text
stringlengths 2
806k
| meta
dict |
|---|---|
The down-sizing of computers, especially of personal computers (hereinafter referred to as PCs), has been in progress for some time. For example, they have been down-sized from desk-top type to lap-top type, to note-book type and further to memo-book type. This has been accompanied by the down-sizing of magnetic disk devices used in PCs. For example, from 3.5 inch to 2.5 inch to 1.8 inch and further to 1.3 inch. This down-sizing trend is similar in optical disk devices as in magnetic disk devices. Hereinafter, magnetic disk devices, and optical disk devices, etc. will be generically referred to as disk devices.
Mechanical connecting/disconnecting technology and assembling technology of a detachable type disk device called card-type has appeared along with the down-sizing of disk devices and is disclosed in Japanese patent unexamined publication 5-181565 or 4-356785. The typical standard including electrical connecting interface was established in cooperation of Japan Electronic Industry Association (JEIDA) and US Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) and is the standard specification for IC memory-card. Initially this standard was not intended for disk devices, but has been expanded to include disk devices during the course of down-sizing. This portable small disk device is connected to the memory-card slot of a PC directly, or indirectly through a connecting cable, and is sometimes operated in a partially or entirely exposed state. Therefore, it is important that radiation noise from the device should not exceed the standard, and to prevent damage or performance deterioration from electro-static discharge.
Furthermore, recently, Electro-Magnetic Compatibility (EMC), which relates to a device or system's capability to function satisfactorily without electro-magnetically affecting other surrounding devices, has more frequently been required for devices including information processing devices. For example, an electric device is allowed to be in the market in Europe from Jan. 1, 1996 only when it satisfies the EMC Standard and the CE-mark is indicated on it, according to EU EMC order/336. This kind of EMC control has been a world-wide trend and not limited only to the EU.
The Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) test is included in the above mentioned EMC control items. According to the international standard IEC 801-2(1991-04), due to the variation in devices and systems, it is difficult to evaluate and determine the influences of ESD by a general standard. Thus, test results are classified according to the following performance evaluation items in accordance with operating conditions and functional specifications of the tested devices.
1. Normal operation within the limit of specifications.
2. Temporary and self-recoverable deterioration or loss of function or operation.
3. Temporary deterioration or loss of function and operation, which is recovered by operator or system-reset.
4. Un-recoverable deterioration or loss of function by damage of a device or a software, or by loss of data.
There are three test conditions, a contact discharge test, an air discharge test (both of which are direct discharge tests), and an in-direct discharge test. Discharge voltages include 2, 4, 6, 8, and 15 kV.
The built-in type of small magnetic disk devices (Hard Disk Drives) which are generally to be assembled to be used in a PC etc., do not have operational functions and enclosing cases independently. Since it is difficult to evaluate the above mentioned three items for such devices, it has been authorized by the international authorization organization TUV that, after direct discharge to the handling portions and in-direct discharge to neighborhood portions of an in-active small magnetic disk device, the device is installed in a PC and operated and the above mentioned item 4 is tested. The test results are used as a part of judgment whether the device conforms to the EMC control.
However, a PC in which a small magnetic disk device is installed has to be tested with the above mentioned Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) test for items 1, 2, 3 in an active state. Further there is an operating environment that the portable small disk device itself has to be operated in an exposed condition partly or entirely. Therefore, it is necessary for the small magnetic disk device itself to obtain higher durability to Electrostatic Discharge in an active state.
Prior art countermeasures for electrostatic discharge related to portable data recording devices are disclosed in patent unexamined publications JP 60-83287 and JP 7-58501. In these prior art, technologies to obtain higher durability to electrostatic discharge in in-active state are stated, but not in active state.
In the case of active state, technologies to obtain higher durability to electrostatic discharge, are disclosed in patent unexamined publications JP 61-175991 and JP 1-299091, but are not especially effective for disk devices.
Moreover, apart from the field of portable data recording devices, in the field of data transmission, it is known to obtain higher durability to electrostatic discharge by separating an electric circuit using optical coupling means. An example of integrated circuits for separating electric circuit using optical coupling, is MAX1490A made by Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. This IC contains a bi-directional data transmitter with optical coupling and a power transmitter including a transformer and a DC to DC converter and a separation of 500 Vrms is achieved.
Here, for an example, according to IEC801-2, durability to electrostatic discharge required for small magnetic disk devices in active state is 4 kv in contact discharge test and 8 kV in in-air discharge test. Thus, a conventional magnetic disk device shown in FIG. 3 is examined. The conventional magnetic disk device includes mainly a head disk assembly (HDA) 202 in disk drive enclosure 201 and a printed circuit board (PCB) 208 having mainly electric circuits. The HDA 202 includes magnetic disks 203, magnetic heads 204, a spindle motor 205, read/write pre-amplifier 207 and a head actuator (include voice-coil motor (VCM) 206) as a head positioning mechanism.
The PCB 208 is an electric circuit that is provided with a connector 211 through which data and signals are transmitted and received to and from the host unit (not shown) and through which power is supplied. The PCB 208 controls the HDA 202 by transmitting and receiving said data and signals and supplying the power through said connector and processes data and signals between said host unit and the HDA 202. The PCB 208 includes in addition to the connector 211 for connecting with the host unit (not shown), ferrite beads 220, 223, an interface drive controller 212, a read/write channel 215, a micro-processor 216, and a spindle motor-VCM drive circuit 219. Here, 225 is the ground of the host unit, 233 is an interface line to the host unit, 229 is a DC 5V power supply line of the host unit, 226 is a PCB ground, 227 is a DC 5V power supply line for HDA 202 passed through ferrite beads 220, 228 is a HDA ground, 232 is a DC 5V power line for PCB 108 passed through ferrite beads 223, and 238 is bus line.
As shown in FIG. 3, in conventional ordinary magnetic disk device, digital circuits including interface line 233 to the host unit, system control circuit with microprocessor 216, and digital positioning servo control circuit, are mixed with analog circuits including data read circuit from disk 203 and rotating speed detecting circuit for spindle motor 205.
The digital circuit has higher anti-noise durability than an analog circuit, since the digital circuit utilizes a binary saturated level signal with relatively large amplitude. An input signal to the digital circuit is discriminated as high or low by comparing it with a threshold level. Error timing in the digital circuit is limited to the rise/fall timing of a clock pulse.
In contrast to this, the analog circuit, especially a data-read circuit has very low anti-noise durability. For example, a very small analog signal of about 0.5 mvpp amplitude is reproduced from the head 204 in this data-read circuit, and the small signal is amplified to about 100 mvpp at a pre-amplifier 207 and is finally amplified to 500 mvpp to 1 Vpp with a total gain 60 dB. Then the amplified signal is transformed into a pulse and digitized. Therefore, there is a problem that, when a comparatively small noise arises on the signal line, the ground 225, 226, 228, or power line 227, 229 by inductive, capacitive, or conductive coupling with electro-static discharge (ESD) during a data read operation, such noise is added to reproduced signal from the head 204 and becomes large due to amplification. This in turn can cause data error, hang-up of device operation, and sometimes circuit breakdown.
Since, it is similar in optical disk device as in magnetic disk device that very small analog signal of less than a few mV amplitude is reproduced from transducer, there is a problem also in optical disk device that electro-static discharge(ESD) during a data read operation sometimes causes data error, hang-up of device operation, or circuit breakdown. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
A power converter, for example, converts DC power to AC power by changing over a plurality of switches of an inverter, and supplies the AC power to a load. When two or more switches of the inverter are changed over at the same time, there is a case in which a large voltage (surge voltage) is temporarily applied to the switches, and the switches are broken. In order to avoid such breakage of switches, for example, there has been proposed a power converter which uses switches with a high breakdown voltage, reduces a surge voltage by connecting a capacitor in parallel with switches, or delays the operation speed of switches. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel polycyclic fused pyrazole compound, its use as an anti-inflammatory agent, and a method of preparation thereof.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Typical glucocorticoid activity is rarely found in structures which do not possess an intact steroid nucleus. Such activity is found in naturally occurring steroids such as cortisone, hydrocortisone and aldosterone, as well as numerous synthetic modifications thereof, all containing the intact steroid nucleus. An example of a synthetic cortical steroid having high activity is a fluorophenylpyrazole derivative reported by Fried et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 85, 236 (1963), having the structure ##STR3## | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates to a process for brewing, in conventional brewing plants using standard equipment and natural ingredients, a beer of reduced alcohol and calorie content, i.e., less than about 2% alcohol by weight, and having the taste, aroma, mouth feel, appearance, and foam stability of beer of higher alcohol content.
Beers of reduced alcohol content have been proposed in the patent and other literature. A number of processes are briefly surveyed in an article by M. W. Brenner entitled "Beers for the Future" published in the MBAA Technical Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 4, 1980.
In the patent literature are noted Schimpf (U.S. Pat. No. 3,852,495) who makes a low alcohol beer by a double fermentation with removal of alcohol produced in the first fermentation before initiating the second fermentation.
Uhlmann (U.S. Pat. No. 613,915) utilizes a 170-175.degree. F. mash to favor formation of dextrins over maltose, and then evaporates alcohol after fermentation. To renew the beer flavor, kraeusen is added to the product remaining after boiling.
Nilson (U.S. Pat. No. 721,383) mashes the malt at 100.degree. F., removes the liquor containing the diastase, mixes the hot cooker mash into the remainder of the malt mash to raise the temperature of the malt mash rapidly to 176.degree. F. with added steam, and adds the liquor back to reduce the mash temperature to 162.degree. F. to produce a wort of low sugar content.
In a series of U.S. patents to Heuser U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,275,254, 1,290,191 and 1,455,397, the author shows beers of low alcohol content and condensed beers which can be diluted to drinking consistency.
There is known in the brewing art a technique of mashing known as "Springmaischverfahren" or jump-mashing, which was developed by Windisch around 1905 in Berlin. It involves a low malt mash temperature of 95-110.degree. F. and pumpover of the malt mash into water at 212.degree. F. to arrive at a conversion temperature of 169.degree. F. which is maintained with added heat. This process will produce a low alcohol beer, but there is considerable killing of alpha-amylase enzyme (over 50%) before the temperature reaches 169.degree. F. with resultant slow starch conversion, turbid wort, unacceptable beer flavor, and a real degree of fermentation (RDF) of below 40%.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of this invention to provide a method of making a completely attenuated low alcohol beer which has less than 2% alcohol by weight and a calorie content in the range of "light beers" while retaining all of the taste, aroma, foam, stability, mouth feel and appearance characteristics of conventional beer.
It is a further object to make such low alcohol beer using standard brewing equipment and all natural ingredients.
It is still a further object to provide a process for making low alcohol beer using a unique mashing technique which we call "Step mashing" in which the protein rest, and cooker mash-in temperature can be varied without adversely affecting the final product and in which the malt mash is pumped incrementally into a cooker mash which already has been cooled to the desired conversion temperature, thus instantaneously raising the temperature of each malt mash particle addition above the beta-amylase activity range while avoiding substantial heat destruction of the alpha-amylase enzymes in the malt mash. Fermentation is pursued until full attenuation (complete yeast fermentation) is reached and nowhere in the process is any alcohol removed, e.g., by vacuum distillation or reverse osmosis.
Still another object is to provide a Step mashing technique in which only water is in the cooker which is maintained at a temperature of about 169-174.degree. F. in place of a cooker mash and the main mash is pumped into the hot water to raise the temperature of the main mash addition above the beta-amylase activity range substantially instantaneously and then rapidly to the temperature of the cooker water for conversion.
These and other objects and advantages will become apparent hereinafter. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
In a separator of this type, the material to be graded and the air stream can introduced separately inside the space with an annular section defined by the guide blades and the rotor, or the material to be graded can be placed in suspension in the air stream before the latter is admitted into the space, through the blades. The air stream then penetrates the rotor and is evacuated via the output orifice.
In both cases, the air stream and the material to be graded are subjected to rotation, about the axis of the rotor, in the space with an annular section contained between the rotor and the guide blades. The particles forming the coarse section of the material are projected by the centrifugal force generated by this rotation against the guide blades and drop through the effect of gravity into a collecting hopper provided with an evacuation orifice, while the particles forming the fine fraction are entrained by the air stream through the rotor and the central output orifice.
The fine fraction that is separated contains practically all the particles the size of which is smaller than a first dimension, while the coarse fraction contains practically all the particles the size of which is larger than a second dimension, which is larger than the first one. In addition, the two fractions contain particles the size of which is between the first and second dimensions. This is reflected by a distribution curve comprising two substantially horizontal portions linked by an inclined portion the slope of which characterizes the separator.
The distribution of the particles of intermediate size in one or the other of the fractions characterizes the cut-off precision of the separator. In general, it is attempted to obtain, by construction, a cut-off that is as marked as possible between the two fractions, that is to say to reduce the interval between the first and second dimensions, which is reflected by a distribution curve with a steep slope.
In certain cases, the product that it is sought to be obtained has to have a grain size distribution that differs from that of the fraction, whether fine or coarse, obtained by means of a separator of this type. This applies particularly to cement obtained by compression grinding the clinker. Hitherto, the only solution to this problem was to use two separators placed in series or in parallel and adjusted to the different cut-off dimensions. This represents a costly solution.
The object of the present invention is to perfect separators of the type concerned so that it is possible to adjust the slope of the distribution curve in a simple manner, that is to say to modify the grain size distribution of the particles the size of which is between the first and second dimensions. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Emergency vehicles are commonly used to transport sick or injured persons (patients) while they are secured to a patient cot. Generally, patients require procedures to be performed on them by emergency medical technicians while being transported. However, a technician riding unrestrained is one risk factor that has contributed significantly to the fatality rate of such workers when involved in a vehicle crash. Thus, a need exists for emergency vehicle patient transport systems that provide innovative ways to securely restrain emergency medical technicians, or any other medical personnel, while they are providing hands-on treatment to patients during transport. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
As is known in the art, allocation of resources plays an important role in computer systems. Resources such as storage resources are required to perform certain tasks. For example, a database administrator (DBA) can request storage resources required to perform a backup operation so that the storage resource will have certain characteristics when used for restore. In such a case, the DBA requesting the resource may simply request an amount of storage (e.g. 100 Gigabytes) necessary to perform the restore operation. The DBA does not know specifics regarding the storage. That is, no details regarding the type, speed or other properties regarding the requested storage are included with the DBA request.
A storage administrator (SA) receives the DBA request, assesses the available storage resources and allocates a pool of storage to the DBA. The DBA then uses the so-allocated storage to perform the restore operation. The pool of storage allocated by the SA is typically provided from a subset of the storage resources which the SA knows to be available. Each of the storage resources making up the storage pool allocated by the SA typically have different characteristics or properties. For example, one storage resource in the storage pool may be faster than another storage resource. The DBA must, however, operate with whatever resources the SA allocates to the DBA.
One problem with this approach is that the resources allocated to the DBA may have characteristics which are less than optimum for the operation which the DBA must perform. That is, the pool of storage made available to the database administrator may not necessarily be the best possible storage for the intended operation. For example, the DBA may optimally perform an operation with storage having a certain characteristic (e.g. the storage must be fast). The storage resources which make up the storage pool, however, may not have such a characteristic. Thus, the DBA may be allocated storage that is less then the optimal storage available to fulfill the request. Furthermore, the DBA may be allocated storage that would be better served by other requests for storage.
It would, therefore, be desirable to efficiently allocate the resources in a processing system. It would be further desirable to have a system and technique which responds to a party requesting a resource by allocating resources to the requesting party based on resource attributes specified by the requesting party. It would also be desirable to provide a technique which allows a party to specify particular resource attributes in a resource request. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Phenol and substituted phenols are important products in the chemical industry and are useful in, for example, the production of phenolic resins, bisphenol A, ε-caprolactam, adipic acid, and plasticizers.
Currently, the most common route for the production of phenol is the Hock process. This is a three-step process in which the first step involves alkylation of benzene with propylene to produce cumene, followed by oxidation of the cumene to the corresponding hydroperoxide and then cleavage of the hydroperoxide to produce equimolar amounts of phenol and acetone. However, the world demand for phenol is growing more rapidly than that for acetone. In addition, the cost of propylene relative to that of butenes is likely to increase, due to a developing shortage of propylene.
Thus, a process that uses butenes or higher alkenes instead of propylene as feed and coproduces methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) or higher ketones, such as cyclohexanone, rather than acetone may be an attractive alternative route to the production of phenols. For example, there is a growing market for MEK, which is useful as a lacquer, a solvent and for dewaxing of lubricating oils. In addition, cyclohexanone is used as an industrial solvent, as an activator in oxidation reactions and in the production of adipic acid, cyclohexanone resins, cyclohexanone oxime, caprolactam and nylon 6.
It is known that phenol and MEK can be produced from sec-butylbenzene, in a process where sec-butylbenzene is oxidized to obtain sec-butylbenzene hydroperoxide and the peroxide decomposed to the desired phenol and methyl ethyl ketone. An overview of such a process is described in pages 113-121 and 261-263 of Process Economics Report No. 22B entitled “Phenol”, published by the Stanford Research Institute in December 1977.
However, in comparison to cumene, oxidation of aromatic compounds substituted by branched alkyl groups having 4 or more carbon atoms, such as sec-butylbenzene, to the corresponding hydroperoxide requires higher temperatures and is very sensitive to the presence of impurities. For example, in the case of sec-butylbenzene containing 1% by weight of isobutylbenzene, the rate of formation of sec-butylbenzene hydroperoxide decreases to about 91% of that when the sec-butylbenzene is free of isobutylbenzene. Similarly, when the isobutylbenzene content is 1.65% by weight, the rate of oxidation decreases to about 86%; when the isobutylbenzene content is 2% by weight, the rate of oxidation decreases to about 84%; and when the isobutylbenzene content is 3.5% by weight, the rate of oxidation decreases to as low as about 82%.
Thus there remains a need to find an oxidation process for producing C4+ alkyl aromatic hydroperoxides, and particularly sec-butylbenzene hydroperoxide, that is much less sensitive to the presence of impurities than the existing oxidation processes, and that allows efficient commercial scale production of phenol and MEK or higher ketones.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,667 (Sumitomo) and EP-A-548,986 (Sumitomo) disclose a process for producing phenol and MEK which comprises the steps of (I) oxidizing a material selected from (A) sec-butylbenzene substantially free from ethyl hydroperoxide, carboxylic acids and phenol, (B) sec-butylbenzene substantially free from styrenes, and (C) sec-butylbenzene substantially free from methylbenzyl alcohol, to obtain sec-butylbenzene hydroperoxide, with an oxygen-containing gas and in the absence of a catalyst, and (II) decomposing the sec-butylbenzene hydroperoxide to obtain phenol and MEK with an acidic catalyst.
EP-A-1,088,809 (Phenolchemie) discloses a process for producing phenol, MEK and acetone by the oxidation of a mixture containing cumene and up to 25 wt % sec-butylbenzene and the subsequent Hock cleavage of the hydroperoxides, so that the ratio of the phenol:acetone:MEK in the product can be controlled via the composition of the feed mixture. The feed mixture is produced directly by the alkylation of benzene with a corresponding mixture of propene and 1-butene/2-butene in the presence of a commercial alkylation catalyst such as AlCl3, H3PO4/SiO2 or a zeolite. Oxidation takes place in the presence of air or oxygen and in the absence of a catalyst.
FR-A-2,182,802 (Union Carbide) discloses a process for producing phenol and MEK by oxidation of sec-butylbenzene, in which sec-butylbenzene is oxidized to sec-butylbenzene hydroperoxide in the presence of air and optionally in the presence of sec-butylbenzene hydroperoxide, followed by peroxide decomposition. According to this document, the sec-butylbenzene must not contain more than 1 wt % isobutylbenzene, since the presence of isobutylbenzene significantly reduces the overall process efficiency and hence the yield of phenol and MEK.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 62/114922, published May 26, 1987, discloses that sec-butylbenzene can be oxidized with a gas containing molecular oxygen, preferably air, in the presence of cumene or cumene hydroperoxide at a temperature of 90 to 145° C. and a pressure of 1 to 20 kg/cm2G.
U.S. Patent Application Publications Nos. 2004/0162448 (Shell) and 2004/0236152 (Shell) disclose processes for producing phenol and acetone and/or MEK, in which a mixture of cumene and sec-butylbenzene is oxidized to the corresponding peroxides in the presence of oxygen, followed by peroxide decomposition. In the Examples, the oxidation mixture also contains 1% cumene hydroperoxide as an initiator. According to these documents, the addition of a neutralizing base in the oxidation mixture improves the yield in hydroperoxide and reduces the formation of undesired side products.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,852,893 (Creavis) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,720,462 (Creavis) describe methods for producing phenol by catalytic oxidation of alkyl aromatic hydrocarbons to the corresponding hydroperoxide, and subsequent cleavage of the hydroperoxide to give phenol and a ketone. Catalytic oxidation takes place with oxygen, in the presence of a free radical initiator and a catalyst, typically an N-hydroxycarbodiimide catalyst, such as N-hydroxyphthalimide. Preferred substrates that may be oxidized by this process include cumene, cyclohexylbenzene, cyclododecylbenzene and sec-butylbenzene.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,136,123 (Goodyear) discloses a process for oxidizing alkylaromatic compounds to the corresponding hydroperoxides in the presence of a sulfonated metallo phthalocyanine catalyst and a free radical initiator selected from the group consisting of alkyl hydroperoxides having from 4 to 6 carbon atoms and aralkyl hydroperoxides having from 8 to 14 carbon atoms.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,282,383 (Upjohn) describes a process for making cyclohexylbenzene hydroperoxide useful as an intermediate in the formation of phenol and cyclohexanone. The process involves heating cyclohexylbenzene at a temperature in the range of about 80° C. to about 105° C. in the presence of oxygen and from about 2 to 6 percent by weight, based on cyclohexylbenzene, of a hydroperoxide selected from the group consisting of tertiary-butyl hydroperoxide, cumene hydroperoxide and p-diisopropylbenzene dihydroperoxide, and from about 0.1 to 5 percent by weight, based on cyclohexylbenzene, of a free radical initiator selected from the group consisting of azabisisobutyronitrile, t-butylperbenzoate and dicumyl peroxide.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,303 (Phillips Petroleum) describes a process for making secondary alkyl substituted benzene hydroperoxides by heating a secondary alkyl substituted benzene, such as cyclohexylbenzene, cumene, sec-butylbenzene, sec-pentylbenzene, p-methyl-sec-butylbenzene, 1,4-diphenylcyclohexane, para-dicyclohexylbenzene, and sec-hexylbenzene, at a temperature of about 60° C. to 200° C. in the presence of oxygen. The heating is also conducted in the presence of from about 0.05 to 5 wt % of a samarium catalyst of the formula R″COOSm wherein R″ is a C1 to C20 alkyl, aryl, alkaryl, or aralkyl radical and optionally a free radical initiator selected from the group consisting of azo-type compounds and peroxide compounds. In one embodiment, the secondary alkyl substituted benzene is cyclohexylbenzene, the catalyst is samarium acetate and the free radical initiator is cumene hydroperoxide.
The article by Sheldlon et al entitled “Organocatalytic Oxidations Mediated by Nitroxyl Radicals” in Adv. Synth. Catal., 2004, 346, pages 1051-1071 discloses that cyclohexylbenzene (CHB) can be oxidized to the 1-hydroperoxide with 97.6% selectivity at 32% CHB conversion at 100° C. in the presence of 0.5 mol % of a N-hydroxyphthalimide catalyst and 2 mol % of the product hydroperoxide as a free radical initiator.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,959,381 (Texaco) discloses a method of preparing phenol and cyclohexanone by contacting a mixture of cyclohexylbenzene and cumene or cumene hydroperoxide at a mole ratio of 1:99 and 99:1 with an oxygen containing gas at a temperature between about 90 and 140° C. and a mole ratio of oxygen to cyclohexylbenzene of at least 3:1 to form a second mixture of 1-phenylcyclohexyl hydroperoxide and cumyl hydroperoxide, and subsequently removing excess cumene and at least a portion of excess cyclohexylbenzene from the second mixture followed by contacting the second mixture with an alkanone of from 3 to 6 carbons and an acid cleavage catalyst selected from hydrocarbyl sulfonic acid and mineral acid at a temperature between about 20 and 50° C. and recovering phenol and cyclohexanone from the final product.
According to the invention, it has now been found that certain secondary alkyl substituted benzenes, including sec-butylbenzene and cyclohexylbenzene, can be oxidized to the corresponding hydroperoxide in the presence of tert-butyl hydroperoxide, but in the absence of other catalysts. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mechanism with a torque-limiting device for controlling a rearview mirror.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A device is known for controlling a vehicle rearview mirror, in which the mirror is fixed on a supporting member mounted for pivoting about two perpendicular axes on a yoke integral with a casing mounted in a cup-shaped member. The casing contains two pinions which are driven in rotation by driving members. Furthermore, the pinions are each provided with a central hole in which is engaged the threaded part of a tubular element integral with control members hinged on the rear face of the mirror supporting member in order to communicate a pivoting movement to the mirror supporting member about the two perpendicular axes.
In this device, the pinions being driven in rotation by electrical motors, it is necessary to provide a torque-limiting mechanism in order to allow the threaded portion of the control member to disengage from the tapped hole provided in the pinions whenever a pressure is applied axially on the control members by pushing or pulling, especially when the mirror comes to a stop at the end of a stroke.
Additionally, as the pinions are mounted on the base-plate by means of a screw and washer, permanent alignment of the pinion axis relative to the control member axis is prevented, thus, producing a strong mechanical resistance. This particular type of connection results in the added disadvantage of presenting an axial play which, even though very small, generates a vibration of the mirror and gives shaking images.
It is also known from French Patent No. 79 24114 to produce a mirror controlling device whose object is to obtain an alignment of the transmission axis of the control device.
This particular embodiment, however, requires extremely narrow production tolerances between the different elements. The elements with very strict tolerances are numerous and include endless screw wheels which are mounted inside upper and lower casings to allow the rotation of the screws resting on the bottom of the lower casing by a semi-spherical bottom and by a sliding surface of shape corresponding to a curved surface situated on the lower part of the screws. This obviously gives rise to major manufacturing difficulties. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compression-ignition type engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a compression-ignition type engine, the degree of dispersion of the fuel injected into the combustion chamber has a major effect on the combustion. That is, if the fuel is made to disperse throughout the combustion chamber, the amount of heat generated per unit volume becomes lower, so the combustion temperature becomes lower and therefore smooth combustion is achieved without the generation of NOx. Further, since there is sufficient air present around the fuel particles, soot is no longer generated either. Therefore, known in the art is a compression-ignition type engine which is designed to inject fuel during the compression stroke before 60 degrees before top dead center (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 7-317588).
That is, if the pressure in the combustion chamber becomes high, the air resistance becomes larger, so the injected fuel has difficulty spreading throughout the entire combustion chamber. Therefore, this compression-ignition type engine was designed to inject the fuel before 60 degrees before top dead center in the compression stroke where the pressure in the combustion chamber is low.
When causing the injected fuel to disperse throughout the combustion chamber in this way, smooth combustion is achieved without the generation of NOx or hydrocarbons if the amount of injected fuel is small. When the amount of fuel injected becomes larger, however, even if trying to cause the injected fuel to disperse throughout the combustion chamber, the fuel starts igniting early. Once the fuel ignites early, the temperature in the combustion chamber rises, so the fuel ignites even earlier. As a result, the combustion gradually becomes more intense and not only will knocking occur, but also large amounts of NOx and soot will be produced.
In this way, in the above compression-ignition type engine, the ignition timing can no longer be controlled to the ignition timing giving a smooth combustion when the amount of injected fuel becomes large. If it were possible to control the ignition timing to the ignition timing giving smooth combustion in this case, then it would be possible to achieve smooth combustion with little generation of NOx and soot. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
A MTJ is a key component in MRAM, spin-torque MRAM, and other spintronic devices and comprises a stack with a tunnel barrier layer such as a metal oxide formed between two magnetic layers that provides a tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) effect. One of the magnetic layers is a free layer and serves as a sensing layer by switching the direction of its magnetic moment in response to external fields while the second magnetic layer has a magnetic moment that is fixed and functions as a reference layer. The electrical resistance through the tunnel barrier layer (insulator layer) varies with the relative orientation of the free layer moment compared with the reference layer moment and thereby provides an electrical signal that is representative of a magnetic state in the free layer. In a MRAM, the MTJ is formed between a top conductor and bottom conductor. When a current is passed through the MTJ, a lower resistance (RP) is detected when the magnetization directions of the free and reference layers are in a parallel state and a higher resistance is noted when they are in an anti-parallel state. The magnetoresistive ratio (DRR) may be expressed as dR/RP where dR is the difference in resistance between the two magnetic states. Since MTJ elements are often integrated in CMOS devices, the MTJ must be able to withstand annealing temperatures around 400° C. for about 30 minutes that are commonly applied to improve the quality of the CMOS units for semiconductor purposes.
Spin-torque (STT)-MRAM based technologies are desirable for nonvolatile memory applications. However, realizing low critical dimensions below 100 nm that match those found in Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) is a challenge. MTJs are highly susceptible to sidewall damage, both chemical and physical, induced by etching and deposition processes, and exacerbated by the CMOS process requirement of annealing at 400° C.
During fabrication of STT-MRAM devices, a MTJ nanopillar is typically defined by forming a pattern in an uppermost hard mask layer in the MTJ stack of layers, and then employing a physical etch (ion beam etch or IBE) or a chemical etch such as a reactive ion etch (RIE) with methanol to transfer the pattern through the MTJ stack thereby forming a plurality of MTJ nanopillars each with a critical dimension that is less than 100 nm for advanced devices. Subsequently, an encapsulation layer is deposited to electrically isolate MTJs from each other. The process flow of MTJ etching and encapsulation is a critical part of the CMOS integration flow and strongly influences the tunneling magnetoresistance ratio, especially for sub-100 nm device sizes.
The material and process selected to form the encapsulation layer around MTJ nanopillars must satisfy several criteria. In order to electrically isolate adjacent MTJs, the encapsulation layer must be a good dielectric material. Secondly, a tunnel barrier layer such as MgO is usually very hygroscopic which means the encapsulation layer should be an efficient moisture barrier. With regard to these two requirements, silicon based dielectric layers such as silicon oxide and silicon nitride have proven to be suitable encapsulation layer materials.
As spacial density of MRAM devices increases leading to a higher number of devices per unit area, the physical gap between adjacent MTJ nanopillars decreases. Therefore, a preferred encapsulation layer deposition method is one that provides excellent gap filling capability. In other words, highly conformal coatings provided by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or atomic layer deposition (ALD) should be more suitable for such applications compared with physical vapor deposition (PVD) where shadowing effects are more severe.
In view of MRAM integration into CMOS technology, the encapsulation material needs to withstand exposure to 400° C. for two hours or more, and also protect the MTJ sidewall at these conditions.
There is a need to provide an encapsulation layer and process that meets all of the aforementioned requirements, especially for state of the art memory devices with a critical dimension of less than 100 nm. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field
In general, communications systems and methods for operating same are disclosed. In one aspect, methods, systems and devices are disclosed for managing coexistence interference between different radio technologies.
2. Description of the Related Art
The growing market of smart connected devices requires that the same device supports multiple radio technologies on the in-device platform. However, some configurations may cause severe performance degradation due to mutual in-device coexistence (IDC) interference. For example, with devices that support both Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Industrial, Science and Medical (ISM) technologies (such as Bluetooth and/or WLAN) and/or Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technologies, there are use cases for concurrent operation of these radios. Coexistence issues may arise between ISM and/or GNSS technologies and LTE deployed in adjacent bands. As shown in Table 1 below, coexistence interference may arise where ISM transmission creates interference to the LTE receiver, and may also arise where LTE transmission creates interference to the ISM receiver.
TABLE 1Interference of the LTE and ISM componentson the in-device configurationLTE TDD (2.3-2.4 GHz, Band 40)ISMLTE UL (2.5-2.6 GHz, Band 7)(2.4-2.4835 GHz)CoexistenceRxTxLTE: InterferedISM: NormalTxRxLTE: NormalISM: Interfered
Similar coexistence issues may occur with devices that include both LTE and GNSS components. As shown in Table 2 below, when LTE and GNSS components are working on the same device, there may be interference due to adjacent frequency band operation or harmonic frequencies which cannot be avoided by the allocation of a guard band at the sub-harmonic frequency.
TABLE 2Interference of the LTE and GNSS componentconfiguration on in-deviceLTE (777-787 MHz/746-756 MHz, Band 13)GNSSCoex-(788-798 MHz/758-768 MHz, Band 14)(1575.42 MHz)istenceTxRxLTE:NormalGNSS:Interfered
As will be appreciated, there are challenges to using current state-of-the-art filter technology to address coexistence interference since filters do not provide sufficient rejection on the adjacent channel interference. These challenges are particularly acute in the case of these components configured in a single device where the interference occurs when the LTE component is transmitting on the specified bands. Accordingly, a need exists for improved method, system and device for managing coexistence interference between different radio technologies. Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional processes and technologies will become apparent to one of skill in the art after reviewing the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings and detailed description which follow. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a wireless tag communication system to perform wireless communication with a wireless tag mounted on a toner cartridge, and to an image forming apparatus in which the toner cartridge can be removably installed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Printers, fax machines, copiers, and other image forming apparatus comprising a developer portion, which uses a two-component developer comprising a toner and a carrier to develop an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive drum surface, employ toner supplied from a cartridge installed in the device main body to develop a toner image of the electrostatic latent image, and perform image formation by transferring the toner image onto paper or similar. And, when the toner within the cartridge is depleted, the toner within the image forming apparatus is replenished when the user replaces the cartridge with a new cartridge.
In this case, if the newly replaced cartridge is a genuine product of the manufacturer of the image forming apparatus, or is a product certified by the manufacturer (hereafter together called a “certified product”), then no problems arise; but of late there have been cases in which cartridges other than certified products (non-certified products) are used. When a cartridge which is not a certified product is used, not only is the performance of the image forming apparatus not adequately exploited, but malfunction of the image forming apparatus can occur as a result.
Hence in many image forming apparatus developed in recent years, cartridges are managed using RFID (Radio Frequency Identification: wireless automated identification) technology or similar. Specifically, a wireless tag, in which is stored cartridge and toner information as tag information, is mounted on the cartridge, and after the cartridge is installed, a communication unit arranged in the main body of the image forming apparatus reads the tag information, so that by this means, whether the installed cartridge is a certified product can be ascertained.
However, if tag information which is the same as the tag information stored in the wireless tag of a certified product cartridge is stored in the wireless tag of a non-certified product cartridge, the apparatus can be made to recognize the installation as that of a certified cartridge. Hence using only the information stored in the wireless tag of a cartridge, it is difficult to judge whether the toner actually housed in the cartridge is a certified product. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The invention relates to a measurement pickup, in particular an electric measurement pickup, for motions of a mechanical part, and to a method for producing it.
In a measurement pickup known from German Patent Disclosure DE 38 27 937 A1, a measurement circuit with a sensor element is disposed on carrier parts and surrounded by a housing. The housing is a caplike connection part, which receives on end of a connection cable. The caplike connection part, which forms a first carrier part, receives a second carrier part, which together with a fourth carrier part receives a third carrier part and is positioned relative to the first carrier part.
The electronic measurement circuit is disposed between the third carrier part and the fourth carrier part in a chamber and is cast with a casting composition. This electronic circuit is connected to a line segment that extends between the second and fourth carrier parts toward the sensor element. In the region of the sensor element, toward the second and fourth carrier part, a further carrier part is disposed, which receives the sensor element. The housing at least partly surrounds the second, third, fourth and one further carrier part and engages the first carrier part, which is embodied as the caplike connection part. To enable to measurement pickup to be disposed in its intended position, a further carrier part is provided, which has a bore for receiving the housing and which carries the measurement pickup therein.
This kind of embodiment of an electric measurement pickup has the disadvantage above all that, as described above, many carrier parts are needed for receiving the measurement circuit and creating an electric connection between the sensor element and the connection cable by means of electric connecting lines. This requires a complicated embodiment of the numerous carrier parts and thus entails high tool costs. Furthermore, assembly is expensive because of the high number of carrier parts. Another factor is that because of the complicated design of the carrier parts and the attendant compulsory order of assembly, there is a high rate of defects in terms of the operability of an electric measurement pickup of this kind.
The measurement pickup of the type defined at the outset is advantageously refined by the characteristics of the invention recited in the main claim, because a simple, compact design is thereby made possible. In a simple way, the sensor element, measurement circuit, contact pins and connecting lines are all mounted on a single carrier part. According to the invention, the carrier part comprises a palladium-filled plastic body, onto which conductor tracks for forming the connecting lines can be applied galvanically at predetermined locations.
In an alternative version of the measurement pickup, the sensor element, measurement circuit and connecting lines are mounted on a first carrier part; the contact pins are mounted on a further carrier part. Once again, the first carrier part comprises a palladium-filled plastic body, onto which conductor tracks for forming the connecting lines can be applied galvanically at predetermined-locations. With this two-piece version of the carrier part, versions of the measurement pickup of different length can be realized in a simple way, since the further carrier part with the contact pins can be mounted separately on the first carrier part. The contact pins in both cases can be applied galvanically by means of a layer of copper or tin, or can be made by a metal inlay part.
To embody the measurement pickup as a phase transducer for detecting the rotary angle in a mechanical arrangement, the sensor element is for instance formed of a magnet cast integrally into or fastened in the carrier part, and with a Hall element as a component of the measurement circuit, any influence on the magnetic field by a rotating part is detected.
The production of the measurement pickup of the invention can in particular be simplified by providing that separate electronic components and/or integrated electronic circuits can be applied directly to the surface of the carrier part for the sensor element. The electrical terminals can especially advantageously be made by reflow soldering or bonding to the locations of the surface of the carrier part that function as conductor tracks.
It is also especially advantageous if the connecting lines, in particular in the longitudinal direction between the sensor element and the contact pins, have corrugations on the surface of the carrier part, to allow longitudinal expansion. As a result, a temperature-related expansion of the carrier part can be compensated for in a simple way.
In an especially advantageous production method, in a first method step in a molded interconnected device (MID) production process, the palladium-filled carrier part is cast by injection molding. In a second method step, a protective plastic coating is sprayed onto those regions of the carrier part where no electrically conductive connections are to be created. In a third method step, the connecting lines are applied galvanically onto the surface of the carrier part, thus forming the conductor tracks.
In a fourth method step, the sensor element and the measurement circuit are applied. For instance, the magnet can be kept spaced apart with ribs and can be mounted positionally fixed in the carrier part. The thus-mounted components can be further covered, adhesively bonded, or hot-calked in the region of the sensor element with a plastic or ceramic lid. Next, in a fifth and final method step the entire arrangement is spray-coated with plastic. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Many different materials have been used for recreational surfaces in the past, and such use often depends upon the sport for which it is used. The game of basketball was only invented around 1891 in Massachusetts by a physical education instructor. James Naismith, and used peach baskets mounted to walls of a gym. Today basketball is still largely played indoors on wood floors, but is also played outdoors primarily on asphalt courts. The game of tennis has a more storied history. Early versions of tennis are attributed to monks playing a hand ball game in the 11th or 12th century in France, known as jeu de paume (“game of the palm”), which was played over a rope strung across a courtyard. By the 1500s an early version of a wooden racquet was used, and the game evolved into what was known as Real Tennis during the 1600s, which was played indoors using a net, and which permitted play off of the waits. By the 1850s, the vulcanization of rubber led to the use of rubber tennis balls on an outdoor court, instead of the leather-covered balls previously used indoors. In 1874, Walter Clopton Wingfleld received U.S. Pat. No. 157,259 for “a new and Improved Portable Court for Playing the Ancient Game of Tennis,” which resembles the shape of the court used today. However, the shape of the court was modified slightly for Lawn Tennis after Winfield received his patent, and the sport was adopted by Wimbledon's All England Croquet Club in 1880.
Grass was the playing surface of choice for a long period of time. In fact, up until the 1970s, three out of the four Grand Slam Tennis tournaments were played on grass, including Wimbledon, the Australian Open, and the U.S. Open. The use of Clay (crushed shale, stone, or brick) for tennis courts was predominantly found in Spain and Italy, and remains the surface used in Roland Garros Stadium for the French Open.
Acrylic tennis court surfaces were not used for tennis tournaments until the 1940s, but are widely used today, and such cushioned acrylic courts are now used at both the U.S. Open and the Australian Open. These cushioned surfaces are also now commonly used for track and field surfaces, and some outdoor basketball courts.
Today's acrylic/rubber sports surfaces are formed with a concrete or asphalt base that is covered with one or more layers to seal the base, and to provide some cushioning. Those recreational surfaces must be resurfaced periodically—commonly every four to eight years depending on usage and maintenance factors. If the court has not been carefully maintained, moss, mold, and fungus may have infiltrated the structure, which may require additional attention (equipment and chemicals for removal). Any cracks that have formed in the concrete or asphalt base would require patching. Also, courts with an asphalt base tend to develop low spots known as birdbaths, which also tend to require patching.
However, these playing surfaces that are used at stadiums that host premier sporting events, such as the U.S. Open Tennis Championship, are desirably resurfaced every year, with additional of layers of material placed upon the existing top surface. Periodically, removal of the accumulated multitude of layers must be accomplished with due care not to cause damage to the underlying base, but must also be completed in a timely manner. The present invention is conceived and constructed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency at which the multiple layers of material may be removed. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Fifth generation cellular networks, commonly referred to as 5G NR, are expected to include frequencies in the range of 24.25 to 86 GHz, with the lower 19.25 GHz (24.25-43.5 GHz) more likely to be used for mobile devices. For ease of reference, the waves in this range will be referred to as mm waves. It should be recognized that by definition, mm waves cover frequencies from 30 GHz to 300 GHz. Referring back to the expected 5G mm wave frequency range definition, the 19.25 GHz range that is more likely to be used in mobile devices can be divided into segments. Currently, each frequency segment is handled by an individual RFIC (radio frequency integrated circuit)/antenna package. Current packaging strategies used for the mm wave applications have several key issues (not exhaustive): The size of the package is dictated by the antenna size which is related to the frequency. The antenna size can be much larger than the RFIC. An LTCC (low temperature co-fired ceramic) package has good electrical performance, but is also more expensive relative to other packaging options. For an AOC (antenna-on-chip) package, the antenna is limited to the size of the chip which can limit performance, or increase cost if the chip size is increased to accommodate the antenna. For an FOWLP (fan-out wafer level package), the antenna package is aperture or proximity fed which can limit performance, e.g., relative to probe fed packages. For a POP (package-on-package), the antenna and the chip packages are connected using solder balls. The solder balls used for connecting the packages are isotopic in dimension so they limit the separation between packages. Additionally, the large solder balls also have large insertion losses (˜1 dB). Some of the current solutions are limited to operation at a single frequency which limits their utility. For a global smart phone, an antenna package that can function over large number of bands (frequencies) is desired. Current solutions using FCBGA (flip chip ball grid array) construction requires use of multiple additional build-up layers to achieve a symmetric structure and the required separation between the antenna and ground layers (˜400 μm). For larger separation between the antenna and the ground layer (˜1 mm or more), this type of package requires a prohibitive number of build-up layers which adds to cost and manufacturing complexity | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic recording medium, and more particularly to a magnetic recording medium having excellent surface smoothness and superior electromagnetic conversion characteristics.
2. Disclosure of the Related Art
A conventional magnetic recording medium comprises a magnetic layer on one side of a non-magnetic support and a back coat layer on the other side of the non-magnetic support to enhance the running durability.
In recent years, increases in the quantity of data being recorded have resulted in demands for similar increases in the recording density of magnetic recording media. In order to enable increases in recording density, a recording wavelength continues to shorten, and the thickness of the magnetic layer continues to reduce.
As the thickness of the magnetic layer is reduced, any surface roughness of the support is reflected in the surface of the magnetic layer, causing a loss in the smoothness of the magnetic layer surface and a deterioration in the electromagnetic conversion characteristics. As a result, a non-magnetic layer is provided on the support surface, for example, as an undercoat layer, and the magnetic layer is then provided on this non-magnetic layer.
As increasingly shorter recording wavelengths are being used, it is desirable to provide a flatter and improved mirror surface to the magnetic layer surface in view of spacing loss.
In view of the method for producing a magnetic recording medium, the magnetic layer is subjected to calendering to improve the smoothness of the magnetic layer surface. Calendering of the magnetic layer following formation of the back coat layer on the other side of the support has previously been reported.
For example, paragraph [0022] of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 9-185822(1997) reports that by conducting calendering with the magnetic layer and the back coat layer already provided on the support, the surface workability of the magnetic layer improves markedly, resulting in improvements in other characteristics such as the electromagnetic conversion characteristics.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 11-31322(1999) discloses a production process for a magnetic recording medium comprising a magnetic layer on one side of a support, which already comprises a thin film formed by vacuum deposition on at least this side, and a back coat layer provided on the other side of the support, wherein calendering of the magnetic layer is conducted following formation of the back coat layer.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Sho 62-125537(1987) discloses a process in which calendering of the magnetic layer and the back coat layer are conducted simultaneously while the applied coatings are cured by irradiation. However, a non-magnetic layer is mentioned in this publication, and the thickness of the magnetic layer, at 3.0 to 4.8 μm, is considerably high. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Electronic devices often comprise two pieces, such as a base and a cover, with the cover providing protection to components of the base. Electronic devices may or may not be portable and may include by way of example and not limitation radiotelephones, PDA's, portable computers, gaming devices, audio and video players, still and video cameras. In some of these examples, the cover or base may contain a display screen that is protected from damage when the cover is closed.
Folding portable radiotelephones, also known as clamshell phones or flip phone, are a popular design. The folding design, which has a base and cover connected by a hinge, allows the portable radiotelephone to be compact and, when closed, the cover provides protection for the keyboard and the display screen. Other portable radiotelephones use sliding covers for similar functionality.
When the cover is closed, the radiotelephone may be switched to a ‘standby’ mode of operation, in which the screen and other energy consuming operations are deactivated to conserve battery power. Conventionally, a mechanical switch on the hinge is used to detect whether the cover is open or closed. More recently, a Hall Effect sensor has been used to detect when the cover is closed. However, mechanical switches are subject to failure after prolonged use and Hall Effect sensors, which use a magnetic field, may interfere with the radio of the radiotelephone.
The radiotelephone may be activated when the cover is opened.
Some portable radiotelephones may be operated in a speakerphone mode. Operation in a speakerphone mode requires minimal physical interaction with the telephone and is useful for hands-free operation. However, switching the portable radiotelephone from the normal operation mode to the hands-free operation mode requires physical interaction with the radiotelephone, either via a menu function or by pressing a designated shortcut key. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
A network services exchange provider or co-location provider (a “provider”) may deploy a data center in which multiple customers of the provider locate network, server, and storage gear and interconnect to a variety of telecommunications and other network service provider(s) with a minimum of cost and complexity. Data centers may be shared by multiple tenants locating networking, computing, and storage equipment within the data centers.
A data center may include a storage volume storing numerous electronic devices that produce heat, including network, server, and storage gear, as well as power distribution units for distributing power to devices within the facility, for example. The data center may also include cooling units to supply a cool air stream into the storage volume. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to disposable cutting inserts which may be detachably mounted on a tool holder for cutting a work piece. Cutting inserts of this type are generally made of cemented metal carbide and are formed by pressing and sintering techniques.
In the type of cutting inserts referred to herein, it is desirable to have an indexable insert which presents a positive rake cutting edge to the working piece.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,281 to Stambler describes an insert having both longitudinally curved and transversally curved channels along the side edges of the insert meeting at the corners of the insert. At each corner of the insert, V-shaped shallow grooves are depressed into the merging portions of the deeper longitudinal channels to provide chip control for shallow depth cuts.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,541 to Lundgren relates to a cutting insert having chip breakers into two stages wherein the cutting edge and the associated chip breaker describe a curve of a particular description.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,540 describes an insert having chip control groove extending along a side surface. The width of the groove describes a compound curve such that the width varies along the length of the side.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,399,442 to Jones describes an insert having chip control groove along the entire outer edge comprising an inner and outer region. The outer region is concave in cross section.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,984 to Zweekly describes an insert having a plurality of breaking depressions in the chip breaker surface adjacent the cutting corner.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,480 describes a succession of chip control recesses formed on the cutting face at the outer periphery along the cutting edge. The chip control recesses are generally spherical and may intersect or contact each other as well as the cutting edge.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,957 discloses depressions which are generally rectangular with inner corners spaced from the cutting edge. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Tree grates are widely known and used in various forms at the base of trees, particularly in urban locations where trees are planted in openings in sidewalk or promenade pavements. A tree requires a certain unpaved area at its base through which it receives water and nutrients necessary to its growth. In intensively used areas it is impractical or undesirable to leave this opening as bare earth, or covered with decorative, low vegetation. Tree grates are used in such situations to cover these openings, thereby eliminating the necessity to plant and maintain grass, ground cover or shrubbery at the tree base. The tree grates also prevent the tree well from becoming a collector of trash.
The tree grates in widest use are manufactured of cast iron. These are available with openings of a fixed size around the tree trunk, or may be obtained with openings capable of being enlarged. In the latter case, various methods of enlargement may be used. The grate may be formed of concentric sections which are bolted together in the beginning, the inner ring(s) of which may be unbolted and removed as the tree grows. Another method allows removal of inner rings by breaking radial links with hammer and chisel, or by other means.
Tree grates are also manufactured in concrete. The concrete tree grates known to the inventor, however, lack any mechanism which permits successive enlargement of the opening of the tree trunk in such a way as to be easily achieved, and which results in a neat, presentable opening of larger size which does not manifest objectionable traces of the enlarging process.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved tree grate system.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a tree grate system as above which easily permits successive enlargement of the opening for the tree trunk.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a tree grate system as above which facilitates enlargement of the opening in a way which does not manifest objectionable traces of the enlarging process.
These and other objects and advantages will become clearer from the following description and drawings in which like reference numerals depict like elements. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to the field of submerged combustion glass melters and methods of use.
2. Background Art
Submerged combustion melters are known for producing molten glass. Submerged combustion melters and their operation may cause exhaust pressure and exhaust volume fluctuations due to large bubbles of gas from submerged combustion burners, which may lead to batch (starting material) carryover and/or molten glass carryover into the melter exhaust. Carryover may lead to reduced exhaust flow or even in some circumstances plugging of the exhaust ducts.
It would be an advance in the submerged combustion glass melting art to develop melters and methods of using them that reduce or overcome one or more of these problems. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mud rings and more particularly pertains to a new Hinged Mud Ring Cover and Method of Use for providing a means of mounting a device to be installed on an intermediary plate to facilitate ease of wiring and provide additional safety for the device and the installer.
Description of the Prior Art
The use of mud rings is known in the prior art. More specifically, mud rings heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations. Illustrative examples of known prior art include the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,325 issued to Filipov on Aug. 3, 1999;
U.S. Pat. No. 7,645,936 issued to Magno on Jan. 12, 2010;
U.S. Pat. No. 7,468,486 issued to Yan on Dec. 23, 2008;
US Patent No. D555, 108 issued to Strong on Nov. 13, 2007.
Each of these illustrative example of prior art provide basic mud ring functionality in providing an interface between electrical boxes, which are typically installed prior to the installation of wall surface materials, and the user interface portion of the device to be installed, such as an outlet, switch, sensor, or other similar device.
When working inside of an electrical box, on wiring or connections for example, it is difficult to complete that work with one hand while holding the device being connected to or mounted on the electrical box in the other hand.
Performing an installation of this nature with a standard mud-ring can be time consuming, inefficient or even unsafe. The device can be dropped connection wires can be damaged or the job may require an additional user to simply hold the device.
In these respects, the Hinged Mud Ring Cover and Method of Use according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of providing a hinged intermediate mounting surface on which a device may be installed prior to the device being wired in place.
Using the hinged mud-ring electrical box cover, the device is installed and is suspended by the electrical box allowing simultaneous access to the front and rear (wired end) of the device during completion of the installation set-up or wiring process. The user is also free to use both hands to complete the installation. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to measurement and data acquisition systems and, more particularly, to an improved sampling mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
Data acquisition boards may include counters used to perform several kinds of measurements. Some examples of these measurements are: pulse-width measurements; frequency and period measurements; event counting measurements; position measurements; etc. Typically, there are two modes of operation for a counter when making any of these measurements. The counter may operate in single point mode, in which (after being enabled) the counter performs a single measurement and then disables itself. Alternatively, the counter may operate in a “buffered” mode, in which the counter acquires many measurements and then may be manually disabled by the user.
In single point mode of operation, the counter may require some setup time in order to start every measurement. This overhead limits the rate at which these measurements can be taken. Also, the start of the measurement may be determined by a software command, so it is usually difficult to synchronize with other measurements. In this mode, the data transfer is relatively slow since setting up faster mechanisms is not efficient for a single point transfer.
In the buffered mode of operation, when making time related measurements, the counter may perform every measurement in a row as dictated by the input signal and the type of measurement. For example, if period measurements are performed, the counter measures every period of the input signal and generates one sample or measurement for every period of the signal. A consequence of this is that the data rate of the measurement may be dependent on the frequency of the signal to be measured.
The single point and buffered modes of operation are not ideal for several applications. For instance, in control applications, several measurements are obtained and typically these measurements are part of a tight software control loop. It is beneficial for the control loop to run as fast as possible. In control applications, the single point mode is not a good option due to the extra overhead it puts on the processor of the system. Also, the control loop may be significantly slowed down because of the slow nature of the data transfer in single point mode. Buffered mode may also not be a good fit for control applications, since the control loop usually requires data at a rate matching that of the control loop, not that of the input signal. For example, if a control loop needs to monitor a signal that has a frequency of 1 Mhz, in buffered mode this would require the control loop to run at such a high rate. Discarding data either at the data acquisition hardware or at the host computer is a cumbersome solution that slows down performance of the system.
Furthermore, neither the single point mode nor the buffered mode is a good option in the following situations: (1) When a signal needs to be monitored or measured and its frequency is higher than the desired sample rate; (2) When the data generation of sampling the signal and generating data for every period exceeds the bandwidth available in the communications channel of the data acquisition device; and (3) When the latency of the measurement is a critical parameter; etc.
Many other problems and disadvantages of the prior art will become apparent to one skilled in the art after comparing such prior art with the present invention as described herein. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
In recent years, as for a liquid crystal display device, with the expansion of applications and the enhancement in functionality, high reliability and durability are expected for an individual device constituting the liquid crystal display device. For example, in a case of a transmission type liquid crystal projector which uses a light source with a large amount of light, a polarization conversion element configured to convert the natural light emitted from the light source into linearly-polarized light receives strong radiant rays. Therefore, if the durability of the polarization conversion element is low, the illumination efficiency will decrease.
The polarization conversion element usually includes a polarizing beam-splitter array formed by alternately bonding a polarizing beam splitter with a polarization separation film and a prism with a reflective film, wherein a phase difference plate is selectively provided above the output surface of the polarizing beam splitter.
Conventionally, as the phase difference plate selectively provided above the output surface of a polarizing beam splitter, a dichroic phase difference plate containing an iodine-based or dye-based polymer organic matter in a film is often used. As the general manufacturing method of the dichroic phase difference plate, there is adopted a method of performing dyeing using dichroic material such as a polyvinyl alcohol-based film and iodine, and then performing cross-linking using a cross-linker to perform uniaxial stretching. The phase difference plate including such a stretched polymer film is likely to deteriorate by heat and/or UV light, and is therefore poor in durability. Moreover, this type of phase generally shrinks easily, because it includes a stretched polymer film fabricated by stretching. Moreover, the polyvinyl alcohol-based film is very likely to deform particularly under a humidified condition because of using a hydrophilic polymer, and is therefore poor in mechanical strength as a device. In order to solve this problem, a phase difference element of an inorganic optical single crystal, such as a crystal, may be used, but it has the drawbacks that an increase in size is difficult and that the raw material cost and processing cost are also high. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The invention relates to a method and devicie for manufacturing a paper or board web, and in particular, a method and device for producing an uncoated web which substantially corresponds in its properties to a precoated web.
The method and the paper or board machine according to the invention can be applied very widely in the manufacture of different paper and board grades in which the conventional method would comprise improving the quality of paper or board by precoating. Typical such writing and printing papers are fine paper, LWC base paper or improved newsprint known by a person skilled in the art. The coating of different board grades has also increased in recent years. Hereafter, the invention will, however, be described mainly in connection with the manufacture of fine paper. However it is appreciated that the invention is not confined to this to this area
In this description, the use of the term fine paper is intended to mean uncoated fine paper and coated fine paper. The basis weight of uncoated fine paper is usually 40 to 230 g/m2 and that of coated fine paper 60 to 250 g/m2. Typical pulp for manufacturing fine paper comprises chemical fibres: short fibres which are obtained, for example, from birch and an eucalyptus tree, and a long-fibre material obtained from softwood trees is generally added thereto.
The proportion of mechanical pulp is generally below 10%. About 15 to 30% of filler is added to the pulp, and the filler may be stone, calcium carbonate, kaolin and/or other suitable mineral pigments. Recently, in the manufacture of fine paper, increasing use has also been made of recycled fibres.
As mentioned above, by means of the method and the paper machine in accordance with the invention, it is possible to manufacture profitably paper that corresponds to precoated fine paper. In this application, the aim of conventional precoating has been to provide the surface of the web with certain properties which are beneficial in the further processing of the web. These properties include, among other things, a desired porosity of and pore size distribution in the surface as well as a desired oil absorption level, for example, measured by the Cobb-Unger method. The coverage degree of pigment is also one property that is monitored. The process of manufacturing fine paper according to the invention, which does not apply conventional precoating, thus enables said properties to have values which correspond to those attained when using a conventional manufacturing process that includes a precoating stage.
Corresponding to coated fine paper, the invention can also be applied advantageously to paper grades containing mechanical pulp, which paper grades are coated at the final stage of the manufacturing process. Typical such paper grades are LWC and MWC.
The method and the device according to the invention also make it possible to manufacture better newsprint than before without adding a surface sizing unit to a line. The significance of the invention in this application will be the greater, the faster the newspaper machines will be and the thinner the newsprint will become. Four-colour printing requires a surface that is stronger and denser than before. As known, it has been taught previously that this is attained by surface-treatment of the web.
It is required more and more often that boards shall have a better printing surface than before. Our invention offers good possibilities for that without costly investments at the dry end of the board machine. When multi-layer boards are manufactured, our invention also offers an advantageous solution for improving the printing properties of webs forming the surface layers of multi-layer board. The bonding strength of multi-layer board can also be increased by feeding, for example, starch into the surface of the webs.
In paper or board machines known in prior art, the short circulation and other stock systems are most commonly built such as to mix fibres, fillers, fines and additives to form a stock that is as homogeneous as possible in order to be supplied into a headbox of a paper or board machine. In multi-layer web forming, it is also known to use several different stock systems for feeding different fibre suspensions either into one or more headboxes. The headbox spreads the formed pulp suspension evenly on a wire section, in which dewatering and couching of the web begin. In prior art there are known several different types of wire sections, or formers, known in themselves to a person skilled in the art; fourdrinier formers, hybrid formers, and gap formers. Board machines may include even several wire units. From the standpoint of the invention, the most preferable former is a gap former, in which a slice jet produced by a headbox is fed between two wires and the bulk of the water is removed between said wires in two directions. One advantageous gap former arrangement has been described in the paper L. Verkasalo: Efficient Forming at High Speeds, XI Valmet Paper Technology Days 1998. In the arrangements known from prior art, the fibre and filler distribution in the thickness direction of the web can be controlled only to a limited degree, for example, by placement and vacuums of the dewatering elements of the former. The fillers often accumulate on the surfaces of the web in dewatering stages.
In prior art there are known in themselves multi-layer headboxes, some of them being described, for example, in the paper M. Odell: Multilayering, Method or Madness?, XI Valmet Paper Technology Days 1998 and in FI patent 92 729, and one of them being also described in the paper P. Ahonen: Challenges for Digital Printing Paper, XI Valmet Paper Technology Days 1998. Multi-layer headboxes allow desired layer structures to be produced in the web by feeding stock in layers between wires. Instead of multi-layer headboxes, in the case of some board grades in particular, several different headboxes and wire units have been used in order to provide a layered structure.
The web is passed from the wire section to a press section where water is removed from the web by pressing it against one or two felts. A person skilled in the art knows several different press arrangements from prior art, for example, a press based on roll nips, marketed by the applicant under the trademark SymPress(trademark)II. Recently, instead of roll nips, ever-increasing use has been made of an extended nip known in itself in prior art because of its higher dewatering capacity and/or its ability to retain the bulk of the web.
The dryer section in prior-art paper and board machines has most commonly been formed of a dryer section which uses a conventional single- and/or twin-wire draw and in which drying takes place mainly as cylinder drying while the wire presses the web against a heated cylinder surface. At high running speeds, single wire draw through the entire dryer section has become common in recent years. As the most recent arrangement, for example, the patent application PCT/FI98/00945 has proposed combining impingement drying with cylinder drying in order to provide a higher evaporation rate and a shorter dryer section.
In some prior-art arrangements, the paper web is passed from a dryer section to a precalender, which in known arrangements may be a calender with hard or soft nips, in which the paper web is passed through the nip between rolls to provide smoothness to the surface of the paper web. In the precalender, loose fibres and other components of stock are also fixed to the surface of the web, but, at the same time, differences in density may also be caused in the base paper and some of the bulkiness of the web important to many grades may be lost. Precalendering is particularly important before the coating of the web when blade coating is used in order to avoid so-called blade lines.
In surface sizing, the surfaces of the web are treated with a starch or pigment solution in a film size press, for example, by means of an applicator device marketed by the applicant under the trade name SymSizer(trademark). Surface sizing, pigmenting, or coating is performed at this stage typically on both sides of the web at the same time, but the surfaces of the web can also be treated separately in successive units. After that, the paper web is dried by using infrared dryers and airborne web-dryers and a short cylinder group which follows them.
After that, as known in prior art, the web is coated by means of blade, roll or jet coating units known in themselves in prior art and dried by using infrared and airborne dryers as well as cylinder drying. The dried paper or board web is reeled, which is followed by a multi-nip calender which provides a desired smoothness and gloss level to the paper. Recently, on-machine calendering has also become common.
On the other hand, in arrangements known in prior art, the dryer section is often followed by a calender and a reel-up. After that, there is placed an unwind stand, from which the web is passed to an off-machine coating station. Different coating stations are known from prior art. In one known arrangement, one side of the paper web is precoated first, after which there is a dryer section, and after that the other side of the paper web is precoated, which is followed by a dryer section. The coating of the thus produced precoated web is completed by coating it with other coating layers and, after that, the web is dried, and wound up. This is followed by unwinding and calendering and winding up of the web. Thus, the remaining machine after the dryer section may be an on- or off-machine.
Before coating, as known in prior art, the paper can be very porous, and thus after the dewatering and drying treatments it is necessary to precoat the paper web before the surface-coating proper. Also, as a result of this, the paper web must be dried after the precoating process in order that the coating layer proper may be added to the surface of the paper web. The equipment and the web transfers required by these stages considerably increase the length of the fine paper manufacturing line. The aim of this double coating of fine paper, i.e. the precoating and the coating proper, has been to attain a physically and visually uniform coated paper surface for a printing base. The most important function of the precoating layer in said coating process is to reduce the pores present in the surface structure of the base paper in a suitable manner in order that the surface coating layer shall remain on the surface and shall not be absorbed into the structure of paper. If the coating material is distributed very unevenly on the surface of paper, then also after surface-coating, the paper is uneven and it may exhibit, for example, patchiness of gloss or another type of visual defect. For example, by means of a film transfer technique it is possible to attain a uniform coating layer and thereby good coverage, which is a desired property specifically at the precoating stage, since a uniform precoating is required for providing a uniform surface coating. After precoating, the web is surface-coated in prior art, for example, by means of blade coating in order to attain a smooth surface. This, however, sets space demands for the paper finishing line, because the paper is coated in three to four separate stages as the different sides of the paper web are often coated in different stages.
In prior-art paper and board machines, a size press or a coater of the film transfer type is thus generally used for the precoating of the web. In that connection, surface size or an equivalent coating substance in water solution is applied to both sides of the paper web in one or two stages with the purpose of binding fines and fibres to the surface of the web and thereby creating favourable conditions for possible after-coating. In prior-art arrangements, which thus comprise a separate precoater, one problem is that the length of the paper or board machine or of the coating line increases. This increases the investment costs of both the machine itself and the building too. In rebuilds, lack of space may sometimes be a real obstacle to the introduction of new technology. When an aqueous substance is applied to the web, drying is needed, which not only increases the length of the machine and investment costs but also increases the demand for drying energy. Moreover, the paper machine must be provided with open draws, which may cause web breaks and other runnability problems, in particular in the case of lighter weight paper grades and with high running speeds.
With respect to the prior art related to the invention, reference is also made to the applicant""s FI patent applications 981330 and 981331. In these, FI patent application 981330 discloses an integrated paper machine by which paper of good quality can be manufactured with high efficiency at a speed exceeding 2000 m/min, and which is shorter than present paper machines. FI patent application 981331 discloses a paper machine which is intended in particular for the manufacture of paper which has copy paper properties as well as a good gloss and a suitable porosity for colour powder printing.
A specific object of the invention is to lower investment costs by providing a paper and board machine that is shorter than known arrangements for the manufacture of paper and board grades which traditionally require precoating.
In accordance with the invention, layering of additives and fillers is used in a headbox instead of precoating carried out in a finishing section in order to reduce the pore size distribution in the surface layers of a paper web. When additives and/or fillers are introduced into the surface layers of stock, it is possible to provide, for example, a U-shaped thickness direction profile of the filler. In layering additives and fillers, the stock is divided into three different stock flows for surface layers and for a middle layer, each of which is supplied with desired additives and fillers, starch in particular, in order to provide different layer structures. When needed, additives and fillers can be fed into the stock flow from several different points or in several different stages. In accordance with an advantageous embodiment of the invention, fines can also be added. Moreover, in connection with the invention, it is possible to advantageously use layering of fibres, in which fibre stock is divided into separate components for the surface and middle layers such that a desired type of fibre stock is passed to a surface layer and to a middle layer, respectively. In addition, it is possible to use retention agents which bind the fillers and fines to the surface, which prevents them from being carried away from the surface layers along with water. The retention agent may also be supplied in layers.
In other words, in accordance with the invention, surface sizing, pigmenting or precoating, depending on the web that is being manufactured, is integrated into the initial portion of a paper or board machine, and additives and fillers are already introduced into the surface of the web immediately at the initial stage of the manufacture of the web. Thereby, a sufficiently small pore size is produced so that the coating proper shall remain in the surface. Thereby, a surface advantageous to printing processes is also produced, from which surface printing ink does not penetrate deep into the web.
The invention enables a pore size of the paper surface to be achieved which is {fraction (1/10)} of its original value. Optimum coating coverage is attained when the pores in the base paper are so small that the coating does not penetrate into them, thus remaining on the surface. This is attained by already adding in the headbox additives and fillers to the stock flows which are passed to the surface layers and advantageously by using the layering of fibres at the same time and possibly by adding fines to the stock flows which are passed to the surface layers.
In accordance with an advantageous embodiment, when the layering of fibres is used, for example, when manufacturing paper with a basis weight of 80 g, the layers can be layers of 20, 40, 20 g/m2 of equal consistency. The invention also encompasses fibre layer a arrangements in which stocks of consistencies differing from one another are supplied to the different layers.
In the invention, precoating has thus been replaced with the layering of additives and fillers, whereby the efficiency of the process is improved and investment costs are reduced. The paper machine in accordance with the invention, in which precoating has been replaced with a technique for layering additives and fillers, comprises according to an advantageous embodiment a multi-layer headbox, a gap former, a press section, a dryer section, a surface coating station/stations and a multi-nip calender as well as a reel-up.
A saving of about 20% in apparatus costs and a saving of about 20% in hall costs are achieved by means of the paper machine in accordance with the invention.
Savings are also obtained because of on-line arrangements, in which connection the number of operating personnel can be reduced, and it is also possible to achieve savings of energy and water consumption as well as other savings, for example, a reduced amount of broke.
In the arrangement in accordance with the invention, benefits in bulk and opacity are also attained. The benefit in bulk is achieved because precalendering compresses the web, raising its density. The opacity of paper deteriorates if the surface is porous and the coating penetrates into the paper.
The method according to the invention applies a short circulation and a headbox which allows layering of additives, fillers and/or fines. One stock feed system advantageously applied in the invention is disclosed in FI patent application 934793. Fillers, fines and additives can also be supplied only in the headbox itself. One such arrangement is described in EP patent publication 824157. The short circulation arrangements may be arrangements already known in themselves in prior art, but it is particularly beneficial to apply in connection with the invention the short circulation marketed by the applicant under the trademark OptiFeed(trademark), which is described, among other things, in the magazine article Ein Neuer Ansatz fxc3xcr das Management der Nasspartie, Wochenblatt fxc3xcr Papierfabrikation, vol. 19, No. 20, October 1998. By using the OptiFeed(trademark) arrangement, the stock volumes of the short circulation are minimized, wherefore, for example, a change of grade can be performed quickly by means of the paper or board machine in accordance with our invention without long disturbances, for example, in the composition of stock.
The paper or board machine in accordance with the invention thus includes a short circulation and a headbox which allow the layering of at least fillers. A gap former is preferably used as a former, the gap former allowing higher speeds than other types of formers and enabling dewatering on both sides, whereby symmetric paper is obtained. As one such gap former, for example, the wire section marketed by the applicant under the trademark OptiFormer(trademark) or a corresponding type of former can be mentioned, one former of this kind having being described in said paper L. Verkasalo: Efficient Forming at High Speeds, XI Valmet Paper Technology Days 1998.
Known press arrangements can be utilized in the paper or board machine in accordance with the invention, but in many cases it is most beneficial to use extended nip pressing. Good bulk and high dry solids as well as minimum asymmetry are provided to the web by means of a so-called shoe press. When using, for example, the applicant""s double-felted OptiPress(trademark) press section, symmetric dewatering and a web with symmetric surface properties are obtained. When high dry solids are aimed at, it may be beneficial to replace one felt with a water-non-receiving fabric that transfers the web well, with a so-called transfer belt. Even though the invention substantially reduces the need for separate coating devices, in some applications it may be beneficial to combine surface sizing/pigmenting with the press section, in which connection a separate surface sizing/pigmenting unit after the dryer section and further treatments associated therewith are not necessarily needed. One such arrangement (wet end sizing) is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,899.
The invention does not set any special demands for the dryer section, but in connection therewith it is possible to apply prior art drying arrangements, for example, a dryer section which applies single-wire draw and with which impingement drying may be additionally combined for the purpose of providing drying capacity, profiling or a quick change of grade. Such a modem dryer section is disclosed, among other things, in international patent application PCT/FI98/00945. In the case of paper grades in particular it is beneficial to use a dryer section marketed by the applicant under the trademark OptiDry(trademark) or a corresponding type of dryer section. When desired, precalendering can be used in the dryer section, such precalendering being described, for example, in FI patent application 960925 which discloses calendering against a drying cylinder. Of course, precalendering can also be accomplished between two rolls. Naturally, when needed, precalendering can also be accomplished traditionally after the dryer section.
The end portion of the paper machine in accordance with the invention does not include precoating because coating has been accomplished in the headbox, in which connection fillers and/or starch have been layered, nor does it include surface sizing/pigmenting except possible wet end surface sizing/pigmenting in the press section. Thus, on coming from the dryer section proper, paper is surface-coated in one or more surface coating stations, which is/are followed by an on- or off-line multi-nip calender.
In those embodiments of the invention in which the web is further coated separately in a coating station, for example, a blade coater, a coating device of the jet, film transfer or spray type is used in the coating process. A coating agent is transferred by means of the coating device freely to the surface of the web either as a continuous jet (jet) or as drops (spray) or the coating agent is applied by a roll. Advantageously, for example, a coating device marketed by the applicant under the trademark OptiCoat Jet(trademark) or a corresponding type of coating device is used. In the coating process, it is also possible to use advantageously a film transfer technique, for example, a coating device marketed by the applicant under the trademark SymSizer(trademark) or OptiSizer(trademark).
In order to eliminate web breaks, the web may be coated while supported by a belt. Supported coating is described, for example, in the applicant""s Finnish patent FI 101489 as well as in the article 1998 Coating/Paper Machine Makers Conference, TAPPI Proceedings.
The drying after coating is started as contact-free drying, for example, by means of a dryer marketed by the applicant under the trademark PowerDry(trademark) or by means of an equivalent type of dryer, which provides a high drying capacity and, when needed, a quick change of drying capacity. In actual fact, contact-free drying is often the principal form of drying so that the short cylinder group following after it functions mainly as a drive group. After that, there is advantageously a multi-nip calender, which is preferably an on-line calender marketed by the applicant under the trademark OptiLoad(trademark) or a corresponding type of calender, which differs from conventional supercalenders in that its linear loads in each nip can be regulated separately. By this means, it is possible to regulate bulk, yet attaining good gloss and smoothness. With respect to this type of calender, reference is made to FI patent 96334. In connection with the invention, it is, of course, also possible to apply off-machine calenders.
After that, there is a reel-up, preferably a reel-up marketed by the applicant under the trademark OptiReel(trademark) or a reel-up of a type that is suitable for even reeling of the web.
By means of the method in accordance with the invention it is possible to manufacture paper or board which corresponds to a web manufactured by a machine provided with a precoating unit in accordance with prior art. However, differing from prior art, the paper or board machine in accordance with the invention does not comprise a precoating unit. Moreover, according to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, no surface sizing/pigmenting unit is needed, and advantageously there is no need for a precalender, either.
In connection with the invention, it shall be particularly noted that several of the techniques used in the method and in the paper machine in accordance with the invention have become known separately only quite recently. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates to laser systems capable of multiple pulse operation.
There is a need for a laser system which can produce multiple pulses having a controllable separation between pulses. For instance, such a system is useful in systems performing averaged cross-wind velocity measurements by using a correlation technique, and in incoherent designator systems.
One technique that may be used is to employ two separate lasers pulsing consecutively. The multiple pulses are then transmitted along the same optical axis. The problem is that the mode from the different lasers are not exactly the same, thus causing problems in applications requiring correlation between the pulses. Additionally, it is extremely difficult to maintain the required alignment stability between the two lasers. Another technique which may be used consists of pulsing a standard laser at the required interval to produce the multiple pulses. A problem with this is that it requires a power supply with a high enough current capability to recharge the energy storage capacitors in less than the minimum interval required. Another problem is that when the laser is pulsed with a short interval between pulses, as required in certain applications, the shock waves and the medium inhomogeneities produced by a first discharge do not substantially dissipate, prior to subsequent discharge, thus creating problems by interfering with the subsequent discharge. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to an X-ray imaging system. In particular, the invention relates to an integrated sensor holder in a dental X-ray imaging system.
X-ray sensors used in a dental X-ray imaging system are replacing film as the preferred tool for dentists to obtain X-ray images of teeth. An intra-oral sensor is inserted into the patient""s mouth and positioned behind the tooth/teeth to be imaged, and then the tooth/teeth to be imaged is irradiated with X-rays from an X-ray source. Next, the imaging sensor transmits electronic signals typically via an electrical cable extending from the sensor to an external image processing and memory unit (typically, a personal computer) in the X-ray imaging system which processes and displays on a computer monitor a corresponding image. In this manner, X-ray images can be produced directly on location without substantial delay and are immediately visible on the computer monitor.
Since the intra-oral sensor is inserted in a patient""s mouth, it is highly desirable to maintain the sensor in a sterile condition, as much as possible. A sensor holder is sometimes provided to avoid having the sensor dangle/rest in an easy-to-contaminate position. The typical sensor holder is a separate unit which must be affixed to a surface of a wall, chair or other dental apparatus. Such sensor holders detract from the portability of the sensor, particularly when there are a plurality of dental stations in a dental office and it is desired to carry the sensor to, and use the sensor at, any of the plurality of dental stations.
The present invention provides, in accordance wit h one embodiment, an interface for connecting an X-ray image sensor and a computing device in an X-ray image sensing system comprising, a housing, a printed circuit board in an interior of the housing, and a sensor holder integrated with the interface to hold the X-ray image sensor when the sensor is not being used. The printed circuit board may have circuitry residing thereon for receiving electronic signals supplied by the X-ray image sensor and processing the received signals to communicate the processed signals to the computing device. The printed circuit board may have circuitry residing thereon for receiving commands from the computing device for controlling the X-ray image sensor. The sensor holder may be shaped and sized to hold each of a plurality of different-sized sensors.
The present invention also provide an X-ray imaging system comprising, in accordance with one embodiment, an X-ray image sensor, a computing device, and an interface package including a first interface to the X-ray image sensor and a second interface to the computing device. A sensor holder is integrated with the interface package to hold the X-ray image sensor when the sensor is not being used. The sensor holder may be integrated in the first interface or the second interface. The X-ray imaging system may be a digital dental imaging system and the X-ray image sensor may be an intraoral sensor.
The interface package may include an electrical cable for coupling the first interface to the X-ray image sensor. The sensor holder may be attached to the electrical cable. The first interface may have a first connector and the electrical cable a second connector, the first interface and the electrical cable may be detachably coupled through mating of the first connector and the second connector, and the sensor holder may be integrated with the second connector.
The interface package may include an electrical cable for coupling the second interface to the computing device. The electrical cable may be coupled to the computing device through a USB port of the computing device. The sensor holder may be attached to the electrical cable. The second interface may have a first connector and the electrical cable a second connector, the second interface and the electrical cable may be detachably coupled through mating of the first connector and the second connector, and the sensor holder may be integrated with the second connector.
The second interface may include a wireless interface for communicating with a wireless interface in the computing device. The first interface may include a first wireless interface for communicating with a second wireless interface in the X-ray image sensor. The X-ray image sensor may be wireless and the interface may include a charger for recharging the wireless X-ray image sensor. The interface package may include a docking station for downloading data from the wireless X-ray image sensor. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lipase variants, polynucleotides encoding the variants, methods of producing the variants, and methods of using the variants.
Description of the Related Art
Lipases are included in detergent compositions to increase wash performance and specifically to improve lipid stain removal. Builders are also included in detergent compositions amongst other for the purpose of lowering the concentration of calcium which due to precipitation may lead to “graying” of the treated surfaces. Low levels of calcium have shown to result in a reduction of lipase activity.
The catalytic site in many lipases is shielded by a lid domain (lid region or lid) and studies have indicated that the lid is important for lipase activity and has a role in activation of lipases. Enhanced catalytic activity in the presence of a water/lipid interface is referred to as “interfacial activation” and describes the situation where the amphiphilic surface loop i.e. the lid opens on contact with the interface. Shu et al. Enzyme and Microbial Technology 48 (2011) 129-133 generated four Aspergillus niger lipase (ANL) mutants one with no lid and three with the lid in an open conformation for the purpose of identifying interfacial activation independent lipase mutants.
There is thus a need for lipases with improved lipase activity in particular for use in detergent compositions. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to processing image data obtained by scanning a document; and more particularly to discriminating between text material and continuous tone material in mixed format documents so that the image data may be appropriately processed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Image processing for electronic copying or facsimile transmission is well know in the prior art. An original document is scanned to produce a video signal representative of the image. The video signal is next processed to optimize the reproduction.
Generally, text and low frequency halftone material (herein collectively referred to as text material) are processed with different algorithms than continuous tone and high frequency halftone material (herein referred to collectively as continuous tone material). Text material is optimized by a processing algorithm which results in sharp edge definition, high contrast, and high frequency detail rendition. Continuous tone material is optimized by an algorithm which results in good gray scale reproduction and only moderate detail rendition. The algorithms which are optimized for one type of material generally yield results which are marginal to poor on the other type of material.
Prior art methods to switch between algorithms optimized for text and those optimized for continuous tone reproduction include methods which discriminate based on the video signal level. The video signal is passed through a two-level comparator network. Signals above an upper threshold or below a lower threshold are processed by the text image processing algorithm, while signals falling between the two thresholds are processed by the continuous tone image processing algorithm.
While this system is generally accurate, small regions in text areas at the edges of objects would be found to be continuous tone regions. If the continuous tone image processing algorithm were used in such small regions, the printed edges would appear ragged. If the object were small, the entire object might be printed as continuous tone if the rise times of the input image are wider than the object. Also, low frequency halftones would have an undesirable appearance because the edges of the halftone dots would be considered to be continuous tone while the centers of the dots would be found to be text. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Scanning devices for analyzing liquid samples delivered thereto and sorting particles such as biological cells contained therein according to sensed characteristics thereof are known as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,364, Bonner et al, which patent is assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Flow cell sorters of this type are designed to provide a large number of cells of a given subpopulation. Other cell sorting systems, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,924,947 and 4,009,435, and in an article entitled Individual Cell Sorting by Stovel and Sweet, The Journal of Histochemistry, Vol. 27, No. 1 pp. 284-288, 1979, move a collecting surface or tray beneath a charged droplet sorter so that deflected droplets are laid down sequentially in a scanning pattern. Often, prior art devices of this type require complicated, and expensive, moving means for accurately moving the surface or tray onto which the individual cells are sorted, and elaborate control circuitry for the control thereof. Also, the broad idea for operating a particle sorter to deposit a single particle into a manually positionable multiwell tray to collect individual particles in the tray wells is contained in an article entitled Antigen-Specific Identification and Cloning of Hybridomas with Fluorescence-activated Cell Sorter (FACS) by D. R. Parks, V. M. Bryan, V. T. Oi and L. A. Herzenberg, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Vol. 76, No. 4, pp. 1962-1966, April 1979, Genetics. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Electrically variable transmissions (EVTs) typically include two electric motor generators each having a respective rotor. EVTs also include a gearing arrangement typically having a plurality of planetary gearsets with respective sun, ring, and planet carrier members. Selectively engageable torque transmitting devices, such as clutches and brakes, selectively interconnect members of the planetary gearsets to each other and to the transmission housing to provide selective power paths from a transmission input shaft to a transmission output shaft.
The rotors are connected to a respective planetary gearset member for unitary rotation therewith so that the transmission is capable of establishing a continuously variable speed ratio between the input and output shafts wherein the speed ratio is proportional to the speed of one of the rotors. An EVT typically includes an energy storage device such as a battery, and an electronic controller connected to both the battery and the motor/generators to control the flow electrical energy to and from the motor/generators.
Therefore, in assembling EVTs, electrical connections must be established between the electronic controller and each of the motor/generators. However, establishing the electrical connections between the motor/generators and the electronic controller may be difficult due to the complex nature of an EVT and the placement of the motor/generators inside the transmission housing. Moreover, a large number of parts involved in prior art EVT electrical connections results in the assembly of the EVT being labor-intensive. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
A typical Digital Distributed Antenna System (DDAS) in the art today operate in the downlink direction by providing a point-to-multipoint digital transport for delivering one or more digitized RF signals from a centralized host to a plurality of remotely located antenna units, each of which broadcast the digitized RF signals as an over-the-air analog RF signal. Each digitized RF signal carries data samples of a modulated electromagnetic radio-frequency waveform. Each of the remote antenna units in the DDAS receive the same stream of digitized RF signals and each produces a corresponding analog modulated RF waveform version of the digitized RF signals, and broadcast that waveform as an over-the-air RF signal.
A DDAS permits the over-the-air RF signal to cover a much larger and geographically tailored region because each of the remote antenna units (RAUs) of the DDAS can be specifically located to reach areas where service is desired. For example, a one RAU of a DDAS can be placed to cover an outside commons area of a campus while another RAU of the DDAS can be placed within an auditorium on campus because that auditorium's structure interferes with reception of signals from the outside. However, with the advent and continued development of Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and other cellular protocols, the modulation of cellular carrier signals continues to become increasingly complex as compared to legacy protocols, such as Edge and GSM for example.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, there is a need in the art for improved digital distributed antenna systems and methods for advanced cellular communication protocols. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 90108179, filed on Apr. 4, 2001.
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a fabrication method for a memory device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a fabrication method for a memory device that comprises a floating gate.
2. Description of Related Art
A memory device that comprises a floating gate, for example, a flash memory device or other type of electrically erasable programmable read-only memory device, is programmable, erasable and has the ability of retaining data when the power is interrupted. Furthermore, such a device is highly integrated and thus is commonly used in personal computers and electronic devices.
One of the methods to perform the program operation for the above memory device with a floating gate is channel hot electron injection, wherein a positive voltage, for example, 12 Volts, is applied to the control gate to open up the channel. An appropriate voltage, for example, 6 Volts, is concurrently applied to the drain region to form an electric field that extends from the source region to the drain region. As the bias between the source region and the drain region is great enough, hot electrons are generated in the channel region. Some of the hot electrons are injected through the tunnel oxide layer into the floating gate to perform the program operation.
As a device becomes integrated, the memory cells of the memory device are more closely packed together. For example, when channel hot electron injection is used to perform the program operation on the memory cell A of a one transistor cell (1T cell) technique type of memory device, a high voltage is applied to the control gate and concurrently a voltage is applied to the drain region of the memory cell A. However, the drain region of the memory cell B in the memory device, which is not undergoing a program operation, is connected to the drain region of the memory cell A through the same bit line. Being affected by the drain coupling effect, the floating gate of the memory cell B also experiences a current flow, leading to a current leakage at the memory cell B. This phenomenon is known as the drain-turn-on leakage. As the channel length of the memory device further being reduced, the drain-turn-on leakage effect would become more serious. The presence of the drain-turn-on leakage adversely affects the reliability of a device.
The present invention provides a fabrication method for a memory device with a floating gate, wherein the drain-turn-on leakage is prevented to increase the reliability of the memory device.
The invention provides a fabrication method for a memory device with a floating gate, wherein the method is applicable to the scale down memory device to increase the integration of the memory device.
The present invention provides a fabrication method for a memory device with a floating gate, wherein a substrate is provided. A channel doping step is performed on the substrate so that the actual threshold voltage of the memory device is greater than the preset threshold voltage of the memory device. Thereafter, a stack gate and source/drain regions are sequentially formed on the substrate to complete the fabrication of the memory device. The dopant concentration in the substrate is increased by the channel doping step, the actual threshold voltage thus increases correspondingly to prevent the drain-turn-on leakage.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the dopant concentration in the substrate is increase when the channel doping step is performed. The actual threshold voltage of the subsequently formed memory device is thus increased to prevent the drain-turn-on leakage.
Moreover, according to the fabrication method for a memory device with a floating gate of the present invention, the drain-turn-on leakage is also prevented when the device is scaled down or integration is increased. The method of the present invention is thus applicable for the fabrication of a scale down memory device to increase the integration of the memory device.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
A conventional vehicle air conditioner includes an air mixing door for adjusting a temperature of air to be blown into a passenger compartment, a servomotor for rotating the air mixing door, and an electronic control unit for controlling an open degree of the air mixing door by controlling the servomotor of an electrical actuator. For example, the electronic control unit detects a rotation angle and a rotation direction of the air mixing door, and controls the servomotor based on the detected rotation angle and the rotation direction, so that the air mixing door is rotated to a target rotation angle. The electronic control unit detects the rotation angle by counting amplitude variation of first and second pulse signals of the electrical actuator in a door operation region.
However, when an initialization region is simply provided outside the door operation region of the electrical actuator, the side of a rotation member of the electrical actuator becomes larger. In contrast, when the initialization region is provided within the door operation region, it is difficult to accurately detect the rotation angle of the air mixing door. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Peat represents a partially-decomposed organic material formed by an accumulated heterogeneous mixture of partially-decomposed vegetation and inorganic minerals over long periods of time. It forms naturally in wetland conditions in bogs, ferns, pocosins, and peat swamp forests, where flood water obstructs flows of oxygen from the atmosphere, thereby slowing normal rates of decomposition. The resulting pale upper layers contain the remains of the plants, herbs, and moss that died and rotted below the shallow acid water. They are compressed by the weight of the water and other plants to form a fine amorphic, colloidal mass. The lower layers of the peat material constitute approximately 90% water, and resemble mud.
Peat wetlands are found in over 175 countries in the world, and cover around three percent of the world's land area. Significant peat deposits exist in Canada, Finland, the former Soviet Union, Scotland, Ireland, England, France, Germany, and a number of other European countries. The United States also contains significant peat deposits, particularly in Minnesota and Alaska.
Most peat is harvested from these peatland bogs and other wetlands by very large machinery. Generally, the peatland fields are divided into smaller fields by means of perimeter furrows that collect some of the water from the upper layer of the fields. For reed sedge peat, machines are used to dig, chop, and mix the peat from this upper layer and form it into blocks. The excavated peat contains around 95-96% moisture. The peat is then stored in the peatland fields to drain and air dry under the influence of solar heat. Over the course of 9-12 months, the moisture content of the reed sedge peat may be reduced to approximately 80-86%, assuming that little rain falls on the field. Over the course of four years, the reed sedge peat blocks may be reduced to a moisture content of approximately 70%.
Alternatively, the reed sedge peat is disked in the field to fluff up the top layer and then stockpiled in windrows within the until they can be hauled off at a later date. Reed sedge peat is less fibrous than other types of peat, and does not therefore air dry particularly well. Thus, the production costs for field harvesting peat are increased by these long time periods required to reduce moisture content.
Sphagnum peat, on the other hand, is much more-fibrous than reed sedge peat, and is more suitable for air drying on the field. Typically, its top one-inch layer will be disk cut and milled in the field to loosen it up. Then a large vacuum harvester sucks up the loosed Sphagnum peat material and produces around 35% moisture peat. But this is a very expensive, capital intensive process that can only be carried out during a couple months of the year when rain is largely non-existent. Thus, harvesting of Sphagnum peat is a low-volume process.
Peat is used for energy generation, horticultural, and industrial purposes. In many countries, peat is burned as a source of heating fuel, although its moisture content must be further reduced to below 15% to render it an efficient source of thermal heat. Its use in agriculture or horticulture, as a top soil, potting soil, or mulch dressing for retaining moisture in container soil when it is dry, while preventing excess water from killing plant roots during wet conditions, allows for around 60%-moisture material. Peat is also used in freshwater aquaria and water filtration, such as the treatment of septic tank effluent and urban runoff.
American Peat Technology of Aitkin, Minn. has developed proprietary technology for making peat pellets that may be used as carriers for agricultural treatments like Rhizobia microorganisms that produce nitrogen in plant roots, and thermally-activated peat granules that efficiently adsorb heavy metals from wastewater. In conjunction with the University of Minnesota, it has also developed chemically-modified, thermally-activated peat granules that can reduce the leaching of contaminants naturally found in peat into the wastewater during wastewater treatment processes, or selectively adsorb particular heavy metals like cadmium found in the wastewaters at the expense of less-toxic metal cations like zinc. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,232,255 and 8,685,884 issued to Green, et al.; and U.S. Ser. Nos. 13/841,526 and 14/213,677 filed by Kolomitsyn, et al., all of which are hereby incorporated by reference. The moisture content of these specialty granulated agricultural and industrial products made from peat must typically be around 1-14%.
Because solar heat and field draining generally are inadequate to reduce the natural moisture in peat down to a level acceptable for these end applications, supplemental drying is required. Manufacturers of peat-related products often employ thermal drying processes to reduce the moisture content of the peat material to an acceptable level. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,992,319 issued to Wilson discloses a dryer for coal or peat pellets. Fed into the top of the vertical dryer, the pellets fall through the interior chamber, being exposed to horizontally directed drying gas flow along the way. The dried pellets are removed from the bottom of the dryer chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,290,494 issued to Ten Bosch, N.J. Zoom shows a peat dryer formed by a vertical tower with a decreasing cross-sectional area from the top of the tower to its bottom, ending in a discharge funnel. As the peat is continuously fed through the top of the tower, it is heated by means of a steam supply introduced into the tower chamber. After being subjected to this heat treatment, the peat passes down to a perforated cylinder where the pressure amounts to approximately 79 lbs/in2. Owing to this high pressure condition, water is forced out of the peat to a discharge pipe. The dried peat product falls into the discharge funnel for removal.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,704,895 issued to Cederquist discloses a process in which peat or other vegetable material is fed into a pressure vessel in which it is oxidized under constant elevated temperature and pressure of around 180° C. and 20 atm. Steam and gases are removed from the vessel doing this oxidation process. The oxidized peat is then transferred to an expansion chamber and allowed to expand whereupon steam generated by the pressure drop is discharged from the vessel to further dry the peat. The peat material is then blown to a dryer by means of air. However, this process is limited to peat feed having a dryness of at least 25%. Moreover, these thermal drying processes can be expensive to operate due to substantial equipment costs and the necessary thermal heat for the dryer which can substantially increase operating costs depending upon the combustion fuel used. It is particularly ironic to produce and expend thermal heat for a dryer used to dry peat for use as a combustion product.
Manufacturers in the peat industry have therefore resorted to mechanical processes for dewatering peat. U.S. Pat. No. 5,477,627 issued to Nolin et al. illustrates an attachment mounted to the end of the articulated boom of a carrier vehicle for harvesting peat. The attachment comprises an apertured container having a reciprocating ram. Peat is dug from the bog and placed into the container whereupon the ram extends within the container to reduce the interior volume holding the peat, and force water out through the apertures in the container walls. This attachment can reduce the weight of the material by up to 50%, but considering the comparative density of water versus peat, a significant quantity of the water remains within the peat.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,417,982 issued to Britschgi et al. discloses a wire press machine in which peat is continuously fed along a conveyor screen belt between counter-rotating press rollers to remove water content through holes in the screen. Residual fines are sprayed off the screens, filtered to remove water, and recycled to the peat feed stream. U.S. Pat. No. 4,447,334 also issued to Britschgi et al. dewaters peat by breaking it into 2-3 cm particles, passing the resulting particles along conveyor belts and counter-rotating rollers, and then through a series of nip rollers at increasingly higher pressures to produce peat filter cake.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,607 issued to Rosenberg shows a two-step mechanical system for dewatering peat. The first stage comprises of a double machine wire press having a plurality of pairs of rollers that squeeze water out of the peat material as it passes between the counter-rotating rollers. The second stage consists of a filter press featuring at least two successive filter press chambers. The system can reduce the moisture content of the peat feed material from 90% to 45-55%.
But these prior art processes that use roller presses can be problematic. Not only can the equipment, maintenance, and operating costs be substantial, but it has been found that when roller presses are employed to squeeze peat material, the roller press divides the peat into a fines fraction that is lost with the separated water fraction, and a fibrous fraction that is produced by the roller press. This results in a significant change in the composition of the dewatered peat product. For example, peat containing a low concentration of fine particles and extra fibrous particles can be unusable for bacterial growth when the peat is used as a carrier medium for microorganisms.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,881 issued to Anderson discloses a dewatering machine for peat or other material having low tensile strength. The machine has an outer roll and an eccentrically-positioned inner roll that squeezes the material to produce severe mechanical compression and shear action. Peat having 90% moisture content can be reduced to 50% moisture content by means of this machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,357,758 issued to Lampinen illustrates a system in which peat is placed on a sinter plate saturated with water exposed to water contained in a vessel maintained at sub-atmospheric pressure. A water layer is formed by means of the water on the plate and inside the peat material. The pressure differential across the plate causes water to flow out of the peat through holes in the sinter plate and into the vessel, thereby reducing the moisture content of the peat.
Some manufacturers of peat-based products have resorted to thermo-mechanical dewatering processes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,577 issued to Chornet et al. is directed to a system in which the peat is macerated and then mixed with water to produce an 86% moisture slurry. The resulting peat slurry is then heated inside a reactor to a temperature of 160-200° C. by means of steam, followed by mechanical shear and post hydrolysis for a time period of roughly 1-3 minutes. The mechanical shear is preferably achieved by means of passing the slurry through narrow orifices in a nozzle contained in the reactor. The product can then be treated inside a filter press to produce a final peat product having 50-60% moisture. It is quenched rapidly to reduce the temperature to 100° C. or lower in order to terminate the hydrolytic and other reactions within the slurry.
Meanwhile, U.S. Pat. No. 4,525,172 issued to Ericksson discloses a thermo-mechanical system in which peat is dewatered by means of pressing it at a temperature exceeding 90° C. and displacing water contained in the peat by means of warmer water under increasing pressure conditions inside a closed wash press. The peat material is then passed through a mechanical roller press and dried. But the resulting peat material still contains roughly 80% moisture in the press cake before the drying step.
But, these thermo-mechanical systems suffer from a combination of high thermal heat costs and mechanical equipment costs without resulting in a reduction of the peat's moisture to below 50%. Such lower moisture levels are necessary for many combustion, agricultural, and industrial end-use applications for peat. Thus, additional thermal drying will be required to reduce the moisture content of the peat products to acceptable levels despite the usage of the thermal-mechanical dewatering processes.
Some manufacturers have turned to chemical additives to assist with thermal or mechanical dewatering processes. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,287 issued to Sheppard et al. teaches a process in which the peat material is heated to 100-150° F. and then treated with a surface active agent like a cationic polymeric surface active agent. The peat is then mechanically pressed at a pressure of 20 atm. Chitosan chloride or an ester of a polyamniocarbonic acid are examples of the chemical agent.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,067,193 issued to Hughes et al. discloses a process for separating solids from a fermentation liquor at a temperature of at least 50° C. using distillation and an anionic polymer selected from natural polymers and modified natural polymers having a high anionic charge such that the equivalent weight is below 300. The anionic monomer units of the polymer are selected from the group consisting of (meth)acrylic acids or salts, itaconic acid or salts, and fumaric acid or salts.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,526,675 issued to Yoon is directed to a method for enhancing fine particle dewatering. A surfactant having a high hydrophile liphophile balance (HLB) member is applied to a slurry of the fine particles. Then a lipid oil coating is applied to the particles. These chemical agents disrupt the bonds between the water molecules and the surface of the material contained in the slurry.
By virtue of the enhanced hydrophobicity, the water molecules are destabilized and more readily removed during the mechanical dewatering process. See also U.S. Pat. No. 7,820,058 issued to Yoon.
Mechanical filter presses have been used in the industry for fiber cell material, although not necessarily for peat. U.S. Pat. No. 6,499,232 issued to Bielfeldt is directed to such a mechanical filter press to which is fed a “sandwich” formed from fine particles placed on a moving belt with coarse particles piled on top of the fire particles. Hot water maintained at 200-220° C. is forced down through the sandwich. The sandwich is then subjected to a downward force inside the mechanical press to squeeze water out of the fibrous material. See also U.S. Pat. No. 6,502,326 issued to Bielfeldt.
Many filter presses use permeable membranes to enhance the separation of water from the feed material during the pressing operation to produce the filter cake with reduced moisture content. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 8,088,288 issued to Whittatker et al. (reverse-phase polymer membrane); U.S. Pat. No. 8,940,173 issued to Bakajin et al. (membrane formed from vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes); U.S. Pat. No. 8,460,554 issued to McGinnis et al. (forward osmosis membrane); U.S. Pat. No. 9,010,544 issued to Miller (microporous membrane); U.S. Pat. No. 6,875,350 issued to Allard (dewatering bag containing permeable membranes and chitosan); and U.S. Published Application 2007/0187328 filed by Gordon (filter sock).
A mechanically demoisturizing process for treating partially-decomposed organic material like peat using a filter press and a permeable membrane that can produce a filter cake with content reduced from about 90% wt or greater to 60% wt without usage of thermal heat or superheated steam would be beneficial. The process would substantially reduce the need for thermal dryers and other expensive mechanical equipment. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Antibody therapeutics are increasingly used by pharmaceutical companies to treat intractable diseases such as cancer (Carter 2006 Nature Reviews Immunology 6:343-357). However, the process of antibody drug discovery is expensive and tedious, and has proceeded by identification of an antigen, and then the isolation and production of antibodies with activity against the antigen. Furthermore, affinity selection and expression of a limited number of antibodies from this selection has provided a mechanism of treatment that is narrower than that provided by the body. However, artificial generation of a representative immune repertoire from an individual with cognate paired heavy and light chain immunoglobulin or T cell receptors has not been achieved.
Individuals that have been exposed to disease naturally produce antibodies against antigens associated with that disease. Therefore, what is needed are improved methods of high throughput generation of recombinant fusion proteins comprising both heavy and light chain variable domains so it is possible to use natural immune repertoires in treatment and pharmaceutical discovery and development. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The device of the present disclosure is suitable for pressure vessels for extinguishing agents having an extinguishing liquid that is being expelled by means of a propellant gas from this vessel by a riser to extinguishing lines.
Fire-extinguishing systems of this type are known.
DE 100 48 544 A1 describes a stationary fire-extinguishing system with combined activation and extinguishing line, consisting of an extinguishing-agent vessel having an extinguishing liquid, lines for the extinguishing agent and a propellant-gas vessel having a propellant gas that discharges the extinguishing liquid from the extinguishing-agent vessel into the line for the extinguishing agent. The extinguishing-agent vessel does not feature a compensation tank nor a filling-level display.
99% of the market-standard pressurized-gas cylinders that are used for firefighting techniques exhibit a single threaded socket for example according to DIN EN 629-1-25E.
By providing a suitable interior coating, such cylinders can be converted to water-supply cylinders. Such water-supply cylinders are employed in high-pressure water-fog extinguishing systems.
The small socket of these water-supply cylinders as the only communications opening to the extinguishing medium represents a technical challenge for upgrade solutions that let the water-supply cylinders be upgraded for convenient operation of the fire-extinguishing system.
During operation of the extinguishing system it is expected that the water supply can be checked for wastage and that the thermal influences on the extinguishing liquid caused by the environment such as contraction and expansion can be compensated without any loss.
Pressurized-gas cylinders that are used for gaseous extinguishing agents can be employed as extinguishing-agent vessels. These cylinders are provided with suitable coatings on the inside, and thus water for firefighting can be stored therein protected against corrosion and in the case of a fire is vaporized through suitable nozzles at high pressure for fighting a fire.
Due to variable environmental conditions of these systems, the environmental temperature acts on the stored water such that it changes its volume. The stored water contracts and expands due to changes in temperature. In the case of corresponding environmental conditions (for example in the case of extinguishing lines and open nozzles without valves to the extinguishing-agent vessel) the water can also evaporate.
The prior art is that pressure vessels are filled with liquid extinguishing agents, without compensation tank.
Therefore the necessity for safeguarding the required amounts of extinguishing water or at least of reliably monitoring the required amount of extinguishing water is indispensable.
A problem for monitoring such cylinders consists in the fact that these cylinders only exhibit an extrusion with a threaded socket that just about makes it possible to receive a valve with a riser.
However, changes to such gas cylinders, specifically conversion to water-supply cylinders that potentially can offer further connection possibilities for example for monitoring purposes, would result in high costs for the operating licenses or approvals of the pressurized-gas cylinders.
Another problem consists in the fact that the filling level is monitored inside the extinguishing-agent pressure vessel (inside monitoring in pressure vessels) using only pressure-resistant components (operating pressures of up to several hundred bar). In addition to high costs, also considerable technical effort is involved to transfer the filling-level information out of the pressure vessel.
DE 100 47 594 A1 describes a method and a device for determining the liquid level of a liquid in a vessel. To achieve a reliable display at the critical liquid points, the method dispenses with continually measuring the filling level in the vessel over the entire range, and instead electrodes are disposed in the vessel to determine changes in the filling level and limit values. In this way, filling levels such as “full vessel”, “minimum filling level in the vessel”, and “empty vessel” are defined. To compensate and to document a liquid level in a supply vessel for extinguishing agents, this type of determination of the filling level is unsuitable.
DE 36 13 906 A1 describes a device for content monitoring of expansion tanks subject to a gas pressure and the like, for example heating installations. The device exhibits an expansion tank, the expansion of the liquid in the expansion tank being displayed mechanically or electrically. In this solution, the expansion tank and the corresponding connecting parts exhibit the same pressure resistance, entailing comparable costs.
WO 01/66269 A1 describes a device for determining and/or monitoring a predetermined filling level in a vessel, in which the actual filling level in a vessel is determined by means of oscillations. This device, too, is unsuitable for compensating and measuring the filling level in a supply vessel. Also in this case the monitoring components that are used have to exhibit the pressure resistance of the vessel.
DE 11 2004 000 270 T5 describes the measurement of volumes using pressure, it been possible to pressurize a vessel and sensors for measuring the pressure being arranged inside the vessel. Although the device is suitable to determine a fluid volume in the vessel, it is not suitable to expand it beyond the vessel limit and to determine it. In this case, too, the monitoring components that are used have to feature the pressure resistance of the vessel.
DE-PS 846 303 describes a float-controlled monitoring facility in particular for expansion vessels of heating or cooling installations, where a 3-way cock is arranged below the float vessel, using which the lowering of the liquid level in the expansion vessel can be controlled. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Fibre optic cables are presently used in such areas as voice and data transmission in the computer and communications industries. While fibre optic cables are very efficient optically for such uses, leading to low signal losses through the cables, one of the present drawbacks to their use is the complexity of the field termination, that is splicing of two free ends of fibre optic cable. It should be understood that two fibres to be connected must be very precisely aligned in an abutting manner, without the presence of such discontinuities as gaps and the like between the end faces of the two fibres. A gap between two end faces causes reflection of the incident light due to the mismatch of the index between the two compounds. That is, air is present within the gaps and rough surfaces which can cause the scattering of the light and attenuation of the signal. Thus, this is the difficulty which presents itself in the field, the preparation of optical fibres for their abutting connection without the use of precisely controllable equipment. Presently, two methods of field termination of plastic core fibre optic cables are utilized.
The first method is to provide a plastic ferrule for insertion of a free end of a fibre optic cable therethrough. The fibre optic cable is glued to the inner periphery of the ferrule and the end of the cable has to be ground down to provide a smooth abutting surface for a similar free end of a mating fibre cable. It should be appreciated that the grinding process is not an easy one to control while in the field without a controlled environment, such as a manufacturing facility where tolerances can be kept to a minimum by the use of high quality machine tools.
A second method is similar to the first method except, rather than grinding the free end of the fibre optic cable, a hot plate is provided by the end user where the hot plate is abutted the jagged edge of the free end to melt the free end of the fibre optic cable to provide a flat, smooth surface. This method is particularly difficult to carry out as the melting of the plastic fibre must be precisely controlled, otherwise the plastic fibre could be burnt, or damaged by a poorly aligned hot plate. Each of these methods is difficult to carry out in the field in that the surfaces of the fibre optic cables must be finished in a smooth manner and in a square manner relative to the length of the cable for abutment against a mating cable. As mentioned above, it is necessary for two abutting fibre optic cables to be as flush as possible to prevent an air gap between the two cables thereby presenting a difference in index of refraction between the two | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Ipomoea batatas is a member of the morning glory family Convolvulaceae. This species is grown worldwide and exhibits a range of plant forms and colors. The cultivated members of Ipomoea batatas grown by farmers are commonly produced for consumption of their enlarged storage roots. Such plants typically produce a fast growing green vine that has a wide variety of leaf shapes ranging from palmate and deeply lobed, to cordate or triangular shaped leaves with no lobes.
Ornamental sweetpotato plants, like their edible forms, are typically a heat-loving, drought-tolerant, perennial vine typically, grown as an annual. However, ornamental sweetpotato plants are distinguished from the edible cultivated forms in that they possess unique foliage colors, leaf shapes, and growth habits, which have significant value in the ornamental marketplace.
Ornamental sweetpotatoes are desirable in the landscape and ornamental industries because their foliage comes in a wide variety of colors (e.g. pale yellow to dark purple with some exhibiting temporal and individual leaf color variegation patterns) and plant shapes (e.g. mounded and very compact to prostrate and highly spreading). They can be grown in a potted plant and/or mixed planting format, and they have the ability to cover a large space or hang over walls and decorative pots creating brightly colored and textured backdrops in gardens and patios. Most ornamental sweetpotatoes grow and last the entire growing season and they require little maintenance. Moreover, these plants have few insect or disease problems.
Applicants desire to produce new cultivars of ornamental sweetpotato with new or improved foliage colors, variegation patterns, leaf shapes, and plant architectures. In addition, applicants believe it would be advantageous to develop cultivars of ornamental sweetpotato exhibiting a more compact growth that do not out-compete other species in mixed containers.
‘NCORNSP-013GNLC’ addresses at least one of the above mentioned needs.
Lineage. ‘NCORNSP-013GNLC’ (breeding designation NC6176-002ORN) originated from a conventional cross between the proprietary Ipomoea batatas breeding lines NC4263-006ORN (the female parent; not patented) and NC4691-004ORN (the male parent; not patented). Botanical seed was harvested from this and other ornamental sweetpotato clones planted in our winter greenhouse crossing block between September of 2007 and April of 2008 in Raleigh, N.C. NC4263-006ORN resulted from a conventional cross between the proprietary Ipomoea batatas breeding lines NC1928-001ORN (the female parent; not patented) and NC0953-036ORN (the male parent; not patented). NC4691-004ORN resulted from a cross between the proprietary Ipomoea batatas breeding lines NC2349-001ORN (the female parent; not patented) and NC3000-001ORN (the male parent; not patented). Botanical seed from this family were planted in the greenhouse in Spring 2008. The first cycle of selection on the population was exercised in the seedling trays and survivors were transferred to a single 6-inch pot, which was then maintained in the greenhouse. Cuttings (2 each) were taken from the plants in May and planted in the field as 2-plant unreplicated plots during early July 2008. The single, individual plant now known as ‘NCORNSP-013GNLC’ was selected Aug. 15, 2008 because of its combination of exceptional features, and has been propagated asexually in Raleigh, N.C. since that time.
Asexual Reproduction. Since its selection, ‘NCORNSP-013GNLC’ has been asexually reproduced in Raleigh, N.C. predominantly by vegetative propagation of vine cuttings. Successively, there have been three cycles of vegetative propagation, one cycle of tissue culture micropropagation, and multiple vegetative propagation cycles to increase the plant population. Asexual reproduction of ‘NCORNSP-013GNLC’ by cuttings has shown that the unique features of the new cultivar are stable and the plant reproduces true-to-type in successive generations. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Storing and safeguarding electronic content is of paramount importance in modern business. Accordingly, various systems may be employed to protect such electronic content. Data storage system are often compartmentalized into different tiers having different levels of performance, wherein data that is accessed less often is placed into a slower performance tier, while data that is accessed more often is placed into a higher performance tier. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to agitating vanes of an agitating device for agitating and mixing liquid or gas contained in a container in food processing industries and chemical industries or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional vanes are provided as flat plates laterally disposed in a predetermined angular spacing at an outer circumference of a rotary shaft or single-plated belt-like vanes radially projected at a hub of the rotary shaft and slanted in a rotational direction of the rotary shaft.
This known agitating vane had problems in that eddy currents or flows are generated at the rear portions of the circumferences of the flat plates during rotation of the rotary shaft and a shearing force may act against the liquid to damage microorganisms in the liquid due to breakage of air bubbles caused by the eddy flows. In addition, the agitating vane had problems in that eddy flows are generated at the upper surfaces of the rear ends of the single-plated vanes in a rotational direction during rotation of the agitating vanes as a result of which the liquid is peeled off along with the eddy flows, a circulating speed of the liquid is decreased due to such peeling-off and the agitating efficiency is decreased. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides a continuous electrochemical process for the preparation of zinc powder from zinc oxide.
2. Description of the Related Art
Zinc powder is widely used in the chemical industry in various industries. Zinc oxide containing other zinc salts, metal impurities, etc. is produced as a byproduct. Recycling of the zinc oxide to produce pure zinc powder is highly desirable from a cost as well as an environmental point of view.
The electrodeposition of zinc metal is a well-known reaction in electrochemical technology (See, for example, D. Pletcher and F. C. Walsh, Industrial Electrochemistry, Blackie Academic, 1993). The electrogalvanizing of steel is a process carried out on a very large scale and aqueous acid is the normal medium. High speed, reel to reel galvanizing of steel is carried out in sulfuric acid with dimensionally stable anodes and uniform deposition is achieved at high current density by inducing very efficient mass transport by rapid movement of the steel surface. The deposition of zinc metal is also the critical electrode reaction in the electrowinning and electrorefining of zinc. In addition, there are a number of technologies, which have been demonstrated for the removal of Zn(II) from effluents. However, in these technologies, concentration of Zn(II) is low, commonly less than 100 ppm. Finally, the deposition of zinc has been widely investigated as the cathodic reaction in candidate secondary batteries. In all these applications, however, the objective is to select the conditions so as to give an adhesive and smooth zinc coating.
Zinc powder can be produced by electrolysis either in strong alkaline or neutral zinc containing solutions. The first patents obtained on the alkaline electrolysis process date back to the early thirties (German Patents, 581013, 506590, 653557). In these methods, concentration of zinc was low (approximately 30 grams per liter) and a low current density of 1200-1500 amperes/sq. meter was used. Volume efficiency and current density of these batch type processes are too low to be industrially attractive. I. Orszagh and B. Vass (Hung. J. Ind. Chem., 13,(1985) 287) used these methods to recycle zinc oxide byproduct from zinc dithionite production. They, however, used a divided cell at a low current density (1000-3000 A/m2). Use of a divided cell and low current density makes this process significantly more capital intensive. In their study, no significant difference was observed at different sodium hydroxide concentrations.
For the recycling of zinc oxide containing waste by an alkaline electrolysis process to be industrially attractive, the alkaline electrolysis process needs to be improved to lower capital as well as operational expenses. Capital expenses can be significantly reduced by increasing the current density and by providing a process that is capable of being carried out in an undivided cell. Furthermore, electrolysis conditions need to be improved to achieve high volume efficiency and minimum corrosion of the electrodes. The present invention unexpectedly fulfills these and other needs.
One advantage of the present invention is that by providing a continuous process for the electrochemical reduction of zinc oxide (or any other zinc compound that reacts with an aqueous base to produce zinc oxide) to zinc powder, it provides for a very high volume efficiency, as solid zinc oxide (or the other zinc compound) is added continuously during the electrochemical process to maintain the concentration of zinc based species (such as Zn2+ ions). Furthermore, the use of high current density coupled with high volume efficiency makes the presently claimed process industrially attractive.
J. St-Pierre, D. L. Piron (Electrowinning of zinc from alkaline solutions at high current densities; J. Appl. Electrochem (1990), 20(1), 163-5), discloses experimental results conducted at a current density of about 2000 to 8000 A/m2 to obtain cell voltage and current efficiency data necessary for specific energy computations.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,958,210 discloses a method for electrowinning metallic zinc from zinc ion in aqueous solution, said method comprising performing electrolysis on a mixture of solid conductive particles and aqueous alkali solution, said solution ranging in concentration from about 3N to about 20N alkali and containing dissolved zinc ion at an initial concentration ranging from about 50 to about 500 grams of zinc ion per liter of said solution, in an electrolytic cell containing first and second vertically arranged, parallel flat plates defined as a current feeder and a counter electrode, respectively, said counter electrode coated with a substance that is catalytic for oxygen evolution, said cell further containing an ion-permeable diaphragm parallel to each of said plates and interposed therebetween to define a gap between said current feeder and said diaphragm, by passing said mixture of particles and solution through said gap such that said particles contact said current feeder and passing a current across said gap, thereby depositing metallic zinc from said solution onto said particles. The electrowinning process is disclosed to yield high current efficiency and low energy consumption. The process, however, is not industrially attractive for a large scale production of zinc powder because this process uses a relatively more complex cell, and a lower current density.
The present invention provides a continuous electrochemical process for preparing zinc powder, which comprises the steps of:
a) providing to an electrochemical cell a solution or suspension in an aqueous 1.25 Molar to 10.0 Molar base solution of zinc oxide or any other zinc compound that reacts with an aqueous base to produce zinc oxide, the solution or suspension containing at least 2 millimoles of solubilized zinc based species per 100 grams of electrolyte; and
b) passing current to the cell at a current density of about 500 to 40,000 A/m2, for a time period sufficient to electrochemically reduce the zinc based species to zinc powder, while continuously or intermittently adding a sufficient amount of the zinc oxide or the other zinc compound to the cell to maintain the concentration of the zinc based species at a level of at least 2 millimoles per 100 grams of electrolyte and continuously or intermittently removing at least a portion of the zinc powder formed;
wherein in steps a) and b), the electrolyte consists of the aqueous base solution and the zinc oxide or the other zinc compound, and the solubilized zinc species are derived from the zinc oxide or the other zinc compound.
The first step a) of the presently claimed electrochemical process for preparing zinc powder involves: providing to an electrochemical cell a solution or suspension in an aqueous 1.25 Molar to 10.0 Molar base solution of zinc oxide or any other zinc compound that reacts with an aqueous base to produce zinc oxide, the solution or suspension containing at least 2 millimoles of solubilized zinc based species per 100 grams of electrolyte.
As used herein, the phrase xe2x80x9czinc powderxe2x80x9d encompasses zinc metal particles of various particle sizes known to one of ordinary skill in the art and is not limited to fine particles.
The electrolytic cell employed in the present invention may be an undivided or divided cell, with the undivided cell being preferred. Use of an undivided cell requires lower capital. Furthermore, operational costs are also lower when an undivided cell is used. Therefore, it is important that the process be capable of being carried out in an undivided cell, if desired.
Since zinc powder formed at the cathode by the reduction reaction can react with the oxygen generated at the anode, cathodic and anodic chemistries are generally separated by some kind of a porous diaphragm which allows the current to pass, but suppresses mixing of anolyte and catholyte. Cells of this kind are called divided cells.
The design of the undivided cell is simpler and the cell voltage required to achieve the desired current density is lower because of the lower ohmic resistance. This means that the electrical cost is generally lower where an undivided cell is used. Furthermore, capital cost required with the undivided cell is significantly lower than the divided cell.
The anode may be made from any conventional suitable material such as platinum, or iridium, either of which may be coated over an inert support such as niobium or titanium. The anode may also be made of nickel, or from conventional materials having good alkali corrosion resistance, e.g., lead or stainless steel. The cathode may be made from any conventional suitable materials having good alkali corrosion resistance, such as magnesium nickel, lead and stainless steel. Preferably, the anode in the present invention is formed of stainless steel and the cathode is formed of stainless steel, magnesium, or magnesium alloy.
The solubilized zinc based species are obtained by dissolving zinc oxide, or the other zinc compound (such as zinc sulfate) in an aqueous 1.25 M to 10.0 M base solution, and in one embodiment 2.5 M to 5.0 M, and in one embodiment 5.0 to 10.0 M base solution. High concentration (preferably obtained from a saturated solution of, or a light slurry of zinc oxide) of the solubilized zinc based species in the electrolyte is maintained during the electrolysis by adding ZnO or the other zinc compound either continuously or intermittently during the electrolysis.
Examples of solubilized zinc based species include ZnO22xe2x88x92, HZnO21xe2x88x92, Zn(OH)+, and Zn2+. Zinc oxide is known to dissolve by reacting with water to form a variety of species (which includes ionic and neutral species) depending upon pH. Thus a solution of zinc oxide in alkaline solution may contain species such as ZnO22xe2x88x92, HZnO21xe2x88x92, Zn(OH)2, Zn(OH)+, and Zn2+. Therefore, solubilized zinc based species may comprise one or more of these species in the solution.
The concentration of solubilized zinc based species provided to the electrochemical cell is at least 2 millimoles (mmoles) per 100 grams (g) of electrolyte. The electrolyte comprises the aqueous 1.25 Molar to 10.0 Molar base solution and the zinc oxide or the other zinc compound. Preferably, the concentration of the solubilized zinc based species is at least 20 mmoles per 100 grams of electrolyte, and in one embodiment at least 30 mmoles per 100 grams of the electrolyte, and in one embodiment ranges from 2 to 120 mmoles per 100 grams of the electrolyte. By way of example, 2 weight percent of zinc oxide in the electrolyte corresponds approximately to 30 mmoles of solubilized zinc based species per 100 grams of the electrolyte. Also by way of example, 2 millimoles of zinc based species per 100 grams of electrolyte could be provided by dissolving 0.16 grams (0.002xc3x9781.37=0.16) of zinc oxide in 99.84 grams of the 1.25 M to 10.0 M aqueous base solution.
Concentration of the aqueous base solution (such as caustic solution) should be as high as possible because of the higher solubility of zinc oxide in more concentrated aqueous base solutions. In order to achieve high current density (which is a function of the concentration of the electroactive species such as zinc based species), high current efficiency, and high volume efficiency (i.e., high amount of zinc produced per volume unit of electrolyte) it is desirable to use the electrolytes containing high concentration of solubilized zinc based species. Because of the higher solubility of zinc oxide in stronger base solutions, higher concentration of solubilized zinc based species is achieved by using stronger base solutions. By maintaining a light suspension of zinc oxide during the electrolysis in the present invention, the concentrations of solubilized zinc based species during the electrochemical process can be kept as high as possible. However, the concentration of solubilized zinc based species can be increased by using a stronger initial base solution used for solubilizing zinc oxide. It is generally believed that a higher concentration of base solution is favorable for minimizing corrosion of the anode. However, it has been unexpectedly found that high concentration (such as concentration significantly higher than 10.0 M) of base (e.g., NaOH solution) solution causes an adverse effect on corrosion of the stainless steel anode and on the current efficiency of the process especially where electrolysis is carried out at high current densities (such as higher than 10,000 A/m2). This adverse effect is minimized by lowering the aqueous base concentration. The most preferred concentration of the aqueous base in the present invention is 3.0 to 5.0 M.
The aqueous base solutions employed in the process of the invention are prepared by combining water with a source of alkali metal or alkaline earth metal ions, such as lithium sodium and potassium, and a source of hydroxyl (OHxe2x88x92 ions). A single source may of course provide both types of ions. The various alkali or alkaline earth metal ions are preferably supplied from various compounds such as hydroxides and oxides. Preferred base solutions are sodium and potassium hydroxide solutions.
The solubility of zinc oxide in the aqueous base solution is limited, and depends on the temperature. The present invention envisions use of the zinc oxide at any range of concentrations in which it is soluble in the aqueous base solution. However, the concentration of the electroactive speciesxe2x80x94in this case solubilized zinc based speciesxe2x80x94is a major variable that determines the maximum feasible current density at which zinc is electrodeposited at maximum current efficiency. An excessive current density will generally lead to secondary reactions such as hydrogen evolution (with a potential for some safety problems). Thus, too low a concentration of zinc based species in the electrolyte at high current densities will lead to lower current efficiency and hence is undesirable from cost and safety considerations. Hence, in the present invention, a saturated solution or a light suspension of zinc oxide (or the other zinc compound that produces zinc oxide upon reaction with aqueous base) is maintained. In one embodiment, the zinc oxide or the other zinc compound which produces the zinc oxide is present in the aqueous base in an amount of 0.15 to 12 weight percent (wt.%) calculated at 90xc2x0 C., and in one embodiment from 1.5 to 6 wt. % calculated at 90xc2x0 C., based on the weight of the electrolyte. At 90xc2x0 C., a saturated solution of zinc oxide in 4.0 M NaOH contains 2 wt % of zinc oxide, based on the total weight of the electrolyte.
The second step b) of the presently claimed invention involves passing current to the cell at a current density of 500 to 40,000 amps per square meter A/m2, preferably 1,000 to 40,000 A/m2, and in one embodiment from 1000 to 5,000, in one embodiment, 10,000 to 20,000, in one embodiment 20,000 to 30,000, and in one embodiment, 30,000 to 40,000 A/m2, and in one embodiment 10,000 to 40,000 A/m2, for a time period sufficient to electrochemically reduce the solubilized zinc based species to zinc powder. Since the present process is a continuous process, while current is passed to the cell, a sufficient amount of zinc oxide or the other zinc compound is added to the cell continuously or intermittently to maintain the concentration of the solubilized zinc based species at a level of at least 2 mmoles of solubilized zinc based species per 100 grams of the electrolyte. Also, while current is passed to the cell, at least a portion of the zinc powder formed is removed continuously or intermittently.
While the present invention is not limited in scope by current efficiency considerations, in one embodiment, the present electrochemical process has a current efficiency of at least 70% (i.e., current efficiency of 70-100%), and in one embodiment at least 80%, and in one embodiment at least 90%. As used herein, the phrase xe2x80x9ccurrent efficiencyxe2x80x9d is the ratio, generally expressed as a percentage, of the actual zinc deposition rate to the rate which would be achieved if all of the current passing through the cell were consumed by reduction of zinc ion. The current efficiencies in zinc electrowinning cells are typically less than 100% because of the concurrent reduction of water to hydrogen gas, competing with the reduction of the solubilized zinc based species (e.g., from zinc oxide) to zinc metal at the cathode.
For electrolysis, temperatures higher than ambient are generally desired because of the beneficial effects on the kinetics of all steps in an electrode process. At higher temperatures, the diffusion coefficient, the exchange current density and the rates of chemical reactions generally are increased. The decrease in viscosity and increase in diffusion coefficient leads to the increased mass transport rates. This increased mass transport of zinc species from the bulk of the solution to the cathodic region is highly desirable. However, increase in the rate of chemical reaction such as the oxidation of zinc produced with oxygen and mass transport of the byproduct oxygen to the bulk of the solution may not be desirable. In the present invention, higher than ambient temperatures are found to be favorable for the electrolytic reduction of zinc oxide to zinc, and are thus preferred.
Thus, in one embodiment, the presently claimed electrochemical reduction process is conducted at a temperature of from 30xc2x0 C. to 120xc2x0 C., preferably from 50xc2x0 C. to 110xc2x0 C., and more preferably from 70xc2x0 C. to 100xc2x0 C.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the electrochemical process is substantially free of electrode corrosion. As used herein, the phrase xe2x80x9csubstantially free of electrode corrosionxe2x80x9d encompasses corrosion levels, expressed as milligrams of electrode metal lost to corrosion/mole of electrons passed of 100 or less (i.e. xe2x89xa6100 mg/mole of electrons). In one embodiment, the corrosion levels are less than or equal to 50 mg/mole of electrons, and in one embodiment less than or equal to 40, 30, 20, 10, and 5 mg/mole of electrons. Methods for measuring corrosion levels will be known to one of ordinary skill in the art. In one embodiment, as in the present invention, it is measured by analysis of the recovered zinc powder for iron ion concentration by atomic absorption spectroscopy or inductively coupled plasma, as iron lost by corrosion is insoluble in the aqueous base solutions of the present invention.
The following specific examples will provide detailed illustrations of the methods of producing and utilizing compositions of the present invention. These examples are not intended, however, to limit or restrict the scope of the invention in any way and should not be construed as providing conditions, parameters or values which must be utilized exclusively in order to practice the present invention. Unless otherwise specified, all parts and percents are by weight. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Various ways have been attempted to prevent loss of articles such as billfolds to pickpockets but these prior devices have not proved satisfactory and have been cumbersome and unwieldy and not effective. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a brake control system for a vehicle, which is adapted to increase the braking force applied to wheels automatically, if necessary, when a brake pedal is depressed.
2. Description of the Related Arts
According to a known brake-assist control system, in the case where a vehicle driver depressed a brake pedal rapidly or deeply when driving the vehicle, the braking force applied to each wheel is increased so as to assist the driver to apply the braking force to the wheel. The conventional brake-assist control system is usually adapted to control a boosting power of a vacuum booster. For example, a Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No.8-230634 discloses a system for performing a brake-assist control by means of a hydraulic pressure pump for use in an anti-skid control system. In that publication, a method and apparatus for controlling the anti-lock control system or a traction control system are proposed to save the power of the vacuum booster fully or partially. Also, in that publication, a dual hydraulic pressure circuit system is employed between a master cylinder and wheel brake cylinders, and a return pump is disposed in a passage in each hydraulic pressure circuit, while other structure is not clear, due to its insufficient description.
According to the brake system which divides the hydraulic pressure circuit between the master cylinder and the wheel brake cylinder into two hydraulic pressure circuits, and disposes the pressure pump in each circuit to be used as an auxiliary pressure source, the hydraulic braking pressure in each circuit is varied, because the characteristic of one of the pumps is different from that of the other pump. Therefore, especially in the diagonal hydraulic pressure circuit (X-circuit), the braking forces applied to the left and right wheels are different from each other, so that the stability of the vehicle might be deteriorated. In order to solve this problem, an input valve and an output valve as disclosed in that publication may be controlled with respect to each wheel. However, those valves are to be controlled so as to reduce the variation of the auxiliary pressure in addition to the control of the input valves and output valves used in the anti-lock control, so that noise caused in controlling the operation of those valves shall not be neglected. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present disclosure relates to a multibubble injection type DAF (Dissolved Air Flotation) water treatment apparatus, and more particularly, to a multibubble injection type DAF (Dissolved Air Flotation) water treatment apparatus which supplies fine bubbles injected through injection of saturated water to a lower area of a separation zone as well as a lower area of a contact zone of a flotation basin, thereby improving removal efficiency of flocs.
In general, a water treatment apparatus is an apparatus which produces fresh water using seawater to utilize the fresh water as water for living, eating or industrial use or properly treat raw water to purify waste water. Such a water treatment apparatus includes a device for removing foreign matters mixed in raw water.
As a unit process for removing foreign matters, there is DAF (Dissolved Air Flotation). The dissolved air flotation is a widely applied technology for various water treatment and sewage treatment processes or a pretreatment process for seawater desalination facilities. The dissolved air flotation is a technology of putting a coagulant, an aid coagulant, a pH regulator and so on in feed water to be treated in order to coagulate suspended particles, which is difficult to be removed through precipitation, such as alga and organic compounds, contained in feed water, injecting micro bubbles into the coagulated matters to combine the micro bubbles with the suspended particles, and floating and removing the suspended particles. In general, a DAF water treatment apparatus includes a mixing and coagulation basin (or a mixing basin), a flocculation basin and a flotation basin, and the flotation basin is divided into a contact zone and a separation zone.
Referring to FIG. 1, a related DAF water treatment apparatus will be described. First, when a coagulant is inserted into feed water to flocculate suspended particles of low density, which is contained in the feed water, in a mixing and coagulation basin 1.
“Floc” means a large mass that fine particles, such as suspended solids, organic matters and inorganic matters, contained in the raw water are flocculated by the coagulant, and generally means a collected thing formed by flocculation of particles of 0.1 μm or more. Flocs of a small size or density which cannot be removed through filtration or precipitation are floated onto the surface of water to be removed using the dissolved air flotation water treatment apparatus.
The flocs generated and grown up in the mixing and coagulation basin 1 flow into a flotation basin located at a rear end. The flocs flown into a contact zone 2 are floated to the surface of water by colliding and combining with fine bubbles injected from a lower part of the contact zone 2, and then, are removed through a scum removal device in a separation zone 3. In connection with the summary of the dissolved air flotation apparatus, please refer to FIG. 1 of U. S. Patent Publication No. 2012-0193294 entitled ‘Dissolved gas flotation pressure reduction nozzle’ published on Aug. 2, 2012.
The related DAF water treatment apparatus separates some of treated water which is an end product by a pipe and supplies compressed air of 4 to 7 bars to saturate the treated water. So, a rapid drop of pressure occurs, and then, micro bubbles are supplied to the contact zone 2 through a nozzle 4 mounted at the lower part of the contact zone 2.
In the meantime, formation and growing of the flocs in the mixing and coagulation basin 1 are influenced by raw water conditions, such as seawater temperature, polluted states and the containing degree of suspended matters, and coagulation conditions, such as stirring intensity, residence time and amounts of added chemicals. Accordingly, the flocs cannot perfectly develop in the mixing and coagulation basin 1, and hence, fine flocs are formed and cannot float properly or grow up into large flocs inside the separation zone 3 located at the downstream of the contact zone 2.
Because all of recycle flows in which compressed air is saturated are supplied only to the contact zone 2, the flocs which grow too late at the downstream of the mixing and coagulation basin 1 do not have a sufficient opportunity to come into contact with the micro bubbles and flow into the rear end of the system. Therefore, the related dissolved air flotation system has a disadvantage in that quality of the treated water is deteriorated and it has influences on the following processes. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same. More particularly, it relates to a semiconductor device in which a MOS transistor is formed on an SOI substrate or a multilayer SOI substrate, and a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the density of integration of a large-scale integrated circuit has been heightening rapidly. Consequently, the gate lengths of MOS transistors mounted in MOS type integrated circuits have become 0.2 μm or less at the level of practical use and have reached 0.05 μm at the level of researches. In order to realize a high performance and a long-term reliability in such micro MOS transistors, the structure of a MOS transistor must be optimized considering various factors.
In order to realize a still higher density of integration in a MOS type integrated circuit, the size of the whole MOS transistor must be made still smaller. Moreover, even when the size of the MOS transistor is made smaller, the gate length thereof needs to be shortened lest such a basic performance as current driving capability should degrade.
However, when the gate length is shortened, a phenomenon called “short channel effect” occurs conspicuously. Here, the “short channel effect” is the phenomenon that, as the gate length decreases, the threshold voltage and source/drain withstand voltage of the transistor lower and a subthreshold coefficient increases.
A method wherein the impurity concentration of a channel portion is increased with decrease in the gate length, is usually employed with the intention of suppressing such a short channel effect to incarnate a transistor of good characteristics.
However, when a micro MOS transistor is fabricated on the basis of such general principles, the capacitance of a pn junction formed between the drain of the MOS transistor and the substrate of the MOS type integrated circuit increases, and hence, a time period expended on the charge/discharge of a parasitic capacitance increases to lower the speed of a circuit operation.
Hitherto, micrifying transistors (optimizing the structures thereof) has been done while these difficult problems have been solved in well-balanced fashion. It is very difficult, however, to further micrify transistors and to heighten the density of integration of an integrated circuit by solving the problems of manufactural technology such as microfabrication techniques, design technology for an integrated circuit system as well as a complicated circuit, and so forth.
Meanwhile, a method wherein transistors are formed on an SOI substrate has been proposed.
In general, the transistors fabricated on the SOI substrate are structurally classified into the two types of “complete depletion type” and “partial depletion type”. When the concentration of an impurity to be introduced into the silicon layer of a channel portion in NMOS/SOI or PMOS/SOI and the thickness of this silicon layer have been determined, the relationship in magnitude between the maximum value of the width of a depletion layer (the maximum depletion-layer width), which is predominated by the impurity concentration and the thickness of the silicon layer of the channel portion is determined. That is, the transistor in which the maximum depletion-layer width is larger than the thickness of the silicon layer of the channel portion is called “complete depletion type SOI transistor”, while the transistor in which the maximum depletion-layer width is smaller than the thickness of the silicon layer of the channel portion is called “partial depletion type SOI transistor”.
However, in a case where an integrated circuit employing the SOI substrate is operated with a very low voltage of, for example, 1 V or below, it involves the problem that a leakage current in a standby mode enlarges and that a consumption current increases in the standby mode.
In this regard, body contact SOI of four terminals has been proposed in order to solve the problem (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10(1998)-141487).
As shown in FIG. 10 of the accompanying drawings, the body contact SOI is intended to dynamically change threshold voltages in such a way that a P-type well 82 and an N-type well 83, which are formed in the semiconductor layer 81 of an SOI substrate 80, are fully isolated by an element isolation region 84, and that the P-type well 82 and N-type well 83 are respectively controlled by bias voltages applied to well contacts 85 and 86.
With this method, however, the contact for affording an electric potential needs to be led out directly from the P-type well 82 of the semiconductor layer 81, and inevitably the semiconductor layer 81 needs to be thickened, so that a channel region becomes partially depleted. Moreover, since the contacts are led out directly from the wells of low impurity concentrations, well resistances are influential in relation to the distances between contact portions and transistors, and a substrate voltage is not uniformly applied, resulting in the problem that the threshold voltages become discrepant in the respective transistors contrariwise.
Proposed as another method is one wherein, as shown in FIG. 11, high-concentration impurity layers are formed in parts of the surface of a P-type silicon substrate which is a support substrate. More specifically, this method constructs a CMOS circuit wherein a high-concentration P-type region 89 is arranged in the vicinity of that interface between the support substrate 88 and a buried oxide film 87 which corresponds to the channel of an NMOS transistor, while an N-well 90 is arranged in the surface part of the support substrate 88 underlying a PMOS transistor, and a high-concentration N-type region 91 is disposed in the vicinity of that interface between the support substrate 88 and the buried oxide film 87 which corresponds to the channel of the PMOS transistor (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 8(1996)-32040, and Proceeding 1995 IEEE International SOI Conference 14p, October 1995).
In this semiconductor device, a depletion layer on the side of the support substrate 88 as is formed by the rise of a drain voltage can be restrained from spreading up to the lower parts of channel regions. Therefore, the parameters, such as threshold voltages and mobilities in channel, of the complete depletion type SOI transistors are stabilized, and the operating speed of the circuit can be raised.
In the semiconductor device, however, merely the N-well 90 is fixed at a supply voltage, and the threshold voltage of the transistor is not controlled by positively changing the voltage of the well. It is accordingly difficult to lower a leakage in a standby mode and a consequent consumption current in the standby mode.
Further, a semiconductor device wherein, as shown in each of FIGS. 12(a) to 12(d), a plus voltage or/and a minus voltage is/are directly applied to the back surface of a support substrate 92, thereby to control threshold voltages, has been proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10(1998)-125925.
Since, however, an applied voltage to a well 93a or 93b is limited within the range of the reverse withstand voltage of a pn junction in the support substrate 92, the semiconductor device has the problem that the applied voltage is little versatile. Besides, a contact must be led out onto the side of a front-surface semiconductor layer in order to apply the voltage to the well, and this remains as a problem from the viewpoint of micrifying the semiconductor device. Further, it is not practical that, as shown in each of FIGS. 12(c) and 12(d), both the plus and minus voltages are applied directly to the support substrate 92 without forming any well. Moreover, the semiconductor device in each of FIGS. 12(a) to 12(d) consists in that a higher operating speed is attained by lowering the parasitic capacitance of SOI transistors, and that a body voltage is controlled so as to accumulate large numbers of carriers in the regions of the front-surface silicon layer underlying the body, thereby to control the threshold voltages and to suppress a floating body effect. That is, the semiconductor device is not intended to change a bias voltage between in the operating state and the standby state of a semiconductor circuit.
Also proposed is a structure wherein, as shown in FIG. 13, a threshold voltage is set low by employing a dual SOI structure which consists of a first insulating layer 94, a first semiconductor layer 95, a second insulating layer 96 and a second semiconductor layer 97 (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 8(1996)-222705).
In this semiconductor device, however, the back surface of the substrate is covered with an insulating film, no means is provided for controlling the threshold voltage, and merely a substrate bias effect is relieved to stabilize the threshold voltage. It is impossible to lower the leakage current of a transistor in the standby mode thereof and consequently the consumption current of the transistor in the standby mode thereof.
As thus far explained, even in the conventional semiconductor integrated circuit employing the SOI transistors, the parasitic capacitance have existed between the source/drain regions and the lower parts of the channel regions, and they have formed the cause for hindering the attainment of a higher operating speed. Besides, in the conventional SOI transistors, there has been known the method of controlling the threshold voltages and suppressing the floating body effect by controlling the body potential, but the method has had the problem that a satisfactory effect is not attained because of the various causes. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates to an optical information recording medium, such as a magneto-optical disk, which is used for recording information by an irradiation of a laser beam.
Various optical information recording media of the type are already known. For example, an optical information recording medium is disclosed by Sakuya Tamada and five others in Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 28 (1989), Supplement 28-3, pp. 67-70, under the title of "Design Concept of Magneto-Optical Disk". Another optical information recording medium is disclosed by Goro Fujita and three others in Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 28 (1989), Supplement 28-3, pp. 329-333, under the title of "A Magneto-Optical Recording Method of Magnetic Field Modulation with Pulsed Laser Irradiation".
In the manner which will later be described more in detail, a conventional optical information recording medium comprises a substrate and a single magneto-optical layer coupled to the substrate for recording the information. The substrate is made of polycarbonate and therefore is transparent for the laser beam. The magneto-optical layer is made of ferri-magnetic amorphous alloy which is composed of iron series transition metals and rare-earth transition metal.
For carrying out a recording operation of the information, various methods are already known. A particular one of the methods is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-48806 by Mimura et al. In the particular method, the laser beam is irradiated to the substrate with the magneto-optical layer subjected to a particular magnetic field representative of the information. In this event, the particular magnetic field has a polarity which is controlled to indicate the information. The laser beam is focused on the magneto-optical layer through the substrate. As a result, the information is recorded as recorded information in a particular portion of the magneto-optical layer in the manner known in the art. The particular method will be called hereunder a magnetic field modulation method.
With the magnetic field modulation method, it is possible to record different information in the particular portion of the magneto-optical layer without carrying out a deleting operation which is for deleting the recorded information from the particular portion. However, it is advantageous that a recording and reading characteristic is insufficient for practical use. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to a solid golf ball.
Two-piece solid golf balls having two-layer construction which comprises a core and a cover are the most popular up to now. It is true that the two-piece balls have an advantage over wound balls in cut resistance, but it is hard to spin the balls, get hopped ballistic trajectory in a driver shot and stop the ball on the green in case of a short iron. It is considered that these faults result from the large moment of inertia, and the slipperiness on a club face because of the small area of contact of the ball with the club face owing to a hard cover, namely low deformation at impact.
It is a primary object of the present invention to eliminate such faults.
This and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the description hereinafter. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The invention relates to a method for adjusting a mirror for a motor vehicle, and to a device for adjusting a mirror for a motor vehicle.
A method for automatic mirror orientation in the case of a vehicle is known from DE 10 2005 030 968 A1. In that case, a method is disclosed which provides automatic orientation of a mirror in the case of a vehicle, by a viewing direction of a driver being evaluated. In conjunction with an evaluation of a mirror plane over a period of time, the corresponding mirror is then electrically dynamically adjusted. However, since the orientation of the mirrors in a vehicle is highly individual and thus perceived differently by each driver, a fully automatic orientation of the mirrors cannot ensure every desired and thus optimum orientation. Consequently, until now, adjustments which are not perceived as optimum have been made. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Some large format printers include a window that allows the user to see the print zone or other areas inside the printer housing. Often these windows are connected to the housing with hinges so the window can be opened to access components inside the printer housing.
The same part numbers designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
In recent years, with the drastic increase in the communication traffic due to the prevailing of Internet, the communication is now being replaced to optical communication by which data transmission in with large capacity can be attained at a high speed from the conventional communication using metal wiring with which the information amount in communication is limited. Optical communication has advantages over the conventional communication through electric wiring in that broadband is available and that it is not influenced by noise. As examples of optical communication, Japanese communication makers are now constructing FTTH (fiber to the home) network in which quartz-based optical fibers reach homes, and European automobile companies are now developing MOSTCO (The Media Oriented Systems Transport Corporation) which is a standard of on-vehicle LAN using plastic optical fibers. In addition to this long distance to middle distance communications, for the middle to short distance communications, the inter-apparatus and intra-apparatus interconnections between domestic computers, electronic switching systems and the like are also now replaced to optical interconnections using optical fibers or sheet-like optical waveguides from the present communications using wire harness. Above all, as a material for the optical interconnection between boards, in a board, between chips and in a chip, flexible polymer optical waveguides made into a resin film are now gathering hope.
In such a trend to proceed optical wirings, polymer optical waveguides and plastic optical fiber sheets which are inexpensive and have good ease of handling, not the quartz-based single mode optical fibers which are expensive and have poor ease of handling, are drawing attention. For example, a method for producing an optical waveguide sheet by compression molding of a laminate in which a core sheet is sandwiched between a pair of cladding sheets has been proposed (JP 2001-281484 A). However, by such a method, the core layer and the cladding layers deform to constitute waveguides, and since stress or orientation is suffered among the molecules at the deformed site and vicinity thereof, anisotropy of refractive index is generated, so that dispersion of the propagating light is large, and information transmission with a high density is likely to be difficult, which is problematic. Further, since the core layer is continuous in directions other than the direction of travel of light, light is likely to leak.
A method for obtaining an flexible embedded type optical waveguide has also been proposed wherein on a Cu—Si substrate, 1) a under-cladding layer and a core layer are formed successively; 2) cores serving as waveguides are formed by photolithography and dry etching; 3) the resultant is covered with a upper-cladding layer; and 4) the substrate is peeled off (JP 08-304650 A). In this case, since the optical loss is reduced to some degree when compared with the former, since a vacuum process, spin coat, photolithography, dry etching and the like are necessary, only a batch process can be employed, so that the cost is high, which is problematic. Moreover, it is difficult to obtain a film having a long size or a large area. Further, it is difficult to form cores whose cross-sectional shape is one other than rectangular, the optical loss is high when compared with the circular or oval cores. Still further, since the core layer is formed by the spin coat method, there are cases where the optical loss due to the roughness of the interface is in an unacceptable level. In addition thereto, a method wherein selective polymerization, reactive ion etching (RIE) and photolithography are combined (JP 2004-206016 A), direct exposure method (JP 2003-185860 A), a method based on injection molding (JP 2003-172841 A), and photo-bleaching method (JP 2004-012635 A) and the like are known. However, any of these methods has a problem in that the number of steps is too many, so that the production time is long, production cost is high, and production yield is low. Further, since the cores and cladding constituting the polymer optical waveguides are formed by utilizing a reaction phenomenon of photo or thermal hardening resin, it is also difficult to produce a film having a large surface area and long size.
On the other hand, as a production method of a plastic optical fiber sheet (also called fiber ribbon), a method is known wherein a plurality of optical fibers are passed through guide rings arrayed at prescribed intervals and unifying the resultant with an adhesive (JP 60-178405 A). As a method for producing sheet-like lightguides in which the peripheries of the composites serving as lightguides are fused and covered with a resin or the like, a method of using a die has also been proposed wherein each of the fiber arrays is molded in a batch (JP 04-043304 A). However, by the former production process of optical fiber sheet, it is difficult to accurately position and array the optical fibers, so that the production yield and high cost are problematic. On the other hand, by the latter production process, there is a problem in that it is difficult to array the cores keeping the shape of all of the cores in the transverse direction of the film, and the variation in the shape of the obtained core is large. There is also a problem in that since a fluorine-containing resin is used in a large amount for forming the cladding walls connecting between core and adjacent core, the cost is high, and the low self-supporting property of the fluorine-containing resin itself is also problematic. That is, there is a problem in that since it is difficult to keep the state wherein the cores are arrayed linearly and uniformly in the transverse direction of the film (since it is difficult to adjust the position of the cores), optical interconnection is difficult.
On the other hand, the present inventors have proposed an optical waveguide film in which a plurality of cores is arrayed by using a melt extrusion process (JP 2004-205834 A). By this method, although an optical waveguide film with which the loss is low and which has a large area and long size is easily obtained, there is a task to reduce the variation in the optical waveguide performances among the cores. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
There is today in the petroleum industry a steadily increasing demand for high quality middle distillate products boiling in the range of about 300.degree.-700.degree. F. Such products include for example aviation turbine fuels, diesel fuels, heating oils, solvents and the like. To satisfy the demand for these products, it has recently become desirable to supplement the older refinery procedures of distillation and catalytic cracking with catalytic hydrocracking.
The industrial development of catalytic hydrocracking over the past 15-20 years has been aimed primarily at the production of lower boiling products such as gasoline, and highly active catalysts have been developed for that purpose. These catalysts usually comprise a highly acidic cracking base such as a hydrogen Y zeolite or silica-alumina cogel, upon which is deposited a suitable hydrogenation metal component. In attempting to utilize these catalysts for the conversion of heavy oils boiling above about 700.degree. F to middle distillate products, it was found that selectivity was a major problem. Under hydrocracking conditions sufficiently severe to give economical conversions per pass, a large proportion of the feed was converted to products boiling below about 400.degree. F. Improved yields of middle distillate products could be achieved by operating at lower temperatures, but this entailed the uneconomical alternatives of operating at very low space velocities and/or low conversions per pass. It became apparent that some modification of the strength of the acidic cracking sites would be needed.
Since conventional hydrofining catalysts such as cobalt molybdate supported on alumina were known to display some moderate cracking activity, attempts were made to utilize such catalysts under hydrocracking conditions to obtain a more selective conversion of heavy feeds to middle distillate products. Improved selectivity was obtained, but only by resorting to the uneconomical alternatives of operating at very low space velocities and/or at high temperatures entailing short run lengths. The cracking activity of such catalysts was insufficient to provide a commercially feasible process in situations where maximum middle distillate yields were required.
Various attempts were made to increase the cracking activity of such hydrofining catalysts without sacrificing selectivity. One such attempt is described in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,853,742, in which minor proportions of certain zeolite cracking bases were incorporated into the catalyst. Improved activity was obtained, but at considerable sacrifice of selectivity. Another such attempt is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,306,843, wherein various proportions of silica gel ranging between about 5 and 70% were incorporated into the catalyst in order to improve cracking activity. Here again, improved activity was obtained only at the expense of drastic losses in selectivity, as indicated by the following data from Example VI of said patent:
______________________________________ Hydrocracking Heavy Gas Oil [Charge: Kuwait Vacuum Gas Oil (20.7.degree. API, 3.2% S, 970 p.p.m. N). Conditions: 800.degree. F., 2,000 p.s.i.g., 1.0 LSHV, and 10,000 s.c.f. H.sub.2 /bbl. Catalyst: 6% Ni, 19% W, 2% F.] ______________________________________ Percentage of Total (SiO.sub.2 + Al.sub.2 O.sub.3): Percent SiO.sub.2 5 10 30 70 Percent Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 95 90 70 30 Activity, percent by vol. off at .degree. F. ASTM: 400 16 23 45 83 675 67 81 92 100 (+) ##STR1## 2.82 1.58 0.91 (1) ______________________________________ (1) Unavailable. Estimated to be approximately 0.20.
At this stage in the development of the art, it appeared that activity and selectivity of hydrocracking catalysts were inherently inversely related to each other; the one could be maximized only by substantially sacrificing the other. The present invention is based upon my discovery of a mode in which silica gel can be incorporated into conventional alumina-based hydrofining catalysts to achieve a substantial increase in overall activity, but with substantially no decrease in selectivity. Insofar as I am aware, in the prior art silica was always incorporated into the catalysts a a homogeneous cogel with the alumina base. According to my invention, silica is heterogeneously dispersed in the alumina base, in the form of a silica-rich, silica-alumina cogel or graft copolymer. The alumina base thus provides a "matrix" in which the finely divided silica-alumina composite is dispersed. In this form, the dispersed silica-alumina provides the desired increase in cracking activity, but apparently some moderating effect of the alumina matrix in close association therewith preserves the original selectivity. The final catalysts, containing a minor proportion of active metal component comprising molybdenum and/or tungsten plus nickel and/or cobalt, not only display a desired increase in activity with no significant loss in selectivity, but are very effective for the hydrodecomposition of organic sulfer and nitrogen compounds in the feed. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Modern consumer electronics, such as smart phones, personal digital assistants, and location based services devices, as well as enterprise electronics, such as servers and storage arrays, are packing more integrated circuits into an ever shrinking physical space with expectations for decreasing cost. Every new generation of integrated circuits with increased operating frequency, performance and the higher level of large scale integration have underscored the need for back-end semiconductor manufacturing to provide more solutions involving the integrated circuit itself. Numerous technologies have been developed to meet these requirements. Some of the research and development strategies focus on new package technologies while others focus on improving the existing and mature package technologies. Both approaches may include additional processing of the integrated circuits to better match the targeted package.
The continued emphasis in the semiconductor technology is to create improved performance semiconductor devices at competitive prices. This emphasis over the years has resulted in extreme miniaturization of semiconductor devices, made possible by continued advances of semiconductor processes and materials in combination with new and sophisticated device designs. Numerous integrated circuit designs are aimed for mixed-signal designs by incorporating analog functions. One of the major challenges in the creation of analog processing circuitry (using digital processing procedures and equipment) is that a number of the components that are used for analog circuitry are large in size and are therefore not readily integrated into integrated circuits. The main components that offer a challenge in this respect are capacitors and inductors, since both these components are, for typical analog processing circuits, of considerable size. In response to the demands for improved package performance and analog circuitry integration, packaging manufacturers may prepare the integrated circuit for packaging as well as provide analog circuitry integration onto the integrated circuit.
With the rapid migration of on-chip interconnect from aluminum (Al) to copper (Cu), the demand for off-chip interconnects is increasing. The conventional gold wire bonding technologies are facing challenges with bare copper pads because pad oxidation inhibits a mature bonding process.
With the increase in integration and shrinking geometries, has come a massive increase in frequencies that the integrated circuit must deal with. Many of the latest digital circuits require a phase lock loop (PLL) to stay synchronized with other signaling devices. The discrete analog components, required for some of the higher frequencies, are extremely large when compared to the digital logic that they support. In order to satisfy the demand for these necessary components, semiconductor technologies have added additional layers and special processing that increase cost and reduce the overall yield.
Thus, a need still remains for an integrated circuit package system with post-passivation interconnection and integration providing low cost manufacturing, improved yields, reduce the integrated circuit package dimensions, and provide flexible connectivity and integration configurations. In view of the ever-increasing need to save costs and improve efficiencies, it is more and more critical that answers be found to these problems.
In view of the ever-increasing commercial competitive pressures, along with growing consumer expectations and the diminishing opportunities for meaningful product differentiation in the marketplace, it is critical that answers be found for these problems. Additionally, the need to save costs, improve efficiencies and performance, and meet competitive pressures, adds an even greater urgency to the critical necessity for finding answers to these problems.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to a magnet device, for instance, a magnet device used for magnetic resonance imaging apparatus because of its formation of a static magnetic field space between main coils in a pair positioned facing each other.
Magnetic resonance imaging apparatus uses nuclear magnetic resonance phenomena taking place when a test object (examinee) placed in a static magnetic field space is emitted a high-frequency pulse and thus can obtain images representing the physical and chemical properties of the test object. Accordingly, the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus are now in use particularly for medical purposes. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus (hereinafter MRI apparatus) are in general made up chiefly of a magnet device for working as a magnetic field generation source for applying a static magnetic field within the imaging region where the test object is carried to, an RF coil for emitting high-frequency pulses toward the imaging region, a receiving coil for receiving responses from the imaging region and a gradient magnetic field coil for applying a gradient magnetic field for giving positional information on resonance phenomena in the imaging region.
To enhance the image quality of an MRI apparatus, it is demanded to increase the homogeneity of magnetic field in the imaging space. For instance, in the magnet device of the MRI apparatus, the entrance to the imaging region of external magnetic flux caused by another magnetic field generation source impairs the homogeneity of the magnetic field. This necessitates the warding-off of the external magnetic flux.
To ward off such external magnetic flux, a magnet device of the style in which a cylindrical magnet has horizontally directed magnetic fields generating in it has been treated with various solutions. For instance, in EP0299325B1 describes an external magnetic flux warding-off method in which a bridge cable is used to short-circuit the coil generating a magnetic field in the same direction as the static magnetic field and the coil generating a magnetic field in the opposite direction as the static magnetic field. JP3447090B describes an external magnetic flux warding-off performance optimizing method in which a bridge cable is used to tap in the middle of the coil winding for short-circuiting. But it is not easy to manufacture a magnet so constructed that a coil series, particularly, windings are tapped using a bridge cable.
On the other hand, U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,735 and JP2001-196219A describe an external magnetic flux warding-off method in which a main coil for working as a magnetic field generation source is provided with a shielding coil to ward off external magnetic flux. U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,735 describes a method in which a magnet device has a solenoid-shaped shielding coil built into it. JP2001-196219A describes a construction in which a cylindrical shielding coil is placed coaxially to a main coil, sharing a persistent current switch control power source with the main coil. These methods pose a problem in that a magnet device tends to have undesirably long axial length. For this reason, U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,266 describes a method in which a main coil have a shielding coil with desirably few turns of winding placed in its vicinity and connected in series so that both of them can generate magnetic fields in the same direction. JP3043494B describes a method in which a plurality of shielding coil different in radius are built in. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Energy consumption is an importance index for a dishwasher, especially the heating energy consumption. A conventional heat pump may meet certain heating requirements during a heating process, however, has relatively low heating efficiency. The energy consumption of the conventional heat pump may be extremely large when being heated to a predetermined temperature, and therefore the total energy consumption of the dishwasher is relatively large. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic transmission for an automobile and more particularly to a hydraulic control apparatus of an automatic transmission.
2. Prior Arts
Generally, in automatic transmissions for automobiles, gear ratios are automatically selected according to vehicle operating conditions such as engine load, vehicle speeds and the like and those gear ratios are obtained by selectively engaging friction elements such as clutches and brakes in automatic transmissions. In case of the automatic transmission employing a planetary gear for the transmission gear, the frictional engaging elements are composed of hydraulically controlled multiple disc clutches and hydraulic brakes.
The control of these friction elements is a key technology of the automatic transmission and many techniques have been proposed. Among them, Japanese Patent Application Lid-open (Unexamined Publication) No. Toku-Kai Hei. 7-269685, which has been proposed from the inventor of the present invention, discloses a so-called direct shift control method using pressure control valves provided in respective friction elements.
In the prior art, an electromagnetic type pressure control valve operated on forward running is provided on the friction elements, respectively and each of these pressure control valves performs a shift control based on an independent transient hydraulic characteristic so as to alleviate a shift shock and at the same time to shorten a shift time.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Toku-Kai-Hei 7-269685 proposes a hydraulic control apparatus having two fail-safe valves for automatically avoiding such a hazardous condition as both low and reverse brake and overdrive clutch are simultaneously engaged when the gear is engaged in a first gear at "D" range.
However, the electromagnetic type pressure control valve is complicated in construction and therefore high in manufacturing cost. Furthermore, since one electromagnetic type pressure control valve must be provided for each of the frictional engaging elements, not only the total cost becomes high, but also the size of the apparatus increases.
Further, thefail-safevalvesproposedin Toku-Kai-Hei 7-269685 makes the hydraulic control system more complicated and increases the size and cost of the apparatus. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) had defined a protocol for the evolution of the North American 9-1-1 system, and is addressing the challenge with a system design called “Next Generation 9-1-1” or NG9-1-1 is the evolution of Enhanced 9-1-1 to an all-IP-based emergency communications system. This technical specification, commonly referred to as i3, is the first version of the NG9-1-1 system design to accommodate an increasing volume and diversity of information that can be made available to assist emergency services.
The i3 protocol references several types of originating networks that could be used to deliver calls to an public safety access point (PSAP) Emergency services Internet Protocol Network, including legacy circuit-switched networks (wireline or wireless). Networks that are not IP based that are coupled to the PSAP must undergo mediation via a gateway to convert the incoming signaling to session initiated protocol (SIP). In addition, functionality must be applied to legacy emergency calls to acquire location information and use the information obtained in call setup signaling to route a call to the public safety answering point. Mapping information has been traditional utilized to enable an operator to identify a location of a call once it has been assigned to the position. However traditional call assignment algorithms can be inefficient when an incident occurs that generate clusters of calls all related to the same event as emergency calls that are not related to the incident may not be responded to in a timely matter.
Accordingly, systems and methods that enable improved emergency call management remains highly desirable. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Cross-sectional areas of gas ducts along which gaseous fluids are conveyed, are known to greatly increase with evergrowing unit power of plants and arrangements made use of in power engineering, metallurgy, and some other fields of engineering.
One prior-art shutoff device for closing a large-area gas duct is known to be of the flapper type and to comprise a housing, a closing element with a mechanical actuator, and a sealing seat. The closing element is made as a heavy disk- or plate-shaped flapper (cf. journal "Gas Turbine World", March 1976, p. 53).
Increasing the size of such closing elements would increase their weight and involve difficulties in providing gas-tightness and heat insulation of the gas duct segments being shut off; this, in turn, necessitates the application of a mechanical actuator capable of developing considerable forces required to operate such shutoff devices, as well as the provision of some additional elements and contrivances in the construction of such shutoff devices, adapted to damp the stroke of said element against the sealing seat and to improve gas tightness of said devices.
Another shutoff device is known (cf. USSR Inventor's Certificate No. 567,896 cl.F23L 13/02, issued 1974) to comprise two gate elements mounted pivotally from the vertical position through 90.degree. to the opposite sides. When in the vertical position said gate elements establish, along with the gas duct walls, a lock chamber provided in its top portion with an engorgement to be filled with a loose refractory materials.
The afore-discussed construction arrangement of the shutoff device, when applied to close a large cross-sectional area gas duct, involves the employment of a mechanical actuator capable of developing great forces on account of heavyweight gate elements said actuator is to operate. The loose material filling the lock chamber tends to thrust out the gate elements and is liable to run down through the resultant gap, thus deteriorating the tightness of the gas-duct segment being shut off.
One more shutoff device for closing a large-area gas duct, assumed by us as the prototype, is known to comprise a housing, a closing element shaped as a louvre grill, wherein the louvres can swivel round their pivot pins from a mechanical actuator provided on the housing (cf. French Patent No. 2,169,330 issued Oct. 12, 1973, class F24f 13/14).
Increased overall size of the closing device made as a louvre grill and applied to shut off a large-area gas duct, causes higher leaks of the fluid handled through said closing device, owing to the fact that large-sized grill louvres cannot be fitted tightly against one another, which results also in considerable heat losses to the surrounding atmosphere.
It is an aobject of the present invention to provide a shutoff device of the louvre type, making it possible to eliminate leaks of the gaseous fluids being handled through the closing element.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a shutoff device of the louvre type, which makes it possible to reduce heat losses to the surrounding atmosphere.
It is one more object of the present invention to eliminate hanging-up of the sealing loose material in the lock chamber. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates generally to systems running a physics simulation within the context of a main application. In one embodiment, the present invention relates to systems, such as Personal Computers (PCs) and game consoles, comprising a physics co-processor, or a so-called Physics Processing Unit (PPU). Several exemplary embodiments of a PPU-enabled system are disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/715,370 filed Nov. 19, 2003 and Ser. No. 10/839,155 filed May 6, 2004.
In response to the growing appetite for physics-based animations, software-based physics engines have conventionally been added to, or associated with the program code implementing a main application. Indeed, a market currently exists for “physics middleware”—specialty software directed to the generation and incorporation of physics-based data within a main application. Companies like HAVOK and MathEngine have developed this type of specialty software that may be called by a main application to better incorporate natural looking, physics-based animations into the main application.
Conventional software-based physics engines allow programmers increased latitude to assign virtual mass and coefficients of friction to objects animated within the execution of the main application. Similarly, virtual forces, impulses, and torques may be applied to objects. In effect, software-based physics engines provide programmers with a library of procedures to simplify the visual creation of scenes having physics-based interaction between objects.
Unfortunately, as has been previously documented, the growing appetite for animated realism can not be met by merely providing additional specialty software into a single execution thread, thereby layering upon the CPU additional processing requirements. And this is true regardless of the relative sophistication of the specialty software.
In the discussion that follows, the term “physics engine” describes a range of software and/or hardware products adapted to provide a main application with the ability to simulate various kinds of physical or physics-based properties and/or effects, such as rigid-body simulation, fluid simulation, and/or cloth simulation to name just a few examples. Conventional, physics middleware is one type of physics engine. As currently implemented, conventional physics middleware establishes a software library adapted to run on the same processor as a main application in a single processor system.
However, systems having multiple processors, multiple execution threads, and/or multiple cores are becoming increasingly common. Additionally, special purpose add-on processors or subsystems, such as the PPU referenced above are also becoming commercially available. Thus, a physics engine implemented within the context of one of these systems will be a very different in its nature from physics engines conventionally implemented using physics middleware.
For example, one or more of the additional processors, cores, execution threads, or a separately provided PPU may be used to run the physics simulation and thus implement a physics engine. This is particularly true where significant additional processing power is required to execute a simulation comprising larger, more complex scenes including a greater numbers of actors having more detailed geometry.
However implemented, physics engines are typically associated with an Application Programming Interface (API) through which at least a main application may communicate with the physics engine. The physics engine API may be provided as part of the main application, as part of an Operating System (OS) associated with one or more computational platforms, and/or within the physics simulation code. By making calls to procedures identified in the physics engine API, the main application may configure a simulation, configure physics data (e.g., static data, parameters, and/or state information) for the simulation, advance the simulation in time (i.e., cause the physics engine to compute the state of the simulation at a next step in time), and/or query various state information, such as position and applied forces to actors in the simulation, etc. Calls to procedures identified in the physics engine API, among many other possible calls, are typically initiated by the main application.
The term “call” as variously used to broadly describes any interaction by which one piece of software causes the initiation, execution, retrieval, storage, indexing, update, etc., of another piece of software, or the execution of another piece of software using resources associated with a computational platform, typically including firmware and/or hardware. The term “run” describes any process in which hardware resources associated with a computational platform perform an operation under the direction (directly or indirectly) of a software resource.
Frequently, a main application may wish (or require) notification related to a particular event occurring in a simulation. For example, a specific physics data value to-be-derived by the simulation code running on the physics engine may be required by the main application in order to initiate a particular procedure. An “event” may be defined in terms of physics data (or other data) generation and/or availability, one or more simulation actor(s) characteristic(s) and/or interaction(s), an execution and/or temporal point in the simulation or main application, a user input, etc. While it is certainly possible for the main application to repeatedly query the physics engine after each simulation time step in relation to the event of interest, many physics engines such as conventional physics middleware, provide a more efficient callback registration mechanism.
Consider the example shown in FIG. 1. In this example, a main application 1 calls a physics engine 2 through an associated physics engine API 3 in relation to a particular callback procedure associated with one or more events. In this regard, main application 1 is said to “register the callback.” There are many possible ways to register a callback are known to those skilled in the art, but one example will serve for the current description.
In order to register a callback, main application 1 identifies a callback procedure 5 associated with the event of interest and calls physics engine 2 through physics engine API 3. Callback procedure 5 is typically part of the main application code block but may also be separately provided. Assuming the use of a programming language such as C or C++, callback procedure 5 may be registered with physics engine 2 by communicating a procedure pointer value (e.g., an address vector) identifying the location of callback procedure 5 in a memory associated with the main application. This procedure pointer value may be stored in any reasonable memory or register 7 accessible by physics engine 2.
Events are known to and able to be identified by simulation 6. Thus, when a possible event of interest occurs during execution of simulation 6, or has occurred during a given simulation time step, callback register 7 is queried to determine whether a corresponding callback procedure has been registered. Where a corresponding callback procedure is found, simulation code 6 calls callback procedure 5 using information provided by the callback procedure registration. With data (e.g., physics data) provided by physics engine 2, callback procedure 5 is able to run, and the main application is accordingly able to progress.
This type of callback mechanism works well, so long as the main application and simulation are running in the single execution thread. This is true regardless of the type of computational platform (e.g., processor, core, PPU, etc.) actually executing the thread. However, in a system running a simulation in parallel with, or asynchronously to, a main application thread, a more sophisticated callback mechanism is required. In other words, parallel (whether wholly or in part) execution of application and simulation threads has the potential to create serious problems with callback procedures. As the simulation proceeds on one execution thread, the main application proceeds on another execution thread. Thus, a callback procedure registration that potentially looks forward to a future occurring event, must account for the possibility that the main application and/or the simulation may be in an indeterminate state relative to the information state assumed by the callback registration when the event finally occurs.
Clearly, parallel/asynchronous execution of a main application and simulation requires greater sophistication in the definition and execution of a related callback procedure. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The treatment of wood and wood products to impart one or more desirable properties to the wood, such as resistance to microbial attack, by impregnation of the wood with a treating agent dissolved in a carrier is an old and well established art. Many wood products for use in industrial applications have been impregnated with a petroleum oil as the carrier for the agents. Water has been employed as the carrier for water soluble copper salts and organic solvents such as methylene chloride and liquid petroleum gases have been employed as carriers for many agents. The use of water and organic solvents has become more widely employed in recent years as the power companies have gone to natural appearing poles and poles that can be painted. Similarly dimensional lumber has been treated with agents from water and organic solvents as in many situations paint or other finishes are desirably applied. However, each of these latter treatments suffers from the disadvantages that as the water or solvent (carrier) is removed from the wood the treating agent and wood exudates are brought to the surface. These surface deposits have conventionally been removed by brushing the wood after treatment. It would therefore be advantageous if a process could be provided which would not require the after-treatment brushing. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
In the past decade a new direction in the field of ion-selective electrodes has emerged with the development of potentiometric sensors with plasticized polymeric membranes for the detection of polyionic macromolecules. Early work in this area proposed a polymer membrane electrode containing a lipophilic anion-exchanger, which was capable of detecting the polyanion heparin. See Ma, S. C., Yang, V. C., and Meyerhoff, M. E. Anal. Chem. 1992, 64, 694. Heparin-selective polymeric membrane electrodes are further described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,570 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,453,171.
Heparin is a highly sulfated polysaccharide with an average charge of −70 and an average molecular weight of 15,000 Daltons. The molecular formula for one unit of a heparin compound is provided below.
Heparin is used as an anticoagulant in major surgical and extracorporeal procedures, such as open-heart surgery, bypass surgery, and dialysis. The use of excess heparin in medical procedures can be detrimental, however, necessitating precise monitoring of heparin administration. Real-time monitoring of heparin concentration in blood is particularly useful for preventing the risk of excessive bleeding during operations and reducing postoperative complications. Activated clotting time measurement (ACT) is a common method for estimating the heparin concentration in whole blood. Although this method is widely used, it is nonspecific and indirect, and the results can be affected by many variables. In contrast to ACT, the heparin-selective electrode is able to detect heparin concentration directly in whole blood or plasma samples.
Similarly, an electrode for sensing the polycation protamine has also been proposed. See Yun, J. H., Meyerhoff, M. E., and Yang, V. C. Anal Biochem. 1995, 224, 212. The polypeptide protamine is generally used for neutralization of heparin activity (i.e. to promote coagulation). Protamine, which is illustrated below, is a polycation with an average charge +20 and is rich in arginine residues.
The basic guanidinium groups of protamine complex electrostatically with the sulfonate groups of heparin to render the anticoagulant activity of the heparin ineffective. Excess use of protamine, however, can also be detrimental. For example, the use of protamine frequently results in adverse hemodynamic and hematologic side effects, such as hypertension, depressed oxygen consumption, thrombocytopenia with pulmonary platelet sequestration, and leukopenia. It is therefore useful to be able to accurately detect and measure protamine concentration in biological fluid, such as blood.
Reliable detection of protamine allows for careful administration of the agent, thereby avoiding the associated problems noted above. Further, with the ability to detect protamine via ion-selective electrodes, it is also possible to determine the heparin concentration in a sample via titration of the sample with protamine. This is possible due to the specific heparin-protamine interactions described above. Such action is also described by Ramamurthy, et al., Clin. Chem. 1998, 606.
The observed response of the heparin-specific membrane electrode known in the art could not be explained in terms of classic equilibrium approach. The Nernst equation should yield a slope of the electrode function of less than 1 mV/decade and 2 mV/decade for heparin and protamine respectively, because of the high charge of these ions. A quasi-steady-state model to explain this unusual mechanism was subsequently described. See Fu, B. et al., Anal Chem. 1994, 66, 2250. The potentiometric polyion sensor response is kinetic in nature. A strong flux of polyions occurs both in the aqueous solution and the membrane phase due to the spontaneous extraction of polyions into the polymeric membrane and the concomitant exchange with hydrophilic ions from the membrane, which results in a potential change in the presence of polyions.
Because the extraction of polyions is an irreversible process when using the heparin-specific membrane electrode of the prior art, a strong potential drift is normally observed. After a relatively short time in contact with a polyion solution the sensor starts to lose its response. Extracted polyions must be removed from the membrane phase by reconditioning of the sensor, such as in concentrated sodium chloride solution. Multiple methods have been proposed in the art for overcoming response loss due to polyion concentration at the membrane surface. A pH cross-sensitive potentiometric heparin sensor has been proposed, wherein the sensor contains an ion-exchanger and a charged H+ ionophore. According to this method, heparin stripping could be accomplished by adjusting the pH of the sample. Another approach for overcoming lost sensor response is to use disposable sensors.
Thus, despite the existence of a selective extraction principle, it has been impossible thus far to design a reversible polyion sensor. Accordingly, while polyion sensors can be highly useful in critical care applications, their use is limited by the quick loss of response of the sensor. Single use sensors lead to increased expense, and the necessity of removing the sensor and reconditioning the sensor by a separate methods is overly time consuming and adversely limiting on the usefulness of the sensor. Therefore, it would be useful to have a sensor for detecting polyions that is fully reversible, wherein such reversal can be performed quickly, repeatedly, and without removing the sensor to a separate solution. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Conventional sample analyzers are known which are provided with aspirating device that includes an aspirating tube for aspirating a sample from a container that contains the sample (blood collection tube). Various types of containers which have different internal diameters, external diameters, and lengths are used as containers in such sample analyzers. Since the containers (blood collection tubes) used in individual hospitals differ, testing laboratories that analyze samples received from many hospitals must be capable of handling these various types of containers.
However, when the containers have different shapes, it becomes necessary to manage the depth to which the aspirating tube is inserted when aspirating samples from the containers since the position of the bottom of the container and the cross section area of the surface level will differ. Sample analyzers have been proposed which are configured to handle containers (blood sample collection tubes) of various shapes (for example, refer to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 2001-264340 and H6-94729, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,985,215).
In the sample analyzer disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No 2001-264340, a barcode reader reads the information identifying the type of container from a barcode adhered to the container, and changes the insertion depth of the aspirating tube in accordance with the type of container.
In the sample analyzer disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,985,215, a container shape discriminating unit identifies the shape of the container, and the sample material is pipetted by a pipetting mechanism selected in accordance with the shape of the sample container. This container shape discriminating unit includes a plurality of light emitting diode arrays arranged at different heights, and an a plurality of photodiode arrays arranged at different heights. The height and width of a container are detected from the time and height the optical path is blocked by the container transported at a constant speed between the light emitting diodes and photodiodes.
The sample analyzer disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H6-94729, has a plurality of types of containers of different heights arranged in a starting yard (initial position), and a container shape discriminating unit detects the height of the containers disposed in the starting yard. Identifying information (in a barcode) attached to the sample container is read according to the type of sample container which is recognized by height, and the respective sample containers are allocated to a plurality of sample analyzers. This container shape discriminating unit identifies the type of container by the height at which the container gripped by a transporting robot that holds the container at the starting yard.
However, in the sample analyzer disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-264340, since the information identifying the type of container is not normally included in the barcode adhered to the container at each of the hospitals that collect samples, a barcode that includes information identifying the type of container must be adhered at the testing laboratory. This replacing and re-adhering of the barcode therefore reduces testing efficiency.
In the sample analyzer disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,985,215, the structure of the analyzer is complicated due to the provision of the container shape discriminating unit that includes a plurality of light emitting diode arrays arranged at different heights, and an a plurality of photodiode arrays arranged at different heights.
In the sample analyzer disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H6-94729, the structure of the analyzer is complicated due to the provision of a container shape discriminating unit configured to detect the type of container by the height at which a transporting robot grips the container disposed in the starting yard. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
A typical steam iron comprises a housing incorporating a handle, a heel on which the iron rests when not in use, and a heated soleplate which is placed in contact with the fabric to be ironed. The heated soleplate is moved over the fabric to remove creases from the fabric.
The steam iron further comprises a water reservoir. Water from the water reservoir is supplied to a heated steam generating surface of the soleplate and is converted into steam. The steam is channeled through the soleplate and exits through steam vents onto the fabric to assist with crease removal.
In steam irons, as described above, the soleplate plays an important role in the effectiveness of the ironing function. However, it is known that prolonged use of steam irons causes minerals, known as scale, to be deposited on the steam generating surfaces of the soleplate. The minerals are left behind by the evaporated water. The accumulation of these deposits reduces the efficiency with which the soleplate converts water into steam.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,181,874 discloses a steam iron capable of performing a self-cleaning process to remove scale. However, it has been found that under certain conditions the self-cleaning purpose can result in scalding of the user. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) of ISO/IEC JTC 1 has recommended MPEG-4 Part 10: Advanced Video Coding (in the following, it is called MPEG-4 AVC for short) as a standard for the latest technology operable to encode moving picture data and to decode encoded picture data thereof. In the MPEG-4 AVC, in order to improve image quality at a low bit rate, an in-loop filter (it is also called a deblocking filter) is adopted to remove block distortion from a decoded picture. Due to the in-loop filter, it is possible to prevent occurrence of unfavorable situation such as block distortion of a picture is included in a reference picture and spreads to a decoded picture, thereby making it possible to acquire a decoded picture with good image quality.
The MPEG-4 AVC adopts a “slice” as a fundamental unit of encoding/decoding. A plurality of slices constitutes one picture. Regarding an arrangement of the slices within a picture, there is provided a function of ASO (arbitrary slice order). When using the ASO function, a plurality of slices within a picture can be transmitted in arbitrary order.
For example, when encoding a picture by dividing the picture into a plurality of slices, the picture is usually encoded and transmitted from a slice at the upper left of the picture, in a raster scan order. However, when using the ASO function, it is possible for the picture to be encoded and transmitted in order of importance of a slice, even if the slice is located in the middle of the picture.
Examples of practicing the ASO function are mentioned in the following. When the throughput of a decoder is insufficient, a picture is divided into a plurality of slices by an encoder, a slice of the important part in the picture is encoded earlier than the other slices within the same picture, and the encoded picture data is transmitted first. A decoder decodes only the encoded picture data of the important slice that is received first, and may perform skip processing without decoding the encoded picture data of the other slices. Thus, even when the throughput of the decoder is insufficient, the important part of the picture is decoded for certain and is provided for viewing.
FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a conventional picture decoding device 1 that is disclosed in Document 1 (Published Japanese patent application 2003-304538). The conventional picture decoding device 1 shown in FIG. 14 comprises a decoding unit 2, a frame memory 8, and an in-loop filter 9. The decoding unit 2 comprises a variable length decoding unit 3, a motion compensating unit 4, an inverse-quantizing unit 5, an inverse orthogonal transforming unit 6, and an adding unit 7.
The outline of operation of the conventional picture decoding device 1 is explained. The variable length decoding unit 3 decodes inputted variable length encoded picture data, and outputs quantized picture data and a motion vector. The inverse-quantizing unit 5 inverse-quantizes the quantized picture data, and outputs the inverse-quantized picture data. The inverse orthogonal transforming unit 6 performs inverse orthogonal transformation for the inverse-quantized picture data, and outputs a difference image. The motion compensating unit 4 generates a motion compensated picture (predicted picture) using the motion vector, which the variable length decoding unit 3 has outputted, and the decoded picture, which is already decoded and stored in the frame memory 8. The adding unit 7 adds the difference image outputted by the inverse orthogonal transforming unit 6 and the predicted picture outputted by the motion compensating unit 4, and generates a reconstructed picture. The in-loop filter 9 obtains a decoded picture by performing deblock-filtering to the reconstructed picture, and outputs the decoded picture to an output terminal while storing in the frame memory 8.
The in-loop filter 9 performs the deblock-filtering for the reconstructed picture. The deblock-filtering according to the MPEG-4 AVC is explained referring to FIG. 15. FIG. 15 shows a macro block boundary and a macro block arrangement. In the deblock-filtering for pixels belonging to a macro block A with the upper edge adjoining the macro block boundary, the pixel value is filtered using the pixel value of pixels belonging to a macro block B with the lower edge adjoining the macro block boundary. In the deblock-filtering for pixels belonging to a macro block C with the left side edge adjoining the macro block boundary, the pixel value is filtered using the pixel value of pixels belonging to a macro block D with the right side edge adjoining the macro block boundary. Therefore, when performing the in-loop filtering to a certain target macro block, decoding for a macro block located on the top of the target macro block and for the macro block located on the left of the target macro block has to be completed at that time. The art regarding the deblock-filtering is disclosed in Document 2 (Published Japanese patent application 2000-59769).
However, if the ASO function is adopted in the conventional picture decoding device 1 shown in FIG. 14, when a first slice, which is going to be transmitted in arbitrary order, starts in the middle of the picture, macro blocks located on the top of and on the left side of the boundary of the first slice are not yet decoded at a time when a macro block adjoining the boundary of the first slice is decoded, since the macro blocks located on the top of and on the left side of the boundary are included in a different slice. Therefore, when adopting the ASO function for the conventional picture decoding device 1, proper deblock-filtering to the macro block boundary cannot be performed. In other words, the conventional picture decoding device 1 cannot perform decoding of the encoded picture data of arbitrary slice order appropriately. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for controlling a composite device and a composite device in which this method can be applied.
B. Related Art
More specifically the invention is intended to control a composite device that comprises at least a compressor installation, e.g., a compressor device, and/or drying device and a heat recovery system.
It is known that the compression of gas in a compressor installation is coupled with enormous heat generation.
Compressor installations are known with energy recovery means to recuperate this heat as efficiently as possible.
Traditionally compressors have been equipped with a basic regulation with the aim of controlling the compressor according to the demanded quantity of compressed air.
In known devices the coolant flow is controlled by means of a thermostatic valve on the output of the cooling circuit. It is thereby possible to control the flow of coolant such that the temperature at the output of the cooling circuit remains constant and is equal to a preset value.
When using a thermostatic valve, this preset value is a fixed value and it cannot be adjusted according to the heat consumption.
The temperature at the output of the cooling circuit will then always be the same, irrespective of the quantity of heat absorbed by the coolant.
A disadvantage is that neither the efficiency of the compressor installation nor the efficiency of the entire composite system is optimised.
Due to the absence of any form of optimisation, the composite device will then be subject to temperature fluctuations, for example.
Such temperature fluctuations are often undesirable and can also bring about premature wear of the device.
WP 2008/106774 describes a control of a system for recovering heat from a gas engine and converting heat into electricity. No account is taken here of the extent to which the optimisation of the heat recovery circuit affects the efficiency and reliability of the gas engine itself. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates generally to members useful in fusing apparatus for heat-fixing a heat-softenable toner material to a substrate. More particularly, the invention relates to a heater member useful for transferring heat to a fuser member in said fusing apparatus, wherein the heater member is externally heated and has an overcoat layer thereon comprised of a cured fluorocarbon thermoplastic copolymer composition described hereinafter.
Heat-softenable toners are widely used in imaging methods such as electrostatography, wherein electrically charged toner particles are deposited imagewise on a dielectric or photoconductive element bearing an electrostatic latent image. Most often in such methods, the toner is then transferred to a surface of another substrate, such as a receiver sheet comprising paper or a transparent film, where it is then fixed in place to yield a final desired toner image.
When heat-softenable toners, comprising for example thermoplastic polymeric binders, are employed, the usual method of fixing the toner in place involves applying heat to the toner once it is on the receiver sheet surface to soften it, and then allowing or causing the toner to cool.
One such fusing method comprises passing the toner-bearing receiver sheet through a nip formed by a pair of opposing members, typically in the form of cylindrical rollers, wherein at least one of the members (usually referred to as a fuser member) is heated and contacts the toner-bearing surface of the receiver sheet in order to heat and soften the toner. The other member (usually referred to as a pressure member) serves to press the receiver sheet into contact with the fuser member. In some other fusing methods, the configuration is varied and the xe2x80x9cfuser memberxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cpressure memberxe2x80x9d can take the form of a flat plate or belt. The description herein, while directed to a generally cylindrical fuser roller in combination with a generally cylindrical pressure roller, should not be construed as limited to such a roller configuration.
The fuser member typically comprises a rigid core covered with a resilient material, which can be referred to as a base cushion. The resilient base cushion and the amount of pressure exerted by the pressure member serve to establish an area of contact for the fuser member with the toner-bearing surface of the receiver sheet as it passes through the nip formed by contact of the fuser member with the pressure member. The size of this area of contact helps establish the length of time that any given portion of the toner image will be in contact with and heated by the fuser member. The degree of hardness (often referred to as xe2x80x9cstorage modulusxe2x80x9d) and stability thereof, of the base cushion are important factors in establishing and maintaining the desired area of contact for fusing.
In some prior fusing systems, it has been advantageous to vary the pressure exerted by the pressure member against the receiver sheet and fuser member. This variation in pressure can be provided, for example in a fusing system having a pressure roll and a fuser roll, by slightly modifying the shape of the pressure roll. The variance of pressure, in the form of a gradient of pressure that changes along the direction through the nip that is parallel to the axes of the rolls, can be established, for example, by continuously varying the overall diameter of the pressure roll along the direction of its axis such that the diameter is smallest at the midpoint of the axis and largest at the ends of the axis, in order to give the pressure roll a subtle xe2x80x9cbow tiexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9chourglassxe2x80x9d shape. This causes the pair of rolls to exert more pressure on the receiver sheet in the nip in the areas near the ends of the rolls than in the area about the midpoint of the rolls. This gradient of pressure helps to prevent wrinkles and cockle in the receiver sheet as it passes through the nip. Over time, however, the fuser roll begins to permanently deform to conform to the shape of the pressure roll and the gradient of pressure is reduced or lost, along with its attendant benefits. It has been found that permanent deformation (alternatively referred to as xe2x80x9ccreepxe2x80x9d) of the base cushion of the fuser member is a contributor to this problem.
While some fuser members are internally heated by placing a quartz lamp or other type of heat source internally within the fuser core, fuser members can also be externally heated by use of one or more external heater members, i.e., rollers, belts, plates or the like, placed in an opposed, contacting relationship with the fuser member. External heater members for fuser members can themselves be internally heated by use of a quartz lamp or other heat source. Apparatus for externally heating a heater member by a radiant heat source are disclosed in copending U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 09/500,826 and 09/501,459 filed on Feb. 10, 2000, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Heater members which are internally heated and used commercially have either an anodized surface or a very thin fluoropolymer resin, i.e., Teflon(copyright) fluorocarbon available from E.I. DuPont deNemours and Co. of Wilmington, Del., coating thereon, both of which have very low thermal resistance due to the relative thinness of such coatings. However, such heater members, when used in an opposed and contacting relationship adjacent to a fuser member, are not resilient or conformable, and therefore, do not allow for a relatively large area of contact (referred to as a xe2x80x9cnip widthxe2x80x9d hereinafter) with the fuser member when a nip is formed by contact of the heater member with the fuser member. Further, such coatings also have little or no ability to store heat. This arrangement results in inefficient heat transfer and undesirable heat loss.
A greater area of contact between the heater member and fuser member would allow for greater and more efficient heat transfer to the surface of the fuser member. To achieve a longer nip width, a conformable elastomer layer could be applied to the heater member. For internally heated heater members, however, a disadvantage with the use of such an elastomer layer is that it could create a time delay for heat energy to transfer to the surface of the heater member due to an increase in thermal resistance. A time delay would increase thermal response time when altering the fuser member surface temperature for any process reason. This increase in thermal response time could preclude the use of image gloss control by making changes in the fuser member temperature, or gloss and fusion tuning for various receiver types. Various receiver types, such as papers or films, have different thermal properties that can affect gloss and fusion quality. Having the ability to change the fuser member surface temperature rapidly within the time between consecutive receiver sheets allows fusion and gloss to be tuned to receivers within a document run that are of different types without reducing the productivity of the entire electrophotographic system. The foregoing ability to control gloss is particularly important for color electrophotographic systems.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/501,459 previously mentioned herein, discloses a heater member which is externally heated and comprised of a core; a fluoroelastomer foam layer, such as Viton(copyright) fluoroelastomer available from DuPont, overlying the core; and an outer cured poly(perfluoromethylvinylether) layer thereover, such as a Kalreze(copyright) polymer also available from DuPont. While this externally heated heater roller is an improvement over prior commercially used internally heated heater rollers, the fluoroelastomer foam layer disclosed therein may not have sufficient mechanical strength in some apparatus designs to withstand stress imposed by what is known in the art as xe2x80x9cvelocity overdrivexe2x80x9d. As a result, the polymeric layers placed over the core could delaminate therefrom, thereby causing premature failure. Further, the poly(perfluoromethylvinylether) material is difficult to dissolve in commonly used solvents, thereby making it difficult to solvent coat onto the foam base cushion overlying the core. As a result, a sleeve of the material must generally be extruded and thereafter bonded to the foam base cushion, or molded and thermally bonded to the foam base cushion at high temperatures. These methods are generally more difficult to perform than solvent coating methods.
As can be seen, there is a need for a heater member, capable of being externally heated by a radiant heat source, which has a nip width, i.e., contact area, which can be set and/or varied so as to maximize and/or optimize heat transfer to the surface of an associated fuser member. It would also be desirable for the heater member to have an outer polymeric layer thereon in contact with the fuser member which is not only thermally stable, but also mechanically stable and more easily formed than other methods known to the art.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a heater member, capable of being externally heated by a heat source, which overcomes the limitations and disadvantages described hereinabove. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a heater member which is particularly suitable for external heating by a radiant source, and for use, for example, in an axially unsupported configuration in a fusing apparatus. According to the present invention, direct heating of the heater member surface allows for rapid changes in fuser and heater member surface temperatures, so as to alter the fusing process and provide gloss and/or image quality control between consecutive jobs and/or receiver sheets.
A method to accomplish the foregoing objectives according to the present invention employs an externally heated external heater member to impart thermal energy to a fuser member through conduction, i.e., by direct contact. The heater member has a conformable base cushion layer to increase nip width, i.e., contact width, and heating time, with the fuser member. The heater member is heated by an external radiant heat source, which imparts heat energy directly to the heater member surface and not solely by indirect heating means through the heater member core and overlying elastomer layer.
Thus, in one aspect, the present invention relates to a heater member for transferring heat to a fusing member used to heat fix a toner image to a substrate. The heater member comprises:
a core;
a conformable base cushion layer overlying the core; and
an outer layer overlying the base cushion layer,
wherein the outer layer comprises a cured fluorocarbon thermoplastic random copolymer.
In embodiments, the invention relates to a heater member for transferring heat to a fusing member used to heat fix a toner image to a substrate. The heater member comprises:
a core;
a conformable base cushion layer overlying the core; and
an outer layer overlying the base cushion layer,
where the outer layer comprises a cured fluorocarbon thermoplastic random copolymer having subunits of:
xe2x80x94(CH2CF2)xxe2x80x94, xe2x80x94(CF2CF(CF3))yxe2x80x94, and xe2x80x94(CF2CF2)zxe2x80x94,
wherein:
x is from 1 to 50 or 60 to 80 mole percent,
y is from 10 to 90 mole percent,
z is from 10 to 90 mole percent, and
x+y+z equals 100 mole percent.
The present invention provides an ability to change the fuser member surface-temperature during operation, thereby allowing for gloss and/or image quality control. It also provides better thermal droop management for the overall fusing system, so that it is not necessary to artificially increase and decrease the fusing member surface temperature to increase the stored energy within the fuser member, while trying to maintain a desired fusing temperature-control set-point.
The external radiant heat feature, particularly in combination with a preferred, relatively low thermal conductivity (i.e., thermally insulating) conformable base cushion layer as described hereinafter, can allow internal components within the heater member to remain cooler in comparison to an internally heated heater member system, which could either increase component life or reduce component cost if the component life requirement otherwise remains the same.
Another advantage of the present invention is that the cured fluorocarbon thermoplastic random copolymer materials employed allow for a relatively large temperature gradient to be formed between the surfaces of the fuser member and heater member, so as to increase available heat time or dwell.
Another advantage is that use of a preferred poly(organosiloxane) base cushion layer as described hereinafter allows for mechanical stability and also sufficient compression characteristics so that the resulting heater member has a conformable outer surface which can be adapted to form contact, i.e., pressure, nips of increased width and, therefore, greater surface area for heat transfer, with the associated benefits and advantages as previously described. A greater nip width allows more nip time and thereby enables high volume (or high speed) heating of the fuser member surface without undesirable thermal droop. The preferred silicone base cushion also generally allows for a pressure nip with significantly less velocity overdrive, which reduces relative motion in the nip, therefore reducing fuser member surface wear. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disc apparatus, a camera apparatus, and a method for controlling a light emission operation. More particularly, the present invention relates to an optical disc apparatus, a camera apparatus, and a method for controlling a light emission operation, wherein power consumption and an increase in temperature due to a laser light emitting portion mounted on an optical head portion are suppressed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, the development of a technique for writing data onto a phase change rewritable optical disc using a blue laser and an objective lens having as high a numerical aperture (NA) as 0.85, has proceeded closer toward an optical disc having a diameter of as small as about 5 to 8 cm, which can store as large as about 4 to 16 GB of data (the maximum volume is achieved by a double layer technique). Such an optical disc can store video and audio data with the same quantity and quality as those of typical cassette tapes, if an image compression technique, such as MPEG2 or the like, is used. Therefore, a full-fledged optical disc video camera would be realized. If a transfer rate is increased, such an optical disc can be used to store high-definition (HD) video images.
Optical discs have an advantage of random access, i.e., no rewinding, which may cause irritation of the user, is required. For example, by selecting thumbnail images, a desired scene can be quickly reproduced. Thus, optical discs lead to the realization of a video camera convenient and comfortable to the user. In addition, still pictures compressed by JPEG or the like can be stored on the same optical disc. Such a video camera is highly expected as the next generation of video camera to provide a new concept to the user.
Generally, a laser light emitting portion incorporated in an optical disc apparatus has a greater quantity of heat generated per volume than other ICs or electronic components. The operation of such a laser light emitting portion is guaranteed below as low as about 60° C. to 70° C. (maximum temperature), and the life span is shortened as the operating temperature is increased even if it is below the maximum temperature. Therefore, there is a demand for an optical disc apparatus, in which the power consumption of the whole apparatus is reduced or the heat dissipation structure is improved to suppress an increase in temperature inside the apparatus, thereby reducing the operating temperature of a laser light emitting portion mounted on an optical head. The present invention is directed to the reduction of power consumption, particularly the reduction of the power consumption of the laser light emitting portion itself. By suppressing the power consumption of the laser light emitting portion, it is possible to suppress an increase in temperature of the laser light emitting portion under the same ambient temperature (temperature inside the apparatus).
A conventional technique for reducing the power consumption of a laser light emitting portion, is intermittent reproduction for music MD (e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 7-161043). This is a method for starting or stopping an optical disc apparatus at intervals during a reproduction operation. According to this technique, substantially no power is consumed by the laser light emitting portion and the like during the stop period, thereby making it possible to reduce the average power for an optical disc driving portion including the laser light emitting portion. Therefore, the life span of the battery can be extended.
Hereinafter, the above-described intermittent reproduction operation will be described. It is assumed that the reading rate of music data from an optical disc is much higher than the input rate of music data into a decoder. To reproduce music, an optical disc driving portion is actuated. Music data is rapidly reproduced and is transferred and temporarily stored in a buffer memory (reading state). If the buffer memory is full, the optical disc driving portion is temporarily stopped so that substantially no power is consumed by the optical disc driving portion, the laser light emitting portion, and the like (stop state). Meanwhile, the music data is transferred from the buffer memory to a decoder at a constant rate to continuously reproduce music. Subsequently, if the remaining quantity of the music data goes below a prescribed level of the buffer memory, the optical disc driving portion is operated again and the continued music data is rapidly read out and stored into the buffer memory. The above-described operations are repeatedly performed during the reproduction of music. The music data is transferred to the decoder at a constant rate during the reproduction of music.
During the reading state the optical disc driving portion consumes power for actuating and reading operations, while during the stop state substantially no power is consumed. Therefore, the average power consumption can be reduced, depending on the ratio of the duration of the reading state (read time) to the duration of the stop state (stop time). Although the laser light emitting portion is continuously on during the read time, it goes to the stop state before a significant increase in the temperature of the laser light emitting portion. Therefore, the laser light emitting portion is cooled during the stop state, thereby making it possible to reduce the average temperature of the laser light emitting portion.
Note that the actuation from the stop state to the reading state requires initiating the rotation of a motor, switching a laser ON, focusing control, tracking control, and the like. This can take several seconds. These operations also require power slightly greater than that required during the reading state. However, when music data is reproduced from MD or the like, the stop time is much longer than the read time. Therefore, power consumption can be reduced and an increase in temperature of the laser light emitting portion can be suppressed. Note that the intermittent reproduction technique is also applicable when data is recorded or written onto an optical disc.
On the other hand, a technique has been devised for reducing the power consumption of a laser light emitting portion during reproduction where an optical disc is driven. For example, a technique for pulse-driving a laser light emitting portion in synchronization with the periods of reproduced data signal (Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-63726), or a technique for pulse-driving a laser light emitting portion with a frequency much higher than the frequency of data signal (Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-331960), have been disclosed. In the former, laser light is intermittently emitted, matching the channel bit periods of data. Data edge is detected when light is emitted, while an edge is not detected when light is not emitted. Therefore, the power consumption of the laser light emitting portion can be reduced with substantially no influence on information reproduction. In the latter, the laser is alternately switched on and off at a rate much higher than the frequency of data, and data is reproduced by detecting a data envelope. In this case, an influence of the flickering of the laser can be removed and the average current of the laser light emitting portion can be reduced, thereby reducing power consumption.
However, when an optical disc apparatus is used for a system requiring a high speed data processing rate (e.g., a video image system), the effect of the above-described intermittent reproduction technique (hereinafter referred to as a stop-type intermittent operation) is small. This is because the ratio of the image data processing rate to the image data recording/reproduction rate to an optical disc cannot be greatly increased as compared to the ratio of the audio data transfer rate to the image data transfer rate. As a result, a longer time has to be assigned to reading data from an optical disc during a prescribed period, while a shorter time is assigned to the stop period. Therefore, the effects of the stop-type intermittent operation, such as a reduction in power consumption and the suppression of an increase in temperature, are reduced.
When the data processing rate is increased closer to the data recording/reproduction rate, it is difficult to perform a stop operation itself, because of the time from the stop to the restart. That is, it is difficult to perform stop-type intermittent operations.
A specific example will be described below. It is assumed that a small-diameter optical disc has a limitation on the number of revolutions, so that the maximum transfer rate is limited to, for example, 20 Mbps. To realize an audio and video-mixed stream having image quality comparable to that of DV tape using MPEG2, the data stream needs to be transferred at a rate of 9 Mbps. If the stream is transferred at such a rate, intermittent operations can be performed. However, the read time includes the actuation time of a few seconds. Therefore, it is possible to realize intermittent operations having a period of several tens of seconds. However, it is difficult to increase the stop time by a factor of ½ or more. Taking into account a spare time for retrying for actuation or the like, the stop time needs to be further shortened. Therefore, in this application, a satisfactory intermittent effect cannot be expected. If the stream is transferred at a so-called variable bit rate so as to improve image quality, the transfer rate of the stream may be, for example, 15 Mbps at maximum despite the average 9 Mbps. It is possible that the 15 Mbps transfer is continued for several tens of seconds. Taking into account the above-described spare time, it is difficult to perform a stop-type intermittent operation. Thus, in applications, such as a video camera and the like, there is a demand for novel measures for low power consumption (and prevention of an increase in temperature).
In this regard, the above-described techniques of Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-63726 and Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-331960 are effective for achievement of low power consumption. The flickering duty of a laser light emitting portion during reproduction needs to be about 50% and therefore, power consumption is expected to be reduced to such a level. However, as described in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-63726, the technique of flickering at a data channel frequency is not considered to be practical, because when a blue laser is used to reproduce hyper-density data, more information is loot when the laser is switched off, so that the quality of reproduced signals is not practical. For example, if jitter is large, data loss is expected to occur.
Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-331960 discloses a technique for using a clock signal having a frequency sufficiently higher than a data frequency to drive a laser light emitting portion, thereby reducing the power consumption of the laser light emitting portion by half. In a light emission system which is operated at a frequency higher than a data frequency, a high frequency module (HFM) for reducing noise caused by returning light of the laser light emitting portion using current convolution may be used. However, when a laser light emitting portion is operated at a high speed comparable to the operation of HFM and a current amplitude higher than that of HFM, there is a fear that a means for driving the laser light emitting portion generates heat. Since the laser light emitting portion is driven at a high frequency, it is necessary to place the driving means close to the laser light emitting portion in order to avoid the undesired radiation problem. In this case, the heat generated by the driving means leads to an increase in temperature of the laser light emitting portion. Thus, it may be difficult to obtain an effect of suppressing the temperature increase. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to circuits that mitigate signal distortion caused by a variable complex impedance between a connector on a semiconductor die and one or more microspring or anisotropic-film inter-component connectors.
2. Related Art
As integrated-circuit (IC) technology continues to scale to smaller critical dimensions, it is increasingly difficult for existing inter-chip connections to provide suitable communication characteristics, such as: high bandwidth, low power, reliability and low cost. Several technologies have been proposed to address this problem. These proposed technologies include: proximity communication or PxC (for example, with capacitive inter-chip contacts), inter-chip microsprings (with conductive inter-chip contacts), anisotropic films (for example, where the anisotropic film includes an elastomer), and a combination of PxC with microsprings (with capacitive inter-chip contacts). However, the proposed techniques often introduce additional packaging and reliability challenges.
PxC based on capacitive inter-chip contacts provides dense inter-chip connections, with a pitch between neighboring pads on the order of 10-100 μm. However, PxC typically requires a similar order of mechanical alignment. It can be difficult to maintain this alignment in the presence of vibrations and thermal stress using a low-cost chip package. Furthermore, the capacitance of the inter-chip contacts can be small, which makes it challenging to couple high-capacity power supplies using PxC.
Microsprings can be fabricated on a wide variety of surfaces, including: printed circuit boards (PCBs), organic or ceramic IC packages or on the surface of ICs themselves. They can be fabricated with an areal density of inter-chip connections that exceeds the density of input/output (I/O) signals on high performance ICs, and can provide electrical contacts without the use of solder. Moreover, microsprings can be designed to have more compliance than is possible by using PxC alone, which increases the tolerance to mechanical movement and misalignment. However, microsprings are typically required to make and maintain conductive contacts with connectors on ICs. In order to achieve such conductive contacts, the microsprings typically have sharp tips that can scrape through any oxide or passivation layers above the connectors on the ICs during a scrub-in process, which increases the fabrication costs of the microsprings. Furthermore, conductive contacts are often achieved by increasing the force between the microsprings and the connectors on an IC in a chip package, which also increases cost. In addition, the sharp tips and large forces can produce foreign particles (such as debris) that can reduce the conductivity of contacts over time, thereby reducing reliability and limiting the number of mating cycles.
Anisotropic conductive films can be fabricated by introducing conductive elements into an insulating elastic film so that the conductive elements generally line up normal to the surface of the film. Then, by placing the anisotropic film against a chip pad and compressing it, the conductive elements can make conductive contact, while the non-conductive film maintains isolation among neighboring chip pads. Unlike the microsprings, conduction through the anisotropic film typically involves conduction between the chip pad and its proximal conductive elements in the anisotropic film, and among the various conductive elements that are adjacent to each other within the anisotropic film. Similar to microsprings, anisotropic films often suffer from reliability issues due to the potential for the conductive elements to fail to make adequate contact with each other and with the chip pad. While reliability can be increased by increasing the compressive force, the chip package typically has to provide and maintain this higher force. In general, higher forces within a chip package decrease the chip-package reliability in other ways and increase the packaging cost.
In order to overcome such scrub-in and reliability problems, inter-chip connections that combine PxC and microsprings or anisotropic films have been proposed. However, this approach introduces additional challenges. For example, the capacitive (or inductive) signaling techniques used in PxC typically do not tolerate conductive inter-chip contacts. As a consequence, the oxide layer above the connectors on the ICs needs to be thick and hard enough to prevent cracking, which can cause conductive contacts. This thicker oxide layer reduces the energy that is capacitively coupled between chips, which makes receiving electrical signals more difficult. In addition, it limits the amount of power that can be supplied to an IC via capacitively coupled microsprings or anisotropic films.
Hence, what is needed is a technique for achieving inter-chip connections without the problems described above. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Automatic machines for the making of rice crackers and similar puffed or popped granular cakes by pressure-baking and expanding a food-starch containing material in a heated mold are known from the prior art to exist in a number of distinct machine variants.
Patent documents U.S. Pat. No. 4,328,741 and WO-A-88/00797, for instance, are representative for machine types using air cylinders for selectively moving upwardly or downwardly an upper baking mold relative to a movable lower baking mold and to a stationary ring mold, in which said upper mold and lower molds are coaxially receivable in a fluid-tight manner and thereby forming a sealed molding cavity. These machines produce a lot of noise and are rather energy consuming; furthermore, air cylinders are bulky devices which often are less reliable in terms of baking pressure and cracker thickness requirements.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,021 discloses a device for preparing puffed food products from cereals such as rice, wherein the cereal is subjected to heat and pressure in a mold cavity, defined by an exterior wall forming an interior surface about the cavity and by a mold piston or punch being reciprocally driven into and out of the cavity. To avoid the problem of seizing of the pistons while inside the mold cavity, the said patent proposes a recess of a certain depth and height formed in the interior surface of the cavity wall, and to locate therein a cylindrical insert which can move or float within the recess. The mold piston is mounted to a pressure plate, whereby an equalizing spring is provided between the top of the piston flange and the pressure plate. A hydraulic cylinder is adapted to apply pressure to the pressure plate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,281,593 to Gevaert and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,102,677 and 5,467,693 to Van den Berghe describe pressure-baking apparatuses comprising a hydraulic jack connected with a toggle mechanism for driving a lower mold or punch upwardly and downwardly relative to a fixed upper mold. The patents to Van den Berghe furthermore propose the use of an annular mold element defining a peripheral wall of a molding chamber which element is selectively movable relative to the fixed upper mold and also to the lower punch. This facilitates the feeding of food-starch material into a mold cavity and the removal of a puffed cracker from the pressure-baking molding expansion chamber formed by said coaxially cooperating upper, lower and peripheral mold elements.
A drawback of said machine types is the use of a toggle mechanism transmitting hydraulic power to the mold in an indirect way and requiring special care for aligning mold parts and controlling molding pressure. In addition a movable peripheral mold is more prone to overstraining and risk of mold leakage, giving rise to defective cracker quality and appearance after a period of time. In addition, the provision of a hydraulic jack together with its oil circuit, oil tank and powering motor on each production machine or unit is rather expensive.
A generally experienced inconvenience in the production of puffed-food snacks by pressure-baking and subsequently expanding a starch-containing cereal or the like mixture in a mold cavity when using currently available technology is the quantity of trash and waste crackers produced by puffing machines, which may amount to 10% or even more of total cracker output. Further disadvantages of known machines for making puffed crackers include the rather long running-in/starting-up times needed until a stable production regime is reached and the need of frequently cleaning the baking mold elements. As a result the productivity and economics of a cracker plant, in particular when making small crackers and chips, may be seriously affected. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field
Exemplary embodiments relate to a probe for use in conjunction with an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and more particularly, to a probe for use in conjunction with an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which is capable of performing a test by closely adhering to a particular portion of a test subject.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is an apparatus which is configured to radiate an ultrasonic signal toward a desired portion at an inside of a body from the surface of a subject and to obtain an image with reference to a cross section of a soft tissue or a blood flow by using the information included in the reflected ultrasonic signal in an non-invasive manner. The apparatus as such, as compared with other display apparatuses such as an X-ray photographing apparatus, a CT apparatus (Computerized Tomography Scanner), an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Image), or a nuclear medical diagnostic device, is smaller in size, less expensive, and capable of displaying images obtained in real time, and is not exposed to radiation of an X-ray, and thus relatively safer, thereby being used widely for the diagnosis of medical conditions relating to hearts, abdomens, genital organs, and in gynecology.
In particular, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes a probe which is configured to transmit an ultrasonic signal to a subject in order to obtain an ultrasonic image of the subject and to receive an echo signal that is reflected from the subject.
A probe includes a transducer, a case which is provided with an open upper end thereof, and a cover portion which is coupled to the open upper end of the case in order to directly contact with a surface of the subject.
A transducer includes a piezoelectric layer which is configured to reciprocally change an electrical signal and a sound signal as a piezoelectric object vibrates, an acoustic matching layer which is configured to reduce a difference of a sound impedance between the piezoelectric layer and the subject so that the ultrasonic wave generated at the piezoelectric layer is delivered primarily to the subject, a lens layer which is configured to concentrate the ultrasonic wave which proceeds to a front portion of the piezoelectric layer to a certain position, and a sound absorbing layer which is configured to reduce a distortion of an image by preventing the ultrasonic wave from proceeding to a rear portion of the piezoelectric layer.
A probe which is configured for use in conjunction with an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes at least one of a concave-type probe which is used for a diagnosis relating to an abdomen and which has a concave surface thereof, a linear-type probe which is used for a diagnosis relating to one or more of breasts, a thyroid, and testicles and which has a flat surface thereof, an endocavity-type probe which is used for a diagnosis relating to a uterus and an ovary, and a hockey stick-type probe.
A muscular skeletal system (for example, shoulders and knees) having a curved surface thereof may not be convenient for using a linear-type probe provided with a flat surface thereof, as a footprint of the probe has a length which falls approximately within a range of between 40 mm and 50 mm, and thus the probe may not closely adhere to the curved surface of the subject. Therefore, multiple uses of a probe having a small footprint, such as a hockey stick probe, are required in order to perform a scan, and in a case in which a probe other than a linear-type probe is used, the probe may not be closely in contact with the subject, as the body figure of the subject and the shape of a probe may not be in correspondence to each other.
In addition, when an ultrasonic test is performed, an ultrasonic wave does not penetrate a bone and air, so in a case in which a probe configured for an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus directly contacts the skin of the subject, the collection of data is not possible. Thus, in a case in which an ultrasonic wave diagnosis is being performed, a liquid is typically applied on the skin in order to eject the air which is situated in between the probe and the skin of the subject, or a pad provided with a liquid applied thereon is used. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
In the past, tocopherol and derivatives thereof which have the formula ##STR1## and optically active alpha-tocopherol which is the 2R,4'R,8'R isomer of the compound of formula I, i.e., a compound of the formula: ##STR2## have been prepared through isolation from natural sources such as vegetable oil. This procedure suffers from many drawbacks due to the fact that the tocopherol content of these oils is very small. Therefore, a great amount of oil must be processed in order to isolate a small amount of natural tocopherol. Additionally, the process whereby various tocopherols are isolated from vegetable oil is extremely cumbersome.
Vitamin E active compounds have been synthesized by reacting via a Wittig reaction a compound of the formula: ##STR3## wherein R forms with its attached oxygen moiety an ether protecting group removable by hydrogenolysis or acid catalyzed cleavage; preferably benzyl;
and a compound of the formula: ##STR4##
The compound of formula II can be a racemate or a 2R or 2S isomer, depending upon the desired isomeric form of the compound of formula I.
The compound of formula III can also be a racemate or various 2 and 6, R and S isomers. Where the compound of the formula III has a 2R, 6R configuration, i.e., a compound of the formula ##STR5## then natural .alpha.-tocopherol is produced when the compound of the formula III-A and the 2S isomer of the compound of formula II are utilized.
In accordance with this process, it has been desired to provide a simple and economic method for preparing the compound of formula III and III-A, natural vitamin E and isomers derived therefrom from relatively cheap and economic starting materials. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
In recent years, in a display apparatus having a liquid crystal panel, a thin film transistor (TFT) has been mainly used. Specifically an a-Si TFT using amorphous silicon for a channel region or a P-Si TFT using a polysilicon (poly-crystalline silicon) for a channel region is used. The P-Si TFT is manufactured by laser-annealing method of irradiating a whole surface of a substrate with laser beams and thereafter performing patterning.
JP 2012-114131 A discloses a thin film transistor comprising a gate insulating film formed so as to cover a gate electrode, a polysilicon film formed on the gate insulating film, a source electrode formed above one end of the polysilicon film, and a drain electrode formed, apart from the source electrode, above the other end of the polysilicon film opposed to the one end of the polysilicon film where the source electrode is formed, in which a degree of crystallinity of the polysilicon film gets smaller from the end of the polysilicon film where the source electrode or the drain electrode is formed toward a center portion of the polysilicon film where a source electrode or a drain electrode is not formed. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus which supplies a processing liquid upon one major surfaces of variety types of substrates such as a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate for photomask, a glass substrate for liquid crystal display, a glass substrate for plasma display and an optical disk substrate (hereinafter simply referred to as “substrates”) and subjects the major surfaces to predetermined substrate processing, and also to a substrate processing system which comprises such an apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Known as this type of substrate processing apparatus is a substrate processing apparatus in which a substrate is held horizontally for instance, processing liquids such as a photoresist liquid, a cleaning liquid, a rinsing liquid and an etching liquid are supplied to the upward facing one (top surface) of major surfaces of a substrate, and the top surface is subjected to predetermined substrate processing. Such a substrate processing apparatus is described in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open Gazette No. H2-137029, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Gazette No. H5-283327, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,022,484 and 5,762,751. In these apparatuses, a substrate is placed on a rotating stage and thus held horizontally. Substrate processing is executed while a bottom surface of the substrate is held in contact with the rotating stage. Hence, a problem that the bottom surface of the substrate is damaged or contaminated could arise in some cases.
Against this background, a technique of holding a substrate as it is lifted up from a rotating stage has been proposed over the recent years. In a substrate processing apparatus according to the proposal, a plurality of substrate holding pins are disposed upright on the rotating stage which seats a substrate and the substrate is positioned and held at an edge of the substrate with these substrate holding pins. As the substrate showered with a processing liquid rotates, the processing liquid spreads all over a top surface, and the surface of the substrate is processed uniformly.
In this manner, since the substrate is held as it is slightly lifted up from a surface of the rotating stage in the conventional apparatus, it is possible to obviate a damage, a contamination and the like of the other major surface (bottom surface) of the substrate which would otherwise occur as the substrate is placed on the rotating stage in contact with the rotating stage. However, this gives rise to a different problem that a mist of the processing liquid splashed around during the substrate processing flies beneath and adheres to the bottom surface of the substrate and the bottom surface of the substrate is consequently contaminated.
To deal with this, techniques which require to dispose a member between a substrate and a rotating stage (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Gazette No. H5-114554) or to dispose a vertically movable member (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Gazette No. H7-130695 ( 2,845,738), U.S Pat. No. 5,601,645) have been proposed as a solution to the problem above.
By the way, the flying of the mist beneath the substrate is caused by a gap which is created between the bottom surface of the substrate and a periphery edge of a member. Hence, there is a significant relationship between the gap and the flying of the mist. However, while aiming at prevention of the flying of the mist by disposing the member close to the bottom surface of the substrate, the apparatus according to the proposal does not give any special consideration regarding the size of the gap. Due to this, this apparatus does not necessarily realize a sufficient preventive effect.
In addition, although it is desirable to dispose the member as close as possible to the bottom surface of the substrate for a better effect of preventing the flying of the mist, there naturally is a limit to dispose the member at the closest possible position because of bending of the substrate, a dimensional error of the member, an accuracy of assembling the apparatus, etc. Further, when a space between the member and the substrate is negatively pressurized, the mist is whirled into this space and adheres to the bottom surface of the substrate, the member and the like.
Meanwhile, when the gap between the substrate and the rotating stage is made as narrow as possible, it is difficult to use a transportation mechanism which is widely used. This is because of a fact that such a transportation mechanism inserts a transportation arm which holds a substrate into a space which is defined between the rotating stage and other major surface of the substrate and then places the substrate on substrate holding pins. Hence, a reduction of the gap between the substrate and the rotating stage leads to a restriction that a special transportation mechanism is required for transpiration of a substrate, which in turn lowers the versatility of the substrate processing apparatus.
In addition, in the apparatus according to the proposal, e.g., the apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Gazette No. H7-130695 (U.S. Pat. No. 2,845,738), an outer shape of the vertically movable member is a perfect circle and the vertically movable member is formed slightly larger than a substrate. Hence, a periphery edge of the vertically movable member sticks out beyond the substrate and is exposed to the mist-splashed atmosphere (around the substrate). As a result, the mist created during the substrate processing is kicked back by the periphery edge and jumps toward the bottom surface of the substrate in some cases.
Further, while Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Gazette No. H7-130695 (U.S. Pat. No. 2,845,738) describes to set the size of the vertically movable member approximately equal to the size of a substrate, this may also give rise to the following problem. That is, a substrate processed with this type of substrate processing apparatus often has a special shape. For example, in the case of a semiconductor wafer which serves as a substrate, there is a nick portion such as a notch and an orientation flat which indicates a crystallographic reference orientation within the plane of the wafer. In other words, a semiconductor wafer is obtained by forming a nick portion at a periphery edge of a semiconductor substrate which has a disk-like shape, and therefore, an outer shape of the semiconductor wafer is not a perfect disk but is generally disk-like. On the contrary, in the apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Gazette No. H7-130695 (U.S. Pat. No. 2845738) in particular, the outer shape of the vertically movable member is a perfect circle and the size of the vertically movable member is about the same as that of a substrate. Hence, a part of the vertically movable member is exposed to the mist-splashed atmosphere (around the substrate) through the nick portion. As a result, the mist created during the substrate processing is kicked back by the exposed part and jumps toward the bottom surface of the substrate in some cases. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an electro-optical panel, an electro-optical panel module, and a projection display device, and, more particularly, to an electro-optical panel structure suitable for use as a light valve of the projection display device.
2. Description of Related Art
An electro-optical panel for performing light modulation to form a predetermined image is sometimes used in a projection display device such as a liquid crystal projector. Here, a condensing optical system and an enlarging projection optical system are provided. The condensing optical system is provided to cause light from a light source to strike the electro-optical panel. The enlarging projection optical system is provided to project the light that has passed through the electro-optical panel onto a projection surface, such as a screen, and form an enlarged image. The light condensed by the condensing optical system passes through the electro-optical panel, resulting in the formation of the predetermined image, which is projected towards the front by the enlarging projection optical system.
However, when dust sticks onto the outer surface of two transparent substrates making up the above-described electro-optical panel or when the outer surface of the two transparent substrates get scratched, the outer surface of the transparent substrates are brought to a focus, since the outer surface of the transparent substrates are separated from a liquid crystal layer of the electro-optical panel that is brought to a focus by the condensing optical system by only about 1 mm. Therefore, the above-described electro-optical panel has the problem that the quality of a projected image is considerably reduced even when the dust or scratches which get enlarged and projected are only about 10 μm to 20 μm in size.
In the projection display device, the electro-optical panel is irradiated with intense light generated from a light source, so that a localized temperature rise tends to occur in the electro-optical panel. Since such temperature rise changes the light transmittance ratio of some liquid crystals, display quality is reduced. In addition, such temperature rise causes deterioration in electro-optical substances such as the aforementioned liquid crystals.
In view of these problems, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. □9-105901 and 9-113906 disclose a technology which increases heat dissipating capability and which prevents dust from sticking onto and scratches from being formed on the outer surface of a transparent substrate of an electro-optical panel. In this technology, another transparent substrate is disposed away from the aforementioned transparent substrate of the electro-optical panel, with an adhesive being used and applied to the outer surface of the transparent substrate of the electro-optical panel. When another transparent substrate is disposed, an air gap is formed between the transparent substrates separated from each other, so that heat dissipating capability is increased. In addition, when another transparent substrate is disposed, it is possible to prevent dust from sticking onto and scratches from being formed on the outer surface of the transparent substrate of the electro-optical panel. However, when this technology is used, another transparent substrate is disposed away from the transparent substrate of the electro-optical panel, so that light is reflected at the interface between the electro-optical panel and the air gap and at the interface between the transparent substrate disposed away from the transparent substrate of the electro-optical panel and the air gap. This results in such problems as loss of a large amount of light, and the necessity of performing an additional step to form a reflection prevention film onto the substrate surfaces in order to prevent reflection of light.
In order to overcome the above-described problems, the present inventor has conducted various studies on methods of adhering a surface of another substrate onto the outer surface of a transparent substrate of an electro-optical panel, using a transparent adhesive. An application of a method based on such studies has already been filed. FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the structure of an electro-optical panel based on this method. In the electro-optical panel, liquid crystals, which are electro-optical substances, are filled and sealed with a sealant (not shown) between an element-formed substrate 11 (having a pixel electrode and an active element formed on the inner surface thereof) and an opposite substrate 12 (having an electrode that opposes the pixel electrode and that is formed on the inner surface thereof) that opposes the element-formed substrate 11. A surface of a transparent substrate 28 is adhered to the outer surface of the element-formed substrate 11 with a transparent adhesive 30, while a surface of a transparent substrate 29 is adhered to the outer surface of the opposite a surface of a transparent substrate 29 is adhered to the outer surface of the opposite substrate 12 with a transparent adhesive 30. However, when this method is used, the transparent adhesives 30 do not allow flexing of the electro-optical panel, and must have refractive indices of light which are substantially the same as those of the element-formed substrate 11, the opposite substrate 12, and the transparent substrates 28 and 29, so that there is a limit as to the kind of adhesive material which can be used. The adhesive material used must have low viscosity and must possess flowing properties to a certain extent after it has hardened. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, after the surfaces of the corresponding substrates have been adhered together, the transparent adhesives 30 flow outwardly from adhesion portions between the corresponding substrates. Consequently, during the manufacturing process or after completion of the manufacturing process, it becomes difficult to handle the electro-optical panel. In addition, since the transparent adhesives 30 tend to accidentally stick onto the outer surface of the transparent substrates 28 and 29, the electro-optical panel produced tends to be defective. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This application is based on application No. JP 2000-125703 filed in Japan, the contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved light shutter device, and more particularly, to an improved light shutter device driving method Specifically, it relates to a light shutter device driving method, and more particularly, to a light shutter device that comprises multiple light shutter elements located on a substrate made of a material having an electro-optical effect, wherein the ON/OFF control of light is carried out through the action on each light shutter element of an electrical field generated from a pair of electrodes, as well as to a driving method for such light shutter device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various light shutter devices are provided that comprise light shutter substrates made of PLZT, a material that has an electro-optical effect, in an array and in which light is turned ON/OFF on an individual pixel basis in order to form an image on photographic paper or film using a silver halide material or on an electronic photosensitive medium.
A specific principle is shown in FIG. 9. When no voltage is applied to the pair of electrodes 14 and 15 located on the light shutter chip 12, the incident light is blocked by the polarizer 5 located in front of the light shutter chip and the analyzer 7 located on the light exit side, and therefore such light does not exit from the chip. When a voltage is applied to the electrodes 14 and 15, double refraction occurs in the light that enters the PLZT. The light that enters the light transmitting area (light shutter element) 13 through the polarizer 5 is polarized 90 degrees by the light shutter chip 12 such that the light passes through the analyzer 7. Through this operation, the light shutter device turns ON/OFF.
One example of the electrode construction on the conventional light shutter chip 12 is shown in FIG. 10. In this chip 12, light shutter elements 13 (13a, 13b . . . ) are alternately located on the lines X, X that divide the one line image data into two, a common electrode 14, which is connected to ground and is formed therebetween, and individual electrodes 15 (15a, 15b . . . ), to each of which a prescribed voltage is individually applied and which are formed such that the light shutter elements 13 are situated between the individual electrodes 15.
In each light shutter element, the largest amount of pass-through light may be obtained when the incident light is polarized by 90 degrees. The voltage applied to cause this polarization is called half-wavelength voltage. Therefore, driving of this type of light shutter element is carried out using the half-wavelength voltage with which the pass-through light amount is maximized, but a phenomenon occurs in which the half-wavelength voltage and pass-through light amount fluctuate due to the effect of the electrical fields that extend from the adjacent elements (in this specification, this phenomenon is called cross-talk).
For example, to focus on one element 13e in FIG. 10, the lit state (i.e., the amount of pass-through light) of the element 13e should be determined based on the voltage (electrical field) applied to the individual electrode 15e and the common electrode 14. However, when the elements 13c and 13g that are adjacent to the element 13e on the line X are also lit, the electrical fields from the individual electrodes 15c and 15g also extend to the element 13e. Consequently, the half-wavelength voltage by which to drive the element 13e and the amount of pass-through light passing therethrough undergo changes depending on the ON/OFF state of the adjacent elements 13c and 13g.
Such cross-talk does not ordinarily take place between elements that face each other across the common electrode 14, because the common electrode 14 operates as an electrical field barrier. However, where the common electrode 14 is narrow, it is possible for the electrical fields from the individual electrodes 15d and 15f that face the element 13e across the common electrode 14 to extend to the element 13e, causing a cross-talk phenomenon.
FIG. 11 shows the relationship between the voltage applied to the target element 13e and the amount of pass-through light passing therethrough. FIG. 12 shows the waveforms of the voltages applied to the elements 13c, 13e and 13g, respectively, and the photoresponse waveform of the element 13e for each one line image draw cycle.
Characteristic A shown in FIG. 11 indicates the case in which both the adjacent elements 13c and 13g, as well as the element 13e, are simultaneously turned ON, and corresponds to the first cycle in FIG. 12. Characteristic B indicates the case in which either adjacent element 13c or 13g is turned ON, and corresponds to the second or third cycle in FIG. 12. Characteristic C indicates the case in which both adjacent elements 13c and 13g are turned OFF, and corresponds to the fourth cycle in FIG. 12.
As is clear from these characteristics A, B and C, the half-wavelength voltage and the pass-through light amount of the element 13e change depending on the states of operation of the adjacent elements 13c and 13g. For example, where the element 13e is driven using the half-wavelength voltage (approximately 142V) when the elements 13c and 13g are simultaneously turned ON, if either element 13c or 13g is OFF, the element 13e pass-through light amount is reduced by approximately 5%, and if both of the elements 13c and 13g are OFF, the element 13e pass-through light amount is reduced by approximately 16%.
The present invention was made in view of these circumstances, and an object hereof is to provide an improved light shutter device. Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved light shutter device driving method. More specifically, an object of the present invention is to provide a light shutter device and driving method therefor in which the cross-talk phenomenon in which the light shutter elements affect each other may be effectively prevented and the amount of pass-through light of each light shutter element is stabilized.
In order to attain these and other objects, one aspect of the present invention is a driving method for a light shutter device comprising multiple light shutter elements located on a substrate made of a material having an electro-optical effect, wherein light is controlled to turn ON/OFF through the action of an electrical field generated from a pair of electrodes on each light shutter element, and wherein an electrical field does not operate essentially simultaneously on light shutter elements as to which the cross-talk phenomenon occurs in their respective electrical fields.
In the driving method pertaining to the above aspect, an electrical field does not operate essentially simultaneously on light shutter elements that experience a mutual cross-talk effect. Therefore, each light shutter element can obtain a constant amount of pass-through light at all times based on the application of a constant voltage to the electrodes, resulting in the formation of high-quality images.
The concept that xe2x80x98an electrical field does not operate essentially simultaneouslyxe2x80x99 includes the case in which the effect of cross-talk does not appear in the image as a practical matter even if the electrical fields of the elements overlap slightly, as well as the case in which the actions of each electrical field on each light shutter element are completely separate from each other.
In order to perform driving while ensuring that each electrical field does not affect more than one element at the same time, it is preferred from the viewpoint of simplified driving that one line cycle be divided into at least two periods and that the light shutter elements that experience mutual cross-talk be alternately turned ON in each period. If light shutter elements that are arranged at a 1/2 line pitch difference are alternately turned ON in each of the two periods of one line cycle, the cross-talk phenomenon, as well as minute discrepancies in one line image, may be eliminated through simplified driving.
In addition, it is also acceptable if a large number of pulses are supplied per line cycle and if each pulse is allocated such that adjacent elements are not turned ON at the same time. Although this method entails a higher drive frequency, it allows cross-talk and minute discrepancies in one line image to be eliminated. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,727 (“Standard cell having test pad for probing and semiconductor integrated circuit device containing the standard cells”) to Katsura et al., incorporated by reference herein, discloses placement of a testing pad in a standard cell.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,091,249 A (“Method and apparatus for detecting defects in wafers”) to Graham et al., incorporated by reference herein, discloses structures and methods for testing certain defects using a non-contact (“NC”) technique.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,452,412 B1 (“Drop-in test structure and methodology for characterizing an integrated circuit process flow and topography”) to Jarvis et al., incorporated by reference herein, discloses structures and methods for testing certain defects using an NC technique.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,949,765 B2 (“Padless structure design for easy identification of bridging defects in lines by passive voltage contrast”) to Song et al., incorporated by reference herein, discloses structures and methods for testing certain defects using an NC technique.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,101,722 B1 (“In-line voltage contrast determination of tunnel oxide weakness in integrated circuit technology development”) to Wang et al., incorporated by reference herein, discloses structures and methods for testing certain defects using an NC technique.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,105,436 B2 (“Method for in-line monitoring of via/contact holes etch process based on test structures in semiconductor wafer manufacturing”) to Zhao et al., incorporated by reference herein, discloses structures and methods for testing certain defects using an NC technique.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,518,190 B2 (“Grounding front-end-of-line structures on a SOI substrate”) to Cote et al., incorporated by reference herein, discloses structures and methods for testing certain defects using an NC technique.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,930,660 B2 (“Measurement structure in a standard cell for controlling process parameters during manufacturing of an integrated circuit”), to Ruderer et al., incorporated by reference herein, describes the use of test structures in fill cells for manufacturing optimization.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,939,348 B2 (“E-beam inspection structure for leakage analysis”), to Seng et al., incorporated by reference herein, discloses structures and methods for testing certain defects using an NC technique.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,039,837 B2 (“In-line voltage contrast detection of PFET silicide encroachment”) to Patterson et al., incorporated by reference herein, discloses structures and methods for testing certain defects using an NC technique.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,339,449 B2 (“Defect monitoring in semiconductor device fabrication”), to Fong et al., incorporated by reference herein, discloses structures and methods for testing certain defects using an NC technique.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,399,266 B2 (“Test structure for detection of gap in conductive layer of multilayer gate stack”) to Mo et al., incorporated by reference herein, discloses structures and methods for testing certain defects using an NC technique.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,421,009 B2 (“Test structure for charged particle beam inspection and method for defect determination using the same”) to Xiao, incorporated by reference herein, discloses structures and methods for testing certain defects using an NC technique.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,575,955 B1 (“Apparatus and method for electrical detection and localization of shorts in metal interconnect lines”) to Brozek, incorporated by reference herein, discloses structures and methods for testing certain defects using an NC technique.
U.S. Patent Publication 20090102501 A1 (“Test structures for e-beam testing of systematic and random defects in integrated circuits”) to Guldi et al., incorporated by reference herein, discloses structures and methods for testing certain defects using an NC technique. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
A virtual machine (VM) is a portion of software that, when executed on appropriate hardware, creates an environment allowing the virtualization of an actual physical computer system (e.g., a server, a mainframe computer, etc.). The actual physical computer system is typically referred to as a “host machine,” and the operating system of the host machine is typically referred to as the “host operating system.”
A virtual machine may function as a self-contained platform, executing its own “guest” operating system and software applications. Typically, software on the host machine known as a “hypervisor” (or a “virtual machine monitor”) manages the execution of one or more virtual machines, providing a variety of functions such as virtualizing and allocating resources, context switching among virtual machines, etc.
A virtual machine may comprise one or more “virtual processors,” each of which maps, possibly in a many-to-one fashion, to a central processing unit (CPU) of the host machine. Similarly, a virtual machine may comprise one or more “virtual devices,” each of which maps, typically in a one-to-one fashion, to a device of the host machine (e.g., a network interface device, a CD-ROM drive, etc.). The hypervisor manages these mappings in a transparent fashion, thereby enabling the VM operating system and applications executing on the virtual machine to interact with the virtual processors and virtual devices as though they were actual physical entities.
A management system (e.g., a host controller, manager, or hosted engine) may manage the physical and logical resources associated with a virtualization system including multiple host machines and virtual machines. The management system may be the control center of the virtualization system. An administrator of the virtualization system may define host machines, configure data centers, add storage, define networks, create virtual machines, manage user permission, and use templates from the management system. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
With the recent advancement in multi-pixel x-ray sources, for example based on carbon nanotube field emission technology, new scanning geometries may be designed to balance the cost between multi-pixel x-ray tubes and the combination of detector array and data acquisition electronics.
Recently, new scanning geometries have been proposed to improve image quality for single rotation, single organ scans. However, the proposed implementations of these new geometries cumbersome or impractical. For example, a saddle curve scanning geometry was proposed to be implemented by tilting gantry or table. It is impractical, however, to tilt the table back and forth when scanning the patient, and it is also mechanically difficult to tilt the gantry back and forth while the gantry is rotating at high speed. Stationary CT (and tomo-synthesis) scanning systems have the advantage of low maintenance cost compared to the conventional rotating scanning systems. It is difficult, however, to realize such as a system using an electron beam scanning source.
Accordingly, there is a need for CT scanning systems and methods that have improved geometries and provide improved image quality, using multi-pixel x-ray sources. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
EP 495 771 A2 discloses a generic circuit interrupter in which the trip of the breaker mechanism is connected electrically separably to an outer lead and the neutral lead via a switch. When the outer lead or neutral lead is interrupted there is therefore no longer any operation of the FI interrupter.
EP 0 570 603 A discloses a residual current circuit breaker which is dependent on the line voltage and in which the tripping relay is supplied between all three outer leads and the neutral lead. The electronics of the residual current circuit breaker which is known from EP 0 570 603 A1 is however unable to turn off the load current which flows when tripped by the tripping relay, if the terminal for the load current is between the power supply line and the main contacts for the phase conductor. For this reason, in the known residual current circuit breaker the load side and the line side are stipulated so that the main contacts also undertake turning off the load current. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Mandevilla plant, botanically known as Mandevilla hybrida and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Alegnuflor942’.
The new Mandevilla plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Cobbitty, New South Wales, Australia. The objective of the breeding program is to create new Mandevilla plants with large attractive flowers and are temperature-tolerant and tolerant to pathogens and pests common to Mandevilla plants.
The new Mandevilla plant originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in Cobbitty, New South Wales, Australia in January, 2006 of a proprietary selection of Mandevilla hybrida identified as code number X03.2.8, not patented, as the female, or seed parent with a proprietary selection of Mandevilla hybrida identified as code number X03.2.2, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Mandevilla plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in Cobbitty, New South Wales, Australia in December, 2009.
Asexual reproduction of the new Mandevilla plant by cuttings in Macquarie Fields, New South Wales, Australia since January, 2010 has shown that the unique features of this new Mandevilla plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Hose-end sprayers are generally well-known and are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,425,534 (issued Jul. 30, 2002), U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,310 (Dec. 3, 1994) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,288 (Jun. 14, 1994). These patents provide general background information with regard to hose-end sprayers that may be of use in better understanding the makeup and functioning of various embodiments of the present invention. For instance, these patents provide illustrative and non-restrictive examples of how a carrier stream and chemical product can be selectably mixed and admitted through a sprayer, and how alternatively solely a carrier stream can be admitted.
Generally, a strong and compelling need has been recognized in connection with providing hose-end sprayers and similar arrangements with effective safety features to prevent, at the very least, inadvertent spilling or leaking of chemical product in general and/or access to chemical product by children in particular. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates generally to packet networks and more particularly to a system for adapting packet payload size to the amount of network congestion.
A data stream is transmitted over a packet network by first formatting the data stream into multiple discrete packets. For example, in Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications, a digitized audio stream is quantized into packets that are placed onto a packet network and routed to a packet telephony receiver. The receiver converts the packets back into a continuous digital audio stream that resembles the input audio stream. A codec (a compression/ decompression algorithm) is used to reduce the communication bandwidth required for transmitting the audio packets over the network.
A large amount of network bandwidth is required for overhead when a data steam is converted and transmitted as packets. For example, in Realtime Transport Protocol (RTP)-encapsulated VoIP, a very common codec technique packetizes two 10 millisecond (ms) frames of speech into one audio packet. For a 8 kilobit per second (Kbit/s) coder, the 20 milliseconds of speech uses 20 bytes of the audio packet. There are an additional 40 bytes of the audio packet used for overhead, 20 bytes for an IP header, 8 bytes for an UDP header, and 12 bytes for a RTP header. The overhead to payload ratio is then 2 to 1, with two bytes of packet header for every one byte of audio packet payload.
When the packet network is congested, it is important to use network bandwidth efficiently. When there is too much congestion, a network processing node may drop some of the transmitted packets. Depending upon the speech encoding algorithm used in the audio encoder, the sound quality of the audio signal degenerates rapidly as more packets are discarded. The large overhead required for transmitting a data stream over the packet network substantially increases this network congestion causing more packets to be delayed or even dropped, in turn, reducing the quality of data transmitted over the packet network.
Accordingly, a need remains for a system that uses network bandwidth more effectively to improve transmission quality of data streams in a packet network.
The size of packet payloads are dynamically adapted to the amount of congestion in a packet network. More data is put in packet payloads when more congestion exists in the packet network. When network congestion is high, less network bandwidth is available for transmitting packets. Accordingly, the packets are transmitted with larger payloads. When there is little or no network congestion smaller packet payloads are transmitted. The additional overhead created in transmitting smaller packets is acceptable when there is little or no network congestion because the network has excess bandwidth. When the network is congested, this excess bandwidth no longer exists. Thus, more payload is loaded into each packet to reduce the overhead to payload ratio and, in turn, reduce bandwidth consumption. Thus, the packet payloads are dynamically adjusted to use network resources more effectively. Some users may be willing to trade off the delay inherent in packing more frames into a packet for increased efficiency.
Data is transmitted over the packet network by first encoding a data stream into encoded data. The encoded data is converted by a packetizer into packets having a packet header and a packet payload. The packetizer transmits the packets over the packet network to a receiving endpoint while monitoring congestion in the packet network.
In one embodiment of the invention, the data stream is an audio or video data stream generated by a telephone. The packetizer packetizes the encoded audio data into audio packets having a header and an audio payload. The size of the audio payload is increased by packing more audio frames into each audio packet. The size of audio payloads is then decreased when the packet network is no longer congested. Congestion is detected by measuring end-to-end delay between a transmitting gateway and a receiving gateway using an existing protocol such as RTCP. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Organic electroluminescent devices are made from materials that emit light when a suitable voltage is applied across electrodes deposited on either side of the organic material. One class of such materials is semiconductive conjugated polymers which have been described in our earlier U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,190, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference.
One particular advantage such devices have over traditional inorganic light emitting diodes is the ease with which they can be patterned to produce areas of light emission. This is extremely important for the fabrication of dot-matrix displays. The speed of switching of organic light emitting diodes is limited by the transport time of carriers (electrons and holes) moving from their respective electrodes into the material where they combine to form excitons which can radiatively decay to produce light. Because the organic layers can be made very thin (typically <1 micron e.g. 0.1 micron) this transport time can be of order 0.1-1 microsecond even though the mobility of carriers in the organic materials is considerably less (by several orders of magnitude) than the mobility in traditional semiconductors.
One of the primary consequences of this relatively low mobility is a limit to the peak current that can be injected into the device. This is because of space charge effects. Such effects lead to an accumulation of charge within the devices which reduce the further injection of carriers. This has been studied recently in organic LEDs, for example in P. Blom et al, Appl Phys. Lett. p 3308, Vol 68, 1996. The present inventors have reasoned that higher mobilities would lead to higher peak currents and therefore higher peak brightnesses and faster switching times. This is important for many applications including time multiplexed displays. High injection currents are also likely to be required for operation of electrically pumped lasers. If the increase in mobility also leads to a balancing of charge injection this will have the additional benefit of increasing the emission efficiency of these devices.
Attempts have been made to operate electroluminescent devices in a pulsed mode. For example, reference is made to D, Braun et al, Appl. Phys. Lett., p3092, vol. 61, 1992. In that paper, 1 .mu.s voltage pulses of 40V were applied to an EL device. It is stated that at a duty cycle of 0.5% (1:200), the EL intensity remained proportional to the current up to 10 A/sqcm. We believe this is still much too low to have any significant effect on mobility.
In F. Hide et al in Science, p1833, vol.273, 1996, a possibility of obtaining current densities of 25 A/sqcm when operated with 3 .mu.s pulses at a low duty cycle of 1:30 is discussed. We believe again that this is too low to have any significant effect on light output or emission efficiency.
In a paper by L. Rothberg et al, Synthetic Metals, p41, vol.80, 1996, it is suggested that a theoretical maximum value for peak current injection would be 200 A/sqcm. However this is based on expectations for carrier mobility in PPV and removal of space charge limits which are wholly unrealistic in the context described by Rothberg.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a pulsed mode of operation of an EL device which significantly exceeds any existing realistic expectations of current density. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Data centers and other large computer systems can have many computing resources of many different types such as stand-alone computers, blade systems, rack systems, partition-able complexes, and virtual machines. Central management can assist an administrator in managing such complex systems. However, different data centers have need for different management features; also different computing resources within a data center may have different needs for management features. Accordingly, a variety of management software products may be available “a la carte”; furthermore, an administrator is often able to choose which nodes are to receive the benefit of a particular management product and to what extent. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Wearable devices are being introduced by various companies and are becoming more popular in what the wearable devices can do. As the footprint for electronics becomes increasingly smaller, wearable devices may have more and more functionality.
One possible application for wearable devices could be to assist visually impaired person. Currently, visually impaired persons have no tool for real time mobility navigation to be able to walk around a city alone. For example, current tools include using a sight dog or using a walking cane to help them “feel” their surroundings. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Cancer remains one of the most prolific killers in industrialized countries. While surgery, radiation and chemotherapy are effective in the treatment of some cancers, many others are resistant to such therapies. This is evidenced by the high mortality rate; approximately 1 in 4 deaths in the United States are cancer-related. Lung and stomach cancer are particularly deadly, with survival rates averaging 15% after five years. High mortality rates are due in part to their resistance to treatment methods; for example, both stomach and lung cancers are largely insusceptible to chemotherapy treatment. Thus, there is a constant need to develop improved cancer therapies.
In 2001, several groups used a cloning method to isolate and identify a large group of “microRNAs” (miRNAs) from C. elegans, Drosophila, and humans (Lagos-Quintana et al., 2001; Lau et al., 2001; Lee and Ambros, 2001). Several hundreds of miRNAs have been identified in plants and animals—including humans—which do not appear to have endogenous siRNAs. Thus, while similar to siRNAs, miRNAs are nonetheless distinct.
MiRNAs thus far observed have been approximately 21-23 nucleotides in length and they arise from longer precursors, which are transcribed from non-protein-encoding genes (Carrington et al., 2003). The precursors form structures that fold back on each other in self-complementary regions; they are then processed by the nuclease Dicer in animals or DCL1 in plants. MiRNA molecules interrupt translation through precise or imprecise base-pairing with their targets.
MiRNAs are involved in gene regulation. Some miRNAs, including lin-4 and let-7, inhibit protein synthesis by binding to partially complementary 3′ untranslated regions (UTRs) of target mRNAs. Others, including the Scarecrow miRNA found in plants, function like siRNA and bind to perfectly complementary mRNA sequences to destroy the target transcript (Grishok et al., 2001).
Research on miRNAs is increasing as scientists are beginning to appreciate the broad role that these molecules play in the regulation of eukaryotic gene expression. The two best understood miRNAs, lin-4 and let-7, regulate developmental timing in C. elegans by regulating the translation of a family of key mRNAs (Pasquinelli, 2002). Several hundred miRNAs have been identified in C. elegans, Drosophila and mouse. More than thousand miRNAs have been discovered in humans. As would be expected for molecules that regulate gene expression, miRNA levels have been shown to vary between tissues and developmental states.
MicroRNAs and Cancer
There is growing realization that miRNAs, in addition to functioning as regulators of development, can act as oncogenes and tumor suppressors (Akao et al., 2006; Esquela-Kerscher and Slack, 2006; He et al., 2005). Data suggests the dysregulation of miRNA expression in cancer cells (Cho, 2009; Galasso et al., 2010; Garzon et al, 2006; Leite et al., 2009; Li et al., 2010; Ohlsson Teague et al., 2009; Tie et al., 2010; Varnholt et al., 2008). Moreover, altered expression of specific miRNAs has been demonstrated to promote tumorigenesis. Thus, these miRNA expression changes are informative for cancer classification and prognosis.
Events leading to the development of cancer from normal tissue have been well characterized, and a necessary step in this process is the dysregulation of cell cycle progression that facilitates the propagation and accumulation of genetic mutations. Within each cell, elaborate machinery exists to halt cell cycle progression in response to various stimuli, including DNA damage. Such regulation provides time for DNA repair prior to its replication and cell division, hence preserving the integrity of the genome. Multiple pathways lead to cell cycle arrest; however, the p53 tumor suppressor pathway has been shown to lead to both G1 and G2M arrest (Vousden et al., 2007; Taylor et al., 2001; Brown et al., 2007). Although a number of players in this pathway have been identified and characterized, the precise mechanism by which DNA damage leads to cell cycle arrest remains only partially understood.
Cell cycle arrest in response to DNA damage is an important anti-tumorigenic mechanism. MiRNAs have been shown to play regulatory roles in cell cycle progression. In doing so, miRNAs regulate biological processes including cell growth, differentiation and death (Bartel et al., 2004). Insight has been gained into the miRNA-mediated cell cycle regulation by identifying target transcripts of respective miRNAs (Carleton, 2007; Johnson et al., 2007; Ivanovsaka, I., et al., 2008). For example, miR-34a is induced in response to p53 activation and mediates G1 arrest by down-regulating multiple cell cycle-related transcripts.
While certain miRNAs exert their cell cycle effect through targeting transcripts, other miRNAs do so through cooperatively down-regulating the expression of multiple cell cycle-related transcripts (He et al., 2007; Linsley et al., 2007). In addition to their effects on the cell cycle, these miRNAs and their family members are aberrantly expressed in human cancers (Linsley et al., 2007; Calin et al., 2006; Takamizawa et al., 2004; Inamura et al., 2007; Cimminio et al., 2005; Ota et al., 2004; He et al., 2005).
Cancer causes one in every four US deaths and is the first leading cause of death among Americans. Despite extensive research into the development of therapies, current neoplasia treatments are woefully ineffective. Many mechanisms of miRNA regulation, including their targets and roles in neoplastic transformations, have not yet been investigated. Thus, there is an unfulfilled need for improved compositions and methods for the treatment or prevention of neoplasia. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates generally to fishing lures, and more particularly to a device for preventing bait, also referred to herein as lures, from slipping down the shank of a fishhook. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a novel bait retaining device, wherein the device secures bait in a simple and effective way and allows for disengagement and reattachment upon a new portion of the bait providing a dramatic improvement in the life of the bait.
The use of bait in fishing is ancient. The use of artificial worms and live bait is particularly common. Many different types of devices have been developed and used to secure bait to hooks and extend the useful life of bait. However, most devices and methods gave little support to lures and, once used, would render the lure useless in other applications or even repeated use because of the likelihood of ripping and tearing the lure.
Examples of devices designed to hold bait and lures include the following: U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,168 discloses a deep sea fishing lure with teeth and body closure which consists of upper and lower cylindrical jaws pivotally connected and biased together with a spring. The inside of the jaws have rows of teeth, designed to hold live bait. The design is such that it is to prevent water from washing out the live bait.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,023 discloses a bait holding device designed to simulate a bait predator. It is comprised of a pair of complementary clasps which are designed to hold bait without impaling the bait. The clasps have a handle portion and a hinge which are designed so a hook may be inserted and secured. The non-impaling feature of this device is to preserve to life of live bait.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/604,937 is directed to a fish hook with a bait attachment clip. The bait attachment clip is coupled to the hook and a flexible sleeve is slid onto the hook to removably couple the bait attachment clip in an operative position. The combination is designed to enable live or artificial bait to be more readily coupled to the hook in a secured manner. The bait is not impaled by the clip. The clip has jaws which are pivotally connected and biased together with a spring, whereby a user can compress the jaw ends together to open the opposing jaw ends out of the clamping position.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/038,829 is directed to a device attachable to an artificial fishing lure to prevent an artificial trailer bait from sliding down the lure's fish hook. It is comprised of a piece of wire that is formed generally into a U-shape consisting of a pair of legs joined by a base segment where the end of each leg is turned inward towards the opposing leg. Each terminal portion is adapted to penetrate into and hold artificial bait in place on the hook.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,841,127 discloses a fishing hook rig where a connector is formed with a spiral wire surrounding a portion of a straight wire pin and the connector is fixed to the top end of a fishing hook. An artificial bait is connected to the straight and spiral wire combination in order to secure it from sliding down a hook and to form, once the hook is entered into a lower portion of the artificial bait, a snag resistant rig for fishing.
Several problems exist with these prior art lures and bait holders. For example, the prior art devices that do not impale bait, do not sufficiently hold bait to prevent loss of it. Many of these devices are also complicated multi-piece constructions which makes them difficult to assemble and expensive to manufacture. The prior art devices that do impale rip and tear the bait at the connection points and fail to extend the life of the artificial bait. Therefore, there is a need among bait retaining devices for a device that sufficiently secures bait by impaling and will extend the useful life of the bait. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Drilling is a cutting operation in which material is removed from a workpiece to provide a bore in or through the workpiece. Drilling is carried out by advancing a rotating drilling tool or “drill” into the workpiece in the direction of the drill's longitudinal axis. Common drill configurations include, for example, twist drills and spade drills. A twist drill is characterized by one or more helical flutes disposed along at least a portion of the length of the drill and which terminate at a working end of the drill (the “drill tip”), which includes cutting edges. In contrast, a spade drill includes a wide cutting blade at the drill tip and lacks helical flutes along its length. Twist drills have a more complex geometrical design than spade drills due to the helical flutes, and this makes twist drills generally more difficult to manufacture.
Twist drills are manufactured as either non-composite twist drills or composite twist drills. A problem limiting the performance of non-composite twist drills is that the cutting speed (rotational speed of the cutting edge relative to the workpiece) varies from zero at the drill's center to a maximum cutting speed at the drill's periphery. Because of these variations in cutting speed, non-composite twist drills do not experience uniform wear along the cutting edge on the drill tip. The wear rate of a point on the cutting edge of the drill tip depends on the location of the point relative to the center of the cutting edge. The conditions promoting wear on a drill's tip can be significantly more aggressive at the periphery than at the center of the drill tip.
To address this problem, composite twist drills have been manufactured that include different materials or different material grades in different regions of the drill, allowing for different wear-resistance properties in the drill's central and peripheral regions. Such an arrangement has been adapted to optimize drilling performance. A composite twist drill has a monolithic construction but includes materials having different mechanical properties in different regions of the drill. However, it is relatively costly to manufacture composite twist drills because, for example, the production process involves additional steps related to pressing and sintering powdered precursors of the at least two different materials or material grades.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide an improved twist drill design that addresses the non-uniform cutting edge wear experienced by non-composite twist drills, but that need not be manufactured using the relatively costly techniques used in making composite twist drills. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
In a communications system, a backplane is an important composition part of a communications device, generally includes multiple layers of printed circuit boards (PCB) boards and connectors, and provides functions of electrical signal connection and physical support for each subcard and module in the communications system.
With continuous development of a communications system technology, a large capacity requirement of the communications system requires a higher signal transmission rate in the backplane and a greater channel for signal transmission, and further, requirements for a quantity of layers, size, and density of conductive patterns in the PCB board of the backplane are higher. Moreover, the high transmission rate has higher requirements for an insulation material of the PCB board and precision of the conductive pattern in the PCB board. However, in a conventional PCB manufacturing technology, addition of the quantity of layers of the conductive patterns in the PCB board directly leads to an exponential growth of manufacturing difficulty and manufacturing costs of the PCB board, and even leads to a case in which processing cannot be performed. In addition, because the conductive pattern in the PCB board is processed by means of etching, the size and the precision of the conductive pattern cannot satisfy a requirement of high-rate signal transmission in an internal system.
Therefore, the prior art provides a backplane. Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, in the backplane, a PCB board is divided into a large backplane 01 and a group of small backplanes 02, and the large backplane 01 and the small backplanes 02 are assembled in a laminated manner. The large backplane 01 is used for transmission of a power source, transmission of a power source and a low-rate signal, and the small backplanes 02 are used for transmission of a high-rate signal, transmission of a high-rate signal and a low-rate signal, light transmission. The small backplanes 02 may be independent of the large backplane 01 and are assembled and disassembled in a manner of a chassis. Further, referring to FIG. 2, signal connection is implemented between subcards 03 and the large backplane 01 by means of insertion of connectors 04, and signal connection is implemented between the small backplanes 02 and the large backplane 01 by means of insertion of connectors 05.
Although the backplane with the foregoing structure separates wiring of the high-rate signal and configures the wiring in the backplanes 02, the signal transmission rate in the small backplanes 02 is still limited by a conventional PCB board manufacturing process, further leading to poor transmission quality and a low transmission rate of the high-rate signal in the communications device and an inflexible arrangement manner of a signal channel in the communications device. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
As a semiconductor module, a semiconductor module including a plurality of semiconductor elements is known (for example, Patent Documents 1-4). | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Frequency synthesizers are used in a wide range of electronic equipment, particularly in radio and television tuners, cable modems and other high-frequency data communication equipment, and test equipment, therefore in many of these applications a wide frequency output range with low noise is desired and, in the past, it has been common to achieve these ends using a circuit based on a phase-locked loop (PLL) control system.
A phase-locked loop is a closed-loop feedback control system that generates an output signal in relation to the frequency and phase of an input reference signal, automatically raising or lowering the frequency of a voltage controlled oscillator until it matches the reference signal in both frequency and phase. This technique is widely used in radio, telecommunications, computers and other electronic applications and facilitates the stablization of a generated signal or the detection of signals in the presence of noise. The technique of constructing an integrated circuit to hold a complete phase-locked loop building block is well known in the art and is widely used in modern electronic devices, with signal frequencies from a fraction of a cycle per second up to many gigahertz.
The PLL circuits discussed herein are constructed using analog circuitry. The most common form of analog PLL is constructed from a phase detector, a low-pass filter and a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) placed in a negative feedback configuration. The PLLs discussed herein also contain frequency dividers in the feedback path and in the reference path in order to make the PLL output frequency an integer multiple of the reference signal frequency. Under initial conditions, a first assumption is that the VCO is generating an output signal that is likely to be at nearly the same frequency as the reference signal. If the phase from the VCO output signal falls behind that of the reference signal, a charge pump within the phase detector changes the control voltage output from the phase detector so that the VCO frequency increases. Likewise, if the VCO output signal phase creeps ahead of the reference, the phase detector causes the charge pump to change the control voltage to slow down the VCO. The low-pass filter serves the function of smoothing out the abrupt changes in control voltage from the charge pump. Since initially the VCO output signal may be far from the reference frequency, practical phase detectors may also respond to frequency differences, so as to increase the lock-in range of allowable inputs.
A well known method of achieving a wide frequency range for either single or multiple frequency bands up to and even beyond 2000 MHz is to have a separate voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) working with the PLL for each frequency band. This technique requires significantly more components than a single-VCO circuit and adds more sources of noise to the circuit.
One method for addressing the problem of a wide frequency range while maintaining low noise is taught by U.S. Pat. No. 5,796,311 entitled PHASE-LOCKED LOOP CIRCUIT. Multiple pre-scaler circuits are used, each dividing the output signal frequency by a predetermined number. These separate pre-scaled signals are then combined back together to feed into the phase comparator of the PLL as a single signal. This approach adds considerable complexity to the circuit as multiple pre-scaling circuits are required.
Another method of providing a wide frequency range is taught by U.S. Pat. No. 6,788,157 entitled PROGRAMMABLE FREQUENCY SYNTHESIZER which discloses the use of a regenerative frequency divider and programmable integer divider to provide wideband frequency coverage from a single narrowband oscillator. However, the noise reduction provided by this circuit is quite limited, with no more than 3 dB of noise reduction realized by each of the three frequency divider elements disclosed in the invention.
Still another method of providing a wide frequency range along with improved noise performance is taught by U.S. Pat. No. 6,977,556 entitled RATIONAL FREQUENCY SYNTHESIZERS which discloses the use of multiple single side band (SSB) mixers for a range of frequency ratios based on the output frequency and the reference frequency. While this invention enables performance across a wide frequency range, the use of multiple SSB mixers, ratio dividers and associated control circuitry is a complex approach to providing a wide frequency range with low noise. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical storage apparatus for storing information, in the form of a large number of pits, on the surface of an optical disk, the pits being aligned in tracks. The present invention further relates to a servo system for tracking an optical beam, such as a laser beam, on the surface of an optical disk to read out information stored on the disk or to write information on the disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical storage devices usually store binary signals in the form of a large number of pits aligned in circular tracks on an optical disk. The tracks may be pregrooves (not shown) which are raised from the surface of the disk. The information is optically read out by scanning the disk with a laser beam having a diameter on the order of 1 .mu.m. The stored information is read by sensing (or detecting) the laser beam after it is reflected and modulated by the surface of the disk. The beam is modulated by optical defraction due to the presence of the pits formed on the optical disk.
The use of an optical storage medium, i.e., an optical disk, is desirable because it is possible to achieve a much higher signal density with an optical storage medium than with a magnetic storage medium; a high signal density being achieved because of the fine and precise structure of the optical medium which forms the optical disk. Further, the pitch of the tracks is substantially small, typically 1.6 .mu.m, and the size of the pits aligned on the tracks is on the order of 0.1 .mu.m. Thus, to accurately read information from an optical disk, a laser beam must be precisely focused and centered on a track. Consequently, an accurate servo system is required to focus and center the laser beam on a track.
The tracks on an optical disk may be eccentric, mainly due to insufficient dimensional preciseness of the disk, and have positional variations of up to 100 .mu.m. Thus, the tracks on a rotating disk have periodic and wide ranging positions in the radial direction, which creates substantial difficulty in performing accurate tracking. In addition, an objective lens with a high numerical aperture, such as 0.5, is utilized to detect, or perceive, extremely fine details, leading to a very small depth of field, on the order of several .mu.m. Further, the disk surface may have variations in the vertical direction on the order of 100 .mu.m due to the distortion of the disk, leading to difficulty in focusing.
In spite of the above-mentioned adverse conditions, the laser beam must be tracked with an accuracy of approximately 0.1 .mu.m in order to avoid cross-talk, and the laser beam must be focused on the surface with an accuracy of approximately 0.1 .mu.m. Thus, an accurate servo system for centering a laser beam on the track is the key to an optical storage apparatus. Various servo systems for focusing and tracking an optical beam have been developed and are reported in references such as "Optical Readout of Video Disks," by C. Bricot et al., IEEE Transaction C.E., November 1976, p. 304.
Tracking servo systems also experience problems due to "beam shift" which is inherent in most conventional optical systems employed in optical storage devices. "Beam shift" is enhanced by a mechanical hazard referred to as "skew" of the disk surface, caused by slight radial distortions, usually convex, of optical disks. Optical servo systems are designed so that the incident laser beam is perpendicular to the disk surface; accordingly, the reflected laser beam follows the same path as the incident laser beam. If the incident laser beam is not perpendicular to the surface of the disk, the return path of the reflected laser beam will be different from the path of the incident laser beam, resulting in beam shift which adversely affects the tracking servo system.
Conventional servo systems are described below, with reference to FIGS. 1-3, in order to explain beam shift.
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of one example of a conventional system for obtaining tracking error signals. This system includes an objective lens 2 and an actuator 3 for driving the objective lens 2. The actuator 3 includes electrodynamic coils, similar to those used in audio speakers, to drive the lens 2 in a tracking direction T in accordance with tracking error signals, and in a focus direction F in accordance with focus error signals. The actuator 3 is referred to as a two-dimensional actuator. A laser beam 6 following a beam path perpendicular to the disk 1 passes through a beam splitter 4 and is focused on the disk 1 by lens 2 to form a focal point 7. The laser beam is then reflected and follows the path of the incident laser beam. Subsequently, a portion, or part, of the laser beam is deflected at a right angle by the beam splitter 4 and follows beam path 6-1 to a photosensor 5 comprising two sub-photosensors A and B. The aperture of the objective lens 2 forms a spot 15 at a fixed position on the photosensor 5. When the laser beam 6 is not well centered on the track, the intensity distribution of the laser beam over the spot 15 is asymmetrical due to the optical defraction of the deflected laser beam. The asymmetry of the beam intensity is sensed by the photosensor 5 and converted into tracking error signals by a differential amplifier (not shown) connected to sub-photosensors A and B. This method of generating tracking error signals is referred to as a "push-pull" method.
The occurrence of beam shift will now be described. When lens 2 is moved to a different position, as shown by the dotted lines and reference numeral 2' in FIG. 1, by the actuator 3 in accordance with a tracking error signal, the focal point 7 of the lens is moved to a new position 7'. Thus, the path of the incident laser beam is not perpendicular with the surface of the disk 1. Consequently, the reflected laser beam follows a dotted line path 6'-1 and is shifted by a distance s from the original path 6-1. This is the phenomenon of beam shift. As a result, the optical axis of the laser beam incident on the photosensor 5 is shifted by the distance s, and the intensity distribution of the laser beam over the spot 15 is changed, generating an off-set (a fixed deviation of the value of the signal current) in the tracking error signals. Therefore, it is impossible to perform an exact servo tracking operation.
Another example of beam shift will be described with reference to FIG. 2. The tracking servo system of FIG. 2 has two actuators, a focus servo actuator and a tracking servo actuator 8. An objective lens 2 is driven only in a focusing direction F by the servo focusing actuator 3' to focus the laser beam 6, which follows a path 6-2, on the disk 1. The laser beam 6 is tracked by pivoting mirror 9, and a servo tracking actuator 8, driven by a tracking error signal, controllably rotates the mirror 9 around a pivot axis P'. When the center of a track is in line with the optical axis of lens 2, a laser beam 6 following the solid line path 6-1 is perpendicular to the disk 1 and the reflected laser beam will return along path 6-2. However, when the eccentricity of the disk 1 causes the track to move to a different position 7', the mirror 9 must be rotated to a new position 9', shown by the dotted lines in FIG. 2, and the laser beam 6 follows optical path 6'-2, shown by the dotted line. In this case the laser beam incident on the disk 1 is not perpendicular to the surface of the disk 1, and thus a beam shift of a distance s results in an erroneous tracking error signal.
In order to alleviate beam shift, an improved structure for a tilting mirror has been proposed by Maeda et al. in the conference bulletin of the Japanese Applied Physics Society, 7P-X-8, April 1983. The blook diagram of FIG. 3 illustrates this structure, in which the pivot axis 12 of a tilting mirror 13, which is driven by a mirror actuator 14, is located on a back focal plane 11 of the objective lens 2. The back focal plane 11 is a plane which is parallel to the surface of the disk 1 and which includes a back focal point 10 of lens 2, the back focal point of lens 2 being on the opposite side of lens 2 from disk 1. A laser beam 6, following beam path 6-3, is deflected by tilting mirror 13 to pass in the immediate vicinity of the back focal point 10 of lens 2. As a result, the beam shift is negligibly small. The lens 2, however, is moved in a focusing direction F by a focusing actuator 3. This movement of the lens 2 results in a small discrepancy between the pivot axis 12 of the tilting mirror 13 and the back focal plane 11 of lens 2. The beam shift due to the discrepancy of the back focal plane 11 and the pivot point 12 has been shown to be negligibly small. Thus, the improved structure of the tilting mirror 13 provides a solution to the problem of beam shift in a tracking servo system. However, the tilting mirror 13, including its associated actuator 14, is rather large, adversely affecting the ability of the servo apparatus to respond to a tracking error signal of high frequency. The size of the tiling mirror 13 also adversely affects the density of the components of the servo apparatus.
In addition to the aforesaid problems inherent to optical tracking servo systems, the skew of the optical disk 1 is a problem which is difficult to overcome. Accordingly, it is important to alleviate the problem of beam shift. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
To meet the demand for wireless data traffic having increased since deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop an improved 5G or pre-5G communication system. Therefore, the 5G or pre-5G communication system is also called a ‘Beyond 4G Network’ or a ‘Post LTE System’. The 5G communication system is considered to be implemented in higher frequency (mmWave) bands, e.g., 60 GHz bands, so as to accomplish higher data rates. To decrease propagation loss of the radio waves and increase the transmission distance, the beamforming, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, an analog beam forming, large scale antenna techniques are discussed in 5G communication systems. In addition, in 5G communication systems, development for system network improvement is under way based on advanced small cells, cloud Radio Access Networks (RANs), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, moving network, cooperative communication, Coordinated Multi-Points (CoMP), reception-end interference cancellation and the like. In the 5G system, Hybrid FSK and QAM Modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as an advanced coding modulation (ACM), and filter bank multi carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as an advanced access technology have been developed.
The Internet, which is a human centered connectivity network where humans generate and consume information, is now evolving to the Internet of Things (IoT) where distributed entities, such as things, exchange and process information without human intervention. The Internet of Everything (IoE), which is a combination of the IoT technology and the Big Data processing technology through connection with a cloud server, has emerged. As technology elements, such as “sensing technology”, “wired/wireless communication and network infrastructure”, “service interface technology”, and “Security technology” have been demanded for IoT implementation, a sensor network, a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication, Machine Type Communication (MTC), and so forth have been recently researched. Such an IoT environment may provide intelligent Internet technology services that create a new value to human life by collecting and analyzing data generated among connected things. IoT may be applied to a variety of fields including smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car or connected cars, smart grid, health care, smart appliances and advanced medical services through convergence and combination between existing Information Technology (IT) and various industrial applications.
In line with this, various attempts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as a sensor network, Machine Type Communication (MTC), and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication may be implemented by beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud Radio Access Network (RAN) as the above-described Big Data processing technology may also be considered to be as an example of convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology.
Recently, wireless communication technology has been suddenly developed, and thus communication system technology has repeatedly evolved. Among them, a system that has currently been highlighted as 4th generation (4G) mobile communication technology is a long term evolution (LTE) system. In the LTE system, in order to satisfy the traffic command that is suddenly increasing, various technologies have been introduced, and one of such technologies is carrier aggregation (CA). In the related art, only one carrier is used to perform communications between a terminal (user equipment (UE), hereinafter referred to as a “terminal”) and a base station (E-UTRAN NodeB or eNB, hereinafter referred to as a “base station”). The CA technology is a technology that additionally uses a primary carrier and one or more secondary carriers, and thus can greatly increase throughput based on the number of secondary carriers being added.
In the LTE system, a cell in a base station that uses a primary carrier is called a primary cell (PCell), and a cell in a base station that uses a secondary cell is called a secondary cell (SCell). Only one PCell exists, and 4 SCells (based on LTE Release 11) can exist at maximum. However, the number of SCells can be further increased in the future.
The LTE system may be a system that performs communications using a licensed band frequency that a communication service provider is allocated with from the Government. Recently, in order to satisfy the traffic demand that is suddenly increasing, technology for using LTE technology in an unlicensed band that is currently used by wireless local area network (LAN) or Bluetooth (BT) has been defined, and such usage of the LTE technology in the unlicensed band is called licensed assisted access (LAA) technology. In the case of grafting the CA technology on the LAA technology, a scenario in which the PCell uses a licensed band frequency and the SCell uses an unlicensed band frequency through the LAA technology may be considered. The SCell that uses the unlicensed band as described above may be called an unlicensed SCell (U-SCell).
On the other hand, the latest terminal, such as a smart phone, may perform communications using a different wireless communication system (e.g., wireless LAN technology) that uses the unlicensed band in addition to an LAA wireless communication system that uses the LAA technology. For example, a user may receive a service through the unlicensed band through an access of a private wireless LAN access point (AP) at home. However, if a cell that uses the unlicensed band has been set to use a secondary carrier in a terminal, or a base station instructs the terminal to set the cell that uses the unlicensed band to use the secondary carrier in the case where the user of the terminal intends to access the private AP at home, the terminal is unable to perform communications simultaneously using the LAA wireless communication system and the different wireless communication system that uses the unlicensed band in the same unlicensed band or an adjacent unlicensed band.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device such as an electrically erasable and programmable ROM (EEPROM).
2. Description of the Related Art
As one of nonvolatile semiconductor memory devices, a NAND-cell type EEPROM capable of high integration is known. In this NAND-cell type EEPROM, a predetermined number of memory cells are connected in series with adjacent memory cells by sharing their sources and drains, and each group of in series-connected memory cells is connected to a bit line as one unit (NAND cell section). A general memory cell has a FETMOS structure in which a floating gate (charge storage layer) and a control gate are stacked. Memory cell arrays are integrated and formed in a P-type substrate or a P-type well region formed on an N-type substrate. The drain side of the NAND cell section is connected to the bit line through a first selection gate, and the source side is connected to a common source line through a second selection gate. The control gates of the memory cells are continuously arranged in a row direction to serve as word lines.
The operation of this NAND-cell type EEPROM is as follows.
Data programming is started from a memory cell at the furthest position viewing from the bit line. A high voltage Vpp (=about 20 V) is applied to the control gate of a selected memory cell, an intermediate voltage Vm (=about 10 V) is applied to the selection gate and the control gate of memory cells closer to the bit line than the selected memory cell, and 0 V or an intermediate voltage Vmb (=about 8 V) is applied to the bit line in accordance with data to be programmed.
When 0 V is applied to the bit line, the potential of the bit line is transferred to the drain of the selected memory cell, and electrons are injected into a floating gate to shift the threshold voltage of the selected memory cell in the positive direction. This state is defined as, e.g., "0".
When the intermediate voltage Vmb is applied to the bit line, no effective electron injection occurs. Therefore, the threshold voltage does not change and remains negative. This state is defined as "1" or the erased state.
Data are simultaneously programmed in memory cells sharing a control gate. A programming voltage Vpp is gradually increased to increase the programming speed while assuring the reliability of the memory cells. This is because abrupt application of a high voltage may destruct the tunnel portion of the memory cell.
Data are simultaneously erased from all memory cells in a NAND cell section. That is, all control gates are set to 0 V, and the P-type substrate or P-type well region is set to 20 V. At this time, a selection gate, a bit line, and a source line are also set to 20 V. With this operation, electrons of the floating gates in all the memory cells are discharged to the P-type substrate or P-type well region to shift the threshold voltages in the negative direction.
Data reading is performed by detecting whether a current flows in a selected memory cell while the control gate of the selected memory cell is set to 0 V, and the control gates and selection gates of remaining memory cells are set to a power supply voltage Vcc (e.g., 5 V).
Due to limitations in reading, a threshold voltage after "0" programming must be controlled to fall within the range of 0 V to the power supply voltage Vcc. For this reason, programming verification is performed to detect the memory cells in which "0" programming is insufficient and to set the reprogramming data such that the data is reprogrammed in the insufficient "0" programming memory cells (bit-by-bit verification). An insufficient "0" programming memory cell is detected by reading out (verify-read) the data at a selected control gate voltage of, e.g., 0.5 V (verification voltage). That is, if the threshold voltage of a memory cell is not 0.5 V (0 V+margin) or more, a current flows through a selected memory cell, and an insufficient "0" programming state is detected.
By performing data programming by repeating programming and programming verification, the programming time is optimized for each memory cell to properly control the threshold voltage after "0" programming to fall within the range of 0 V to Vcc. Since the programming voltage is increased in every programming step, programming is performed at high speed while assuring reliability.
In a NAND-cell type EEPROM of this type, the following problems are posed.
More specifically, the initial value of the programming voltage Vpp in programming must be set to be sufficiently low for a fast programmable memory cell while the final voltage must be set to be sufficiently high for a slow programmable memory cell. For this reason, when the increase rate of the programming voltage per unit of time is made constant, programming takes more time with a larger variation in the programming characteristics.
As this variation in programming characteristics becomes larger, programming and programming verification must be inevitably repeated a larger number of times, thereby prolonging the programming time.
Note that this problem is not limited to the NAND-cell type EEPROM and may be posed in another nonvolatile semiconductor memory device for performing programming/erasing data in/from a memory cell, e.g., a NOR cell type EEPROM.
As described above, in the conventional semiconductor memory device, if the variation in the programming characteristics of the memory cells is increased, the difference between the initial voltage and the final voltage of the programming voltage is increased, or the number of times of programming and programming verification is increased, thereby prolonging the programming time. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present disclosure herein relates to a semiconductor device, and in particular, to a vertical-type memory device.
Higher integration of semiconductor devices is desired to satisfy demands for high-performance and low-cost electronic devices. In particular, the integration of memory devices can affect product prices. The integration density of typical two-dimensional (2D) or planar memory devices may be determined by the area occupied by a unit memory cell. Thus, integration of the 2D or planar memory devices may be influenced by fine pattern technology used in the device. However, process equipment for increasing pattern fineness may be very expensive and therefore can set a practical limit on increasing integration density for 2D or planar memory devices. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of Art
The present disclosure generally relates to the field of improving quality of life for inmates of a correctional institution and more specifically to supporting inmate communications via messages over a messaging service.
2. Background of the Invention
Jail phone systems have existed for some time and provide inmates of a correctional institution with the ability to make outbound calls to friends or relatives, usually for up to 15 minutes at a time. Jail phone systems enhance the quality of life for inmates and provide a source of revenue for the correctional institution and phone vendors. Inmates that wish to use the phone system are either charged a fee when the call is answered or incur a fee on the recipient to answer the call, which may be charged at a flat fee or per minute rate. The inmates' phone calls are recorded and oftentimes the communications of an inmate are monitored by the inmate's case-agent, making them a valuable intelligence-gathering source when criminal activities and actors in the criminal activities are openly discussed over the phone.
More recently, vendors have introduced systems that enable inmates to send and receive e-mail. These systems have time and cost components similar to phone calls placed through the jail phone system, but serve the specific function of e-mail communication.
While these systems improve the life of inmates, they ignore one of the most predominate methods of communication. Specifically, they do not support the sending and receipt of messages over a messaging service such as short message service and multimedia messaging service. Hence, a system supporting inmate communications via messages over a messaging service can further improve the quality of life for incarcerated individuals. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates to an air fuel injection system and more particularly to an improved silencing and cooling arrangement for an air fuel injector unit.
The advantages of providing an air and fuel injector for internal combustion engines, particularly those operating on the two cycle crankcase compression principle, are well known. In accordance with such injectors, the injection unit normally includes a housing having a nozzle port and an injection valve which opens and closes the nozzle port and controls the ignition of both fuel and air under pressure to the combustion chamber of the engine. The injection valve may be operated in one of a wide variety of manners and frequently an electrical solenoid is employed for opening and closing the injection valve. Of course, the use of such valve actuators and the opening and closing of the valve can generate noise which may be objectionable.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved air fuel injector unit having a silencing arrangement.
It is further object of this invention to provide an arrangement for silencing the valve actuator of a fuel air injector unit.
In addition to the noise problem, the use of an electrical solenoid for operating the injection valve can give rise to other objectionable characteristics. That is, the electrical actuator will generate some heat and this heat can be passed on to both the fuel and air injector and can decrease the efficiency of the engine.
It is, therefore, a still further object of this invention to provide an improved fuel air injector and an arrangement for cooling it.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a cooling arrangement for a fuel air injector wherein the compressed air supplied to the injector is also used as an arrangement for cooling the injector. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for constructing devices for chucking workpieces in defined and reproducible positions on machine tools and measuring machines. In addition, the invention relates to a mounting pipe for such a system with grid points arranged at regular coordinate distances, and a corresponding base plate. The invention also relates to a connecting element and a connecting adapter for connecting such mounting pipes to each other, to a base plate or to an adapter plate.
2. Description of the Related Art
EP 222 147 B1 discloses a system of the above described type. The mounting pipes and the base plate of this known system have locating bores arranged at regular coordinate distances. These locating bores form grid points which establish a grid spacing. This grid spacing is provided in all three planes x, y and z.
The locating bores or transverse bores forming the grid points of this known system are provided in the mounting pipes so as to intersect in the four surfaces in a large number and with great precision, wherein the mounting pipes preferably have a parallelepiped shape with rectangular or square cross-section, and wherein these mounting components and possibly appropriate base plates make it possible to construct various spatial structures for mounting and measuring workpieces. The mounting pipes are manufactured from high-strength and extruded aluminum pipes which are subsequently mechanically processed for achieving the necessary precision. The section modulus of the components is reduced by the large quantity of locating bores and transverse bores.
Pipes of aluminum having not such a high strength can be drawn more precisely, however, the precision which is possible in mechanical processing cannot be achieved. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital backplane and various methods, systems and devices for controlling a digital backplane, light modulating elements and spatial light modulators.
2. Related Art
The concept of digital LCoS devices has been known for well over 10 years. The U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,598 to McKnight gives an example of many of the basic digital LCoS concepts and is included herein by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 6,650,138 to Zuravleff shows another variation of this “master-slave” mirror drive arrangement. Both of these patents use a feed forward drive method. Both of these patents show a two-storage-bit structure in which one of the storage bits is directly shifted to the next bit for display and thus the two bits of storage are inexorably linked together and connected to a specific output. However, the methods described in these patents require considerable bandwidth.
U.S. Published Patent Application Document No. 2003/0160803 to Willis shows a spatial light modulator microdisplay which uses a “feed forward” drive method. In this application, an N-bit pixel value is compared to a N-bit counter and the result of that comparison is used to drive a display mirror of an LCoS device. Willis shows an N-bit wide comparison occurring 2N times in order to control the bit with each comparison requiring all N-bits. Willis shows needing at least N-bits of memory storage on the display device to affect the PWM control. This means that N-bits must somehow be sent/connect to an N-bit wide comparator 2N times in order to control the PWM waveform. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.