The space of a buffer is logically partitioned into space reserved for requests only, space reserved for responses only, and space that can be used for either requests or responses, i.e., dynamically usable as needed by the system. An arbiter uses three registers to keep track of the request buffer space, the response buffer space and the dynamic space. The arbiter compares each of the registers with a corresponding limit to determine if a request packet or a response packet should be sent to the buffer. The limits are set by software and define the maximum number of request products, response packets, and total number of packets the buffer can hold. For example, the limit may be set to eight requests, eight responses and ten total. Thus two spaces are reserved for requests and two spaces are reserved for responses, and six are dynamically usable.

In prior systems, there are a certain number of request buffer locations and a certain number of response buffer locations. These buffer locations are fixed in the hardware and not changeable by software. In some systems, the request and response buffer locations are on physically separate hardware devices. Thus, the fixed nature causes an inherent inefficiency in the allocation of buffer space. Basically, the problem is that if a large number of request packets were received which fill up the buffer, additional request packets would have to be halted until the request packet buffer is emptied. This filling and emptying of buffers is time consuming and inefficient.
A consequence of this problem is that the buffer response time is not constant. Then there is a possibility that if a next packet is one of the type that can be sent out and used right away, and there is no buffer space at that time, the packet will be delayed until the buffer becomes open. This problem greatly affects performance of the system.
It is therefore desirable to have a system that makes more efficient use of the available buffer space and reduces the probability that a data packet will be delayed due to congestion in the queue buffers.
It is therefore further desirable to have a system that has more efficient distribution of data packets and positively impacts system performance, by maintaining open queue buffer space, and thus allowing better throughput of data packets.

Dynamic allocation of queue space using counters


A spike-free converter for driving light-emitting diodes includes a closed loop direct current-direct current (dc-dc) converting unit, a switch, a first inductor, and a first diode. The closed loop dc-dc converting unit is used for generating a driving voltage to drive at least one light-emitting diode strings according to a dc voltage, and generating a switch control signal. The switch is used for receiving the switch control signal and being turned on and turned off according to the switch control signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a converter for driving light-emitting diodes, and particularly to a core spike-free converter, followed by an expanded flicker-free converter for driving light-emitting diodes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a classic dc-dc converter 100 as an offline light-emitting diode (LED) driver.
In operation, a clock generator A3 enables R/S flip flop (R/S FF) A1 to drive a switch M1 at a fixed frequency. A comparator A4 detects current flowing through the switch M1 through a resistor R2 to reset the R/S FF. A leading-edge blanking A2 temporarily disconnects feedback signal in a predetermined time interval, preventing turn-on spikes of the switch M1 from resetting the R/S FF prematurely. The turn-on spikes are generally caused by a diode D5 and the switch M1.
The open-loop detects maximum switching current (flowing through the switch M1) to turn off the switch M1 (turn-on interval), and uses the correlations to estimate current flowing through LED strings of diode D6 for a given clock frequency.
A first capacitor C1 is a stabilization capacitor storing sufficient energy through a bridge rectifier composed of diodes D1, D2, D3, and D4, to continue normal operations between the line charges. The diode D5 is a flyback diode that provides current path to an inductor T1, to continue feeding a capacitor C2 and the LED strings of diode D6 when the switch M1 is off (turn-off interval).
The capacitor C2 and the LED strings of diode D6 can also be in series with the diode D5. The tradeoff is the larger inductor T1 to store higher energy to recharge the capacitor C2 during the turn-off interval of the switch M1 vs. the larger capacitor C2 since the switch M1 will run out of voltage headroom when voltage across the capacitor C1 falls below the dc voltage of the LED strings D6 during the turn-on interval. The tradeoff can be applied to all of the following embodiments of the present invention.
A resistor R1 provides startup of the classic dc-dc converter 100. An inductor T2, which is magnetically coupled to the inductor T1, provides a housekeeping voltage across a bus capacitor C3, and a diode D8 prevents the resistor R1 from being shorted out by the inductor T2 prior to the onset of oscillation. A Zener diode D11 regulates the housekeeping voltage. In some designs, the inductor T2 and the diode D8 are omitted if the current draw of all circuit blocks combined is at an acceptable level to be supplied by the resistor R1 alone, in the interest of cost over efficiency.
The classic dc-dc converter 100 works well under dc-dc conversion. However, in pursuit of a desirable high power factor (PF), the classic dc-dc converter 100 is often elevated to perform alternating current-direct current (ac-dc) conversion. As such, the stabilization capacitor C1 is down-sized to track line voltage V1 and a reference voltage Vref is modulated by a sine wave to regulate the turn-on intervals under varying supply voltage of the stabilization capacitor C1, which produces an averaged line current resembling a sine wave.
However, if the switch M1 is regarded as a sampler and apply the Sampling Theorem, spectrum of full wave-rectified sine wave can be repeated at the sampling rate. A first ripple frequency of an ac-dc converter is 2 times the line frequency, while the first ripple frequency of a dc-dc converter is the switching frequency. That's a world apart for the requirement of the stabilization capacitor C1.
To counter it, a large electrolytic capacitor C2 is implemented, which will increase the turn-on delay and penalize the cost, size and lifetime.
However, since the LED strings of diode D6 has exponential current-voltage (I-V) characteristics, even small voltage ripples will cause current flowing through the LED strings of diode D6 to fluctuate wildly, making the attempt of suppressing the flickers impossible.
A leading-edge blanking A2 is another concern because any variations in the switch M1, the diode D5, or the inductor T1 can change turn-on spike characteristics, so how to predefine its duration is a guess, in addition to its complexity.

Flicker-free converter for driving light-emitting diodes


Disclosed are methods of inhibiting neovascularization in a subject by administering to the subject a pharmaceutical preparation of R'-Glu-Trp-R".

The present invention relates generally to pharmaceutical compositions containing peptides having angiostatic properties and more particularly to pharmaceutical compositions of tryptophan-containing dipeptides and methods of use thereof.
Neovascularization, the genesis of new blood vessels, is triggered early in embryogenesis and also during wound healing, tissue remodeling and probably in the normal course of maintenance of the vascular system. Processes involved in neovascularization include at least endothelial cell and pericyte activation; basal lamina degradation; migration and proliferation of endothelial cells and pericytes; formation of a new capillary vessel lumen; appearance of pericytes around the new vessels; development of a new basal lamina; capillary loop formation; persistence of involution with differentiation of the new vessels; capillary network formation; and, eventually, of the network organization into larger microvessels.
Certain cytokines are known to down-regulate neovascularization, including interleukin-12 (IL-12), transforming growth factor-.beta. (TGF-.beta.), interferon-.alpha. (IFN-.alpha.) and platelet factor 4 (PF-4). However, clinical experience with cytokine therapy has proven problematic due to the toxicity of certain of these compounds.
There are a number of pathologic conditions in which angiogenesis either plays a role in or is involved directly in different sequelae of the disease. These include, for example, neovascularization of tumors in cancer; creation of hemangiomas; neovascularization associated with various liver diseases; angiogenic dysfunction related to an excess of hormone; neovascular sequelae of diabetes; neovascular sequelae to hypertension; neovascularization in post-recovery cerebrovascular accident; neovascularization due to head trauma; neovascularization in chronic liver infection; restenosis following angioplasty; and neovascularization due to heat or cold trauma.
While angiogenesis is undoubtedly required for maintenance of a healthy vascular system, clinical medicine would appreciate the availability of a non-toxic treatment for temporarily down-regulating neovascularization, i.e., inducing a temporary angiostasis.

Pharmaceutical angiostatic dipeptide compositions and method of use thereof


A system for detection of foreign objects on an aircraft travel surface and ascription of the foreign objects present on the aircraft travel surface to foreign object sources, the system including a foreign object detection subsystem operative to detect foreign objects on an aircraft travel surface, a potential foreign object source identifier subsystem operative to indicate the presence of potential foreign object sources at or near the aircraft travel surface and a foreign object to foreign object source correlator operative to receive inputs from the foreign object detection subsystem and from the foreign object source identifier subsystem indicating at least a time relationship between sensed presence of the potential foreign object sources on the aircraft travel surface and detection of the foreign objects and to provide an ascription output indicating the origin of at least some of the foreign objects detected by the foreign object detection subsystem.

The following patent documents are believed to represent the current state of the art:
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,185,815; 5,212,547; 5,243,340; 5,375,058; 5,629,691; 5,939,987; 6,064,429; 6,181,261; 6,281,806; 6,295,007; 6,486,825; 6,563,432; 6,606,035; 6,690,295 and 6,956,493;
U.S. Published Patent Application Nos. 2002/0030609; 2002/0080046; 2002/0093433; 2002/0109625 and 2002/0163461;
German Patent No. DE 101 04 950;
European Patent No. EP 1 170 715; and
Published PCT Patent Application No. WO 02/056054.

System and method for ascription of foreign object debris detected on airport travel surfaces to foreign object sources


A method and apparatus for dynamically switching the relative priorities of the load buffer and store buffer with respect to external memory resources in a superscalar processor. According to a first embodiment, a protocol dictates that the load buffer always prevails until the store buffer reaches a certain "high water mark," (an upper threshold) at which time the store buffer gains priority. After the store buffer has gained priority, it continues to access the memory until it is depleted to a "low water mark," (a lower threshold) at which time the load buffer regains priority. Whenever the store buffer reaches the high water mark, it gains priority until it drains down to the low water mark. This reduces the tendency for the store buffer to become full and block the processor. According to a second embodiment, the load buffer prevails if it is above its high water mark. If the load buffer is below its high water mark, the load buffer prevails until the store buffer reaches its high water mark, at which time the store buffer gains priority. After the store buffer has gained priority, it maintains priority until the load buffer reaches its high water mark. This reduces the tendency for either buffer to become full and block the processor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of microprocessor load/store execution units. Specifically, the invention relates to dynamically controlling the priority between a load buffer and a store buffer which compete for memory resources in a load/store unit of a microprocessor.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
RISC stands for Reduced Instruction Set Computing. RISC processors normally include fewer instructions than their CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computing) predecessors. At least to some extent, the use of RISC technology simplifies the task of writing compilers for the RISC processors, since there are fewer instructions to use. Moreover, the processor design can focus on implementing and optimizing the important, frequently-used instructions, rather than having some complex, seldom-used instruction constrain the maximum operating frequency. For these reasons and others, RISC processors are gaining popularity amongst workstation and even lower-end computer makers.
In a RISC processor, it is common that very few instructions actually access memory. In fact, some implementations may have only two instructions, LOAD and STORE, that access memory. Typically, a few specialized "atomic" operations may also be supported by the processor for synchronization and memory updates by concurrent processes. See The SPARC Architecture Manual, Version 9, SPARC International, Inc., D. L. Weaver and T. Germond, Editors, PTR Prentice Hall, 1994, p.17. Even in such cases, the LOAD and STORE are by far the most frequently-used memory access instructions. The execution of a LOAD instruction will cause a processor register to be written with data resident in a main memory address. The execution of a STORE instruction will cause a main memory address to be written with data resident in a processor register. Therefore, LOAD and STORE instructions need to specify a register or registers and a memory address as operands. In some implementations, two registers or a register and an immediate value are used to calculate the memory address. Many implementations provide several varieties of LOADs and STOREs which transfer one or more words of data using one instruction; therefore, more than one source or destination register may exist. These source or destination registers are also designated as operands in the STORE or LOAD instructions, respectively.
Referring to FIG. 1, a superscalar processor 12 is shown. The superscalar processor 12 has several parallel functional units 10 and 11. Some typical superscalar implementations include floating point, integer, branch, and load/store functional units. Thus, up to four instructions may be executed in parallel. Most superscalar processors will also be pipelined at least to some extent. Pipelining allows the processing of instructions to occur in stages, so that it takes several clock cycles before the processing of an instruction is completed. However, in a pipelined processor architecture, several instructions can be simultaneously processed since each stage is always processing an instruction.
Referring to FIG. 2, a block diagram of the load/store unit 10 is shown. In order to maximize the total throughput of the load/store functional unit 10, a load buffer 20 and a store buffer 21 are provided so that loads and stores that cannot be immediately serviced can still be dispatched, and can wait to be serviced without holding up the operation of the processor 12. The load buffer 20 is a first-in-first-out (FIFO) queue which holds LOAD source memory 22 and destination register addresses 23. The store buffer 21 is a FIFO queue which holds STORE addresses 24 and the data 25 to be stored to those addresses. By maintaining queues for LOADs and STOREs, the utilization of memory resources used by the LOAD and STORE instructions is maximized since another memory operation is immediately available after the current operation is finished.
A common form of multi-layer memory system is cache memory, or lookaside buffer memory. A cache memory is a rather small, specialized memory device placed between the processor 12 and main memory system. The cache memory holds copies of words from main memory that are likely to be accessed by the processor 12. The cache is faster than main memory, thus if frequently accessed locations are found in the cache, the average memory access time will be small. Cache memory locations are redundant, in the sense that each is used to provide a more accessible copy of information also stored in slower main memory. The total addressable memory size, as seen by the programmer, is not increased by the presence of a cache. Many processors 12 have small internal caches and much larger external caches which are implemented on a separate integrated circuit. In other systems, only one cache exists between the processor 12 and main memory.
FIG. 2 shows a load/store pre-processing block 19 which interfaces with an internal cache 19 and the load and store buffers 20 & 21. The load and store buffers 20 & 21 interface with an external cache 26. Because the external cache 26 is on a separate integrated circuit, only one read/write port normally exists into the external cache 26. In modern processors, the unit of memory transfer, or subblock, is on the order of 144 bits or more, while the address for that sub-block is on the order of 20 bits or more. Most systems do not provide dual-ports for the external cache since it is far too expensive to do so. Providing two ports would require essentially doubling the already large number of pins on the external cache memory chip. This modification would increase the complexity of the package, increase the complexity of the external cache RAM (random access memory), and increase the number of wires on the circuit board. Potentially, the die size of the external cache could also increase. Moreover, the power consumption of the system would increase significantly since output pad drivers tend to consume a relatively large amount of the total power. For all these reasons, the external cache 26 normally has only one set of address lines 27 and one bi-directional set of data lines 28.
Because the external cache RAM 26 only has one read/write port, the entries in the load buffer 20 and the entries in the store buffer 21 tend to compete for the external cache RAM 26 resource. At any given time, both the load buffer 20 and the store buffer 21 may have entries. Since only one LOAD or STORE instruction may be processed by the external cache 26 at any given time, if the load and store buffers 20 & 21 both have entries, one of the buffers will be unable to dispatch its entry to the external cache 26.
A LOAD is a request to fetch data that a subsequent instruction will need to use as an operand. Therefore, a LOAD needs to happen relatively quickly. The compiler typically creates the instruction stream that separates LOADs from the instructions which utilize the loaded data by a sufficiently large time. However, if an instruction is ready to be executed before the load data which that instruction uses has been loaded, the processor 12 stalls. Thus, the latency with which LOADs need to occur is dependent upon how many instructions in the instruction stream separate a LOAD from the use of the loaded data. It is certainly preferable to place fewer constraints on the compiler, and to avoid processor stalls. By reducing the load latency, the number of intervening instructions between a LOAD and the use of the load data can be reduced without risking a processor stall.
The theory behind the load buffer 20 is that for code which has a working set that is too large to fit in the internal cache 29, a LOAD and its succeeding use can be separated, at least far enough to cover the latency of the external cache 26. If the LOAD and its use can be separated, several intervening instructions can be executed while the LOAD is occurring. The load buffer 20 allows the load/store functional unit 10 and the other execution pipelines 11 (in FIG. 1) to be somewhat decoupled in that LOADs which can not return data immediately will not stall the pipeline, but rather, be buffered until they can return data. A typical example of this is when a LOAD misses the internal cache 29 and must access the external cache 26. In that case, the LOAD will be placed in the load buffer 20, and the other functional unit pipelines 11 will continue moving so long as they do not encounter a "use" instruction.
On the other hand, STORE instructions do not have the strict timing constraints that LOADS have. When a STORE is issued, the processor 12 is sending data back to main memory. The stored data will probably not be needed at any time in the near future. If the stored data were needed in the near future, it would have been held in a register rather than stored to main memory.
Since the latency requirements for LOADs are more demanding than those for STORES, previous designs have given the load buffer entries priority over the store buffer entries when the two buffers are in competition for the external cache 26.
By always giving entries in the load buffer 20 priority over the entries in the store buffer 21, the store buffer 21 tends to become full. If the entries of the load buffer 20 are always serviced prior to the entries of the store buffer 21, the entries in the store buffer 21 are never serviced until the load buffer 20 is empty of entries which must access the external cache 26. As long as the load buffer 20 has entries which must access the external cache 26, STOREs are not processed.
Usually, the frequency of STORE operations in a program is significantly lower than that of LOADs. Nonetheless, if STOREs in the store buffer do not gain access to the external cache until the load buffer is empty, the store buffer 21 can fill up to the point that all its entries are occupied. Once the store buffer is full, the processor 12 is blocked from dispatching another STORE instruction. Once a STORE instruction is issued that can not be entered into the store buffer due to the store buffer being full, the load/store functional unit pipeline 10 (in FIG. 1) is blocked. Many modern superscalar processors 12 are intended to work with code which has been compiled so as to provide some flexibility in the order of instruction execution. Potentially however, the entire processor 12 may be blocked since almost all programming models place some constraints on the order of instruction execution. When a STORE instruction in the instruction stream can not be processed, it is possible that a few subsequent instructions may still be able to execute, but eventually the entire processor 12 will stall if the STORE instruction is not processed.
Thus, the prior art approach of allowing the load buffer 20 to always have priority suffers from the problem that the store buffer 21 become full and will block the processor 12 from its operations.

Dynamic priority switching of load and store buffers in superscalar processor


In one embodiment, a semi-automated technique is used to reconstruct a vector-based model from a point cloud that represents a physical subject. At least a portion of the point cloud is displayed. A selection of a seed of points that correspond to a particular physical feature of the physical subject is received from a user. The selection is received with a flashlight virtual tool having a field of view. An automatic detection of a geometric primitive is performed based on the seed of points. The automatic detection uses an iterative algorithm that detects an initial geometric primitive based on the seed of points, uses the initial geometric primitive to determine an expanded set of points, and detects a refined geometric primitive based on the expanded set of points. A vector-based model is produced using the detected geometric primitive.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to point clouds, and more specifically, to techniques for reconstructing a vector-based model from point clouds.
2. Background Information
Three-dimensional (3-D) laser scanners are increasingly being used to accurately and quickly capture the shape of physical subjects, such as discrete objects, portions of structures, terrain, or other parts of the physical environment. Such scanners capture a point cloud of geometric samples on the surface of the subject. To accomplish such task, a 3-D laser scanner typically emits some form of coherent light and detects its reflection from the surface of the physical subject. Some 3-D laser scanners rely on time-of-flight. In a time-of-flight 3-D laser scanner, a laser emits pulses of coherent light in a grid-like pattern to scan the physical subject. A laser rangefinder finds the distance to the surface of the physical subject for each pulse of coherent light by timing the round-trip-time of the pulse of light, from its emission, to its reflection back to the laser rangefinder. Other 3-D laser scanners rely on some form of triangulation. Like a time-of-flight 3-D laser scanner, a triangulation 3-D laser scanner also emits coherent light in a grid-like pattern to scan the physical subject. However, rather than measure time-of flight, an offset camera is employed to look for the location where the coherent light strikes the subject (i.e. a laser dot). Depending on how far away the coherent light strikes the surface, the laser dot appears at different places in the camera's field of view, which can be used in a triangulation calculation to determine distance. In either case, a point cloud of geometric samples is produced by repeated application of the technique, where each point of the point cloud is associated with a particular x-axis, y-axis and z-axis position on the surface of the physical subject.
The points of the point cloud can be used to extrapolate the shape of the physical subject, which may be translated into a more readily used form through a reconstruction process. In reconstruction, the points of the point cloud are often used to produce a vector-based model, where the subject is represented by vector elements based on mathematical formulas, rather than by a large number of discrete points. For example, a first group of points that represent a surface may be converted to a first planar vector element. Likewise, a second group of points that represent another surface may be converted to a second planar vector element. In this manner, large numbers of discreet points may be reduced to a relatively small number of vector elements.
Unfortunately, reconstructing a vector-based model from a point cloud is typically a difficult process. Common reconstruction techniques include various automatic techniques and manual techniques.
In automatic techniques, a vector-based model is constructed by an automated process, where geometric primitives are automatically detected and converted into vector elements, for example by software. While seemingly appealing, such automatic techniques generally suffer from a number of shortcomings.
First, automatic techniques typically have no understanding of the geometry of the physical subject, and what points are significant or insignificant. The techniques generally rely upon a sensitivity parameter that indicates a threshold level of match between points and geometric primitives. Calibrating this sensitivity parameter may be extremely difficult, as it may vary among point clouds, depending on such things as the particular laser scanner employed to capture the point cloud, the particular physical subject scanned, distances between the scanner and subject, and the like. If it is set too thigh, a large number of very small geometric primitives may be detected, leading to a cluttered, confusing and potentially unusable vector-based model. For example, a particular physical feature (e.g., a door) may be represented by a large number of small geometric primitives. If a user desires to manipulate (e.g., move) the feature to test an alternative design, they would have to manipulate each an every one of the geometric primitives. This may be a daunting task. On the other hand, if the sensitivity parameter is set too low, a small number of very large geometric primitives may be detected, leading to a vector-based model that obscures or entirely omits important details. For example, a particular physical feature (e.g., a door) may be grouped together with other physical features (e.g., wall portions) and represented by a single geometric primitive. A user may be prevented from manipulating (e.g., moving) the feature to test an alternative design, absent times consuming manual operations to "separate" it from it from the other features.
Second, automatic techniques may be overly processing intensive, and therefore time consuming on typically computing hardware. Point clouds may include an extremely large number of discrete points, and it may require minutes or even hours to process an entire point cloud with an automatic technique on typical computing hardware. This delay may discourage the generation of vector-based models.
In manual techniques, a user is typically required to manually "draw" geometric primitives onto the point cloud, defining the extent of each geometric primitive. To "draw" geometric primitives, a user may manipulate a cursor to select a first specific point of the point cloud. The user may then move from this first point to one or more other specific points that are then selected. Collectively, the selected specific points define the exact bounds of the geometric primitive. However, such manual techniques generally suffer from a number of shortcomings.
First, it may be difficult for a user to accurately select specific points in a point cloud to "draw" the geometric primitive. When displayed on a typical display screen, e.g. a two-dimension (2-D) display screen, a point cloud typically appears completely flat. While each point in the point cloud may represent data at a different distance in 3-D space, when displayed on a 2-D display screen, a user may be unable to discern how far away from the viewing position a point is in 3-D space, without time-consuming additional operations. This may cause it to be difficult to accurately select specific points.
Second, manual approaches may be quite slow. The user may be burdened with precisely "drawing" each geometric primitive by selecting specific points that define their bounds. Given the effort and time required, it may discourage the generation of vector-based models.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved techniques for reconstructing a vector-based model from a point cloud that may address some, or all, of these shortcomings.

Point cloud modeling based on user-provided seed


Embodiments include systems and methods for managing millimeter wave (mmWave) communications with wireless devices capable of mmWave digital beamforming. Various embodiments may enable a wireless device to indicate to a base station that the wireless device is capable of wake-up signal (WUS) reception at mmWave frequencies using digital beamforming. Various aspects may include sending an indication to a base station that the wireless device is capable of using digital beamforming for WUS reception. Various aspects may include scheduling one or more WUS monitoring occasions for a single discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle and a single beam configuration for each of the one or more WUS monitoring occasions.

Long Term Evolution (LTE), fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR), and other recently developed communication technologies allow wireless devices to communicate information at data rates (e.g., in terms of Gigabits per second, etc.) that are orders of magnitude greater than what was available just a few years ago. New technologies enabling increased data rates include the use of higher frequency bands, such as millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency bands, and using beam forming antennas. Millimeter wave frequency bands are susceptible to rapid channel variations and suffer from free-space pathloss and atmospheric absorption. To address these challenges, NR base stations and wireless devices may use highly directional antennas (i.e., beam forming antennas) to achieve sufficient link budget with wireless devices in wide area networks. Such highly directional antennas require precise alignment of the transmitter and the receiver beams, for example, using beam management operations. However, beam management operations may increase the latency of establishing a communication link, and may affect control layer procedures, such as initial access, handover and beam tracking.

User equipment indication of wake up signal reception at millimeter wave frequencies using digital beamforming


A refill cartridge for a printer and an ink refilling apparatus adopting the same. The refill cartridge includes a case having an ink supply outlet and an air hole, a shaft rotatably supported within the case, a propeller installed on the shaft for discharging ink contained in the case to the ink supply outlet, a shaft driving device for rotating the shaft, and an ink supply outlet plug for opening and closing the ink supply outlet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wet electrophotographic printer, and more particularly, to a refill cartridge for a printer having an improved structure to enable ink to be rapidly supplied to an ink cartridge placed in a main body of the printer, and an ink refill apparatus adopting the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a laser printer for a computer or printer applied to a copy machine adopts either a dry developing method using a powdered toner or a wet developing method using a developer liquid obtained by mixing toner with a liquid carrier. Both methods involve electrophotography in which a charged toner or developer liquid is transferred onto a photosensitive medium having a latent static image, and then a paper is passed between a transfer medium rotating in contact with the photosensitive medium, thereby printing an intended image onto a recording paper.
In a conventional electrophotographic printer, ink is supplied to a developing unit via an ink cartridge installed below the developing unit, so it is difficult to allocate the internal space of a printer. That is, the location of the developing unit is limited to a position near the photosensitive belt, so that the location of the ink cartridge is also limited in consideration of the volume of the ink cartridge, replacement and supplementation of ink, cleaning and repairing thereof.
Based on the above considerations, an ink supplying method, in which an ink cartridge is fixed to a position without limitations on the installation space, and in which ink is provided to the ink cartridge using an extra refill cartridge, can be adopted. According to this method, only the refill cartridge is replaced without replacing functional parts normally stored in the ink cartridge, such as a mixer, a dripless valve, an air hole and installation/detachment equipment, thereby lowering the manufacturing costs.
However, when using the refill cartridge, it takes a long time to inject ink into the ink cartridge, so a user must also wait for a long time.

Refill cartridge for printer and ink refill apparatus adopting the same


Methods and apparatus to anonymously request bids from a geographically centered plurality of vendors. The methods and apparatus enable a plurality of vendors to enter line card information (e.g., part numbers) and geographical information (e.g., zip codes) into a central database via a web page. Customers may then search for vendors in their area. The process automatically expands the geographical search area until a customer determined quantity of vendors are found. An anonymous e-mail message (i.e., a message not disclosing customer identity) is then sent to each selected vendor. The e-mail message preferably includes a hyperlink to a web page related to the customer request. Interested vendors may then supply vendor related information (e.g., price and delivery). If the customer locates a vendor able to meet the customer's needs, the customer may select the vendor to complete the purchase via the broker server.

Many businesses rely on machinery. When that machinery fails, it must be quickly replaced or repaired to maximize the profits of the business. Locating a vendor that can provide the needed repair service, provide a replacement machine, and/or provide a needed replacement part can be burdensome.
Currently, businesses with equipment in need of repair rely on telephone directories and/or Internet search engines to locate a vendor. However, telephone directories and existing Internet search engines suffer from certain drawbacks.
Telephone directories do not indicate which vendor currently stocks the needed equipment or parts. In addition, telephone directories do not list prices and other information needed to locate a suitable vendor. As a result, a time consuming effort is needed to call each vendor to gather this type of information.
Customers may use an Internet search engine and/or electronic mail to locate vendors. However, customers often prefer to do business with the closest vendor that can fix the problem. In addition, customers often want to receive multiple bids for a particular job, and the customer may not know how far the search must be expanded in order to find a suitable quantity of vendors. Also, customers are often reluctant to use electronic mail to contact vendors for fear of burdensome follow up calls and e-mails from the vendors. Therefore, there is a need to overcome each of these drawbacks, and there is a need to provide technological advancements to facilitate the location of vendors.

Methods and apparatus for anonymously requesting bids from a customer specified quantity of local vendors with automatic geographic expansion


The present invention relates to an active composition for controlling or eradicating Phthiraptera, Siphonaptera and Acarina Pests, typically in domestic animals, comprising a synergistic combination of at least one A83543 compound and at least one macrocyclic lactone. The invention also relates to the use of the active composition in pesticidal formulations, the formulations themselves and to the various applications of those formulations as pesticides, specifically in controlling all species of Phthiraptera, Siphonaptera and Acarina pests, typically in domestic animals. Such applications include the control of such external Phthiraptera, Siphonaptera and Acarina pests in domestic animals including but not limited to sheep, cattle, poultry, pigs, goats, camelids, horses, dogs and cats.

Historically, the greatest damage to domestic animals and crops has been caused and continues to be caused by pests such as insects, fungi, nematodes and microbes. Insects particularly represent a cause for concern as they are the most numerous of all living organisms and constitute approximately 72% of all animal species. Approximately 1% of insects are considered pests in that they attack humans and/or domestic animals, transmit human, animal and plant diseases, destroy crops, objects and structures and compete for food and other necessities. It is estimated that enormous agricultural losses result worldwide from insect presence.
Domestic animals which include animals of agricultural worth such as sheep, cattle, horses, goats, pigs and other ruminants and monogastrics are almost invariably subject to the activity of pests including insects, acarides, acarina, siphonaptera, phthiraptera, anoplura and mallophaga. External parasites such as ticks, lice and fleas irritate the animals and can cause economic loss in the form of poor quality hide, wool or sheep skin, poor quality meat/tissue, reduced weight gain and even death as a result of the animal carrying harmful parasites.
The losses resulting from insect caused human and animal diseases are also enormous. In fact, insects are considered to be the carriers of more than 250 viruses which are pathogens of humans and higher animals. The numbers of human deaths caused by mosquito transmitted diseases such as malaria and lymphatic filariasis are huge. Flies also transmit human and animal related diseases such as trachoma, trypanosomiasis and river blindness.
However, out of the nearly one million species of arthropods which includes lice, ticks, flies and mites, only a small percentage require the application of control measures. To date, the primary method for controlling insects and other pests, particularly in respect of domestic animals (such as sheep, cattle, goats, horses and hogs) has been by the application of synthetic chemical pesticide compositions. It is estimated that there are at least 35,000 formulated pesticide products worldwide with chemicals as the active ingredients. Such pesticide products include antimicrobials, larvicides, insecticides, animal dips, avicides and disinfectants.
The extensive use of chemical insecticides since the 1940s has resulted in a large number of problems including widespread insect resistance, emergence of secondary pests, hazards to human and animal health as well as detrimental effects on fish and birds, environmental pollution and the increasing economic costs of new insecticides.
Many insect species have developed resistance to the action of specific insecticides so as to necessitate changes in control practices. There is an ever-widening pool of insect pests which are developing multiple resistance. The resistance genes having lengthy persistence in insect genomes which preclude successful reuse of an insecticide to control an insect population with resistant genes.
Pesticide/insecticide residues and their consequential many potential human, animal and environmental risks are also seen as one of the major problems resulting from chemical usage, particularly those formulations containing active agents which include organophosphates or synthetic pyrethroids. With the exception of microbial insecticides, nearly all pesticides result in residues of various chemicals and their degradation products or metabolites which may be present in detectable amounts (ppb to ppm) in food despite food processing. Tissue/meat residues are also a major concern when considering use of insecticides on farm animals.
Potential human risks from the use of such insecticides include acute toxic reactions to the insecticide such as poisoning, skin and eye irritations, as well as possible long term effects such as cancer, birth defects, and reproductive disorders. Acute inhalation toxicity as well as dermal penetration are also potential risks. Health hazards in humans may also arise from repeated exposure to a chemical over a limited period of time.
In particular, the currently used actives of synthetic pyrethroids and organophosphates which are commonly used in insecticidal formulations to control lice and flies, particularly on sheep, are not only toxic to animals but also to the human operator who applies them. Exposure in farmers or operators who handle both pesticide concentrates and the larger volumes of pesticide diluted for use, is a cause for concern. Further, it is possible for the operator to ingest pesticides not only by mouth, but also by breathing (eg spray drift) and by absorption through the skin (accidental spillage). Of particular concern has been the use of organophosphates where accidental exposure causes acute and chronic poisoning affecting the nervous system.
Accordingly, insect and other pest control has been sought to be directed away from exclusive reliance on insecticides and towards the optimisation of environmental and economic insect and pest control (integrated pest management). The application of microbial control in which insects are attacked by pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, fungi and protozoa are favoured as such microbial insecticides are highly selective for insect pests and do not leave toxic residues. However, such microbial insecticides are not without their problems such as the difficulty in applying as well as confining the natural enemy/parasite/disease to a large area. Further, they also have the disadvantage of short residual action and extreme specificity which limits general applicability.
Biological control has been recently applied in the area of insecticides/pesticides through the release of sterilised male insects. Genetic engineering has also recently been applied by way of mass introduction of deleterious mutations such as chromosomal translocations. However, such procedures are very expensive and stringent criteria are required before release of sterile males is contemplated. Chemosterilants which sterilise large segments of insect pest populations are also known but are strong carcinogens which precludes their use.
The use of chemical insecticides and pesticides and their environmental and economic viability, the dangerous nature and magnitude of the persisting residues as well as increasing insect and pest resistance, together with high toxicity levels of many chemical insecticides, has resulted in the search for new substances or approaches to insect and other pest control.
There is therefore a need for compounds and combinations thereof which can be used as active agents in pesticides, particularly against insects which afflict domestic animals or their environs, and which are effective at low application rates, selective in biologic action and have low toxicity and a high margin of safety to humans, crops, economic animals, aquatic organisms and birds. Such compounds and combinations must be both environmentally friendly in that there must be demonstrably low impacts on the environment, as well as economically viable to use on a large scale. Further, there must be none or little insect or other pest resistance to such compounds or combinations. Fermentation product A83543, also known as spinosyn, includes a family of related compounds (spinosyns) produced by Saccharopolyspora spinosa. These are naturally derived fermentation products with a positive safety profile in contrast to currently used synthetic organically derived compounds (such as synthetic pyrethroids, organophosphates, organochlorines and carbamates), and have previously been shown to exhibit excellent insecticidal activity. Accordingly by the term "A83543 compounds" which has the same scope as the phrase "spinosyn and derivatives and analogues thereof" is meant components consisting of a 5,6,5-tricyclic ring system, fused to a 12-membered macrocyclic lactone, a neutral sugar (2N,3N,4N-tri-O-methylrhamnose) and an amino sugar (forosamine). The family of natural components of A83543 include a genus taught in EPO patent application No. 0375316 and having the following general formula:
wherein R1 is H or a group selected from
and R2, R4, R3, R5 and R6 are hydrogen or methyl; or an acid addition salt thereof when R1 is other than hydrogen.
The family of compounds from A83543 fermentation product has been shown to comprise individual compounds A83543A, A83453B, A83543C, A83453D, A83543E, A83453F, A83543G, A83453H, A83543J, A83453L, A83543M, A83453N, A83543Q, A83453R, A83543S, A83453T, A83453U, A83543V, A83453W, A83453X. Boeck et al. described spinosyns A-H and J and salts thereof in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,362,634, 5,496,932 and 5,571,901 which are incorporated herein by reference. Mynderse et al. described spinosyns L-N, their N-demethyl derivatives and salts thereof in U.S. Pat. No. 5,202,242 incorporated herein by reference. Turner et al. described spinosyns Q-T, their N-demethyl derivatives and salts thereof in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,591,606, 5,631,155 and 5,767,253 which are also incorporated herein by reference. Spinosyns K,O,P,U,V,W, and Y are described in the article by DeAmicis, C. V. et al. in American Chemical Society's Symposium Series: Phytochemicals for Pest Control (1997), Chapter 11 "Physical and Biological Properties of Spinosyns: Novel Macrolide Pest-Control Agents from Fermentation" pp 146-154.
Spinosyn A (A83543A) was the first spinosyn isolated and identified from the fermentation broth of Saccharapolyspora spinosa. Subsequent examination of the fermentation broth revealed that the parent strain of S. spinosa produced a number of spinosyns (A83543A to J). Compared to spinosyn A, spinosyns B to J are characterised by differences in the substitution patterns on the amino group of the forosamine, at selected sites on the ring system and on the neutral sugar. The strains of S. spinosa produce a mixture of spinosyns which primary components are spinosyn A (˜85%) and spinosyn D (˜15%). These are the two spinosyns that are currently known as the most active as insecticides.
Similar to the spinosyns, macrocyclic lactones have also previously been shown to exhibit excellent insecticidal activity. Macrocyclic lactones have a complex ring structure and include such well known anthelmintic compounds as avermectins and milbemycins. The avermectins are isolated from fermentation products of Streptomyces avermitilis and ivermectin is a compound which is a semisynthetic chemical formed by modification of avermectin. The basic structure of the avermectins is a 16-membered lactone ring to which are appended three main substituent groups: a hexahydrobenzofuran group, a disaccharide group (at C-13) and a spiroketal ring (C-17 to C-28). Doramectin is a novel avermectin. Milbemycins are other compounds which are not avermectins but which can be considered to come within the class of compounds which are macrocyclic lactones. The milbemycins differ structurally from the avermectin group, mainly in the absence of a disaccharide group on C-13. Milbemycin D and milbemycin 5-oxime are two such macrocyclic lactones. Moxidectin is derived from the fermentation product nemadectin and possesses a methoxime substituent on C-23.
The present invention resides in the discovery of a synergistic combination of pesticidal compounds, the formulation and application of specific pesticidally active agents based on the synergistic combination and their use in pesticidal formulations against Phthiraptera, Siphonaptera and Acarina pests, particularly in domestic animals.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An embodiment of the present invention is directed to an automated validation tool for migration from a source system to a target system. The system comprises: a memory component; an interactive interface that receives one or more user inputs; and a validation engine comprising a processor, coupled to the memory component and the interactive interface, the validation engine configured to perform the steps comprising: initiating a migration process from a source system to a target system; identifying a source identifier of the source system and a target identifier of the target system; performing validation of the migration process; comparing project configuration data of the source system and the target system; comparing project data of the source system and the target system; and providing, via the interactive interface, validation results.

Defect or issue tracking systems, such as JIRA, oftentimes service tens of thousands of technologists and support staff. To support various applications and services, any large company may create additional instances of a JIRA platform to support the growing needs of the development community. For example, a global banking entity may have over 20 instances of the platform to support various activities. As new services and products evolve, a vendor may introduce a new clustered architecture, such as a data center system, that essentially removes the need for the standalone instances, e.g., server farms. However, with the introduction of new clustered architectures, oftentimes the vendor does not provide functionality to move projects from the standalone instances to the new data center architecture. For large companies, estimates from outside consulting firms to migrate the projects and data are generally in the millions. Further, these estimates do not provide any assurances or confirmation that data in the target location (data center) is identical to the source location (standalone instances) and that the underlying platform is validated prior to production use.
Accordingly, current vendors do not offer a validation methodology to move projects and data between their legacy and current versions. Instead, current practices suggested by vendors is to start fresh in the new environment. However, historical data is necessary to maintain developmental delivery dates as well as to maintain complete audit records of past defects and releases. As a result, companies are required to perform a manual, labor intensive procedure to transfer complex data to the new platform.
These and other drawbacks exist.

Method and system for implementing an automated data validation tool


A boardlock is provided for holding down the housing of an electrical connector to a circuit board, which can be constructed at low cost and which assures good electrical and mechanical connection between the connector housing and circuit board. The boardlock is designed to be pushed downwardly through a cylindrical hole in a connector flange and through a larger diameter cylindrical hole drilled into the circuit board. The boardlock is formed from a piece of sheet metal which is bent to form largely tubular upper and lower portions (40, 42, FIG. 2 ) received respectively in the flange hole and in the larger diameter board hole, with largely vertical edges of the bent sheet metal engaging the walls of the hole. The boardlock has a pair of horizontal separation slots (76, 78) extending a limited distance from each vertical edge to separate the upper and lower portions, to allow the edge regions (86, 88) of the lower tubular portion to be bent to a larger radius of curvature to engage the walls of the larger circuit board hole. A vertical middle portion (62) of the boardlock has a projecting bump (60) on the lower tubular portion to center the lower tubular portion in the circuit board hole. The lower tubular portion forms a pair of fingers (56, 58) that lie within the top of the circuit board hole, and which press against the lower surface of the housing flange. The tapered bottom portions of the boardlock have slits forming ramps to which solder adheres, so any pullout forces cause compression of some of the solder.

One type of electrical connector has a housing designed to mount directly against the upper surface of a circuit board, with the connector contacts having termination ends engaged with conductive traces on the circuit board. The connector housing can be held to the circuit board by a pair of boardlocks that pass through holes in a pair of housing flanges and through corresponding holes that have been drilled into the circuit board. In most cases, the circuit board holes have been plated, with some of the plating coating the walls of the hole and additional portions lying on upper and lower faces of the board around the hole, to establish the board hole and connector housing at ground potential. With the boardlocks installed, the electrical connections between the connector and board may be soldered as by wave soldering. Each boardlock preferably has portions that abut both the upper and lower portions of the flange to lock securely to the connector during handling and shipment to the customer who will assemble it to the circuit board. Each boardlock also preferably makes firm contact with plated walls of the circuit board hole at several locations. In addition, the boardlock should offer high resistance to pullout from the circuit board in the final assembly. A boardlock which could be constructed at low cost and which provided the above features, would be of considerable value.


Methods and systems are disclosed for facilitating customized process flows at an event. A beacon generating device is positioned at the event and is configured to transmit information including a unique identifier associated with the beacon generating device. A user having a mobile communications device running an event management application detects the transmission and sends the detected unique identifier to an event management server. Alternatively, the user's mobile communications device generates and transmits a beacon that is detected by an event organizer device. The event management server returns information to allow the mobile communications device or the event organizer device to run an event-related process.

Websites are commonly configured to allow user devices to conduct a wide variety of actions online, such as viewing content, writing reviews, ordering items, purchasing tickets, etc. The website presents the user device with a menu of action choices, and upon user selection, the website typically redirects the user device to a different webpage where the action is completed.
For example, some websites allow users to organize and administer events using an online event management system, such as the Eventbrite event management platform hosted by Eventbrite, Inc., of San Francisco, Calif. (see www.eventbrite.com). An event organizer may use such a system to organize and manage various aspects of an event, such as attendee registrations, ticket sales, event promotion, attendee check-in at the event, etc. An online event management system may also allow customers to view event profiles, register for events, purchase tickets for events, check-in for events, etc.
An event management system may also be utilized to manage event-related tasks conducted at the venue of a scheduled event, such as sales of merchandise, refreshments and other items, event registration and/or ticketing, check-in of registered event attendees, communication with event attendees, etc. However, many problems currently exist in how an event management system is utilized to manage event-related tasks at an event. As an example, customer purchases using credit cards and cash at dedicated point of sale terminals can result in long and slow moving lines. As a further example, checking in to an event using a bar code scanner to scan a physical ticket can result in a slow entry process. As yet another example, the use of a near-field communication (NFC) system would provide a faster check in process and an improved purchase experience at an event, but NFC communications require close proximity and specialized equipment that may not be available to a large amount of event attendees. As a further example, the use of a radio-frequency identification (RFID) system may also provide a faster check in process and an improved purchase experience at the event, but an RFID system requires the shipping and fulfillment of specialized bracelets to event attendees prior to an event.
Thus, it would be desirable to continue to expand the number of features that can be provided by the event management system at the event to further enhance the experience of both event attendees and event organizers. Further, such enhancement could provide a faster check in procedure at the event, quick and easy purchases at the event, and delivery of relevant information and more flexibility as to where and how these experiences are delivered to event attendees.

Event management system for facilitating user interactions at a venue


Apparatus for reducing the water content of water-containing, granular brown coal under the action of thermal energy and pressure on the material (14) distributed flat in bed form using a press (9, 10) in which the brown coal is subjected to a mechanically applied initial surface pressure and which is furnished with orifices (21) for feeding steam (HD) which, supplying thermal energy to the brown coal, heats this, with condensation, and the hot water (HW) contained in the heated brown coal is expressed for use as a waste-heat source, a vessel (30) being provided for collecting the hot water (HW), from which vessel the hot water (HW) is passed to the orifices (21) in the press (9, 10), and which vessel is furnished with an inlet for the steam (HD) for expelling the hot water (HW).

The invention relates to an apparatus for reducing the water content of water-containing, granular brown coal under the action of thermal energy and pressure on the material distributed in bed form. An apparatus of this type and the process carried out using it are described in patent application PCT/EP95/03814. The process comprises the features that
a) the brown coal is subjected to a mechanically applied initial surface pressure which is below the maximum surface pressure occurring in the process and at which thermal energy is supplied to the brown coal by steam which heats the brown coal, with condensation, PA1 b) and then, without further supply of steam, the surface pressure is increased to at least 2.0 MPa to such an extent that the water present in the heated brown coal is expressed or squeezed out, PA1 c) the brown coal being preheated by waste heat, prior to the supply of steam, and the waste-heat source used being hot water expressed from the brown coal from an earlier pass in the process. PA1 in which brown coal is thermally dewatered by introducing superheated steam into the brown coal contained in an autoclave in a pressurized atmosphere of approximately 3.0 MPa.
The considerable engineering and energetic advantages produced in this process are described in the said patent application in which, in addition, the fundamental form of two apparatuses for carrying out the above-described process is dealt with, that is to say a double-belt press for receiving brown coal distributed flat in bed form, and a platen press which has a press ram and press base and which receives the brown coal distributed flat in bed form.
The journal "Braunkohle 39 (1987) issue 4, pages 78 to 87" describes another process for dewatering brown coal, the so-called "Flei.beta.ner process",
The brown coal heated by this means, after emptying the autoclave, is transferred to a dry coal bunker, where the thermally dewatered brown coal is cooled by post-ventilation and thus post-dried. In conjunction with this process, during emptying of the autoclave, hot water contained therein is conducted away separately as waste water and fed to an adjacent autoclave to heat the cold brown coal contained therein.

Apparatus for reducing the water content of water-containing brown coal

Maschinenfabrik J. Dieffenbacher GmbH & Co.


An image sensor package includes a substrate, a sensor chip, a frame, a lens element and at least a pair of guide pins. The sensor chip is mounted on the substrate, and has two opposite sides and a sensing region, which has a sensing region central axis. The frame is mounted on the substrate, and has an aperture and an inner space with the sensor chip disposed therein. The lens element is disposed inside the aperture and has a lens central axis. The guide pins locate oppositely inside the inner space of the frame with an interval between the tips of the guide pins substantially identical to the distance between the opposite sides of the sensor chip, wherein the central line of the interval between the tips of the guide pins defines a positioning line, which substantially coincides with the lens central axis; wherein the tip of each guide pin is aligned with one of the opposite sides of the sensor chip such that the positioning line is substantially coincided with the sensing region central axis.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a semiconductor package and packaging method thereof, and more particularly, to an image sensor package and a packaging method for the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional solid-state image device, as disclosed in Japanese patent publication number 61-134187 and entitled "Solid-State Image Pickup Device" as shown in FIG. 1, a CCD image sensing chip 303 is attached to a substrate 301 by means of an adhesive 302 and the substrate 301 has erected side walls 305 at its surroundings. A frame 307 for carrying a lens element 308 is fixed on the side walls 305 by means of an adhesive 306. However, in an actual packaging process, when the CCD image sensing chip 303 is attached to the substrate 301 by means of the adhesive 302, a positional error of the CCD image sensing chip 303 may be introduced such that the central axis 303c of the chip 303 may deviate from a predetermined central line 300c, i.e. de-center caused by the die attachment process. In addition, when fixing the frame 307 with the adhesive 306, a second positional error may be introduced such that the central axis 308c of the lens element 308 may deviate from the predetermined central line 300c to cause further de-center. In the solid-state image device 300, the positional deviation between the central axis 303c of the CCD image sensing chip 303 and the central axis 308c of the lens element 308 is preferably controlled within 20 micrometers such that the imaging beams from the lens element 308 can fall onto the effective sensing region of the CCD image sensing chip 303 and the captured image can be fully displayed without the shading phenomenon.
In order to solve the aforementioned misalignment problem, many methods have been provided in the art to decrease the occurrence of de-center, as disclosed in Japanese patent publication number 9-232548 and entitled "Solid-State Image Pickup Device" as shown in FIG. 2. In this reference, a plurality of stepped positioning portions 4, 5 and 6 are formed on a single supporting member 2 and then a solid-state image device 7, a lens element 8 and a diaphragm plate 9 are sequentially mounted on those positioning portions so as to improve positioning accuracy during packaging and decrease the occurrence of de-center. However, in an actual packaging process, manufacturing errors still exist for the positioning portions 4 of the solid-state image device 7 and the positioning portions 5 of the lens element 8. The accumulations of the manufacturing errors of the positioning portions 4 and 5 can still affect positioning accuracies of each element and introduce de-center. In addition, in this solid-state image pickup device, the supporting member 2 is directly formed on the leadframe 3 and thus the device is only applicable to a solid-state image device with a low pin count. As to a solid-state image device with a high pin count, the leadframe 3 cannot fulfill its requirement and therefore it is necessary to use the chip on board (COB) package. However, the supporting member 2 of the solid-state image device cannot be formed directly on the substrate.
According to the above reasons, it is necessary to further improve the above mentioned solid-state image device so as to solve the problem of positional deviation between the lens element and the chip in a COB-type image sensor package.

Image sensor package and packaging method for the same


A magnetic disk drive with a head stack assembly includes a body portion, a coil portion cantilevered from one side of the body portion, and an actuator arm cantilevered to the opposite side of the body portion, wherein the body portion includes a plastic inner sleeve to provide a quick, press-fit connection with a pivot bearing cartridge. The body portion further includes a non-plastic outer portion which is preferably part of an aluminum E-block having integrally formed actuator arms. The plastic inner sleeve and non-plastic outer portion preferably include a spline and a recess, respectively, that are firmly compressed together by the press-fit connection to prevent relative angular motion. The plastic inner sleeve preferably includes a flat that is aligned with the spline and recess in order to contact the pivot cartridge along the flat and thereby ensure that the press-fit forces are focused onto the spline and recess. The preferred head stack assembly further includes a molding port at a rear portion of the non-plastic outer portion so that the plastic inner sleeve and a plastic overmold of the coil portion may be simultaneously formed and interconnected via the molding port, the molding port and plastic interconnection serving to prevent relative longitudinal motion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk drive and more particularly to a magnetic disk drive having a head stack assembly with a plastic inner sleeve.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Related Information
A typical hard disk drive includes a head disk assembly ("HDA") and a printed circuit board assembly ("PCBA"). The HDA includes at least one magnetic disk ("disk"), a spindle motor for rotating the disk, and a head stack assembly ("HSA") that includes a head with at least one transducer for reading and writing data. The HSA is controllably positioned by a servo system in order to read or write information from or to particular tracks on the disk. The typical HSA has three primary portions: (1) an actuator assembly that moves in response to the servo control system; (2) a head gimbal assembly ("HGA") that extends from the actuator assembly and biases the head towards the disk; and (3) a flex cable assembly that provides an electrical interconnect with minimal constraint on movement.
The industry presently prefers a "rotary" or "swing-type" actuator assembly which conventionally comprises a body portion that rotates on a pivot bearing cartridge between limited positions, a coil portion that extends from one side of the body portion to interact with one or more permanent magnets to form a voice coil motor, and an actuator arm that extends from an opposite side of the body portion to support the HGA.
A typical HGA includes a load beam, a gimbal attached to an end of the load beam, and a head attached to the gimbal. The load beam has a spring function which provides a "gram load" biasing force and a hinge function which permits the head to follow the surface contour of the spinning disk. The load beam has an actuator end that connects to the actuator am and a gimbal end that connects to the gimbal which carries the head and transmits the gram load biasing force to the head to "load" the head against the disk. A rapidly spinning disk develops a laminar air flow above its surface that lifts the head away from the disk in opposition to the gram load biasing force. The head is said to be "flying" over the disk when in this state.
Early head stack assemblies typically included an all metal "E-block" which included an all metal body portion and metal actuator arms that were formed from a single block of metal, e.g. aluminum. A metal pivot bearing cartridge was installed in the bore of the HSA via a side-pull screw. Such E-blocks provided consistent grounding of the actuator arms and unitary movement of the actuator arms such that relative radial movement between the arms, due to, for example temperature changes, was insignificant.
Later head stack assemblies, often called "hybrid" HSAs, were typically formed by overmolding a plastic body portion over several individual metal actuator arms. Hybrid HSAs were an improvement over the E-block HSAs from an assembly point of view because the plastic body portion allowed metal pivot bearing cartridges to be press-fit into the bore of the plastic body portion. Such press-fitting reduced the cost of assembling the components since screws and the associated threaded openings in the pivot bearing cartridge and the body portion were eliminated. Also, particulates due to inserting the screw into the associated threaded openings were not generated and press-fitting the pivot bearing cartridge into the bore was quicker which reduced assembly time of the components.
In hybrid HSAs, a vertical ground pin was needed to connect the individual actuator arms to one another within the plastic body portion to provide grounding to the actuator arms. Hybrid HSAs, however, were subject to inconsistent grounding because of inadequate contact between the ground pin and the actuator arms after the ground pin was inserted in respective holes in the arms. Moreover, thermal relaxation of the plastic body portion could cause the metal actuator arms to move out of radial alignment relative to one another such as during drive operation when significant temperature changes occurred within the disk drive.

Head stack assembly for a disk drive having a plastic inner sleeve


According to one embodiment, an electric power management apparatus is for controlling electric power of at least one home appliance using at least one rechargeable battery. The apparatus includes an analysis unit, a first generating unit, and a second generating unit. The analysis unit analyzes a charge residue of the rechargeable battery. The first generating unit generates a control schedule used to control the electric power of the home appliance in accordance with the charge residue. The second generating unit generates a charge/discharge schedule used to control charge and discharge of the rechargeable battery in accordance with the charge residue.

An electric power management system (for realizing Demand Response (DR)) is known in which a demand (request) for power saving is issued from an electric power company to an electric power management server (=an electric power management apparatus) in order to balance supply and demand of electric power. The electric power management server controls the equipment to manage in order to respond to the power saving demand. Rechargeable batteries are included in the equipment to manage. There is a case where the electricity accumulated in a rechargeable battery is used to meet the demand.
Rechargeable batteries may not be fully charged to prevent aging degradation. This makes it difficult to sufficiently exhibit the performance of the batteries when responding to the power saving demand.

Electric power management apparatus, system and method


A cleaning head for carpets, walls or upholstery, including a rigid, exterior, open-bottomed main body which defines the surface subjected to the cleaning process. Mounted within or adjacent to the main body portion coplanar with the bottom thereof is the fluid-applying device, which includes a slot at an acute angle to the plane of the bottom of the body located adjacent the plane of the bottom of the body, configured such that the fluid is applied in a thin sheet which flows out of the slot and into the upper portion of the surface to be cleaned and subsequently into the vacuum source for recovery  method for cleaning a surface comprises providing a cleaning tool including a lower surface contact area defined by a lip surrounding an opening through which a vacuum is applied and a liquid supply means adjacent the lip, placing the lower surface contact area in contact with a surface to be cleaned, applying a cleaning liquid to the surface to be cleaned within the lower surface contact area by flowing a substantially continuous film of cleaning liquid from an angled delivery slot of the liquid supply means over a portion of the lower surface contact area, and suctioning the film of cleaning liquid through the opening in the cleaning tool.

Since the first installation of carpeting and upholstery, there have been innumerable ways and theories as to the best approach for keeping the carpeting and other fabric material clean, including wet versus dry cleaning, deep versus shallow cleaning, and invariably an equal number of instruments or tools to effect the cleaning process. The most commonly used cleaning method today is the process of applying cleaning fluid as a spray under pressure to the surface to both dissolve the dirt and stains and to scrub the fibers and simultaneously apply a vacuum or negative pressure to extract the cleaning fluid and the soil captured thereby. Although this relatively high pressure method is the method most commonly used, it has some disadvantages. First, it must be remembered that the very nature of the soiled surface defines that the majority of the soil will be at or near the surface of the fibers and, therefore, a high pressure cleaning tends to drive some of the surface soil and cleaning fluid deeper, thereby requiring a very powerful vacuum system to extract those particles which have been driven beneath the outermost surface. Further, the use of cleaning fluid under pressure, applied through conventional jets, likewise drives the fluid itself deeper, and the fluid that is not immediately removed by the vacuum source takes a significantly longer amount of time to dry. Again, an inconvenience; but further, if the carpeting is used prior to the time it is completely dry, it is more likely to become soiled. Further, the sprayed fluid is atomized and comes into contact with the air, causing significant heat loss, diminishing the cleaning power of the fluid.
Numerous different approaches to spraying cleaning fluid under pressure and then removing it with a vacuum are illustrated in the prior art supplied herewith but will not be discussed in detail.
Another approach to the cleaning of carpeting and upholstery has been the use of a rotating device wherein the entire machine is transported over the carpeting while the cleaning head is rotated about a vertical axis. Typically, these machines include a plurality of arms, each of which includes one or more spray nozzles or a vacuum source providing a more intense scrubbing action since, in general, more scrubbing surfaces contact the carpet. These devices are primarily illustrated in the patents granted to Monson, and again, these devices are listed in the prior art known to the inventor but not discussed in detail herewith.
A third body of material wherein the cleaning fluid is either attempted to be deflected or otherwise controlled is illustrated hereinbelow.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,137,600, granted to Albishausen on Feb. 6, 1970, discloses a cleaning apparatus wherein the cleaning fluid is changed into a liquid curtain by a baffle within the cleaning head.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,486, granted to Kochte on Jan. 22, 1982, discloses a surface cleaning machine wherein the cleaning fluid is deposited upon the surface of the carpet pile from a wick like device which is wetted with the cleaning fluid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,594, granted to Grave on Mar. 17, 1987, discloses a cleaning head wherein the cleaning solution is sprayed through a narrow passage and some is wicked along the surface of the passage.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,805, granted to Pinter on Oct. 27, 1992, discloses a method and apparatus for cleaning a carpet wherein the cleaning fluid is sprayed by nozzle against the back of a striker plate and then flows downwardly and through the carpet to a pickup vacuum.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,884, granted to Nijland et al on Oct. 8, 1996, discloses a suction attachment spray member wherein the fluid is sprayed against the distributor plate, which creates a planar diverging liquid jet substantially filling the vacuum chamber.


The present invention teaches a method for enabling the formation of a high damping, soft polymer gel. The method includes: reacting a poly(.alpha.-olefin-co-maleimide) polymer with a maleated polyalkylene and an alkyl diamine under substantially dry conditions sufficient to form a polyalkylene grafted poly(.alpha.-olefin-co-maleimide) polymer product; and, dispersing the polyalkylene grafted poly(.alpha.-olefin-co-maleimide) polymer product with an extender oil sufficient to form the gel. The present invention also contemplates a polymer gel composition, a polymer composition and an article manufactured from the polymer gel composition.

The polymerization of olefins such as octadene and maleic anhydride by free radical initiation is well known in the prior art. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,742, to Gupta; Vijai P., as the first step, maleic anhydride and a C.sub.2 -C.sub.8 olefin are typically polymerized in the presence of a free radical initiator in a blend of a reaction solvent selected from the group consisting of esters of acetic acid, formic acid, and propionic acid and a C.sub.6 -C.sub.12 hydrocarbon diluent. Further, imidization between a maleic anhydride and an alkyl amine group is a commonly known chemical reaction. Patent publications which have recognized these reactions include: German Patent DE 4241538, assigned to Leuna-Werke A.-G; Japanese Patent JP 94248017, assigned to Monsanto Kasel Kk.; and, Italian Patent EP 322905 A2, assigned to Montedipe S.p.A. Various other non-patent publications have also recognized these reactions. Included among them are: L. E. Colleman, Jr., J. F. Bork, and H. Donn, Jr., J. Org. Chem., 24, 185(1959); A. Matsumoto, Y. Oki, and T. Otsu, Polymer J., 23(3), 201(1991); L. Haeussler, U. Wienhold, V. Albricht, and S. Zschoche, Themochim. Acta, 277, 14(1966); W. Kim, and K. Seo, Macromol. Rapid Commun., 17, 835(1996); W. Lee, and G. Hwong, J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 59, 599(1996); 1. Vermeesch and G. Groeninckx, J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 53, 1356(1994); Y. Kita, K. Kishino, and K. Nakagawa, J. Appl. Polymer. Sci. 63, 1055 (1997).
The synthesis of various monofunctional N-alkyl and N-aryl maleimides are also well known in the prior art. These maleimides have been extensively used to improve the heat stability of homo- and especially copolymers such as ABS (poly(acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene)) or a polyblend of poly(acrylonitrile-butadiene) and poly-(styrene-acrylonitrile); PVC (poly(vinyl chloride)); SAN (poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile)); PMMA (poly(methyl methacrylate)); and the like. These maleimides may be copolymerized with other monomers such as acrylonitrile, butadiene, styrene, methyl methacrylate, vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate and many other comonomers. A more preferred practice in the industry is to produce copolymers of maleimides with other monomers and optionally with acrylonitrile and to blend the resultant copolymer with ABS and SAN resins. In any event, the copolymer compositions are adjusted to be fully compatible with the bulk resins (e.g., ABS and/or SAN) as shown by the presence of a single glass transition point (T.sub.g) as determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Maleimide-containing vinyl resins and their use in the manufacture of parts for automobiles, electrical and electronic machinery and appliances, because of their good heat resistance, impact resistance and moldability, are generally described, for example, in U.S Pat. No. 3,652,726, U.S. Pat. No. 3,676,404, U.S. Pat. No. 3,766,142, U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,734, U.S. Pat. No. 4,374,951, U.S. Pat. No. 4,381,373, U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,700, U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,275, U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,829, U.S. Pat. No. 4,879,343, U.S. Pat. No. 4,914,138, U.S. Pat. No. 4,954,571, U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,669, U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,651, U.S. Pat. No. 5,091,470 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,052. As noted above, U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,742, to Gupta; Vijai P., discloses copolymer suspensions of maleic anhydride and C.sub.2 -C.sub.8 olefins used in the manufacture of synthetic fibers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,380, to Doi, relates to a resin composition comprising an N-alkyl-substituted maleimide/olefin copolymer and a specified resin, which has excellent heat resistance, rigidity, izod impact strength, weather resistance and dimensional resistance. U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,925, to Ueda, et. al., disclose Diels-Alder reaction-type adduct of an alpha, beta-unsaturated dicarboxylic acid anhydride and an olefin or a derivative of the adduct as an active ingredient in deodorants. All of the above are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes as if fully set forth. It has long been recognized that two or more polymers may be blended together to form a wide variety of random or structured morphologies to obtain products that potentially offer desirable combinations of characteristics. However, it may be difficult or even impossible in practice to achieve many potential combinations through simple blending because of some inherent and fundamental problem. Frequently, the two polymers are thermodynamically immiscible, which precludes generating a truly homogeneous product. This immiscibility may not be a problem per se since often it is desirable to have a two-phase structure. However, the situation at the interface between these two phases very often does lead to problems. The typical case is one of high interfacial tension and poor adhesion between the two phases. This interfacial tension contributes, along with high viscosities, to the inherent difficulty of imparting the desired degree of dispersion to random mixtures and to their subsequent lack of stability, giving rise to gross separation or stratification during later processing or use. Poor adhesion leads, in part, to the very weak and brittle mechanical behavior often observed in dispersed blends and may render some highly structured morphologies impossible.
As a general rule, it is particularly desirable to prepare a grafted polymer having the impact strength of polypropylene and the elastomeric properties of a block copolymer and to extend the resultant copolymer with a high oil or low molecular weight component content to obtain a soft material having a low Shore A hardness. Similarly in the case of the present invention it is particularly desirable to prepare a grafted poly.alpha.-olefin-(co)-(maleimide)!, so as to obtain a soft material having a low Shore A hardness.
Thus, the oil or low molecular weight component extended grafted polymers of this invention, comprising the grafting of a poly.alpha.-olefin-(co)-(maleimide)! to a maleated polypropylene by the use of a difunctional grafting agent reactive with the anhydride groups on the centipede polymer and the maleate groups of the maleated polypropylene, are not currently known to the prior art.

Gels derived from extending grafted .alpha.-olefin-maleimide centipede polymers and polypropylene


The terahertz-wave connector includes: a 2D-PC slab; lattice points periodically arranged in the 2D-PC slab, the lattice points for diffracting the THz waves in PBG frequencies of photonic band structure of the 2D-PC slab in order to prohibit existence in a plane of the 2D-PC slab; a 2D-PC waveguide disposed in the 2D-PC slab and formed with a line defect of the lattice points; and an adiabatic mode converter disposed at the edge face of the 2D-PC slab to which the 2D-PC waveguide extended, the 2D-PC waveguide extended to the adiabatic mode converter. There is provided also the THz-wave IC to which such a terahertz-wave connector is applied.

In recent years, for THz wave band (0.1 THz to 10 THz) positioned in intermediate frequencies between electromagnetic waves and light waves, studies of applicabilities of ultra high-speed wireless communications, sensing, imaging, etc. have become active, and there has been expected its practical application. However, since THz-wave systems are composed of large-sized and three-dimensional structured components under the current circumstances, large-sized and expensive configurations are required for such THz-wave systems. In order to miniaturize the whole of such systems, implementation of THz-wave ICs integrating devices is indispensable.
Utilization of technologies of both of a light wave region and an electric wave region can be considered as fundamental technologies of the THz-wave ICs. However, optical components, e.g. lenses, mirrors, are composed of large-sized and three-dimensional structured components, and therefore are not suitable for the integration. Moreover, it is becoming difficult to produce hollow metal waveguides used in the electric wave region due to its fine three-dimensional structure. A waveguide loss in planar metallic-transmission lines is increased as effect of metallic absorption is increased.
As a fundamental technology of THz-wave ICs, there has been studied applicability of a 2D-PC slab where outstanding progress is seen in the light wave region (e.g., refer to Non Patent Literatures 1-3.).
The waveguide for the THz wave band is standardized in a range from WR6 (110 GHz to 170 GHz) to WR1 (0.75 THz to 1.1 THz). Although the cross-sectional size is as small as in a range from 1651 μm×826 μm to 254 μm×127 μm, it needs to be formed by machining and be fixed with a screw at the connection. For example, there is a loss of approximately 0.5 dB in WR3 (220 GHz to 325 GHz) (e.g., refer to Non Patent Literature 4.).
Moreover, there have been also reviewed resonant and waveguiding line defect modes in a two-dimensional electromagnetic band-gap slab structure for millimeter wave frequency bands (e.g., refer to Non Patent Literature 5.).
Moreover, generally in the PC waveguide, since not only the THz wave band, but also a terminal portion of the waveguide has a large refractive index difference between semiconductor and air, there is influence of light interference (Fabry-Pérot resonance) and multiple reflection due to edge face reflection (e.g., refer to Non Patent Literature 6.).

Teraherz-wave connector and teraherz-wave integrated circuits, and wave guide and antenna structure


The present invention is a cannabidiol oral dosage form including predominantly or exclusively hemp pomace, compounded as a tablet or formulated within a capsule without the addition of synthetic excipients, fillers or other additives, not including the inevitable presence of some moisture and the optional presence of fungal or bacterial probiotics introduced prior to or during dosage form manufacturing, and with or without fermentation of the hemp pomace prior to the dosage form manufacturing process. The dosage forms contain dietary fiber, important to activity as the desired delivery system, having a ratio of one part soluble dietary fiber to 30 parts insoluble dietary fiber and delivers desirable/non hallucinogenic cannabinoids (CBD, CBG) in a ratio of 30:1 up to 120:1 to hallucinogenic cannabinoids (THC).

Cannabis indica, Cannabis sativa and Cannabis ruderalis have had a long (and truly only recently putatively dishonorable) history, indisputably from very early human horticulture. As of this writing, The History Channel recently devoted an entire special issue magazine to the story of Cannabis throughout the world, indicating (without limitation) that Queen Victoria's physician probably prescribed versions of Cannabis medicaments for pain management, and so forth. With a historic fast forward to the 2018 "Farm Bill" (Agricultural Improvements Act of 2018, 115th Congress, 2017-2018) the United States law now acknowledges that industrial hemp, a Cannabis plant with less than 0.3% tetra hydro cannabinol (THC) is not "marijuana" for the purpose of the Controlled Substances Act. This means that hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) and related cannabinoids such as cannabigerol (CBG) and cannabichromene (CBC) can now ostensibly be produced and sold as a consumable agricultural products in the United States, whereas prior to the 2018 Farm Bill hemp could be grown and used in the U.S. only for research purposes under individual states' pilot programs and in certain categories such as clothing, industrial materials and products made from the plant's stalks or seeds. In other words, 2018 was a watershed year for health care providers, consumer packaged goods companies and the pharmaceutical industry, creating for the first time a legal (or nascently legal) domestic source of cannabinoids (primarily CBD)—from U.S.grown hemp.
This watershed has led to a predictable avalanche of hemp growing, extraction, formulation and processing in the United States, to produce CBD and a myriad of products containing it. As a result, more-retail-cash-registers-than-not offer various CBD products for sale—sometimes many edible offerings such as individually wrapped chocolates containing CBD along with CBD topicals, oils and capsules—and of course online sales are brisk as well. CBD has long been known for its pain relieving, relaxing, sleep supporting, anxiety reducing benefits, rather than intoxicant properties, and sales of CBD containing products have been understandably swift and growing in the U.S. from 2018 to date.
As with any newly popular ingredient, there are opportunities for high quality products as well as those of lesser value and benefit. There are currently reliable, responsible cannabinoid rich hemp growers, manufacturers and, presumably, also formulators and peddlers reminiscent of the "snake oil salesmen" of the American 1800s. This "snake oil" analogy is apt, because Chinese snake oil was a legitimate anti-inflammatory substance for decades if not centuries, prior to faux iterations that appeared later in the U.S. The original Chinese snake oil was made from the oil of the Chinese water snake, which was rich in the omega-3-fatty acids that are known to reduce inflammation. This "snake oil" in its original form was indeed effective as a topical medicament to treat arthritis and bursitis and, eventually, the story and erstwhile product made its way to the United States—if not the omega-3-rich water snake itself, or its curative extract. The point here is that with CBD, as with anything else, responsible sourcing, processing and quality control in manufacturing are the bedrock of any superior pharmaceutically active agent. The pressures of manufacturing in light of a population clamoring for CBD are particularly intense, in world in which side-effect- or addiction-minimized pain management is still an elusive if (not scandal-laden) goal.
It is interesting that, as a general practice regarding naturally-occurring active agents—and particularly those of herbal sources—there seems to be a knee-jerk compulsion to extract the active agent compound from its botanical herb or spice. This is epitomized by extracting and synthesizing digitalis from foxglove, a natural herb, marketed as a pharmaceutical. In theory there is nothing wrong with extraction processes—although in practice there can indeed be negative implications to extraction, in particular as to the molecule(s) to be extracted. Extraction agents such as petroleum or coal-tar derived solvents can create residues or even alter the chemical composition of the sought-after molecule. Worse, beneficial co-factors present in the natural product in this case an herb can be separated from the active agent so as to lose the synergy of administration of the whole herb with it's known and yet-to-be discovered compounds. Even today, when Cannabis indica, Cannabis sativa and Cannabis ruderalis are on the brink of becoming "health food" [so to speak] instead of "Just Say No!" fodder, the temptation seems to be ubiquitous to extract and isolate key constituents within them, in order to obtain their active agent(s) for further commercialization. The question which the present inventor asked, though, was—whether traditional extraction or isolation is the only processing method that can deliver the true benefits of hemp?