A process for adjusting the quantities of a liquid or paste food or pharmaceutical product dosed and dispensed by a doser-dispenser (20) in which the weight of at least every nth one of the recipients (101) filled by the same doser-dispenser (20) with a dosed quantity of the product (102) is measured, the number n being an integer between 1 and 1000. Each weight value measured is compared with a predetermined standard value and at least one of the end-of-stroke positions of the doser piston of the doser-dispenser (20) is adjusted step by step and during the operation of the doser-dispenser (20), in the sense of increasing or decreasing the stroke of the doser piston when the difference between the actual weight measured and the difference between the actual weight measured and the predetermined standard weight exceeds a limiting value. The adjustment is continued stepwise until the difference disappears.

This type of doser-dispenser is described in Patent Application FR 89 06316 of 12.5.1989 and in Patent Application EP 90401252 of 15.5.1990 to which reference may be made for greater details.
In an installation for packing a liquid and/or pasty product in receptacles or recipients made by thermoforming a thermoplastic web, a plurality of juxtaposed doser-dispensers are used, in a row extending transversely with respect to the direction of advance of the thermoplastic web containing successive transverse rows of recipients parallel to that of that of the row of doser-dispensers and advancing step by step with the web in the direction of advance thereof.
These doser-dispensers are, like others (cf. for example French Patent 2 067 983), volumetric dosers which dispense determined quantities of product for a given product density. It frequently happens that the density of the product varies locally by some percent, with the result that the weight of the quantities of product dosed volumetrically and dispensed in the corresponding recipients differs beyond the allowed limits from the theoretical weight inscribed on said recipients. In order to eliminate the most important differences in weight, a filled recipient is weighed at regular intervals and its weight is compared with a standard recipient. When the difference in weight thus ascertained exceeds a limiting value, the stroke of the doser piston of each of the doserdispensers is readjusted as a function of the difference in weight. Such readjustment obviously requires that the whole installation be stopped, resulting in a loss of productivity.
In another installation disclosed in German Patent 3 510 110, the quantity dosed by the doser is checked from time to time, by diverting the dosed quantity from its normal discharge into a packaging recipient to a standard recipient disposed on precision scales whole output signal corresponding to the measured weight of said deviated dosed quantity is sent to the input of a computer such as a micro-processor. The signal corresponding to the measured weight of the dosed quantity is compared in this computer with a standard signal corresponding to a given weight. If there is a difference between the two signals, the computer emits a correction signal to modify the stroke of the piston of the doser in the sense of bringing the octal weight of the dosed quantity closer to the standard weight. During the process, the packaging recipients are not filled and transport of the recipients and actuation of all the other elements of the packing installation are stopped.
An object of the invention consists in eliminating or at least attenuating the drawbacks set forth and in proposing a doser-dispenser of the type initially mentioned, which does not require any stoppage of the installation for readjusting the quantities dosed by each of the doser-dispensers.

Process and device for adjusting the quantities of product dosed and dispensed by a doser-dispenser


The present invention relates to wireless communications system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method in which a mobile station communicates with any desired node in a wireless communications system. This communications method comprises the steps of: transmitting upwards a first signal for searching for any desired node; receiving from the desired node a second signal indicating that a service can be provided to the mobile station, by way of response to the first signal; and carrying out a procedure for receiving the service from the desired node, wherein the desired node monitors the first signal in a sleep mode.

A future-generation communication network should be able to provide a higher throughput and a faster communication response speed to Mobile Stations (MSs). Although the best service can be provided to MSs in an optimized communication environment, the requirements of every MS cannot be fulfilled. Especially, a big feature of a wireless communication network is that an MS can conduct communication while it is moving. Therefore, much overhead and a robust design are needed. To replace a conventional wired service with a wireless service, the wireless communication system should provide a high-speed communication environment with low cost.
A legacy wireless communication network was designed for fixed Base Stations (BSs) and mobile terminals. When a coverage hole is created in a specific area, most of service providers attempt coverage extension by means of repeaters. However, MSs should always be satisfied with Quality of Service (QoS) that a regular cell such as a macro cell provides and overall frequency reuse is limited by the design of the macro cell. Recently, techniques for improving QoS as well as eliminating a coverage hole by introducing the concept of extension such as a relay and/or femto cell have been proposed.
For full utilization of an entity added to a network, the entity should be able to be self-merged with a legacy commercial network. That is, a femto cell or a relay should identify its surrounding environment and acquire necessary configuration information from an adjacent device or a backbone, without the aid of an installer. Considering the femto cell and the relay are arbitrary nodes (or irregular cells) for which an on/off operation and mobility are ensured in the network, a dynamic operation should be assumed for them and static information of the legacy commercial network should be used as dynamic information. Self-merging of an entity added to a network with a legacy commercial network is called Self-Organized Network (SON).

Method for self-configuring a cellular infrastructure as desired, and a device therefor


A printing machine includes a transfer device including a conveyor having suction holes formed therethrough for transferring cardboard sheets one by one, a suction device for applying a suction force on one of the two surfaces of each of the cardboard sheets, which one of two surfaces faces the conveyor, and ink jet heads located to face the other of the surfaces of each of the cardboard sheets to be spaced apart therefrom. The ink jet heads are located in such a manner that a desired distance is maintained between tips of the ink jet heads and the other surface to be printed and include ink jet nozzles from each of which ink is jetted out toward said the other surface. The ink jet heads have skirts located upstream and downstream of the transferring direction of the cardboard sheets in such a manner that the skirts extend from the ink jet heads toward the other surface and have a width which covers the ink jet nozzles so as to form a partition in a space between the ink jet nozzles and the other surface.

The present invention relates to an ink-jet type printing machine, more particularly, a printing machine for printing a clear printing image on surfaces of cardboard sheets.
Japanese Patent document No. H03-121853A discloses an ink-jet type printing machine for cardboard sheets. This printing machine has a transfer device having a conveyor having suction holes for transferring the cardboard sheets one by one, a suction device for sucking one of two surfaces of each of the cardboard sheets, which faces the conveyor, through the suction holes, and ink jet heads spaced apart from the other of the two surfaces to be printed, the ink jet heads being located at the side of the other of the two surfaces to be spaced apart therefrom. The ink jet heads have ink jet nozzles and are located so as to maintain a desired distance between tips of the ink jet heads and the printing surface.
In accordance with above described constructions, the cardboard sheets are suctioned toward the conveyor via suction holes of the suction device and cardboard sheets are conveyed by the conveyor. When the cardboard sheets move across the ink jet heads, the ink droplets are jetted out toward the printing surface and land on the printing surface, whereby a printing image can be created.
However, the prior art printing machine has the following technical drawbacks.
It is important that the cardboard sheets are suctioned toward the conveyor by the suction device in order to prevent warp of the cardboard sheet or shifting of the cardboard sheets relative to the conveyor. At this time, a gap can be formed between adjacent sheets in the feeding direction because the sheets are transferred one by one. Since the holes on the gap portion is not covered with the cardboard sheet, suction air from the suction device is released through the gaps toward a space in which ink jet heads are disposed.
As a result, the environment between the ink jet heads and the printing surface will be disturbed, so that ink droplets are deflected before reaching the printing surface, and thus the deviation of the position of dots from the desired position can be caused, which causes unclear printing or even causes unsatisfactory printing result. However, because ink jet heads include a number of ink jet nozzles, it is almost impossible to adjust each of them in order to prevent such a deviation.
The object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet type printing machine which can print clear images on the desired position of an individual cardboard sheet.


In a trench-gate-type insulated gate bipolar transistor, a current will not flow down to a lower portion of a trench, a high electrical field at the lower portion of the trench is suppressed even if a high voltage is applied, such as at a time of turning off, an increase in on-state resistance and a decrease in breakdown resistance and withstand voltage are suppressed. In the semiconductor device, a plurality of trenches is disposed to reach a rear surface of a drift layer, and a collector layer is disposed at a tip end side in an extended direction of the trenches in a surface layer portion of the drift layer. When a gate electrode is applied with a predetermined voltage, a channel region is formed in a portion of the base layer contacting the trenches, and an electric current flows in the predetermined direction along the trenches.

Conventionally, a lateral-type semiconductor device in which a trench-gate-type IGBT is formed and an electric current flows in a planar direction of a substrate has been proposed, for example, in a patent literature 1. In this semiconductor device, in particular, a P-type base layer is formed in a surface layer portion of an N−-type drift layer, and an N+-type emitter layer is formed in a surface layer portion of the base layer. Further, a plurality of trenches each of which passes through the base layer and the emitter layer and reaches the drift layer are extended in one direction. A gate insulation film and a gate electrode are orderly formed on a wall surface of each trench. It is to be noted that this trench does not reach a rear surface of the drift layer.
An emitter electrode is provided on the base layer and the emitter layer through an interlayer insulation film. The emitter electrode is electrically connected to the base layer and the emitter layer through contact holes formed in the interlayer insulation film. A P+-type collector layer is formed in the surface layer portion of the drift layer at a position separated from the base layer. Specifically, this collector layer is disposed in the drift layer adjacent to a side wall of the trench. Namely, a distance between the side wall of each trench and the collector layer is different. Further, a collector electrode is provided on the collector layer.
In such a semiconductor device, when a predetermined gate voltage is applied to the gate electrode, an N-type channel region is formed in the base layer at a portion adjoining the trench. When electrons are supplied from the emitter layer to the drift layer through the channel region and holes are supplied from the collector layer to the drift layer, a resistance value falls due to conductivity modulation and thus the semiconductor device becomes in an on state.

Trench-gate-type insulated gate bipolar transistor


A method and apparatus is disclosed for transforming hierarchical information into a rowset and for transforming a rowset into hierarchical information. In transforming hierarchical information, such as an XML data file, into a rowset, a parser parses the XML data file to form an active store. A query processor, after receiving a query including a number of metaproperties, processes data from the XML active store to form a rowset. The rowset can be processed further using a query language, such as the Structured Query Language (SQL). After processing, the rowset can be converted back into an XML data file using an XML formatter. An overflow feature facilitates the addition of text data to the rowset. A fusion feature facilitates defining a relationship between different data items in the rowset such that they can be merged into a single data element as the rowset is converted into an XML data file.

The efficient communication of information over computer networks is very important for individuals, corporations, and governments in a world in which networks play an ever increasing role in commerce, science, and world affairs. Efficient communication of information is promoted in networked multi-vendor environments by having a standard method of formatting the information.
Relational databases provide one method of formatting, manipulating, and exchanging information in a networked computing environment. Relational databases are widely used, have been in use for many years, and have many support tools. For example, query languages, such as the Structured Query Language (SQL), are in common use for retrieving information from a relational database. Unfortunately, there are many competing relational database systems in use and the data formatting is not uniform among these systems. This variation in data formatting makes database files unsatisfactory vehicles for exchanging information in a multi-vendor environment.
On the other hand, in applications requiring information exchange, hierarchical data formats, such as the eXtensible Markup Language (XML), are becoming a standard. Using XML as a standard formatting language for exchanging information has several advantages. First, XML is a text based language, which allows the XML data to be exchanged across a multitude of computer systems that may be based on different binary data representations. Second, XML is a tag oriented language. Tags permit the creator of the data to express the semantics of the data and to capture the hierarchical relationships in the data in a way that is self-describing. Unfortunately, XML has not yet been extensively woven into relational database systems.
For these and other reasons there is a need for the present invention.

Method and apparatus for information transformation and exchange in a relational database environment


Disclosed are novel organoborane compositions of Formula (I), (II) or (III),

The ever-growing electric transportation market, including hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and plugin hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), have provided major impetus for the development of higher energy density storage devices to power such vehicles. Light weight i.e., high energy density solvent-free batteries have regained much attention.
Batteries provide power to an external load through the chemical oxidation of a substance, e.g., Lithium, which prompts a loss of electrons from an anode through a load to the cathode contains a species that is reduced, e.g., oxygen in Lithium-Air batteries. Directly related to the performance of a battery is the efficiency of the ionic species formed during this redox process to easily move (diffuse) internally within the battery, typically through electrolytes or a membrane separator. Rechargeable batteries also require the reverse process to occur. This reverse process is also dependent on the ease with which ions may flow within the battery.
Solvent-free batteries have been developed that employ polymer-based and/or gelled electrolytes in place of liquid solvents, so called wet cells, used to dissolve ions in a battery [Meyer, W. H., Polymer Electrolytes for Lithium-Ion Batteries, Adv. Mater. 1998, 10, 439]. In contrast to wet-cell batteries, these polymeric electrolytes are safer to use and may be processed into thin films to provide multiple cells in a battery. The most common polymeric electrolyte contains ethylene oxide (CH2CH2O) groups which form poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO). The PEO electrolyte may be present in amorphous or crystalline phase. The PEO electrolyte is capable of solvating lithium cations through ion-dipole and Van der Waals interactions.
It has been established that ion diffusion is faster within an amorphous PEO domain compared to a crystalline PEO domain. In amorphous domains, segmental motion facilitates the ion transport [D. Fish, I. Khan, J. Smid, Conductivity of solid complexes of lithium perchlorate with poly [ωmethoxyhexa(oxyethylene)ethoxy]methylsiloxane, Makromol. Chem., Rapid Commun., 1986, 7, 115.]
An emerging battery design is the Lithium-Air battery, in which the cathode utilizes ambient oxygen to effect reduction. Read et al. reported the effects of air cathode formulation and electrolyte composition on the discharge capacity, rate capability, and rechargeability of lithium/oxygen batteries [Read J. (2002) Characterization of the lithium/oxygen organic electrolyte battery, J. Electrochem. Soc. 149(9):A1190-A1195]. To characterize the effects of cell formulation on the discharge reaction, various analytical techniques were used including static and dynamic gas consumption measurements and scanning electron microscopy. Read et al. found that in certain electrolytes such as 1 M LiPF6 in propylene carbonate (PC:THF), the main discharge product is Li2O2, whereas in other electrolytes based on mixed carbonate solvents, the discharge product was mainly Li2O. Read et al. also measured both oxygen solubility in the electrolyte and viscosity of the electrolyte to demonstrate how oxygen partial pressure affects cell performance as it changes the concentration of oxygen in the electrolyte; concluding that higher concentrations of oxygen in the electrolyte and low discharge rates appeared to favor the formation of Li2 O2. Thus, it would be advantageous to discover novel electrolyte compositions that promote Li2O2 for use in Li-ion and Li-air batteries.

Organoboranes useful as electrolytes for lithium batteries

Abstract: wherein R1, R2, R3, R′, R″, n, n′, n″, m, m′, and m″ are defined hereinabove. Also disclosed is a method of using said compositions for electrolytic media in lithium rechargeable batteries, including lithium-ion or lithium-air rechargeable batteries. Also disclosed are compositions containing said Formula (I), (II) and (III) compounds with lithium salts, useful as electrolytic media or matrices.


An eye target apparatus and method helping to control an operative eye focus line of sight position during medical procedures on the operative eye of a cooperative awake patient. The apparatus includes a housing for occluding substantially all visual perception from an exterior environment for a non operative eye, the housing including a cover, with an internal surface that forms a plane approximately perpendicular to the non operative eye line of sight axis. Also included is a visually perceptible element adjacent to the internal surface being in visual communication with the non operative eye and structure for moving the visually perceptible element within the plane to any selected position, the apparatus is operational to help the non operative eye focus on a selected line of sight position upon the visually perceptible element with the result in assisting in the operative eye achieving a stable selected line of sight position.

There are a number of medical procedures that are performed on a patient's eye (termed operative eye) such as cataract removal, lens implants, vision corrective surgery, injury repair, and the like, wherein the aforementioned medical procedures typically require bright high-intensity operative lighting that is focused upon the operative eye for the eye surgeon and others to perform their task. Also, it can be important that the operative eye assume a selected particular focus line of sight axis position and be stable in that particular focus line of sight axis position, in addition, during the medical procedure the eye surgeon and others may require that the operative eye be moved to a second selected particular focus line of sight axis position, and so on. The patient may be under local anesthesia during the medical procedure on their operative eye. Depending upon the medical procedure performed on the operative eye and the level of anesthesia, the bright high-intensity operative lighting that is focused upon the operative eye, that typically has diminished visual acuity from the medical procedure, can be disorientating and uncomfortable for the awake patient in addition to possibly causing the operative eye to change its focus line of sight position unexpectedly and/or cause the operative eye to move uncontrollably, making the eye surgery more difficult and lengthy potentially causing additional medical complications.
Although, the aforementioned problem is recognized, the prior art has not directly addressed this issue, however, there are some prior art devices that occlude an eye or impart various visual images to the eye for the purpose of field of vision testing, eye therapy, brain activity testing, sports timing or pacing, and the like. Principally, the prior art most focuses upon field of vision testing, an example would be in U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,270 to Marshall that discloses a device and method for field of vision testing that includes a patch and an opaque eye cover housing with an array of fixed position LED's with selected and sequential illumination. Marshall observes the non occluded eye movement in responding to the occluded eye reacting to various illumination points. Another example is in a more conventional field of vision testing device in U.S. Pat. No. 5,461,436 to Campbell that discloses an open chamber that both of the patient's eyes see and thus both of the patient's eyes see the same background color allowing color field of vision testing thus minimizing retinal rivalry interference, which is where the eye that is not the subject of the field of vision testing interferes with the vision of the eye being tested, such as when the eye not being tested is completely occluded and interferes with the vision of the eye being tested, being particularly troublesome when the patient has a dominant eye. Additionally, in Campbell if the non tested eye was exposed to a white light background, which was found to be too bright for some patient's, was also found to affect field of vision test results. Campbell attempts to overcome these problems by providing a non white background light for the non tested eye, which is claimed to be more effective in detecting glaucoma with the preferred colors being a yellow background for both eyes and a blue spot fixation light for the tested eye that is movable for field of vision testing.
In the brain activity area, in U.S. patent application publication number U.S. 2002/0198577 A1 to jaillet disclosed is a monocular apparatus for selectively stimulating brain activity of a patient by the use of light and/or sound for diagnosis of the extent of brain injury, or other brain disorder. Jaillet in one embodiment is an eye glasses type of structure having a plurality of fixed position lights that in conjunction with or without sound or having sound alone, all or part of which are selectively activated to stimulate the brain in either one or both eyes with the light stimulation varying in color intensity and frequency. On the therapy side for defects in eye vision in U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,877 to Hussey, disclosed is a pair of eyeglasses that have a selectable opaque to transparent view and vice versa single lens that are adjacent to a thin film, being a liquid crystal type display sandwiched between two metalized mylar films that are electrically controlled that in effect align the liquid crystals changing the thin film from transparent to opaque and vice versa at a high frequency. Hussey is for the treatment of cross eye and lazy eye, wherein the objective of the treatment is to stimulate the subservient eye. Also, in the eye therapy area in U.S. patent application publication number U.S. 2003/0056281 A1 to Hasegawa, disclosed is an eye mask that has the capability of magnetic bodies, heating, cooling, vibrators, eyeball shapers, aromatics, sound, and elimination of sound for the treatment of eye fatigue, disease, pseudo myopia, moderate farsightedness, and moderate astigmatism. Hasegawa also controls the fixed position illumination bodies for frequency and intensity.
In the sports timing or pacing area in U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,188 to Wayne disclosed is an athletic pacing goggle that has a selectable periodic fixed position visual signal to a swimmer for the purpose of allowing the swimmer to pace their strokes. Wayne includes a fixed position LED in the swimming goggles that is in a corner of one eye, being in the peripheral field vision of that eye, the LED flashes at a selectable frequency for the swimmer to pace their strokes wherein the goggles of necessity remain transparent for both eyes. A similar prior art example is in U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,045 to Mysliwiec et al. that discloses an athletic pacing goggle that is similar to Wayne except that in addition to a periodic fixed position visual signal, a timing device is also in the swimmers peripheral field of vision, utilizing a special lens to better make the timing device readable, which is again for use in pacing swimming strokes and for measuring elapsed time for swimming laps.
The aforementioned prior art does not disclose a device that directly addresses the identified problems of the operative eye assuming a selected particular focus line of sight axis position and be stable in that particular focus line of sight axis position, or having a device to move the operative eye to a second selected focus line of sight axis position or positions and also helping to maintain the selected focus line of sight axis position in a stable manner for the purpose of more effective and efficient eye surgery for the patient.


A planar monopole antenna is provided. The planar monopole antenna comprises a ground plate, a radiating metal plate, and a multi-branch feeding metal plate. The multi-branch feeding metal plate is formed between the ground plate and the radiating metal plate, and has a single feeding point thereon. The radiating metal plate and the multi-branch feeding metal plate together can also be fabricated from a single metal plate by using a line-cutting or stamping technique, or formed on a same dielectric substrate by using a printing or etching technique. Thus, the planar monopole antenna is easy to construct at a low cost.

As the digital audio and video technologies progress and numerous mobile communication products are developed, the transmission speed and the amount of data transmitted using wireless communication are both increasing. For the related applications, the IEEE 802.15 Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) standard designates an ultra-wide band of 3.1 to 10.6 GHz for high data-rate transmission to meet the needs of future technologies. In the antenna design for this kind of ultra-wideband antenna, it is highly valuable to obtain a design that has an operational bandwidth with a frequency ratio exceeding 1:7.5. Most of the current wideband antennas are monopole antenna, logarithm periodic antenna, and so on. However, these designs do not satisfy the ultra-wideband operation and are usually bulky in design.
In 1982, U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,003 disclosed a monopole antenna, including a plurality of metal rods having different lengths. The antenna can generate a plurality of resonant frequencies, but the disadvantages are that it has a complex structure and is large in size. In 1996, U.S. Pat. No. 5,828,340 disclosed a wideband monopole antenna. However, the increased bandwidth does not satisfy the needs nowadays.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a conventional wideband monopole antenna. A wideband monopole antenna 100 uses a single feeding strip 130 to connect to a radiating metal plate 120. One end of feeding strip 130 is connected to a signal source (not shown) through a via-hole 140 on a ground plate 110. This type of wideband monopole antenna has the disadvantage of insufficient bandwidth, usually less than 2 GHz. Furthermore, for frequencies over the operating band, the cross-polarization radiation of the antenna is too large.

Industrial Technology Research Institute


Combined laser-based apparatus for determining both altitude and ground velocity of an aircraft comprises: a laser source for emitting pulsed laser beams substantially at a predetermined wavelength; a plurality of first optical elements for directing the laser beams from a first optical path to a second optical path which exits the first optical elements; a plurality of second optical elements configured to form a telescope, the second optical path and telescope field of view being fixedly co-aligned; an optical scanner for directing the second optical path and telescope field of view to desired ground positions while maintaining the co-alignment thereof; the telescope for receiving Doppler wavelength shifted reflections of the pulsed laser beams and directing the received ground reflections substantially over a third optical path; an optical filter element for separating the ground reflections of the third optical path into first and second portions that are dependent on the Doppler wavelength shift of the ground reflections; and processing means for determining altitude and ground velocity of the aircraft based on the first and second portions.

The present invention is directed to avionic systems for measuring above ground level (AGL) altitude and ground velocity of an aircraft in general, and more particularly, to combined laser measurement apparatus for measuring both above ground level (AGL) altitude and ground velocity of the aircraft.
Today's military and commercial aircraft desire more precise measurements of aircraft position and position information. Ground based RADAR systems and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) allow for precise positioning of an aircraft in latitude and longitude desirable for air traffic control, aircraft separation, and navigation. However, precise AGL measurements are often difficult to achieve with such systems, especially for applications in which precise placement above the ground is needed. New levels of precision for altitude or AGL measurements, on the order of +/−6 inches (15 cm), for example, are often required for flight profiles ranging from hover, to nap of the earth (NOE) flight, and autonomous landing. Current aircraft altimeter systems generally can not achieve these precise measurements.
Recently, laser-based altimeters have been proposed for use on-board aircraft. This laser altimeter technology presents a significant advancement over radar altimeters as the ground registered data contains a higher level of resolution due to the narrow beam of the laser. However, the laser altimeters do pose certain concerns when applied to aircraft, especially with regard to the volume of the instrument attributed to the large number of optical elements contained therein. Another concern is directed to the ruggedness of the instrument in an aircraft flight environment. The optical elements of the laser altimeter are generally mounted on an optical bench, adjusted to be precisely aligned with respect to each other and secured in place. But, because of the vibration, shock and wide temperature variation encountered in aircraft flight, the optical elements have a tendency to become misaligned over time and thus, require constant maintenance. In bi-static laser altimeter configurations, back scattering of laser beam transmissions into a telescope portion is an additional concern.
A laser altimeter which overcomes the aforementioned concerns of laser altimeters by providing a compact laser altimeter which improves upon size, ruggedness and maintenance of the instrument is described in the co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/386,334, filed Mar. 11, 2003, entitled "Compact Laser Altimeter System" and assigned to the same assignee as the instant application.
Laser systems have also been proposed for use on-board the aircraft in measuring the ground velocity thereof. These ground velocity laser systems propose to use the backscattering of laser emissions off of the ground, similar to laser altimeters, to measure the ground velocity. However, such laser based ground velocity measurement systems usually have more stringent optical alignment concerns than those for the laser altimeters described above.
The present invention overcomes the aforementioned concerns by integrating the capability of measuring ground velocity into a laser altimeter system, such as the system described in the co-pending patent application Ser. No. 10/386,334, for example, to effect a laser based system for measuring both AGL altitude and ground velocity in a common instrument. Through use of common optical and signal processing elements, the resulting combined instrument maintains substantially the features of small size, ruggedness and maintenance of the laser altimeter of co-pending application Ser. No. 10/386,334.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Combined laser altimeter and ground velocity measurement apparatus


Database systems, methods and/or computer program products provide for multiple but exclusive relationships between tables in a relational database. The multiple but exclusive relationship may be enforced based on a type associated with a record in a relating table. The multiple but exclusive relationship may be a one-to-many or a many-to-many relationship. A foreign key value of a record in a relating table may be selectively associated with a specific one of a plurality of related tables based on at least one attribute of the record containing the foreign key in the relating table. In particular embodiments of the present invention, the foreign key values of a record in the relating table are selectively associated with one of the plurality of related tables by defining a foreign key of records of the relating table and defining a plurality of types of foreign key associations, each of the types corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of related tables. One of the related tables having a type corresponding to a type value associated with a record of the relating table is selected and a record in the selected related table identified based on a foreign key value of the foreign key of the record in the relating table.

Database systems, methods and computer program products are widely used for information management. More specifically, database systems, methods and computer program products may be used to reliably manage a large amount of data in a multi-user environment, so that many users can concurrently access the same data. Database systems, methods and computer program products generally include a database that actually stores the data, a database management system and one or more applications that interface with the database management system to provide, for example, user interfaces and other applications.
One widely available database system is the Oracle8i database system that is marketed by Oracle Corporation and that is described, for example, in publications entitled Oracle8i Concepts, Release 8.1.5, February 1999, Part No. A67781-01, 1999, and Oracle8i Administrator's Guide, Release 8.1.5, February 1999, Part A67772-01, 1999. The disclosures of both of these publications are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. The design and operation of database systems, methods and computer program products are well known to those having skill in the art, and need not be described further herein.
At a high level, a relational database may be considered as consisting of a set of tables. Each table typically includes a set of columns (fields). Each table also typically includes a "primary key." A primary key is a column which uniquely identifies each record in a table or a set of its columns whose combined values uniquely identify each record in that table. To speed up query searching, conventionally an index is built on the primary key of each table. An index that is based on a primary key column or columns is often called a primary key index, or primary index for short.
If a table includes a set of non-primary-key columns, i.e. a column or columns that by themselves collectively do not uniquely identify records in that table, whose combined values are used to identify records in other tables by matching the primary key values in the other tables, these columns are typically referred to as a foreign key. Often indices are built on the foreign key columns of a table, and these indices are referred to as foreign key indices.
A table having a foreign key may be considered a "child table" of the table or tables to which the foreign key points. A table which is pointed to by a foreign key or keys from another table may be considered a "parent table" of the other tables. The validity of a record in a child table with a foreign key or keys typically depends on the existence of records in all of its parent tables to which foreign key values of a record point. The referential integrity constraints between parent and child tables are enforced by a database management system that typically attempts to enforce the constraint that the foreign key of each child record must point to a parent record.
In relational database design, real world entities are normally modeled by entity tables, i.e., each of these entity table models, or represents, a class of real world entities. Between two or more entity tables the relationship is often one-to-many, meaning that each record in one of the two or more entity tables can relate to more than one record in the other entity table or tables, or many-to-many, meaning that each record in each of the two or more entity tables can relate to more than one record in the other entity table or tables.
Typically, the maximum granularity of the number of associations for each given record is not fixed in advance. There are many ways to represent a many-to-many relationship between two entity tables. One conventional way is to define another table, called a "relationship table," whose primary key includes both the primary keys of the two entity tables it relates. One such example is illustrated in FIG. 1, where Table A and Table B are entity tables with primary keys a and b, respectively, and Table C is a relationship table. Table C has a primary key which includes the primary keys a and b of Tables A and B and has a primary index based on those primary keys. Also Table C has foreign keys a and b and, therefore, is considered a child table of both Table A and Table B such that each of the foreign keys of each record in Table C point to a record in Table A and a record in Table B respectively.
In database design, it may be desirable to create multiple relationships. A multiple relationship is one where entries in a given table may have a one-to-many relationship to entries in several other tables. Such a relationship can be designed using conventional database schema design methos, as illustrated by the entity relationship diagrams (ERDs) in FIGS. 2A and 2B. The ERDs in FIG. 2A illustrate a multiple one-to-many relationship and in FIG. 2B illustrate a multiple many-to-many. As seen in FIG. 2A, entity tables A, B1, B2, B3, . . . , Bm have primary keys (PKs) a, b1, b2, b3, . . . , bm, respectively, where a, b1, b2, b3, . . . , bm, are of the same data type. The multiple one-to-many relationship between table A and tables B1, B2, B3, . . . , Bm may be expressed if each given record in A may relate to one or more records in one or more of tables B1, B2, B3, . . . , Bm. Such is illustrated in FIG. 2A by the foreign keys (FK) of Table A each pointing to the tables B1, B2, B3, . . . , Bm. FIG. 2B illustrates a conventional design that may be used to express the multiple many-to-many relationship where table A and tables B1, B2, B3, . . . , Bm, are related by relationship tables R1, R2, R3, . . . , Rm.
As can be seen from the ERDs in FIGS. 2A and 2B, each record in Table A can be associate with records in more than one second tables. Thus, in conventional database design to express multiple relationships, it is possible to have a record in Table A relating to more than one record in more than one table from tables B1, B2, B3, . . . , Bm. In the conventional technique illustrated in FIG. 2B, there are m relationship tables created, which may increase the complexity of the database schema. As a result, extra development effort may be required. Furthermore, the increased complexity may increase the difficulty in maintaining the database. Finally, should there be changing requirements to also be able to relate records in A to records in another existing table, for example, Table Bm+1, a new relationship Table Rm+1, may need to be created to represent the potential associations between records in Table A and Table Bm+1. Such a change may require a database schema change. Schema changes may be expensive, in terms of unnecessary development cost and/or service operation interruption.
However, in database design, it may also be desirable to create multiple but exclusive relationships. A multiple but exclusive relationship is one where entries in one table can relate to multiple records from exactly one of several second tables. Such record associations are illustrated in FIG. 2C for one-to-many and FIG. 2D for many-to-many multiple but exclusive relationships, where the number of second tables m is 2.

Database systems, methods and computer program products using type based selective foreign key association to represent multiple but exclusive relationships in relational databases


A piloting actuator valve controls flow in a well. The piloting actuator valve is combined with a downhole completion and utilizes a pilot valve to control actuation of a main valve. A controllable actuator is coupled to the pilot valve and enables selective control over the pilot valve which, in turn, controls the state of the main valve.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention pertains to pilot valves used in downhole completions, and particularly to a pilot valve using an actuator to control the state of the pilot valve, and thereby the state of the main valve.
2. Related Art
Pilot valves are used in gas lift product lines such as intermittent gas lift applications. Existing pilot valves are typically driven by a bellows operating in response to a pressure differential, similar to what is used in other types of gas lift valves. Although the present invention can be used for intermittent gas lift, it is not limited to that application.
Actuator valves such as solenoid valves, for example, are used in various industrial and downhole applications. Because of the linear relationship between the port size and solenoid force requirement, pilot valves have been used in many solenoid-actuated valves to maximize pressure ratings. In many existing downhole tool designs, two bellows are used to seal and isolate reservoir fluids from the fluid in the interior of the solenoid. In addition, the two-bellows configuration allows the pressure to balance between those fluids. The most intuitive way of configuring two bellows is to have two separate bellows; one for sealing and the other for pressure balancing. However, because of space constraints, it may be more advantageous to achieve both functions using only one fluid contact surface. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,880,620, Bredtschneider describes a system having two telescoping bellows for this purpose. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,335, Larsen describes a system that achieves the same purpose by assembling two bellows in an end-to-end arrangement.

Piloting actuator valve for subterranean flow control


An ensilage harvester has a cutterhead including a closed cylindrical drum having angular knife retainers mounted in circumferential rows about the periphery of the drum. Each knife retainer has a first leg extending generally tangentially to the drum and a second leg oriented at approximately a right angle to the first leg. A sheet metal insert is mounted together with the knife on each retainer, the insert extending to the second leg of the adjacent trailing knife retainer and being shaped to act as a relatively smooth surfaced crop impeller from which crop flows without caking thereon, the retainer being easily replaceable when worn.

The present invention relates to an ensilage or forage harvester cutterhead, and more specifically relates to a cutterhead including a closed cylindrical drum having knife retainers fixed to its outer surface, with each knife retainer being in the form of an angular piece of material having a first leg that carries a knife and a second leg that extends from the drum to the area under the knife so as to form a paddle or impeller which serves to carry and discharge crop tangentially to the drum through the cutterhead housing discharge opening.
An example of a cutterhead of the above-mentioned type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,284, granted 6 Dec., 1977. In this structure, sharp corners or pockets are defined between in the zone between circumferentially adjacent knife retainers. While DE-OS-1 507 278 discloses knife retainers having smooth curved surfaces and U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,450,507 and 4,011,998 respectively have knives and separate members that are curved and act as a crop impelling surfaces, these surfaces are subject to wear and are expensive and/or difficult to replace and/or difficult to construct.
The problem underlying the invention is seen in the fact that the impelling surfaces show wear after high volume production runs and that, in the case where the impelling surfaces are formed like those disclosed in the above-identified U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,284, wet crop that should be ejected is caked onto the impelling surfaces.


An improved low-cost super-regenerative receiver includes sampling phase-locked loop. Phase sampling is controlled by the quench signal (264). In the preferred embodiment, logic state HIGH to logic state LOW transition of the quench signal (264) defines the timing for the event of sampling. While the quench signal (264) is in logic state HIGH, a quenched oscillator is being turned ON and the oscillation amplitude builds-up until a steady-state level is reached. When the oscillator is turned OFF, effective quality factor of an electronically tunable resonator (206) is reduced, by increasing losses in the circuit, thus to ensure aperiodic (non-oscillatory) decay. The resonator's charge—an energy stored on internal reactive components of the resonator (206), which existed at the instant of turning the oscillations OFF, is transferred during precisely defined period of time to the charge holding capacitor (404) of a charge transfer circuit (216). Charge is stored on the charge holding capacitor (404), which is also part of a loop filter, until the described here charge transfer cycle is repeated again. A frequency control signal (268) at the output of the loop filter sets the frequency of the oscillation for the duration of the succeeding oscillator ON time.

Super-regenerative receivers are widely used in variety of applications including low-power short-range RF links. Such applications require low-cost receiver with extremely low power consumption. Super-regenerative receiver is suitable for such applications due to its simplicity and relatively good sensitivity. Frequency instability is well known disadvantage of super-regenerative receiver. Therefore, phase-locked loop has been suggested as a means for precise frequency stabilization. One such super-regenerative receiver design is described in Norbert Joehl, et al. "A Low-Power 1-GHz Super-Regenerative Transceiver with Time-Shared PLL Control" IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 36, No.7, July 2001, which is incorporated here by reference. At least three additional blocks are required (ECL frequency divider, sequential phase comparator and charge pump) for such super-regenerative receiver configuration; thus the cost of receiver is increased. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of such prior art super-regenerative receiver.
Referring now to FIG. 1, a prior art super-regenerative receiver includes a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) 104 which is pulsed ON and OFF (quenched) by a quench signal 176 and is responsive to both frequency control signal 174 and amplitude control signal 158. Low-noise amplifier 102, which amplifies received RF input signal 150 to produce amplified RF signal 152, is connected between antenna 100 (or other equivalent source of RF input signal) and voltage-controlled oscillator 104. Low-noise-amplifier 102 also provides reverse isolation to the antenna, thus minimizing the re-radiation of the receiver's own oscillator energy and preventing interference to other receivers in the vicinity. An oscillator output signal 154 is applied to input of an envelope detector 106 to produce envelope detector output signal 156. Envelope detector output signal 156 is filtered by a low-pass filter 110 to obtain amplitude demodulated output signal 178 which is proportional to the received RF input signal amplitude. Envelope detector output signal 156 is also applied to an amplitude control circuit 108 to produce the amplitude control signal 158, thus performing an automatic oscillator's amplitude level control function (in similar way to an automatic gain control function in a typical super-heterodyne receiver), Amplitude control circuit 108 is responsive to an ACL enable signal 160 which is produced by clock and logic control 122. The oscillator output signal 154 is also applied to input of fixed ratio ECL frequency divider 114 via isolation amplifier 112 (which is inserted between output of voltage controlled oscillator 104 and input of ECL frequency divider 114). ECL frequency divider 114 is enabled by ECL frequency divider enable signal 162 produced by the clock and logic control 122. ECL frequency divider output signal 164 is applied to one of the inputs of a sequential phase comparator 116. Reference frequency signal 166, produced by the clock and logic control 122, is applied to the second input of the sequential phase comparator 116. Sequential phase comparator 116 is enabled by sequential phase comparator enable signal 168, which is produced by the clock and logic control 122. Sequential phase comparator 116 detects phase difference (phase error) between the ECL frequency divider output signal 164 and the reference frequency signal 166. Sequential phase comparator output signal 170 controls operation of a charge pump 118. Charge pump 118 is employed to produce an error signal 172 for the feedback path of the phase-locked loop. Loop filter 120 (in form of at least charge holding capacitor) filters the error signal 172 to produce a frequency control signal 174 (which is applied to frequency control input of the voltage-controlled oscillator 104). Phase-locked loop is enabled only while the quench signal 176 is in logic HIGH state (ON time). When the quench signal 176 is in logic LOW state (OFF time), oscillations are quenched and the voltage at frequency control input of the voltage-controlled oscillator 104 is memorized by the charge holding capacitor of the loop filter 120. During the ON time, phase-locked loop compensates for phase error created during the last OFF time. When turning power on to the circuit, phase-locked loop has to first run in continuous mode until initial frequency acquisition is achieved. That is not desired in certain applications, where power consumption is of concern, and thus it limits the usability of such approach. Addition of the frequency divider, the sequential phase comparator and the charge pump increases complexity, size and cost of the circuit. Since the power consumption of the ECL frequency divider increases with frequency, such approach does not assure the minimal power consumption of the receiver for higher frequencies such as microwaves. Current state of the technology also imposes upper frequency limit where the ECL frequency divider operates reliably.

Super-regenerative receiver including phase-locked loop


This invention relates to a twin-plate, rotary compressor and refers particularly, though not exclusively, to a twin-plate, rotary compressor comprising two conical plates for relative rolling motion within a casing, there being a line contact between the two conical plates; the line contact being maintainable during operation of the compressor; a central seal for sealingly engaging correspondingly-shaped recesses of the two conical plates; and an outer seal in mating relationship with the two conical plates; wherein the central seal is mounted on a drive shaft, the drive shaft being operatively connected to an output shaft of a motor; wherein the drive shaft, the central seal and the outer seal are for rotation about a third axis of rotation, the third axis of rotation being coincident with a longitudinal axis of the drive shaft and a center of the central seal.

Reciprocating compressors have been used for a considerable time. However, it is well accepted that a reciprocating motion is not efficient, as the momentum of the piston must be reversed every half cycle.
Rotary compressors are known. However, as generally their rubbing components possess high relative velocities, frictional loss is high and therefore efficiency is somewhat limited.


A device may receive a request for a product. Based on the request, the device may determine a geographic location and delivery time for delivery of the product, and the device may identify product locations that are capable of providing the product and located near the geographic location. The device may determine, for each of the product locations and based on the product and at least one product location characteristic, a fulfillment time indicating when the product will be prepared for delivery. In addition, the device may identify at least one potential courier capable of transporting the product. Based on the fulfillment time, the delivery time, the geographic location for delivery, and at least one courier characteristic associated with the potential courier, the device may select a particular product location and a particular courier and perform an action based on the particular product location or the particular courier.

Consumers may order and obtain products in a variety of ways. For example, a consumer may order and/or purchase a product by visiting a physical retail location site where products are stored and/or sold. Alternatively, a consumer may order and/or purchase a product online, by phone, by mail, or the like, for delivery of the product to the consumer via a carrier, such as a postal service.

Intelligence platform for scheduling product preparation and delivery


A new and distinct Glechoma plant named ‘Dappled Light,’ particularly characterized by its unique variegation. The main or ground cover of the upper surface of mature leaves is a medium green, with the reticulated pattern and veining being a very pale green. The leaf stems, when exposed to sunlight, have a pinkish-purple color, which pleasantly contrasts with the variegated leaves. The new cultivar has relatively long internodal spacing thereby producing a fuller and more open plant.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Glechoma plant, botanically known as Glechoma hederacea, and referred to by the cultivar name, 'Dappled Light.'
Glechoma is a genus of approximately ten species of creeping decumbent plants. The species Glechoma hederacea is a perennial, having pairs of round, scalloped, bright green leaves and occasional small, trumpet-shaped, blue flowers. The species is commonly known by numerous other names, including Creeping Charley, Gill-on-the-Ground or Gill-Over-the-Ground, Runaway Robin, Ground Ivy, Field Balm, and Alehoof. The normal use of the species is as small-scale ground cover or in hanging baskets. It can be a serious lawn and garden weed.


An ECU for an engine is held in a circuit holding member provided in an air cleaner cap of an intake device. A space between the ECU and the circuit holding member is filled with a potting material, so that the ECU is fixed to the circuit holding member. As a result, the ECU can have high shakeproof properties not to cause malfunctions and not to be damaged by vibrations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an intake device to which an electronic control unit (ECU) for controlling an operational state of an internal combustion engine is fixed, and to a method of assembling the same.
2. Related Arts
A well-known intake device includes an air cleaner in which an engine ECU is disposed so as not to be adversely affected by heat from an engine. This kind of intake device is disclosed in JP-A-61-160533 and JP-A-8-210200, in which the ECU is fixed to the intake device by bolts. However, in this case, there is a probability that the bolts are loosened due to vibrations of a vehicle caused by a road surface state, a sudden start or a sudden control of a vehicle, or the like. The loosened bolts may result in malfunctions and damages of electronic parts in the ECU.

Intake device to which engine ECU is fixed and method of assembling the same


An industrial network with bidirectional communication for real time control includes nodes selectively operable in either a switch mode or a serial shifting mode. Nodes operating in the switch mode are capable of initiating data frames for transmission on the network and receiving data frames from the network. Nodes operating in either the switch mode or the serial shifting mode are capable of extracting and/or inserting data into a data frame as it is transmitted through that node. An initialization procedure determines end nodes and intermediate nodes within the network. The end nodes are configured to initially operate in the switch mode and the intermediate nodes are configured to initially operate in the serial shifting mode. The intermediate nodes are additionally operable to selectively toggle between operation in switch mode and serial shift mode and may operate in both modes during a single scan cycle.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to industrial control networks for controlling machines and industrial processes and, more specifically, to a network interface for individual nodes on the network which is configurable to execute in either a switch mode or a serial shift mode.
Industrial controllers are special purpose computers used for controlling factory automation and the like. Industrial controllers typically execute a control program highly customized to a particular control application. Special control languages, such as "relay ladder logic" are normally used to facilitate programming of the device. Under the direction of the stored program, a processor of the industrial controller periodically examines the state of input devices and updates the state of output devices. In order to ensure predictable control of a machine or process, the control program must be highly reliable and execute at well-defined time periods.
As industrial processes grow in complexity, an increasing number of devices are being connected to the industrial controller. The devices are often distributed about a machine or along a process line. An industrial network is typically used to connect the distributed devices and to allow data to be transmitted between the devices. However, the increasing number of devices requires an increased volume of communications between those devices. Yet, the control program still requires that the communications be performed in a well-defined time period. Thus, either the amount of time allocated to communications must increase or the transmission rate must increase. Because the industrial controller typically has a fixed time interval in which to execute each cycle of the program, it is more desirable to increase the transmission rate.
As is known to those skilled in the art, recent techniques to increase the transmission rate include data insertion or extraction from Ethernet frames without fully processing the frame. A master device generates a data frame and circulates it through a series of slave devices in a ring topology. The data frame includes a data block with portions reserved for each slave device. As the frame is received at each slave device, that device may either insert data in, or extract data from, the point in the data block reserved for that device without processing the entire frame. After accessing its portion of the data block, the slave device retransmits the data frame to the next slave device. The last slave device returns the frame to the master device to complete processing of the frame.
However, such systems have not been fully met without incurring various disadvantages. The master device is the only device capable of generating a data frame. The data frame is then circulated in a ring topology to a number of slave devices connected to the master device. Consequently, one slave device wishing to communicate with another slave device upstream from the first device must first insert data into one data frame, and the master device must then include that data into the next data frame from which the upstream slave device may extract the data on a subsequent communication cycle.
Another disadvantage of prior systems is that only one master device may talk to any of the slave devices connected to that master. Although it is common to have multiple, remote master devices, which may communicate with each other, if a remote master device needs data from, or needs to supply data to, a slave device connected to a second master device, the remote master device cannot communicate directly with that slave device.

Method and apparatus for full duplex serial shifting mode and switch mode data transmission


A liquid crystal display device has first and second substrates. A first electrode on the first substrate is alignment-treated and a second electrode on the second substrate is alignment-treated. A liquid crystal layer is disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate. Alignment-treating includes forming an alignment direction. The alignment direction of the first and second substrates is formed by irradiating an ion beam onto the first and second electrodes using an ion beam irradiation apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD), and more particularly, to a liquid crystal display having an electrode used as an alignment layer, and a method of fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a cathode ray tube (CRT) has been most widely used among display devices for displaying image information on a screen until now, but has many inconveniences owing to a large volume and weight compared with the display area.
With the development of electronic industries, the display device whose usage was limited to a TV Braun tube and so forth, is has been expanded for use in a personal computer, a notebook, a wireless terminal, a vehicle instrument panel, an electronic display board and the like. Also, due to the development of information communication technology, since it is possible to transmit a large amount of image information, the importance on a next generation display device capable of processing and displaying the large amount of image information has constantly been increasing.
Many requirements exist for such a next generation display device; the next generation display device must be lighter, thinner, shorter and smaller, have a high luminance, a large-sized screen, low power consumption and a low price. Among such next generation display devices, the LCD has recently gained in popularity.
The LCD has excellent resolution, better than other flat displays, and a fast response speed compared to that of the CRT in implementing a moving picture.
Twisted nematic (TN) mode LCDs have become extremely popular and widely used among LCDs at the present time.
In the TN mode LCD, after alignment layers are respectively formed on two substrates, directors of liquid crystal molecules adjacent to the lower substrate are perpendicular to directors of liquid crystal molecules adjacent to the upper substrate.
When an electric field is not applied, liquid crystal molecules of the TN mode LCD have a structure in which longer axes of the liquid crystal molecules are twisted in a spiral fashion. The liquid crystal molecules have a pitch and are parallel to the substrate.
Recently, LCDs employing a new mode are being actively researched. As examples of the new mode, there are in-plane switching (IPS) mode, optically compensated birefringence mode, etc.
The IPS mode LCD generates a horizontal electric field so as to drive the liquid crystal molecules in a horizontal state with respect to the substrates by forming two electrodes on an identical substrate and applying a voltage between the two electrodes. In other words, the longer axis of the liquid crystal molecule does not stand up with respect to the substrates.
A related art in-plane switching (IPS) mode LCD will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a related art LCD.
Referring to FIG. 1, a gate electrode 121 of conductive material such as metal is formed on a first transparent substrate 111. A gate insulator 130 such as silicon nitride (SiNx) or silicon oxide (SiOx) is formed on the gate electrode 121 and the first transparent substrate 111.
An active layer 141 of amorphous silicon is formed on the gate insulator 130 disposed on the gate electrode 121. Ohmic contact layers 151 and 152 of impurity-doped amorphous silicon are formed on the active layer 141.
Source and drain electrodes 161 and 162 of conductive material such as metal are formed on the ohmic contact layers 151 and 152. The source and drain electrodes 161 and 162 form a thin film transistor (TFT) together with the gate electrode 121.
A passivation layer 170 of silicon nitride (SiNx), silicon oxide (SiOx) or organic insulator is formed on a resultant structure including the source and drain electrodes 161 and 162. The passivation layer 170 has a contact hole 171 exposing the drain electrode 162.
A pixel electrode 181 of transparent conductive material is formed on a pixel region of the passivation layer 170 and is electrically connected to the drain electrode 162 through the contact hole 171.
A first alignment layer 191 of polyimide whose surface is aligned in a predetermined direction is formed on the pixel electrode 181.
At this time, the gate electrode 121 is connected with a gate line, and the source electrode 161 is connected with a data line. The pair of gate lines and the pair of data lines perpendicularly crossing the gate lines define a unit pixel region.
Meanwhile, an upper substrate including a second transparent substrate 110 is arranged over and spaced apart by a predetermined distance from the lower substrate constructed as above and including the first transparent substrate 111.
A black matrix layer 120 for preventing light leakage in portions other than the pixel regions is formed at a portion corresponding to the TFT beneath the second substrate 110.
A color filter layer 131 is formed beneath the black matrix layer 120 and the second substrate 110. The color filter layer 131 includes red (R), green (G) and blue (B) color filters repeatedly arranged, each color filter corresponding to one pixel region.
A common electrode 140 of transparent conductive material is formed beneath the color filter layer 131. A second alignment layer 150 of polyimide whose surface is aligned in a predetermined direction is formed beneath the common electrode 140.
A liquid crystal layer 190 is interposed between the first alignment layer 191 and the second alignment layer 150. Liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer 190 have an initial alignment direction, which is decided by the alignment direction of the first and second alignment layers 191 and 150.
The alignment layer forming process for determining the initial alignment direction of the liquid crystal molecules will be described in more detail hereinafter.
First, the alignment layer forming process includes the steps of coating a polymer film used as a raw material of the alignment layer and aligning the coated polymer film in a predetermined direction.
The alignment layer mainly uses a polyimide-based organic material, and is aligned by a rubbing method.
The rubbing method includes the steps of: coating a polyimide-based organic material film on a substrate; vaporizing a solvent contained in the coated polyimide-based organic material film at a temperature of 60-80° C.; hardening the polyimide-based organic material film at a temperature of 80-200° C. to form a polyimide alignment layer; and rubbing the polyimide alignment layer using a rubbing cloth such as a velvet in a predetermined direction to form an alignment direction.
Referring to FIG. 2, a method of fabricating the LCD of FIG. 1 will now be described in detail.
First, upper and lower substrates having the construction described in FIG. 1 are fabricated (S100).
Next, a cleaning step (S110) is performed to remove foreign substances on the upper and lower substrates each having various patterns formed thereon. After that, an alignment layer-printing step (S120) for printing polyimide (PI), which is a raw material of the alignment layer, on the upper and lower substrates is performed using an alignment layer-printing apparatus.
Afterwards, an alignment layer-plasticizing step (S130) in which a high temperature heat is applied to the printed polyimide to vaporize a solvent and harden the polyimide is performed.
Next, an alignment layer-rubbing step (S140) in which an upper surface of the plasticized alignment layer is rubbed in a predetermined direction by using a rubbing apparatus to form a groove is performed.
After the alignment layer-forming step is completed, a seal pattern serving as an adhesive is formed at an edge of the upper substrate except for a liquid crystal injection inlet, and a spacer is dispensed on the lower substrate (S150).
Next, the prepared two substrates are attached to each other with a spacing therebetween. In the attaching of the two substrates, a preciseness of a few micrometers is required to prevent light from being leaked when the preciseness is out of the given value (S160).
After that, a cell-cutting step (S170) for cutting the opposing substrates attached into a plurality of unit cells is performed. The cell-cutting step (S170) is performed to cut the completely attached substrates to a necessary size, and includes a scribing step for forming a cutting line on the outer surfaces of the upper and lower substrates, and a breaking step for dividing the attached substrates into the unit cells by applying an impact on the scribed line.
Finally, a liquid crystal is injected into a space between the two substrates cut in a unit cell, and a liquid crystal injection inlet is sealed to prevent the injected liquid crystal from being leaked, thereby completing an LCD (S180).
In the above LCD, the liquid crystal has a physical characteristic, which is varied with the alignment state of the liquid crystal molecules. The physical characteristic of the liquid crystal causes a difference in the response by an external force such as an electric field.
Owing to the aforementioned property of the liquid crystal molecules, it is an essential technique to control the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules for research on the physical property of the liquid crystal molecules and constitution of the LCD.
Especially, the rubbing process for allowing the liquid crystal molecules to be aligned uniformly is an important factor to determine the normal operation of the LCD and the uniform display characteristic of the screen, and the rubbing process accordingly has been the subject of much research.
The above-described rubbing method has advantages in that since the orientation treatment is easy, it is suitable for mass production and stable orientation can be made.
However, the usage of a roller having a defective rubbing cloth in the above rubbing process causes a rubbing failure.
In other words, since the rubbing method using such a rubbing cloth is performed by direct contact between the alignment layer and the rubbing cloth, various problems may occur. These problems may include contamination of liquid crystal cell due to the occurrence of particles, fracture of the thin film transistor (TFT) device, the need for an additional cleaning process after the rubbing process, non-uniformity of the alignment direction in a large-sized application, etc. All of these problems serve to lower the production yield of the LCD.
Also, since the above rubbing method includes coating the organic material film and rubbing the coated organic material film, an additional process is required, and cost of the alignment layer is required, thereby increasing the fabrication costs.

Liquid crystal display device and method of fabricating the same


The front end in GPS receivers has the functions of amplifying, down-converting, filtering and sampling the received signals. In the preferred embodiment, only two operations, A/D conversion and a sum, bring the signal from RF to filtered quadrature baseband samples. After amplification and filtering at RF, the L1 and L2 signals are each sampled at RF at a high selected subharmonic rate. The subharmonic sample rates are approximately 900 MHz for L1 and 982 MHz for L2. With the selected subharmonic sampling, the A/D conversion effectively down-converts the signal from RF to quadrature components at baseband. The resulting sample streams for L1 and L2 are each reduced to a lower rate with a digital filter, which becomes a straight sum in the simplest embodiment. The frequency subsystem can be very simple, only requiring the generation of a single reference frequency (e.g. 20.46 MHz minus a small offset) and the simple multiplication of this reference up to the subharmonic sample rates for L1 and L2. The small offset in the reference frequency serves the dual purpose of providing an advantageous offset in the down-converted carrier frequency and in the final baseband sample rate.

PRIOR ART
The NAVSTAR/GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS) will, when fully operational, allow users anywhere in the world to determine three-dimensional position and velocity, accurately synchronize clocks, measure ionosphere electron content and perform geodetic measurements. Such determinations are based on the measurement of the transit time and carrier phase of RF signals from a number of GPS satellites selected from a total constellation of 24. Observation of at least four satellites are typically obtained for accurate navigation purposes. The-visible satellites offering the best geometry can be selected either manually or automatically by receivers using ephemeris information transmitted by the satellites. The GPS signal transmitted from the space vehicles consists of two RF frequencies, L1 at 1575.42 MHz and L2 at 1227.6 MHz. The L1 signal is modulated with both P and the C/A pseudo-random noise codes in phase quadrature. The L2 signal is modulated with the P code. Both the L1 and L2 signals are also continuously modulated with the navigation data-bit stream at 50 bps. The functions of the codes are twofold: (a) identification of space vehicles, as the code patterns are unique to each space vehicle and are matched with like codes generated in the user receiver; and (2) the measurement of the GPS signal transit time from satellite to user, obtained by measuring the phase shift required to match the codes. The P code is a long (7 days) 10.23 MHz code that provides precise measurement of transit time but is difficult to acquire. The C/A (clear access) code is a short (one millisecond) code, readily acquired, but operating at 1.023 Mbps, which provides a more coarse measurement of delay. The C/A code is normally acquired first and a transfer is made to the P code.
The navigation data-bits contain the information that the user's receiver requires to perform the operations and computations for successful navigation with the GPS. The data include information on the status of the space vehicle; the time synchronization information for the transfer from the C/A to the P code; and the parameters for computing the clock correction, the ephemeris (position) of the space vehicle and the corrections for delays in the propagation of the signal through the atmosphere. In addition, it contains almanac information that defines the approximate ephemerides and status of all the other space vehicles, which is required for use in signal acquisitions. The data format also includes provisions for special messages.
The GPS user measures the apparent transit time by measuring the delay or time shift between the pseudo-random noise (PRN) code generated in the space vehicle and the identical code sequence generated by the user receiver, with each synchronized with its own clock. The receiver code is shifted until maximum correlation is achieved between the two codes; the time magnitude of the shift is the receiver's measure of transit time or delay. Ranges to the observed satellites are determined by scaling the measured signal transit time by the speed of light. When measurement of range to the satellites is made by a user with an imprecise clock, as is usually the case, the measured ranges are called "pseudo-ranges" because they contain a bias of fixed magnitude due to the clock error. GPS receivers also extract carrier phase (L1 or both L1 and L2) from the received signals in order to obtain an extremely precise measure of time variation of the ranges to the GPS satellites. The L1 and L2 range (and phase) can be combined in a manner that estimates and eliminates the corrupting charged-particle shifts caused by the ionosphere. As mentioned above, the range and carrier phase measurements can serve a variety of important applications.
The GPS signals collected by a GPS receiver are first processed by "front end" instrumentation that converts the RF signal to a filtered and sampled form at baseband. As used herein, the term "baseband", is defined as any frequency range which either includes zero frequency or is not significantly greater than zero frequency. In prior implementations, the front end amplifies and filters the RF signal and then down-converts it to baseband, using some combination of analog components including amplifiers, filters and mixers. The signal is then digitized for subsequent processing. The required analog components in such front ends are relatively bulky and introduce relatively large and unstable delays and phase shifts. There is, therefore, a need for a digital front end for GPS receivers, which obviates such analog components.
Disclosures of relevance to the present invention include the following:
(1) J. L. Brown, Jr., "On Quadrature Sampling of Bandpass Signals," IEEE Tran. Aero, & Electr. Systems, vol. AES-15, No. 3, p. 366, 1979. PA0 (2) Powers et al., "Ultrasound Phased Delay L1nes Based on Quadrature Sampling Techniques," IEEE Trans. Sonics & Ultrasonics, vol. SU-27, No. 6, p. 287, 1980. PA0 (3) O. D. Grace and S. P. Pitt, "Quadrature Sampling of High-Frequency Waveforms," J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., vol. 44, p. 1453, 1968. PA0 (4) P. H. Milenkovic, "Recovering the Spectrum of a Narrow-band Process from Syncopated Samples", DSN Progress Report 42-51, p. 47, March 1979. PA0 (5) M. C. Jackson and P. Matthewson, "Digital Processing of Bandpass Signals," GEC Journal of Research, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 32, 1986. PA0 (6) W. M. Waters and B. R. Jarrett, "Bandpass Signal Sampling and Coherent Detection," IEEE Trans. on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, vol. AES-18, no. 4, p. 731, 1982. PA0 (7) D. W. Rice and K. H. Wu, "Quadrature Sampling with High Dynamic Range," IEEE Trans. on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, vol. AES-18, no. 4, p. 736, 1982. PA0 (8) N. C. Beaulieu, "On The Performance Of Digital Detectors With Dependent Samples", IEEE Trans. Commun., Vol. COM-36, p. 1248-1254, November, 1988.


A paper container according to the present invention includes a tab region half cut for defining a tab region of a shape whose lower part is closed and whose upper part is opened in the substantially central part of one of top folded-in side panels. A stopper is applied to an upper end of the tab region or near the upper end. The tab region is pulled from below after a pair of top folded-in side panels are separated apart, whereby a tab is formed, and the tab is pulled to split the seal between the top ribs and then the top folded-in ribs, and then the seal is opened. The tab region half cut is simply provided, and a stopper is simply provided for prohibiting breakage of the tab. The tab is not raised until the seal is opened, so that the tab does not get in the way of manufacturing the container. The apparatus of the present invention cuts plastic tape to a desired length to form a stopper, heats the stopper prior to being applied to a blank for a paper container, and press applies the stopper to a blank for a paper container which is conveyed by a conveyor.

Conventionally gable-top paper containers are widely used as containers for milk, juice, and the like. The gable-top container is set up by closing the bottom of the prismatic barrel flat, and sealing the top into a gable after the container is filled with contents, such as a liquid. To open this paper container, an operation of first splitting one sealed part of the top seal, horizontally pulling the one sealed part and the other sealed part of the top seal, causing the inner seal to split open, and pulling up the folded-in sealed parts of the inner seal is needed. But seal strength of the top seal is so high that such opening operation is difficult. To facilitate the opening operation, paper containers with various extra tab members provided on one of the folded-in top panels participating in forming the opening have been proposed (e.g., Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 128931/1988, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 66423/1990, etc.).
In the paper container of the type described in Japanese Utility Model Laid Open Publication No. 128931/1988, since a tab member is partially secured to one folded-in top panel, attachment of the tab is not easy. This is a problem. In the paper container of the type described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 66423/1990, the tab member is an obstacle to forming the container, thus causing troubles. This is a problem.

Stopper applying apparatus for paper containers


In an EGR valve, a valve element is seatable on a valve seat by stroke movement of a valve stem caused by an actuator. The valve seat has a cylindrical part with which a step of the stem is engageable. By the stroke movement of the valve stem, the opening degree between the valve seat and the valve element is changed. The valve seat is moved in the passage in the stroke movement direction to be engageable with a shoulder of the passage. As the valve element is moved together with the stem, the opening degree in the low opening range is changed. As the step of the stem is engaged with the cylindrical part and the valve seat is moved with respect to the shoulder, the opening degree in the high opening range is changed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exhaust gas recirculation valve provided in an exhaust gas recirculation passage of an exhaust gas recirculation apparatus and to be driven by an actuator to open and close.
2. Related Art
As a technique of the above type, there is conventionally known an exhaust gas recirculation valve (EGR valve) disclosed in for example JP 2008-202516A. In a housing of this EGR valve, a valve stem is provided to be movable through a bearing so that the valve stem is moved reciprocally (stroke movement) by an actuator to operate a valve element to open and close with respect to a valve seat. To be concrete, the valve stem is formed, in its one end portion, with male screw threads and the actuator is formed with female screw threads engaging with the male screw threads. The actuator is driven to cause screw motion of the male screw threads with respect to the female screw threads, thereby making stroke movement of the valve stem to open and close the valve element with respect to the valve seat. Accordingly, the gas flow characteristics of the EGR valve are defined by the shapes of the valve element and the valve seat. Due to this configuration, it is impossible to set gas flow characteristics extremely different between a low opening range and a high opening range.


A toner process which comprises mixing. (i) a colorant dispersion, and a PA1 (ii) a nonionic surfactant, an ionic surfactant or mixtures thereof, with PA1 (iii) a latex comprised of resin and a mixture of anionic surfactant and a nonionic surfactant; PA1 (iv) heating the resulting blend of (iii) about equal to, or below about the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the resin; and PA1 (v) optionally adding additional anionic surfactant to the resulting aggregated suspension of (iv); PA1 (vi) heating the resulting mixture of (v) about equal to, or above about the Tg of the resin and PA1 (vii) isolating the toner.

The present invention is generally directed to toners, and toner processes, and more specifically to wax containing colorants, and aggregation and coalescence processes for the preparation of toner compositions. In embodiments, the present invention is directed to the economical chemical insitu preparation of toners, and wherein toner compositions with an volume average diameter of from about 1 to about 25, and preferably from 1 to about 10 microns in volume average diameter and narrow GSD of, for example, from about 1.15 to about 1.25 as measured on the Coulter Counter can be obtained, and which toners contain an optional non functionalized wax component, such as a low molecular weight wax, with from for example, a Mw of from about 800 to about 20,000, (about includes values in between throughout) and further containing modified functional waxes, such as polyalkylenes, like suitable polyethylenes, and polypropylenes, or hydrocarbons, each containing functional groups such as halide, like fluorine, amide imides, esters, quaternary amines, carboxylic acid, mixtures thereof, and the like on the polymer backbone, thereby permitting for example, substantial complete incorporation of the functionalized wax into the toner particles. The functionalized waxes selected and present in various suitable amounts, such as from about 1 to about 20, and preferably from about 2 to about 10 weight percent are available from a number of sources, such as Petrolite, Dow Corning, E. I. DuPont, S.C. Johnson Wax, and Sanyo Chemicals of Japan. The complete total functionalized wax incorporation (contrasted to of less than complete incorporation, for example from about 20 to about 40 percent incorporation of the nonfunctionalized waxes of the prior art resulting in release and stripping problems during image and toner fusing) into a host toner resin is important for release purposes when such toners are selected for known electrophotographic imaging processes.
With the processes of the present invention in embodiments, small average toner particle sizes of, for example, from about 3 microns to about 12, and preferably about 5 microns result without resorting to classification processes, and wherein narrow toner geometric size distributions are achievable, such as from about 1.16 to about 1.30, and preferably from about 1.16 to about 1.25. High toner yields are also obtainable with the processes of the present invention, such as from about 90 percent to about 98 percent.
In reprographic technologies, such as xerographic and ionographic devices, toners with volume average diameter particle sizes of from about 9 microns to about 20 microns are effectively utilized. Moreover, in some xerographic technologies, such as the high volume Xerox Corporation 5090 copier-duplicator, high resolution characteristics and low image noise can be attained utilizing the small sized toners of the present invention with, for example, an volume average particle of from about 2 to about 12 microns and preferably less than about 7 microns, and with narrow geometric size distribution (GSD) of from about 1.16 to about 1.3. Additionally, in some xerographic systems wherein process color is utilized, such as pictorial color applications, small particle size colored toners, preferably of from about 3 to about 9 microns, are needed to avoid paper curling. Paper curling is especially observable in pictorial or process color applications wherein three to four layers of toners are transferred and fused onto paper. During the fusing step, moisture is driven off from the paper due to the high fusing temperatures of from about 130 to 160.degree. C. applied to the paper from the fuser. Where only one layer of toner is present, such as in black or in highlight xerographic applications, the amount of moisture driven off during fusing can be reabsorbed proportionally by the paper and the resulting print remains relatively flat with minimal curl. In pictorial color process applications wherein three to four colored toner layers are present, a thicker toner plastic level present after the fusing step can inhibit the paper from sufficiently absorbing the moisture lost during the fusing step, and image paper curling results. These and other disadvantages and problems are avoided or minimized with the toners and processes of the present invention.
Lower toner fusing temperatures, such as about 120 to about 150 degrees Centigrade, and which fusing temperatures can be achievable with the toners of the present invention, minimize the loss of moisture from paper, thereby reducing or eliminating paper curl. Furthermore, in process color applications and especially in pictorial color applications, toner to paper gloss matching is important. Gloss matching is referred to as matching the gloss of the toner image to the gloss of the paper. For example, when a low gloss image of preferably from about 1 to about 30 gloss is desired, low gloss paper is utilized, such as from about 1 to about 30 gloss units as measured by the Gardner Gloss metering unit, and which after image formation with small particle size toners, preferably of from about 3 to about 5 microns and fixing thereafter, results in a low gloss toner image of from about 1 to about 30 gloss units as measured by the Gardner Gloss metering unit. Alternatively, when higher image gloss is to be generated, such as from about 30 to about 60 gloss units as measured by the Gardner Gloss metering unit, higher gloss paper is utilized, such as from about 30 to about 60 gloss units, and which after image formation with small particle size toners of the present invention of preferably from about 3 to about 5 microns and fixing thereafter results in a higher gloss toner image of from about 30 to about 60 gloss units as measured by the Gardner Gloss metering unit. The aforementioned toner to paper matching can be preferably attained with small particle size toners such as equal to or less than about 7 microns and preferably about 5 microns, and more preferably from about 1 to about 4 microns, whereby the pile height of the toner layer or layers is considered low.