A suction device includes a sucking member having a connecting body connected integrally to a flexible disc body that is disposed under an upright sleeve, a connecting member disposed in the sleeve and connected to the connecting body, an operating member connected to a pivot rod extending through the sleeve, and a cam body accommodated in a cam-accommodating space in the connecting member and pivotable together with the pivot rod. The operating member is operable so as to pivot the pivot rod and the cam body such that an assembly of the connecting member and the connecting body is pulled upwardly by the cam body, thereby forming a vacant space between a central portion of the disc body and a supporting surface to which a peripheral portion of the disc body is attached sealingly.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a suction device, more particularly to a suction device that is repositionable, and a supporting device having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a conventional supporting device 11 disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,092,521. The conventional supporting device 11 includes: a hollow base 112; a sleeve 111 extending upwardly from the center of the top of the base 112 and having an upper end coupled to a supporting rod 15 that has a clamping end capable of clamping a mobile phone (not shown); a sucking member 12 having a flexible disc body 122 disposed under the base 112, and a tubular connecting rod 121 connected to a central portion of the disc body 122 and extending upwardly through the base 112 and into the sleeve 111; and an operating member 13 disposed outwardly of the sleeve 111 and having an operating plate portion 131, and two connecting arm portions 132 connected to the operating plate portion 131. Each connecting arm portion 132 of the operating member 13 has a pivot end 133 in the form of a cam abutting against a top surface 1121 of the base 112 and connected pivotally to a corresponding one of opposite ends of a pivot rod 14 that extends through two aligned vertical slide slots 113 in the sleeve 111 (only one is shown) and the connecting rod 121, and that is movable vertically relative to the sleeve 111. A coil spring 16 is sleeved on the connecting rod 121, and is disposed between the base 112 and the disc body 122 for biasing the base 112 to move upwardly.
The supporting device 11 can be switched from a non-sucking state, where the base 112 is spaced apart from the sucking member 12 and where the operating plate portion 131 is pivoted away from the base 112, as shown in FIG. 2, to a sucking state, where a peripheral portion of the disc body 122 is attached sealingly to a supporting surface 100 as a result of pressing of the base 112 thereon and where a central portion of the disc body 122 is pulled upwardly, thereby forming a vacant space 120 between the supporting surface 100 and the central portion of the disc body 122, as shown in FIG. 3, by operating the operating plate portion 131 of the operating member 13. In actual operation of the supporting device 11 from the non-sucking state to the sucking state, the operating plate portion 131 of the operating member 13 is pivoted toward the base 112 such that, initially, the base 112 moves downwardly toward the disc body 122 due to pressing of the pivot end 133, so as to abut against the peripheral portion of the disc body 122, and then, an assembly of the pivot rod 14, the pivot ends 133 of the connecting arm portions 132 of the operating member 13, the connecting rod 121 and the central portion of the disc body 12 moves upwardly, thereby forming the vacant space 120.
In such a configuration, during the pivoting movement of the operating member 13, the pivot ends 133 of the connecting arm portions 132 of the operating member 13 are always in contact with the top surface 1121 of the base 112, thereby resulting in wearing of the top surface 1121 of the base 112, as indicated by reference numeral 101 in FIG. 3, after a long period of use. Due to wearing of the top surface 1121 of the base 112, the supporting device 11 cannot be accurately and stably positioned in the sucking state.

Suction device and supporting device having the same


An apparatus and method for sealing and unsealing a chemical deposition apparatus in a chemical deposition process chamber includes a microvolume that has dual sealing elements at its periphery. One seal, the outer seal, is used to seal the inside of the microvolume from the main process chamber. The second (inner) seal is used to seal the inside of the microvolume from a vacuum source. The apparatus and process of the present invention has several advantages for enhanced chamber performance.

This invention pertains to apparatus and processes for conducting chemical depositions, and may find particular use in depositing a conformal film of dielectric material with a high degree of surface smoothness particularly suited to high aspect ratio gap fill applications in semiconductor device fabrication.
Conformal, uniform dielectric films have many applications in semiconductor manufacturing. In the fabrication of sub-micron integrated circuits (ICs) several layers of dielectric film are deposited. Four such layers are shallow trench isolation (STI), premetal dielectric (PMD), inter-metal dielectric (IMD) and interlayer dielectric (ILD). Other applications of conformal dielectric films may be as sacrificial or permanent spacer layers, sacrificial or permanent storage node separation layers, or as dielectric liners for through-wafer vias. All of these layers require silicon dioxide or other low dielectric constant films that fill features of various sizes and have uniform film thicknesses across the wafer.
In particular, it is often necessary in semiconductor processing to fill a high aspect ratio gap with insulating material. As device dimensions shrink and thermal budgets are reduced, void-free filling of high aspect ratio (AR) spaces (AR>3.0:1) becomes increasingly difficult due to limitations of existing deposition processes. The deposition of doped or undoped silicon dioxide assisted by high density plasma CVD, a directional (bottom-up) CVD process, is the method currently preferred for high aspect ratio (AR) gap-fill in semiconductor fabrication production processes. Evolving semiconductor device designs and dramatically reduced feature sizes have resulted in several applications where HDP processes are challenged in filling the high aspect ratio structures (AR>7:1) using existing technology (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,881). For structures representative of the 65 nm and 45 nm technology nodes and beyond, engineering the gap-fill process becomes structure dependent, hence the process requires re-optimization, a task of considerable complexity, every time a new structure needs to be filled.
An alternative to CVD is atomic layer deposition (ALD). ALD methods involve self-limiting adsorption of reactant gases and can provide thin, conformal dielectric films within high aspect ratio features. The ALD process involves exposing a substrate to alternating doses of, usually two, reactant gases. As an example, if reactants A and B are first and second reactant gases for an ALD process, after A is adsorbed onto the substrate surface to form a saturated layer, B is introduced and reacts only with adsorbed A. In this manner, a very thin and conformal film can be deposited. One drawback, however, to ALD is that the deposition rates are very low. Films produced by ALD are also very thin (i.e., about one monolayer); therefore, numerous ALD cycles must be repeated to adequately fill a gap feature. These processes are unacceptably slow in some applications in the manufacturing environment.
Another more recently developed technique useful in gap fill and other dielectric deposition applications in semiconductor processing is referred to as pulsed deposition layer (PDL) processing, sometimes also referred to as rapid surface-catalyzed vapor deposition (RVD). PDL is similar to ALD in that reactant gases are introduced alternately over the substrate surface, but in PDL the first reactant A acts as a catalyst, promoting the conversion of the second reactant B to a film. In ALD the reaction between A and B is approximately stoichiometric, meaning that a monolayer of A can only react with a similar amount of B before the film-forming reaction is complete. The catalytic nature of A in PDL allows a larger amount of B to be added, resulting in a thicker film. Thus, PDL methods allow for rapid film growth similar to using CVD methods but with the film conformality of ALD methods.
PDL-type processes for forming silicon-based dielectrics can use as reactant A a metal or metalloid catalyst (e.g., trimethylaluminum (TMA)) or metal and metalloid-free catalysts (e.g., an organic acid such as acetic acid (CH3COOH) or an inorganic acid such as phosphoric acid (H3PO4); and as reactant B, a silicon-containing dielectric precursor. As an example of the use of PDL to deposit silicon dioxide on silicon, the first (catalytic) reagent can be trimethylaluminum (TMA) and the second (silicon-containing) reagent can be tris t(pentoxy)silanol (TPOSL). A heated silicon substrate is first exposed to a dose of TMA, which is thought to react with the silicon surface to form a thin layer of surface-bound aluminum complex. Excess TMA is pumped or flushed from the deposition chamber. A large dose of TPOSL is then introduced. The aluminum complex catalyzes the conversion of the silanol to silicon oxide until the silanol is consumed, or the growing film covers or otherwise inactivates the catalytic complex. When excess silanol is used, the film growth is usually self-limiting and a thick and uniform film results. Unreacted silanol is then removed from the chamber and the growth cycle repeated.
The most significant difference between CVD and PDL or ALD is that in the latter case the catalyst and silicon-containing precursors are not present in the reactor at the same time. Instead, they are introduced sequentially, generally with a purging step in between to minimize gas-phase reactions and to improve step coverage and uniformity of the film.
In CVD, ALD, or PDL systems, a film is often deposited on the chamber walls in addition to the desired location, on the substrate (e.g., silicon wafer) surface. In ALD and PDL reactors, this unwanted deposition can occur as the precursors adsorb to the walls of the reactor in addition to the wafer surface and subsequently react to form film in later PDL/ALD steps. This film can build up on the chamber walls and can act as a source of chemical contaminants and particulates. It has been well documented for many CVD and ALD/PDL systems that a periodic cleaning of the chamber walls to remove these deposits is beneficial. If these chamber cleans are not performed, the film stresses may be so large that the film delaminates from the chamber wall, leading to particle deposition on the wafer surface. However, these chamber cleans reduce chamber productivity.
It is therefore desirable to develop a method and apparatus for minimizing unwanted film growth on reaction chamber walls, thus minimizing or eliminating altogether the need to perform chamber cleans in order to keep the particle performance of the chamber within acceptable limits and thereby improving the availability of the tool for processing wafers.

Dual seal deposition process chamber and process


A clip engages a pair of legs of a vibration attenuator to reduce the local separation of the legs, thereby increasing the force of friction pads, affixed to the legs, against a brake disk to compensate for reduced thickness of the friction pads due to wear. The clip has a first end region, which can preferably be snappably engaged with one of the legs so as to pivot thereabout. The clip has a second end region with a protrusion which can be engaged with the other leg so as to restrain it at the reduced separation. Preferably, a second protrusion is provided to allow restraining the other leg at an even smaller local separation from the leg that is rotatably engaged by the first end region. A tab preferably extends beyond the first protrusion to aid in engaging and disengaging the second end region from the other leg.

Automotive brake disks are periodically resurfaced by a disk brake lathe in order to maintain proper operation of the brakes in service. The disk brake lathe typically has a pair of cutting tools, each attached to a tool holder by a fastener to allow replacement when the cutting tool becomes worn. The tool holders position the cutting tools against the surfaces of the brake disk to establish a desired depth of cut, and then maintain the cutting tools in position as they are drawn across the disk surfaces while the lathe rotates the brake disk in order to machine the disk surfaces. Typically, the desired depth of cut is set and the cutting tools are positioned near the center of the brake disk to begin the machining process. The cutting tools are then moved radially outwards to resurface the brake disk.
Vibrations caused by the cutting action of the cutting tools on the disk surfaces need to be attenuated, both to reduce chattering of the cutting tools to assure that the resulting machined disk surfaces are sufficiently planar for proper operation, and to reduce undesirable noise in the machining environment. One approach to reducing vibrations has been the use of friction pads which are biased against the disk surfaces by a spring. The friction pads engage the cutting tools, the tool holders, and/or the fasteners so as to move with the cutting tools across the disk surfaces. Such devices are taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,710,661; 4,531,434; 5,297,460; 6,227,085; 6,553,877; and 6,591,720.
One limitation of this technique is that the pads wear as they rotate against the disk surfaces, and thus their effectiveness in attenuating vibrations diminishes as a function of time, since the spring force will diminish as the pads wear. This problem compounds as the thickness of the friction pads increases, since employing a spring which provides sufficient pressure at or near the time when the pads are to be discarded will apply excessive pressure when the friction pads are new, accelerating wear of the friction pads. Similarly, if the spring force is adjusted so as to apply a practical amount of pressure when the pads are new, the pressure applied by the spring may be inadequate when the pad has experienced substantial wear but is not yet worn to the point were it needs to be discarded. Thus, there is a need for a vibration attenuator where the force can be varied to better suite the situation and to compensate for wear of the pads.

Vibration attenuator clip and attenuator using the same


A method and system for providing travel services are disclosed. The method and system include a database of travel information from which information can be selectively obtained based on the traveler's circumstances. The method and system also include a system for providing counseling services and an emergency kit containing food, water and other supplies. A mobile communications device is also provided to enable the traveler to transmit his or her location in order to initiate the dispatch of a rescue services provider to transport the traveler to a location of greater safety.

Travelers frequently encounter a wide variety of difficulties or situations for which they need assistance. Many of these difficulties or situations are not foreseeable to the traveler. For example, travelers may find that their lodging accommodations are suddenly unavailable or unsuitable, requiring them to obtain suitable replacement accommodations. If the traveler is in an unfamiliar location, as is frequently the case, this task can be quite difficult.
Similarly, travelers may find that their transportation arrangements have been disrupted by mechanical failures, labor disruptions, or overbooking. In such situations, the traveler is also faced with the task of finding suitable alternate transportation. Medical problems can also arise while traveling, forcing travelers to locate a doctor, nurse, hospital or clinic in his or her geographic location which can attend to his or her problem. In addition, travelers will generally be unfamiliar with local sources of information or news, such as television, radio or newspapers, and may not have sufficient understanding of the local language to rely on such sources. As a result, the traveler may face difficulties in obtaining information needed to ensure a safe and enjoyable journey. Thus, a need has developed for a method and system for providing travel services which addresses the foregoing problems.

Method and system for providing travel services


Adjustable height limiter for a vehicle seat, comprising: a main body with a slot having a first end and a second end, a piston rod element which is displaceable with respect to the main body and has a pin element which is guided in the slot, a sleeve element which is rotatable with respect to the main body and at least partially surrounds the main body, the sleeve element having a boundary which is helical with respect to the main body, the boundary being arranged between the first end and the second end when viewed in the extension direction of the slot, and the pin element being arranged between the first end and the boundary.

Height limiters for a vehicle seat are known from the prior art; in particular, such height limiters have only a lower end stop and an upper end stop, so that movement of the vehicle seat is limited and stopped at the bottom or top by the height limiter.
However, since people of different sizes can sit on the same vehicle seat, each person has a different feeling and need for height limitation of the vehicle seat. Height limiters are known from the prior art which display an adjustability of the height limitation, but have a very complex design and are cumbersome to use.


A tuning methods of an External Cavity Laser Diode (ECLD), comprises steps of: (1) providing a laser light to a grating so as to tilt the grating to an optical axis of a collimated laser light, (2) adjusting the orientation of the grating relative to the collimated laser light, (3) monitoring singleness of longitudinal mode and optical power of a light emitted from the grating, (4) calculating an orientation of the grating to exhibit intended optical power at which the singleness of longitudinal mode shows at least predetermined value, (5) adjusting the grating orientation or the optical axis of the collimated laser light to the calculated grating orientation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tuning method of an external cavity laser diode ("ECLD"), a variable wavelength laser module, and a program of an ECLD tuning, and particularly to a tuning method of an ECLD and a program by which the optical power is increased and the single mode characteristic is improved, and a variable wavelength laser module using an external cavity semiconductor laser comprising an external resonator.
2. Description of the Related Art
A current optical storage disk typified by a CD, a DVD, a Blu-Ray disk, or another similar optical storage disk has a capacity of approximately 50 GB at maximum.
However, to deal with the digital broadcasting that will fully replace the current system in 2011, it is an urgent requirement to develop a recording medium having a large amount of capacity and a high transfer rate for video archive purposes.
A holographic memory has received attention as a next-generation optical storage that meets the requirements described above. A medium used in a holographic memory is typically known for its behavior in which a change in temperature changes the refractive index of the medium or expands or shrinks the medium so as to change the spacings between recording interference fringes.
Therefore, a light source used with a holographic memory or any other similar recording medium is required to change the wavelength of the light emitted therefrom in order to deal with the changes described above.
To this end, a variable-wavelength external cavity laser light source has been proposed in which a laser and a grating are combined and the angle of incidence of the laser beam with respect to the grating is changed in a θy direction to change the wavelength of the laser beam (for example, see Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. H06-69582 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,998A).
In such a variable-wavelength external cavity laser light source, a method for tilting the grating to substantially maximize the feedback power has also been proposed (for example, see Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2003-23197 or U.S. Pat. No. 6,807,217 B2).
In the variable-wavelength external cavity laser light source described above, it is necessary to precisely mount the grating with respect to the laser beam and precisely control the wavelength.
However, there is a concern that changes in temperature, aged deterioration, and other factors cause the optical axis of the laser beam to shift not only in the θy direction (as explained below) but also in other directions. The shift of the optical axis of the laser shift not only reduces the optical power but also degrades the single-mode characteristic or the contrast ratio (as explained below) and other characteristics, resulting in degradation in the characteristics required in the laser source or a storage system including the same.

Tuning method of external cavity laser diode, variable wavelength laser module, and program of external cavity laser diode tuning


Embodiments of the invention provide a processor for executing instructions. In one embodiment, the processor includes circuitry to receive a load instruction and a store instruction to be executed in the processor and detect a conflict between the load instruction and the store instruction. Detecting the conflict includes determining if load-store conflict information indicates that the load instruction previously conflicted with the store instruction. The load-store conflict information is stored for both the load instruction and the store instruction. The processor further includes circuitry to schedule execution of the load instruction and the store instruction so that execution of the load instruction and the store instruction do not result in a conflict.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to executing instructions in a processor. Specifically, this application is related to minimizing stalls in a processor due to store-load conflicts.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern computer systems typically contain several integrated circuits (ICs), including a processor which may be used to process information in the computer system. The data processed by a processor may include computer instructions which are executed by the processor as well as data which is manipulated by the processor using the computer instructions. The computer instructions and data are typically stored in a main memory in the computer system.
Processors typically process instructions by executing the instruction in a series of small steps. In some cases, to increase the number of instructions being processed by the processor (and therefore increase the speed of the processor), the processor may be pipelined. Pipelining refers to providing separate stages in a processor where each stage performs one or more of the small steps necessary to execute an instruction. In some cases, the pipeline (in addition to other circuitry) may be placed in a portion of the processor referred to as the processor core. Some processors may have multiple processor cores, and in some cases, each processor core may have multiple pipelines. Where a processor core has multiple pipelines, groups of instructions (referred to as issue groups) may be issued to the multiple pipelines in parallel and executed by each of the pipelines in parallel.
As an example of executing instructions in a pipeline, when a first instruction is received, a first pipeline stage may process a small part of the instruction. When the first pipeline stage has finished processing the small part of the instruction, a second pipeline stage may begin processing another small part of the first instruction while the first pipeline stage receives and begins processing a small part of a second instruction. Thus, the processor may process two or more instructions at the same time (in parallel).
To provide for faster access to data and instructions as well as better utilization of the processor, the processor may have several caches. A cache is a memory which is typically smaller than the main memory and is typically manufactured on the same die (i.e., chip) as the processor. Modern processors typically have several levels of caches. The fastest cache which is located closest to the core of the processor is referred to as the Level 1 cache (L1 cache). In addition to the L1 cache, the processor typically has a second, larger cache, referred to as the Level 2 Cache (L2 cache). In some cases, the processor may have other, additional cache levels (e.g., an L3 cache and an L4 cache).
Processors typically provide load and store instructions to access information located in the caches and/or main memory. A load instruction may include a memory address (provided directly in the instruction or using an address register) and identify a target register (Rt). When the load instruction is executed, data stored at the memory address may be retrieved (e.g., from a cache, from main memory, or from other storage means) and placed in the target register identified by Rt. Similarly, a store instruction may include a memory address and a source register (Rs). When the store instruction is executed, data from Rs may be written to the memory address. Typically, load instructions and store instructions utilize data cached in the L1 cache.
In some cases, when a store instruction is executed, the data being stored may not immediately be placed in the L1 cache. For example, after the load instruction begins execution in a pipeline, it may take several processor cycles for the load instruction to complete execution in the pipeline. As another example, the data being stored may be placed in a store queue before being written back to the L1 cache. The store queue may be used for several reasons. For example, multiple store instructions may be executed in the processor pipeline faster than the stored data is written back to the L1 cache. The store queue may hold the results for the multiple store instructions and thereby allow the slower L1 cache to later store the results of the load instructions and "catch up" with the faster processor pipeline. The time necessary to update the L1 cache with the results of the store instruction may be referred to as the "latency" of the store instruction.
Where data from a store instruction is not immediately available in the L1 cache due to latency, certain instruction combinations may result in execution errors. For example, a store instruction may be executed which stores data to a memory address. As described above, the stored data may not be immediately available in the L1 cache. If a load instruction which loads data from the same memory address is executed shortly after the store instruction, the load instruction may receive data from the L1 cache before the L1 cache is updated with the results of the store instruction.
Thus, the load instruction may receive data which is incorrect or "stale" (e.g., older data from the L1 cache which should be replaced with the results of the previously executed store instruction). Where a load instruction loads data from the same address as a previously executed store instruction, the load instruction may be referred to as a dependent load instruction (the data received by the load instruction is dependent on the data stored by the store instruction). Where a dependent load instruction receives incorrect data from a cache as a result of the latency of a store instruction, the resulting execution error may be referred to as a load-store conflict.
Because the dependent load instruction may have received incorrect data, subsequently issued instructions which use the incorrectly loaded data may also be executed improperly and reach incorrect results. To detect such an error, the memory address of the load instruction may be compared to the memory address of the store instruction. Where the memory addresses are the same, the load-store conflict may be detected. However, because the memory address of the load instruction may not be known until after the execution of the load instruction, the load-store conflict may not be detected until after the load instruction has been executed.
Thus, to resolve the detected error, the executed load instruction and the subsequently issued instructions may be flushed from the pipeline (e.g., the results of the load instruction and subsequently executed instructions may be discarded) and each of the flushed instructions may be reissued and re-executed in the pipeline. While the load instruction and subsequently issued instructions are being invalidated and reissued, the L1 cache may be updated with the data stored by the store instruction. When the reissued load instruction is executed the second time, the load instruction may then receive the correctly updated data from the L1 cache.
Executing, invalidating, and reissuing the load instruction and subsequently executed instructions after a load-store conflict may take many processor cycles. Because the initial results of the load instruction and subsequently issued instructions are invalidated, the time spent executing the instructions is essentially wasted. Thus, load-store conflicts typically result in processor inefficiency.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved methods of executing load and store instructions.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Simple load and store disambiguation and scheduling at predecode

International Business Machines Corporation


An inverse telephoto large aperture wide angle lens comprises a first lens group with a negative refractive power, a second lens group with a positive refractive power, a stop, a third lens group with a negative refractive power, and a fourth lens group with a positive refractive power arranged in the named order from a side of an object, in which for focusing on a near object from infinity the first lens group is fixed with respect to an image surface, and the second, third, and fourth lens groups are moved along an optical axis thereof toward the object such that a space between the first lens group and the second group and a space between the second lens group and the third lens group decrease, but a space between the third lens group and the fourth lens group increases.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inverse telephoto large aperture wide angle lens, and more particularly to a focusing method thereof.
2. Related Background Art
Focusing is usually done in a photographic lens by moving the entire lens system. There are, however, used these days 35 mm single lens reflex cameras having an automatic focusing mechanism, and a focusing part thereof is desired to have a less weight to reduce a load on a lens drive section. An inverse telephoto large aperture wide angle lens has a substantial weight at a diverging lens group nearest to an object because of its structure, and it is desired to conduct the focusing by a part of lens groups excluding the diverging lens group.
There are well known wide angle lenses, which carry out the focusing by moving a part of lens system as described, for example as proposed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 54-30290, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 57-35821, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 62-249119, and Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 1-134411.
However, in the wide angle lens as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 54-30290, the focusing is conducted only by moving intermediate lens groups before the stop, and therefore asymmetry is likely to become greater between a coma below the principal ray and a coma above the principal ray. This causes a difficulty in application to the focusing of a large aperture lens with an f number of about 1.4. In contrast, in the wide angle lens as disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 57-35821, the focusing is conducted by lens groups behind the stop, and therefore an air gap is necessary for focusing in the groups behind the stop. This causes a difficulty in assuring a sufficient back focus. Further, an effective aperture of the closest lens to an image surface must be increased in order to secure sufficient brightness of the edge of image field, which results in a difficulty in mounting of a large aperture lens with an f number of about 1.4 as an interchangeable lens into a camera body.
Also, the wide angle lens as disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 62-249119 is suitable for a lens with an f number of about 2.8, but is not suitable for use as a large aperture lens with an f number of about 1.4 because of a large change of astigmatism upon focusing. The wide angle lens as disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 1-134411 includes a compound lens with a weak refractive power disposed closest to the image field, which results in a difficulty to secure a sufficient back focus. Further, the compound lens closest to the image field is fixed, and therefore an effective aperture of the lens closest to the image field must be increased to prevent a lack of brightness of the edge of image field, which might be caused due to vignetting of peripheral optical fluxes in short range photography. There is a difficulty in mounting between the lens and the camera body in such a case.

Inverse telephoto large aperture wide angle lens


A gasproof inflatable cushion with a hole which perforates it and whose edge is provided with an inner valve part on the inside and with an outer valve part on the outside such that the hole is enclosed and the construction is gasproof. The inner valve part is provided with a through-opening which ends in the cover hole and has such inner dimensions that the cover material can be pulled through the inner valve part and the outer valve part is provided with a through-part which ends in the cover hole at an inner opening and which ends outside at an outer opening. Gas pumped into the outer opening or extracted from the outer opening is pumped into or extracted from the inside of the cover through the through-part of the outer valve part and the through-opening of the inner valve part. The sealed edges of the covers forming the cushion are located on the inside.

Conventional cushions, e.g., serving as a pillow case or cover, are produced in which two superimposed cover parts are sewn together along their edges on three sides and then the pillow case or cover is turned inside out so that the seam edges are then located inside of the pillow case or cover. The side which was left open is closed by a zipper or the like. This does not provide a gas impermeable closure.
Conventional gas impermeable closures are produced in that two layers of a plastic film, e.g., two PVC-layers, are welded together on their outsides. Furthermore, dirt may collect in them, which is undesirable from a hygienic point of view.
A cushion of the invention is suitable for a positioning aid for positioning and holding stationary parts of a patient's body, in particular relative to a medical apparatus or a device for medical treatment or diagnosis, or a part thereof, e.g., a measuring coil of a magnetic resonance imaging tomograph.
Nowadays nuclear magnetic resonance tomography is being increasingly used in the framework of modern technology for medical diagnosis. For examining extremities, i.e. arms and legs, measuring coils in the shape of ring coils, surface flex coils and the like are slid over, e.g., an arm or a leg or placed on another body part to be examined, e.g. the torso, shoulder or neck. To obtain good investigation results, the body part to be checked should not perform any movements relative to the measuring coil during the measurement. This is very difficult because usually the scanning or measuring time of a nuclear magnetic resonance tomograph takes 30 to 45 minutes. During this long time the body part to be measured must be kept jitter-free to ensure a sufficiently clear insight into the body part to be examined for diagnosis.
At present, legs and arms are usually scanned by sliding a ring-shaped measuring coil or a surface coil of the nuclear magnetic resonance tomograph over the leg or arm to be scanned up to the area to be checked. Then the patient puts this body part, together with the measuring coil, onto a table or an adequate support. If another body part, e.g. part of the torso, is to be measured by applying a measuring coil, the person to be examined is placed onto a patient table. In many cases this depositing of the body part to be investigated together with the measuring coil does not result in the desired prevention of movements of the body part to be examined relative to the measuring coil during the long measuring time. As a consequence, the measuring results become less reliable.
As far as examinations of arms and legs are concerned, this problem is addressed by German Utility Model Application G 94 07 862.9, which suggests to mount a stand to the patient table on which the patient lies during a measuring process with a nuclear magnetic resonance tomograph. Said stand comprises a foot which is mounted next to the surface on which the patient lies such that it can be displaced relative to the patient table and an arm which is held angularly movable by a ball joint on one end of the stand's foot and which is provided with a holder for taking up a measuring coil on the other end.
Such a stand has proven useful because the body part to be examined can be kept effectively stationary even for an extended time.
However, such a stand is relatively expensive and requires the installation of various measuring coils on the measuring coil holder, depending on the body part to be examined. It may even be an obstacle when other body parts, e.g. torso parts, are to be measured. Furthermore, it may be difficult for some patients if their arm or leg is held only by a relatively short measuring coil compared to the length of the arm or leg for a relatively long time.
If, for instance, the torso area of a patient is placed on a patient table on which it is difficult to lie completely still, there is the danger of undesirable movements of the person.
These problems can be overcome by an inflatable cushion having a special valve, as described below.


A method for demultiplexing frames of compressed image data is provided. The image data includes a series of left compressed images and a series of right compressed images, the right compressed images and left compressed images compressed using a compression function. The method includes receiving the frames of compressed image data via a medium configured to transmit images in single frame format, and performing an expansion function on frames of compressed image data, the expansion function configured to select pixels from the series of left compressed images and series of right compressed images to produce replacement pixels to form a substantially decompressed set of stereo image pairs. Additionally, a system for receiving stereo pairs, multiplexing the stereo pairs for transmission across a medium including single frame formatting, and demultiplexing received data into altered stereo pairs is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to placing stereoscopic data within a single image channel and retrieving stereoscopic data from the single image, wherein an image channel originally designed to carry planar movie signals carries a piano-stereoscopic or two-view stereoscopic image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Stereoscopic imaging is gaining in popularity, especially the plano-stereoscopic imaging technology that uses two planar images to produce a stereoscopic effect. However, the infrastructure established for electronic storage and distribution has been for a single planar image of the requisite quality. In order to store and transmit a commercially viable stereoscopic movie or image series, such data must operate within the existing infrastructure requirements and must also meet the specifications for image quality. A certain image quality level is expected of a planar image, and the stereoscopic image should barely be diminished with respect to that standard.
The quality of the planar image—in simple terms its sharpness, its color depth, the gradation of the image, in other words its fidelity—is dependent upon the bandwidth allocated to the image. To then attempt to place two images, a left and a right, within the existing bandwidth pipeline is to invite image compromise. The problem at hand can be stated as such: How can the stereoscopic designer maintain planar image quality even when a moving image stereoscopic pair is inserted into the existing storage and distribution pipeline?
Numerous attempts have been made to combine stereoscopic television (video) images and motion picture images to fit within the allocated transmission pipeline used for a single planar image. In some cases, especially for television images, designers have been concerned with the issue of backward or downward compatibility. Backward or downward compatibility would ensure that the stereoscopic signal can be constrained to be invisible to existing television receivers.
The present design seeks to cure the problem of transmitting stereoscopic images and movies over the existing infrastructure, which had been designed to transmit single planar images. It would be advantageous to offer a design that can provide multiplexed and demultiplexed stereoscopic images without the need to replace existing components, and particularly a design that offers benefits over those previously available.

Demultiplexing for stereoplexed film and video applications


Each pixel of a liquid crystal display device comprises a switching device for selecting a data signal, a memory portion for storing the data signal selected by the switching device and outputting an analog signal corresponding to the data signal, and a circuit for supplying an AC voltage corresponding to the analog signal to the liquid crystal layer. The liquid crystal layer is driven with a data signal stored in the memory portion or with an AC voltage corresponding to an analog signal corresponding to the data signal. With the signal stored in the memory portion, an AC voltage whose effective value or average value is controlled is supplied to the liquid crystal layer. Thus, unless a picture on the display is changed, since it is not necessary to supply the data signal, the peripheral driving circuit can be stopped. Consequently, although a picture is displayed in gradation mode, the power consumption can be remarkably reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, in particular to, an active matrix type liquid crystal display device. In addition, the present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device that can display gradation.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, in particular to, a liquid crystal display device of less power consumption type. In addition, the present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device that can display gradation.
Since a liquid crystal display is thin and the power consumption thereof is small, it has been widely used for note type personal computers. In particular, an excellent feature of the liquid crystal display device over other types of display devices such as CRT and plasma display is low power consumption. The liquid crystal display device is expected to be used for portable information units.
In the case of a portable unit, the power consumption of the display thereof is preferably 500 mW or less, more preferably several mW or less. For such a requirement, so far, a reflection type liquid crystal display device of simple matrix and small power consumption type free of a back light with a TN (Twisted Nematic) liquid crystal has been used. However, since the TN type liquid crystal requires a polarized plate, the reflectance is around as low as around 30%. In addition, when the number of pixels of the simple matrix type liquid crystal display is increased, the contrast decreases and thereby the display picture quality deteriorates. To solve such a problem, a PCGH (Phase Change Guest Host type) mode liquid crystal that does not need a polarized plate is used. Moreover, with an active matrix, a display device with high reflection rate and high contrast has been developed.
FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing a circuit diagram showing the structure of a pixel of such a conventional liquid crystal display device. In the following, unless required, only one pixel will be described for simplicity. The structure of the circuit of a pixel shown in FIG. 10 is the same as the structure of a conventional transmission active matrix type liquid crystal display device. When a thin film transistor 91 is turned on corresponding to a scanning signal supplied to a gate line 94, the voltage of a data signal supplied to a signal line 95 is supplied to a liquid crystal layer 93. In addition, an electric charge is supplied to an auxiliary capacitor 92 through an auxiliary capacitor line (Cs) line 97. As well known, an AC voltage should be supplied to the liquid crystal layer 93. A voltage of a data signal that varies based on a voltage of an opposite electrode 96 formed on an opposite substrate is supplied to the signal line 95 so as to drive the pixel.
In such a liquid crystal display device, even if a picture displayed on the display does not change at all, it is necessary to supply an AC voltage to the liquid crystal layer. Thus, whenever the pixel is selected at a frame interval, the pixel voltage is rewritten. Since the power consumption P of which an AC voltage is supplied to the capacitor is expressed by the following formula. EQU p=f.times.V.sup.2 .times.C
where f=frequency; V=voltage; and C=capacitance.
Thus, the power consumption is proportional to each of the frequency, voltage, and capacitance.
When a liquid crystal display device is driven with an AC voltage, the drive frequency of each pixel is represented with a frame frequency. The drive frequency of the signal line is represented with the product of the frame frequency and the number of scanning lines. The drive frequency of a signal line driver IC is represented with the product of the number of pixels of the display and the frame frequency. When the liquid crystal display is separately driven, the drive frequency of the signal line driver IC is represented with the quotient of which the product of the number of pixels of the display and the frame frequency is divided by the number of separated regions. For example, in the case of a VGA type liquid crystal display device composed of 640.times.480 pixels (RGB), assuming that the frame frequency is 60 Hz and that each of RGB uses respective shift registers, the clock frequency of the signal line driver IC becomes 60.times.480.times.640 =18 MHz. Although the power consumption of the liquid crystal display device partly depends on the driving IC, the power consumption becomes around 200 mW. The frequency of each signal line becomes 60.times.480=29 kHz. Assuming that the diagonal length of the liquid crystal display device is 10.4 inches, the capacitance of each signal line is around 40 pF. When the display panel of the liquid crystal display device is driven, the power consumption becomes around 50 mW. When the number of pixels is increased (for example the display panel is composed of 1600.times.1200 pixels), since the power consumption thereof is proportional to the number of gate lines, the power consumption of this display panel becomes 2.5 times as large as that of the conventional display panel composed of 640.times.480 pixels. In addition, since the power consumption of the driver IC is increased with the similar rate, the total power consumption of the apparatus increases to around 1 W. When a portable information unit has a liquid crystal display device with a large power consumption, the battery of the unit runs out in a short time. Thus, the operation time of the unit becomes short. To prolong the operation time of the unit, a large (heavy) battery should be used.
To reduce the power consumption, a surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal (SSFLC) can be used. The SSFLC has a memory characteristic. Thus, unless a picture displayed on the display is changed, the voltage supply can be stopped. However, in the SSFLC, the orientation of the liquid crystal becomes disordered with a shock and thereby a picture is not correctly displayed. Thus, the SSFLC cannot be used for a portable display device. In addition, a liquid crystal with a memory characteristic occasionally has restrictions with respect to contrast and reflection rate. Thus, the display quality of such a liquid crystal has a problem of the display quality. For example, the SSFLC requires a polarizing plate. In addition, since the reflection rate of the SSFLC is as low as around 30%, a picture on the display becomes the brightness decreases. Moreover, due to the characteristic of the SSFLC, since a picture is basically displayed in binary display mode rather than gradation display mode, the display characteristic (information amount) of the SSFLC is much lower than that of the apparatus with the gradation display mode. This is a notable drawback of the SSFLC when it displays color pictures. To display gradation, if a space modulation corresponding to for example dither method is used, the effective resolution is deteriorated. When a time modulation corresponding to frame rate control method is performed, a picture on the display flickers. Thus, the SSFLC cannot be used for moving pictures.
As described above, personal computers and portable information units mostly deal with still pictures. Thus, even if a picture is not changed, an AC voltage is supplied to a signal line. Thus, the power is wasted.
An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problem and to provide a liquid crystal display device of less power consumption type.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a liquid crystal display device for allowing a gradation signal to be supplied to a liquid crystal so as to display data greater than binary data.


The present invention relates to an electropyrotechnic initiator comprising: an ignition support (10); an electrical initiation system (11) connecting the ignition support (10) to a source of electricity; and a cap (2) containing at least one explosive composition, the cap being of generally cylindrical shape presenting an open first end (20) connected to the ignition support (10), an opposite second end that is closed by an end wall (21), and a peripheral side wall (22) which presents at least one zone of weakness (3). This initiator is essentially remarkable in that at least one of the zones of weakness extends along a non-closed trace and over a portion only of the side wall (22), i.e. without reaching its opposite ends.

The electropyrotechnic initiators integrated in gas generators traditionally comprise an ignition support, and electrical initiation system connecting the ignition support to a source of electricity, and a fragmentable cap containing at least one electropyrotechnic composition.
This case-forming cap, usually made of metal, is held inside the generator by mechanical fastening and connection means. It is sealed and isolated from the outside.
In operation, the pressure rises inside the cap and the cap opens in its weakest zone, thereby releasing a flame and hot gases which, in turn, initiate an electropyrotechnic material present in the generator, such as a propellant, suitable for generating gas.
The zone of weakness is generally created by rupture-starters, which are obtained by stamping indented patterns, in particular when the case is made by stamping.
Said cap is generally cylindrical in shape, presenting an open first end connected to the ignition support, an opposite second end closed by an end wall, and a cylindrical side wall.
Until now, many initiators have presented rupture-starters in the end wall, thereby allowing the flame to exit axially.
Nevertheless, certain generators, in particular those having a mass of propellant in the form of a ring surrounding the initiator, or in which the electropyrotechnic charge is so small that rupturing the axial end wall would run the risk of damaging the charge, operate under better conditions when the flame exits radially, i.e. through the side wall of the cap, via holes that are closed while not in operation by an inside wall of plastics material.
Other structures allow the flame to exit radially.
Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,486 (Lenzen) describes a gas generator which includes an initiator whose side wall has zones of weakness disposed parallel to the generator lines of the cylinder in which the cap of the initiator is defined. Those zones extend from one end of the cap to the other.
In practice, when the zones of weakness give way, the initiator opens up completely to such an extent that the integrity of its structure is affected.
Another structure described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,308 (Cuevas).
In that case, the zone of weakness forms a circumferential line going round the side wall of the cap of the initiator.
In that case also, the integrity of the initiator is affected, since after the zone of weakness has ruptured, one complete portion of the initiator becomes detached from the remainder.
Complete rupture of the initiator can allow particles to escape, in particular metal particles, that run the risk of being expelled to the outside.
An object of the present invention is to solve those problems by proposing specifically an initiator in which the (cylindrical) peripheral side wall of the cap presents a zone of weakness, but conserves its integrity, even after said zone has ruptured.
Another aim of the invention is to achieve the above-specified object without significantly changing the usual "architecture" of the initiator.
The invention thus provides an electropyrotechnic initiator which comprises:                an ignition support;        an electrical initiation system connecting the ignition support to a source of electricity; and        a cap containing at least one explosive composition, the cap being of generally cylindrical shape presenting an open first end connected to the ignition support, an opposite second end that is closed by an end wall, and a peripheral side wall which presents at least one zone of weakness.
According to the invention, at least one of the zones of weakness extends along a non-closed trace and over a portion only of the side wall, i.e. without reaching its opposite ends.
The term "non-closed trace" is used to mean that the trace presents at least two distinct ends that do not coincide.
By means of the particular configuration of said trace, there is no rupturing of the initiator into a plurality of distinct and separate pieces. It conserves its integrity without affecting the immediate surroundings.
In another embodiment of the invention, the non-closed trace is shaped in such a manner that after each zone of weakness has opened, a fragment of the wall situated between two adjacent ends of the trace remains attached to the wall.
This wall fragment or "petal" remains attached to the wall of the initiator, without any risk of damaging the surrounding component, and it can act as a deflector for channeling the flame and the gas.
According to other, non-limiting characteristics:                the trace is cruciform;        the trace is in the form of a Saint Andrew's cross;        the trace is of curved shape;        the trace is in the form of a circular arc;        the trace is horseshoe-shaped;        that each zone of weakness is constituted by a thinning of material; and        each zone of weakness is obtained by stamping.
Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention appear on reading the following detailed description made with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:


A method and apparatus for precise control of a galvanometer patterning system is provided in which a patterning beam (12) is deflected off of a galvanometer mirror (14) toward a work piece (10). The position of the galvanometer mirror (14) is determined by generating a measurement beam (20), transmitting it through a cylinder lens (26) and deflecting it off of the galvanometer mirror (14). The deflected measurement beam (20) is filtered through grating filter (28) having two side-by-side gratings. Light passing through the side-by-side gratings filter (28) is focused on a detector (36) through an anamorphic condenser (32 and 34).

Galvanometer patterning systems are widely used for processing of a myriad of workpieces. For example, patterns may be etched in plastic workpieces by deflecting a patterning beam off of a computer controlled galvanometer mirror.
In high speed precision applications of galvanometers for optical deflection, inertia associated with the galvanometer mirror and the drive shaft, and other losses, prevent the galvanometer from precisely following the command current input. Consequently, a persistent problem in galvanometer patterning systems is a lack of precise patterning due to the imprecise positioning of the galvanometer mirror.
Therefore, a need has arisen for a system and method of obtaining real time measurement of the position of the galvanometer mirror for precision control of galvanometer patterning systems.

Method and apparatus for precision control of galvanometer patterning system


The invention relates to an operating unit (1) for lamps, in which a galvanic isolator (4) between a primary side, which comprises at least one circuit (2), and a secondary side, which comprises at least one circuit (3), is bridged by a radio channel (5). The lamps are supplied on the secondary side with respect to the galvanic isolator and the primary side is designed for connection to a voltage supply, in particular a mains voltage. The primary-side circuit (2) and the secondary side circuit (3) have a respective radio interface (2A, 3A) for establishing the unidirectional or bidirectional radio channel (5). The radio channel (5) lies preferably within a preferably metal housing (6) of the operating unit (1). Communication from the primary side to the secondary side and vice versa can be effected via radio through the radio channel (5).

Operating devices for illumination means, in particular LED converters, are known from the prior art and have an IC on a primary side and at least one IC on a secondary side, said ICs being DC-isolated from one another by an SELV barrier. The illumination means is electrically supplied on the secondary side, while the primary side can be supplied from a voltage supply, in particular a grid voltage.
It is often desirable that the primary-side and secondary-side circuits can communicate with one another. For this purpose, it is already known from the prior art that communication of this type across the SELV barrier is done by means of an optocoupler. Furthermore, it is known to communicate across DC isolation by means of a transformer.
However, the communication across the SELV barrier by means of an optocoupler or transformer, which is known from the prior art, places high demands on the components which bridge the SELV barrier, which in turn leads to high costs in manufacturing the operating devices.

Radio transmission between modules in a potential-separated LED converter


A robust scalable laser. The laser includes plural fiber laser resonators. A cavity that is external to the fiber laser resonators combines plural laser beams output from the plural fiber laser resonators into a single output laser beam. In a specific embodiment, the plural fiber laser resonators are eye-safe double-clad Er:YAG laser resonators that are pumped via laser diode arrays.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to lasers. Specifically, the present invention relates to multiple core laser systems and related phase-locking techniques.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lasers are employed in various demanding applications including fiber optic telecommunications, laser surgery, bar code scanning, compact disk readers, and military targeting and tracking. Such applications often demand compact, high-power, eye-safe lasers.
Small, high-power, eye-safe lasers are particularly important in military airborne applications, including airborne ladar, range finding, target identification, and missile guidance, which often involve large standoff distances. Missile and aircraft space constraints necessitate particularly compact lasers. Unfortunately, conventional eye-safe lasers are often too bulky and under powered for many military applications.
Eye-safe laser systems typically either emit directly at eye-safe wavelengths or generate beams that are frequency-converted to eye-safe wavelengths between 1.4 and 1.8 microns. Lasers that emit directly at eye-safe wavelengths often employ glass hosts, which severely limit thermal handling, power scalability, and overall laser system applicability.
To enhance power output, Nd-doped YAG crystal (Y3Al5O12) lasers are often employed. Nd:YAG lasers typically employ frequency conversions, such as Raman and optical parametric oscillators (OPO's) to convert an intermediate beam into an eye-safe beam operating between 1.4 and 1.8 micron wavelengths. These systems require several relatively large pump sources and bulky conversion optics and are not readily scalable to high average power or high pulse power. Consequently, Nd:YAG lasers employing conventional frequency-conversion systems are impractical for many applications.
Alternatively, combining multiple laser beams via phase locking based on the Talbot effect may increase power scalability. However, phase-locking systems based on the Talbot effect generally require precise periodical structures of equal lengths to facilitate phase locking. Phase locking of Multiple Core (multicore) Fiber (MCF) lasers via the Talbot effect generally requires individual equal-length fiber cores and is highly dependent on the individual power output in each core. Unequal length fibers may yield prohibitively inefficient lasers. Furthermore, the fibers require precise periodic positioning. Mechanical and thermal manufacturing issues necessitate expensive processing for precise fiber length equalization and periodic fiber positioning, which may yield prohibitively expensive lasers.
Furthermore, the number of elements that can be phase locked via the Talbot effect is generally limited by common cladding multiplexing issues. Consequently, power-scalability is limited. To achieve multi-kilowatt powers, several multicore fiber lasers would be required. However, the Talbot effect is insufficient to effectively phase lock and thereby coherently combine several multicore fiber laser oscillators.
Alternatively, a digital control method is employed to phase lock multicore fiber outputs. The digital control method involves measuring phases of beams output from individual multicore fibers and then providing feedback to the multicore fiber pump sources to align output phases to facilitate beam combining, i.e., phase locking. Unfortunately, such phase-control techniques often require complicated and expensive digital control loops and beam phase measuring equipment.
Hence, a need exists in the art for an eye-safe, high-quality, robust, cost-effective, compact, and light-weight laser that is readily scalable to high average power and high pulse energy. There exists a further need for a unique phase-locking system that can efficiently combine arbitrary numbers of fiber laser oscillator outputs without requiring precise fiber length equalization or stringent periodic positioning.

Scalable laser with robust phase locking


An ultrasound imaging device and method for clutter filtering is provided. The ultrasound imaging device provides logic for calculating signal characteristic values from an in-phase/quadrature-phase (I/Q) of an ultrasound signal reflected from an object and determining to remove a clutter element from the I/Q signal through comparison of the calculated signal characteristic values. Accordingly, the ultrasound imaging device provides a blood flow distribution of the object, more precisely visualized, to a user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasound imaging system and method for providing adaptive clutter filtering.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ultrasound imaging device detects and displays distribution of blood flow by irradiating an ultrasound wave onto a human body and measuring the Doppler shift frequency of the ultrasound wave reflected from the blood flow.
Even when the irradiated ultrasound wave is focused and concentrated on the blood flow, a portion of the ultrasound wave is propagated in an undesired direction. As a result, a signal reflected from the blood flow and an undesired signal reflected from elsewhere besides the blood flow are mixed together. In this instance, the signal reflected from the blood flow is referred to as a Doppler signal, and the undesired signal reflected from other tissues is referred to as a clutter signal.
In general, when focusing is performed with an ultrasound wave, most energy is propagated to a focal point, and a portion of the ultrasound wave is leaked to an outside of the focal point. However, although a minute ultrasound wave is generally leaked because the reflectivity of blood flow is significantly smaller than a reflected ultrasound wave of peripheral tissues (blood vessel walls, muscles and the like), an amplitude of a clutter signal almost exceeds an amplitude of a Doppler signal from the blood flow.
Accordingly, many clutter filtering methods exist for conventional ultrasonic systems to effectively remove clutter signals when a color Doppler mode is implemented.
The clutter filtering methods include a method using an infinite impulse response (IIR)-type high-pass filter in which cutoff characteristics are predetermined, an adaptive filtering method for selecting an optical cutoff according to signal characteristics of each pixel, a method for removing clutter signals by decomposing elements of an ensemble data per pixel, and the like.
However, the variance, mean frequency, and power of a signal before the application of clutter filtering are used in most of the clutter filtering methods, or the variance, mean frequency, and power of a decomposed signal are used in most of the clutter filtering methods.
In the present invention, implementation of a decision logic of a clutter filter of converting an in-phase/quadrature-phase (I/Q) signal into a frequency domain signal is performed, and then removal of clutter elements according to the clutter elements signal characteristics is performed.

Ultrasound imaging device and method for clutter filtering


A portable support for supporting the head of a seated individual including an elongated pillow and a flexible retention member having fasteners enabling the flexible retention member to assume different loop configurations enabling the portable support to alternatively be connected to an upper seat corner or be supported by the individual.

Portable travel pillows and head rests are known generally. Some of these devices are specifically devised to attach to the backs of seats to provide lateral support for the head of a seated person.
The following patent documents are believed to be representative of the current state of the prior art in this field: U.S. Pat. No. 6,592,184, issued Jul. 15, 2003, U.S. Patent App. Pub. No. US 2002/0163240, published Nov. 7, 2002, U.S. Patent App. Pub. No. US 2007/0056111, published Mar. 15, 2007, U.S. Patent App. Pub. No. US 2007/0180623, published Aug. 9, 2007, U.S. Pat. No. 5,317,772, issued Jun. 7, 1994, U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,690, issued Dec. 5, 1995, U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,378, issued Aug. 13, 1996, U.S. Pat. No. 6,641,221, issued Nov. 4, 2003, U.S. Pat. No. 6,684,429, issued Feb. 3, 2004, U.S. Pat. No. 6,708,355, issued Mar. 23, 2004, U.S. Pat. No. 6,942,297, issued Sep. 13, 2005, U.S. Patent App. Pub. No. US 2007/0209115, published Sep. 13, 2007, U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,094, issued Jan. 25, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 6,394,554, issued May 28, 2002, U.S. Design Pat. No. D522,300, issued Jun. 6, 2006, U.S. Design Pat. No. D534,389, issued Jan. 2, 2007 and UK Patent App. GB 2 440 906, published Feb. 20, 2008.


Methods and systems are provided for a cooling system valve comprising a fusible insert and a heating element coupled to the insert. In one example, in response to an increase in coolant temperature to above a first threshold temperature, a movable element of the cooling system valve may be actuated to a fully open position and in response to an increase in coolant temperature to above a second threshold temperature with the movable element in a fully open position, electric current may be routed through the heating element to heat and melt the fusible insert. By melting the fusible portion, coolant may flow through an opening created in the movable element.

In automotive thermal management, coolant temperature in a cooling system for an engine of a motor vehicle is closely controlled for improved engine efficiency and emission. The cooling system may include a radiator as a primary heat exchanger. The cooling system may use an electronically actuated valve to control flow of coolant through the cooling system. However, if the electronically actuated valve becomes stuck in an at least partially closed position and coolant cannot flow to the radiator, coolant in the cooling system may become overheated. An overheated, stagnant coolant may not be able to flow through the engine block and remove heat from the engine block, thereby leading to engine overheating.
The inventors herein have recognized that the issues described above may be addressed by a cooling system valve comprising: a movable element selectively movable between open and closed positions to allow or restrict a flow of coolant through the valve, the movable element comprises a fusible portion configured to melt in order to allow a flow of coolant through the movable element when the fusible portion reaches a threshold temperature, a heating element controllable to heat the fusible portion, and a non-fusible portion, the non-fusible portion extending around a perimeter of the movable element and surrounding the fusible portion, wherein the heating element extends around the perimeter of the movable element.
As an example, a dissolvable (fusible) insert is placed within the movable component of the cooling system valve. At temperatures above a threshold temperature, the insert is in solid state and functions as a single unit with the movable component of the cooling system valve. If the movable component of the valve is stuck in a partially or a fully closed position causing restriction in coolant flow through the valve, coolant temperature upstream of the valve may increase. At the elevated temperature (above the threshold temperature), the insert may dissolve, thereby creating an opening (such as a gate) in the movable component. The stagnated coolant may then flow through the opening. A heating element may be coupled to the insert which may actively heat and melt the insert in response to an increase in engine coolant temperature.
The heating element may be provided in the non-fusible portion of the movable element. The movable element may rotate between the open and closed positions. The valve may further comprise electrical conductors that provide an electrical current to the heating element to selectively heat the heating element. The electrical conductors may pass through a pivot point of the movable element. The fusible portion may be made from a plastics material, such as polypropylene. The cooling system may further comprise a controller configured to selectively activate the heating element so as to melt the fusible portion. The system may further comprise a temperature sensor configured to sense a temperature of coolant in the cooling system. The temperature sensor may be operatively coupled to the controller. The controller may activate the heating element at least partially based on the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor. The temperature sensor may be provided in the engine, cooled by the cooling system.
The cooling system may further comprise an electrically activated actuator configured to move the movable element between the open and closed positions. The electrical conductors for the heating element may also provide power to the actuator. The controller may be configured to selectively provide electrical power below a threshold level that may be sufficient to activate the actuator without melting the fusible portion while electrical power above the threshold level may melt the fusible portion. The actuator may be provided with a fuse that is configured to blow when the controller provides electrical power above the threshold level.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure there is provided a method for a cooling system comprising a valve, the valve comprising a movable element that is selectively movable between open and closed positions to allow or restrict a flow of coolant through the valve, wherein the movable element comprises: a fusible portion configured to melt, in order to allow a flow of coolant through the movable element when the fusible portion reaches a threshold temperature; a heating element controllable to heat the fusible portion; and a non-fusible portion, the non-fusible portion extending around a perimeter of the movable element and surrounding the fusible portion, wherein the heating element extends around the perimeter of the movable element.
In this way, by including a fusible insert in a movable component of a cooling system valve, coolant flow through the valve may be established by melting the insert even when the movable component is stuck in a closed position. The technical effect of using electric power to heat and melt the insert is that melting of the insert may be expedited during conditions when the movable component in stuck closed. By melting the insert and creating an opening in the valve, overheating of the coolant and the engine block may be averted.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.

Methods and systems for a cooling system valve


There is provided an improved electrochemical energy storage device. The storage device includes using functionalized boron nitride nanoparticles as electroactive materials in the electrodes.

Energy storage devices, such as Li-ion batteries, are widely used from portable electronic devices to electric cars. In the fully charged state of the battery, Li ions are typically intercalated in the anode material, such as graphite. During discharge, Li ions migrate from the anode through the electrolytes and the separator to the positive electrode where they intercalate in the positive electrode material or cause chemical conversion in it. Simultaneously, electrons migrate from the anode through the circuit outside the battery to the positive electrode, during discharge. The driving force of the process is the difference of chemical potentials of the electroactive species in the electrodes. Batteries operate until this potential difference fails to exist. During recharging this potential difference will be restored by an external power source, using currents opposite to those mentioned for discharge. While Li-ions migrate from one electrode to the other, the oxidation number of the atoms in the electrodes also changes to maintain charge neutrality of the whole of the electrodes. Typical intercalation materials for the positive electrode involves transition metal compound nanocrystals, such as LiFePO4, LiCoO2, LiMn2O4, embedded into a carbon matrix. These materials contain channels that enable Li ion mobility for intercalation and deintercalation. The electrolyte is typically a non-aqueous liquid, such as propylene carbonate, glymes, ionic liquids or polymer electrolytes. A membrane, passable for Li ions only, separates the negative and positive electrode spaces.
The performance of Li-ion batteries depends on the choice of the electrode materials and on the other components of the battery. Batteries that intercalate other than Li-ions are also known, for example Na ion batteries (S. Ohmori and T. Yamamoto, "Sodium ion battery", US 2012/0021273 A1), or K ion batteries (A. Eftekhari (2004), "Potassium secondary cell based on Prussian blue cathode," Journal of Power Sources 126, 221).
There remains a need for increased charge and discharge rates, while also allowing for similarly high or even higher gravimetric and volumetric energy densities and capacities as compared to traditional Li-ion batteries. The present invention is directed to meeting this need, including by way of using functionalized boron nitride materials as electroactive materials in the electrodes of energy storage devices, such as rechargeable batteries.

Functionalized boron nitride materials as electroactive species in electrochemical energy storage devices


A garment clamp assembly, and a garment hanger which includes such a clamp assembly, in which a single size of hanger can accommodate a wide range of widths of garments by the use of sliding clamp assemblies which hold the garment beneath the hanger and which can be moved, and then jammed into a fixed position, by the application of modest hand generated pressures applied to a drop bracket which is in frictional sliding contact with the garment hanger.

Due to current and, in all probability, future competitive pressures in the garment industry it is becoming increasingly important that the number of different members in a given style of garment hanger be minimized to the greatest extent possible. This presents a significant challenge to the hanger designer because not only is it necessary that the hang width of a hanger extend over a wide distance, so as to accommodate petite women's sizes as well as large men's sizes, but the adjustment must be made quickly and, once made, must be securely maintained. Changing the width can be accomplished by the skilled designer by designing loose fits between moving parts, but this expedient becomes less and less practical as the width of the garment to be suspended from the hanger increases. In other words, as the width of a garment to be secured to the hanger by the clamp assemblies (usually two in number) increases, the greater is the tendency for the weight of the garment to pull the clamp assemblies toward one another. Should the clamp assemblies move toward one another under the weight of the garment the result will be a sag or drop of the garment with respect to the suspension member to which the clamp assemblies are secured. A sagging garment on a hanger is displeasing to the eye of a potential purchaser in that it projects an image of sloppiness which obviously does not whet the desire of a potential purchaser to buy the garment. The problem of sag can of course be at least partially counteracted by designing the components which move relative to one another--the suspension member and the clamp assembly or assemblies--with tighter clearances. However, the tighter the clearance the more difficult it is for the clamp assemblies to be moved by hand pressure relative to the suspension member, and, for personnel who must perform this task many times daily, such as clerks in retail stores, the task becomes onerous and unpleasant. When a clerk is required to work with tight clearance (i.e.: high friction) components, there is a natural human tendency to apply the minimum hand pressure to the clamp assemblies and the result, often, is that the clamps are not moved outwardly as far as they should be to properly display a wide width garment on a hanger which, moments before, was sized for a narrow width garment. By the same token, should it be required that the space between clamp assemblies must be shortened, there is a tendency to move the clamp assemblies only part way toward their proper new location which then requires a second effort or results in a garment which is displayed off-center with respect to the mid-point of the hanger, or both.
In addition to the foregoing considerations it is desirable that the concept of quick and effortless adjustability and secure locking of the clamp assembly to the suspension member be provided in garment hangers in which (1) the clamp jaws of the clamp assembly are in direct contact with the suspension member, and (2) the clamp jams are not in direct contact with the suspension member, as when the clamp assembly is deliberately located beneath the suspension member as by a vertical hang structure. It will be understood that certain garments, to be displayed to best advantage in a retail store, should be hung from the hanger's suspension member at a considerable distance beneath the suspension member. Such garments might include, for example, a skirt in which a fancy edge or ruffle extends some distance above the elastic in the waistband and hence, in order to appropriately present the upper edge to the eye of the potential purchaser, the garment should be gripped a greater distance beneath its uppermost edge than would be the case when a pair of plain top pants or shorts are to be displayed.
Thus, there is a need for a clamp assembly which, by modest hand pressure, can be easily adjusted to a wide number of positions on the suspension member of a garment hanger and, once placed in a desired position, easily secured to the suspension member by further modest hand pressure, particularly in conjunction with garment hangers which are intended to grip and hang a garment therefrom at a point well below the usual gripping point on the majority of garments. From time to time in the following description of the invention, this latter type of hanger will be referred to as a drop loop hanger.

Width adjustable garment hanger and jam locking clamp means therefor


Aspects of this invention include methods for surveying a subterranean borehole. In one exemplary aspect, a change in borehole azimuth between first and second longitudinally spaced gravity measurement sensors may be determined directly from gravity measurements made by the sensors and a measured angular position between the sensors. The gravity measurement sensors are typically disposed to rotate freely with respect to one another about a longitudinal axis of the borehole. Gravity MWD measurements in accordance with the present invention may be advantageously made without imposing any relative rotational constraints on first and second gravity sensor sets. The present invention also advantageously provides for downhole processing of the change in azimuth between the first and second gravity sensor sets. As such, Gravity MWD measurements in accordance with this invention may be advantageously utilized in closed-loop steering control methods.

The use of accelerometers in conventional surveying techniques is well known. The use of magnetometers or gyroscopes in combination with one or more accelerometers to determine direction is also known. Deployments of such sensor sets are well known to determine borehole characteristics such as inclination, azimuth, positions in space, gravity toolface, magnetic toolface, and magnetic azimuth (i.e., an azimuth value determined from magnetic field measurements). While magnetometers and gyroscopes may provide valuable information to the surveyor, their use in borehole surveying, and in particular measurement while drilling (MWD) applications, tends to be limited by various factors. For example, magnetic interference, such as from magnetic steel or ferrous minerals in formations or ore bodies, tends to cause errors in the azimuth values obtained from a magnetometer. Motors, stabilizers, and bits used in directional drilling applications are typically permanently magnetized during magnetic particle inspection processes, and thus magnetometer readings obtained low in the bottom hole assembly (BHA) are often unreliable. Gyroscopes are sensitive to high temperature and vibration and thus tend to be difficult to utilize in drilling applications. Gyroscopes also require a relatively long time interval (as compared to accelerometers and magnetometers) to obtain accurate readings. Furthermore, at low angles of inclination (i.e., near vertical); it becomes very difficult to obtain accurate azimuth values from gyroscopes.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,480,119 to McElhinney and commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,080,460 to Illfelder disclose techniques for determining borehole azimuth via tri-axial accelerometer measurements made at first and second longitudinal positions on a drill string. Using gravity as a primary reference, the disclosed methods make use of the inherent bending of the structure between the accelerometer sets in order to calculate a change in borehole azimuth between the first and second positions. The disclosed methods assume that the tri-axial accelerometer sets are spaced by a known distance via a rigid structure, such as a drill collar, that prevents relative rotation between the sets. Gravity based methods for determining borehole azimuth, including the McElhinney and Illfelder methods, as well as exemplary embodiments of the present invention, are referred to herein as Gravity MWD.
While the Gravity MWD techniques disclosed by McElhinney and Illfelder are known to be commercially serviceable, there is yet room for further improvement. For example, the physical constraint that the accelerometer sets be rotationally fixed relative to one another imposes a constraint on the structure of the BHA. It would be highly advantageous to extend Gravity MWD methods to eliminate this constraint and thereby allow relative rotation between the first and second accelerometer sets.
The Illfelder patent further discloses that the change in borehole azimuth can be determined from borehole inclination and gravity toolface measurements using numerical root finding algorithms, graphical methods, and/or look-up tables. Such methods are readily available and easily utilized at the surface, e.g., via a conventional PC using software routines available in MathCad® and/or Mathematica®. However, it is difficult to apply such numerical and/or graphical methods using on-board, downhole processors due to their limited processing power. This is particularly so in smaller diameter tools which require physically smaller processors (which therefore typically have lower processing power). Furthermore, surface processing tends to be disadvantageous in that it requires transmission of multiple high resolution (e.g., 12 bit) gravity measurement values or inclination and tool face angles to the surface. Such downhole to surface transmission is often accomplished via bandwidth limited mud pulse telemetry techniques.
Therefore there also exists a need for a simplified method for determining the change in borehole azimuth, preferably including calculations that can be readily achieved using a low-processing-power downhole processor.

Gravity azimuth measurement at a non-rotating housing


A portable enclosure for simulating surgical conditions using endoscopic instruments. The enclosure contains a pump and fluid reservoir and a canister in which an animal or synthetic tissue sample is placed within an adjustable cavity. The pump circulates fluid to an endoscopic instrument external to the enclosure enabling an individual to practice either monopolar or bipolar instrument techniques within the cavity and under conditions that simulate real life operating conditions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a surgical trainer and in particular it relates to a simulator that incorporates features to simulate visual and manipulation conditions for training surgeons in surgical procedures such as endoscopy and particularly hysteroscopy.
2. Background of the Invention
New surgical instruments and techniques have been developed to make surgery less invasive to the patient thus eliminating the need to make incisions requiring lengthy healing time. Endoscopes are presently used for diagnostic purposes and therapeutic treatment of the interior of a hollow viscous. Endoscopic surgery is generally performed in the presence of a distension medium. The distension medium may be either a liquid or a gas. There are many different uses for endoscopes, and frequently the endoscope design is varied, depending on its use, to optimize the performance of the endoscope for its intended purpose. Endoscopes having integral working channels are generally employed when the body cavity may be accessed through a natural body opening. For example, a hysteroscope is used to access the intrauterine cavity of the uterus via the cervical canal, and a urethroscope is used to access the prostate gland and the bladder via the urethra. Other types of endoscopes include the upper endoscopes for examination of the esophagus, stomach and duodenum, colonoscopes for examining the colon, angioscopes for examining the blood vessels and heart, bronchoscopes for examining the bronchi, laparoscopes for examining the peritoneal cavity, arthroscopes for examining joint spaces and sigmoidoscopes for examining the rectum and sigmoid colon.
In operation, the surgeon is able to insert either a semi-rigid or flexible operating instrument through a working channel to perform any number of surgical procedures as viewed by the eyepiece connected to a viewing scope. Representative operating instruments include scissors, biopsy and grasping forceps, ball electrode, optical scissors and an optical punch.
Many endoscopic surgeries require incision and dissection of tissue using electrocauterization. The endoscopic electrocautery device may be either monopolar or bipolar in nature.
Surgeon training has represented a major problem encountered in the implementation of new surgical instruments and techniques. Performing delicate operations on patients without having the particular tissue or organ exposed requires unnatural hand-eye coordination. Conventional techniques for teaching endoscopic surgery procedures involve the use of animal specimens. The use of laboratory animals for surgical training, however, is very expensive and is the subject of public debate. Further, animal specimens have a short viability on the operating table, and thus provide the trainee with a limited period of time in which to practice repeated techniques. In addition, it would be preferable to have a portable trainer that can be used in a physician""s office or in a clinical setting.
Representative training simulators are the SEMM PELVI-TRAINER and Hystero/Fallopo Trainer manufactured by Storz-Carl Storz--Endoskope. The SEMM PELVI-TRAINER simulator consists of a lower tray on which an object representing a human organ is positioned. An upper tray has puncture-simulating openings through which surgical instruments and a viewing scope are inserted. The trainee maneuvers the instrument through the opening and operates on the object.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,270 discloses an apparatus having a cavity in which an object simulating a human organ is mounted for performing the practice procedure. The cavity is closeable to outside view or access.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,644 discloses an apparatus including a frame, a pump, appropriate tubing and a reservoir containing a volume of fluid. Non-living animal tissue is joined to the tubing at the outlet side of the pump and surgical personnel are permitted to conduct surgical techniques.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,326 discloses an anatomical simulator system including a synthetic anatomical torso resting on a base. The torso includes an internal cavity and a pneumoperitoneum wall.
All of these systems are generally bulky and complex.
Thus, there is a need for a simplified and portable videoendoscopic surgical training system that accurately simulates a surgical procedure. This invention satisfies this need by providing a simple and cost effective endoscopic trainer.
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus that provides for a portable and completely self-contained training unit to practice endoscopic procedures. In one embodiment the enclosure is no larger than a carrying bag for transporting laptop computers and the interior is divided into two compartments. The first compartment houses a submersible pump and fluid reservoir and the second compartment houses a canister having a cavity that contains an animal or synthetic tissue sample. Preferably, the size of the cavity is adjustable to accept varying sizes of tissue samples. The canister also contains an access aperture to the cavity that is accessible from the exterior of the enclosure. In operation, the pump circulates fluid to a endoscopic instrument external to the enclosure thus enabling an individual to practice either monopolar or bipolar instrument techniques within the cavity that simulate real life surgical conditions.


An electronic device has a runtime integrity checker for monitoring contents of storage locations in an address range. The runtime integrity checker has a location selector for selecting the storage locations by generating addresses within the address range for locations to be checked, an interface unit coupled to the location selector for receiving the addresses for accessing the locations to be checked via a bus interface, and a processor coupled to the interface unit for retrieving the contents from the locations to be checked. A mask unit is provided for processing a mask for defining the locations to be checked based on bits in the mask. The hardware enables selective monitoring of non contiguous storage locations or data areas.

The U.S. Pat. No. 7,401,234 describes an electronic device having an autonomous memory checker for runtime security assurance. Assuring code integrity of embedded systems software and safe operation of hardware blocks at runtime is becoming a significant security issue for an embedded electronic device.
During boot-time, an embedded processor may execute hardware and software initialization instructions to validate and configure the hardware and hardware related data in order to present a known execution environment and user interface for the system software. Once the boot-time instruction has checked for authenticity, the system control is passed to the validated runtime code, e.g. the operating system or application execution image, and enters the runtime mode.
During runtime, the processor executes the runtime code. It is during this latter stage, when the runtime environment is fully established, that it is possible for untrusted user application code or downloaded dynamic code to be run and for memory corruption to occur on the original trusted and authenticated code, due to non-boot-time factors such as computer viruses or internal programming bugs.
The autonomous memory checker in U.S. Pat. No. 7,401,234 comprises a controller, a memory reference file coupled to the controller, and an authentication engine coupled to the controller. A check is performed during runtime operation of the electronic device. The autonomous memory checker generates runtime reference values corresponding to trusted information stored in memory. The runtime reference values are compared against memory reference values stored in the memory reference file. The memory reference values are generated from the trusted information stored in memory. An error signal is generated when the runtime reference values are not identical to the memory reference values thereby indicating that the trusted information has been modified.
The autonomous memory checker is first set up by a host processor to define memory start addresses and blocks to be checked. The checker may also have the capability to monitor contents of registers in peripheral devices. The host processor may cooperate with the checker to receive and compare a hash value generated for a memory block by the checker.
A drawback of such a device is that the host processor is required to define the memory locations to be tested, and thereto defines address and length pairs, which are to be stored by the checker.

Electronic device having a runtime integrity checker


A carriage rack has two posts, two swivel arms, two elastic elements, a luggage holding rod, a bracket, and casters. The two posts are spaced in a parallel manner and provided with pivoting portion. Each of swivel arms is composed of a cylindrical portion and inner and outer lugs extending rearwards from the cylindrical portion, which is provided with an opening. The inner lug is furnished with a recess, a slant, and a baffle. The swivel arm is fastened to the bottom end of the post by means of its cylindrical portion which receives the post in such a manner that the pivoting portion of the post extends out of the opening of the cylindrical portion so as to permit the positioning of the swivel angle of the swivel arm. The elastic elements are used to drive the two swivel arms to move. The luggage holding rod has two upright legs pivotally fastened to the pivoting portions of the posts in such a manner that they urge the slants of inner lugs of the swivel arms so as to enable the swivel arms to move outwards. The bracket is fastened to the luggage holding rod in such a way that it keeps the two upright legs of the luggage holding rod to remain perpendicular to ground surface at the time when the carriage rack is in use.

The present invention relates to a carriage rack, and more particularly to a foldable carriage rack provided with casters capable of being drawn together along with the rack so as to make the carriage rack more compact for easy storage.
A carriage rack is a rather convenient adjunct for travelers in general and frequent travelers in particular. The conventional carriage rack of prior art is generally defective in design in that it can not be easily folded and that it can not be effectively made more compact for easy storage.