text
stringlengths 2
806k
| meta
dict |
|---|---|
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for filtering particulate matter from internal combustion engine coolant where a filter is connected between the heater core supply and return lines.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of engine coolant filters is known in the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,248 to Gene W. Brown, issued Sep. 7, 1999, describes an engine coolant filter which provides a delayed release of chemical additives to the coolant system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,355 issued Jan. 17, 1995, to Daniel A. Arlozynski discloses an Engine coolant filter having an automatic clogged-filter bypass valve and a visual indicator.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,776,384 to Offer discloses a replaceable element coolant filter including a pleated paper filter element for use in an existing water filter housing for internal combustion engine cooling systems by means of a grommet that serves to seat the element and seal it around the housing outlet.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,682,308 to Charles L. Moon, issued Aug. 8, 1972, describes an engine coolant filter comprising a filter base connected to a coolant conduit, a removable filter body, and check valves.
There is a need for a relatively simple and inexpensive coolant filter system which can be installed on new engines, or retrofitted to existing engines.
The current invention is an engine coolant filter system and method for directing a portion of the normal coolant flow through heater hoses to a replaceable cartridge or media filter in order to remove particulate matter such as rust and scale.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved engine coolant filter system for removing particulate matter such as scale and rust from an internal combustion engine cooling system.
In one embodiment, the engine coolant filter system is created by cutting the supply and return heater core lines, placing a tee in each line, installing a section of hose on each of the tees, and then placing a filter between the hose sections so that a portion of the flow from the heater hoses is directed through the filter. In this embodiment, the coolant filter may be retrofitted to an existing engine. In other embodiments, the filter system may be installed at the factory.
In an alternate embodiment, the filter is provided in a housing which may be directly inserted between the heater hoses so that additional fittings are not required. In this embodiment a portion of the flow is directed from the heater core supply line through the filter to the heater core return line.
In another embodiment, the filter is provided near the engine and the heater supply hose is branched so that a portion of the flow is directed through the filter and returned to a branch in a water pump inlet line.
Some embodiments of the invention include replaceable filter cartridges, such that a new cartridge may be installed in a filter housing. Other embodiments include a disposable housing, such that both the housing and the filter media are replaced.
Engine coolant flows into an inlet port on the filter housing, is forced through a filter medium, and exits the filter housing through an outlet port. Preferably, a portion of the overall flow of coolant through the engine is directed through the filter at all times that the engine is operational. By continuously filtering a relatively small portion of the overall coolant flow, the concentration of rust and scale is substantially reduced, thereby reducing corrosion and fouling, and improving thermal efficiency in the radiator.
The filter is preferably sized for various vehicles so that it may be replaced at the same time as the oil filter is normally changed, such as by the owner or by an oil changing service center. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and system for wireless communication, and, more particularly, to a method and system for peer-to-peer wireless communication over an unlicensed communication spectrum without routing or relaying of messages.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wireless communication is one of the most rapidly developing areas of communication today. A number of technologies and devices such as the cell phones, pagers, PDAs, CDMA, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, are on the market enabling people to communicate without being tied to wires bound to stationary locations.
Among the existing wireless communication methodologies, technologies such as the cell phones, CDMA, and Wi-Fi require extensive infrastructure. For these technologies, wireless communication is possible only within the effective areas of infrastructure availability. In addition, infrastructure-based wireless communication services typically require paid subscription with considerable fees so that the service providers may recover substantial investments made in laying down the extensive infrastructure. Thus, much of the existing infrastructure-based wireless communication services may be beyond the reach of many users due to geographic and economic constraints or limitations. It can be seen, then, there exists a need for a method and system for low-cost wireless communication that does not require extensive infrastructure.
A method of communication that does not require extensive infrastructure is peer-to-peer communication. Well-known in the art, peer-to-peer communication involves direct communication between devices without the need for intermediaries. In particular, peer-to-peer wireless communication utilizing unlicensed spectrum can provide a basis for low-cost wireless communication, since there is no need to pay for spectrum licenses, in addition to having no need to invest in extensive infrastructure to serve as communication intermediaries.
A well-known technology that employs peer-to-peer wireless communication over an unlicensed spectrum is Bluetooth technology. See, Bluetooth Specification, version 1.0B, available at http://www.bluetooth.com. However, an important limitation of Bluetooth technology is the range of communication, which is a distance of 10 to 100 meters. Bluetooth is mainly intended for device to device communications, e.g., between a computer and a peripheral device such as a printer or a keyboard, and, hence, the operational range of 10 to 100 meters is quite sufficient. Limiting the operating range also allows Bluetooth to avoid a host of problems that must be addressed by peer-to-peer wireless communication in a wider area.
There are two basic problems that peer-to-peer wireless communication operating in a wider area (e.g., an area within a range of a few miles) must resolve. One is the issue of power, and the other is communication traffic collision and congestion. The intensity of radio signal decreases by the square of the distance from the point of origin. Thus, the transmitted power of a signal must increase by the square of the distance of operation as the operating range of radio communication is extended. Hence, wireless communication that covers a wider area must address the need of generating power which grows as the square of the range of operation. In addition, the wider the operating range, the more devices are likely to be within the area of operation, trying to communicate with one another. Thus, the problem of communication traffic collision and congestion is much more likely to be severe.
Bluetooth avoids both of these issues by limiting its range of operation to about 10 meters. This limitation, however, makes Bluetooth essentially useless for most personal communications, since there is no need to resort to electronic devices for people to communicate with each other within 10 meters. People can just talk to each other.
Known in the art is a wireless, peer-to-peer, capability addressable network as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,069,896 (the '896 patent). The '896 patent, however, is directed to and limited to “capability addressable network”. In addition, the '896 patent discloses no collision avoidance mechanism. Thus, a wireless communication device in accordance with the '896 patent cannot provide effective communication when a multitude of devices are communicating within the same area at the same time. This means that the range of operation must be limited for the reasons discussed above. In reality, invention according to the teachings of the '896 patent cannot be effective beyond a few hundred meters. Furthermore, the '896 patent discloses no power conservation mechanism for peer-to-peer wireless communication. As discussed above, the power requirement and management problems are critical issues for medium to long range wireless communication.
Power management is particularly crucial issue for mobile or handheld wireless communication devices, since those devices typically operate on rechargeable or disposable batteries. A key issue in power management of mobile wireless communication devices is relaying or routing of messages. Most existing wireless communication technologies include methods or protocols for a device to relay or route messages which are destined to reach another device. In fact, for these technologies, much (often the majority) of the power consumption is due to relaying and routing activities. Hence, for mobile devices, it is an important question whether relaying and routing functions are worth the cost of the drain on precious battery power. Nevertheless, existing technologies, including the '896 patent and Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANET) contemplate and rely on relaying and routing functions.
It can be seen, then, there exists a need in the field for a method and system for wireless peer-to-peer communication over an unlicensed wireless communication spectrum within a medium-range distance without routing or relaying of messages. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sheet metal construction, and more particularly, to a unique sheet metal construction system in which sheet metal is secured to a support strut with a rivet that is received within an elongated channel formed in the support strut. The strut is also provided with channels for receiving fasteners or other devices such as braces and hangers for suspending a finished sheet metal product, such as a plenum for a clean room.
2. Description of Related Art
Sheet metal is a strong, lightweight material that is ideally suited for many types of construction. However, in some situations, sheet metal alone may not be strong enough to be self-supporting. For this reason, in many types of sheet metal construction, a sheet metal "skin" is secured over a frame of supporting struts. In this manner, the sheet metal provides a lightweight and easily contoured surface and the frame provides the necessary structural stability.
In such systems, the sheet metal can be attached to the frame by a variety of methods. For example, fasteners, such as metal screws, bolts, or rivets, can be used to fasten the sheet metal to the frame. Typically, the use of such fasteners requires that a hole be drilled or punched in the sheet metal and a corresponding hole be drilled or punched into the frame. The two holes are then aligned and the fastener is inserted into the hole to attach the sheet metal to the frame.
Although this type of construction is durable and strong, it can greatly complicate the construction process. For example, if the holes in the sheet metal and the frame are pre-punched or drilled, extremely tight tolerances must be maintained. Otherwise, the holes may not line up when the sheet metal is placed over the frame and it will be impossible to insert the fastener. Alternatively, the sheet metal can be placed over the frame and the holes drilled in place. This technique, however, may be labor intensive and slow. It also creates metal particles and filings that can contaminate the finished product. Such contamination is unacceptable in the construction of many sheet metal items, such as a plenum for a clean room. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to a magnetic recording medium. More particularly, it relates to a magnetic recording medium of which the magnetic layer has a high durability and contains magnetic particles in a good dispersion state.
In general, the magnetic layer of a magnetic recording medium is formed by applying a magnetic coating composition comprising magnetic particles, a binder and an organic solvent onto the surface of a base material such as a polyester film. Such magnetic layer is required to have a high durability since it runs slidingly in close contact with a magnetic head on recording and reproducing of the magnetic recording medium. Further, the magnetic particles in the magnetic layer are required to be uniformly dispersed so as to have a high sensitivity and a good S/N ratio.
For attaining the said requirements, the binder in the magnetic coating composition is desired to be one which can make the magnetic particles disperse well and also keep a high durability of the magnetic layer. From this viewpoint, various binders have been proposed, among which a mixture of a cellulose resin and a polyurethane resin is particularly recommendable. However, the durability brought by such mixture is still not satisfactory. In order to overcome this defect, the incorporation of non-magnetic Cr.sub.2 O.sub.3 particle into the magnetic layer has been proposed, but this proposal produces other drawbacks. That is, when Cr.sub.2 O.sub.3 particles are admixed with other components in a conventional mixing machine, such as a ball mill, over a long period of time or when a relatively large amount of Cr.sub.2 O.sub.3 particles is used for incorporation into a magnetic coating composition, the particles gel, and the dispersibility deteriorates, wherein the magnetic characteristics of the resulting magnetic recording medium are lowered. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to material processing, and more specifically to grinding technologies. Even more specifically, the present invention relates to surface and edge grinding technologies.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
The use of the semiconductor devices in today's commercial goods is undergoing dramatic growth. In order to expand the use of semiconductor devices in lower cost traditional products, semiconductor devices must be produced at previously unattainable low cost and with smaller size active devices and smaller line widths. Virtually every step of semiconductor device production is undergoing extensive investigation in an effort to obtain efficiencies and cost savings that will expand the market for semiconductor products.
Among the newer methods is the use of “Silicon on Insulator” and other bonding techniques where multiple silicon or other materials are bonded together then thinned to achieve desired performance. Such techniques increase efficiency of operation, lower the cost of semiconductor devices and also enable further progress in state of the art technologies.
It is generally recognized that substantial cost savings can be employed if large-scale manufacturing techniques can be brought to bear on whole wafers containing multiple, usually identical electronic devices which are simultaneously formed on the wafer substrate, prior to the wafer being divided into individual units or dies.
It has been found efficient in constructing semiconductor wafers that a substrate of semiconductor material, for example, silicon, receives overlying layers of active devices and inter-layer interconnects. After each layer is formed on the substrate, the front or active surface of the wafer is planarized or flattened so that succeeding layers are formed with a desired registry and upright orientation.
Exceedingly stringent flatness requirements are necessary for small-dimensioned patterning. As the layers are built up, one upon the other, a variety of electronic devices are formed on the wafer substrate and typically multiple, identical devices are simultaneously formed in the layer-by-layer operations. Usually, only the active or front side of the wafer undergoes extensive flattening, with the reverse or backside remaining free of layering processes and the need for precision flattening steps.
However, for larger wafers, such as the 300 mm diameter size now growing in popularity, extremely demanding flatness and surface finishing is required for both sides of the wafers. As will be appreciated, the techniques used for layer fabrication and the flattening processes cause stress inducing forces to be stored within the wafer construction. Gross chemical and atomic-level forces also are imparted to the internal structure of the semiconductor wafer and contribute to its loss of mechanical ruggedness.
Semiconductor wafers have been increasing in size in recent years in order to achieve efficiencies and cost reductions in manufacture. While most devices wafers are 6″ in diameter, a large fraction are now 8″, and the industry is tooling up for 12″ diameter wafers. These larger wafers take up much floor space and require large and heavy equipment that sometimes cannot be placed on upper floors of fabrication facilities. So for 12″ processing there is great benefit from more compact grinding equipment.
A process of bonding multiple wafers together is a newer method to fabricate these semiconductor devices. These bonded wafers require new surface finishing techniques to achieve the required flatness and surface finishes. After completing final fabrication of the multiple devices on the bonded wafers, the second wafer is then thinned from the backside to achieve the required final thickness. This is generally achieved with commercial wafer back grinders such as provided by Strasbaugh, Disco or by G&N. Such commercial grinders are typically two-step grinding with the first step done on a first rotating spindle by a coarse grind abrasive wheel, and the second step done on a separate grind spindle with a fine grind abrasive. The work piece is typically held and rotated on a chuck that retains the wafer by vacuum in a secure and flat or near flat configuration. The relative motion between the rotating grind wheel and the rotating work piece and the force provided between the two creates the energy needed to suitably grind the surfaces. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to a vibration damper for a wheel of a motor vehicle that has a bearing unit for a suspension part of a stabilizer which is held on the spring strut.
German Patent Document DE 37 01 265 C2 shows a vibration damper in which a suspension part of a stabilizer is pivotally connected to the spring strut by way of a connected console. A spring element arranged above the console is supported with its lower end in the direction of the strut by means of a spring plate fastened separately to the cylinder of the spring strut, the end which faces away being held on the vehicle by way of an elastic bearing.
An object of the invention is to provide a vibration damper by which a constructionally simplified bearing for the suspension part and the coil spring is ensured.
This and other objects are achieved by the present invention which provides a vibration damper for a wheel of a motor vehicle, the vibration damper comprising a coil spring and a bearing unit for a suspension part of a stabilizer which is held on a spring strut. The bearing unit comprises a holding element which extends around the cylinder of the spring strut and is connected with the cylinder. The holding element has a projecting console with a bearing for the suspension part and a face forming a spring plate for the coil spring which is coaxial with respect to the spring struts. The coil springs are supported on the vehicle at an end facing away from the bearing.
The principal advantages achieved by means of the invention are that the bearing for the suspension part and for the coil spring on the spring strut may be combined by means of one component. As a result, a component can be saved in comparison to the state of the art and a separate fastening is not required for the now no longer existing spring plate. This leads to a reduction in weight.
The bearing unit on the spring strut has a holding element which reaches around the spring strut and comprises a sleeve part with a molded-on console for a bearing of the suspension part. A spring plate for the coil spring is constructed on the top side of the sleeve part.
By means of this arrangement of the integrated spring plate, the spring cannot slide off, as in the state of the art, in the case of a breakage of the spring.
In the supporting surface formed by the spring plate, a limit stop for the end of the last winding of the coil spring is provided which consists of a tongue pressed out of the material of the supporting surface.
In a first embodiment, the sleeve part includes two spaced sleeve rings which have an axial recess between one another. Both sleeve rings are connected with the console in such a manner that one component is created with respect to stability. For the fixing, the rings are welded to the cylinder.
According to another embodiment of the invention, it is a disadvantage in the case of a level-controlled spring strut to connect the holding element with the cylinder of the spring strut by means of welding. The holding element will then consist of a pot-shaped component which is slid onto the cylinder of the spring strut and is supported by means of its bottom on the face side of the cylinder.
On the edge of this pot-shaped holding element, a flange is provided which is constructed as a spring plate. On one side, the flange is provided with a console for the bearing of the suspension part. The connecting of the pot-shaped element with the cylinder of the spring strut may take place by gluing, pressing or a similar method.
For the level compensation, the damper is connected with a spring accumulator which can be acted upon by pressure by way of a pump.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Ergonomics may be defined as an engineering and physiological study of relationships between man and machines. An ergonomic device may be a device that is tailored to reflect human structure and function to, for example, enhance a person's ability to operate the device or an adjacent apparatus.
An ergonomic device may enhance a worker's performance or ability to operate a machine by relieving fatigue. For example, fatigue or repetitive motion disorders of the hand, wrist, and arm may be caused by repetitive or tedious hand, wrist, and arm functions. In the computerized environment, keyboard operators may spend their entire workdays at terminals with their forearms extended to their keyboards. Postal workers may spend long periods of time with their forearms extended to operate coding machines for coding and sorting mail. Assembly-line personnel may also work with their forearms extended over articles of manufacture to manipulate tiny parts with their fingers.
Ergonomic arm support devices have been designed for supporting the forearm of keyboard operators. Each of these devices typically consist of two arms with one arm secured to a desk and the second arm having a cushion at its distal end for supporting the forearm. These arms are frequently jointed at their connection, and also may be jointed at the forearm cushion and at the connection to the keyboard table for a total of three joints.
These jointed arm support devices have a number of problems. For example, the inclusion of two arms and three joints for a single device requires that the arm be secured to the keyboard table and positioned at a relatively great distance from the keyboard in order to provide sufficient space for mounting the jointed arm. Accordingly, a pair of such arm support devices may require a larger desk, and therefore may disadvantageously occupy a greater amount of work space than is otherwise required. If the arm supports are in fact mounted closer to the terminal, the range of motion of each of the arm supports is limited, and the arm supports may dig into a worker's torso or interfere with his or her chair.
A similar problem concerns the impracticality of mounting the conventional jointed arm support on a chair. If this type of arm support is mounted on a chair, the long reach of its jointed two arms may interfere with access to the seat of the chair. Furthermore, the jointed arm support simply may not be reasonably operable on a chair because a chair, by its very nature, is drawn adjacent to the keyboard to a position in which the torso of the occupant of the chair or the keyboard may interfere with a range of motion of the second arm.
Another problem with the conventional jointed arm support is that it easily breaks when leaned upon. It is typical behavior for a worker to lean and exert downward pressure or weight on the cushioned or distal end of the second arm of the conventional arm support which is intended for supporting only the weight of a forearm. The leverage or force exerted by the weight of such a lean or end loading is magnified by the overall length of the two arms of the jointed arm support.
Still another problem with the jointed arm support is that it is difficult to maneuver. For example, when one arm is aligned directly over the other arm, and the intended direction of movement of the forearm is in line with the two arms, the arms initially resist pivoting relative to each other until the forearm exerts a force out of alignment with the two arms. Accordingly, such a conventional jointed arm support may not meet the definition of an ergonomic device that typically tracks or follows a natural movement of the human body without resistance.
Yet another problem is that the conventional two-arm jointed arm support may not decrease substantially the risk of carpal syndrome. This syndrome may be caused at least in part by the tendency of a keyboard operator to rest his or her wrists on the keyboard, or on a portion of the table immediately in front of the keyboard, while his or her hands are elevated relative to the wrists for operation of the keyboard. With the long reach of the two-arm jointed arm support, and the attendant amount of leverage, the arm cushion on the distal end of the second arm may sink to the table surface even under the relatively light weight of an arm. Even providing for height adjustment, such instability or deflection of the second arm may not provide a sufficient lift for the wrists to be held at the proper elevation relative to the hands to minimize the risk of carpal syndrome. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Liquid detergents based on anionic surfactants mixed with non-ionic surfactants are used for the domestic washing of clothes.
Co-pending PCT/EP2014/069565 (C4800) and PCT/EP2015/050239 (C4802) disclose blue or violet dye polymer, comprising a polyethylene imine covalently bound to a reactive dye, the polyethylene imine having from 6 to 1000000 nitrogen atoms, wherein from 20 to 95 mol %, of the totality of the protons of the primary and secondary amine nitrogen atoms of the unsubstituted polyethylene imine are substituted by iso-propyl alcohol or ethyl alcohol groups. Such dye polymers deposits to clothes under wash conditions and thereby whitening the fabric via a shading effect.
There is need to improve the deposition efficiency of such dye polymers from anionic/non-ionic liquid detergents. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Field
The present disclosure relates to a communication device and a communication device control method.
Description of the Related Art
There is an image sharing system in which digital content, such as image data or moving image data, saved in a digital camera having a wireless communication function is exchanged or shared with another device via the same network (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-118859).
Further, a system in which a plurality of devices shares content via a server on the Internet is also known (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-249821).
In general, a communication speed is higher in communications performed on the same network as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-118859, compared with communications via the Internet as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-249821. As such, in the case of transmitting data to a specific device from a communication device having both communication functions of performing communications on the same network and performing communications via the Internet, it is effective in giving preference to communications performed on the same network.
However, it is not always the case that a specific device exists on the same network. Especially, in a network of wireless communications, a certain period of time is needed to determine whether or not communications can be performed on the same network. As such, it is not always the case that wireless communications on the same network are able to be started immediately. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The field of this invention relates to tailor-made amide-imide copolymers and terpolymers prepared from tricarboxylic acid anhydride derivatives, N,N'-diacylated diamines, N-acylated diamines and diamines and to molding resins and molded articles prepared therefrom.
2. Background
Amide-imide polymers and copolymers are a relatively new class of organic compounds known for their solubility in nitrogen-containing solvents when in the polyamic acid form. The major application of these amide-imides has been as wire enamels. This is illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,817,942 (1974), 3,661,832 (1972), 3,494,890 (1970) and 3,347,828 (1967). British Specification No. 570,858 (1945) discloses the general state of the art. Amide-imide polymers and copolymers have also been found useful for molding application as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,016,140 (1977) and 3,573,260 (1971). Both are incorporated herein by reference. None of the foregoing references discloses tailor-made amide-imide copolymers and terpolymers.
The general object of this invention is to provide injection moldable linear high molecular weight amide-imide copolymers and terpolymers. A more specific object of this invention is to provide a novel process for preparing injection moldable tailored linear high molecular weight amide-imide copolymers and terpolymers by reacting acylated diamines with tricarboxylic acid anhydrides and diamines, at a temperature of about 50.degree. to 700.degree. F., wherein the imide, imide-imide, amide, amide-amide moieties incorporated into the polymer backbone can be controlled by acylating the amine functionality which is to form the amide and amide-amide moieties which polycondensation reaction is conducted at a temperature of about 300.degree. to about 700.degree. F. while reacting directly at a temperature of about 50.degree. F. to about 400.degree. F. those diamines with the tricarboxylic anhydride compound which are intended to form the imide and imide-imide moieties of the amide-imide copolymers and terpolymers. The molar ratio of the aromatic to aliphatic, cycloaliphatic and araliphatic diamines are suitably in the range of about 9:1 to 1:1, advantageously in the range of about 3:1 to 3:2.
In the novel process, the imide and imide-imide moieties incorporated into the polymer backbone are controlled by reacting at a temperature of about 50.degree. to about 400.degree. F. diamines with the tricarboxylic anhydride compound to form imide and imide-imide linkages and by the reaction of acylated diamines at a temperature of about 300.degree. to about 700.degree. F. to form amide and amide-amide linkages and sometimes acylated diamines at a temperature of about 350.degree. F. to about 700.degree. F. which form imide or imide-imide linkages. Generally the reaction of free amine groups is conducted prior to the reaction of acylated amine groups. Thus the initial temperature of the polymerization process is at the lower end of the ranges cited, from about 50.degree. F. to about 400.degree. F., and the final polymerization temperatures are in the range of about 300.degree. F. to about 700.degree. F. Generally, depending on the type of product desired, the range of acylation can be from about 40% of the total amine functionality up to 100% of the total amine functionality, preferably about 50-95% of the total amine functionality. Advantageously these monomers are mixed in the presence of solvents such as N-methylpyrrolidone, N,N-dimethylacetamide, acetic acid, etc. According to the process of this invention the copolymers and terpolymers may contain from two up to six different structural units set forth hereinbelow: ##STR1##
In the foregoing structural units Z is a trivalent aromatic radical. Z may be a trivalent radical of benzene, naphthalene, biphenyl, diphenyl ether, diphenyl sulfide, diphenyl sulfone, ditolyl ether, and the like.
Useful aromatic tricarboxylic acid anhydrides which contribute the trivalent radical moiety of Z include those compounds containing at least one pair of carboxyl groups in the ortho position with respect to each other or otherwise situated in a fashion which permits the formation of an anhydride structure, one other carboxyl group and from 9 to 21 carbon atoms. Within these limits, these compounds may contain one or more benzenoid rings such as, for instance, trimellitic anhydride and its isomers and multiring compounds such as the 1,8-anhydride of 1,3,8-tricarboxylnaphthalene. Usually these compounds contain up to three benzenoid rings. The preferred aromatic tricarboxylic acid anhydride employed in the novel process is trimellitic anhydride.
R.sub.1 is a divalent aromatic radical of six to twenty carbon atoms joined directly or containing stable linkages consisting of --S--, --O--, ##STR2## --SO.sub.2 --, --CO--, or methylene radicals. Aromatic diamines include para- and metaphenylenediamine, para- and meta-xylenediamine, paratoluenediamine, 2,4-toluenediamine, 2,6-toluenediamine, 3,5-toluenediamine, oxybis(aniline), thiobis(aniline), sulfonylbis(aniline), diaminobenzophenone, methylenebis(aniline), benzidine, 1,5-diaminonaphthalene, oxybis(2-methylaniline), thiobis(2-methylaniline), and the like. Examples of other useful aromatic primary diamines are the following: 2,2'-naphthalene diamine, 4,4'-naphthalene diamine, 2,2'-biphenylene diamine, 3,3'-biphenylene diamine, 4,4'-biphenylene diamine, and the like; 3,3'-dichlorobenzidine, ethylene dianiline (4,4'-diaminodiphenyl ethane), propylene dianiline (4,4'-diaminodiphenyl propane), and the like; ketodianiline, 3,3'-diaminodiphenyl sulfide, 4,4'-diaminodiphenyl sulfone, 3,3'-diaminodiphenyl sulfone, hexafluoroisopropylidenebis(4-phenyl amine), 4,4'-diamino-diphenyl methane, 2,6-diaminopyridine, bis(4-aminophenyl)diethyl silane, bis(4-aminophenyl)ethyl phosphine oxide, bis(4-aminophenyl)phenyl phosphine oxide, bis(4-aminophenyl)-N-phenylamine, bis(4-aminophenyl)-N-methylamine, 3,3'-dimethyl-4,4'-diaminobiphenyl, para-bis(2-methyl-4-amino-phenyl)benzene, 3,3'-diaminoadamantane.
R.sub.2 is a divalent aliphatic, cycloaliphatic or araliphatic radical of from two to eighteen carbon atoms derived from aliphatic diamines such as ethylenediamine, propylenediamine, 2,2-dimethylpropylene diamine, tetramethylenediamine, hexamethylenediamine, octamethylenediamine, nonamethylenediamine, decamethylenediamine, dodecamethylenediamine, 4,4'-diaminodicyclohexylmethane, meta- and paraxylylene diamine, 4,4'-diaminodicyclohexylethane, bis(aminocyclohexyl)propane, bis(para-aminocyclohexyl)sulfide, bis(aminocyclohexyl)sulfone, bis(aminocyclohexyl)ether, bis(aminocyclohexyl)diethyl silane, bis(aminocyclohexyl)ethyl phosphine oxide, bis(aminocyclohexyl)-phenyl phosphine oxide, bis(aminocyclohexyl)N-phenyl amine, bis(aminocyclohexyl)-N-methyl amine, 1,2-bis(3-aminopropoxy)ethane, 3-methoxyhexamethylenediamine, 2,5-dimethylheptamethylenediamine, 5-methylnonamethylenediamine, 1,4-diaminocyclohexane, 1,2-diaminooctadecane.
The diamines can suitably be acylated with aliphatic acids or anhydrides such as acetic anhydride, acetic acid, proprionic anhydride, etc., or any aliphatic acid or anhydride containing from 2 to 8 carbon atoms per acid, preferably 2 to 4 carbon atoms per acid or 4 to 16 carbon atoms per anhydride, preferably 4 to 8 carbon atoms. Formic acid or anhydride cannot be used to acylate the diamines.
Utilizing the novel process, seven different classes of amide-imide copolymers and terpolymers have been prepared. Suitably each copolymer and terpolymer is prepared utilizing both aromatic and aliphatic diamines. Usually the molar ratio of the aromatic to aliphatic diamines is in the range of 9:1 to 1:1. Advantageously, this range has been found to be 3:1 to 3:2. The copolymers and terpolymers have structural units as shown in Table I hereinbelow.
TABLE I ______________________________________ POLYMER CLASS STRUCTURAL UNITS ______________________________________ I A, B II A, C III A, B, C, D IV A, B, E V A, C, E VI A, B, C, D, E VII A, B, C, D, E, F ______________________________________
In the polymers of Classes I, II, and III the tricarboxylic acid anhydride group in the polymer is ordered head to head and tail to tail due to the order of the acylation of the diamines. Specifically, the ratio of diacylated diamine, trimellitic anhydride, unacylated diamine is maintained at about 1:2:1. The polymer of Class I is suitably prepared by diacylating the aliphatic, cycloaliphatic or araliphatic diamine and part of the aromatic diamine. The remainder of the aromatic diamine is reacted with two equivalents of the tricarboxylic acid anhydride compound to produce a bis imide/bis acid intermediate. The reaction between the bis imide/bis acid and the diacetyl derivative of the aromatic diamine produces Structural Unit A. In a similar manner the reaction between the bis imide/bis acid and the diacetyl derivative of the aliphatic, cycloaliphatic or araliphatic diamine produces Structural Unit B. The random dispersion of Structural Units A and B along the copolymer and terpolymer backbone thus make up the complete structure of Polymer I. When the polymer is further polymerized under solid state polymerization conditions at a temperature of about 400.degree. to 700.degree. F. a high molecular weight injection moldable copolymer and terpolymer is obtained having inherent viscosity in the range of 0.3 to 2.0. For the purpose of this invention inherent viscosity is measured at 25.degree. C. and 0.5% w/v in 60/40 w/w phenol/1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane, N-methylpyrollidone or 100% sulfuric acid. The term "solid state polymerization" refers to chain extension of polymer molecules under conditions where the polymer molecules retain their solid form and do not become a fluid mass.
The copolymers and terpolymers of Class II are similar to polymers of Class I, but in this instance the aliphatic, cycloaliphatic and araliphatic diamine moieties are used directly to form imide groups (Structural Unit C) and the aromatic diamines are used to form either two amide groups by reaction of the diacylated derivative (Structural Unit A) or two imide groups by direct reaction of the diamine (Structural Unit C). The resultant Class II copolymers and terpolymers are made up of a random dispersion of units A and C. Class III copolymers and terpolymers are made up of Structural Units A, B, C and D and have all the trimellitoyl groups ordered head to head and tail to tail and all diamines are allowed either to form only two amide groups or two imide groups.
In copolymers and terpolymers of Class IV, V, and VI the aliphatic, cycloaliphatic and araliphatic diamines are used to form only di imide or di amide groups (Structural Units B, C, and D). Thus the trimellitoyl groups which are attached to the aliphatic or araliphatic diamines are ordered head to head or tail to tail. The aromatic diamines are acylated randomly, thus, some are diacylated while others are monoacylated or unacylated. The trimellitoyl groups which are attached to two aromatic diamine groups are randomly distributed between a head to head, a tail to tail, or a head to tail sequence (Structural Unit E). Polymer of Class IV is prepared by the reaction of diacylated alphatic, cycloaliphatic, or araliphaic diamines (which confines these amines to formation of two amide groups) with the tricarboxylic acid anhydride and un- or partially acylated aromatic diamines where the acylation level used is the amount that would give 50% acylation of all amine functionality utilized in the polymerization. By way of specific example, if a 3:1 ratio of aromatic to aliphatic diamine were used, all the aliphatic diamine would be diacylated and one third of the aromatic diamine functionality would be acylated. Polymer of Class V is prepared by the reaction of unacylated aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, or araliphatic diamines (which confines these amines to formation of two imide groups) with the tricarboxylic acid anhydride and fully or partially acylated aromatic diamines. The level of acylation can vary from 50% of the total amine functionality utilized in the reaction up to the aromatic diamine being fully diacylated. Polymer of Class VI is similar to the polymers of Class IV or V except that in polymers of Class VI the aliphatic diamines are used in both di imide or di amide formation and only about 50% of the total amine functionality is acylated. Polymers of Class VII are fully random in that both aliphatic diamine and aromatic diamine moieties are distributed between imide and amide portions and all trimellitoyl groups are free to be arranged head to head, tail to tail, or head to tail and 50 to 100% acylation of amine functionality is utilized. All of the foregoing polymers have an inherent viscosity in the range of 0.3 to 2.0 dl/g giving them molecular weights in the range of about 3,000 to 100,000. All these polymers can be injection molded and can be used as engineering plastics. They have excellent mechanical properties as shown in Table IV hereof.
With the use of Table II, a general method of preparation of these different polymers is herewith given. Polymers of Structural Classes I, II, III, V, and VII are prepared by first mixing and reacting the ingredients of columns J, K, and L usually in the presence of a solvent. If the acylating agent is active (e.g., an acid anhydride), reaction will occur readily at room temperature. When slow to react acylating agents (e.g., acetic acid) are used, this mixture must generally be heated to effect the proper amount of condensation. The reactants from columns P, Q, and R can be premixed, prereacted, or added separately to the prereacted mixture of J, K, and L. The solvent is removed by distillation and the mixture is polymerized under melt polycondensation conditions to yield the tailored polymer. Polymers of Structural Classes IV and VI are prepared by first mixing and reacting the ingredients of columns K and L, usually in the presence of a solvent. If the acylating agent is active (e.g., an acid anhydride), reaction will occur readily at room temperature. This is then followed by the addition of the ingredient from column P. After this mixture has reacted, the ingredients from columns Q and R can be added separately or in a premixed or prereacted form. When slow to react acylating agents are used (e.g., acetic acid), the mixture of K and L must generally be heated to effect the proper amount of condensation. After the addition of the ingredient from column P, a further period of heating will be required to effect the proper amount of condensation. After this mixture has reacted, the ingredients from columns Q and R can be added separately or in a premixed or prereacted form. The solvent is removed by distillation and the mixture is polymerized under melt polycondensation conditions to yield the tailored polymer. In certain cases the sequences of addition of reactants can be altered, but only to the extent that the level and type of acylation of the specific amine functionalities remain unchanged. In many cases, the melt prepared polymers from all structural classes are solid state polymerized prior to fabrication. However, further melt polymerization at 500.degree.-700.degree. F. may also be advantageously used in lieu of solid state polymerization to form the copolymer or terpolymer which is suitable for injection molding.
TABLE II __________________________________________________________________________ J K L P Q R MOLES MOLES MOLES OF MOLES MOLES MOLES STRUCTURAL OF OF ACYLATING OF OF OF CLASS ArDA RDA AGENT ArDA RDA TMA __________________________________________________________________________ ##STR3## T X ##STR4## O X II ##STR5## O X ##STR6## T X III ##STR7## M X ##STR8## T - M X IV O T X Y O X V Y O X to 2Y O T X VI O M X Y T - M X VII Y T X to 2X O O X __________________________________________________________________________
Acylating agents include acetic anhydride, acid or propionic acid or anhydride, etc., or any aliphatic acid or anhydride containing from 2 to 8 carbon atoms per acid, preferably 2 to 4 carbon atoms per acid or 4 to 16 carbon atoms per anhydride, preferably 4 to 8 carbon atoms. Formic acid cannot be used as an acylating agent in this process.
______________________________________ X = total moles TMA TMA = Trimellitic Anhydride Y = total moles ArDA ArDA = Aromatic Diamine T = total moles RDA RDA = Aliphatic Diamine X = Y + T O < M < T < Y ______________________________________
By way of particular example, if it is desired to produce an amide-imide copolymer and terpolymer of Structural Class V wherein the ratio of aromatic to aliphatic diamines is 3 to 1 then X=4, Y=3 and T=1, and 3 moles of the aromatic diamine are acylated with 4 to 6 moles of the acylating agent. The acylating agent may be acetic acid, acetic anhydride or propionic anhydride or any aliphatic acid which contains from 2 to 8 carbon atoms or anhydride which contains from 4 to 16 carbon atoms. 4 moles of trimellitic compound are mixed or reacted with 1 mole of aliphatic diamine, or added separately to the acylated diamine mixture. The mixing is conducted in the presence of solvents such as N-methylpyrrolidone, N,N-dimethylacetamide, acetic acid, etc. The organic polar solvent is removed by distillation and the mixture is polymerized under melt polymerization conditions to yield an injection moldable copolymer and terpolymer of Class V. The novel process enables one to tailor the polymerization so that different structural classes can be incorporated depending on the properties desired in the resulting product. By way of specific examples, if long term thermal stability is of prime importance, one may wish to incorporate the aliphatic, cycloaliphatic or araliphatic into formation of the more stable imide group as shown in Structural Classes II and V. If impact is of prime importance, the polymers with a more random structure (Classes IV, V, VI, and especially VII) tend to have better impact properties. These copolymers and terpolymers have an inherent viscosity of 0.3 to 2.0 and heat deflection temperatures greater than 300.degree. F. without the use of fillers or fiber reinforcements. Although the first-stage melt polymerization products have an inherent viscosity of at least 0.2 dl/gram and can be used for injection molding application, it is generally preferable to start with a copolymer having been solid state polymerized or further melt polymerized.
The solid state polymerization which can be carried out below the melting point of the polymer can be conducted in several ways. However, all of the techniques require heating the ground or pelletized copolymers and terpolymers below the polymer melting point, generally at a temperature of about 400.degree. 550.degree. F., while either sparging with an inert gas, such as nitrogen or air, or operating under vacuum.
According to the novel process of this invention linear, high molecular weight copolymers and terpolymers have been prepared containing both aromatic and aliphatic moieties by a melt process. This in itself is a novel process feature since the prior art teaches only interfacial and solution polymerization techniques for the production of fully ordered head to head, tail to tail and completely random amide-imide polymers. Furthermore, according to the novel process a method for tailor-making amide-imide copolymers and terpolymers has been disclosed. These copolymers and terpolymers have excellent mechanical and thermal properties and can be readily injection molded. This injection moldability of these polymers can be partially contributed to the fact that these polymers are linear and are not cross-linked. Injection molding of the copolymers and terpolymers is accomplished by injecting the polymer into the mold maintained at a temperature of about 150.degree.-450.degree. F. In this process a 0.1-2.0 minute cycle is used with a barrel temperature of about 425.degree. F. to 650.degree. F. The injection molding conditions are given in Table III.
TABLE III ______________________________________ Mold Temperature 150-450.degree. F. Injection Pressure 1000-40,000 psi and held for 0.5-20.0 seconds Back Pressure 0-500 psi Cycle Time 6-120 seconds Extruder: Nozzle Temperature 425.degree. F. to 650.degree. F. Barrel Zones 425.degree. F. to 650.degree. F. Screw: 10-200 revolutions/minute ______________________________________
The mechanical properties of the copolymers and terpolymers prepared in Examples 1-10 are given in Table IV. Examples 11-14 teach the preparation of the 3:2:1 trimellitic anhydride:m-toluenediamine:1,6-hexanediamine polymers. The mechanical properties are given in Table V and show how the increase in randomness in going from Class V to Class VII increases impact. Table VI, however, shows how the direction of the aliphatic diamine to only imide formation in Class V can give better thermal stability. TBL3 TABLE IV MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF COPOLYMERS AND TERPOLYMERS ASTM Polymer Class Method V IV VII V IV IV VII V V ArDA/RDA MBA/HMDA MBA/HMDA MBA/HMDA MBA/MXDA MBA/MXDA MPDA/HMDA MPDA/HMDA OBA/MXDA OBA/MXDA ArDA/RDA ratio 3/1 3/1 3/1 3/1 3/1 3/1 3/1 3/2 2/1 Tensile Strength, psi D-638 17,100 13,100 18,500 19,500 9,500 15,900 13,700 18,100 21,640 Tensile Modulus, D-638 psi 360,000 361,000 363,000 408,000 405,000 437,000 450,000 472,000 488,000 Elongation at D-638 Break, % 8.2 5.5 16.9 17.1 2.9 5.3 4.1 11.7 17.1 Flexural Strength, D-790 psi 24,400 22,200 23,500 26,600 14,100 26,700 26,700 28,400 30,200 Flexural Modulus, D-790 psi 501,000 451,000 460,000 527,000 508,000 584,000 573,000 586,000 614,000 Izod Impact, ft. D-256 lb./in. notch 0.46 0.38 1.99 0.38 0.36 0.36 0.33 0.42 0.63 Tensile Impact, D-1822 ft. lb./in..sup.2 56.2 32.1 72.3 120 6.5 50.7 48.0 56.9 38.3 H.D.T. @ 264 psi, D-648 .degree.F. 401 398 412 420 415 433 432 413 424 Density 1.29 1.29 1.29 1.30 1.30 1.35 1.35 1.33 1.34 Inherent viscosity 1.01 0.99 0.91 0.81 0.62 0.92 -- 1.26 1.41 Example # 1 5 9 6 7 4 10 2 8 ArDA = Aromatic diamine RDA = Aliphatic diamine MBA = Methylenebisaniline HMDA = 1,6Hexanediamine MXDA = Metaxylylenediamine OBA = Oxybisaniline MPDA = Metaphenylenediamine
The following Examples illustrate the preferred embodiments of this invention. It will be understood that these Examples are for illustration purposes only and do not purport to be wholly definitive with respect to the conditions or scope of this invention. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of Digital Service Units (DSU) for use in conjunction with Digital Data Systems (DDS) such as the Dataphone.RTM. Digital Service provided by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. More particularly, this invention relates to a Digital Service Unit having secondary channel noninterruptive diagnostics capability and which is compatible with both Digital Data Systems. For purposes of this document, the original Digital Data System will be referred to as DDS-I. The newly proposed Digital Data System having secondary channel capability will be referred to as either DDS-II or DDS-SC. The term DDS will be used as a generic to both types of Digital Data Systems. (Note: As of this writing, DDS-II is a proposed system which is not yet available commercially.) Also, the present DSU should be understood to include a Channel Service Unit (CSU) in the preferred embodiment and is referred to frequently in the literature as a DSU/CSU.
2. Background of the Invention
It is desirable to provide secondary channel capability to the digital data system in order to provide noninterruptive diagnostics capability to reduce down time in the system. Such a need has been recognized by the Americal Telephone and Telegraph Company which has in response proposed a new Digital Data System having inherent secondary channel capability. This proposed system is referred to as DDS-II or DDS-SC. The proposed network utilizes an eight bit frame format for data transmitted over the system between subrate DSUs (9 bits for 56 KBPS). Synchronous data is transmitted in a frame format shown in FIG. 1 in which the first six bits (seven for 56 KBPS) (D) are data bits. The seventh bit (F) is used as a framing bit and contains the repeated pattern 101100. The final bit (S/C) is shared between secondary channel use and control functions. This S/C bit is used to indicate that the D bits are data or control information. This final bit is capable of use is providing secondary channel information. When used as a control bit it provides an indication that the data bits are either control or primary channel bits. As with the standard DDS-I service, alternate mark inversion (AMI) encoding is utilized so that the data is bipolar in nature. A thorough description of the proposed DDS-SC system may be found in the references cited above.
The existing DDS system, i.e., DDS-I, imposes no frame format on the synchronous data transmitted over the system. Alternate mark inversion (AMI) is also used in the DDS-I system. In alternate mark inversion, pulses of alternating polarity are used to represent binary ones. Binary zeros are represented by a zero voltage level. In both systems, AMI is used in order to reduce the bandwidth requirements of the transmission lines as well as to assure a DC voltage level of approximately zero volts on the average across the transmission lines.
FIG. 2 shows an example AMI encoded pulse train as might typically be encountered in a DDS-I circuit. This figure shows that either a positive or negative pulse is interpreted as a binary 1 while zero volts is interpreted as a binary 0. FIG. 2 also illustrates the concept of bipolar violations in that the right-most pair of pulses are adjacent and have the same polarity. Similarly, the middle pair of pulses constitute a bipolar violation in that they also have the same polarity. This scheme is utilized to encode control signals in DDS-I networks in a manner well known in the art.
It is clear that diagnostics are desirable in a network using the Digital Data System. However, diagnostics capabilities have heretofore been available for DDS-I circuits only in the form of interruptive diagnostics where the system is incapable of normal data traffic while diagnostic activities are carried out, or by utilizing a separate statistical or time division multiplexer to provide a secondary channel. In order to provide noninterruptive diagnostics, a direct substitution of DDS-SC circuits is proposed but may not be a solution which is appropriate for all users. The cost of such service has yet to be established and it is therefore not clear whether the DDS-II service will be more economical than DDS-I or analog telepone lines for that matter. It is also not clear, in light of the divestiture of AT&T that DDS-II will be available universally throughout the continental United States as well as foreign countries. There is also no present system for utilizing DDS-II and DDS-I in the same data communication network while allowing retention of noninterruptive diagnostic capability throughout the entire network. In order to fully serve the data communication needs of the public, network transparent diagnostics is clearly desirable. It is also clearly desirable to provide a mechanism for providing DDS-I with noninterruptive diagnostics capability so that diagnostics may be used in areas which may not have DDS-SC service. The present invention addresses these needs in a single DSU thus reducing the overall cost of universal DDS compatibility while providing Secondary Channel capability.
It should also be noted that some users may be reluctant to purchase DDS-II equipment prior to the availability a DDS-II service. It is therefore desirable to provide a digital service unit which is capable of use with either DDS-I or DDS-II and which may provide immediate diagnostics capability regardless of the network. The present invention allows the DDS user to purchase diagnostic capable equipment for use on DDS-I networks and allows for easy upgrades to DDS-II in the future if available.
Other problems are also addressed with the present invention. For example, the present invention also provides a method and apparatus for correction for DC offset due to parts variation in operational amplifiers used in the Digital Service Unit as well as a technique for stabilizing the reference frequency of a voltage controlled oscillator used to recover clock information which is critical to the operation of synchronous data systems such as the digital data system. These and other problems associated with the establishment of a new DDS system are addressed by the present invention. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Technical Field
The technical field relates to storage and packaging of surgical devices and more particularly, to an adjustable suture package retention sleeve and procedure kit for organized sterilization, storage and presentation of sutures and the like.
2. Background of Related Art
Modem surgical procedures draw upon a wide variety of types and sizes of sutures. These sutures are usually contained in individual retainers or foil laminate envelopes wherein the suture is wound in a figure 8 pattern on a paper retainer as shown for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,249,656, 4,253,563 and 4,063,638. Other patterns such as coils, racetracks, etc., may also be used. The size and type of the suture is typically printed on the enclosure envelopes for ease of identification.
Depending upon the type of surgical procedure to be performed, a wide selection of sutures of different types and sizes must be available and readily accessible to the surgical staff. Currently, a large supply of different types and sizes of individually packaged sterilized sutures are maintained in the operating area. The packages are typically arranged in loose stacks according to type and size in an area adjacent the surgical instruments. However, picking and recording the sutures used during the surgical procedure may be very time consuming. Further, these loose stacks have a tendency to become mixed and disorganized during surgery, particularly extended surgery, making it difficult and time consuming to locate the proper suture package with the type and size of suture required by the surgeon.
One device designed to present a plurality of stacked suture packages is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,775 to Scanlon et at., the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein. Scanlon et al. relates to a suture display rack and procedure kit for organizing suture packages. The rack is a generally u-shaped member within which the suture packages can be loosely held. Additionally, the suture packages can be contained in separate sheaths, or hinged to a wall of the rack, for ease of review and removal.
While the rack disclosed in Scanlon et al. is useful, it would be highly desirable to have a suture package retention sleeve and procedure kit which contains a plurality of interlocked suture package sheaths, each containing preselected suture packages, for ease of sterilization, transport, display and organization during use. It would also be desirable to have a suture package retention sleeve and procedure kit which utilizes less raw materials than conventional kits.
These and other highly desirable and unusual results are accomplished by providing an adjustable suture package retention sleeve and procedure kit for storing and sterilizing a plurality of suture packages contained within the suture package sheaths. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems have been used to reduce automotive emissions. However, degraded performance in SCR systems may be related to a plurality of sources. For example, the injection system, the SCR catalyst, and the reductant quality as well as various other potential sources may be root cause for degraded performance.
One way to identify a potential source of degraded performance may be to determine degraded performance of the emission control system whereby an inspection of the system may be performed for diagnosis. However, under some conditions, such as during travel in remote areas, a mechanical diagnose of the system may be inconvenient. Further, it may be desirable to isolate a source of potential degraded performance within the emission control system so as to operate the vehicle such that various other strategies may still be used to control emissions.
In one approach, a method may be used that identifies which of a plurality of potential degradation sources is at least partially responsible for causing degraded output of a urea-based NOx reduction system by considering and correlating each of the plurality of sources. In another approach, a method of operating an internal combustion engine having an emission control system is provided. The method comprises, during degraded performance of the emission control system, dynamically identifying a relationship between a plurality of operating conditions of the emission control system, and correlating the relationship to one or more sources of degraded performance of the emission control system. Additionally, or alternatively, the method may distinguish one or more sources of degraded performance from a plurality of potential sources of said degraded performance based on said relationship. In this way, accurate identification of a source of degradation among a plurality of potential sources is possible, even when each of the potential sources may be responsible for the degradation.
In still another approach, a method of diagnosing an emission control system may be used that comprises: during degraded performance of the emission control system, dynamically identifying a relationship between a plurality of operating conditions of the emission control system, and correlating the relationship to a plurality of potential sources of degraded performance of the emission control system to identify at least one degraded source among said plurality of potential sources. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
In general, cleaning devices like feather dusters comprising a handle upon which a cleaning element is attached are well-known. The use of these traditional cleaning devices still has its place in modern homes. The need for dusting off surfaces like fragile furniture, book shelves and other types of objects, and which requires a delicate dusting, works in the feather dusters favor. However, when cleaning tops of cabinets, suspended ceiling armatures, or other hard to reach surfaces, the traditional rigid cleaning devices are ineffective if the user does not reach far enough to use the wrist to adjust the angle of the cleaning device when cleaning.
CN2910100 Y, discloses a duster, which comprises a handle and a bendable duster unit for removing dirt, which duster unit is connected with the handle. The duster unit comprises a bendable strip-type thin metal sheet and a sponge unit covered at the outside of the bendable strip-type thin metal sheet. Via bending of the metal sheet within the duster unit, a user may select a desired angle of the duster unit. Further, the user may stretch the metal sheet again to regain its initial shape. Typically the user will have to use two hands to bend and stretch the duster unit. Thus, the bending and stretching of the metal sheet has to be done between dusting sessions. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
In a number of control systems, for example transportation vehicle operation control systems, there is a need for amplifier apparatus which is failsafe in its operation. One of the main considerations in the design of amplifier apparatus for use in such a system is that the amplifier apparatus gain be controlled within safe limits in the event of a failure in the amplifier apparatus.
According to the here described apparatus, an improved failsafe inverting amplifier is disclosed which is widely useful and relatively economical when compared with failsafe inverting amplifiers of the prior art. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to an application device, and more particularly to an improved application device for performing continuous application of a coating liquid for forming a magnetic recording layer on a flexible carrier.
A magnetic recording medium of the application type has been widely used in various fields of industry. To manufacture a magnetic recording medium of the application type, a coating liquid suitable for the application at hand is applied in a desired thickness to the surface of a continuously moving flexible nonmagnetic band-like carrier (hereinafter referred to as web), which is then dried. Such a recording medium manufacturing technique is very much different from a process of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium of the nonapplication type, which is manufactured through ion plating, sputtering, vacuum evaporative deposition or the like.
Most magnetic recording media which have been recently manufactured and sold for audio, video and data processing applications are of the application type, namely, manufactured using an application process such as a gravure process, a reverse roller process, a doctor blade process or an extrusion process. However, with these conventional application processes it is difficult to greatly enhance the productivity of the medium because there is a problem in the accuracy of application in such processes. For example, it is difficult to increase the speed of application since the thickness of the web is generally very small and the applied liquid for forming the ferromagnetic layer is thixotropic, which greatly affects the electromagnetic conversion property of the magnetic recording medium. As for an application process in which there are a relatively large number of places where stagnation can occur in the passage for the liquid for forming the ferromagnetic layer, an abnormal rise in the viscosity of the liquid or the cohesion thereof is likely to occur due to the thixotropy of the liquid, resulting in a large variation of the electromagnetic conversion property of the ferromagnetic layer. If the quantity of liquid discharged from the slot of the extruder of a conventional extrusion-type application device is decreased, the liquid is likely to cohere in a plane opposite the liquid supply nozzle through which the liquid is supplied into the liquid reservoir of the extruder. The cohesion of the liquid results in the formation of a large number of longitudinal streaks in the layer of the liquid applied to the web. On the other hand, if the quantity of the applied liquid discharged from the slot of the extruder is increased, the number of such longitudinal streaks decreases, but a color nonuniformity (a thickness nonuniformity) in the layer of the liquid applied to the web tends to occur and spread over the entire width of the layer. What causes the longitudinal streaks and the color nonuniformity has been found to be that speed of the flow of the liquid in the longitudinal direction of the extruder greatly affects the thixotropy of the liquid. More specifically, it has been determined that the viscosity of the liquid near the liquid supply nozzle, where the speed of the liquid is relatively high, is likely to drop due to a shearing action so as to cause the color nonuniformity. The flow velocity of the portion of the liquid opposite the supply nozzle drops to nearly zero, making the liquid likely to cohere and cause longitudinal streaking.
As a result of this determination, an improved application method was proposed, as disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application No. 53674/85. In accordance with this method, an applied liquid is continuously discharged from the outlet portion of a slot facing the surface of a continuously moving web so as to form a thin film of the applied liquid on the surface of the web. The method is characterized in that the quantity of liquid supplied to the liquid reservoir of the extruder which communicates with the slot is made larger than that of the liquid actually applied to the web, and a portion of the liquid in the reservoir is caused to flow out not through the slot but from a portion of the reservoir located farthest or nearly farthest from the liquid supply nozzle for the reservoir along the width of the web.
Another application method in which a liquid portion supplied separately from liquid supplied to the reservoir is forcibly extracted has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 236968/89 (the term "OPI" as used herein means an "unexamined published application"). As for these methods, the numbers of longitudinal streaks and color nonuniformities have been much reduced in comparison with the prior practice so as to improve the electromagnetic conversion property of ferromagnetic layers formed using such methods.
An application device including an extrusion-type application head designed in accordance with the formula indicated below has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 180266/89: ##EQU2##
In the formula, Q.sub.1 -Q.sub.2, t, S, L and D denote the applied quantity of a liquid, the width of a slot, the length of the slot, the depth of the slot, and the diameter of a liquid reservoir, respectively. However, according to the formula, it is necessary in reality to make the length S of the slot very large or make the width t of the slot very small. If the length of the slot is made very large, the size of the discharge portion of the application device is very large. If the width of the slot is made small, foreign matter is very likely to be trapped in the slot to cause a very large number of longitudinal streaks in the film of applied liquid. Therefore, the device is not practical is use. Although the formula is based on the supposition that the applied liquid forms a Poiseuille flow in the reservoir, the actual applied liquid is a very non-Newtonian one whose apparent viscosity affects the physical properties of the liquid and depends on the flow of the liquid itself. Since the apparent viscosity of the liquid changes in the liquid reservoir and the slot, the thickness of the film of the applied liquid can be made uniform by selecting the dimensions of portions of the device.
The density of recording in magnetic recording media has become higher and higher in recent years. As a result, the media have been required to be higher in quality than prior ones. Therefore, an extrusion-type application device by which a very high effect is produced in consideration of the thixotropy of the applied liquid at the time of the application thereof has been desired. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing method which are configured to provide a so-called color blur reduction process to a color image obtained from the imaging.
2. Description of the Related Art
A color image pickup system generates an originally nonexistent color as a color blur around a bright part on an image due to a chromatic aberration of an imaging optical system. The color blur is likely to occur at part distant from a central wavelength of the imaging optical system, and a visible-light color image pickup system causes artifacts in blue, in red, in purple that is a blend of blue and red in a blur shape. This color blur is also referred to as a purple fringe.
A combination of plural lenses having different dispersions can optically reduce the chromatic aberration to some extent. However, as a small size of a digital camera progresses, high resolution image sensors (or image pickup devices) and smaller optical systems are increasingly demanded, and it is difficult to sufficiently reduce the chromatic aberration only by the optics. Therefore, the image processing is required to reduce an artifact.
The chromatic aberration is roughly classified into a lateral chromatic aberration (chromatic aberration of magnification) and a longitudinal (or axial) chromatic aberration. When the light from a light source images on a focal plane via an imaging optical system, as shown in FIG. 1, the lateral chromatic aberration appears as shifts of imaging positions of a B(Blue) ray having a wavelength of about 450 nm, a G(Green) ray having a wavelength of about 550 nm, and a R(Red) ray having a wavelength of about 650 nm shift in the image surface direction. On the other hand, when the light from a light source images on a focal plane via an imaging optical system, as shown in FIG. 2, the longitudinal chromatic aberration appears as shifts of imaging positions of the RBG rays in the optical-axis direction.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,724,702, the lateral chromatic conversion of a digital imaging system of a primary color system can be corrected through a geometric conversion that applies a different deformation to each color plane of RGB.
On the other hand, the longitudinal chromatic aberration means, in an image that is focused with the G (Green) plane as a central wavelength of the visible light region, for example, that the image is out of focus with respect to the R(Red) plane and B(Blue) plane that are ends of the visible light. This cannot be corrected by the geometric conversion although it is effective to the lateral chromatic aberration. The longitudinal chromatic aberration can be made inconspicuous by lowering the chroma of a color blur area as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. (“JP”) 2001-145117, or can be corrected by applying a different contour emphasis process to each color plane of RGB as disclosed in JP 2003-018407.
However, a chroma lowering process disclosed in JP 2001-145117 is a process that degrades a color of a bright pixel down to a brightness level of another color. This process is effective in reducing unnaturalness by erasing a color of the color blur, but the original colors of a subject can sometimes be also influenced and the image is likely grayish irrespective of the existence of the color blur.
The process disclosed in JP 2003-018407 utilizes deconvolution and its approximate contour emphasis process, and is performed by calculating a filter parameter. However, this process fixes G as a reference, and cannot handle a wide variety of color blurs.
The conventional color blur reduction process always provides the same process to blurs that can differ according to images, and cause an unnatural color depending upon a type of a blur or cannot sufficiently reduce or leave a color blur. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention is directed to a hose molding device. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a molding cap into which a mandrel is inserted prior to molding a hose section to form a curved hose.
Curved hose is typically manufactured by positioning a pre-cut length of a pre-cut length of hose carcass over a curved mandrel and then heating and curing the carcass to define a curved hose. The curved hoses may have any desired configuration, the final configuration limited only by the ability to manufacture any complicated configuration. Curing of the hose length may occur on a short mandrel or a fixed, multi-pieced mandrel, as disclosed in both U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,015,918 and 4,436,690.
The mandrel disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,918 is a conventional one-piece curved mandrel. A groove is located at the end of the mandrel for securing a collar onto the mandrel after a hose length is inserted onto the mandrel. At the opposing end of the mandrel is a collar, against which the hose length abuts when the hose length is inserted onto the mandrel. Past the collar is a means for supporting the mandrel during use; that is, for securing the mandrel to a curing rack.
Other mandrels may not have an attached collar and mounting device but may employ a mounting cap. The mounting cap fits onto the mounting end of the mandrel, with the mandrel end extending through a central opening at the bottom of the cap. The mandrel end secured into a mounting block. The block then fits into a slot on a curing rack. The conventional mounting cap is a hollow circular tube, with a wide round opening at the first end, and a smaller opening at the second end through which the mandrel extends.
However, sometimes, the use of a mounting cap can interfere with the formation of particular hose configurations. This is particularly true when a hose with bend and a short straight end must be manufactured. If a bend is located near the end of the mandrel, the bend may rest directly on the top of the mounting cap. This can create rubber plough back, creating imperfect hoses.
The present invention is directed to a cap designed to overcome the limitations of the conventional mounting caps, resulting in the manufacture a more uniform curved hose.
The present invention is a cap for use in manufacturing a curved hose on a mandrel. The cap is a cylinder with a wall, a base, and an opening. The cap has an open groove in the wall extending from the opening towards the base.
In one aspect of the invention, the groove in the cap wall extends about halfway along the length of the cap.
In another aspect of the invention, the groove has a width of about one-third of the circumference of the cap.
In another aspect of the invention, the opening of the groove is inclined at a sloping angle to create a smoothly sloping lip entrance to the groove. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to an axle arrangement for a motor vehicle.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
Conventional wheel suspensions for motor vehicles include, i.a., attachment points to the vehicle body, bearings, at least one guide rod, suspension system, and wheel carrier secured to the guide rod. The guide rod can be designed as transverse control arm or semi-trailing arm. When a rigid axle is involved, springs in the form of leaf springs are oftentimes used. Rigid axles typically include rigid axle tubes which are linked to the wheel guiding longitudinal leaf springs via a fastening system, so called leaf spring attachments. The longitudinal leaf springs can be made of steel or composites such as GFRP (glass fiber reinforced plastic) or CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastic). The leaf springs are coupled to the body.
The rigid axle member is positioned in relation to the leaf springs normally via a center bolt which snaps into a bore of the lower leaf spring attachment. The rigid axle includes an axle tube and the outer wheel carriers which are securely fixed to the axle tube, e.g. welded or bolted.
When installing the rigid axle in the motor vehicle or during operation of the motor vehicle, the wheels do not always assume the desired position. Manufacturer's based tolerances lead to situations in which the rigid axles are not positioned at an orthogonal angle relative to the vehicle longitudinal axis and thus are skewed in relation to the typically adjustable axles with independent wheel suspension, mostly front axles. As a result, the front axle has to be readjusted possibly in opposition to the skewed disposition of the rear axle to ensure a straight travel of the vehicle. The tires which are also positioned at a slant are exposed to greater wear. This may be encountered in all four tires of the vehicle. Incorrect wheel position, especially incorrect toe, also increases fuel consumption. In addition, incorrectly aligned wheels can only transmit slight lateral guide forces and compromise safety in an extreme case. In particular the rear axle demands greater safety considerations because in the event the rear of the vehicle swerves and causes oversteering, uncontrollable driving conditions may arise.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to provide an improved axle arrangement which obviates prior art shortcomings and which is easy to manufacture while still being reliable in operation. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates generally to an improved dispenser of the reciprocating piston type for discharging liquids from a portable container, and more particularly to such dispenser as having a feature which prevents any hydraulic lock which would interfere with a full depression of the discharge head into a lock-down position, as well as a feature which facilitates easy unlocking of a seal lock between the head and a retaining collar on the container closure.
Liquid dispensers generally of the type described herein, as including a stationary pump cylinder for direct association with a container and a reciprocable piston unit which is manipulated to effect discharge of the container contents, are known as having means provided for temporarily locking the piston against relative displacement in a position such that the dispenser is completely sealed, thereby preventing leakage from the container during shipping or storage, even though the container be inverted. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,084,873, 3,248,021 and 3,237,571 disclose liquid dispensers having plunger lock-down means for immobilizing and retaining the plunger in a depressed position. Such means is generally in the form of co-acting threads provided on the plunger head and a collar portion of the container cap. Thus, the plunger is locked down into its depressed position by screwing down the head within the collar. And, co-acting sealing surfaces are made to interengage when the plunger is fully depressed and locked so as to effect a seal against leakage of liquid outwardly of the container from the space between the plunger and the pump cylinder. While these plunger lock-down and sealing mechanisms have generally performed satisfactorily, they are not without their shortcomings. For example, the interengaging sealing surfaces must be provided in addition to the co-acting screw threads for respectively producing a seal and a lock which require additional time and materials to achieve these intended functions. Moreover, if the container cap is threaded down on to the container neck, as in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,084,873 and 3,237,571 dispensers, unthreading the plunger head relative to the collar for unlocking the plunger oftentimes results in an inadvertent unthreading and loosening of the cap from the container.
In lieu of co-acting locking threads, the plunger has been maintained in a downwardly depressed immobilized position by means of a protective overcap (as in U.S. Pat. No. 2,956,509) which snaps down over the collar but which has generally proven cumbersome because of the need for such an overcap.
And, means are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,248,021 and 3,237,571 for preventing flow of liquid, when in the plunger lock-down position, past the inlet valve and outwardly through the discharge passage, or between the pump cylinder and the plunger, when the dispenser is inverted. In the former, the inlet ball valve is spring biased into a fully seated position and a lip seal on the plunger is engaged in the lock-down position, and in the latter, the lower end of an inlet valve is seated below the valve openings in the lock-down position of the plunger. In any event, with or without such anti-leakage means, the liquid dispensers of the aforedescribed types are oftentimes difficult to lock down during shipment and storage due to a hydraulic lock effect which arises especially after the pump has been primed with liquid to be dispensed. This condition renders it difficult if not impossible to fully depress the plunger into its immobilized and locked position because of the resistance from the pressurized liquid which remains in the pump cylinder. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention is directed to a sign holder device in the form of individual parts which, upon assembly, provide for the support and display of signage in a plurality of orientations. By employing devices as taught herein, a retail facility can inventory a bin of parts and construct signage of a variety of configurations and orientations avoiding the need to stockpile signs of fixed geometry.
Retail establishments such as supermarket chains require signage of every imaginable configuration. Every product sold requires some type of sign to inform a consumer of the nature and price of products on display. For example, produce such as oranges, bananas and grapefruit require one type of signage while frozen food bins and deli cases yet others. It is impractical for a multi-product retail establishment such as a grocery chain to inventory preassembled signage for each dedicated orientation. A far better solution is to provide the retailer with an inventory of parts which can be assembled on site depending upon the product display requiring such signage.
The present invention is not the first instance in which it was suggested that retail store signage be provided from a parts bin rather than as assembled members. However, prior knockdown component oriented kits have not been universally embraced by the retail trade for several reasons. Products of this nature of the prior art tend to be flimsy, and not easily assembled and disassembled and oftentimes require a certain level of skill and experience in converting the bin of parts to professionally looking customer-inviting signage. For example, it is oftentimes important to position a sign frame appropriately upon a support stem in order to make the sign support professional looking. It is not difficult to produce geometrically centered frames upon support stems at a factory location when a product is produced which is not intended to be disassembled on site. However, retail store employees are called upon to work quickly moving from one location to the next and it is oftentimes incumbent upon them to assemble and disassemble signage rapidly. Kit products of the prior art, when assembled rapidly by non-skilled personnel, tend to look haphazard and not professional in construction.
It is also important to manufacturers of such products to be able to construct signage from a bin of parts. Flexibility enjoyed by retail store employees as noted above also provides advantages for manufacturers for a multiple of signage products can be constructed by picking and choosing individual components enabling a wide variety of preconstructed signage products to be shipped to customers without having to inventory a myriad of molds for each variation.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a sign holder device in the form of individual parts which, when assembled, provides for a professional appearing support for the display of signage in a plurality of orientations.
This and further objects will be more readily apparent when considering the following disclosure and appended claims.
The present invention is directed to a sign holder device in the form of individual parts which, upon assembly, provide for support and display of signage in a plurality of orientations. The sign holder device comprises a base configured to receive and support the first end of a stem, the stem having a first end and a second end. The first end of the stem is configured to be releasably retained by the base while the second end is configured to retain a sign frame. The sign frame, in turn, is configured to be releasably retained by the second end of the stem and includes a left side and a right side and gap between these ides. The gap is provided with tabs for positioning the stem on the sign frame to retain the stem on the frame in a predetermined orientation. Alternatively, the frame can be supported directly by the base, thus eliminating the stem when appropriate. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to systems for converting waste energy to electricity. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electrical generator for salvaging waste energy in a septic system.
Much of the electricity used today is generated from coal burning plants which are tolerated as a virtual necessity in modern life. However, such plants are thought to produce greenhouse gasses which are believed to have an undesirable effect on the global environment. Although vast resources are currently being spent on identifying and developing alternative energy source, such as wind and solar power, efforts to use energy more efficiently are also important.
In a household, or other dwelling, with a septic system, significant energy often escapes which could be recaptured and used. The lost energy has many forms. For example, septic systems are located below the dwelling elevation. Thus, one form of lost energy is due to the gravitational potential of the waste stream as it descends into the septic system. A variety of other sources all add to a significant loss of energy. Additionally, energy is usually required to process the waste stream into components that reduce the environmental impact of the waste. Thus, not only is energy lost in the waste stream, but additional energy must be expended to process the waste.
As non-renewable energy resources are slowly depleted, and the cost of energy rises, there is an increasing need to identify and salvage lost energy. Recapturing energy otherwise lost in a waste stream could reduce the costs of energy by providing for more efficient consumption, while potentially processing the waste stream to reduce its environmental impact. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates generally to radio transceiver units, and in particular, to interchangeable front control panel and keypad assemblies for such units.
For marketing and other reasons, manufacturers of radio communications devices typically offer several different configurations for each communications product manufactured. A particular model of mobile radio transceiver may have a "basic" or minimal configuration but may optionally be provided with additional features or "options" at additional cost.
For example, a basic transceiver configuration may provide communications over a limited number of communications channels for basic radio transmitting and receiving functions required by all users. Some users may, however, have additional requirements requiring additional features--such as additional communications channels, receiver channel scanning, etc. The ability of a manufacturer to provide such additional "options" permits increases in the flexibility, versatility, desirability and range of applications of the product without penalizing purchasers of the basic configuration with increased cost. Purchasers of the basic model pay a minimum price for the minimal configuration, while users requiring additional "option" features pay an increased price based on the number and type of options required.
In the past, additional options were generally provided by incorporating additional components and circuitry into the device. For example, in the past, channel scanning capability or additional operating channels were added by installing additional frequency selection circuitry into the transceiver. Similarly, the tone activated squelch option typically required an additional tone decoder circuit to be installed. Transceiver designers used modular architectures to accommodate additional plug-in "option modules".
An example of this design approach is the prior art "MLS" series radio transceivers manufactured for General Electric Company by Japan Radio Corp. These "MLS" transceivers include basic transceiver circuitry disposed within a housing. The front panel assembly of the transceiver housing was manufactured separately, and consists of a separable front panel "escutcheon" plate. Mechanically mounted to the escutcheon plate is a printed circuit board which plug-connects to the basic transceiver circuitry when the escutcheon plate is mechanically fastened to the housing. The escutcheon plate and associated printed circuit board comprises a module separable from the transceiver main housing and basic circuitry. The module includes user controls mounted on the escutcheon plate and circuitry required to connect user controls mounted on the plate to the transceiver circuitry.
Since different "option" features in many cases require different additional user controls, different models of escutcheon plate modules were produced for the "MLS" series transceivers. In particular, the "MLS" transceiver was made available in five different versions: (1) a two-channel "basic" version; (2) an 8-channel version with the scan feature; (3) a 16-channel version without scan; and (4) a 16-channel version with scan feature. Five different interchangeable escutcheon plates with different user control arrangements corresponding to these five different transceiver versions were also made. The particular escutcheon plate/control panel installed on a particular "MLS" transceiver limited the transceiver features the user could access. For example, the escutcheon plate corresponding to the "MLS" transceiver versions with 16-channel capability and no scan feature does not have a control to actuate the scan feature--preventing the user from obtaining the benefit of the scan feature. Similarly, the escutcheon plates corresponding to the 8-channel transceiver versions do not include user controls to access more than 8 channels.
Since all "MLS" transceivers included identical basic transceiver circuitry and main housing, reduced manufacturing costs and increased reliability derived from large scale manufacturing were obtained. Specific purchaser selected options could be provided in a particular unit simply by installing the appropriate escutcheon plate module --a procedure which could be performed in the field if desired. Incorporation of the circuitry performing the option functions and user controls interacting with such circuitry within the same front panel escutcheon plate module permitted a transceiver to be reconfigured by simply "unplugging" one module and "plugging in" a different module (further increasing reliability and decreasing manufacturing costs).
In this regard, see commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/183,212 filed Apr. 19, 1988.
It is a principal object of this invention to provide a transceiver design which permits quick assembly of interchangeable front control panels and associated rubber keypads in order to convert an otherwise standard transceiver design to different versions of varying capabilities.
One advantage of the present invention is that a sixteen channel capacity unit, for example, can be configured as a four channel unit by installation of a four-key keypad and a four-key control panel, even though the unit has the capability of a sixteen channel unit. The final assembly of the control panel and keypad can be carried out easily and quickly at the point of distribution as required. As a result, otherwise standardized transceiver units can be configured quickly and simply, outside the manufacturing facility, so that unnecessary production delays need not be experienced while awaiting customer specifications.
Another advantageous aspect of the present invention lies in the fact that a standardized circuit including an array of switches, is enclosed within the housing, and that no circuitry or electrical components need be included in the keypad and/or control panel elements, with the exception of the conductive carbon buttons on the backside of respective keys of the keypad. This then permits conversion to various model designs merely by the utilization of low cost control panels and keypads, designed to selectively access some or all of the switch elements on the underlying circuit board.
It is another advantage of the present invention that the front control panel and keypad design flexibility allows future similar designs to be made quickly and cheaply to a standard product line transceiver.
In one exemplary embodiment of the invention, a relatively thin planar control panel defined by upper, lower and a pair of side edges, is provided with a projection, or locking bar, extending along and away from the upper edge of the panel. This projection is designed to be received in a recess provided within the transceiver unit housing. At the same time, a pair of apertures are provided adjacent the opposite or lower edge to receive a pair of screws to securely fasten the control panel to the front cover of the transceiver unit housing. A number of interchangeable control panels are provided, with different members and configurations of key apertures, depending on the desired end configuration for the unit.
In the exemplary embodiment, the locking bar extending upwardly and away from the upper edge of the control panel is centered between the side edges, but it will be appreciated that it may also extend along the entire length of the upper edge. The recess in which the locking bar is received is formed by a combination of the front cover of the unit housing, a display escutcheon plate located directly above the control panel, and the upper edge of the associated rubber keypad.
It is also a feature of the exemplary embodiment of the invention to provide a corresponding number of rubber keypads with identical peripheral shapes, but with different numbers of keys, again depending on the desired end configuration for the unit.
In order to fasten a selected control panel and corresponding keypad to the front cover of the unit, the keypad (preferably made of rubber or other suitable resilient material) is first placed in position within a recess provided in the front cover. The corresponding control panel is oriented such that the locking bar is slipped upwardly into the above described recess, and the panel is then pivoted downwardly and pressed into contact with the underlying keypad so that the screw holes provided in the control panel are aligned with corresponding screw holes in both the keypad and in the front cover of the housing. By merely inserting and tightening a pair of screws in these two screw holes, the front control panel cover is securely mounted to the housing, with the locking bar securely held underneath the display escutcheon plate. At the same time, the control panel cover captures the rubber keypad, pressing it down against the front housing cover to form a weatherproof seal.
It will be understood that the front control panel cover and associated keypad may be provided in a variety of configurations, for example they may be provided with sixteen holes to accommodate a sixteen-key keypad; four holes for accommodating a four-key keypad; a blank front control panel, i.e., one with no apertures for those applications where a blank keypad is employed, and so on. In converting the unit from one configuration to another, the electrical circuitry is not altered. What is altered is the degree of accessibility to the switch elements located within the unit.
Thus, in accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control panel for a radio transceiver unit comprising a relatively thin, planar member having front and rear surfaces and defined by upper, lower and a pair of side edges; a projection extending along and away from at least one of the edges; and fastening means located adjacent an opposite edge.
In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a radio transceiver comprising a housing having a front cover, a control panel mounted on the front cover, a keypad provided with a plurality of keys adapted to make electrical connection with a circuit located within the housing; and overlying the keypad, the control panel comprising a relatively thin, planar member having front and rear surfaces and defined by upper, lower and a pair of side edges; a plurality of apertures corresponding to and aligned with the plurality of keys; a locking bar extending along and away from one of the edges, and fastening means located adjacent an another edge, opposite to the one edge.
In still another aspect, the present invention comprises a housing including a front cover, an array of electrical switches located within the housing, a plurality of interchangeable control panels adapted for selective alternative attachment to the front cover, and a plurality of interchangeable keypads adapted for selective alternative attachment to the front cover in underlying relationship with a respective one of the control panels, wherein each control panel is configured for use with a similarly configured one of the keypads, and wherein said keypads are formed with different numbers of keys, respectively for accessing selected ones of the switches in said array.
In a related aspect, the present invention relates to a method of reconfiguring an otherwise standardized radio design comprising the steps of (a) providing a transceiver unit including a housing, the housing having a front cover adapted to receive a keypad and a control panel; (b) providing a circuit board within the housing, the circuit board including an array of switches; and (c) selecting a keypad and associated control panel which permits access to some or all of the switches, depending on the number of keys provided on the selected keypad.
As a result of the above described invention, different versions of otherwise standardized transceivers can be achieved quickly and simply through the utilization of the quick connect and disconnect front control panel covers as described herein. Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description of the invention which follows. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a two-dimensional large-area growth method for a chalcogen compound, a method of manufacturing a CMOS-type structure, a film of a chalcogen compound represented by MX2 (wherein M is a transition metal element or a Group V element and X is a chalcogen element), an electronic device including a film of a chalcogen compound represented by MX2 and a CMOS-type structure.
This research was supported in part by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2013M3C1A3059590, NRF-2014M3A9D7070732).
This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (No. 2015R1A5A1037548).
This research was supported by the Commercializations Promotion Agency for R&D Outcomes (COMPA) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MISP).
2. Description of the Related Art
Chalcogen compounds such as transition metal chalcogen compounds form a common crystalline structure, have electrically, magnetically and optically large anisotropy, and exhibit a variety of unusual properties. Understanding for properties of such chalcogen compounds and application thereof have been interested.
There is a need to grow a two-dimensional plate-type chalcogen compound having semiconductor-like properties on a large-area substrate by growing such chalcogen compounds to a large area. However, there is limitation of low mobility when a solution process is performed using a known method, and there are a problem of slow growth and limitation in obtaining a uniform film upon application of chemical vapor deposition method wherein a chalcogen compound is deposited through chemical vapor deposition of a precursor compound. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to stored value cards, and more particularly to stored value cards such as prepaid or gift cards which provide a user or recipient of the card with benefits, from at least some of the merchants in the relevant financial network, beyond what is purchased with the card.
2. Related Art
Smart cards, which are portable transaction cards providing cash equivalent value for use within an existing transaction infrastructure, are becoming more and more prevalent in the U.S. and throughout the world. Such cards are typically the size of conventional plastic credit cards, and include an embedded computer chip having processing power and memory to enable the card to be associated with a transaction account for use by a consumer. Smart card-enhanced systems are in wide use in several fields, including healthcare, banking, and transportation.
One typical smart card application is a “stored value card,” which is a pre-paid card that acts like an electronic purse, such as a gift card. In stored value cards, a prepaid amount of currency value is stored in the smart card memory for use as conventional cash, enabling the card to be used. For example, once a customer deposits fifty dollars of value into the account associated with the stored value card, the card may be used, upon activation, for payments of up to fifty dollars.
In operation, a user inserts the card into a terminal device which communicates with the card through contacts. The terminal device may be part of a cash register, a vending machine, or another type of point-of-sale device. Upon being inserted, the value amount of the purchase is transferred from the card to the merchant terminal or to a central clearing and authorization system such that the merchant may be credited with the requisite amount of value. Consequently, the value amount of the consumer's card is reduced correspondingly.
Stored value cards can be desirable for a number of reasons. For example, they provide a safe and convenient way to avoid carrying or handling cash and loose change. Also, they have found good use as gifts. Furthermore, if the card holder desires cash, many transaction cards allow access to funds through an automated teller machine (ATM). Moreover, some cards are re-loadable, meaning that the consumer can add funds to the associated account, which provides an extra measure of convenience.
Stored value card systems can be operated both as “closed” or “open” systems. Closed systems are limited to specific participating merchants (e.g., a particular store or chain of stores), or at various point of sale locations in a setting such as a college campus. Such cards would not be compatible with point of sale terminals outside the closed system. One example of a closed card is a pre-paid gift card that may only be purchased at, and only be used at, a clothing retailer, such as The Gape store. Open systems allow use of the card at any merchant having a compatible point of sale card reader or device, and therefore open cards are financial transaction cards that are generally accepted at different merchants.
The International Standards Organization (ISO) has established a number of specifications for such electronic cards under the ISO/IEC Standards Series 7810, 7811, 7816, and 10536. Typical smart cards include a plurality of electrical contracts on one surface which provide input and output interfaces with a microprocessor in the card. The cards can be “contact” cards, meaning that their contacts interface with a terminal via ohmic contact, or “contactless” cards, meaning that they rely on close-coupling with a terminal, employing radio frequency (RFID) communication between card and reader without physical insertion of the card. Some smart cards now include both types of contact schemes, in that they are compatible with terminals having either contact interfaces or contactless interfaces.
The microprocessor in a smart card is able to store an operating program and other information in volatile memory alterable by a Central Processing Unit (CPU), which possesses hard-wired control circuitry. A single Integrated Circuit (IC) chip can contain the CPU and the various types of memory, including volatile and non-volatile memory, which make up the microprocessor.
Smart card readers read the data stored on the smart chard chips. They can be plugged into computers, or can be built directly into computers, keyboards, cell phones, or other electronic devices. Software communicates with the reader and sends commands to manage the reader such as power up and transfer commands. Further, smart cards employ various forms of security for safety and protection.
Conventional stored value card systems are limited to providing cash equivalent value in accordance with the pre-paid amount of currency value stored in the smart card memory in advance, for use in a “closed” or “open” system, as described above. However, there is a need for providing to a user or receiver of the card benefits from certain merchants in a financial network beyond what is purchased with the card. There is also a need for providing to a user or receiver of the card a selection of benefits from which he or she would like to choose. There is also a need for a stored value card, usable within a financial network, that is directed to a specific theme or themes to which benefits are related, the benefits being provided by at least some of the merchants in the network. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates generally to vehicles for the handling of material or articles, which are self-loading or unloading and includes successive handling means, and, more particularly, to a tailgate control system for a round bale wagon that maintains bales on the wagon until the load bed has been adequately rotated to impart sufficient energy to the bales and permit them to be easily unloaded off the load bed.
The evolution of the hay industry in recent years indicates a diversification in baling, storing and transporting the hay with a strong trend toward using larger bales. Large round bales, varying in weight from about 800 pounds to about 1600 pounds and varying in diameter from about four feet up to about eight feet, are rapidly replacing the relatively smaller conventional square bales.
Due to the large size of the round bales, there is a need for equipment which can pick up the bales in the field, accumulate a load of bales, and transport them to a remote storage area where the accumulated bales can be unloaded. Also, such equipment must be flexible in the ability to deal with bales ranging in diameter from the aforesaid four to eight feet. Furthermore, it is important that the bale handling equipment be able to arrange and control the position of bales on the transporter bed after the bales have been picked up. Transporting larger loads of bales reduces fuel usage and the time required for bale handling.
Currently known round bale handling equipment is limited in being able to successfully pick up, accumulate, transport and unload large loads of round bales, e.g., eight to ten bales, and cope with the varying bale size. Some equipment is available for handling large loads of bales but this equipment is tractor drawn and is thus limited by tractor speed and reduced maneuverability. Other equipment available is self-propelled, such as a pickup truck attachment for handling large round bales. While this other equipment avoids the speed and maneuverability limitations of tractor drawn equipment, it sacrifices the economic advantages associated with transporting a large number of bales.
The unloading of bales from the load bed of the bale wagon can be effected by pivotally rotating the load bed relative to the main frame, thereby raising the forward end of the load bed above the frame, to permit the round bales to roll or slide off the rearward end of the load bed. To impart sufficient energy to the bales on the load bed so that they will be easily discharged off the rearward end of the load bed, it would be desirable to provide a mechanism, such as a tailgate, and a control system therefor that would prevent the bales from moving off the load bed until the forward end has been raised a sufficient distance off the main frame. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a traverse drum and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Prior Art:
There have been proposed various grooved traverse drums for automatic winders for winding yarns. The grooved traverse drum are used for surface-driving a take-up package at a high revolving rate and also for traverse a yarn drawn out from a supply package at a high traversing speed. Accordingly, the traverse drum is required to meet various operating conditions. The traverse drum are required to meet the following conditions in respect of function and manufacture.
(i) The traverse drum needs to be an electrically conductive body capable of conducting static electricity generated during the winding operation so that the traverse drum will not be charged.
(ii) The portions to be in contact with a yarn must be abrasion-resistant.
(iii) The traverse drum needs to be capable of breaking ribboning which occurs when the traverse drum and the take-up package are the same in diameter, and needs to be lightweight so that the traverse drum can be stopped instantly upon the occurence of yarn breakage.
(iv) The surface of the traverse drum must have a low coefficient of friction.
(v) Manufacturing processes including a process for forming the complicated grooves must be carried out easily.
(vi) The traverse drum must be stable in accuracy and can be produced at a low manufacturing cost.
As regards Item (i), the surface of some traverse drum is coated, for example with a film of an antistatic agent or a static electricity preventive agent. However such a traverse drum suffers from the abrasion of the film and the abrasion of the body of the drum. As regards Item (ii), metallic pins having a high hardness or ceramic pins are burried in the drum along the yarn passage to prevent abrasion. However such means requires complex manufacturing processes and has problems in respect of quality and cost. As regards Items (iv) and (v), some drum bodies are formed by an aluminum alloy to reduce the weight to 1.5 to 2.0 kg. However, aluminum alloys are inferior in abrasion resistance. In order to improve the abrasion resistance, such a traverse drum is treated to coat the surface with a hard alumite film, however, the hardness of a hard alumite film is, at the most, about 500 Hv and, since an alumite film is nonconductive, the traverse drum is liable to be charged with static electricity.
Accordingly, in view of improving the abrasion resistance of the traverse drum, it is desirable to form the traverse drum by a ferroalloy. However, ferroalloys have various drawbacks that the specific weight thereof is 2.6 to 3.1 times that of aluminum alloys the melting point is high, the manufacturing cost of ferroalloys is high and ferroalloys are hard and less workable than aluminum alloys. Consequently, traverse drum formed by ferroalloys have not widely been used. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to the non-invasive magnetic imaging of anatomic tissue structures in isolation from surrounding tissues, and, in particular, to the non-invasive magnetic imaging of nerve tissues. The present invention more specifically relates to the non-invasive quantitative measurement of damage to nerve tissue, such as the damage that occurs upon compression.
Clinically it is possible to estimate which neural pathway is involved in trauma by determining the end result loss of motor function and either abberant sensory function or complete loss of it. It is very difficult to determine where the lesion is and to what extent it has caused deterioration of the nerves involved.
Peripheral nerves are compound structures. Each nerve trunk consists of a very large number of nerve “fibers” (neurites) that are protoplasmic extensions of neuronal cell bodies located in the dorsal root ganglia (sensory neurons) and ventral horn of the spinal cord (motor neurons). All nerve fibers (except fine pain fibers) are surrounded by a fatty sheath of myelin which serves to enhance nerve impulse conduction (neural flow). The nerve fibers are grouped into fasciculi, bundles of fibers bound together by a fine connective tissue membrane (epineureum). The bundles of fasciculi comprising the nerve trunk are bound by a thicker membrane, the perineureum. The nerve trunk may be surrounded by other layers of protective connective tissue or fat.
Neuropathy in peripheral nerves may occur through the agency of traumatic distortion, including compression, stretch and breakage, and/or associated ischemia. The trauma may be acute, especially when the surrounding tissues are injured, or it may be chronic, and due to pathologic mechanical relations between the nerve and surrounding tissues: regional compression is considered to be the principal etiology in entrapment syndromes. There is rapid recovery from transient compression, but prolonged compression extends the recovery period because the nerve fibers are damaged. Remyelination and re-establishment of conduction must take place. Chronic and repetitive compression prevents recovery and results in severe neurologic impairment.
In chronic and repetitive compressions, which are more common than acute compressions, the damage is more extensive. Nerve trunks become thinned at the site of the compression, but may swell proximally. Characteristically conduction is slowed and conduction blocks occur as long segments of myelin are damaged. Depending on the severity of the chronic compression, the nerve trunk proximally will contain a full complement of myelinated fibers within its fasciculi; but at the level of compression and distally the number of myelinated fibers may be reduced significantly. The relative density of the myelinated fibers between proximal and distal portions of the nerve is a measure of loss of neurophysiologic function in its distal distribution.
Although nerve damage can occur anywhere within the body, some nerves are predisposed to chronic damage because of their structural relationships with other tissues. Classic sites for chronic nerve compression include the brachial plexus—especially where the cords of the plexus pass between the rib cage and clavicle, the elbow—where the ulna nerve winds around the olecranon process of the ulna bone, the carpal tunnel—where the median nerve lies between deep flexor tendons and the flexor retinaculum, the sacro-iliac region—where the lumbo-sacral trunk and sacral plexus lie on the bony surfaces of the pelvis, the gluteal region—where the sciatic nerve passes between the powerful gluteal musculature, the neck of the fibula—where the common peroneal nerve winds about the external surface of the bone, and the tarsal canal—where the tibial nerve winds beneath the tarsal bones to enter the sale of the foot.
Some nerves are vulnerable to acute trauma as a result of their intimate relationship to bones subject to fracture. These include that portion of the brachial plexus lying beneath the clavicle, the radial nerve—which winds about the shaft of the humerus, and the common peroneal nerve, which winds about the neck of the fibula.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is defined as a pathologic condition in which the tunnel size is reduced, causing pressure on the median nerve with resultant pain and slight sensory impairment in the digits supplied by the nerve, and sometimes accompanied by slight wasting of the thenar muscles. The carpal groove is a deep concavity on the palmar surface of the carpus formed by lateral and medial projections of the carpal bones. The medial projection is formed by the pisi-form bone and the hamulus—a hook-like projection of the hamate bone. The lateral projection is formed by the tubercles of the scaphoid and trapezium bones. The carpal groove is converted into an osteofibrous carpal tunnel by a strong fibrous retinaculum attached to the lateral and medial margins of the carpal groove. The carpal tunnel transmits the tendons of the deep and superficial digital flexor muscles which in this region form a firm bundle.
The median nerve lies within the tunnel between the flexor retinaculum and the flexor tendon bundle. It emerges from behind the flexor digitorum superficialis distally in the forearm about 5 cm proximal to the flexor retinaculum of the carpus. It lies superficial to the deep digital flexor tendons and between the tendons of the superficial flexor muscle and the flexor carpi radialis. The nerve then passes deep to the flexor retinaculum of the wrist where normally it lies superficial to the stout bundle of flexor tendons.
Overt morphology associated with CTS includes carpal dislocations, carpal arthritis and tenosynovitis of the long flexor tendons. These conditions clearly restrict the space within the tunnel. There is often no apparent morphologic cause for the syndrome, but as complete division of the flexor retinaculum results in relief from symptoms in most cases it is assumed that mechanical compression that is not obvious from the gross morphology of the tunnel or its contents causes ischemia or directly compresses the median nerve.
Clinical symptoms includes weakening of the thenar muscles, parasthesias of the lateral palm, thumb and first two fingers. Other symptoms may include stiffness of the wrist and some pain.
Clinical examination consists of identifying those symptoms known to be associated with nerve damage. The anatomic distribution of the branches of peripheral nerves is constant and well known. The distribution of abnormal sensation or inability to utilize one or more muscles is a sure indicator of which nerve is involved.
Electromyography is used as a supplement to clinical examination. The technique uses needle electrodes inserted into suspect muscle. The intensity of the potentials measured is an indirect measure of the level of muscle activity. Neural flow stimulation also involves the use of needle electrodes. The technique compares input and output values of electric potentials.
None of these diagnostic techniques definitively identifies the focus of the neuropathy. In most cases, if the examination and electromyographic results are typical of those associated with a particular syndrome, the focus of the neuropathy can be estimated with some certainty based on experience; but false positive diagnoses are relatively common and may lead to unnecessary surgery or incomplete relief of the symptoms. In addition, electromyography is a relatively complex technique requiring some expertise to obtain a satisfactory diagnosis. Furthermore, the use of needle electrodes is invasive, and may prove painful. This can lead to false readings or patient rejection of the study.
A further problem is experienced with clinical examinations. Numerous patients attempt to simulate symptomatology in order to qualify for insurance compensation. Identifying these patients using an essentially subjective examination is difficult and time consuming for the diagnostician.
Despite conflicting reports in the literature, there is no convincing evidence that nerve morphology viewed in unassisted two-dimensional magnetic images is a clinically practical means of obtaining information about histological degeneration and impaired neural flow. At present, CTS patients are not referred for magnetic imaging scans as a diagnostic procedure. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Object identity and equality are important concepts in computer programming. Every programming language must provide some method for determining the identity of an object and for determining whether two objects are equal.
In relational databases, object identity is encoded via the notion of primary keys. Two rows are considered the same if their primary keys are equal. This assumes, of course, that recursively that question can be answered.
In contrast, in imperative and object-oriented languages, object instances are ultimately identified by their address in memory, which represents their “identity.” For example, in the following segment of Visual Basic code, both variables X and Y refer to the same object in memory and therefore have the same “reference identity” (in Visual Basic, a test for reference identity may be performed using “Is”): Dim X=New Person With {.Name=“Paul”} Dim Y=X Assert(X Is Y) Y.Name=“Amanda” Assert(X.Name=“Amanda”)Because X and Y have the same reference identity, a change to the Name property via variable Y is visible when accessing the Name property via variable X.
In many situations, it is useful to provide a second notion of equality for objects that is based on the value of objects as opposed to their location in memory. For instance, the variable P and Q below point to two different Person instances: Dim P=New Person With {.Name=“Tim”} Dim Q=New Person With {.Name=“Tim”} Assert(P=Q) Assert(P IsNot Q)However, a software developer may wish to consider two Person instances to be the same whenever the .Name properties associated with those instances are the same, so in this case, the programmer may want to assert that P is the same as Q using the =operator.
In some programming languages, programmers can redefine equality on their objects. For example, Microsoft® .NET™ programming languages allow programmers to redefine equality on their objects by overriding the following two virtual methods on the Object class which is at the root of the type hierarchy:
Public Overridable Function Equals (obj As Object) As Boolean
Public Overridable Function GetHashCode( ) As Integer
Other languages/runtimes provide similar protocols. The standard contract in the .NET framework for the Equals and GetHashCode functions is that they satisfy the following rather intricate properties:
(1) x.Equals(x) returns true, except in cases that involve floating-point types;
(2) x.Equals(y) returns the same value as y.Equals(x);
(3) x.Equals(y) returns true if both x and y are NaN;
(4) (x.Equals(y) && y.Equals(z)) returns true if and only if x.Equals(z) returns true;
(5) Successive calls to x.Equals(y) return the same value as long as the objects referenced by x and y are not modified;
(6) x.Equals(a null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic)) returns false;
(7) If two objects compare as equal, the GetHashCode method for each object must return the same value. However, if two objects do not compare as equal, the GetHashCode methods for the two object do not have to return different values;
(8) The GetHashCode method for an object must consistently return the same hash code as long as there is no modification to the object state that determines the return value of the object's Equals method. Note that this is true only for the current execution of an application, and that a different hash code can be returned if the application is run again. For the best performance, a hash function must generate a random distribution for all input.
However, overriding Equals and GetHashCode in this manner is not always possible, typically involves incorporating a substantial amount of boiler plate code, and provides ample opportunity for introducing bugs. Furthermore, programming languages that utilize such object contracts do not typically provide any method of collapsing the notions of equality and identity outside of modifying the execution engine itself. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates to clock generator circuits, and, more particularly, to clock generator circuits used to apply properly phased clock signals to multiple clocked devices.
Periodic clock signals are for a wide variety of purposes in electronic systems, such as memory devices. Clock signals are typically generated by an oscillator, but clock signals generated by an oscillator may have properties that make them unsuitable for some purposes. For example, such clock signals may exhibit excessive phase jitter, i.e., variations in the phase or timing of the clock signal. While phase jitter may not be a problem in many applications, in some applications where timing in a circuit must be precisely controlled, phase jitter can be unacceptable.
On approach to reducing phase jitter is to process the clock signal with a locked-loop, such as a phase-lock loop or a delay-lock loop. The dynamics of feedback in the loop can be controlled, such as by low-pass filtering the loop, so that a processed clock signal generated by the locked-loop has relatively little phase jitter.
Processing a clock signal using a locked-loop provides acceptable performance in applications where the clock signal is applied to a single circuit or relatively few circuits. However, problems can develop if the processed clock signal is applied to a large number of clocked circuits. These problems are essentially twofold. First, it is generally not possible to place the circuits to which the processed clock signal is applied the same distance from the locked-loop. Consequently, transitions of the clock signal can arrive at each of the circuits at different times. Yet the major function of the clock signal is to ensure that signals in all of the circuits are registered at the same time. This problem has been recognized, and attempts have been made to solve it. One approach, for example, is shown in FIG. 1. A clock generator circuit 10 includes a driver circuit 16 that receives a pair of complimentary clock signals CLK and CLK*. The driver circuit 16 converts the complimentary clock signals CLK and CLK* into a single-ended clock signal that is applied to a phase-lock loop 20. The phase-lock loop 20 generates a processed clock signal CLK-P that is applied to several driver circuits 24. The first driver circuit 24a outputs a complimentary pair of clock signals CLK-OUT and CLK-OUT* that are used as complimentary feedback signals. These complimentary feedback signals are applied to a driver circuit 26 that generates a single-ended feedback signal, which is applied to a feedback input of the phase-lock loop 20.
The remaining driver circuits 24b-k output complimentary clock signals CLK-OUT and CLK-OUT* to respective clocked circuits 28b-k through respective pairs of conductors 30b-k. In the event the clock generator circuit 10 is used, for example, in a memory device, the circuits 28b-k may be memory arrays, although the circuits 28b-k may instead be any type of circuit found in memory devices. Also, of course, the clock generator circuit 10 may be used in devices other than memory devices.
The clock generator circuit 10, the clocked circuits 28 and the conductors 30 are preferably fabricated on a common substrate 34. In the case of an integrated circuit, the substrate 34 will normally be a semiconductor substrate, such as a silicon die. However, the components shown in FIG. 10 may instead be discrete circuits, in which case the substrate 34 may instead be a printed circuit board, for example.
As mentioned earlier, one of the problems that can develop if the processed clock signals are applied to a large number of circuits is the pairs of clock signals CLK-OUT and CLK-OUT* may arrive at respective circuits 28b-k at different times. To solve this problem, the conductors 30b-k coupling the clock signals CLK-OUT to the circuits 28b-k, respectively, are routed as shown in FIG. 2.
As shown in FIG. 2, all of the conductors 30b-k coupling the drivers 24b-k (FIG. 1) to the circuits 28b-k all have the same length. Using this approach, the conductor 30b coupling the clock signals CLK-OUT and CLK-OUT* to the circuit 28b farthest from the clock generator circuit 10 is relatively direct, while the conductors 30k coupling the clock signals CLK-OUT and CLK-OUT* to the circuit 28k closest to the clock generator circuit 10 are very serpentine. Although this approach is effective to equalize the times the clock signals CLK-OUT and CLK-OUT* are applied to the respective circuits 28, the amount of area consumed by the serpentine conductors 30 can be very problematic in some applications. For example, if the clock generator circuit 10, conductors 30 and clocked circuits 28 are fabricated on a semiconductor die, the serpentine conductors 30 can substantially increase the required size of the semiconductor die and hence the cost of an integrated circuit using the clock generator circuit 10.
The second problem that can develop if the processed clock signal is applied to a large number of clocked circuits 28 is the creation of phase jitter, which is the very problem the use of the phase-lock loop 20 was intended to avoid. With reference to FIG. 1, on each transition of the processed clock signal CLK-P, all of the driver circuits 24a-k switch at the same time, thereby drawing current at the same time. The result is a transient increase in current on each transition of the processed clock signal CLK-P, which generally produces a transient decrease in voltage of the power supplied to the phase-lock loop 20. For most phase-lock loop designs, the voltage transient causes a transient increase or decrease in the phase of the processed clock signal CLK-P produced by the locked-loop 20. As mentioned above, this transient increase or decrease in the phase of the processed clock signal CLK-P constitutes phase jitter. As mentioned previously, this phase jitter defeats the major reason for using the phase-lock loop 20, i.e., to reduce phase jitter.
There is therefore a need for a clock generator circuit that can provide a clock signal having reduced phase jitter to several circuits without consuming significant substrate area by routing the clock signals to the circuits through serpentine conductor paths.
A clock generator circuit and method is used to apply respective clock signals to a plurality of clocked circuits. A processed clock signal is generated by applying an input clock signal to a locked-loop, such as a phase-lock loop. The processed clock signal is delayed a plurality of respective delay times by a suitable delay circuit, such as a plurality of serially coupled delay elements, to generate a plurality of delayed clock signals. Each of the delayed clock signal is coupled through a respective signal path to a respective clocked circuit. The length of the signal paths through which each of the delayed clock signals is coupled is inversely proportional to the delay of the delayed clock signal that is coupled through the signal path. As a result, the delayed clock signals are applied to respective clocked circuits at substantially the same time. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Producing paper or paperboard on the industrial scale involves a complicated process whereby an aqueous papermaking slurry that comprises lignocellulosic-derived fibers (including virgin and/or recycled pulp fibers) is mixed with various process additives such as acids, bases, alums, sodium aluminate, sizing agents, dry strength additives, wet strength additives, filler/pigment materials (e.g., kaolin clay, titanium dioxide, calcium carbonate, etc.), retention aids, fiber defloculants, defoamers, drainage aids, optical brighteners, dyes, opacifiers, deposit control agents, antimicrobial agents, other specialty chemicals, etc.). The thus-treated pulp slurry is introduced to a process where the slurry is dewatered to form an initial wet paper web, which is generally pressed to further remove water and consolidate the wet paper web. This pressed wet paper web is dried and further processed to produce a sheet of paper or paperboard.
The optical properties of many paper and paperboard products, such as opacity and brightness, are one of the key criteria for judging its qualities to the papermaker, converting operations and ultimately to the end user such as the printers. These optical properties have to be balanced with other desired attributes in the sheet, primarily the sheet's basis weight, bulking value and its strength properties when subjected to various stresses (e.g., tensile, burst and tear strength). The balance of these optical and physical sheet properties is often governed by the paper or paperboard grade and the end use of the product.
Another important factor in the production of paper is the overall cost to produce a particular grade of paper or paperboard. One method for lowering the cost of making paper, particularly for grades having critical opacity and brightness requirements is to substitute part of the fiber furnish with inorganic filler/pigment materials. One exemplary category of paper products wherein opacity and brightness properties are critical to their functionality are communication papers (e.g., fine papers, newsprint, magazine, lightweight coated, etc.). These inorganic filler or pigment materials may include kaolin clay, calcined clay, ground calcium carbonate (GCC), precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC), talc, alumina trihydrate, amorphous silica & metal silicates and titanium dioxide, just to name a few. The addition of these filler/pigment additives can:
1) improve the formation and overall sheet structure by assisting in filling the void areas;
2) increase the opacity of the resulting sheet by increasing light scattering;
3) improve the physical characteristics of the sheet that assist with printing process—preventing the show through of print on one surface from the opposite side (as a consequence of the increased opacity they provide);
4) improve the brightness and whiteness properties of the sheet;
5) lower the overall cost of the sheet with a cheaper material than lignocellulosic fibers. However, in doing so they frequently increase the basis weight of the paper product; and
6) significantly bulk the sheet in the case of using highly structured mineral fillers such as calcined clays, structured silicas and the like.
The type of mineral filler or pigment that is used is often determined by the grade of paper that is being made, i.e., the degree of opacity and brightness, the cost of use, the resultant basis weight and strength properties required in the final paper product. High refractive index pigments, like titanium dioxide, are often used in printing and writing grades where high brightness and high opacity are needed. However, titanium dioxide is a very expensive inorganic pigment material and is often unsuitable for lower cost paper grades. Kaolin clay, calcined clay, PCC and GCC are lower cost alternatives to titanium dioxide, but all provide lower opacification power and brightness due to their lower refractive index. For the production of acid newsprint grades, calcined kaolin clay is often used due to its low cost to provide paper opacity and its improved compatibility versus PCC or GCC with acid wet-end papermaking systems. Typical addition levels that may be used of inorganic fillers or pigments, depending on the required opacification and paper grade being made can range from about 2 to 20% by weight.
For some paper grades, such as lightweight-coated (LWC) or directory grades, it is desired to have a sheet that has high opacification with a low basis weight (or grammage). Inorganic filler/pigments can be used in these applications; however, the drawback of inorganic filler/pigments is they provide opacification while disproportionately increasing the basis weight of the sheet because of their higher density values relative to cellulose fiber. Hence, it may not be possible to obtain the needed sheet opacity at the desired basis weight when using only inorganic mineral filler/pigments as the opacification additive.
Another drawback with inorganic filler/pigments is the amount that can be used. The addition of inorganic filler/pigments to the sheet, particularly at higher loadings, can cause a significant reduction of the sheet's strength properties. This is partially related to the interferences that the inorganic filler/pigments create with the fiber-to-fiber bonding, which is important in the development of paper strength. Yet, another drawback of inorganic filler/pigments is the abrasiveness nature of the filler/pigments. Inorganic filler/pigments have different degrees of abrasiveness (related to their crystal structure and hardness) and this abrasiveness can cause excess wear on the papermaking equipment, e.g., moving papermachine wires, pumping equipment, cutters, trimmer knives in the converting area, and the like.
The use of inorganic filler/pigments in papermaking usually requires these materials be made into an aqueous slurry dispersion, in which the filler/pigment slurry is applied and mixed with the aqueous fiber containing papermaking slurry prior to the papermachine. This also generally requires the inorganic filler/pigments to be made down into a workable slurry that can be stored, easily pumped and metered into the wet-end of the papermachine. Because the suspended, solid particles in these slurries have a tendency to settle, the filler/pigment slurries generally require constant agitation in their make-down tanks.
Another problem often associated with using inorganic filler/pigments in papermaking systems is their propensity to foul the papermachine wire and press felts. Fouling decreases the effectiveness of the papermachine to dewater the pulp slurry, thus requiring down time to clean and/or replace these papermachine equipment, and a resultant increase in the cost of producing the paper product.
As a result of the various problems identified above with using the inorganic filler/pigment based opacification aids, the papermaking industry is in need of new methods to improve and/or increase the opacity of various paper and paperboard grades whole optical properties are critical to their end-use functionality. Depending on the grade of paper to be made, the need for alternative opacification methods outside the use of mineral filler/pigments is being driven by the need to: 1) provide cost effective opacification to paper products without the aforementioned slurry handling, papermachine fouling and particle retention issues of inorganic fillers or pigments; 2) to provide equivalent opacity to current mineral or pigment filled sheets at a lower basis weight; 3) to improve the strength properties of high ash content grades of paper by replacing a portion of the mineral filler/pigment with an equivalent opacifying portion of quaternized alkanolamine fatty acid ester compound; and 4) to enable the production of higher opacity super calendered (SC) fine papers wherein a significant fraction of the opacifying benefits imparted by the opacification additive are maintained after calendering.
Part of the new opacification technology need is being driven, in the case of newsprint, by new multicolor printing technologies that require the newsprint to have better opacity and ink holdout. To date, the traditional approach to increasing newsprint opacity has been with the use of inorganic fillers (e.g., calcined kaolin clay, precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC), etc.). Another approach has been the use of organic dyes, with or without these other traditional aids. The brightness, whiteness, coloring and opacity of paper can be impacted through the addition organic dyes. Certain organic dyes, such as black and blue dyes, can be used to increase sheet opacity; however, the amount of dye that is used must be balanced against decreasing the brightness of the sheet or tinting of the sheet to an off-white color, which may be undesirable. These dyes, depending on their type, are very sensitive to the wet-end chemistry of the papermachine, and can be sensitive to variations in the papermachine fiber furnish. The effectiveness of these dyes can also be negatively influenced if microbiological agents are used in the papermaking slurry, particularly oxidizers like chlorine, chlorine dioxide, peracetic acid, etc. Other disadvantages of dyes, compared to most inorganic filler/pigments, is their relative high cost and their impact on wastewater effluent streams from papermills, which may require some additional treatment to properly dispose of them.
Various other efforts besides the addition of dyes or inorganic mineral filler/pigments to the wet-end, have been made in the prior art to better control the optical properties of paper during papermaking. One approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,292,363, 5,296,024, 5,393,334, and 5,417,753 to Hutcheson, wherein organic based opacification aids as fatty amides of alkanoldiamines are used in papermaking. These opacification aids are produced via the reaction of various fatty acids and various alkanoldiamines. More particularly, the products result from the reaction of stearic acid with aminoethylethanolamine (AEEA) to form mono- and distearamides of AEEA. These products are generally water insoluble and solid waxy materials with high melting points (>75° C.) in their 100% active form. For the fattyamides of alkanoldiamines to be used as a paper opacification aid, these products are made into aqueous emulsions to improve their dispersion characteristics in papermaking slurries. These emulsions contain several additional substances and usually require high shear mixing. These additional substances can include surfactant(s) and viscosity controlling agent(s). To obtain stable emulsions for these agents, it is typical to employ low concentrations (generally 9-13%) of the fattyamides of alkanoldiamines. While primarily an opacification aid, Hutcheson also teaches that the aids can improve paper brightness and paper size.
Improvements to the organic opacification aids taught by Hutcheson are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,472,486, 5,478,387, 5,488,139, 5,494,555, and 5,498,315 to Drager and North. Therein, the opacification formulation of Hutchenson is improved by the addition of certain additives to the fattyamides of alkanoldiamines to increase both paper opacity and paper strength (e.g., “glyoxyl compounds/block resins). Drager and North also expand the types of fatty acids that can be used for making the fattyamides of alkanoldiamines, e.g., dimerized and trimerized tall oil fatty acids.
The prior art has also proposed quaternized versions of fattyamides of alkanoldiamines, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,638 to Dragner and North. In this patent, a quaternized version of a fattyamide of alkanoldiamine such as alkyl bis (alkyl amido alkyl)-2-hydroxy alkyl ammonium alkali salt can be added to papermaking slurries to improve paper opacification. These organic compounds are usually soft paste materials at room temperature as compared to the waxy fattyamides of alkanoldiamines of the prior art discussed above.
Dragner and North also teach in U.S. Pat. No. 6,419,791 mixtures of natural fatty oils with various amine-esters as opacification aids in papermaking. The resulting compounds are not easily dispersed in water and must be formulated into emulsions with the concerns and characteristics discussed above regarding the Hutchenson patents. These species generally are less effective than the fattyamides of alkanoldiamines taught by Hutchenson.
While a number of organic based opacification aids for opacity relevant paper grades have been proposed by the prior art, a need still exists for improved aids, particularly in light of the problems noted above regarding the use of inorganic filler/pigments, dyes, a variety of quaternized fattyamides and the like. Commercial feedback on some of the quaternized fattyamides currently being used in paper mills as opacification aids has indicated that their low solids content emulsion forms, the high application doses needed for yielding good opacity, the resultant loses in sheet strength properties and accompanying papermachine deposit issues are significant end-user issues that need improvement.
The present invention responds to this need via the discovery that quaternized alkanolamine fatty acid esters can be employed in papermaking operations to provide improved optical performance as compared to the prior art organic opacification aids currently being used, e.g., fatty amides of alkanoldiamines, quaternized versions of these fatty amides, and mixtures of fatty oils and various amine-esters. Use of the quaternized alkanolamine fatty acid esters, hereinafter more simply referred to as diester quats, also provides control over other aspects of the papermaking operation, e.g., decreasing inorganic filler/pigment amounts for the purposes of improving strength properties and/or decreasing paper grammage without a loss in opacity.
Quaternized alkanolamine fatty acid ester compounds are known and their use in papermaking methods has been proposed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,217,576, 5,223,096, 5,240,562, 5,264,082, 5,415,737, and 5,427,696. Each of these patents centers around modifying paper properties in tissue and towel paper grades. This prior art teaches the use of various quaternary ammonium chemical softening compounds, which includes quaternized alkanolamine fatty acid esters. While this art teaches the use of these compounds as softening aids which impart a soft feel and more adsorbent paper in the stated paper areas, there is absolutely no recognition of the use of the quaternized alkanolamine fatty acid esters as a wet-end papermaking additive for improving opacity. In fact, opacity is not even an issue with these grades, since tissue and towel paper grades are not commonly used or designed for use in end-use applications where show-through, printing and writing performance are, for example, important. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Technical Field
Exemplary aspects of the present invention relate to a fixing device and an image forming apparatus, such as a copier, a printer, a facsimile machine, or a multi-function peripheral including the fixing device, the multi-function peripheral having at least two of the copying, printing, and facsimile functions.
Related Art
Image forming apparatuses such as copiers, printers, facsimile machines, or multi-function peripherals having at least two of copying, printing, and facsimile functions include a fixing device that fixes a developer image on a recording medium. The fixing device includes a fixing rotator and a pressing rotator to form a fixing nip through which the recording medium is passed, so that the developer image on the recording medium is fixed with heat and pressure in the fixing nip. Such a fixing device includes a guide for correctly guiding the recording medium to the fixing nip.
For example, as illustrated in FIG. 9, a fixing device includes an inlet guide 102, a heating roller 100, and a pressing roller 101. The heating roller 100 and the pressing roller 101 form a fixing nip N9. The inlet guide 102 is disposed on an upstream side of the fixing nip N9 in a sheet conveyance direction. A sheet P is guided and conveyed to the fixing nip N9 by the inlet guide 102 while contacting a leading end contact portion 102a of the inlet guide 102. Thus, the sheet P is conveyed in an S-curved state, and the leading end contact portion 102a cancels out a conveyance speed difference between a front surface and a back surface of the sheet P. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Currently, there are various websites that can calculate a person's carbon footprint, and a person that is interested in, for example, the amount of carbon dioxide generated in his daily life, may use such websites to identify his carbon footprint. Additionally, such websites typically display the carbon footprints of an average U.S. or world household along with the calculated carbon footprint of the person. However, these displayed statistics may not be particularly relevant to the person using such a website because such statistics are based on other people that may have very different lifestyles. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flowmeter, and particularly to a flow-rate measurement apparatus that is favorably used as a part of the intake system of an automotive engine and used to measure the amount of intake air.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of flow-rate measurement apparatuses to measure the air-mass flow have been known. A type thereof measures the air-mass flow on the basis of the amount of heat radiated from a heat-generating resistor that is controlled so as to generate heat. Another type thereof measures the air-mass flow on the basis of the temperature change of a thermosensitive resistor placed near a heat-generating resistor that is controlled so as to generate heat.
An air filter is provided in the intake duct of a vehicle to remove dust contained in the air that flows into the intake duct. Thereby, the air cleaned by the air filter is introduced into a sub-passage of the flow-rate measurement apparatus.
However, part of the dust—specifically, that of smaller particles—may pass through the air filter. In addition, if the air filter is improperly fitted in its replacement, such an improperly-fitted air filter allows part of the dust to enter the intake duct.
As the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal increases, the dust having entered the intake duct is accelerated together with the fluid up to several tens of meters per second. The dust thus accelerated may even reach the sub-passage of the flow-rate measurement apparatus.
A mass flow measuring element placed in the sub-passage has a very thin portion. The thin portion may be broken if hit by the dust.
In addition, the dust that has entered the intake duct may adhere to the mass flow measuring element of the flow-rate measurement apparatus. If it occurs, the heat-radiation characteristics of the mass flow measuring element may change, and the change in the heat-radiation characteristics may in turn change the output characteristics.
The following technique has been known which provides a structure of protecting the mass flow measuring element from the dust that has entered the intake duct, and of preventing the time degradation of the mass flow measuring element due to the contamination by the dust. Specifically, at a point located immediately after the inlet, the sub-passage that is formed in a spiral shape is branched into two sub-passages—one located in the inner side (inner-circumferential side) and the other located in the outer side (outer-circumferential side). The inner-side sub-passage is provided with a mass flow measuring element whereas the air flowing through the outer-side sub-passage is let out into the intake duct and thus the dust is discharged (see JP translation of PCT International Application No. 2002-506528). | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for manufacturing digitized video systems and integrated circuits and devices therefor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The present invention is useful in the field of graphics and video display systems such as displays for computer system, terminals and televisions. Recently there has occurred a large demand for larger and/or higher resolution viewing surfaces than can be provided by conventional video display devices such as cathode ray tubes (CRTs) or liquid crystal displays (LCDs). This has been driven by consumer demands for larger televisions (TVs) and by the need for large audience viewing of either shows or computer generated screens in conferences.
LCDs, which are used for small computer systems and terminals, especially for laptop and portable computers, use individual liquid crystal cells for each pixel on the LCD. LCDs are temperature sensitive, difficult to produce in large sizes, slow in changing state, and require external light sources for viewing.
To overcome the size limitation of LCDs, there have been attempts to construct projection systems using an LCD as a spatial light modulator (SLM). Unfortunately, several problems still remain. The LCD is inherently slow and thus a rapidly changing image will "smear." The resolution of the LCD is restricted by the drive complexity. Further, the drive complexity also requires that the size of the LCD will generally be proportionally related to the resolution. This means that the projection optics will have to be large and correspondingly expensive for a high-resolution system. Another problem is that the light transmitted through (or reflected from) the LCD will be polarized. This may result in non-linear perception of brightness from the center of vision to the periphery.
The most popular display system is the CRT. In a cathode ray tube, a scanning electroon beam having a varying current density, is scanned across a light emitting phosphor screen. This light emitting phosphor screen is bombarded by the electron beam and produces light in relation to the magnitude of the current density of the electron beam. These may also be used in a direct view or projection mode. However, these suffer from various disadvantages. The first of these is cost.
The higher cost is dictated by the difficulties in constructing large display tubes (at present there are 45 inch tubes being manufactured). Another reason for the cost is the huge amount of raw materials (in particular the glass) required. This translates to a very heavy display that is not easily transportable.
Resolution is also a problem for CRTs. There are two major reasons for this. The first relates to the shadow mask used in color CRTs. A shadow mask is used to separate the color phosphors used to generate the three primary colors (red, blue, and green), and to help guide the electron beam used to excite the phosphor spot. The brightness of a pixel is related to the size of the phosphor spot. However, as the phosphor spot size is increased, the shadow mask must be made larger and becomes more visible. Brightness is also related to the drive from the electron beam. As the drive increases, so does the brightness. Unfortunately, the shadow mask is also sensitive to the electron beam and will thermally distort under high drive. The image is then blurred both by the shadow mask becoming more visible and by the electron beam being deflected toward and unwanted phosphor.
The second resolution limiter is rastering. All pixels to be illuminated are sequentially scanned by an electrom beam. This beam is swept in a raster back and forth acros the phophors. In general, the beam is turned off when tracing back across the phosphors (known as the retrace time) and is also turned off when returning to the starting point (vertical blanking interval). While this is not a theoretical limitation (all phosphor points can be accessed), it is a practical limitation. This is because the fluorescence of the phosphors begin decaying as soon as the electron beam moves to the next location. The electron beam must return before the human eye can perceive the decay or else the display will flicker. Longer persistence phosphors can be used to compensate, but they suffer from a smear effect when the display data changes.
Rastering has another insidious side-effect. It places an upper limit on the perceived brightness of a display. As discussed above, a phosphor can only be driven for a very short period of time, and will then start to decay. If the phosphor is driven hard, then it will start to bloom (i.e. it will start to excite neighboring pixel locations) and blur the display. If the phosphor was continously excited for an extended time, it would appear to be brighter than it if was excited only for the raster period. This is because the human eye has an integration time of approximately 0.1 seconds for bright sources of light and approximately 0.2 seconds for dimmer sources.
Projection CRT based systems do not suffer from the shadow mask problems. However they are expensive as they usually required three CRTs (one each of red, blue, and green). Also, they suffer badly from low brightness (due to having expand the image generated). This is particularly true when a single CRT is used in a projection mode. Either type has all of the other raster releated problems. In addition, when used in back-projection configurations, they are very large due to the complex optical paths required.
Another drawback to conventional display systems is that they are primarily analog. Even if the information to be displayed is stored in digital form as in a computer, it must be converted to an analog raster scan before it can be displayed on the cathode ray tube.
Other spatial light modulators have been used in projection displays. For example, the use of a spatial light modulator drive for in a display system is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,638,309 and 4,680,579 issued to Ott and incorporated by reference hereinto. In Ott, a semiconductor deformable mirror device, in conjunction with a Schlieren optical device, is used to form the spatial light modulator. Deformable mirror devices are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,441,791, 4,710,732, 4,596,992, 4,615,595, and 4,662,746, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 168,724, filed Mar. 16, 1988 by Hornbeck, all of which are incorporated by reference hereinto.
Another display utilizing a light valve is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,576,394 by Lee, which is incorporated by reference hereinto. Various types of human factors information on critical flicker frequency is shown in "Applied Optics and Optical Engineering" (1965), Volume II (The Detection of Lightr and Infrared Radiation), by Rudolf Kingslake, which is incorporated by reference hereinto. Acousto-optic spectral filters are shown in I.E.E.E. Transactions on Sonics and Utrasonics, vol. su-23, No. 1, January 1976, pages 2-22, which is incorporated by reference hereinto.
A HDTV (High Density TeleVision) system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,509 by Hartman, which is incorporated by reference hereinto. Various types of electronic TV tuners are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,918,002, 3,968,440, 4,031,474, 4,093,921, and 4,093,922, which are incorporated by reference hereinto. Various mutli-frequency sensitive materials for displays are shown in SPIE vol. 120 (Three-Dimensional Imaging, 1977), pages 62-67, "PRESENT AND POTENTIAL CAPABILITIES OF THREE DIMENSIONAL DISPLAYS USING SEQUENTIAL EXCITATION OF FLUORESCENCE" by Carl M. Verber; and IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, Vol. ED.-18, No. 9 (September 1971), pages 724-732, "A True Three-Dimensional Display" by Jordan D. Lewis et al, which are incorporated by reference hereinto. A type of Display is shown in Information Display, November/December, 1965, pages 10-20, "Three Dimensional Display Its Cues and Techniques" by Petro Vlahos, which is incorporated by reference hereinto.
Laser (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emissino of Radiation) based projection systems are well known in the art. These systems may also use fluorescing pigments with non-visible laser light. This is shown in SID INT. SYMP. DIGEST, Paper 10.1, May 1983, "Projection Display of Radar Image using Gas Laser and Organic Fluorescent Pigment Screen" by H. Yamada, M. Ishida, M. Ito, Y. Hagino and K. Mayaji, which is herein incorporated by reference. More details on various pigments may be found in CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL INDUSTRY, Vol. 23, No. 3, 1970, "Increasing Application Field for Fluorescent Pigment" by R. Takano, which is herein incorporated by reference.
Laser based displays operate by deflecting a beam of coherent light generated by a laser so as to form an image. The deflectors include devices such as spinning mirrors and acousto-modulated deflectors. There are a number of problems with these projectors that have prevented them from becoming commercially feasible.
The first of these problems is flicker, which also places an upper limit of the resolution (i.e. nubmer of pixels displayable) obtainable. Only one point of light (pixel) can be displayed at any given moment due to the nature of the deflectors. Also, there is no persistence to the display as these projectors generally direct the light onto a diffusion surface which have no means of continuing to emit light after the light is deflected away. This means that all points to be displayed must be illuminated within a time period less than the critical flicker frequency (CFF) of the human eye.
A second problem is laser speckle. This is considered to be a random interference pattern of intensity which results from the reflection or transmission of highly coherent light from (or through) an optically rough surface (one whose local irregularities in depth are greater than one quarter of a wavelength). This phenomenon is dealt with in JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA, Vol. 66(11), 1976), page 1316, "Topical issue on laser speckle" by N. George and D. C. Sinclair; APPLICATIONS OF OPTICAL COHERENCE (W. H. Carter, Ed.), 1979, pages 86-94, "Role of coherence concepts in the study of speckle" by J. W. Goodman; and COHERENT OPTICAL ENGINEERING (F. T. Arecchi and V. Degiorgio, Eds.), 1977, pages 129-149, "Speckle interferometry" by A. E. Ennos, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. Techniques for reduction of speckle are also shown in JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA: PART A Vol. 5(10), 1988, pages 1767-1771, "Effect of luminance on photoptic visual acuity in the presence of laser speckle" by J. M. Artigas and A. Felipe and OPTICS COMMUNICATIONS, Vol. 3(1), 1971, "Elimination of granulation in laser beam projections by means of moving diffusers" by E. Schroder, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Another problem has been the generation of color images. This requires the use of multi-colored lasers. There are great technical difficulties in both aligning multiple deflectors and in keeping them synchronized so as to simultaneously image the different colors at a given pixel location.
As shown in the above articles and Patents there have been attempts to implement three dimensional displays. None of these constructions provides a practical true three dimensional display. Further, as shwon in the above articles there have been attempts to implement two dimensional displays using light valves, lasers, and deformable mirror devices. None of these constructions provides a two dimensional display which is adaptable to many different TV and computer display formats and provides a fully digitized video display system using deformable mirror devices. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates to hangers for suspending metal pipes and other conduits from wooden beams or other support members.
Conduits made from copper, iron, or other metals commonly are used to transport fluids from place to place. In use they are suspended from wooden beams or other supports by means of metal hangers that are driven into the beams.
Since the hangers customarily are of a metal dissimilar to that comprising the conduits, the probability exists of electrolytic corrosion occurring at the interface between hanger and conduit.
To prevent this, it is common practice to dip the hanger into a molten plastic having electrical insulating properties, thereby providing a plastic-coated, insulated hanger. This procedure is subject to the disadvantage that the plastic coating often is formed with voids which leave the metal exposed or covered with a very thin layer subject to wear upon working of the conduit in use. The coating also gives very little protection to the conduit against crushing. Furthermore, it is relatively expensive to apply and requires an appreciable amount of processing time.
It accordingly is the general object of the present invention to provide an electrically insulated, plastic clad hanger for metal conduits which overcomes the afore going problems; which is fast and inexpensive to manufacture; which is adaptable to continuous fabrication techniques; and which is characterized by the presence of a heavy duty, highly efficient plastic sheath.
Broadly stated, the pipe hanger achieving the foregoing and other purposes of the invention comprises a metal, stud-like shank segment and an integral metal, pipe receiving hook segment emerging with the shank segment through an inwardly facing throat. A sheath of flexible, electrically insulating plastic tubing overlies at least a portion of the hook segment. It is positioned for bearing contact with the pipe and for insulating the same from the hanger.
The plastic tubing sheath includes a substantially half-round segment overlying the throat segment of the hanger. It provides a flexible leader for threading the sheath over the hook in the manufacture of the hanger. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Pulp washing is a key operation in a pulping line. There are many different types of washing apparatuses available, some of which are based on press washing and comprise means for pressing the pulp to remove liquid. After pressing, the pulp can, if suitable, be diluted to a desired consistency.
A well-known washing apparatus is a twin-roll press of the general type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,518, for example. It has two counter-rotating rolls with perforated outer surfaces. A web of pulp is formed on the respective rolls and is transported in the direction of rotation in a vat partially surrounding the rolls, to the so-called press nip between the rolls. The liquid removed from the pulp, i.e. the filtrate, passes through the perforated roll surface in a radial inwards direction and is led to the ends of the press roll, where it is output. Washing liquid or other treatment liquid may be supplied to the pulp web through inlets in the vat. The twin-roll press uses the washing principles of displacement, where dirty liquid (liquor) in the pulp is replaced by cleaner wash liquid added to the vat, and pressing, where dirty liquid is pressed (squeezed) out from the pulp, in particular at the press nip.
The incoming pulp can be distributed lengthwise onto the respective press rolls by means of a distribution device, for example by using a rotating screw, such as the device shown in European Patent No. 1,229,164 B1, or the device shown in Swedish Patent No. 532,366 C2. There is a problem with the distribution of pulp along the total length of the press roll, with a danger that the end parts of the press rolls operate without pulp.
In Swedish Patent No. 516,335 a device is described for feeding cellulose pulp, in the form of a pulp web. In this device the outlet includes restrictions in the form of holes, which are arranged along the generator of the envelope surface of the inlet box. The holes are preferably arranged so that their diameter is smaller than the distance between them. In that way, the pressure is maintained in the inlet box such that the pulp is forced out of the outlet and is uniformly distributed along the width of the pulp web. The holes have, however, a tendency to plug. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The incidence of melanoma has been increasing steadily in both men and women for more than a decade. It is currently the fifth leading cause of cancer in men and the seventh in women. Immunotherapy using high-dose intravenous interleukin-2 (HD IL-2) has demonstrated modest response rates (˜16%) in patients with metastatic disease, but many who undergo complete response will have durable responses beyond 10 years. HD IL-2 in combination with infusion of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) has increased the objective response rate to as high as 72% and durable complete response in up to 16% of patients with metastatic melanoma. These studies demonstrate proof-of-concept that immunotherapy can be efficacious in selected patients. However, there are significant limitations related to IL-2 toxicity and challenges surrounding the isolation and expansion of TILs in vitro that have limited the translation of this approach outside of a relatively few investigational sites. In addition, because many patients with stage III melanoma do not have significant volumes of tumor, TIL therapy is not feasible in this patient population. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stator of a rotating electric machine that can be preferably used for a polyphase generator and the like, and more specifically relates to improving a connection device of a stator coil end.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a stator of a conventional rotating electric machine, a stator is given, in which a stator coil to be inserted into a slot of a stator iron core is configured by four wire groups, and when the four wire groups are collectively connected at a coil end, which is projected from a slot end in an axial direction of a rotor, a large circulating current flows between the wire groups, therefore the wire groups are divided into two wire groups each, and a conductive block is used to connect between the two wire groups at a stator coil end respectively, and the respective, two wire groups are separately connected to another stator coil in the slot in a radial direction by a connection conductor. The connection conductor is provided on outer side faces of the wire groups (for example, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 7,088,020 (p1, FIGS. 1 and 6) and JP-A-6-14483 (p1, FIG. 3)).
In the previous stator of a rotating electric machine configured as above, the conductive block was necessary to be provided for electrically connecting between the divided, two wire groups adjacent to each other at the stator coil end. In addition, since the connection conductor was provided on outer side faces of wire groups, the connection conductor connecting the stator coil end, which was collectively connected by the conductive block, to another stator coil in a slot for the respective, two wire groups, the connection conductor and the conductive block were doubly present in a circumferential direction in the relevant connection portion, leading to a problem that material usage was increased. Moreover, the conductive block and the connection conductor were present in the stator coil end in this way, leading to a problem that weight was increased, which was disadvantageous in vibration suppression. Moreover, since a current largely flows through a region approximately 10 mm (penetration depth) inside the connection conductor due to reduced electric resistance and the skin effect, significant loss occurs at a stator iron core side of the connection conductor. In the previous structure as above, since a heat path for cooling the connection portion is long, including a path from the connection conductor to the conductive block via a bonding surface between the connection conductor and wire groups, the wire groups, and a bonding surface between the conductive block and the wire groups, thermal resistance is increased, which causes high temperature, leading to a possibility that an insulative material applied to a tip of the stator coil end was degraded. This led to a problem that a current was restricted in current carrying. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,564 (hereinafter referred to as a first prior art document), Japanese Patent Laid Open Gazette No. 11183/1990 (hereinafter referred to as a second prior art document), and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 23592/1990 (hereinafter referred to as a third prior art document) disclose a game set playing various games on the basis of bar code data read from a bar code card. However, the first to third prior art documents utilize the bar code data read from the bar code card by a bar code reader without any modification and fail to disclose a technique for removing various types of noise included in the bar code data. Therefore, erroneous data is liable to be inputted to the game set by the bar code data including the noise. Particularly in the field of the game set, lower cost is required. Accordingly, it is impossible to use, as the bar code reader, a high-cost and high-precision one. Consequently, it is highly possible that noise is included in the bar code data read by such a bar code reader.
On the other hand, such a game set that a battle game can be played using a bar code card has been commercially available and an application for the game set has been filed in recent years (for example, a trade name "Bar Code Battler" made by Epoque Co., Ltd.; Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 193, 074/1981). This conventional bar code game set (hereinafter referred to as a fourth prior art document) is so constructed that a battle game can be played using a bar code card produced by a player himself or herself of the game. Specifically, the player uses a bar code card attached or uses an original bar code card to which a bar code attached to a commercially available commodity is affixed and causes the game set to read the bar code card to play the battle game. In the bar code card produced by the player himself or herself, however, the bar code is generally inferior in state in many cases. Accordingly, it is very highly possible that noise is included in the bar code data read by the bar code reader. For example, when a bar code cut from a package of a commodity is bonded to a card and used, dust is liable to adhere to the bar code by adhesives squeezed from the adhesive surface. In this case, the dust adhering to the bar code is liable to be erroneously recognized as a part of a black or white bar included in the bar code. In addition, when the bar code attached to the commodity is damaged from the beginning, a read error occurs in a damaged portion. Furthermore, when the bar code attached to the commodity is copied by a copying machine and used, the shape of each of the bars in the bar code is deformed by distortion of an optical system in the copying machine. Particularly when copying of the bar code is repeated many times, the degree of deformation of each of the bars is increased. In this case, the width of each of the bars is not normally read, thereby causing a read error. However, the above described game set in the forth prior art document utilizes the bar code data read from the bar code card without any modification and fails to disclose a technique related to signal processing for removing noise included in the bar code data, similarly to the above described first to third prior art documents. Therefore, the above described game set in the fourth prior art document has the disadvantage in that a read error frequently occurs, whereby the interest in the game is lost.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved bar code reader capable of reliably detecting various types of noise included in bar code data and improving the reading precision of a bar code even if a relatively simple and low-cost optical reader is used.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved bar code reader capable of reliably detecting noise in bar code data and nullifying the same.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved bar code reader capable of correcting distortion of the width of each of bars included in a bar code.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved bar code reader capable of correcting a read error in a bar code due to the change in the speed of movement of a bar code record medium.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an improved game set capable of reliably detecting and nullifying various types of noise included in bar code data inputted and using the inputted bar code data for processing for a game. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention is directed to ink compositions. More specifically, the present invention is directed to ink compositions particularly suitable for use in thermal ink jet printing processes. One embodiment of the present invention is directed to an ink composition consisting essentially of water, a colorant, an organic component miscible with water, and micelles which comprise an ethoxylated alcohol. Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to a process which comprises incorporating into an ink jet printing apparatus an ink composition which comprises water, a colorant, an organic component miscible with water, and micelles which comprise an ethoxylated alcohol, and causing droplets of the ink composition to be ejected in an imagewise pattern onto a substrate.
Ink jet printing systems generally are of two types: continuous stream and drop-on-demand. In continuous stream ink jet systems, ink is emitted in a continuous stream under pressure through at least one orifice or nozzle. The stream is perturbed, causing it to break up into droplets at a fixed distance from the orifice. At the break-up point, the droplets are charged in accordance with digital data signals and passed through an electrostatic field which adjusts the trajectory of each droplet in order to direct it to a gutter for recirculation or a specific location on a recording medium. In drop-on-demand systems, a droplet is expelled from an orifice directly to a position on a recording medium in accordance with digital data signals. A droplet is not formed or expelled unless it is to be placed on the recording medium.
Since drop-on-demand systems require no ink recovery, charging, or deflection, the system is much simpler than the continuous stream type. There are two types of drop-on-demand ink jet systems. One type of drop-on-demand system has as its major components an ink filled channel or passageway having a nozzle on one end and a piezoelectric transducer near the other end to produce pressure pulses. The relatively large size of the transducer prevents close spacing of the nozzles, and physical limitations of the transducer result in low ink drop velocity. Low drop velocity seriously diminishes tolerances for drop velocity variation and directionality, thus impacting the system's ability to produce high quality copies. Drop-on-demand systems which use piezoelectric devices to expel the droplets also suffer the disadvantage of a slow printing speed.
The other type of drop-on-demand system is known as thermal ink jet, or bubble jet, and produces high velocity droplets and allows very close spacing of nozzles. The major components of this type of drop-on-demand system are an ink filled channel having a nozzle on one end and a heat generating resistor near the nozzle. Printing signals representing digital information originate an electric current pulse in a resistive layer within each ink passageway near the orifice or nozzle, causing the ink in the immediate vicinity to evaporate almost instantaneously and create a bubble. The ink at the orifice is forced out as a propelled droplet as the bubble expands. When the hydrodynamic motion of the ink stops, the process is ready to start all over again. With the introduction of a droplet ejection system based upon thermally generated bubbles, commonly referred to as the "bubble jet" system, the drop-on-demand ink jet printers provide simpler, lower cost devices than their continuous stream counterparts, and yet have substantially the same high speed printing capability.
The operating sequence of the bubble jet system begins with a current pulse through the resistive layer in the ink filled channel, the resistive layer being in close proximity to the orifice or nozzle for that channel. Heat is transferred from the resistor to the ink. The ink becomes superheated far above its normal boiling point, and for water based ink, finally reaches the critical temperature for bubble formation or nucleation of around 280.degree. C. Once nucleated, the bubble or water vapor thermally isolates the ink from the heater and no further heat can be applied to the ink. This bubble expands until all the heat stored in the ink in excess of the normal boiling point diffuses away or is used to convert liquid to vapor, which removes heat due to heat of vaporization. The expansion of the bubble forces a droplet of ink out of the nozzle, and once the excess heat is removed, the bubble collapses on the resistor. At this point, the resistor is no longer being heated because the current pulse has passed and, concurrently with the bubble collapse, the droplet is propelled at a high rate of speed in a direction towards a recording medium. The resistive layer encounters a severe cavitational force by the collapse of the bubble, which tends to erode it. Subsequently, the ink channel refills by capillary action. This entire bubble formation and collapse sequence occurs in about 10 microseconds. The channel can be refired after 100 to 500 microseconds minimum dwell time to enable the channel to be refilled and to enable the dynamic refilling factors to become somewhat dampened. Thermal ink jet processes are well known and are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,601,777, 4,251,824, 4,410,899, 4,412,224, and 4,532,530, the disclosures of each of which are totally incorporated herein by reference.
Ink jet printing processes may also employ inks that are solid at room temperature and liquid at elevated temperatures. For example, U.S. Pat. No 4,490,731, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, discloses an apparatus for dispensing solid ink for printing on a substrate such as paper. The ink dye vehicle is chosen to have a melting point above room temperature , so that the ink which is melted in the apparatus will not be subject to evaporation or spillage during periods of nonprinting. The vehicle is also chosen to have a low critical temperature to permit the use of the solid ink in a thermal ink jet printer. In thermal ink jet printing processes employing hot melt inks, the solid ink is melted by the heater in the printing apparatus and utilized as a liquid in a manner similar to that of conventional thermal ink jet printing. Upon contact with the printing substrate, the molten ink solidifies rapidly, enabling the dye to remain on the surface instead of being carried into the paper by capillary action, thereby enabling higher print density than is generally obtained with liquid inks. Advantages of a hot melt ink in ink jet printing are elimination of potential spillage of the ink during handling, a wide range of print density and quality, minimal paper cockle or distortion, and enablement of indefinite periods of nonprinting without the danger of nozzle clogging, even without capping the nozzles.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,528, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, discloses a hot melt ink jet system which includes a temperature-controlled platen provided with a heater and a thermoelectric cooler electrically connected to a heat pump and a temperature control unit for controlling the operation of the heater and the heat pump to maintain the platen temperature at a desired level. The apparatus also includes a second thermoelectric cooler to solidify hot melt ink in a selected zone more rapidly to avoid offset by a pinch roll coming in contact with the surface of the substrate to which hot melt ink has been applied. An airtight enclosure surrounding the platen is connected to a vacuum pump and has slits adjacent to the platen to hold the substrate in thermal contact with the platen.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,791,439, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated by reference, discloses an apparatus for use with hot melt inks having an integrally connected ink jet head and reservoir system, the reservoir system including a highly efficient heat conducting plate inserted within an essentially non-heat conducting reservoir housing. The reservoir system has a sloping flow path between an inlet position and a sump from which ink is drawn to the head, and includes a plurality of vanes situated upon the plate for rapid heat transfer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,170 (Schwarz) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,187 (Marchessault et al.), the disclosures of each of which are totally incorporated herein by reference, disclose hot melt ink compositions suitable for ink jet printing which comprise a colorant, a binder, and a propellant selected from the group consisting of hydrazine; cyclic amines; ureas; carboxylic acids; sulfonic acids; aldehydes; ketones; hydrocarbons; esters; phenols; amides; imides; halocarbons; urethanes; ethers; sulfones; sulfamides; sulfonamides; phosphites; phosphonates; phosphates; alkyl sulfides; alkyl acetates; and sulfur dioxide. Also disclosed are hot melt ink compositions suitable for ink jet printing which comprise a colorant, a propellant, and a binder selected from the group consisting of rosin esters; polyamides; dimer acid amides; fatty acid amides; epoxy resins; fluid paraffin waxes; fluid microcrystalline waxes; Fischer-Tropsch waxes; polyvinyl alcohol resins; polyols; cellulose esters; cellulose ethers; polyvinyl pyridine resins; fatty acids; fatty acid esters; poly sulfonamides; benzoate esters; long chain alcohols; phthalate plasticizers; titrate plasticizers; maleate plasticizers; sulfones; polyvinyl pyrrolidinone copolymers; polyvinyl pyrrolidone/polyvinyl acetate copolymers; novalac resins; natural product waxes; mixtures of linear primary alcohols and linear long chain amides; and mixtures of linear primary alcohols and fatty acid amides. In one embodiment, the binder comprises a liquid crystalline material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,806 (Tang et al.), the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, discloses a liquid colored electrostatic toner comprising: (A) a colored predispersion comprising (1) a non-polymeric resin material having certain insolubility (and nonswellability), melting point, and acid number characteristics; (2) an alkoxylated alcohol having certain insolubility (and nonswellability) and melting point characteristics; and (3) colorant material having certain particle size characteristics; and (B) an aliphatic hydrocarbon liquid carrier having certain conductivity, dielectric constant, and flash point.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,021,802 (Allred), the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, discloses a bubble jet ink which comprises 90 to 99.9 percent by weight of aqueous sol-gel medium and 0.1 to 1 percent by weight colorant. The inks are thermally reversible sol-gels which are gels at ambient temperatures and sols at temperatures between about 40.degree. and 100.degree. C.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,161 (Cooke et al.), the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, discloses an ink jet ink which is semisolid at room temperature. The ink combines the advantageous properties of thermal phase change inks and liquid inks. The inks comprise vehicles, such as glyceryl esters, polyoxyethylene esters, waxes, fatty acids, and mixtures thereof, which are semisolid at temperatures between 20.degree. and 45.degree. C. The ink is impulse jetted at an elevated temperature in the range of above 45.degree. C. to about 110.degree. C., at which temperature the ink has a viscosity of about 10 to 15 centipoise. The inks also contain 0.1 to 30 weight percent of a colorant system.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,853,036 and 5,124,718 disclose an ink for ink jet recording which comprises a liquid composition essentially comprising a coloring matter, a volatile solvent having a vapor pressure of 1 mm Hg or more at 25.degree. C., and a material being solid at room temperature and having a molecular weight of 300 or more, and prepared so as to satisfy the formula B.sub.1 /A.sub.1 .gtoreq.3, assuming viscosity as A.sub.1 cP at 25.degree. C., measured when the content of the solid material in the composition is 10 percent by weight, and assuming viscosity as B.sub.1 cP at 25.degree. C., measured when the content of the solid material in the composition is 30 percent by weight. An ink jet recording process using the ink is also disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,167 (You et al.), the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, discloses an ink jet ink including a waxy carrier that is solid at 25.degree. C. and liquid at the operating temperature of an ink jet nozzle and a driver having a critical pressure greater than 10 atmospheres, the carrier and driver being miscible in liquid phase.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,084 (Miller et al.), the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, discloses an ink jet ink in the form of a microemulsion of an organic vehicle phase having a colorant dispersed therein and an aqueous phase containing a surfactant, the vehicle phase preferably being liquid at 70.degree. C. and solid at 20.degree. C.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,957 (Wickramanayake et al.), the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, discloses water insoluble dyes formulated in a microemulsion-based ink which is waterfast, non-threading, and bleed-alleviated. The inks comprise (a) about 0.05 to 0.75 weight percent of a high molecular weight coloid, (b) about 0.1 to 40 weight percent of at least two surfactants, comprising at least one surfactant and at least one co-surfactant, (c) about 0.5 to 20 weight percent of at least one cosolvent, (d) about 0.1 to 5 weight percent of at least one water insoluble dye, (e) about 0.1 to 20 weight percent of an oil, and (f) the balance water. The ink forms a stable microemulsion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,063 (Baker et al.), the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, discloses an aqueous dispersion useful in formulating water-based printing inks. The dispersion contains water, an alkoxylated primary linear polymeric alcohol dispersant, and a finely divided mostly linear aliphatic hydrocarbon having a molecular weight of about 300 to 3,000 and/or a finely divided chemically modified mostly linear aliphatic hydrocarbon having a molecular weight of about 300 to 3,000.
While known compositions and processes are suitable for their intended purposes, a need remains for ink compositions suitable for thermal ink jet printing. In addition, there is a need for ink compositions which dry rapidly when used in ink jet printing processes. Further there is a need for ink compositions which enable both high print quality and rapid drying when employed in thermal ink jet printing processes. Additionally, there is a need for ink compositions which enable reduced line raggedness when employed to print lines in an ink jet printing processes. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present disclosure relates generally to a scanner module and an image scanning apparatus employing the same and, more particularly, to a scanner module that is capable of uniformly distributing illumination over a predetermined area of a document, and an image scanning apparatus employing the same. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates to a tone waveshape generation device employed in an electronic musical instrument and, more particularly, to a device capable of reading out successive waveshapes of plural periods stored in a memory.
A device which prestores successive waveshapes of plural periods from the start to the end of tone generation in a memory and generates tone waveshape signals by reading out these prestored waveshapes is known, e.g., in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,319. The United States patent discloses a drum generator in which snare drum sounds and other drum sounds are prestored in the form of successive waveshapes of plural periods in respectively corresponding memories and these waveshapes are read out in response to a sound timing signal (play strobe signal). This type of prior art tone waveshape generation device has heretofore been used as a tone source of rhythm sounds and increase in the memory capacity to some extent has not posed any serious problem since necessity for changing the tone pitch is not involved in this type of device.
If, however, this type of tone waveshape generation device is applied to generation of scale notes, it becomes necessary to prepare successive waveshapes of plural periods for respective different tone pitches or tone ranges with a result that the capacities of memories become extremely large. If, for example, the duration of tone generation is 5 seconds, the sampling period is 32 kHz and successive waveshapes of plural periods are prepared over 4 octaves one for each tone range which has been determined for 3 scale notes (keys) in 12 scale notes of one octave (totalling 16 tone ranges), a memory having a capacity of "32k.times.5.times.16=2560 kilo words" is required.
An electronic musical instrument of a type in which, in the above described manner, a complete waveshape from the start to the end of generation of a tone is prestored for each key (note) and then is read out is disclosed in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,462. In the waveshape memory WM31 shown in FIG. 3 of this United States patent, a complete waveshape is stored and this complete waveshape is read out in response to a signal KD which represents a key depression timing.
An improvement has been conceived for preventing the capacity of the memory storing the complete waveshape from becoming too large. According to this improvement, the attack portion of the tone is stored in its entirety but only a part of the sustain portion is stored and the stored part of the sustain portion is repeatedly read out to generate the entire sustain portion. In the above U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,462, an example of such improvement is shown in FIG. 6. A complete waveshape in the attack period is stored in the waveshape memory WM61 and at least one fundamental period of a tone waveshape is stored in the waveshape memory WM62. An attack waveshape is read out from the memory WM61 in response to the key depression (KD signal) and the tone waveform of the fundamental period is repeatedly read out from the memory WM62 after completion of the read out of the attack waveshape (IMF signal) until the end of tone generation (DF signal). According to this improvement, the memory capacity can be reduced to, e.g. about one-fifth. If in this case the memory length of the memories corresponding to the respective tone pitches (tone ranges) is made uniform, blank area will occur in the memories. The memory length is determined by the lowest tone due to the fact that the rise time of the tone increases as the tone becomes lower and hence blank area will occur in a part of the zone of the memory storing the higher note waveshape which is shorter in the rise time resulting in the waste of the memory zone. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The pace of change and improvement in the realms of power generation, aviation, and other fields has accompanied extensive research for manufacturing components used in these fields. Conventional manufacture of metallic components generally includes milling or cutting away regions from a slab of metal before treating and modifying the cut metal to yield a part, which may have been simulated using computer models and computer aided design. Manufactured components which may be formed from metal include airfoil components for installation in a turbomachine such as an aircraft engine or power generation system, as well as mechanical components for other manufacturing, transportation, and structural systems.
The development of additive manufacturing, also known in the art as “3D printing,” can reduce manufacturing costs by allowing such components to be formed more quickly, with unit-to-unit variations as appropriate. Among other advantages, additive manufacture can directly apply computer-generated models to a manufacturing process while relying on less expensive equipment and/or raw materials.
Additive manufacturing can allow a component to be formed from a reserve of fine metal powder positioned on a build plate, which is processed by an electron beam or laser (using heat treatments such as sintering) to form a component or sub-component. Additive manufacturing equipment can also form components by using three-dimensional models generated with software included within and/or external to the manufacturing equipment. Some devices fabricated via additive manufacture can be formed initially as several distinct components at respective processing stages before being assembled in a subsequent process. One challenge associated with additive manufacturing includes maintaining the shape of a component before the manufacturing process completes. For example, some portions of a component may be structurally stable after the component has been manufactured, but may need additional structural support when some parts have not been built. Some designs may address this concern by including temporary supports which may be designed and positioned for removal after the component is manufactured. Due to variances between manufactured components and the manner in which these components are formed, the use of these supports can vary widely between component designs. The supports may also be manufactured such that they are capable of being removed only after the component is fully manufactured. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates generally to hydraulic test equipment. More particularly, it relates to a method of using hydraulic test equipment to measure hydraulic leaks in hydraulic valves and assemblies.
Hydraulic valves and other hydraulic equipment typically include several closely fitting individual mechanical parts that regulate the flow of hydraulic fluid. By opening and closing internal passages formed therebetween, these parts regulate hydraulic fluid flow in a manner that provides the specific functions the operator desires.
Since these components are mechanical, however, and since fluid under pressure is applied to them, they always exhibit a certain amount of leakage through the gaps between the internal components. Eliminating all leakage in hydraulic components would require extremely tight tolerances between the mechanical parts between which hydraulic fluid would otherwise leak. These tolerances would make virtually every hydraulic component extremely expensive.
For this reason, the design tolerances for hydraulic components are increased with the understanding that there will be some residual. Even so, excessive leakage, i.e. that beyond the design limits, is not tolerated.
For this reason, hydraulic components are typically designed to have a specified maximum hydraulic fluid leakage rate to be measured under predetermined conditions. The leakage flow rate is a tolerance like any of the dimensional tolerances of the mechanical components making up the hydraulic device.
The leakage rate itself is a function of the mechanical interaction of all the components making up the hydraulic device. It is the spaces between each of the mechanical components that cause leakage. For this reason, the leakage rate can only be measured and the hydraulic components can only be determined to have passed or failed their leakage rate specifications after they are completely assembled. Traditionally, assembled hydraulic components are received at the test stand dry, i.e. (not pre-filled with hydraulic fluid) from the manufacturing process. They are then filled with hydraulic fluid, heated to an operating temperature (if that is part of the specification), are pressurized by hydraulic fluid at a specified testing pressure, and the minute leakage rates of hydraulic fluid is then measured.
The leakage flow rate is typically a tiny fraction of the components"" rated flow rate capacity. For example, a valve that provides a maximum fluid flow in operation of a gallon or more per minute may have a maximum permitted flow rate of only a few cubic centimeters of fluid per minute. In addition, the internal volume of the devicexe2x80x94the volume that must be filled with hydraulic fluid to purge all airxe2x80x94may be substantial as well.
At the same time, the leakage fluid flow rate measuring devices typically have a very small flow rate. A device intended to measure a maximum leakage flow rate of ten cubic centimeters per minute may have a maximum flow rate of perhaps twenty cubic centimeters per minute. This is primarily due to the small size, compact construction, and fragile nature of these precision measurement devices.
In a typical prior art test stand, a source of hydraulic fluid pressure is provided that is connected to the leakage flow rate measuring device, which is in turn connected to one of the ports of the hydraulic component that is to be tested. The hydraulic fluid source forces fluid through the measuring device and into the dry, just-assembled hydraulic component.
During the initial phase of this process, the quantity of fluid forced through the measuring device into the hydraulic component is quite high as the air inside the empty hydraulic component being tested is forced out. Once all of the air is forced out and the hydraulic component being tested is filled with hydraulic fluid, the actual leakage rate can be measured. This initial filling process often generates extremely high flow rates. Since the components are typically dry, there is no fluidic resistance to the initial inrush of fluid as the air is forced out. Air can be expelled through the air-filled gaps between the internal structures of a hydraulic component at an extremely high rate when pushed by the high pressure (typically around 1000 psi) of the hydraulic source.
There are significant problems in these prior art systems. First, since the measuring devices can only accommodate a tiny flow rate of hydraulic fluid, the maximum rate at which the hydraulic component can be filled during the initial phase is small. For a simple single spool bi-directional hydraulic control valve with pressure relief inserts and several check valves, this initial purging process can take as much as thirty or forty seconds. Again, this is because the flow rate through the measuring device must be severely limited to prevent damage to the device, or is inherently limited due to flow restrictions built into the measuring device. Since there is virtually no internal resistance to hydraulic fluid flow as the air is expelled from the hydraulic component being tested, however, the traditional test stands can produce very high fluid flow rates that can damage the leakage flow rate measuring device unless the flow through the measuring device is restricted. Restricting the flow through the measuring device, however, will unduly lengthen the filling time of the hydraulic component under test
Once the hydraulic component is filled, however, the leakage flow rate can be virtually instantaneously measured. Typically, only 1-3 seconds are needed for the leakage flow rate to stabilize and for the operator to take an accurate measurement of that flow rate. Thus, perhaps 90% of the time required to check the leakage flow rate of the hydraulic component being tested is due to the lengthy period required to fill the hydraulic component and purge it of all air. One way to avoid this problem is to replace the low-capacity measuring device with a high-capacity measuring device and to provide virtually unlimited flow into the hydraulic component during the initial fill process. In this manner, the leakage flow rate measuring device will accommodate the very high filling flow rate during the period in which the hydraulic component is being filled.
As might be expected, however, measuring devices able to accommodate much higher flow rates without being damaged typically have much lower resolution and therefore reduced accuracy of measurement. For example, a flow rate measuring device that can accommodate a high flow rate of 1 gallon per minute during the initially filling process will typically provide a corresponding flow rate measurement resolution of 10 cc per minute. For most components, this resolution is too large to accurately measure a leakage flow rate once the device is filled.
What is needed, therefore, is a test stand for testing hydraulic leakage flow rates of hydraulic components that combines the accuracy of a low flow rate hydraulic flow measuring device with a high flow rate initial fill and purging system. It is an object of this invention to provide such a test stand.
In accordance with the first embodiment of the invention, a hydraulic leakage rate testing system for testing and to test the leakage flow of hydraulic components is provided that includes a source of hydraulic fluid, a hydraulic coupler communicating with the source, a measuring circuit with a flow rate measuring device in communication with both the source and the coupler and a by-pass circuit that is in communication with both the source and the coupler. The measuring circuit and by-pass circuit are preferably connected in parallel to provide parallel flow paths between the source and the coupler. The measuring circuit preferably includes a valve that blocks fluid flow between the source and the coupler through the measuring device when the valve is closed and permits flow between the source and the coupler through the device when the valve is open. The measuring circuit also preferably includes an orifice disposed to restrict the flow through the measuring device. The measuring circuit may also include a pressure relief valve located to limit the maximum hydraulic pressure applied by this source to the measuring device. The pressure relief valve is preferably located between the measuring device and the source in the measuring circuit. Another valve may be provided to block hydraulic fluid flow provided by the source from passing through both the measuring circuit and the by-pass circuit. An electronic controller may be coupled to the valve in the measuring circuit and the valve in the by-pass circuit to block or permit the flow alternatively through either circuit in accordance with the stored digital program in the controller that opens and closes the valves in the by-pass circuit. The electronic controller may also be coupled to the measuring device to receive an electrical signal from the measuring device indicative of a flow rate through that device. The electronic controller may be configured to open the valve in the by-pass circuit long enough to fill the hydraulic component through the by-pass circuit. The electronic controller may be configured to close the valve in the by-pass circuit after the component is filled. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates to improvements in the front end elements, i.e., the shadow mask, mask frame, and inner shield, of a color cathode ray tube (CRT).
A color CRT, as shown in FIG. 1, generally comprises a glass envelope 1, in-line electron guns 3 emitting three electron beams 11, and a phosphor screen 5 containing red, green, and blue phosphors which emit visible light when excited by the electron beams 11. Electron guns 3 are located in the neck portion 2 of the envelope, while the phosphors, arranged in vertical stripes of cyclically repeating colors, are coated on the inner surface of the panel portion 4 of the envelope. Connecting neck 2 with panel 4 is the funnel portion 12 of the envelope. Electron beams 11 are deflected by magnetic fields produced by deflection yoke 10 surrounding a portion of the neck 2.
Near screen 5 is a shadow mask 6 having a plurality of vertically oriented rectangular apertures (not shown). Shadow mask 6 is attached to a mask frame 7 supported within the envelope by frame holders 8 which are releasably mounted on a plurality of panel pins 13 embedded in side walls of panel 4. An inner shield 9, also attached to mask frame 7, extends part of the way along funnel 12 toward electron guns 3, shielding the electron beams 11 from the effects of terrestrial magnetism. After emission from electron guns 3, electron beams 11 are accelerated, deflected by deflection yoke 10, and converged. They then pass through the apertures of shadow mask 6 to bombard phosphor screen 5, reproducing a color image.
The front end elements of the color CRT, i.e., shadow mask 6, mask frame 7 and inner shield 9, are conventionally made of aluminum-killed steel.sup.1 because it is easily etched (to make apertures) and easily formed into the necessary shapes for the front end elements. FNT 1 "Killed" steel, as is known in the art, is steel which has, while in the molten state, been caused to become quiet and free from bubbling by adding a strong de-oxidizing agent (such as aluminum) that combines with oxygen and minimizes reaction between oxygen and carbon during solidification. If the steel is incompletely de-oxidized, after solidification the outside portion is distinctly different in constitution from the interior of the ingot, and the material is known as "rimmed" steel.
Aluminum-killed steel is also easily coated with an oxide film, which helps to reduce reflection of the electron beams. Although conventional front end elements are coated with a black oxide film produced by a high temperature oxidation reaction, this oxide, which may be alpha Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3 and Fe.sub.3 O.sub.4, adheres poorly to the base and occasionally spills, since it contains voids.
With the recent emphasis on personnal computer displays, teletext, and satellite transmission, front end elements made of aluminum-killed steel, especially shadow masks, have been unable to meet the high standards for resolution and "comfortable viewing." (Comfortable viewing is a term of art referring in part to the ability to discern fine characters and images on the screen, i.e., high resolution, and in part to a brighter picture produced by increasing beam current.) Increased beam current, of course, increases the amount of heat which must be dissipated by the front end elements.
When a color CRT is energized, electron beam current raises the temperature of the front end elements to anywhere from 303 K. to 373 K. At those temperatures, the shadow mask is deformed by thermal expansion, giving rise to what is called the "doming phenomenon." When this occurs, a misalignment comes about between the apertures of the shadow mask and the vertical stripes with which the apertures should be aligned. A color slippage phenomenon known as "purity drift" (PD) is the result. The smaller the apertures in the shadow mask, and the more closely spaced they are, and more serious is the color slippage problem. Since high resolution or "comfortable viewing" color CRTs use shadow masks with small, closely spaced apertures, the large thermal expansion coefficient of aluminum-killed steel makes it impractical for use with these color CRTs.
To overcome this problem, it has been suggested (in Japanese Publication No. 42-25446, Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 50-58977, and Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 50-68650) that shadow masks and other front end elements be made of an iron-nickel alloy which has a small coefficient of thermal expansion, such as Invar..sup.2 These alloys have the added advantage of being considerably harder than iron alone, so the closely-spaced apertures used in high definition television (HDTV) receiver shadow masks will not produce unaccetable weakening of the masks. FNT 2 Invar is a trademark with Registration Number 63,970.
Although alloys of iron and nickel are desirable because of their hardness and their small coefficient of thermal expansion, they have the disadvantage of low thermal conductivity, causing them to retain heat. Consequently, these alloys still exhibit an undesirable amount of color slippage when used as shadow masks or other front end elements in color CRTs. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of articles for daily use, and more particularly to a manufacturing method for a rubber band.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well-known that rubber bands are widely used in daily life, for example, used to tie hair, to fasten pockets, for kids to skip and dance over a chain of rubber bands, due to the characteristics of good elasticity, light weight and the like. Traditional rubber bands are rubber-based, which have low elasticity and strength, a short service life, and easily age. Therefore, it is obviously disadvantageous to popularization on the market. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
After early childhood, injury to the central nervous system (CNS) results in functional impairments that are largely irreversible. Within the brain or spinal cord, damage resulting from stroke, trauma, or other causes can result in life-long losses in cognitive, sensory and motor functions, and even maintenance of vital functions. Nerve cells that are lost are not replaced, and those that are spared are generally unable to re-grow severed connections, although a limited amount of local synaptic reorganization can occur close to the site of injury. Functions that are lost are currently untreatable.
Regenerative failure in the CNS has been attributed to a number of factors, which include the presence of inhibitory molecules on the surface of glial cells that suppress axonal growth; absence of appropriate substrate molecules such as laminin to foster growth and an absence of the appropriate trophic factors needed to activate programs of gene expression required for cell survival and differentiation.
By contrast, within the peripheral nervous system (PNS), injured nerve fibers can re-grow over long distances, with eventual excellent recovery of function. Within the past 15 years, neuroscientists have come to realize that this is not a consequence of intrinsic differences between the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous system. Remarkably, neurons of the CNS will extend their axons over great distances if given the opportunity to grow through a grafted segment of PNS (e.g., sciatic nerve). Therefore, neurons of the CNS retain a capacity to grow if given the right signals from the extra-cellular environment. Several factors are believed to contribute to the differing growth potentials of the CNS and PNS. These factors include a partially characterized, growth-inhibiting molecules on the surface of the oligodendrocytes that surround nerve fibers in the CNS, but which is less abundant in the comparable cell population of the PNS (Schwann cells). Also, molecules of the basal laminin and other surfaces that foster growth in the PNS but which are absent in the CNS (e.g., laminin). Others are trophic factors, soluble polypeptides which activate programs of gene expression that underlie cell survival and differentiation. Although such trophic factors are regarded as essential for maintaining the viability and differentiation of nerve cells, the particular ones that are responsible for inducing axonal regeneration in the CNS remain uncertain. Reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 6,551,612 to Benowitz, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Inhibitors of Rho A, siRNA directed against Rho A expression, or Rho may enhance nerve re-growth. Clostridia botulinum C3 exotoxin that inhibits Rho A, as do ROCK inhibitors, and siRNA directed against ROCK expression. A recent review article is noted, Brown et al., “Rac and Rho Hall of Fame: A Decade of Hypertrophic Signaling Hits,” Circulation Research, 98:730-742 (2006).
Further attention is drawn to Chang et al., “Activation of Rho-associated coiled-coil protein kinase 1 (ROCK-1) by caspase-3 cleavage plays an essential role in cardiac myocyte apoptosis,” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A., 103(39):14495-500 (2006); and Lin et al., “Acute Inhibition of Rho-kinase improves cardiac contractile function in streptozocin-diabetic rats,” Cardiovasc Res. July 1; 75(1):51-8. Epub (2007). Also noted is Zhang, et al., “Targeted deletion of ROCK1 protects the heart against pressure overload by inhibiting reactive fibrosis,” FASEB J., 20(7):916-25 (2006).
Notable RhoA antagonists are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,855,688 to McKerracher, “ADP-ribosyl transferase fusion proteins, pharmaceutical compositions, and methods of use.” In this regard, particular mention is made of BA-210, an engineered variant of a naturally occurring bacterial protein known as C3 exoenzyme, corresponding substantially to SEQ. ID NO.: 43 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,855,688 to McKerracher. This is also known as BA-210 and Cethrin.
Previously it was believed that the purines of this invention required intrathecal administration. Reference is made to the administration of [14C] radiolabeled inosine given intraperitoneally and the reported [14C] inosine in the brain and incorporation in brain RNA NAKAGAWA, S., and GUROFF, G., 1973. The uptake of purines by rat brain in vivo and in vitro. J. Neurochem. 20:1143-1149. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Conventionally, in case of analyzing an extremely small amount of polymers such as proteins and nucleic acids (DNA, RNA) contained in liquid, an electrophoresis apparatus has been used, and a liquid separation apparatus and a capillary electrophoresis apparatus are known as typical electrophoresis apparatuses.
A first conventional art for separating polymer components contained in liquid is a liquid separation apparatus and a liquid separation method that are disclosed in Japanese Publication for Unexamined Publication No. 281619/1999 (Tokukaihei 11-281619) (published on Oct. 15, 1999: corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,132,597). The liquid separation apparatus is arranged so that a disk-shape substrate has a plurality of electrophoresis paths (flow paths) for electrophoresis, extending from a center of the disk in all directions, each of which has power source electrodes on its beginning point and termination. When liquid containing polymers are electrophoresed in each of the flow paths, the polymers are separated in terms of a molecular weight and an electrostatic property, and are electrically detected by a detection electrode provided in a vicinity of the termination of the flow path.
Further, a second conventional art for separating polymer components contained in liquid is a capillary electrophoresis apparatus disclosed in Japanese Publication for Unexamined Publication No. 304338/1997 (Tokukaihei 9-304338) (published on Nov. 28, 1997). This apparatus carries out not only the foregoing electrical detection but also fluorescence detection by binding fluorescent materials to polymers and emitting a laser beam or the like. The capillary electrophoresis chip (apparatus) is arranged so that: a position of a laser beam emission spot is fixed in a vicinity of the termination of the flow path, and a time taken for migrating polymers such as proteins and nucleic acids to pass the laser beam emission spot is detected, thereby detecting the polymers. This is based on the following reason: As a molecular weight of a polymer is smaller, the polymer passes faster, so that it is possible to specify a molecular weight and an electrostatic property on the basis of a time taken to pass the laser beam emission spot.
The first conventional art electrically detects polymers, and the second conventional art optically detects polymers. In this manner, they are different from each other, but they are identical with each other in that: a detection member is provided in a vicinity of the termination of the flow path, and the detection is carried out when the target polymer passes the detection section.
However, when target polymers are different from each other in terms of a molecular weight and an electrostatic property, some polymers are separated quickly and other polymers are separated slowly by electrophoresis. Despite of the difference, the detection section of the first and second conventional arts is fixed, so that the detection is not carried out until the polymer reaches the detection section even when the separation is completed quickly. Further, a polymer which is slowly separated reaches the detection section before the separation is completed, so that it is impossible to carry out the separation and detection.
That is, in the conventional sample detection apparatus, the detection member of the detection device is fixed, so that it is difficult to efficiently detect various polymers.
Further, the disk-type sample detection device of the first conventional art is characterized in that: its rotation enables sample liquid to be sequentially injected; it is possible to detect the separation in the flow path; and the like. However, in case of carrying out electrophoresis, it is necessary to supply power to the sample detection device (it is necessary to apply a voltage or to supply a current to the sample detection device), but the first conventional art has no recitation concerning the power supply.
Further, in case of optically detecting polymers by using the sample detection device of the second conventional art, an electrode and a wiring that are provided so as to supply power shield a light path of the light beam, so that it is impossible to efficiently carry out the optical detection for polymers.
Moreover, the first conventional art has the detection section in a vicinity of the termination of the flow path in order to electrically detect polymers, and the detection is completed when a target polymer passes the detection section. However, according to the electrical detection, an amount of a signal is small and an S/N ratio is low, so that it is difficult to sufficiently detect some kinds of polymers.
Then, there was proposed an apparatus which improves the detection sensitivity by raising the S/N ratio in accordance with not the electrical detection but the optical detection. This is the second conventional art. According to the apparatus, a laser beam is emitted onto a polymer migrating in the flow path, and light transmitted from the polymer is detected, so as to raise the S/N ratio, thereby optically detecting the polymer with high sensitivity.
However, the apparatus of the second conventional art is arranged so that: a light path of laser incident light is bent by a first reflection film at a right angle, and the light is transmitted through the polymer, and then the transmitted light is bent by a second reflection film at a right angle, thereby detecting reflected light of the transmitted light. Thus, a light path of incident light and a light path of reflected light of the transmitted light are not identical with each other, so that it is necessary to provide at least two optical systems such as object glasses for incident light and for reflected light. Therefore, a size of the apparatus itself is large. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates generally to earthworking machines and, more particularly, to a multi-purpose earthworking machine capable of providing digging, loading and grading functions.
Typically, graders are provided with a long wheel base and a scraper blade that is supported from the front of the machine and thus pulled across the ground to perform a grading function. Digging units such as backhoes are normally provided with a smaller wheel base than graders and an articulated digging attachment, such as a backhoe boom and attached bucket, pivotally mounted on the machine to perform a digging or loading function. Digging and grading machines have not been considered compatible uses for a multi-function earthworking machine primarily because of the different wheel base requirements. A machine that would combine both digging and grading functions would be advantageous because of the versatility of earthworking operations that could be accomplished therewith. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the fabrication of a semiconductor device, and more particularly, a method for increasing a surface area of a bottom electrode for a dynamic random access memory (DRAM).
2. Description of the Related Art
Since semiconductor technique has greatly improved in recent years, a memory with a faster speed and a higher capacity has rapidly developed. In general, there are two ways to increase the capacitance of a memory. One is to use a high dielectric constant material as a dielectric layer. For example, barium strontium titanate ((Ba, Sr)TiO.sub.3 or BST) having a dielectric constant of about 300-500 and a low thin-film leakage current widely applies to the DRAM of 4 Gbits and beyond. The other is to increase the efficient surface area of an electrode. Since platinum (Pt) has a low leakage current, a capacitor that consists of Pt and BST is widely adopted.
FIG. 1 is a schematic, cross-sectional view showing a bottom Pt electrode according to the prior art. Referring to FIG. 1, a semiconductor substrate 100 has a source/drain region 102. A silicon oxide layer 104 is formed on the substrate 100. The silicon oxide layer 104 has a polysilicon plug 106 that couples with the source/drain region 102. A bottom Pt electrode 110 is formed on the polysilicon plug 106. A titanium nitride barrier layer 108 is formed between the bottom Pt electrode 110 and the polysilicon plug 106.
Normally, the formation of the resulting structure comprises first depositing a Pt layer and then etching the Pt layer to form a bottom Pt electrode. However, Pt is a difficult material to etch. Thus, it is difficult to make Pt into different shapes such as a crown shape or a scale shape in order to increase the efficient surface area of the bottom electrode. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field
Example embodiments relate to a light emitting device having improved light extraction efficiency, and more particularly, to an organic light emitting diode (OLED) including a light extraction layer for improving light extraction efficiency.
2. Description of the Related Art
A light emitting diode (LED) may be a point light source formed of compound semiconductor materials. Compared to LEDs, an OLED may have many advantages such as low power consumption, high outdoor visibility, and flexibility in addition to surface light emission. For this reason, the OLED may receive attention for applications as a lighting device in addition to a display device. However, the OLED may have low light extraction efficiency because only about 20 percent of generated light typically may be emitted to the outside. Such a low light extraction efficiency mainly results from the difference in refractive indices of an organic light emitting layer and external air. That is, among the light generated in the organic light emitting layer, only the light of a specific angular region is emitted to the outside and the light of a remaining angular region is absorbed in the inside of the OLED and disappears due to total reflection at the interface of air.
Light extraction layers having various structures may be used for improving light extraction efficiency of the OLED. For example, a light extraction layer having a micro-lens array shape may be attached on the external surface of a substrate. However, the external light extraction layer attached on the external surface of the substrate may not reduce (and/or prevent) optical losses occurring between internal layers of the OLED.
An inner light extraction layer may be disposed between a substrate and a transparent electrode. The internal light extraction layer may include uneven surfaces or scatters to change a light path to the outside; consequently, the surface flatness of the transparent electrode may be deteriorated. Once the surface flatness of the transparent electrode is deteriorated, charges such as holes and electrons may concentrate in a specific region and the electrical characteristics of the OLED may deteriorate. Therefore, in order to reduce (and/or prevent) the deterioration of the electrical characteristics of the OLED, a planarization layer may be further added between a light extraction layer and a transparent electrode. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Conventionally, the coverage area of a wireless communication network such as, for example, a Time Division Duplex (TDD), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (Wi-max), Cellular, Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), or 3G based wireless network can be increased by a repeater. Exemplary repeaters include, for example, frequency translating repeaters or same frequency repeaters which operate in a physical layer or data link layer as defined by the Open Systems Interconnection Basic Reference Model (OSI Model).
Physical layer repeaters can be categorized into “same frequency” or “frequency translating” devices. The network architecture associated with where the repeater is going to be deployed will govern type of repeater used. If a same frequency repeater is used, this requires that the repeater receives and transmits on the same frequency concurrently. Accordingly, the repeater must achieve isolation between the receiver and transmitter using various antenna and digital/analog cancellation techniques. If a frequency translating repeater is used, the repeater receives a signal on a first frequency channel and then translates that to a second frequency channel for concurrent transmission. In this manner, isolation between the transmitter and receiver is achieved to a certain extent through frequency separation. Preferably, the antennas for receiving and transmitting as well as repeater circuitry are included within a same packaging in order to achieve manufacturing cost reductions, ease of installation, or the like. This is particularly the case when the repeater is intended for use by a consumer as a residential or small office based device where form factor and ease of installation is an important consideration. In such device, one antenna or set of antennas usually face, for example, a base station, access point, gateway, or another antenna or set of antennas facing a subscriber device.
For a repeater which receives and transmits concurrently, isolation between the receiving and transmitting antennas is a significant factor in overall repeater performance—this is the case whether repeating to the same frequency or repeating to a different frequency. More particularly, if the receiver and the transmitter antennas are not isolated properly, performance of the repeater can significantly deteriorate. Generally, gain of the repeater cannot be greater than the isolation to prevent repeater oscillation or initial de-sensitization. Isolation is generally achieved by physical separation, antenna patterns, or polarization. For frequency translating repeaters, additional isolation may be achieved utilizing band pass filtering, but antenna isolation generally remains a limiting factor in the repeater's performance due to unwanted noise and out of band emissions from the transmitter being received in the receiving antenna's in-band frequency range. The antenna isolation from the receiver to transmitter is an even more critical problem with repeaters operating on same frequencies and where band pass filtering does not provide additional isolation.
Often cellular based systems have limited licensed spectrum available and cannot make use of frequency translating repeating approaches and therefore use repeaters utilizing the same receive and transmit frequency channels.
As mentioned above, for a repeater intended for use with consumers, it would be preferable to manufacture the repeater to have a physically small form factor in order to achieve further cost reductions, ease of installation, and the like. However, the small form can result in antennas disposed in close proximity, thereby exasperating the isolation problem discussed above.
Current repeaters suffer an additional significant drawback in that they are not capable of separating leakage from their own transmitters from the signal they wish to repeat. As a result, conventional repeaters typically cannot optimize their system isolation and performance on real time bases resulting in poor operation or destructive effects to overall network performance. Specifically, current practices do not allow for the adaptive cancellation of unwanted signals in repeater environments while allowing the repeater to operate generally. Instead, current repeater deployments offer limited cancellation loops due to cost and complexity, are discrete implementations, and generally deployed in single band systems with no sub-band filtering. Further, current deployments of interference cancellation loops assume multipath delays and suffer from excess or unmatched delay in scattered signals, changing delays in signals (e.g., Doppler), and limited cancellation for wide band signals (e.g., ICs bandwidth).
From the foregoing, it is readily apparent that there exists a need for systems and methods to overcome the shortcomings of existing practices. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
In an image scanning apparatus, an optical characteristic fluctuates because of aged deterioration of a light source, an environmental state of an optical system, and the like and an image scanning signal generated by a photoelectric conversion device (CCD) fluctuates. Therefore, in the past, the image scanning apparatus subjects the image scanning signal generated by the CCD to shading correction to always obtain the same image reproducibility even when the optical characteristic fluctuates.
For example, Japanese Patent No. 3255574 discloses an apparatus that changes the number of scanning lines of a shading correction plate according to copying magnification, averages scanned data into data for shading correction, and corrects fluctuation in an image scanning signal generated by a CCD using the data for shading correction.
However, when there is an area where dust adheres or air bubbles occur in the shading correction plate, if the area is scanned during shading correction, it is likely that correct data for shading correction cannot be obtained. If the data for shading correction is not correct, it is likely that correction unevenness occurs in a document scanning signal after correction and image reproducibility falls.
Therefore, there is a demand for development of a shading correction apparatus that can obtain, when there is an area where dust adheres or air bubbles occur in a shading correction plate, correct data for shading correction, prevent correction unevenness during shading correction, and improve image reproducibility even if replacement work or position adjustment work for the shading correction plate is not performed during manufacturing or during maintenance. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to barbeque grills, and more particularly, to barbeque grills having grill accessories such as, for example, an illuminating light, a rotisserie, or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
The concept of an electrically-powered barbeque-grill accessory such as a grill light or rotisserie is known. However, these accessories are powered by batteries, or by power cords connected to conventional 110-volt AC electrical outlets. While such batteries and power cords may be functional, they present several limitations and drawbacks to people who want to use such accessories. For example, if batteries are used, a person must either replace or recharge the batteries. Also, unless one has an inventory of fresh back-up batteries, it is quite possible that the batteries will run out of power when the barbeque grill and grill accessories are being used.
If, on the other hand, a power cord is used, the variety of locations in which the barbeque grill may be used is severely limited. In addition, such power cords can produce safety hazards due, for example, to individuals tripping over the power cords. Also, in some instances, the power cords may be unsightly. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multicapillary sample preparation device especially useful for handling biological samples. In particular, the multicapillary device is suitable for use with a pipette, micropipette, syringe, or other similar analytical instrument.
2. Background Art
Many biological samples are commonly separated by gel electrophoresis and analyzed by matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS). One disadvantage of these techniques, however, is that analysis is strongly affected by the presence of salts, buffers and low molecular weight organic compounds commonly used in the preparation of biological samples. In order to improve the sensitivity and selectivity of analyses, adsorptive and membranous devices are frequently used to purify and concentrate the sample prior to analysis. Such devices feature a bed of porous adsorbent or a semipermeable membrane fixed in a housing of a suitable dimension and shape that traps desired constituents, while allowing contaminants to pass.
To handle samples in the 0.01 to 100 microgram (μg) range, pipettes, micropipettes, syringes or similar analytical instruments (collectively referred to hereinafter as “pipettes”) are commonly employed. The tip of these pipettes is fitted with one or more adsorptive or membranous plugs capable of purifying, concentrating, or fractionating peptides and other biomolecules.
A principal shortcoming of adsorptive and membranous plugs, however, is that porous materials are generally not effective at separating smaller biomolecules such as proteins and polynucleotides. Porous plugs are also deficient with respect to isolating and purifying larger biological materials and nucleic acids such as DNA, RNA and cells. This shortcoming derives from the fact that during sample processing, molecules must wend through a labyrinth of sponge-like, expansive and porous adsorbent silica.
There is little uniformity, consistency, and reproducibility of porous materials used for sample preparation. Sample loss in existing pipette tips is typically about 40-60%. Poor sample recovery is largely due to the fact that a sample must travel through irregular voids in the porous material, whereby a portion of the sample lodges in small voids and is unrecoverable. Moreover, in order to achieve adequate results, samples must be passed through porous materials multiple times (e.g., ten). The sample preparation devices are usually not reusable and fit poorly with automatic instrumentation because poor sample recovery may give rise to contamination due to sample carry-over.
Spin columns and other apparatus operated by a centrifuge rotor are commonly used for the isolation and purification of biological and nucleic acid samples. However, it is desirable in certain applications to avoid the use of a centrifuge for rotating a specimen to be isolated and purified. This is due, in part, to the fact that horizontal separation may result in centrifugal forces of up to, for example, 4,000 RPM, being exerted on or transmitted along the vertical axis of the spin column and sample in order to achieve satisfactory separation. Air resistance negatively affects the spin column by generating drag and friction, which heat the spin column and its contents. Considerable breakage of sample fragments is unavoidable due to the heat transfer, acute centrifugal force and accompanying air resistance. The impaired quality of biological and nucleic acid samples extracted during spin column and centrifugal processing is highly undesirable to the user.
It can be seen, therefore, that the purification and concentration of biological and nucleic acid samples using porous materials prior to instrumental analysis is time consuming, is poorly reproducible, has low throughput, and requires repeated passing of a sample through the porous plug.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an efficient sample preparation device for use in isolating (immunoassay), purifying and concentrating samples of proteins, peptides, nucleic acids (e.g., DNA and RNA), and other biological materials (e.g., cells) prior to analysis.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a sample preparation device with high sample capacity that increases throughput and reduces sample loss.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a highly reproducible sample preparation device that achieves uniformity, consistency, and nearly identical pathways for sample passage.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a sample preparation device that is simple, cost-effective, and does not require the use of a silica type porous substrate or special equipment such as a centrifuge. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for information processing. Specifically, the present invention relates an information processing apparatus and a method of information processing to be used in such an apparatus, where the apparatus and the method are capable of reducing the memory usage of a wavelet transformation process in the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typical image compression systems, which have been used in the art, include JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) and JPEG 2000 standardized by ISO (International Standard Organization).
In recent years, extensive studies have been conducted for a system in which a combination of filters, high-pass filters and low-pass filters, called as a filter bank is employed to divide an image into a plurality of bands and encoding is then performed for every band. In particular, the wavelet encoding, which is free of a matter of block distortion at high compression occurred in DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform), is thought to be promising as a new technology as an alternative to DCT.
JPEG 2000 realizes a great improvement in encoding efficiency compared with JPEG because of employing a combination of the wavelet transform and a high-efficient entropy algorithm (bit modeling in units of bit plane and arithmetic encoding).
The wavelet transform basically includes a process of obtaining input image data and then filtering the image data in both the horizontal direction and the vertical direction to cause hierarchical division of low-path components. In this case, reading/writing operation of data may be performed at high frequency, including reading of image data, writing of a frequency coefficient generated as a result of filtering into memory, re-reading of frequency coefficient, and so on (see, for example, Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2008-022403). | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The invention relates to an optoelectronic device comprising a thermally well-conducting carrier plate provided with at least one optoelectronic component comprising at least one semiconductor diode laser, which carrier plate is provided with connection conductors which are separated from the carrier plate by means of an electrically insulating medium and to which the optoelectronic components provided on the carrier plate are connected by means of electrical connections. The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing such a device.
Such optoelectronic devices are used inter alia as components of a read and/or write head of information-processing equipment such as laser printers, bar code readers and read and/or write equipment for optical registration carriers such as CD (Audio) and CDROM (dam) discs.
Such a device is known from European Patent Application No. 89111789.7 published on Jan. 3rd, 1990 under number 0 348 950. FIGS. 1A and 1B therein show a device in which a semiconductor diode laser (12) and also a photodiode (13) are present on a heat sink (14) which is present on a metal carrier plate. The carrier plate is provided with connection conductors in the form of conducting pins (2, 4) arranged in lead-through holes and separated from the carrier plate by means of an electrically insulating medium which surrounds the pins (2, 4). The electrical connection between the optoelectronic components (12, 13) and the connection conductors (2, 4) is effected by means of wires.
A disadvantage of the known device is that, if a flexible cord or foil is used for the electrical connection, which is desirable for many applications of the device, an additional, non-standard connection is necessary between the conducting pins and the cord or foil. This renders the device comparatively expensive. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
There are many different styles of shoes. However, current shoe designs and styles generally cramp the toes and do not permit the individual toes to move in a biomechanically natural manner. When the conventional shoe is worn, the entire front toe cap portion acts as a single unit. The movement of the toe cap portion is generally limited to a pivoting action about the ball of the foot. Additionally, the toe cramp causes pain and chafing of the toes which can become damp and a breeding ground for infection. Feet require solid support, correct positioning and exposure to the atmosphere and sun for maximum comfort and health and optimum movement of the toes.
It is generally accepted, that biomechanical toe movement is critical to the efficient overall movement of the body. Toe motion and the overall tactile response of the foot to various surfaces play a vital role in walking, jogging, running, etc., and in supporting and maintaining a person's balance and agility.
Early attempts have been made to provide footwear having individual portions which encapsulate each toe separately, see for example the following U.S. Patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,390 to Anfruns
U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,354 to Petrey
U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,898 to Malpee
More recent attempts to focus on this aspect of footwear were made by Vibram S.p.a. (Five Fingers®) and Fila USA (Skele-toes®), see for example the following U.S. Patents and Publications:
U.S. Pat. No. 7,805,860 to Fliri
U.S. 2010/0299962 to Fliri
U.S. 2012/0000094 to Fliri
D579,181 to Swanson
D582,134 to Von Conta et al.
D586,982 to Fliri
D630,005 to Fliri
D639,535 to Eggert et al.
Applicant is aware of the following additional U.S. Patents and Publications:
U.S. Pat. No. 1,090,731 to Lindbero
U.S. Pat. No. 1,772,179 to Finkelstein
U.S. Pat. No. 2,424,056 to Ruth
U.S. Pat. No. 2,740,207 to Starensier
U.S. Pat. No. 4,017,987 to Perez, Jr. et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,734 to Pugliatti
U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,838 to Corry
U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,007 to Roberts
U.S. Pat. No. 6,334,222 to Sun
U.S. Pat. No. 7,051,457 to Huggins et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,107,626 to Andrews
U.S. Pat. No. 7,739,810 to Luedecke et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,784,115 to Nemcik
US 2002/0157169 to Holloway
US 2008/0189984 to Januszewski et al.
D278,608 to Thompson
D321,971 to Bajork
D581,654 to Miliotis
D640,043 to Buck.
Some of these patents disclose shoes or athletic footwear wherein each toe is independently enclosed or encapsulated in the shoe. The object of such a structured shoe is to provide independent articulation for each of the toes. However, while walking or running with such shoes the toes are restricted from sliding forward and/or extending, thus inhibiting proper blood circulation and causing the toes to cramp, chafe and causing general discomfort. This discomfort and pain is compounded during running due to the increased stress and movement of the foot within the shoe in that they cannot properly accommodate for the forward thrust of the forefoot and toes. Additionally, shoes that completely encapsulate the toes prevent exposure of the toes to the atmosphere, restricting aeration and ventilation which assists in preventing infections of the foot.
Footwear that provides complete exposure of the toes is well known in the art, i.e., your typical thong sandal or slide. However, such shoes do not provide for the individual securement, support, articulation and protection for each toe.
Thus, there is a need for footwear wherein the toes are exposed to permit aeration of the toes and to also provide for the individual securement, support, articulation and protection for each toe. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Farmers utilize multiple vehicle types for tending farm land, whether the work includes preparing the soil or planting or harvesting the crops. Vehicles include tractors for pulling hitched implements (e.g., plows, discs, combines, shredders, balers, etc.) and field application vehicles, or farm vehicles (e.g., row crop sprayers) for spraying fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides.
Row crop sprayers have certain features that are important for minimizing crop damage when spraying. For example, the clearance under the machine is important to provide crop clearance to allow spraying of chemicals with minimal crop disturbance through the growing cycle of the crop. In addition, the total drive package width at the wheel is also important to allow the wheel and drive package to move through certain row spacing with minimal crop damage. In this regard, the sprayer must be able to have adjustable wheel spacing to accommodate different row spacing of crops in various areas of the world.
Some current mechanical drive sprayers utilize a conventional axle (i.e., a straight axle with no drop). With this design, increased crop clearance was obtained simply by increasing the size of the tire and wheel used. This design offers limited crop clearance and wheel track adjustment is not easily accomplished. In other examples, a gear drop box is added to increase crop clearance, but the width of the drive package is increased due to this gearbox.
Farms may vary significantly in size. They range from single household operations to larger commercial or corporate operations that own or lease large tracts of land. While the types of vehicles utilized for these farms are similar in function, they differ in size. For example, tractor horsepower ratings may vary from 44 horsepower for small farm tractors up to 570 horsepower and greater for tractors used for larger operations.
Likewise, field application vehicles also range in size generally in accordance with the capacity of the vehicle. The types of vehicles differ, however, the suspension of the vehicle is an important component for nearly all of them. The suspension is important because it provides comfort for the driver over rough terrain and also enables constant or consistent application of the particular substance being applied to the land or crop. For example, the suspension will absorb at least some of the impact energy as the vehicle traverses rough terrain (e.g., terraced land, creek beds, or washouts due to flooding and erosion). It is important that the impact energy is not substantially transferred to the application equipment, which may result in interruption of the application, over application in a given area, or overspray of the application.
One problem with designing suspension systems capable of handling rough terrain while applying potentially hazardous chemicals is the cost associated with the capacity to haul a large volume of substance for application. For example, increased field application vehicle capacity requires more than merely adding a larger bulk tank to hold a substance for application. A larger tank may result in more weight for the vehicle requiring a stronger motor, more robust driveline components, and a stouter, more sophisticated suspension.
In addition, there are field operation requirements which must be satisfied. For example, typical applicator vehicles (i.e., sprayers) operate by tracking between the crop rows. Applicator vehicles must also maintain a minimum height in order to clear the crop and thus avoid damaging or destroying the crop during the application of a particular substance. Small farm vehicles having light duty drive and suspension systems are adequate for small application needs, however, such designs would not be efficient for larger operations. Larger operations require larger vehicles to carry heavier loads yet maintain the minimum height to prevent crop damage.
In this manner, the relationship between the desired capacity and the operational environment (e.g., the size of the farm) must be considered in the design of the particular vehicle. For larger farms, the increased costs associated with a larger capacity application vehicle may be substantial. For example, in order to provide large field application vehicles capable of safely carrying the weight of a loaded bulk container (e.g., substance capacity ranging from 800-1200 gallons) one design utilizes hydrostatic drive trains. Such systems are complicated and more costly than standard drive shaft systems or chain drive systems, but are best suitable for large capacity systems and can provide maneuverability without damaging crops. For these systems, standard suspensions incorporating leaf springs may be used.
For smaller field application vehicles having 300-400 gallon capacity, chain drive systems may be used. Typically, these vehicles use narrow tires for driving in between the crop rows and carry application equipment that may expand over 3 to 4 rows. Suspension systems for these vehicles may be nonexistent or simply provided by deflating the vehicle tires to soften the ride.
The need arises, however, for a field application (or farm) vehicle which has a capacity for mid-size farms (i.e., a capacity between that for a small application vehicle and that for a large application vehicle) yet the farm vehicle must incorporate a drive system and suspension system which can operate safely within the operational environment utilizing components which fit within the economics of such farms. For example, existing farm vehicles fail to safely meet this need partly because the ground clearance of conventional farm vehicles is dependent on wheel diameter. Increasing wheel diameter to increase ground clearance would raise the farm vehicle's center of gravity to an unsafe height, making it especially prone to rollover on rough terrain.
Thus there is a need for a vehicle which can operate within a farm environment without damaging crops having a drive and suspension system capable of carrying a large quantity of field application material. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an optically variable security attribute for documents, securities, bank notes, packaging and goods.
2. The Prior Art
The introduction of optically variable security attributes has significantly improved the safety from counterfeiting of documents, securities, bank notes, packaging and products. One kind of optically variable security attributes are holograms the data of which can be seen by human vision are subject to change when observed from different angles. The effect yielded an excellent protection against copying since angle-dependant changes could not be copied by a copying apparatus.
Such holograms conventionally consist of a support web, a layer of hardenable lacquer with diffractive structures embossed into it, as well as of a reflection and an additional protection layer. In holograms, the reflection layer consists of a highly brilliant metallization vapor deposited in a high vacuum, which for purposes of checking its authenticity may additionally contain a functional design of demetallized sites which may or may not be seen by human vision. The demetallized sites may be shaped as symbols, letters or geometric figures.
The technological equipment required for fabricating holograms as well analytical apparatus for the recognition of micro-lettering and micro-designs are nowadays readily available to counterfeiters, thus enticing increased safety against counterfeiting by further, and possibly covert, detectable attributes.
From German patent specification DE 298 07 638 it is known to provide the embossing web of a hologram in which one or more security attributes are present, with an additional individualizing characteristic which may be seen by human vision. The characteristic consists, among others, of the removal of a reflection layer, the interruptions thus created serving as the characterizing element.
German patent specification DE 40 30 493 further discloses the application, on a multi-layered data support, of an optically variable element in which there are present retro-fitted additional data recognizable by human vision, e.g. a pattern for a functional design, which are superposed on the optical effect.
German patent specification DE 39 32 505 describes diffractive structures the standard data of which may be altered, in a way detectable by human vision, by additional measures, such as, for instance, removal of the metal layer.
From German patent specifications DE 44 19 505 and DE 44 19 173 magnetizable glossy pigments and mixtures of glossy pigments have become known which are suitable for generating three-dimensional optical effects by the application of magnetic fields during or after application while the application medium is still in a liquid state. They are based upon multiply-coated platelet-shaped non-ferromagnetic metallic substrates, and they are used in lacquers and printing dyes. They are said to be capable of replacing expensive holograms; however, their yieldable color titration is still too low. German patent specification DE 195 15 988 also describes that glossy pigments are used for dying lacquers, inks and printing dyes.
Moreover, German patent specification discloses that in holograms the metallic web usually used a reflection layer may also be fabricated by vapor deposition in vacuum or by applying thin layers of aluminum. Another possibility resides in a described casting method. The thin metal layers collapse and the hologram is destroyed when attempts are made to remove it a security.
From Research Disclosure, December 1995/787, it is known that markings ranging from light to invisible to the eye may be made from suitable polythiophenes, e.g. 3,4-polyethylenedioxythiophene. They absorb light close to the infrared range whereas in visible light they are substantially transparent. A further possibility of distinguishing polythiophene markings is based on their electrical conductivity. Differences in their surface resistance between the non-conductive support and the conductive markings may be registered by suitable arrangements of electrodes.
Furthermore, it is known from European patent specification EP 753 623 to make a security sheet incorporating an electrically conductive element as protection against counterfeiting. The conductive element consists of a polythiophene polymer. Printing dyes containing metallic pigments are similarly mentioned.
Finally, German patent specification DE 38 43 075 describes an arrangement in a security document with a security thread containing a metallic coating. Immediately adjacent the coating there is provided a layer containing electrically conductive pigments or a layer of plastic rendered electrically conductive by its molecular structure. The layer serves to bridge possible interruptions in the metallic coating of the security thread.
The reason for using the holograms as security attributes for individual articles, such as securities or goods, is predicated on their fabrication in large numbers in mostly large-scale industrial plants at as low a price as possible. This is, however, limited by currently practiced technological fabrication processes. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to designing and simulating digital devices, modules and systems in a distributed simulation environment. In particular, the present invention relates to a method and system that improve a distributed simulation environment to allow for efficient monitoring and utilization of instrumentation events embedded with a simulation model. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for providing centralized access to count event information from testing of a hardware simulation model within a batch simulation farm of simulation clients and an instrumentation server.
2. Description of the Related Art
Verifying the logical correctness of a digital design and debugging the design, if necessary, are very important steps in most digital design processes. Logic networks are tested either by actually building networks or by simulating networks on a computer. As logic networks become highly complex, it becomes necessary to simulate a design before the design is actually built. This is especially true when the design is implemented as an integrated circuit, since the fabrication of integrated circuits requires considerable time and correction of mistakes is quite costly. The goal of digital design simulation is the verification of the logical correctness of the design.
In a typical automated design process that is supported by a conventional electronic computer-aided design (ECAD) system, a designer enters a high-level description utilizing a hardware description language (HDL), such as VHDL, producing a representation of the various circuit blocks and their interconnections. The ECAD system compiles the design description into a format that is best suited for simulation. A simulator is then utilized to verify the logical correctness of the design prior to developing a circuit layout.
A simulator is typically a software tool that operates on a digital representation, or simulation model of a circuit, and a list of input stimuli representing inputs of the digital system. A simulator generates a numerical representation of the response of the circuit which may then either be viewed on the display screen as a list of values or further interpreted, often by a separate software program, and presented on the display screen in graphical form. The simulator may be run either on a general purpose computer or on another piece of electronic apparatus, typically attached to a general purpose computer, specially designed for simulation. Simulators that run entirely in software on a general purpose computer will hereinafter be referred to as “software simulators”. Simulators that are run with the assistance of specially designed electronic apparatus will hereinafter be referred to as “hardware simulators”.
Usually, software simulators perform a very large number of calculations and operate slowly from the user's point of view. In order to optimize performance, the format of the simulation model is designed for very efficient use by the simulator. Hardware simulators, by nature, require that the simulation model comprising the circuit description be communicated in a specially designed format. In either case, a translation from an HDL description to a simulation format, hereinafter referred to as a simulation executable model, is required.
The complexity of modern digital circuits demands an enormous amount of resources dedicated to performing and processing simulation of various simulation models. As a result, it is common to employ so-called “batch simulation farms” consisting of hundreds to thousands of computers employing hardware and software simulators. These systems are usually connected to a shared network and run simulation jobs with respect to one or more digital designs. The large numbers of computers performing foreground or background simulation testing enables the large number of simulations required by modern designs to be performed in a timely manner.
A batch simulation farm often encompasses general-purpose computers at geographically separated sites. For example, computers at a locations in different states or countries can be coupled into a given batch simulation farm. Such geographic distribution of servers leads to difficulties in communication and coordination that should be considered when monitoring and utilizing instrumentation events within simulation models.
A batch simulation farm typically contains a number of general-purpose computers that perform as servers that create, distribute, and control the flow of simulation jobs throughout the batch simulation farm. These servers perform simulation jobs, whose nature varies with the specifics of the simulation methodology used and complexity of the digital device, which are then routed to simulation servers within the batch simulation farm for execution.
A simulation server executes the simulation job, taking note of any failures and communicates pass/fail results back to servers within the batch simulation farm for logging and failed testcase storage for eventual debug. To allow for execution of tests on a large number of distributed systems, batch simulation farms will typically utilize a so-called “shared file system”. A shared file system allows a number of disparate general-purpose computers to share a common file system that is located on shared disks in a central location. Examples of such file system are the Networked File System Networked File System (NFS), the Andrew File System (AFS), and the Distributed File System (DFS). The shared files system is used to provide access to common control and data files used by the batch simulation farm.
In addition to a shared file system, a number of well known network communication protocols are typically employed within a batch simulation farm to enable distribution of files, communication and coordination of servers, and inter-process communication among other tasks. Examples of these protocols are such things as File Transfer Protocol or FTP, Sockets for direct network connections between processes on different computers, etc. These protocols are well know to those skilled in the art and are not specific to batch simulation farms, but rather are common to all networking in modern general purpose computers.
A batch simulation farm typically must run in a largely autonomous fashion on a full time basis. This is to allow for the continuous execution of simulation tests without requiring continuous user intervention and direction. This autonomous background execution of tests also makes it possible for so-called “cycle-stealing” on machines not specifically dedicated to simulation. That is to say, general-purpose computers that are normally used by users can execute simulation tests in a background mode. In this background mode, the simulation task can take advantage of the otherwise idle compute resources on a large number of user machines. In addition, it is common for a large number of different simulation models to be active within a batch simulation farm at a given time.
The need for autonomous execution of large numbers of simulation jobs for a wide range of different models leads to certain challenges in monitoring and controlling instrumentation events within these models that must be overcome. Among these challenges is that of providing a means for determining trends in counter instrumentation data within a batch simulation farm environment. In particular, there exists a need to determine differences in rates of occurrence of count events, scaling appropriately for the number of simulation cycles executed, as simulation of one or more simulation models, including instantiated instances of the count events, progresses over time. The present invention addresses such a need. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Conventionally, an imaging device having an optical system shown in FIG. 11 is known as a monocular stereoscopic imaging device (Patent Literature 1).
This optical system has a configuration in which object images having passed through different regions in the horizontal direction of a main lens 1 and a relay lens 2 are pupil-divided by a mirror 4 and are imaged onto imaging elements 7 and 8 through image-forming lenses 5 and 6, respectively.
FIGS. 12(A) to 12(C) show separate states of an image that is imaged onto an imaging element depending on difference among front-focus, in-focus (best focus), and back-focus. In FIG. 12, in order to compare the difference in the separate state by the focusing, the mirror 4 shown in FIG. 11 is omitted.
Among the pupil-divided images, images that are in focus are imaged (matched) at the same position on the imaging element as shown in FIG. 12(B), whereas images that are front and back focused are imaged (separated) at different positions on the imaging element as shown in FIGS. 12(A) and 12(C).
Accordingly, by obtaining object images pupil-divided in the horizontal direction via the imaging elements 7 and 8, a left viewpoint image and a right viewpoint image (3D image), in which viewpoints are different depending on an object distance, can be obtained.
Patent Literature 2 discloses an example of compound-eye stereoscopic imaging device. This imaging device measures a camera shake from a photographed 3D image. When the correction amount of camera shake exceeds a predetermined value, the imaging device determines that the 3D image is not suitable for a stereoscopic view and causes a 2D data creation unit to output photographed image data.
Patent Literature 3 discloses an example of a camera-shake correction mechanism of a compound-eye stereoscopic imaging device.
Patent literature 4 discloses an example of a camera-shake correction mechanism of a monocular camera equipped with a stereo adapter.
Patent Literature 5 discloses an example of a camera provided with an optical camera-shake correction mechanism. The amount of camera shake in a yaw direction ωx and the amount of camera shake in a pitch direction ωy can be obtained by calculating a displacement angle ωx and angular velocity ωx around the y-axis and a displacement angle ωy and angular velocity coy around the x-axis from acceleration a1x and a2x in the x-axis direction and acceleration a1y and a2y in the y-axis direction, respectively.
It is known that when a body to be an object is imaged onto an imaging surface of an imaging element by using an optical system such as a zooming lens, blurring occurs in an image imaged by the imaging element compared to the original body due to an influence of aberration of the optical system, and the image quality is reduced. The intensity distribution of g of the then image is represented byg=f*h+n(* expresses convolution integral) (A)where noise n is added to the convolution of the luminance distribution f of the original body and the point spread function h that is indicative of the image-forming capability of the optical system. The elements g, h, and n being already known, the luminance distribution f of the original body can be calculated by the formula (A). The technique that removes blurring of an optical system by signal processing and obtains an ideal image like this is called “restoration”, “reverse convolution”, or “deconvolution” of the image. A restoration filter based on the point spread function (PSF) is generated in consideration of information of degradation of an image at the time of imaging such as an imaging condition (for example, exposure time, light exposure, a distance to an object, a focusing length) and characteristic information of an imaging device (for example, optical characteristics of a lens, identification information of an imaging device) (Patent Literature 6).
A degradation model based on blurring can be expressed as a function. For example, a blurring phenomenon can be expressed by a normal distribution using a distance (image height) from the center pixel as a parameter (Patent Literature 7).
Patent literature 8 discloses an example of aperture control of an imaging device. A camera is controlled to increase light quantity to a solid-state imaging element by using an extra maximum aperture at the time of photographing by electronic zooming. As a result, a shutter speed can be speeded up, and a camera shake can be prevented. Besides, the camera shake easily occurs as a focusing length of a photographic optical system is closer to the TELE side, however, little camera shake may be indistinctive when photographing is performed at a low resolution. Accordingly, the amount of blurring (the amount of shake) of an image due to the camera shake is calculated, the calculated amount of blurring and image performance data at the extra maximum aperture are compared, and then, in the case where the amount of blurring due to the camera shake exceeds the influence of degradation of the image performance, the photographing is performed in the balance point of the camera shake and the image performance by speeding up a shutter speed using the extra maximum aperture. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The invention relates to a liquid crystal display device having a plurality of pixel electrodes arrayed in a matrix form and, in particular, to a liquid crystal display device in which wiring lines are formed along the rows and columns of the pixel electrodes.
Recently, liquid crystal display devices of a high aperture ratio are demanded to attain high brightness or low power consumption. The aperture ratio can be improved by reducing a distance between a signal line and a pixel electrode, a distance between a scanning line and the pixel electrode, and a length which a light shielding film of a counter substrate overlaps the pixel electrode, within a range admissible in the manufacturing process.
In ordinary TFT (Thin Film Transistor)-type liquid crystal display devices, liquid crystal molecules are reversely tilted up in the vicinity of the scanning and signal lines due to lateral electric fields present between the scanning line and the pixel electrode and between the signal line and the pixel electrode. Thus, as shown in FIG. 1, a disclination line appears in a boundary area between the liquid crystal molecules tilted up at one end and the liquid crystal molecules tilted up at the other end. In this boundary area, it is difficult that the liquid crystal molecules are controlled to have a tilt-up angle corresponding to a voltage applied to the pixel electrode. If such a disclination line is located within the aperture for each pixel, defects such as a poor contrast, irregular image and residual image occur in the display operation, thereby degrading the display quality. To solve the aforementioned problem, the light shielding film is formed in a size capable of masking the disclination line.
Further, a dual domain technique, for example, is utilized for reducing the dependence of the liquid crystal display device upon a viewing angle. In this technique, each pixel is divided into two domains and the liquid crystal molecules in one domain is aligned in an orientation opposite to that of the liquid crystal molecules in the other domain by means of an alignment film, so that the liquid crystal molecules to be tilted up under the applied voltage have pretilt-base ends reversed for each domain. Also in this case, a disclination line appears at the peripheries of the domains. Conventionally, a storage capacitance line is formed to have a shape capable of masking the disclination line so as to avoid the defects caused in the display operation by the disclination line.
In the structure as shown in FIG. 1, however, the disclination line is crooked in a pixel area near an intersection between the scanning line and the signal line. Since the disclination line is masked by increasing the overlap length which the light shielding film of the counter substrate overlaps the pixel electrode, the aperture ratio is lowered.
In the case where the dual domain technique is employed to reduce the dependence upon a viewing angle, the disclination line is also crooked near a boundary between the domains and not parallel to the scanning line, as shown in FIG. 2. Since the storage capacitance line must be formed such that the disclination line is masked, it is difficult to attain a sufficient aperture ratio. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electromagnetic wave analyzer which analyzes the behavior of electromagnetic waves by using computer simulation techniques, and also to a computer-readable medium for storing electromagnetic wave analyzer programs. More particularly, the present invention relates to an electromagnetic wave analyzer which uses finite-difference time-domain (FD-TD) algorithms to numerically solve electromagnetic wave problems, and also to a computer readable medium for storing computer programs designed for that purpose.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today""s computational electromagnetics exploits the finite-difference time-domain (FD-TD) method as a technique to analyze the transitional behavior of electromagnetic waves by using a computer for numerical calculation. The FD-TD algorithm, which solves the Maxwell""s equations in time and spatial domains with difference methods, is actually used in many different situations because of its wide scope of applications. Conventionally, FD-TD solutions are numerically obtained through explicit methods as described below. For simplicity, consider the following one-dimensional parabolic partial differential equation (1). ∂ f ∂ t = ∂ 2 f ∂ x 2 ( 1 ) xe2x80x83ƒ(t,x)=ƒ(nxcex94t,ixcex94x)=ƒinxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2)
where n is the number of time steps that have elapsed from the beginning of computation, xcex94t is the temporal discretization interval (i.e., time step size), i is the grid coordinate number representing a specific point in the one-dimensional space, and xcex94x is the spatial discretization interval (i.e., space increment or cell size). The equation (2) indicates that f is a function of time t and position x, where t and x are discretized as nxcex94t and ixcex94x, respectively. To yield a solution by using an explicit method, the above differential equation is approximated to the following forward-difference expression with respect to its time derivative. f i n + 1 - f i n Δ xe2x80x83 t = f i + 1 n - 2 f i n + f i - 1 n Δ xe2x80x83 x 2 ( 3 )
Let r=xcex94t/xcex94x2, then this equation (3) can be rewritten as follows.
ƒin+1=rƒi+1n+(1-2r)ƒin+rƒixe2x88x921nxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(4)
Note that, when a solution at time nxcex94t is given, this equation (4) immediately gives the next solution at time (n+1)xcex94t. Numerical solvers of this kind are referred to as explicit methods.
The explicit difference method of the equation (4), however, must satisfy the following condition for stability to make sure that the solution will converge toward a final solution. r = Δ xe2x80x83 t Δ xe2x80x83 x 2 ≤ 1 2 ( 5 )
Furthermore, to avoid numerical instability in FD-TD computation, the following condition should be satisfied, which is known as the Courant, Friedrich, and Levy (CFL) condition, or Courant condition. Δ xe2x80x83 t ≤ 1 v ( 1 Δ xe2x80x83 x min ) 2 + ( 1 Δ xe2x80x83 y min ) 2 + ( 1 Δ xe2x80x83 z min ) 2 ( 6 )
Detailed discussion on the CFL condition in FD-TD is found in the literature, A. Taflove, xe2x80x9cComputational Electrodynamics,xe2x80x9d MA, Artech House Inc., 1995. The equation (6) is known as the Courant condition for three-dimensional wave analysis, where v is the propagation rate of electromagnetic waves, and xcex94xmin, xcex94ymin, and xcex94zmin are minimum values of spatial discretization intervals in the x, y, and z directions, respectively.
Because of the constraints discussed above, the maximum time step size in explicit methods is dependent on the minimum cell size. That is, the time step size must be reduced when analyzing an object having fine geometrical features, resulting in an increased number of simulation steps to be iterated. This would cause a serious problem of long simulation time, particularly when calculating a time response for an extended period.
Partial differential equations can be solved not only with explicit methods, but also with implicit methods. For example, a backward difference approximation to the one-dimensional parabolic partial differential equation (1) is as follows. f i n + 1 - f i n Δ xe2x80x83 t = f i + 1 n + 1 - 2 f i n + 1 + f i - 1 n + 1 Δ xe2x80x83 x 2 ( 7 )
Similar to the case of explicit methods mentioned above, this difference equation (7) can be rearranged as follows, by letting r=xcex94t/xcex94x2.
xe2x88x92rƒi+1n+1+(1+2r)ƒin+1xe2x88x92rƒixe2x88x921n+1xc3x97ƒinxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(8)
This equation (8) is an implicit expression of the problem to be solved. Unlike the explicit methods, the numerical stability is guaranteed when solving this implicit expression. In the implicit method, however, it is necessary to solve the following set of simultaneous equations in order to obtain a series of fin+1. ( b 1 c 1 xe2x80x83 xe2x80x83 xe2x80x83 xe2x80x83 a 2 b 2 c 2 xe2x80x83 0 xe2x80x83 xe2x80x83 xe2x80x83 ⋰ xe2x80x83 xe2x80x83 xe2x80x83 xe2x80x83 xe2x80x83 xe2x80x83 ⋰ xe2x80x83 xe2x80x83 xe2x80x83 0 xe2x80x83 a i xe2x80x83 max - 1 b i xe2x80x83 max - 1 c i xe2x80x83 max - 1 xe2x80x83 xe2x80x83 xe2x80x83 xe2x80x83 a i xe2x80x83 max b i xe2x80x83 max ) ( f 1 n + 1 f 2 n + 1 ⋮ ⋮ f i xe2x80x83 max - 1 n + 1 f i xe2x80x83 max n + 1 ) = ( f 1 n f 2 n ⋮ ⋮ f i xe2x80x83 max - 1 n f i xe2x80x83 max n ) ( 9 )
where ai is the invariable part (xe2x88x92r) of the third term of the left-hand side of equation (8) when i=1, 2, . . . imax, bi is the invariable part (1+2r) of the second term of the left-hand side of equation (8) when i=1, 2, . . . imax, and ci is the invariable part (xe2x88x92r) of the first term of the left-hand side of equation (8) when i=1, 2, . . . imax.
To analyze the transient behavior of electromagnetic waves, it is required to solve a partial differential equation in the space of at least two dimensions. Special care must be taken when solving this kind of problems by use of implicit methods. Consider here that the following two-dimensional partial differential equation is given. ∂ f ∂ t = ∂ 2 f ∂ x 2 + ∂ 2 f ∂ y 2 ( 10 )
To solve this equation (10) with, for example, the Crank-Nicolson method, its time derivative term is approximated as follows. f i . j n + 1 - f i . j n Δ xe2x80x83 t = xe2x80x83 1 2 { f i + 1. j n - 2 f i . j n + f i - 1. j n Δ xe2x80x83 x 2 + f i . j + 1 n - 2 f i . j n + f i . j - 1 n Δ xe2x80x83 y 2 } + xe2x80x83 1 2 { f i + 1. j n + 1 - 2 f i . j n + 1 + f i - 1. j n + 1 Δ xe2x80x83 x 2 + f i . j + 1 n + 1 - 2 f i . j n + 1 + f i . j - 1 n + 1 Δ xe2x80x83 y 2 } ( 11 )
The solution of this equation (11) can be reached by solving a set of simultaneous linear equations having as many unknowns as (Nxxe2x88x921)xc3x97(Nyxe2x88x921), where Nx and Ny are the numbers of meshes in the x-axis and y-axis directions, respectively. This computation makes extreme demands on oth computer memory and processing power, even when fine meshing is required. The result is that implicit methods are as time-consuming as explicit methods, even when the simulation model has a fine geometrical feature that needs a smaller cell size.
Taking the above into consideration, an object of the present invention is to provide an electromagnetic wave analyzer which analyzes electromagnetic waves at a higher computation speed even when the object model has a fine geometrical feature.
To accomplish the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided an electromagnetic wave analyzer for analyzing electromagnetic wave propagation by solving Maxwell""s equations in both time and spatial domains. This analyzer comprises an analysis command input unit which produces a command to initiate a simulation after establishing initial conditions and parameters necessary therefor. Here, the initial conditions and parameters include a temporal discretization interval xcex94t. The analyzer also comprises an analyzing unit which is responsive to the command from the analysis command input unit. This analyzing unit analyzes the behavior of an electromagnetic wave with an alternating direction implicit finite-difference time-domain method which refers to a state of the electromagnetic wave at a first time point to calculate a new state of the electromagnetic wave at a second time point being xcex94t after the first time point.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention by way of example. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The demand for security systems that monitor homes and businesses for alarm conditions has continued to grow as more home and business owners seek to protect their premises from various hazards and threats. Such hazards and threats include intrusion, fire, carbon monoxide and flooding, among others dangers that may be monitored and reported to a monitoring station.
Conventional security systems typically employ a wall-mounted control panel (typically mounted in a less accessible area of a home) that receives information from various sensors, and may trigger alarms based on the received information. These triggered alarms are then reported by the control panel to a monitoring center via a plain old telephone service (POTS) line, digital subscriber line (DSL), or cellular radio, such that the monitoring center can take appropriate action. However, installation and servicing complexity associated with these systems tends to be high as an installer has to physically mount the control panel onto the wall and configure the various sensors. These systems also typically incorporate a manufacturer's specific technology designed for the manufacturer's security application, and are thus limited for use only with certain life safety type devices such as door and window contacts, smoke detectors, motion detectors, etc. This is true as well for more recent all-in-one (AIO) security systems, in which the control panel and a user interface (such as a keypad) are combined in a single unit. To reduce some of the cost associated with installation of such systems, portable AIO systems have been implemented so that the unit that may be relocated around the premise and not permanently installed. For example, the unit may sit on top of a table or on the floor, but communicates with life safety sensors in a similar manner as a wall-mounted security panel.
While the complexity of portable AIO systems is less than more conventional security panels installations, portable AIO systems may be more vulnerable to damage and tampering. For example, portable AIO systems are often located near an entrance or exit, and even chirp when a sensor is activated or to remind a homeowner to disarm the system—announcing its location. A thief may break into a residence protected by a portable AIO in which the thief may be able to destroy/disable the portable AIO system and prevent the AIO system from triggering an alarm. The phenomenon of a thief breaking in and disabling the portable AIO system control panel is referred to as “crash and smash” and is a growing problem.
While a homeowner may take measures to prevent “crash and smash” by hiding the portable AIO system in a remote closet or back room, such a location is often not practical because the home or business owner still needs access to the portable AIO system in order to arm/disarm or otherwise control the system via the built-in keypad. For example, the business owner may be forced to initiate arming of the portable AIO system located in a backroom and then run to exit the premises before the system is armed. In other words, while portable AIO systems may be less complex than more conventional wall-mounted security panels, they are also more vulnerable to tampering and disablement.
Another issue associated with some portable AIO systems is that these systems are designed to operate using only the built-in user interface. If the control panel becomes damaged, due to weather or tampering by a thief, the system may be rendered inoperable. Also, a single point of control on the premise makes configuration of the system more difficult as an installer often has to go back and forth between the control panel and various sensors during installation to configure the sensors.
Moreover, both portable AIO security systems and conventional security panels are typically limited to controlling and monitoring life safety, such as intrusion and fire detection. But today, home or business owners want to utilize additional life style features (such as lighting control, temperature control and remote viewing of video). Such life style systems operate in a manner that has developed largely independent of life safety systems. For example, the life style devices provide different types of event information and are typically operated and managed through a different provider and/or remote system than those used for monitoring life safety. Consequently, in order to add this lifestyle capability, users have to have completely separate hardware/software/service directed to controlling and monitoring these additional features, with a separate user interface dedicated solely to controlling the separate system. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device and, more particularly, to improvements in isolation techniques in the manufacture of bipolar type or MOS type ICs and LSIs.
In the manufacture of a semiconductor device, particularly a bipolar IC, the isolation of elements is usually realized by a p-n junction and an oxide film formed by a selective oxidation process. This process will now be described in connection with the manufacture of a bipolar vertical npn transistor.
First, in a p-type silicon substrate 1 an n-type buried region 2 of high impurity concentration is selectively formed as shown in FIG. 1A. An n-type semiconductor layer 3 is then epitaxially grown. A silicon oxide film 4 is then formed to a thickness of approximately 1,000 .ANG., and then an oxidation-resistive silicon nitride film 5 is deposited to a thickness of approximately 1,000 .ANG.. The silicon oxide film 4 and silicon nitride film 5 are then patterned using the photoetching technology to form a silicon oxide film pattern 4a, 4b and a silicon nitride film pattern 5a, 5b as shown in FIG. 1B. The n-type semiconductor layer 3 is then selectively etched to a depth of approximately 5,000 .ANG. using the silicon oxide film pattern 4a, 4b and silicon nitride film pattern 5a, 5b as a mask. Then, boron is ion implanted using the patterns 4a, 4b and 5a, 5b as a mask to form p-type regions 6a and 6b as shown in FIG. 1C. Subsequently, a silicon oxide film 7a to 7c is selectively grown to a thickness of approximately 1 .mu.m through thermal oxidation carried out in steam or like wet atmosphere, as shown in FIG. 1D. The silicon nitride film pattern 5a, 5b is then removed, for instance using hot phosphoric acid, and a base region 8 is formed in that portion of the semiconductor layer 3 which has been under the silicon nitride film pattern 5a. Further, an n-type region 9 to serve as an emitter and an n-type region 10 to serve as a collector are formed by ion implantation of arsenic. A contact window is further formed in the silicon oxide film 4a. Then, an emitter electrode 12, a base electrode 11 and a collector electrode 13 are formed to obtain a vertical npn transistor as shown in FIG. 1E. In this case, the isolation of the npn transistor is realized by the combination of the oxide film portions 7a and 7c with the thickness of approximately 1 .mu.m and p-type regions 6a and 6b. If the thickness of the n-type semiconductor layer 3 is of the order of 1 to 2 .mu.m, the isolation can be obtained with the oxide film only by forming the oxide film to be contiguous to the p-type substrate 1. Also, even in this case, it is desirable to form channel stop regions between the p-type substrate and oxide film by ion implanting a p-type impurity.
The method of manufacturing a bipolar IC using a selective oxidation process as described above, however, has various drawbacks as described in the following.
FIG. 2 shows a detailed sectional structure that is obtained when the field oxide film 7a, 7b is formed using the Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 film pattern 5a, 5b as a mask. Here, no process of etching the silicon layer 3 has been carried out. It is well known in the art that in a selective oxidation process an oxide film "wedges into" a region underneath Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 film pattern (as shown at F in FIG. 2). This portion of the oxide film 7b consists of a commonly termed bird's beak D, which is formed as the oxidizing agent and is diffused through the thin SiO.sub.2 film 4a under the Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 pattern 5a, and a portion E which is formed as the thick portion of the oxide film 7b extends laterally. When the oxide film 7b is grown to a thickness of 1 .mu.m with the Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 film 5a formed to have a thickness of 1,000 .ANG. and the SiO.sub.2 film 4a under the film 5a formed to have a thickness of 1,000 .ANG., the lateral dimension of the portion F increases to approximately 1 .mu.m. Therefore, if the distance A between the Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 pattern portions 5a and 5b is 2 .mu.m, the isolation region C inevitably has a width of at least 4 .mu.m because the portion F has a width of 1 .mu.m. This is a serious restriction on the integration density of an LSI. There have been attempts to suppress the bird's beak (i.e., portion D) by increasing the thickness of the Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 film pattern 5a, 5b while reducing the thickness of the SiO.sub.2 film and also to suppress the "wedging" portion F by reducing the thickness of growth of the oxide film 7b. However, in the former case an excessive stress results at the wedging portion of the isolation region. In this case, generation of defects is prone. In the latter case, the field inversion voltage is reduced. In addition, the wiring capacitance in the isolation region is increased. In either case, the selective oxidation process imposes restrictions on the integration density.
The problems that arise due to formation of the bird's beak will now be discussed in connection with a prior art method of manufacturing a bipolar transistor using a selective oxidation process as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B.
In the illustrated method, a SiO.sub.2 film 22, 22b is formed by the conventional selective oxidation process on a semiconductor layer 21 which is also an n-type collector region as shown in FIG. 3A. With this oxide film as a mask, boron is ion implanted to form a p-type base region 23. Subsequently, an n-type emitter region 25 is formed by a diffusion process or an ion implantation process as shown in FIG. 3B. A SiO.sub.2 film 24 is formed as an insulating film for insulating the base and emitter electrodes from each other.
Problems in this method of manufacturing the bipolar transistor using the selective oxidation process reside mainly in the shape of the bird's beak of the SiO.sub.2 film 22a, 22b and the stress in the semiconductor region in the neighborhood of the bird's beak as well as resultant generation of defects. The depth D of the base junction right beneath the bird's beak is less than the depth C of the base junction right beneath the principal surface of the semiconductor substrate by the thickness of the oxide film of the bird's beak. The value of the depth D is further reduced since the surface of the silicon oxide film is etched in the etching process during manufacture. If an aluminum electrode is formed as a base electrode, the aluminum is therefore liable to penetrate the base region due to reaction between aluminum and silicon. This would result in a defective element. In addition to the smaller depth of the base junction right beneath the bird's beak, the end of the bird's beak recedes in the etching process in manufacture. Therefore, the depth of the emitter junction beneath the bird's beak becomes greater than that beneath the other portions. Further, due to defects caused by stress produced in the selective oxidation process, abnormal diffusion takes place in the emitter region increasing the depth of the emitter junction. Therefore, the depth dimension B of the base right beneath the bird's beak becomes less than the normal base depth A. For the above reasons, defective collector-emitter breakdown voltage on the npn transistor becomes probable. This problem is encountered when the selective oxidation process is employed in the manufacture of a bipolar IC.
To overcome the above drawbacks, one of the inventors earlier proposed a method of manufacturing a bipolar semiconductor device (such as a vertical npn transistor), in which the isolation regions are formed in a novel process which will now be described with reference to FIGS. 4A to 4E.
First, in a p-type semiconductor substrate 101 a high-impurity concentration buried layer 102 doped with an n-type impurity is formed as shown in FIG. 4A. Atop the system an n-type epitaxial layer 103 is grown to a thickness of approximately 2.5 .mu.m. A resist pattern 104a, 104b, 104c is then formed by a photoetching process on the semiconductor layer 103. The semiconductor layer 103 is then selectively etched by an anisotropic reactive ion etching process with the resist pattern 104a, 104b, 104c as the etching mask. Thus, grooves 105a and 105b with a width of approximately 1 .mu.m and a depth of approximately 3 .mu.m are formed to isolate an island region of the n-type semiconductor layer 103, as shown in FIG. 4B. At this time, it is desirable to form p-type channel stop regions 106a and 106b by ion implanting boron.
Subsequently, the resist pattern 104, 104b, 104c is removed, and then a SiO.sub.2 film 107 is deposited by the CVD process to a thickness sufficiently greater than one half of the width of the isolating grooves 105a and 105b (which is approximately 5,000 .ANG.). At this time, SiO.sub.2 is gradually deposited on the surfaces of the grooves 105a and 105b to eventually fill the grooves. The SiO.sub.2 film 107 thus formed has a substantially flat surface. During the deposition process, re-distribution of the impurity in the p-type regions 106a and 106b hardly occurs unlike in the selective oxidation process in which thermal oxidation is carried out at a high temperature and for a long time. The SiO.sub.2 film 107 is then etched using ammonium fluoride until the semiconductor layer 103, other than the grooves 105a and 105b, is exposed. In this step, only the thickness of the SiO.sub.2 film 107 atop the semiconductor layer 103 is removed to leave SiO.sub.2 in the grooves 105a and 105b as shown in FIG. 4D. Thus, isolating layers 107a and 107b buried in the semiconductor layer 103 are formed.
Thereafter, a p-type base region 108 is formed by ion implanting boron in a resist block process in the semiconductor region isolated by the isolating regions 107a and 107b. An insulating film 109 is then formed to a thickness of approximately 3,000 .ANG. on the entire wafer surface. Emitter and collector impurity diffusion windows are formed by using a photoetching process. Arsenic is then ion implanted through the windows to form an n-type regio 110 which serves as emitter and an n-type region 111 which serves as collector. The insulating film 109 is then formed with a window for the p-type base region 108. An electrode material such as Al is then deposited on the wafer surface and patterned by a photoetching process to form a base electrode 112, an emitter electrode 113 and a collector electrode 114, as shown in FIG. 4E. An npn bipolar transistor is obtained in this way.
The method described above has various effects as described in the following.
Firstly, since the area of the isolating regions is determined by the area of the grooves formed in the semiconductor layer, narrow isolating regions can be readily formed by reducing the area of grooves. Thus, it is possible to obtain a bipolar semiconductor device having an increased integration density.
Secondly, since the depth of the isolating regions is determined independently of their area but solely by the depth of grooves formed in the semiconductor layer, it can be selected to a desired value. In addition, current leaks among individual semiconductor elements can be reliably prevented by the isolation regions. Thus, it is possible to obtain a high-performance bipolar semiconductor device.
Thirdly, the method is free from a high temperature and long time thermal oxidation treatment as in the ordinary selective oxidation process. Thus, the channel stop region impurity that has been selectively doped through the grooves will never re-diffuse laterally to reach the buried layer or active transistor regions in the isolated transistor region. This has the effect of preventing the reduction of the isolated element region. If the impurity doping is done by ion implantation, an impurity ion implantation layer can be formed at the bottom of each groove. In this case, even if rediffusion of the impurity in the ion implantating layer is caused, the re-diffusion region will never develop to reach the surface layer in the isolated element region (i.e., active regions of transistor). Thus, it is possible to prevent deterioration of the impurity doped regions of the transistor as well as preventing the effective reduction of the isolated element region.
Fourthly, the isolating regions formed by leaving an insulating material in the entire grooves can be flush with the isolated element region. Thus, it is possible to eliminate disconnection of subsequently formed electrode at the boundary between the isolated element region and an isolating region.
While the above method has the various advantages described, it still is defficient when an isolating region having a large width is formed, though there is no problem when all the isolating regions have a small width. Since the width S of an isolating region is determined by the width S of the corresponding groove, in order to completely fill the groove with an insulating film, the thickness T of the insulating film must be set to be T>1/2S. If it is intended to form an isolating region having a large width, it is necessary to deposit an insulating film to a considerable thickness. For example, in order to form an isolating region having a width of 20 .mu.m, it is necessary to deposit an insulating film to a thickness of at least 10 .mu.m. In this case, many difficulties are encountered in connection with the deposition period, precision of the film thickness, conditions free from the generation of cracks and so forth. Furthermore, by the above method it is very difficult to form an isolating region having as large a width as 200 .mu.m (such as the one under an aluminum bonding pad). If an isolating region having a large width is necessary, therefore, it is formed by a method as shown in FIG. 5. Here, after narrow isolating layers 107a, 107b and 107c have been formed in respective grooves, an insulating film (for instance a SiO.sub.2 film) is deposited and selectively photoetched to form an isolating region 107' having a large width.
Although an isolating region having a large width can be formed by this method, the isolating region thus obtained is not flush with the isolated element region, that is, a difference in level is produced between the isolating region and the isolated element region. When using the selective oxidation process, one half of the isolating layer (field oxide layer) is buried in the semiconductor layer, but according to the method of FIG. 5 the entirety of the insulating film 107' constitutes the difference in level. In other words, FIG. 5, the difference in level is more than when using the selective oxidation process. This is a serious drawback when microlithography is required in the neighborhood of the wide isolating layer. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The inference problem in databases (and in social networks too, in a slightly different guise) occurs when sensitive information is disclosed indirectly, via a series of ostensibly secure answers to queries. Even though each individual query answer may be properly authorized for disclosure (i.e., the user's clearance level may permit her to receive the answer), the answers may nevertheless collectively compromise sensitive information, in that the user may be able to infer from these answers information that she is not authorized to have, particularly when she combines the answers with some additional knowledge, e.g., metadata such as integrity constraints or functional dependencies, or domain-specific knowledge.
The problem has attracted a great deal of attention. Most approaches fall into two camps, static and dynamic. Static approaches analyze a database prior to querying and try to detect so-called “inference channels” that could result in inference-based leaks of sensitive information. When such channels are identified, the database is modified in order to eliminate them; typically the security levels of various attributes are raised accordingly. This usually results in over-classification: large portions of the data are classified as sensitive, and overall data availability is thereby decreased, making the database less useful. As a rather simplistic example, consider a database with three attributes, Name, Rank, and Salary. Suppose that we wish to keep secret the association between names and salaries, but we freely disclose the association between names and ranks, and between ranks and salaries. Given a functional dependency Rank→Salary that may be widely known, it is clear that the user could come to infer salaries from ranks. In the static approach, the solution would be to make the Rank a sensitive attribute.
Dynamic approaches, by contrast, attempt to detect potential inferences of sensitive information at query time. If no inference is detected, the regular answer to the query can be released. But if it is determined that potentially compromising inferences could be made on the basis of the answer (and other knowledge, such as previous answers, metadata, etc.), then the answer is not released; it is withheld, or suppressed, or generalized, and so on. Dynamic approaches have the benefit of being considerably more precise than static approaches. On average, data is more available under a dynamic approach because there is no need to be overly conservative ahead of time; protective measures are taken only if and when needed. The main drawbacks of dynamic approaches have been incompleteness and inefficiency. Incompleteness means that only a very restricted class of inferences could be detected; and inefficiency typically means that the detection was computationally expensive.
Given that the issue at hand is information inference, it would appear that logic-based techniques such as theorem proving might be of use. Indeed, theorem proving techniques could be (and have been) used to tackle the inference problem, roughly along the following lines: For any given time point t, let At={a1, . . . , at}, t≧1, be the answers to all the queries that a given user has previously posed (up to time t). Further, let B be a set of background knowledge that the user can be reasonably expected to have. For instance, B could be a set of functional dependencies for the underlying database. Now, let qt+1 be a new query, and let at+1 be the answer to it. An inference-blocking information-management system will decline to disclose at+1 if A∪B∪{at+1}|−p, where p is a sensitive proposition that should not be made available to this particular user (e.g., because her security clearance level is insufficient). Typically p is an atomic proposition that reveals the value of a sensitive attribute for a given individual, such assalary(Tom)=70K (1.1)
In other words, the new query will not be answered lithe answer could be used, in tandem with previous answers and background knowledge, to deduce some sensitive information item about someone.
There are two main drawbacks to this approach. First, usually there is no single proposition p that we wish to protect but many. For instance, we wish to prevent the disclosure of all sensitive attribute values for all individuals in a given database. At least in principle, there are a couple of ways of handling this problem. First, one might run a theorem-proving procedure such as resolution to completion, deriving not one but very many conclusions from A∪B∪{at+1 }, and then checking to see if any sensitive proposition is among the conclusions. A slightly more targeted approach is to formulate a disjunctive proposition p1 V . . . V pn containing all the propositions whose secrecy we wish to maintain under the circumstances, and check whetherA∪B∪{at+1}|−p1V . . . Vpn (1.2)
Neither formulation is particularly practical or elegant. But there is a second serious problem, namely, the answer at+1 might amount to a partial information disclosure. That is, it might not allow the user to deduce a particular sensitive proposition such as (1.1), i.e., a specific value for some individual's sensitive attribute, but it may nevertheless provide helpful information in that it might eliminate certain alternatives, thereby narrowing the pool of possible values for the attribute in question. For instance, suppose that we are dealing with a company database and that company rank is a sensitive attribute. Suppose further that company rank is either E, F, G, or H; and that the user knows that the company rank of a certain employee x is either F, G, or H. In reality, it is F. Now if the new query answer allows the user to eliminate H as a possibility, it is clear that it has given her some sensitive information, even though she remains unable to derive the actual database entry, rank (x)=F. The upshot is that a security breach may well occur even though (1.2) does not hold. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to torque rod for vehicles, and, more particularly, to a torque rod for a vehicle, which is configured to reduce the number of components and to simplify a work process.
2. Description of Related Art
A torque rod for a vehicle is a rod that connects a sub-frame provided on a lower portion of the vehicle to an engine or a transmission of the vehicle so as to support the engine or the transmission. In order to prevent resonance from occurring due to the transmission of vibration or noise from the engine to a vehicle body, a damper is generally provided on an end of the torque rod.
As the related art, “torque rods for vehicles” was proposed. This torque rod is configured to include an engine bushing assembly, a vehicle body bushing assembly, a connecting rod, a hinge block, and two guide frames. The engine bushing assembly is coupled to an engine and transmission assembly of a vehicle. A coupling hole is longitudinally formed in a central portion of the vehicle body bushing assembly. The connecting rod connects the engine bushing assembly to the vehicle body bushing assembly. The hinge block is attached to an outer surface of the vehicle body bushing assembly, with a hinge hole formed in a central portion thereof to be parallel to the coupling hole. The two guide frames are located, respectively, on opposite sides of the vehicle body bushing assembly to be coupled with each other via a hinge bolt that passes through the coupling hole and the hinge hole.
However, such a conventional torque rod is problematic in that a plurality of additional components such as the guide frame is required to mount the damper to the vehicle body, and besides, a swaging operation should be performed to enhance the durability of the damper.
In this regard, the swaging operation means an operation that removes residual stress from the damper while a product is expanded and then restored to its original state by a temperature, after the damper is formed. This operation is intended to remove the residual stress from the interior of the damper by applying a compressive force to an exterior of the damper. However, this is problematic in that an additional process of compressing the damper should be performed, thus requiring an additional work process and leading to an increase in cost.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
In spinning Hall sensors, in particular vertical Hall sensors, an undesired residual offset after spinning is observed. This offset is caused primarily by nonlinear voltage-dependent resistors in the Hall plate and is known as the “junction-field effect” or “backbias effect” of the Hall plates.
Referring to FIG. 1, conventional efforts to address the residual offset include 90-degree parallel switching of the Hall plates (FIG. 1A), with a biasing voltage or current applied in each spinning phase and a differential voltage or current read as output (FIG. 1B). Such a “forced symmetry” approach, however, reduces but does not eliminate the offset. This is true in particular with respect to vertical Hall plates, which are asymmetrical in different spinning phases, though it applies as well to lateral Hall plates having a mismatch in the Hall plate itself and/or local stress effects. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and a system for containing and neutralizing a heavy vapor cloud and aerosols of corrosive and toxic substances, such as hydrogen fluoride (HF), hydrofluoric acid, ammonia, chlorine and the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for containing and neutralizing such substances in the event of an accidental release.
2. Description of Prior Art
Hydrofluoric acid is toxic and corrosive. In gaseous vapor or liquid form, hydrofluoric acid attacks the skin, and will on contact cause ulceration of mucous membranes and possibly chemical pneumonia to those exposed to it. Hydrofluoric acid is, however, an industrially important chemical. It is used to manufacture fluorine and to prepare fluorides and other chemical compounds. It is also used as a catalyst for isomerization, condensation, polymerization and hydrolysis reactions. The petroleum industry uses anhydrous hydrogen fluoride primarily as a liquid catalyst for the alkylation of olefinic hydrocarbons to produce alkylate for increasing the octane number of gasoline.
The petroleum refining industry has always recognized the potential for hazard created by HF alkylation units. Accordingly, the industry has consistently ensured that a high level of safety is maintained by use of superior mechanical and metallurgical specifications, and operational practices in the design, construction and operation of these units. As a result, the HF alkylation process has enjoyed an almost unparalleled record of industrial safety. However, the industry has continued to seek enhancement of the intrinsic safety of these units to secure a higher level of potential operating safety and to guard against the consequences of an uncontrolled release of unit contents.
The potential magnitude of the risk inherent in operating an HF alkylation unit may be reduced by a number of qualitative methods that have been proposed for treating HF spills. The most common method is the use of a simple water drench system. Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 3rd Edition, Volume 1, page 655 reports that water the most common absorption liquid is used for removing acidic gases, especially if the last contact is with water of alkaline pH. However, because of the aerosol nature of an HF cloud in which the HF droplets are in the order of 0.1 micron and thus very small compared to droplets of water in a simple water drench, the water drench generally has difficulty in removing all the HF present in the cloud.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,460 relates to treating an HF liquid spill by applying to the spill a quantity of an aqueous solution of calcium acetate equal to at least seven times the estimated volume of the spill, and thereafter treating the spill with powdered magnesium oxide. The mixture is tested using a pH indicator such as bromothymol blue. After the mixture reaches a persistent blue color, indicating a safe state, the spill is cleaned up mechanically.
At the 1982 Hazardous Material Spills Conference, Edward C. Norman of National Foam System Inc reported the application of limestone and then CHF-784 foam (a proprietary composition) to the contents of a damaged tank emitting an HF cloud. An immediate reduction in fume evolution was apparent after the foam application.
Gordon K. Braley, at the proceedings of the 1980 National Conference on Control of Hazardous Material Spills, in Louisville, Ky. on May 15, 1980 reported the treatment of relatively small amounts of controlled liquid spills of anhydrous hydrogen fluoride with high molecular weight polymers including polyacrylamide, polymethyl methacrylate, and polyvinyl alcohol. These materials applied in the form of a bead polymer formed a skin over the spill preventing fuming of the liquid. Polyacrylamide was deemed the most effective skin-forming agent. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Valves traditionally used in high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) systems typically operate under high-pressure (about 1 to 400 bar or higher) and allow switching between inlet and outlet ports or allow a single port to be selectively connected to one or more outlet ports. Due to the high-pressure requirements, large forces need to be applied to the components to maintain a seal between them, which has typically been implemented by using screws to hold the components in place. This method of affixing the components is effective and, depending on the size of the system and the screws, high holding-forces can be generated. In addition, this system works for valve systems that do not need maintenance often or for systems that do not need valve components changed or replaced. There are, however, disadvantages to using screws to provide the high forces necessary to ensure seal formation. First, it is difficult to apply the force directly and evenly between the various components, particularly when tightening and loosening the screws. Because the screws are distributed around the perimeter of a typical interface, it is inherently difficult to tighten the screws such that an even force is applied among the components unless all the screws are tightened simultaneously. Second, if the one or more components need to be removed repeatedly and often, it is time-consuming and possible to damage one or more of the components. Third, once screws are removed from the system, they are loose and subject to misplacement or loss.
Microfluidic devices can be used within HPLC or HPLC-like valves and devices to great effect (U.S. Pat. No. 6,702,256, which is incorporated herein by reference), solving the historically challenging process of connecting traditional fittings and equipment to microscale components. However, using screws to mount these devices is, for the above reasons, undesirable. Thus, for any system that requires frequent and(or easy exchange of parts (e.g., microfluidic devices and HPLC stators) it is preferable to use a method of mounting that does not use screws. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Roller conveyors typically include a plurality of rollers mounted along and between a pair of opposite sidewalls of the conveyor. The rollers may be divided into zones, each of which may include a powered or driven or motorized roller and a plurality of idler or slave rollers interconnected to the powered roller. The rollers may be interconnected via a plurality of O-rings or bands which are wrapped around a pair of adjacent rollers. Because each idler roller may thus be connected to the powered roller via one or more bands, when the powered roller is deactivated and rotation stopped, the rotation of the connected slave rollers is also stopped via the O-rings. Packages or articles on the rollers thus cannot coast to a stop on the conveying surface. This substantially limits the ability of the conveyor to move the packages closer together while accumulating the packages at the zones of the conveyor. Also, starting and stopping of the rollers may cause slippage of the O-rings on the rollers, which may further lead to wear and eventual failure of the O-rings. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates generally to chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), and more specifically to an apparatus and method for preventing the premature mixture of reactant gas constituents in CVD and PECVD reactions before such mixture is desired in the reaction chamber.
In the formation of integrated circuits (IC""s), it is often necessary to deposit thin films or layers, such as films containing metal and metalloid elements, upon the surface of a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer. One purpose of such thin films is to provide conductive and ohmic contacts in the circuits and to yield conductive or barrier layers between the various devices of an IC. For example, a desired film might be applied to the exposed surface of a contact or via hole on an insulating layer of a substrate, with the film passing through the insulating layer to provide plugs of conductive material for the purpose of making inter-connections across the insulating layer.
One well known process for depositing such films is chemical vapor deposition (CVD) in which a film is deposited using chemical reactions between various constituent or reactant gases. In CVD, reactant gases are pumped into the processing space of a reaction chamber containing a substrate. The gases react in the processing space proximate the substrate, resulting in one or more reaction by-products. The reaction by-products then deposit onto the substrate to form a film on the exposed substrate surface.
Another variation of the CVD process which is widely utilized is a plasma-enhanced CVD process or PECVD process in which one or more of the reactant gases is ionized into a gas plasma to provide energy to the reaction process. PECVD is desirable for lowering the temperatures that are usually necessary for a proper reaction with standard CVD. In PECVD, electrical energy is delivered to the gas or gases to form and sustain the plasma. For one such PECVD process, the susceptor containing the substrate and a planar element in the processing space, such as a gas supply element, are electrically biased to operate as RF electrodes for energizing one or more of the reactant gases into an ionized plasma. Such a method is commonly referred to as a parallel plate method because the susceptor and the other biased planar element are maintained generally parallel to one another to simulate biased electrical plates with the substrate positioned therebetween and parallel to the biased elements.
The reactant gases for CVD and PECVD processes are delivered to the processing space and substrate through a gas delivery system which provides the proper flow and distribution of the gases for the CVD process. Generally, such gas delivery systems contain gas-dispersing elements in the reaction chamber, such as gas injector rings or flat showerheads, which spread the entering reactant gases around the processing space to insure a uniform distribution and flow of the gases proximate the substrate. Uniform gas distribution and flow is desirable for a uniform and efficient deposition process, a dense plasma, and a uniformly deposited film. Since the gases utilized in CVD and PECVD processes are reactive, it is often necessary to use a separate dispersing element for each constituent gas in order to keep the gases segregated or unmixed prior to the processing space. Otherwise, if the gases mix prior to the processing space, premature deposition occurs inside the dispersing element and inside other sections of the gas delivery system, which hinders a uniform flow of the gas, degrades the deposition process and may contaminate the deposited film.
To maintain separate constituent gases, multiple, concentric gas injector rings have been utilized to prevent premature mixture and deposition prior to the processing space. However, multiple gas injector rings in the processing space make it difficult to utilize PECVD techniques because the rings interfere with the placement and action of the RF electrodes necessary for such PECVD techniques. Therefore, the rings detrimentally affect plasma generation.
Conventional RF PECVD processes generally utilize a biased, planar gas showerhead opposite a parallel, biased susceptor. One such PECVD process and apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,243, which is commonly owned with the present application. While such a technique produces suitable PECVD films, directing and dispersing all of the reactant gas constituents through available showerheads will produce premature mixing of the gases before the processing space and yield undesirable deposition inside of the showerhead, or in-line in the system before the showerhead. Therefore, for parallel plate PECVD, it has been necessary to disperse some gases through inlet ports other than the showerhead, yielding non-uniform flow of some of the gas constituents at the substrate, or interfering with plasma generation.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to reduce and generally prevent the premature mixture of reactant gases in CVD and PECVD reactions.
It is still another objective of the invention to prevent the deposition of film material in the gas delivery system and to provide a uniform flow and distribution of reactant gases to the processing space for the deposition process.
It is another objective of the invention to maintain the separation of the reactant gases and generally prevent their interaction until they are injected and mixed proximate the substrate.
It is a further objective generally to prevent such premature interaction and deposition in a PECVD process utilizing parallel plate electrodes without interfering with the RF plasma generation.
Accordingly, the present invention addresses these objectives and the shortcomings of the various CVD and PECVD apparatuses and processes currently available in the prior art.
The present invention prevents premature mixture of reactant gases in CVD and PECVD reactions and maintains a separation of reactant gases to prevent their interaction until they are injected and mixed in the processing space proximate a substrate. The present invention further provides a uniform flow and distribution of the reactant gases and is suitable for use with RF plasmas and PECVD processes without interfering with the plasma. Particularly, the present invention provides the necessary gas separation while being suitable for parallel plate PECVD processes.
The present invention comprises a generally circular, planar gas-dispersing manifold, preferably in the form of a planar showerhead, which is coupled to at least two different reactant gas lines for dispersing reactant gases into a chamber proximate a substrate. The showerhead has a first space therein which is operable for receiving and dispersing a first reactant gas, and further comprises a second space, which is isolated from the first space, and is also operable for receiving and dispersing a second gas independently of the dispersion of the first gas. The showerhead of the invention maintains a segregation between the reactant gases in the first and second spaces, and prevents a premature mixture of the gases before the gases enter the processing space. In that way, premature deposition in the gas delivery system and prior to the processing space is generally prevented.
To disperse the reactant gases passing through the inventive showerhead, the showerhead includes two separate pluralities of gas-dispersing passages, which are in communication with each of the respective gas spaces within the showerhead, but are isolated from each other. The dispersing passages have outlets which open at a face surface of the showerhead opposite the substrate. When the separate reactant gases are directed through the showerhead, no mixture occurs within the showerhead, and each of the reactant gases is dispersed independently to thus mix proximate the substrate, as desired. The gas-dispersing passages for each of the respective first and second spaces are positioned in cooperating grids around the lower face surface of the showerhead to uniformly disperse and mix the gases proximate the substrate.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the showerhead has a generally planar, and thus compact, design which functions electrically as a parallel plate when biased with RF energy. Therefore, the inventive showerhead may be utilized for parallel plate PECVD processes without interfering with the plasma. As such, the reactant gases are dispersed separately and uniformly for a stable, uniform plasma and a uniform deposition of the film.
The showerhead of the invention has a planar first space positioned in a plane generally parallel with a planar second space and below the second space. That is, the second space is stacked above the first space in the showerhead. Gas is introduced into each of the respective spaces through ports that communicate with the spaces, and the reactant gases spread through the planar spaces to be uniformly dispersed proximate the substrate by the grids of dispersing passages.
In one embodiment of the invention, the first gas space comprises a plurality of elongated cylindrical passages which extend through the showerhead. The passages originate at one area on the periphery of the circular showerhead and extend to another peripheral area on an opposite side of the showerhead. The elongated passages are generally isolated from each other along their lengths, but are co-planar and extend next to each other to define the planar first space. The opposite ends of the elongated first space passages are each coupled to a peripheral coupler which has a single inlet port and a wide outlet port for simultaneously interfacing with each of the ends of the elongated passages. The two couplers provide gas simultaneously to each of the ends of the elongated passages so that gas introduced at the periphery of the circular showerhead is distributed uniformly in the first space and around the showerhead. The elongated passages generally angle out from each coupler to reach a maximum area of the showerhead face surface and then angle back to the opposite coupler.
The second space is an open cylindrical space above the first space elongated passages. A second reactant gas is introduced into the second space through two inlet ports positioned at opposite peripheral points on the showerhead. The ports for introducing the second gas are positioned at approximately a 90xc2x0 offset on the showerhead periphery from the peripheral first gas couplers so as not to interfere with the couplers for the first space.
One set of gas dispersing passages is arranged in a grid on the showerhead and communicates between the second gas space and the face of the showerhead so that the second gas may be delivered to the processing space. Each passage from the set extends from the second space, past the elongated first space passages, and opens at the showerhead face without intersecting the first space passages. In that way, the gases are kept segregated in the showerhead. Another set of dispersing passages, also in a grid arrangement, communicates with the elongated passages of the first space to deliver the gas therefrom.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the reactant gases are introduced into the center of the showerhead rather than at the periphery thereof. To that end, the showerhead includes a center stem having two passages and two inlet ports for the respective first and second gases. The center stem extends generally perpendicular to the plane of the showerhead and one of the gas inlet ports opens directly into the second space. Preferably a 90xc2x0 coupler is used to direct the incoming second gas parallel to the plane of the second space. The center stem may be biased with RF energy when desired for PECVD processing.
The first gas port communicates with a diametrical passage, located above the first and second spaces in the showerhead, which directs the gas out to the periphery of the showerhead. The first gas space comprises a peripheral channel which distributes the first gas around the periphery of the showerhead. Gas distribution fingers, each opened at one end thereof, are coupled to the channel and extend toward a diameter line of the showerhead to terminate proximate the diameter line. The fingers are co-planar and are generally parallel to one another, with one set of fingers distributing gas to one half of the showerhead and another set of fingers distributing gas to the other half of the circular showerhead.
Sets of gas dispersing passages are arranged in interacting grids, similar to the embodiment previously described, and the dispersing passages communicate between the respective first and second gas spaces and the showerhead face. The second space passages extend between the fingers of the first space so as not to mix the reactant gases prior to their dispersion at the face of the showerhead and proximate the substrate.
The invention thus provides a segregated, and uniform distribution of the reactant gases while reducing deposition of film material prior to entry of the reactant gases into the processing space containing the substrate. In that way, an efficient gas flow is achieved, premature deposition is prevented, and the likelihood of contamination from deposition within the showerhead is reduced. Furthermore, gas segregation may be maintained during RF PECVD process. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
According to practical experience construction site is usually filled up with stocks of construction materials such as lumber, packs of drywalls, etc., as well as construction tools and equipment. Existing drywall installation devices are floor-based and require the floor to be totally unoccupied with anything in order to operate installation equipment safely.
Technologically ceiling panels supposed to be installed first. So, to install for example 5 boards on the ceiling of some room installer often have to remove 25 or so other panels as well as another staff out of his way. It can take much more time and efforts to clean the room prior to installation than installation process itself.
Due to operational complexity and dimensional features of existing drywall installation devices transportation, deployment and usage of it contribute to efficiency losses as well.
As a result many installers prefer or forced to do drywall installation manually. However for that one installer likely will not be able to do most of the job on his own, not speaking of physical efforts required for that.
Shortcomings mentioned above reveal some space for improvement. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
With synchronization circuits, generally, a clock tree is used for the purpose of distributing a common clock signal with uniform timing to many flip-flops. An H tree structure or mesh tree structure or the like is widely used as the clock tree structure (refer to “Clock Distribution Networks in Synchronous Digital Integrated Circuits,” Proceedings of the IEEE, US, IEEE May 2001, Vol. 89, No. 5, pp. 665-692.
With an H tree structure, clock buffers are arranged symmetrically so that the wiring that connects each level of the tree is in an H-type symmetrical shape. Wiring lengths from the tree starting point to the flip-flops are approximately equal because of this, and there is little skew in the clock signal.
With a mesh structure, wiring in a symmetrical mesh form is formed on a semiconductor chip. Clock buffer inputs at the clock tree termini are connected symmetrically to some of the points of intersection of the mesh wiring. Clock buffer outputs one level before the clock tree termini are connected to other points of intersection of the mesh wiring to be symmetrical for each input of the clock buffers at the clock tree termini. By using such a structure, wiring lengths from the tree starting point to the flip-flops are approximately equal, and variation in clock buffer drive capability is equalized, so skew is even smaller.
The H tree structure and mesh structure described above are primarily used in fast circuits. With large-scale LSls, a technique called CTS (clock tree synthesis) to automatically synthesize a clock tree with an EDA tool is generally used.
However, because the layout of flip-flops on a circuit board is essentially irregular, in a large-scale LSl in particular, it is difficult to apply a clock tree with a symmetrical structure, such as an H tree structure or mesh structure. With a technique where the clock tree arrangement is fixed in advance, because significant restrictions are applied to the flip-flop arrangement, layout design automation is difficult, and in large-scale LSl design, the disadvantage is that layout requires a large amount of time.
On the other hand, with a technique where a clock tree is synthesized automatically with an EDA tool, there is a tendency for many buffers to be inserted to satisfy requirements such as skew or load capacitance. For this reason, there are disadvantages, i.e., power consumption is greater and clock signal delay increases. And because variation occurs in buffer characteristics even on the same chip, there is the disadvantage that as the number of buffers increase, clock signal timing variation increases. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to a cutting assembly for cutting a work piece on a sheet bending brake.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known to use a sheet bending brake to position and secure a work piece to assist a worker in cutting the work piece. The sheet bending brake includes a base, a clamping member attached to the base for clamping the work piece in place, and a bending member attached to the base for bending the work piece about a bending edge. One commonly known method for cutting the work piece includes scoring the work piece with a utility knife and then bending the work piece back and forth about the bending edge along the score line until the work piece breaks. The method forms an edge on the work piece that is not accurate or smooth, and leaves a rolled edge. Additionally, the method is time consuming, and the repeated use of the utility knife eventually damages an edge of the clamping member. This reduces the useful life of the sheet bending brake.
Alternatively, U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,053 to Chubb (the '053 patent), discloses a hand-operated cutting assembly that is removably mounted on the sheet bending brake. The cutting assembly quickly and accurately cuts the work piece, while leaving a smooth, flat edge; and not damaging the sheet bending brake. The cutting assembly includes a cutter body and two identical cutting disks. Each cutting disk has a cooperating cutting edge spaced from the other and separated from the cutter body by a spacer disposed between the cutting disk and the cutter body. The cutter assembly is able to cut a variety of work pieces, each having a different thickness, and manufactured from a different material. However, the ability of the cutting assembly to cut the variety of work pieces of different thickness' is dependent upon the spacing between the cooperating cutting edges. In order to change the spacing between the cooperating cutting edges to accommodate the work piece having a different thickness, one of the cutting disks must be removed and the spacer separating the cutting disk from the cutter body must be replaced with a spacer having a different thickness. This is a time consuming task and requires that spacers of varying thickness be readily available. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is a fast method for computing Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT). FFT has many applications in digital signal processing, image processing, holography, spectrum estimation, fast convolution, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) based modulation and demodulation, etc. An FFT operates by decomposing a length N signal into many smaller length signals and then performing FFT on those smaller length signals. A length N signal is also referred to as an N-point signal herein. The decomposition process is then applied to the smaller length signals. This process is continued until the smallest length signal is reached. In case of a two-way decomposition, the smallest length is two and the particular method of two way decomposition is referred to as radix-2 FFT. If the decomposition is performed into three different smaller length signals, the process is referred to as radix-3 FFT. In general, any radix-r may be used for FFT but some radixes may have certain structural advantages in terms of implementation complexity or speed. At the final stage of decomposition, the Fourier transform of the smallest length signal corresponding to the radix size may be performed explicitly using the basic addition, subtraction, and multiplication operations in a structure commonly referred to as a butterfly. A butterfly may be radix-2, radix-3, etc. FIG. 1 shows examples of radix-2, radix-3 and radix-5 butterfly structures.
The suitability of a particular radix for FFT may depend on the length of the original signal. For example, if the original length N is a power of two such as 64, then FFT using radixes of smaller powers of two such as 2, 4, 8, etc., may offer the best complexity and performance tradeoff. In another example, if the original length N is a power of three such as 81, then FFT using radixes of smaller powers of three such as 3 or 9 may offer the best complexity and performance tradeoff.
In some cases the length N may be a composite number which cannot be represented as a power of a single number. For example, N=30 is a composite number with factors 2, 3, and 5. To perform FFT of signals whose lengths are composite numbers, use of mixed radix FFT structures may be required. For example, a 30-point FFT may be implemented as a cascade of radix-2, followed by radix-3 and finally followed by radix-5 structure. Another method for 30-point FFT may be implemented as a cascade of radix-5, radix-3, and radix-2 structures. In general, any order of the radix structures may be used but depending on the specific value of the original length N a particular order may be beneficial in terms of complexity and performance tradeoffs.
When converting a signal from frequency domain to time domain, the process is referred to as inverse DFT. The process of converting a time domain signal into frequency domain is simply referred to as DFT. In general, the DFT and the inverse DFT processing is identical except for the sign of the exponent of the kernel term. In the present disclosure, the term FFT is used to refer to fast computation of both DFT and inverse DFT.
The FFT algorithm may be implemented either with Decimation-In-Time (DIT) or with Decimation-In-Frequency (DIF) method. Often the FFT computations are done “in-place” where the input memory and the output memory after each butterfly operation is the same. Because of the reduced memory usage, the in-place computation method is preferred for implementation. However, the in-place computation leads to either output signal not in its natural order or requiring the input signal not in its natural order. A signal that is not in its natural order is referred to as a shuffled signal herein. Depending on whether the DIT or DIF method is used, reordering of the input or the output signal may need to be done to get it in the correct natural order. In case of radix-2 FFT the reordering amounts to a simple bit-reversal. For example, in case of an 8-point signal, the index of a data point within a signal may be represented as three bit sequence b0b1b2. The bit reversed index of the same data point may be represented as b2b1b0. The bit-reversal operation may be straightforward to implement with very low complexity in hardware structures but may have non-negligible complexity and delay in software implementations, especially for large N. FIG. 2 shows the natural order and bit reversed order for an 8-point signal when the FFT is performed using three radix-2 stages.
In case of a single radix but non radix-2 implementations, such as radix-3, radix-4, radix-5, etc., the reordering of the shuffled signal may be realized by generalizing the bit-reversal operation to the digit-reversal operation. FIG. 3 shows the natural order and digit reversed order for a 9-point data signal when the FFT is performed using two radix-3 stages.
Mixed radix FFT is an FFT structure that uses a combination of two or more types of radixes. Hence reordering by bit reversing or digit reversing the index is no longer straightforward. Therefore, there is a need for a method for the reordering of a shuffled signal for an FFT structure that uses a combination of two or more types of radixes.
The reordering of a signal in case of mixed radix FFT may depend on the order in which the butterflies are arranged. For example, in case of a 6-point signal the shuffled indices for an FFT structure with radix-2 butterfly followed by a radix-3 butterfly are not the same for an FFT structure with radix-3 butterfly followed by a radix-2 butterfly as shown respectively in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5. Hence, the order in which the butterflies are arranged in an FFT structure also affects the reordering.
In some applications FFT for many different lengths of composite values may need to be computed. A single FFT structure may be desirable to support such variety of lengths. An explicit bit or digit reversal stage at the end of complete FFT may have a non-negligible impact on the complexity and latency. A method and apparatus are disclosed that enable low complexity and zero latency implementation for obtaining correct order signal at the output of the FFT. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Content users have a large variety of content options at their disposal. A user often has hundreds of channels or services available to watch at any given time, and many additional items of content that the user can choose to watch. Sifting through this content can be difficult. Some systems collect feedback from users in an effort to identify desirable content so that recommendations can be made. Such feedback collection systems, however, are rendered less effective when users do not offer their feedback. Accordingly, there remains a need to improve content recommendation systems. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that performs recording by the use of a nozzle row to be supplied with liquid from a liquid receptor of a side where liquid remains, when liquid is depleted in at least one of a plurality of liquid receptors receiving the same kind of liquid, and a recording method.
2. Related Art
As this kind of printing apparatus, an ink jet type printer is known which ejects ink supplied from an ink cartridge from nozzles of a recording head, thereby printing a document, an image or the like on a print medium such as paper.
In the related art, a printing apparatus is disclosed which has a configuration in which an ink tank to be used in forming an ink dot is selected depending on respective ink residual quantities of a plurality of ink tanks that accommodates the same color ink (for example, JP-A-2003-1842, JP-A-2000-15837 or the like). For example, according to the printing apparatus described in JP-A-2003-1842, an additional nozzle row and a black ink nozzle row capable of ejecting black ink are separately connected to an additional ink tank and a black ink tank, respectively. The additional nozzle row is shifted to the black ink nozzle row by two dots in a sub scanning direction. For this reason, in the case of a monochrome printing mode, when both of the additional ink tank and the black ink tank are determined to be usable ink tanks, printing is performed at a high speed by the use of both of the additional nozzle row and the black ink nozzle row. In this case, the additional nozzle row and the black ink nozzle row K form the different raster lines by the same main scanning.
Furthermore, when an ink residual quantity of one ink tank is not equal to or greater than a threshold value, if ink remains in any one of the plurality of ink tanks, it is possible to form ink dots by the use of the nozzle row that is supplied with ink from the ink tank of the side where ink remains.
Furthermore, in the printing apparatus described in JP-A-2000-15837, ink is selectively supplied from at least a pair of ink cartridges for supplying the same color ink to an ink jet type recording head via an ink supply valve. In the printing apparatus, when an ink depletion detection unit detects that one of the ink cartridges is depleted, the valve is switched by valve opening and closing control unit, whereby the printing can be continued.
However, in the printing apparatus of JP-A-2003-1842, if ink remains in any one of a plurality of ink tanks, ink dots are formed by the use of the nozzle row supplied with ink from the ink tank of the side where ink remains. In this case, the additional nozzle row and the black ink nozzle row are shifted by two dots in the sub scanning direction, and the dots printed in the first main scanning are different from each other between the additional nozzle row and the black ink nozzle row, and thus, there is a need to create the different print data depending on the use nozzle row.
In this case, upon detecting the ink depletion, the ink tank of the ink depletion is confirmed (a cartridge confirmation process), and the nozzle row connected to another ink tank, where ink remains, is selected in the use nozzle row (a nozzle row selection process). Moreover, the print data depending on the selected use nozzle row is generated (a print data generating process). Furthermore, the reception place of the print data confirms whether or not the print data is correct depending on the use nozzle row (a data confirmation process). Moreover, when it is confirmed that the print data is correct corresponding to the use nozzle row, the print data is set to the driving system of the corresponding nozzle row and an ink droplet is ejected from the use nozzle row of the recording head, thereby performing the printing on the paper.
In this manner, since there is a need to discriminate the nozzle row connected to the ink cartridge of the side in which ink remains and generates the print data depending on the discriminated nozzle row, as mentioned above, there is a need for a plurality of processes such as the cartridge confirmation process, the nozzle selection process, the print data generating processing, and the data confirmation process. For this reason, the process to be performed when the ink in the ink tank becomes depleted is complicated. As a consequence, there is a problem in that the process burden of a CPU due to the complication of the process is increased, and it is difficult to share the processing program between types of model having different nozzle arrangement patterns of the printing apparatus. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to telecommunications equipment generally, and more specifically to adapters for connecting a cable to an enclosure, such as a building entrance protector.
A building entrance protector (BEP) enclosure houses the physical interface between the nodes of a local telecommunications network and a telecommunications cable. For example, a BEP enclosure may house the interface hardware between the telephones of an office building and an exterior telephone cable having a number of twisted copper pairs that carry the voice signals for those telephones. A BEP enclosure is typically mounted in the basement or first floor of the office building. A BEP enclosure may also be used to house the interface hardware for systems based on fiber optical communications. Similarly, BEP enclosures may be used with telecommunications systems carrying signals other than just telephone voice signals.
A BEP enclosure provides two main functions: (1) it houses the hardware that provides connections between a cable and the individual nodes (e.g., telephones) of a local network; and (2) it houses the hardware that provides electrical isolation between the cable and the local network. Electrical isolation is intended to prevent any high voltages and/or high currents that may exist from time to time in the cable from reaching the local network. For example, a BEP enclosure will house isolation components designed to protect telephone users from lightning striking a telephone cable. Such electrical isolation is typically provided by 5-pin plug-in protectors that quickly connect signals to ground upon detection of sufficiently high voltages or currents. Building entrance protectors are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,803,292 and 5,907,127, which are expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The end cap of a BEP may include one or more cable ports, which extend outwardly from the end cap. The cable port allows the cable to enter into the enclosure. If the housing is to be pressurized, then heat shrink tubing is commonly used. The heat shrink tubing secures the cable to the BEP housing, aligns the cable, and provides a seal to protect the fiber enclosure from the outdoor environments.
If the cable port size is too large relative to the cable size, the cable does not remain aligned straight within the port. A wobbly cable could result in damage to the exposed fibers within the enclosure. To alleviate this problem, different sized ports may be required to maintain a firm hold on the fiber cable, typically, small, medium and large. To fit an equal number of small, medium and large ports within the limited space of the enclosure end cap, the number of any port size would be reduced to one third of the total number of cable ports.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a multi-size adapter 10 according to the prior art. Adapter 10 can accommodate a small, medium or large cable. Adapter 10 has three cable ports 11, 13 and 15, with respective cylindrical side walls, 16, 20 and 24. Cable ports 11, 13 and 15 are sized to accommodate large, medium (not shown) and small (not shown) cables respectively. For each cable size, a different portion of adapter 10 is cut away to leave an appropriately sized cable port 11, 13 or 15 for the cable being accommodated.
For example, FIG. 3 shows an adapter that has been cut between the ledge 17 and the flat surface 18 to accommodate a large cable 28. The portion of the adapter 10 to the left of ledge 17 in FIG. 2 (including side walls 20 and 24, and flat surfaces 22 and 26) is cut away and discarded. The remaining portion of adapter 10 includes a mounting flange 12 and a cable port 11 having side wall 16 with a size that is matched to the cable 28 and the heat shrink tubing 30. The adapter 10 is mounted to the end cap of a BEP 50 using fasteners 14. The heat shrink tubing 30 is placed over the cable port 11. The cable 28 is fit through the heat shrink tubing 30 and the cable port 11 of adapter 10. The tubing 30 is heated, typically using a heat gun, and the tubing shrinks to form a sealed joint around the cable port 11 and the cable 28.
As best seen in FIG. 2, the adapter 10 has a length that is three times the length of an adaptor (not shown) that is designed to accommodate only a single cable size. This may be a disadvantage if, for example, it is desired to install more than one BEP 50 in a small space, or if it is desired to install a BEP near the floor. In either case, the length of the adapter 10 may exceed the available space. A more compact adapter is desired.
The present invention is an adapter for securing a cable to a housing. The adapter has a flange that is attachable to the housing. The adapter has a plurality of concentric cylindrical side walls, at least one of which is connected to the flange. Each side wall at least partially overlies an adjacent one of the plurality of side walls. The adapter has a plurality of annular surfaces. Each side wall is connected to an adjacent side wall by one of the plurality of annular surfaces. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for generating an image file in which data for a stereographic display is recorded and a method and apparatus for controlling an image display when a stereographic synthetic image is to be displayed.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of computer vision, the position of a point, which is visually recognized when a photography space is seen from a certain direction, is optically measured, whereby a three-dimensional shape of an object disposed in the photography space is recognized or the depth of the photography space is recognized. As a method of measurement, there have been known a stereo image method where the principle of trigonometry is used, a TOF (time of flight) method where a time from the projection of light to receipt of the reflected light is measured, and a light section method where pattern light is investigated when slit light is projected.
An image, in which the position of the visually recognizable point is represented by coordinates of a predetermined coordinate system and the values of the coordinates are recorded as pixel values, is generally called a “distance image” or a “depth image”. Such a distance image includes information on a spatial position recognized by humans due to the fact that humans see objects with both eyes. On the other hand, the RGB data or a gradation image obtained by normal photography includes information on color and/or brightness recognized by a human when he or she sees an object. Accordingly, by combination of information obtained from the distance image and information obtained from the RGB data or the like, information substantially equivalent to that obtained by vision of a human when he or she sees the object can be recognized by a computer. Further, this makes it feasible to form and display an image which is viewed as a stereographic by the human. For example, in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20020030675, an apparatus or a system for a stereographic image display is disclosed.
In the image processing of two-dimensional images, synthesis of a plurality of images into an image of a new composition is often carried out. In the case of stereographic images as well, there are many needs where a plurality of pieces of data for a stereographic display obtained through a plurality of cameras (or through a camera at different times) are synthesized into an image of a new composition. Further, in display control of a two-dimensional image, enlargement of a specified region of interest is often carried out. There are needs also in the stereographic display to carry out the same display control.
However, since the image processing of a three-dimensional image is more complicated and requires longer time as compared with a two-dimensional image, the displaying speed is lowered when the synthesis or the enlargement is carried out immediately before. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of Use
This invention relates generally to a one-piece, molded plastic retainer clip having a pine-tree fastener for securing elongated members, such as electric wires or tubes, to a structure, such as the steering column of an automobile, and having a channel for securing the elongated members thereon.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many types of equipment employ retainer clips of various types to secure elongated members, such as electric wires or tubes, to a structure or component forming part of the equipment. Prior art retainer clips take various forms and are designed to suit particular needs. One type of prior art clip, for example, is affixed to a structure by a simple screw which threads into a threaded mounting hole in the structure and tightly grips the elongated member which is to be held in place. However, provision of a threaded mounting hole adds to production costs and prevention of axial movement of the elongated members may be disadvantageous or undesired in some types of equipment. Other types of prior art clips comprise several separate parts which must be selected and manually assembled prior to or during installation and this also adds to production costs, especially in cases where many such clips must be installed. Multi-part clips are also more costly to fabricate, since separate dies and molding machines for each of the parts are required. Some prior art clips presently in use for particular and specialized types of equipment are not really well-suited therefor, especially in the automotive field.
For example, automobiles typically employ prior art wire retainer clips mounted on the steering column to support electric wires which run from the engine compartment to electric control switches mounted on a movable (rotatable and/or tiltable) portion of the steering column, such as directional signal switches, air-bag switches and the like. The wires and clips are concealed and protected by a metal or plastic shroud which is removably attached to the steering column.
Multi-piece type prior art clips and those secured by screws are difficult to install, especially in cases where the clips must be attached to the underside of the steering column. Furthermore, some clips tightly grip the wires and, since portions of the wires must move in response to turning or tilting motions of the steering column, the wires are eventually chaffed, damaged or broken. Removal of the shroud and clips to enable servicing of damaged wires or associated faulty switches is time-consuming and costly.
It is desirable, therefore, to provide improved retainer clips for securing and supporting elongated members, such as wires, on a structure, such as the steering column of an automobile, and which have other applications, in order to expedite production, facilitate servicing, and reduce the labor and costs involved in both. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates in general to thermal insulating products and, more specifically, to high temperature flame resistant thermal insulation using a combination of polyimide foam and porous, lightweight inorganic particles in insulating products.
Lightweight, porous inorganic materials such as pumice, expanded vermiculite and "popped" perlite have long been used in thermal insulation, lightweight concrete, as packing material, etc. Pumice is a highly porous igneous rock, primarily an aluminum silicate. Perlite is a form of glassy rock, similar to obsidian, which when heated to its softening temperature rapidly expands or pops to form a fluffy lightweight material similar to pumice. Vermiculite is a mineral of the mica group, a hydrated magnesium-aluminum-silicte, having the ability to expand 6 to 20 times in volume when heated above 1400.degree. F. When used as thermal insulation, these materials are ordinarily used as loose particles to fill hollow walls or the like, or are incorporated in inorganic binders such as concrete. This insulation is inexpensive an fairly effective, but is not well adapted to complex light weight insulation shapes, such as pipe insulation;. Further, the inorganic binders have poor insulating qualities and are heavy.
Organic binders, such as epoxies, have been used in some case to reduce the weight and improve the formability of porous inorganic particle based insulating materials;. However, these organic binders tend to limit the temperatures at which the insulating materials can be used to less than 300.degree. F. due to binder degradation. Also, the insulating qualities of the binder itself tends to be low.
In low temperature applications, with complex insulation shapes, foamed organic resin insulation has been widely used. Typical of these are expanded cellular polystyrene as described by Charpentier in U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,908, polyurethane foams as described by Willy in U.S. Pat. No. 3,998,884 and phenolics as descried by Bruning et al in U.S. Pat. No. 3,883,010. While these materials often have excellent insulating characteristics and are inexpensive to manufacture, they often have low strength and low impact resistance and cannot be used at temperatures above 300.degree. F. These organic materials degrade at higher temperatures, may burn, and often emit toxic gases at high temperatures or when exposed to a direct flame.
Recently, a number of polyimide foam insulating materials have been developed, such as those described by Long et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,015 and Gagliani et al in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,506,038 and 4,426,463. These polyimide materials have much greater resistance to high temperatures, resist burning and degradation when exposed to direct flames and do not emit toxic gases at high temperatures.
Additives, such as fibers, talc and microballoons may be added to the foam material, primarily to improve strength. Such polyimide materials, however, tend to be expensive, require high temperatures for foaming and curing and tend to have lower melting points than vermiculite which melts at a temperature in excess of 2000.degree. F.
Thus, there is a continuing need for improved thermal insulating materials which combine ease of forming and high temperature resistance with low material and manufacturing costs. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of Invention
The invention is a souvenir baseball mitt made of laminated foam which is utilized to display team logo and also includes a cavity in the back portion of the mitt to accommodate a spectator's hand to catch a baseball in the event a baseball is hit or thrown in the direction of the spectator.
2. Description of Prior Art
The following United States patents are disclosed herein and incorporated into this application for utility patent. All relate to baseball mitts or items including hand protection. A method of fabricating a baseball glove from a single sheet of paperboard is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,532,653 to Riaboff, which discloses a multiple folding pattern to make a baseball mitt item from cardboard. A hand protector for baseball players, martial artists or other athletes involved in sports where the hands are used for contact sis disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,781,928 to Avila.
Combination baseball hats with baseball mitts are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,913 to Brandon, et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,232 to Villalobos, incorporating a hand compartment in the hat and designed mainly to reduce the impact of a speeding baseball being caught or deflected. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure generally relates to data filters for modeling and processing credit report data and other data, and more particularly to improved systems and methods for generating and using data filters configured to conduct customer profiling and customer analysis relating to modeling, identifying, and/or predicting the never-pay population.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various financial service entities provide credit accounts, such as, for example, mortgages, automobile loans, credit card accounts, and the like, to consumers and or businesses. Prior to providing a credit account to an applicant, or during the servicing of such a credit account, many financial service providers want to know whether the applicant or customer will be or is likely to be within the “never-pay” population. The never-pay population includes without limitation those customers that make a request for credit, subsequently obtain the credit instrument, and over the life of the account, never make a payment or substantially never make a payment. Although the never-pay population is not always large (however, it can be a large population for certain financial firms, for example, those firms serving the sub-prime market or the like), it is a costly population to financial service providers and other entities. Most financial service providers can attribute a certain percentage of their losses to the never-pay population.
Traditional scoring models do not provide the necessary insight to identify the never-pay population. In part, this is due to the diversity of profiles that underlie these populations. Additionally, the attributes and/or reasons that contribute to the never-pay population are difficult to identify for some financial service providers because of their limited resources and the complexity of analyzing the never-pay population. Accordingly, these never-pay accounts are not identified early in the process, and are treated as typical credit loss and are often written off as bad debt. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for operating a drive with an internal combustion engine and an electric machine.
2. Description of the Prior art
DE 197 52 661 A1 describes an on-board power system for a motor vehicle with a combined drive including an electric machine and an internal combustion engine which act on the same drive train. On the one hand, the electric machine supports, for example, the starting process of the internal combustion engine as a motor and, on the other hand, outputs charge power to a vehicle operating battery, and possibly to an additional short-term starting capacitor, as a generator. In order to be able to operate with the highest possible efficiency and thus with the lowest possible loading of the energy stores or energy supply means in the generator operating mode, the electric losses both in the converter and in the asynchronous machine which is provided for the starter-generator are advantageously kept low. This is accomplished by virtue of the fact that, in a field-oriented control, the internal torque of the asynchronous machine of the start-generator is set according to the principle of controlling or regulating the rotor flow with optimum loss by correspondingly adapting the magnetizing current as a function of an active current which is determined in accordance with the respectively required drive torque. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to modification of the lens member component for a sealed beam lamp unit having an inner surface of the lens member component with prism elements to focus light transmitted therethrough and further having an outer sealing rim with front and back sealing surfaces joined by a body section. Said pressed glass sealed beam lamp unit has particular utility for automotive headlights. Circular-shaped headlights having such lens member construction have been used in motor vehicles for some time and can be hermetically sealed without undue difficulty except when the sealing rim of the lens member is warped. This defect is attributable to uneven thermal contraction of the lens members in the mold during initial formation. The front sealing surface of a warped lens member is not flat so as to lie in the same spatial plane and is believed to result from thickness variation of the prism elements on the inner surface of the lens member. Said defect is more frequently encountered on heavily fluted lens members which include rib elements longitudinally extending along the inner surface that tend to cool earlier than the rest of the inner surface. When a circular-shaped pressed glass lens member having a warped sealing rim is thereafter hermetically sealed to the rim of a correspondingly shaped reflector member, it becomes possible to damage the aluminum surface with the gas flames customarily employed to effect hermetic sealing. The gap existing between said sealing surfaces can also produce an unreliable fusion seal.
The more recently introduced rectangular-shaped headlight unit has proven more difficult to fusion seal the individual components together by reason of further deformities produced by uneven thermal contraction when said individual lens and reflector members are initially pressed in glass molds. Thermal contraction of the reflector member customarily produces a convex contour for the front sealing surface of the sealing rim whereas the correspondingly shaped pressed glass lens member usually experiences a mismatching deformation attributable to the rectangular shape of said lens member as well as thickness variation of the prism elements disposed on the inner surface. These mismatching deformities interfere with proper registration of the individual members for hermetic sealing since the deformities can be sufficiently prominent to produce actual bowing of the front sealing surfaces in the rim regions of both glass members. The sealing problem becomes especially severe if such bowing results in a convex deformity in one member while the remaining member has a concave deformity not coincident with the bowing in the other member. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to directional stability of motor vehicles, and particularly to a method for modifying the resilient attachment of radius arms and strut rods of motor vehicle suspension assemblies to the frames or bodies of such motor vehicles.
Motor vehicle front suspension assemblies of several general types include either radius arms or strut rods which extend in a generally longitudinal direction or diagonally inwardly from a vertically movable portion such as a lower control arm or an axle on each side of the vehicle to an attachment point on the frame or body of the vehicle. Such radius arms or strut rods are intended to limit the amount of motion of the movable portion of the suspension assembly in a direction generally longitudinal of the vehicle. This is required in order to prevent the steerable wheel on one side from being deflected rearwardly relative to the body of the vehicle, thus swinging both wheels toward that side, when a steerable wheel on that side of the vehicle encounters an obstruction such as a stone or a pothole which momentarily obstructs forward movement of the wheel.
While a radius arm or strut rod, hereinafter called a radius member, might be attached to the frame of a vehicle by a universal joint or a ball joint, such a connection would be expensive to manufacture and would transmit, undamped, the shocks and impulses caused by unevenness encountered in the roadway or off-road terrain being traversed by the vehicle. Additionally, some freedom of motion of the radius member is usually required in a direction longitudinal of the vehicle because of other limitations on the motion of the portion of the suspension to which the radius member is fixedly attached.
In order to provide the desired freedom of motion of the end of a radius member which is attached to the frame or body of a vehicle, it has become customary to mount the end of the radius arm or strut rod in a flexible resilient bushing held by a mounting bracket attached fixedly to the frame or body of the vehicle. Such a resilient connection also isolates the frame and body of the vehicle from the shocks which would otherwise be transmitted through the radius member, and which would then cause an undesirable amount of vibration and resulting fatigue of the occupants of the vehicle.
For operation of a motor vehicle on rough terrain, however, the bushings ordinarily used for attaching a radius arm or strut rod to the vehicle frame or body are frequently too elastic.
The resilient bushings normally provided make it possible for a bump or pothole to move a wheel encountering such an obstacle rearward, together with the control arms or axle supporting the wheel, causing the vehicle to steer toward the side on which such an obstacle is encountered. This condition requires an opposing steering correction by the vehicle's driver, and is at least tiring, if not dangerous, when operating such a vehicle on rough surfaces such as poorly maintained roads or unpaved terrain.
When the bushings attaching a radius member to a vehicle frame become deteriorated they no longer restore the strut rod or radius arm to the correct position after obstacles have been encountered, and eventually the need to realign the suspension assemblies results. Furthermore, such deterioration exaggerates the tendency of many vehicles to be susceptible to unevenness of the road surface.
In some cases deteriorated or undesirably soft or loose radius member bushings can be improved by adjusting a nut used to hold the bushings on a radius arm or strut rod to achieve the desired tightness. For example, Eirhart, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 3,333,653 and Burkitt, U.S. Pat. No. 3,139,275 teach the use of tightenable nuts to increase the amount of compression on bushings used in this portion of a vehicle suspension assembly to achieve the desired result.
In many motor vehicle suspension assemblies, however, bushings are not adjustably mounted. Furthermore, a metal or other hard spacer cannot be used in conjunction with the ordinary bushings in such a location, because it would be likely to cause unacceptable damage to the soft material of which such bushings are made.
If tightening the bushings is not possible, then the previously available way to improve such a situation is to replace a deteriorated bushing, or to replace original equipment bushings which are too soft with ones of less compressible material, in order to provide a stiffer connection between a radius arm and the vehicle's frame. Either of these procedures is quite expensive because of the amount of labor involved.
As shown in Shimizu et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,339, it is known to control the spring constant of a bushing used for such attachment of a radius arm or strut rod by constructing the bushing of rubber including various numbers of layers of canvas fabric within the bushing in order to limit the elasticity and compressibility of the bushing, while providing the desired amount of freedom of movement of the radius arm or strut rod in its mounting on the frame of the vehicle. Shimizu, et al., however, does not teach how to correct the condition in which a vehicle is originally equipped with bushings which are too compressible, without substantial disassembly of the suspension assemblies and replacement of the bushings with those of the type taught in the Shimizu et al. patent.
Normally, replacement of radius member bushings requires disassembly of a large portion of the involved suspension assembly in order to permit the radius arm or strut rod to be withdrawn from its mounting bracket fixedly located on the vehicle's frame. Thus, while the Shimizu, et al. patent teaches installation of bushings which might improve the condition in which steering stability of a vehicle is excessively affected by rough road surfaces, it does not teach how to accomplish this improvement without undesirably high labor costs.
Additionally, replacement of an originally all-rubber bushing with one made of a harder material such as a polytetrafluoroethylene plastic, as has previously been done, is likely to result in too rigid a connection.
What is needed, therefore, is a method and device for correcting or improving the ability of a vehicle to remain directionally stable despite operation on rough surfaces, without the expense of suspension system disassembly and replacement of the bushings used to mount an end of a radius arm or strut rod to the frame of a vehicle. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Technical Field
This invention is related to the field of integrated circuit implementation, and more particularly to the implementation of clock signal monitoring circuits.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computing systems may include one or more systems-on-a-chip (SoCs), which may integrate a number of different functions, such as, graphics and audio processing, onto a single integrated circuit. With numerous functions included in a single integrated circuit, chip count may be kept low in mobile computing systems, such as smartphones and tablets, for example, which may result in reduced assembly costs, and a smaller form factor for such mobile computing systems.
Many of the functional blocks of an SoC may require a clock source to function, to communicate with other blocks in the SoC, and/or to communicate with other chips in the system. SoCs may have one or more clock inputs to receive a clock signal from elsewhere in the system to be used as a clock source inside the SoC. SoCs may include a crystal oscillator circuit that requires a crystal to be coupled to the SoC to generate a clock signal within the SoC. Some SoCs may have phase-locked-loop circuits (PLLs) or frequency-locked-loop circuits (FLLs) internally that may take the clock input from the system or from the crystal oscillator and multiply and/or divide the input to generate a clock signal with a given frequency to best match the needs of the application. In some embodiments, an SoC may generate a clock signal internally, which may be used directly or used as the input to an FLL or PLL.
Some system-on-a-chip (SoC) designs may be used in applications which may be targeted by a subset of users who attempt to gain unauthorized access into the system (commonly referred to as “hacking a system” or “hacking”). Some typical applications targeted for hacking include mobile phones, tablet computers, and video game systems.
A common method used to attack systems is to overdrive the clock input into one of the processing chips in the system. The intent is to force the chip into a logic error which may result in the chip entering a state from which the attacker may gain control over the execution of the processor. Once the attacker has whole or partial control of the chip, the attacker may be able to access information within the system, such as, e.g., security keys for accessing a cellular network, encryption key for data stored in the system, and the like.
A clock signal monitoring circuit may be used within a system for the purpose of detecting if the frequency of a clock signal is operating at a frequency higher than for which the system is designed. A clock signal monitoring circuit may sample an input clock signal to determine if the input clock is running above or below a predetermined frequency. Several embodiments of a clock signal monitoring circuit will be discussed below. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The normal human complement of chromosomes consists of the sex chromosomes (designated X and Y) and 22 autosomes (numbered 1-22). It has been estimated that a minimum of 1 in 10 human conceptions has a chromosome abnormality. As a general rule, an abnormal number of sex chromosomes is not lethal, although infertility can result. In contrast, an abnormal number of autosomes typically results in early death. Of the three autosomal trisomies found in live-born babies (trisomy 21, 18 and 13), only individuals with trisomy 21 (more commonly known as Down syndrome), survive past infancy.
Although Down syndrome is easily diagnosed after birth, prenatal diagnosis is problematic. To date, karyotyping of fetal cells remains the established method for the diagnosis of Down syndrome and other genetic abnormalities associated with an aberration in chromosomal number and/or arrangement. Such genetic abnormalities include, for example, chromosomal additions, deletions, amplifications, translocations and rearrangements. The assessment of such abnormalities is made with respect to the chromosomes of a healthy individual, i.e., an individual having the above-described normal complement of human chromosomes.
Genetic abnormalities include the above-noted trisomies, such as Down syndrome, as well as monosomies and disomies. Genetic abnormalities also include additions and/or deletions of whole chromosomes and/or chromosome segments. Alterations such as these have been reported to be present in many malignant tumors. Thus, aberrations in chromosome number and/or distribution (e.g., rearrangements, translocations) represent a major cause of mental retardation and malformation syndromes (du Manoir et al., et al., Human Genetics 90(6): 590-610 (1993)) and possibly, oncogenesis. See also,. e.g., (Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 12th edition, ed. Wilson et al., McGraw Hill, N.Y., N.Y., pp. 24-46 (1991)), for a partial list of human genetic diseases that have been mapped to specific chromosomes, and in particular, for a list of X chromosome linked disorders. In view of the growing number of genetic disorders associated with chromosomal aberrations, various attempts have been reported in connection with developing simple, accurate, automated assays for genetic abnormality assessment.
In general, karyotyping is used to diagnose genetic abnormalities that are based upon additions, deletions, amplifications, translocations and rearrangements of an individual's nucleic acid. The "karyotype" refers to the number and structure of the chromosomes of an individual. Typically, the individual's karyotype is obtained by, for example, culturing the individual's peripheral blood lymphocytes until active cell proliferation occurs, preparing single, proliferating (e.g. metaphase, and possibly, interphase) cells for chromosome visualization, fixing the cells to a solid support and subjecting the fixed cells to in situ hybridization to specifically visualize discrete portions of the individual's chromosomes.
The rapid development of non-isotopic in situ hybridization techniques and the general availability of an ever-expanding repertoire of chromosome-specific DNA probes have extended the number of genetic disorders for which karyotyping is feasible. See, e.g., Lichter et al., "Analysis of Genes and Chromosomes by Non-isotopic in situ Hybridization", GATA 8(1):24-35 (1991). Such methods include the use of probe sets directed to chromosome painting for visualizing one or more preselected chromosomal subregions in a targeted fashion. Methods such as these require at least a modicum of knowledge regarding the types of aberration(s) expected in order to select useful DNA probes complementary to target nucleic acids present in a clinical or tumor cell sample.
Nucleic acid hybridization techniques are based upon the ability of a single stranded oligonucleotide probe to base-pair, i.e., hybridize, with a complementary nucleic acid strand. Exemplary in situ hybridization procedures are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,225,326 and copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/668,751, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Fluorescence in situ hybridization ("FISH") techniques, in which the nucleic acid probes are labeled with a fluorophor (i.e., a fluorescent tag or label that fluoresces when excited with light of a particular wavelength), represents a powerful tool for the analysis of numerical, as well as structural aberrations chromosomal aberrations. See, e.g., PCT Application WO 94/02646, inventors M. Asgari et al., published Feb. 3, 1994, (hereinafter, "Asgari") co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/915,965; P. Lichter, et al., Genet. Anal. Tech. Appl. 8:24-35 (1991); and S. Du Manoir, et al., Human Genetics 90(6):590-610 (1993), the entire contents of which publications are incorporated herein by reference.
Asgari reports in situ hybridization assays for determining the sex of a fetus, genetic characteristics or abnormalities, infectious agents and the like, by nucleic acid hybridization of fetal cells such as those circulating in material blood. The fetal cells are distinguished from maternal cells present in the fixed sample by staining with an antibody which specifically recognizes the maternal or fetal cell or by in situ hybridization to detect one or more fetal mRNAs. The method reportedly is useful for detecting chromosomal abnormalities in fetal cells. However, the fetal cells must be enriched prior to analysis.
PCT Application WO 94/02830, inventors M. Greaves, et al., published Feb. 3, 1994, (hereinafter, "Greaves") report a method for phenotyping and genotyping a cell sample.
The method involves contacting a fixed cell with an antibody labeled with a first fluorophor for phenotyping the cell via histochemical staining, followed by contacting the fixed cell with a DNA probe labeled with a second fluorophor for genotyping the cell. The first and second fluorophors fluoresce at different wavelengths from one another, thereby allowing the phenotypic and genetic analysis on the identical fixed sample.
Despite the above-described advances in the development of fluorescent in situ hybridization methods for the diagnosis of genetic abnormalities, the analysis of the fluorophor-labeled sample remains labor-intensive and involves a significant level of subjectivity. This is particularly true in connection with the prenatal diagnosis of genetic abnormalities in which fetal cells must either be isolated from maternal cells or visually distinguished therefrom prior to assessment for genetic abnormalities. Thus, for example, a laboratory technician must manually prepare and sequentially stain the sample (first, with a histochemical stain to phenotype the cells, second, with a hybridization probe to genotype the cell); visually select fetal cells from other cells in the optical field (using, for example, the above-mentioned histochemical staining procedure); assess the relative distribution of fluorescent color that is attributable to hybridization of the fluorophor-tagged probe; and compare the visually-perceived distribution to that observed in control samples containing a normal human chromosome complement. As will be readily apparent, the above-described procedure is quite time-consuming. Moreover, because the results are visually-perceived, the frequency of erroneous results can vary from one experiment to the next, as well as from one observer to the next. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Technical Field
The present invention relates to an adjustable gain power amplifier, a gain adjustment method applied to the adjustable gain power amplifier, and a mobile terminal including the adjustable gain power amplifier, pertaining to the technical field of power amplifiers.
Related Art
With the constant development of wireless communication technologies, various portable wireless communication devices have been widely applied. A power amplifier is an indispensable circuit module in a wireless communication device, and is mainly responsible for amplifying a modulated radio frequency signal to a particular power value and transmitting the amplified signal by using an antenna, so that a base station nearby receives the amplified signal. An operating band of a wireless terminal covers various mobile communication standards such as Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) and Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA). Regardless of which communication standard is used, a mobile terminal usually needs to adjust a transmit power of a power amplifier according to a distance between the mobile terminal and a base station.
When a wireless communication terminal is far away from a receiving base station, a power amplifier needs to transmit a signal by using a relatively high transmit power, so that the signal still has sufficient strength and can be received and recognized by the base station when arriving at the base station. In contrast, when the wireless communication terminal is near the base station, the power amplifier only needs to transmit the signal by using a relatively low power. Therefore, it is required during design to enable a radio frequency power amplifier to switch between several power (gain) modes. A common power amplifier includes two power modes, namely, a high power mode and a low power mode. A relatively high gain is required in the high power mode and a relatively low gain is required in the low power mode, so that the power amplifier realizes an output of a large dynamic range.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of a common power amplifier in the prior art. The circuit includes two independent amplification paths: a high power mode amplification path and a low power mode amplification path. The two paths share one input and one output. When the power amplifier works in the high power mode, a switch 101 and a switch 102 are closed, and a switch 103 and a switch 104 are open. Moreover, a biasing circuit 105 provides a biasing voltage to an amplification circuit 106, and a biasing voltage of an amplification circuit 107 is cut off. In contrast, when the power amplifier works in the low power mode, the switch 103 and the switch 104 are closed, and the switch 101 and the switch 102 are open. Moreover, the biasing circuit 105 provides a biasing voltage to the amplification circuit 107, and a biasing voltage of the amplification circuit 106 is cut off. For another example, Chinese Utility Model Patent No. ZL 200920055959.X discloses a high and low power combining circuit for a radio frequency power amplifier. The circuit also uses two power modes. Three switches in the circuit are controlled by using a voltage to perform power switching on a radio frequency signal, so as to control a cut-off of an amplifier and switch between a high power and a low power. However, in all the foregoing power amplifiers, the high power mode and the low power mode are independently designed. Although the performance can be optimized, the overall circuit design is relatively complex, requiring excessive resources and increasing production costs. More importantly, limited by the gallium arsenide (GaAs) process, it is difficult to integrate switches required on a radio frequency path. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Digital photography has forever changed the way pictures are taken and used. Digital cameras are easy to use and are integrated into many different electronic devices, including cell phones, smart, phones, personal media players, tablet computers, notebook computers, desktop computers, and other devices, making the sharing of images relatively easy when compared to film or printed images.
However, importing photographic images into an artistic application (such as a drawing program) can be a complicated and tedious process, often involving file conversion, photo-import menu selections, and cropping tools. Additionally, integrating an image into an existing piece of art may further include utilization of copy and paste tools and/or additional conversion and file importing menu navigation. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Although steel buildings have long been established as a viable construction method for warehouses, factories, and the like, the need for the framework of these buildings to be pre-cut and then transported to a building site adds significant non-value added costs for transportation, packaging, loading, unloading, and repeated handling of the material. Furthermore, pre-cutting may increase the lead-time to manufacture if a factory must produce and ship components needed for design alterations.
To date, there has been no attempt to fully manufacture steel building components on-site. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle hood structure, and in particular, to a vehicle hood structure which is applied to a vehicle such as an automobile or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a vehicle hood structure which is applied to a vehicle such as an automobile or the like, a structure is conventionally known (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 8-80873) in which a hood inner panel is provided at the reverse surface of a hood outer panel which has a convex planar portion and concave planar portions, the convex planar portion and the concave planar portions being sectioned off from one another by step portions. In this conventional structure, impact absorbing bodies are provided between the hood outer panel and the hood inner panel. The impact absorbing bodies are supported at the hood inner such that the impact absorbing bodies support vicinities of the step portions of the convex planar portion from the reverse surface thereof and, when the distance by which the hood is moved reaches a predetermined magnitude, the impact absorbing bodies crush-deform, and generate a desired reaction force.
However, in this vehicle hood structure disclosed in JP-A No. 8-80873, the impact absorbing bodies must be provided as separate bodies between the hood outer panel and the hood inner panel. As a result, an increase in the number of parts, an increase in the weight, and an increase in the assembly cost are inevitable. Further, as some portions of the impact absorbing bodies fail to collapse sufficiently at the time of a collision and such insufficiently collapsed portion cannot be utilized as the energy absorbing stroke, the overall energy absorbing stroke decreases. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
In the field of a graphic art, a number of plate making films are used for photographing colors separately, composing images, and so forth, in the step of making a printing plate having thereon a halftone dot image formed out of a continuous tone image on a reversal film, color negative film, color paper, and the like. This makes processing so complicated that so many errors such as erroneous lettering, layouts and so forth cannot be avoided.
Furthermore, various corrections for lettering, layout, coloring and so forth are requested at random by clients, so that missing of the corrections is liable to take place. It is also necessary to make an advance check on whether a printed matter can be finished to meet the requirements of color tone and gradation.
For the purpose of making confirmation of this kind of proofreading, not only a proof-print system but also a variety of systems have been made public and available on the market. These systems include, for example, those using a CRT, those using non-silver light-sensitive materials comprising a photopolymer, diazo compound or the like, those forming an image with a dry toner, an electro-photographic system, and so forth. However, these proofreading systems have the problems such as a long time required to finish a proof sheet, an expensive material cost, a poor workability, and so forth, so that they can not be the systems satisfactory for practical use.
The other systems than the above for preparing a proof include a system in which a color-separated halftone original is printed on a color light-sensitive material through color-separated light. These systems include a method in which a proof is obtained on a color light-sensitive material through a photographing system by making use of a projection lens, disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Open to Public Inspection (hereinafter referred to as Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication) Nos. 60-4276/1985, 62-280746/1987, 62-280747/1987, 62-280748/1987, 62-280749/1987, 62-280750/1987 and 62-280849/1987, and so forth; or a contact exposure system under marketing by Chesley F. Carlson with a trade name of `The Carlson Proofmaster System` and by Kreonite Inc. with a trade name of `Color Proofing System`, respectively.
Either system using a positive or negative type silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material enables to perform color proofreading at less cost in shorter time and comprises more excellent characteristics than the other systems.
In these systems, the color-separated B/W halftone dot images which are formed by subjecting a color original to color separation for converting to the halftone dot image are printed one after another on a sheet of color paper in a contact printing method, and the printed color paper is subjected to color developing to form the color images with the dyes produced imagewise from the couplers. The resulting color images are used for proofreading.
In addition to the foregoing systems, a silver dye bleaching system is known. However, this system is unsuitable for a proofreading image forming system where an ever stable and high quality image is required, because of a defect that processings are unstable.
In this regard, a proofreading image forming system where a color image is formed by coupling of a coupler and an aromatic primary amine type developer on a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material has an advantage that a stable quality image can be prepared.
In such a process, it is required for a color paper that a hue of a dye image produced from a coupler is close to that of a printed color image. At present, however, no such technical requirements have ever been fully satisfied.
With respect to this technical problem, such method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application O.P.I. 62-109055/1987 that a hue of a magenta image can be closer to that of a printed matter by exposing a magenta color-separated negative to blue light and additionally to green light. As described in the foregoing application, however, no any satisfactory approximation of a hue can be achieved by controlling an exposure on an ordinary color paper.
Japanese Patent Application O.P.I. 61-47957/1986 and 61-28948/1986 disclose that combined use of a pyrazoloazole type magenta coupler and alkyl phosphate can reduce a subsidiary absorption in a longer wavelength region, while it does not disclose an application for a color proof. Therefore, a hue of a color proof image of which density is expressed by that of a halftone dot can not be anticipated only from a hue of an ordinary photographic image and a spectral absorption.
Further, an approximation of a hue in some limited area (limited halftone area) does not necessarily result in completely satisfying the conditions required to a color proof, and therefore, a high approximation of a color image in all area from a highlight to a shadow is necessary for preparing a color proof having a hue of a further higher approximation. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electric power supply and generation systems and, more particularly, to allowing a utility to carry out a “selective” disconnect of utility customers using a two-way reporting approach.
2. Description of Related Art
One important activity of a power utility is the disconnection of service to customers. A service disconnection typically results from either of the following situations: (1) a customer moves out of his residence/business and no longer wants service delivered to that service point, or (2) a customer payment delinquency resulting from a past failure of the customer to pay the utility bill. In the first situation, the customer provides the utility with an order to disconnect service. In the second situation, the order comes from the utility's accounting department due to failure to pay the utility bill.
In the past, service disconnection involved one or more trips by a utility worker to the service point to notify the occupants of an upcoming disconnect, followed by another subsequent trip to the service point to physically flip the switch to disconnect power to the service point. This is referred to as a “hard disconnect.” Hard disconnects are not always easy to handle because of issues such as the following: (1) angry customers due to the prospect of service disconnection; (2) uncontrolled pets or other animals; (3) physical difficulties of getting access to the disconnect switch; (4) weather conditions; (5) time and cost associated with getting to the customer's premises, which could be located in a remote area.
To overcome many of the issues related to a hard disconnect, utilities began to make use of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) technology that allowed utilities to remotely perform disconnects without the physical presence of a lineman or technician. This is achieved by installing or integrating within the electric meters (“smart meters”) a remote disconnect switch that is actuated through commands sent to the electric meters via various communications methods. These communications methods are generally two-way in order to acknowledge the switch's “state” of allowing electricity to flow or not. There is some additional cost associated with installation of this equipment. However, this avoided most or all of the disadvantages of a hard disconnect noted above.
Although installation of AMI technology equipment resolved many of the issues related to hard disconnects, it added other problems. For example, some customers were put into life-threatening situations because of remote hard disconnects. In some rare cases, customers died because of the lack of heat during winter or from unanticipated “restarts” when a bill was paid sufficiently to warrant a service restoration from the serving utility. A remote hard disconnect may also be life-threatening when a customer has an important medical device using electricity.
Situations such as these have resulted in regulations or legislation in many areas preventing or restricting remote hard disconnects due to “customer payment delinquency.” Because of this, as well as the additional costs related to remote hard disconnects, few utilities are now making use of remote hard disconnects. The result is that utilities are often either continuing to perform hard disconnects on-site at the service point or are performing “soft disconnects.” A soft disconnect does not actually cut power to the service point but merely reads the customer's meter on the last date of occupancy and stops billing the customer after that. Soft disconnects are primarily useful in “customer move” situations in areas with high customer turnover, such as apartment buildings or near college campuses. In those areas, there is typically a quick succession of one customer moving out and another customer moving in.
The advantage of a soft disconnect is that it avoids the cost of physically visiting the service point at least twice—once for a disconnect, and once for a reconnect. It also allows the new customer to be reconnected faster than waiting for a physical visit by a utility worker. However, an obvious problem with a soft disconnect is that power may still be consumed by the service point, resulting in an additional cost to the landlord, the utility, or some other party. For example, the previous customer may have left the HVAC system running. Switch controlled devices, such as water heaters, may be left running by a customer because there is no obvious disconnection feature available to the previous customer. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
For example, a value of a transmission ratio may be useful for controlling a vehicle, such as an automobile. Generally, the transmission ratio value may be obtained by the following methods. The first method is called a “Transmission Ratio Embedding Method”, and the second method is called a “Rotational-speed Ratio Calculating Method.”
The Transmission Ratio Embedding Method embeds values (in this case, gear reduction ratios or transmission ratios) as a control parameter into a control program, and selects one of the transmission ratio values based on a value detected by a gear position sensor. The Rotational-speed Ratio Calculating Method is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-201973, in which a value of the transmission ratio is calculated based on a rotational speed of a driving source (for example, a rotational speed of a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine), and a vehicle traveling speed (for example, a rotational speed of a speed sensor shaft). The entire disclosure of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-201973 is incorporated herein by reference.
However, the Transmission Ratio Embedding Method may require a correction of the control parameter when an actual transmission ratio is changed by, for example, a change in design of the transmission. Further, the Rotational-speed Ratio Calculating Method tends to output a value that can be unstable because of, for example, a slight change in the transmission ratio by backlash of gears, a damping effect of a damper element (e.g., a coupling damper), etc. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates generally to processing data and, more particularly, to systems and methods for calculating and retrieving analytic data using a body of transactional data managed by a relational database management system (RDBMS).
Transactional data, such as payment card transaction data, is collected and processed routinely by organizations associated with the transactions. Payment card transactions (e.g., credit cards, debit cards, pre-paid cards, gift cards, etc.) may involve a number of parties, including merchants, issuers, cardholders, acquirers, and payment networks. Payment card transactions are so ubiquitous in society today that the volume of data associated with these transactions has grown quite large. The entities tasked with tracking, maintaining, and reporting on these transactions must efficiently process large numbers of transactions daily.
In some cases, interchange networks act as central communication hubs for processing transactional data, providing services to at least some of the parties involved in the payment card transaction. Routinely, payment networks are asked to provide reporting to the customers that they support. For example, an issuer may request that an interchange network provide the issuer with totals from a prior day's transactions. To provide such a service, an analyst associated with the interchange network traditionally must query a large database and generate an aggregated result to return to the analyst. Based on a variety of variables, such as system load, database size, the type of query, and indexing efficiency, the analyst's query may take many seconds or minutes to complete.
Some known systems for increasing efficiency of these aggregation calculations involve creating separate tables of data, sometimes called “aggregate tables.” These aggregate tables may store duplicate information, allowing a query to run on a subset of the data rather than a larger database. Other aggregate tables may compute a specific aggregation for each customer and store these values in a separate table. These approaches improve efficiency in certain situations by decreasing the amount of data to search, indexing on a key field tuned for a particular query, or pre-calculating a value. However, each of these approaches requires custom data structures to be built and maintained.
Accordingly, a method and system is needed that enables the payment network to: (i) store pre-calculated aggregation results in a database structure that allows the flexibility to field different types of queries without unnecessarily duplicating data; (ii) structure the database and queries quickly identify and provided the results to a requesting customer; and (iii) facilitate periodic updating of the aggregation results. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer archive software. Particularly, this invention relates to computer archive software that stores immutable data objects such as Write-Once-Read-Many (“WORM”) files.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer archive software stores data objects, such as files, in order to preserve them for a period of time. The files in the archive are required to be immutable—after the file is completely written, it is not allowed to be changed. Determining when a file has been completely written is problematic. Protocols for sending data to the archive system (such as NFS) do not provide an open/close semantic, making it impossible to simply declare the object to be immutable at close.
Prior archive systems rely on timeout approaches or overload approaches to determine when a file is completely written and can therefore be changed to be immutable. Using a timeout approach, an archive system waits a certain period of time (such as 30 or 60 seconds) following the last write to the object before declaring the object immutable. Such a timeout approach works but is subject to failures. For example, a network outage or application pause may cause the timeout period to pass without the application having finished writing the file. When the timeout period passes, an archive system using the timeout approach will transition the file to immutable. A failure will occur when the application sends a subsequent write. Such an error forces the archive system to create a new object and to start over.
Other archive systems use an overload approach. With this technique, following completion of the writing of an object to the archive, an update to a file attribute signals the archive system to treat the file as immutable. U.S. Pat. No. 7,155,460 by McGovern et al. discloses an overload approach in which “the client calls up the file properties dialog and sets the read-only attribute for the WORM file on drive W. The file server's file system recognizes the transition of the file from not-read-only to read-only state and thenceforth designates the file as WORM and all the above restrictions or modification, changes in attribute, etc. are enforced. Significantly, any subsequent attempt by the client to modify the read-only state of the file is denied, and a permission denied message is returned to the client from the file server” (col. 13, lines 29-40). The overload approach requires modification to the application to enable it to overload the file attribute in the agreed-upon fashion to indicate that the file should be transitioned to WORM. | {
"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.