a synthetic nonionic sheeting agent comprising a polyalkylene oxide moiety, to form treated ware. The method further comprises contacting the treated ware with an aqueous rinse composition; wherein the cleaning method also includes a post detergent sanitizing step.
The invention is also found in a method of cleaning ware involving a first cleaning step using an aqueous alkaline cleaning composition, resulting in cleaned ware having an alkaline residue. The cleaned ware is then contacted with an aqueous composition in a post detergent step, the aqueous composition comprising about 10 to 500 ppm, of a synthetic nonionic sheeting agent comprising a polyalkylene oxide moiety, to form treated ware. The method further comprises contacting the treated ware with an aqueous rinse composition comprising about 1 to 800 ppm of a combination of a food grade sheeting agent and a solubility agent; wherein the cleaning method also includes a post detergent sanitizing step.

Multi-step post detergent treatment method


A cable marker used to identify associated cables. The cable marker is made of a weatherable polymeric material which remains flexible in variable temperature conditions. The cable marker is substantially elliptically shaped allowing the marker to adjust to fit cables of varying diameter. The cable marker has a plurality of sizing lugs and a diametrically opposed locking lug to facilitate sizing and locking of the cable marker to the cable. Engraving and foil printing permanently identify cables in addition to color coding.

As the communications industry adjusts to advances in cable materials, the need has arisen for cable marking devices which are capable of indicating the type of cable being used. Advances in fiber optic technology have lead to the replacement of conventional wire cable in a number of applications. Upgrading current wire cable systems often requires those handling the cable systems to be able to differentiate between conventional cables and cables composed of newer materials. Fiber Optic cable must be handled differently than wire cable, therefore, a caution/identification marker must be placed at every junction or support position encountered by a service technician.
The current industry standard in cable markers is a plastic scroll-type device. While this scroll marker does identify the cable, it is difficult to use and displays only a modest amount of safety coloring. Attaching the currently used marker requires the technician to unravel a tightly scrolled plastic sheet in order to fit it over the wire. Fitting such a marker over a wire is made more difficult in cold weather when the technician is often wearing gloves and in situations where the technician only has one hand available for manipulating the marker. In the past, markers have been available in only one color, typically a variation of burnt orange, making the distinguishing of different types of cables troublesome.
The present invention meets the needs of the communications industry in differentiating cable according to type with a cable marker capable of simple attachment which is available in a variety of colors for distinguishing between the increasingly diverse materials being used in communications cables.


A vascular stent adapted to be implanted in a blood vessel of a human patient to enhance the flow of blood therethrough, includes an elongate biocompatible metal member of cylindrical shape and tubular sidewall with a pattern of multiple openings therethrough and open ends. The stent has an insertion outer diameter sufficiently small to enable it to be inserted into and advanced through a portion of the vascular system of the body to a preselected point within a coronary artery. The sidewall has a thin adherent coating of iridium oxide covering substantially its entire exposed surface, including the outward-facing surface between openings, the edges of the openings, the inward-facing surface between openings, and the edge of each of the open ends. The coating is of substantially uniform thickness throughout its coverage of the surface of the sidewall, and serves to reduce irritation of tissue of the inner lining of the vessel wall into which the outward-facing surface of the stent comes into contact. The tissue may project as well into the openings in the sidewall to contact the edges thereof. The iridium oxide coating has a biodegradable carrier of drugs applied thereto for beneficial localized action, as by incorporating into the carrier along the inward-facing surface an anticoagulant drug to reduce attachment of thrombi with blood flow through the lumen of the stent. Although it may be composed of multiple layers, the iridium oxide coating is sufficiently thin and flexible to resist flaking during deployment, and the core member has sufficient rigidity when so deployed to resist collapse.

The present invention relates generally to stents which are implantable or deployable in a vascular or endoluminal location within the body of a patient to maintain the lumen open at that location, and more particularly to improvements in stent coatings.
Stents are expandable prostheses employed to maintain narrow vascular and endoluminal ducts or tracts of the human body open and unoccluded, such as a portion of the lumen of a coronary artery after dilatation of the artery by balloon angioplasty. In the case of an occluded coronary artery, for example, the original blockage is typically attributable to fatty deposits or plaque on the inner lining of the vessel. A different mechanism, however, produces a new blockage after the angioplasty procedure is performed to compress the deposits against the inner lining of the vessel, as by balloon angioplasty, or by removal virtually entirely, using laser angioplasty or rotational cutting. The blood vessel wall is subjected to trauma by any of these procedures, which results in hyperplasia of the neointima, i.e., rapid proliferation of muscle cells in the affected region of the wall, to cause restenosis and re-occlusion of the vessel lumen in a significant percentage of angioplasty patients within a period of from three to six months following the initial procedure.
To avoid this re-occlusion and to maintain the lumen of the vessel open, it is now customary procedure to install a stent at the site in the vessel where the angioplasty was performed. The stent is deployed by radial expansion under pressure exerted by the inflating balloon of a balloon catheter on which the stent is mounted, to engage the inner lining or surface of the vessel wall with sufficient resilience to allow some contraction but also sufficient stiffness to resist to a great degree the natural recoil of the vessel wall that follows its expansion.
The presence of the stent itself in the bloodstream, however, promotes thrombus formation and clotting as blood flows through the vessel. This, too, can result in sufficient blockage of the coronary artery to produce an infarction. Thrombus formation and clotting at the inner lumen of the stent, and fibrosis and restenosis at the site of the vessel wall where the angioplasty was performed and the outer surface of the stent is now engaged, can be significantly reduced by application of appropriate acutely acting drugs in the locality of the stent. Some difficulty is encountered in providing a stent surface which is suitable for retention of the necessary drug(s) to achieve those purposes.
Additionally, it would be desirable to provide a stent with the capability to deliver an effective dose of radiation to tissue at the inner lining of a vessel from which a lesion has been removed or at which a lesion is produced, to further inhibit restenosis at that site. And for purposes of x-ray fluoroscopic viewing of the stent as it is being implanted, as well as examination after the stent delivery system is removed, it is desirable that the stent have a sufficient radiopacity without making its wall so thick that flexibility of the stent and lumen size of the vessel at the implant site are adversely affected.
It is a principal aim of the present invention to provide a stent and method of manufacture thereof which provides a suitable coating on the exposed surfaces of the stent to measurably reduce tissue irritation and, thereby, the traumatic response that produces rapid proliferation of the tissue, as well as to provide improved thrombogenicity, an elongate site for delivery of radiation therapy to irritated tissue, and an improved surface region for carrying an additional biodegradable coating that releases, for example, anti-fibrotic and anti-thrombotic drugs, which also avoids responses tending to initiate a reblockage of the vessel in which the stent is implanted, especially a coronary artery.
Another aim of the invention is to provide a stent with a special coating that resists occlusion of a blood vessel at the implant site attributable to either or both irritation-induced hyperplasia of the intimal and neointimal region of the vessel wall and stent-induced clotting and thrombus formation.
Yet another aim of the invention is to provide a stent which has improved radiopacity for X-ray fluoroscopy viewing without increasing the physical dimensions of the stent.
Still another aim of the invention is to provide a stent with a level of radioactivity sufficient to inhibit cell proliferation at the inner lining of the vessel wall at the implant site, without significant damage to healthy tissue in the vicinity.

Vascular and endoluminal stents with iridium oxide coating


It is an object to form a conductive intermediate layer having a function of maximally preventing a solder leaching phenomenon with a low environment load and with good productivity.

When electronic parts are mounted on a wiring circuit board on which a wiring circuit pattern is formed, generally an electronic part mounting land provided as part of the wiring circuit pattern is electrically connected to terminal electrodes of the electronic parts via a solder material.
For the purpose of preventing a phenomenon called "solder leaching", a conductive intermediate layer is formed on a surface of the electronic part mounting land of the wiring circuit board by an electrolytic plating method or electroless plating method. The "solder leaching" is a phenomenon that a wiring circuit pattern formed on a wiring circuit board leaches into a solder material. In order to prevent the "solder leaching", a method for forming a conductive intermediate layer as a barrier layer is often employed for solder-bonding electronic parts.
The conductive intermediate layer may be formed in consideration of its function of enhancing "solder wettability" between the solder material and the conductive intermediate layer in addition to the function of restricting the "solder leaching" phenomenon.
Conventionally, for the conductive intermediate layer, a bulk metal layer 3 formed on a conductive circuit layer 2 by a plating method is disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example.
Patent Document 2 discloses therein a technique for vacuum-depositing a metal such as copper on a circuit conductor layer 4 thereby to form a conductive metal layer 6 corresponding to the conductive intermediate layer.

Wiring circuit board and manufacturing method thereof

Abstract: There are provided an insulative base material 2, a wiring circuit pattern 3 formed on at least one surface of the insulative base material 2, an electronic part mounting land 31 which is formed as part of the wiring circuit pattern 3 and on which an electronic part 7 is to be mounted, and a conductive intermediate layer 5 made of a sintered conductive ink film on the electronic part mounting land 31.


A laser ignition device is used for igniting propellants in a rocket engine. The laser ignition device has an injector housing with passages for flowing gaseous hydrogen and liquid oxygen to injector elements which mix the hydrogen and oxygen in a combustion chamber. A laser ignition system assembly is inserted through the housing. The propellants in the housing keep the housing and the laser ignition system assembly cool. A laser beam entering the laser ignition system assembly via a fiber optic cable passes though a lens for diverging the laser beam and a second lens for converging the beam. A portion of the laser ignition system assembly extends beyond the injector housing face plate into the combustion chamber of the rocket engine. A multi-faceted pyramid reflector at the tip of the laser ignition system assembly in the combustion chamber splits the converging laser beam into beamlets which emerge from the laser ignition system assembly parallel to the ignition face plate and ignite the propellant a plurality of points in the combustion chamber adjacent to the injector elements. A purging gas may be introduced inside of the laser ignition system assembly to help cool the laser optic therein and helps keep the laser optics clean. The purging gas exits the laser ignition system assembly into the combustion chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to laser beams for igniting injector propellants, and more particularly to the structure for protecting the laser optics for use in cryogenic rocket engine injectors.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past laser beams have been used in place of spark plugs in some engines. The lasers used optical systems with a very intense focal point. The laser beams are so intense that the optical system quickly degrades due to the thermal energy of the laser beams degrading the optics.
Where laser beams have been introduced into engines through windows the lenses, windows and other optical components in the laser system have degraded due to thermal stress from the high temperatures in the combustion chambers.

Laser ignition for liquid propellant rocket engine injectors


A display substrate includes a base substrate, a reflection-polarization member, a first electrode, an insulation layer and a pixel wall. The reflection-polarization member is disposed on the base substrate to reflect and polarize incident light. The first electrode is disposed in a unit pixel area of the reflection-polarization member. The insulation layer is disposed on the first electrode. The pixel wall is disposed on the insulation layer and defines the unit pixel area. Therefore, the entire area of a unit pixel may be used as a reflective area or a transmissive area, and thus an aperture ratio may be improved in a reflection mode or a transmission mode.

1. Technical Field
Example embodiments of the present invention relate to a display substrate, and, more particularly, to a display substrate used in an electrowetting display device, a method of manufacturing the display substrate, and an electrowetting display panel having the display substrate.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
An electrowetting technique refers to coating a hydrophobic insulator on an electrode and varying the contact angle of a conductive liquid (e.g., water) and an interface shape of the conductive liquid and a non-conductive liquid (e.g., oil) by controlling surface characteristics of the hydrophobic insulator. Surface characteristics of the hydrophobic insulator are controlled by applying a voltage to the electrode and the conductive liquid, when the conductive liquid and the non-conductive liquid contact each other on the coated hydrophobic insulator. When a voltage is applied to a counter electrode that contacts water and a pixel electrode disposed under the hydrophobic insulator, the nature of the interface is changed to hydrophilic. The water is moved to contact the changed hydrophobic insulator, and thus the water pushes the oil because the contact angle of the water is decreased. As a result, contrast is displayed through the reflection of light.
A display device employing the electrowetting technology does not use a polarization plate, so that the display device employing the electrowetting technology has superior transmittance and reflectance, low manufacturing costs and power consumption and fast response time. Accordingly, there is a need for a display using the electrowetting technology.

Display substrate, method of manufacturing the same and electrowetting display panel having the display substrate


A new clock driver is described for the use in the phase detector of a clock and data recovery circuit (CDR). By building a resonant LC tank, whose center frequency is similar to the clock frequency, a low power clock driver is realized. A method based upon minimizing power consumption is described for determining the value of the programmable capacitance. A programmable capacitance adjusts the center frequency of the tank so it matches the frequency of the clock and a finite state machine at startup determines the value of this programmable capacitance. A criterion for tuning the center frequency of the tank is to choose the capacitance which leads to the lowest power consumption. A low Q tank affords a reasonable compromise between power efficiency and performance in the CDR circuit.

The invention relates to the field of clock and data recovery circuit, and in particular to a LC tank clock driver with automatic tuning.
One of the core blocks in a clock and data recovery circuit is the phase detector. A particular implementation of a phase detector is a half-rate binary phase detector reported by Hauenschild et al., in the paper entitled "A plastic packaged 10 GBPS and data recovery 1:4 demultiplexer with external VCO," disclose a half-rate implementation that uses two clocks which are orthogonal to each other, wherein each clock is loaded by ten latches. A disadvantage with such an implementation is that the aggregate device and interconnect capacitance on the clocks are substantial.
In high-speed applications, which often have tight jitter specifications, static CMOS logic is rejected in favor of current-mode logic (CML). FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a CML latch 100. A differential clock signal drives the lower differential pair whose inputs are EN 102 and ENB 104. In CMOS technology, the single-ended swing on these clock lines should be greater than 0.4V to guarantee that the differential pair fully directs the current IBLAT 105 to the drain of MEN 106 or MENB 108.
FIG. 2 illustrates circuit 200 for driving the differential clock lines of FIG. 1 using a differential pair with resistive loads. The outputs of the clock driver, denoted as CK 202 and CKB 204 drive the inputs EN (102 of FIG. 1) and ENB (104 of FIG. 1) of the CML latch (100 of FIG. 1). Resistance 206 in the clock driver is in concert with capacitance 208 of the phase detector and creates a pole. The location of this pole is preferably placed as a factor of twice the clock frequency to establish large amplitude signals at the output.
A suitable application for estimating the maximum size of the resistor is OC-192 SONET where the data rate is 9.954 Gbps. The tail current (ITAIL) 210, which should be small for low power, is inversely proportional to the value of the load resistor (RDRV) 206. In OC-192 SONET, the half-rate clock frequency is approximately 5 GHz. A bandwidth of 10 GHz on the clock lines is twice the clock frequency. Accounting for both device and interconnect capacitance, each latch can present a single-ended load on the order of 30 fF. The total capacitance that ten latches present on each clock line is 0.3 pF. A maximum resistance of 53 Ω yields 10 GHz of bandwidth. A voltage swing of 0.4V requires a minimum bias current of 7.5 mA. The total current for two clock drivers is at least 15 mA.
Whatever the precise merits, features, and advantages of the above cited prior art, none of them achieves or fulfills the purposes of the present invention.


A candidate voice segment sequence generator 1 generates candidate voice segment sequences 102 for an input language information sequence 101 by using DB voice segments 105 in a voice segment database 4. An output voice segment sequence determinator 2 calculates a degree of match between the input language information sequence 101 and each of the candidate voice segment sequences 102 by using a parameter 107 showing a value according to a cooccurrence criterion 106 for cooccurrence between the input language information sequence 101 and a sound parameter showing the attribute of each of a plurality of candidate voice segments in each of the candidate voice segment sequences 102, and determines an output voice segment sequence 103 on the basis of the degree of match.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a voice synthesizer that synthesizes a voice from voice segments according to a time sequence of input language information.
2. Description of Related Art
There has been proposed a voice synthesis method based on a large-volume voice database, of using, as a measure, a statistical likelihood based on an HMM (Hidden Markov Model) used for voice recognition and so on, instead of a measure which is a combination of physical parameters determined on the basis of prospective knowledge, thereby providing an advantage of having rationality and homogeneity in voice quality on the basis of a probability measure of the synthesis method based on the HMM, together with an advantage of providing high quality because of the voice synthesis method based on a large-volume voice database and aimed at implementing a high-quality and homogeneous synthesized voice (for example, refer to patent reference 1).
According to the method disclosed by patent reference 1, by using both an acoustic model showing a probability of outputting an acoustic parameter (a linear predictor coefficient, a cepstrum, etc.) series for each state transition according to phoneme, and a rhythm model showing a probability of outputting a rhythm parameter (a fundamental frequency etc.) series for each state transition according to rhythm, a voice segment cost is calculated from the acoustical likelihood of the acoustic parameter series for each state transition corresponding to each phoneme which constructs a phoneme sequence for an input text, and the prosodic likelihood of the rhythm parameter series for each state transition corresponding to each rhythm which constructs a rhythm sequence for the input text, and voice segments are selected according to the voice segment costs.


A luggage item is provided. The luggage item includes a support member for a rolling item of luggage, where the support member assists in enabling the luggage item to stand upright even when unattended. The support member may provide stability to the item of luggage when the item of luggage is upright, yet collapses when the luggage item is empty or at least partially unpacked.

Travelers commonly use luggage to transport personal belongings between one location and another. During transport, many travelers stand their luggage upright, on one end, at some point during their journey. For example, when at an airline ticket counter, many travelers stand their luggage upright while interacting with an airline representative. However, in many circumstances, the luggage cannot balance in this upright position without support from the traveler, and thus the luggage tips over, frustrating the traveler and possibly damaging fragile belongings contained therein.
Rolling luggage has become increasingly popular in recent years. A common configuration for this type of luggage includes a container or case portion that is generally rectangular in shape in which one or more articles can be stored for travel. The container is typically comprised of a base, side walls, ends, and a lid. A wheel assembly is commonly provided to allow the container to be rolled rather than carried. The wheel assembly generally includes a pair of wheels mounted at an interface of the base and one of the ends of the luggage. A telescoping handle assembly is generally provided attached to the base. The telescoping handle assembly has at least one, and usually two, telescoping posts that can extend from the top panel of the container, which are connected by a handle for wheeling the luggage.
Typically, such rolling luggage configurations are suitcases, which have substantially rigid sides and/or a substantially rigid lid, however suitcases can be heavy, and take up a large amount of storage space when not in use. Duffel bags are also popular because of their lightweight, flexible construction and ability to store a large quantity of items. In addition, the flexible material allows the duffel bag to be folded or crumpled for storage. However, because duffel bags are formed of flexible materials, it is generally not possible to stand them on their wheeled end unless they are very full of items because the sides and lid tend to sag under the weight of the non-wheeled end, which can tip the duffel bag over due to the weight of the telescoping handle assembly, and because the telescoping handle assembly tends to be rigid and cannot also sag uniformly with the sides and lid. Duffel bags have therefore not been successfully formed into wheeled articles of luggage.


Method of controlling electric valves of a converter using a universal algorithm for generating pilot signals (11) for multistage and multiphase line- and self-commutated converters (13, 14) is specified, by means of which it is possible to control different types of converters. The control algorithm can be realized as hardware or software. The invention is particularly suitable for multisystem locomotives. It is possible to change over to another feed system of the locomotive by a simple reprograming of a modulator (9) of a pilot signal generator (10). The modulator (9) and a pulse generator (8) receive modulator control signals (7) or pulse generator control signals (6) from a setter (5), together with which they form the pilot signal generator (10).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention proceeds from a method for controlling electric valves of a converter.
2. Discussion of Background
The invention refers to a prior art such as is disclosed by F. Bauer and H.-D. Heining, QUICK RESPONSE SPACE VECTOR CONTROL FOR A HIGH POWER THREE-LEVEL-INVERTER DRIVE SYSTEM, 3rd European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications, EPE Aachen, 9-12 Oct. 1989, Vol. 1, pages 417-420. A flux computer is used there for the field-oriented control of a converter-fed induction machine. GTO thyristors of a 3-level inverter are controled by means of pulse-duration modulation. Both the field-oriented control and the generation of the pulse patterns are implemented in a digital signal processor. In this case, each converter type requires a special control program or a special control circuit.


A light emitting device has: a light emitting element; a lead that is electrically connected to the light emitting element at its one end and serves as a terminal to supply a power source to the light emitting element; a metal base that the light emitting element is mounted thereon and radiates heat of the light emitting element; and a sealing member that is of transparent resin or glass and covers the light emitting element. The lead is secured to the metal base by a heat-resisting insulating member with a thermal expansion coefficient nearly equal to that of the metal base.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a light emitting device that a light emitting diode (hereinafter referred to as LED) as a light source is sealed with a moisture-impermeable material such as glass.
Also, this invention relates to a light emitting device that heat generated from a high-output light emitting element can be effectively radiated.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, light emitting devices using LED as a light source are known. An example thereof is a light emitting device that an LED element is integrally sealed with sealing resin such as epoxy resin.
The epoxy resin is widely available and is easy to mold. Therefore, it is widely used as a sealing material for light emitting device. However, the epoxy resin is gradually colored and turns yellow when it is irradiated by intensive light emitted from the LED element. If it is thus colored, the light output of the light emitting device must be reduced because light emitted from the LED element is absorbed by the colored portion.
Japanese patent application laid-open No. 11-204838 (herein referred to as prior art 1) discloses a light emitting device that an LED element is sealed with a moisture-impermeable glass layer with phosphors contained therein.
FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view showing the light emitting device disclosed in prior art 1. The light emitting device 50 is composed of: wiring conductors 51, 52; a cup portion 53 formed in the wiring conductor 52; the LED element 54 bonded at a bottom 53A of the cup portion 53; wires 55, 55 that each electrically connect between the electrode of LED element and the wiring conductors 51, 52; a glass layer 56 that seals the LED element 54 disposed inside the cup portion 53; phosphors 56A contained in the glass layer 56; a lamp-shaped sealing resin 57 that is transparent and seals all the above elements.
In this structure, since the LED element 54 is sealed with the glass layer 56 filled in the cup portion 53, the reduction of light output due to colored sealing material can be avoided. Further, the degradation of phosphor can be prevented because the glass layer blocks the permeation of moisture.
However, the light emitting device of prior art 1 has the next problems:
(1) Since the viscosity of glass layer is significantly greater than that of resin, air bubbles must be contained in the glass layer in sealing the LED element with the glass material. The air bubbles once contained therein are difficult to separate. Therefore, the air bubbles will remain in the glass layer.
(2) In sealing the LED element with glass, it is processed at a high temperature of 300° C. or higher. After the processing, the residual stress in the glass material is generated due to a difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the LED element and the glass material. The residual stress may cause a crack in the glass material when being subjected to a heat shock.
In recent years, high-output LED's are developed and a large output type LED at several watts output level is already manufactured. Although LED's are characterized by small heat release, the high-output (high-brightness) LED element must generate a considerable amount of heat because of a large current flow passed therethrough.
Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2000-150967 (herein referred to as prior art 2) discloses an LED package that a slug as heat sink is disposed below an LED element (LED die).
In the LED package of prior art 2, the slug is inserted to a lead frame over-molded with an embedded plastic member. The LED die is attached directly or indirectly to the slug through a sub-base that has a good thermal conductivity.
In this structure, since the LED die is thermally connected to the slug, the LED die can be kept at a bonding temperature lower than that of conventional packages. Because of being at the lower temperature, the LED die may be not subjected to a large thermal stress and, therefore, reliability and good characteristics thereof can be secured even at large power operation.
However, the LED package of prior art 2 has the next problems:
(1) The secondary support member (embedded plastic member) to over-mold the lead frame is required. Therefore, the number of parts must be increased and it is difficult to provide a compact package.
(2) Further, since the secondary support member is made of resin, the LED package does not have such a high heat resistance that it can be applied to the lead-free reflowing.

Light emitting device provided with a submount assembly for improved thermal dissipation


A shoe, soap or other article incorporates an integrated circuit having a first and a second input gate, and one or more outputs that can serve to supply power to a like number of light sources, like LEDs. The first input gate is responsive to a motion signal and acts to cause the integrated circuit to deliver a pattern of power signals to the one or more outputs. The second input gate is responsive to a second motion signal, the second motion signal actually being two or more motion signals occurring at a pre-determined frequency that the integrated circuit detects. The second input gate logically acts to cause the integrated circuit to alternate between a sleep mode and an active mode. The first input gate is disabled by the integrated circuit when the integrated circuit is in sleep mode.

Low cost, reliable LED's are commonly used as sources of illumination in objects such as fishing lures, soaps, shoes and other practical and novelty items. In order to keep the above referenced units inexpensive and lightweight, small batteries are used. For this reason, it is desirable to extend the shelf life and the useful life of such products by switching the LED's off when they are not in use. However, it is not always practical or possible to incorporate a conventional switch such as a toggle switch or a push-button switch. Prior art devices have utilised motion sensing or acceleration sensing switches such as mercury switches, spring and post switches, post and ring switches, accelerometers and the like. However, and particularly during shipping, such switches may be inadvertently activated causing the batteries to run down and thus reduce the life of the products.


Cantilevered cooking grills for campfires include a post having an upper end and an opposite, pointed lower end, a plurality of cantileverable arms slidably mountable into a cooking position, at first ends thereof, onto the first post so as to slidably journal the first post through collars rigidly mounted to the first ends, a plurality of cooking platforms mounted to corresponding second ends of the cantileverable arms, the second ends opposite the first ends, wherein each cooking platform of the plurality of cooking platforms is generally co-planar with its corresponding cantileverable arm of the plurality of cantileverable arms, a second post rigidly mounted at an end thereof perpendicularly to the first post, at a first location on the first post, the plurality of cantileverable arms, in a storage position slidably mountable, at the first ends thereof, onto the second post so as to slidably journal the second post through the collars rigidly mounted to the first ends, and so as to generally align parallel to each other the plurality of cantileverable arms and the first post, and so as to generally align co-planar to each other the cooking platforms, wherein the first location is a distance from an end of the first post generally not less than the longest of the combined lengths, a mounting member releasably mountable to the first post and over the plurality of cooking platforms when the plurality of cantileverable arms are in the storage position for releasably securing the plurality of cooking platforms to the first post.

Judging from the voluminous prior art in the field of portable cooking and barbecue grills, it can be inferred that the difficulties encountered when trying to cook over an open fire, such as a camp fire, are well understood and have resulted in the prior art post-mounted cooking and barbecue grills listed below.
Generally, it is recognized in the prior art that a convenient form of supporting cooking utensils over an open fire includes a single post which may be driven into the ground adjacent the fire. Cantilevered supports are adjustably mounted to the post so that a user may adjust the height of the supports over the open fire. The supports may be rigid cantilevered arms from which may be suspended cooking utensils. The cantilevered arms may have generally planar horizontal members such as grills mounted or mountable thereto. The cantilevered arms may be pivotally mounted to the post or may be rigidly affixed, for example, generally horizontally. The post may be stabilized merely by being driven into the ground to a suitable depth, or may be stabilized by a base member rigidly mounted to the post and extending generally horizontally therefrom adjacent a lowermost end of the post, so that when the post has been driven into the ground, the base member lies flush with the ground-level surface.
In the prior art, such devices are disclosed in the following patents:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. Nos.: 2,523,200 issued to Durst 2,604,884 issued to Walker 2,827,846 issued to Karkling 2,844,139 issued to Lucas 2,912,973 issued to Lucas 2,914,283 issued to Jorgenson 2,940,439 issued to Bartels 2,960,979 issued to Stone 2,974,662 issued to Forrest 2,977,953 issued to Dowdy 3,067,734 issued to Lucas 3,152,536 issued to Lucas 3,261,344 issued to Petric 3,344,780 issued to Anderson 3,395,692 issued to Johns 3,498,210 issued to O'Toole 3,526,217 issued to Garske 4,094,296 issued to Beagley 4,351,312 issued to Ivy 4,363,313 issued to Smith 4,538,589 issued to Preston 4,553,525 issued to Ruble 4,607,608 issued to Allred 4,719,898 issued to Stanislawski 4,854,297 issued to Shuman 4,856,423 issued to Burns 4,896,651 issued to Kott, Jr. 4,979,490 issued to Nudo 5,188,089 issued to Hamilton 5,287,844 issued to Fieber 5,307,797 issued to Klecfeld 5,355,867 issued to Hall 5,447,096 issued to Burge Canadian Patent Numbers: 1,170,136 issued to Connely 1,185,854 issued to Pianta 1,286,936 issued to Shuman 2,030,717 issued to Marshall ______________________________________
What is neither taught nor suggested in the prior art, and which it is an object of the present invention to provide, is a means of conveniently storing the cantilevered arms, cooking grills and post in a unitary package so as to occupy a minimum of space and so as to minimize weight. These are, of course, important features of a utensil intended to be carried by people backpacking or otherwise those who while camping do not have the luxury of a motorized camper.


Combination beverage and food containers. Various embodiments are configured to store a consumable beverage or otherwise consumable liquid as well as at least one second item which may comprise an edible foodstuff, such as for example, sandwich wedges, bagels, donuts, etc.

People often rely on prepackaged foods for a meal or snack, but eating them sometimes takes considerable effort, especially when multiple food containers are involved. One example is the triangular sandwich container that holds a pair of wedge-shaped sandwich halves behind a hermetic seal; another is a flimsy disposable plastic cup containing foodstuff like pasta salad requiring use of a utensil; third is a bag of chips, etc.; fourth is the common pull-tab aluminum beer can, and fifth is the most common example: a paper beverage (soda) cup with plastic lid and a straw—all which create large quantities of trash. Usually, you must place one container down in order to manipulate the other or its contents, or when the proximity of your neighbors hampers free movement and you can only squeeze food into your mouth. Other times, only a small amount of liquid and edible product is desired to satisfy one's cravings, as is often the case with children, but circumstances or venue often result in very expensive or super-sized options. None in today's marketplace, however, offers a balanced amount of food and drink in an affordable, single-piece disposable apparatus.
Hence, there is a need for a new and novel combination beverage container and storage vessel that holds both a pre-filled consumable liquid whether hot or cold, and, separately, a second product, presumably, but not limited to, foodstuff whether hot or cold or a non-edible item such as a toy or novelty, packaged together in a way which can be held in one hand and be easy to manipulate.
There is also a need for a combination beverage container and storage vessel which has balanced or proportional measures of consumable product in separate chambers or compartments, regardless of whether they are sealed.
There is also a need for a combination beverage container and storage vessel that is relatively easy and inexpensive to manufacture.
There is a further need for a combination beverage container and storage vessel that can be manufactured from a variety of different materials into various shapes and sizes.
There is a subsequent need for a combination beverage container and storage vessel that can incorporate variety of openable mouth holes or spouts protected by all kinds of hermetic seals to include peel-off or punch-through materials like foil, metals, perforations, paper, plastics, pop-tops, pull and fold tabs, twist-off caps, threaded nipple and screw cap (commonly referred to as the "re-closable spout"), a swivelable or rotatable closure assembly, a push/pull spout or a folding spout, possibly with a protrusion (such as for mounting of a pull-ring assembly) or without any protrusion (such as for typical foil seal closures).
There is another need for a combination beverage container and storage vessel whose design stimulates mass appeal.
There is also a need for a combination beverage container and storage vessel whose configuration(s) reduce waste.
Another need exists for a combination beverage and storage container that may hold relatively large amounts of beverage and foodstuffs or other items that is not necessarily capable of being hand-held.
The world is full of variants of food carriers and bottles and cans, and manufacturers have been known to affix separate packages onto these containers, such as promotional materials, prize tickets or tests of new flavors of consumables like beer nuts or gum. Further, many examples exist of single-piece or un-openable containers which utilize a double-wall construction technique, usually surrounding an external cavity, whose sole purpose is to benefit from the resulting thermophysical properties of the double wall construction techniques that diminish premature dissipation of a substance's (usually a consumable beverage) temperature residing within said external cavity. Others prefill this void with a non-edible substance for added insulation, again intended to reap the same or greater benefit.
Various embodiments disclosed herein may address one or more of the needs identified above and others. The foregoing discussion is intended only to illustrate some of the shortcomings present in the field of the invention at the time, and should not be taken as a disavowal of claim scope.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. The exemplifications set out herein illustrate various embodiments, in one form, and such exemplifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner.

Combination beverage and sandwich container


A pacing lead includes a first pacing cathode coupled to a first conductor, a second pacing cathode coupled to a second conductor, and a flexible anode coupled to a third conductor. The flexible anode has a length less than approximately 10 millimeters and is spaced apart from and proximal to the first pacing cathode and spaced apart from and distal to the second pacing cathode. The spacing between the anode and the first pacing cathode is approximately equal to the spacing between the anode and the second pacing cathode.

Implantable medical electrical stimulation and/or sensing leads are well known in the field of cardiac stimulation and monitoring, for example cardiac pacing and/or cardioversion/defibrillation, and in other fields of electrical stimulation or monitoring, for example of the central nervous system. In the field of cardiac stimulation and monitoring, lead electrodes are positioned at an endocardial or epicardial site and an implantable pulse generator (IPG), pacemaker or cardioverter/defibrillator, or a monitor is coupled to the heart through one or more of such endocardial or epicardial leads. Means for implanting such cardiac leads are known to those skilled in the art of pacing and defibrillation therapy.
More recently, medical electrical leads have been constructed to include a plurality of pacing and/or sensing electrodes from which one or more of the electrodes may be selected in order to optimize electrical stimulation therapy and/or monitoring. Additionally leads adapted for deep brain stimulation, and other leads adapted to stimulate other muscles of the body may include a plurality of electrodes from which one or more electrodes may be selected to optimize therapy.


Providing backward compatibility in terms of a media bitstream and a media player conforming to different versions of a media bitstream syntax specification. In one embodiment, a bitstream is made backward compatible by including in the bitstream a first entry for a feature available in the media bitstream and second entry for an updated feature available in the media bitstream, where the first entry is understood both by a media player supporting a first version of a syntax specification and a media player supporting an updated version of the syntax specification, and the second entry is understood by the media player supporting the updated version of the syntax specification, but is not understood by the media player supporting the first version of the syntax specification.

In recent years virtual reality (VR) has become increasingly popular. Advances in head-mounted displays (HMD) moves the barrier to make high quality VR more accessible to the mass market. Use cases for VR include gaming and VR video, also referred to as omnidirectional video or 360° video.
1. MPEG and Immersive Video
The Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is currently working on some activities for immersive video to be published in the MPEG-I set of standards. One activity concerns 3 degrees of freedom (3DoF), a.k.a. 360° video, where the user may look in all directions of a sphere using a head mounted display (HMD), but with fixed head position around the origin.
Another activity concerns extended 3 degrees of freedom (3DoF+) video, where the user experiences the whole sphere as in 3DoF video but has the freedom to look around objects to some extent by slightly moving the head. To realize this technically, a 3DoF+ scene is built up from a large number of views containing both texture and depth information. Intermediate views are synthesized using texture and depth from neighboring views.
MPEG has also an activity for six degrees of freedom (6DoF) video. In 6DoF video the user has full flexibility to look around objects in a much larger volume compared to 3DoF+, enough to let the user stand and possibly walk around. The plan to realize 6DoF video includes using a combination of background video and point cloud objects. Point cloud objects are described with geometry information (points in 3D space) and attributes attached to each point in the point cloud. Attributes may include color values (e.g. RGB textures), reflectance, occupancy and opacity.
The scope for 3DoF, 3DoF+ and 6DoF is illustrated in FIG. 1. All of 3DoF, 3DoF+ and 6DoF could support stereo viewing.
2. OMAF
One part of the MPEG-I standardization effort is to develop a media format for omnidirectional video. This media format is referred to as the Omnidirectional Media Format (OMAF). The first version of OMAF has been finalized and work is ongoing on the second version of OMAF, OMAF v2, which is expected to include added functionality including support for 3DoF+ video. In combination with signaling enablers, such as, for example, Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH), OMAF is used to support signaling of omnidirectional video over the Internet.
In the first version of OMAF two video codecs are supported: (1) Advanced Video Coding (AVC)/H.264 and (2) High Efficiency Coding (HEVC). Both codecs have been developed in the Joint Collaboration Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC), a collaboration effort between MPEG and ITU-T. MPEG and ITU-T are currently working on the next generation video codec, referred to as Versatile Video Codec (VVC), within the Joint Video Experts Team (JVET). VVC, which is likely to be supported by a future version of OMAF, is anticipated to have even better support for omnidirectional video than AVC and HEVC.
3. Projection Formats
Depending on the camera (or rig of cameras) and how the camera is capturing the 360° video, different projection formats exist. Two common projection formats supported by OMAF are: (1) equirectangular projection and (2) cube map projection. The equirectangular projection format can be easily explained with a world map, where the equator is ranging from left to right and with the pixels at the poles stretched along the top and bottom borders. The granularity is thus higher at the poles. The cube map projection is built up by six 2D video projections in the shape of a cube. A cube map video may be created by capturing 2D video with six cameras in six different orthogonal directions: up, down, front, back, left and right. FIG. 2 shows an example of a typical cube map.
To efficiently compress 360° video, the projected video format captured by the camera is typically packed into a picture that is more suitable for compression. This picture is referred to as a packed picture. After decoding the packed picture, the packed picture is unpacked to a picture with the projection format, referred to as a projected picture, before rendered to a HMD or display.
A simple use case for when packing a projected picture into a packed picture is useful is for the equirectangular projection format. Since the poles in equirectangular projections have higher granularity than the rest of the projected picture, the packed picture for compression may be compressed in terms of pixels at the poles. This is exemplified in FIG. 3 where the top and bottom areas are shrunk in the packed picture compared to the projected picture.
FIG. 4 shows an example of a typical use case for 360° video, where a 360° camera captures a scene and sends the 360° video to a server. The server then sends the video to a user with an HMD. The resolution of the projected picture may be larger than the resolution of the packed picture.
One observation that is easy to make is that the user only sees the video content in one direction at a time on the sphere. What is seen by the user on the sphere is referred to as the viewpoint. What is outside the viewpoint is not seen by the user and it is wasteful to send video data in this area, at least in high quality.
4. Tiled Video
One of the features in OMAF is to support tiling of video. Tiles of a picture are sometimes referred to as regions of a picture. A tiled video is built up by a number of tiles that are independently coded from each other, which means that a single tile can be extracted from the encoded bitstream and also be independently decoded. This is utilized in 360° video streaming to only send the tiles that are covering the current viewport in high quality. The other tiles may be skipped or transmitted at a lower quality.
FIG. 5 shows an example of a typical use case where tiles are utilized to enable high quality for the viewport and lower quality for the other area. As shown in FIG. 5, a camera captures 360° video and sends it to a server. The server creates a high quality and a low-quality version of the 360° video. The video is streamed using OMAF and DASH to a user with a HMD device. The HMD device detects in what direction the user is viewing and requests high quality tiles for the viewport and low-quality tiles for the remaining area. The server packs the requested high-quality tiles and low-quality tiles into a packed video picture and sends it to the HMD. The HMD unpacks the picture and projects the packed tiles at the right place on the projected picture.
5. Guard Bands
In OMAF, there is an option to use guard bands in the packed picture to improve the image quality when stitching tiles for projection. Guard bands may be used to seamlessly blend the borders between two regions. A guard band is defined in OMAF as an area in a packed picture that is not rendered but may be used to improve the rendered part of the packed picture to avoid or mitigate visual artifacts such as seams from stitching together regions from the packed picture. FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a projected picture with a projected region and its corresponding packed region in a packed picture with guard bands around it.
6. Region-wise Packing
OMAF supports 255 different regions for the packed picture. The region-wise packing in OMAF defines how regions in the packed picture are unpacked into regions in the projected picture. After decoding the regions in the packed picture, the regions are projected to the regions of the projected picture using the region-wise packing information in the bitstream, before being rendered to a display or HMD.
The syntax and semantics of the region-wise packing in the current OMAF v2 working draft (WD) (m17827 v1) is shown below in the tables and description below.
TABLE 184.108.40.206Syntax of the rectangular region packing structurealigned(8) class RectRegionPacking(i) {unsigned int(32) proj_reg_width[i];unsigned int(32) proj_reg_height[i];unsigned int(32) proj_reg_top[i];unsigned int(32) proj_reg_left[i];unsigned int(3) transform_type[i];bit(5) reserved = 0;unsigned int(16) packed_reg_width[i];unsigned int(16) packed_reg_height[i];unsigned int(16) packed_reg_top[i];unsigned int(16) packed_reg_left[i];}126.96.36.199 Semantics of the rectangular region packing structureproj_reg_width[i], proj_reg_height[i],proj_reg_top[i], and proj_reg_left[i] specify the width,height, top offset, and left offset, respectively, of the i-thprojected region, either withinthe projected picture (when constituent_picture_matching_flag isequal to 0) or within theconstituent picture of the projected picture (whenconstituent_picture_matching_flag isequal to 1). proj_reg_width_[i],proj_reg_height[i], proj_reg_top[i] and proj_reg_left[i] areindicated in relative projected picture sample units.NOTE 1:Two projected regions may partially or entirely overlap with each other.When there is an indication of quality difference, e.g., by a region-wisequality ranking indication, then for the overlapping area of any twooverlapping projected regions, the packed region corresponding to theprojected region that is indicated to have higher quality should be usedfor rendering.transform_type[i] specifies the rotation and mirroring that isapplied to the i-th packed regionto remap it to the i-th projected region. Whentransform_type[i] specifies both rotationand mirroring, rotation is applied before mirroring for convertingsample locations of apacked region to sample locations of a projected region. Thefollowing values arespecified:0: no transform1: mirroring horizontally2: rotation by 180 degrees (counter-clockwise)3: rotation by 180 degrees (counter-clockwise) beforemirroring horizontally4: rotation by 90 degrees (counter-clockwise) before mirroringhorizontally5: rotation by 90 degrees (counter-clockwise)6: rotation by 270 degrees (counter-clockwise) beforemirroring horizontally7: rotation by 270 degrees (counter-clockwise)NOTE 2:Clause 5.4.2 specifies the semantics of transform_type[i] forconvertinga sample location of a packed region in a packed picture to a samplelocation of a projected region in a projected picture.packed_reg_width[i], packed_reg_height[i],packed_reg_top[i], and packed_reg_left[i]specify the width, height, the offset, and the left offset,respectively, of the i-th packedregion, either within the packed picture (whenconstituent_picture_matching_flag is equalto 0) or within each constituent picture of the packed picture(whenconstituent_picture_matching_flag is equal to 1).packed_reg_width[i]packed_reg_height[i], packed_reg_top[i], andpacked_reg_left[i] are indicated in relativepacked picture sample units. packed_reg_width[i],packed_reg_height[i],packed_reg_top[i], and packed_reg_left[i] shallrepresent integer horizontal and verticalcoordinates of luma sample units within the decodedpictures.NOTE 3:Two packed regions may partially or entirely overlap with each other.
TABLE 188.8.131.52Syntax of the guard band structurealigned(8) class GuardBand(i) {unsigned int(8) left_gb_width[i];unsigned int(8) right_gb_width[i];unsigned int(8) top_gb_height[i];unsigned int(8) bottom_gb_height[i];unsigned int(1) gb_not_used_for_pred_flag[i];for (j = 0; j < 4; j++)unsigned int(3) gb_type[i][j];bit(3) reserved = 0;}188.8.131.52Semantics of the guard band structureleft_gb_width[i] specifies the width of the guard band on theleft side of the i-th packedregion in relative packed picture sample units. When the decodedpicture has 4:2:0 or4:2:2 chroma format, left_gb_width[i] shall correspond toan even number of lumasamples within the decoded picture. right_gb_width[i]specifies the width of the guardband on the right side of the i-th packed region in relative packedpicture sample units.When the decoded picture has 4:2:0 or 4:2:2 chroma format,right_gb_width[i] shallcorrespond to an even number of luma samples within the decodedpicture.top_gb_height[i] specifies the height of the guard bandabove the i-th packed region inrelative packed picture sample units. When the decoded picture has4:2:0 chroma format,top_gb_height[i] shall correspond to an even number ofluma samples within the decodedpicture. bottom_gb_height[i] specifies the height of theguard band below the i-th packedregion in relative packed picture sample units. When the decodedpicture has 4:2:0chroma format, bottom_gb_height[i] shall correspond to aneven number of luma sampleswithin the decoded picture.When GuardBand(i) is present, at least one ofleft_gb_width[i], right_gb_width[i],top_gb_height[i], or bottom gb_height[i] shallbe greater than 0.gb_not_used_for_pred_flag[i] equal to 0 specifies that theguard bands may or may not beused in the inter prediction process.gb_not_used_for_pred_flag[i] equal to 1 specifiesthat the sample values of the guard bands are not used in the interprediction process.NOTE 1:When gb_not_used_for_pred_flag[i] is equal to 1, the samplevalueswithin guard bands in decoded pictures could be rewritten even if thedecoded pictures were used as references for inter prediction ofsubsequent pictures to be decoded. For example, the content of a packedregion could be seamlessly expanded to its guard band with decodedand re-projected samples of another packed region.gb_type[i][j] specifies the type of the guard bandsfor the i-th packed region as follows, withj equal to 0, 1, 2, or 3 indicating that the semantics below applyto the left, right, top, orbottom edge, respectively, of the packed region:-gb_type[i][j] equal to 0 specifies that the content ofthe guard bands in relation to thecontent of the packed regions is unspecified. Whengb_not_used_for_pred_flag[i] isequal to 0, gb_type[i][j] shall not be equal to0.-gb_type[i][j] equal to 1 specifies that the content ofthe guard bands suffices forinterpolation of sub-pixel values within the packed region and less than onepixeloutside of the boundary of the packed region.NOTE 2:gb_type[i][j] equal to 1 could be used when the boundarysamples of apacked region have been copied horizontally or vertically to the guardband.-gb_type[i][j] equal to 2 specifies that the content ofthe guard bands represents actualpicture content that is spherically adjacent to the content in the packedregion and ison the surface of the packed region at quality that gradually changes fromthe picturequality of the packed region to that of the spherically adjacent packedregion.-gb_type[i][j] equal to 3 specifies that the content ofthe guard bands represents actualpicture content that is spherically adjacent to the content in the packedregion and ison the surface of the packed region at the picture quality of the packedregion.-gb_type[i][j] values greater than 3 arereserved.
TABLE 220.127.116.11Syntax of the region-wise packing structurealigned(8) class RegionWisePackingStruct( ) {unsigned int(1) constituent_picture_matching_flag;bit(7) reserved = 0;unsigned int(8) num_regions;unsigned int(32) proj_picture_width;unsigned int(32) proj_picture_height;unsigned int(16) packed_picture_width;unsigned int(16) packed_picture_height;for (i = 0; i < num_regions; i++) {bit(3) reserved = 0;unsigned int(1) guard_band_flag[i];unsigned int(4) packing_type[i];if (packing_type[i] == 0) {RectRegionPacking(i);if (guard_band_flag[i])GuardBand(i);}}}22.214.171.124Semantics of the region-wise packing structureconstituent_picture_matching_flag equal to 1 specifies that theprojected region information,packed region information, and guard band region information inthis syntax structureapply individually to each constituent picture and that the packedpicture and theprojected picture have the same stereoscopic frame packingformat.constituent_picture_matching_flag equal to 0 specifies that theprojected regioninformation, packed region information, and guard band regioninformation in this syntaxstructure apply to the projected picture. WhenSpatiallyPackedStereoFlag is equal to 0,constituent_picture_matching_flag shall be equal to 0.NOTE 1:For the stereoscopic content that uses equivalent region-wise packingfor the constituent pictures, setting this flag equal to 1 allows morecompact signalling of region-wise packing information.num_regions specifies the number of packed regions whenconstituent_picture_matching_flag is equal to 0. Value 0 isreserved. Whenconstituent_picture_matching_flag is equal to 1, the total numberof packed regions isequal to 2 * num_regions and the information inRectRegionPacking(i) and GuardBand(i)applies to each constituent picture of the projected picture andthe packed picture.proj_picture_width and proj_picture_height specify the width and height,respectively, of theprojected picture, in relative projected picture sample units.proj_picture_width andproj_picture_height shall both be greater than 0.NOTE 2:The same sampling grid, width, and height are used for the luma samplearray and the chroma sample arrays of the projected picture.packed_picture_width and packed_picture_height specify the width andheight, respectively,of the packed picture, in relative packed picture sample units.packed_picture_width andpacked_picture_height shall both be greater than 0.guard_band_flag[i] equal to 0 specifies that the i-th packedregion has no guard bands.guard_band_flag[i] equal to 1 specifies that the i-thpacked region has at least one guardband.packing_type[i] specifies the type of region-wisepacking.RectRegionPacking(i) specifies the region-wise packing between the i-thpacked region andthe i-th projected region.GuardBand(i) specifies the guard bands for the i-th packed region. Thesyntax and semanticsof GuardBand(i) are specified in clauses 0 and 0,respectively.
TABLE 47.6.4Region-wise packing box18.104.22.168DefinitionBox Type:'rwpk'Container:ProjectedOmniVideoBoxMandatory:NoQuantity:Zero or oneRegionWisePackingBox specifies the mapping between packed regions and the correspondingprojected regions and specifies the location and size of the guard bands, if any.NOTE:Among other information the RegionWisePackingBox also provides thecontent coverage information in the 2D Cartesian picture domain.184.108.40.206Syntaxaligned(8) class RegionWisePackingBox extends FullBox('rwpk', 0, 0) {RegionWisePackingStruct( );}18.104.22.168SemanticsClause 7.5.3 applies with the following additional constraint:-packed_picture_width and packed_picture_height shall have such values thatpacked_picture_width is an integer multiple of width and packed_picture_height is aninteger multiple of height, where width and height are syntax elements of theVisualSampleEntry containing this box.
TABLE 57.10.6Region-wise packing item property188.8.131.52DefinitionBox type:'rwpk'Property type:Descriptive item propertyContainer:ItemPropertyContainerBoxMandatory (per an item):NoQuantity (per an item):Zero or oneRegionWisePackingProperty specifies the mapping between packed regions and thecorresponding projected regions and specifies the location and size of the guard bands, if any.essential shall be equal to 1 for a 'rwpk' item property.220.127.116.11Syntaxaligned(8) class RegionWisePackingPropertyextends ItemFullProperty('rwpk', 0, 0) {RegionWisePackingStruct( ); /* specified in clause 7.5.3 */}126.96.36.199SemanticsClause 7.5.3 applies with the following additional constraint:-packed_picture_width and packed_picture_height shall have such values thatpacked_picture_width is an integer multiple of image_width and packed_picture_heightis an integer multiple of image_height, where image_width and image_height are syntaxelements of the ImageSpatialExtentsProperty associated to the image item.
The OMAF specification also mentions "The absence of RegionWisePackingBox indicates that no region-wise packing is applied, i.e., that the packed picture is identical to the projected picture". This is thus the default behavior when the RegionWisePackingBox is missing.
7. Compact Description of Region-Wise Packing Information
A proposal was introduced to have a more compact representation of the region-wise packing information. The proposal consisted of the following three different parts.
(1) Scale factor—Signal a scale factor and scaled values with reduced number of bits for the width, height, top and left offsets for projected and packed regions in the rectangular region packing structure. A flag is used to indicate if scaling is to be used.
(2) Copy size—Signal the region width and height only for the first region if all regions have the same size. A flag is used for each of the projected and packed picture to indicate whether all regions have the same size.
(3) Raster scan order—Do not signal the top and left offsets of the regions if all regions are ordered in raster scan order. The offsets can be reconstructed on the receiver side using the picture width and the widths and heights of the regions. A flag is used for each of the projected and packed picture to indicate whether all regions are ordered in raster scan order.
The above described proposal was proposed to MPEG in the contribution "m43436—On Compact Description of Region-Wise Packing information". The contribution was adopted in the OMAF Technology under Consideration (TuC) document.

Media bitstream having backwards compatibility


A seismically triggered valve is designed to shut off gas supply during an earthquake. A valve member is pivoted within a valve body, the valve member being mechanically movable to the open position. A magnet is fixed to the valve member, and a ferromagnetic ball is free on a concave surface. The center of the concave surface is aligned with the magnet; but, when the valve is shaken, the ball moves and releases the magnet. The valve member moves by gravity, but is assisted by a spring bias towards the closed position. A control rod can engage the valve member to open the valve, and can mechanically close the valve if desired. Further, a bleed passage connecting the valve body with the outlet is controlled by the control rod selectively to bleed off pressure within the valve body. The valve body is formed integrally. with an open top, and the sensor is received within the open top to close the top and properly locate the sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to automatically operable valves, and is more particularly concerned with a valve that is automatically closable on occurrence of a seismic event of a predetermined severity.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In areas of the world in which earthquakes, or seisms, are reasonably expectable there is concern for collateral damage flowing from the seism. By way of example, even though a relatively slight amount of damage may be caused to a structure, it is possible that a gas line will be broken, and major damage may be caused by a gas explosion. Similarly, toxic or otherwise hazardaous gases may be released into the atmosphere. In an effort to prevent collateral damage, there have been automatically operable valves and the like to terminate the flow of gas or other fluids early in the occurrence of the seismic event.
The prior art valves have generally been rather complex mechanically, frequently including one or more linkages that must be operated to open or close the valve. Other valves may be somewhat simpler, but none of the prior art valves is easily variable so that severity of the seism required to operate the valve can be changed at will. One exception to the last statement is the U.S. Pat. No. 5,115,829 to Franzke. This patent discloses a rather simple automatically operable valve, the sensitivity of which is relatively easy to change. However, the Franzke patent is somewhat crudely done, with a housing fabricated from sheet stock, and the device does not lend itself to mass manufacture or efficient operation.


A slide valve system for a powder or liquid reservoir bottle which closes the reservoir bottle and allows the reservoir bottle to be tipped away from a subjacent dispensing bottle fed by the reservoir bottle. Once the reservoir bottle is tipped away the slide valve can be opened and the reservoir bottle filled. The reservoir bottle can then be closed by the slide valve and tipped back onto the dispensing bottle. Once on top of the dispensing bottle the valve can be opened and the contents of the reservoir bottle can enter the dispensing bottle by gravity flow. The slide valve must be closed in order to rotate the reservoir bottle away from the dispensing bottle. Likewise, the reservoir bottle must be locked in a vertical position with the reservoir bottle over the dispensing bottle in order to open the slide valve.

Powders or liquids can be dispensed from dispensing bottles in vending machines and the like. It is convenient to have a reservoir bottle above the dispensing bottle to keep the dispensing bottle filled at all times. The reservoir bottle can be removed, filled, and attached to the dispensing bottle as needed so that the dispensing operation is never interrupted. However, the reservoir bottle often needs to be tipped away from or onto the dispensing bottle to disengage or engage the dispensing bottle. During this procedure material can spill out of the reservoir bottle. A simple and practical valve system to open or close the reservoir bottle during the process of removing or connecting the reservoir bottle to the dispensing bottle would provide a cleaner and safer filling procedure.


A memory system includes: a bit counter and a regression analyzer. The bit counter is configured to generate a plurality of count values based on data read from selected memory cells using a plurality of different read voltages, each of the plurality of count values being indicative of a number of memory cells of a memory device having threshold voltages between pairs of the plurality of different read voltages. The regression analyzer is configured to determine read voltage for the selected memory cells based on the plurality of count values using regression analysis.

Field
Inventive concepts described herein relate to semiconductor memory devices, and more particularly, to memory systems capable of deciding a read level in high speed, and read methods thereof.
Description of Conventional Art
Semiconductor memory devices may be volatile or nonvolatile. The volatile semiconductor memory devices may perform read and write operations at high speeds, while contents stored therein may be lost at power-off. The nonvolatile semiconductor memory devices may retain contents stored therein even at power-off. The nonvolatile semiconductor memory devices may be used to store contents, which must be retained regardless of whether they are powered.
A flash memory device may be a typical nonvolatile semiconductor memory device. The flash memory device may be widely used as a voice and image data storing medium of information appliances such as a computer, a cellular phone, a PDA, a digital camera, a camcorder, a voice recorder, an MP3 player, a handheld PC, a game machine, a facsimile, a scanner, a printer, and the like.
With an increase in a need for a large-capacity memory device, a multi-level cell (MLC) or multi-bit memory device storing multi-bit data per cell is becoming more common. However, memory cells in an MLC memory device must have threshold voltages corresponding to four or more discriminable data states in a limited voltage window. For improvement of the data integrity, levels of read voltages for discriminating the data states must be adjusted to have optimal values.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Semiconductor memory systems using regression analysis and read methods thereof


A concentrating solar mirror panel assembly having a reflective sheet with a reflective major surface and an opposing major surface and a corrugated stiffener having ridges and troughs each having an outer surface with land areas, wherein the land areas of at least a portion of the ridges are joined to at least a portion of the opposing major surface of the reflective sheet. The concentrating solar mirror panel assembly is non-planar and substantially rigid. The concentrating solar mirror panel assembly is assembled such that a desired non-planar shape is maintained: either using a locking sheet or having the corrugated stiffener attached so that its principal axes of corrugation are substantially perpendicular to the axis of curvature of the assembly. Methods of making the concentrating solar mirror panel assembly are also disclosed. Concentrated solar power systems and solar collection devices are also disclosed.

Concentrated solar power (CSP, also known as "concentrating solar power") technology uses sunlight directed at heat transfer fluids that heat up and whose thermal energy is then transferred (e.g., for heating) or turned into electrical power (e.g., by use of a turbine generator). CSP systems typically use lenses or reflectors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. The concentrated sunlight is then used as a heat source for a conventional power plant (e.g., a steam driven turbine generator). A wide range of concentrating technologies exists; the most developed are the solar trough, parabolic dish and solar power tower.
Concentrating or concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) systems include photovoltaic cells or other photovoltaic materials that convert the energy within sunlight to electrical energy. Reflective, refractive, or both reflective and refractive elements are used to concentrate sunlight onto the photovoltaic cells or materials. The use of the reflective and/or refractive materials reduce the quantity of the more expensive photovoltaic materials required in the system.
For both CSP and CPV systems, it is important to accurately reflect solar energy on a target. In order for reflectors to maintain reflected solar energy on a target, they must hold their shape, and they must be able to withstand environmental challenges that may change their shape, position, or integrity. More difficulties in meeting these requirements may be encountered for CSP reflectors due to their relatively larger size.
CSP reflectors made of silver-coated glass panels are relatively expensive, heavy (e.g., more than two times heavier than its sheet metal analogs), difficult to handle, and fragile. Such glass panels may not stand up to extreme environments (e.g., high wind speeds, hail, and debris damage). Recent efforts have been made to make thin film systems to replace these glass based mirrors. Film systems are substantially lighter and more resistant to fracture than glass. However, such films alone are not stiff enough to accurately reflect energy on a target. Even film systems including lamination of the film substrate to an aluminum sheet (e.g., 0.025 to 0.13 centimeters thick) typically do not produce reflectors that are stiff enough to handle the extreme environmental conditions described above. Stiffening approaches include reinforcement with perforated panel and tab structures and the use of reinforcing ribs.
Despite the advances in the industry, reliable and cost-effective methods for stiffening or reinforcing reflectors for use in solar technologies are still needed.

Concentrating solar mirror panel assembly with corrugated stiffener


A circuit analyzes the configured status of cells with a magnetic layer system, resistance of which may be altered by magnetic field pulses, forming a first line branch with data cells arranged in series and a second line branch with configurable cells arranged in series. The circuit includes a difference amplifier for determining a voltage signal giving the difference voltage of the line branches. Also included in the circuit is a voltage shifter for shifting the voltage signal to a value other than 0 volts, such as an adder or subtractor. In addition, the circuit includes a comparator or window comparator, for the decision as to whether the voltage signal lies in a valid or forbidden range and an evaluation unit for evaluating a valid voltage signal and for output of a logical low or high signal.

Described below is a digital logic unit which can be reconfigured in nonvolatile form having cells which have a magnetic layer system and whose resistance can be altered by magnetic field pulses. Included in the digital logic unit are a first line path containing series-connected data cells and a second line path containing series-connected configurable configuration cells and a logic unit for evaluation of the configured states.
These cells allow information to be stored on a magnetic basis. The magnetization of a layer of the cell's magnetic layer system can be changed by a magnetic field pulse, which changes the magnetoresistance of this layer by a few percent. The respective resistance can be read and is a measure of the logic state of the cells.
It has already been proposed to implement programmable logic functions with cells which make use of the GMR effect. Such logic circuits may be of similar design to known programmable logic arrays and use magnetoresistive cells as nonvolatile programmable elements or as arrays of logic gates, the logic functions being able to be programmed by magnetic logic. These logic circuits have the advantage that both the program information and the data are nonvolatile. It is therefore possible to reprogram an entire logic array to a particular configuration as required.
The article "Programmable logic using giant-magnetoresistance and spin-dependent tunneling devices" (Black and Das, Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 87, No. 9, Jan. 5, 2000) proposes magnetic comparator logic with a first line path containing series-connected data cells and a second parallel data path containing series-connected configuration cells. The possible states are evaluated by comparing configured magnetic cell contents with data cells. Both paths, that is to say the data cells and the configuration cells, carry a prescribed constant current, and the voltage drops produced by the respective cells are supplied to the inputs of a comparator. The magnetic configuration of the individual cells, which have either a high or a low resistance, produces a stepped signal profile. At the lowest voltage value, all the resistors have a low value, and if one has a high value and all the others have a low value then the next level is produced. To be able to evaluate the configured states, a comparator is required which ascertains the difference voltage for the two parallel paths. The comparator is able to check whether a particular condition is met; by way of example, the condition may be: "resistance of the path for the data cells is less than or equal to the resistance of the path for the configuration cells". Stipulating the switching thresholds is difficult, however, since a series of parameters influences the properties of the magnetic cells. By way of example, these include the inequality of current sources in the two paths, fluctuations caused by lithography, discrepancies in the supply resistors, any asymmetric response which the comparator may have, and other effects.

Digital logic unit reconfigurable in nonvolatile fashion


Device for assaying an analyte, comprising a labelling zone, where a label can bind to the analyte, in communication with a capture zone, wherein the pore size of the capture zone is such that label which is not bound to the analyte can migrate therethrough, whereas label which is bound to the analyte cannot. During migration from the labelling zone (large pore size) to the capture zone (small pore size), unbound label can pass into and through the capture zone, whereas bound label will be captured at the junction of the labelling zone and the capture zone. The device relies upon the label being smaller than the analyte, such that free label is not retarded by the capture zone. It is particularly suitable for assying analytes such as spermatozoa, which are large in comparison with a label such as a labelled antibody.

The format of the standard rapid test lateral flow device has remained unchanged for around ten years. Typically, the device will comprise a nitrocellulose strip. Sample is applied to an application zone, from which it flows by capillary action through a zone containing a visibly-labelled antibody specific for the analyte in question. Free and bound label continue to migrate to a capture zone, where immobilised antibody specific for the analyte binds the analyte-label complex. Free label (unbound antibody) continues to migrate, leaving an analyte-specific signal in the capture zone. These types of lateral flow device are disclosed in, for example, EP-A-0284232. Numerous variations to the basic assay have been described, including those in WO92/12428, EP-A-0613005, WO97/06439, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,662.
In all cases, however, capture of the analyte-label complex is mediated by an immobilised reagent, which is typically an antibody that is specific for the analyte. This is unsatisfactory in many respects.
Firstly, manufacturing quality control is difficult. The solid phase capture membrane is typically made from nitrocellulose, and antibodies are applied to the membrane directly. Nitrocellulose manufacture is not, however, homogeneous. Quality control of the solid phase antibody is therefore limited to testing a statistical sample of devices from the same, but heterogeneous, batch, and assuming that the whole batch will perform within specific tolerances. It is well known, however, that membranes vary considerably, even within a single batch or lot number.
Secondly, they are relatively cumbersome to manufacture. The application of immobilised antibody to the strip requires a separate step from the application of the mobile labelled antibody. The capture antibody can be sprayed directly onto the nitrocellulose strip, but the label antibody has to be soaked into material which is subsequently attached to the nitrocellulose strip, with an overlap to ensure capillary flow.
Thirdly, antibody is immobilised by spraying a solution onto a membrane. Some of the antibody does not bind to the membrane strongly, however, and some remains loosely associated with immobilised antibody. This semi-bound or unbound antibody can become mobile when the solvent front passes over it, resulting in lower binding of label at the detection zone. If the device includes a control line, this will capture the additional label which should have been captured at the detection zone. Tests that rely on a comparison of colour intensity between control and detection lines, such as ovulation prediction kits, may therefore give false results. Furthermore, application by spraying inevitably leads to diffusion into the membrane, leading to a more diffuse and less focused detection signal.
Fourthly, the sensitivity of the devices is limited by their format. Analyte and labelled-antibody react as they migrate through the membrane, and flow rates are therefore adjusted to enable the labelled-antibody to flow at the solvent front in order to maximise the amount of time in which the analyte-label complex can form. The complex passes over the capture antibody for a short time, however, thus imposing constraints on the design of the test and its performance characteristics. The short reaction time decreases sensitivity, and also means that high affinity capture antibodies are required.
Finally, the shelf-life of these test devices is often limited by the collapse of the immobilised capture antibody onto the membrane over time.
These shortcomings in the prior art devices are addressed by the present invention, which does not use immobilised antibody to capture an analyte-label complex.

Assay using porosity-reduction to inhibit migration