A gun sight system featuring point-to-point visual alignment is provided. A front sight coupled to a forward end of a gun includes a top sighting point and optionally lateral sighting points. A rear sight coupled to a rearward end of the gun includes a pair of spaced apart rear lateral sighting points each visually alignable with and visually touching one of the front lateral sighting points or the top sighting point for visually touching the top sighting point with a target while simultaneously visually aligning at least one of the rear lateral sighting points with a point on the front sight.

Traditional gun or firearm sighting systems include a sighting device on the rear and front of the gun. These two sighting devices have various visual references, which, when aligned, are then referenced with the intended target, producing a "sight picture" whose purpose is to align the barrel of the firearm, and thus the projectile, as closely with the target as possible.
The most common form of traditional sight, known also as "iron sights" includes a front sight and a rear sight. The rear sight includes a solid, opaque, rectangular block having a central notch disposed therein and mounted crosswise on the rear end of a gun. The front sight includes a front rectangular post mounted on a front end of a gun barrel. A shooter looks through the central notch of the rear sight, and attempts to make the front rectangular post of the front sight appear to fill the gap in the central notch.
Specifically, proper sighting is assumed when a flat top surface of the front rectangular post appears to be even with a flat top surface of the rear notched sight, and additionally, when two opposing flat sides of the post appear to be exactly centered in between two interior flat surfaces that comprise the left and right edge of the cut out notch or gap in the rear sight. The user attempts to achieve this by guessing when the two apparent gaps between the left and right sides of the front post are identically spaced, in apparent relation to the left and right sides of the square notch in the rear sight. This attempts to account for the left to right alignment of the barrel. The user must then also examine the flat upper surfaces of the front and rear sights for alignment as well. This accounts for the vertical alignment of the barrel. Finally, while holding these in alignment, the user must then align a general area of a top of the square front post with a general area of an intended target.
A number of less common variations of gun sights exist in the form of, for example, a bead front sight comprised of a small round bead mounted on top of a post; a V-shaped notched rear sight; and a peep sight defined by having a fully enclosed round opening on the rear sight, which is indexed to a bead on a front post.
Less common variations include front sights which are triangle or diamond shaped, or circular. Some notch and post type gun sights, particularly on pistols, have a white round dot on the front post and one white dot on the left and right sides of the rear sights also. These are supposed to be judged and aligned together in an even row, along with the target.
All these variations, however, have a common and consistent theme: all have open spaces or gaps which are the only references for proper alignment. This theme prevails throughout the geometric sights shapes of the known prior art.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 882,182 issued on Mar. 17, 1908 to Thompson discloses a front sight for a firearm. The stated purpose of this device is to simply provide a brightened, higher contrast front sight picture to aid in target acquisition. Column 1, lines 9-18 state "The present invention provides a novel form of sight to be fitted to the front of small firearms . . . the sight embodying an indicator of contrasting color . . . readily discerned by reason of striking contrast between it and the body." A variation includes an apex which in operation is turned sideways such that a broad rectangular side having indicator (3a) thereon is facing toward the shooter's eye. Hence, the sighting indicator is a traditional, flat topped sight intended for use with traditional square rear notched sights. Accordingly, this system still requires mental estimation.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,171,310 issued on Feb. 8, 1916 to Bisbee discloses a front sight and states at column 1, lines 14-20 that "In order to accomplish the desired result use is made of a front sight having a sloping bright surface of the sight leading to the sighting point on the top of the sight to enable the user of the firearm to readily see the sighting point through the notch or opening in the breech sight." Though one part of the front sight does exhibit a diamond shape with facets/points, this is intended only as a reference between the front sight and the target, not between the front and rear sights. It is intended to be used with conventional rear sights. Hence, this system still requires mental estimation.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,268,537 issued on Jun. 4, 1918 to Bader teaches a front sight for firearms which is also intended as a visual variation on the front sight alone and involves circles and other curved lines to aid in target acquisition, with no mention of any apex/points or alignment of any sort with the rear sight. This system also still requires mental estimation.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,755,635 issued on Apr. 22, 1930 to Dindinger teaches a gun sight and states at column 1, lines 3-4 that "The primary object of this invention is to provide a novel construction of foresight, which may be used advantageously in connection with any practical and well known form of rear sight opening . . . . " Dindinger is mainly concerned with a less obstructed front sight picture as well as with light reflective coatings to improve visibility and contrast. This sighting system still requires mental estimation.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,706,335 issued on Apr. 19, 1955 to Munsey teaches a gun sight mainly concerned with the use of a fiber optic, end emitting plastic tube in the front sight, for a higher contrast front sight picture. One of its proposed variations, number 32, does have a point/apex, but like Bisbee above, this also is intended as a reference between the front sight and target only, and teaches no unique alignment with the rear sight. Hence, this system still requires mental estimation.
U.S. Pat. No. D382,038 issued on Aug. 5, 1997 to Nigh teaches an ornamental design for a geometric firearm sight, as shown in the drawings which requires mental estimation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,822,872 issued on Oct. 20, 1998 to Waki teaches an open blade rear sight for pistol, rifle or shotgun and is concerned with providing an opening below the square or rectangular notch found in the upper surface of the traditional rear sight, for a more unobstructed view of the target as stated at column 1, lines 20-23. Hence, this system still requires mental estimation.
Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,616 issued on May 9, 2000 to Bubits teaches a sighting device for small arms and states on column 2, lines 2-7 that "The two converging unobstructed gaps which are produced between the sides of the trapezoidal rear notch sight cutout and the sides of the triangular outline of the front sight lead the eye—assisted by the contrast strips—toward the target and, in addition, are used for horizontal adjustment." Thus, Bubits teaches a sighting system that clearly requires mental estimation wherein the gaps themselves are the references, and the mind must fill in and guess when they are both aligned properly with the front triangle. This concept of "gaps and guesses" is exactly the same as traditional "notch and post sights," other than the slopes and angles.
Accordingly, this prevalent theme in all of the known prior art of requiring mental estimation due to intentional gaps and spaces between the various reference surfaces is problematic in that a subconscious mind must struggle to take what visual information is provided, fill in the gaps literally, and then estimate or essentially guess when alignment is present. Because of the relative paucity of exact visual information relayed to the mind, acquiring even moderate proficiency with known prior art gun sight systems requires years of regular and frequent practice to train and coordinate the eyes, body and mind. No matter whether the gaps are sloped surfaces, diamonds or circles, the intended gaps still require the mind to fill in the space intentionally left, and then reference this alignment also with the target. This requires a tremendous amount of subconscious mental effort and is the main impediment to easy and accurate shooting and the reason why proficiency with any sort of firearm currently requires years of practice to master. This has profound implications not only for recreational target shooters, but especially for those in law enforcement and the military, where funding and training time is limited, yet speed and accuracy can often be a matter of life and death.
For the foregoing reasons, there is need for a gun sighting system that addresses the above delineated deficiencies in the known prior art gun sighting systems. Particularly, there is a need for a gun sighting system that substantially eliminates mentally estimating or guessing as to when alignment is present. Also, there is a need for a gun sighting system that is designed to work with the actual physiology of the eye and mind, thus substantially eliminating mental estimation or guessing when alignment is present.

Gun sight featuring point-to-point alignment


A control apparatus for a cylinder-injection spark-ignition internal combustion engine switches control mode in accordance with an engine operating state between compression stroke injection mode control, in which fuel is injected during the compression stroke to achieve stratified combustion, and suction stroke injection mode control, in which fuel is injected during the suction stroke to achieve uniform mixture combustion. Where regular gasoline lower in octane number than premium gasoline is used, a target mean effective pressure (P.sub.e), which is set in accordance with throttle opening (.theta..sub.th), is subjected to octane number-based correction to thereby compensate for an engine output change at the mode switching, whereby a torque shock at the time of mode switching is prevented.

In order to reduce harmful exhaust gas components or improve the fuel efficiency of a spark-ignition internal combustion engine mounted on a vehicle, there have recently been proposed various types of cylinder-injection gasoline engines, in which fuel is injected directly into the combustion chamber, in place of conventional manifold-injection engines.
In cylinder-injection gasoline engines, fuel is injected from a fuel injection valve to, for example, a cavity formed on the top of a piston so that, at the time of ignition, an air-fuel mixture having an air-fuel ratio close to the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio may be produced around the spark plug. This permits firing even with an air-fuel mixture, which is lean as a whole, thereby reducing the emission amounts of CO and HC, and also greatly improves the fuel efficiency during idling or low-load travel.
In this type of gasoline engine, moreover, injection mode is switched between a compression stroke injection mode and a suction stroke injection mode in accordance with an operating state of the engine, that is, engine load. Specifically, during a low-load operation, the compression stroke injection mode in which fuel is injected mainly during the compression stroke is selected to produce a mixture with an air-fuel ratio close to the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio locally around the spark plug or in the cavity, so that satisfactory stratified combustion may take place even with an air-fuel mixture, which is lean as a whole (this injection mode is referred to as compression-lean mode). Since, in the compression stroke injection mode, engine operation is achievable even if the overall air-fuel ratio is set to a large value (e.g., to an air-fuel ratio of "40"), fresh intake air and recirculated exhaust gas (EGR) can be supplied to the cylinder in large quantities, whereby the pumping loss is reduced, thereby remarkably improving the fuel efficiency. It is, therefore, desirable that the region of engine operation in the compression stroke injection mode should be expanded as large as possible to improve the fuel efficiency.
In medium- and high-load operations, on the other hand, the suction stroke injection mode, in which fuel is injected mainly during the suction stroke, is selected to produce a mixture having a uniform air-fuel ratio throughout the combustion chamber, so that the output required during acceleration or high-speed travel can be obtained by burning a large quantity of fuel, as in manifold-injection gasoline engines (Where the air-fuel ratio is controlled to a value in the vicinity of the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, the injection mode is called stoichiometric-feedback (S-FB) mode, and where the air-fuel ratio is controlled to a leaner side (e.g., to an air-fuel ratio of about "22") than the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, the injection mode is called suction-lean mode).
In manifold-injection gasoline engines, the combustible air-fuel ratio zone (lean-burn zone) of the mixture supplied to the engine is narrow, and therefore, almost constant output torque is obtained in the entire combustible air-fuel ratio zone insofar as the volumetric efficiency E.sub.v is constant. Namely, the engine output torque is determined substantially uniquely by the volumetric efficiency E.sub.v. Accordingly, in manifold-injection gasoline engines, the values of engine control parameters, such as a target air-fuel ratio and target ignition timing, are set based on the volumetric efficiency E.sub.v obtained from the output of an air flow sensor, for example, and the engine operation is controlled in accordance with the control parameter values.
On the other hand, in the compression stroke injection mode control of the cylinder-injection gasoline engine, fuel is injected to the cavity at top of the piston so that stratified combustion of a lean mixture as a whole may take place, as mentioned above, and thus normal combustion is achievable if a combustible air-fuel mixture is present only around the spark plug. In other words, compared with the manifold-injection gasoline engine, the cylinder-injection engine has a much wider combustible air-fuel ratio range in terms of the overall air-fuel ratio. Specifically, in the compression stroke injection mode control of the cylinder-injection gasoline engine, engine operation is achievable over a wide air-fuel ratio range of from an ultra-lean air-fuel ratio (e.g., "50"), which is a lean-side combustible limit, to a rich-side combustible air-fuel ratio limit (e.g., an air-fuel ratio of "20"). Accordingly, even if the value of volumetric efficiency is the same, the engine output torque greatly varies with different target air-fuel ratios. The engine output torque changes nearly in proportion to the fuel supply quantity. This means that it is difficult to properly set the values of the engine control parameters, such as the target air-fuel ratio and the target ignition timing, in the compression stroke injection mode of the cylinder-injection gasoline engine in accordance with the volumetric efficiency E.sub.v.
To overcome the difficulty, the applicant hereof has proposed using, in place of the volumetric efficiency E.sub.v, an in-cylinder effective pressure P.sub.e as a parameter representative of the engine output when setting the engine control parameter values, such as the target air-fuel ratio and the target ignition timing, in the compression stroke injection mode control of the cylinder-injection gasoline engine or when determining whether or not mode switching between the compression stroke injection mode and the suction stroke injection mode is to be performed. More specifically, a target in-cylinder effective pressure (load value) P.sub.e, which is correlated with the engine output that the driver desires, is obtained based on the accelerator opening (throttle valve opening) and the engine rotational speed, and the fuel supply quantity (target air-fuel ratio), ignition timing, etc. are set in accordance with the target value P.sub.e.
In spark-ignition engines, the ignition timing is a critical factor that determines the engine output, fuel efficiency, etc. Where air-fuel mixture is burned under the same conditions, optimum ignition timing MBT (Minimum spark advance for Best Torque) for producing a maximum torque is uniquely determined. If the ignition timing shifts from the optimum ignition timing to an advance (advance angle) side or a retard (retard angle) side, then the combustion pressure cannot be effectively utilized, lowering both the output and the fuel efficiency. In cases where low-octane fuel is used, the ignition timing generally needs to be retarded from the optimum ignition timing MBT in order to prevent the occurrence of knocking or the like. Therefore, the frequency of knocking is monitored with the use of a knock sensor or the like, and while the frequency of knocking is low, the ignition timing is shifted to as close timing to the MBT as possible to thereby prevent the output or the fuel efficiency from lowering.
In cylinder-injection spark-ignition gasoline engines, a shock accompanying the switching of injection modes should desirably be prevented, and it is also desirable that the engine control at the time of mode switching be facilitated. To meet the needs, the applicant hereof has proposed controlling the engine at the time of mode switching by the method described below.
FIG. 1 shows an output torque T of the cylinder-injection gasoline engine in each of the compression-lean mode, suction-lean mode and S-FB mode as a function of ignition timing SA.
In FIG. 1, curve I indicated by the one-dot-chain line, curve II indicated by the broken line, and curve III indicated by the solid line respectively, show the engine characteristics in the compression-lean mode, the suction-lean mode, and the S-FB mode. The characteristic curves I, II, and III are plotted based on data obtained through test operations of the engine in the respective injection modes under the same conditions (the engine control parameter values such as the air-fuel ratio, and environmental parameter values such as atmospheric density are fixed). Also, in FIG. 1, sign .circle-solid. (points A, B and C) represents the ignition timing at which a torque corresponding to a mean effective pressure value XP.sub.e is obtained in the case where premium gasoline is used, and sign .DELTA. (points A1, B1 and C1) represents the ignition timing at which a maximum torque is obtained without entailing knocking in the case where regular gasoline is used.
The point A on the characteristic curve I related to the compression-lean mode (strictly, the point where a straight line (not shown) extending from the point A perpendicularly to the horizontal axis intersects with the horizontal axis) denotes ignition timing, at which a torque corresponding to a mean effective pressure equal to a switching criterion value XP.sub.e, is obtained at the time of mode switching between the compression-lean mode and another mode, and this ignition timing (point A) is nearly equal to the optimum ignition timing MBT. In the compression-lean mode, as seen from FIG. 1, ignition timing (point A1), at which a torque corresponding to the mean effective pressure XP.sub.e is obtained where regular gasoline is used, nearly coincides with the corresponding ignition timing (point A) in the case where premium gasoline is used. The ignition timing corresponding to the point A1 takes an angular value slightly retarded from that corresponding to the point A. This means that, where regular gasoline is used, knocking is less liable to occur in the compression-lean mode of the cylinder-injection gasoline engine, compared with the other injection modes, because the air-fuel mixture burns while flowing in layers along the cavity of the piston and thus the combustion gas is cooled by the wall surfaces of the cavity etc.
Similarly, points B and C on the respective characteristic curves II and III related to the suction-lean mode and the S-FB mode each denote the ignition timing, at which a torque corresponding to the mean effective pressure equal to the criterion value XP.sub.e is obtained at the time of mode switching, in the case where premium gasoline is used.
Where premium gasoline is used, the transition from the compression-lean mode to the S-FB mode may be effected at an instant when a target load P.sub.e reaches the switching criterion value XP.sub.e, and at the time of this mode switching, engine operation conditions (ignition timing, air-fuel ratio (fuel quantity), etc.) corresponding to the point A on the characteristic curve I related to the compression-lean mode may be changed to those corresponding to the point C on the curve III related to the S-FB mode, whereby the torque generated before and after the mode switching can be kept at a fixed value corresponding to the mean effective pressure XP.sub.e, permitting the injection mode switching to be effected without causing a switching shock.
Depending on the properties of fuel used in the cylinder-injection gasoline engine, however, a problem arises at the time of mode switching between the compression stroke injection mode and the suction stroke injection mode.
For example, the problem described below arises when regular gasoline, which is lower in octane number than premium gasoline, is used. Optimum ignition timings, at which no knocking occurs, in the suction-lean mode and the S-FB mode while regular gasoline is used are represented by points B1 and C1, respectively. Thus, at the time of switching the injection mode from the compression-lean mode to the suction-lean mode or the S-FB mode while regular gasoline is used, it is necessary that the ignition timing be controlled to the point B1 or C1, in order to prevent knocking. However, if, while regular gasoline is used, the compression-lean mode is switched to the S-FB mode with the other engine operation conditions (e.g., air-fuel ratio condition etc.) than the ignition timing kept unchanged before and after the mode switching, as in the case where premium gasoline is used, then the engine output torque changes from the point A1 to the point C1 in FIG. 1, producing a torque difference of .DELTA.T.sub.a. Likewise, where the suction-lean mode is switched to the S-FB mode, a torque difference of .DELTA.T.sub.b is caused. If such a torque difference is caused at the time of switching the injection modes, the driver is given a feeling of deceleration or acceleration and the drivability greatly lowers.
Referring now to FIG. 2, the reason for the occurrence of the aforementioned torque difference will be explained in more detail. FIG. 2 illustrates engine operations observed in the case where the throttle opening .theta..sub.th is varied in an incremental direction with the engine rotational speed kept fixed, wherein the generated torque T (mean effective pressure P.sub.e) is shown as a function of the throttle opening .theta..sub.th. In FIG. 2, the solid line indicates an operation line obtained where premium gasoline is used, and the broken line indicates an operation line obtained where regular gasoline is used.
Where premium gasoline is used, the compression-lean mode is selected while the engine is operated with such an engine load that the throttle opening .theta..sub.th falls within a range of zero to .theta..sub.1. If the throttle opening .theta..sub.th exceeds .theta..sub.1 and the target load P.sub.e reaches the switching criterion value XP.sub.e (point A in FIG. 2), the engine operation region shifts from the compression-lean region to the S-FB region and the injection mode is switched from the compression-lean mode to the S-FB mode. As indicated by the solid line in FIG. 2, the engine output torque takes a value (points A and A1) corresponding to the mean effective pressure XP.sub.e before and after the mode switching, and thus there occurs no torque difference at the time of mode switching.
Also in the case where regular gasoline is used, while the throttle opening .theta..sub.th falls within the range from zero to .theta..sub.1, the engine operation control is performed in the compression-lean mode by using engine control parameter values identical with those employed in the case of using premium gasoline. This is because, in the compression-lean mode, knocking does not occur even if the engine is subjected to operation control similar to that performed when premium gasoline is used.
In the S-FB region or the suction-lean region, however, the ignition timing needs to be retarded in order to prevent knocking, unlike the case where premium gasoline is used. Accordingly, in FIG. 2, when the target load P.sub.e reaches the switching criterion value XP.sub.e and the compression-lean mode is switched to the S-FB mode, the ignition timing is shifted from the point A1 to C1 in FIG. 2 and the engine-output torque changes suddenly from the point A1 to C1, producing the torque difference .DELTA.T.sub.a. Thus, where regular gasoline is used, the torque generated in the S-FB mode after the mode switching is smaller than that generated in the compression-lean mode before the mode switching by an amount corresponding to the ignition retard for prevention of knocking, unlike the case where premium gasoline is used, with the result that a shock occurs at the time of mode switching.
Also known is ignition timing control which takes account of the fact that knocking occurs differently due to individual difference of engines (variations in products) or due to change with time. Unexamined Japanese Patent Publications (KOKAI) No. 59-10862 and No. 61-157760, for example, disclose a technique of obtaining a knock learned value based on cumulative evaluation of control data etc. used in ignition retard control based on the knock sensor output, and controlling the ignition timing in accordance with the knock learned value. Even if this technique is applied to injection mode-switching type cylinder-injection internal combustion engine, however, a shock can occur at the time of switching the injection modes (engine control modes), as in the case where the ignition timing is set in the aforementioned manner in accordance with the properties of fuel.

Controller of in-cylinder injection spark ignition internal combustion engine

Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha


Phase-locked loop (PLL) integrated circuits according to embodiments of the invention provide dual feedback control. The first feedback control utilizes a conventional phase locking scheme that passes a feedback clock signal to an input of a phase-frequency detector (PFD). The second feedback control utilizes an automatic frequency calibrator that evaluates a frequency of an output of a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) relative to a locked frequency detected during calibration and provides separate calibration control to a charge pump.

Mismatch in a charge pump corresponds to mismatch between up and down currents and occurs due to a difference between transconductances Gm of a PMOS transistor and an NMOS transistor constructing the charge pump according to PVT (Process-Voltage-Temperature), and mismatch occurring when bias voltages of the transistors are generated.
When mismatch occurs in a charge pump included in a PLL, changes in control voltage of a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) can cause reference spur and jitter.

Phase-locked loop integrated circuits having dual feedback control


A bipolar plate for a fuel cell is provided that includes a flowfield having an active surface with an inlet region and an outlet region. The active surface of the flowfield is in communication with the inlet region and the outlet region and has at least one flow channel formed therein. The at least one flow channel further has a cross-sectional area at the outlet region that is less than a cross-sectional area at the inlet region. In particular embodiments, the at least one flow channel is bifurcated. A fuel cell stack including a fuel cell and the bipolar plate is also provided.

Fuel cells have been proposed as a clean, efficient and environmentally responsible power source for electric vehicles and various other applications. One example of a fuel cell is the Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell. The PEM fuel cell includes a membrane-electrode-assembly (MEA) that generally comprises a thin, solid polymer membrane-electrolyte having a catalyst and an electrode on both faces of the membrane-electrolyte.
The MEA generally comprises porous conductive materials, also known as gas diffusion media, which form the anode and cathode electrode layers. Fuel, such as hydrogen gas, is introduced at the anode where it reacts electrochemically in the presence of the catalyst to produce electrons and hydrogen cations. The electrons are conducted from the anode to the cathode through an electrical circuit disposed therebetween. Simultaneously, the hydrogen cations pass through the electrolyte to the cathode where an oxidant, such as oxygen or air, reacts electrochemically in the presence of the electrolyte and catalyst to produce oxygen anions. The oxygen anions react with the hydrogen cations to form water as a reaction product.
The MEA is typically interposed between a pair of electrically conductive contact elements or bipolar plates to complete a single PEM fuel cell. Bipolar plates serve as current collectors for the anode and cathode, and have appropriate flow channels and openings formed therein for distributing the fuel cell's gaseous reactants (i.e., the H2 & O2/air) over the surfaces of the respective electrodes. Bipolar plates can be assembled by bonding together two unipolar plates having the flow distribution fields formed thereon. Typically, bipolar plates also include inlet and outlet headers which, when aligned in a fuel cell stack, form internal supply and exhaust manifolds for directing the fuel cell's gaseous reactants and liquid coolant to and from, respectively, a plurality of anodes and cathodes.
As is well understood in the art, the membranes within a fuel cell need to have a certain relative humidity to maintain an ionic resistance across the membrane within a desired range to effectively conduct protons. During operation of the fuel cell, moisture from the MEAs and external humidification may enter the anode and cathode flow channels. Typically, the moisture is forced along the flow channels by the pressure of a gaseous reactant, with this pressure being a primary mechanism for water removal from the flow channels. However, if the pressure is not sufficient, water can accumulate in a phenomenon known as stagnation. Stagnant water can block flow channels and reduce the overall efficiency of the fuel cell. The accumulation of water can also lead to a higher rate of corrosion of the diffusion media and a poorer durability under freezing conditions. A high degree of water accumulation or stagnation can lead to fuel cell failure.
In view of the potential for water stagnation, pressure differentials between the supply manifolds and the exhaust manifolds and between adjacent flow channels or segments of the same flow channel are of considerable importance in designing a fuel cell. Along a flowfield from a reactant inlet to an outlet, partial pressures of the gaseous reactants are reduced as the reactants are consumed in a fuel cell reaction. On an anode flowfield, in particular, the pressure differential between the supply and exhaust manifolds is especially problematic due to consumption of hydrogen that occurs during fuel cell operation. Moreover, hydrogen used on the anode is less dense than O2/air and the stoichiometry on the anode is lower than on the cathode, both of which further hinder water removal on the anode flowfield.
Minimizing water stagnation has been possible, for example, by purging the channels periodically with the reactant gas at a higher flow rate or by having generally higher reactant recirculation rates. However, on the cathode of the MEA, this increases the parasitic power applied to the air compressor and reduces overall system efficiency. Additionally, the use of hydrogen as a purge gas on the anode of the MEA is not desirable for the reasons described above. The use of hydrogen as a purge gas on the anode of the MEA can lead to reduced economy, poorer system efficiency, and increased system complexity.
A reduction in accumulated water in channels can also be accomplished by lessening inlet humidification. However, it is desirable to provide at least some relative humidity in the anode and cathode reactants to hydrate the fuel cell membranes. Dry inlet gas has a desiccating effect on the membrane-electrolyte and can increase a fuel cell's ionic resistance. This method also negatively affects the long-term durability of the membrane-electrolyte.
There is a continuing need for a bipolar plate having a flowfield that militates against water stagnation in flow channels, particularly in anode flow channels. Desirably, the flowfield also achieves an optimized current density, reduces corrosion of diffusion media, and maximizes stability and freeze capability of the fuel cell during operation thereof.

Bifurcation of flow channels in bipolar plate flowfields


A system, apparatus and method for a closed loop system, which can be operated over a plurality of hardware platforms. Optionally, according to at least some embodiments of the present invention, the system, method and apparatus may be used for control of an energy system.

Communication systems tend to be open loop, available to a wide number of users, and hence are not secure. For example, telephone and computer network systems, particularly the Internet, are vulnerable to hacking and disruptions by hostile entities. Even institutions which take precautions to avoid such disruptions to their computer systems, for example by duplicating their computer systems on a remote "offsite" location, still are vulnerable to further disruption due to their reliance on open loop communication systems.

Closed loop communication system, apparatus and method


Compositions, methods and kits for labeling proteins and uses in reporter systems for detecting, quantifying and/or characterizing analytes.

Assays using reporter systems are important tools for studying and detecting analytes in biological and industrial processes. Although numerous approaches have been developed for assaying analytes, there is still a need to find new assay designs that can be used to specifically and conveniently detect and characterize a wide variety of analytes. The development of protein based reporter systems has significantly advanced the art of detection of biological analytes. In spite of these advances, nonspecific labeling of proteins

Use of antibody-surrogate antigen systems for detection of analytes


A reticle defect inspection apparatus that can carry out a defect inspection with high detection sensitivity are provided. The apparatus includes an optical system of transmitted illumination for irradiating one surface of a sample with a first inspection light, an optical system of reflected illumination for irradiating another surface of the sample with a second inspection light, and a detecting optical system that can simultaneously detect a transmitted light obtained by the first inspection light being passed through the sample and a reflected light obtained by the second inspection light being reflected by the sample. And the optical system of transmitted illumination includes a focusing lens driving mechanism for correcting a focal point shift of the transmitted light resulting from thickness of the sample.

Patterns constituting a large-scale integrated circuit (LSI), as exemplified by DRAM of a gigabit class, have a minimum feature size on the order of submicron to nanometer. One of major causes for yield reduction in a manufacturing process of such an LSI includes defects on a reticle (also called a mask) used when a fine pattern is exposed and formed onto a semiconductor wafer using lithography technology.
Particularly with increasingly finer pattern dimensions of LSI formed on a semiconductor wafer, dimensions that must be detected as pattern defects are also becoming extremely smaller. Thus, apparatuses for inspecting for extremely small defects are vigorously being developed.
With progression of multimedia, on the other hand, an LCD is getting increasingly larger with a liquid crystal substrate size of 500 mm×600 mm or more and a pattern such as a thin-film transistor (TFT) formed on the liquid crystal is becoming increasingly finer, demanding an extensive inspection of extremely small pattern defects. Thus, development of an inspection apparatus for efficiently inspecting for defects of a reticle (photomask) used for manufacture of a large-area LCD in a short time is also urgently necessary.
Mainly a transmitting optical system is used as an optical system of a defect inspection apparatus of reticle and the like. That is, a sample surface is shone using Koehler illumination as shown in FIG. 5A or critical illumination as shown in FIG. 5B and then, a transmitted light thereof is condensed and led to a detection system before image data is extracted. A defect inspection apparatus of a method using a transmitted light is introduced, for example, in JJPA, Vol. 33 (1994), pp 7156-7162, "Mask defect inspection method by database comparison with 0.25-0.35 μm sensitivity".
In recent years, however, attempts to inspect for defects that are difficult to detect by a transmitted light by using a reflected image have been made. For example, a pattern (defect) inspection apparatus that tries to improve detection sensitivity by using an optical system as shown in FIG. 6 and mounting a transmitted/reflected light optical system is already in practical use (for example, Photomask and X-Ray Mask Technology IV, Vol. 3096 (1997), pp 404-414, "Performance of cell-shift defect inspection technique"). In such an apparatus, two wavelengths, one (λ2 in FIG. 6) used for transmitted light inspection and one (λ1 in FIG. 6) used for reflected light inspection, are separated by a filter inside a configured optical system based on wavelengths and each light is brought into a transmission sensor or a reflection sensor for detection.
Indeed, it has become necessary to make the wavelengths shorter to improve defect detection sensitivity. Further, making inspection wavelengths shorter has become necessary all the more because inspected matter increasingly requires inspection at wavelengths adjusting to those used for lithography in order to improve detection sensibility. On the other hand, making inspection wavelengths shorter makes design of an optical lens more difficult, particularly design of a lens whose aberration is made smaller for both two wavelengths. Thus, a problem arises that it is difficult for a detection apparatus that detects defects of the size of 10 nm or so to adopt an optical system in which a different wavelength is used for transmission and reflection. Therefore, the necessity of an inspection method that acquires transmission and reflection images using a single wavelength arises.
Here, when an observation is made using a transmitted light and a reflected light of a single wavelength, a method by which the same position is coaxially shone to gather observation images has generally been used (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,598; U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,702). In this method, a beam scan technology is generally adopted. FIG. 7 shows a beam scan type optical system. Since resolution can be increased for the beam scan type as beam spots formed on a reticle pattern surface become smaller, an illuminating optical system is produced by pursuing an aberration to the limit. And an inspection light is introduced from a patterned surface of a reticle to avoid an influence of thickness of the reticle. On the other hand, a light transmitted through or reflected by a reticle only needs to enter a photodiode or photomultiplier because it is necessary only to measure the amount of light. Therefore, an optical system receiving light need not pursue an aberration and thus, no particular problem arises even if measurement is made on the glass surface side.
Indeed, when realizing a simultaneous inspection of transmission and reflection in a projecting optical system in which a reticle image is formed on a sensor, in contrast to the beam scan type, resolution is determined by performance of an image-forming optical system after being transmitted through or reflected by a reticle. Here, the image-forming optical system must be arranged on the side of the pattern surface of a reticle so that the image-forming optical system is not affected by the glass thickness of a reticle. Therefore, a transmitted illumination light must be introduced from the glass surface side of a reticle and a reflected illumination light from the pattern surface side of the reticle.
To realize a simultaneous inspection of transmission and reflection in a projecting optical system under such conditions, two optical systems shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 can be considered. In a method shown in FIG. 8, directions of polarized lights incident on the reticle surface after transmission and reflection are caused to be perpendicular to each other, and a light ray transmitted through the reticle and a light reflected by the reticle are separated by a polarization beam splitter. This method has an advantage of being able to image the same position on the reticle simultaneously, but due to separation of polarized light, both lights mix together to the extent that the polarized lights are disturbed by reflection by optical elements or reticle surface or the like, leading to a lower contrast. Therefore, this method may cause a problem in a reticle defect inspection apparatus that requires high-precision inspection. A method shown in FIG. 9, on the other hand, is a method by which a transmitted illumination area and a reflected illumination area are positionally separated (for example, JP-A 2004-301751(KOKAI)). By separating both areas, a transmitted light and a reflected light can be prevented from being mixed together.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Reticle defect inspection apparatus and reticle defect inspection method


A processor and method for translating a nonphysical address into a physical address are disclosed. A determination is made if a first entry set which could contain a particular entry that associates a selected nonphysical address with a corresponding physical address assigned to a device in the data processing system is stored within a first memory of the data processing system. In response to a determination that the first entry set is not stored in the first memory, a determination is made if a second entry set which could contain the particular entry is stored within the first memory. In response to a determination that the second entry set is stored in the first memory, a search of the second entry set is initiated in order to locate the particular entry. In response to locating the particular entry, the selected nonphysical address is translated to the corresponding physical address utilizing the particular entry. In one embodiment, if the first entry set becomes available during the search of the second entry set, the first entry set is preferentially searched prior to completing the search of the second entry set.

1. Technical Field
The technical field of the present specification relates in general to a method and system for data processing and in particular to a method and system for determining an address within memory. Still more particularly, the technical field relates to a processor and method for translating a nonphysical address into a physical address utilizing a selectively nonsequential search of page table entries.
2. Description of the Related Art
The memory system of a typical personal computer includes one or more nonvolatile mass storage devices, such as magnetic or optical disks, and a volatile random access memory (RAM), which can include both high speed cache memory and slower main memory. In order to provide enough addresses for memory-mapped I/O as well as the data and instructions utilized by operating system and application software, the processor of a personal computer typically utilizes a virtual address space that includes a much larger number of addresses than physically exist in RAM. Therefore, to perform memory-mapped I/O or to access RAM, the processor maps the virtual addresses into physical addresses assigned to particular I/O devices or physical locations within RAM.
In the PowerPC.TM. RISC architecture, which is described in PowerPC.TM. 603 RISC Microprocessor User's Manual, available from IBM Corporation as Order No. MPR603UMU-01, the virtual address space is partitioned into a number of uniformly-sized memory pages, which each have an address descriptor called a Page Table Entry (PTE). The PTE corresponding to a particular memory page contains the virtual address of the memory page as well as the associated physical address of the page frame, thereby enabling the processor to translate any virtual address within the memory page into a physical address in memory. The PTEs, which are created in memory by the operating system, reside in Page Table Entry Groups (PTEGs), which can each contain, for example, up to eight PTEs. According to the PowerPC.TM. architecture, a particular PTE can reside in any location in either of a primary PTEG or a secondary PTEG, which are selected by performing primary and secondary hashing functions, respectively, on the virtual address of the memory page. In order to improve performance, the processor also includes a Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB) that stores the most recently accessed PTEs for quick access.
Although a virtual address can usually be translated by reference to the TLB because of the locality of reference, if a TLB miss occurs, that is, if the PTE required to translate the virtual address of a particular memory page into a physical address is not resident within the TLB, the processor must search the PTEs in memory in order to reload the required PTE into the TLB and translate the virtual address of the memory page. Conventionally, the search, which can be performed either in hardware or by a software interrupt handler, sequentially examines the contents of the primary PTEG, and if no match is found in the primary PTEG, the contents of the secondary PTEG. If a match is found in either the primary or the secondary PTEG, history bits for the memory page are updated, if required, and the PTE is loaded into the TLB in order to perform the address translation. However, if no match is found in either the primary or secondary PTEG, a page fault exception is reported to the processor and an exception handler is executed to load the requested memory page from nonvolatile mass storage into memory.
Although PTE searches are infrequently required, PTE searches utilizing the above-described sequential search of the primary and secondary PTEGs do slow processor performance, particularly when the PTE searches are performed in software. This performance penalty is due, for example, to the delay incurred when the primary PTEG resides in main memory, but the secondary PTEG resides in high speed cache memory. Utilizing the conventional sequential search of the primary and secondary PTEGs, the search of the secondary PTEG is delayed until the primary PTEG is loaded into cache memory and searched. As should thus be apparent, an improved method for translating a virtual (nonphysical) address into a physical address is needed that efficiently searches PTEGs in memory in response to a TLB miss.

Processor and method for translating a nonphysical address into a physical address utilizing a selectively nonsequential search of page table entries

International Business Machines Corporation


A grill cover is configured to be utilized with a grill having a metallic component, the grill cover includes a cover body, a magnetic fastener, and a secondary fastener. The cover body presents an outer edge disposed along a bottom side and a cover void therein configured to receive the grill therein. The magnetic fastener and the secondary fastener are each secured to the cover body. The magnetic fastener is configured to provide a magnetic force to keep the magnetic fastener selectively secured to the metallic component of the grill so as to keep the cover body in place around the grill therein. The secondary fastener is configured to reduce a cross-sectional area of the cover void so as to prevent the grill cover from being removed from the grill while the secondary fastener is emplaced.

Grills are utilized to cook food outdoors. Grill covers are utilized to provide protection for a grill or other outdoor cooking equipment. Because the grill typically spends most time out of doors, the grill is exposed to weather and other environmental factors to which other indoor cooking equipment is not exposed. The weather can include high winds, storms, and the like.
As such, it is common for grill covers of the prior art to become dislodged and blow away. To counter this, some grill covers of the prior art typically are fitted with various securing structures and/or are specifically fitted to a single model of grill. However, these securing structures require the user to emplace them correctly and securely every time. Further, the specifically fitted grill covers tend to be expensive.
What is lacking in the prior art is a grill cover that is a generic size and shape that is easy to emplace and secure. This background discussion is intended to provide information related to the present invention which is not necessarily prior art.


A seamless capsule comprising a content and a film for coating said content is disclosed. The content is a hydrophilic substance. A viscous liquid having a viscosity of not more than 1000 cp at 100.degree. C. which is scarcely miscible with water is present between the content and the film. There is also disclosed a process for producing a seamless capsule which comprises simultaneously extruding a film solution for the seamless capsule, a hydrophilic substance solution and a viscous liquid which is scarcely miscible with water into a cooling solution from a concentrically arranged multiple nozzle composed of at least three nozzles, an outermost nozzle, an innermost nozzle and at least one intermediate nozzle placed in the middle position between the above nozzles, respectively, the diameter of said nozzle gradually increasing in that order.

Regarding seamless capsules which have hitherto been used for various applications, substances which can be encapsulated are specifically limited to lipophilic substances such as liquid oil, powder-suspended oil and the like.
Hydrophilic substances are not actually encapsulated in a stable state, because hydrophilic substances generally employ water as a solvent which makes the capsules soften on and after encapsulation.
In Japanese Patent Kokai No. 03-52639, there is disclosed a method for encapsulating a hydrophilic substance wherein a lower fatty acid ester of sucrose is provided between the hydrophilic substance and a film. Although the method actually produces a seamless capsule containing a hydrophilic substance, there is a problem in that the water content of the hydrophilic substance increasingly transfers to the film in the form of water vapor to soften the capsule or adhere to it, particularly at high temperatures (not less than 30.degree. C.). Further, propagation of mold or bacterium is liable to arise with time due to the water content transferred to the film. There is also a quality problem in design.

Seamless capsule and process for producing the same


A method for in-situ repair of old underground pipes is disclosed. A breaking tool with a drive or a pipe section is pulled from a typical inspection shaft to the next inspection shaft (machine shaft) by a hydraulic piston-cylinder unit which has a housing that is at least partially located inside the old pipe. The extremely limited interior space of the machine shaft is thereby kept essentially free from machine parts.

The invention relates to a method for reconstructing old underground pipes, wherein a breaking or cutting tool connected with a drive or a pipe section is moved through the old pipe from a starting shaft to a destination shaft or machine shaft, or from a starting ditch to a destination ditch or a machine ditch.
The state of the art is replete with static methods for trench-less reconstruction and/or replacement of pipes buried underground. In one of these methods, a spitting tool is pulled through the old pipe for replacing the pipe while retaining the original routing. The spitting tool is used to fragment, for example comminute, the old pipe and if necessary, to simultaneously widen the resulting underground bore hole which receives the fragments from the old pipe.
Such systems are described, for example, in the German Patents 196 08 980 C2 and 198 17 873 C2; they consist essentially of a sled which can be moved on a carriage by a hydraulic cylinder piston drive. The sled is includes latches which are configured to engage during a forward stroke of the hydraulic cylinder with rungs of a ladder framework consisting of individual segments. A breaking or cutting tool for demolishing the old pipe can be arranged at the free end of the ladder framework and used for simultaneously widening the created underground bore hole and/or for pulling in a new pipe section.
Drive units of this type have met with overwhelming success; however, they require a machine shaft or a machine ditch having dimensions commensurate with the dimensions of the drive unit and must leave sufficient space at the rear of the system so that a corresponding rod section can be coupled to the end of the rod assembly which protrudes from the rear end of the system. For example, when replacing old pressure and drainage pipe between a typical drainage or inspection shaft and the immediately adjacent shaft having a standard a diameter of only 100 cm, the drive unit occupies considerable space of the unobstructed shaft cross-section, which is then no longer available for the required work, for example for handling the rod sections and attaching the rod sections to the end of the rod assembly.
Moreover, time-consuming and expensive removal of the so-called channel from the shaft is required in order to provide the space for inserting and positioning the drive unit. The channel is approximately U-shaped in cross-section and is frequency tiled. The channel is aligned with the opposing openings at the pipe ends, and is used to direct the drainage water through the shaft.
Due to their space requirements, even short drive units cause space problems when coupling the rod sections to the rod assembly and connecting them to the rear end of the run to withstand push and pull forces. The length of the rod sections is therefore limited to approximately 50 cm. In addition, even short drive units cannot be used in a shaft, where the extension of the old pipe axis is not substantially aligned with the shaft diameter or runs through the shaft axis, but rather intersects the shaft as a secant, because miniaturization has limits due to design constraints and in view of the required large drive power.
When replacing a pipe from one ditch to the next, the space problems can be solved by enlarging the ditches. However, this requires commensurate soil excavation resulting in additional costs for labor, machines, transport and storage for the excavated soil.
The same problems associated with pipe replacement also occur in pipe reconstruction, where a new pipe made of individual pipe sections is pulled trough the old pipe, with tight clearance to the wall of the old pipe, wherein the length of the new pipe sections corresponds approximately to that of the rod sections.

Method and device for reconstructing old underground pipes


An apparatus for bale lifting and load dumping, including a support frame; a truck bed overlying the support frame, the rearward end of the truck bed being pivotally attached to the rearward end of the support frame; a lift arm articulating beam, the lift arm articulating beam being pivotally attached to the rearward end of the truck bed; a pair of bale lifting arms extending substantially perpendicularly from the lift arm articulating beam; an actuator having an alternately extendable and retractable shaft, the actuator having a first end and a second end, the first end of the actuator being pivotally attached to the support frame; and a linkage interconnecting the second end of the actuator and the lift arm articulating beam; the connection of the linkage to the lift arm articulating beam being positioned so that upon alternate restraint of pivotal motion of the truck bed about the pivotal attachment to the support frame, and restraint of pivotal motion of the lift arm articulating beam about the pivotal attachment to the truck bed, operation of the actuator alternately pivots the lift arm articulating beam about the pivotal attachment to the truck bed, and pivots the truck bed about the pivotal attachment to the support frame.

Where a truck is utilized in an agricultural setting, it is desirable that the truck be capable of performing multiple functions or tasks. For example, it is common for such trucks to be equipped with fixtures adapting the forward bumper for attachment of a snow or dirt moving blade. As another example, agricultural trucks are commonly equipped with a fifth wheel trailer hitch or a rear bumper trailer hitch enabling the truck to pull various carts and trailers. As a further example, a common adaptation of an agricultural truck allows its load bearing bed to upwardly pivot, allowing the truck to function as a dump truck. Typically, hydraulic rams are installed within the bed supporting frames of such trucks, such rams providing the motive force for alternately inclining and leveling the truck's load bearing bed. Another common adaptation of an agricultural truck includes hydraulically powered bale lifting arms for conveniently raising large hay bales onto the truck bed and for off loading hay bales therefrom. Examples of such adaptation are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,594,041 issued Jun. 10, 1986, to Hostetler; U.S. Pat. No. 4,564,325 issued Jan. 14, 1986, to Ackerman; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,044,963 issued Aug. 30, 1977, to Hostetler. As with common dump bed adaptations, adaptations of agricultural trucks for bale lifting typically incorporate hydraulic rams to provide the motive force for bale lifting.
While it is desirable that an agricultural truck be dually capable of functioning as a dump truck and as a bale lifter, a farm truck operator may hesitate to equip the truck to perform both functions due to the mechanical complexity of equipping the truck both with a set of bed lifting rams and a set of bale lifting rams, and due to the expense of installing duplicate sets of rams. The instant inventive bale lifting and load dumping apparatus solves the above described problems of mechanical complexity and additional expense by providing apparatus allowing a single set of hydraulic rams to alternately perform a truck bed inclining function and a bale lifting function.


An abdominal exercise apparatus (52) comprising an adjustable upright stand (54). A multi-contoured back pad base structure (56) is for positioning, preparing and isolating various muscles of the abdomen of a person (58) during exercise. A component (60) is for mounting the multi-contoured back pad base structure (56) to the adjustable upright stand (54), so that a back (62) of the person (58) can be placed against the multi-contoured back pad base structure (56). A force resistance assembly (64) is affixed onto a top end of the adjustable upright stand (54). A facility (66) is for connecting an upper body (68) of the person (58) to the force resistance assembly (64). When the person (58) moves forwardly away from the multi-contoured back pad base structure (56), the force resistance assembly (64) will apply a force resistance to the upper body (68) of the person (58), to exercise the abdominal muscles of the person (58).

1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates generally to exercise devices and more specifically it relates to an abdominal exercise apparatus. The abdominal exercise apparatus will efficiently exercise all the muscles of the midsection of the body.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous exercise devices have been provided in prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,553 to Hatfield; U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,052 to Evans; U.S. Pat. No. 5,470,291 to Pekkanen and U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,898 to Wilkinson all are illustrative of such prior art. While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described.

Abdominal exercise apparatus featuring prestretching and weight training facilities


Examples herein include an incident workflow graphical user interface (“GUI”) that visualizes workflows for solving application performance issues. An analytics server can process alerts based on application performance notifications. An administrative console GUI can display an issue pane that organizes alerts and remedial actions of an individual underlying issue. Alerts can be organized in a first region with actions organized in a second region. The alerts can visually update as they become resolved. Issue assemblies can be stored for future retrieval, allowing a recommendation engine to help populate future issue panes based on similar issues.

Application analytics platforms allow administrators to monitor application performance. This can be especially important in an enterprise environment, where workers are using applications in their day-to-day tasks. In large enterprises, it can be difficult to know when certain issues are plaguing the workforce and decreasing workforce efficiency. When software issues are decreasing productivity, the speed with which the issues are recognized and resolved becomes paramount.
Current systems allow for tracking application errors across enterprise devices. However, it is difficult to make sense of tens of thousands of alerts received across thousands of devices. Administrators are often left dealing with issues with individual users and have few tools to identify and remediate an underlying issue that may be related to what appear to be numerous different alerts. Current graphical user interfaces ("GUIs") allow for tracking numbers of alerts but do not provide many options for visualizing alerts in a way that helps solve an underlying issue.
Additionally, even when administrators eventually solve an underlying issue, current systems do not store the solution in any way that allows for intuitive retrieval and reuse when similar issues arise. As a result, similar issues may still require trial-and-error remedial approaches, wasting valuable time. It is impossible for administrators to remember all the different remedial actions that worked on similar issues in the past.
As a result, a need exists for an incident workflow interface for application analytics, particularly an interface that visualizes alerts and remedial actions in an issue resolution workflow such that successful workflows can be rapidly identified and repeated in the future.

Incident workflow interface for application analytics


Disclosed is a method for deriving random numbers at a higher speed than ever before while maintaining desired randomness without spoiling uniformity of the occurrence frequency of each random number. One pulse included in one of two or more mutually-independent random pulse sequences and one pulse included in one of the remaining random pulse sequences are used, respectively, as a start pulse and a stop pulse. Then a time interval between the start pulse and the stop pulse is measured, and the measured value is output. The pulses temporally occur in a random manner, and therefore the obtained sequence of numerical values becomes random numbers. Specifically, in FIG. 1, time intervals t1 to t4 are measured, and these measured values (in FIG. 1, four values) are derived as random numbers.

1). Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a random number derivation method for deriving physical random numbers from a random number source element, and a random number generator utilizing the method.
2). Discussion of Related Art
As one technique for deriving physical random numbers based on a natural phenomenon, there has been known a technique using a resistor, a semiconductor such as a diode, or a conductor, as a thermal noise source element. Thermal noises occurring in the thermal noise source element are random in both occurrence frequency and amplitude, and therefore physical random numbers can be derived based on the thermal noises. Various random number generators utilizing such a thermal noise source element are disclosed in a great number of publications. The random number generators are required to improve uniformity of the occurrence frequency of each value to be obtained (quality level as random numbers) and produce random number at a higher speed.
The most typical technique for generating physical random numbers using a thermal noise source element is designed to amplify and sample a thermal noise output from a thermal-noise source element at a certain moment, and compare the sampled value with a given threshold to derive a random number. Specifically, thermal noises output from a thermal noise source element and amplified are sampled in certain cycles. Then, according to a predetermined rule that "1" will be assigned to the sampled value if it is greater than a given threshold, and "0" will be assigned to the sampled value if it is not greater than the threshold, physical random numbers can be derived in a digital manner.
As another technique for generating physical random numbers using a thermal noise source element, there has been known a technique designed to measure a time interval between a time point when a randomly-occurring thermal noise exceeds a given threshold and a subsequent time point when another randomly-occurring thermal noise exceeds the threshold, and derive a random number value directly from the measured temporal value. One example of a random number generator based on this technique is described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-134422.
This random number generator is provided with a first circuit for amplifying a thermal noise output from a thermal noise source element and generating a rectangular pulse which rises at the moment when a waveform of the pulse exceeds a given threshold, a second circuit for generating clocks having a frequency far greater than that of the pulse, and a counter for counting the clocks, and designed to count the clocks generated during the period from the occurrence of one pulse until the occurrence of a subsequent pulse, and derive a random number from the counted value. In this technique, due to a limited number of bits in a counter (given that the number of bits is "n"), the counter is reset to restart counting from 1, every time it counts 2n times, and consequently an actually derivable number of random number values is restricted to 2n. Even so, in the above technique, n bits of random numbers are generated per one pulse from a thermal noise, and therefore random numbers can be generated at a higher speed as compared with the technique designed to momentarily sample a thermal noise.    Patent Publication 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-134422.

Random number derivation method and random number generator using same

Leisure Electronics Technology Co., Ltd.

Institute for Advanced Studies Co., Ltd.


Pre-drill pore pressure and fracture gradient predictions obtained from seismic velocity data are used in well design taking into account uncertainties in the velocity estimation and in the models that use the velocities to determine pore pressure. Using geological constraints, limits are established on hydrocarbon column height. It is also possible to predict the relative number of casings required to reach target reservoirs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to geophysical exploration and more particularly to methods for accurately estimating uncertainties in pore pressure and fracture gradient estimation prior to drilling of a well.
2. Description of the Related Art
Drilling of wells is carried out using a bottomhole assembly that includes a drillbit. During the drilling process, drilling fluid, also referred to as drilling mud, is pumped down the borehole to facilitate the drilling process, cool and lubricate the drillbit, and remove drill cuttings to the surface. If the borehole fluid pressure is significantly below the formation fluid pressure, there is a risk of a catastrophic blowout. On the other hand, if the borehole pressure is much greater than the formation fluid pressure, the risk of blowout is eliminated but there is risk of formation damage due to fracturing and the mud invading the formation. The fluid pressure is a function of the density of the drilling mud ("mud weight") so an important part of the drilling process is the proper selection of mud weight for drilling.
It is standard practice when planning wells to utilize seismic data to compute pore pressure and fracture gradient profiles to use as upper and lower bounds on required mud weights for safe drilling. U.S. Pat. No. 6,473,696 to Onyia et al. discloses a method of determination of fluid pressures in a subsurface region of the earth that uses seismic velocities and calibrations relating the seismic velocities to the effective stress on the subsurface sediments. The seismic velocities may be keyed to defined seismic horizons and may be obtained from many methods, including velocity spectra, post-stack inversion, pre-stack inversion, VSP or tomography. Overburden stresses may be obtained from density logs, relations between density and velocity, or front inversion of potential fields data. The various methods are part of an integrated computer program.
Sayers et al. disclose a method for the use of seismic velocities used during seismic processing to optimize the stack/migration result, with local fluctuations being smoothed out and the velocity sampling interval usually being too coarse for accurate pore pressure prediction. Various methods of determining seismic interval velocities from prestack seismic data are compared, and a velocity analysis approach suitable for pore pressure prediction is recommended.
Methods have also been developed for identification of shallow water flow hazards where abnormally high pore pressures exist in shallow sub-bottom sediments drilled in deep water. U.S. Pat. No. 6,694,261 to Huffman teaches the detection of such abnormally pressured zones by amplitude versus offset (AVO) analysis of the reflected amplitudes of compressional or shear reflections. Measurements of the amplitude of reflected shear waves from a formation at some depth below the anomalous zone may also be used to detect the presence of abnormally pressured intervals with low shear velocity and high shear wave attenuation. US 2003/0110018 of Dutta et al. addresses the identification of shallow water flow hazards using seismic inversion methods.
None of the methods discussed above address the issue of errors caused by uncertainty in the measurements and by uncertainty in the modeling process. By quantifying uncertainties in pore pressure and other predicted values, and more importantly by determining their origin, it is possible not only to begin to quantify the drilling risk but also to make decisions about how best to reduce that risk. For example, if uncertainties in the velocities used as input to the predictions contribute large uncertainties to the results, this may dictate reanalysis of the seismic data. If uncertainties are related to the functions used to compute density or effective stress, this might lead to a recommendation to reduce those uncertainties using additional measurements on core or using offset log data.
Liang discloses application of a method of quantitative risk analysis (QRA) to the problem of pore pressure and fracture gradient prediction. The method relies on a vast sampling over a prospect area of borehole measurements to determine such parameters as density, acoustic velocity and pressure gradient. The uncertainties are then determined from variations in the measured parameters. Underlying this uncertainty determination is the assumption that measurements of parameters such as density and acoustic velocity are invariant with spatial location ("the ground truth"), and the variations are inherent. This is not a reasonable assumption as it is well known that there are systematic variations in velocity and density with spatial location. In addition, Liang assumes an Gaussian distribution to characterize the undertainty. Such an assumption is commonly not satisfied, and distributions like the log-normal are quite common. Furthermore, Liang does not account for overpressure mechanisms other than undercompaction. It would be desirable to have a method of QRA that is applicable to the problem of pore pressure and fracture gradient prediction that does not make these assumptions and does not require a large sampling of measurements to establish the ground truth. The present invention satisfies this need.

Quantitative risk assessment applied to pore pressure prediction


A magnetic recording medium includes a substrate; and a recording film formed on the substrate and including a main magnetic film, the main magnetic film where a recording area and a guard area are formed by local ion doping, the guard area having saturation magnetization smaller than saturation magnetization of the recording area. A primary layer is provided at a substrate side of the main magnetic film. A main ingredient of the primary layer is at least one kind of atom selected from a group consisting of Cr, B, Mo, Al, Si, and C.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to manufacturing methods of magnetic recording media, the magnetic recording media, and magnetic recording and reproducing apparatuses. More specifically, the present invention relates to a manufacturing method of a magnetic recording medium whereby a magnetic pattern is formed by ion doping, the magnetic recording medium, and a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hard disk drives (HDD) are mainly used as mass storage devices whereby high speed access or high speed transmitting of data can be realized. The surface recording density of the hard disk drives (HDD) is being improved at an annual rate of 100% and further improvement of recording densities is expected.
In order to improve the recording densities of the HDDs, reduction of the track width or the recording bit length is necessary. However, if the track width is reduced, neighboring tracks may easily interfere with each other. Due to such a reduction of the track width, the magnetic recording information may be easily overwritten in the neighboring tracks at the time of recording. Cross-talk due to leakage magnetic fields from the neighboring tracks may easily occur at the time of reproducing.
The above-mentioned issues cause reduction of the S/N ratio of a reproduction signal so that the error rate may be degraded. In addition, if reducing the recording bit length is continued, stability of the bit becomes degraded and the phenomenon of heat fluctuation is generated.
For solving such an issue, a bit patterned type magnetic recording medium has been suggested to reduce influence between neighboring tracks and realize high track densities. See Japanese Examined Patent Application Publication No. 6-28093.
However, in a forming method of the magnetic recording medium by the bit patterned type medium, a portion other than the bit pattern is etched so that the magnetic film is removed and then a non-magnetic material is supplied and flattened to fill in that portion. Hence, it is necessary to perform complex manufacturing processes so that the manufacturing cost may increase.
As a method for solving such an issue, a processing method whereby ions are implanted into a magnetic film so that a magnetic state is partially changed has been suggested. In this method, since the magnetic state is changed by doping with the ions, a complex manufacturing process such as etching, filling or flattening is not required so that increase of the manufacturing cost is prevented.
However, in a related art method for doping with ions, erasure of magnetism in an ion doped area (hereinafter a guard area) cannot be performed sufficiently. Furthermore, in a case where an amorphous magnetic film such as a rare earth transition metal is used as a magnetic film in order to solve this issue, saturation magnetization of a base part (which becomes the recording area) for maintaining the magnetic state is low and therefore it is not proper for high recording densities so that this is not yet utilized.

Manufacturing method of magnetic recording medium, the magnetic recording medium, and magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus


A passive optical-connection network having a protection configuration consists of at least two subnetworks (1, 2), each comprising an access node (1.1, 2.1), a feed network (1.2, 2.2), and a tree-shapedly branched access network (1.3, 2.3). According to this protection configuration there is coupled an end (1.7, 2.7) of a feed network (1, 2), both over a first set (s1) of switches by way of operational connections (1.22 and 2.22) to access ports (1.14 and 2.14) of the access network of the own subnetwork, and over a second set (s2) of switches by way of protection connections (1.23 and 2.23) to corresponding access ports (2.14 and 1.14) of the access network of another subnetwork. The advantage is that corresponding parts of neighbouring similar subnetworks may be used multiply in failure situations without duplicating costly network parts.

1. Field of the invention
The invention lies in the field of protection systems for networks, such as passive optical networks. More in particular, it relates to a passive optical network having a protection configuration for applying a protection principle based on multiple accessibility, such as the principle of dual homing.
2. Prior art
Developments are increasingly going in a direction of applying passive optical networks (PONs) to the access network, with optical-fibre connections being pulled through to near the subscriber (FTTC fibre to the curb! or FTTH fibre to the home!). Configurations for such an access network based on a PON for providing narrow- and wide-band communication between a main station and a large number of linked-up subscribers are known per se, such as, e.g., from reference 1! (see below under C. for more details with respect to the references). Said known network comprises a tree-shaped branching of optical connections, hereinafter called access network, which is provided with a large number (up to approx. 2000) of branchings (or splittings-up) at the subscriber connection side, and a trunk-shaped open feeder, hereinafter called feed network, to an access node of the optical network, where a main station is located. In the access network, the splitting up is effected in two stages, i.e., a first stage (1:16) directly at the connection to the feed network and a second stage (1:128) nearer the subscriber connections. The lengths of the optical connections in the access network are relatively short (<10 km). The length of the feed network may rather vary (0-100 km), depending on the position of the main station. To be capable, at the subscriber connection side, of detecting signals of sufficient strength, signal amplification is required in view of the high degree of splitting-up in the access network, and depending on the length of, in particular, the feed network. Therefore, in the known configuration there are included, at two locations in the optical connections, optical signal amplifiers, namely, a feeder repeater halfway through the feed network and a splitter repeater in the coupling of the feed network to the access network. Such an optical network is vulnerable, however, when optical connections fail, namely, all the more vulnerable in the event of a larger number of connections and a longer feed network. Particularly a fibre or cable breakage in the feed network will have serious consequences. To minimize the consequences of failure of connections in the feed network as a result of cable breakage or equipment failure, the entire network might be duplicated. This is very costly, however, and not strictly necessary. In fact, as a cable breakage or equipment failure in the network occurs at a location closer to the subscriber side, where the access network is further split up, the size of the consequences will decrease. The known technique makes use thereof by applying a protection configuration in which the feed network and the first stage of the access network are duplicated, and the accepted principle of dual homing (see, e.g., reference 2!) is applied, with the redundant feed network leading to a second access node, which offers a second main station access to the network or also offers the same main station a second access to the network. An optical network having such a protection configuration, however, proportionally is still costly, especially in geographical situations in which the probability of failure occurring in the duplicated part of the network, and the redundant part of the network being actually used, is slight.
In reference 3! there are disclosed self-healing architectures for "fiber-in-the-loop" (FITL) networks having a relatively small number of connections. In a first version, every connection in a distribution area is also accessible from a main station by way of a protection fibre connection which runs through an adjacent distribution area. In a second version, an operational fibre connection in a distribution area is also used as a protection fibre connection for an adjacent distribution area, with a WDM wavelength division multiplex! technique having a separate wavelength, being applied to the protection signal transport. Said known self-healing architectures are not or hardly suitable for tree-shapedly branched optical networks having large numbers of network connections.
Reference 4! describes a protection switching system which comprises pairs of (electrical) telecommunication modules for processing or switching telecommunication signals. Each pair comprises an operational module and a standby module. The system further comprises monitoring and switching means for switching over to the standby module upon failure of the corresponding operational module with, as long as the standby module is standby, the latter monitoring the operation of the operational module. The pairs of telecommunication modules may be connected to one another by means of optical-fibre connections. If, according to such a protection technique, an optical network, such as the PON described above, is provided with a protection configuration with, e.g., the feed network and the first stage of the access network forming the duplicated modules, for said optical network there also apply the drawbacks already referred to.

Optical network having protection configuration

Van Der Tol; Johannes Jacobus Gerardus Maria


The system includes a control module, an environment detection unit and an electricity generation module. The control module includes a control unit for data processing and operating and an alarm unit, electrically connected to the control unit for receiving a command of the control unit. The environment detection unit is electrically connected to the control unit of the control module for detecting a physical quantity of environmental matter to generate a signal to send back to the control unit. The electricity generation module is electrically connected to the control module and has an electricity generator for generating electricity by environmental energy to supply the control module and the environment detection unit.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to detection systems, particularly to a self-powered environment detection alarm system.
2. Related Art
The autumn and winter are a dangerous period of carbon monoxide poisoning. The reason of most cases of carbon monoxide poisoning is indoors installing a water heater with poor ventilation. Under such a condition, incomplete combustion of water heaters will generate a large amount of carbon monoxide and easily result in carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide (CO) is hard to be observed because it is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas. People are not aware of carbon monoxide when they suffer from carbon monoxide poisoning.
To prevent carbon monoxide poisoning, the best solution is to install a water heater outdoors and keep good ventilation. Besides this, the final method to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning is to install a carbon monoxide detector indoors or near a water heater. Such a carbon monoxide detector can warn users.
A typically conventional carbon monoxide alarm device or detector uses a detecting unit to sense concentration of carbon monoxide and an alarm with a buzzer and/or light. However, such a gas detector has to be powered by a battery or an electric power source.
Carbon monoxide will be generated only while a water heater is being used. But a carbon monoxide detector continuously operates 24 hours and always consumes electricity. It is possible that a carbon monoxide detector cannot work because of no power. This will be very dangerous for users.


A coating method and apparatus which enables high-speed coating with a minimum of defects such as streaks including cases where the surface tension of the coating solution is relatively high. The method includes the following steps: applying an excess amount of a cleaning fluid to the substrate; scraping off the cleaning fluid at a first scraping section; applying an excess amount of the coating solution to the substrate while a remaining portion of the cleaning fluid remaining on the substrate is in an undried state; and scraping off a surface-side portion of the coating solution at a second scraping section, thereby metering the amount of the coating solution to be applied. In addition, a similar object is attained by a coating method wherein, in the aforementioned coating method, the organic solvent has a viscosity of not more than 10 cp, and in a case where the surface tension of the cleaning fluid is .sigma.c (dyne/cm) and the surface tension of the coating solution is .sigma.l (dyne/cm), the surface tension of the cleaning fluid satisfies the relation .sigma.l-7.ltoreq..sigma.c .ltoreq..sigma.l.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coating method, and more particularly to a method of applying an organic solvent-based coating solution in which the coating solution is applied at high speed to a traveling flexible substrate such as a plastic film so as to form a thin layer thereon. Examples of the coating solution include a low-viscosity coating solution such as an undercoating solution for a magnetic recording medium, a back-layer coating solution and a surface treatment solution.
2. Background
In the process of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium or the like, it is known to apply a low-viscosity coating solution such as an undercoating solution for a magnetic coating solution, a back-layer coating solution, and a surface treatment solution. These low-viscosity coating solutions are organic solvent-based coating solutions. Conventional methods of applying a thin layer of such a coating solution to a flexible substrate, such as a plastic film, include utilizing various rod coaters, wire bar coaters, blade coaters, extrusion coaters, and the like.
For example, a conventional method and apparatus for applying a coating solution having a viscosity of 10 cp or less is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application (Laid-Open) No. 156066/1982. In particular, this application discloses a metering and coating method using a wire bar coater in which a wire is wound around a rod member for smoothing an excessively applied coating solution. Additionally, Japanese Patent Application (Laid-Open) No. 60750/1987 discloses a rod coater-type dust-removing method for removing dust together with a solvent while the solvent and the like are adhered to a rotating rod member. Further, Japanese Patent Application (Laid-Open) No. 131364/1991, discloses utilizing a doctor blade of a substrate-pressurizing type for scraping off a foreign substance on the substrate or in the coating solution and for leaving a predetermined amount of coating solution on the substrate. In these coating methods and apparatuses, since dust removal can be accomplished effectively by initially forming a relatively large amount of coating solution on the substrate, not only is the substrate not likely to be scratched, but the number of steaks in the remaining coating solution is relatively low. Hence, the above described methods and apparatuses are adequate for forming a thin-layered coating on a substrate.
However, in a case where the aforementioned coating solution is applied as an undercoating solution in the process of manufacturing, for instance, a magnetic recording medium, the following problems are conventionally encountered. Since an excess amount of the coating solution is applied to a dry substrate in an open state, not only is it difficult to increase the coating speed, but if the excess amount is increased to enhance the foreign-substance removing performance, a problem can occur in regard to its metering capability, and the amount of required coating solution increases, resulting in higher manufacturing costs. Furthermore, particularly in a case where the surface tension of the coating solution is high, there has been a drawback in that the spreadability of the coating significantly declines, thereby making it difficult to effect high-speed coating. With the recent advent of high-speed coating where a magnetic coating solution is applied to a substrate to form a magnetic recording medium, it has become necessary to increase the coating speed of an undercoating solution or the like, which conventionally has not presented much of a problem.
In coating such a coating solution described above, as a method of increasing the coating performance (wettability) of the coating solution, a method of providing corona discharge treatment or the like on the surface of the substrate has hitherto been widely used. However, it has been determined that this type of surface treatment of the substrate, for which large equipment and huge equipment cost are required, has not produced adequate results.
Furthermore, in applying the coating solution, in a case where the application of a thin layer of 10 cc/m.sup.2 or less is effected to reduce the running cost or increase the high-speed coating performance, it has been discovered that an unacceptable number of streaks are formed in the coating layer (i.e., the undercoating layer) due to foreign substances.
The present invention has been devised in view of the above-described problems, and its object is to provide a coating method which enables high-speed coating with a minimum of defects such as streaks even if the surface tension of the coating solution is high when an organic solvent-based coating solution of a low viscosity such as the one described above is applied to form a thin layer.

Method of applying organic solvent-based coating solution


The invention relates to a coil type solid electrolytic capacitor containing solid organic polymer with high electrical conductivity as electrolyte and its manufacturing method. In the invention, such processes as oxidation, carbonization, immersing, chemical oxypolymerization, and so on are fully disclosed. The solid electrolytic capacitor of the invention has a pretty low equivalent series resistance (ESR), good impedance frequency properties, so can be used at a frequency above 1 MHz. And it has a high anti-ripple current capacity, wide applicable range of temperature, good temperature properties, large capacity, long life, and reliable performance, therefore can be widely applied in the fields of modern communication, computer, and high performance civilian and military electronic products.

Capacitor is a primary electronic element, which is widely applied in various kinds of electronic products. In recent years, with the high-speed development of electronic industry, the electronic products trend to be miniaturized and light-weighted, especially after the advent of digital products and the requirements of speeding-up personal computer. As a result, the applied capacitor is required to be miniaturized and have such properties as large capacity, low impedance in high-frequency range, and so on.
As a capacitor for high frequency (HF) filtering, the presently-used capacitors such as mica capacitor, film capacitor, and porcelain capacitor only have limited capacity. Although they are used, they are not adequate to the requirement of large capacity. In order to meet the requirement of large capacity, aluminum electrolytic capacitor and tantalum electrolytic capacitor were developed. In the traditional aluminum electrolytic capacitor, large capacity is obtained with low cost. However, it has such shortcoming as low conductivity, poor temperature and frequency properties due to using liquid electrolyte. Furthermore, with the used time increasing, and especially using temperature rising, the liquid electrolyte becomes more and more fugitive and vaporized. As a result, its capacity decreases and the impedance increases. In the traditional tantalum electrolytic capacitor, solid manganese dioxide is used as electrolyte, and the properties are better than that of traditional aluminum electrolytic capacitor. Nevertheless, the capacity of said tantalum electrolytic capacitor, and especially the impedance properties under HF are not adequate to the requirements of the new electronic devices yet.
In order to eliminate the above-mentioned problems, researchers brought forth the solution using conductive macromolecule with good conductibility, which is apt to form solid electrolyte as electrolyte. Even more, it was disclosed that such conductive organic compounds containing π conjugated macromolecule as derivatives of polyaniline, polypyrrole and polythiophene and intrinsic conductive macromolecule with conductivity ranging from 10−3 to 103 s/cm were used as solid electrolyte (referring to Japanese and American patents). Researchers had fully studied what special electric, magnetic and optical properties of electronic conjugated system the conductive macromolecules have. These conductive macromolecules were mainly prepared via electrolytic polymerization and chemical oxypolymerization. The chemical oxypolymerization therein mentioned is carried out via mixing monomer and proper quantity of oxidant, by which conductive macromolecules are easy to be prepared, and it is a simple industrial process of polymerization. Presently, the existing problems of the common used chemical oxypolymerization is: polymerizing rate is in direct proportion to the activity of oxidant, therefore in case that highly active oxidant is used, the undesired side reactions tend to occur, resultingly the polymer with poor regularity of structure and poor conductivity is obtained. This is therefore an object of the present invention to settle the technical problems. Additionally, the process for manufacturing solid electrolytic capacitor of organic polymer with high electrical conductivity differs from the traditional process for manufacturing liquid electrolytic capacitor and solid electrolytic capacitor of organic semiconductor to a large extends. Temperature and polymerization process became vital to the preparation of solid electrolytic capacitor of organic polymer with high electrical conductivity. As limited by the existing processes of immersing, polymerization, and so on, the capacity of prepared solid electrolytic capacitor could not reach the expected value, and equivalent series resistance (ESR) was large, leakage current properties were poor, and pass percent was low. So it is necessary to improve the process.

Solid electrolytic capacitor and manufacturing method thereof

Samxon Electronics (Dong Guan) Co., Ltd.


A method for producing a frame component for a door frame structure of an aircraft. A connecting zone is generated on a first and a second assembly surface of a connecting component in each case by generating a surface texture on the assembly surfaces, wherein the connecting component is formed from a metal material. The assembly surfaces of the connecting component are placed against a door frame member and against an attachment member, wherein the door frame member and the attachment member are each formed from a fiber-reinforced thermoplastics material. Furthermore, the connecting component and the door frame member are welded, and the connecting component and the attachment member are welded. A frame component and a door frame structure are also described.

In a fuselage of an aircraft, there are normally provided doors for passengers and on-board personnel and for the loading and unloading of the aircraft. Here, the doors are mounted in a frame which is connected to the fuselage structure or which forms a part of the fuselage structure. In a closed state of the door, the latter is locked to and/or supported against the frame. During flight, the pressure in the interior of the fuselage is generally considerably higher than the ambient pressure. The forces that act on the doors because of the pressure difference must be accommodated by the frame.
Conventional frame constructions have in each case two mutually oppositely situated members which are fastened by attachment struts to ribs or other structural components of the fuselage structure. The members and the attachment struts may in this case be formed from a fiber composite material for weight reasons. Normally, metal angle pieces are provided in each case for the fastening of the attachment struts to the members and to the fuselage structure, which metal angle pieces are screwed or riveted to the attachment struts and to the member or the fuselage structure. To reduce weight and to simplify the assembly of the frame, US 2009/0146008 A1 describes a frame with a member composed of titanium, in the case of which the attachment struts are formed in one piece with the member or are formed integrally thereon.

Method for producing a frame component for a door frame structure of an aircraft, frame component, and door frame structure