A transport unit 41 includes a holding section 41A that holds a disc 11 and a transport section 41B that transports the disc 11. Since the disc 11 is held by the holding section 41A when the disc 11 is transported, the disc 11 is prevented from being disengaged from the transport section 41B, so that a transport distance of the disc 11 can be lengthened.

There have been being widely used disc recording media as a transportable information recording medium used in a computer system or an image/audio recorder/reproducer, the disc recording medium typically being a CD (compact disc) and a DVD (digital versatile disc).
Although there is known a disc recording medium that is loaded in the recorder/reproducer in a state in which the medium is housed in a case or caddy, a disc recording medium that is loaded with its disc body exposed is widely used.
As a recorder/reproducer (or a computer system) in which the exposed disc recording medium is loaded, a slot-in type recorder/reproducer will be described.
The slot-in type recorder/reproducer employs a transport mechanism that includes an injection/ejection slot through which a disc can be passed, a roller that contacts with the disc inserted from the insertion/ejection slot, a transport motor that rotates the roller and the like. In order to load the disc, when a circumferential end of the disc recording medium is inserted into the insertion/ejection slot, the roller contacts with a back surface of the disc recording medium and the roller is rotated by the transport motor, whereby the disc recording medium is transported to a predetermined position in Related Art 1 or the disc recording medium is sandwiched by a pair of the rollers from its diametrical sides to be transported in Related Art 2 (see Patent Document 1).
In Related Art 1, a surface of the rollers is coated with a rubber material, and the roller is tapered such that the diameter thereof is small at a middle portion and increases toward both end portions. With the arrangement, although the roller contacts with the disc recording medium from a recording surface side, the roller mainly contacts with the circumferential end portion of the recording surface so that an influence on the recording surface can be minimized.
Provided on a side opposite to the roller is a guide member for maintaining the disc recoding medium on a transport path. The guide member is formed in a rib shape extending in a direction intersecting with a transport direction of the disc recording medium in order to meet a front-width variation depending on its insertion depth of the disc recoding medium or to meet a later-described difference in diameters of disc recoding media. The rib-like guide member is so formed as to contact with the circumferential end portion of the disc recoding medium in order to prevent or reduce an influence (e.g., wear) on the surface of the disc recording medium.
With the arrangement, the rib-like guide member has a predetermined inclination such that the height of the guide member is large (a projection amount is large) at both end sides of the slot and small at a middle portion of the slot, namely the height increases toward the both end sides.
In such a related art slot-in type recorder/reproducer, the transport mechanism needs to be actuated when a portion of the disc recording medium is inserted from the slot. For this purpose, a disc recording medium transport device is provided with a contact-type detection mechanism that is arranged on an inner side of the slot. In addition, there are two diameter types (12 cm and 8 cm) in CDs or the like, and the difference in diameters is also detected by the detection mechanism.
The detection mechanism includes a guide rail provided along the inner side of the slot, a moving member provided so as to be movable along the guide rail, a contact member (e.g., a projection) that is provided on the moving member and contacts with the circumferential end of the disc and a plurality of switches that is disposed on predetermined positions along the guide rail to detect passage of the moving member.
Typically, the moving member provided with the contact member and the guide rail are arranged as a unit and a pair of the units is disposed on both sides of the slot. By disposing the pair of units, even when the center of the inserted disc recording medium is slightly displaced, the front width of the inserted disc can be accurately detected as a distance between the contact members on both sides.
In the contact-type detection mechanism, when the disc recording medium is inserted into the slot by a predetermined depth, the contact members are pushed outward by the circumference end of the disc to reach the predetermined front width that causes the transport motor to be actuated.
One of the switches is disposed at a position where it is disconnected when the predetermined front width causing the transport motor to be actuated is exceeded, and this switch disconnection actuates the transport motor associated with the insertion of the disc recording medium.
The guide rails each have a sufficient width extending to reach an end of the slot, which allows the contact members to move along the guide rails together with the moving members and to be opened wider than the diameter of the transported disc, so that the passage of the disc is not impeded.
Another ones of the switches are so set as to be each disconnected when the maximum width (diameter) of the passing disc recording medium is 12 cm or 8 cm, thereby detecting the diameter of the inserted disc.
Related Art 2 disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a pair of roller mechanisms disposed near the both ends of the slot for sandwiching the disc recording medium from the diametrical sides thereof, the roller mechanisms each including rollers adapted to move toward or apart from each other. In order to transport the disc recording medium to a predetermined position in the device, each of the roller mechanisms includes two pairs of the rollers that are provided along the transport direction.
[Patent Document 1] JP-A-2002-304798 (FIG. 1)

Disk-like recording medium conveyance device


An optical waveguide substrate having a substrate made of ferroelectric optical single crystal and a ridge portion projected from a main plane of the substrate, has a construction such that the ridge portion has a base portion made of ferroelectric optical single crystal and an optical waveguide formed on the base portion. The optical waveguide substrate is formed by forming at least one optical waveguide layer on a main plane of a substrate made of ferroelectric optical single crystal, and mechanically working main planes of the optical waveguide layer and the substrate to form a ridge portion projected from the main plane of the substrate. The optical waveguide substrate can reduce a light transmission loss, increase an extinction ratio, and improve an electric field applying efficiency.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical waveguide substrate and an optical wave guide device using the above optical waveguide substrate which is used preferably in conjunction with high speed optical modulators optical switching devices, a second harmonic generation device. The invention also relates to a process of producing the optical waveguide substrate.
(2) Related Art Statement
The ridge type optical waveguide is used as part of optical modulators, optical switching devices and so on. In the field of the high speed optical modulators and switching devices for optical communications, a modulator or a switching device produced by forming an optical waveguide element by diffusing titanium into lithium niobate single crystal, which can modulate or switch optical signals with a high speed more than 10 GHz, is known. Moreover, as a light source for blue laser preferably used for an optical pick-up and so on, a second harmonic generation (SHG) device of quasi phase matched (QPM) type, in which a periodic polarization inversion construction is formed in lithium niobate single crystal or lithium tantalate single crystal and then an optical waveguide portion is formed by using a proton exchange method, is also known. The second harmonic generation device mentioned above can be widely applied to devices for optical disk memory, medical use, photochemical use, optical measurement use, and so on.
Generally, as a method of forming an optical waveguide having a ridge construction, a method of transferring a mask pattern on a substrate by means of a photolithography technique and removing a portion other than the mask pattern by means of an ion etching is known. In the case of an optical modulator for modulating intensity, phase, wavelength and so on of a light, in which electrodes for applying an alternating electric field for modulating are arranged with respect to the ridge type optical waveguide, it is theoretically known that, if a ridge angle becomes near to 90.degree. more and more, an applied electric field correction factor is increased correspondingly and a driving voltage can be reduced (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 4-123018). In the JP-A-4-123018 mentioned above, a ratio of d/W in the ridge type optical waveguide between a height d and a width W of the ridge portion is set to larger than 0.1 and smaller than 1.0, and a ridge angle of the ridge portion is set to 90.degree..+-.10.degree., so that the applied electric field correction factor increases as large as possible.
However, according to this known method in which a portion other than the mask pattern is removed by using the ion etching, it is difficult to make a ridge angle 90.degree. for the following reason. As shown in FIGS. 10a and 10b, in the known method, an epitaxial layer 27 is formed on a substrate 26 made of electrooptical single crystal, and a mask 28 having a predetermined pattern is formed on a main plane 27a of the epitaxial layer 27 by using a photolithography method. Then, the epitaxial 27 is etched to form a ridge type optical waveguide 31. In this case, since a portion of the epitaxial layer 31a other than a portion covered by the mask 28 is removed, a thickness of an epitaxial layer 30 formed by etching the epitaxial layer 27 becomes smaller, as shown in FIG. 10b. Up to now, the known ridge type optical waveguide 31 having a ratio of d/W larger than 1.0 has not been achieved.
As a result an improvement of the applied electric field correction factor is limited. That is, in the known optical modulator, a surface 31a of the ridge type optical waveguide 31 is substantially flat, and a side surface 31b is inclined. Moreover, an electrode layer 32 for modulation is formed on a main plane 30a of the epitaxial layer 30 and on the inclined side surface 31b. Therefore, as discussed in "RIDGE TYPE OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE", OQE77-57, Oct. 24, 1997, Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, if an alternating electric field for modulation is applied to the optical waveguide 31, the modulation efficiency using the alternating electric field is decreased in comparison to an optical waveguide in which a ridge angle is 90.degree., thereby increasing driving voltage.
The side surface 31b is inclined for the following reasons. In the known optical modulator, the ridge type optical waveguide 31 is projected from the main plane 30a of the epitaxial layer 30. In this case, in order to increase a ratio d/W between a height d and a width W of the ridge type optical waveguide 31 (i.e., in order to make the ridge type optical waveguide 31 thinner), it is necessary to etch a portion around the ridge type optical waveguide 31 as deep as possible. However, since a ratio of etching rate between a substrate side portion (epitaxial layer 27 and substrate 26) and the mask 28 is 2.5(substrate side portion):1(mask), it is necessary to use a mask having a large thickness to allow for deep etching of the portion around the ridge type optical waveguide 31. Since the mask 28 has a large thickness, the etching liquid is not sufficiently supplied near the mask 28. Thus an etching rate of the portion near the mask 28 is decreased, so that a ridge angle (.theta.) is extremely decreased from 90.degree.. For example, if a height d of the ridge type optical waveguide 31 is set to larger than 2 .mu.m, it is difficult to achieve a ridge angle (.theta.) of 90.degree..
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 4-123018 aims at solving these problems mentioned above, but the fundamental defect explained with reference to FIGS. 10a and 10b is not solved at all. This publication only limits a dimension of the known ridge type optical waveguide.
Moreover, the ridge type optical waveguide substrate shown in FIGS. 10a and 10b is used generally for an optical coupling with an end surface of optical fibers. In this case, it is necessary to reduce a coupling loss as much as possible, and also it is necessary to reduce a transmission loss in the optical waveguide. Further, in the case that a single mode light is incident upon the ridge type optical waveguide, it is necessary to improve an extinction ratio more and more.

Optical waveguide substrate, optical waveguide device, second harmonic generation device, and process of producing optical waveguide substrate


The invention relates to a method for producing a diaphragm spring where only specific portions of the diaphragm spring are subjected to a shot-peening process. The shot-peening step is performed only to one side of an outer circumferential portion and an inner circumferential portion of the elastic portion (5a) of the diaphragm spring (5).

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing a diaphragm spring, particularly to a method for providing residual stress to a diaphragm spring for a clutch cover assembly by treating the diaphragm spring to a shot-peening process.
B. Description of the Related Art
A diaphragm spring is a disk like member used in a clutch cover assembly. The diaphragm spring typically includes an annular elastic portion and a plurality of lever portions extending radially inwardly from the annular elastic portion. One side of an outer circumferential portion of the diaphragm spring usually engages and is supported by a clutch cover, and the other side of the diaphragm spring typically engages and biases a pressure plate into engagement with a clutch disk. A releasing mechanism having a bearing typically contacts the radially inward ends of the plurality of levers portions. When such a diaphragm spring is made, a shot-peening is performed to the one-side of a diaphragm spring where a tensile stress is caused to improve its fatigue strength. In the shot-peening process, small metal balls having a particle size of from 0.5 to 1.5 mm are shot at the speed of from 50 to 80 m/second against the surface of a diaphragm spring. The surface layer of the diaphragm spring undergoes a small amount of plastic deformation as a result of the shot-peening process.
When such a shot-peening is performed, the surface layer of the diaphragm spring is microscopically extended by numerous shots. However, the surface layer can not extend because it is restricted from the inside layer. Therefore, a large amount of residual stress is imposed on the surface layer, and the residual stress improves the fatigue strength, resulting in the strength of 100 kgf/mm2.
The conventional shot-peening process is performed to only the surface of a diaphragm spring where a tensile stress is typically the greatest. Therefore, deformation such as warpage can occur at the lever portions.


The present invention provides: an electrode mixture manufacturing method comprising the processes of introducing a first binder, an electrode active material, and a conductive material into an extruder, performing a first mixing of the first binder, the electrode active material, and the conductive material in the extruder, additionally introducing a second binder into the extruder and performing a second mixing, and yielding an electrode mixture resulting from the first mixing and the second mixing; an electrode mixture manufactured thereby; and an electrode manufacturing method using the electrode mixture.

Lithium secondary batteries have been used not only as energy sources for mobile devices but also as power sources for electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) in recent years. In addition, they are also used as assist power sources by using grids.
The manufacturing process of such a lithium secondary battery is roughly classified into an electrode process, an assembly process, and an activation process. The electrode process may be divided into an active material mixing process, an electrode coating process, a drying process, a rolling process, a slitting process, and a winding process.
Among them, the active material mixing process is a process of mixing a coating material for forming an electrode active layer in which an actual electrochemical reaction takes place at an electrode. Specifically, the active material mixing process is to a process of manufacturing in the form of a slurry having fluidity by mixing an electrode active material, which is an essential element of the electrode, with a conductive material and filler which are other additives, a binder for adhesion between particles and adhesion of a current collector, and a solvent for imparting viscosity and dispersing particles.
The composition thus mixed for forming the electrode active layer may be referred to as an electrode mixture in a broad sense.
Thereafter, an electrode coating process for applying the electrode mixture onto the electrically conductive current collector and a drying process for removing the solvent contained in the electrode mixture are performed, and the electrode is further rolled to a predetermined thickness.
On the other hand, as the solvent contained in the electrode mixture is evaporated during the drying process, defects such as pinholes and cracks may be induced in the pre-formed electrode active layer.
In addition, since the inside and the outside of the active layer are not uniformly dried, there may be a gap with the relatively later dried portion as the particles at the earlier dried portion float, i.e., due to the particles floating according to the difference in the solvent evaporation rate, thereby deteriorating the quality of the electrode.
In order to solve the above problems, a drying device capable of controlling the evaporation rate of the solvent while allowing the inside and outside of the active layer to be uniformly dried has been considered, but these drying devices are very expensive and require considerable cost and time for operation, and have poor manufacturing processability.
Therefore, there is a high need for a technology capable of improving the manufacturing processability of the electrode.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Electrode mixture manufacturing method and electrode mixture


A lithographic printing plate printer includes: an original-film loading section; a lithographic printing plate loading section; a printing surface plate on which an original film is brought into close contact with a lithographic printing plate; a light source for printing an image on the original film onto the lithographic printing plate on the printing surface plate; a punch-hole punching unit for punching a punch hole in the original film; an original film transporting unit for taking out the original film in the original-film loading section and transporting it onto the printing surface plate via the punch-hole punching means; and a lithographic printing plate transporting unit for taking out the lithographic printing plate in the lithographic printing plate loading section and transporting it onto the printing surface plate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lithographic printing plate printer in which an original film with an image recorded thereon is brought into close contact with a lithographic printing plate placed on a printing surface plate, and light from a light source is transmitted through the original film so as to print the image on the original film onto the lithographic printing plate. In addition, the present invention relates to a transport apparatus for a lithographic printing plate for discharging a printed lithographic printing plate the printing surface plate and for feeding an unprinted lithographic printing plate onto the printing surface plate.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an image is printed on a photosensitive material or a presensitized plate (hereafter referred to as a PS plate) for a lithographic process, an original film with the image recorded thereon is fed to a printer in a state in which the original film is attached to a transparent cover sheet. The original film needs to be attached accurately to the cover sheet, and this attaching operation is performed by making use of register marks recorded on the original film.
This cover sheet is provided with punch holes for positioning on a printing surface plate of the printer, and positioning pins project from the upper surface of the printing surface plate. A plurality of cover sheets are stocked and are automatically transported onto the printing surface plate of the printer, and positioning is effected as the positioning pins are inserted through the punch holes. In some cases, the attachment of the original film to the cover sheet is automatically carried out by an apparatus formed separately from the printer. Thus as an operator operates an operation start button, the transport of the PS plate onto the printing surface plate and the positioning of the PS plate, and the transport of the cover sheet and the positioning of the cover sheet can be carried out automatically.
However, with the above-described conventional apparatus, the original films need to be attached in advance to the cover sheets and stocked. The aforementioned apparatus for attaching the original-films to the cover sheets can be disposed adjacent to the printer, but a large space is required for the installation of this separate apparatus, and it is additionally necessary to take into consideration the alignment of transport passages for delivering and receiving the cover sheets between the two apparatuses.
In addition, since a system for transporting the cover sheets with original films attached thereto in the conventional printer is of a so-called batch type in which the original film is discharged from the position where it was inserted, there has been a drawback in that the cover sheets cannot be fed continuously.
Furthermore, in a case where the same image is printed onto a plurality of photosensitive materials on the printing surface plate, the conventional practice has been such that after a printed photosensitive material is discharged from the printing surface plate, an ensuing unprinted photosensitive material is fed onto the printing surface plate, and the original film is placed again thereon.
However, in such conventional control of the photosensitive materials, the sum of the period of discharging the photosensitive material from the printing surface plate and the period of feeding an ensuing photosensitive material onto the printing surface plate is totalized as the operating time. Hence, the operating efficiency has been poor.
For this reason, it is conceivable to adopt an arrangement in which the direction of feeding the photosensitive material onto the printing surface plate and the direction of feeding it out from the printing surface plate are set to be the same direction, and an ensuing unprinted photosensitive material is fed while the printed photosensitive material is being discharged. However, if the transporting direction thus becomes rectilinear, the apparatus becomes large in size, so that it is not desirable.
In particular, in the presensitized plate printer for printing an image of the original film onto the PS plate, since the PS plate has a large area, the direction of feeding the PS plate onto the printing surface plate and the direction of feeding it out from the printing surface plate are conventionally set to be mutually opposite. In other words, by causing the PS plates to undergo reciprocating motion, an attempt has been made to render the apparatus compact.


An electro-optic device includes: an electro-optic panel displaying a display image with illumination light emitted from an illumination device; a display control circuit controlling the electro-optic panel to display a right-eye image during a right display period and display a left-eye image during a left display period; a glasses control circuit controlling a right-eye shutter of stereoscopic vision glasses so as to maintain an open state during the right display period, controlling a left-eye shutter of stereoscopic vision glasses so as to maintain an open state during the left display period, and controlling both the right-eye shutter and the left-eye shutter so as to maintain a close state during a blocking period; and an illumination control circuit controlling the illumination device to vary an intensity of the illumination light in a pulsed shape during the blocking period.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a technique for displaying a right-eye image and a left-eye image mutually having parallax to provide a stereoscopic effect to an observer.
2. Related Art
Hitherto, display devices displaying an image using illumination light emitted from an illumination device have been suggested. For example, an illumination device using an alternating current driving type discharge lamp is used for a projection type display device displaying an image by projecting display light modulated in accordance with a display image on a projection surface. JP-T-2002-533884 and JP-A-2005-353343 disclose techniques for stabilizing lighting (discharging) by overlapping pulses P with an alternating driving current supplied to a discharge lamp, as shown in FIG. 6.
In the configuration disclosed in JP-T-2002-533884 and JP-A-2005-353343, in which the pulses P are overlapped with the driving current of the discharge lamp, as shown in FIG. 6, the intensity of display light (illumination light) emitted from the illumination device is varied (pulsated) at the time points of the pulses P. The instantaneous variation (hereinafter, referred to as "intensity variation") v of the display light causes deterioration (display spot) in display quality, as described below.
In the projection type display device, a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix form is selected sequentially in a row unit and image signals corresponding to designated gray scales are supplied to the pixels of the selected rows and are maintained. The plurality of pixels each includes, for example, a transistor that controls a liquid crystal element. The electric characteristics (for example, the degree of current leak) of each transistor forming the pixel are varied in accordance with the intensity of illumination light.
As shown in FIG. 7, when the intensity variation v occurs in the display light from the illumination device during a horizontal scanning period of selecting the m-th row and, for example, even when the gray scale common to all the pixel circuits is designated, an error occurs between the voltage values of the image signal maintained in the respective pixels of the m-row and the image signal maintained in the respective pixels of the other rows. That is, an observer may recognize a horizontal line-shaped display spot (in the m-th row) where the gray scale is different from that of the periphery. Specifically, when the intensity variation v (overlap of the pulses P) and the vertical scanning of the projection type display device are synchronized with each other, the line-shaped display spot is normally located in a predetermined row (for example, the m-th row). When the intensity variation of the display light and the vertical scanning are not synchronized with each other, the line-shaped display spot is moved over time (so-called scroll noise).
In the above description, the intensity variation v of the display light has been exemplified to stabilize the discharge of the discharge lamp. However, the same problem may arise even when the intensity of the display line is made to be instantaneously varied (or inevitably varied) due to the reasons other than the stabilization of the discharge.

Electro-optic device and stereoscopic vision display apparatus


A “SuiteMate” mock blouse comprising a panel of decorative fabric that spans the chest area and which attaches at its upper corners to a user's bra straps by hook and loop fastener® attachments or fabric clamps, or to the skin by self-adhesive skin attachments. The mock blouse is secured at the lower corners around the upper waist by tie-strings. The mock blouse minimally covers the body in the chest area and ensures much greater breathability and comfort. The convenient attachments and tie-strings hold the mock blouse securely in place, and allow more convenient no-fuss application.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to ladies garments and, more particularly, to a mock blouse for more comfort, convenience, and economy of wear.
2. Description of the Background
Blouses are a basic clothing item and add versatility to one's wardrobe. A simple change of blouse can give a skirt, suit or pair of slacks a completely new look. There are a variety of conventional blouses including button-up shirts, halter-tops, and the like. These may be made of silk, cotton, Rayon, Polyester or the like. Typically, the design of a blouse is matched to the style of the garment with which it will be worn. A casual design would be suitable for casual wear, a tailored design for a suit blouse, and a dressy design for special occasion wear. Design may include the use of trims and buttons. Unfortunately, quality silk halter-top (or camisole) blouses are becoming extremely expensive, upward of $60-70 per. It becomes a costly proposition to buy a silk halter-top blouse for each suit in one's closet. Moreover, silk halter-top blouses can be very uncomfortable as they provide very little venting. Most silk halter-top blouses are essentially a close-fitting shirt to be worn beneath a suit jacket, and silk is not a breathable fabric. It would be greatly advantageous to provide a mock blouse for greater economy, more comfort, and ease of wearing.


A pusher tray is provided. The pusher tray includes a base structure defining a retail merchandise support surface. A pusher is slidably retained on the base structure and configured to bias retail merchandise toward a front stop of the pusher tray. The pusher has a floor and a front wall extending upwardly from the floor such that the front wall is oriented at an acute angle relative to the retail support surface. A pair of dividers are slidably mounted to the base structure. Each of the pair of dividers includes an arcuate frame portion and a pair of support elements supporting the arcuate frame portion such that a portion of each support element is tangent to a radius of curvature defined by each arcuate frame portion.

Pusher assemblies are well known in the art and provide for the automatic biasing or "front-facing" of retail merchandise towards a front edge of the assembly which is closest to the consumer. Such assemblies are readily recognized as reducing labor costs and providing an appealing look to the arrangement of retail merchandise in a retail merchandise display.
Unfortunately, certain types of retail merchandise are not readily usable in pusher assemblies due to their size and/or shape. One example of such an item of retail merchandise is the frozen pizza. As is well known, frozen pizza is typically packaged with an outer wrapper and a cardboard backing. This packaging generally has a circular outer periphery, which approximates the circular shape of the pizza carried therein. A typical pusher assembly often times incorporates upright divider walls on either side of the pusher assembly to contain the retail merchandise in a neat row. However, the Applicants have discovered that such upright divider walls make only minimal contact with objects having a circular outer periphery, and as a result, tend to not neatly contain such objects.
Furthermore, conventional pusher assemblies typically have a pusher with a front wall that is perpendicular to the retail merchandise support surface of the pusher assembly upon which the retail merchandise rests on. The Applicants herein have discovered that this perpendicular wall has a tendency to cause relatively larger and thinner items, e.g. frozen pizzas, to lean forward in a displeasing manner, and in some extreme cases, tip entirely forward. The Applicants have determined that this leaning or tipping is a caused primarily by the perpendicular orientation of the front wall of the pusher, which has a tendency to place a biasing force relatively high along the back surface of the retail merchandise creating a moment arm about the bottom edge of the retail merchandise, thereby causing it to rotate generally at this bottom edge to produce the aforementioned lean or tipping.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a pusher assembly that advantageously accommodates retail merchandise having a circular outer periphery, and biases the same with the aforementioned displeasing forward lean or tipping.
The invention provides such a pusher assembly. These and other advantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.

Pusher assembly for products having circular packaging


A lens distortion measurement system has a first grating of a first pitch on a transparent support such as a quartz reticle. The reticle is disposed between an illumination source and the lens system whose distortion is to be measured. An image sensor is provided within the image projection field of the lens system. A second grating of a second (different) pitch is provided on another transparent support, disposed between the lens system and the image sensor. Optionally, a relay lens is disposed between the second support and the image sensor. Illumination propagates from the illumination source through the first support, through the lens system, through the second support and is incident on the image sensor. The illumination forms a Moire fringe having a pitch orders of magnitude greater than the pitches of the first and second gratings. Distortion in the lens system is measured by comparing the illumination intensity at the sensor to the expected intensity at the sensor if there was no distortion in the lens system. Therefore, small amounts of distortion of the lens system are measured.

Knowledge of the precise distortion characteristics of a particular projection lens system ("lens") is required in a variety of optics applications such as in VLSI and ULSI photolithographic technology. A lens with unwanted distortion could cause defects in IC chips and thus lower the yield per wafer and directly affect the profit margin of a manufacturer. It is to be understood that such projection lens systems are optically complex, including a large number of lens elements, and so their optical properties may be difficult to determine from purely theoretical considerations. The amount of distortion which will cause unwanted defects decreases as process technology provides for smaller IC feature dimensions and greater integration. Generally, the larger the lens, the more opportunity for the inadvertent introduction of distortion. Therefore, distortion measurement is especially necessary where precision is required of larger lenses in LSI, VLSI, and ULSI processes.
Not all distortion is necessarily unwanted. Lens distortion measurement systems may be used to measure a lens in which the desired distortion is zero or a lens in which the desired distortion is nonzero (as in a telescope or microscope).
In a first prior art projection lens distortion measurement system for photolithographic lenses, an exposed mark is first formed on a semiconductor wafer in a predetermined position. The wafer is then loaded into a stepper. The illumination which defines the image of the mark passes through the lens to be measured. A sensor on the side of the lens remote from the illumination source detects the position of the mark in the transmitted image. The system then compares the actual position of the mark image received at the sensor to the expected position of the mark image if the desired distortion was present. The undesirable distortion can then be determined based on the offset of the mark. One commercially available software package which facilitates this process is called "AMS" software developed by Nikon Corporation.
This system requires fabricating a mark on a wafer thereby utilizing valuable equipment time and space. Furthermore, this system allows for measurement of only one position in the lens field at a time. Typically, distortion measurement of the entire field of the lens is desired. Therefore a lens distortion measurement system which can determine the distortion of the whole field of a lens without requiring process steps for forming a mark on a wafer was desired.
In a second prior art lens distortion measurement system, a mark is fabricated on a wafer. An additional machine for moving the wafer laterally with respect to the lens is used to move the wafer so that the mark image passes through a representative sampling of the entire field of the lens. This machine must be precise in its movements so that the actual location of the mark can be determined. One such commercially available machine is the Nikon "XY" system developed by Nikon Corporation. The process described above for the first prior art lens distortion measurement system is repeated for each point in the representative sample. Interpolation of the representative sample distortion measurements can be performed to obtain reasonable estimations of the distortion for points in the field that were not directly measured.
While this system allows for distortion measurement of the entire field of a lens, it still requires that a wafer be fabricated with a mark. Furthermore, this system requires the use of the additional machine which costs money and utilizes valuable chip fab real estate. Even though the machine is precise, it can introduce significant error if the actual movement of the wafer does not exactly match the expected movement, thereby presenting the system with a false position of the mark and thus false distortion measurement. This distortion is called "stage accuracy" distortion and is currently the most limiting factor in obtaining an accurate distortion measurement.
Therefore, what is desired is a lens distortion measurement system which determines the distortion of the entire field of a lens without requiring a mark on a wafer and without requiring an additional machine that introduces stage inaccuracies.

Lens distortion measurement using moire fringes


A multi-memory cell operator includes a non-destructive memory array, an activation unit and a multiple column decoder. The non-destructive memory array has first and second bit lines per column. The activation unit activates at least two cells in a column of the memory array at the same time thereby to generate multiple Boolean function outputs of the data and of complementary data of the at least two cells on the first bit line and different multiple Boolean function outputs of the data and of the complementary data on the second bit line. The multiple column decoder at least activates the first and second bit lines of multiple selected columns for reading or writing. The multiple column decoder also includes a write unit to write the output of the first bit line, the second bit line or both bit lines of the selected columns into the memory array.

Memory arrays, which store large amounts of data, are known in the art. Over the years, manufacturers and designers have worked to make the arrays physically smaller but the amount of data stored therein larger.
Computing devices typically have one or more memory arrays to store data and a central processing unit (CPU) and other hardware to process the data. The CPU is typically connected to the memory array via a bus. Unfortunately, while CPU speeds have increased tremendously in recent years, the bus speeds have not increased at an equal pace. Accordingly, the bus connection acts as a bottleneck to increased speed of operation.
The evolving domains of big data and machine learning algorithms involve computation on large amount of data. Reading and writing data from and to memory during computation is CPU intensive and may take a long time to complete when the IO is a significant portion of the whole computation.


Power honing/grinding machine for the finishing of cylindrical gears with external toothing tools, comprising a workpiece clamping unit having a first electrospindle rotatable about a first axis, and a tool-holder unit having a second electrospindle rotatable about a second axis, in which the movement of rotation of the second electrospindle about the second axis is synchronized with the movement of rotation of the first electrospindle about the first axis, wherein the first electrospindle has an external stator and an internal rotor and the second electrospindle has an internal stator and an external rotor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to finishing processes after heat treatment of cylindrical gears.
More specifically, the invention relates to a power honing/grinding machine for the finishing of cylindrical gears with external toothing tools.
2. Description of the Related Art
A power honing machine of the known type comprises a workpiece clamping unit having a first electrospindle rotatable about a first axis, and a tool-holder unit having a second electrospindle rotatable about a second axis, wherein the movement of rotation of the second electrospindle about the second axis is synchronized with the movement of rotation of the first electrospindle about the first axis.
The honing process with synchronized axes and high removal of material is usually carried out on machines that use ceramic tools with internal toothing working on the principle of intersecting axes. The use of tools with internal toothing poses physical limits to the degree of intersection of the axes. In fact, the meshing of a gear with external toothing with a tool with internal toothing poses limits on the angle of mutual inclination between the respective axes of rotation. In practice, with the known solutions, employing tools with internal toothing values of 15-20° of inclination of the axes are not exceeded. Since the axial cutting speed is proportional to the sine of the angle of intersection of the axes, the limitation of the angle of intersection of the axes penalizes the axial cutting speed.
If an increased cutting speed is desired, without reaching prohibitive values of the gear clamping spindle speed, it is necessary to use tools with external toothing. External toothing tools do not limit the angle of intersection of the axes. With external toothing tools it is possible to reach intersection angles of the axes equal to 60°.
However, practical tests have shown that the use of external toothing tools in machines with electronic synchronization between the tool-holder spindle and the gear clamping spindle creates great problems of finishing quality. Indeed, disturbances in the rotation of one spindle have repercussions on the other spindle, sometimes triggering phenomena of self-maintenance of perturbations.


An area for recording a preformated encoding pattern is provided on a rewritable disk in order to obtain information of an eccentricity produced when the disk is chucked. The information of the eccentricity produced at the time of disk chucking is detected, while the disk is being driven, from a reference pulse obtained by reproduction of the encoding pattern and, on the basis of the eccentricity information, the frequency of the clock for writing data or reading data is modulated according to eccentric positions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rewritable disk advantageously applicable to a magneto-optic disk of a type allowing additional writing or rewriting and hardware (disk apparatus) for the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Of magneto-optic disks, rewritable disks on which data can be rewritten many times are known. Such a magneto-optic disk 10 has, as shown in FIG. 10, tracks (concentric tracks) formed thereon along concentric circles with respect to its chucking hole 12, and each track has a plurality of sectors 16 formed in the circular direction at a predetermined pitch, the sectors storing video data, audio data, and other data.
Between the sectors 16, 16, there is provided an edit gap (EG) 18 as shown in FIG. 11. The edit gap 18 is a clearance area which is provided for preventing data to be written in one sector from being written into the adjoining sector even if there exists an eccentricity produced at the time of disk chucking. Usually, the edit gap 18 is designed to have a length W around 1% of the length L of the sector 16 in the circular direction, because most of eccentricities caused by the eccentric chucking can be absorbed by the edit gap 18 arranged to have such length.
An apparatus for the rewritable magneto-optic disk chiefly recording and reproducing image information is connected with various image devices through an interface and video signals output from the devices are digitally recorded and reproduced in the apparatus. Since the signals are video signals, they are transmitted at the rate of 120Mbps to 540Mbps and it is required that the signals are recorded over a period from several minutes to dozens of minutes. Therefore, the magneto-optic disk for the described use is required to allow recording of considerably high density. Hence, a high degree of accuracy in repeated recording is required of the magneto-optic disk also out of necessity for exchangeability.
However, in the case of the magneto-optic disk 10 employing such a format as shown in FIG. 10, the data length of the edit gap 18 is designed to include a sufficient length of clearance, and hence the total length of the edit gaps 18 amounts to a considerable length even if the length W of each gap is around 1% of the length of the sector 16, and this has been a cause preventing achievement of high-density recording.

Eccentricity detection and compensation of a disk by a preformatted encoding pattern


An improved thruster system is provided for maneuvering and/or propulsion of a marine vessel, through the use of directionally oriented water jets discharged tangentially from a helical-conical flow chamber. The thruster system includes a high capacity pump for pumping water through a hull intake to the flow chamber with a substantial helical or swirling action. The water exits the flow chamber through one or more of a plurality of tangentially oriented discharge conduits having discharge nozzles for passage of high velocity water jets through the hull, resulting in reaction forces used to maneuver or propel the vessel. Each discharge conduit includes a valve member movable between open and closed positions for respectively permitting or preventing water flow to the associated nozzle.

This invention relates generally to thruster systems used particularly for slow speed maneuvering of a marine vessel. More specifically, this invention relates to a compact thruster system designed for energy-efficient generation of one or more directionally oriented water jets used to maneuver and/or propel the marine vessel.
Boat thruster systems are generally known in the art for use in close-quarter maneuvering of a marine vessel. Such thruster systems are designed to generate a flow of water discharged from one side of a boat hull, resulting in a substantial hydraulic reaction force applied to the vessel for improved close-quarter maneuvering. In one traditional form, the thruster system comprises a relatively large diameter propeller mounted within a correspondingly sized transverse opening or tunnel formed in the boat hull, wherein the propeller is adapted to generate a substantial mass flow of water directed to one side of the vessel in accordance with the direction of propeller rotation. While so-called tunnel thrusters of this type provide significant advantages in close-quarter vessel maneuvering, especially upon approach to or departure from a dock, the thruster system occupies a large volumetric space within the hull of the vessel. Moreover, large openings must be formed in the vessel's hull, usually in a dry dock environment, to accommodate installation of the requisite large diameter flow tunnel. As a result, tunnel thruster systems exhibit significant disadvantages with respect to system size and installation cost.
In recent years, alternative and comparatively more compact thruster systems have been designed wherein a high capacity water pump delivers water for discharge as high velocity jets through relatively small nozzles mounted at opposite sides of the vessel's hull. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,056,073; 4,214,544; and 4,455,960. In these thruster systems, the pump draws in water through a downwardly open intake formed in the hull. The water is delivered from the pump through a diffuser and directionally controlled vanes for discharge flow through one of the nozzles, resulting in an hydraulic reaction force which is effective to assist in vessel maneuvering. Water jet thruster systems of this type beneficially occupy significantly less space within the hull of a vessel, and may be installed without requiring large holes to be formed in the hull. Moreover, additional directional vanes and/or additional discharge nozzles may be employed to generate reaction forces in a fore-aft direction for vessel propulsion in close-quarter maneuvers, or as an auxiliary drive source in the event of main engine failure. However, the thrust generation capacity of a water jet system has been relatively inefficient from an energy standpoint, in comparison with tunnel thruster systems.
There exists, therefore, a significant need for improvements in thruster systems of the water jet type, particularly with respect to improving the efficiency of thrust generation. The present invention fulfills this need and provides further related advantages.

Heliconic thruster system for a marine vessel


A method for surveying an environment by a movable surveying instrument configured to be carried by a human with a progressional capturing of 2D-images by at least one camera and applying a visual simultaneous location and mapping algorithm (VSLAM) or a visual inertial simultaneous location and mapping algorithm (VISLAM) with a progressional deriving of a sparse evolving point cloud of at least part of the environment, and a progressional deriving of a trajectory of movement. The method comprises a progressional matching of the sparse evolving point cloud with a known CAD-geometry, with a minimizing of a function configured to model a distance between the sparse point cloud and the known CAD-geometry and deriving a spatial localization and orientation of the surveying instrument. At least one surveying measurement value of the environment by a spatial measurement unit is combined with the sparse point cloud or the plan information.

In the technical field of surveying, in particular with a construction work or geodetic accuracy, it is often not only demanded to establish exact measurements of the environment by the instrument, but also to derive a localization of the instrument in its environment. Therein, in particular in view of automated BIM (building information modeling) Systems and Databases, the demands on correctness and in particular on unambiguousness is increasing, wherefore e.g. a basic localization by defining a site, location, building or room by manual notes from an operator or by GNSS (like GPS, etc.) is not adequate any more. Also, GNSS can only be used outdoors and tends to have a rather limited accuracy and reliability. Surveying instruments are also used over a long time—but often with pauses in-between when the instrument is shut down to save power—and/or are the instruments (as expensive singular resources) are often moves at the site along some random trajectories from one measurement to the next. Therefore, ambiguousness and/or drift of the localization can be quite problematic, sometimes even more problematic than the actually achievable position and/or orientation accuracy of the localization.
For example, the patent application EP 18 190 344 proposes a capturing of a coarse 3D-model by a surveying device with a 3D-sensor-unit, which information is then used to derive the actual measurements with high accuracy by the surveying device. Also documents like e.g. DE 11 2006 003 390, WO 2015/001063, US 2011/238303, EP 3 333 538, EP 3 222 969, EP 3 034 995, US 2011/102255, are related to various localization approaches.
Such a localization of an instrument to a local or global coordinate system at an environment where measurements have to be taken is a tedious and error prone task. State of art setup workflows for such measurements include the use of GNSS and/or the measurement of one or multiple reference points, which often requires a rather burdensome usage of a prism pole or the like.
Some recent approaches are trying to make use of visual inertial SLAM systems, but those tend to be even more unstable, more inexact and in particular more unreliable and not reproducible—in particular drifting of the location results is an issue. The quality of the automated localization of an instrument by doing so is therefore hardly usable in a surveying system, in particular in an automated way without a human operator always checking plausibility.


A clamping and separating device for removal of bearing shells has first and second jaws and at least one bolt inserted in an insertion direction into the first and second jaws for clamping the first and second jaws relative to one another. The bolt has depressions arranged in a longitudinal direction of the bolt and spaced relative to one another in the longitudinal direction. A locking element is mounted in the first jaw and selectively engages in a locking position one of the depressions for locking the bolt. A spring biases the locking element in a direction counter to the insertion direction into a rest position. The locking element is releaseable from the locking position against the force of the spring to allow removal of the bolt in a direction counter to the insertion direction.

The present invention relates to a clamping or separating device, especially for pulling off bearing shells, with two jaws that are clamped relative to one another by at least one threaded clamping bolt.
Since these devices, in general, are designed for use with the jaws being placed at greatly varying spacings to one another, correspondingly large threaded bolts are needed. It is understood that correspondingly long threaded portions must be provided in order to be able to place the nuts corresponding to the threaded bolts onto the back side of the jaws. Furthermore, the adjustment of the nuts, respectively, their adaptation to the different widths of the opening of the jaws requires a considerable amount of time.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to embody devices of the aforementioned kind such that the devices can be quickly adjusted to the required width of the workpiece, but can also be removed quickly whereby also the time expenditure for tightening the nuts should be considerably reduced.

Clamping and separating device, especially for pulling off bearing shells


An anode mounting structure for a marine engine including a metallic gasket mounted on the mating face between components of the engine, such as a cylinder head and a cylinder body, which form a coolant passage extending across the components, and an anode for corrosion prevention facing the coolant passage, in which the anode is attached to the gasket.

1. Field of the Inventions
The present inventions relate to a mounting structure of an anode for corrosion prevention (sacrificial anode) for a marine engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an outboard motor is employed on the sea, its engine, which may be made of an aluminum alloy, is corroded by sea water used as coolant for the engine. To cope with this problem, anodes made of a metal such as zinc, with a lower polarization potential than an aluminum alloy, have been disposed in the coolant passages of such engines. As such, the anode acts as a sacrificial anode, thereby preventing the electrochemical reaction causing electrolytic corrosion of the engine. For example, see Japanese Patent Publication Nos. Hei 10-236390 and Hei 11-11390.
The electrolytic corrosion prevention effect of such anodes decreases with increasing distances from the mounting position of the anode. Thus, a satisfactory electrolytic corrosion prevention effect can be obtained only within a limited range, which can also vary depending on the material used for the sacrificial anode and the cross-sectional area of the coolant passage. Therefore, to achieve a satisfactory electrolytic corrosion prevention effect with an anode, multiple anodes are often attached throughout the coolant passage at given intervals. For example, some engines are constructed with anodes spaced apart by about 300 mm or less for a coolant jacket of an aluminum alloy, four-cylinder engine having a displacement of about 1800 cubic centimeters.
However, in such a conventional anode mounting structure, it is difficult in practice to attach anodes at given intervals inside a coolant jacket, which can have a complicated shape, such as those formed around the combustion chambers of en engine. Additionally, areas can be found at which no effect of the anodes is produced, thereby allowing the engine to corrode in those areas.
Additionally, in order to mount anodes to an engine body so as to be removable, leak-proof, and in communication with fluids in the cooling jacket, mounting seats are machined into the engine body. The seats are formed, for example, in the wall surface of the cylinder head or the cylinder body and the anodes are attached to the seat faces. However, such seats increase the size of the engine. Additionally, such machining and assembling can be time-consuming and thus can lower productivity.
Fixing the anode to the seats requires a reliable fastening method which withstands engine vibration in corrosive environments and which ensures an electrical connection. Thus, the seats are typically provided with machine threads so that the anodes can be secured with tight fitting bolts.
One alternative approach, described in Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 6-11042, includes using a cylinder head gasket having an inner core with an electrolytic solution potential approximately equal to that of the cylinder head and the cylinder body. As such, the gasket can suppress the electrolytic corrosion of the engine. However, this gasket has a special and complicated structure of three layers, causing trouble in manufacturing.

Anode mounting structure for outboard motor engine


The present disclosure is directed toward systems and methods for analyzing event sequence data. Additionally, the present disclosure is directed toward systems and methods for providing visualizations of event sequence data analyses. For example, systems and methods described herein can analyze event sequence data related to websites and provide matrix-based visualizations of the event sequence data. The matrix-based visualization can be interactive and can allow a user to trace changes in traffic volume across webpages and hyperlinks of a website.

1. Technical Field
One or more embodiments described herein relate generally to providing event sequence data analyses. More specifically, one or more embodiments relate to providing visualizations of event sequence data analyses.
2. Background and Relevant Art
Event sequence data analysis is common in many domains, including web and software development, transportation, and medical care. For example, websites log how users navigate their pages, airlines track events during airplane flights, and hospitals record when patients transfer from one part of the hospital to another. Event sequence data analysis allows for an understanding of trends, sources of problems, and other information about the event sequence data. To aid in comprehension of event sequence data analysis, visualization techniques are often used to convey information about the event sequence data. Unfortunately, conventional event sequence data analysis visualization techniques have various drawbacks. Several of these drawbacks are described below in reference to website event sequence data.
Modern websites typically include multiple webpages that a user transitions through via hyperlinks connecting one webpage to another. For example, a website generally has a home page including multiple hyperlinks that direct a user to other webpages within the website. Accordingly, a user can transition from the home page to another webpage within the website by clicking on the provided hyperlinks. In this way, a website user can search for a particular product, review product pages, purchase a product, and so forth.
Occasionally, a user will transition through a website and then leave the website without making a purchase. Website managers generally refer to this as "user fallout." Typically, the goal of a commercial website manager is to minimize user fallout. In order to minimize user fallout, a website manager (i.e., a web master) analyzes website event sequence logs in order to identify where website users lose interest and leave the website. The event sequence logs can include web traffic information indicating how users of a website transition through and eventually leave the website. The process of analyzing web traffic information is generally referred to as "clickstream analysis." A problem arises, however, in that the event sequence logs include a great deal of information that is generally not in a format that is easily understood by web managers for purposes of clickstream analysis.
For this reason, website managers typically utilize various tools to assist them in analyzing and visualizing event sequence log information. These tools generally provide visualizations that illustrate how users of the website transition from one webpage to another webpage, and so on. One such tool is the Sankey diagram. The Sankey diagram visualizes event sequence data by providing two or more columns, wherein each column includes a listing of webpages. The Sankey diagram further includes edges connecting webpages between the columns. For example, to illustrate one level of web traffic related to a website consisting of three webpages (i.e., webpage A, webpage B, and webpage C), the Sankey diagram can include two columns, each column including webpages A, B, and C. Then, for each user who transitioned from one webpage to another (e.g., the user started at webpage A, then clicked a hyperlink to transition to webpage B), the Sankey diagram would include an edge connecting webpage A in the first column to webpage B in the second column. The thickness of the edges connecting webpages between columns in a Sankey diagram corresponds to the volume of user traffic between the webpages (i.e., the edge connecting the home page to a popular product page may be very thick, while the edge connecting the home page to a less popular product page may be less thick).
As a website becomes more complex (i.e., more webpages and hyperlinks) and becomes more heavily trafficked, existing analysis and visualization tools typically fail to provide accurate representations of sequence data. For example, a Sankey diagram of a heavily trafficked website is generally very difficult to read accurately in light of the multitude of intersecting edges of various thicknesses between the columns. This problem is typically common to existing analysis and visualization tools. Thus, performing a clickstream analysis while utilizing a Sankey diagram and other similar tools becomes cumbersome and difficult.
Furthermore, existing analysis and visualization tools generally do not provide accurate representations of a comparison of two sets of event sequence data. For example, a website manager may overhaul the design and layout of a website. In order to determine the effect that the website overhaul has on user traffic, the website manager may desire to compare a data set including web traffic data from before the overhaul to a data set including web traffic data from after the overhaul. As was mentioned above, tools such as the Sankey diagram provide comparison visualizations that are generally crowded and difficult to understand, particularly when comparing multiple data sets.
Thus, current methods of providing visualizations for event sequence data include several disadvantages that lead to ineffective analyses.

Providing visualizations of event sequence data


Catalysts, methods, and systems for treating diesel engine exhaust streams are described. In one or more embodiments, the catalyst comprises platinum, a second metal from one of the groups VB, VIB, VIIB, VIIIB, IB, or IIB of the periodic table, a refractory metal oxide, and a zeolite, the oxidation catalyst already being effective to remove ammonia at temperatures less than about 300° C. and exhibiting no significant decrease in ammonia oxidation efficiency upon hydrothermal aging. A method aspect includes first passing a vehicle's engine exhaust stream through a NOx abatement catalyst; and passing the exhaust stream exiting the NOx abatement catalyst and containing ammonia through the ammonia oxidation catalyst. Systems including such catalysts are also provided.

Diesel engine exhaust is a heterogeneous mixture which contains not only gaseous emissions such as carbon monoxide ("CO"), unburned or partially burned hydrocarbons or oxygenates thereof ("HC") and nitrogen oxides ("NOx"), but also condensed phase materials (liquids and solids) which constitute the so-called particulates or particulate matter. Often, catalyst compositions and substrates on which the compositions are disposed are provided in diesel engine exhaust systems to convert certain or all of these exhaust components to innocuous components. For example, diesel exhaust systems can contain one or more of a diesel oxidation catalyst, a soot filter and a catalyst for the abatement of NOx.
A proven NOx abatement technology applied to stationary sources with lean exhaust conditions is ammonia Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR). In this process, NOx (=NO+NO2) is reacted with ammonia to form dinitrogen (N2) over a catalyst typically composed of base metals. This technology is capable of NOx reduction greater than 90%, and thus it represents one of the best approaches for achieving aggressive NOx abatement goals. SCR provides efficient conversions of NOx as long as the exhaust temperature is within the active temperature range of the catalyst.
Reduction of NOx species to N2 using NH3 is of interest for meeting NOx emission targets in lean burn engines. A consequence of using NH3 as a reductant is that under conditions of incomplete conversion or exhaust temperature upswings, NH3 can slip from the exhaust of the vehicle. To avoid slippage of NH3, a sub-stoichiometric quantity of NH3 can be injected into the exhaust stream, but there will be decreased NOx conversion. Alternatively, the NH3 can be overdosed into the system to increase NOx conversion rate, but the exhaust then needs to be further treated to remove excess or slipped NH3. Even at a substoichiometric dosage of NH3, an increase in exhaust temperature may release ammonia stored on the NOx abatement catalyst, giving an NH3 slip. Conventional precious-metal based oxidation catalysts such as platinum supported on alumina can be very efficient at NH3 removal, but they produce considerable N2O and NOx as undesired side products instead of the desired N2 product. Thus, there is a need for a catalyst composition that is active for NH3 oxidation at temperatures as low as 225° C. and that has N2 selectivity in excess of about 60% between 250° C. and 400° C.
There is also a need for ammonia oxidation catalysts that are stable against the long term thermal, chemical, and physical stress of normal vehicle operation, which includes temperatures up to about 450° C. for a typical diesel application. In addition, a vehicle exhaust system may operate for short periods at temperatures above 800° C., for example during the thermal regeneration of a particulate filter. It is important that an ammonia oxidation catalyst be stable to these acute thermal stressors as well. For this reason, accelerated aging conditions are identified that mimics the cumulative effects of these long-term and acute stressors on the catalyst activity. Such an aging condition involves exposure of the catalyst to temperatures of 700° C. to 800° C. for between 5 and 50 hrs in the presence of up to about 10% water vapor in air.

Bifunctional catalysts for selective ammonia oxidation


An axle assembly mounts an electric motor to a central housing opposite an input yoke that is driven by an engine. The input yoke is mounted along an axis parallel to the electric motor to alternatively or additionally permit the engine to drive a gear reduction within the axle housing through a planetary gear assembly. Another axle assembly is powered by just an electric motor to provide a relatively lighter duty axle assembly for yet another vehicle configuration.

The present invention relates to a drive axle assembly including an electric motor, and more particularly to an axle configuration that locates the electric motor in an axle housing opposite from an engine input.
There is an increasing demand for hybrid electric driven and hybrid electric assisted vehicles. Electric motors for such applications are typically sized to meet both torque and speed requirements, which may not be the most effective for the operational requirements of such vehicles. Relatively large electric motors are often utilized to meet the torque requirements. This may result in an oversized motor for most operational conditions. Moreover, the relatively large electric motors may be difficult to package in certain vehicle configurations. Conversely, utilizing a multiple of relatively smaller electric motors may increase complexity.
Electric hybrid power trains offer advantages for both torque and speed requirements. However, vehicle manufacturers may be reluctant to adapt electric hybrid power trains to existing vehicles due to the expense associated with redesign. Such redesign often requires relatively expensive and complicated chassis modifications to mount the additional electric components such as motors and gearboxes.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a lightweight and compact electric motor driven axle configuration, which provides an electric hybrid power train that utilizes relatively conventional axle and suspension components to minimize redesign of existing vehicle structure.

Drive axle assembly for hybrid electric vehicle


Useful as additive for lubricating oils are novel phosphosulphur compounds in accordance with the general formula (I): EQU (((R.sup.1 --S.sub.x --O.sub.y --A--).sub.r B.sub.v).sub.p P(X)--Y.sub.t --).sub.q Z.sub.m. in which e.g. R.sup.1 represents an alkyl or alkenyl group, A represents the group --(CH.sub.2).sub.n --O--, B represents the group --P(S)--S--CH.sub.2 --(CH.sub.3)--O--, X represents an oxygen atom or a sulphur atom, Y represents an oxygen atom, a sulphur atom or an oxygen or sulphur-containing hydrocarbon chain, Z represents a hydrogen, chlorine or sulphur atom, a polysulphide chain, a metal or an alkyl or alkenyl group, x=1,2 or 3, y=0, 1 or 2, v is 0 or 1, r is 1 (if v=0) or r=2 (if v=1), p=2 or 3, t=0 or 1, m=0,1 or 2, q=the valency of Z if Z is a metal or q=1 or 2 and n is an integer from 1 to 30.

The present invention relates to novel phosphosulphur compounds (i.e. sulphur and phosphor-containing) and their use as petroleum additives, particularly as antioxidant, antiwear, extreme-pressure and anticorrosive additives for lubricating oils.
Antiwear and extreme-pressure additives have been used for decades particularly in engine oils, transmission fluids and hydraulic fluids. Numerous additive types have been developed and several of them have made it possible to very significantly reduce deterioration to mechanisms and therefore extend their life.
Among the antiwear and extreme-pressure additives the most active and therefore the most significantly industrially developed have been dialkyl and diaryl dithiophosphates and metallic dialkyl dithiocarbamates, (particularly those of zinc), alkyl thiophosphates, tricresyl phosphate, didodecyl phosphate, sulphurized terpenes, sulphur-containing spermaceti oil and various chlorine compounds. Certain of them are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,364,283, 2,364,284, 2,365,938, 2,410,650, 2,438,876, 3,190,833. These are generally compounds containing heteroatoms such as sulphur and phosphorus, either alone (e.g. tricresyl phosphate, sulphur-containing terpenes and dithiocarbamates) or in combination (e.g. metallic dialkyl dithiophosphates and alkyl thiophosphates). Reference can be made to French Patents FR-A-982 719 and 1 321 821 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,750,342 and 3,944,495.
The phosphosulphur compounds used previously have relative sulphur and phosphorus quantites which are imposed by the stoichiometry of the reactions during their synthesis and which in particular give them antiwear and extreme-pressure properties, which cannot be modified by the Expert.

New phosphosulfides compounds and use thereof as oil lubricants


An electrical connector for a helmet-mounted night vision system including a receptacle assembly and a mating plug assembly. The receptacle assembly is configured to be mechanically coupled either directly or indirectly to a helmet and electrically coupled to a night vision device that is mounted to the helmet. The plug assembly is configured to be mechanically and electrically coupled to a battery pack. The plug assembly and the receptacle assembly are configured to be releasably mated together in at least two different orientations for releasably mounting the battery pack to the helmet and supplying power from the battery pack to a night vision device that is mounted to the helmet.

Hot-shoe connectors are commonly used to provide a mechanical means of attachment as well as an electrical connection between two devices. By way of example, many conventional cameras incorporate hot shoe connectors for mounting flash units thereto. A hot-shoe receptacle is located on the top side of a camera, and a hot-shoe plug is disposed on the bottom end of the flash unit for attaching the flash unit to the hot-shoe receptacle of the camera. In assembly, the hot-shoe plug on the flash unit is slidably inserted into the hot-shoe receptacle on the camera. The plug and receptacle may be secured together by a clamping screw that is provided on the flash, or other means. In the center of the hot-shoe receptacle on the camera is a metallic contact that interfaces with a metallic contact on the hot shoe plug of the flash unit. The camera delivers power to the flash unit via the interface between the metallic contacts. The physical dimensions of a standard hot-shoe connector for cameras are defined by the International Organization for Standardization ISO 518:2006.
Hot shoe style connectors have been incorporated into other electronic devices. For example, many helmet-mounted night vision devices incorporate hot shoe connectors. Helmet-mounted night vision devices are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,211,778, 7,049,027, 6,938,276, 6,662,370, and 5,683,831, 4,666,276, 4,329,735, for example, which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. In a helmet-mounted night vision device, a battery pack (or other power source) is connected to the helmet-mounted night vision system, via a shielded cable, to provide power to the night vision system. Such an arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,831.
In a helmet-mounted night vision device incorporating a hot shoe connector, a hot shoe receptacle of the removable battery pack is mounted to a hot-shoe plug provided on the rear or side of the helmet. Such an arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,831. Users often mount the battery pack to the helmet when the helmet is already fastened to the head. To connect the hot shoe receptacle to the hot shoe plug, the user brings the battery pack to the rear or the side of the helmet with one hand. The user then orients the hot shoe receptacle with respect to the hot shoe plug. By virtue of the design of the hot shoe plug and the hot shoe receptacle, the plug and the receptacle align together along a single orientation. Thus, the user must manipulate the battery pack and/or the helmet until the proper orientation is achieved. Once the plug and the receptacle are properly oriented, the user inserts the plug into the receptacle. A spring loaded lever or a pin that is provided on the battery pack snaps into a recess defined on the hot shoe plug thereby locking the battery pack to the helmet. To release the battery pack from the helmet, the user translates the spring loaded lever to release the plug from the receptacle. With the same hand or another hand, the user then removes the battery pack from the helmet.
The foregoing steps for mounting the battery pack onto the helmet may be perceived as difficult and inconvenient for some users, especially for those with limited dexterity. More particularly, manipulating the hot shoe connector is sometimes made difficult by the possibility that the user is blindly reaching to the side or rear of his or her head and manipulating the battery pack and/or the helmet until the proper orientation is achieved. These factors hinder the installation of battery packs onto the helmet, which can be problematic in a battle scenario.
In view of the foregoing, there is a continuing need to further develop and refine connectors for mechanically and electrically connecting two devices together, in the interests of performance, convenience, manufacturability and modularity.

Electrical connector for a helmet-mounted night vision system


Disclosed is a radio device comprising a notch antenna, wherein the notch antenna is comprised of a circuit substrate including a ground portion and a notch portion opened at one end thereof, and a radio circuit portion provided on the circuit substrate for supplying a high-frequency current to the notch portion. In the radio device, a bent-back portion formed so as to be connected to the ground portion and to extend the notch portion is provided on one end side of the circuit substrate. This ensures that the length of the notch antenna is reduced, the size of the antenna can be reduced, antenna efficiency is enhanced, and deterioration of gain due to the influence of a human body can be suppressed.

The present invention relates to a radio device and a cellular phone, and particularly to a radio device and a cellular phone with which it is possible to achieve a reduction in size and enhancement of antenna efficiency and gain.
In recent years, in cellular phones, for example, incorporation of an antenna in a casing has been practiced in view of the demand for attaining higher convenience and novel designs. When the antenna is incorporated in the casing, however, it becomes susceptible to interference by the hand, head portion and the like of the human body. As a result, the antenna may possibly be deteriorated conspicuously in gain as compared, for example, with a whip antenna having an element capable of being drawn out of the casing.
As a technology for solving this problem, there have been made some proposals (see, for example, Patent References 1, 2, and 3 set forth below). The technology described in Patent Reference 1 is to physically prevent the hand of the user from covering the incorporated antenna portion by, for example, reducing the thickness of the casing surrounding the antenna.
On the other hand, the technology described in Patent Reference 2 ensures that the radiation direction of an incorporated antenna composed of any of a monopole antenna, an inverted F-type antenna, and a microstrip antenna avoids the side of the surface of the portable apparatus seated on a desk, thereby to render the antenna less susceptible to influences of the hands and metallic bodies and to improve the gain of the antenna.
Further, the technology described in Patent Reference 3, in relation to an antenna composed of a radiating conductor and a ground conductor, is to dispose the ground conductor between the human head portion side and the radiating conductor, thereby reducing the radiation to the human head portion side and improving the gain of the antenna.                Patent Reference 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-51125 (p. 3; FIG. 1)        Patent Reference 2: Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-237762 (pp. 2-3; FIG. 2)        Patent Reference 3: Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 7-79110 (pp. 3-4; FIG. 1)
According to the technology of Patent Reference 1, however, although a gain-improving effect is obtained, the reduction in size of the cellular phone and the design thereof may be damaged.
The technology of Patent Reference 2 is effective in improvement of electric characteristics. However, when a metallic body is placed in the vicinity of the antenna, the antenna characteristics may be deteriorated conspicuously, so that it is impossible to reduce the size of the area surrounding the antenna.
The technology of Patent Reference 3 is based on the assumption that the antenna portion is not covered by a hand, and the technology is an effective approach under the assumed condition. In practice, however, this approach restricts the way the terminal apparatus is held by the user's hand, which is inconvenient. Besides, when the antenna portion is covered with a hand, the radiating conductor is located between the hand and the ground conductor, possibly leading to a marked deterioration of gain.

Radio device and cellular phone having a notch with a bent-back portion

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Japan, Inc.


Catalytic cracking gaseolines are treated by: (a) fractionating the raw gasoline cut into two cuts; (b) optional selective diene hydrodenation of the light cut, then mild hydrotreatment and stripping; (c) sweetening the light cut which is conducted before the mild hydrotreatment step by contact with a supported catalyst containing 0.1-1% by weight of palladium, or after the mild hydrotreatment step and which is then an extractive sweetening step, or with a catalyst having an alkaline base optionally incorporated and also an oxidizing agent. The heavy gaseoline fraction is optionally desilphurized in a hydrotreatment unit. The desulpurized and sweetened light gaesoline can be added to the gasoline pool either directly or mixed with the desulphurized heavy gaseoline cut.

The production of reformulated gasoline satisfying new environmental regulations requires, in particular, a reduction in the concentration of olefins and/or aromatics (especially benzene), also sulphur (including mercaptans).
Catalytic cracking gasolines have high olefin contents, and the sulphur present in the gasoline pool is about 90% attributable to FCC gasoline.
Hydrotreatment of the feed sent for catalytic cracking can result in gasolines which typically contain 100 ppm of sulphur. Units for hydrotreating FCC feeds operate, however, under severe temperature and pressure conditions, which necessitates high investment.
Hydrotreatment of catalytic cracking gasolines can reduce both the sulphur content and the olefin content in the cut. However, this has the major disadvantage of causing a very large barrel octane drop in the cut, because of saturation of the olefins.
FCC gasoline hydrotreating processes have already been proposed. As an example, United States patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,427 describes a process consisting of fractionating the gasoline, desulphurizing the fractions and converting the gasoline fraction over a ZSM-5 zeolite.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,690 proposes a process including fractionation of the gasoline, sweetening the light fraction, hydrodesulphurizing the heavy fraction, then converting it over ZSM-5 and re-desulphurizing under mild conditions. That technique is based on separating the raw gasoline to obtain a light fraction which is practically free of sulphur-containing compounds other than mercaptans, so that that fraction can be treated by sweetening alone to remove the mercaptans. In this fashion, the heavy fraction contains a relatively large quantity of olefins which are partially saturated during hydrotreatment. In order to prevent this octane number drop, that patent recommends cracking over ZSM-5 to produce olefins, but this is to the detriment of the yield. Further, the olefins can be reconstituted in the presence of H.sub.2 S to form mercaptans, which has the disadvantage of requiring additional sweetening or a desulphurizing step.
In a further prior art method used by the refiner to treat the sulphur problem in gasolines, the fraction with a boiling point of at least 180.degree. C., which contains most of the sulphur-containing compounds other than mercaptans, is separated. This fraction is then downrated with LCO (light cycle oil) and is generally not upgraded, or it is used as a feed diluent.

Process for the production of catalytic cracking gasoline with a low sulphur content


IoT devices are secured on multiple local area networks. Each local network contains a router which monitors activities of IoT devices, and transmits corresponding information to a backend server. The backend amalgamates this information, calculates dynamic reputation scores, and determines expected authorized activities for specific IoT devices. Based thereon, the backend creates a constraint profile for each IoT device, and transits the constraint profiles to the routers for enforcement. Enforcing a constraint profile can include creating multiples VLANs with varying levels of restricted privileges on a given local area network, and isolating various IoT devices in specific VLANs based on their reputation scores. Constraint profiles can specify to enforce specific firewall rules, and/or to limit an IoT device's communication to specific domains and ports, and/or to specific content. The backend continues to receive monitored information concerning IoT devices from multiple routers over time, and periodically updates constraint profiles.

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to a network of physical objects or "things" equipped with computing hardware and software, including the ability to connect to a network and run computer instructions. Household items such as smart thermostats and appliances, as well as sensor-equipped wearable devices, are a few examples of currently popular IoT devices. New IoT devices are rapidly becoming available and adopted by household users. By the year 2017, the average number of connected devices per household is projected to grow to 25 devices, and to 50 devices by the year 2020.
IoT devices are in fact networked computing devices, albeit typically with relatively low amounts storage, memory, power supply and processing capability, and frequently with no display. Another key characteristic that most of these first generation connected IoT devices share is low security. As networked computing devices, IoT devices are vulnerable to malware, network attacks, data theft and the other security threats to which other networked computers are subject.
The manufacturers of these first generation IoT devices (many of which are already on the market) tend to have little or no experience building secure software. Additionally, as time to market of new devices is a priority for manufacturers in this area, security is often neglected. As such, these devices create a number of different potential vulnerabilities. The devices themselves may be subject to compromise, or their behaviors could compromise other systems on the same network. IoT devices often have corresponding cloud services, on which they store information about their customers and the data that they gather. These cloud services can also be insecure. The combination of IoT device vulnerabilities, associated cloud service vulnerabilities, and IoT devices potentially compromising the data they handle and the network on which they are installed is very real and very serious.
The users who are the early adopters of first generation connected devices typically enjoy the convenience of these devices. However, the users tend to be blissfully unaware of the security risk that these devices impose on their network. These devices might be compromising their most sensitive and critical data which would otherwise be more protected behind a firewall. For example, take the case of a cautious user who has been afraid to put scanned copies of his/her tax returns, passport and bank statements in the cloud, and instead stores them locally on a hard drive which is backed up. By adding an IoT device such as a smart thermostat or the like to his/her network, such a user could be opening a direct access vulnerability to this sensitive data.
It would be desirable to address these issues.

Router based securing of internet of things devices on local area networks


An aircraft fuselage has an integrated energy-absorbing deformation structure. The fuselage includes annular frames, longitudinal fuselage beams interconnecting the annular frames, and a covering forming a fuselage skin. A lower floor structure is disposed in an interior of the fuselage. The lower floor structure includes a plurality of transverse beams connected to an assigned frame and longitudinal floor beams which interconnect said transverse beams. The deformation structure is formed in a lower fuselage region disposed below the lower floor structure. The deformation structure includes a first inelastically deformable central region and, on a left-hand side and a right-hand side, respective second inelastically deformable regions of greater stiffness in the vertical direction than the central region.

It has long been known for aircraft to be provided, in the lower region, with what are known as crash boxes, which in the case of an emergency landing convert the kinetic energy of the aircraft hitting the ground into deformation work.
It is described in DE 601 14 455 T2 to flatten the annular fuselage frame in the lower region of the fuselage and to provide, below this flattened horizontal frame portion, beams which extend in the longitudinal direction and are designed as energy-absorbing composite beams. These composite beams are mounted on the horizontal frames by means of fastening fittings. These fastening fittings significantly increase the total weight of the aircraft and, if they are made for example of titanium in order to reduce the weight, considerably increase the production costs of the aircraft. In addition, in this region the frames are connected to the fuselage skin only via the deformable longitudinal beams, and therefore, when a transverse force component occurs in the case of a vertical impact of the aircraft, it is to be expected that the deformable longitudinal beams give way laterally.
DE 44 16 506 A1 describes an aircraft fuselage which is provided in its lower region with a lower floor structure which is supported by means of support elements which extend obliquely to the vertical longitudinal centre plane of the aircraft between the lower floor structure and the fuselage frames. Below the lower floor structure, a deformation structure is provided on the outside of the fuselage and considerably increases the aerodynamically effective cross-section of the aircraft.
If beams which are part of an energy-absorbing deformation structure are provided in the lowest region of the fuselage, between a lower floor and the frames, then these beams can convert kinetic energy into deformation energy in the case of an impact on solid ground. However, there is a risk of shear forces occurring in the region in which these beams are mounted on the fuselage frames, which forces can lead to tearing of the fuselage skin or even of the frame in this region in the case of an impact. In the case of an emergency landing on water, water may then undesirably enter the fuselage.
An impulse-absorbing structural component developed by the inventor of the present application is described DE 10 2007 038 634 B3. This structural component consists of an impulse-absorbing layer on which a covering layer is mounted. The impulse-absorbing layer has a regular pattern of elevations and depressions such that, should a mass part impact on the covering layer, an intercept bag forms in the impulse-absorbing layer and dissipates the kinetic energy of the mass part.

Aircraft with an integrated energy-absorbing deformation structure and aircraft with such a fuselage


An implantable pacemaker detects delivery of an anti-tachyarrhythmia shock by another device. The implantable pacemaker delivers cardiac stimulation therapy within a patient. The implantable pacemaker senses, via the electrode pair, an electrical signal. The implantable pacemaker detects the anti-tachyarrhythmia shock based on the sensed electrical signal by detecting DC voltage polarization across the electrode pair within the patient. The implantable pacemaker alters the cardiac stimulation therapy based on the detected anti-tachyarrhythmia shock.

Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) and implantable artificial pacemakers may provide cardiac pacing therapy to a patient's heart when the natural pacemaker and/or conduction system of the heart fails to provide synchronized atrial and ventricular contractions at rates and intervals sufficient to sustain healthy patient function. Such antibradycardial pacing may provide relief from symptoms, or even life support, for a patient. Cardiac pacing may also provide electrical overdrive stimulation, e.g., anti-tachyarrhythmia pacing (ATP) therapy, to suppress or convert tachyarrhythmias, again supplying relief from symptoms and preventing or terminating arrhythmias that could lead to sudden cardiac death.
Cardiac pacing by conventional pacemakers and/or ICDs is usually provided by a pulse generator implanted subcutaneously or sub-muscularly in or near a pectoral region of a patient. The generator typically connects to the proximal end of one or more implanted leads, the distal end of which contains one or more electrodes for positioning adjacent to the inside or outside wall of a cardiac chamber. Each of the leads may be secured near or against the cardiac tissue to provide sufficient transmission of electrical energy to the cardiac tissue in order to capture the heart.
ICDs may also be used to deliver high-energy cardioversion or defibrillation pulses to a patient's heart when atrial or ventricular fibrillation is detected. Cardioversion shocks are typically delivered in synchrony with a detected R-wave when fibrillation detection criteria are met. Defibrillation pulses are typically delivered when fibrillation criteria are met, and the R-wave cannot be discerned from signals sensed by the ICD.
Currently, ICDs use endocardial or epicardial leads which extend from the ICD housing through the venous system into the heart. Electrodes positioned in or adjacent to the heart by the leads are used for pacing and sensing functions. Cardioversion and defibrillation pulses (e.g., anti-tachyarrhythmia shocks) are generally applied between a coil electrode carried by one of the leads and the ICD housing, which acts as an active can electrode.


An ESD protection device. The ESD protection device has a substrate; a channel region, a source region, and a drain region. The channel region is formed on a predetermined area of a surface of the substrate, the channel region has a first side and a second side. The source region is formed adjacent to the first side. The drain region which has a heavily doped region and a lightly doped region formed below the heavily doped region is formed adjacent to the second side. The width along a longitudinal axis of the heavily doped region has variable length and thus the length between one side of the heavily doped region to the second side has variable length.

The present invention relates to an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device, and more particularly, to an ESD structure with high ESD robustness in high-voltage CMOS process.
In CMOS integrated circuits (IC) technology, damage due to ESD events is a critical issue. Advanced technologies such as thin gate oxidation, short channel length, shallow junction, salicidation, etc., result in ICs having lower ESD endurance. According to the current industrial standard, the input and output pins of IC products must sustain the ESD stress of over 2000 V in human-body-model (HBM) and over 200 V in machine-model (MM) ESD stresses. Therefore, the ESD protection circuit must be disposed around the input and output (I/O) pads of an IC to provide ESD stress protection.
Increasing numbers of automotive and consumer products such as print head drivers, are used in high voltage areas. The typical layout and cross-section views with ESD protection device utilized in high voltage is shown in FIGS. 1a and 1b. The N type heavily doped source region 11 and the gate terminal 13 of the NMOS 1 are coupled to a ground (GND) and a n-well 14 is formed below the N type heavily doped drain region 12 to serve as a buffer layer. When an ESD event occurs, high current flows through the parasitic lateral BJT of the NMOS 1 to the ground protecting internal circuit. Most of the ESD current however flows through a corner of the N type heavily doped drain region 12 due to the tip discharge theorem. Thus most of the current accumulates at the corner and the interface at the corner of the N type heavily doped drain region 12 generally breaks down, resulting in a non-uniform current flow problem.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,258,672; Shih, et al. describes another ESD protection device, in which the gate electrode has a variable width and thus the channel region has a variable length. The previously described problem, however still exists.

Electrostatic discharge protection device

Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation