The purpose of the present invention is to provide a ball glove structure that improves glove functionality for a player of baseball or softball even through provided with a box-like protective thumb-slot. The ball glove generally comprises an outer shell where the shell part Is formed by sewing together a ball catching palm surface part (1) and a backing surface part (2) provided with thumb and finger stalls or slots with a lace (3). The inventive glove structure comprises (A) a box-like thumb protective stall or slot (21) provided with a hem spread opening (21e) having an enlarged angle (α) at the bottom portion with regard to the center line of the thumb slot for easy movement of the thumb bottom at the time of opening/closing of the glove and also (B) a fixing structure comprising a pair of slits (10a, 10a) for dividing a hand opening band (5) into two parts; one is a thumb side and the other is a little finger side and a pair of straps (11a,11b) for fixing the bottom of the index finger to make a secure movement axis for opening/closing the glove as well as fastening the divided hand opening band for preventing the glove hand from slipping out from the hand opening band. Preferably, the little finger is fixed by the adjustable strap structure (23) to fix the little finger.

A Variety of gloves for a baseball and a softball are known. The gloves are used to catch baseballs that are hit and/or thrown toward a user during a game, so players, especially catchers usually receive heavy impact from ball to the thumb which can bend the player's thumb backward. This can cause hyper-extension of the thumb, so that almost ball glove, especially catcher mitt is provided with a protective insert for the thumb. The gloves are also used to tag out players on the opposing team. To tag a player out in front of the base, the user holds the ball in his glove and contacts the opposing player with the glove. At the time of "tag-out" of the running player, the user's hand tends to slip out from the glove and the ball also is likely to be spilled out from the glove by the tag-out violent action when the ball is not caught in the middle pocket of the glove. Especially, at the time of the tag out on the home base, the collision between the catcher and the runner is likely to occur. In many cases, the existing baseball and softball gloves is not enough to protect the user. To solve the problem, a glove structure for enhancing protection of a glove wearing hand has been proposed (patent document 1)


An ophthalmic surgery probe assembly includes a handpiece having a handpiece body and a hollow tip of a size suitable for insertion into a human eye, the hollow tip extending distally from the handpiece body. A laser connector is provided for connection to a laser source. A first optical fiber terminates at its proximal end in the laser connector and terminates at the distal end in the handpiece for transmitting laser light from the laser source to an eye to be treated, the first optical fiber extending at least partially through the handpiece tip. An illumination connector is provided for connection to an illumination source. A second optical fiber terminates at its proximal end in the illumination connector and terminates at the distal end in the handpiece for transmitting illumination from the illumination source to an eye to be treated, the second optical fiber extending at least partially through the handpiece tip. The tip also includes a fluid path from the distal end thereof to the interior of the handpiece body. The handpiece body has a fluid path in fluid communication with the fluid path of the tip, the handpiece body fluid path extending to the exterior of the handpiece so that fluid may flow through the tip and the handpiece body while laser light or illumination is directed by the optical fiber into the eye for irrigation and aspiration.

The present invention relates to probe assemblies and more particularly to such systems used in ophthalmic surgery and the like.
It is known that ophthalmic surgery involves numerous functions which are typically supplied by separate instruments. For example, separate laser handpieces, illumination probes, and irrigation/aspiration instruments are often used during ophthalmic surgery. Unfortunately, there are disadvantages that result from the use of separate instruments to provide these various functions.
Considering for the moment just laser handpieces and illumination probes, laser light is typically transmitted from a laser source (which is disposed at some distance from the patient) through an optical fiber cable (which can be eight feet or so in length) to the patient. The optical fiber cable terminates proximally in a laser connector (for connection to the laser source) and terminates distally in a handpiece which is manipulated by the surgeon. Similarly, the illumination is transmitted from an illumination source (also disposed at some distance from the patient) through another optical fiber cable to a second handpiece. Use of two separate handpieces requires either separate incisions to accommodate the tips of both handpieces or the successive replacement of one handpiece by the other, which increases the time required for the operation and the resulting trauma to the patient.
In addition, during ophthalmic surgery it is often necessary to remove blood and blood clots from the surface of the retina before the application of laser energy or to irrigate the surface during the time illumination is applied. Currently this is done by using a third instrument (one in addition to the laser handpiece and illumination probe) which has an aspiration/irrigation capability. Given the small incision sizes used in eye surgery, it is often difficult to place the suction probe in the eye simultaneously with the laser probe and an illumination probe because of size limitations, and because the surgeon has only two hands. The laser handpiece must be removed from the eye during suction and replaced when laser treatment is required. This unnecessarily increases the complexity and duration of the medical procedure.
During such medical procedures, the suction probe occasionally draws in material (such as a portion of the retina) which must remain in the eye. Reflux of these materials from current suction probes is not always simple.
These medical procedures presently require at least two hands for operation of the laser handpiece and the suction probe, but both hands are generally not available since one hand is generally occupied with an illumination probe. As a result, the procedures presently require sequential replacement of laser handpiece and suction probe. Reflux of material from the suction probe can require even more hands and/or can significantly increase the complexity of the medical procedure.
There are multi-function instruments for ophthalmic surgery which address some of these problems. For example, instruments are available that provide fiber optic illumination and suction in a single instrument. Such combined-function instruments are desirable since they allow the surgeon to perform multiple functions during the operation without the lost time and trauma otherwise resulting from placing and removing separate instruments.
Present combined-function instruments could, however, be improved. For example, presently available instruments of this type are quite costly and tend to be somewhat unreliable. Moreover, the diameter of these instruments is at the outer margin of what is considered acceptable for instruments which are inserted into the eye.


A ruthenium catalyzed method to synthesize cyclic sulfate compounds from the corresponding cyclic sulfites, and the cyclic sulfate reaction products obtained by this method. These cyclic sulfates further react with selected nucleophiles to give various substituted products. The method is an efficient means for the synthesis of chiral building blocks from tartaric acid enantiomers in high yields using an overall two-stage, one-pot reaction procedure. The chiral compounds can be transformed by nucleophilic reactions into chiral building blocks useful for the synthesis of natural biologically active products, such as antibiotics and pheromones.

The study of the relationship of three dimensional structure of organic or inorganic molecules is called stereochemistry, one aspect of which is the study of stereoisomers. Isomers are compounds which have the same molecular formula; stereoisomers differ from each other only in the way the atoms are oriented in space. Enantiomers are stereoisomers which are mirror images of each other and which share all of the same physical properties except one: the direction in which they rotate a plane polarized light, or optical rotation. Enanttomers are distinguishable from each other only by their optical rotation. Enantiomers display a property known as chirality. One characteristic of chiral molecules is that they are not superimposible on their mirror images. One enantiomer rotates the plane of polarized light to the left and the other enantiomer, its mirror image, rotates the plane of light to the right. If the rotation of the plane is to the right (clockwise), the substance is dextrorotatory, and the enantiomer is designated with a plus (+) sign. Conversely, if the optical rotation is to the left (counterclockwise), the substance is levorotatary, and the enantiomer is designated as minus (-). Enantiomers display equal, but opposite, optical rotation.
The existence of stereotsomers provides us with one of the most sensitive probes into mechanisms of chemical and biological reactions. Despite the very close similarity of enantiomers, they may display very different properties in chemical and biological reactions or transformations, Although very similar in structure, one isomer of the chiral pair may serve as an antibiotic, heart stimulant, food, or display other biological activity, and the other isomer may be totally biologically inert or has the opposite and toxic effect. J. March, Advanced Organic Chemistry, page 87, (2nd edition) McGraw Hill Co., New York, N.Y. (1977).
Enantiomers have identical chemical properties, except their interactions with optically active reagents. Enantiomeric molecules undergo the same chemical reactions with achiral molecules, and at the same rates, since the atoms of each are influenced in their reactivity by exactly the same combination of substituents. A reagent approaching either enantiomer encounters the same environment, except that one environment is the mirror image of the other. In the case of an optically active reagent, however, the influences exerted on the reagent in its attack on the enantiomers are not identical, and reaction rates will be different. In some systems of this nature, the reaction will not take place at all for one of the isomers.
In biological systems, such stereospecificity is the rule rather than the exception. The most obvious reason for this is that enzymes and most of their targets are optically active molecules. For example, (+)-glucose is an extremely important metabolite, but (-)-glucose is biologically inactive. The hormonal activity of (-)-adrenaline is several times greater than its mirror image (+)-adrenaline, and only one enantiomer of the compound chloromycetin is an antibiotic. (For other examples see R. T. Morrison and R. N. Boyd, Organic Chemistry, 3rd edition, Allyn and Bacon, Inc., Boston, Mass. pages 126-127) This stereospecific activity is one reason why chiral molecules are so important as a basis for bioactive compounds.
Tartaric acid, (C.sub.4 H.sub.6 O.sub.6) which is readily available in both enantiomeric forms, is an extremely useful and versatile chiral starting material for natural product and drug synthesis. Tartaric acid is used extensively in industry and as a food acidulant. Its two-fold symmetry axis causes all four functionalized carbon atoms to exist as homotopic pairs and thus simplifies its functional group transformations. Owing to its unique properties, many synthetic applications based on tartaric acid have been developed. For example, D. Seebach and coworkers describe the synthesis of chiral compounds from tartartic acid enantiomers in Modern Synthetic Methods 1980, R. Scheffold (ed.), Otto Salle Verlag, Frankfurt, FRG, p. 115-171 (1980). Hungerbuhler et al. describe the synthesis of chiral agents from tartaric acid using an epoxyalcohol intermediate in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 18(12):958-960 (1979). Schnurrenberger, et al. describe the synthesis of a chiral antibiotic, (+)-colletodiol, in Liebigs. Ann. Chem., pages 733-744 (1987). Mori and Iwasawa describe the synthesis of chiral pheromones using the enantiomers of tartrate as starting materials in Tetrahedron, 36:87-90(1980). Saito et al. describe the production of four stereoisomers of pure 2, 3-epoxyesters from tartaric acids in Tetrahedron Letters, 27(43)(:5249-5252 (1986). Hansson and Kihlberg describe the synthes is of an optically active derivative of the amino acid aspartic acid in J. Org. Chem., 51:4490-4492 (1986).
Other cyclic systems are described by Guiller, A. et al. in Tetrahedron Lett. 1985, p. 6343; Tewson, T. J. and M. J. Welch in J. Nucl. Med., 21:559 (1980); David, S. and S. Hanessian, Tetrahedron, 41:643 (1985); Ricci, A. et al. in J. Chem. Soc. Chem. Commun., p. 1458 (1985); and Shanzer, A., Tetrahedron Lett. 1980, p. 221 (1980).

Ruthenium-catalyzed production of cyclic sulfates


An area of a structure is reworked from one side of the structure using resin infusion of a dry fiber patch. Entrapped air and excess resin is removed from the patch during the infusion process by inserting a vacuum device into the patch, and forcing the area resin through the vacuum device.

1. Field
The present disclosure generally relates to equipment and processes for reworking and/or reinforcing structures, especially composites, and deals more particularly with a method and apparatus for reworking structures from one side thereof.
2. Background
Composite structures sometimes have localized areas containing one or more inconsistencies that may require rework in order to bring the structure within design tolerances, or to reinforce the area.
One technique for reworking localized areas of structures involves mechanically fastening a patch over the area, however fasteners may increase aircraft weight and/or drag on the aircraft, and may be esthetically undesirable in some applications.
Similarly, bonded rework patches may also require the use of mechanical fasteners to provide secondary load paths forming an arrestment mechanism to limit the growth of an inconsistency.
Still another technique for reworking structures, referred to as a wet layup technique, involves hand-layup of wet plies with fiber reinforcement, such as a woven or knitted fabric, and applying wet resin to the plies as they are laid up. The wet layup technique may result in air entrapment within the patch which may form undesirable porosities in the reworked area. These porosities may have an undesirable affect on the reworked area and may make it difficult to verify that a reworked area meets specifications. The wet layup technique may also be labor intensive, require repair technicians to come into proximity with wet resin, and may require excessive cleanup activity.
In some applications, the problems discussed above may be avoided by employing resin infusion of a dry fiber preform patch. After placing a dry fiber preform on a structure such as a scarfed skin, resin is infused into the fiber preform from the outer side of the skin, while excess resin is being drawn out from the preform from the inner side of the skin. This technique, while effective, requires physical access to both sides of the structure, for example, to the inner and outer sides of a skin. Consequently, this technique may not be suitable for use in applications where one side of the structure is difficult or impossible to access.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus for reworking structures, especially composites, which reduce or eliminate porosities due to air entrapment. There is also a need for a method and apparatus as described above may be adapted for use in applications where access to only one side of the structure is possible.

Method and apparatus for reworking structures


An integrated printhead package for acoustic ink printing includes a plurality of layers. Each of the layers is stacked against one of the other layers. A reservoir is defined within the layers and contains a first fluid. One of the layers forms a plate for covering an open side of the reservoir. The plate has apertures for passing the first fluid from the reservoir to an exterior area. A passage, formed by at least one of the stacked layers, communicates with the reservoir and the exterior area. The first fluid passes through the passage. At least one of a pressure sensor and a temperature sensor are located within the layers. The pressure sensor and temperature sensor measures a pressure and temperature, respectively, of the first fluid.

The present invention relates to printheads used with ink printers. It finds particular application in conjunction with printheads used with acoustic ink printers, and will be described with particular reference thereto. It will be appreciated, however, that the invention will also find application in printheads used with other types of ink printers, and the like.
In acoustic ink printing, acoustic radiation by an ejector is used to eject individual droplets on demand from a free ink surface (i.e., the Liquid/air interface). Typically, several ejectors are arranged in a linear or two-dimensional array in a printhead. The ejectors eject droplets at a sufficient velocity in a pattern so that the ink droplets are deposited on a nearby recording medium in the shape of an image.
Heretofore, acoustic ink printheads incorporate several different components. More specifically, they incorporate electrical components to supply power to the printhead, acoustic components to produce the acoustic radiation within the printhead, structural components to define and maintain the framework of the printhead, and fluidic components to flow ink, coolants, and/or other liquids through the printhead.
In conventional printheads, each of the components is a separate and independent element. Each of the independent components is combined to form a stand-alone printhead.
To illustrate the component-based design of the conventional printhead, one method of producing a traditional printhead is discussed. The first step includes stamping different hole patterns into several pieces of two-dimensional sheet metal. The two-dimensional metal sheets are then stacked on top of one another in an aligned design. The sheets are secured to one another using a brazed metal, thereby creating a three-dimensional structure. A glass acoustic transducer, an aperture plate, along with fluidic components and connections, are then secured to the three-dimensional structure. Wires are bonded into the structure and electrical connections are made to allow the printhead to communicate with external devices. Traditionally, the electrical connections include polyimide/copper flex, which is epoxied to the head. Wire bonds between the flex and the chips on the glass complete connections to the glass transducers.
Building printheads according to the method discussed above, which merely combines various discrete components, has at least one drawback. For example, because the reliability of the printhead is dependent upon the reliability of each of the components, the reliability of the printhead is negatively affected if any one of the components is defective. Furthermore, the number of component parts in the conventional printhead adds to the complexity and cost of the manufacturing process and, consequently, the final product.
The present invention provides a new and improved apparatus and method which overcomes the above-referenced problems and others.
An integrated printhead includes a housing and a reservoir defined in the housing. The reservoir contains a first fluid. A plate covers an open side of the reservoir. The plate has apertures for passing the first fluid from the reservoir to the exterior of the housing. A passage is formed within the housing. The passage communicates with the reservoir. A temperature sensor within the housing measures a temperature of the first fluid. A substrate, within the reservoir, causes the first fluid to be ejected from the reservoir.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the housing includes a ceramic material.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, an acoustic generator, secured to the substrate, produces acoustic sound waves within the reservoir. At least one lens, secured to the substrate, focuses the acoustic sound waves toward the aperture plate. Each lens is associated with one of the acoustic generators.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, electronics are integrated into the housing.
In accordance with a more limited aspect of the invention, an electrical connection is used for testing the electronics.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a second reservoir contains a gas and a portion of the fluid. The gas acts as a dampener for absorbing vibrations and shocks in the fluid.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a second cover surrounds the substrate. A second fluid passes through apertures in the second cover for cooling the first fluid.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a pressure sensor measures a pressure of the first fluid.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a temperature controller device, electrically connected to the temperature sensor, controls a temperature of the first fluid as a function of data received from the temperature sensor.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a flow controller controls a flow of the first fluid as a function of data received from a flow sensor.
One advantage of the present invention is that the number of parts within the acoustic ink printhead is reduced.
Another advantage of the present invention is that the manufacturing cost of the acoustic ink printhead is reduced.
Another advantage of the present invention is that the performance of the acoustic ink printhead is improved.
Still further advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading and understanding the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.


A method of making a porcelain flower includes the steps of extending a wire through an apertured finding, twisting the free ends of the wire, forming an amount of porcelain compound into a flat sheet, cutting the shape of a flower petal out of the flat sheet, and wrapping the flower petal around the twisted wires.

Typically, wedding bouquets, corsages and boutonnieres are fashioned of live flowers which, while attractive when first made, have a short life span and eventually must be discarded. They also require extra care such as refrigeration.
On the other hand, porcelain flowers offer the advantage of permanency thereby allowing them to become wedding keepsakes as long as desired. Additionally, the weight of a porcelain flower is comparable to a conventional watered bouquet holder.
By this invention, a method of making a porcelain flower includes the steps of extending a wire through an apertured finding, twisting the free ends of the wire, forming an amount of porcelain compound into a flat sheet, cutting the shape of a flower petal out of the flat sheet, and wrapping the flower petal around the twisted wires.
The porcelain flower comprises an apertured finding with a wire extending therethrough and downwardly therefrom. The free ends of the wire are twisted and wrapped in floral tape to form a stem. Multiple planar flower petals are disposed in flat layered relation and secured to the stem.


The present application provides payment methods and systems. One method comprising: receiving first identification data of a vehicle from a road side unit of an electronic toll collection (ETC) system, wherein the first identification data comprises identification information of the vehicle; receiving transaction data of a fuel dispenser, wherein the transaction data comprises information determined based on the fuel dispenser of a refueling fee of the vehicle; determining identity information of an owner of the vehicle; and transmitting the identity information and the information of the refueling fee to a server.

Existing refueling payment methods generally include cash payment or fuel card payment in a lobby and code-scanning payment or point of sales (POS) payment in a back hall.
The existing refueling payment methods have defects such as follows: calculating and collecting changes for cash payment; the fuel card needs to be recharged for making payment, experience of the fuel card payment is poorer than that of electronic payment, and a payer needs to go to the back hall to get an invoice; while for the code-scanning payment or POS payment in the back hall, a user needs to get out of the vehicle and walk to the back hall, thereby decreasing circulation efficiency of gas stations, and resulting in traffic congestion.

Payment methods, payment systems and service systems


It is an object of the invention to provide an at of realizing good combustion by lowering a combustion critical temperature below a temperature of intake air sucked into a cylinder, in the case where a first fuel that is difficult to ignite and a second fuel that is easy to ignite are supplied into the cylinder. The invention is a control device for an internal combustion engine that includes a control unit that supplies a first fuel that is difficult to ignite and a second fuel that is easy to ignite into a cylinder, and burns the first fuel that is difficult to ignite as well by igniting the second fuel that is easy to ignite, wherein the control unit carries out at least one of a reduction in a supply amount of the first fuel that is difficult to ignite and an increase in a supply amount of the second fuel that is easy to ignite, if a temperature of intake air sucked into the cylinder falls below a combustion critical temperature.

There has been disclosed an internal combustion engine that uses CNG (compressed natural gas) that is difficult to ignite and light oil that is easy to ignite as a main fuel and a supplementary fuel respectively, and supplies both the fuels into a cylinder to burn the fuels during engine operation at substantially intermediate and high loads (e.g., see Patent Document 1). In this internal combustion engine, in the case where the aforementioned both the fuels are supplied into the cylinder, CNG as the main fuel, which is difficult to ignite, is burned by igniting light oil.

Control device and method for internal combustion engine


Disclosed are a hepatic targeted drug delivery system and a process for preparing the same. Also disclosed is a method for treating liver cancer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates to a hepatic targeted drug delivery system, a process for preparing the same and a method for treating liver cancer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Primary liver cancer is one of the most leading causes of death in China, which is only exceeded by gastric cancer and accounts for 45% of the total death caused by liver cancer all around the world. In addition, the five-year survival rate is merely 5%.
At present, treatment for liver cancer mainly depends on organ transplantation, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and the like. However, liver transplantation is limited by the shortage of donors and the potential immunologic rejection, while the radiotherapy always causes directly damage to bile duct. Therefore, the chemotherapy has become the mainstream for liver cancer treatment. However, the conventional chemotherapy is ineffective, mostly due to the disadvantages of short half-life time in blood stream, high overall clearance rate and poor selectivity for the desired site. In addition, liver has the ability to resist drugs. Low dosage of drugs is ineffective for liver cancer treatment while high dosage may cause toxicity for other organs. Therefore, the development of controlled release and hepatic targeted drug delivery system is primarily important.
Recently, hepatic targeted drug delivery system has attracted much attention because it provides a high degree of selectivity to liver, enhances the uptake ability of drug-loaded nanoparticles into target sites, reduces drug doses and significantly decreases drug toxicity.
However, the development of hepatic targeted drug delivery system is a bit slow. Some researchers have attempted to increase the tissue specificity of drug carriers by coupling with targeting agents, such as monoclonal antibodies. However, antibodies are costly and difficult to be obtained. In addition, as most of them come from mice, the bio-security becomes the major concerns.
In recent years, the receptor-mediated hepatic targeted drug delivery system has attracted more attention because it is a promising way to transfer drug to the desired sites. Once a ligand is bound to a receptor, a ligand-receptor complex is rapidly internalized and the receptor recycles back to the surface (Ciechanover, A., Schwartz, A L. Lodish, H. F. Sorting and recycling of cell surface receptors and endocytosed ligands: the asialoglycoprotein and transferrin receptors. J. Cell. Biochem., 1983, 23(1-4), 107-130). Asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGPR) is known as to be present on hepatocytes and several human hepatoma cell lines which shows a strongly affinity with galactose residues. Extensive studies have focused on the ASGPR-mediated hepatic targeted drug delivery system. For example, Hsing-Wen Sung, et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 7,348,030 B 1 discloses nanoparticles for targeting hepatoma cells. In particular, nanoparticles comprised by poly(γ-glutamic acid)-block-polylactide and conjugated with galactosamine are disclosed. The in vitro experimental results show that these nanoparticles have high affinity to hepatoma cells. However, it has been reported that there are inhibitors in serum of a subject in pathologic status, which lead to low recognition of ASGPR for galactose residues (Stockert R. J., Morell A. G. Hepatic binding protein: the galactose-specific receptor of mammalian hepatocytes, Hepatology, 1983, 3: 750-757). Therefore, the development of a new hepatic targeted ligand instead of the conventional one is very necessary.
Liquorice mainly distributes in the west of China and has been widely used in the prescription of traditional Chinese medicine. Glycyrrhizin and glycyrrhetinic acid can be isolated from its root easily. In 1991, Negishi confirmed that the rat liver cell membrane contains a large number of binding sites for glycyrrhetinic acid and a small number of binding sites for glycyrrhizin (Negishi M., Irie A., Nagata N., et al. Specific binding of glycyrrhetinic acid to the rat liver membrane, Biochim. Biophys. Acta., 1991, 1066: 77-82). Since then, studies on the hepatic targeted drug delivery system mediated by glycyrrhizin and glycyrrhetinic acid has drawn the focus of most researchers. Subsequently, some Chinese and foreign researchers reported that when liposome or serum albumin was modified with glycyrrhizin/glycyrrhetinic acid, it exhibits a considerably high affinity to liver than that of the unmodified ones (Sayoko Osaka, Hideki Tsuji, Hiroshi Kiwada. Uptake of liposomes surface-modified with glycyrrhizin by primary cultures rat hepatocytes, Biol. Pham. Bull., 1994, 17: 940-943; Sheng-jun Mao, Shi-xiang Hou, Ru He, et al. Uptake of albumin nanoparticle surface modified with glycyrrhizin by primary cultured rat hepatocytes. World J. Gastroentenol., 2005, 11: 3075-3079). However, liposome is limited as a drug delivery carrier due to several factors such as the rapid uptake by the reticuloendothelial system (RES), quick clearance from blood stream and the leakage of their loading content before reaching the targeting sites. Therefore, some new drug carriers should be taken into consideration.
During the last decade, biomedical polymers, especially the biodegradable and biocompatible polymers develop rapidly, promoting the development of drug controlled release field. Moreover, with the cross-integration of materials science, biomedicine and molecular biology, the developing process has also been accelerated. Polymeric nanoparticles can protect drugs from being uptaken by the RES, thereby enhancing drug stability, increasing the efficacy and prolonging the circulation time in blood, and the loaded drug can be targeted to the desired sites with a sustained release profile. Currently, much attention has been paid to the nanoparticles made from natural polysaccharide such as chitosan or its derivatives and sodium alginate. Moreover, synthetic poly(amino acid)-ester and polyester are also gained considerable attention.
The hepatic targeted drug delivery system mediated by glycyrrhizin or glycyrrhetinic acid (components of traditional Chinese drug) is seldom reported in the world except in China. For example, Yingli ZHENG, et al. in Chinese patent application No. 200410052767.5 discloses glycyrrhizin-modified chitosan nanoparticles and process for preparing the same. Yiming LIU, et al. in Chinese patent application No. 200710062813.3 discloses a process for preparing glycyrrhetate-modified chitosan/carboxyl-chitosan complex nanoparticles.
Up to now, the glycyrrhetinic acid-mediated hepatic targeted drug delivery system has solely been reported by Zhi YUAN, et al. in Chinese patent application No. 200510015172.7.

Glycyrrhetinic acid-mediated nanoparticles of hepatic targeted drug delivery system, process for preparing the same and use thereof

TIAN SI POLYMER MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CO.


A low temperature frozen food display case that allows a consumer to directly view a frozen product contained therein and which minimizes moisture loss from the frozen food. The display case provides an base member which defines a first portion of a cooling air passageway, side walls extending upwardly from the base member, inner and outer members which are sealed to the side walls and the base member and cooperate to define a second portion of the cooling air passageway. A rear wall defines a plurality of access openings which are selectively closed by pivotal doors. Each of the doors define a third portion of the cooling air passageway through which cooling air from an outlet of the passageway first portion is communicated to the passageway second portion. Food contained within the food storage compartment is not directly contacted by cold air which flows through the cooling air passageway surrounding the storage compartment and, therefore, moisture loss is reduced.

A current trend in merchandising is to present products in their authentic state, not imitations or representations, thus increasing their visual appeal. This is particularly difficult to accomplish, however, with ice cream and other frozen foods which, when exposed for viewing purposes, will degrade in quality and appearance.
Low temperature cabinets for displaying and merchandising frozen foods have been manufactured for many years. With these cabinets, however, exposed products, especially ice-cream cream products, quickly deteriorate. This occurs because frozen dairy products contain a high concentration of water, and water molecules diffuse through and migrate out of the product. This diffusion is driven by vapor pressure differences which relate to temperatures in general, and dew point temperatures in particular. The greater the difference between the dew point of the product and its surroundings, the greater the diffusion rate and moisture loss. Moisture loss can be further accelerated if the air surrounding the product is in motion, as it is in a forced convection system. Migration of moisture from the frozen product degrades product quality, and causes the product to lose visual appeal.
Display cases typically use a fan to circulate cold air within the display case and over the frozen product. The air is chilled by a direct expansion refrigeration coil whose temperature may be as much as forty degrees below the cabinet air temperature. The dew point of the air is nearly equal to the surface temperature of the coil, while the dew point of the product is the same as the air temperature. The difference between the dew points results in a high rate of moisture loss from the frozen product.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a low temperature display device which permits a consumer to directly view a frozen product to be sold while the product is maintained at a below freezing temperature. There is also a need in the art for such a display device in which food may be maintained for long periods of time without substantial reduction in moisture content, quality, consistency, or appearance.


A multiple gate oxidation process is provided. The process comprises the steps of (a) providing a silicon substrate (203) having a sacrificial oxide layer (207) thereon; (b) depositing and patterning a first layer of photoresist (209) on the sacrificial oxide layer, thereby forming a first region in which the sacrificial oxide layer is exposed; (c) etching the exposed sacrificial oxide layer within the first region, thereby forming a first etched region; (d) growing a first oxide layer (211) within the first etched region; (e) depositing and patterning a second layer of photoresist (213) on the sacrificial oxide layer and first oxide layer, thereby forming a second region in which the sacrificial oxide layer is exposed; (f) etching the exposed sacrificial oxide layer within the second region, thereby forming a second etched region; and (g) growing a second oxide layer (215) within the second etched region.

In certain integrated circuits (ICs), such as those based on System-On-a-Chip (SOC) technology, various semiconductor devices having various functionalities are formed on a single chip in order to satisfy the requirements and needs of the end use products. When these semiconductor devices operate at different voltages, the fabrication of the integrated circuit typically requires the formation of dielectric layers having varying thicknesses and compositions. For example, high voltage power transistors, such as those used to program EEPROM devices, typically require thicker gate oxides than the lower voltage transistors associated with memory storage in DRAM circuitry.
Various approaches have been developed in the art for forming gate oxide layers having different thicknesses as required to accommodate the particular voltage requirements of different devices present on the same integrated circuit. Such multi gate oxide structures, which may include triple gate oxide (TGO) structures and quadruple gate oxide (QGO) structures, may be achieved, for example, by using a separate process to provide each of the gate oxide thicknesses required by the various devices in the integrated circuit.
Alternately, gate oxide layers having different thicknesses may be formed by dividing a chip into multiple regions, and then providing each region with a specific gate oxide thickness. For instance, it is possible to form a chip such that it is divided into three separate regions with associated gate oxide layers having thicknesses suitable for high voltage, low voltage and medium voltage devices. Accordingly, it is required that the multi gate oxide layer formation technology that is used to fabricate such devices is capable of producing gate oxide layers of varying thicknesses as required to accommodate the needs of a particular device.
Despite the development of the aforementioned processes for forming gate oxide layers having different thicknesses in the same integrated circuit, these processes suffer from some notable infirmities. In particular, the performance characteristics of devices manufactured by these processes are frequently less than optimal. Often, these characteristics are particularly poor in the core devices.
There is thus a need in the art for a multi gate oxide process, and for products manufactured by this process, that overcome this infirmity. In particular, there is a need in the art for a method for manufacturing multi gate oxide devices in which the performance characteristics of the core devices are comparable to the devices disposed elsewhere in the integrated circuit. These and other needs are met by the methodologies and devices described herein.

Integration of multiple gate dielectrics by surface protection


A door coupling apparatus for establishing and releasing an operative connection between an elevator car door and an elevator shaft door includes a drive unit (D, P) mounted on the car door for moving a roller double lever (1) into engagement with an entraining element (21) on the shaft door. A thrust/rotation drive unit (D) has a rotary drive (9) coupled to a lever axle (3) of the roller double lever (1) by an entraining disc (8), a coupling pin (7) and a coupling ring (6) to axially displace the roller double lever, and a guide pin (11) extending from the lever axle to engage a curved guide slot (10) to rotate the roller double lever. A passive drive unit (P) has an actuating cam (32) with a guide slot (36) formed therein for engaging an actuating roller (37) attached to the coupling pin (7) to produce the rotation and extension of the roller double lever (1). The rotatable and, in particular, retractable roller double lever (1) and the arrangement thereof above the door leaves (16.1, 16.2) provides for a very small threshold gap (35).

The present invention relates to an apparatus for coupling elevator car doors with shaft doors.
Elevator door coupling devices with movable cam parallelograms at the car door, which engage in a roller pair at the shaft door and entrain the shaft door in the case of previous unlocking, are generally known.
Further, devices are known with rollers which are spread by rotation of a roller lever at the car door and straight arms at the shaft door in which the rollers engage.
The Swiss patent specification No. 365 844 shows a respective rotatable roller double lever at each of a shaft door and a car door, which lever stands in operative connection with the corresponding counter means at the opposite door. During opening, the roller double lever is rotated indirectly by the door drive by way of the counter means for the purpose of unlocking and, after the unlocking, the entrainment of the opposite door takes place, but certainly not free of play, because only one roller rests in the entraining element.
The U.S. Pat. No. 2,432,293 shows a shaft door entrainer at the car door with a rotatable roller double lever, which in the coupled state embraces a vertical entraining straight arm at the shaft door and entrains this free of play. The roller double lever is actuated or rotated by an auxiliary drive, which is derived from the door drive, by way of a cam disc.
The door coupling shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,916 similarly employs a rotatable roller double lever, wherein during opening this is rotated by an actuating lever until a straight arm at the shaft door is engaged around and the shaft door is entrained.
A rotating door coupling is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,896. In this case, in the region of the door zone, a roller double lever is rotated by an actuator until both rollers lie against the inner walls of a sheet metal channel arranged at the shaft door and entrain the shaft door.
All solutions known hitherto can be realized only with a relatively large threshold gap between the car and the floor. The threshold gap must necessarily be as large as the engagement depth of the entraining means plus a tolerance distance of at least 5 millimeters. That results in threshold gaps of, for example, 20 to 25 millimeters. Such threshold gaps are an obstacle for roller trolleys with small wheels and moreover can involve an accident risk through catching of shoe heels. Furthermore, smaller objects can fall down into the elevator shaft.


A pivoting cursor for a frameless window. A pivoting cursor for a frameless window of a vehicle door, including: a main body portion; a pivoting plate pivotally secured to the main body portion for pivotal movement about an axis; a clamping plate; a seal; and a threaded adjuster for pivoting the pivoting plate with respect to the main body portion.

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure pertain to the art of vehicle windows and in particular frameless window systems.
Frameless window systems are adjusted for glass sealing in the Y direction by adjusting the regulator rails by means of slotted brackets or Jack screws.
However, this method can limit the stiffness of the system, is costly in tools and components, and can adversely affect the glass system deflection. In addition and when the adjustment is performed on the rail, additional clearances are needed in the door for rail packaging.

Pivoting cursor for frameless glass in a vehicle


A container in the form of a beverage-containing can. The can has a top, bottom, and side portion interconnecting the top and bottom. The top of the can is provided with a pull-out section to provide to a consumer access to the can contents. The side portion is provided with a groove disposed adjacent to the top. This groove has a shape that is essentially adapted to the lower lip anatomy of a consumer.

The present invention relates to a container.
Of particular relevance is a type of container that is in the form of a can for cold drinks or similar beverages.
Heretofore known containers in the form of cans for cold drinks have the drawback that when the consumer drinks directly from the container, part of the liquid spills at the moment of drinking due to a small, i.e. poor, anatomical configuration of the can which is very annoying and reduces the use and convenience of canned drinks.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to avoid the drawbacks of the heretofore known containers, and to provide a novel configuration for a container, especially a container for beverages, that has remarkable advantages over those that are already available on the market.


An armrest assembly (10, 110, 210) is provided for pivotal attachment to an automotive seat (16). The armrest assembly (10, 110, 210) includes a cellular foam armrest pad (26, 126, 226) and an armrest cover (28, 128, 228) disposed about the armrest pad (26, 126, 226). The assembly (10, 110, 210) further includes a receptacle (46, 146, 246) for receiving and supporting a beverage container (C) and which is formed of a pliable, vacuum formable vinyl material to maintain the "soft touch" characteristic of the armrest assembly (10, 110, 210). A method is also provided for making the armrest assembly (10, 110, 210).

In today's competitive automotive world, much effort is expended in designing an automobile's interior to provide features which will optimize the passenger's comfort and convenience. For instance, today's automobiles are typically equipped with armrests located next to the passengers for supporting their arms to decrease passenger fatigue and increase their riding pleasure. Another convenience to which today's passengers have become accustomed to is a beverage container holder for supporting a beverage container or cup while riding in the automobile. Typical of such a beverage container holder is the glove compartment door type in which cylindrical recesses are formed on the inside of the glove compartment door so that when the door is opened it functions as a tray. In addition to being unsteady, this type of beverage container holder is not accessible to every passenger, especially the driver of the automobile. This situation presents a potential safety hazard since a driver must divert his attention away from driving in order to reach his beverage.
Several attempts have been made to combine the comfort features of an armrest and the convenience features of a beverage container holder into a single unit. These devices generally fall into one of two categories. The first type includes armrests having a complex, costly and sometimes unreliable cup holder mechanism which is moveable into and out of a storage compartment formed within the armrest assembly between a storage position and use position, respectively. Typical of such devices are those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,908 to Dykstra et al, issued Mar. 29, 1988.
The second type includes a rigid receptacle disposed in the upper surface of the armrest into which a beverage container is received and supported. Although these types of beverage container holders have the inherent advantage of simple construction, low cost and reliability over the first type, the holders available thus far have proven to be unsatisfactory since the comfort provided by the armrest is greatly sacrificed by incorporating a rigid receptacle in the upper surface of the armrest. Another example of an armrest including a rigid cupholder is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,233,940 to Tooley, issued Feb. 8, 1966.
Thus, there is a need in the automotive market for an armrest assembly including a beverage container holder which is simply constructed, inexpensive to produce and is reliable and which will not significantly interfere with the comfort and convenience of the armrest.

Method of forming an automotive armrest with cupholder


A tandem sun visor and display are combined for providing shading and transparent driving prompt image in a vehicle to the operator in control. The sun visor comprises an opaque and elongated sun visor member horizontally mounted about two pivot axes above the operator in the vehicle to block the direct sunlight from the upper front or upper side of the operator, a transparent LCD display that doubles as an electronic sun visor and a swivel mount for pivotally positioning the LCD display in front of the vehicle driver. The shade can be tuned so that the operator can see the environment as well as GPS map, messages or vehicle operational data.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle interior accessory. More particularly, the present invention relates to LCD auxiliary sun visors and their mounting means for electromechanically connecting such LCDs to existing sun visors or dashboard top.
B. Description of the Prior Art
In addition to conventional gauges like speedometer, tachometer, fuel and temperature gauges, newer vehicles present ever increasing operational information through the instrument panel indicators generally facing the driver through the steering wheel. For example, in a mini van model the LED indicators alone count to twenty eight or so though part of them will be turned on any one time requiring the driver's attention while driving. Driving in rain or direct sun light, discussing with passengers or a phone caller and/or reading a paper map are known distractions many vehicle drivers experience, as with trying to follow the new navigator LCD displays for showing the vehicle's changing driving locations with reference to the moving street names on LCD displays. Due to the crowded display space in the vehicle dashboard, the LCD displays must be positioned in the center fascia out of the line of sight of the driver. Normally tight tolerance to the front viewing area for the driver prohibits an additional blocking of views by such a navigation display even though it assists the driver in timely steering the vehicle. New displays are emerging such as a liquid crystal windshield display wherein a vehicle windshield itself is a liquid crystal display for playing semi-transparent graphics as suggested by U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,363 to Rofe. Current advancements in electronic data processing make use of conventional video display to show actually photographed scenes of roads superimposed with additional graphic information. Besides the liquid crystal windshield display, Heads Up Displays or HUD has been tried for applications in public use for some time. HUD beams an image from a dashboard-mounted projector to the windshield so that the driver safely keeps the eyes on the front road conditions with fewer distractions. The images may be a prerecorded video file or live video feeds from an onboard camera at the rear of the vehicle to monitor the backward area for any hazards. However, in order to apply the display advancement the major renovation is required to dismantle the permanent vehicle windshield which is performed only by professional windshield technicians.
There have been attempts to utilize existing convenience devices for additional displays of driving information. It has been suggested to designate a limited portion of the interior rear view mirror for transforming it between a reflective mirror surface and a transparent screen area with the use of a transflective coating on the rear view mirror to hide the LCD display normally but showing it temporarily when the vehicle is in the reverse gear. Others offered passenger-side sun visor replacements that can play a video for the front occupants to watch although driving with diverted attention from the traffic may be seriously compromising the safety of the entire passengers of the vehicle and others.
Therefore, it is necessary to have a simple display method of driving information for the driver in a safe way.
Other efforts to bring displayed information closer to the driver's line of sight include U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,468 to King suggesting an incorporation of vehicle display into vehicle sun visor where a sun visor is lowered to reveal a digital display panel.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide a transparent display panel for use in a vehicle that doubles as an auxiliary sun visor with electronically controlled shading for an optimum protection against harmful lighting conditions.

Vehicle sun visor with auto-shading prompter screen


A connector includes two housings, a chamber block, and a seal. Passages arranged in a configuration extend through first housing top wall into first housing. Chamber block has chambers arranged in the configuration. Seal has openings arranged in the configuration and attaches to chamber block such that openings align with chambers. First housing houses chamber block and seal such that first housing top wall and chamber block sandwich seal and passages, openings, and chambers align. Second housing has plugs arranged in the configuration. Housings attach together such that first housing side wall and seal sandwich second housing side wall whereby seal seals housings and such that plugs extend into respective sockets in chambers. Electrical leads extend through the aligned passages, openings, and chambers and contact sockets to electrical connect with plugs. The seal simultaneously seals first housing in a region in which leads enter first housing and seals between housings.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical plug-and-socket connector including a chamber block having chambers with plug-in sockets therein, a first plug-and-socket connector housing which houses the chamber block, a second plug-and-socket connector housing attached to the first connector housing and having plug pins, a seal sealing the connector housings from one another, and electrical leads extending through passages in the first connector housing into the chambers.
2. Background Art
DE 698 05 084 T2 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,095,860) and DE 695 16 947 T2 disclose electrical plug-and-socket connectors having first and second plug-and-socket connector parts. The first connector part includes a first plug-and-socket connector housing and the second connector part includes a second plug-and-socket connector housing. The connector housings are attached to one another with a rubber seal inserted therebetween. Plug pins in one of the connector housings extend through openings in the seal and contact plug-in sockets in the other connector housing. The seal seals off the connector housings from one another to prevent moisture from penetrating into the transition region of the connector housings.
To completely seal an electrical plug-and-socket connector from moisture, the electrical feed line regions of the connector parts must also be protected from moisture penetration. This is not a problem when pin-shaped feed lines are injection molded into one of the connector housings. A connector part having such a design usually forms a fixedly installed part of an electrical plug-and-socket connector.
An electrical plug-and-socket connector typically has flexible electrical lead wires as the feed lines. Such lead wires or "leads" extend through the passages of one of the connector housings and are electrically and mechanically connected to the plug-in sockets or plug pins within the connector housings. Such plug-in sockets and plug pins are frequently used in retaining chambers of a chamber block for a mechanically stable arrangement.
In order to pass the leads through the one of the connector housings in a moisture-tight manner, the passages may be sealed either by subsequently casting around the leads or by providing an extra seal through which the leads are guided. Both of the subsequent casting and the extra seal as an additional component are costly.


A fitting (10) for a vehicle seat comprises a first fitting part (11) and a second fitting part (12), which may rotate relative to each other in a circumferential direction, and which form a disc-shaped unit; a clamping ring (13) that holds the disc-shaped unit together by engaging radially outwardly over the first fitting part (11) and by being fixed to the second fitting part (12); and a group of internal stopper elements (51, 53) which limit the relative rotation between the first fitting part (11) and the second fitting part (12). Each of the first fitting part (11) and the clamping ring (13) has at least one internal stopper element of the group of internal stopper elements (51, 53).

The present invention relates to a fitting for a vehicle seat, comprising a first fitting part and a second fitting part, which may rotate relative to each other in a circumferential direction, and which form a disc-shaped unit; a clamping ring that holds the disc-shaped unit together by engaging radially outwardly over the first fitting part and by being fixed to the second fitting part; and stopper elements which limit the relative rotation between the first fitting part and the second fitting part.
A fitting that is of the type described immediately above, and which is used in a vehicle seat to adjust the angle of inclination of a backrest relative to a seat part by way of a motor drive, is known from US 2007/0170764 A1. The fitting parts of that known fitting have radially projecting brackets by way of which the fitting is attached to the structures of the seat part and backrest, or to adapters connected to the seat part and backrest. The stopper elements are provided externally with respect to the disc-shape unit.


A volume of data is copied from a first location to a second location. A procedure to repair a volume of data is initiated. A first instruction associated with the repair procedure is selectively redirected to a staging storage, based on a determination that the first instruction relates to an action that makes a change to the volume. A second instruction is selectively redirected to one of the staging storage and the volume, based on data stored in the staging storage.

The storage of electronic data, and more generally, the management of electronic data, has become increasingly important. With the growth of the Internet, and of cloud computing in particular, the need for data storage capacity, and for methods of efficiently managing stored data, continue to increase. Many different types of storage media are currently used to store data, including disk drives, tape drives, optical disks, redundant arrays of independent disks (RAIDs), Fibre channel-based storage area networks (SANs), etc.
When accessing data stored on a storage medium, a computer generally follows a set of predetermined procedures. For example, a computer's operating system typically uses a process known as mounting to make a storage medium accessible through the computer's file system. Mounting a medium on which data is stored can ensure that a computer recognizes the medium's format. Files can only be accessed on a mounted medium.
The steps required to mount a storage medium may vary depending on factors such as the nature of the medium, the medium's file system, etc. In many cases, a series of mounting procedures corresponding to various aspects of the medium's file system must be performed. After a medium is successfully mounted, a computer typically incorporates the medium's data and creates a mount point through which the data stored on the medium is accessed.
In many cases, the process of mounting a storage medium is complicated by the need to repair certain portions of the data stored on the medium. For example, certain operations, such as copying data of an active volume to a second storage medium, can result in logical inconsistencies to the second medium's file system. If a computer attempts to mount the second storage medium after such an operation has been performed, any logical damage that has occurred to the second medium's file system can prevent the stored data from being mounted successfully. In such cases, data repair, or data recovery, involving salvaging corrupted or inaccessible data, may be necessary. After the stored data is repaired, the second storage medium may be successfully mounted. However, if the copy operation involves copying an active volume (in which the data in the original volume is constantly changing), it may be necessary to keep track of any data newly written to the original volume. To complete the copy operation, it may be necessary or desirable also to copy the newly written data to the second volume. However, any repair operation performed with respect to the second volume or medium may permanently alter the second volume in a manner that is inconsistent with the copy operation.

Systems and methods for processing instructions while repairing and providing access to a copied volume of data


Systems and Methods are described for determining proximity motion of a mobile wireless device around a fixed target node. The present invention provides a method of regressively analyzing the signal strength on a receiver node, which may be either the mobile wireless device or the fixed target node, as a function of time to determine the proximity of the sending node, which may be either the mobile wireless device or the fixed target node, to the receiving node. The method includes detecting motion of mobile wireless device with a fixed wireless device within a proximity range of less than about 15 cm, and more preferably within around 5 cm. The system provides accurate proximity motion sensing that is not susceptible to multipath effects, and which can be implemented in a wide variety of wireless applications.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to wireless communication data processing, and more particularly to proximity motion detection within wireless nodes, such as IEEE 802.11 wireless nodes.
2. Description of Related Art
The Open System Interconnection (OSI) standard provides a seven layered hierarchy between an end user and a physical device through which various network systems can communicate. Each layer is responsible for different tasks and the OSI specifies the interaction between layers while ensuring that the communication devices comply with the standard.
FIG. 1 shows the hierarchy 100 of the seven-layered OSI standard. As shown in the figure the OSI standard includes a physical layer 105, a data link layer 110, a network layer 115, a transport layer 120, a session layer 125, a presentation layer 130 and an application layer 135.
The physical layer 105 conveys the bit stream through the network at the electrical, mechanical, and functional level, therein providing a hardware means of sending and receiving data on a carrier. The data link layer 110 provides the representation of bits on the physical medium and the format of messages on the physical medium, sending blocks of data, such as frames, with proper synchronization. The networking layer 115 handles the routing and forwarding of the data to proper destinations, while maintaining and terminating connections. The transport layer 120 manages the end-to-end control and error checking to ensure complete data transfer. The session layer 125 sets up coordinates, and terminates communications between applications. The presentation layer 130 converts incoming and outgoing data from one presentation format to another. The applications layer 135 is where communications, quality of service, user authentication, and so forth are considered.
Similar to the OSI standard, the IEEE 802.11 committee has developed a three layer architecture for wireless networks that roughly corresponds to the physical layer, the data link layer of the OSI standard. FIG. 2 shows the IEEE 802 standard 160. As shown in the figure, the IEEE 802.11 standard includes a physical layer 165, a media access control (MAC) layer 170, and a logical link control layer 175. The physical layer 165 operates in a similar manner to the physical layer within the OSI standard. The MAC layer and the logical link control layers share the functions of the data link layer in the OSI standard 100. The logical link control layer 175 places data into frames that can communicate at the physical layer 165 and the MAC layer 170 manages communications over the data link, sending data frames and receiving acknowledgment (ACK) frames. Together the MAC layer 170 and the link control layer 175 are responsible for error checking as well as retransmission of frames that are not received and acknowledged.
The IEEE 802.11 MAC layer also defines the use of beacon frames being sent at regular intervals by an access point. The access point may act as a bridge between two networks with different protocols (e.g., Ethernet and 802.11 wireless networks).
Wireless technologies have been integrated into our daily lives and are being required to provide not only connectivity, but also high performance, reliability and stable communication. The most dominant of the 802 wireless communication standard is IEEE 802.11 and its variants, such as 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g which are being utilized in various wireless products. Communication between different nodes in an IEEE 802.11 based-network is performed by exchanging data frames between a sending node and a receiving node.
Each IEEE 802.11b frame transmitted from an IEEE 802.11 equipped device contains information including the signal strength of the frame and noise which may be measured to determine the source and destination of any particular frame. By measuring the signal strength information included in frames sent from a fixed node to a mobile node, it is possible to approximate the distance between fixed and mobile nodes.
However, wireless transmission under IEEE 802.11b are susceptible to the effects of multipath fading, wherein it can be very difficult to determine accurate location information for a node at any point in time. FIG. 3 illustrates a communication scenario 200 according to the IEEE 802.11 standards which are susceptible to the effects of multipath fading. As shown in the figure a transmission emitting from a base station 220 is transmitted by an antenna 210. The transmission may take a direct path to a receiving mobile node 230, or it may be reflected or diffused by one or more objects 240, 250, such as objects which are closer to antenna 210. The extent of multipath fading depends on the physical surroundings from which the multipath propagation of the signals directed towards receiving unit 230 arises.
In mobile wireless nodes the multipath propagation problem can be compounded by the motion of one of the nodes, providing a varying profile of multipath effects as at least one of the nodes moves in relation to the other. The occurrence of multipath propagation may cause the perceived signal strength information at a mobile node to fluctuate greatly as a result of the slightest movement of the mobile node or changes in the surroundings such as movement of obstacles in the line of sight. In 802.11b, beacon frames are periodically transmitted to synchronize multiple wireless devices. However, the use of periodical monitoring does not alleviate the inherent problem of IEEE 802.11 multipath fading.
Therefore, a need exists to monitor the signal strength in beacon frames in mobile devices to facilitate accurately determining their proximity relative to a stationary wireless target device. The present invention fulfills that need and others and overcomes numerous disadvantages with the prior art.

System and method for proximity motion detection in a wireless network


A golf game of skill and chance intended for two to four players is provided and consists of a playing board with a course end having a plurality of cups and an opposite end having a single cup. A plurality of lines are transversely positioned at the course end and the opposite end of the playing board. A plurality of game cards have indicia thereon to match up with some of the cups on the playing board to indicate to each player how to play the game. A score pad for each player is to keep a written record of the score during the play of the game. A golf ball and a putter club is provided for each player. Each player can stand on the playing board and hit their respective golf ball into one of the cups, as indicated by one game card picked.

The instant invention relates generally to simulated golf games and more specifically it relates to a golf game of skill and chance.
Numerous simulated golf games have been provided in the prior art that are adapted to be played on a game board. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,771,792 to Crumlish; 3,910,581 to Nicholson and 4,380,338 to Lacy all are illustrative of such prior art. While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they would not be as suitable for the purpose of the present invention as hereafter described.


Methods and associated structure to assure correct order in delivery of SATA frames over a SAS wide port. In one aspect hereof, new connection requests from a SATA device are rejected until prior frames residing in receive buffers of the SAS/SATA controller are properly processed. In another aspect, when a device is already connected to the controller, the SAS/SATA controller may prevent return of a receiver ready primitive in response to a transmitter ready primitive until previously received frames are removed from the receive buffers.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to serial interface storage systems and more specifically relates to methods and structures for assuring proper data order in delivering SATA (Serial ATA) frames from a SATA device to a SAS/SATA controller over a SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) wide port.
2. Discussion of Related Art
As computing application performance demands have increased, so too have performance and capacity demands on storage systems utilized in conjunction with computing systems. Storage systems such as disk storage system now provide storage capacities of hundreds of gigabytes or terabytes. To improve both performance and reliability, it is common that storage systems provide a plurality of storage devices and storage controllers all operable in parallel and often providing redundancy. Parallel operation of multiple devices within a storage system may improve performance by distributing I/O operations over a plurality of such storage devices operating substantially in parallel. Reliability is improved by providing redundancy of the devices as well as redundant information such that the failure of a particular storage device does not cause failure of the entire system nor loss of data. Rather, continued operation of the storage system may be provided though possibly in a degraded state and any lost data may be recovered from redundant information stored on other storage devices still operating. Such techniques are often referred to as redundant arrays of inexpensive disks or RAID. Numerous types of RAID storage management (referred to a RAID levels) are generally known in the art providing varying degrees of redundancy to improve reliability with and without so-called striping to distribute data over a plurality of parallel operating devices.
As such high performance, high reliability storage systems evolved, they have migrated from strict parallel SCSI interfaces to more advanced high speed serial interfaces. SCSI (small computer systems interface) originated as a specification for a parallel bus structure and an associated command and status protocol. Over time, the SCSI specification has largely separated the command and status protocol standards from the transmission medium standards used for exchange of such commands and status information. It is common these days to utilize SCSI command and status protocols over other transmission media including, for example, high speed serial interfaces. Serial attached SCSI ("SAS") devices utilize such high speed serial interfaces coupled with SCSI command and status protocols.
Yet another step in the evolution of storage systems has been the use of lower cost ATA (AT Attachment also referred to as IDE) storage devices (i.e., ATA disk drives) within the high performance high reliability storage system. These lower cost ATA storage devices provide similar performance and reliability as compared to high performance, high reliability, SCSI storage devices but do so at substantially lower cost due in large part to market forces. Such ATA storage devices are known to be utilized in high speed, high reliability storage systems through use of SATA (serial ATA) protocols. The SATA standards generally define protocols for exchanging ATA command and status information over SAS media and protocols.
Specifications for the various SCSI, SAS and SATA standards are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art and are widely available located at, for example, the website www.t10.org.
One beneficial feature of the SAS protocols and transmission media is the definition and utilization of so called "wide ports". A SAS wide port is a logical grouping or aggregation of multiple physical transmission links (e.g., multiple PHY links). The aggregation of multiple PHY links into a single SAS wide port allows for overlap and parallelism in the communication of I/O requests between a host based SAS controller and a SAS device (through any intermediate SAS expanders as required).
The SAS specifications generally permits all ports of a wide port to be used concurrently for different I/O exchanges. However, for any single I/O exchange, the SAS specifications impose a restriction that only one port at a time to be used in the multiple ports that make up a SAS wide port. However, the transmission of a next frame may commence on another port of the wide port immediately following completion of transmission of a preceding frame on another port. As the frames may be buffered at the receiving end and the processing of frames may vary in duration, a process or standard is required to be certain that the received frames are processed in the intended order. In standard SCSI transmissions over a SAS link including a SAS wide port, sequencing information is embedded within the exchanged information to assure that frames delivered over different PHY links of the wide SAS port will be processed in the appropriate sequence at the receiving end of the transmission. Thus, multiple frames may be transmitted over different PHY links of the SAS wide port and the intrinsic sequencing information within each transmitted frame may be relied upon to ensure proper ordering of the received frames in any further processing.
A problem arises however in processing of SATA frames over a SAS wide port. Unlike SCSI transmissions over a SAS wide port, SATA frames include no intrinsic sequencing or ordering information. It is therefore a problem to assure proper ordering or sequencing of received frames when SATA transmissions are exchanged over a SAS wide port. Modifying the SATA transmission frames to include intrinsic ordering or sequencing information is generally not desirable because corresponding changes would be required in each cooperating SAS/SATA controller and SATA device. Such custom changes to SATA devices may be impractical in many applications. One approach is to simply avoid the problem by restricting the use of such SAS wide ports where SATA exchanges are anticipated. Again, such a restriction may be impractical in many common applications including, in particular, applications where both SCSI SAS transmissions and SATA SAS transmissions are commingled within a single SAS domain.
It is evident from the above discussion that a need exists for an improved method and structure for ensuring proper ordering or sequencing of SATA frames exchanged between a SAS/SATA controller and a SATA device through a SAS wide port.

Methods and structure for assuring correct data order in SATA transmissions over a SAS wide port


The object is to provide a method for driving a plasma display panel, the method being capable of providing improved display quality. A display cell of the plasma display panel is reset to a light-emitting cell state (or a non-light-emitting cell state) only in the head subfield during the display period of one field. Then, in each subfield, executed is a data write process for applying successively a scanning pulse, for generating a selective erase discharge, to each of the row electrodes in order to change selectively each of the display cells from the light-emitting cell state (non-light-emitting cell state) to the non-light-emitting cell state (light-emitting cell state) in accordance with an input video signal. Also executed in each subfield is a light emission sustain process for applying a train of sustain pulses to each of the row electrodes in conjunction with the scanning pulse, the train of sustain pulses generating a sustain discharge to allow only a display cell in the light-emitting cell state to emit light for the number of times corresponding to a weight of each of the subfields.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for driving a plasma display panel.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, display devices have been required to provide reduced thickness as the devices have been increased in size, and accordingly various types of thin display devices have been in practical use. Attention is focused on an AC discharge plasma display panel as one of the thin display devices.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating the configuration of a plasma display device comprising such a plasma display panel and a drive device.
Referring to FIG. 1, the plasma display panel or a PDP 10 comprises m column electrodes D1 to Dm, and n row electrodes X1 to Xn and n row electrodes Y1 to Yn, each of which intersects the column electrodes. These row electrodes X1 to Xn and row electrodes Y1 to Yn allow a pair of row electrode Xi (1xe2x89xa6ixe2x89xa6n) and row electrode Yi (1xe2x89xa6i xe2x89xa6n) to form the first to nth display line in the PDP 10. In between a column electrode D and row electrodes X, Y, there is formed a discharge space in which a discharge gas is sealed. There is formed a display cell acting as a pixel at the intersection of each pair of row electrodes and a column electrode, including the discharge space.
With this construction, each display cell emits light through a discharge phenomenon and therefore has only two states, or a xe2x80x9clight-emittingxe2x80x9d state and a xe2x80x9cnon-light-emittingxe2x80x9d state. Accordingly, the display cell can express the brightness of only two levels of gray scale, or a minimum brightness (xe2x80x9cnon-light-emittingxe2x80x9d state) and a maximum brightness (xe2x80x9clight-emittingxe2x80x9d state).
In this regard, for the implementation of displaying halftone brightness corresponding to an input video signal, a driver 100 employs a subfield method to perform gray scale drive on the PDP 10 mentioned above.
According to the subfield method, for example, an input video signal is converted into display data of four bits corresponding to each display cell. As shown in FIG. 2, one field comprises four subfields SF1 to SF4 corresponding to each bit digit of the four bits. Then, in each of the subfields, as described below, a simultaneous reset process Rc, a data write process Wc, a light-emission sustain process Ic, and an erase process E are performed, respectively.
FIG. 3. is a view illustrating various types of drive pulses that the driver 100 applies to the aforementioned PDP 10, and the application timing of the drive pulses.
First, in the aforementioned simultaneous reset process Rc, the driver 100 applies a positive reset pulse RPX to the row electrodes X1 to Xn and a negative reset pulse RPY to the row electrodes Y1 to Yn. The application of these reset pulses RPX and RPY will cause all display cells of the PDP 10 to be reset and discharged, allowing a predetermined uniform wall charge to be built in each of the display cells. Immediately thereafter, the driver 100 applies simultaneously an erasing pulse EP to the row electrodes X1 to Xn of the PDP 10. The application of the erasing pulse EP will cause an erase discharge to be generated in all of the display cells, thereby erasing the aforementioned wall charge. This will reset all the display cells to the state in which no light emission (sustain discharge) is allowed (hereinafter referred to as the xe2x80x9cnon-light-emitting cellxe2x80x9d state) in the light-emission sustain process Ic, described later.
Then, in the data write process Wc, the driver 100 separates each bit of the aforementioned display data of four bits corresponding to each of the subfields SF1 to SF4 to generate a data pulse having a pulse voltage corresponding to the logic level of the bits. For example, in the data write process Wc of the subfield SF1, the driver 100 generates a data pulse having a pulse voltage corresponding to the logic level of the first bit of the aforementioned display data. At this time, the driver 100 generates a high-voltage data pulse with the logic level of the first bit being xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d, and a low-voltage (zero volt) data pulse with the logic level being xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d. Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the driver 100 successively applies such data pulses to the column electrodes D1 to Dm as a group of data pulses DP1 to DPn for each display line corresponding to each of the first to nth display lines. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 3, the driver 100 generates a negative scanning pulse SP in phase with the application timing of each group of data pulses DP to apply successively the negative scanning pulse SP to the row electrodes Y1 to Yn. At this time, discharge (selective write discharge) is caused only at the display cells located at the intersections of the display lines to which the scanning pulse SP is applied and the xe2x80x9ccolumnsxe2x80x9d to which the high-voltage data pulse is applied. After such a selective write discharge has been terminated, wall charges are built up in the display cells and held. This causes the display cells that have been reset to the xe2x80x9cnon-light-emitting cellxe2x80x9d state in the aforementioned simultaneous reset process Rc to change to the state (hereinafter referred to as the xe2x80x9clight-emitting cellxe2x80x9d state) in which the display cells can emit light (sustain discharge) in the light-emission sustain process Ic, described later. On the other hand, no such a selective write discharge described above is generated in the display cells to which the scanning pulse SP or the low-voltage data pulse has been applied, allowing the state that has been reset in the aforementioned simultaneous reset process Rc or the xe2x80x9cnon-light-emitting cellxe2x80x9d state to be held.
Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 3, in the light-emission sustain process Ic, the driver 100 applies the positive sustain pulse IPX and the positive sustain pulse IPY alternately to the row electrodes X1 to Xn and the row electrodes Y1 to Yn, respectively. Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 2, the number of times (or the duration) of application of the sustain pulses IPX and IPY in one subfield is set according to the weight of each subfield. Here, only the display cells in which wall charges are present or only the display cells in the xe2x80x9clight-emitting cellxe2x80x9d state perform sustain discharge every time the aforementioned sustain pulses IPX and IPY are applied thereto in order to sustain the xe2x80x9clight-emittingxe2x80x9d state involved in the discharge.
Subsequently, in the erase process E, the driver 100 applies simultaneously the negative erasing pulse EP, shown in FIG. 3, to each of the row electrodes Y1 to Yn. This allows an erase discharge in all the display cells to be generated, causing all the wall charges remaining in each of the display cells to dissipate.
Execution of the series of these operations in each of the subfields (SF1 to SF4) will allow halftone brightness to be viewed in accordance with the total number of times of light emission carried out in the light-emission sustain process Ic of each subfield. For example, for the four subfields as mentioned above, it is possible to express the range of brightness available to an input video signal with 16 levels of halftone brightness by combining the subfields that are allowed to emit light in the light-emission sustain process Ic. At this time, the greater the number of subfields to be provided by division, the greater the number of steps or the level of gray scale becomes, thereby making it possible to provide a display image of higher quality.
However, since the display period of one field is specified, the number of subfields provided by dividing a field cannot be increased without limitation.
In addition, in the drive shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a light emission pattern for providing display brightness of brightness level xe2x80x9c7xe2x80x9d shown in FIG. 4 is inverted with respect to that for providing display brightness of brightness level xe2x80x9c8xe2x80x9d in one field period. In some cases, this would cause false contours to be viewed in the image.
That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the display cells for displaying brightness level xe2x80x9c7xe2x80x9d are in the xe2x80x9cnon-light-emittingxe2x80x9d state while the display cells for displaying brightness level xe2x80x9c8xe2x80x9d are emitting light in one field. On the other hand, the display cells for displaying brightness level xe2x80x9c8xe2x80x9d are in the xe2x80x9cnon-light-emittingxe2x80x9d state while the display cells for displaying brightness level xe2x80x9c7xe2x80x9d are emitting light in one field.
Thus, looking at the display cells for displaying brightness level xe2x80x9c8xe2x80x9d immediately before the display cells for displaying brightness level xe2x80x9c8xe2x80x9d change from the xe2x80x9cnon-light-emittingxe2x80x9d to the xe2x80x9clight-emittingxe2x80x9d state would cause the viewer to continuously view only the xe2x80x9cnon-light-emittingxe2x80x9d state of both display cells and thereby to recognize dark lines on the boundary thereof. These dark lines, having nothing to do with the display data, would appear as false contours to cause degradation in display quality.
The present invention has been made to solve the aforementioned problems. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for driving plasma display panels, the method being capable of providing improved display quality.
The present invention provides a method for driving a plasma display panel by allowing a display period of one field of an input video signal to comprise a plurality of subfields for halftone drive, the plasma display panel having a display cell acting as a pixel at each intersection of a plurality of row electrodes acting as a display line and a plurality of column electrodes each intersecting each of said row electrodes. Executed first is a reset process, only in a head subfield during the display period of said one field, for initializing said display cell to a light-emitting cell state. Then, in each of said subfields, executed is a data write process for applying successively a scanning pulse for generating a selective erase discharge to each of said row electrodes in order to change selectively each of said display cells from said light-emitting cell state to a non-light-emitting cell state in accordance with said input video signal. Then, executed is a light emission sustain process for applying a train of scanning pulses to each of the row electrodes immediately after said scanning pulse has been applied thereto, the train of scanning pulses generating a sustain discharge to allow only a display cell in said light-emitting cell state to emit light for the number of times corresponding to a weight of each of said subfields.
Furthermore, the present invention provides a method for driving a plasma display panel by allowing a display period of one field of an input video signal to comprise a plurality of subfields for halftone drive, the plasma display panel having a display cell acting as a pixel at each intersection of a plurality of row electrodes acting as a display line and a plurality of column electrodes each intersecting each of said row electrodes. Executed first is a reset process, only in a head subfield during the display period of said one field, for initializing said display cell to a non-light-emitting cell state. Then, in each of said subfields, executed is a data write process for applying successively a scanning pulse for generating a selective write discharge to each of said row electrodes in order to change selectively each of said display cells from said non-light-emitting cell state to said light-emitting cell state in accordance with said input video signal. Then, executed is a light emission sustain process for applying a train of scanning pulses to each of the row electrodes immediately after said scanning pulse has been applied thereto, the train of scanning pulses generating a sustain discharge to allow only a display cell in said light-emitting cell state to emit light for the number of times corresponding to a weight of each of said subfields.


Provided is a plasma display apparatus. The apparatus comprises: a plasma display panel; an energy storing unit supplying or recovering energy; an energy supply controller forming a path for supplying the energy from the energy storing unit; a first resonance unit supplying the energy supplied from the energy supply controller, to the plasma display panel through resonance; a second resonance unit forming the resonance together with the first resonance unit, and recovering the energy from the plasma display panel to the energy storing unit; and an energy recovery controller positioned between the first resonance unit and the second resonance unit, and forming a path for recovering the energy.

1. Field of the Invention
The present document relates to a plasma display apparatus.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a structure of a conventional plasma display panel. As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional plasma display panel is comprised of a front panel 100 and a rear panel 110. The front panel 100 comprises a rear glass substrate 101, and the rear panel 110 comprises a rear glass substrate 111. The front panel 100 and the rear panel 110 are sealed in parallel to be at a predetermined distance.
Sustain electrode pairs 102 and 103 for sustaining light emission of the cell by a mutual discharge are formed on the front glass substrate 101. The sustain electrode pairs 102 and 103 are comprised of a scan electrode 102 and a sustain electrode 103. The scan electrode 102 and the sustain electrode 103 each are transparent electrodes 102-a and 103-a formed of transparent indium tin oxide (ITO) and bus electrodes 102-b and 103-b formed of metal. The scan electrode 102 receives a scan signal for panel scan, and a sustain signal for discharge sustain. The sustain electrode 103 mainly receives a sustain signal. An upper dielectric layer 104 is formed on the sustain electrodes 102 and 103, and limits a discharge current and insulates between the scan electrode 102 and the sustain electrode 103. A protective layer 105 is formed on an upper surface of the upper dielectric layer 104, and is formed of magnesium oxide (MgO) to facilitate a discharge condition.
An address electrode 113 is disposed to intersect with the sustain electrode pairs 102 and 103 on the rear glass substrate 111. A lower dielectric layer 115 is formed on the address electrode 113, and insulates between the address electrodes 13. A barrier rib 112 is formed on the lower dielectric layer 115, and partitions a discharge cell. Red (R), green (G), and blue (B) phosphor layers 114 are coated between the barrier ribs 112, and emit visible rays for displaying an image.
The front panel 100 and the rear panel 110 are coalesced by a sealing material. After the coalescing of the front panel 100 and the rear panel 110, inert gas such as helium (He), neon (Ne), and xenon (Xe) is injected into the plasma display panel.
In the above-constructed conventional plasma display panel, one frame is divided into several subfields to embody an image, and each subfield is divided into a reset period, an address period, and a sustain period.
Meantime, a plasma display apparatus comprises the plasma display panel and a driving device. The driving device comprises a sustain driving circuit for applying an alternating sustain pulse to a scan electrode and a sustain electrode to sustain a discharge of a discharge cell selected in the sustain period.
FIG. 2 illustrates an energy recovery circuit comprised in the conventional plasma display apparatus, and FIG. 3 is a waveform diagram illustrating the sustain pulse of the conventional energy recovery circuit.
A first switch (Q1) turns on and, a second switch (Q2), a third switch (Q3), and a fourth switch (Q4) turn off. Accordingly, energy is supplied from a capacitor (C1) to a plasma display panel (Cp) through resonance. As shown in FIG. 3, a voltage of electrode (Vp) rises from a ground level to a sustain voltage (Vs). The sustain voltage (Vs) is a voltage for sustaining the discharge in the discharge cell selected during the address period.
The third switch (Q3) turns on and, the first switch (Q1), the second switch (Q2), and the fourth switch (Q4) turn off. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 3, the voltage of electrode (Vp) is sustained to be the sustain voltage (Vs).
The second switch (Q2) turns on and, the first switch (Q1), the third switch (Q3), and the fourth switch (Q4) turn off. Accordingly, energy is supplied from the plasma display panel (Cp) to the capacitor (C1) through the resonance. As shown in FIG. 3, the voltage of electrode (Vp) falls from the sustain voltage (Vs) to the ground level.
The fourth switch (Q4) turns on and, the first switch (Q1), the second switch (Q2), and the third switch (Q3) turn off. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 3, the voltage of electrode (Vp) is sustained to be the ground level voltage.
In the conventional energy recovery circuit, one inductor (L1) is used for recovering and supplying the energy. In other words, if the inductor (L1) has a great inductance, consumption power reduces and therefore, a driving efficiency of the energy recovery circuit increases but a voltage rise of the sustain pulse is gentle, thereby making it difficult to generate a strong discharge.