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The present invention relates generally to a communications system and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for unified accounting across wireless communication network.
There exists several different accounting methods that users may utilize to access a wireless communications networks However, no efficient method or system exists that provides unified accounting for a variety of accounting methods.
Therefore, what is needed, is a system and method that provides unified accounting for more than one accounting method utilized for more than one access method.
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Numerous techniques have been developed previously by way of efforts to discourage supine or prone position sleeping. They include the positioning of uncomfortable objects in the area of the back such as by having a tennis ball sewn into a person's pajama top, or by tying a tennis ball to a person's back by straps or belt. In addition, early pillows served to prop up the head when a person would sleep or to serve as a supporting bolster for other parts of the body, such as the torso or legs. the recognition of the pillow as an important body support has persisted over the years. Recent studies of body ergonomics and renewed attention to the benefits of quality rest and sleep have, in fact, highlighted the utilitarian function of supportive pillows.
The pillows of U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,674, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,874,183 represent recent body pillows that provide integrated support to the head, back and legs of a user but fail provide direct support to the back in a manner that positively encourages a side-lying position. The pillow of U.S. Pat. No. 6,874,183 aims to provide support for a user in a wide range of positions and consequently is neither shaped or sufficiently semi-rigid to provide positive support that encourages the beneficial side-lying position. The pillow of U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,674 requires the user to embrace the pillow to achieve support and thus like many such pillows require the user to embrace the pillow, thereby blocking the ventral side of the body and frustrating the dissipation of heat by the body.
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This invention generally relates to wind turbines, and anchoring devices, such as bolts, which are used in the foundations because of the high overturning moments wind turbines are subjected. The invention more specifically relates to a plastic bolt sleeve used in combination with a threaded anchor, where the plastic sleeve is plastically deformed or “crimped” onto a portion of the threads of the bolt. The invention further discloses methods and devices for crimping the sleeve onto a portion of the bolt threads. Among other benefits, the crimped bolt sleeve protects the anchor bolts from moisture and resulting corrosive attack.
The bolts used for anchoring wind turbines may either be set in concrete or drilled into the rock. The integrity of the foundation of a wind turbine is subject to failure if the anchor bolts are not adequately protected. In particular, anchors are subject to corrosive attack caused by the accumulation of water or other electrolytes in the anchoring hole which results in the creation of a corrosion cell. As described below, the practices employed in preparing the foundation for a wind turbine often create an environment in which the anchor bolt is exposed to water or other liquid.
By way of background for wind turbine foundations, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,586,417 and 5,826,387, both by Henderson, disclose a pier foundation “which can be poured-on-site monolithically and is of cylindrical construction with many post-tensioned anchor bolts which maintain the poured portion of the foundation under heavy compression, even during periods when the foundation may be subject to high overturning moment.” Henderson's foundation is preferably in the shape of a cylinder; having an outer boundary shell and an inner boundary shell each formed of corrugated metal pipe which are set within an excavation.
In the fabrication of foundations for wind turbines, elongated high strength steel bolts, generally fashioned from 1¼″ (#10) rebar material or 1⅜″ (#11) rebar material are set within the foundation excavation and concrete poured into the excavation such that the bolts extend vertically up through the concrete from a peripheral anchor plate or ring near the bottom of the cylinder to a peripheral connecting plate or flange at the base of the wind turbine tower. The bolts are typically threaded at the top and bottom ends for a length of approximately 24 inches. The bolts are largely contained within through hollow sleeves made of PVC which prevent adhesion of the concrete to the bolts. The sleeves are typically installed prior to delivery of the bolts to the job site, and nuts must be placed on each end of the anchor bolt to retain the PVC sleeve on the anchor bolt material.
Henderson further discloses the post-stressing of the concrete in great compression by tightening the high strength bolts to provide heavy tension from the heavy top flange (i.e, the flange at the base of the wind turbine) through which the bolts pass to the anchor flange or plate at the bottom of the foundation, thereby placing the entire foundation, between the heavy top plate or flange and lower anchor plate or flange, under high unit compression loading. The nuts on the bolts are tightened so as to apply tension to the bolts exceeding the maximum expected overturning force of the wind turbine tower structure on the foundation. Therefore, the entire foundation withstands various loads with the concrete always in compression and the bolts always in static tension. Because the bolts are each largely contained within a PVC sleeve, each bolt is free to move within its sleeve as the bolts are tensioned by tightening the nuts abutting the top flange. Steps are typically taken before the concrete is poured to seal the tops of the PVC sleeves to prevent the flow of concrete into the sleeves, such as wrapping duct tape around the tops of the sleeves. This can be a time-consuming process.
Based upon the discussion above, it is clear that the integrity of this type of foundation is dependent upon the integrity of the anchor bolts—the failure of a bolt creates a stress riser on the remaining bolts, leading to the potential failure of the entire foundation. The integrity of the steel anchor bolts can be compromised by corrosive attack. As described above, according to the current practice each anchor bolt is enclosed for most of its length within a PVC sleeve. However, because the outside diameter of the PVC sleeve is too large for the sleeve to enter the bolt hole of the flange of the tower structure, the sleeve typically terminates at approximately the top of the concrete foundation, with the bare metal of the anchor bolt extending above the sleeve, where the bolts extend through the flange and have a nut and bolt cap installed on the top side of the flange.
The tower flange is usually set on a grout base which overlies the concrete foundation. The grout base is placed within a circular “grout trough” which is formed by the pouring of the concrete foundation around a circular template. This circular template is utilized to collectively lift and place the anchor bolts within the excavation prepared for the foundation. As with the holes of the flange of the tower base, the bolt holes in the circular template are sized to accommodate the bolt diameter, but not the diameter of the PVC sleeve, so the tops of the bolt sleeves will generally be flush with the bottom of the grout trough formed by the circular template.
In order to prevent dehydration of the grout—thus adversely impacting the grout strength—it is a common practice to place water within the grout trough prior to the pouring of the grout to keep the grout properly hydrated during the curing process. However, water placed in the trough will gravitate into the ends of the PVC sleeves which are flush with the bottom of the grout trough. In the current installation practice, a foam sleeve is typically placed around a portion of each bare bolt extending above the bottom of the grout trough, with each foam sleeve and held in place with duct tape. The length (or height) of the foam sleeve is sized to extend above the anticipated thickness of the grout layer within the grout trough. In the known practice, the tower flange is set on the grout before the grout sets so that the tower base may be leveled. It is hoped that the foam sleeve will prevent grout from adhering to the body of the bolt, such that when the grout fully cures the bolt may be tensioned and slide through the foam sleeve without damage to the grout. However, in reality the foam sleeve is likely so deformed by the flange of the tower base that the bolts will not slide freely through the sleeves once the grout cures.
If low viscosity grout is used, the flow properties of the grout will cause it to flow into the annulus created by the PVC sleeve and the anchor bolt. Because of this problem, the use of low viscosity grouts, including epoxy grouts, has not been practical. However, the low viscosity grouts would otherwise be preferred because of the self-leveling characteristics of the grout. In particular, the use of self-leveling grout would eliminate the need for leveling shims and allow the grout to be poured and adequately cure before setting the flange onto the grout, as opposed to the current practice of setting and leveling the tower flange before the grout cures. The current practice requires the service of a high capacity crane for the initial setting of the tower flange and subsequently for the assembly of the complete turbine. However, if the tower flange can be placed at the same time as the other turbine tower components, the crane can be used more efficiently with less rigging up and rigging down time at each turbine tower installation.
Once the tower has been installed and a nut and bolt cap installed on the bolt ends extending above the tower flange, the annulus between the bolt and PVC is sealed. However, during the known installation method, the annulus between the bolt and the PVC sleeve is open thereby providing a pathway for water and other fluids to enter the annulus and be trapped between the PVC sleeve and the metallic bolt, forming a corrosion cell. Because of this opening, steps are usually taken to protect the bolt from corrosive attack and/or to seal the sleeve-bolt annulus during installation. Unfortunately, the currently practiced installation procedure aggravates the situation, because, as described above, the procedure typically includes pouring water in the grout trough to allow the grout to cure. This practice allows to water to accumulate at the top of the PVC sleeve, and potentially migrate into the sleeve-bolt annulus.
The initial attempt at solving the anchor bolt corrosion problem was to paint the anchor bolts along the entire length. However, this solution is labor intensive and does not prevent liquid accumulation around the anchors. In addition, this protection method requires that the anchors be repainted periodically, as well as after re-tensioning the anchor if required in the particular application. The currently practiced method of protecting the anchor bolts is to seal the annulus between the top of the PVC sleeve and the bolt with a sealant, such as a silicon gel.
As discussed above, the current practice also includes placing foam or other material around the portion of the bolt extending above the PVC sleeve, so as to prevent adhesion of the grout to the bolt and to block the migration of water into the sleeve-bolt annulus. Typically, foam cylinders with longitudinal slits are placed around the bolts, with duct tape wrapped around each cylinder, and the cylinder pushed downwardly into contact with the top of the PVC sleeve. However, with the large number of bolts utilized in these types of foundations, it is time consuming and difficult to seal the top of each PVC sleeve with sealant and to install the foam cylinders or similar devices. If hurried, the annulus may not be adequately sealed to prevent the intrusion of water into the PVC-bolt annulus. Moreover, once the tower base flange is set upon the foam cylinders, the cylinders are greatly deformed. It is non-unlikely that when the anchor bolts are tensioned, the bolt does not slide through the foam cylinder, but that the deformed foam cylinder moves within the grout, potentially damaging the integrity of the grout.
The PVC sleeves, because of the outside diameter, displace, in totality, significant volume of concrete in the foundation, thereby reducing the overall compressive strength of the foundation.
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The present invention is directed to a gaming method and a gaming apparatus, which could be an individual gaming unit, a gaming system having a plurality of gaming units, or a network-based system (e.g., a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), an intranet or the Internet) having a plurality of member units, that is capable of player stimulation during game play.
A conventional gaming unit has been provided that includes a display unit that is capable of generating video images, a coin and/or bill acceptor, and a controller with memory and a processor that controls the overall operation of the gaming unit. The controller is programmed to allow a person to make a wager, to determine an outcome of a game, to cause video images to be generated on the display unit, and to determine a value payout associated with the outcome of the game.
Such a conventional gaming unit may be coupled, directly or indirectly, to other gaming units to form a gaming system. One example of a conventional gaming system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,515 to Pease et al. Pease et al. discloses a progressive gaming system having a plurality of individual gaming units that are operatively linked together to allow the generation of a relatively large progressive jackpot that may be won by one of the players using one of the individual gaming units in the progressive system.
The conventional gaming unit is programmed to display video images representing a game. For example, a video slot machine may initially display images representing spinning reels, and further display images representing an image, such as a cherry, lemon, bar etc., for each simulated reel as that reel “stops” in one or more orders. In the same fashion, a video poker machine may display images representing playing cards that are dealt face-up for the player and face-down for the simulated dealer. In each case, the gaming unit displays the images that correspond directly to the real world gaming devices that they are intended to simulate.
As indicated above, the conventional gaming unit may determine a payout value once at the end of game play. It is also known to provide a poker gaming apparatus which provides a payout based on a first hand, permits the player to discard some of the cards of the first hand and receive a redeal, and then provides a payout based on the combination of the cards held over from the first hand and the redeal. Additionally, it is known to provide a poker gaming apparatus that provides an option for the player to request a payout after any card, and then to either terminate play or to continue to play but with a diminished payout opportunity thereafter. It is further known to provide a pachinko machine which determines whether a payout will be made and then determines which video displays will be presented to the player to signal the player that he or she will or will not receive a payout at the end of game play.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a determination method of determining a light intensity distribution (effective light source) to be formed on the pupil plane of an illumination optical system, an exposure method, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
An exposure apparatus is employed to fabricate a semiconductor device using a photolithography technique. The exposure apparatus projects and transfers the pattern of a mask (reticle) onto a substrate (for example, a wafer) by a projection optical system. To keep up with the recent advances in micropatterning of semiconductor devices, the exposure apparatus requires a technique of attaining a high resolution.
Because an exposure apparatus cannot always ensure an ideal amount of exposure on the substrate and an ideal focus position, it may transfer a pattern different from that having a desired shape (mask pattern shape) onto a substrate. The amount of exposure deviates from an ideal state due to factors such as instability of a light source and nonuniformity of the illuminance distribution in an illumination region. Also, the focus position deviates from an ideal state due to factors such as instability of the holding position of the substrate and unevenness of the substrate. A model defined by the ranges of amounts of exposure and focus positions, within which a desired pattern can be transferred onto the substrate, is called a process window, and the exposure apparatus requires a technique of attaining a wide process window.
Oblique-incidence illumination, for example, is known as a technique for attaining both a high resolution and a wide process window. In the oblique-incidence illumination, a mask is obliquely irradiated with exposure light using an annular effective light source (the light intensity distribution on the pupil plane of an illumination optical system) or an effective light source with a shape having a plurality of (for example, two or four) poles. The annular effective light source is defined by two degrees of freedom (parameters): the annular zone radius and the annular zone width. Thus, the following technique has been proposed. Pattern images for effective light sources defined by those two degrees of freedom are obtained by simulation while changing them to various values, and an annular zone radius and an annular zone width are selected based on these pattern images, thereby determining an optimum effective light source.
Also, in recent years, T. Matsuyama, et. al., “A Study of Source & Mask Optimization for ArF Scanners”, Proc. of SPIE, USA, SPIE, 2009, Vol. 7,274, p. 727,408 (literature 1), proposes a technique which increases the number of degrees of freedom which define the effective light source. In the technique described in literature 1, the pupil plane of an illumination optical system is divided into a plurality of regions in a grid pattern, and light intensities are individually set for the respective divided regions. However, assuming, for example, that the pupil plane of the illumination optical system is divided into 63×63 regions, a thousand or more degrees of freedom are determined. From the viewpoint of the computation time, it is not realistic to obtain pattern images for respective combinations of degrees of freedom defined within such a wide optimization space to determine an optimum effective light source. Although Japanese Patent No. 3342631 proposes a heuristic optimization technique of adjusting the initial value and iterating computation to obtain an optimum solution, this technique may not only require a long computation time but also result in a local solution.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent No. 4378266 proposes a technique which uses mathematical programming in effective light source optimization with such large degrees of freedom. The mathematical programming mathematically guarantees its solution to be optimum, and can shorten the computation time.
The technique described in Japanese Patent No. 4378266 is designed to apply approximation to a maximization problem for the process window to transform this problem into one type of mathematical programming, that is, a linear programming problem to be solved, thereby obtaining a solution. The process window is generally the product of the range of amounts of exposure and that of focus positions, within which the width of a pattern image falls within a tolerance. In the technique described in Japanese Patent No. 4378266, the positions of the two side edges of a line pattern image are defined, and the effective light source is optimized under this condition.
Unfortunately, the technique described in Japanese Patent No. 4378266 often cannot optimize the effective light source. A case in which, for example, a mask pattern is formed by equidistantly arranging three line patterns having the same size will be considered. In this case, when attention is focused on the central line pattern, the position (midpoint position) of the central line pattern and that of an image corresponding to this central line pattern coincide with each other unless asymmetric aberrations such as coma and distortion are present. On the other hand, when attention is focused on the line pattern at each end, a difference occurs between the position of the line pattern at each end and that of an image corresponding to this line pattern at each end due to an optical proximity effect even if no asymmetric aberrations are present. The difference between the position of a pattern and that of an image corresponding to this pattern is called a pattern shift, which generally occurs for most patterns. In the technique described in Japanese Patent No. 4378266, the position coordinates of the two edges of the image of the line pattern are fixed, and an effective light source is obtained such that the two edges of the image of the line pattern are positioned at these position coordinates, so this technique does not take the concept of a pattern shift into consideration. Therefore, when a pattern shift occurs, the technique described in Japanese Patent No. 4378266 cannot be used to determine an optimum effective light source.
Also, with advances in micropatterning of semiconductor devices, the occurrence of a pattern shift may have a more serious influence on the yield (throughput). A mask for an ion implantation process in an SRAM will be considered as an example. This mask has a simple line-and-space pattern, which has a relatively large pitch of several hundred nanometers. In a mask of this type, a demand for the line width of its pattern is not so strict, but the overlay accuracy on an isolation oxide layer present in the underlying layer is of prime importance in an ion implantation process, so a demand for a pattern shift is strict. Therefore, the effective light source must be optimized (determined) such that the amount of pattern shift for the mask pattern falls within a tolerance.
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Optical interconnects can offer significant advantages over electrical circuitry in the field of advanced microelectronics. One possible implementation of a deeply-scaled optical interconnect system is based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology, in which optical waveguides are formed on the same thin silicon layer as other complimentary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) circuit elements (e.g., field effect transistors (FETs), capacitors, resistors, etc.). Light sources produce optical signals (e.g., light pulses) that propagate in these optical waveguides. Photodetectors convert the optical signals into electrical signals.
A photodetector will typically need to be made from either silicon (Si) or germanium (Ge) in order to be compatible with CMOS processing. An implementation of a Ge photodetector is described in, for example, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2007/0189688 A1, entitled “Waveguide Photodetector,” which is commonly assigned herewith and is incorporated by reference herein. Embodiments of this invention describe a horizontal Ge waveguide photodetector that overlies and runs parallel with a horizontal Si waveguide. Light signals propagate in the Si waveguide and are simultaneously coupled into the Ge waveguide photodetector. Electrical contacts to the Ge waveguide photodetector allow the coupled light to be detected.
Nevertheless, the integration of Ge into a conventional CMOS process is complicated by the additional thermal budget required by Ge growth, the maximum temperature Ge can withstand, cross-contamination issues, Ge doping issues, Ge passivation issues, and the tendency of Ge to form non-ohmic contacts when mated with those metallic materials conventionally used for vertical contacts. There is a need, as a result, for structures and process integration schemes that overcome some or all of these issues and allow Ge waveguide photodetectors to be effectively fabricated in a manner that is compatible with conventional CMOS processing.
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The invention generally relates to harmonic attenuation using multiple sweep rates.
Seismic exploration involves surveying subterranean geological formations for hydrocarbon deposits. A survey typically involves deploying seismic source(s) and seismic sensors at predetermined locations. The sources generate seismic waves, which propagate into the geological formations creating pressure changes and vibrations along their way. Changes in elastic properties of the geological formation scatter the seismic waves, changing their direction of propagation and other properties. Part of the energy emitted by the sources reaches the seismic sensors. Some seismic sensors are sensitive to pressure changes (hydrophones) and others are sensitive to particle motion (e.g., geophones). Industrial surveys may deploy only one type of sensors or both. In response to the detected seismic events, the sensors generate electrical signals to produce seismic data. Analysis of the seismic data can then indicate the presence or absence of probable locations of hydrocarbon deposits.
One type of seismic source is an impulsive energy source, such as dynamite for land surveys or a marine air gun for marine surveys. The impulsive energy source produces a relatively large amount of energy that is injected into the earth in a relatively short period of time. Accordingly, the resulting data generally has a relatively high signal-to-noise ratio, which facilitates subsequent data processing operations. The use of an impulsive energy source for land surveys may pose certain safety and environmental concerns.
Another type of seismic source is a seismic vibrator, which is used in connection with a “vibroseis” survey. For a seismic survey that is conducted on dry land, the seismic vibrator imparts a seismic source signal into the earth, which has a relatively lower energy level than the signal that is generated by an impulsive energy source. However, the energy that is produced by the seismic vibrator's signal lasts for a relatively longer period of time.
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The present invention relates to a process unit constituting a detachable part of an image forming means of an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and the like, particularly to a device for detecting life of the process unit, and to a device for detecting opening of a seal of the process unit in which developer is contained in a storage section defined by a seal member prior to use and the seal member is opened for use, and further to a device for detecting attachment of the unit to the image forming apparatus.
It is conventionally known that for the purpose of facilitating maintenance and exchange of expendable parts and the like of an image forming apparatus using an electrographic system etc., a part or the whole of the image forming apparatus comprising a photosensitive drum, a developing device, a cleaning device and the like are integrated to form a process unit which is detachably attached to the image forming apparatus (see, for example, Unexamined Japanese patent publication No. 56-128958).
Such a process unit is, as an expendable, replaced by a new one for ensuring the quality of a copy image when the process unit is used up to lose its life. Then, a means for detecting the life of the process unit and informing users of the same is known which is adapted to measure the amount of used transfer paper passing through the process unit or count the number of rotations of a photosensitive drum, and give a visible indication when the obtained value reaches a predetermined value which means a predetermined life level of the process unit (see, for example, Unexamine Japanese patent publication No. 58-152263).
According to the abovementioned life detecting system, however, for example by making a large amount of copies of an original having a high density, toner is consumed before visible indication of the life of the process unit is made on the basis of the counted rotation number of the drum, which makes it difficult to detect the life of the process unit. Besides, poor copied images are produced, and so-called carrier attraction occurs; that is a carrier is attracted to a latent image on the photosensitive surface, transferred onto a transfer paper, and further slipped in a fixing device, thereby resulting in damage to a heat roller thereof, and causing troubles in temperature control by means of a thermister.
Further, in a copying machine etc. in which the density of the toner contained in a developing device is detected and the amount of toner supply is controlled to obtain a given toner density, if the toner density is below a given value, a process unit may be judged to lose its life due to toner consumption. In this case, however, without choosing the best timing for the judgement, the toner density cannot be accurately detected by means of a sensor, and sometimes it becomes difficult to accurately detect the life and the detection takes too much time, thereby lowering the efficiency.
Furthermore, in a conventional process unit in which at least a developing device is included in a casing, for the purpose of preventing the dispersion of developer held in the developing device as well as preventing the photosensitive surface from being roughed by the dispersed developer, the developer is contained in a space of the developing device defined by a seal member when the process unit is in a packaged state prior to use, and by opening or peeling off the seal member for use i.e., at the time of setting the process unit, the developer is supplied into a developer chamber where a developing roller of the developing device is located so that images can be formed (see, for example, Unexamined Japanese patent publication No. 59-61861).
In conventional arts, however, since no means is provided for detecting opening of the seal member, a user sometimes forgets to peel off the seal member and the image forming operation is carried out with the seal member being still unopened. In such a case, naturally no image is formed and the transfer paper is wasted as a miscopy or blank copy.
Further, since a conventional image forming apparatus is not provided with any means for detecting attachment of the process unit to the apparatus as well as detecting connection of a predetermined control system, the apparatus with the process unit being unattached still appears to be in an image forming or copying state.
Therefore, if the copying operation is carried out with a process unit being unattached, a jam of paper often occurs, and even if the paper can be passed through, naturally no image is formed, so that transfer paper is wasted as a miscopy or blank copy. For eliminating such problems, a switch may be provided for detecting attachment of the process unit, which makes, however, the apparatus expensive.
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1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to battery circuits and, particularly, to a battery charging circuit.
2. General Background
Generally, battery chargers either use a constant current (CC) mode or a constant voltage (CV) mode to charge a battery. However, in either the CC mode or the CV mode, battery charging is terminated once the battery's voltage reaches a peak value (e.g., 4.2 V), which may result in the battery not being fully charged.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide an apparatus and method to overcome the above-identified deficiencies.
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1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a horizontal linear vibrator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, portable electronic devices, such as mobile phones, game players, mobile information terminals, etc., have various vibration generating units to prevent noise therefrom from disturbing other people. Particularly, such a vibration generating unit is installed in a cellular phone and used as a mute signal reception indicating unit. Recently, in accordance with the trend to provide a small and slim cellular phone, a reduction in the size and an increase in the function of a vibration generating unit installed in the cellular phone are also required.
At present, a vibration generating unit which is one of several signal reception indicating units used in a communication device, such as a cellular phone, converts electric energy into mechanical vibration by the use of a principle of generating electromagnetic force. That is, the vibration generating unit is used as a mute signal reception indicating unit in the cellular phone.
Meanwhile, a method in which mechanical vibration is generated by rotating a rotor having an eccentric weight has been used as a representative example of methods of operating vibration generating units according to conventional techniques. The rotation of the rotor is implemented by a commutator or brush motor structure which commutates currents through a contact point between the brush and the commutator and then supplies the currents to a coil of the rotor.
However, in the vibration generating unit having such a structure, when the brush passes through a gap between segments of the commutator, mechanical friction, electric sparks or abrasion is induced, thus creating impurities, such as black powder, thereby reducing the lifetime of the vibration generating unit. A vertical linear vibrator was proposed to overcome these problems, and representative examples of which can produce reliable linear vibration.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a vertical linear vibrator according to a conventional art.
As shown in FIG. 1, the vertical linear vibrator 10 according to the conventional art includes a casing 20, a bracket 30, a vibration unit 40 and a spring 50. The casing 20 defines a space therein. The bracket 30 supports thereon a coil 32 which forms a magnetic field using an electric current applied to the coil 32. A damper 34 is provided on the bracket 30. The vibration unit 40 includes a yoke 42 which has a hollow space therein and is closed on one end thereof, a magnet 44 which is installed in the hollow space of the yoke 42 and provided with a plate yoke 43 attached to the lower surface thereof, and a weight 46 which is fitted over the circumferential surface of the yoke 42. The spring 50 is coupled to the upper surface of the casing 20 to elastically support the vibration unit 40 such that it linearly vibrates. The yoke 42 includes a disk part 42a and a rim part 42b which is bent downwards from the outer edge of the disk part 42a and extends a predetermined length.
In the vertical linear vibrator 10 having the above-mentioned construction, when power is applied to the coil 32, the vibration unit 40 vibrates upwards and downwards by the spring 50 due to interaction between a magnetic field which is generated by a magnetic circuit including the cylindrical magnet 44, the plate yoke 43 and the yoke 42, and an electric field generated by the coil 32.
However, in the vertical linear vibrator 10, because the vibration quantity is proportional to a value obtained by multiplying the weight of the vibration unit 40 by a displacement thereof, the weight or displacement of the vibration unit 40 must be increased to ensure sufficient vibration quantity. This induces a disadvantage of the vertical linear vibrator 10 being increased in thickness. Furthermore, this structure cannot conform to the trend of small and slim cellular phones.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, system, and computer program product for processing read and write requests in a storage controller.
2. Description of the Related Art
A storage controller handles write and read requests from host systems to attached storage devices by buffering write data and requested read data in a cache to accommodate latency in retrieving data from magnetic disk and tape storage devices. Write data may be buffered in the cache and complete may be returned to the write request when the data is stored in cache, before the write data is destaged to the underlying storage device. The storage controller also typically includes a processor, host adaptor providing communication to one or more hosts, and a device adaptor providing communication with a storage subsystem. The host and device adaptors interact with the processor to buffer read and write data in the cache.
The use of a cache to buffer read and write data was developed to reduce latency in processing the read/write request for storage devices having high latency access, such as tape drives and magnetic disk drives. However, the presence of uncommitted data (dirty data) in the write cache results in increased read latency for cache misses since the write cache must be visited to check for uncommitted data for the requested storage address on every read request. There is a need in the art for improved techniques for processing read and write requests in a storage controller to further reduce the latency and improve read/write performance.
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A light-emitting diode (LED) is one of light-emitting devices that emit light when a current is applied thereto. LEDs may operate at a low voltage to emit light with high efficiency, and thus an energy saving effect thereof is outstanding. Recently, a luminance problem of the LED has been significantly improved, and thus the LED is being applied to various devices such as backlight units of liquid crystal display devices, electronic sign boards, indicators, home appliances, and the like.
LED includes a light-emitting structure having an N-type semiconductor layer, an active layer, and a p-type semiconductor layer which are provided on a support substrate, and includes an N-type electrode and a p-type electrode which are connected to the light-emitting structure.
Owing to lattice inconsistency between the light-emitting structure and the support substrate, however, a lattice defect, such as dislocation, may occur in a first semiconductor layer. A V-shaped pit caused by the dislocation is formed in the active layer such that there is a problem in that luminous efficiency is degraded.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, and more particularly to a method for manufacturing the front forks of cycles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typically, the parts or the elements of the cycle, particularly the front forks of the cycles are made of metal materials, including such as iron, steel, aluminum, alloy, and the like. For example, for the front forks made of iron or steel or alloy material, one or more tubular or planer materials are required to be cut, hammered, forged, and welded in order to form the prototype of the front fork. In order to prevent the front fork from being rusted, the prototype is required to be further treated with such as the grinding, and the trimming, and the polishing processes, etc. Particularly, the joints or the coupling portions formed by welding processes may include sharp edges or projections that are required to be ground and polished, in order to prevent the sharp edges or projections from hurting people. Thereafter, the ground or polished prototype is required to be electroplated with a beautiful outer layer and/or required to be sprayed with a painting layer. The cost for the iron or steel materials may be cheap, but, a number of manufacturing processes and man powers are required and may decrease the competition of the product. In addition, the electroplating process and/or the painting process may pollute our environment.
For front forks made of aluminum or alloy material, the front forks may be formed with a beautiful and smooth outer appearance by a molding or injection process. However, the cost for the aluminum material may be more expensive than that of the iron or steel materials such that the aluminum front forks are also less competitive.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional front fork manufacturing methods.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing the front forks of cycles with cheaper materials and having an excellent outer appearance.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a front fork of a cycle includes forming a prototype of the front fork with a cheaper iron or steel or alloy material, and disposing the prototype of the front fork in a mold cavity of a mold device. The prototype of the front fork is smaller than that of the mold cavity of the mold device for forming a peripheral space between the mold device and the prototype of the front fork. A plastic material is then filled or injected into the peripheral space formed between the mold device and the prototype of the front fork for forming an outer protective layer on the prototype of the front fork.
The sharp edges and projections and/or the dirt and the greasy materials are preferably removed from the prototype of the front fork before the outer protective layer is formed on the prototype of the front fork.
Further objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a careful reading of a detailed description provided hereinbelow, with appropriate reference to accompanying drawings.
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The present invention relates to digital data processing, and more particularly to interpolation of video and audio digital data. Video data may represent a still image or a moving picture.
Data interpolation is widely technique in digital data processing. One example is data compression employing a fast wavelet transform. See W. Sweldens, P. Schröder, “Building your own wavelets at Home”, in Wavelets in Computer Graphics, pages 15-87, ACM SIGGRPH Course notes, 1996, available on Wide World Web at http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/wim/papers/papers.html#athome, incorporated herein by reference. A fast wavelet transform based on a lifting scheme uses prediction. Some data values are replaced with the differences between the data value and some predicted value. Let a set of samples S0, S1, . . . SN−1 represent an original signal S. This set can be a sequence of digital image data values (video data values) at consecutive image points (pixels). These values may be the values of some component of RGB, YCbCr, or some other color representation. This set is subdivided into two subsets. On subset is the set of even samples S0, S2, S4 . . . , and the other subset is the set of odd samples S1, S3, S5 . . . The even samples are modified with a weighted sum of the odd samples to form a set of low-pass coefficients representing a downsampled low-resolution version of the original set. For the odd indices of the form 2n+1 (n=0, 1, . . . ), the wavelet transform replaces the odd sample values S2n+1 with the differencesY2n+1=S2n+1−P2n+1 (1)where the predicted value P2n+1 is a function of the even sample values. P2n+1 can be calculated by interpolation.
The high pass coefficients Y2n+1 form a downsampled residual version of the original data set. The original data set can be perfectly reconstructed from the low pass coefficients and the high pass coefficients.
The low pass coefficients can be processed with another iteration of the fast wavelet transform.
If the prediction P is good, then the set of the high pass coefficients will have many zeroes and small values. Consequently, separate compression of the high pass coefficients will yield a high compression ratio when compression techniques such as quantization, Huffman coding, Zero Tree coding, or others are employed.
Good prediction can be obtained for a well correlated signal S if the predictor P2n+1 is a value of a polynomial that coincides with the signal S at even points near 2n+1. For example, P2n+1 can be the value at point 2n+1 of a cubic polynomial which coincides with S at points 2n−2, 2n, 2n+2, 2n+4. We will denote this “cubic predictor” as P(1). It can be shown that if consecutive pixels 0, 1, 2 . . . are equidistant from each other then:P(1)2n+1=(−S2n−2+9S2n+9S2n+2−S2n+4)/16 (2)
JPEG standard 2000, as described in “JPEG 2000 Final Committee Draft version 1.0”, dated 16 Mar. 2000, recommends using the cubic predictor for lossy compression. For lossless compression, JPEG standard 2000 recommends a linear predictor given by the following equation:P2n+1=P(2)2n+1=(S2n+S2n+2)/2 (3)
With the lossy compression the following problems have been observed. If the prediction uses the linear predictor P(2), the edges (the regions of an abrupt change of S) become smeared. If the cubic predictor P(1) is used, the image areas near the edges contain artifacts. Higher order polynomial predictors result in more artifacts.
In some wavelet transform implementations, the predictor value depends on whether or not an edge is detected. We will call such predictors “edge dependent”. In one implementation, if no edge is detected near a point 2n+1, the predictor value P2n+1 is calculated as the cubic value P(1)2n+1 or the value of some higher order polynomial predictor. If an edge is detected, the predictor value P2n+1 is the linear value P(2). The results achieved with this method depend on the edge detection technique. According to one article, an edge can be detected by determining if the data S is “well approximated by a low order polynomial.” See R. L. Claypoole, Jr. et al., “Nonlinear Wavelet Transforms for Image Coding via Lifting”, Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Image Processing (EDICS #'s: 1-STIL and 2-WAVP, Aug. 25, 1999).
It is desirable to find good edge detection techniques that provide good prediction for many images (and hence good image reconstruction with lossy compression) and are simple to implement with a computer or other digital circuitry. It is also desirable to find good predictors (simple to implement and providing good prediction) for use with both edge dependent and edge independent wavelet transforms. Further, interpolation based on edge detection and prediction can be employed for compression of any digital signal correlated in space or time. Possible applications include photography, moving pictures, ultra sound imaging (tomography), poly-dimension object modeling, and others. Digital zoom can be implemented with a reverse wavelet transform by setting the high pass coefficients to zero. Good interpolation techniques are desirable.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to systems and methods for generating product summaries. In particular, the present invention is directed to such systems and methods that allow automatic generation of product summaries together with alternative product recommendations that read naturally.
2. Description of Related Art
Many different models of products from many different manufacturers are generally available for each type or category of product. Typically, manufacturers of a particular category of product offer various models in their product line, each model targeting a particular group of users and/or meeting the specific needs of a market segment. For instance, manufacturers of automobiles, vacuum cleaners, cameras, computers, etc. all generally manufacture a variety of models of their products. In many instances, each model from each manufacturer and models from differing manufacturers have different features and/or attributes associated with the particular category of product.
For example, in the product category of vacuum cleaners, various models having different combinations of features and/or attributes are presently available. These features and/or attributes for vacuum cleaners include bag/bagless operation, motor power, attachments, exhaust filtration, price, etc. One particular model of a vacuum cleaner may have a bag to collect debris, a 6 ampere motor, without attachments or exhaust filtration, and be typically sold in the marketplace for $60 U.S. Another particular model of a vacuum cleaner may have a bagless compartment to collect debris, an 8 ampere motor, provided with attachments and a HEPA filtration, and be typically sold in the marketplace for $160 U.S. Of course, many other features and attributes may distinguish each of the vacuum cleaners that are available.
In another example, for the product category of digital cameras, features and/or attributes include optical and digital zoom capability, pixel count, the presence, type and size of a view screen, flash capacity, memory capacity, price, etc. One particular model of digital camera may have a 2× optical zoom, 2.1 megapixels, a flash, a 2 inch color view screen, a 32 Mb memory, and be typically sold in the market place for $200 U.S. Another particular model of digital camera may have a 3× digital zoom, 4 megapixels, a flash, a 3 inch color view screen, a 64 Mb memory and be typically sold in the market place for $ 400 U.S. Of course, many other features and attributes may distinguish each of the digital cameras that are available in the digital camera product category.
Moreover, the identity of the manufacturer of a particular product also impacts the desirability of the product. Generally, a product from a well known and respected manufacturer is more desirable to a consumer than a product from a lesser known manufacturer. Various manufacturers have, over time, become recognized as being market leaders with respect to particular category of products. For example, in the above noted vacuum cleaner product category, HOOVER™, EUREKA™ and DIRT DEVIL™ are examples of vacuum cleaner manufacturers considered to be market leaders. In the above noted product category of digital cameras, CANON™ and SONY™ are considered to be the market leaders. Each of the manufacturers generally provide various models with differing levels of features and performance that are targeted to specific consumer groups with particular use in mind.
The vast number of manufacturers and models available for each product category, and the disparity in features and/or attributes between the products of a product category can make a consumer's purchasing decision very difficult. Companies such as CNET™ Networks, Inc. (hereinafter “CNET”) which operates www.cnet.com provide information regarding consumer and technology oriented products such as electronics and computer products for buyers, sellers, and suppliers of technology, as well as any other interested user.
In addition to providing raw data and information, many different products in a particular product category are evaluated by editors of CNET for various features and/or attributes and rated on a scale of 1 through 10. Products that are evaluated to have higher quality and to provide superior value to consumers are rated higher than products of lesser quality and value. Moreover, the editors often provide written narrative product summaries that highlight various features of the particular product, and discuss strengths and weaknesses of the reviewed product in comparison to other comparable products.
The information and narrative product summaries provided by CNET and others regarding various products in a product category may be used by consumers to facilitate potential purchase decisions. However, the process of rating the numerous products is time and labor intensive requiring trained editors or other personnel familiar with features and/or attributes of a product category to evaluate each of the products. Moreover, providing written narrative product summaries that highlight various features of the product, and discuss strengths and weaknesses of the reviewed product in comparison to other comparable products requires even more effort from the editors. Such written narrative product summaries requires significant time and resources of the editor, thereby correspondingly requiring significant capital expense to provide such written narrative product summaries by the editor.
Various automated systems have been developed to eliminate or substantially reduce the requirement for individual evaluation of each product. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,731,991 to Kinra et al. discloses a system for evaluating a software product including an interface that receives product data relating to the software product, a first memory that stores the product data, and a second memory that stores a plurality of weighting values. The system also includes a processor that is coupled to the first memory and the second memory which applies the plurality of weighting values to the product data to generate at least one criterion score for the software product, each criterion score representing an evaluation of the software product.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,236,990 to Geller et al. discloses a system and method for assisting a user in selecting a product from multiple products that are grouped into categories. The reference discloses that information such as attributes about the products of each category, and questions related to the attributes, are received and stored. In addition, possible user's responses to the questions and weights associated with each possible response are also received and stored. Evaluation ratings for each of the attributes of each of the products are also received and stored. The reference discloses that the user selects a category and is provided with questions corresponding to the attributes of the products in the category selected. For each product in the category, a product score is calculated by summing the product of the weights of the responses by the evaluation ratings for that product. The results are displayed organized in rows and columns in the order of the product scores and weights. The reference further discloses that the user may change the weights, change categories, or obtain additional information about each product. In addition, the reference further discloses that the system allows attribution of the evaluation ratings, and may place an order for some or all products. However, the systems and methods of the above noted references merely provide ratings of plurality of products and do not provide systems and methods for generating narrative product summaries.
Other product review systems include systems that tally user votes on products, measure popularity of products by hits on a web page or by sales, or use collaborative filtering to measure which other products are commonly bought or also read about by customers who bought or read about a certain product. These product review systems invariably output numerical or discrete metrics such as by giving a product “three stars out of five” and do not provide any advice-bearing text summaries. Many e-commerce sites such as www.amazon.com, and others employ such systems.
Other advice-text generating systems such as that used by THE MOTLEY FOOL™ in the website www.fool.com generate evaluative text comments on stocks, takes into consideration dynamically updated data, and also produce real sentences. However, such systems evaluate and comment on all, and only on the same attributes of each product, regardless of the specific attributes of each item itself. Thus, these systems evaluate specific attributes of each product based on simple numerical threshold methods such as whether a quantitative value is above or below a certain point. In addition, such systems generate the same canned sentences for each item that falls below or above each threshold, so that the resultant sentences sound artificial and fabricated rather than product summaries that read naturally.
Thus, such product review systems provide reviews that are not in easily readable form that sound natural. Correspondingly, the conventional systems and methods also fail to provide automatically generated product summaries that sound and read naturally to aid consumers in making purchase decisions. In addition, when a consumer researches a particular product using presently available on-line tools and resources, only information regarding the particular product being researched is provided. Although the consumer may desire to research and identify an alternative product similar to the particular product being researched, tools for facilitating identification of such alternative products are generally not available. For example, to obtain information regarding an alternative product in vendor websites, the consumer is typically required to display a listing of all of the products in a particular category, and to select an alternative product to thereby display detailed information regarding the selected product. However, this selection is done by the consumer without information as to whether the newly selected alternative product is comparable to the researched product.
Some vendor websites such as www.bestbuy.com provide a boxed window that may be entitled “Also Consider” or the like which identifies an alternative product for the consumer's consideration in a page displaying detailed information regarding a product that was selected by the consumer. The identified alternative product is implemented as a link which may be selected by the consumer to obtain detailed information regarding the alternative product. However, the boxed window is implemented to merely identify products offered by the same manufacturer of the originally selected product, and identifies products having nearly identical specification that may only differ nominally, for example, color of the trim, or to a product from the same manufacturer having increased capacity of a particular feature, for example, memory capacity. To obtain corresponding information regarding the alternative product, the provided link must be selected by the consumer, upon which detailed information regarding the original product researched is removed and detailed information regarding the new selected alternative product is displayed.
Further, some vendor web sites such as www.bestbuy.com noted above, allow the consumer to check a “Compare” box for two or more products in a listing of products, and to display product features of the selected products in a side-by-side manner thereby allowing the products selected to be compared with respect to various product specifications and features. However, the products compared are selected by the consumer and are not provided as alternative suggestions by vendor web sites. Thus, the compared products may be tailored for totally different target markets which are generally not comparable with respect to each other. In addition, the comparative information provided is displayed as a tabulated listing which is not easy to comprehend.
Therefore, there exists an unfulfilled need for systems and methods for automatically generating narrative product summaries that sound and read naturally. In addition, there also exists an unfulfilled need for systems and methods for automatically generating narrative product summaries that are specifically tailored to the attributes discussed, and to the qualifications regarding the attributes. Furthermore, there also exists an unfulfilled need for systems and methods that automatically generate an alternative product recommendation. Moreover, there exists an unfulfilled need for such a system and method that provides such alternative product recommendation in a narrative that sound and read naturally.
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Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder characterized by recurrent or persistent hyperglycemia (high blood glucose) and other signs, as distinct from a single disease or condition. Glucose level abnormalities can result in serious long-term complications, which include cardiovascular disease, chronic renal failure, retinal damage, nerve damage (of several kinds), microvascular damage and obesity.
Type 1 diabetes, also known as Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (IDDM), is characterized by loss of the insulin-producing β-cells of the islets of Langerhans of the pancreas leading to a deficiency of insulin. Type-2 diabetes previously known as adult-onset diabetes, maturity-onset diabetes, or Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (NIDDM)—is due to a combination of increased hepatic glucose output, defective insulin secretion, and insulin resistance or reduced insulin sensitivity (defective responsiveness of tissues to insulin).
Chronic elevation of blood glucose level leads to damage of blood vessels. In diabetes, the resultant problems are grouped under “microvascular disease” (due to damage of small blood vessels) and “macrovascular disease” (due to damage of the arteries). Examples of microvascular disease include diabetic retinopathy, neuropathy and nephropathy, while examples of macrovascular disease include coronary artery disease, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, and diabetic myonecrosis.
Diabetic retinopathy, characterized by the growth of weakened blood vessels in the retina as well as macular edema (swelling of the macula), can lead to severe vision loss or blindness. Retinal damage (from microangiopathy) makes it the most common cause, of blindness among non-elderly adults in the US. Diabetic neuropathy is characterized by compromised nerve function in the lower extremities. When combined with damaged blood vessels, diabetic neuropathy can lead to diabetic foot. Other forms of diabetic neuropathy may present as mononeuritis or autonomic neuropathy. Diabetic nephropathy is characterized by damage to the kidney, which can lead to chronic renal failure, eventually requiring dialysis. Diabetes mellitus is the most common cause of adult kidney failure worldwide. A high glycemic diet (i.e., a diet that consists of meals that give high postprandial blood sugar) is known to be one of the causative factors contributing to the development of obesity.
Glucokinase (GK), also known as hexokinase IV or D, is one of four glucose-phosphorylating enzymes called hexokinases that catalyze the first step of glycolysis, the conversion of glucose to glucose 6-phosphate (G6P), in vertebrate tissues. GK functions in a dual role, with distinct functions in the pancreas and liver; (a) as a molecular glucose sensor in the insulin-producing pancreatic β-cells, and (b) as the high-capacity enzymatic step initiating the storage of glucose in the form of glycogen in the liver and uptake of glucose during hyperglycemia. Therefore, GK plays a central role in glucose homeostasis, through the phosphorylation of glucose in the liver, and the modulation of insulin secretion in the pancreas (Postic, C. et al (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274: 305-315). GK also functions as a sensor in other neuroendocrine cells of the gastrointestinal tract and in various brain cells including specific cells in the hypothalamus (Jetton, T. A. et al (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269: 3641-3654).
The physiological concentration of glucose in human plasma is approximately 5.5 mM under fasting conditions, and increases to about 12 mM in the fed state. This concentration is dependent on and maintained by the activity of GK, which senses glucose and controls metabolic flux in key cell types. The glucose concentration, at which GK activity is at half of its maximal velocity or Vmax, is defined as its S0.5. The S0.5 of GK for glucose lies in the middle of the physiological glucose concentration range at approximately 8 mM, allowing this enzyme to act as a molecular glucose sensor crucial for glucose homeostasis. The limited tissue distribution and unique kinetic properties of GK allow it to play a critical role in pancreatic β-cell insulin secretion and hepatic glucose utilization. GK differs from the other members of the mammalian hexokinase family in its unique sigmoidal kinetics with respect to glucose, a high S0.5 that lies in the physiological glucose concentration range (the other three mammalian hexokinases have S0.5 values less than 0.5 mM), the lack of product inhibition by G6P, and its tissue distribution in cell types that are thought to be responsive to changing plasma glucose levels.
Tissue-specific differences have been observed between the regulation of GK in the liver and the pancreas. In the liver, GK is allosterically inhibited by the glucokinase regulatory protein (GKRP), which results in its sequestration in the nucleus and subsequent protection from proteolytic degradation. This inhibition is reversed by high concentrations of glucose and by fructose 1-phosphate, and is potentiated by fructose 6-phosphate. In the pancreatic β-cells, GK expression is believed to be constitutive. GK is also known to be expressed in the hypothalamus, where it may exert effects on feeding behavior, and in the intestine K and L cells, where it may contribute to the secretion of enteroincretins such as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), glucose dependent insulinotropic peptide (GIP) (Matschinsky F. M. et al (2006) Diabetes 55: 1-12; Theodorakis M. J. et al (2006) Am. J. Physiol. Endocrinol. Metab. 290: E550-E559). Given the role of GK as a molecular glucose sensor, it is not surprising that GK mutations have a profound influence on glucose homeostasis. About 2000 GK mutations that have been identified in humans result in impaired glucose-mediated insulin secretion and maturity-onset diabetes of the young type 2 (MODY-2). Some of these mutations result in decreased accumulation of hepatic glycogen, while others decrease GK activity by reducing the stability of the enzyme or by decreasing its Vmax. Mutations that result in activation of GK are implicated in the onset of persistent hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia of infancy (PHHI). Single point mutations (e.g. V62M, D158A, Y214A, V455M, and F456V) in regions distinct from the substrate binding site of the enzyme lead to modulation of GK activity (Glaser, B. et al (1998) N. Engl. J. Med. 338: 226-230; Gloyn, A. L. (2003) Hum. Mutat. 22: 353-362; Gloyn, A. L. et al (2003) Diabetes 52: 2433-2440). These observations highlight that GK activity can be regulated through allosteric modulation.
Homozygous knock out of GK in mice results in severe diabetes and death, while heterozygous disruption results in a milder diabetic phenotype, decreased hepatic glucose uptake and impaired insulin secretion in response to glucose. Conversely, over-expression of GK in fat-induced diabetic as well as non-diabetic mice results in improved glucose tolerance. Transgenic mice over-expressing GK in the liver show a modest (20%) increase in fasting GK activity, which correlates with lower fasting plasma glucose and insulin, and improved glucose tolerance (Hariharan, N. et al (1997) Diabetes 46: 11-16).
The enzymatic properties of GK can be described in terms of its velocity (i.e. its rate of converting glucose to G6P) and its S0.5 for glucose (i.e. the apparent glucose concentration at which GK converts glucose to G6P at half of its maximal velocity). The S0.5 of human GK for glucose is approximately 8 mM in enzyme based assay. GKAs induce increased conversion by GK of glucose to G6P by either decreasing the S0.5 of GK for glucose, increasing its Vmax, or by a combination of both, and can potentially lower blood glucose concentrations to hypoglycemic levels.
Several patent applications and publications describe the discovery of small-molecule glucokinase activators (GKAs) that allosterically modulate or activate the activity of GK (Kamata, K. et al (2004) Structure 12: 429-438; WO 2003/055482 A1; WO 2005/123132 A2; WO 2004/002481 A2; U.S. Pat. No. 6,486,184 B2; WO 2006/040528 A1; Fyfe, M. C. T. (2007) Diabetologia, 50: 1277-1287; McKerrecher, D. et al Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 15 (2005) 2103-2106; Efanov, A. M. et al (2005) Endocrinology 146: 3696-3701; Printz, R. L. and Granner, D. K. (2005) Endocrinology 146: 3693-3695; Brocklehurst, K. J. et al (2004) Diabetes, 53: 535-541; Grimsby, J. et al (2003) Science 301: 370-373). These GKAs increase GK activity by decreasing its S0.5 for glucose, and, in some cases, also increasing its Vmax. However, for many of these compounds, hypoglycemia has been reported in animal studies which may be a consequence of excessive GK activation. For example, GK activators like Ro-28-1675 cause hypoglycemia in animal efficacy models (Kamata, K. et al (2004) Structure 12: 429-438). Similar hypoglycemic potential is seen in another GK activator, PSN-GK1, at higher dose (Fyfe, M. C. T. (2007) Diabetologia, 50: 1277-1287).
Rat liver glucokinase is inhibited by long chain acyl-CoA. Deinhibition of such inhibition may also result into glucokinase activation (Tippett P. S. et. al (1982) J. Biol. Chem. 25712839-12845, Tippett P. S. et. al (1982) J. Biol. Chem. 257, 12846-12852.
A concept of minimizing hypoglycemic potential by liver selective glucokinase activation has been mentioned in patent application no. WO 2005/123123 wherein, compounds described in WO 2004/002481 are identified as liver selective glucokinase activators which increase glucose utilization in the liver without inducing an increase in insulin secretion in response to glucose.
The present disclosure provides a novel class of compounds characterized as glucokinase activators or modulators, and their potential use as medicament for the prophylactic or therapeutic treatment of hyperglycemia, diabetes, obesity, dyslipidemia, metabolic syndrome and like.
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Capillary aerosol technology and capillary aerosol generators have been described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,251, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
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A typical power network is a one-way electric power network performing four steps which include (i) an electric power generation, (ii) an electric power transmission, (iii) an electric power distribution, and (iv) an electric power sale (or an electric power consumption).
In order to enhance an energy efficiency of the typical power network, a smart grid corresponding to an intelligent electric power network has been introduced. More specifically, the smart grid may enable two-way communications between an energy provider (e.g., an electric power provider) and energy consumers by incorporating an information technology (IT) to an existing one-way electric power network. Accordingly, the smart grid may enable the energy provider and the energy consumers to exchange information in real time, thereby optimizing energy efficiency.
A basic objective of the smart grid is to provide an efficient electric power system in which power plants, transmission and distributions facilities, and energy consumers may be connected each other through two-way communication networks, and therefore information may be shared therebetween. That is, a basic objective of the smart grid is to enable an entire electric power system to be systematically or organically operated like one body (i.e., one entity).
Recently, in order to efficiently utilize limited energy resources, many countries are trying to establish a smart grid in which energy and any information related to the energy may be shared between an energy provider and energy consumers through two-way communications. A typical energy policy corresponding to a supply-centered policy has been changing to ‘an energy demand management policy’ due to an active two-way power management of a smart grid.
For the energy demand management, stabilizing power demand/supply is a main issue. Accordingly, a demand response (DR) has been introduced to reduce energy loss by more efficiently utilizing energy. Herein, the demand response (DR) may refer to changes in power usage by an energy consumer from his/her normal consumption patterns in response to a variety of incentives and motivations.
Recently, a variety of schemes of managing load (or an electric power demand) through a demand response (DR) market have been introduced. In this case, if a demand response (DR) market announces a demand response (DR) event, users may participate in a bidding procedure with a target power reduction amount (i.e., a target reduction in power usage achievable with a power demand management).
In order to vitalize such demand response (DR) market and increase an overall efficiency in a power consumption, finding of resources to which the demand response (DR) can be applied is very important. Electric vehicles are now increasing at a fast rate and may be a good candidate for the demand response resources. As the electric vehicles become more prevalent, electric power needs to operate the electric vehicles will take a big part in the overall power demand management. Particularly, to operate the electric vehicles, establishing infrastructures (e.g., electric vehicle charging stations) in many locations for charging the electric vehicles may be necessary. In response to a fast-growing electric vehicle adoption, more infrastructures will be built and the electric power consumed for charging the electric vehicles will be a significant portion of an overall power consumption in a country. For this, managing the electric power necessary to charge the electric vehicles will become an important issue in the general power demand and supply. Accordingly, an efficient power demand management directed to the electric vehicles may be required.
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The invention relates to intraluminal endovascular stenting, and in particular, to a low profile fixed wire delivery catheter.
Endovascular stenting is particularly useful for arteries which are blocked or narrowed and is an alternative to surgical procedures that intend to bypass the occlusion. The procedure involves inserting a prosthesis into a body tube and expanding it to prevent collapse of a vessel wall. While stenting has most commonly been used adjunctively, following an intervention such as angioplasty or atherectomy, there is increasing interest in primary, or direct stent placement.
Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTCA) is used to open coronary arteries which have been occluded by a build-up of cholesterol fats or atherosclerotic plaque. Typically, a guide catheter is inserted into a major artery in the groin and is passed to the heart, providing a conduit to the ostia of the coronary arteries from outside the body. A balloon catheter and guidewire are advanced through the guiding catheter and steered through the coronary vasculature to the site of therapy. The balloon at the distal end of the catheter is inflated, causing the site of the stenosis to widen. The dilatation of the occlusion, however, can form flaps, fissures and dissections which threaten re-closure of the dilated vessel or even perforations in the vessel wall. Implantation of a metal stent can provide support for such flaps and dissections and thereby prevent reclosure of the vessel or provide a patch repair for a perforated vessel wall until corrective surgery can be performed. Reducing the possibility of restenosis after angioplasty reduces the likelihood that a secondary angioplasty procedure or a surgical bypass operation will be necessary.
A stent is typically a cylindrically shaped device formed from wire(s) or a tube and is intended to act as a permanent prosthesis. A stent is deployed in a body lumen from a radially compressed configuration into a radially expanded configuration which allows it to contact and support a body lumen. The stent can be made to be radially self-expanding or expandable by the use of an expansion device. The self expanding stent is made from a resilient springy material while the device expandable stent is made from a material which is plastically deformable. A plastically deformable stent can be implanted during an angioplasty procedure by using a balloon catheter bearing a compressed stent which has been loaded onto the balloon. The stent radially expands as the balloon is inflated, forcing the stent into contact with the body lumen thereby forming a supporting relationship with the vessel walls. Deployment is effected after the stent has been introduced percutaneously, transported transluminally and positioned at a desired location by means of the balloon catheter.
A balloon of appropriate size and pressure is first used to open the lesion. The process can be repeated with a stent loaded onto a balloon. Direct stenting involves simultaneously performing angioplasty and stent implantation using a stent mounted on a dilatation balloon. The stent remains as a permanent scaffold after the balloon is withdrawn. A balloon capable of withstanding relatively high inflation pressures may be preferable for stent deployment because the stent must be forced against the artery""s interior wall so that it will fully expand, thereby precluding the ends of the stent from hanging down into the channel, encouraging the formation of thrombus.
In adjunctive stenting, a stent delivery system with a small diameter profile is not required because the narrowing is already enlarged by the preceding device. However, in direct stenting, the stent and delivery balloon catheter need to be inserted into a stenosis that has not been previously dilated. Thus, for direct stenting to be applicable to many patients, the stent and delivery system must have a very low profile. The primary advantage of direct stenting is the procedural efficiency gained by eliminating a primary angioplasty step. The resulting procedure can be shorter and less expensive.
Primary angioplasty followed by stent placement typically requires a catheter exchange, which is usually performed over a guidewire. Given the prevalence of this staged procedure, the most commonly used balloon catheters have been over-the-wire types, having either a full length guidewire lumen or a short, distal guidewire lumen as found in rapid exchange catheters. Fixed wire, or xe2x80x9cballoon-on-a-wirexe2x80x9d type balloon catheters have been seldom used for primary angioplasty in stenting procedures, and these catheters have not been used to deliver stents at all. With their small size and wire-like trackability, fixed wire catheters are able to provide relatively quick and simple balloon placement and access to lesions that cannot be reached with other types of catheters. The small size of fixed wire catheters also permits their use through very small guiding catheters. However, these balloon catheters lack the ability to maintain guide wire position across a lesion and they may encounter problems re-crossing a dilated area. Thus, the present invention addresses these concerns to provide a fixed wire catheter suitable for direct stenting and accessing tortuous anatomy such as that found in the neurovascular.
The catheter of the present invention includes a wire-like metal shaft having a hollow portion defining a lumen extending therethrough. A core wire extends from a connection adjacent the distal end of the hollow portion. The connection includes multiple lateral crimps in the hollow portion, creating multiple lobes arranged around the core wire to provide communication with the lumen of the hollow portion. An elongate radiopaque tip spring is mounted to the distal tip of the core wire. A balloon is carried on the distal end of the shaft, but in a manner such that its distal end is unattached to the shaft thereby enabling the wire-like shaft to be rotated substantially independently of the balloon so that its rotation is not impaired. The proximal end of the balloon is attached to the distal end of an elongate outer tube, the proximal end of which is attached to the distal end of the hollow portion. The distal end of the balloon is attached adjacent the distal end of an inner tube, the proximal end of which is attached to and surrounds the core wire. The distal end of the inner tube extends distal to the balloon and surrounds the proximal end of the radiopaque tip spring. The balloon may be inflated and deflated through the lumen in the hollow portion, which communicates with the annular lumen defined between the outer and inner tubes.
In another embodiment of the invention, a compressed stent is mounted onto the deflated balloon of the fixed wire catheter.
An object of the invention is to provide an improved catheter and stent combination for low profile direct stenting.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved catheter and stent combination for direct stenting in distal vascular anatomy.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved catheter and stent combination for use through small diameter guiding catheters.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved fixed-wire type balloon catheter.
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The invention relates to reed valve assemblies, and more particularly to reed valve assemblies used in two-cycle internal combustion engines.
Such reed valve assemblies typically include a reed plate, a reed valve and a reed valve stop all sandwiched together by a screw. Typically, the reed plate is made of aluminum, and the reed valve is made of steel. In prior reed valve assemblies, failure of the reed valve due to fatigue from striking the reed plate has been slowed by molding rubber or another soft, resilient material onto the reed plate. The rubber cushions the reed valve as it strikes the reed plate. Such a construction requires expensive molds and precision castings of reed plates.
Attention is directed to the following U.S patents which disclose valve assemblies:
______________________________________ Meyer 351,121 O'Neil 502,750 Dalen 1,011,922 Wickert, Jr. 1,216,528 Gunn, et al. 1,424,094 Borneman 3,276,530 Oakes 3,905,391 Partridge, et al. 4,079,751 Kondo, et al. 4,257,458 Stephenson 3,286,728 ______________________________________
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1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor device and a method for manufacturing the same. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a semiconductor device including at least one connecting element that extends beyond a package body thereof and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a semiconductor package may include a substrate with a semiconductor die disposed over the substrate, an interposer, interconnects to form electrical connections between the substrate and the interposer, and a molding compound formed between the substrate and the interposer to encapsulate the semiconductor die and the interconnects. However, a thickness of such semiconductor package is greater (e.g., greater than 1.0 millimeter (mm)) than is specified for some semiconductor packages (e.g., less than 0.5 mm). Further, bonding the semiconductor package to a motherboard (e.g., a printed circuit board) through pads on a surface of the interposer can be difficult, thus, the quality and yield may be low.
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This application claims the benefit of the Korean Patent Application No. P2001-088544 filed on Dec. 29, 2001, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flat panel display device, and more particularly, to an active matrix organic electroluminescence display (ELD) device and a method of fabricating the same. Although the present invention is suitable for a wide scope of applications, it is particularly suitable for increasing a luminance and securing a storage capacitance at the same time.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
As information technologies develop rapidly, a necessity for flat panel displays, which have advantages of thinness, light weight, and low power consumption, has been increased. Accordingly, various flat panel display devices, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, a plasma display panel (PDP), a field emission display device, and an electroluminescence display (ELD) device, have been researched and developed. The electro-luminescence display (ELD) device makes use of an electro-luminescence phenomenon, in which light is generated when an electric field of a certain intensity is applied to a fluorescent substance.
The electroluminescence display (ELD) devices can be classified into an inorganic electroluminescence display (ELD) device and an organic electroluminescence display (ELD) device depending upon a source material for exciting carriers. The organic electroluminescence display (ELD) device has drawn attention as an efficient display device for natural colors because it can display all colors from the entire visible light range, and has a high brightness and a low driving voltage. In addition, because the organic electroluminescence display (ELD) device is self-luminescent, it has a high contrast ratio and is suitable for an ultra-thin type display device. Moreover, due to its simple manufacturing process, a level of environmental contamination may become relatively low. Besides, the organic electroluminescence display (ELD) device has a response time of only a few microseconds (xcexcs), so that it is suitable for displaying moving images. The organic electroluminescence display (ELD) device has no limit in a viewing angle and is stable at low temperature conditions. Because it is driven with a relatively low voltage in the range of about 5V and 15V, manufacturing and design of a driving circuit are easy.
A structure of the organic electroluminescence display (ELD) device is similar to that of the inorganic electroluminescence display (ELD) device, except for that a light-emitting principle is different from that of the inorganic electroluminescence display (ELD) device. More specifically, the organic electroluminescence display (ELD) device emits light on a recombination of an electron and a hole, and thus being referred to as an organic light emitting diode (OLED). Recently, an active matrix type, in which a plurality of pixels are arranged in a matrix form, and a thin film transistor is connected thereto, has been widely applied to the flat panel display devices. The active matrix type is also applied to the organic electro-luminescence display (ELD) device, which is referred to as an active matrix organic electroluminescence display (ELD) device.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram illustrating a pixel of a related art active matrix organic electroluminescence display device. As shown in FIG. 1, a pixel of the active matrix organic electro-luminescent display device has a switching thin film transistor 4, a driving thin film transistor 5, a storage capacitor 6, and a light emitting diode (LED) 7. The switching thin film transistor 4 and the driving thin film transistor 5 are formed of p-type polycrystalline silicon thin film transistors. A gate electrode of the switching thin film transistor 4 is connected to the gate line 1, and a source electrode is connected to the data line 2. A drain electrode of the switching thin film transistor 4 is connected to a gate electrode of the driving thin film transistor 5. A drain electrode of the driving thin film transistor 5 is connected to an anode electrode of the light emitting diode (LED) 7. A source electrode of the driving thin film transistor 5 is connected to a power line 3, and a cathode electrode of the light emitting diode (LED) 7 is grounded. A storage capacitor 6 is connected to the gate electrode and the source electrode of the driving thin film transistor 5.
When a signal is applied to the gate line 1, the switching thin film transistor 4 is turned on, and an image signal from the data line 2 is stored into the storage capacitor 6 through the switching thin film transistor 4. When the image signal is applied to the gate electrode of the driving thin film transistor 5, the driving thin film transistor 5 is turned on, thereby allowing the light emitting diode (LED) 7 to emit light. A luminance of the light emitting diode (LED) 7 is controlled by varying a current of the light emitting diode (LED) 7. The storage capacitor 6 keeps a gate voltage of the driving thin film transistor 5 constant even when the switching thin film transistor 4 is turned off. More specifically, since the driving thin film transistor 5 can be driven by a stored voltage in the storage capacitor 6, even when the switch thin film transistor is turned off, the electric current may continue to flow into the light emitting diode (LED) 7, therby allowing the light emitting diode (LED) to emit light until the next image signal comes in.
FIG. 2 is a plane view of the related art active matrix organic electroluminescence display (ELD) device. As shown in FIG. 2, a gate line 21 and a data line 22 cross each other and define a pixel region xe2x80x9cPxe2x80x9d. A switching thin film transistor TS is formed at each crossing point of the gate and data lines 21 and 22 and connected to the gate and data line 21 and 22. A driving thin film transistor TD, which is connected to the switching thin film transistor TS, is formed in the pixel region xe2x80x9cPxe2x80x9d. A gate electrode 41 of a driving thin film transistor TD is connected to a drain electrode 31 of a switching thin film transistor TS. A source electrode 42 of the driving thin film transistor TD is connected to a power line 51, which is parallel to the data line 22. A drain electrode 43 of the driving thin film transistor TD is formed in the pixel region xe2x80x9cPxe2x80x9d and connected to a pixel electrode 61, which is formed of a transparent conductive material. A first capacitor electrode 52, which is connected to the power line 51, is formed in the pixel region xe2x80x9cPxe2x80x9d. A second capacitor electrode 71 and 72 is formed of polycrystalline silicon and connected to the gate electrode 41 of the driving thin film transistor TD. The second capacitor electrode 71 and 72 overlaps the power line 51 and the first capacitor electrode 52 to form a storage capacitor.
However, since the power line 51 and the first capacitor electrode 52 are formed of an opaque metal material, in the above-described active matrix organic electroluminescence display device, an aperture ratio is decreased. Accordingly, an area of the storage capacitor in the pixel region xe2x80x9cPxe2x80x9d must be reduced in order to increase the aperture ratio. However, when the area of the storage capacitor is reduced, a storage capacitance of the storage capacitor is decreased, thereby increasing a kick-back voltage. In addition, a leakage of a signal cannot be prevented. Furthermore, in the related art active matrix organic electro-luminescence display (ELD) device, resistances of the power line are electrically connected in series, thereby resulting in a relatively high resistance. Accordingly, an image of low picture quality is displayed due to the heat generated by the high resistance of the power line. This problem becomes more serious as the active matrix organic electroluminescence display (ELD) device becomes larger in size.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to an active matrix organic electroluminescence display (ELD) device and a method of fabricating the same that substantially obviates one or more of problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an active matrix organic electroluminescence display (ELD) device and a method of fabricating the same, in which a capacitor electrode is formed of a transparent conductive material to increase a luminance and secure a storage capacitance at the same time.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an active matrix organic electroluminescence display (ELD) device and a method of fabricating the same, in which power lines are connected to each other in parallel to reduce a total electrical resistance of the power line, thereby improving a picture quality of displayed images by preventing a heat generation caused by high resistance.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, an active matrix organic electroluminescence display (ELD) device includes gate and data lines defining a pixel region on a substrate, a switching thin film transistor connected to the gate and data lines, a driving thin film transistor connected to the switching thin film transistor, a power line connected to the driving thin film transistor, a transparent first capacitor electrode connected to and overlapping the power line, a second capacitor electrode connected to the driving thin film transistor, and a pixel electrode formed at the pixel region and connected to the first driving thin film transistor.
Herein, the power line is formed of the same material as the first capacitor electrode. The first capacitor electrode is formed of one of indium tin oxide (ITO) and indium zinc oxide (IZO)
The active matrix organic electroluminescence display device further includes contact holes at the overlapped portion of the power line and the first capacitor electrode.
The power line may also be formed of an opaque metal material, and the first capacitor electrode may be formed of one of indium tin oxide (ITO) and indium zinc oxide (IZO). The second capacitor electrode is formed of doped polycrystalline silicon.
In another aspect of the present invention, an active matrix organic electroluminescence display (ELD) device includes gate and data lines defining a pixel region on a substrate, a switching thin film transistor connected to the gate and data lines, a driving thin film transistor connected to the switching thin film transistor, a power line connected to the driving thin film transistor and having first, second, and third portions, the first and second portions being parallel to the data line, the third portion connecting the first and second portions, the first portion being connected to the second portion of the power line of an adjacent pixel region, a first capacitor electrode connected to the first driving thin film transistor and overlapping the first portion of the power line, and a pixel electrode formed at the pixel region and connected to the first driving thin film transistor.
Herein, the second and third portions of the power line overlap edge portions of the pixel electrode. The power line is formed of a transparent conductive material. The power line may also be formed of one of indium tin oxide (ITO) and indium zinc oxide (IZO).
The active matrix organic electroluminescence display (ELD) device further includes a second capacitor electrode extended from the first portion of the power line to the pixel region, and a third capacitor electrode extended from the first capacitor electrode and overlapping the second capacitor electrode.
The second capacitor electrode may be formed of one of indium tin oxide (ITO) and indium zinc oxide (IZO), and the third capacitor electrode may be formed of doped polycrystalline silicon. The first capacitor electrode may also be formed of doped polycrystalline silicon.
In another aspect of the present invention, an active matrix organic electroluminescence display device includes gate and data lines defining a pixel region on a substrate, a first switching thin film transistor connected to the gate and data lines, a first driving thin film transistor connected to the first switching thin film transistor, a second switching thin film transistor connected to the first switching thin film transistor, a second driving thin film transistor connected to the second switching thin film transistor and the first driving thin film transistor, a power line connected to the first driving thin film transistor, a first capacitor electrode formed of a transparent conductive material on the pixel region and connected to the power line, a second capacitor electrode connected to the first driving thin film transistor and overlapping the first capacitor electrode, and a pixel electrode formed at the pixel region and connected to the first driving thin film transistor.
In another aspect of the present invention, an active matrix organic electroluminescence display device includes gate and data lines defining a pixel region on a substrate, a first switching thin film transistor connected to the gate and data lines, a first driving thin film transistor connected to the first switching thin film transistor, a second switching thin film transistor connected to the first switching thin film transistor, a second driving thin film transistor connected to the second switching thin film transistor and the first driving thin film transistor, a power line connected to the first driving thin film transistor and having first, second, and third portions, the first and second portions being parallel to the data line, the third portion connecting the first and second portions, the first portion being connected to the second portion of the power line of an adjacent pixel region, a first capacitor electrode connected to the first driving thin film transistor and overlapping the first portion of the power line, and a pixel electrode formed in the pixel region and connected to the first driving thin film transistor.
In another aspect of the present invention, a method of forming an active matrix organic electroluminescence display device includes forming gate and data lines defining a pixel region on a substrate, forming a switching thin film transistor connected to the gate and data lines, forming a driving thin film transistor connected to the switching thin film transistor, forming a power line connected to the driving thin film transistor, forming a transparent first capacitor electrode connected to and overlapping the power line, forming a second capacitor electrode connected to the driving thin film transistor, and forming a pixel electrode formed at the pixel region and connected to the driving thin film transistor.
In another aspect of the present invention, a method of forming an active matrix organic electroluminescence display device includes forming gate and data lines defining a pixel region on a substrate, forming a switching thin film transistor connected to the gate and data lines, forming a driving thin film transistor connected to the switching thin film transistor, forming a power line connected to the driving thin film transistor and having first, second, and third portions, the first and second portions being parallel to the data line, the third portion connecting the first and second portions, the first portion being connected to the second portion of the power line of an adjacent pixel region, forming a first capacitor electrode connected to the driving thin film transistor and overlapping the first portion of the power line, and forming a pixel electrode formed at the pixel region and connected to the driving thin film transistor.
In another aspect of the present invention, a method of forming an active matrix organic electroluminescence display device includes forming gate and data lines defining a pixel region on a substrate, forming a first switching thin film transistor connected to the gate and data lines, forming a first driving thin film transistor connected to the first switching thin film transistor, forming a second switching thin film transistor connected to the first switching thin film transistor, forming a second driving thin film transistor connected to the second switching thin film transistor and the first driving thin film transistor, forming a power line connected to the first driving thin film transistor, forming a first capacitor electrode formed of a transparent conductive material on the pixel region and connected to the power line, forming a second capacitor electrode connected to the first driving thin film transistor and overlapping the first capacitor electrode, and forming a pixel electrode formed at the pixel region and connected to the first driving thin film transistor.
In a further aspect of the present invention, a method of forming an active matrix organic electroluminescence display device includes forming gate and data lines defining a pixel region on a substrate, forming a first switching thin film transistor connected to the gate and data lines, forming a first driving thin film transistor connected to the first switching thin film transistor, forming a second switching thin film transistor connected to the first switching thin film transistor, forming a second driving thin film transistor connected to the second switching thin film transistor and the first driving thin film transistor, forming a power line connected to the first driving thin film transistor and having first, second, and third portions, the first and second portions being parallel to the data line, the third portion connecting the first and second portions, the first portion being connected to the second portion of the power line of an adjacent pixel region, forming a first capacitor electrode connected to the first driving thin film transistor and overlapping the first portion of the power line, and forming a pixel electrode formed in the pixel region and connected to the first driving thin film transistor.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
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1. Field
One or more example embodiments relate to oscillators and methods of operating oscillators.
2. Description of the Related Art
Oscillators are devices that generate signals having a regular cycle. Oscillators are used in wireless communication systems such as mobile communication terminals, satellite/radar communication devices, wireless network devices, automobile communication devices, analog sound synthesizers, etc. In one example, mobile communication devices operate in specific frequency bands, and a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) is used to generate a specific frequency band.
Characteristics of a conventional oscillator include a quality factor, output power, and phase noise. As quality factor and output power increase, and phase noise decreases, the performance of the oscillator improves. Recently, because more highly efficient and smaller communication devices are required and operating frequency bands have increased, smaller size and larger output oscillators having higher quality factor and lower phase noise are required.
A spin torque oscillator using a spin transfer torque has recently been introduced. The spin torque oscillator may have a nanopillar structure or a point contact structure. A spin torque oscillator is relatively thin and has a relatively high quality factor compared to conventional LC oscillators and film bulk acoustic resonator oscillators.
However, in a conventional spin torque oscillator, an angle of precession of a magnetic moment (spin) is relatively small, and thus, the output power is relatively low. Also, in a conventional spin torque oscillator having a point contact structure, a critical current needed for precession is relatively high, which increases power consumption.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organosilicon-treated pigment, a process for production thereof, and a cosmetic made therewith, and more particularly, to a new pigment and new extender pigment which are smooth, superior in adhesion and spreadability, and completely free of residual hydrogen, a process for production of said pigment, and a cosmetic made with said pigment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Organosilicon compounds, especially methylhydrogenpolysiloxane, have been used as surface treatment agents for pigments and extender pigments. The surface-treated pigments are now generally used for long-lasting makeup and two-way type cosmetics because of their high water repellency.
The ordinary method for surface treatment does not permit the reactive Si--H groups of the silicone molecule to undergo complete reaction. The percent conversion is such that 30-60% of hydrogen remains unreacted. This holds true of methylhydrogenpolysiloxane. Its crosslinking reaction does not proceed completely on account of steric hindrance, with hydrogen remaining unreacted. Pigments or extender pigments with such residual hydrogen give off gaseous hydrogen (which presents a danger of explosion) upon processing into cosmetics under alkaline or acidic conditions. Moreover, the resulting cosmetics cause expansion of their containers or cloud the compact glass as time goes by.
Those pigments vulnerable to heat, such as yellow oxide, Prussian blue, and Red 202 (Lithol Rubine BCA), may be treated at a low temperature with the aid of a catalyst. A disadvantage of this method is that the catalyst remains unreacted.
There has been proposed a process for treatment with methylhydrogenpolysiloxane to improve the percent conversion by addition of an acid substance or an alkali metal hydroxide. A disadvantage of this process is that methylhydrogenpolysiloxane undergoes crosslinking polymerization which gives rise to silicone resin of reticulate three-dimensional structure. This silicone resin forms particles, which in turn brings about the strong coagulation of pigment particles. Therefore, the resulting treated pigment feels rough and is very poor in spreadability and adhesion to the skin.
Another improvement is by mechanochemical treatment that employs a jet atomizer. The percent conversion of methylhydrogenpolysiloxane by this method is still as low as 20-70%, depending on the kind of pigment used for treatment. Hence, the above-mentioned problem associated with residual hydrogen remains unsolved. Moreover, the mechanochemical treatment resorting to crushing deforms the particles of pigment or extender pigment. This is disadvantageous to a pigment or extender pigment composed of flaky or needlelike particles. In addition, the mechanochemical treatment requires special facilities which are not suitable for production of a variety of products in small quantities.
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For example, the connector shown in FIGS. 7 to 9 (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,247,316) has been known in the past as an electrical connector used to terminate a conductive member consisting of a foil-form metal sheet.
As is shown in FIG. 7, electrical connector 100 has two facing plate parts 101 and 102 that are connected at one end; these plate parts are formed by punching out and bending a metal plate. Teeth 104 and teeth 105 that face the teeth 104 are formed on the upper and lower plate parts 101 and 102 so that the teeth extend toward each other. The teeth 104 and teeth 105 are alternately disposed in two rows on the upper and lower plate parts 101 and 102.
In FIG. 8, a conductive member 110 consisting of a foil-form metal sheet is inserted between the upper and lower plate parts 101,102 of the electrical connector 100. As is shown in FIG. 9, the upper and lower plate parts 101,102 are pressed together, so that teeth 104 pierce the conductive member 110, and so that teeth 105 pass through the conductive member, thus terminating the conductive member 110 in the electrical connector 100. Teeth 105 of each plate part also pass through holes 106 defined through the other plate part at teeth 104 thereof, whereafter ends of teeth 105 are flattened and are bent over portions of the conductor member also extruded through holes 106. In FIGS. 7 to 9, 103 indicates an electrical wire connecting part that is used for a crimped connection of an electrical wire 120.
However, in this conventional electrical connector 100, when the conductive member 110 is terminated in the electrical connector 100 and teeth 104 are caused to pierce the conductive member 110, and teeth 105 are caused to pass through the conductive member, the following problem arises: i.e., the connecting portions of the conductive member 110 that connect with the teeth 104 and 105 are structurally weak, so that contact of the electrical connector 100 with the conductive member 110 is unstable.
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1. Technical Field
The embodiment described herein relates to a semiconductor circuit, and more particularly, to a data strobe signal noise protection apparatus and a semiconductor integrated circuit.
2. Related Art
A conventional semiconductor integrated circuit aligns data through a data input and output pad DQ to conform the data with a data strobe signal DQS and writes to a memory cell.
FIG. 1 is a timing diagram of a writing operation of a conventional semiconductor integrated circuit.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional semiconductor integrated circuit generates a data strobe signal DQS pulse during a burst operation period and generates ringing. Ringing is understood to be noise in a pulse form that occurs while changing the data strobe signal DQS pulse into high impedance Hi-Z state after a postamble.
The data alignment signals DSR2 and DSF2 are generated in synchronization with a rising edge and falling edge of the data strobe signal DQS. Conventional circuits generate abnormal DSR2 and SDF2 signals due to ringing.
Invalid data created with conventional circuits are latched as alignment data ALGN_R and ALGN_F by the abnormal data alignment signals DSR2 and DSF2, thereby causing a writing error that carries the invalid data on global data lines GIO_E and GIO_O.
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Semiconductor devices are commonly found in modern electronic products. Semiconductor devices vary in the number and density of electrical components. Discrete semiconductor devices generally contain one type of electrical component, e.g., light emitting diode (LED), small signal transistor, resistor, capacitor, inductor, and power metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET). Integrated semiconductor devices typically contain hundreds to millions of electrical components. Examples of integrated semiconductor devices include microcontrollers, microprocessors, charged-coupled devices (CCDs), solar cells, and digital micro-mirror devices (DMDs).
Semiconductor devices perform a wide range of functions such as signal processing, high-speed calculations, transmitting and receiving electromagnetic signals, controlling electronic devices, transforming sunlight to electricity, and creating visual projections for television displays. Semiconductor devices are found in the fields of entertainment, communications, power conversion, networks, computers, and consumer products. Semiconductor devices are also found in military applications, aviation, automotive, industrial controllers, and office equipment.
Semiconductor devices exploit the electrical properties of semiconductor materials. The atomic structure of semiconductor material allows its electrical conductivity to be manipulated by the application of an electric field or base current or through the process of doping. Doping introduces impurities into the semiconductor material to manipulate and control the conductivity of the semiconductor device.
A semiconductor device contains active and passive electrical structures. Active structures, including bipolar and field effect transistors, control the flow of electrical current. By varying levels of doping and application of an electric field or base current, the transistor either promotes or restricts the flow of electrical current. Passive structures, including resistors, capacitors, and inductors, create a relationship between voltage and current necessary to perform a variety of electrical functions. The passive and active structures are electrically connected to form circuits, which enable the semiconductor device to perform high-speed calculations and other useful functions.
Semiconductor devices are generally manufactured using two complex manufacturing processes, i.e., front-end manufacturing, and back-end manufacturing, each involving potentially hundreds of steps. Front-end manufacturing involves the formation of a plurality of die on the surface of a semiconductor wafer. Each die is typically identical and contains circuits formed by electrically connecting active and passive components. Back-end manufacturing involves singulating individual die from the finished wafer and packaging the die to provide structural support and environmental isolation.
One goal of semiconductor manufacturing is to produce smaller semiconductor devices. Smaller devices typically consume less power, operate with a lower voltage, have higher performance, and can be produced more efficiently. In addition, smaller semiconductor devices have a smaller footprint, which is desirable for smaller end products. A smaller die size may be achieved by improvements in the front-end process resulting in die with smaller, higher density active and passive components. Back-end processes may result in semiconductor device packages with a smaller footprint by improvements in electrical interconnection and packaging materials.
Most modern electronic equipment requires a power supply to provide a direct current (DC) operating potential to the electronic components contained therein. Common types of electronic equipment which use power supplies include personal computers, energy systems, telecommunication systems, audio-video equipment, consumer electronics, automotive components, and other devices which utilize integrated circuits, semiconductor chips, or otherwise require DC operating potential. Most, if not all, semiconductor components require a DC operating potential. However, many sources of electric power are alternating current (AC), or high voltage DC, which must be converted to a lower voltage DC for the electronic equipment.
In one common arrangement, the AC/DC power supply receives an AC input voltage, e.g., between 110 and 240 VAC, and converts the AC input voltage to the requisite DC operating voltage. The AC voltage is routed through a full-wave rectifier bridge and filtered to produce a high voltage DC signal. The high voltage DC signal is processed through a pulse width modulated (PWM) controller and transformer assembly to generate the low voltage, regulated DC output voltage, which is used as the operating potential for the semiconductor components and other devices requiring low voltage DC supply in the electronic equipment. The low voltage DC signal is typically in the range of 5 to 12 VDC. In other cases, a DC/DC power supply receives a high voltage DC signal and provides the low voltage DC signal necessary for the electronic equipment.
MOSFETs are commonly used in electronic circuits, such as communication systems and power supplies. Power MOSFETs are particularly useful when used as electric switches to enable and disable the conduction of relatively large currents. The on/off state of the power MOSFET is controlled by applying and removing a triggering signal at the gate electrode. When turned on, the electric current in the MOSFET flows between the drain and source. When turned off, the electric current is blocked by the MOSFET.
Power MOSFETs are typically arranged in an array of hundreds or thousands of individual MOSFET cells electrically connected in parallel. FIG. 1 shows a conventional single re-channel MOSFET cell 10 formed over p-type substrate 12. MOSFET cell 10 includes an N+ drain region 14, N+ source region 16, polysilicon gate structure 18, and n-channel 20. The insulating sidewall spacers 24 are formed around gate structure 18. Lightly doped drain (LDD) regions 26 are formed under sidewall spacers 24 to extend the horizontal conduction through n-channel 20 to drain region 14 and source region 16. A P+ source tie 28 can be formed by ion implantation.
N+ drain region 14 is coupled to a first operating potential, i.e., VDD. In typical operating conditions, VDD is 5-12 volts DC. N+ source region 16 is coupled to a second operating potential, i.e., ground potential. A voltage VG applied to gate structure 18 induces an electric field over re-channel 20 to cause a current to flow through drain region 14 and source region 16. MOSFET cell 10 has an inherent drain-source resistance (RDSON) in the conducting state. MOSFET cell 10 has a length L and width W and cell pitch of 1.36 micrometers (μm). The width W of MOSFET cell 10 controls the electrical resistance of the MOSFET cell. The larger the width W, the smaller the resistance. Typical values for width W are in the tens or hundreds of micrometers (μm). Each MOSFET cell 10 can be scaled to handle microamperes (pa) or perhaps milliamperes (ma) of drain-source current.
Many applications such as portable electronic devices and data processing centers require a low operating voltage, e.g., less than 5 VDC. The low voltage electronic equipment in the portable electronic devices and data processing centers create a demand for power supplies that can deliver the requisite operating potential.
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Many hydrophobic peptides from plants are known to be highly biologically active materials with wide ranges of therapeutic applications. For example, asterins are cyclopentapeptides isolated from Aster tartaricus (also known as tartarian aster), known to be potent anti-tumour compounds. Cyclic heptapeptides extracted from Stellaria yunnanensis (also known as chickweed), commonly referred to as yunnanins, have cytotoxic effects on P388 leukemia cells. Likewise, Rubia akane (also known as asian madder) and Rubia cordifolia (also known as indian madder) produce bicyclic hexapeptides with similar cytotoxic activities. Segetalin A is a cyclic hexapeptide from Vaccaria segitalis (also known as Wang Bu Liu Xing or cow cockle) known to have estrogen-like activity. Pseudostellaria heterophylla (also known as Tai Zi Shen, false starwort or Prince Seng) is used as the “ginseng of the lungs.” P. heterophylla is known to contain the cyclic heptapeptide Pseudostellarin D, a well-known Chinese traditional medicine that is used to tonify the “qi” and generate “yin” fluids. The use of Pseudostellarin D as a lung and spleen tonic stems from its inhibition of tyrosinase. In addition, cyclolinopeptides from flax seed are active in suppressing a wide range of immunological responses, including: (i) delayed-type hypersensitivity response; (ii) skin allograph rejection; (iii) graft versus host reaction; (iv) post-adjuvant arthritis; and (v) haemolytic anemia of New Zealand black (NZB) mice.
Potential applications of hydrophobic peptides include, but are not limited to, their use in drug forms and in vaccine formulations. Expression of the genes encoding the cyclolinopeptides is associated with programmed cell death in times of injury to a cell. Accordingly, the recovery and purification of such hydrophobic peptides is important. To date, reported methods and processes for recovery of hydrophobic peptides are cumbersome and do not result in a significant yield of hydrophobic peptides. Moreover, prior inventions involve the extraction of all hydrophobic peptides as a group using silica gel, followed by chromatographic separation in order to isolate individual hydrophobic peptides, which can be problematic and expensive.
Kaufman et al. (Uber ein Oligopeptid aus Leinsamen Chem Ber, 1959, 92: 2805-9) describe a method of recovery of hydrophobic peptides from a precipitated “slime” obtained in the processing of flax seed. Morita et al. (Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 1997, 7(10): 1269-1272; Tetrahedron, 2002, 58: 5135-5140; Phytochemistry, 2001, 57: 251-260; Tetrahedron, 1999, 55: 967-976) describe the preparation of small amounts of hydrophobic peptides from flax seed, press cake and roots. Their extraction process requires significant quantities of flax material (30 kilograms) extracted with four volumes of hot methanol. The solvent is subsequently removed and the entire mixture subjected to chromatography on a polystyrene column (Diaion™ HP-20) and washed with increasing concentrations of methanol. The hydrophobic peptides remain bound to the column until washed with pure methanol. Polar solutes can be removed from the column in the presence of water. The methanol fraction containing the hydrophobic peptides is then subjected to normal phase silica gel chromatography using a gradient of chloroform and methanol (100:0 to 0:100), wherein the peptides are eluted with relatively low concentrations of methanol. A fraction of the methanol:chloroform gradient is recovered and subjected to reverse-phase chromatography using a methanol and acetonitrile gradient to isolate individual fractions containing individual hydrophobic peptides.
Stefanowicz (Acta Biochimica Polonica, 2001, 48: 1125-1129) disclose recovery of hydrophobic peptides from flax seed. The extraction of cyclolinopeptides is done using 5 grams of ground flax seed, extracted overnight in 100 milliliters of acetone. The acetone fraction is concentrated in vacuo and the resulting mixture dissolved in methanol and hydrolyzed using 10% sodium hydroxide. After drying, the fraction containing the cyclolinopeptides is isolated by ethyl acetate extraction. Such a process does not allow the separation and isolation of each hydrophobic peptide.
A recent publication by Brühl et al. (J. Agric. Food Chem., 2007, 55: 7864-7868) disclose a method for isolating hydrophobic cyclopeptides which provides low yields of product. Bitter linseed oil is prepared from seeds with a laboratory screw press with an 8-mm nozzle at temperatures not exceeding 60° C. and a speed of screw rotation of 35 rpm. The temperature of the freshly obtained oil (30% yield) does not exceed 40° C. No additional steps are taken to maximize oil recovery and peptide extraction from the seeds. An aliquot of the bitter linseed oil is subsequently dissolved in heptane, a solvent not approved for food extraction, and then extracted 3 times with methanol/water solvent (6:4; v/v; 200 mL each). The aqueous layers are filtered through a wet filter paper to separate traces of oil from the layer, and the solvent is then removed in vacuum. A bitter-tasting fraction is obtained from the oil, which is then dissolved in methanol/diethyl ether (1:1; v/v; 1 mL) and placed onto the top of a glass column filled with a slurry of silica gel. Chromatography is performed with solvent mixtures using ratios of diethyl ether and ethanol. The individual fractions are freed from the solvent under vacuum and then taken up in water. Purification of cyclolinopeptide E is accomplished by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Aliquots of certain fractions thought to contain the bitter-taste compound are dissolved in water/ethanol and separated by HPLC on a column connected to a UVD 340-type US/vis detector operating at a wavelength of 210 nm. Chromatography is performed starting with a mixture of methanol/water (75:25; v/v) and ending with 100% methanol within 25 minutes. The effluent is collected in 1-min fractions using a fraction collector, with each fraction freed from solvent and residues taken up in water upon ultrasonification.
The recovery of hydrophobic peptides from plants is difficult, laborious, and expensive. Chemical synthesis of the peptides has been considered as an alternative source for candidate therapeutic hydrophobic peptides. For example, Wiezorek et al. (Peptide Res, 1991, 4: 275-283) disclose synthetic preparation of cyclolinopeptide A on Merrifield resin using tert-butyloxycarbonyl protected amino acids. The product is split from the resin by a mixture of trifluoro acetic acid and sulphuric acid and then cyclized by Castro's reagent, dissolved in ethyl acetate and subsequently washed with 1N NaOH, 1N HCl and water. The final product is purified by HPLC. However, the product yields of such synthetic methods are also very low, and are not adequate solutions to the difficulties encountered with recovering endogenous peptides.
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Capacitors are one type of component commonly used in the fabrication of integrated circuits, for example in DRAM circuitry. A capacitor is comprised of two conductive electrodes separated by a non-conducting dielectric region. As integrated circuitry density has increased, there is a continuing challenge to maintain sufficiently high storage capacitance despite typical decreasing capacitor area. The increase in density of integrated circuitry has typically resulted in greater reduction in the horizontal dimension of capacitors as compared to the vertical dimension. In many instances, the vertical dimension of capacitors has increased.
One manner of fabricating capacitors is to initially form an insulative material within which a capacitor storage node electrode is formed. For example, an array of capacitor electrode openings for individual capacitors may be fabricated in such insulative capacitor electrode-forming material, with an example insulative electrode-forming material being silicon dioxide doped with one or both of phosphorus and boron. The capacitor electrode openings may be formed by etching. It can be difficult to etch the capacitor electrode openings within the insulative material, particularly where the openings have high aspect ratio.
One manner of reducing such difficulty is to split the deposition and etch of such openings into two or more combinations of deposition and etch steps. For example, the material within which the capacitor electrode openings are to be formed can be deposited to an initial deposition thickness which is one half or less of the desired ultimate deposition thickness. Shallower capacitor electrode openings can then be etched to the underlying node location. Such openings are subsequently completely filled/plugged, and another material within which capacitor electrode openings will be formed is deposited over the material in which the first openings were formed and filled. Individual capacitor electrode openings are then formed through the overlying layer to the plugging material. Such can be repeated if desired. Regardless, the plugging material is at some point etched from the capacitor electrode openings to enable contact to be made to a node location on the substrate.
One common plugging material used in such instances is polysilicon. A native oxide can form on the outermost surfaces thereof that can be difficult to remove. Such oxide can be removed by etching prior to etching the polysilicon within the openings from the substrate. The native oxide etch is usually conducted using an HF wet etching solution. However, the material within which the capacitor electrode openings are usually formed is a doped silicon dioxide, such as borophosphosilicate glass or phosphosilicate glass. The HF will etch such material, thereby undesirably widening the capacitor electrode openings above the plugging material while removing the native oxide received thereover. Further and regardless, it can be difficult to remove the polysilicon plugging material from the openings. Example techniques in accordance with the above are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,365,453 and 6,204,143.
Further and regardless, it is often desirable to etch away most if not all of the capacitor electrode-forming material after individual capacitor electrodes have been formed within the openings. Such enables outer sidewall surfaces of the electrodes to provide increased area and thereby increased capacitance for the capacitors being formed. However, the capacitor electrodes formed in deep openings are often correspondingly much taller than they are wide. This can lead to toppling of the capacitor electrodes, either during the etching to expose the outer sidewalls surfaces, during transport of the substrate, and/or during deposition of the capacitor dielectric layer or outer capacitor electrode layer. U.S. Pat. No. 6,667,502 teaches the provision of a brace or retaining structure intended to alleviate such toppling. Other aspects associated in the formation of a plurality of capacitors, some of which include bracing structures, are also disclosed and are:
U.S. Published Application No. 2005/0051822;
U.S. Published Application No. 2005/0054159;
U.S. Published Application No. 2005/0158949;
U.S. Published Application No. 2005/0287780;
U.S. Published Application No. 2006/0014344;
U.S. Published Application No. 2006/0051918;
U.S. Published Application No. 2006/0046420;
U.S. Published Application No. 2006/0121672;
U.S. Published Application No. 2006/0211211;
U.S. Published Application No. 2006/0263968;
U.S. Published Application No. 2006/0261440;
U.S. Published Application No. 2007/0032014;
U.S. Published Application No. 2006/0063344;
U.S. Published Application No. 2006/0063345.
Fabrication of capacitors in integrated circuitry such as memory circuitry may form an array of capacitors within a capacitor array area. Control or other circuitry area is often displaced from the capacitor array area, with the substrate including an intervening area between the capacitor array area and the control or other circuitry area. In some instances, a trench is formed in the intervening area between the capacitor array area and the other circuitry area. Such trench can be formed commensurate with the fabrication of the openings within the capacitor array area within which the isolated capacitor electrodes will be received.
While the invention was motivated in addressing the above-identified issues, it is no way so limited. The invention is only limited by the accompanying claims as literally worded, and in accordance with the doctrine of equivalence.
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Camshaft adjusters, in particular hydraulic camshaft adjusters, are already known from the prior art, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,321 B1.
In modern internal combustion engines, such devices are used to variably set the control times of gas exchange valves to be able to variably create a phase relation between crankshaft and camshaft in a defined angle range, between a maximum early and a maximum late position. For this purpose, the camshaft adjuster is integrated into a drive train via which the torque is transferred from the crankshaft to the camshaft. This drive train may have a traction means such as a belt drive or a chain drive. A gear drive may also be used here.
A camshaft adjuster is known from the prior art which uses a spiral spring, the spiral spring having a radially protruding section, inserted in a groove, which is located on the inner side of a cover. In this respect, reference is again made to U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,321 B1.
Camshaft adjusters having coil springs are also known from U.S. Pat. No. 7,503,294 B2 and EP 1 365 112 A2.
A very failure-proof camshaft adjuster configuration for internal combustion engines is also known from DE 10 2006 002 993 A1, the spiral spring used there being, however, kept in place via protrusions and pins.
The approach known from DE 103 51 223 B4 also relies on a spiral spring meshing with a protrusion of a counter form-locking element which is used separately from the stator and the cover.
In the known approaches, such as the implementation of a spring suspension on pins of M6 screws or rotor pins, for example, additional components are necessary. Unfortunately, a complicated assembly often results, which is due to an axial stripping of the pre-tensioned spring during the assembly, and there is a high risk of wear.
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The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Many people enjoy watching television. Recently, the television-watching experience has been greatly improved due to high definition television (HDTV). A great number of people pay for HDTV through their existing cable or satellite TV service provider. In fact, many people are unaware that HDTV signals are commonly broadcast over the free public airwaves. This means that HDTV signals may be received for free with the appropriate antenna.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink ribbon cassette which is designed to be detachably loaded in a recording apparatus having a recording head, such as a printer and a facsimile. The invention also relates to a recording apparatus which can be loaded with such an ink ribbon cassette.
2. Related Background Art
Known recording apparatus of the type mentioned above usually has an ink ribbon cassette detachably loaded on a carriage which also carries a recording head and moves to the left and right along a platen. In general, the ink ribbon cassette has an ink ribbon supplied by a supply reel and taken up by a take-up reel. In operation, the ink ribbon is fed along an ink ribbon path, which is in front of the recording head, so as to be taken up by the take-up reel.
When the ink ribbon cassette is loaded on the carriage, the take-up reel is drivingly connected to a ribbon driving shaft provided on the carriage, so that the ink ribbon is fed in synchronization with the movement (scan) of the carriage during the recording.
This type of ink ribbon cassette is required to eliminate any dead space in the cassette so as to minimize the volume in the cassette for a given length of the ink ribbon. It is also required that the ink ribbon cassette is mounted as closely as possible to the platen, in order to minimize the stroke of the recording head's up and down motion thereby to reduce the size of the whole recording apparatus.
In recent years, the multi-color recording apparatus finding spreading use are those having a plurality of ink ribbon cassettes stacked in stages. The design of this type of recording apparatus has encountered difficulty in using ink cassettes of the same design and size for all stages of the ink ribbon. In addition, the size of the whole apparatus is inevitably increased due to the use of such a stack of ink ribbon cassettes.
Ink ribbon cassettes are also required to smoothly feed the ink ribbon Without any looseness or slack. In other words, it is essential that a suitable level of tension is applied to the ink ribbon during the feeding thereof.
The conventional ink ribbon cassette, however, tends to allow the ink ribbon to become slack, particularly at the portion in the vicinity of the reading head when an acceleration, deceleration or other impact results from dynamic motion of the movable parts, such as up and down motion of the recording head, reversing of the carriage, and vertical shifting of the stack of ink ribbon cassettes in the multi-color recording apparatus. Such a slack of the ink ribbon may cause a jam of the apparatus with the ink ribbon,resulting in a recording failure.
The ink ribbon cassette should be designed and constructed to allow the ink ribbon to be precisely fed without any looseness or slack. This essentially requires that the ink ribbon is taken up by a constant tension.
In the known ink ribbon cassettes, the means for maintaining tension of the ink ribbon is comprised of a friction pad which is resiliently pressed onto the ink ribbon. This type of tensioning means provides an equal level of frictional resistance against forward movement, i.e., the movement in the take-up or feeding direction and backward movement of the ink ribbon. Therefore, it has been often experienced that the ink ribbon is moved backward when an impact is applied due to,for example, up and down motion of the recording head, with the result that the ink ribbon undesirably comes off the predetermined path of feed of the ink ribbon.
The friction pad is usually supported by a leaf spring having a considerably large length such that the tensioning means requires a considerably large space for the installation thereof.
The multi-color recording apparatus making use of an ink sheet (including ink ribbon) is generally sorted into the following types: a first type in which a plurality of ink ribbon cassettes each having a ribbon of the required color are stacked one on another; a second type in which a wide ribbon having a width which is equal to the product of the recording line width and the different colors are arranged in such a manner that the ribbon is striped, that is, with a plurality of regions parallel to the longitudinal or feeding direction of the ribbon such that the respective regions have different colors; and a third type in which a narrow ink ribbon having a width corresponding to the recording line width is sectioned in the longitudinal direction thereof such that sections of different colors are successively formed on the ribbon.
When a multi-color ink sheet is used,it is necessary to provide a suitable detecting means capable of detecting what color is set in the recording position.
A conventional detecting means includes a color sensor disposed upstream of the recording position. This type of detecting means, however, has a drawback in that, when a portion of the ink ribbon of a specific color is sensed, the sensed portion has not reached yet the recording position. Thus, the recording system employing this type of sensor essentially requires that the ink sheet (ribbon) is fed wastefully to bring the sensed portion of the ink ribbon to the recording position.
More practically, when this type of sensing means is used, a control is conducted such as to feed the ink ribbon precisely by an amount which corresponds to the distance between the position where the color sensor is located and the recording position or, alternatively, when a delicate control of the ink ribbon feed is impossible, the ink ribbon is roughly fed by an amount which is considered sufficient for bringing the sensed portion of the ink ribbon to the recording position.
Thus, the recording apparatus employing the known multi-color ink ribbon encounters difficulty in precisely and promptly bringing the desired color to the recording position. In addition, it is very difficult to detect any erroneous feeding, e.g., such an error that a portion of an image to recorded in a color A is wrongly recorded in another color B.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and a printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus comprising, as members for forming an image on a recording material, a conveyance unit configured to convey a recording material, an image forming unit configured to form an image on a recording material, and a fixing unit configured to fix the image onto the recording material is known. Some image forming apparatus have such a configuration that a motor as a drive source for driving members for forming an image on a recording material is mounted on a metal plate (plate-like meta member) as a frame of an apparatus body of the image forming apparatus. The drive source becomes a vibrating source which vibrates when the drive source causes a member for forming an image on a recording material to drive upon forming the image. Transmission of the vibration from the drive source to a metal plate causes the metal plate to vibrate, which may generate a noise.
The drive source is provided with various devices to decrease the noise which is generated upon forming an image. Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2009-009016 discusses a configuration that holes are provided in an area of a metal plate which vibrates most in order to decrease the noise generated from the metal plate on which the drive motor is mounted. Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2009-031347 discusses a configuration that holes are provided in a frame facing to an exterior cover to prevent a noise which is reflected by the exterior cover to be directed to the frame within the apparatus body from further being reflected by the frame and directing to an exterior member.
However, the above described conventional image forming apparatus has a following problem. In a case where the holes are provided in the area most vibrating in the plate as it is discussed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2009-009016, the noise having a specific frequency can be decreased but the noise having a frequency other than the specific frequency can be hardly decreased. Therefore, in a case where the noise has a wide frequency range, the noise cannot be decreased to a satisfactory level.
In Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2009-031347, holes are provided in the frame in order to control the noise which is reflected by the exterior cover and directed to the frame so as not to be further reflected by the frame. In other words, the holes are not provided in order to decrease a sound wave itself, which becomes the noise, in the sound waves generated from the frame. Therefore, in a case where holes such as intake ports and exhaust ports are provided in the exterior cover, the noise may come out of the apparatus body and thus positions of the holes provided in the exterior cover are constrained. Depending on a configuration inside the apparatus body, the noise may come out of the apparatus body through an exterior member such that the noise, which is reflected by the exterior cover to be directed to the frame, passes through the holes of the frame and is subsequently reflected by the other member disposed inside the frame within the apparatus body to be directed to the exterior cover again.
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a seat belt emergency locking device for automotive vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The recent tendency toward higher speeds of automotive vehicles has come to require a seat occupant to wear a seat belt. When a great impact such as collision or the like is exerted on the vehicle or when a great acceleration or deceleration is exerted on the vehicle, a great force may act on the belt so that the latch of the free end of the belt may be disengaged to cause the seat occupant to be thrown out.
To avoid such a situation, there has been developed a device which may sense the impact or the acceleration or the deceleration by means of an inertia device and which may lock the latch to prevent it from being disengaged in an emergency. However, making such a design that the latch device is directly retained by the sensing device involves many inconveniences including a complicated construction. If the strength of the retaining device is increased, the weight thereof becomes greater and the sensing device must be larger in size. On the other hand, if the retaining device is made light in weight by being formed of synthetic resin, the strength thereof will be insufficient.
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1. Field
The present invention relates to fuel cells, in particular to indirect or redox fuel cells which have applications as power sources for: portable products such as portable electronics products; for transport vehicles such as automobiles, both main and auxiliary; auxiliary power for caravans and other recreational vehicles, boats etc; stationary uses such as uninterruptible power for hospitals computers etc and combined heat and power for homes and businesses. The invention also relates to certain catholyte solutions for use in such fuel cells.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fuel cells have been known for portable applications such as automotive and portable electronics technology for very many years, although it is only in recent years that fuel cells have become of serious practical consideration. In its simplest form, a fuel cell is an electrochemical energy conversion device is that converts fuel and oxidant into reaction product(s), producing electricity and heat in the process. In one example of such a cell, hydrogen is used as fuel, and air or oxygen as oxidant and the product of the reaction is water. The gases are fed respectively into catalysing, diffusion-type electrodes separated by a solid or liquid electrolyte which carries electrically charged particles between the two electrodes. In an indirect or redox fuel cell, the oxidant (and/or fuel in some cases) is not reacted directly at the electrode but instead reacts with the reduced form (oxidized form for fuel) of a redox couple to oxidise it, and this oxidised species is fed to the cathode (anode for fuel).
There are several types of fuel cell characterised by their different electrolytes. The liquid electrolyte alkali electrolyte fuel cells have inherent disadvantages in that the electrolyte dissolves CO2 and needs to be replaced periodically. Polymer electrolyte or PEM-type cells with proton-conducting solid cell membranes are acidic and avoid this problem. However, it has proved difficult in practice to attain power outputs from such systems approaching the theoretical maximum level, due to the relatively poor electrocatalysis of the oxygen reduction reaction.
In addition expensive noble metal electrocatalysts are often used. It would be preferable to use a less costly inert electrode, such as one formed of or coated with carbon, nickel or titanium. However, prior art cells in which inert electrodes have been utilised have produced unsatisfactory power output.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,152,013 discloses a gaseous fuel cell comprising a cation-selective permeable membrane, a gas permeable catalytic electrode and a second electrode, with the membrane being positioned between the electrodes and in electrical contact only with the gas permeable electrode. The electrodes are formed of platinum, iridium or other noble metal electrocatalysts. An aqueous catholyte is provided in contact with the second electrode and the membrane, the catholyte including an oxidant couple therein. Means are provided for supplying a fuel gas to the permeable electrode, and for supplying a gaseous oxidant to the catholyte for oxidising reduced oxidant material. The preferred catholyte and redox couple is HBr/KBr/Br2. Nitrogen oxide is disclosed as a preferred catalyst for oxygen reduction, but with the consequence that pure oxygen was required as oxidant, the use of air as oxidant requiring the venting of noxious nitrogen oxide species.
An acknowledged problem concerning electrochemical fuel cells is that the theoretical potential of a given electrode reaction under defined conditions can be calculated but never completely attained. Imperfections in the system inevitably result in a loss of potential to some level below the theoretical potential attainable from any given reaction. Previous attempts to reduce such imperfections include the selection of mediators which undergo oxidation-reduction reactions in the catholyte solution. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,294,588 discloses the use of quinones and dyes in this capacity. However, despite the electrodes being coated with platinum, relatively low output was obtained during running of the cell. Another redox couple which has been tried is the vanadate/vanadyl couple, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,279,949. In this case, the slow rate of reduction and oxidation of the vanadium couple reduces its performance. This problem is exacerbated by the insolubility of the vanadium couple. The same vanadium couple was used in U.S. Pat. No. 4,396,687.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 3,540,933, certain advantages could be realised in electrochemical fuel cells by using the same electrolyte solution for both catholyte and anolyte. This document discloses the use of a liquid electrolyte containing more than two redox couples therein, with equilibrium potentials not more than 0.8V apart from any other redox couple in the electrolyte.
The matching of the redox potentials of different redox couples in the electrolyte solution is also considered in U.S. Pat. No. 3,360,401, which concerns the use of an intermediate electron transfer species to increase the rate of flow of electrical energy from a fuel cell. The use of platinum coated electrodes is also disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,607,420 discloses an electrolyte in which the only soluble redox species present is the catalyst species. The electrolyte comprises a Cu(I)/Cu(II) catalyst.
WO-A-2006/057387 discloses a bio fuel cell making use of a material which participates in the donation and receiving of electrons, the cell being said to exhibit an enhanced output power density. The material comprises an electron conductor of a specified external surface area, a redox polymer and a bio catalyst.
US-A-2003/0152823 discloses a fuel cell having an anode and a cathode with an anode enzyme disposed on the anode and a cathode enzyme disposed on the cathode.
US-A-2001/0028977 discloses a method for preparing a high energy density electrolyte solution for use in ore-vanadium redox cells.
Prior art fuel cells all suffer from one or more of the following disadvantages:
They are inefficient; they are expensive and/or expensive to assemble; they use expensive and/or environmentally unfriendly materials; they yield inadequate and/or insufficiently maintainable current densities and/or cell potentials; they are too large in their construction; they operate at too high a temperature; they produce unwanted by-products and/or pollutants and/or noxious materials; they have not found practical, commercial utility in portable applications such as automotive and portable electronics.
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to infra-red cameras and, more particularly, to the optical or pre-photocell system and variable apertures for such cameras.
2. Background
Thermal infrared radiation is the emission of photons by any and all objects having a temperature that's above absolute zero. Those emissions may be captured by a thermal infrared camera (alternatively, known simply as an infrared camera), which is well known in the art. An infrared sensitive photocell is central to all infrared cameras. A photocell means any device sensitive to infrared radiation, including a single element detector, a linear array and a two dimensional array of detectors (such as a 2D array of IR sensitive pixels) of various infrared sensitive materials. In infrared cameras the photocell is a two-dimensional array of infrared sensitive pixels. In use, the photocell, highly sensitive to thermal infrared radiation (hereinafter frequently referred to simply as “radiation”) is exposed to radiation emanating from the object or scene being imaged. However, because the camera enclosure is above absolute zero in temperature, the enclosure concurrently emits radiation that is able to reach the photocell. That additional radiation is not desired, since that radiation negatively affects the operation of the camera. To minimize or eliminate that effect, the photocell is enclosed within a cold structure (referred to as a “radiation shield”).
The design of the radiation shield is dictated simply: if an observer were to look out from the photocell, anything the observer could see would emit radiation that would be incident on the camera photocell. In order to block the undesired radiation, the radiation shield must be the only internal camera structure that the photocell is able to “see.” The radiation shield shouldn't emit an excess of radiation. The “cold stop,” which is simply a name for a cooled aperture, provides the only path through the focusing optics for external radiation to reach the photocell. The cold stop size is a compromise between the effectiveness of blocking the unwanted radiation (requiring a small aperture) and excessive vignetting (requiring a large aperture). An ideal cold stop position exists at the exit pupil of the lens. At that location the size of the cold stop is equal to the size of the exit pupil of the front optics, producing 100% effectiveness and no vignetting.
An active cooler, typically, such as a Peltier cooler, is often integrated into the camera to keep the photocell and other components of the infrared camera cool. Typically, in order to control the unwanted radiation seen on the photocell, the cooling system must maintain a low fixed temperature. Ideally, the temperature of the radiation shield is cold enough to produce only a negligible amount of radiation at the photocell. That fixed temperature has a known effect on the photocell and that effect can be removed through image post processing. The photocell is also cooled to improve its radiation sensitivity and reduce the internally generated current, as the higher the temperature of the photocell, the lower its usable dynamic range. However, in more sensitive systems the system must be cooled to as low a temperature as reasonably possible to minimize any unwanted radiation loading. In such systems, several options are available for achieving the necessary cooling, including integrating the cameras into dewars for liquid nitrogen or liquid helium, Stirling cryogenerators, Gifford-McMahon mechanical coolers, and other such devices.
To reduce thermal load on the cooling system, infrared camera designers often place all of the cooled elements inside a vacuum vessel. Within the vacuum vessel, the radiation shield and the photocell are maintained at a low, sometimes cryogenic, temperature, based on the photocell requirements and the desired performance. The vacuum vessel, (if present) often constitutes a camera housing, which also often contains, or provides, a mounting apparatus for the infrared focusing lens. The term “lens” as used herein should be understood to be inclusive of all light collecting devices including refractive or reflective systems.
Thermal infrared cameras must be able to accommodate both hot and cold target objects and scenes, while distinguishing the target from background radiation. Although the thermal control methods described above can allow a camera to be used in a wide variety of thermal scenes, drastic changes in radiation quantities require different camera settings. If the scene is too cool for ideal use with the camera, the camera operator can take a longer exposure of the scene. Doing so may adversely affect the frame rate and may lead to resolution problems if the camera or target is moving. Another solution typically used in the art is to change the electronic gain of the signal from the photocell, even though increasing the gain also increases the noise in the electronic signal. Conversely, in hot scenes, reduced exposure time, reduced signal gain, or a combination of the two can allow an infrared camera to capture the scene. When a very bright event occurs (e.g., an explosion, a launch of a missile) in a scene with a very high dynamic range the photocell could saturate. A method to avoid saturation of the photocell is by reducing the size of the optical aperture. In conventional video camera, the iris mechanism is often coupled to the photocell readout electronics, controlling the iris in response to the radiation intensity.
Apertures and Cold Stops. A cold stop is simply a temperature-controlled aperture. In its most basic form, the cold stop is a fixed aperture, similar to the apertures found in some disposable visible light cameras. Variable diaphragms (hereinafter used interchangeably with the term “iris”) for light cameras, including continuously variable and swappable fixed apertures, have been described in patent art for many years (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 24,356 to Miller and Wirsching in 1859, U.S. Pat. No. 582,219 to Mosher in 1897). The variable diaphragm works by allowing more (or less) of the radiation (visible light, in the case of visible light cameras) that reaches the focusing lenses to pass through to the photocell or film. The focusing lens receives radiation and focuses it based on the distance from the radiation source to the lens and the prescription of the lens. The prescription includes the focal length and the f-number. In conventional visible light cameras (and unlike infrared cameras), the aperture is typically built into the compound lens assembly. That aperture then lets pass a certain desired portion of the radiation intercepted by the lens.
With a very large aperture, nearly all of the light arriving at the focusing lens passes through the aperture. By reducing the size of the aperture, the mechanism of the aperture blocks a portion of the light from entering. In typical visible light cameras, the aperture is located at the point where the cone of light from the object is wide, at the pupil or aperture stop; and thus diminishes the light intensity without affecting the image quality. Lenses may have specific aperture requirements, which determine the optimum position and size of the aperture. This is typically a function of the f-number (hereinafter interchangeably also referred to as “f-number”), the focal length of the lens, and the construction.
However, in infrared cameras, the aperture cannot be located in the lens, since the lens is not cooled and the aperture must be cooled so the aperture doesn't radiate onto the infrared photocell. A lens for use with infrared cameras ideally has its exit pupil located far enough behind the lens mount to the camera body, and at the end of the radiation shield, where the cold stop is mounted. The fixed aperture is typically located in the converging path of the light at the end of the radiation shield; that is, between the lens and the focal plane. The aperture thus defines an effective f-number for the system. If the lens f-number matches the fixed aperture f-number the camera is said to be aperture matched. If the lens f-number is smaller, i.e., faster than that of the fixed aperture then some of the incoming radiation is clipped by the aperture, and if the f-number of the lens is larger, i.e., slower, than that of the fixed aperture, the photocell can “see” the mechanical structure of the camera and it receives undesired radiation from the camera structure.
Interchangeable lenses will have different f-number's. Unless the aperture is changed, the f-number of the camera won't match the f-number of most of those lenses. A need thus exists for an adjustable aperture that can match the f-number of interchangeable lenses. That aperture must be placed at the lens' exit pupil location, that is, inside the vacuum enclosure and at the end of the radiation shield, and should be adjustable to match the lens' f-number or the exit pupil size.
As a result, when interchangeable lenses of a different f-number are used with an infrared camera, the system f-number may not match the f-number of the lens. No solution heretofore existed in the prior art to this problem prior to this invention. A variable diaphragm or aperture, however, is able to correct the foregoing situation and match the system f-number to the specific lens in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,133,569 (the “'569 patent”) to Shoda and Ishizuya discloses a thermal infrared camera that appears to incorporate the above-mentioned features. The '569 patent further notes the promising idea of using variable diaphragms in thermal feedback infrared cameras, that is, in cameras with thermal sensors controlling cooling elements. Specifically, Shoda and Ishizuya suggest the use of an optically variable diaphragm optionally thermally coupled to the infrared radiation shield, but without providing the reader with any tangible details beyond the basic thought. However, due to the limitations discussed hereafter in regard to cooling the variable diaphragm, the '569 patent does not make possible the use of such a variable diaphragm in an infrared camera.
The use of continuously variable diaphragms or swappable fixed apertures that are used to match interchangeable lenses with different f-number numbers in thermal infrared cameras hasn't been viable because of fundamental packaging and thermal control problems. As earlier described, the aperture must be cooled. While an effectively cooled variable diaphragm is difficult to design, the problem becomes considerably more difficult if the aperture must be kept at cryogenic temperatures and be located inside a vacuum chamber. Within a vacuum chamber, the aperture and the associated drive mechanisms cannot outgas. Depending on the depth of vacuum, this may require a completely dry iris and specially designed lubricants, electrical wiring, motors, and gears. Moreover, the drive mechanism cannot add heat load onto the cooling system, nor allow conductive heat load from the ambient vacuum enclosure to affect the cooling system. Equally important, the aperture must dissipate energy from the radiation that it blocks. These and other considerations for the aperture itself have made implementing a variable diaphragm impossible given the prior art.
Further, with continuously variable diaphragms or interchangeable fixed apertures, there must be some mechanism for changing the size of the aperture. Mechanical, electromagnetic, piezoelectric, or other such control means must be available to change the diaphragm size or interchange the fixed apertures. The control means must be strong enough to operate the variable diaphragm or interchangeable fixed aperture in a timely manner, and either be thermally isolated from the photocell or operate at cryogenic temperatures. If the aperture is in a vacuum, the control means must be small enough to fit within the vacuum chamber or provide some means for transferring mechanical force through the wall of the vacuum chamber. Where such transfer of mechanical force occurs, complex seals must be used to ensure the integrity of the vacuum is un-compromised and that excessive heat is not conducted into the radiation shield.
Aperture control means located in a vacuum chamber require constraints that make their implementation significantly less feasible. First, the materials used in conjunction with the control means cannot outgas, as vaporized materials not only destroy the vacuum that provides the thermal isolation for the cold components, but also condense on the photocell. For that reason, bearings, linings, coatings, winding insulation, and any cements or glues must be eliminated or replaced with a fluorinated polymer or polytetrafluoroethylene based insulation, such as Teflon® brand insulation, or otherwise be coated or manufactured with special non-outgassing materials.
Moreover, the motor control means must also be able to cool itself effectively without the typical convection of heat into air. This means that all heat generated in the motor must be dissipated through conduction to the motor mounting apparatus. The control means must therefore be thermally isolated from the aperture it controls. The motor must incorporate heat-reducing technology, including bipolar drives, low current standby systems, and other such options. Furthermore, the diaphragm control means must not produce electromagnetic interference (EMI) that can distort the electronic signal produced by the photocell. Mechanical or other temperature control means must often also be associated with the motor.
Finally, for control means located in a vacuum, there is an additional potential problem created by high voltage to exposed conductors in the motor apparatus. In extremely low-pressure vacuums, the remaining air molecules subject to high voltage can ionize and current will flow as if the vacuum chamber were an electron tube, creating strong corona effects. These effects are particularly problematic near highly sensitive photocells, so careful insulation is needed on any exposed electric contacts.
An additional packaging problem exists where a variable diaphragm system must fit within the same confines as an existing fixed aperture camera. In these retrofit cases, the entire aperture control means must fit within very small confines that were not designed to accommodate such hardware.
Accordingly, a need exists in the art for a variable diaphragm that overcomes or avoids the above problems and limitations, which constitutes a principal object of the invention.
A further object of the invention is to allow the use of interchangeable optics, including interchangeable compound lenses, in a single infrared camera, by providing a means to match the aperture number (ie. f-stop) of the camera to the aperture number of the lenses.
A still further object of the invention is to retrofit an infrared camera that contains a fixed cold stop aperture for use with a lens that is of a different f-stop number from that of the camera.
Our prior application for U.S. patent Ser. No. 10/250,016, filed May 28, 2003, presently pending, the content of which is incorporated herein, addresses most of the same goals, and describes an invention in a thermal infrared camera that includes a variable aperture. Among other things, the present application describes a variable aperture assembly of improved structure not previously described.
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File systems almost universally rely on directory structures to track and organize stored files. The directory structure is composed of at least one root directory and various directory paths stemming from the root directory to identify the location of files on the file system. Conceptually, a particular directory path points to a particular directory that contains zero or more files and subdirectories.
Each read and write operation to the file system involves traversal of the directory structure and some finite amount of time to complete. New software techniques and hardware technology have improved the time needed to complete such operations. For instance, solid state disks are able to complete random read or write operations many times faster than a mechanical disk.
Nevertheless, further improvement and even higher performing file systems are needed for certain storage critical systems. One such system heavily reliant on file system performance is a Content Delivery Network (CDN).
A CDN deploys surrogate origin servers, also referred to as caching servers or edge servers, at various points-of-presence (PoPs) that are geographically proximate to large numbers of end users. Each PoP includes multiple caching servers. Each caching server has a finite amount of storage for locally caching content from various content providers. The cached content is then disseminated to the geographically proximate end users more expediently than would otherwise occur if the content was disseminated from a more distant or underpowered origin server of the content provider originating the cached content.
To ensure the relevance of the cached content, the caching servers continually reallocate the storage to retain the most popular content. This reallocation involves continually purging stale content and writing popular or refreshed content to the storage. Accordingly, there is a need for a highly optimized file system that can maintain pace with the amount of reads and writes performed by a caching server. Otherwise, an underperforming file system can create a bottleneck that prevents the caching server from responding to incoming requests in a timely manner.
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Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to telephony, and more particularly to a method and system for detecting each time a party is added to a previously recorded or live telephone call.
Background Art
There is a general need for systems that detect three way calls. Many types of systems exist that detect three way calls by measuring certain line characteristics such as voltage fluctuations, noise and other electromechanical characteristics.
The purpose of many conventional three way call detection systems is to automatically disconnect an existing telephone connection whenever a three way call is detected. For example, correctional facilities such as jails and prisons routinely monitor or record telephone conversations of inmates. Inmates in general are prohibited from making three way telephone calls because these calls have been found to be made in order to, for instance, inappropriately contact witnesses or to call individuals that they would otherwise be prohibited from calling, such as convicted felons, drug dealers and gang members.
Although most correctional facilities record all telephone calls made by inmates, it is believed that on average only a very small proportion is ever monitored by correctional officers. Many correctional facilities record 2,000 inmate telephone calls a day, so monitoring all telephone calls or even a large fraction on a regular basis would require too much personnel and would be cost prohibitive. Inmates are aware of this and know that there is little chance of getting caught making a three way call. Thus, many make three way calls on a routine basis without being detected.
It is desirable in some instances to allow the completion of three way calls for intelligence gathering purposes because such calls often contain evidence of wrongdoing, such as terrorist or criminal activity, or other valuable information. Simply disconnecting an inmate as soon as a three way call is detected could result in the loss of potentially valuable information in those cases where an inmate is suspected of using telephones to engage in illegal or improper activity.
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Many buildings may have a doorway with a loading dock to facilitate transferring cargo between a truck and the building. A loading dock is a platform that is generally at the same elevation as the bed of the truck or its trailer. The dock may also include a dock leveler, which is a vertically movable ramp that compensates for a height differential that may exist between the platform and the truck bed. Dock levelers may also provide a bridge across which personnel and material handling equipment can travel between the platform and the truck.
For protection against weather and theft, the doorway of the building may include a manual or power operated door. Doors for loading docks usually open and close by moving vertically so as not to interfere with the rear of the truck or interfere with cargo and activity just inside the doorway; however, other types of doors can be used.
When there is no truck at the dock and the weather is mild, the door may be left open to help ventilate the building with fresh outside air. Leaving the door open, unfortunately, increases the risk of personnel or material handling or other equipment inside the building from accidentally falling off the edge of the dock's platform and through the open doorway to the driveway. In addition, the door being left open decreases building security due to entrance of unauthorized personnel or employee theft via the unsecured doorway.
To provide ventilation through the doorway while minimizing the falling hazard, some loading docks include a runoff barrier that provides an obstruction across the doorway when a truck is not present or otherwise moves to a nonblocking position as needed. Examples of such barriers are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,271,183 and 5,299,386.
Regardless of whether a loading dock includes a runoff barrier, a forklift transferring cargo between the truck's trailer and the dock's platform can present a collision hazard for dockworkers or other people in the work area. If a forklift is operating deep inside the truck's trailer, the forklift driver and nearby pedestrians might not notice each other. Thus, the forklift might suddenly emerge from within the trailer and accidentally strike someone.
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Retractable roofs on large domed sports stadiums and other large facilities are modern engineering marvels. A Folded Dome like Retractable Opening Structure and Method of the present invention emulate a simple umbrella to provide shelter from rain and sun, and the umbrella is retractable, yet light weight, strong, and compact. An umbrella in its simplicity has its canopy cantilever supported by ribs from its central pole, and the canopy is folded and unfurled from the central pole. The present invention, like an umbrella, opens and closes a retractable opening by folding and unfolding, or stretching and compressing a truncated flexible cone-like structure made of corrugated shell. But unlike an umbrella, the retractable opening of the present invention is an open truncated end of a truncated flexible cone-like structure, supported peripherally, expanded outward to open toward and contracted inward to close away from the retractable opening periphery, and leaving an unobstructed view area interior to the periphery.
A Folded Dome like Retractable Opening Structure of the present invention, enormous in size that may span an area equivalent to 700 feet in diameter, is particularly suitable for an expansive doomed retractable roof often found on a large domed sports stadium.
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{
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The present invention relates to circuits and methods for rapidly recharging lithium-ion and analogous battery types.
Rechargeable lithium-ion is a promising battery technology which offers high energy density per unit weight, and high voltage per cell. See generally Linden, HANDBOOK OF BATTERIES (2.ed. 1995), which is hereby incorporated by reference. However, this class of battery chemistries has some limitations.
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Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an electronic apparatus. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to the electronic apparatus, which can output a warning signal.
Description of Related Art
In order to store a large amount of data, the present apparatuses, such as servers or cloud systems, inevitably have storage apparatuses disposed therein. In practical application, the storage apparatuses are usually set up to be movable for convenience of maintaining or detecting, i.e., users or staffs in a machine room can maintain or detect the servers or the cloud systems, which are still under normal operation, through pulling or pushing the servers or the cloud systems out from a casing thereof temporarily.
However, once the storage apparatuses are pulling or pushing out form the casing thereof, heat of the storage apparatuses will not be dissipated by fans disposed in the servers or the cloud systems, and the storage apparatuses will be overheated and malfunction. The traditional solution is to manually timing or estimating the time of the storage apparatuses pulled/pushed out from the casing, and pulling/pushing the storage apparatuses back to the original disposed position before the storage apparatuses are overheated and malfunction. However, the method is inconvenient and usually causes misjudgments on timing or estimating.
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The sport of disc golf makes use of one or more discs, and one or more disc catching devices. As in regular golf, the object is to obtain the lowest score, where a point is added to a player's score each time a disc is thrown, and where the goal is to throw the disc so that it is caught by and retained in a disc catching device.
Disc golf was founded more than thirty years ago by Disc Golf Association, Inc., a California corporation based at 16 Maher Road, Watsonville, Calif. Disc Golf Association, Inc. was founded by “Steady” Ed Headrick, the inventor of the Frisbee®. Frisbee is a registered trademark of Wham-O, Inc., a Delaware corporation based at 5903 Christie Avenue, Emeryville, Calif. The disc catching device is sometimes referred to as a Disc Pole Hole® Disc Pole Hole is a registered trademark of Disc Golf Association, Inc.
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In modern multi-processor systems that employ inclusive cache systems, processor cache memories often maintain multiple copies of data. In an inclusive cache system, when one processor alters one copy of the data, it is necessary to update or invalidate all other copies of the data which may appear elsewhere in the multi-processor system. Thus, in a system that employs an inclusive cache, to ensure coherency among the multiple copies of the data, every valid write to one copy of the data must update or invalidate all other copies of the data.
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This invention relates to a hairdressing apparatus which is available to supply adequate moisture to the hair of the head or the face by spraying steam thereupon in order to facilitate the beauty treatment of producing permanent waves, curling hair or shaving faces at barber shops or beauty salons.
A steam hairdressing apparatus as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 is already known as an apparatus for spraying steam upon hairs of a person in hairdressing treatments. The steam hairdressing apparatus 100 comprises a main body 102 supported on a stand pole (not shown in FIG. 4) and a dome 104 mounted on the main body 102 permitting slight raising or lowering.
The main body 102 has an evaporator 106 therein. An U-shaped spouting tube 108 is equipped inside the dome 104. An exit 110 of the evaporator 106 is connected with a middle point of the U-shaped spouting tube 108 by a flexible communicating tube 112. A plurality of narrow gushing holes 114 are perforated on the spouting tube 108.
The evaporator 106 is usually safely positioned lower than the spouting tube 108. It consists of a closed-type tank 116 for containing water therein and an electric heater 118 fixed in the tank 116.
The electric heater 118 boils and evaporates the water in the tank 116. The hot steam generated by the electric heater 118 ascends through the slant communicating tube 112. Then the hot steam spouts from the gushing holes 114 into the dome 104. The temperature of the steam is nearly 100.degree. C. at the moment of gushing. Cool external air also flows into the dome 104 through a narrow gap between the lower edge of the dome and the head inserted therein. The hot steam and the cool air mix in the dome. If the mixing condition is best, the temperature of the mixed gas becomes 50.degree. C.-60.degree. C. Such a gas is adequate to moisten the hair of the head effectively without danger.
The conventional hairdressing apparatus has some inconveniences.
Because the steam is spouted from the gushing holes 114 by action of the vapor pressure itself, the temperature of the water contained in the tank 116 must always be kept nearly at the boiling point of water--about 100.degree. C. under an ordinary atmospheric pressure. As is well known, the pressure of mixed gases is equal to the sum of the partical pressures of the individual gases. In the closed-type tank 116 exists only aqueous vapour, because no other kind of gas ever flows into the tank 116. The dome 104 is under atmospheric pressure. In order that gas may spout outward into the dome, the pressure in the tank 116 must be higher than the atmospheric pressure. Therefore the temperature must be kept more than 100.degree. C. in the tank 116.
Then the temperature of the aqueous vapor spouting through the gushing holes 114 is still nearly 100.degree. C. It is dangerous that such hot steam is sprayed directly upon the head of a person receiving hairdressing treatment. Though the gushing holes 114 are upwardly directed to increase the chance of mixing steam with cool air, it may be insufficient for creating a full mixture.
Occasionally abrupt boiling phenomena happens in the evaporator 106, when it is overheated more than 100.degree. C. The phenomena is dangerous. It may cause an accidental burn on a head, because hot water--not vapor--of about 100.degree. C. spouts from the gushing holes 114.
Furthermore in the conventional steam hairdressing apparatus, the temperature and the flow of the steam is poorly controllable. The adjustment of the temperature or the flow must be done only by changing the electric power supplied to the electric heater 118. Such a control is very uncertain and inaccurate, because it is indirect and accompanied by a large time lag and large hysterisis.
Finally the work of perforating many narrow gushing holes 114 on the spouting tube 108 is a very tedious process. It lowers productivity and pushes up the cost. Besides, the narrow gushing holes 114 cause a large pressure loss in the flow of steam.
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In many data processing applications, it is often desirable to encode a data stream using trellis codes or other data encoding techniques. Trellis codes are a general class of convolutional codes in which state transitions may be diagrammed in the form of a trellis, but which do not necessarily exhibit shift register-like characteristics. For example, in digital communication systems, trellis coding of modulation data, when combined with an appropriate mapping of the encoded data to a transmitted signal set, can improve the performance of a receiver without an increase in transmitted signal power or bandwidth. The equivalent signal-to-noise improvement attributable to data encoding is referred to as coding gain, and results in increased bandwidth and power efficiency.
As a result, Trellis decoders are included in many products including modems, cellular phones, and satellite receivers. These applications are relatively slow-speed, however, compared with the demands of digital video data streams, which require decoding at a rate of 10 MHz or greater.
A convolutional encoder is a finite state machine in which evolution is controlled by the succession of bits in the message. For each coding cycle, information is generated by the encoder concerning the evolution of its internal state. The decoder searches for the most likely evolution of the encoder as a function of the arriving information. An example of an encoder is a simple shift register of length .upsilon., which receives the bits u.sub.0, u.sub.1, . . . , u.sub.n to be transmitted. The contents of the .upsilon. registers represents the 2.sup..upsilon. possible states. The succession of encoder states is usually represented by a path in the transition diagram (trellis) of the encoder as shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 shows an example of a trellis for .upsilon.=2. The bold path indicates the succession of encoder states at times t=0 to 5. The message bit which changes the encoder state between t=i and t=i+1 is indicated on the corresponding branch. For example, the arrival of a "1" in the shift register changes the state of the encoder at t=1, 01, to 10 at t=2.
At each decoding cycle, the decoder receives information on the encoder transition. The most likely previous state among the 2.sup..upsilon. possible states is usually determined by the branch metric unit and by the Add/Compare/Select (ACS) unit. Each node of the trellis is associated with a path called the "surviving path." All surviving paths are converging towards a unique path provided that the number of successive branches is equal to or greater than a convergence length L. This unique path is the decoded message.
One technique for managing the surviving memory is called "traceback." A node is chosen at random and its surviving path is followed on a depth of L+H in order to obtain H decoded states. The main advantage of traceback is the very dense storage of the decision vectors in memories. Disadvantages include a large decoding delay as well as having to store a large number of decision vectors.
Existing Trellis decoders have at least three problems when used in connection with very fast real-time data streams such as video information, which this invention addresses:
1) At video rates, many calculations must be performed for each input symbol without the benefit of a fast rate clock as in voice/data modems. This makes real-time decoding of video data more difficult than voice or data.
2) Data can be interleaved through multiple Trellis encoders to reduce the effect of burst noise on the received data. This means that additional processing is required on the data stream after Trellis decoding to perform de-interleaving.
3) The absence of a fast clock in a video application makes deep traceback difficult because there is a very limited number of traceback memory accesses possible during each symbol period. Techniques such as pre-traceback and multiple-symbol decoding are commonly used to address this problem.
Lin, "Area Efficient Decoders for Rate-k/n Convolutional Codes and Other High Rate Trellis Codes", U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,707, issued Jun. 25, 1996, represents one prior-art high speed trellis decoder.
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Hatches provide access to a generally sealed environment such as areas of a military vehicle. Such hatches must be constructed to meet the same structural requirements as the surrounding structure. Furthermore, the hatch must maintain the integrity of the sealed environment when locked down.
The structural and weight requirements for a hatch frequently make them difficult to open. One of the main purposes of a hatch is to facilitate the movement of military personal, while providing the same level of protection as the rest of the vehicle structure. Depending upon the vehicle or embodiment, any particular hatch may include armor. Additional “top-attack” armor is commonly used to enhance protection when a vehicle is within a particularly high threat area. These survivability requirements drastically increase the weight of the hatch adding to the difficulty of operating the hatch.
With respect to armored vehicles, the driver's hatch has distinct requirements for operational performance as well as survivability. The driver must be able to have clear visibility to drive the armored vehicle. In many situations the driver will choose to have his head extend outside the hatch frame. In combat operations, however, the driver needs protection, and that requires a hatch that shields the driver.
Thus there is a need for a hatch that allows for operational performance and survivability. A hatch should be relatively easy to function, while remaining reliable. In a military vehicle, reliability must be maintained through rigorous and damaging conditions. The hatch of a military vehicle should accommodate the addition of armor. The steps needed to open and close the hatch portal should be minimal, taking into consideration the amount of force and time needed to operate the hatch during emergencies. Further, there is a need in armored vehicles for a hatch that allows the driver to remain protected while still performing the required mission.
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The present invention relates to an ear plug usable for prevention of noise, acoustic instruments such as hearing aids, and so on.
FIG. 1 shows the prior art ear plug wherein a sponge-like sleeve member 2 is fixed on an exterior of a core member 1 in a body. An external enlarged portion la of the core member 1 has a shallow vent 3 formed therethrough to loose a pressure difference between an interior of the external auditory canal and the external atmosphere when the ear plug is inserted into the external auditory canal. The core member 1 is formed as a part of a hearing aid 12.
It is required that the ear plug is superior in prevention of noise of high frequency when inserted into the external auditory canal. However, if the degree of prevention of noise is improved at that time, there occurs a pressure difference between the external atmosphere and an inside of the external auditory canal, accompanied by problems such as feeling of oppression with clogging of the ear. The pressure difference can be avoided by manufacturing the core member 1 in a straight form, however, sound generated from the hearing aid 12 having an external portion 1a of the core member 1 is easy to leak outward due to the short length of the vent in the core member 1. This causes so-called howling to remarkably decrease the performance of the ear plug.
Consequently, an object of the present invention is to lengthen a communicating passage or vent to an effective degree for remarkably decreasing the pressure difference between the inside of the external auditory canal and the external atmosphere as well as preventing leakage of sound causing so-called howling.
In order to realize this object, the present invention provides an ear plug to be interted into the external auditory canal, having a compressible sleeve member and a core member attached therein, the improvement in which plural projections or a single projection are formed intermittently or continuously on an exterior of the core member, and vent is formed through or along the projection to make the external auditory canal communicate with the external atmosphere when inserted into the external auditory canal.
According to the present invention, the projections are formed on the exterior of the core member and the vent is defined through or along the projection to make the external auditory canal communicate with the external atmosphere, so as to lengthen a communicating passage or vent to an effective degree for remarkably decreasing only the pressure difference between an inside of the external auditory canal and the external atmosphere as well as preventing leakage of sound causing so-called howling.
In the present invention, it is preferable that an innermost vent is formed through an innermost projection of the intermittently formed projections or through an inner end portion of the core member to open into the external auditory canal, other vents are formed through other respective projections, and an outermost vent is formed through an outer end portion of the core member to open into the external atmosphere.
In this case, the vents are preferably formed at different positions of adjacent projections, and each of the projections can be ring-shaped.
It is also preferable that a continuous vent or groove is formed along the continuously formed projection to make an outermost vent communicate with the external auditory canal, and an outermost vent is formed through an outer end portion of the core member to open into the external atmosphere.
In this case, an additional vent is preferably formed through an inner end potion of the core member, and the continuously formed projection can be spiral-shaped.
It is further preferable that the sleeve member is composed of a sponge-like material such as polyurethane and the core member is composed of a flexible material such as polyethylene, so as to be deformed to meet the shape of the external auditory canal, and that a penetrating lumen is formed through an inside of the core member from one end to another end.
A hearing aid can has the core member in one body.
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The present invention relates to inflatable balloons and, more particularly, to decorative novelty balloons that may be interconnected with another.
For decades, inflatable balloons have been used for decoration and ornamentation, and also for general amusement. Latex balloons and non-latex balloons, e.g., Mylar(copyright) balloons, have been formed in a variety of entertaining shapes, such as animals and characters for use as toys and decoration. Such balloons have also been formed with a variety of designs and colors to embrace various themes, including birthdays, holidays, weddings and anniversaries. When used as decoration or ornamentation, it is often desirable to connect a number of balloons together to form a chain or array of such balloons. By connecting multiple balloons together, a variety of decorative structures, such as archways, can be constructed.
In the prior art, various methods have been used to connect balloons to one another. A common method of connecting balloons has been to use an adhesive, such as adhesive tape. While adhesive tape is effective in securing adjacent balloons to one another, it is undesirable because the tape may be difficult to remove once adhered, and the use of adhesive tape tends to weaken the balloon wall in the area of connection, which may cause the balloon to burst. Another common method of connecting balloons to one another has been to use strings or clips to tie or otherwise connect a number of balloons together by their stems. However, the process of tying the strings is labor intensive and, moreover, the strings add weight to the balloons, which may be undesirable in the case of buoyant, helium-filled balloons. Still another prior art method involves balloons formed with integral tabs and slots, wherein a tab from one balloon is inserted into the slot of an adjacent balloon and then secured thereto with a hook and loop fastener or an adhesive to connect the two adjacent balloons to one another. U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,353 issued to Myers discloses such an arrangement. However, formation of the integral tabs and slots complicates the manufacturing process, and the device still requires the use of an adhesive or other fastener to secure the balloons to one another. A problem with all of these prior art methods is that, once connected, it is often difficult to disconnect the balloons from one another without causing damage to the balloons.
Thus, there is a need for an improved manner of connecting decorative novelty balloons to one another, which addresses these problems of the prior art.
A general object of the present invention to provide a quick and easy mechanism for temporarily connecting adjacent balloons to one another. A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism for connecting adjacent balloons without the need for adhesive, string, or other mechanical fasteners. Still another object of the invention is to provide a mechanism and method for connecting adjacent balloons to one another in a manner that permits them to be quickly and easily disconnected from one another, if desired, without causing damage to the balloons.
In general, an inflatable article of the present invention comprises a primary inflatable portion and at least one inflatable extension. The inflatable extension is connected to the primary inflatable portion. The inflatable extension has a generally hook-shaped configuration adapted for interlocking engagement with an inflatable, generally hook-shaped extension of another similar inflatable article in a manner to removably interlock the articles to one another when the articles are substantially inflated.
In another aspect of the present invention, an inflatable article comprises first and second sheets of flexible, substantially non-elastomeric, generally gas-impermeable material. Each of the first and second sheets has a peripheral edge portion. The first and second sheets are sealed to one another at their respective peripheral edge portions to define an inflatable volume between the first and second sheets. The first and second sheets are shaped to define a primary inflatable portion and at least one inflatable extension connected to the primary inflatable portion. The inflatable extension is adapted for interlocking engagement with an inflatable extension of another similar inflatable article in a manner to removably interlock the articles to one another when the articles are substantially inflated.
In still another aspect of the present invention, an inflatable article comprises a primary inflatable portion and at least one inflatable extension both being formed of a flexible, generally gas-impermeable material. The inflatable extension is connected to the primary inflatable portion in a manner so that an interior volume of the inflatable extension is in fluid communication with an interior volume of the primary inflatable portion. The inflatable extension exhibits resilient properties when the article is substantially inflated due to internal fluid pressure whereby temporary deformation of the inflatable extension results in a restoring force that biases the inflatable extension toward a normal, non-deformed position. The inflatable extension is adapted for resilient interlocking engagement with an inflatable extension of another similar inflatable article in a manner to removably interlock the articles to one another when the articles are substantially inflated.
In general, a method of interlocking a plurality of inflatable articles comprises the steps of: providing a plurality of inflatable articles; inflating said articles; and connecting said articles to one another. Each of the plurality of inflatable articles comprises a primary inflatable portion and at least one inflatable extension connected to the primary inflatable portion. The primary inflatable portion and inflatable extension are in fluid communication with one another. The inflatable portion of each article has a generally hook-shaped configuration. The inflatable articles are connected to one another by connecting the hook-shaped inflatable extensions to one another in a manner to removably interlock the articles with one another.
While the principal advantages and features of the present invention have been described above, a more complete and thorough understanding and appreciation of the invention may be attained by referring to the drawings and description of the preferred embodiments, which follow.
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1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to electrostatic protectors, and particularly to a electrostatic protector of portable electronic devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Portable electronic devices, such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDA), laptop computers, are widely used. Most portable electronic devices include metal portions for decoration and/or protection. However, when these portable electronic devices are carried about, electrostatic charges on users may enter the portable electronic devices through outside metal portion and damage circuits.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.
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A basic component of a printed circuit board is a dielectric layer having a sheet of copper foil bonded thereto. Through a subtractive process that includes one or more etching steps, portions of the copper foil are etched away to leave a distinct pattern of conductive lines and formed elements on the surface of the dielectric layer. Multi-layer printed circuit boards are formed by stacking and joining two or more of the aforementioned dielectric layers having printed circuits thereon.
In recent years, the trend has been to reduce the size of electronic components and provide printed circuit boards having multi-chip modules, etc. This results in a need to increase the number of components, i.e., surface mount components, provided on a printed circuit board. A key to providing a densely populated circuit board is to produce close and fine circuit patterns from the copper. The width and spacing of conductive paths on the printed circuit board are generally dictated by the thickness of the copper on the dielectric layer. For example, if the copper has a thickness of 35 .mu.m (which is a conventional 1-ounce copper used in manufacturing many printed circuits), exposing the printed circuit board to an etching process for a period of time to remove such a copper thickness will also reduce the width of the side areas of the printed circuit path in approximately the same amount. In other words, the width of the spacing between adjacent circuit lines is basically determined by the thickness of the copper foil on the dielectric layer, as well as the narrowness of the line to be formed. In this respect, as the thickness of the foil decreases below 35 .mu.m, the ability to physically handle such foil becomes more difficult. There is a minimum thickness of a copper foil sheet that is determined by the ability of the foil manufacturer to handle and transport such sheets. Hence, there is also a limit on achieving close and fine circuit patterns from copper sheets.
In recent years, it has been proposed to use copper-coated polyimides in forming printed circuits. The thickness of the copper on polyimide is generally significantly less than the thickness of traditional copper foil sheet. The thinner copper on the polyimide allows for finer and more closely spaced circuit lines in that the thinness of the copper layer reduces the etching time required to remove unwanted copper. In this respect, it is possible to use copper clad polyimide wherein the copper has a thickness as low as 0.1 .mu.m (1,000 .ANG.). The thinner copper on the polyimide also finds advantageous application in a semi-additive process. In a semi-additive process, the copper is masked to define a circuit pattern, and copper is plated onto the exposed pattern to build up a circuit. The mask material is removed and a "flash etch" removes the base copper on the polyimide leaving the built-up circuit on the polyimide. Thus, copper on polyimide finds advantageous application in both subtractive and semi-additive processes for forming printed circuits.
As with conventional copper foil, it is important to maintain the surface of the copper on the polyimide free from contamination. It is also important not to bend or flex the polyimide in such a way that cracks may form in the copper layer. In this respect, it is preferable to maintain a copper coated polyimide sheet in a flat planer orientation, i.e. the orientation that will be used within a printed circuit.
The present invention provides a method of protecting the exposed copper layer on a copper-coated polyimide from surface contamination and from undesirable flexing of the laminate.
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{
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1. Field
Embodiments relate to a display device and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a display device generally includes a display part and a touch part. The touch part obtains coordinate information about a position at which a touch event occurs and provides information to the display part. The display part displays an image corresponding to the information provided from the touch part.
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Epoxy resins have heretofore been advanced in the presence of phosphonium catalysts disclosed by Dante in U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,990 and Perry in Canadian Pat. No. 893,191 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,855. However, the quantities of catalyst employed were that which would provide a resin having a percent epoxide value sufficiently close to the theoretical epoxide value that no improvement in properties were envisioned.
The process of the present invention provides for the production of advanced epoxy resins having an improvement in one or more physical properties such as, for example, reactivity, glass transition temperature of the cured resins and the like. Resins having faster reactivity characteristics provide for increased productivity of articles produced therefrom over a unit time period. The increase in glass transition temperature of a cured resin permits articles prepared therefrom to be employed in higher temperature environments. Cured epoxy resins having increased glass transition temperatures provide products which can be employed in environments of higher temperatures i.e., the useful operating temperature is generally directly proportional to the glass transition temperature.
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1. Field of the Invention:
Tube and shell heat exchangers having longitudinal and transverse baffles associated with the tube bundle and generally classified in Class 165, Subclass 161.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,916,264 (H. F. Rhodes) there is described a heat exchanger of the tube and shell type in which a baffle plate 18 is located adjacent the inlet 22 to redirect the flow of vapor from a point intermediate the shell to a point near the end of the tube bundle. The medium entering the heat exchanger, is well defined into two portions and directed to opposite ends of the shell.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,919,903 (L. H. Vautrain et al) a similar manifold is provided adjacent the inlet but it is constructed essentially the same way as the previously described Rhodes heat exchanger.
In the TEMA 2-1 J shell, depicted in FIG. 1a of the drawings, external piping provides an inlet for vapor at opposite ends of the shell. Obviously, this increases the overall size of the unit and creates additional problems in fabrication.
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The invention relates to an x-ray diagnostic system for preparation of angiographic x-ray photographic series corresponding to the course of a contrast medium in a vessel system, comprising a patient support, an x-ray tube with a diaphragm installation with diaphragm plates for the delineation of the x-ray beam irradiating the patient, and a cassette changer for x-ray film cassettes.
An x-ray diagnostic system of this type is described e.g. in the German OS No. 19 30 282. In this x-ray diagnostic system, with the cassette changer, only x-ray photographs with a comparatively small format are to be prepared. For tracing the contrast medium, for example from the abdominal area into the legs, it is therefore necessary to shift the patient support with the patient in a longitudinal direction. On principle, it would be possible to dispense with the longitudinal movement of the patient support if a cassette changer with cassettes is employed whose size covers the entire area of interest; for example, from the abdomen to the feet. However, in this case it is important to insure that the patient is not exposed to unnecessary radiation.
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Electrosurgical tools have been available for many years which employ electrical energy to treat targeted patient tissue in various ways. For example, electrocauterization is utilized to seal off and close blood vessels during surgery to prevent blood loss. In addition, ablation is utilized to vaporize or remove tissue using electrical energy. Electrosurgical probes are typically designed to perform both of these functions, depending upon the type of power supplied thereto. Further, monopolar and bipolar electrosurgical tools have long been available, wherein monopolar tools direct electric current from an active electrode defined on the tool through the patient's body and to a return electrode, which return electrode is typically defined by a grounding pad attached to the patient. Bipolar tools, on the other hand, incorporate both an active and a return electrode directly into the tool.
Surgical procedures utilizing bipolar tools are often performed using a conductive irrigant, such as saline, for irrigation and for distending a joint, for example in orthopedic arthroscopic procedures. The conductivity of the saline solution provides a conduction pathway between the active and return electrodes of the tool. The delivery of a high-frequency current between the active and return electrodes effectively modifies tissue, and it is common for bubbles to form on the surface of the tool or probe tip which can interfere with the surgeon's view of the surgical site. This is particularly a problem when the electrosurgical tool is employed in an endoscopic surgical procedure, wherein the electrosurgical tool is inserted into the surgical site through a small opening or portal formed in the patient's body. The surgeon views the surgical site through an endoscope which is inserted into the surgical site through another portal. Thus, these bubbles are generated in the relatively small confines of the surgical site and cause significant problems for the surgeon in viewing the surgical site. Further, these bubbles are electrically and thermally insulating, and can inhibit the flow of new saline solution for rewetting the electrode. Consequently, the bubbles can cause undesirable reduction of current flow through the targeted tissue.
In order to address the undesirable bubble generation described above, some electrosurgical tools incorporate a suction feature into the tool to remove the bubbles. One type of electrosurgical tool manufactured by the Assignee hereof is capable of suction. More specifically, this tool includes an outer conductive shaft which is covered with an insulating material. The distal end of the shaft is exposed of the insulating material, and serves as a return electrode. The active electrode is disposed inside the outer shaft and is supported at the shaft tip by an insulator cap, typically constructed of ceramic. The insulator cap is mounted within the open distal end of the shaft, and defines therein two bores. The distal end of the active electrode extends through one of these bores, and a plastic suction tube extends inside and along the outer shaft and into the other bore. This arrangement thus permits a vacuum to be drawn through the tool from the distal end thereof.
Minimally invasive surgical techniques require surgical tools to be as small as possible in order to minimize trauma to the patient. As such, there is an ongoing effort to reduce the size of surgical instruments whenever possible. While the above tool works reasonably well for its intended purpose, the requirement for the outer shaft to house both a suction tube and wiring for delivering current to the active electrode presents difficulties in assembly of the tool. Further, this arrangement results in limited available space within the outer shaft, which places a limit on the diameter of a suction tube. In addition, the cap which insulates the active electrode from the return electrode is required to have multiple holes for accommodating the active electrode and suction tube, which makes it difficult to minimize the overall diameter of the insulator cap and thus the overall diameter of the tool tip.
Other conventional electrosurgical tools which are capable of suction include an elongate tubular member which defines a conduit therein for aspirating fluid and/or debris from the surgical site. This tubular member is constructed of a conductive material, and thus also functions as an energy-delivering electrode. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,685 discloses a suction coagulator defined by a tubular suction cannula covered with an insulating coating. The cannula has a distal end which is exposed of the insulating coating and defines the active electrode. An insulating sleeve is provided inside the distal end of the electrode portion of the cannula for preventing the formation of blood char. U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,833 also discloses an electrosurgical tool including a conductive suction tube which is exposed from insulating material at its distal end so as to define the active electrode. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 6,156,036 discloses an electrosurgical tool defined by inner and outer conductive tubes which are separated by an insulator. The innermost tube defines an aspiration conduit. Current is passed between the inner and outer tubes so as to boil surgical fluid located at the distal end of the tool.
The above devices advantageously incorporate a conductive tubular member which defines a conduit for fluid aspiration while simultaneously providing an electrically conductive pathway to the active electrode defined by the distal end of the tube. This structure eliminates the need for internal wiring for the electrode within the tool shaft. However, a disadvantage of the above devices is that they utilize the suction tube directly for delivery of electrical energy to the targeted tissue. That is, the electrode in the above devices is a monolithic component of the suction tube itself. Accordingly, the electrode is defined by the exposed ring-shaped distal end of the suction tube, and thus the electrode geometry is limited to the geometry of the suction tube. In an electrode having this ring-shaped geometry as defined by the exposed distal end of the suction tube, electrical flux is necessarily greatest at the periphery of the ring. However, the rate of fluid flow over this ring and into the suction passage of the suction tube can cause convective cooling at the periphery of the electrode, which can result in the inability to rapidly ablate tissue.
In order to obviate or at least minimize the disadvantages of the above devices, the instant invention is directed to an electrosurgical tool which incorporates a suction tube defining both a conduit for fluid aspiration and an electrically conductive pathway to an active electrode disposed at the distal end of the tool. The active electrode is initially formed as a separate component from the suction tube, and is joined to the distal end of the suction tube. The active electrode is preferably joined to the suction tube by a press or interference-fit, but may also be joined to the suction tube by crimping, welding, with a conductive adhesive, or by another suitable method. This structure advantageously allows more freedom in designing an electrode for optimizing energy delivery to the targeted tissue. Further, the electrode according to the invention includes a small hole which communicates with the suction conduit defined by the suction tube, which can minimize convective cooling at the periphery of the active electrode where electrical flux is greatest. The small suction hole defined in the active electrode can also help to prevent clogging downstream of the surgical site by minimizing the size of tissue fragments that enter the suction conduit.
Further, the tool according to the invention helps to resolve the spatial limitations of existing tools by eliminating the need for both a suction tube and electrode wiring to pass through the outer tool shaft and the insulator cap disposed at the distal end thereof, since a single tube serves both as a suction tube and as a conduit for delivering electrical energy to the electrode at the tip of the tool, and since only one passage must be defined through the insulator cap. As such, the internal diameter of the outer shaft can be significantly reduced, since no additional space is needed therein for electrode wiring. In addition, the diameter of the distal end of the tool can be reduced essentially to the size of the active electrode, plus the minimal ceramic thickness necessary for insulation purposes.
As an alternative to reducing the overall diameter of the tool shaft, the diameter in one embodiment can be kept identical to existing diameters, and the suction channel enlarged in order to increase flow rate. The instant invention thus maximizes the cross-sectional areas within the tool shaft by eliminating unused space therein. The concentricity of the return electrode defined by the outer shaft and the active electrode defined by the conductive suction tube allows the remainder of the available cross-sectional area to be essentially fully utilized by the suction channel, if desirable or necessary.
Certain terminology will be used in the following description for convenience in reference only, and will not be limiting. For example, the words “upwardly”, “downwardly”, “rightwardly” and “leftwardly” will refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made. The words “inwardly” and “outwardly” will refer to directions toward and away from, respectively, the geometric center of the arrangement and designated parts thereof. The words “forwardly” and “distally” will refer to the direction toward the end of the arrangement which is closest to the patient, and the words “rearwardly” and “proximally” will refer to the direction away from the end of the arrangement which is furthest from the patient. Said terminology will include the words specifically mentioned, derivatives thereof, and words of similar import.
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Modern phased array radars typically use thousands of radiating elements. Behind these radiators are other microwave circuitry such as amplifiers, phase shifters, attenuators, low noise amplifiers (LNAs), RF switches, etc. The current trend is to integrate a number of these functions together into a common enclosure containing both transmit and receive circuitry. This technique allows for more accurate control of the amplitude and phase of the transmitted and received signal.
Various types of adjustable attenuators exist including microwave integrated circuit (MIC) types and monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MIMIC) types. These attenuators are either voltage or current controlled, and require some sort of bias control circuitry to obtain a desired attenuation level. These current or voltage controlled adjustable-type attenuators produce a variable insertion phase that varies with attenuation level due to the varying reactive effects of the control transistors or diodes used within the attenuator devices. This insertion phase is usually quite large and can be undesirable depending upon the application. In phased array radars, this effect can greatly degrade the performance of the antenna.
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Most color printing techniques use a so-called printing master such as a printing plate which carries an image and is mounted on the plate cylinder of a printing press. The printing master has a printing surface of which some areas are capable of accepting ink (the printing areas). In lithographic printing, the printing surface is a so-called lithographic surface consisting of oleophilic, ink accepting areas and oleophobic, ink repellent (non-printing) areas.
These printing techniques are binary processes wherein ink is transferred from the printing surface of the printing master to a (paper) substrate. Continuous tones are simulated by a so-called halftone image generated by a screening process. In conventional screening techniques the halftone image consists of dots which are equally spaced and vary in size. Frequency-modulated (also called stochastic) screening techniques use a different approach wherein small, equally-sized halftone dots are randomly placed and the observed density is determined by the number of these dots per square unit.
Multi-color prints are obtained by consecutively printing a limited set of process colors onto the substrate and each process color requires a separate printing master carrying the halftone image that is obtained by color separation and screening. The number of process colors may vary from two (e.g. black and one additional custom color such as the so-called spot-color printing process), to four (the widely used cyan, magenta, yellow and black subtractive primary colors) or even more (e.g. the so-called Hifi-color process). In order to obtain high quality prints these halftone color images need to be perfectly aligned. Misalignment, also called misregistration, may lead to printing artifacts such as moire (repetitive patterns often visible on a macroscopic scale). Though line or text printing requires no screening, bad registration of the printing masters can cause noticeable white gaps where colors should meet.
Nowadays printing masters are generally obtained by the so-called computer-to-film method (CtF) wherein various pre-press steps such as typeface selection, scanning, color separation and layout are accomplished digitally and the electronic files are transferred onto graphic arts film using an image-setter (one film for each process color). The processed film then can be used as a mask for the exposure of a plate precursor and after optional plate processing, a printing plate is obtained. The computer-to-plate method (CtP), also called direct-to-plate method, bypasses the creation of film and the digital document is transferred directly onto a plate precursor. In a special type of a computer-to-plate process, sometimes called `computer-to-plate-on-press` (CtPoP), the plate precursor is exposed after being mounted on the plate cylinder. CtPoP reduces the chance of misregistration significantly because no intermediate films are used and the plates are firmly mounted by clamps on the plate cylinder at the moment of exposure.
Even in the CtPoP method, several on-press phenomena may cause the plates to print out of register. Each plate cylinder is characterized by its specific mechanical properties and tolerances (pressure of contacting rollers, register pins clearance, driving mechanism etc.). In addition, the printing plate itself is not dimensionally stable during processing and printing, especially if the plate comprises a flexible, e.g. polyester or paper support. The plate is slightly stretched by tightening the clamping bolts of the plate cylinder and may relax afterwards. Still other parameters such as temperature changes and moistening by the ink and fountain solution (in lithographic printing) may cause dimensional changes of each printing plate. Therefore, quite some research has been carried out in order to find solutions that minimize the dimensional changes of printing plates.
EP-A-644,064 discloses a lithographic printing plate having on one side of a flexible support a layer comprising micro-particles of pressure sensitive adhesive covered with a protective stripping layer that is removed before mounting the plate on the plate cylinder. EP-A-690,349 discloses a method for making lithographic substrates having as support a laminate of aluminum and plastic. EP-A-807,534 also discloses a method to reduce the dimensional instability of the printing plate having a flexible support by laminating its back side (i.e. the side opposite to the printing surface carrying the image) to a base which is more dimensionally stable, e.g. a metallic base or a base made of a composite material comprising fibers and a resin matrix. Though these methods indeed may reduce the dimensional shifts of each individual plate, it gives no solution for adjusting the registration of the plates by controlling the dimensional correlation between multiple plates in a multi-color printing job.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,531,162 a method is described for bringing plates in register that relies on a measuring device which uses the edges of the plate at the clamps of the plate cylinder as a reference. This method only provides a solution for controlling the plate deformation in one dimension perpendicular to the axis of the plate cylinder. The stretching of the plate upon tightening the clamping bolts causes a constriction of the plate along a line parallel to the axis of the plate cylinder, said constriction being maximal in the middle between both clamped plate edges. As a conclusion, there is a need for an improved method for printing plate registration.
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Such flange sleeves are used, for instance, as a slide bearing for two parts contacting one another and joined by a bolt of a flat pivot joint for doors and hatches, particularly of motor vehicles.
In such flange sleeves, there is always the problem that flowing of the material when the at least one flange is flanged over causing an uneven distribution of thickness over the circumference of the flange. When the material is flanged over, the flange material that is located opposite the butt joint is stretched to the greatest extent, and the material comprising the flange that is directly adjacent the butt joint undergoes only lesser stretching. This process is due to the bending over of the flange in the radial direction and to the increase in circumference of the flange compared to the hollow-cylindrical sleeve portion.
In the region of the butt joint, the result is that the previously closed butt joint is widened into a V-shaped slit. As a result, in the region adjacent to the slit, the flange thickness is greater than in the other regions of the flange. To assure clean, reliable function of a pivot joint, however, it is necessary for the flange to have the same thickness at every point, within certain tolerances.
It is therefore usual for the flange, after being flanged over, to be pressed in order to make the flange thickness uniform. As a result of this reshaping operation, the material flows essentially radially outward, in the region of the flange adjacent to the butt joint or to the V-shaped slit, so that after the pressing operation, the flange no longer has an essentially annular shape. On the contrary, it has a collarlike shape, and in the region of the butt joint, two points or lugs project past the circular arc of the outer diameter.
This adversely affects the properties of the pivot joint.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display unit and a display method for displaying a variety of information. In particular, the present invention relates to a display unit and a display method, through which being capable of recognizing different images from each other by a plurality of viewers. For example, the present invention relates to a display unit and a display method, through which being capable of viewing a plurality of images displayed on an identical screen by a plurality of observers independently from each other. Also, the present invention relates to a unit and a method, which selectively recognize and display only specific information from a plurality of images which are displayed simultaneously. Also, the present invention relates to a display unit and display method, through which being capable of selectively viewing only specific information. Then, the present invention relates to a display unit and a display method, through which being capable of converting an image recognized by a viewer into a three-dimensional image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Up to now, there have been known techniques by which different images are displayed on an identical screen. For example, there have been known a method of dividing one screen so as to display a large number of programs simultaneously, and a method of superimposing and displaying a plurality of images on one screen.
In the former method, since the respective images are displayed independently on the screen, a large number of programs and images can be viewed simultaneously with relative ease. However, in the latter method, a plurality of images are superimposed on each other, resulting in a program that make it difficult to view those images.
Moreover, in either case, since a plurality of images are displayed simultaneously, a viewer must select an object to be viewed.
This leads to a problem in the case where a plurality of viewers view a plurality of different screens simultaneously. For example, in the case of displaying an image which can be viewed by a viewer A but cannot be viewed by a viewer B, the above-mentioned method cannot be utilized.
Also, there has been known a technique by which a three-dimensional image (cubic image) is displayed as an image (refer to xe2x80x9cThree-dimensional Display Unitxe2x80x9d written by Chizuro Masuda, published by Sangyo Tosho Co., initially on May 25, 1990).
However, in the above-mentioned technique in which different images are viewed by a plurality of viewers simultaneously, there has not been known a technique in which a three-dimensional image can be viewed by them.
The present invention has been made in view of the above, and therefore an object of the present invention is to provide a structure by which a plurality of viewers can view different images displayed on an identical screen, independently. In other words, the object of the present invention is to provide the structure by which the images displayed on the identical screen can be selected individually and viewed.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a structure by which the above images can be converted into three-dimensional images, respectively.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a display method by which the above problems are solved.
In order to solve the above problems, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display unit, through which being capable of viewing different images by a plurality of viewers, respectively, as shown in a specific example of FIG. 1, comprising:
means 11 for displaying a plurality of different images on an identical screen; and
means 13 and 14 for selecting said plurality of images for each of the viewers.
The above display unit is designed so that two images which are displayed on a display unit 11 and divided with time are viewed through glasses 13 and 14 each having an optical shutter, thereby being capable of selectively viewing only a predetermined image.
FIG. 1 shows an example in which two images are viewed individually, and as time-division is more increased, more images can be viewed individually. The structure shown in FIG. 1 enables viewing a desired image by changing a timing of shuttering the glasses 13 or 14. Also, if a plurality of viewers use shutters having an identical timing, they can view an identical image simultaneously.
According to another structure of the present invention, there is provided, as shown in a specific example of FIG. 1, a display unit, through which being capable of viewing different images by a plurality of viewers, respectively, comprising means 11 for dividing a plurality of different images on an identical screen with time to display separated images; and means 13 and/or 14 having an optical shutter; wherein said means 13 and/or 14 having the optical shutter opens and/or shuts said optical shutter in synchronism with a timing at which the plurality of images are separated, and selectively transmits one of the images divided with time.
The above structure allows the glasses (for example, indicated by reference numeral 13) which is means having the optical shutter to be appropriately selected, thereby being capable of selectively recognizing only a required image. For example, the above structure can realize a situation in which only a specific person can view a specific image or only a specific person cannot view a specific image in a state where a plurality of persons view an identical screen.
According to still another structure of the present invention, there is provided, as shown in a specific example of FIG. 3, a display unit, through which being capable of viewing different images by a plurality of viewers, respectively, comprising means (CRT 21 in the figure) for dividing a plurality of different images on an identical screen with time to display separated images; and means (means which is made up of a polarizing plate 22, a xcfx80 cell 23 and a xc2xc wavelength plate 24, or means which is made up of a xcfx80 cell 23 in the figure) for giving a different polarizing state to at least one of the separated images.
With the above structure, there can be obtained a unit which divides a plurality of images (may be two or more images) with time to display the separated images, and recognizes one of the images selectively by using a filter that gives a specific polarizing state to one of the separated images to selectively transmit the polarizing state.
For example, in the structure shown in FIG. 3, two images from a CRT 21, which are divided with time, are polarized counterclockwise or clockwise by a polarizing plate 22 and a xc2xc wavelength plate 24. Then, a xcfx80 cell 23 is used to further give a specific polarizing state to a specific image which is divided with time, thereby converting its polarizing state into a clockwise circular polarizing state. In this example, the use of clockwise circular polarizing glasses 25 and counterclockwise circular polarizing glasses 26 enables viewing selectively two images.
According to yet still another structure of the present invention, there is provided, as shown in a specific structure of FIG. 5, a display unit, through which being capable of viewing different images by a plurality of viewers, respectively, comprising means 31 and 32 for displaying two images having different polarizing states on an identical image 35; and means 36 and 37 for selectively transmitting said images having different polarizing states in correspondence with said plurality of viewers.
The structure shown in FIG. 5 is that two images projected from projecting units (for example, liquid-crystal projectors) 31 and 32 are projected on a screen 35 through polarizing plates 33 and 34 having different polarizing directions, respectively. Then, those images projected on the screen 35 are viewed through glasses 36 having a polarizing plate which is identical in polarizing direction with the polarizing plate 33 and glasses 37 having a polarizing plate which is identical in polarizing direction with the polarizing plate 34. As a result, display projected from the projecting unit 31 can be selectively viewed through the glasses 36 Also, display projected from the projecting unit 32 can be selectively viewed through the glasses 37.
In the above manner, one viewer wearing the glasses 36 and another viewer wearing the glasses 37 can view different images independently.
According to yet still another structure of the present invention, as shown by its principle in FIGS. 8 to 10, there is provided a display unit that displays images different depending upon visual points, using a lenticular lens 70 or a parallax barrier, which is characterized in that a non-display region that does not conduct display or a region where display of a predetermined background color is conducted is disposed between the respective display data which constitute different images.
In the above structure, the display data is defined as display of a minimum unit that constitutes a pixel or an image.
According to yet still another structure of the present invention, as shown by its operating timing in FIG. 2, a feature is that a screen on which a plurality of images which are divided with time are displayed is viewed intermittently at a timing which is identical with a timing when dividing the image with time, to thereby selectively recognize one of said plurality of images.
In other words, in a state where an image A which is made up of A0, A1, . . . , and an image B which is made up of B0, B1, . . . , are divided with time, as shown in FIG. 2, one viewer is allowed to recognize the image A which is made up of A0, A1, . . . , whereas another viewer is allowed to recognize the image B which is made up of B0, B1, . . . , through an optical shutter.
It is preferable to use an optical shutter which is as high as possible in response speed as means for viewing the image intermittently. Also, in order to allow the image to be recognized as a continuous image, it is necessary to take into consideration a period of time during which a residual image remains in setting a timing for viewing the image intermittently. Also, it is preferable to provide a period of time during which any image is not viewed in order to reduce the cross-talk of the different images. In other words, it is preferable to provide a period of time during which all of a plurality of optical shutters are shut.
According to yet still another structure of the present invention, as shown in the specific example of FIG. 5, a feature is that a screen 55 on which a plurality of images having different polarizing states are displayed is viewed through a plurality of polarizing filters 57 and 56 having different polarizing states, respectively, to thereby recognize said plurality of images, independently.
The structure shown in FIG. 5 uses a glasses-type polarizing filter. However, as another structure, polarizing filters as indicated by reference numerals 113 and 114 in FIG. 12 may be disposed before the eyes of viewers as if they look like screens.
According to yet still another structure of the present invention, as shown in the specific example of FIG. 5, a feature is that a screen 505 on which a plurality of images containing an image having a predetermined polarizing state are displayed is viewed through a filter 56 or 57 that selectively transmits said predetermined polarizing state, to selectively recognize only an image having said predetermined polarizing state.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display unit, through which being capable of viewing different images by a plurality of viewers, respectively, comprising:
means for forming an image which is optically modulated by an integrated liquid-crystal panel;
means for displaying a plurality of different images on an identical screen; and
means for selecting said plurality of images for each of the viewers;
wherein said integrated liquid-crystal panel is so arranged as to provide active matrix regions where images of Mxc3x97N are formed, and a region having peripheral circuits of M+N on a substrate, assuming that M and N are natural numbers of 2 or more;
wherein said M-peripheral circuits conduct horizontal scanning control of the N-active matrix regions simultaneously; and
wherein said N-peripheral circuits conduct vertical scanning control of the M-active matrix regions simultaneously.
According to another structure of the present invention, there is provided a display unit, through which being capable of viewing different images by a plurality of viewers, respectively, comprising:
means for forming an image which is optically modulated by an integrated liquid-crystal panel;
means for dividing a plurality of different images on an identical screen with time to display separated images; and
means having an optical shutter;
wherein said integrated liquid-crystal panel is so arranged as to provide active matrix regions where images of Mxc3x97N are formed, and a region having peripheral circuits of M+N on a substrate, assuming that M and N are natural numbers of 2 or more;
wherein said M-peripheral circuits conduct horizontal scanning control of the N-active matrix regions simultaneously;
wherein said N-peripheral circuits conduct vertical scanning control of the M-active matrix regions simultaneously; and
wherein said means having said optical shutter opens and shuts said optical shutter in synchronism with a timing at which the image is separated, to selectively transmit one of the images divided with time.
According to still another structure of the present invention, there is provided a display unit, through which being capable of viewing different images by a plurality of viewers, respectively, comprising:
means for forming an image which is optically modulated by an integrated liquid-crystal panel;
means for dividing a plurality of different images on an identical screen with time to display separated images; and
means for giving a different polarizing state to at least one of the separated images;
wherein said integrated liquid-crystal panel is so arranged as to provide active matrix regions where images of Mxc3x97N are formed, and a region having peripheral circuits of M+N on a substrate, assuming that M and N are natural numbers of 2 or more;
wherein said M-peripheral circuits conduct horizontal scanning control of the N-active matrix regions simultaneously; and
wherein said N-peripheral circuits conduct vertical scanning control of the M-active matrix regions simultaneously.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display unit, through which being capable of viewing different images by a plurality of viewers, respectively, comprising:
means for displaying a plurality of different images on an identical screen;
means for selecting said plurality of images for each of the viewers; and
means for converting the image viewed by each of the viewers into a three-dimensional display.
A specific example of the above structure is shown in FIGS. 18 to 20. The structure shown in FIG. 19 forms a three-dimensional image (cubic image) by a control circuit 511 the details of which are shown in FIG. 18 and an integrated liquid-crystal panel 507 controlled by the control circuit 511 which is shown in FIG. 14, to use the selection of a predetermined polarizing state and the time-division system together, thereby being capable of providing three-dimensional images which are different between two viewers or viewers separated into two groups.
According to another structure of the present invention, there is provided a display unit, through which being capable of viewing different images by a plurality of viewers, respectively, comprising: means for displaying a plurality of different images on an identical screen; means for selecting said plurality of different images for each of the viewers; and means for selecting the images which can be viewed by each of the viewers from two-dimensional display or three-dimensional display.
The above structure is characterized in that, in the structure shown in an example of FIGS. 18 to 20, in particular, in a control circuit shown in FIG. 18, a two-dimensional image and a three-dimensional image can be appropriately selected.
According to still another structure of the present invention, a feature is to comprise: means for forming a plurality of images which are divided with time, respectively; means for giving different polarizing states to one and others of said plurality of images, respectively; means for superimposing said plurality of images on each other to project the superimposed images; means for dividing the images which are divided with time by an optical shutter; and means for selectively transmitting said different polarizing states, respectively.
A specific example of the above structure is shown in FIGS. 18 to 20. In the structure shown in FIGS. 18 to 20, two color images which are divided with time are formed by a liquid-crystal panel 511 (its details are shown in FIG. 14) shown in FIG. 19, and then allowed to be transmitted through polarizing plates 512 and 513 (or appropriate polarization giving means), thereby giving two different polarizing states to those two color images. Then, those images are reflected from an optical system 508 by a mirror 509 so as to be superimposedly projected on a screen 510, and the images projected on the screen 510 are selected by polarizing plates 404, 405 and liquid-crystal shutters 406, 407. In this manner, the viewer wearing the glasses 402 can view a predetermined three-dimensional image.
According to yet still another structure of the present invention, there is provided a method of displaying 2n-kinds of different images on an identical screen, assuming that n is a natural number of 1 or more, in which said 2n-kinds of different images are separated into n-images by time-division, and also separated by giving two polarizing states thereto.
A specific example of the above structure is shown in FIG. 23. What is shown in FIG. 23 is an operating timing chart in the case of operating the structure shown in FIG. 22. FIG. 23 shows an example in which three-dimensional images indicated by symbols A, B and C are displayed and then separated, respectively.
Since the three-dimensional image requires two images for a viewer""s right eye and left eye, when three-dimensional images are displayed, independent images of 6 kinds of 2xc3x973 are required. In the case of conducting the operation shown in FIG. 23, this is a case of n=3.
In the operation shown in FIG. 23, the images are divided with time by the operation of an optical shutter into A01, A02, further B01, B02, still further C01, C02. Further, A01 and A02 are separated, further B01 and B02 are separated, still further C01 and C02 are separated, by a filter that selectively transmits two polarizing states. In this way, for each of three viewers (or a plurality of viewers which are separated into three groups), there can be provided an image for his right eye and an image for his left eye. Thus, those three-dimensional images can be viewed by the individual viewers.
According to yet still another structure of the present invention, there is provided a method of projecting one image consisting of R, G and B, and the other image consisting of Rxe2x80x2, Gxe2x80x2 and Bxe2x80x2 on an identical projection plane, which is characterized in that different polarizing states are given to said one image and said other image, and each of said one image and said other image is further made up of a plurality of different images which are divided with time.
According to yet still another structure of the present invention, there is provided a method of projecting first images which have a first polarizing state and are divided with time into a right-eye image and a left-eye image, and second images which have a second polarizing state different from said first polarizing state and are divided with time into a right-eye image and a left-eye image on an identical projection plane, which is characterized in that said first images are selectively transmitted by optical means for selectively transmitting said first polarizing state, and said first image transmitted is viewed by right and left eyes of a viewer while being divided with time by using an optical shutter, to thereby selectively obtain a first three-dimensional image; and said second images are selectively transmitted by optical means for selectively transmitting said second polarizing state, and said second image transmitted is viewed by right and left eyes of the viewer while being divided with time by using an optical shutter, to thereby selectively obtain a second three-dimensional image.
A specific example of the above structure is shown in FIG. 21. FIG. 21 shows images Ai and Bi (i is a natural number containing 0) having a first polarizing state, and images Ci and Di having a second polarizing state. A, B and C, D represent images for right eyes and images for left eyes.
The first polarizing states indicated by Ai and Bi are selectively transmitted by polarizing plates 404 and 405 shown in FIG. 20, and the image thus transmitted is divided with time by liquid-crystal shutters (optical shutters) 406 and 407, to thereby obtain the image Ai for the right eye and the image Bi for the left eye.
The second polarizing states indicated by Ci and Di are selectively transmitted by polarizing plates 408 and 409 shown in FIG. 20, and the image thus transmitted is divided with time by liquid-crystal shutters (optical shutters) 410 and 411, to thereby obtain the image Ci for the right eye and the image Di for the left eye.
According to yet still another structure of the present invention, there is provided a method of projecting first images which have a first polarizing state and are divided with time into a right-eye image and a left-eye image, and second image which have a second polarizing state different from said first polarizing state and are divided with time into a right-eye image and a left-eye image on an identical projection plane, which is characterized in that said first and second images are obtained as images which have two different polarizing states and are superimposed on each other by using an optical shutter, and those images are separated into an image for a viewer""s right eye and an image for his left eye by first optical means for selectively transmitting said first polarizing state and second optical means for selectively transmitting said second polarizing state.
As a specific example of the above structure, there is shown a case in which a positional relation between a polarizing plate and a liquid-crystal shutter on the portion of glasses is exchanged in the structure shown in FIG. 20.
According to yet still another structure of the present invention, there is provided a method of obtaining, as a first three-dimensional image and a second three-dimensional image, first images having a first polarizing state, which are obtained by dividing with time and displaying a plurality of different three-dimensional images for a viewer""s right eye and his left eye, and second images having a second polarizing state different from said first polarizing state, which are obtained by dividing with time and displaying a plurality of different three-dimensional images for a viewer""s right eye and his left eye, which is characterized in that a specific image which is divided with time from said first and second images is selected by an optical shutter, an image for his right eye or his left eye is obtained by optical means that selectively transmits said first polarizing state from said selected image, and an image for his right eye or his left eye is obtained by optical means that selectively transmits said second polarizing state from said selected image.
An operating timing chart of a specific example of the above structure is shown in FIG. 23. What is shown in FIG. 23 is an operating timing chart in the case of operating the structure shown in FIG. 22.
In the operation shown in FIG. 23, a display screen 1 and a display screen 2 have different polarizing states. On the display screen 1 are displayed images for viewer""s right eye of three-dimensional images A, B and C. On the display screen 2 are displayed images for his left eye of those three-dimensional images A, B and C.
First, an image for his right eye and an image for his left eye of the image A are selected by a liquid-crystal shutter (optical shutter) shown in FIG. 22. For example, the image for his right eye of the image A is indicated by A01 whereas the image for his left eye of the image A is indicated by A02. Similarly, the images for his right eye and the images for high left eye, of the images B and C are selected by the liquid-crystal shutter.
Then, the image A01 for his right eye and the image A02 for his left eye are separated from each other using a polarizing plate which is means for selectively transmitting the respective polarizing states. In this manner, the images for his right eye and the images for his left eye, of the respective images A, B and C can be selected individually. Thus, three-dimensional images can be viewed by three viewers (or a plurality of viewers which are separated into three groups), individually.
According to yet still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of obtaining, as a first three-dimensional image and a second three-dimensional image, first images having a first polarizing state, which are obtained by dividing with time and displaying a plurality of different three-dimensional images for a viewer""s right eye and his left eye, and second images having a second polarizing state different from said first polarizing state, which are obtained by dividing with time and displaying a plurality of different three-dimensional images for a viewer""s right eye and his left eye, which is characterized in that said first images are obtained by optical means that transmits said first polarizing state, an image for his right eye or left eye of a specific image is obtained by dividing said first images with time by an optical shutter, said second images are obtained by optical means that transmits said second polarizing state, and an image for his left eye or right eye of a specific image is obtained by dividing said second images with time by an optical shutter.
As a specific example of the above structure, there is shown a case in which a positional relation between a polarizing plate and a liquid-crystal shutter is exchanged in the structure shown in FIG. 22.
For facilitation of understanding the present invention described in this specification, an example of a timing chart shown in FIG. 23 is described. What is shown in FIG. 23 is an example in which three-dimensional images A, B and C are displayed on an identical screen, and then separated, respectively, so as to be viewed by three viewers.
For example, the three-dimensional image indicated by A includes an image for his right eye of the image A, which is made up of a frame Ai1 and an image for his left eye of the image A, which is made up of a frame Ai2, assuming that i is a natural number including 0.
The display screen 1 and the display screen 2 have different polarizing states, respectively. For example, the different polarizing states are given to the display screens 1 and 2 such that the display screen 1 has vertical polarization whereas the display screen 2 has horizontal polarization.
For example, a viewer that wants to selectively view the image A puts on glasses indicated by reference numeral 601 in FIG. 22 to view a screen 510. The display screen 1 and the display screen 2 in FIG. 23 are superimposedly displayed on the screen 510.
In this situation, liquid-crystal shutters 604 and 605 provided on the glasses 601 are opened/shut simultaneously, thereby allowing only a frame of the image A to be selectively transmitted. Then, an image Ai1 for his right eye and an image Ai2 for his left eye are separated from each other by a polarizing plate 603 that allows the polarizing state of the display screen 1 to be transmitted. In this way, the viewer who puts on the glasses 601 can selectively view the three-dimensional image A.
Different images which are divided with time are displayed on an identical screen, and those different images are appropriately selected using an optical shutter, thereby being capable of selecting the different images for each of a plurality of viewers. Then, the different images can be viewed simultaneously by the plurality of viewers. Also, the plurality of images are separated to be displayed while being changed in polarizing state with time, and then those images are viewed through filters that transmit specific polarizing states, respectively. As a result, the viewers can selectively view the respective images. Furthermore, the image can be exhibited to the viewers as a cubic image.
Further, two images different in polarizing state are displayed on an identical screen, and those images are viewed using optical means that selectively transmits the respective different polarizing states so that the viewer can view the different images. In other words, the images displayed on the identical screen can be viewed independently and simultaneously by a plurality of viewers. Moreover, the images can be exhibited to the viewers as a cubic image.
Further, a plurality of images are separated and displayed using a lenticular screen, thereby being capable of viewing the different images by a plurality of viewers, independently.
Further, a plurality of images are separated and displayed using a parallax barrier, thereby being capable of viewing the different images by a plurality of viewers, independently.
In this manner, a plurality of images are displayed on an identical screen simultaneously, and those images are separated through a method of dividing the images with time, a method of using a polarizing state, or a method using a lenticular screen or a parallax barrier, so as to be viewed independently.
Using the above methods, the different images can be displayed on the identical screen for each of a plurality of viewers.
Also, the above structure can be used to provide information to only a specific viewer among a plurality of viewers. The above structure may be applied for a variety of information display means, play devices, device for education or study, etc. In other words, taking such an advantage that different images can be viewed for each of viewers, the above structure can be used for selectively providing a variety of information or images to a plurality of viewers.
The above and further objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear more fully from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description.
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One of the most important tasks for modern hearing aids is to provide improvement in speech intelligibility in the presence of noise. For this purpose, beamforming, especially adaptive beamforming, has been widely used in order to suppress interfering noise. Traditionally, the user of a hearing aid is given the possibility of changing between a directional and an omni-directional mode in the hearing aid (e.g. the user simply changes processing modes by flipping a toggle switch or pushing a button on the hearing aid to put the device in the preferred mode according to the listening conditions encountered in a specific environment). Recently, even automatic switching procedures for switching between directional and omni-directional modes have been employed in hearing aids.
In hearing aids, omni-directional perception by the user may be preferred over a directional mode for relatively quiet listening situations due to the fact that in situations, where any background noise present is fairly low in amplitude, the omni-directional mode should provide a greater access to the full range of sounds in the surrounding environment, which is intended to provide a greater feeling of “connectedness” to the environment, i.e. being connected to the outside world. The general preference for omni-directional processing when the signal source is to the side or behind the listener is predictable. Further, by providing greater access to sound sources that the listener is not currently facing, omni-directional perception may improve recognition for speech signals arriving from these locations (e.g., in a restaurant where the server speaks from behind or from the side of the listener). This benefit of omni-directional perception for target signals arriving from locations other than in front of the listener will be present in both quiet and noisy listening situations.
Binaural beamforming is known in the art. Currently, most beamformers are designed to process the multiple signals from the two hearing aids to achieve the best possible Signal-Noise-Ratio.
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This application relates to a new cultivar of Dahlia hybrid. The new variety is the product of a planned breeding program. The new variety originated as a seedling from the crossing of the unpatented, proprietary seed parent Dahlia ‘268842’ with the unpatented, proprietary pollen parent referred to as Dahlia ‘268857’. The crossing was made by the inventor in his research greenhouse in Mariahout, the Netherlands during July of 2006.
The new variety was first selected by the inventor, Henry Lommerse, a citizen of Netherlands, in July of 2007 at the research greenhouse in Mariahout, the Netherlands. After identifying the new variety as a potentially interesting selection, the inventor continued confidential testing and propagation of ‘LODABALVIO’, assessing stability of the unique characteristics of this variety.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘LODABALVIO’ was first performed at a commercial laboratory in Mariahout, the Netherlands by vegetative cuttings in October of 2008. Access to all plants was restricted, as plants were kept in a location not open to the public. Through subsequent propagation both by tissue culture and vegetative cuttings, multiple generations have been reproduced, which have shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type.
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It is known to produce interference between matter waves which are associated with cold atoms, in order to measure accelerations very accurately. Devices which implement such atomic interferences are for example accelerometers, gyrometers, gravimeters, gradiometers, etc.
In a simplified manner, a matter wave associated with a set of atoms which are initially in a ground state, most often of a hyperfine structure, is divided into two by a first interaction with a laser radiation. The duration of this interaction can be selected for example so that the two matter waves have substantially equal amplitudes. Such an interaction has a function equivalent to that of a beam splitter in optics, and is called a π/2 pulse in the terminology of a person skilled in the art.
Additional interactions are then produced between the atoms of each matter wave and subsequent laser pulses, according to a sequence of successive interactions which finally produces the interference between the matter waves. A detector is then placed in the interference field, in order to measure the number of atoms which are in one or other of the atomic states: the ground state or the higher energy state. Due to the interference, this number of atoms measured depends on a phase shift which has been progressively accumulated between the two matter waves since their separation by the π/2 pulse, and which contains the sought measurement information.
Each interaction between an atom and the laser radiation has two simultaneous effects: causing a transition of the atom between its two quantum states, in a direction which is opposite with respect to an absorption and an emission, and simultaneously a variation in the momentum of the atom which corresponds to the momentum of the radiation absorbed or emitted.
Usually, a Raman source is used in order to generate the laser radiation which produces each interaction with one of the atoms. Such a Raman source in fact produces two monochromatic radiation components, each of laser type, the respective wavelengths of which are selected in order to cause a two-photon interaction with one atom. These two monochromatic components form beams which are spatially superimposed parallel to the same axis of propagation, and which each propagate simultaneously in the two opposite directions along this common axis. The interaction between such composite laser radiation and the atoms comprises an absorption and an emission, so that the difference between the energies of the atomic states is equal to the difference between the respective frequencies of the two monochromatic components of the radiation multiplied by Planck's constant h. The variation in the momentum of the atom which undergoes the interaction is then equal to the sum of these frequencies, multiplied by h/C, where C is the velocity of propagation of the laser radiation. FIG. 1 illustrates such interactions, in the case of an absorption of energy in the left part of the figure, and an emission in the right part of the figure. The references used in this figure have the following meanings: F: ground state of the atoms E: fine structure state of the atoms, which has a higher energy than that of state F G: difference in energy between states F and E λ1, λ2: respective wavelengths of the two monochromatic components of the laser radiation which is produced by the Raman source
The Raman source can have several known implementations.
According to one of these implementations, the Raman source comprises two separate laser sources which each produce one of the monochromatic components of the total laser radiation of the Raman source. The respective frequencies of the two laser sources are precisely adjusted in relation to each other by superimposing the two monochromatic components on a rapid photodiode. The photodiode then makes it possible to detect the beat of the wave superimposition, with the frequency of this beat corresponding to the difference between the frequencies of the two laser sources. It is thus possible to precisely tune this difference in frequencies to the energy difference G between the atomic levels F and E. But such a implementation of the Raman source is complex and bulky since it comprises two separate laser sources. For this reason, it is not suitable for producing devices for measurement by means of atom interferometry which are compact and weigh as little as possible. The weight constraint is even more significant for devices which are intended to be carried on board an aircraft such as a plane or helicopter, or on board a spacecraft such as a rocket, satellite or space probe.
According to another known implementation, the Raman source comprises only a single laser source, which is amplitude- or frequency-modulated, or both. Such a Raman source is described in particular in the article by O. Carraz et al. entitled “Compact and robust laser system for onboard atom interferometry”, Applied Physics B (2009) 97, pp. 405-411, and also in the thesis by O. Carraz entitled “Gravimètre atomique embarquable: Etude théorique et expérimentale de l'instrument”, and presented at the Paris Observatory on 19th December. The Raman source which is thus constituted is particularly compact and robust, such that it is suitable for producing measurement devices that are themselves less bulky and less heavy. But such a method of generating the laser radiation for Raman interactions—by modulation of a single laser source—simultaneously produces at least three monochromatic radiation components which have distinct respective frequencies. Now, only two of these frequencies are useful for measurements which are carried out by means of atom interferometry. The additional monochromatic component which results from the modulation of the laser source then produces a measurement bias, which in turn produces an error in the measurement result.
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This invention relates generally to a mat seal device for preventing water from entering an electrical connector through an opening provided for cables to be inserted into the connector.
Mat seals are devices used to prevent water from entering an electrical connector through an opening provided for cables to be inserted into the connector. A mat seal includes a mat of elastic material shaped to fit within and across a correspondingly-shaped opening in one end of an electrical connector housing. An outer peripheral edge seal prevents moisture from passing between an outer periphery of the mat and an inner sealing surface of the connector housing. Cables bearing crimp-style terminals are inserted through cable-sealing cable insertion holes formed in the mat and into terminal locations or “terminal cavities” within the connector housing. The cable insertion holes prevent moisture from passing between an inner periphery of each cable insertion hole and an outer surface of the cable that extends through that hole.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,766,039 issued 16 Jun. 1998 to Abe, discloses such a mat seal device with slits extending through a thickness of the mat from the outer peripheral edge seal of the mat through to each cable-sealing insertion hole to provide a relief for easing insertion of a terminal and cable through each hole. However, to seal the slits a plurality of pressing holes or recesses must be formed in an outer-facing surface of the mat adjacent the cable insertion holes, and a special cover must be fabricated to include corresponding tapered projections that are received into the pressing holes when the cover is snapped into place over an opening in a connector housing into which the mat seal has been received. The cover presses the tapered projections into the pressing holes which forces the pressing holes to enlarge diametrically and elastically deforms portions of the mat surrounding the holes causing the slits to close and seal.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,394B1 issued 17 Apr. 2001 to Sugie, discloses a mat seal comprising a plurality of cable-sealing cable insertion holes that each include a corrugated seal portion, i.e., two axially-spaced, radially inwardly-extending integral annular sealing ribs. Each sealing rib has an aperture diameter less than a diameter of a cable to be received in the hole so that each sealing rib will be elastically enlarged when receiving the cable and will constrict around and seal against an outer surface of the cable. But a mat seal device constructed according to the Sugie patent is unable to accommodate terminals of varying configurations and cables of varying diameters without cutting, pinching, or otherwise damaging or distorting the sealing ribs within the cable insertion holes or distorting the mat such that terminals, as they are being inserted, fail to coaxially align with terminal cavities in the connector.
It would be desirable for a mat seal to be able to seal an opening in a connector housing without the aid of specially-designed cover and without breaks along the peripheral edge seal, and without any apertures, other than the insertion holes, that pass completely through the thickness of the mat. It would also be desirable for a mat seal to be able to accommodate terminals of varying configurations and cables of varying diameters without cutting, pinching, or otherwise damaging or distorting the sealing ribs within the cable insertion holes or distorting the mat such that terminals, as they are being inserted, fail to coaxially align with terminal cavities in the connector.
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{
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It is known to place and temporarily leave a patient transfer device between a patient and a hospital or other bed, the patient transfer device comprising an inflatable/deflatable mattress that may be periodically inflated in order to assist with the movement or repositioning of the patient. These patient transfer devices are sometimes used with separate sling sheets, which are also temporarily left underneath the patient and used to move and reposition patients, sometimes with the assistance of robotic cranes or lifts. Because the sling sheets are separate from the patient transfer devices, the sling sheets have a tendency to bunch underneath the patient, thereby causing discomfort and bed sores. This arrangement also makes the individual parts more difficult and expensive to store, sort, and launder.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved patient transfer device that overcomes these and other problems present in the prior art.
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This invention relates to automotive safety restraint systems and, in particular, to an active three-point seat belt system with seat belt webbing having a thick webbing section such as an inflatable seat belt section.
Numerous designs of passive and active automotive occupant restraint systems are known for enhancing occupant protection in the event of a vehicle crash. Passive systems such as inflatable restraints or air bags and automatically deployed seat belt systems are known. Active seat belt systems have been use for many decades and are manually deployed by the occupant. The conventional seat belt system uses three points of connection with the vehicle structure and incorporates a lap belt section for engaging the occupant's lower torso and a shoulder belt section for engaging the occupant's upper torso. The seat belt restrains movement of the occupant in the event of a vehicle impact or rollover event. In order to enhance the comfort and convenience provided by the seat belt system, retractors are normally used which permit the belt webbing to be extracted and retracted onto the retractor, allowing movement of the occupant while maintaining the belt in close contact with the occupant. An inertia sensitive actuator locks the retractors when an impact or rollover event is detected, preventing extraction of webbing.
A more recent development in the area of seat belt systems is that of the so-called inflatable seat belt. An inflatable seat belt system incorporates a section of the seat belt which is inflated by a gas, typically by a pyrotechnic inflator, to increase its size and volume. Thus, when an inflatable seat belt is deployed, the normally narrow seat belt webbing expands significantly to reduce the contact pressure between the seat belt webbing and the occupant during a crash sequence. Inflatable seat belts also act as a belt pretensioner by reducing belt slack. Inflatable seat belts may utilize crash sensing systems also used to control other inflatable restraint systems to initiate inflation upon the detection of a vehicle impact or rollover event having predetermined dynamic characteristics.
Certain design constraints exist with regard to presently available inflatable belt systems. Since the inflatable belt section of the seat belt webbing is significantly thicker and bulkier than the remainder of the webbing, it is difficult to have the inflatable belt section pass through the three point belt “D” ring or seat belt tongue or roll into a retractor. Moreover, passing such a thicker segment of the belt would likely degrade occupant comfort. The webbing must ordinarily undergo a sharp bend and pass through narrow openings in the D-ring and tongue. These limitations set a practical limit on the thickness of the inflatable belt section of the belt webbing and require flexibility of the inflatable belt section. A similar problem would exist with a belt system which has a segment which is thicker or more bulky, designed to be oriented across the upper torso of the occupant, but which is not inflatable.
Seat belt webbing must be provided in a long length to enable a range of occupant sizes and seat positions to be accommodated. This is especially true where the seat belt anchorages are fixed to the body of the vehicle rather than the seat. In order that the thick belt webbing section, such as an inflatable belt section, is properly positioned at the upper torso area of the occupant, the inflatable belt section must ordinarily be long, and be capable of passing through seat belt hardware components, such as the tongue and D-ring and, in some cases, a retractor.
One approach to addressing shortcomings mentioned above is to use a three point restraint system having a fixed upper shoulder belt anchorage. Variations in the length of the webbing for different sized occupants or occupant movement would be accommodated through the use of a single retractor fixed to the lap belt portion of the webbing. Differences in the length of webbing for the shoulder belt portion would be taken up by allowing the webbing to freely flow through the buckle tongue. In this case, the thick seat belt portion would be maintained at the upper torso area of the occupant since it would also be fixed to the belt, at or near the upper seat belt anchorage. Although this approach would prevent the thick belt section from having to flow through the seat belt tongue, it would not provide the desired degree of comfort and convenience available through the use of dual retractor seat belt systems and would not ideally locate the thick belt section for all occupants. Comfort and ease of use are important factors in encouraging motor vehicle occupants to take advantage of the safety benefits provided by an active seat belt system.
In accordance with the present invention, a seat belt system is provided in which the position of the thick belt section, such as an inflatable belt section is controlled to be properly positioned on the upper torso area of the occupant, without the requirement that it pass through the tongue, D-ring, or other hardware components (such as a high mounted shoulder retractor). In a preferred embodiment, the belt system is implemented with a dual retractor system. Through a particular control system and sequence in which the two retractors are locked or allowed to freely retract or extend webbing, depending on whether the belt is being deployed or latched, causing the thick belt portion of the system to be maintained at a desired position on the occupant.
Additional benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present invention relates from the subsequent description of the preferred embodiment and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
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The treatment of patients in hospitals and clinics usually involves the receipt by the patient of medical items. These items may include consumable items such as medications. Medical treatment may also involve other disposable items such as dressings and bandages or other medical equipment. Items implanted into the patient or used in conjunction with surgical procedures may also be used and consumed during the course of a patient's medical treatment. Examples of such items include splints, catheters or guide wires which are normally used during cardiac catheterization or angioplasty. To serve the needs of its patients, a clinic or hospital must always maintain sufficient stocks of these items on hand.
Further, as medical items are often expensive, the charges associated with their use must be accurately billed to the patient.
Currently most systems for tracking inventory and use of medical equipment items in a hospital or clinic environment are manual systems. The persons responsible for maintaining an inventory of particular items must monitor the use of the items in each storage location within the hospital and order additional supplies when it is noted that the available stocks are running low. Often personnel are only familiar with the stocks available in a particular storage location and as a result, additional stocks may be ordered even though ample supplies are available elsewhere in the same facility.
Certain drugs used in the course of medical treatment are regulated narcotics. Supplies of such drugs must be kept in secure cabinets. Items may be dispensed from the secure cabinets only by two (2) authorized users accessing the material and certifying the manner in which it is used. The use of such narcotics also may require considerable paperwork which takes away valuable time that could be used for treating patients.
The recording of medical items so that the patient may be billed for their use in the course of treatment is also largely a manual operation. The fact of use by the patient must be recorded in the patient's chart for later billing. In some cases items have peel-off labels that include a bar code that can be scanned and used for billing purposes. However, this still requires that the nurse or medical technician transfer the correct coding to the proper location for later billing.
Complications in billing become even greater when items are removed from inventory to accomplish a planned surgical procedure and then the items are not used. A patient may be charged for use of a particular item which is removed from inventory in anticipation of surgery. If during the surgery the item is not needed, a corresponding credit must be issued when the item is returned to stock. All of these activities take time away from persons who could otherwise devote their time to the treatment of patients. Such tracking and billing practices are also prone to inaccuracies which may cause the hospital or clinic to lose money or which may result in overbilling of the patient.
Thus there exists a need for an apparatus and system for monitoring and dispensing medical items in hospital or clinic environments that can more accurately monitor inventories, dispense medical items and correlate the use of medical items with the patient whose treatment has included their use.
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The present invention relates to an external storage device unit having an external storage device built in a main body casing of an information processor, the information processor having this external storage device unit, and a cover device for a storing opening of the external memory unit.
It is desirable that an external storage device is built in an information processor, such as a game machine, to temporarily store a game status, etc.
An external connection connector is normally arranged in a predetermined place in the external storage device. When the information processor capable of building in such an external storage device is designed, it is necessary to secure a space for storing a connector connected to the external connection connector of the external storage device, and wiring extending from this connector in addition to the external storage device within the main body casing of the information processor.
As mentioned above, since the external connection connector of the external storage device is arranged in a predetermined place of the external storage device, its wiring is also regulated in a position of the external connection connector. Therefore, design of the storing space within the main body casing is greatly regulated to secure this wiring space and the storing space of the connector connected to the external connection connector. Accordingly, a problem exists in that the main body casing is large-sized and the design of the main body casing, etc. are unavoidably changed in a certain case.
In view of such a problem, an object of the present invention is to provide an external storage device unit capable of securing the degree of freedom of the position of wiring from the external storage device and avoiding a large-sized structure of the main body casing of an information processor and the change in design of the main body casing, etc., and the information processor having this external storage device unit, and a cover device for a storing opening of the external storage device.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention an external storage device unit is provided. The external storage device unit is adapted for receiving an external storage device having an external connector. The external storage device unit includes a cover, a storage device side connector, and a main body side connector. The storage device side connector is attached to a first side of the cover and is adapted for electrical connection to the external connector. The main body side connector is attached to the first side of the cover and is electrically connected to the storage device side connector. Preferably, the main body side connector is electrically connected to the storage device side connector with wiring.
In another embodiment of the present invention an information processor is provided. The information processor includes a main body casing having an opening, a cover connector and an external storage device unit. The external storage device unit includes an external storage device, a cover, a storage device side connector and a main body side connector. The external storage device is arranged in the opening. The cover blocks the opening. The storage device side connector is attached to a first side of the cover and is electrically connected to an external connector of the external storage device. The main body side connector is attached to the first side of the cover and is electrically connected to the storage device side connector. The cover connector is connected to the main body side connector.
In accordance with the invention mentioned above, since the connector for a storage device side connected to the external connection connector of the external storage device is arranged in the cover for blocking the opening of the main body casing, it is not necessary to secure a space for storing this connector for a storage device side within the main body casing. Further, the position of wiring for connecting the device main body and the external storage device can be freely changed by suitably setting a position of the connector for a main body side arranged in the cover. In other words, the wiring position can be changed by suitably setting the cover side main body connector connected to this connector for a main body side at a design stage. Accordingly, in the present invention, an increase in size of the main body casing, its design change, etc. can be avoided.
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Atrial thrombus caused by atrial fibrillation and thrombi formed by the disruption of atheroma (atherosclerotic vessels) in the aorta or carotid artery may cause ischemic cerebrovascular diseases such as cerebral embolism, cerebral infarction, transient ischemic attack, etc., and ischemic heart diseases such as angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, atrial thrombus caused by atrial fibrillation, cardiac insufficiency, etc. While blood circulation must have good fluidity to deliver oxygen and nutrients to body tissues and remove waste (from the circulatory system), it is required to be coagulative to stop bleeding for the prevention of blood loss due to injury. When the balance between such opposed functions of fluidity and coagulation is lost and shifts to coagulation, an intravascular thrombus is formed, which is thought to cause ischemic cerebrovascular disorders and heart diseases.
The fibrinolytic system plays important roles in thrombolysis, tissue destruction and repair, cell migration, etc. The fibrinolytic system is activated when plasminogen activator (hereinafter referred to as “PA”) converts plasminogen to plasmin, whereas plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) inhibits PA.
Tissue plasminogen activator (hereinafter referred to as “t-PA”) converts plasminogen, i.e., the precursor of plasmin, to plasmin. Plasmin converts fibrin to a fibrin degradation product by breaking it down.
PAI-1 is a serine protease inhibitor that specifically inhibits t-PA and urokinase plasminogen activator (hereinafter referred to as “u-PA”), suppresses plasmin generation, and as a result inhibits fibrin degradation.
Based on tertiary structural differences, PAI-1 is present in an active form that shows PA inhibitory activity and in a latent form that shows no PA inhibitory activity.
In plasma, PAI-1 is known to be typically present in a concentration of 20 ng/mL, and produced in hepatocytes, megakaryocytes and lipocytes in addition to the vascular endothelial cells, which are the primary PAI-1 producing cells.
PAI-1 is an acute phase protein, and is thought to be one of the factors that cause ischemic organ dysfunctions in sepsis and disseminated intravascular coagulation syndrome (DIC) through accelerated production due to various cytokines and growth factors. Further, genetic polymorphism due to single base substitutions in the PAI-1 gene promoter is known, and it has been revealed that plasma PAI-1 concentration increases as a result of such genetic polymorphism.
Furthermore, in diabetes mellitus, accelerating arteriosclerosis and microvascular complications are presumed to be factors in ischemic heart disease, diabetic retinopathy, and renal damage, i.e., all are critical complications of diabetes mellitus. For example, in diabetic nephropathy, increased extracellular matrix in the glomerulus and fibrous stroma are observed characteristics, and PAI-1 expression is increased in the glomerulus and renal tubules. In proximal renal tubule incubation, increased PAI-1 production is evident under hyperglycemic conditions. Further, a correlation between PAI-1 expression in renal tissues and macrophage infiltration is confirmed in experiments using a model mouse with renal interstitial fibrosis (see Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2).
Furthermore, PAI-1 concentrations in urine are documented as being high in nephrotic syndrome patients based on the measurement results of PAI-1 levels in urine collected over a 24-hour period from nephrotic syndrome patients (see Non-Patent Document 3).
As described above, deep involvement of PAI-1 in kidney diseases such as diabetic nephropathy, chronic kidney disease (CKD), nephrotic syndrome, post-renal kidney injury, and pyelonephritis has been extensively studied and reported (see Non-Patent Documents 4 to 8). In contrast thereto, as a result of administrating an inactive PAI-1 mutant or t-PA as a PAI-1 antagonist to a Thy-1 nephritis model, it is reported that the alleviation of inflammation (cellular infiltration), TGF-β suppression, and a decrease in mesangial matrix are observed, whereby Thy-1 nephritis is alleviated (Non-Patent Documents 9 and 10).
Reduced fibrinolytic activity due to an increased PAI-1 concentration in plasma is associated with ischemic heart diseases such as angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, cardiac insufficiency; deep-vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism originated therefrom; and diabetic angiopathy (for example, see Non-Patent Document 11). In addition to reduced fibrinolytic activity, some other thrombogenic abnormalities including hypercoagulation and platelet hyper-aggregation are also seen in diabetic patients. They are caused by microthrombus formation, and play important roles in the progression of diabetic microangiopathy and diabetic macroangiopathy.
As described above, PAI-1 is presumably involved in the formation and progression of various pathological conditions of various diseases, specifically, various kinds of thrombosis, cancer, diabetes mellitus, ocular diseases such as glaucoma and retinopathy, polycystic ovary syndrome, radiation damage, alopecia (calvities), splenohepatomegaly, arteriosclerosis, etc. (see Non-Patent Documents 12 to 17). In addition, PAI-1 is also presumably involved in control of the circadian rhythm, which is presumed to be involved in the formation of vascular endothelial cells and the occurrence of events such as cerebral infarction and myocardial infarction (Non-Patent Documents 18 to 20). For this reason, a compound that inhibits PAI-1 activity is useful as a preventive and treatment agent for various diseases such as thrombosis, cancer, diabetes mellitus, diabetic complications, various kidney diseases, ocular diseases such as glaucoma and retinopathy, polycystic ovary syndrome, alopecia, bone-marrow regeneration, splenomegaly due to extramedullary hematopoiesis, amyloidosis, and arteriosclerosis (see Non-Patent Documents 21 and 22). In particular, Non-Patent Document 14 reports that PAI-1 promotes angiogenesis in the retina, and a PAI-1 inhibitor is therefore considered to be useful as an agent for preventing and treating retinopathy and various other diseases that occur in association with angiogenesis. Further, Non-Patent Document 23 states that a low-molecular-weight PAI-1 inhibitor inhibits differentiation of adipose cells, thereby inhibiting the development of diet-induced obesity. Therefore, a PAI-1 inhibitor is presumably effective for preventing and treating obesity.
Tissue fibril formation occurs in many tissues and organs such as the lungs, heart, blood vessels, liver, kidneys, etc. A report has disclosed that the progression of pulmonary fibrosis can be suppressed by the administration of a PA or PAI-1 inhibitor to activate the fibrinolysis system (Non-Patent Document 24). Therefore, a PAI-1 inhibitor is known to be effective for treating tissue fibrosis, in particular pulmonary fibrosis (Non-Patent Documents 22, 25, and 26). However, there is no drug available to treat them radically. In reality, adrenocorticotropic hormones such as predonisolone, corticosteroid, etc., and cytotoxic drugs such as cyclophosphamide (alkylating agent) and azathioprine (antimetabolites, immunosuppressants) have been used as palliative therapy based on experience.
Further, it is believed that the onset of Alzheimer's disease is triggered by the accumulation of amyloid β peptide (Aβ) in the brain. Therefore, current research and development of drugs for preventing or treating Alzheimer's disease has been conducted with a focus on suppressing the production of Aβ or promoting decomposition of Aβ. It was recently discovered that the decomposition of Aβ can be promoted by inhibiting PAI-1; this finding suggests that a PAI-1 inhibitor may be usable as a drug for treating Alzheimer's disease (Non-Patent Document 27).
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There are many applications in which it is desirable to split a signal for use by more than one portion of a system. For example, it is sometimes desirable to provide the same local oscillator (lo) frequency output to the receiver and transmitter of a communication system. Similarly, it may be desirable to provide the same output including information on a number of channels to different receivers tuned to different channels.
In such applications, it is generally desirable for each of the outputs produced by the power splitter to exhibit a matched phase and equal power. In addition, the voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) at any port of the splitter should be relatively low when all other ports are properly terminated. Further, the power splitter should generally have a low insertion loss and should also provide isolation between all output ports and provide reverse isolation between the input and output ports. These properties should further be achievable over a broad bandwidth without loss of gain.
Several techniques have been used to provide the desired signal division and phase matching. The first such approach to be discussed is often referred to as a "lumped" approach because it relies upon the use of discrete components. For example, a lumped system may employ transformers formed by multifilar wire wound through cylindrical ferrite cores. The input signal to be divided is then applied across the primary winding of the transformer and the outputs are tapped off the secondary windings.
The lumped approach is typically limited to VHF and UHF applications, because of the interline capacitances involved. Further, the construction of such transformers is labor intensive. In addition, traditional lumped approaches sometimes offer limited phase match if transformer symmetry is not maintained.
Another conventional approach used to achieve power splitting is known as the "distributed" approach. In this configuration, the components relied upon to perform the desired signal division and phase matching are effectively distributed throughout a section of transmission line. More particularly, the input signal is applied to one end of a plurality of quarter-wavelength transmission elements that act as distributed transformers. The other ends of the transmission elements terminate, for example, in impedances to provide the desired outputs.
Because the distributed approach relies upon one-quarter-wavelength elements to, in part, achieve the desired phase matching, the components used are typically relatively large (at the frequency of interest) and restricted to an octave bandwidth. This approach does, however, absorb output load mismatch. Also, because the losses are limited to the line losses, the distributed approach exhibits relatively low insertion losses.
A third approach to power splitting is known as the "active" approach. This technique employs at least some active components and may be implemented using elements of the distributed approach. An example of such a configuration is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,618 (Parish et al.), where field-effect transistors are employed to provide gain between distributed points in an input transmission line and distributed points in a plurality of output lines. Although active approaches typically have a relatively broad bandwidth, they use a large number of gain stages and require cascading to produce more than two outputs.
As will be appreciated from the preceding remarks, it would be desirable to produce a relatively simple power splitter that provides equal power, matched phase outputs to a large number of ports, while having a low insertion loss and providing the isolation required between all ports.
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Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality. It most commonly manifests as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking with significant social or occupational dysfunction. Onset of symptoms typically occurs in young adulthood, with approximately 0.4-0.6% of the population affected. Diagnosis is based on the patient's self-reported experiences and observed behavior. No laboratory test for schizophrenia currently exists.
Studies suggest that genetics, early environment, neurobiology, psychological and social processes are important contributory factors; some recreational and prescription drugs appear to cause or worsen symptoms. Current psychiatric research is focused on the role of neurobiology, but no single organic cause has been found. Due to the many possible combinations of symptoms, there is debate about whether the diagnosis represents a single disorder or a number of discrete syndromes.
The disorder is thought to mainly affect cognition, but it also usually contributes to chronic problems with behavior and emotion. People with schizophrenia are likely to have additional (comorbid) conditions, including major depression and anxiety disorders; the lifetime occurrence of substance abuse is around 40%. Social problems, such as long-term unemployment, poverty and homelessness, are common. Furthermore, the average life expectancy of people with the disorder is 10 to 12 years less than those without, due to increased physical health problems and a higher suicide rate.
An important utility of biomarkers for psychotic disorders is their response to medication. Administration of antipsychotics remains a subjective process, relying solely on the experience of clinicians. Furthermore, the development of antipsychotic drugs has been based on chance findings often with little relation to the background driving the observations.
Schizophrenia is treated primarily with antipsychotic medications which are also referred to as neuroleptic drugs or neuroleptics. Newer antipsychotic agents such as clozapine, olanzapine, quetiapine or risperidone are thought to be more effective in improving negative symptoms of psychotic disorders than older medication like Chlorpromazine. Furthermore, they induce less extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) which are movement disorders resulting from antipsychotic treatment.
The history of neuroleptics dates back to the late 19th century. The flourishing dye industry catalyzed development of new chemicals that lay the background to modern day atypical antipsychotics. Developments in anti-malaria, antihistamine and anaesthetic compounds also produced various neuroleptics. The common phenomenon to all these processes is a fundamental lack of understanding of the biological mechanisms and pathways that these drugs affect, apart from the observation that they prominently block D2 receptors in the striatum.
Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder is a psychiatric disease that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated mood clinically referred to as mania or, if milder, hypomania. Individuals who experience manic episodes also commonly experience depressive episodes or symptoms, or mixed episodes in which features of both mania and depression are present at the same time. Such individuals also experience a decreased quality of life. These episodes are usually separated by periods of “normal” mood, but in some individuals, depression and mania may rapidly alternate, known as rapid cycling. Extreme manic episodes can sometimes lead to psychotic symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations. The disorder has been subdivided into bipolar I, bipolar II, cyclothymia, and other types, based on the nature and severity of mood episodes experienced; the range is often described as the bipolar spectrum.
Bipolar I disorder is characterised by manic episodes; the “high” of the manic-depressive cycle. Generally, this manic period is followed by a period of depression, although some bipolar I individuals may not experience a major depressive episode. Mixed states, where both manic or hypomanic symptoms and depressive symptoms occur at the same time, also occur frequently with bipolar I patients (for example, depression with the racing thoughts of mania). Also, dysphoric mania is common and is mania characterised by anger and irritability.
Bipolar II disorder is characterised by major depressive episodes alternating with episodes of hypomania, a milder form of mania. Hypomanic episodes can be a less disruptive form of mania and may be characterised by low-level, non-psychotic symptoms of mania, such as increased energy or a more elevated mood than usual. It may not affect an individual's ability to function on a day to day basis. The criteria for hypomania differ from those for mania only by their shorter duration (at least 4 days instead of 1 week) and milder severity (no marked impairment of functioning, hospitalisation or psychotic features).
If the depressive and manic symptoms last for two years and do not meet the criteria for a major depressive or a manic episode then the diagnosis is classified as a cyclothymic disorder, which is a less severe form of bipolar affective disorder. Cyclothymic disorder is diagnosed over the course of two years and is characterised by frequent short periods of hypomania and depressive symptoms separated by periods of stability.
Rapid cycling occurs when an individual's mood fluctuates from depression to hypomania or mania in rapid succession with little or no periods of stability in between. One is said to experience rapid cycling when one has had four or more episodes in a given year that meet criteria for major depressive, manic, mixed or hypomanic episodes. Some people who rapid cycle can experience monthly, weekly or even daily shifts in polarity (sometimes called ultra rapid cycling).
To date, no empirical diagnostic tests are available, making diagnosis a subjective evaluation which often leads to misdiagnosis and delay in accurate treatment. When symptoms of mania, depression, mixed mood or hypomania are caused directly by a medical disorder, such as thyroid disease or a stroke, the current diagnosis is Mood Disorder Due to a General Medical Condition.
In a manic mood brought about through an antidepressant, ECT or through an individual using street drugs, the diagnosis is Substance-Induced Mood Disorder, with Manic Features.
Diagnosis of bipolar disorders has been used to categorise manic episodes which occur as a result of taking an antidepressant medication, rather than occurring spontaneously. Confusingly, it has also been used in instances where an individual experiences hypomania or cyclothymia (i.e., less severe mania) without major depression.
Major Depressive Disorder
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by a pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. The term “major depressive disorder” (which is also known as clinical depression, major depression, unipolar depression, or unipolar disorder) was selected by the American Psychiatric Association for this symptom cluster under mood disorders in the 1980 version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) classification, and has become widely used since.
The general term depression is often used to describe the disorder, but as it is also used to describe a depressed mood, more precise terminology is preferred in clinical and research use. Major depression is a disabling condition which adversely affects a person's family, work or school life, sleeping and eating habits, and general health. In the United States, approximately 3.4% of people with major depression commit suicide, and up to 60% of all people who commit suicide have depression or another mood disorder.
The diagnosis of major depressive disorder is based on the patient's self-reported experiences, behaviour reported by relatives or friends, and a mental status exam. There is no laboratory test for major depression, although physicians generally request tests for physical conditions that may cause similar symptoms. The most common time of onset is between the ages of 30 and 40 years, with a later peak between 50 and 60 years. Major depression is reported about twice as frequently in women as in men, although men are at higher risk for suicide.
Most patients are treated in the community with antidepressant medication and some with psychotherapy or counseling. Hospitalization may be necessary in cases with associated self-neglect or a significant risk of harm to self or others. A minority are treated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), under a short-acting general anaesthetic.
The course of the disorder varies widely, from one episode lasting months to a lifelong disorder with recurrent major depressive episodes. Depressed individuals have shorter life expectancies than those without depression, in part because of greater susceptibility to medical illnesses. Current and former patients may be stigmatized.
The understanding of the nature and causes of depression has evolved over the centuries, though many aspects of depression remain incompletely understood and are the subject of discussion and research.
In view of the related symptoms, it is becoming increasingly difficult for medical practitioners to effectively diagnose one psychiatric disorder from another, particular for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. There is therefore a pressing need for objective molecular readouts that can differentially diagnose psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder.
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As the level of integration of mobile devices and chips becomes higher and higher, energy consumption and a continued use period are becoming a focus of people's attention. However, battery technologies that relatively lag behind impose higher and higher requirements of low power consumption on a mobile device.
In the prior art, an adaptive voltage scaling (Adaptive Voltage Scaling, AVS for short) technology is used to determine a minimum operating voltage of a chip and adjust a supply voltage for the chip according to the minimum operating voltage, so as to reduce power consumption of the chip. However, after the chip, whose power is supplied by using the minimum operating voltage as the supply voltage at an initial state, is in operation for a period, a threshold voltage of a transistor in the chip increases, resulting in that the minimum operating voltage of the chip increases. If the chip still operates at the minimum operating voltage at the initial state, a chip failure will occur. As a result, in the prior art, in consideration of chip aging, an aging voltage increment of the chip in an entire life cycle is obtained by an aging experiment and statistics analysis, and a sum of the minimum operating voltage and the aging voltage increment is used to adjust the supply voltage of the chip, so as to avoid the case of a chip failure.
However, the adjustment in the supply voltage of the chip by using the prior art causes the chip to operate by using the supply voltage as an operating voltage, which frequently results in problems of aging acceleration and power consumption increase for the chip.
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This invention relates to an improved check valve for use in fluid control and is particularly suited for use in medical administration sets.
An object of the present invention is to provide for a more reliable check valve that can withstand high back pressure without failure.
A further object of the present invention is to provide for improved aerodynamic flow of the liquid within the valve when it is operating.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide for a valve assembled from only a small number of elements.
Another object of the present invention is to provide for sufficient support of the valve diaphragm to prevent unwanted movement of the diaphragm during operation.
A further object of the invention is to provide for increased sensitivity of the valve to opening and closing pressures.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.
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Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure generally relates to image forming and, more particularly, to an image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic method such as a printer, a copying machine, or the like.
Description of the Related Art
To obtain a color image with high image quality, it is generally important to output color components including yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (Bk) such that the density of each color component is properly controlled in forming the color image. In view of the above, in color image forming apparatuses using the electrophotographic method, it is known to use an image density control technique to obtain an output image with color components with stably controlled density. In the image density control technique, a toner image called a patch is experimentally formed on an image bearing member, and the density of the toner image (the toner bearing amount) is detected using a density sensor and fed back to an image formation condition such as a peripheral speed of a development roller, or the like (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-146749).
The density sensor is generally realized using a combination of a light emitting device such as an LED and a photodetector such as a photodiode or a cadmium sulfide cell (CdS). A surface of an intermediate transfer belt or the like to be measured is illuminated with light from the light emitting device, and specular reflection light from the surface of the intermediate transfer belt is detected by there by the photodetector. When toner is put on the intermediate transfer belt, a reduction in intensity of specular reflection light occurs depending on an amount of toner put thereon (hereinafter, referred to as a toner bearing amount), and this change in light intensity is detected by the density sensor and output from the density sensor. FIG. 7A is a graph in which a vertical axis represents the output of the density sensor and a horizontal axis represents the toner bearing amount. As shown in FIG. 7A, the output from the density sensor tends to decrease as the toner bearing amount (the toner density) increases. Therefore, when an image used as the patch in the image density control is an image of a type that consumes a large toner bearing amount (hereinafter such an image will be referred to as a solid image), the output has a small change in response to a change in the toner bearing amount, which makes it difficult to accurately detect the toner bearing amount. To avoid the above situation, instead of a solid image, an image that is small in toner bearing amount and great in change in output compared to the solid image is used. In the conventional image density control, a change in density of a solid image is estimated from a change in output for an image that consumes smaller in toner bearing amount than is consumed by the solid image, and the density of the solid image is controlled based on the estimation. However, depending on the condition of using toner, the density obtained after the control is not necessarily what is expected. In particular, when the toner bearing amount is greater than is necessary, the following problems may occur.
FIG. 7B illustrates an example of a change in chromaticity that may occur when the bearing amount of cyan toner is increased. In this figure, chromaticity is plotted in an a*-b* plane. The toner bearing amount increases in a direction denoted by a thick solid arrow in FIG. 7B. In FIG. 7B, an optimum toner bearing amount is obtained near a point denoted by α, and this toner bearing amount usually provides a maximum density. As may be seen from FIG. 7B, when a greater amount of toner than is necessary is borne beyond the point α, a great change occurs in hue angle θ. In other words, in FIG. 7B, plotted points are on a solid line of a hue angle θ1 as far as the bearing amount of tone is within a proper range, but once the bearing amount of tone increases beyond the point α, plotted points are on a dot line of a hue angle θ2 different from θ1. The occurrence of the large change in hue angle θ indicates an occurrence of an abrupt change in tint near the maximum density. A possible reason for such a change in tint is a nonuniform distribution of a colorant within toner, and thus a resultant nonuniform distribution of the colorant on a fixed image. When the toner bearing amount is small, the nonuniform distribution of the colorant does not have a significant influence. However, when the toner bearing amount is excessive the nonuniform distribution of the colorant may cause a change in a tint. In image processing performed by a color image forming apparatus, it is generally assumed that a change in tint occurs gradually and monotonically. Therefore, a large change in tint may result in a deviation of a color balance in an output image, which may cause not only a reduction in image quality but also an increase in consumption of toner.
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Typically, a one-bit full adder circuit produces sum and carry output signals in response to two operand input signals and their complements, and a carry input signal and its complement.
Table 1, shown below, is a truth table for a typical one-bit full adder. In table 1 the operand input signals are designated X and Y, and the complements of the operand input signals are designated X and Y, respectively. The carry input signal is designated Z.sub.in, and the complement of the carry input signal is designated Z.sub.in. Similarly, the sum output signal is designated S and its complement is designated S, and the carry output signal is designated Z.sub.out and its complement is designated Z.sub.out.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ Inputs Outputs X Y --X --Y Z.sub.in --Z.sub.in S --S Z.sub.out --Z.sub.out ______________________________________ 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 ______________________________________
When arithmetic operations on multidigit numbers are to be performed substantially simultaneously for all orders, a number of one-bit full adder circuits, equal to the number of digits, are connected in parallel. In this case, the carry output signal and/or its complement depending on the particular circuit arrangement, from a one-bit full adder circuit operably connected to add two same order digits becomes the carry input signal to the adjacent one-bit full adder circuit which is operably connected to add the two next higher order digits. (See H. Taub et al, "Digital Integrated Electrons", McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1977, pp. 362-363.) Consequently, the carry output signal at the most signficant bit is delayed by the propagation delay time of the carry signal through each one-bit full adder multiplied by the number of one-bit full adders. As a result of this, the time required for arithmetic operations is prolonged.
The propagation delay time of the carry signal is the time interval between the entry of a valid carry input signal into the one-bit full adder and the emergence of a valid carry output signal from the one-bit full adder. This time is dependent upon the number of transistor gates in the carry path between the carry input and the carry output. Accordingly, efforts have been directed to the development of one-bit full adder circuits comprising a minimum number of transistor gates and especially a minimum number of transistor gates in the carry path to reduce the carry delay.
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a combined table lamp and clock assembly that is inexpensive to manufacture.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are various types of table lamps available in the market. Some have colorful or cute designs to enhance their appearance or appeal to children. However, although there are different types of table lamps, they fail to meet consumers' demand for variety since their appearance is often fixed and unchangeable. Besides, table lamps in general are not provided with a clock or timepiece. Although there is also available in the market a kind of table lamp with a digital clock, it is not recommended for children as they need to learn to tell time by looking at the hands of a clock.
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Whirlpool bathtubs have been employed to treat discomfort resulting from strained muscles, joint ailments and the like.
To create the desired whirlpool motion and hydromassage effect, a motorized water pump draws water through a suction fitting in a receptacle, such as a bathtub. The user first fills the bathtub. Then the user activates the closed loop whirlpool system. The water travels through a piping system and back out jet fittings. Jet fittings are typically employed to inject water at a high velocity into a bathtub. Usually the jet fittings are adapted to aspirate air so that the water discharged into the receptacle is aerated to achieve the desired bubbling effect. See for instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,039 to Hibbard et al., incorporated herein by reference. Hibbard et al also teaches one whirlpool bathtub having jet components. U.S. Pat. No. 6,395,167 to Mattson, Jr. et al. (“Mattson”), which is incorporated herein by reference teaches another embodiment of a whirlpool bathtub.
Generally, whirlpool baths are designed as with a normal bathtub to be drained after each use. However, debris in the form of dead skin, soap, hair and other foreign material circulates throughout the piping and pump system. This debris does not completely drain and over time, accumulates in the piping system and may cause a health risk.
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{
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a golf club interchanging connection structure, and more particularly to an interchanging connection structure for interchanging a club head and a shaft of a golf club.
2. Related Art
As the golf sport develops vigorously, the structure and material of the golf club have also developed accordingly. In order to cater to each golfer, and to enable the golfer to select a suitable combination of a club head and a shaft according to the specific state during striking, golf-club manufacturers exert their efforts in developing a golf club with a quick head-shaft interchanging function.
Referring to FIG. 1, it is a schematic view of a conventional golf club interchanging connection structure. In U.S. Pat. No. 7,083,529, a golf club 10 with a quick interchanging function is proposed, which includes a club head 12 and a shaft 14, and the club head 12 and the shaft 14 are interchanged quickly through an interchanging connection structure 16. The interchanging connection structure 16 includes a club sleeve 18, a tube seat 20, and a screw 22. One end of the club sleeve 18 has an opening 24, the shaft 14 is placed into the opening 24 and bonded in the club sleeve 18. The tube seat 20 is embedded into the club head 12 and bonded in the club head 12. After the club sleeve 18 is placed into the tube seat 20, the screw 22 is used to lock the club sleeve 18 to the tube seat 20, so as to quickly interchange the club head 12 and the shaft 14.
However, the screw 22 will come loose easily after the golf club 10 has been utilized to hit the ball again and again, so as to influence the fixing effect of the club head 12 and the shaft 14 and the hitting performance. Probably, the club head 12 will depart from the shaft 14 due to the loose screw 22, so as to cause the risk of hurting people.
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{
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer capable of printing on both surfaces of a printing medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been known a double-sided printer that includes a mechanism turning a printing medium such as a printing paper upside down and is capable of printing on one surface of the printing medium and thereafter printing on the other surface by turning the printing medium upside down. For example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-31309, there has been known a printer that prints on one surface (front surface) of a printing paper by a printing head, thereafter turns the printing paper upside down by a switchback mechanism, then feeds the printing paper to the printing head again, and prints on the other surface (rear surface) of the printing paper.
As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-31309, the conventional double-sided printer prints on the front surface of the printing medium by the printing head, immediately thereafter, turns the printing medium upside down by the switchback mechanism or the like, and feeds the printing medium to the printing head again to print on the rear surface. However, especially when the printing head is an inkjet head, if the printing medium is turned upside down immediately after the printing on the front surface of the printing medium, the printing medium is turned upside down in a state where ink on the front surface is not completely dried, which leads to a risk that the printing on the front surface gets dirty when it comes into contact with a roller or the like.
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{
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Real-time articulated hand tracking from image data has the potential to open up new human-computer interaction scenarios. However, the dexterity and degrees-of-freedom of human hands makes visual tracking of a fully articulated hand challenging. This also applies to real-time articulated body tracking.
The embodiments described below are not limited to implementations which solve any or all of the disadvantages of known hand/body pose trackers.
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{
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to games, and more particularly to games having rotary wheel indicators.
2. Background of the Related Art
Roll-down games have been played for many years in arcade environments. These games usually include a ramp and one or more targets at the end of the ramp. A player rolls a ball down the ramp towards a desired target, and a game score is displayed on a scoring display based upon the player's success.
In U.S. Pat. No. 810,299, O. E. Pettee describes a game in which a ball is rolled down a plane towards an upright target pin. When the pin is impacted, a motor activates to spin a dial. When the dial stops spinning, it indicates the player's score.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,141,580, S. E. White describes a game in which a ball is tossed into holes marked in various time intervals. A spinning dial hand is stopped from rotating by the amount of time indicated by the hole that the ball is tossed into. The object of the game is to make the dial stop at a chosen character or numeral on the dial face.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,926,915, F. D. Johns describes a skee-ball game in which a ball is rolled towards a scoring drum and in which tickets are dispensed to the player by an electrically operated automatic ticket dispenser.
Games of the prior art, while enjoyable, are rather simple and, as such, often lead to rapid player boredom. This is undesirable in an environment where revenues are directly related to the continuous, repeated use of the games.
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{
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The invention relates generally to turbomachines and, more particularly, to arrangement of blades in turbomachines so as to reduce noise during operation.
Gas turbine engine manufacturers are faced with the problem of developing new ways of effectively reducing noise. One of the common noise sources includes noise generated by the turbomachinery within the gas turbine engine. The turbomachinery noise results from a relative motion of adjacent sets of blades, typical of those found in compressors (including fans) and turbines. For example, a compressor comprises multiple bladed stages, each stage including a rotatable blade row and possibly a stationary blade row. It has long been recognized that in turbomachines one of the principal noise sources is the interaction between the wakes of upstream blades and downstream blades during operation. This wake interaction results in noise at the upstream blade passing frequency and at its harmonics, as well as broadband noise covering a wide spectrum of frequencies.
One of the commonly used methods to reduce the wake interaction noise is to increase the axial spacing between adjacent sets of blades. This modification provides space for the wake to dissipate before reaching the downstream set of blades, resulting in less noise. However, increased spacing of blades in turbomachines increases axial length of the machine leading to more weight, aerodynamic performance losses, and/or installation and space requirements.
Therefore, an improved means of reducing the wake interaction noise is desirable.
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{
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to optical communication equipment and, more specifically, to micro-electromechanical devices for use in such equipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical communication equipment often employs micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). A typical MEMS system may include an array of micro-machined mirrors, each mirror individually movable in response to an electrical signal. Such an array may be employed in an optical cross-connect, in which each mirror in the array receives a different beam of light, for example, from an input optical fiber. The beam is reflected from the mirror and can be redirected to a different location, e.g., at which is located an output optical fiber. The particular output fiber may be selected by rotating the mirror. More details on the principle of operation and methods of manufacture of MEMS devices having mirror arrays may be found, for example, in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,201,631, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference.
One problem with prior art MEMS devices having relatively large (e.g., about 100 xcexcm in length) mirrors is that the spacing between the mirror and the corresponding actuating electrode(s) has to be relatively large to achieve relatively large (e.g., about 10xc2x0) rotation angles, However, increasing the spacing leads to a corresponding increase in the voltage that has to be applied to the electrodes to rotate the mirror. As appreciated by those skilled in the art, it is often undesirable and/or impractical to have MEMS devices whose operating voltages exceed about 100 V.
Problems in the prior art are addressed, in accordance with the principles of the present invention, by a MEMS device having a movable mirror and a movable actuator plate mechanically coupled together such that a relatively small displacement of the plate results in mirror rotation by a relatively large angle.
In a representative embodiment, the mirror and actuator plate are supported on a substrate. The actuator plate moves in response to a voltage difference applied between (a) an electrode located on the substrate beneath the plate and (b) the plate itself. One or more springs attached to the plate provide a counteracting restoring force when they are stretched from their rest positions by the plate motion. The mirror has a handle portion configured as a lever arm. A spring attached between the actuator plate and the handle portion transfers the motion of the actuator plate to the mirror such that, when the actuator plate moves toward the substrate, the spring pulls the handle portion to move the mirror away from the substrate. Advantageously, relatively large mirror rotation angles may be achieved using relatively low actuator voltages. For example, a mirror that is about 100 xcexcm in length may be rotated by an angle of about 15 degrees using an actuator voltage of only about 50 V.
In another representative embodiment of the invention, a MEMS device has first and second plates, each supported on, and positioned offset from, a substrate. The second plate is rotatably connected to the substrate. The connection defines a rotation axis and first and second portions of the second plate including its opposite ends with respect to the rotation axis. One end of the first plate is movably connected to the first portion of the second plate, while the other end of the first plate is connected to the substrate.
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{
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The present invention relates generally to a system and method for generating output for computer systems, and more particularly to a system and method for modifying the presentation of structured documents.
The rapid expansion of the World Wide Web—where dynamic, compelling images are crucial—has driven the demand for a document format that preserves all of the fonts, formatting, colors, and graphics of any source document, regardless of the application and platform used to create it.
One such format is referred to as the portable document format (PDF). PDF is a file format developed by Adobe Systems, Incorporated. PDF captures formatting information from a variety of desktop publishing applications, making it possible to send formatted documents and have them appear on the recipient's monitor or printer as they were intended.
A source document can be authored in a page description language (PDL). PDL is a language for describing the layout and contents of a printed page. One well-known PDL is PostScript™ by Adobe Systems, Inc. PostScript describes a page in terms of page objects including textual objects and graphical objects such as lines, arcs, and circles. Moreover, PDF is a PDL.
According to conventional methods, a PDL document is rendered by first defining a bounding box, such as a page, and then placing the textual and graphical objects defined for the page into the bounding box according to the definitions in the PDL document. Normally the size of a PDL page is chosen so that it is clearly legible on a standard full-sized display. For example, an 8-inch page width may be chosen for display on a 15-inch computer monitor.
However, a single page size may not be ideal for devices having non-standard display sizes, such as a hand-held personal digital assistant (PDA). To view a PDL page having an 8-inch page width on a 3-inch-wide display, the user has two alternatives. The user can change the zoom factor of the display to show the entire page on the 3-inch display. However, this approach will generally render the page too small to be legible. Alternatively, the user can simply show a portion of the page at full magnification, and scroll horizontally and vertically to view the rest of the page. This approach is inconvenient and time-consuming.
Another approach is for the author of the PDL page to generate a different PDL page for each display size using the application that created the PDL page. This approach is wasteful because multiple copies of each PDL page must be maintained. In addition, the user must select the copy that is appropriate for the display on which the PDL page will be viewed.
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{
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The present invention relates to a beat density detecting apparatus for detecting a beat density as characteristics of audio information, such as music and voices, and to an information playback apparatus equipped with the beat density detecting apparatus.
The present invention claims priority from Japanese Application No. 2001-149366, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
Conventionally, an information playback apparatus, such as a CD (Compact Disc) player and a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) player, is provided with a spectrum display unit for displaying frequency characteristics of a playback sound played at a speaker.
The spectrum display unit is formed on a manipulation panel unit of the information playback apparatus, and as shown in FIG. 14, displays a spectrum obtained by subjecting audio data played back from a CD or a DVD to a Fourier transform and the like in real time as a level (unit: decibels) with respect to an audio frequency band.
Also, the manipulation panel unit of the information playback apparatus is provided with an equalizer adjustment unit accompanying the spectrum display unit, so that a user can adjust the frequency characteristics of a playback sound by properly adjusting the positions of a plurality of sliding adjustment levers provided to the equalizer adjustment unit.
Incidentally, according to the conventional information playback apparatus, a user can visually recognize a spectrum (frequency characteristics) of a playback sound in real time while listening to the playback sound from a speaker or a headphone. Hence, in general, even when the user cannot detect a spectrum of a playback sound clearly with his/her sense of hearing, he/she can detect the spectrum (frequency characteristics) easily with his/her sense of sight, which makes it possible to attain an advantage that the user can readily process a playback sound into a sound having desired equalizer characteristics superimposed thereon, by manipulating the equalizer adjustment unit as needed.
However, as shown in FIG. 14, the conventional spectrum display unit merely displays a spectrum of a playback sound currently being played at a speaker or a headphone. In other words, the conventional spectrum display unit displays only an instantaneous spectrum (frequency characteristics) of a playback sound as fluctuations of the level within the audio frequency band.
For this reason, even when the user wishes to know the whole of the characteristics of one song of music from start to end by playing a music CD, it is difficult to know the characteristics as a whole by looking at an instantaneous spectrum (frequency characteristics) of a playback sound.
To give a more concrete example, a song of music has a portion referred to as “chorus” to strongly stir emotions in people, an introduction portion provided to highlight the “chorus” portion, an ending portion to leave lingering tones. etc., and words and music are written to organically mix these various characteristics, so that the song emotionally appeals to the user. However, there is a problem that the user cannot know these various characteristics of music as a whole by merely looking at an instantaneous spectrum (frequency characteristics) of a playback sound.
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A processor device as intended by the invention is understood to mean an apparatus or other object having a processor, for example a mobile end device such as a smartphone. Software applications—called apps for short—on mobile end devices, for example smartphones, are increasingly being used to carry out cryptographically secured digital transactions, for example for cashless payments at a NFC terminal or for the purchase of goods or services from an online retailer. Further, software applications for cryptographic services such as speech encryption or data encryption are increasingly being used on mobile end devices such as smartphones. For carrying out the transaction or the service, the software application implemented on the processor of the smartphone interacts with a terminal or server. Cryptographic partial tasks of the software applications such as encryption, decryption, signature formation or signature verification are carried out through implementations of cryptographic algorithms. Security-critical data employed by the cryptographic algorithm, e.g. PINs, passwords, cryptographic keys etc., are securely supplied for the processor device. Traditionally, security-critical data are secured against an attack by unauthorized person through (grey-box) cryptography. For this purpose the data are supplied on a security element of the mobile end device, said security element being stand-alone in terms of hardware technology, for example a SIM card removable from the mobile end device.
An alternative approach, which is applicable in particular also for mobile end devices which have no stand-alone security element, is based on the white-box cryptography. In a white-box implementation of a cryptographic algorithm it is attempted to hide the security-critical data, in particular secret cryptographic keys, in the implementation such that an attacker who has full access to the implementation is unable to extract the security-critical data from the implementation. A white-box implementation of the AES crypto-algorithm (Advanced Encryption Standard) is known, for example, from the publication [1] “A Tutorial on White-box AES” by James A. Muir, Cryptology ePrint Archive, Report 2013/104. Likewise, white-box implementations of cryptographic algorithms or routines are distributed commercially.
An ideal white-box implementation of a crypto-algorithm hides security-critical data like cryptographic keys in such a way that they are not ascertainable by an attack.
In the patent application DE 102014016548.5 of the applicant of the present patent application, a method is described for testing a white-box implementation of a cryptographic algorithm, e.g. AES, said implementation being executable on a processor, with which the inventors have succeeded in ascertaining security-critical data by an attack, which according to the concept of the white-box actually should not be possible. From this point of view, the tested white-box implementations are by definition no longer perfect white box due to its attackability, yet are hereinafter still designated as white-box implementations due to their objective of being perfect.
102014016548.5 more precisely describes a test method for a white-box implementation which generates a plain text from a cipher text by means of a secret key, and is present in the processor in the form of machine commands, wherein the processor comprises at least one register. The method comprises the following steps: (a) feeding one plain text of a plurality of plain texts to the white-box implementation; (b) reading out and storing the contents of the at least one register of the processor stepwise while processing the machine commands of the white-box implementation stepwise, wherein intermediate results can be generated while processing the machine commands of the white-box implementation stepwise; (c) repeating the steps (a) and (b) with a further plain text of the plurality of plain texts N-times; and (d) statistically evaluating the contents of the registers and the plain texts, the intermediate results and/or the cipher texts generated from the plain texts by searching for correlations between the contents of the registers and the plain texts, the intermediate results and/or the cipher texts to establish the secret key.
Surprisingly, the examinations of the inventors have shown that for commercially available implementations of cryptographic algorithms under the name of white-box implementations, the secret key may be derived by means of the method described in 102014016548.5.
In the technical publication [3] “Differential Computation Analysis: Hiding your White-Box Designs is Not Enough”, J. W. Bos, Ch. Hubain, W. Michiels, and Ph. Teuwen, eprint.iacr.org/2015/753 by the company NXP, there is disclosed a similar test method like in the above-mentioned patent application 102014016548.5, with which the secret key could likewise be ascertained from a white-box implementation of a crypto-algorithm with statistical methods.
In the patent application 102014016548.5, further a directive for action is supplied for a method for hardening the white-box implementation of a cryptographic algorithm executable on a processor. To achieve the hardening, the white-box implementation is configured such that upon generating the cipher text at least one lookup table comes into use to statically map input values of the lookup table to output values of the lookup table. The method comprises the step that the lookup table is statistically permutated such that the individual bits of the permutated lookup table substantially do not correlate with the bits of the lookup table. In other words: the lookup table T is statistically permutated by means of an inverted mapping f (there designated as permutation P) such that the individual bits of the permutated lookup table T′(x)=f(T(x)) do not correlate with the bits T(x) for randomly varying input x. This implementation corresponds to the preamble of claim 1.
The invention is based on the task of stating a processor device having an implementation of a cryptographic algorithm, which is specially hardened building on an implementation as stated in 102014016548.5 or a comparable one, by which in the implementation, output values of computation steps (e.g. S-box operations) are not correlated with output values as they would be expected for unprotected implementations, so that no secret information item of the algorithm can be obtained even by means of statistical methods applied on the side-channel outputs. In particular, special implementation details should be stated by means of which a specially hardened implementation can be attained.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital broadcasting system and a method of processing data.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
The Vestigial Sideband (VSB) transmission mode, which is adopted as the standard for digital broadcasting in North America and the Republic of Korea, is a system developed for the transmission of MPEG audio/video data. However, since the VSB transmission mode is a single carrier method, the receiving performance of the receiving system may be deteriorated in a poor channel environment. Particularly, since resistance to changes in channels and noise is more highly required when using portable and/or mobile broadcast receivers, the receiving performance may be even more deteriorated when transmitting mobile service data by the VSB transmission mode.
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Snap fasteners have existed for decades. Existing snap fasteners have primarily been formed from stamped metal. Stamped metal snap fasteners are somewhat complex to manufacture as each of the two halves of the snap fastener is formed from several parts that must be joined together.
Snap fasteners generally have a male portion and female portion. For the purposes of this application the male and female portions will refer the to the two halves of the snap fastener as they are joined together with fabric or another substrate in between to make permanent attachment to fabric or other material. Thus, the male portion has an extending portion that is used to pierce or pass through the fabric to mate with the female portion which has an opening therein to receive the extending portion of the male portion.
Snap fasteners formed from polymers or plastics also exist. Polymers snap fasteners are generally formed by an injection molding process. Currently plastic snap fasteners may not create a sufficient retention force in their attachment to fabrics and like materials.
Thus, the snap fastener and textile industries would benefit from a polymer snap fastener which has improved retention characteristics when used as a closure and which forms a strong attachment to fabric that it is joined to.
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The present invention relates to tray assemblies for seats, and particularly, to a tray assembly having a crotch post for use on a juvenile chair or a high chair. More particularly, the present invention relates to a removable tray assembly having a crotch post.
Tray assemblies are traditionally used with juvenile seats, juvenile chairs, and/or high chairs to provide a platform on which a caregiver can place items for a child such as food, toys, and so forth. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,807,928 to Cone and 5,527,090 to Cone. Some tray assemblies are adapted to be mounted to a seat having a crotch post molded therein. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 365,936 to Haut et al.
According to the present invention, a seat and tray assembly is provided that includes a seat and a tray assembly selectively mounted to the seat. The tray assembly includes a tray and a crotch post mounted to the tray. The crotch post is configured for movement relative to the tray between an extended position wherein the crotch post extends at an angle away from the tray and a retracted position wherein the crotch position is adjacent to the tray.
The seat includes a seat bottom with a channel formed therein. The crotch post includes a foot portion sized to extend into the channel. The foot portion cooperates with the channel to inhibit movement between the crotch post and the seat bottom.
The crotch post is mounted to the tray and formed for pivotal movement about a pivot point. The crotch post includes a front surface, an opposite back surface, and a bottom surface extending therebetween. The back surface includes a flat surface and a cam surface. Upon placement of the tray assembly on a flat surface such as a counter top, the cam surface enables the crotch post to pivot towards the retracted position.
Additional features of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill of the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of preferred embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.
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{
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Innovations in multimedia distribution have made it possible to deliver multimedia content to an increasing number of viewers. Many sources of multimedia content are sponsored by advertisers. In exchange for sponsorship, advertisers may request viewers to watch commercial content to promote products and services. The disclosure provides methods for multimedia distribution that may require viewers to watch commercial content in order to access entertainment content.
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{
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The present invention relates to a toner and an image forming method.
When toner images are fixed utilizing a heated roll fixing system, heretofore, it has been known that as a means to minimize the generation of offset phenomena, silicone oil is applied to the surface of said heating roller in a fixing unit so that said heating roller is treated for releasability for toners. Such a method is advantageous, since types of used toners are not limited.
In such a method, however, the silicone oil, which is applied to the surface of the heating roller for an extended period of time, is modified (or gelled) to result in offsetting due to a decrease in releasability provided with said roll, and during image formation, image staining occurs. As a result, the working life of the fixing unit is shorter compared to one to which silicone oil is not applied.
Further, there is another problem in which volatile components in the silicone oil, volatilize due to heat on the surface of the heating roller, and adhere to and stain the optical system, charging electrodes, and the like, resulting in image problems.
From the viewpoint of the foregoing, it has been demanded that no silicone oil be applied to a fixing unit (specifically, a heating roller), or only a very small amount of silicone oil be applied to the fixing unit.
In order to respond to such a demand, it has been common practice for a toner itself to be provided with releasability by adding releasing agents to said toner.
In such cases, in order to allow a toner to exhibit, to the greatest extent, the effects of the addition of releasing agents, it is required that said releasing agent in said toner exists in a domain state. In order to realize said state, generally, said releasing agents are not compatible with binder resins constituting said toner.
Conventionally, a toner, comprised of binder resins, colorants, and releasing agents, is produced employing a method (hereinafter referred to as a xe2x80x9ckneading and pulverization methodxe2x80x9d) in which said binder resins, said colorants, and said releasing agents are melt kneaded, and then pulverized, and if desired, classified.
In said kneading and pulverization method, a toner is prepared by dispersing releasing agents, which are insoluble in the binder resins, into said binders, and subsequently pulverizing the resultant dispersion. As a result, the resultant toner particles tend to result in non-uniformity and fluctuation of the dispersed state of releasing agents (in terms of the dispersed region, as well as the dispersed amount) and of the surface state.
When a toner, comprised of said non-uniform particles, is employed in image formation over an extended period of time, tiny offset-resulting components are adhered to the heating roller, and accumulate onto the surface of said heating roller and/or the pressure roller to result in image problems.
Such problems tend to occur due to effects of the generation of offsetting on the high temperature side heated by excessive fixing heat during high speed fixing, and by accumulated heat at the edges of the roller during switching of transfer sheets from a small size to a large size.
From the view of the foregoing, the present invention has been achieved.
An object of the present invention is to provide a toner which is employed in an image forming method comprising a process for forming fixed images, employing a fixing unit to which no silicone oil is applied, or only a very small amount of silicone oil is applied, and is capable of forming excellent images without resulting in image staining as well as image problems for an extended period of time, and further is capable of extending the working life of said fixing unit.
The invention and its preferable embodiment are described.
An image forming method comprising developing an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoreceptor to form a toner image employing a developer comprising a toner, transferring the toner image onto an image forming material, and fixing the transferred toner image employing a fixing unit, wherein
the fixing unit comprises a heating roller and a pressure roller which is brought into contact with said heating roller,
the heating roller comprises a cylinder having an interior diameter of from 10 to 70 mm and a wall thickness of from 0.1 to 2 mm comprised of a metal or a metal alloy, and a heating member being incorporated in the interior, a surface of the cylinder being covered with a layer comprising a fluorine resin at a thickness of from 10 to 500 xcexcm,
the pressure roller comprises a metal cylinder covered with a covering layer comprising an elastic material having an Asker hardness C of less than 80 degrees at a thickness of 0.1 to 30 mm, and
the toner comprises at least of a binder resin, a colorant, and a releasing agent, and is obtained by salting out/fusing resin particles comprising the releasing agent in binding resin and colorant particles.
The preferable fluorine resin is polytetrafluoroethylene or tertafluoroethylene-perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer.
The cylinder of the heating roller is preferably composed of iron, aluminum, copper, or alloy thereof.
The elastic material is soft rubber or foamed rubber, and more preferably urethane rubber, silicone rubber, or silicone sponge rubber.
The most preferably example of the elastic material is silicone rubber, or silicone sponge rubber.
The Asker C hardness of elastic material is preferably less than 70 degrees.
The Asker C hardness of elastic material is preferably less than 60 degrees.
In the image forming method the preferable example of the releasing agent is represented by Formula (1),
R1xe2x80x94(OCOxe2x80x94R2)nxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
wherein R1 and R2 each represent a hydrocarbon group having from 1 to 40 carbon atoms which may have a substituent, and n represents an integer of 1 to 4.
In the image forming method silicone oil is supplied to the heating roller in amount of, preferably, not more than 2 mg per A4 sized sheet of paper.
The thickness of the layer comprising the fluorine resin is preferably 20 to 400 xcexcm.
The thickness of the covering layer is preferably 0.1 to 20 xcexcm.
The temperature of fixing is preferably 150 to 210xc2x0 C.
The content ratio of releasing agents in the toner is preferably 1 to 30 percent by weight.
The toner has an average value preferably of the shape coefficient of 0.930 to 0.980.
The toner of the present invention is employed in an image forming method which comprises processes in which an electrostatic latent image, formed on a photoreceptor, is developed employing a developer comprising said toner, subsequently the formed toner image is transferred onto a support, and the transferred toner image is then fixed employing a fixing unit. Said fixing unit is comprised of a heating roller and a pressure roller which is brought into contact with said heating roller. Said heating roller is constituted in such a manner that the surface of a cylinder having an interior diameter of 10 to 70 mm and a wall thickness of 0.1 to 2 mm, comprised of a metal or a metal alloy, is covered with fluorine resins at a thickness of 10 to 500 xcexcm and a heating member is incorporated in the interior. Said pressure roller is constituted in such a manner that the surface of a metal cylinder is covered with an elastic material having an Asker hardness C of less than 80 degrees at a thickness of 0.1 to 30 mm. Said toner is comprised at least of a binder resin, a colorant, and a releasing agent, and is obtained by salting out/fusing resin particles comprising releasing agents in binding resins and colorant particles.
When the toner of the present invention is employed, the supply amount of silicone oil to said heating roller comprised of said fixing unit is preferably not more than 2 mg/A4 sized sheet of paper.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a producing apparatus for decomposing and converting high boiling point chlorosilanes-containing materials (hereinafter, referred to as polymer) generated in a polycrystalline silicon producing process and in a trichlorosilane producing or converting process into trichlorosilane, and more particularly, to an apparatus for producing trichlorosilane by decomposing a polymer produced in a chlorination process, a polymer separated from an exhaust gas of a reaction process of polycrystalline silicon, or a polymer produced in a conversion process for producing trichlorosilane from silicon tetrachloride in an exhaust gas, and a method for producing trichlorosilane.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-201863, filed on Aug. 5, 2008, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
High-purity polycrystalline silicon used for semiconductor materials are mainly produced by the Siemens process using trichlorosilane (SiHCl3: TCS) and hydrogen as the raw materials. The Siemens process is a process of introducing a gas mixture of trichlorosilane and hydrogen into a reactor so as to come in contact with a glowing silicon rod, and depositing silicon on the surface of the silicon rod due to the hydrogen reduction and thermal decomposition of trichlorosilane at high temperature. For the high-purity trichlorosilane introduced into the reactor, for example, high-purity trichlorosilane obtained by distilling and purifying crude trichlorosilane obtained through a chlorination process is used. The chlorination process is a process for introducing metallurgical silicon and hydrogen chloride into a fluidizing chlorination furnace so as to react with each other and produce crude trichlorosilane using the chlorination of silicon.
In the producing of polycrystalline silicon, gases discharged from the reactor include unreacted trichlorosilane, hydrogen chloride, silicon tetrachloride (STC) as a byproduct, and chlorosilanes (referred to as high boiling point chlorosilanes) having higher boiling points than silicon tetrachlorides such as tetrachlorodisilane (Si2H2Cl4) and hexachlorodisilane (Si2Cl6) (refer to WO02/012122). In addition, crude trichlorosilane can be produced from silicon tetrachloride and hydrogen in the discharged gas by using a converter (conversion process). The distilled and purified crude trichlorosilane obtained in the conversion process have been reused. Gas produced in the chlorination furnace and the converter contains hydrogen chloride, silicon tetrachloride, and high boiling point chlorosilanes in addition to trichlorosilane.
Conventionally, polymers are produced when the gas produced in the chlorination furnace or in the converter, or the gas discharged from the reactor, is collected and distilled. These polymers should be hydrolyzed and disposed of. Accordingly, there is a problem in that costs involved in the hydrolysis and waste disposal are expensive.
In addition, a method is known for returning polymers generated in the producing of polycrystalline silicon to a fluid reaction container to be separated and using the separated polymers to produce trichlorosilane (refer to JP-A-01-188414). However, in this method, silicon powder supplied to a fluidizing reactor is mixed with polymers, so that there are problems in that flowability of the silicon powder is degraded, and the conversion ratio of the polymer into chlorosilane is reduced.
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{
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Digital telemetry systems are a requirement in most towed underwater sonars in order to multiplex and digitize a large number of acoustic and nonacoustic sensors. Usually the telemetry must be capable of transmitting its signal in a reliable manner to a cable/array system 1 to 2 miles in length. The cable diameter is minimized to reduce hydrodynamic drag, and this limits the overall telemetry bandwidth. In addition, the telemetry system must be capable of operating over a very large acoustic dynamic range and increasing individual channel bandwidths. These requirements, large number of sensors, limited cable bandwidth, high dynamic range, and wide acoustic sensor bandwidths, are often conflicting. They oblige the designers of towed acoustic arrays to seek out novel and innovative schemes to reduce telemetry bandwidths that are capable of meeting the large dynamic range requirements. This system can be used over a dynamic range in excess of 120 dB that requires only 9 bits per channel. Normally a system that operates over a 120 dB dynamic range would need 20 bits per channel. The reduction from 20 to 9 bits per channel is a savings of over 2 to 1 in bandwidth reduction. Thus, this system is beneficial in that it meets the large dynamic range requirements, yet reduces the telemetry bandwidth requirements.
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{
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The molecular bases underlying many human and animal physiological states (e.g., diseased and homeostatic states of various tissues) remain unknown. Nonetheless, it is well understood that these states result from interactions among the proteins and nucleic acids present in the cells of the relevant tissues. In the past, the complexity of biological systems overwhelmed the ability of practitioners to understand the molecular interactions giving rise to normal and abnormal physiological states. More recently, though, the techniques of molecular biology, transgenic and null mutant animal production, computational biology, and pharmacogenomics have enabled practitioners to discern the role and importance of individual genes and proteins in particular physiological states.
Knowledge of the sequences and other properties of genes (particularly including the portions of genes encoding proteins) and the proteins encoded thereby enables the practitioner to design and screen agents which will affect, prospectively or retrospectively, the physiological state of an animal tissue in a favorable way. Such knowledge also enables the practitioner, by detecting the levels of gene expression and protein production, to diagnose the current physiological state of a tissue or animal and to predict such physiological states in the future. This knowledge furthermore enables the practitioner to identify and design molecules which bind with the polynucleotides and proteins, in vitro, in vivo, or both.
Many secreted proteins, for example, cytokines and cytokine receptors, play a vital role in the regulation of cell growth, cell differentiation, and a variety of specific cellular responses. A number of medically useful proteins, including erythropoietin, granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor, human growth hormone, and various interleukins, are secreted proteins. Thus, an important goal in the design and development of new therapies is the identification and characterization of secreted and transmembrane proteins and the genes which encode them.
Many secreted proteins are receptors which bind a ligand and transduce an intracellular signal, leading to a variety of cellular responses. The identification and characterization of such a receptor enables one to identify both the ligands which bind to the receptor and the intracellular molecules and signal transduction pathways associated with the receptor, permitting one to identify or design modulators of receptor activity, e.g., receptor agonists or antagonists and modulators of signal transduction.
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{
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus that controls the destination of data output from an information processing apparatus, a data processing method, and a storage medium that stores a software program implementing the data processing method on a computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with the popularization of network technology, a configuration now commonly employed features a plurality of personal computers (PCs) connected to a printer via a network in an office environment, with the PCs sharing the printer A printer server is connected to the network to manage printing and process printing requests from PCs appropriately so that the printer executes printing in good order even if a plurality of PCs send printing requests simultaneously.
In such an environment, a plurality of users send printing requests to a printer using their own PCs, and the printer executes printing when the printer receives printing requests from users. In this case, there is no problem if printing outputs are not confidential or not related to personal data etc., since it is not an issue if other users browse them. However, if printing outputs are confidential documents, it can be a serious matter if other users under no duty to maintain confidentiality browse those documents.
In addition, multi function peripherals (MFPs) with functions such as printing, copying, faxing, and scanning are often used as network-connected printers. MFPs can fax documents when they receive a request to send documents by fax from a user using a PC. In such an environment, there is always the risk that a user might fax an internal document by mistake, and that can lead to serious damage.
Generally speaking, in an office environment a plurality of printers and MFPs are connected to the network. In such an environment, instead of sending printing and facsimileing requests from a PC directly to the printer or MFP designated by the PC, an apparatus that controls the output destination by choosing an appropriate apparatus like a printer and executing printing on the appropriate apparatus has been proposed (e.g., JP-2010-157208-A.)
The apparatus described in JP-2010-157208-A is a data processing apparatus that manages printing outputs from a plurality of client PCs via a network and implements virtual printer drivers and a plurality of remote drivers. A virtual printer driver receives printing requests via the network, generates an intermediate file as a page image from print data corresponding to received printing requests, chooses a remote driver corresponding to destination printer information related to a client PC or a user, and loads the remote driver. The loaded remote driver generates output data including raw data from the generated intermediate file, sends the output data to the corresponding remote printer, and has the remote printer print the output data. Accordingly, the virtual printer driver changes the output destination to an output destination related to the client PC and the user.
Also, the virtual printer driver extracts a string (text data) included in the intermediate file and can determine whether or not a predefined keyword is included in the extracted string. If the predefined keyword is included in the extracted string, the virtual printer driver determines a printing condition corresponding to the predefined keyword, and sets the determined printing condition. After that, the virtual printer driver sets the printing condition to the remote driver and has the remote driver execute processes such as generating the raw data described above and adding page description language (PDL) commands. Accordingly, the virtual printer driver changes the output destination according to the string included in print data.
The conventional apparatus described above determines a destination printer using information specific to the client PC and the user who operates the client PC, and executes printing on the determined printer. With a plurality of output destinations, some of which are located in rooms anyone can enter, a security problem arises if a confidential document is printed on one of the apparatuses located in a room anyone can enter. The conventional apparatus can modify documents and print documents with tint block printing enabled in case the string “confidential” is included to prevent unauthorized copying and solve the security problem. Tint block printing is a feature that prints a tint block so that graphics or characters appear in the background of a copy if the printout is copied.
However, in the conventional apparatus a feature that has document modification rules is installed as a single module, so it is not easily possible to add another rule, delete a registered rule, or change a registered rule. It is necessary to replace module itself to add rules etc, and that makes maintenance difficult since the module is replaced each time rules are added, changed, etc. Also, it is not possible to add, delete, or change a rule after installation since this module is built in.
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Liquid crystals (LCs) have a remarkable ability to order, which is useful in electro-optical devices, such as electronic displays. In displays, for example, a thin layer of LC material is placed between glass plates and the orientation of the LC molecules is controlled by the application of an electric field with high spatial resolution. The order imparted on the LC molecules nearest the surface gets transferred through as many as 20,000 LC molecules with the result that the LC molecules furthest from the glass substrate still have the desired orientation. Ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) and LCs subject to the electroclinic effect are most desirable in electro-optical devices, such as displays, switches, shutters, write heads for holographic data storage systems, and the like.
Ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs), which typically operate in the smectic C (SmC) phase, are most easily aligned when their SmC phase is overlaid by the nematic (N) and smectic A (SmA) phases. Thus, as the LC cools from the isotropic (I) phase, it first achieves monodirectional order in the N phase, to which is added layered order as it transitions to the SmA phase, to which is added tilted order as it transitions to the SmC phase. Hence, while FLCs require the presence of a very wide SmC phase in which to operate, they also require an N and SmA phase. Both the SmA and N phases should have a clear phase of at least 2° C., where the term “clear phase” refers to having only the desired phase, and no other coexistent phases, present in the cell over that temperature range.
To realize alignment uniform enough for display use, FLCs need not only the overlying phases, but adequate time in certain portions of the phases for the cell to reach equilibrium. For instance, with a traditional polyimide alignment layer, a very slow cooling rate is typically used throughout the SmA phase and the first few degrees of the SmC phase. That slow cooling rate would be extremely difficult to impose in a finished product. Consequently, FLC displays are typically restricted from going over any temperature that would result in a ruined product. Hence, most products containing FLC displays have both a quoted storage and operating temperature range, with the storage range being the temperature range the device can be subjected to, and the narrower operating range being the temperature range over which the device is expected to adequately perform. For most commercial purposes, a SmC to SmA transition over 90° C. is desired, and the material should retain its SmC phase down to less than −30° C., so a SmC phase width of over 120° C. is required. Having a higher SmC-SmA transition gives a clear commercial advantage.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,597,541, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, discloses that using certain types of thiadiazole compounds in mixtures, in conjunction with certain polarization-inducing components, considerably increases the polarization of LC mixtures compared with mixtures comprising the same proportion of the polarization-inducing component but lacking the thiadiazoles. In general, increasing the polarization of a mixture also increases its viscosity; the former will increase the mixture's switching speed, while the latter decreases the switching speed. Surprisingly, the polarization enhancement provided by the thiadiazoles of the '541 patent did not come with a commensurate increase in viscosity. This meant that the thiadiazole-based mixtures of the '541 patent, particularly those with a thiadiazole content comprising 30-50 weight percent of the mixture, had a faster switching speed than previous categories of FLCs. The present disclosure expands upon the work described in the '541 patent.
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process and apparatus for the regeneration of fluidized catalytic cracking catalyst.
2. Description of Related Art
In the fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) process, catalyst, having a particle size and color resembling table salt and pepper, circulates between a cracking reactor and a catalyst regenerator. In the reactor, hydrocarbon feed contacts a source of hot, regenerated catalyst. The hot catalyst vaporizes and cracks the feed at 425.degree. C.-600.degree. C., usually 460.degree. C.-560.degree. C. The cracking reaction deposits carbonaceous hydrocarbons or coke on the catalyst, thereby deactivating the catalyst. The cracked products are separated from the coked catalyst. The coked catalyst is stripped of volatiles, usually with steam, in a catalyst stripper and the stripped catalyst is then regenerated. The catalyst regenerator burns coke from the catalyst with oxygen containing gas, usually air. Decoking restores catalyst activity and simultaneously heats the catalyst to, e.g., 500.degree. C.-900.degree. C., usually 600.degree. C.-750.degree. C. This heated catalyst is recycled to the cracking reactor to crack more fresh feed. Flue gas formed by burning coke in the regenerator may be treated for removal of particulates and for conversion of carbon monoxide, after which the flue gas is normally discharged into the atmosphere.
Catalytic cracking has undergone progressive development since the 40s. The trend of development of the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) process has been to all riser cracking and use of zeolite catalysts. A good overview of the importance of the FCC process, and its continuous advancement, is reported in Fluid Catalytic Cracking Report, Amos A. Avidan, Michael Edwards and Hartley Owen, as reported in the Jan. 8, 1990 edition of the Oil & Gas Journal.
Modern catalytic cracking units use active zeolite catalyst to crack the heavy hydrocarbon feed to lighter, more valuable products. Instead of dense bed cracking, with a hydrocarbon residence time of 20-60 seconds, much less contact time is needed. The desired conversion of feed can now be achieved in much less time, and more selectively, in a dilute phase, riser reactor. The benefits of riser reactor FCC units are such that many older units have been revamped to take advantage of this advance in technology.
There have been many improvements in the design of FCC regenerators. The considerable evolution in the design of FCC units is reported to a limited extent in the Jan. 8, 1990 Oil & Gas Journal article.
Most new regenerators are of the high efficiency design, i.e., the spent catalyst, preferably with recycled regenerated catalyst, is charged to a fast fluidized bed coke combustor, and from their to a dilute phase transport riser. Coke is efficiently burned in the robustly fluidized coke combustor, while CO afterburning is promoted by the dilute phase conditions in the transport riser. Such regenerators are now the standard for new construction, and are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,404, Owen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,812, Lomas et al, and many others. These two patents are incorporated herein by reference.
These are excellent regenerators, which greatly reduce the amount of catalyst inventory needed to process a given amount of fresh feed. The only areas where such regenerators sometimes have problems is particulates emissions, and somewhat higher pressure drop than is desirable.
Dust emissions can be a problem in some areas with these regenerators. They are somewhat "dusty" because all of the catalyst inventory is discharged as a dilute phase up the transport riser to an outlet in a dilute phase region above a second fluidized bed. High vapor velocities are needed to get the catalyst, the volume of which is usually multiplied by 100 to 300% due to catalyst recycle, up through the coke combustor and transport riser. Adding cyclones to the transport riser outlet can greatly reduce particulates emissions due to such large amounts of catalyst through the transport riser, but cyclones add to the cost and complexity of such units, and cyclones also add to the pressure drop across the regenerator.
Even when cyclones are not needed, there is a significant pressure drop, and a significant amount of work, involved in moving extremely large volumes of catalyst around such units. Although the benefits or reduced catalyst inventory, and more efficient regeneration of catalyst, and dilute phase controlled afterburning of CO to CO2 in the transport riser, when desire, are worth the pressure drop, it would be beneficial if the desirable regeneration characteristics of such units could be retained, but without all the pressure drop (or energy consumption) required to get catalyst up through a fast fluidized bed coke combustor and a dilute phase transport riser.
Such modern regenerator designs, sometimes called a high efficiency regenerator, are preferred for all new construction. For the many FCC units built with low efficiency, i.e., bubbling dense bed regenerators, it has not been possible and/or economically justifiable to improve the efficiency of the bubbling bed regenerator.
Such bubbling bed regenerators are inherently inefficient because of the presence of large gas bubbles, poor catalyst circulation, and the stagnant regions. The bubbling bed regenerators usually have two to three times the catalyst inventory of more modern regenerators. The increased inventory, and longer catalyst residence time, make up for a lack of efficiency.
For such units, characterized by a single, bubbling dense bed regenerator, there has been no good way to achieve the benefits of high efficiency regeneration. Site constraints and capital spending constraints usually prevent replacement of a bubbling bed regenerator with a high efficiency regenerator.
Site constraints also usually make modifications, such as those that would permit several stages of regeneration to be achieved in a single vessel, prohibitively expensive. Part of the difficulty is that usually some form of baffling or separation is needed to achieve multistage regeneration, i.e., the fluidized bed regions must be isolated, and the flue gas from each region must be isolated. Some means of recovering catalyst from flue gas is usually essential, because even in bubbling bed regenerators with relatively low superficial vapor velocities there is a tremendous amount of catalyst entrainment into the dilute phase. Multiple cyclones in parallel, with multiple stages of cyclones, i.e., in series, are usually needed to recover catalyst from flue gas. These cyclones are heavy, and difficult to support, and when multiple stages of catalyst regeneration are involved, and great swings in temperature must be accommodated in the regenerator, the problems of cyclone support, and thermal stress, multiply.
It would be beneficial if a way could be found to convert these older, bubbling dense bed regenerators into higher efficiency units, preferably ones which could operate with relatively low pressure drop, and most preferably with staged regeneration, with isolation of each stage. This presented several complications.
It was easy to isolate the dense phase fluidized bed regions--the catalyst acted like a liquid, and a simple solid baffle would effectively isolate one fluidized region of catalyst from the other. Baffled regions, defining isolated fluidized beds sharing a common vapor region above, are common. U.S. Pat. No. 2,584,391 disclosed an apparatus with a baffled fluidized bed region which could be said to define multiple dense phase regions in a fluidized bed, but the vapor phases from each fluidized bed were mixed together and withdrawn from a single outlet. This was an improvement, it gave the option to achieve multiple stage regeneration, but added the constraint that the flue gas streams had to be compatible. If an attempt were made to operate the apparatus shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,584,931 as a regenerator, with the inner stage in partial CO combustion mode, and the outer stage in complete CO burn mode, with an oxidizing atmosphere, the two flue gases would "afterburn" when mixed together in the dilute phase region above the dense beds. The lack of sufficient spent catalyst, to absorb the heat of combustion, would lead to extremely high temperatures in the flue gas line and in the cyclones, which could damage the unit.
Physical isolation of each combustion stage, by using, e.g., a closed first stage vessel immersed within a second stage, with cyclone separators mounted on the first stage vessel to separate catalyst from flue gas discharged from the first stage, would require considerable capital expense, an unduly large pressure drop, and cause severe technical problems due to thermal expansion. The first stage cyclones must be closely coupled to the primary stage vessel, and the cyclone outlets must be connected to the top of the vessel holding both stages. FCC regenerators are subjected to great variations in temperature, and the variations can be especially severe when multiple stages of regeneration are involved. As an example, during startup, or when a high CCR feed is first charged to the unit, the first stage of the regenerator will frequently run hotter, causing considerable thermal expansion. If the unit is all tied together, with the first stage regenerator, superimposed cyclones, and cyclone outlets passing through the top of the containment vessel, then some parts of the regenerator will be subjected to considerable mechanical stress. Expansion joints can be used, but most refiners are reluctant to use these expensive, and relatively fragile, devices within the harsh environment of an FCC regenerator.
I discovered a way to reduce the pressure drop heretofore associated with multiple bed regenerators. In a preferred embodiment, I provided a way to conduct multi-bed, and multi-stage regeneration of catalyst with relatively low pressure drop. In an especially preferred embodiment, I use cyclone separators, connective with the first stage of the regenerator, to separate catalyst from flue gas, without subjecting the regenerator to excessive thermal stress. In this embodiment, it is possible to isolate the flue gas from each stage of the regenerator so that one stage can operate in partial CO burn mode, and another can operate in complete CO burn mode.
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In recent years, it is an increasing trend that offices are networked and documents handled there are digitized and colored. Digitization allows documents to be readily processed and transferred for efficient operations. Colorization allows good-looking, effective documents to be created. As documents are increasingly digitized and colored, multifunction peripherals (MFPs), which are image processing apparatus, are required to effectively capture and output generated image data.
The configuration of an image processing apparatus including an image reader is an element most closely associated with one of original document image capturing performance and image quality of output images in a copy mode. The reader in an image processing apparatus is adapted to include a reduction optical system and a proximity optical system.
The reading resolution of the above optical systems depends on pixel sensors arranged in a primary scan direction. There is a technology called “super-resolution processing” as a process of improving the resolution independent of the number of pixel sensors arranged in a primary scan direction.
While the technology will be described later, the super-resolution processing involves using multiple sets of image data read at the resolution of the sensors provided in the reader to significantly improve the resolution of an output image.
Using the super-resolution processing technology allows image data corresponding to a plurality of frames, for example, read at a resolution of 300 dpi to be converted into image data having a resolution of 1200 dpi.
Processes involved in the super-resolution processing in which high-resolution image data that cannot be obtained by a reader in an image processing apparatus is produced by using multiple sets of image data are described in detail in WO2004/068862.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-092450 describes high-resolution processing in which the number of images used as a base of a combined image is controlled according to the image size. This technology involves increasing the number of images to be combined when the image size is small.
To carry out the super-resolution processing described above, however, first of all, it is necessary to prepare successive sets of image data corresponding to a plurality of frames obtained by reading an original document image with the reading position minutely shifted from one to the other with reference to one-frame image data read at the resolution of sensors provided in an image processing apparatus including a reader.
That is, it is necessary to prepare successive sets of image data corresponding to a plurality of frames obtained by slightly shifting the positions of pixels to be read in the primary and/or secondary scan directions from reference image data.
Further, when the image data corresponding to a plurality of frames is obtained, the position at which the original document image is read by a sensor to acquire image data is shifted from the position at which the original document image is read by the adjacent sensor to acquire image data. The shift needs to be smaller than one pixel (sub-pixel) in the primary and/or secondary scan directions.
The greater the resolution of image data generated by the super-resolution processing, the greater the number of necessary image data frames in the image data read at the resolution of the sensors provided in the apparatus.
Performing the super-resolution processing in an image processing apparatus thus allows a low-resolution reader to provide a high-resolution image. To this end, however, it is necessary to satisfy the conditions described above.
In general, however, the reader in a multifunction peripheral, a scanner, and other image processing apparatus uses a line sensor.
That is, the number of frames read in a single reading action is one.
Further, the reader described above reads an original document image by using a group of pixel sensors horizontally arranged in the primary scan direction with the distance between pixels being equal to an integral multiple of the size of a pixel. It is thus disadvantageously not possible to read the original document image by minutely (on a sub-pixel basis) shifting the positions of pixels to be read in the primary scan direction.
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{
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Commonly used proxy servers keep the servers behind it anonymous and may speed up access to resources. When using this technique, a client connects to the proxy server, and requests data from it. The proxy server processes the request according to its rules, and may provide the data by requesting the data from a relevant server. The proxy server may modify the client's request or the server's response, and sometimes it may cache responses and provide the data without contacting the relevant server. Some distributed content delivery systems enhance performance by using erasure coding. However, obtaining and decoding the erasure-coded distributed content may require certain capabilities from an end user's device. These capabilities are considered non-standard, and may add complexity to end users' devices.
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{
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
}
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In the state of the art, automatic transmissions, particularly for motor vehicles, are comprised of planetary gear sets that are shifted by means of friction elements or, as the case may be, shifting elements such as clutches and brakes and are usually connected to a starting element that is subject to a slip effect and are optionally connected to a lockup clutch, such as a hydrodynamic torque converter or a fluid clutch.
Automatic transmissions of this kind are known, for example, from DE 199 49 507 A1 by the applicant: a multi-step transmission in which, on the driveshaft, two non-shiftable, front-mounted gear sets are provided, which on the output side produce two speeds, which in addition to the speed of the driveshaft, can optionally be shifted using a shiftable double planetary gear set that acts on the driveshaft by means of selective engagement of the shifting elements, so that in order to shift from one gear to the next higher or lower gear, only one of the two previously actuated shifting elements must in each case be engaged or disengaged. In this way, by using five shifting elements, seven forward gears can be achieved, and by using six shifting elements, nine or ten forward gears can be achieved.
Furthermore, from DE 102 13 820 A1, a multi-step automatic transmission with eight forward gears and one reverse gear is known, which comprises a first input path T1 of a first gear ratio; an input path T2 that has a greater gear ratio than the first input path T1; a planetary gear set of the Ravigneaux type with four elements, wherein the order of the four elements in a rotational speed diagram are: a first element, a second element, a third element, and a fourth element; a clutch C-2 that transmits rotation of the input path T2 to the first element S3; a clutch C-1 that transmits rotation of the input path T2 to the fourth element; a clutch C-4 that transmits rotation of the input path T1 to the first element; a clutch C-3 that transmits rotation of input path T1 to the second element C3; a brake B-1 that engages the fourth element; a brake B-2 that engages the second element; and an output element that is coupled to the third element S3.
Furthermore, a 9-gear multi-step transmission is known from DE 29 36 969 A1. It comprises eight shifting elements and four gear sets, wherein one gear set serves as a front-mounted transmission, and the main transmission has a Simpson set and an additional gear set that serves as a reversing gear.
Other multi-step transmissions are known from the applicant's DE 102005010210 A1 and DE102006006637 A1.
Automatically shiftable planetary vehicle transmissions in general have already been described many times in the state of the art and are subject to constant development and improvement. These transmissions should therefore require less complexity of construction, in particular a smaller number of shifting elements, and with sequential shifting, it should be possible to avoid double shifting, so that during shifting within defined gear groups, only one shifting element is engaged at any given time.
From the applicant's not yet published DE 102008000428.3, a multi-step planetary transmission is known, which has a drive and an output that are arranged in a housing. In the case of this known transmission, at least four planetary gear sets are provided, henceforth referred to as first, second, third, and fourth planetary gear set; at least eight rotatable shafts, henceforth referred to as driveshaft, output shaft, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eight shaft; as well as at least six shifting elements, comprising brakes and clutches, whose selective engagement produces different gear ratios between the drive and the output, so that preferably nine forward gears and one reverse gear can be achieved.
In this way, the first and the second planetary gear set, which are preferably designed as minus planetary gear sets, form a shiftable front-mounted gear set, and the third and the fourth planetary gear set form a main gear set.
In the known multi-step transmission, it is provided that the carriers of the first and second planetary gear set are coupled to each other via the fourth shaft, which is connected to an element of the main gear set; that the ring gear of the first planetary gear set is coupled to the sun gear of the second planetary gear set via the eighth shaft, which can be detachably connected via a first clutch with the driveshaft; and that the sun gear of the first planetary gear set can be coupled by means of the third shaft via a first brake to a housing and can be detachably connected via a second clutch with the driveshaft, in which case the ring gear of the planetary gear set can be coupled by means of the fifth shaft via a second brake to a housing of the transmission. In addition, the seventh shaft is permanently connected to at least one element of the main transmission and can be coupled via a third brake to a housing of the transmission, in which case the sixth shaft is permanently connected with at least one additional element of the main gear set and can be detachably connected via a third clutch with the driveshaft; the output shaft is permanently connected to at least one additional element of the third gear set.
In the known transmission, the fourth shaft is preferably permanently connected to the ring gear of the planetary gear set, in which case the sixth shaft is permanently connected to the ring gear of the fourth planetary gear set and the carrier of the third planetary gear set, and can be detachably connected via the third clutch to the driveshaft. In addition, the seventh shaft is permanently connected to the sun gears of the third and fourth planetary gear set and can be coupled via the third brake to a housing of the transmission. The output is supplied by means of the output shaft being permanently connected to the carrier of the fourth planetary gear set. In addition, the third and fourth planetary gear can be combined into, or, as the case may be, reduced to a Ravigneaux set with a common carrier and a common ring gear.
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{
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
}
|
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