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(1) Field of the Invention
The instant invention is a method for the control of undesirable plants by use of plant pathogens.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
The merits for using plant pathogens to control weeds in annual crops have been discussed previously for two Colletotrichum spp. (Daniel, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,973). The anthracnose fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides has been used to control the weed northern jointvetch, and another strain of this fungus has been used to control winged waterprimrose. Colletotrichum malvarum has been used to control prickly sida. These three pathogens have been combined to control all three target weeds at once. In other experimental work the fungus Alternaria macrospora has been used to control spurred anoda, Alternaria macrospora, Weed Science, L. Walker, 1981, Vol 29, pp 505-507.
A major constraint to commercial development of a plant pathogen as biological herbicide is selectivity. A pathogen that controls only one weed species in one crop does not have the same market potential as a pathogen that controls several important weeds in several crops.
Sicklepod (Cassia obtusifolia L.) is a major weed problem in much of the southern United States where soybeans and peanuts are grown. This non-nodulating legume is very competitive with these crop plants and can significantly reduce yields at low weed densities. Mature sicklepod plants commonly reach a height of 2 to 2.5 m. The weed produces large quantities of seeds that can germinate and grow under a wide range of environmental conditions. Seedlings characteristically have rounded cotyledons, 15-20 mm across, with 3 to 5 distinct veins in the upper leaf surface. The first leaves have 3-5 leaflets that are rounded at the tip.
Sicklepod control with herbicides is difficult. An emergency use permit has recently been issued by the United States Environmental Protection Agency to allow the use of toxaphene for sicklepod control in soybeans grown in 5 southern states. Also, metribuzin can be applied postmergence directed, but this chemical is sometimes injurious to the soybeans.
Coffee senna (Cassia occidentalis L.) is similar in appearance to sicklepod, except that the seed pods are shorter, straighter, and more flattened. This species is widely distributed throughout the southeastern United States, and is an important weed within much of its geographic range.
Showy crotalaria (Crotalaria spectabilis Roth.) is widely distributed in the southeastern United States. This species is a problem weed because of the poisonous seeds that it produces. These seeds are very toxic to livestock, and a major source of poisoning is from the consumption of grain or feeds contaminated with crotalaria seeds. This species is also a member of the family Leguminosae.
A. cassiae is the first fungal pathogen that has been used to control these weeds. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention is an improvement of the thermal release plug disclosed in copending patent application Ser. No. 727,881 filed Sept. 29, 1976 which was formed under similar conditions but did not utilize a high melting temperature plug member in the well in addition to the low melting temperature metal. Without a plug member the aperture at the bottom of the well had to be kept small because the sealant metal became highly fluid under the production temperatures and as a result could not be retained in the well if the opening were too large. When a large area vent was required a plurality of wells having openings which in the aggregate equaled the required area had to be formed. Attempts to use a high melting point plug sealed in the well by a low melting metal resulted in unreliable release plugs because under the furnace brazing temperature and atmosphere conditions the plug member became bonded directly to the well surface in some instances. The present invention solves this problem by using standoff means in the well to hold a circular plug member away from the well walls except at the points where the standoff means contact the plug member. The remaining peripheral portion of the circular plug not in contact with the standoff means is spaced from the well wall by a gap which is sufficiently narrow to prevent the metal sealant from flowing through the gap during production yet because of its length provides a total area that is comparatively large. Also, if any bonding occurs between the circular plug member and the well it is limited to a minimum number of points and thus does not drastically interfere with the reliable release of the plug.
The invention including the above mentioned features and advantages will be understood best if the written description is read with reference to the accompanying drawings. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a messaging system comprising mobile terminals operated by users and a network for connecting the terminals to a message server comprising means for exchanging messages originating from the terminals, making use of an identification code.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Such a system is generally known as a “voice mail” system. A voice mail system is, however, limited to the leaving of a message from A intended for B and the retrieval of that stored message by B.
People with occupations such as sales reps, maintenance engineers and the like do not see their colleagues very much and are often on the move. Such people nevertheless still need to communicate with their colleagues. Moreover, they often travel by car and are therefore limited in what they can do on the move. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to holding arrangements for cutting picks, particularly but not necessarily exclusively point attack picks, which are intended to be free to rotate in use. It relates to rotatable cutter picks themselves and to assemblies of other picks with their holding arrangements.
To provide for rotatability it is known to provide a pick with a cylindrical shank fitting freely in a cylindrical bore of a pick box, which may be sleeved to make rotation easier. These picks are usually employed in the severe conditions of mining and it is found that the freedom of a pick to rotate in the bore is impaired by build-up of foreign matter in the bore. As a result the working life of the pick will be considerably reduced because wear is concentrated on only a portion of the cutting tip.
According to one aspect of the invention there is provided an arrangement for holding a cutter pick comprising a pick box having a bore and sleeve receiving a shank of the pick lining at least a part of the length of said bore, the sleeve being rotatable in the bore to permit rotation of the pick about a longitudinal axis, a thrust ring at the front end of the bore being arranged to fit closely to the tool and the bore so as to impede the passage of foreign matter into the bore, said ring having an end face to support the pick against rearward axial forces.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a cutter pick assembly comprising a point attack cutter pick rotatably mounted in a sleeved bore of a pick box, the forward end of said bore being substantially closed against the ingress of foreign matter by a metal thrust and seal ring closely fitting the pick and the pick box and having a forward annular face for supporting the pick against rearwardly directed cutting forces.
According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a point attack cutter pick comprising a cylindrical shank having an annular recess receiving a spring clip for retaining the pick shank axially in a bore of a sleeve and having a radially extending skirt at the forward end of the shank with a rearwardly directed recess for engagement by a thrust and seal ring supporting the pick against rearwardly directed cutting forces. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A. Technical Field
The present invention relates to high-Q Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) sensors and, more particularly, to systems, devices, and methods of reducing resonance effects in high-Q MEMS sensors operating in spot mode.
B. Background of the Invention
A new generation of high performance, low power MEMS sensors is playing an increasingly important role in the consumer electronics market. Miniaturization efforts drive the integration of multiple navigational sensors, such as accelerometers, magnetometers, and gyroscopes, into a single package. Some inertial sensor applications that use stand-alone accelerometers in inclinometers, fall detection sensors, etc., employ spot mode operation techniques in order to reduce power consumption. Transitions between ON and OFF states within spot mode operation involve relatively rapid changes in sensor bias conditions that give rise to perturbations, which may cause unwanted oscillations that negatively impact settling times. In accelerometers sensor with movable proof-mass perturbations are greatly amplified when excitation frequencies coincide with resonance frequencies of high-Q mechanical resonator systems that comprise a proof-mass.
For these stand-alone accelerometers, existing solutions include utilizing atmospheric pressure inside the sensor cavity, which increases friction and lowers the quality factor of the mechanical resonator system so as to avoid oscillations or, at least, sufficiently reduce unwanted oscillations in order to achieve faster setting times.
Unfortunately, for MEMS gyroscope sensors, high Q is a crucial and wanted design parameter. In fact, these sensors are generally assembled and operated under vacuum conditions. Therefore, in an integrated accelerometer-gyroscope sensor system, as a tradeoff, the quality factor of a MEMS accelerometer sensor typically gives way to the requirements of the gyroscope since the quality factor of the MEMS accelerometer cannot be made sufficiently low so as to avoid unwanted high-Q oscillations during accelerometer spot mode operation.
What is needed are tools for system designers to overcome the above-described limitations. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a light control apparatus, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to an apparatus for a skylight that uses solar radiation as the control parameter and as the power source for automatic adjustment of shade devices to control solar energy entering a structure through the skylight.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
Skylights were widely used to provide light to industrial and warehouse buildings before the widespread use of fluorescent lighting. Around 1995, “big box” retailers began to install skylights over product sales areas. The original objective was to improve the appearance of products by admitting daylight. Natural light has a color rendition index (CRI) of 100%. Thus, products were more appealing than when viewed under the weak fluorescent or high intensity discharge lighting then in use with CRI's of around 40-60%. In addition, natural light reduces the cost of artificial lighting, which accounts for 40% to 50% of the energy consumption in many commercial buildings. When sufficient natural light or daylight is available, a good daylighting system can significantly reduce artificial lighting requirements and the associated energy costs.
While skylights perform well in both improving the quality of store lighting and reducing the need for artificial lighting, they have a significant disadvantage. Daylighting is composed of the visible light spectrum plus direct solar gain. Direct solar gain increases air-conditioning loads resulting in increased utility costs.
The skylight industry does not have any advanced technology in the control of solar loading. The approaches used so far include adding tint to the skylight and thereby increase the shading coefficient. The problem with this solution is that it, in turn, decreases the light admitted into the structure. The window industry has also responded to government insistence in the form of low-e glazings and thermal blocking frames.
Technologies to provide active control, such as electro-chromic glazing (ECG), which has been in development for the past ten years and still not available to the mass market, are extremely expensive. While ECG will limit solar heat gain through windows it still will not optimize daylighting. Further, it offers no solution to the retro-fit market, nor does it offer any fire resistance.
To this end, a need exists for an apparatus for controlling solar energy entering a structure through a skylight which uses solar radiation as the control parameter. It is to such an apparatus and method that the present invention is directed. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The generation of dust during transport and handling of material has long been recognized as an economic loss and a health hazard. In general there are four ways to prevent dust generation using a chemical solution. Two are temporary: using foam to form a physical blanket over the material, usually when it is on a conveyor belt, or using surfactants in water to wet the dusting material and prevent dust generation through multiple handling points. These remedies last only as long as the foam remains intact or the material remains wet. The second two approaches focus on longer-term dust control. They involve applying a chemical binder to the surface of a stock pile or railcar to form a crust, preventing wind-born loss, or to treat the entire mass of material with a binder, cementing the smaller dust particles to larger particles on a semi-permanent basis. The former approach, depending on the choice of binder, can form a crust lasting over a year. The latter, depending on the choice of binder, can render a dusting material effectively non-dusting for a time ranging from days to months. We report here an improvement of the latter technology.
There have been any number of compositions put forth over many decades to address this. Most of these center around handling coal. As early as 1931, Wallace (U.S. Pat. No. 1,910,975) taught the application of hygroscopic sugary materials such as molasses to prevent dusting in coal. Of greater note is Work et. al.'s (U.S. Pat. No. 2,250,287) 1940 recognition that a “ . . . strong, abrasion-resistant coating . . . ” was preferred as a dust-proofing agent for coal. While the use of calcium chloride and other hygroscopic salts to retain moisture on coal had been previously taught, in 1943 Kleinicke et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 2,436,146) added organic gels such as starch, gelatin, or agar to enhance the performance of these salts. More recently, Trechock et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,711,318) taught the use of film-forming compositions including sodium silicate, asphalt, coal tar, and molasses to substantially reduce <325 mesh dust production on coke briquettes. In 1974, Salyer et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,954,662) taught the use of copolymers of vinyl esters and unsaturated dicarboxylic acids and anhydrides with wetting agents to suppress dust on coal. Beck et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,471) reported the use of waste sulfite liquor (lignosulfonates) to suppress dust on coal before feeding it to a coking oven. It is worth noting that at about this time, Callahan et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,369,121) reported the use of water-soluble nonionic cellulose ethers to form a pile seal over the surface of stockpiles, however he did not teach the use of this composition as a dust-proofing agent for treating the bulk of the aggregate, nor did his composition contain a plasticizer. Shimizu et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,984) later taught the use of a polyhydridic alcohol; preferably glycerin, and a wetting agent as a dust-reducing treatment. Fenton (U.S. Pat. No. 4,469,612) taught the use of polyacrylates and copolymers of acrylics as dust agglomerating agents specifically for use with oil-shale derived fines. Kittle (U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,905) taught the use of foamed heavy process oil to suppress coal dust. At almost the same time, Siddoway et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,511) taught the use of sugar or molasses as a body treatment to suppress coal dust. Yan's (U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,196) use of a gelatinized starch illustrates yet another possible composition for suppressing coal dust. Roberts et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,598) taught the advantage of adding a small amount of a polyacrylate or polymethacrylate to kerosene in an oil in water emulsion for dust control on coal. This is very similar to Roe's (U.S. Pat. No. 4,780,233) teaching of using polyisobyutlyene to enhance the effectiveness of oil in an oil in water emulsion for dust control. The two previous patents taught the use of kerosene or mineral-based oils and this contrasts with Zinkan's (U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,635) approach of using anionic and nonionic water soluble (non-cellulosic) polymers with a wetting agent. Returning to petroleum-based compositions, Wajer et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,192,337) taught the use of petroleum resin diluted with mineral oil to reduce dusting on coal. Roe et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,194,174), at roughly the same time, taught the use of polyvinyl alcohol with cross-linkers, wetting agents, and plasticizers for dust control. Of particular note is the work of Winstanley et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,223,165), which teaches the use of alkyl glycosides for dust control. While the alkyl glycosides are wetting agents and the focus of the patent, the use of hydrophilic binders including cellulose derivatives in combination with the wetting agents is taught. Again, nowhere is there any mention of the use of a plasticizer to enhance dust suppression. Roe (U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,859) discussed dust control methods at high temperature; that is, greater than 250° F., using nonionic cellulose ethers. There are additional patents covering the use of a variety of binders to render materials non dusting. Included in that list would be teachings related to the use of cationic polymers (Roe, U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,444); lignosulfonate plus additives (Bennet, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,310,494; 5,578,239); hydrated grain endosperm (Rogers et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,658,486); distillation bottoms from 1,6-hexanediol production (McNabb et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,787); and molasses and oil or simply molasses protein (Rahm et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,086,647; Wolff et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,790,245).
From the references set forth above, it is apparent that there are a variety of options available to render a material non-dusting. However the majority of the above treatments rely on a strong binder to perform their function. As was taught by Work et al. in 1940, strength is essential as it relates to the basic mechanism by which dust is suppressed. Dust is suppressed when a composition binds the loose particles of the bulk material together. The stronger the bond between the bulk material particles, the less likely dust will separate from the substrate on mechanical agitation.
Of note to this disclosure is Roe's (U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,859) teaching of the use of water-soluble cellulose ethers with an additional wetting agent or plasticizer at temperatures above 250° F. as a dust palliative. In particular, Roe's claimed invention specifically calls for the addition of either a plasticizer or a wetting agent but not both.
Water-soluble cellulose ethers are well-known in the coatings industry. Their behavior with plasticizers has been studied extensively. As long ago as 1940 it was recognized that the addition of a plasticizer weakened the tensile strength of cellulose ether films (Kropscott, U.S. Pat. No. 2,226,823). Oakley (U.S. Pat. No. 2,653,108) made a similar observation. More recently Part et al. (Park, H. J., Weller, C. L., Vergano, P. J., and Testin, R. F.; Journal of Food Science, 58, #6, 1993 pp 1361-1364) quantified the same behavior specifically in methyl cellulose and hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose using, among other plasticizers, propylene glycol and glycerin (2,3-hydroxy-1-propanol). A DOW Corporation website discusses not only strength, but film toughness and Young's Modulus (http://dowwolff.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2357/˜/methocel-effect-of-plasticizers-on-film-properties-in-tablet-coatings). In every case the addition of glycerin or propylene glycol weakened the films. It is therefore a surprising and unexpected result that the addition of a plasticizer to dust control formulas similar to those described by Roe would result in improved strength.
The present invention is provided to solve the problems discussed above and other problems, and to provide advantages and aspects not provided by prior dust suppression fluids of this type. A full discussion of the features and advantages of the present invention is deferred to the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a transfer case for all-wheel drive vehicles and, more particularly, to a transfer case which is provided with a self actuated, locking limited slip planetary differential. 2. Summary of Related Art
It is well known that all-wheel drive vehicles conventionally employ front and rear driving axles having front and rear differentials, respectively, drivingly connected to front and rear pairs of wheels through a transfer case including a third, inter-axle differential powered by the vehicle engine. Thus, should either the front or the rear drive axle experience a low friction condition, high torque could not be transmitted to the other wheel due to the constitution of the inter-axle differential. To avoid this, there is provided a differential lock up or limiting mechanism which effects a torque transfer to the drive axle in the higher friction condition, thus increasing the total available tractive force for propelling the vehicle and thereby improving the mobility and performance thereof.
To this end, the transfer cases employed previously have typically included a viscous coupling, or an electronically controllable clutch mechanism which may vary the amount of clutch force applied. Such mechanisms have generally performed adequately, but are unduly complex. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to a method of calibrating an acceleration sensor and more particularly to providing a multiple point calibration system.
Acceleration sensors, also called accelerometers, are typically used in motor vehicle applications including, for example, anti-lock braking systems. Signals from the acceleration sensor indicating the instantaneous acceleration of the vehicle are used in the control logic for controlling anti-lock braking.
An acceleration sensor senses linear acceleration parallel to its sensing plane. Internally, some known acceleration sensors contain a silicone proof mass that is suspended between two stationary capacitor plates by cantilever beam springs. When the sensor body is accelerated, the movement is transmitted to the mass via the springs. The springs bend to balance the inertial force of the mass. Due to this bending the relative position of the mass between the two plates is changed. This change causes a change in the capacitance between the two plates which is measured. The internal sensor electronics calculate the acceleration by solving the engineering formulas for force equals a spring constant times displacement and force equals mass times acceleration. Capacitance is a function of displacement and can be measured and converted to a voltage that is readable by an analog-digital converter. The sensor further contains certain parameters for converting capacitance to voltage. The parameters include acceleration-to-voltage ratios and the zero position output value. Thus, capacitance can be converted to voltage which can then be converted to acceleration.
In vehicle brake systems, it is important to have an accurate indication of instantaneous acceleration to provide accurate and consistent braking control actions. In the past, it has been known to calibrate an acceleration sensor with the sensor at a zero degree angle and using only a single point of reference. Thus, correction is only provided for the zero position output voltage at a zero degree angle. Known acceleration sensors for vehicles do not account for a sensor being at an inclined angle, including accounting for a pitch angle or a yaw angle.
The present invention is directed to a method of calibrating an acceleration sensor for a vehicle, the acceleration sensor being connected to an electronic control unit, comprising the steps of positioning the acceleration sensor at a first angle A1 and communicating the first angle A1 to the electronic control unit. Measuring a first output voltage V1 of the acceleration sensor at the first angle A1. Positioning the acceleration sensor at a second angle A2 and communicating the second angle A2 to the electronic control unit. Measuring a second output voltage V2 of the acceleration sensor at the second angle A2 and calculating a sensitivity factor as a ratio equal to a difference between the first and second output voltages V2xe2x88x92V1 divided by a difference between the first and second angles A2xe2x88x92A1. Another step includes calculating a zero position output voltage which is equal to the first output voltage minus a product of the sensitivity factor times a sine of the first angle.
A further method according to the present invention includes installing the acceleration sensor onto a vehicle and then further calibrating the sensor comprising the steps of: placing the vehicle at a predetermined third angle A3 and communicating the third angle A3 to the electronic control unit. Measuring a third output voltage of the acceleration sensor at the third angle A3. Calculating a second sensitivity factor as a ratio equal to a difference between the third output voltage and one of the first and second output voltages V3xe2x88x92V2 (or V1) divided by a difference between the third angle and one of the first and second angles A3xe2x88x92A2 (or A1). Also, calculating a second zero position output voltage which is equal to the third output voltage minus a product of the sensitivity factor times a sine of the third angle.
Any or all of the first, second and third angles can be pitch angles and/or yaw angles.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is a method of determining a characteristic line for an acceleration sensor comprising: positioning the acceleration sensor at a first angle A1 and measuring a first output voltage V1 of the acceleration sensor at the first angle A1. Positioning the acceleration sensor at a second angle A2 and measuring a second output voltage V2 of the acceleration sensor at the second angle A2. Calculating a sensitivity factor, m, as a ratio according to the equation:
m=(V2xe2x88x92V1)/(A2xe2x88x92A1);
calculating a zero position output voltage V0 according to the equation:
V0=V1xe2x88x92(mxc3x97sin(A1));
determining a characteristic line for the acceleration sensor using the equation:
Vi=V0+(mxc3x97Xg)
wherein variable Vi is instantaneous output voltage, V0 is the zero position output voltage, m is the sensitivity factor and Xg is an amount of instantaneous acceleration force.
Optionally, but preferably, the method of calibrating an acceleration sensor for a vehicle includes an acceleration sensor having a silicon proof mass resiliently suspended between a pair of capacitor plates and connected to an electronic control unit for accurate sensing of vehicle acceleration. In addition to the multiple steps of communicating, measuring and calculating various parameters, the present method contemplates selectively storing any or all parameter values.
Thus, the present invention provides a method for more accurately calibrating an acceleration sensor by utilizing two or more reference points that correspond to different angular positions of the acceleration sensor. In addition, a further calibration is contemplated after installation of the sensor on a vehicle. Accordingly, the present invention provides a method for calibrating an acceleration sensor that improves the accuracy of the sensor output and the accuracy and efficiency of the accompanying vehicle systems, such as braking control, which rely on acceleration input values. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A recording/reproducing apparatus capable of recording music composition data (voice signal) acquired by reproducing a CD (Compact Disc), etc., on an MD (Mini Disc), etc., is known.
An MD is provided with a U-TOC (User's Table Of Contents) as an area for recording title information composed of track titles, etc., for each disc title and music composition data piece.
After recording music composition data on the MD, the recording/reproducing apparatus can register disc titles and track titles, etc. (title information) entered by the user in the U-TOC of the MD.
On the other hand, a service of providing information on commercially available music CDs for users who access over the Internet is becoming a common practice. A disc information database for providing such a service prestores detailed information (attribute information) on various kinds of commercially available music CDs in a database system and supplies the attribute information at the request from a requesting device.
The user can easily acquire information on music CD titles, music titles, artists, etc., (attribute information) using the disc information database through a music-related site. However, when the information acquired from the disc information database is registered in the U-TOC of an MD, the user needs to operate a predetermined operation section (operation keys and remote control, etc.) of the recording/reproducing apparatus to enter characters of information one by one. Such an operation is troublesome to the user.
Furthermore, after the user registers information such as an album title and music title in the U-TOC of the MD, the recording/reproducing apparatus can display the album title and music title, etc., on a display section during reproducing of the MD.
However, it is often the case that the user cannot easily grasp the image of the music or artist through the album title and music title, etc., displayed on the display section alone.
Thus, if an image related to the disc (e.g., picture on the jacket or artist image, etc.) can be displayed simultaneously with the reproduction of the disc such as MD, it is to be expected that this will allow the user to easily grasp the image of the music or artist and thereby enjoy the music in a more profound way.
When using the above-described disc information database, the requesting device sends TOC information for identifying a music CD to a music-related site, etc. In this case, generally, the requesting device only sends a minimum portion of the TOC information that can identify the music CD instead of sending the full TOC information acquired from the music CD.
This may cause a plurality of attribute information pieces to be searched from the disc information database. In such a case, the requesting device will be presented a message that a plurality of attribute information pieces has been searched or part of each attribute information piece (album title, etc.) sent from the music-related site, etc. on the display section and requested to select at least one attribute information piece. Then, the requesting device continues communicating with or remains connected to the Internet until the user selects the attribute information, which results in extra communication charges.
That is, until the requesting device finishes acquiring the attribute information, the user needs to stay and check the requesting device and if a plurality of attribute information pieces has been searched, the user needs to immediately instruct the requesting device to select some attribute information.
Especially when acquiring attribute information on a plurality of music CDs, the user needs to check the requesting device over a long time until the requesting device finishes acquiring the attribute information.
As stated above, to access the music-related site, the requesting device needs to get connected to the Internet using some communication apparatus. When this communication apparatus is a wireless communication apparatus (mobile wireless communication device) such as a portable phone, a strong electric field generated during a communication may cause some influence on the requesting device or the operation thereof.
For example, when the requesting device is a recording apparatus (recording/reproducing apparatus), it is affected by a strong electric field and the recording quality may deteriorate. That is, while the recording apparatus (recording/reproducing apparatus) is recording music composition data if the portable phone, etc., is used to communicate with the music-related site, etc., noise or a noise signal may be mixed in the data.
To avoid the influence of such a strong electric field, the recording apparatus (recording/reproducing apparatus) may be protected with an electromagnetic shield material, etc., but this is not quite realistic because it would involve a cost increase.
The present invention has been implemented taking into account the actual situations described above and it is an object of the present invention to make it possible to acquire attribute information of music composition recorded on a reproducing medium from an information providing site and easily record it in a recording medium, etc.
Furthermore, it is another object of the present invention to easily acquire attribute information of music composition and provide an available system and method.
Furthermore, it is a further object of the present invention to easily acquire attribute information of music composition and provide an available apparatus.
Furthermore, it is a still further object of the present invention to make it possible to appropriately provide attribute information on music composition recorded on a reproducing medium.
The present invention has been implemented taking into account the actual situations described above and it is a still further object of the present invention to provide a recording/reproducing apparatus capable of appropriately recording music composition data, etc., taking into account influences of communications by communication apparatuses. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an absorption refrigerator (including an absorption water chilling/heating machine), which is provided with two types of heat sources for generating refrigerant vapor by heating an absorption liquid.
2. Detailed Description of the Prior Art
An absorption refrigerator has been known, which heats an absorption liquid by use of high-temperature generated by combustion of natural gas, petroleum, or the like and exhaust heat from a cogeneration system or the like to evaporate and separate a refrigerant from the absorption liquid, and thus generates refrigerant vapor and a concentrated absorption liquid.
Another absorption refrigerator also has been known, in which exhaust heat supplied from both of exhaust hot water and exhaust gas of a cogeneration system using a gas engine or the like is utilized as heat sources.
In both cases, one heat source is preferentially used in accordance with a utilization form of heat of a user. In the light of an efficient use of heat, it is necessary that heat from a heat source to be preferentially used can be surely used.
In Japanese Patent Application 2000-074173, the inventors have proposed a control method, which sets two different values as temperature setting values of cold water cooled and supplied in an evaporator. The method controls a heating amount by one heat source based on one set temperature value, and controls a heating amount by the other heat source based on the other set temperature value.
By the proposed control method in Japanese Patent Application 2000-074173, the heat sources can be used in accordance with priorities. However, when the heating amount of the absorption fluid is controlled by means of a PID control setting a wide proportional band or a long integral time, immediate change of loads sometimes causes a disadvantage that the cold water is excessively cooled during the time of closing a fuel supply valve or confirming a fully-closed state thereof, and the apparatus is abnormally stopped. Accordingly, a control method without causing such disadvantage needs to be provided, which has been a problem to be solved.
The present invention solves the foregoing subjects of the prior arts by providing the following concrete means.
A first method of controlling an absorption refrigerator, which comprises the steps of: controlling a heating amount Q1 of an absorption liquid by a heat source A by means of a control using a first set temperature value T1 of cold water supplied from an evaporator as a reference value, the heat source A being to be preferentially used; controlling a residual heating amount Q2 of the absorption liquid by a heat source B by means of a control using a second set temperature value T2 higher than the first set temperature value T1 as a reference value; releasing heat of the refrigerant vapor for condensation in a condenser, the refrigerant vapor being evaporated and separated from the absorption liquid by heating the absorption liquid; evaporating the condensed liquid refrigerant in the evaporator; and supplying cold water cooled in the evaporation of the refrigerant in the evaporator to a load to perform a cooling operation such as air conditioning; wherein when the heating amount Q2 of the absorption liquid is continuously a minimum value for a predetermined time, the heating amount Q2 of the absorption liquid is forcibly controlled to be zero and the heating amount Q1 of the absorption liquid is controlled by means of the control using the first set temperature value T1 as a reference value, and wherein when the heating amount Q1 of the absorption liquid is continuously a maximum value for a predetermined time, the heating amount Q1 of the absorption liquid is forcibly controlled to be the maximum value and the heating amount Q2 of the absorption liquid is controlled by means of the control using the second set temperature value T2 as the reference value.
In the first method, a second method is provided, wherein in a state that the heating amount Q1 of the absorption liquid is forcibly controlled to be the maximum value, when a temperature T of the cold water supplied from the evaporator becomes lower than the second set temperature value T2, the control of the heating amount Q1 of the absorption liquid using the first set temperature value T1 as the reference value is started again.
In the first method, a third method is provided, wherein in a state that the heating amount Q2 of the absorption liquid is forcibly controlled to be zero, when a temperature T of the cold water supplied from the evaporator exceeds a third set temperature value T3 higher than the second set temperature value T2, the control of the heating amount Q2 of the absorption liquid using the second set temperature value T2 as the reference value is started again. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the field of radar detection systems, more particularly to the field of radio wave based proximity fuzes including logic means. 342/68 or 102/215
2. Background of the Invention
A proximity fuze is an explosive ignition device used in bombs, artillery shells, and mines. The fuze senses when a target is close enough to be optimally damaged or destroyed by the weapon's warhead.
An example mission for a helicopter fired missile which includes a proximity fuze is to engage a small team of terrorists who possess a Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD) weapon (e.g. Red Eye, Stinger or SA-7) and intend to shoot down a commercial airliner. The missile is first aimed and then fired from the helicopter. Upon firing, the proximity fuze circuit is powered and enabled (armed). The missile may be guided or unguided during flight. Upon detecting signals indicating a proximal target, the fuze detonates the missile warhead. In such a missile, the proximity fuze may be designed in conjunction with the missile warhead to yield maximum effectiveness over a range of scenarios. In some scenarios the fuze may be required to ignore close encounters with terrain, buildings, or vegetation and yet reliably detonate proximal to the intended target.
Proximity fuzes can and have been based on acoustic, optical and radio frequency techniques. Acoustic is mostly applicable to torpedoes or mines. Optical techniques have issues with rain, smoke, and black targets and the like. Conventional radio frequency techniques include Doppler radar and radar amplitude signals. In addition, proximity fuzes have been based on conventional range gated radar. Conventional radio frequency and radar approaches are limited, however, for close range triggering in clutter environments because of difficulty achieving clutter rejection. Also, narrow band techniques are easily jammed by a small amount of RF power in band. Interference and jamming requirements must be considered in the design to avoid significant performance degradation in the field after substantial investment to deploy the weapon system.
Small missiles present an especially challenging set of systems requirements. Small missiles typically should detonate very close to the target within the lethality range of the small warhead, thus requiring close range precision fuzing. Missile flight may originate close to the ground or just above tree top and travel over or beside buildings or trees or ridges before arriving at the target area. In the target area, nearby structures or ground may need to be ignored while detecting the target and detonating at an appropriate range. Conventional RF techniques lack the resolution to achieve required performance in these complex engagements, especially in a very small package consuming a small amount of power.
Further system requirements include a long shelf life for the system including the power source. Small missiles are manufactured in large quantity and stored for twenty or more years where it is impractical to provide periodic maintenance including battery replacement.
Thus there is a need for an improved small size, long shelf life proximity fuze with short range precision fuzing capable of employing multiple target detection and discrimination methods for maximum effectiveness in complex engagements. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Most game controllers comprise a standardized two-lobed handheld configuration with a left-hand lobe, right-hand lobe, and central portion, all having an array of face-mounted controls. Despite this limited degree of uniformity, a wide variety of game controllers exist in a wide variety of configurations. For example, some are wired versus wireless, placement of controls can vary, and dimensions differ from model to model, etc.
There are currently a variety of controller covers offered as accessories to accommodate a two-lobed controller.
U.S. Design Pat. No. D521567 to Svendsen et al. discloses an ornamental cover for a game controller with opposing lobe-holsters and a central strap that clips over the main body of the controller.
U.S. Published Patent Appln. No. US 2008/0122173 to Harris discloses a form-fitting electronic game controller cover comprising a two-lobed holster contoured to fit a common two-lobed handheld controller configuration.
U.S. Published Patent Appln. No. 20150190720 to Buller discloses a holder for a game controller to allow the game controller to sit in a vertical position on a stand or holster for storage. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the manufacture of semiconductor devices. More particularly, the present invention is directed to improved methods for etching fuse openings in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.
2. The Relevant Technology
In order to improve yield in the manufacture of semiconductor devices, redundant circuit elements may be provided in a circuit layout. The redundant elements may be selectively connected to or disconnected from the circuit as needed to replace defective circuit elements by selectively blowing fuses in the circuit. In highly dense memory circuits, for example, spare rows and columns are formed during fabrication. If a defective bit is found during testing, a spare row or column is substituted for the defective bit by selectively blowing fuses included in the circuit for that purpose.
In state of the art memory circuit layouts, laser fuses take the form of sections of gate stacks including a polysilicon conductive layer. The stack is enclosed laterally by dielectric spacers and upwardly by a dielectric cap. A fuse is "blown" by irradiating the dielectric cap from above with laser radiation at a selected location along the gate stack. The polysilicon is heated by the laser radiation and expands, popping off the dielectric cap at the selected location, and the polysilicon is vaporized or burned off, creating a break in the conductive polysilicon layer.
Fabrication of reliable gate stack type fuses is complicated by the thickness of the overlying layers. As much as 30,000 to 40,000 Angstroms or more of overlying layers must be removed to expose the dielectric cap of the gate stack so that laser radiation may be used to blow a fuse. The overlying layers must be removed to within approximately 3000 Angstroms or less of the top of the cap in order for laser irradiation to reliably blow a selected fuse. But at etch depths as great as 30,000 or 40,000 Angstroms, variations in etch rate over the surface of a wafer, together with variations over the surface of the wafer in the layers to be etched resulting from previous process steps, can result in a difference as large as 6500 Angstroms or more between the deepest and shallowest effective depth of the etch. Etching too deep may destroy the gate stack or expose the substrate, allowing contamination and shorting. Etching not deep enough results in fuses that cannot be reliably blown.
Etching fuse openings thus typically requires painstaking control, such as a timed etch followed by an etch depth measurement for every wafer, followed by a second timed etch for a time calculated individually for each wafer. This type of control is cumbersome and time consuming. Even with control of this type, achieving an etch depth within process limits across the entire surface of a wafer is not always possible. Hence an improved method of etching fuse openings in a semiconductor device is needed. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A sole having these characteristics is known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 1,895,660. The stiffening shank, termed an “arch support”, extends in this case from a backfoot part to the beginning of the adjacent midfoot part, and serves mainly to reinforce the footwear in the plantar arch area.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,785,986 describes a torsion stiffening shank which also extends in the plantar arch area, running diagonally relative to the longitudinal direction.
US20070107264 describes a stiffening shank for sports footwear in which a series of semi-rigid plates are connected to one another via locally weakened areas which form hinge systems. In this case also, the extension of the shank is mainly limited to the plantar arch. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The invention relates to mailers and sheet products for use as parts of mailers and, in particular, to sets of uniquely encoded cards, tags, labels and other sheet elements used in mailers.
A substantial market has developed in recent years for inexpensively manufactured, individually encoded, transaction cards for such uses as store credit cards, membership cards, I.D. cards, etc. The transaction cards typically bear the code in a bar format to permit automatic machine scanning of the card. Such cards typically are supplied in sets with one or more labels, tags, etc. being supplied with each card and bearing the same individual code number as the card for attachment to application forms, membership lists, etc.
Previously, it has taken many separate manufacturing steps to provide such sets. Perhaps the most efficient prior method has been printing in multiple steps, individual sheets of uniquely encoded, typically sequentially numbered, transaction cards, printing separate strips of release paper back adhesive labels with the same, unique codes as the cards, in the same sequence of codes as the codes appear on the cards of the sheets, and attaching the strip(s) with the appropriate code numbers to each sheet with the labels adjoining the like coded card(s).
In practice, this apparently simple, straightforward method requires several labor intensive steps. The appropriate labels for each sheet of cards must be identified and applied by hand to the sheet so that the labels properly adjoin the associated transaction cards. Because this correlation of the separate elements of each sheet is done by hand, considerable time and effort also must be spent in checking the final product to assure accuracy.
In addition, because the transaction card sheets and label strips must be printed separately, more time is needed to complete the task if the same printer is used to print the transaction card sheet and label strips. Alternatively, several printers must be available to simultaneously print the cards and the strips.
The present invention is directed to solving the twin problems of relatively high cost and errors associated with hand production of sets of plural related printed elements, all bearing some code unique to each set of elements, by eliminating hand collation and assembly of the separate elements into the sets as well as the material costs associated with such elements.
The present invention is also directed to solving the problem of the numerous printing steps which are currently required to produce related sets of card sheets and separate label strips, by reducing the number of required printing steps.
The present invention is also directed to solving problems associated with mailing other types or card or cardsized objects that, in some way, require the provision of multiple, variable data sets with each mailer.
In one aspect, the invention is a multilayer, integral, planar, individual printed sheet product comprising a flexible, printable planar core having first and second opposing major sides, the core being printed on at least one of the major sides, the printing on at least the one major side including at least a first variable data field with a unique printed code to uniquely identify the individual printed sheet product; a first flexible cover strip integrally and permanently secured to at least the first side of the core; a magnetic stripe data storage element permanently and integrally fixed together with the core and the first cover strip on the first side of the core; and scoring extending at least sufficiently through the sheet product to define a first identification element removable from a remainder of the individual printed sheet product, the first removable identification element including at least the magnetic stripe data storage element and only part of the first flexible cover strip.
In another aspect, the invention is a multilayer, integral, individual printed sheet product with planar major opposing sides comprising: a flexible, planar core having major opposing first and second sides on the major opposing sides of the sheet product; a first flexible cover strip integrally and permanently secured to at least the first side of the core; printing on at least one of the major sides of the sheet product, the printing including at least a first variable data field with a unique printed code to uniquely identify the individual printed sheet product; a magnetic stripe data storage element permanently and integrally fixed together with the core and the first cover strip on the first side of the core; and scoring extending at least sufficiently through the sheet product to define a first identification element removable from a remainder of the sheet product, the first removable identification element including at least part of the magnetic stripe data storage element on the sheet product and only part of the first flexible cover strip on the sheet product.
In yet another aspect, the invention is a multilayer, integral, printed sheet with two planar opposing major sides made during manufacture of individual sheet products, the sheet comprising: a core formed of flexible planar material, the core having first and second opposing major sides on the opposing major sides of the sheet; a first flexible cover strip integrally and permanently secured to at least the first major side of the core; a plurality of sets of variable data fields printed on at least one major side of the core, each set of variable data fields including at least one field printed with a code unique to the set and different from the code of each other set of variable data fields printed on the sheet; at least one magnetic data storage strip permanently and integrally fixed together with the core and the first cover strip on the first side of the core; and scoring extending at least sufficiently through the sheet product, the first cover strip and any magnetic data storage strip, where present, to define at least a plurality of first identification elements equal in number to the plurality of sets and removable from a remainder of the printed sheet product and a plurality of second identification elements equal in number to the plurality of sets and separable from the first identification elements and any remainder of the printed sheet product, each of the plurality of first identification elements containing only a portion of one magnetic data storage element strip and each of the plurality of the second removable elements, one from each set, containing at least a variable data field printed with the unique code different from the printed unique code of each other second removable element and each other set of the plurality. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrolytic copper foil which is used as an electrode collector for a secondary battery, an electrolytic copper foil for printed circuit and a process for the production thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electrolytic copper foil is produced on an industrial basis in the following manner. That is, an insoluble electrode of titanium or lead coated with a platinum group element is used as an anode while a rotary cylindrical metallic cathode made of stainless steel or titanium is used as an opposing cathode. The space between the electrodes is filled with an electrolytic solution comprising copper sulfate and sulfuric acid. When direct current is passed across the opposing electrodes, copper is deposited on the surface of the cathode. During this procedure, the rotary cylindrical metallic cathode is rotated so that copper thus deposited is peeled off the surface of the cathode. Accordingly, it is possible to continuously produce electrolytic copper.
In general, an electrolytic copper foil which has thus separated out from an electrolytic solution comprising two components, i.e., the matte side which is deposited from copper sulfate and sulfuric acid electrolytic solution, which is referred to as roughened surface, an abnormally deposited copper the thickness of which exceeds the normal foil thickness that causes a critical defect. The electrolytic copper foil thus produced has a matte side and has pinholes therein. The electrolytic copper thus obtained exhibits a prismatic structure which grows from the shiny side towards the matte side.
For the purpose of inhibiting the abnormal deposition and occurrence of pinholes on the matte side, it is a common practice to add glue or gelatin and a chloride to an sulfurically acidic copper sulfate electrolytic solution in an amount of from 0.1 to 10 mg/l and from 0.5 to 100 mg/l, respectively. However, an electrolytic copper foil having a high hardness cannot be obtained in this additive system. The resulting matte side has pyramidal crests and thus gives a high roughness.
In recent years, the copper-clad laminate as a main purpose of electrolytic copper foil is intended to rise in the fineness of circuit pattern and reduce the gap between insulation layers. Therefore, a copper foil having an even more thickness and a low roughness at the matte side has been desired.
During the production of a copper-clad laminate, the copper foil is subjected to stress when the resin expands or shrinks under heating, thereby causing breaking of circuit or warpage or twisting of printed circuit board. It is known that such a problem can be solved by the use of a copper foil having a high elongation at high temperatures.
During the lamination of copper-clad laminates, the surface of one copper foil rubs against another to cause damage on the copper-clad laminates. In some detail, when the copper foil is heated during press molding in the procedure of production of copper-clad laminate, copper is recrystallized to lower the hardness of the copper foil. When the copper foils rub against each other during the subsequent lamination step, they have scratches on the surface thereof. In an extreme case, the copper foil is peeled off from the surface of the resin substrate.
In recent years, as cured resin for multi-layer circuit board, there has been used a resin material having a low dielectric constant, a low dielectric loss and a high heat resistance. In general, the formation of such a resin into a multi-layer circuit board requires a high forming temperature. From the standpoint of heat resistance during passage through solder flow, too, the copper foil to be incorporated in the multi-layer circuit board preferably exhibits a small hardness drop due to recrystallization while showing a sufficient elongation at high temperatures.
On the other hand, as electrode collector for secondary battery there has already been used rolled copper foil in many cases. The proportion of electrolytic copper foil occupying in the art is small.
The reasons for this fact will be described below.
(1) An ordinary electrolytic copper foil essentially differs in roughness from one surface to another. Thus, the electrolytic copper foil differs in battery properties from one surface to another. Accordingly, this difference must be considered.
(2) An electrolytic copper foil exhibits a poorer elasticity than rolled copper foil and thus can be wrinkled easily when formed into a thin foil.
(3) An electrolytic copper foil exhibits a poor flexibility.
Thus, an electrolytic copper foil cannot be used as an electrode collector for secondary battery unless these difficulties are overcome.
However, while the maximum width of a rolled copper foil is limited to about 600 mm, an electrolytic copper foil can be formed into a form having a width of not less than twice that of the rolled copper foil. Further, unlike the rolled copper foil, which is liable to pinholing when formed into a thin foil, the electrolytic copper foil is insusceptible to such a defect and thus can be formed into a thin foil to advantage on an industrial basis.
With this advantage, the use of an electrolytic copper foil as an electrode collector makes a great contribution to the drastic rise in the efficiency of the step of application of an active battery material. Further, the use of an electrolytic copper foil having a reduced thickness makes a great contribution to the reduction of the battery weight and the battery production cost and the rise in the energy density of the battery.
Thus, it goes without saying that the use of an electrolytic copper foil as an electrode collector for secondary battery requires the foregoing difficulties to be overcome. Further, taking into account the requirement that the foil be roughened on both sides thereof to exert an anchoring effect that contributes to adhesion to active battery material and exhibit a high elongation at high temperatures in response to thermal expansion during heat generation by battery and the use in a secondary battery for mobile communications apparatus or electric car, a thin foil having a mechanical strength high enough to withstand vibration is desirable.
Thus, it has been required that the electrolytic copper foil to be used for the various purposes have a reduced thickness and a low roughness on the matte side. However, the electrolytic copper foil produced by the prior art method exhibits a low hardness and thus can be easily scratched. Further, such an electrolytic copper foil exhibits a low tensile strength and thus can be easily wrinkled when formed into a thin foil, making it very difficult to handle. Moreover, such an electrolytic copper foil has a high roughness on the matte side, which greatly differs from that of the shiny side.
In general, copper which has separated out from a sulfurically acidic copper sulfate electrolytic solution containing thiourea and a chloride exhibits a high hardness and tensile strength shortly after electrodeposition. However, copper thus electrodeposited shows a poor thermal stability of these mechanical properties and thus can easily undergo primary recrystallization at room temperature to show a hardness drop.
On the other hand, as a method for the production of an electrolytic copper having a high hardness and tensile strength there may be used, e.g., a method involving the production in a very low free chloride concentration (about 1.0 to about 4.5 ppm) as described in JP-A-7-188969 (The term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"). However, this method is disadvantageous in that chlorides contained in waste wire material used as a starting material or chlorine in tap water used can inevitably contaminate the electrolytic solution system. For the purpose of inhibiting the contamination by these chlorides, approaches such as (1) purification of starting material or use of ion-exchanged water and (2) use of soluble anode can be proposed. However, the purification of a starting material causes the increase in the number of required steps. Further, the use of a soluble anode finds trouble in controlling uniformly the foil thickness crosswise and longitudinally and difficulty in supplying starting material. The use of a soluble anode inevitably causes the production of anode slime that leads to abnormal deposition. As an approach for preventing this difficulty there may be proposed the use of an anode bag. However, this countermeasure causes a current efficiency drop.
Thus, the production of an electrolytic copper foil having a high tensile strength in a low free chloride concentration has many disadvantages. The solution to these problems requires great plant and equipment investment and leads to productivity drop, resulting in the rise in product cost.
As already mentioned, the use of conventional additives makes it impossible to provide the resulting electrolytic copper foil with an excellent thermal stability while maintaining a high Vickers' hardness. On the other hand, it is difficult to control the chloride concentration within an extremely low narrow range for the purpose of producing an electrolytic copper foil having these properties. Abnormal deposition can easily occur in such a low chloride concentration. The use of such a method requires great plant and equipment investment, thereby resulting in the rise in product cost.
Therefore, it is desired to produce an electrolytic copper foil exhibiting a high hardness as well as an excellent thermal stability by widening chloride concentration range in a sulfurically acidic copper sulfate. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Many HDD production facilities and procedures involve performing one or more tests on HDDs, often following, or as part of, the servo track writing (STW) procedure. Such tests can be used for one or more of a number of purposes, including detecting flaws or anomalies, preferably, while obtaining information about the severity and/or location of the flaws or anomalies, obtaining disk characterization information (such as characterization of disk runout, fly height, read/write head operating characteristics) and the like. The results of such testing can be used for any of a number of purposes. Such testing can be used as a basis for deciding whether to fail an anomalous drive (take it out of the production stream, e.g., for repair, rebuild, scrap or the like). Testing can be used to obtain statistical information for process control, such as identifying suboptimal procedures or equipment. Testing can be used for obtaining and storing information, typically on the HDD, for use in normal read/write operation (such as sector remap information, runout correction information, fly height adjustment information and the like).
In many situations, some or all of the procedures used during such testing are specified in programming stored on the HDD. Thus, such tests are often called “self-test,” although, generally, at least some control (such as selecting the timing, order and/or number of tests to be performed), along with power for the HDD, is provided from external circuitry.
In many, if not most, self-test situations, at least some self-tests are performed before the HDD is sealed, and/or are otherwise performed in circumstances where it is advisable that the self-tests be conducted in a controlled environment. Typically, there are a number of HDDs undergoing self-tests, at any one time in such an environment. Typically, there are a number of HDDs undergoing self-tests, at any one time in such an environment, typically while each HDD is positioned in a slot of a “test rack,” where each slot not only supports an HDD but also provides power and, in some cases, control signals to the HDD. If viewed on an (average) per-HDD, which can be of significance to the final production cost of the product, particularly when test rack space is positioned in the (relatively expensive, per square foot) controlled environment. Accordingly, it would be useful to provide an apparatus, system and method which can effectively decrease the per HDD capital cost associated with test track slot space.
The production costs associated with test rack use is also related to the length of time, allocatable to individual HDDs, spent in the test rack, as needed to perform the self-testing. Accordingly, it would be useful to provide an apparatus, system and method which can reduce the average length of time, allocated to each HDD, spent in the test rack.
Some HDD testing involves performing tests while the HDD is at certain specified temperatures, or within specified temperature ranges. Some test protocols involve cooling to temperatures below ambient and/or heating to temperatures above ambient. Many previous systems involve changing the temperature of the entire clean room or other test rack area, leading to testing inefficiencies, e.g., when not all HDDs need to be tested at the same temperature for the same periods of time. Even if the temperatures within individual test rack slots were independently controlled, there is a potential for inefficiency if temperature control with a granularity smaller than test rack slots is useful. Accordingly, it would be useful to provide apparatuses, systems and methods which can reliably provide two (or more) different temperatures within a single test rack slot. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed to a mask read-only-memory (mask ROM) and a method for manufacturing same. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a method for manufacturing a mask ROM using self-alignment techniques.
2. Background of the Prior Art
The structure of a conventional mask ROM is shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, where FIG. 1 is a top view of the mask ROM, and FIGS. 2, 3 are cross-sectional views taken along lines II--II and III--III respectively. Mask ROM 1 includes a P type semiconductor substrate 10, a plurality of N.sup.+ bit lines 12 formed on substrate 10 by implantation, a gate oxide layer 14 formed on the substrate 10 and the bit lines 12, and a plurality of word lines 16 formed on the gate oxide layer 14.
The mask ROM is used to store predetermined data which need not be changed. Each bit of the data is stored in a corresponding memory cell of the mask ROM, each of which comprises a metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistor with its channel being located under a word line between two bit lines. Predetermined memory cells are implanted with P type impurities, such as Boron, so that their threshold voltage is raised. As a result, they become non-conducting (or inactive) at normal operating voltages. Therefore, the data bits can be programmed by the state of conduction of the MOS transistors. For example, a conductive MOS transistor lci can be used to represent "0", while a non-conductive MOS transistor, which has been made non-conducting and hence inactive by the implantation of impurities in its gate region, can be used to represent "1".
In the conventional implantation process for programming, a photoresist layer 20 is initially coated on the mask ROM 1. Openings 22 are then formed in the photoresist layer 20 over the cells to be programmed by lithography techniques. Boron ions are implanted through the opening 22 to form a P.sup.+ doped region 18 in the channel region in the MOS transistor being programmed. Therefore, when a normal voltage is placed on the word line 16, the bit lines 12 will not become conductive.
With the reduction in the scale of semiconductor integrated circuits, the width of the word lines 16 are becoming smaller. However, the amount of reduction in the width of the opening 22 is limited by factors in lithography processes used, such as difficulties in making the patterned mask 20 register correctly. As a result, misalignment of the opening 22 is a problem which has inhibited the development of smaller circuits. The misalignment problem plus lateral diffusion of the impurities induces counterdoping of the bit lines 12, which increases the bit line resistance, increases bit line capacitance, and lowers breakdown voltage. High bit line resistance and high bit line capacitance will slow down the speed of the circuit. Low breakdown voltage will result in circuit malfunctions. In the worst condition, adjacent memory cells will be mistakenly doped, which results in errors of data. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to high density synthetic sponges, such as polyvinyl alcohol sponges. More specifically, the invention is high density synthetic sponge and a method and apparatus for rinsing a high density synthetic sponge which reduces processing residue and particulate matter to render the sponge biocompatible.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of synthetic sponges, such as polyvinyl alcohol (or polyvinyl acetal) sponges, is well-known. For example, synthetic sponges have been used as cleaning rollers for cleaning semiconductors or the like. Also, synthetic sponges have many medical applications. For example, synthetic sponges are used as bandages, sanitary napkins, diagnostic swabs and general surgical sponges. Also, specialty surgical sponges have been developed for use in orthopedic, vascular, plastic, eye, ear, nose, throat, and other surgical procedures. Polyvinyl alcohol sponges are used in many surgical applications. For example, surgical "spears" or "points" are small triangular sponges used during ophthalmic or other surgical procedures to absorb small amounts of liquid. Sometimes, the triangular sponges are mounted on a handle to facilitate manipulation. Ordinarily, surgical spears are made of cellulose sponge material or polyvinyl alcohol sponge material.
Conventionally, pores are formed in synthetic sponges by pore forming chemical additives such as starch and sulfate mixtures, or by injecting gas into solution during the chemical reaction used to form the sponge. In surgical applications, the sponge must be biocompatible, i.e. free of processing residue and particulate matter. Therefore, the sponge is subjected to a series of rinsing steps to remove reactant chemical residue and a particulate matter. One type of sponge currently used in surgical applications, is a polyvinyl alcohol sponge sold as the MEROCEL sponge manufactured by MEROCEL Scientific Products. The density of the MEROCEL sponge, when dry, is generally in the range of 0.70 g/in.sup.3 to 1.60 grams/in.sup.3. This range of densities has proven useful for many applications including sinus packing, otic products, and ophthalmic products, such as spears. However, in certain applications, it is desirable to use a synthetic sponge having a relatively high rigidity, and thus a higher density, to facilitate moving or holding tissue with the sponge.
Another available sponge is a fine grade cellulose sponge sold under the trade name WECKCEL. Cellulose sponges are absorbent and relatively rigid but have a high amount of particulate matter and thus can leave debris at the operative sight. Of course, it is desirable to form synthetic sponge material having a relatively high rigidity and a low amount of a particulate matter. However, a high rigidity necessarily requires a high density and thus presents processing problems. Specifically, when forming sponges of a relatively high density, the pores in the sponge must be relatively small. When a sponge with small pores is formed, it is a very difficult to rinse processing chemical residue and particulate matter from the pore space because rinsing solution does not readily enter and leave the small pore spaces. Therefore, it is desirable to obtain a synthetic sponge, such as a polyvinyl alcohol sponge, having a relatively high density, above 2 grams per cubic inch in a dry state for example, and also having very low chemical residue and particulate matter. Also, it is desirable to obtain a synthetic sponge having an improved surface, i.e. smoother, texture to avoid damage to sensitive tissue, such as ophthalmic tissue, during use. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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There is an ongoing investigation towards developing measurement techniques and equipment for measuring eye movement. Various ophthalmologic, vestibular and neurologic tests exists which involves observing eye movements. Tests may comprise a patient being asked to visually follow an object, or movement of the patients head either voluntarily or by the clinician forcing the movement. For example, the head impulse test has previously been performed using subjective assessment by the clinician.
Tests may comprise measuring fast eye movements, e.g. eye saccades, lasting approximately between 20-200 ms and involving angular speed up to 900 deg/s. Such fast movements may be visual to the clinician, but may be difficult to quantify consistently.
It is desirable to circumvent subjective measurements and provide a possible standardized test, which is independent of the clinician or other person performing the test. Furthermore, in some environments, such as in pre hospital settings, it may be problematic, if not impossible, to accurately perform the test when relying on subjective measurements.
Previously, it has been tried to perform the head impulse test objectively using scleral search coils. However, scleral search coils are uncomfortable, complex, bulky and expensive, and therefore alternative solutions are continuously sought. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Ultra-high speed optical logic devices are needed to continue growth of such emerging technologies as optical computing and optical switching. All-optical, cascadable soliton logic devices have recently been demonstrated in birefringent optical fiber to provide several picojoule switching energy and a fan-out of six. See, for example, Opt. Lett., Vol. 15, pp. 417 et seq. (1990). Logic outputs for this family of logic devices are presented according to a time-shift-keying criterion. That is, a logical "1" corresponds to the occurrence of a control pulse within a desired time slot or sampling interval, whereas a logical "0" corresponds to the substantial absence of the pulse during the desired time slot or sampling interval. Logic operations are performed by slowing or "time-shifting" the control pulse through interactions with a signal pulse within the birefringent optical fiber. The interactions produce a soliton dragging effect.
Solitons are nonlinear optical pulses which propagate in optical fiber without dispersing provided the soliton wavelength corresponds to anomalous group velocity dispersion within the birefringent fiber. Birefringence is a material property which causes two different polarization states to propagate at different velocities because the material has a different refractive index for each polarization state, namely, an ordinary and extraordinary indices of refraction. Solitons having different polarization states can travel at different group velocities due to birefringence of the fiber. When one pulse propagates past another pulse, a condition called "walk-off", each pulse induces a frequency shift of the center frequency of the pulse. This frequency shift is referred to as a "chirp". Frequency shifts of the pulse are translated into time shifts via fiber group velocity dispersion in the remaining length of fiber.
For the optical logic devices described above, the control pulse is introduced on the fast axis of the birefringent fiber while the data signal pulse is introduced along the slow axis of the fiber. It has been required that the interaction of the pulses during walk-off be asymmetric so that a net chirp occurs. Symmetry of the interaction causes the chirp induced during the first half of the interaction (when pulses walk toward each other) to be exactly cancelled by the chirp induced during the second half of the interaction (when pulses walk off from each other). Asymmetry is achieved by having substantially coincident or overlapping control and data signal pulses so that the pulses appear only to "walk off" from each other. To achieve the necessary degree of interaction in the fiber, an overlap or coincidence of pulses input to the device on the order of one pulse width has been suggested. Pulse widths of several hundred femtoseconds have been demonstrated with this family of logic devices.
For such ultra-high speed device operation, an undue amount of care for pulse timing is necessary to assure that control and data pulses properly coincide at the input of an optical logic device situated within a large array of such devices. In turn, this means that each signal path must be treated as a critical timing path. Fiber lengths must be accurately trimmed to meet the stringent pulse timing requirements. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Typically, the performance of a cellular antenna is far from ideal. A significant portion of a transmitter's power output is commonly reflected back from the antenna due to poor antenna impedance matching. When a single transmission frequency is transmitted via an antenna, often the antenna and the transmission line to the antenna are impedance matched to maximize the output transmit power by eliminating reflected power back from the antenna. When a transmitter is designed to transmit over a plurality of frequency channels an antenna tuner can be used to improve the antenna matching. In order to use an antenna tuning circuit, various techniques have been used to attempt to determine a proper impedance matching required to match the antenna impedance with a transmission line.
A traditional solution for determining an impedance adjustment for a transmission line that helps maximize the transmitter power output from the antenna by minimizing reflected power back from the antenna, is to measure the standing wave ratio (SWR) on the transmission line between the output of the transceiver's power amplifier and the antenna. Essentially, the SWR is a measurement of the forward and reflected power seen on the transmission line between the power amplifier and the antenna. The SWR value can be calculated from a measurement of the forward and reflected power on the transmission line.
Referring to FIG. 1, a prior art solution for helping calculate an SWR on a transmission line is shown. An RF transceiver 10 outputs a signal to be transmitted, which is input into a power amplifier 12. The power amplifier 12 amplifies the transmission signal and provides it to the transmission line 14, which ultimately provides the transmission signal to the antenna 16 for transmission. On the transmission line 14 a directional coupler 18 is traditionally used to couple with the RF signal on the transmission line 14 so as to provide a reflected power output 20 and a forward power output 22. The reflected power output 20 and forward power output 22 signals or measurements provide an indication of how much power is going forward to the antenna and how much is being reflected back. The impedance matching (antenna matching) between the antenna 16 and the output of the power amp 12 is not considered ideal if there is reflected power back from the antenna 16 on the transmission line 14. In order to help match the antenna impedance with the power amp's output impedance and the transmission line impedance, the reflected power out signal 20 and forward power out signal 22 may be utilized by other circuitry (not specifically shown) to provide a tuner control signal 24 to an antenna tuner 26. The antenna tuner may be used to adjust or change the impedance seen by the antenna 16 and the output of the power amp 12 so that there is a close matching of the impedances and thus antenna matching. When antenna matching occurs, a maximized amount of power provided by the power amp 12 will be transmitted via the antenna 16 with a minimal amount of reflected power back from the antenna 16.
A drawback of a prior art directional coupler is that it is a relatively large device and cannot be incorporated into an integrated circuit. A directional coupler is therefore more costly than an integrated circuit in that it must be manufactured and mounted on a printed circuit board. Thus, the directional coupler 18 takes up additional space within, for example a mobile telephone, where limited space is available. In addition, a directional coupler is costly to implement because it requires additional manufacturing steps and external component connections to and from various components associated with a transceiver device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,767 depicts an SWR circuit 44 that uses a transformer 26 to couple with the transmission line leading to the antenna in order to provide a reflective power and forward power output. The transformer 26, like a directional coupler, is a discreet component that is rather large and cannot be integrated into a silicon chip.
What is needed is a device that can be integrated into a silicon chip and can measure the forward power and reflected power of an antenna so as to provide data that can ultimately be used by an antenna tuner circuit to help match the impedance of the antenna with that of the power amplifier at the RF frequency to be transmitted. | {
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Laparoscope fogging remains a nagging problem occurring in almost all procedures, and appears to be the result of the presence of a cold lens or other optical surface in a warm, moist environment. Techniques addressing this difficulty abound, but no one answer has emerged as the ultimate solution. Antifogging solutions that are wiped on the lens are common, but are criticized for possibly scratching the optic and for only briefly addressing the problem. Heating the laparoscope to more closely match the temperature of the body is also common, but it is thought that such procedures bake debris into the laparoscope. A variation of this latter method is achieved by rinsing the laparoscope after a cold sterilization process with warm sterile water and taking the warmed laparoscope quickly to the field. For treating a fogged laparoscope in the field, a commercially available product known as the Laparoscopic Scope Warmer manufactured by Applied Medical Resources, is a double-walled thermos filled with warm water having padding inside to cushion the lens. A disposable seal is placed over the top of the device to provide insulation while permitting insertion of the laparoscope. The warm water heats the laparoscope sufficiently to clear the fogging and has the additional feature of rising off debris. See, e.g., "Tactics Cope With Scope Fogging," in Laparoscopic Surgery Update, Sample Issue (1995), pages 5 and 6.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to reduce fogging of laparoscopic lenses without having to apply antifogging solutions to the distal end thereof.
Another object of the present invention is to reduce fogging of laparoscopic lenses without having to remove the laparoscope from the patient for defogging during surgery.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Hearing aids which also permit directional hearing are highly wind-sensitive due essentially to the forward position of the microphones, low-frequency pseudo noise caused by turbulent flows at the head and outer ear (pinna) or at the edge of the outer ear (helix) making itself particularly noticeable. This pseudo noise is only audible in the near field and occurs at the pinna and at the back of the head. As the microphones are now located in the immediate vicinity of the pinna for functional reasons, this pseudo noise is picked up in an amplified manner by the hearing aid, resulting in an unpleasant noise (“rumble”).
Until now, wind has been detected using two active microphones in the case of a directional hearing aid, with the device being switched automatically from directional to omnidirectional mode. If necessary, amplification is additionally reduced in the low frequency bands in omnidirectional mode. This does not always achieve an adequate reduction in the unpleasant noise.
A similar hearing aid is disclosed, for example, in publication WO 03/059010 A1. This hearing aid has two microphones possessing different sensitivities to wind noise. The wind noise level of one of the microphones is detected and, on the basis of this signal, it is decided which of the two microphones is to supply the input signal for subsequent signal processing. However, it cannot be ensured that the microphone with the, in principle, lower wind sensitivity also actually supplies a smaller wind noise signal in the specific situation.
In addition, EP 1 196 009 A2 discloses a hearing aid with adaptive matching of the input transducers. For example, when wind is detected, not only the transducers but also e.g. the signal filtering is adapted. It is specifically proposed that the device is switched from directional mode to omnidirectional mode when wind noise is detected.
Moreover, WO 2004/103020 A1 discloses a hearing aid equipped with an additional microphone which is sheltered from wind effects. Accordingly, the wind-sheltered microphone can be used as the input transducer on the event of wind noise detection.
Finally publication US 2002/0037088 A1 discloses a method of reducing wind noise by deactivating one or more microphones. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns television cameras having an electronic image pick-up tube.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The electronic image pick-up tube is a vacuum tube, a front surface of which is formed by a photosensitive target on which is focused, by lenses or other optical means, an image which is sought to be converted into an electrical signal known as a video signal.
The tube has an electron gun placed in the rear of the photosensitive target to produce a narrow electron beam, focusing means to focus this beam on the photosensitive target, and deflection means to make the beam (and consequently its point of impact on the target) scan the surface of the target or a part of this surface.
The scanning is generally a line-by-line scanning, possibly by interlaced half-frames, in accordance with television scanning standards. Most usually, the scanned surface is rectangular and the target is circular, with a diameter which is greater than the diagonals of the rectangle.
The electron beam focusing means may be electromagnetic (coils surrounding the electron gun) or electrostatic.
The electron beam deflection means may also be electromagnetic or electrostatic.
The electron gun generally consists of an emissive cathode from which there emerge electrons, or an accelerating electrode placed in front of the cathode and taken to a potential of a few hundreds of volts. There may possibly be different grids between the cathode and the accelerating electrode, in particular a control grid (Wehnelt) by which the intensity of the emitted beam can be adjusted.
The accelerating electrode is provided with a diaphragm perforated with a very narrow hole (a few hundreds of micrometers for example) limiting the diameter of the electron beam emitted in the tube.
Finally, the tube has a grid called a "field grid" placed in the vicinity of the target, taken to a high potential, for example, 1000 volts, enabling the creation, in the vicinity of the target, of a strong electrical field perpendicular at all points to the surface of the target, the latter being carried to a potential of a few hundred volts at the maximum. This field grid enables the electrons of the beam to strike the target as perpendicularly as possible even when the overall deflection angle of the electron beam between the output diaphragm and the target is great.
To supply a video signal representing the illumination of each point of the target, it is provided that the front face of the target should be coated with a transparent electrode connected to an output connection terminal at which the video signal will be read.
The tube works as follows: the image is focused, from the exterior, on the front face of the target, through the glass envelope of the tube and through the transparent front electrode, and is represented, at each point of the target, by a localized illumination which locally creates electrical charges (electron/hole pairs) proportionate to the illumination at this point. The electrical field in the material of the photosensitive target attracts positive charges towards the real face of the target, namely towards the inside of the tube, namely again, on the side where the target is struck by the beam of electrons. To produce this electrical field, it is seen to it that the mean potential of the front electrode is positive with respect to the tube cathode potential.
The electron beam scans each point of a rectangular zone of the target. At each point, it conveys electrons which compensate for the positive electrical charges that get accumulated at this point on the rear face of the target. A charge of current then flows from the output electrode towards the target to compensate for the localized charge modification thus produced. This charge current varies from one point to another, as a function of the illumination of the points. The result is an electrical signal that varies at the output terminal, said this signal representing the illumination of the target, line by line in a frame and a point by point in each line.
An irksome problem has been noted in certain camera tubes: the video signal collected at the output of the tube represents the superimposition of the real image, focused on the target, and a spurious image.
This spurious image phenomenon is pronounced in the case of a tube with electromagnetic focusing and electrostatic deflection. This is the case taken herein as an example.
The spurious image has been identified by its form: in practice, there are two spurious images. One of them is a precise representation, reduced by a factor approximately equal to two, of the accelerating electrode of the electron gun. The other spurious image represents, also reduced and rotated by about 30.degree., the scan rectangle of the electron beam when the scanning is rectangular.
In searching for the cause of these spurious images, the following conclusion has been reached: the electrons of the beam that reach the photosensitive target are not all absorbed by the target, since the absorption depends locally on the illumination. Those that are not absorbed set off again, accelerated by the field grid which is taken to 1000 volts. A proportion of these electrons again crosses this gate, which has a transparency to electrons of about 50%. These electrons strike the accelerating electrode that occupies the major part of the section of the tube in front of the electron gun. By reflection and by secondary emission of electrons, the accelerating electrode then behaves like an ancillary source of electron, that is, the electron gun no longer emits only one very narrow beam through the very small aperture of the diaphragm of the accelerating electrode. It also emits an ancillary beam from every point of the surface of the accelerating electrode. This beam goes back towards the target and gets focused and deflected by the focusing and deflection electrodes of the main beam.
This beam lands on the target and produces the same effect as the main beam, almost simultaneously since the period of time taken by the electrons to travel is negligible compared with the television scanning speed. Thus, a spurious video signal is produced and gets added to the main signal. The modulation of this spurious signal corresponds to the image of the accelerating electrode. Furthermore, the interaction between this ancillary beam and the target is weaker if the said beam lands within the scan rectangle than if it lands on the rest of the target, for this latter zone has a higher potential. This effect is responsible for the spurious image of the scan rectangle.
The spurious images are especially visible and irksome in electromagnetic focusing and electrostatic deflection tubes where there is excellent focusing of one plane on another, so that there is a perfect view of the image of the accelerating electrode (located, on the whole, in the plane transversal to the axis of the tube and going through the hole of the diaphragm) and the image of the scan rectangle. To put things clearly, these images correspond to a modulation of the video signal, the amplitude of which attains only a few nanoamperes, but they are distinctly visible on a television screen, for the geometrical contours have sharp contrasts.
Several means of preventing these spurious images have been proposed in the prior art. One of them is to coat the accelerating electrode with a layer preventing the re-emission of electrons when this electrode is struck by electrons. The proposed method, based on porous gold, is not wholly satisfactory and is difficult to implement, especially in tubes with high performance characteristics, which necessitate a de-gassing of the tubes at high temperature (about 800.degree. C.): at this temperature, the porous gold would get diffused in the metal forming the electrode and, at any rate, would not retain its porous structure.
It has also been proposed that an elongated tube, conveyed to the potential of the accelerating electrode, could be placed in the axis of the output electron beam of the electron gun. This tube axially surrounds the beam in front of the output diaphragm, on a length which is sufficient, in the axis of the image pick-up tube, to substantially deform the equipotential surfaces in the vicinity of the accelerating electrode. In this way, the electrons that strike the accelerating electrode are reflected in a direction that does not let them be again focused on the target so as to produce a spurious image.
This elongated tube is not entirely satisfactory and, moreover, it calls for an overall increase in the length of the image pick-up tube, whereas one of the advantages of tubes with electrostatic deflection (for which the spurious image is the most pronounced) is precisely the reduction in the overall length of the image pick-up tube.
Finally, it has been proposed that another electrode, called a repulsion electrode, should be placed in front of the accelerating electrode. Electrons of the return beam, coming from the target, come to this repulsion electrode. This electrode is electrically insulated from the accelerating electrode and is carried to a different potential. This potential causes the incident electrons to be reflected with a level of energy and in a direction such that they are no longer focused on the target when they set off again.
The drawback of this latter structure is evidently the need to provide for a mounting of an additional electrode, insulated from the accelerating electrode, and for a separate electrical supply for this electrode.
To avoid the drawbacks of prior art image pick-up tubes, the present invention proposes the placing, in front of the accelerating electrode, of a screen to mask this electrode, this masking screen having a smooth surface, without discontinuities, and having rounded edges, so that, from the target, neither any sharp-edged surface nor steps nor, again, any other discontinuities are seen.
As a matter of fact, the starting point of the invention is the observation that when a spurious image of the accelerating electrode gets superimposed, in the output video signal, on the real image projected on the target, this spurious image is particularly visible and irksome because is has transitions. Besides, this is generally the case, for accelerating electrodes have steps and discontinuities on the side pointed towards the target, and these steps get reproduced very clearly in the video signal. | {
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This invention relates to an electric machine, and more particularly, to a hybrid electric machine which generates flux by way of a plurality of permanent magnet poles, a plurality of consequent poles, and a selectively controllable field current, and which provides a relatively constant output power or voltage over a relatively wide range of operating speeds.
Electric machines such as generators and motors generally utilize a plurality of rotating magnets and/or rotating magnetic members in order to generate electrical power and/or torque.
One common type of electric machine, known as an electromagnetic motor or generator, generally includes a rotor having a plurality of pole fingers in the form of north and south ferromagnetic members or consequent poles and one or more electric xe2x80x9cfield coilsxe2x80x9d which are selectively and electrically energized, thereby selectively producing a flux within the rotating members or xe2x80x9cpolesxe2x80x9d of the rotor. In these types of electromagnetic machines, electric power is supplied to the rotating field coils by way of one or more brushes, slip rings, and/or other devices. The output of these electromagnetic machines (e.g., the output torque, power, and/or voltage) can be relatively easily controlled by varying the amount of current supplied to the xe2x80x9cfield coilsxe2x80x9d. In this manner, these types of electric machines provide a relatively consistent output voltage, torque, or power over a relatively wide range of operating speeds and temperatures. While these electromagnetic machines are effective to generate a relatively consistent output voltage, torque, or power, they suffer from some drawbacks.
For example and without limitation, the brushes, slip rings, and/or other devices, which are required within these machines to provide an electrical connection to the rotating field coils, undesirably add to the cost, complexity, and size of the machines, and undesirably xe2x80x9cwearxe2x80x9d or degrade over time, thereby resulting in diminished performance and/or failure of the machine.
A second type of electric machine, known as a permanent magnet motor or generator, generally includes a rotor having a plurality of permanent magnets which form or create poles and selectively produce a flux within the machine. Due to the presence of permanent magnets within the rotor, these types of machines do not typically require field coils to produce magnetic flux. Therefore, these systems do not require the brushes, slip rings or other devices which are necessary in the previously described electromagnetic machines. As such, these permanent magnet machines are typically smaller, less complex, more efficient, and less costly than the previously described electromagnetic machines. These permanent magnet type machines do, however, suffer from some other drawbacks.
For example and without limitation, because the flux generated within these electric machines is provided by permanent magnets, the flux remains substantially constant and is relatively difficult to substantially alter or vary by the use of electric field coils. Thus, the output of these machines (e.g., the output power or voltage) is almost solely and completely dependent upon the operating speed of the machine. As such, these machines are only able provide a relatively consistent or constant output voltage, torque, or power over a relatively narrow and limited range of operating speeds. Therefore, these electric machines cannot be utilized in applications where the operating speed is provided by a relatively xe2x80x9cvariablexe2x80x9d or fluctuating source, such as the engine of a vehicle.
There is therefore a need for a new and improved electric machine which overcomes many, if not all, of the previously delineated drawbacks of such prior electric machines.
It is a first object of the invention to provide an electric machine which overcomes at least some of the previously delineated drawbacks of prior electric machines.
It is a second object of the invention to provide an electric machine which provides a relatively consistent output power and/or voltage over a relatively wide range of operating speeds.
It is a third object of the invention to provide an electric machine having an output torque, power, and/or voltage which may be substantially and selectively controlled by way of a stationary field coil.
It is a fourth object of the invention to provide an electric machine having a rotor which includes poles generated from both permanent magnets and xe2x80x9csoftxe2x80x9d magnetic members.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, an electric machine is provided and includes a generally cylindrical ferromagnetic housing; first and second stator assemblies which are fixedly disposed within the housing and which each include a plurality of pole portions and a winding; a rotor which is rotatably disposed between the first and the second stator assemblies, the rotor having a plurality of permanent magnet poles which collectively generate a first magnetic flux and a plurality of consequent poles which cooperatively generate a second magnetic flux; and a coil which is fixedly coupled to the housing and is disposed in relative close proximity to the rotor. The coil is selectively energizable, and effective to controllably vary the second magnetic flux.
According to a second aspect of the invention a method for providing an electric machine having a controllable output voltage is provided. The method includes the steps of providing a ferromagnetic housing; providing a rotor having a plurality of permanent magnet poles which selectively generate a first magnetic flux and a plurality of consequent poles which selectively generate a second magnetic flux; disposing the rotor within the housing; providing a stator having winding; disposing the stator within the housing and in relative close proximity to the rotor; providing a field coil; fixedly disposing the field coil in relative close proximity to the rotor; selectively energizing the winding effective to produce torque between the rotor and the stator, the torque having a magnitude; and selectively energizing the field coil, effective to vary the second magnetic flux, thereby controlling the magnitude of the torque.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the invention will become apparent by reading the following specification and by reference to the following drawings. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A profound wasting disease in humans associated with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia was first described in the United States in 1981. The investigation of the symptoms associated with this disease ultimately focused public health and political structures on a disease described as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). AIDS is defined by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and by the onset of several opportunistic infections, syndromes, and/or malignancies. These include, but are not limited to, tuberculosis, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, Salmonella bacteremia, Kaposi's sarcoma, Mycobacterium avium intracellulare, herpes simplex, toxoplasmosis, cytomegalovirus (CMV), dementia complex, and wasting syndrome.
The cell types infected by HIV play a role in defining the efforts of the virus on patterns of infection, and ultimately the effect of the disease on the metabolic and nutritional state of a person infected with HIV. The immune system develops several types of cells to deal with infection, including B and T lymphocytes, which produce antibodies and directly attack the invading pathogen. These cells and others, including macrophages, monocytes, and other cell types involved in the immune response, communicate through protein factors which they secrete (cytokines) and/or through the types of proteins and glycoproteins they display on their surface.
Health care professionals dealing with HIV-positive and AIDS patients face a multitude of management issues, including control of opportunistic infections and malignancies. Two major factors underlying how a patient may respond to the therapies required to manage the disease are: (a) the nutritional status of the patient early in the infectious process, and (b) the ability of the patient to take in and tolerate adequate nutrition.
There is disclosed herein a liquid nutritional product for enteral feeding which is formulated, on the basis of the latest and most compelling research, to meet the specific nutrient needs of persons infected with HIV. This calorie and nutrient-dense, low fat nutritional product contains enterotrophic peptides, a fat source high in omega-3 fatty acids, and fiber. Enterotrophic peptides appear to modulate a particular receptor pathway in cells which reduces the expression of apoptotic genes and alters the phosphorylation of cell division control protein. The peptides significantly reduce the expression of the apoptotic-associated gene, amyloid beta precursor protein, and apoptotic rescue protein. (This protein is a marker for the induction of cell death). This nutritional regimen results in a reduction in the rate of intestinal cell death.
These formula components promote changes in the gastrointestinal tract that result in improved nutritional and physiological status for a HIV-infected person. The vitamin and mineral profile of this nutritional product provides for repletion of the nutrients for which HIV-positive persons have been shown to be at risk of depletion or deficiency. The nutritional product also contains .beta.-carotene.
The nutritional product of the present invention is acceptable total enteral support and may be consumed, either orally or by tube feeding. Flavor variety, Orange Cream and Chocolate flavors are disclosed herein, promotes compliance when the nutritional product is used as an oral supplement or as a total oral diet when a person's condition precludes intake of solid foods. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to polycarbonate molded articles and a process for the preparation thereof. More particularly, the invention relates to polycarbonate molded article having excellent weather resistance and excellent abrasion resistance, which are prepared by forming a protective layer on the surface of a polycarbonate molded object with an ultraviolet ray setting paint applied through a primer layer, and a process for the preparation of them.
2. Description of the prior art
In general, polycarbonates are superior in their transparency, molding characteristic, impact resistance and other respects, and so they are widely used in various fields. However, their big problem is their inferior weather resistance and poor abrasion resistance of surface compared with other materials.
To solve such problem, various proposals have been made. For example, processes for improving weather resistance are disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 44(1969)-29756, Japanese Patent Laid-open Nos. Sho 53(1978)-119985 and Sho 54(1979)-87774, etc. and processes for improving abrasion resisting property are disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Nos. Sho 57(1982)-162728, Sho 57(1982)-42737 and Sho 54(1979)-11833, Japanese Patent Publication Nos. Sho 54(1979)-28429, Sho 54(1979)-28430, Sho 55(1980)-427 and Sho 54(1979)-37828, etc. In these processes an alkoxyl silane or an acrylic resin was used as the primer and the surface was further treated with an alkoxyl silane of thermosetting type, to make the surface hardness higher and improve the abrasion resisting property.
Further, a process using a product of an ultraviolet ray setting reaction as primer and forming a surface layer thereon with an organosiloxane of thermosetting type is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Sho 55(1980)-148158.
These processes, however, had a defect that a high setting temperature and a long time were required as conditions for curing the surface layer. When an organosiloxane of thermosetting type was used, an unfavorable phenomenon such as flushing was apt to occur depending on the conditions of painting because the organosiloxane easily absorbed the moisture in the air and, accordingly, it was necessary to perform the working under controlling the moisture, which induced a problem of high cost of equipments.
Besides the above-mentioned processes using a paint of thermosetting type, processes for improving the abrasion resistance of polycarbonate molded articles by applying an ultraviolet ray setting paint comprising, for example, a polyfunctional acrylic resin to the polycarbonate molding directly have been also proposed. For instance, a process of hardening by application of heat after the ultraviolet ray irradiation treatment has been proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Sho 57(1982)-61043 and a process for obtaining polycarbonate moldings having good abrasion resisting property by hardening by cross-linking a resin by means of a special reflection plate in Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 58(1983)-12295, and materials for the ultraviolet ray setting paints have been disclosed by Japanese Patent Laid-open Nos. Sho 54(1979)-25941, Sho 54(1979)-60390 and Sho 56(1981)-82802, etc.
These ultraviolet ray setting type paints had the merits that the temperature for their curing by cross-linking was lower and the time for their curing by cross-linking was significantly shorter as compared with those necessary for the aforementioned thermosetting type paints.
However, the ultraviolet ray setting type paints had an inconvenience that, when they were applied to plastics, especially to polycarbonate resins, they were inferior in the weather resistance and could not withstand an outdoor use extending for a long time.
One of the purposes of the present invention resides in obtaining polycarbonate moldings having excellent weather resistance as well as excellent abrasion resistance by using such ultraviolet ray setting type paints.
In the case of thermosetting type paints, processes by forming a primer layer containing an ultraviolet ray absorbing agent were hitherto employed in order to improve their weather resistance, and the ultraviolet ray absorbing agent was used in an amount of 10-20% by weight of the resin forming the primer layer. Therefore, it could be thought of theoretically that, also in the case of ultraviolet ray setting type paints, the weather resistance would be improved by forming the same primer layer as used for the thermosetting type paints. This, however, was difficult in practice. That is, when a primer layer containing a relatively large amount as mentioned above of an ultraviolet ray absorbing agent was formed and an ultraviolet ray setting type paint having a good abrasion resistance was applied on the primer layer, the ultraviolet ray absorbing agent contained in the primer bleeded out in the surface layer (the layer of the ultraviolet ray setting type paint) and the interface of the primer and the surface layer in the course or process of drying or the like prior to the curing, and accordingly the curing could not be effected satisfactorily even by irradiation of strong ultraviolet ray on the surface. This would result from some inconvenience such as deterioration of the tight adhesion in the surface layer portion.
Under the circumstances, the inventors have made various investigations and found a process for obtaining polycarbonate molded articles having excellent weather resistance and excellent abrasion resistance economically, by forming on the surface of a polycarbonate molding a protective layer which does not injure the transparency and has an excellent tightly adhesive property. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of Invention
This invention concerns novel methods and apparatus for medical applications, specifically wound closure applications. More particularly, the invention manipulates blood fluids, or its components, in new ways to close tissue or vascular wounds.
2. Background Information
Numerous medical applications exist where sealing of biological tissue is desired. U.S. Pat. No. 5,510,102 to Cochrum identifies many of these including trauma of liver, spleen, pancreas, lung, bone, etc., cardiovascular and vascular, such as microvascular anastomoses, vascular grafts, intraoperative bleeding, and aortic repair, for thoracic surgery such as lung biopsy, for transplant of heart, renal, pancreas, lung, bone or bone marrow, for neurosurgery such as nerve anastomoses, or CSF leak repair, for endoscopic surgery, such as hemostasis in hepatic trauma, or bile duct repair, for interventional radiology, such as hemostasis for percutaneous liver biopsy or vascular occlusion, for gastrointestinal surgery such as colonic anastomoses, for obstetrics and gynecology such as rectovaginal fistulas, for pediatric and fetal surgery, for plastic surgery and burn repairs such as grafting process of cultured epidermis, for dermatology such as hair transplants, for dental surgery, for ophthalmic cataract surgery, for urology, for correction of urinary fistulas and such others. With such broad application of the present invention possible, one use is selected for method and apparatus illustrative continuity purposes throughout this document. The selected application is sealing of a vascular wound resulting from percutaneous entry as is frequently done in the performance of angiography, angioplasty, and atherectomy procedures.
Percutaneous vascular access is typically done in the context of performing some minimally invasive surgical procedure. Minimally invasive techniques are used to reduce trauma to the patient. Reduced trauma typically translates to improved patient comfort, less procedural complications, and lower costs. The vessel accessed is typically the femoral or radial artery. Access involves placement of an introducer's distal tip beneath the patient's skin and through the arterial wall. To the extent possible, percutaneous access preserves the integrity of tissue covering the artery. As a result, when the introducer is to be removed the arterial access site is not exposed and the arterial wound is preferably closed without cutting down through the overlaying tissue to expose the site.
To accomplish hemostasis at the wound, numerous methods of post-introducer arterial closure have been invented. Most of these are similar to each other in many respects with some novel differentiating characteristic separating them. Many of them rely upon the clotting cascades being initiated at the wound site. Many prior art devices may be broadly classified into two groups, those that passively support onset of the clotting cascades at the wound site and those that actively cause the clotting cascades at the wound site. By example, mechanical methods of holding the wound closed by clamping or suturing to prevent hemorrhaging are passive methods because they merely prevent continual flushing of the site as the clot attempts to take hold. To a lesser degree the body also does this naturally by vascular constriction. The second grouping—active clotting at the wound site—includes those methods which place a clot inducing material at the wound site. Such clot inducing formulations are many and typically either supply thrombin directly or potentially stimulate thrombin release at the wound site.
Disadvantages of the prior art vary based on the method employed. Generally speaking, passive devices like clamping or suturing are generally complex and/or expensive. Clamping for example can be labor intensive to administer manually and is uncomfortable for the patient by any means. Suturing on the other hand is complex and expensive because the wound site is typically small, remote, and blind to the physician placing the suture. Active devices are often costly and potentially dangerous. Active devices typically require placement of a clot-inducing foreign material in the patient which necessitates either expensive pretesting for potential allergic reactions or accepting the occasional adverse reaction which could lead to anaphylactic shock and even death as reported in J. Trauma, 31:408 (1991). Transmission of infectious disease can occur when the material used was manufactured from pooled human blood as reported in Opth. Surg., 23:640 (1992). Autologous preparations like fibrin glue as described in U.S. Pat No. 5,674,394 to Whitmore are well known but significant preparation with the associated labor and material costs are required and typically an additional thrombin material must still be added at the wound site.
Despite the need for a device and method which overcomes the limitations of the prior art, none insofar as is known has been proposed or developed until the present invention.
Accordingly, it will be appreciated that there is a need for an efficient way of closing wounds. The present inventions provide advantages over the prior devices and the prior methods used to close wounds, and also offers other advantages over the prior art and solves other problems associated therewith. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a profiled rail for being suspended from a constructional component and having two opposite side walls having opposite wall sections respectively, a first connection wall for connecting the two side walls with each other, and having a first opening for passing therethrough a connection element that secures the profiled rail on the constructional component, with the first opening having a first opening width measured in a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal profile axis of the profiled rail, and a second opening located opposite the first opening for passing through the connection element and having a second opening width measured in a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal profile axis of the profiled rail.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Profiled rails of the type described above are used for attachment of different installations such as tubular conduits, cable channels, air ducts, or aeration installations. To this end, the profiled rails are secured directly to a constructional component, such as a ceiling, a wall etc. or at a distance therefore with fastening or attachment elements such as threaded rods, screws, etc.
German Utility Model DE 20 2005 006 528 U1 discloses a circumferentially closed profiled rail adjacent side walls of which have dovetail-shaped recesses and which have opposite wall sections. Connection walls, which are spaced from each other and connect the side walls with each other, have respective opposite through-openings for passing an attachment element therethrough. The distance between the opposite wall sections of the side walls and which is measured in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal profile axis is greater than the opening width of the through-openings likewise measured in the direction transverse to the profile longitudinal axis.
The drawback of the above-described rail consists in that during the insertion of the attachment element through one of the openings for securing the profiled rail, the attachment element can engage an edge of the opposite opening which substantially increases mounting costs, in particular, at an overhead mounting of a profiled rail on a ceiling that forms the structural component. If a diameter of the attachment element is correspondingly smaller than the opening width of the through-openings, a larger clearance is formed in the insertion direction. Therefore, in this case additional costs are required in order to prevent tilting of the profiled rail, which is spaced from the constructional component, in a direction transverse to the profile axis under a load.
Swiss Publication CH 419 549 discloses a C-shaped profiled rail the connection wall of which that connects the side walls, has a plurality of first openings for passing an attachment element therethrough. The profiled rail further has a mounting opening located opposite the first opening and extending over the entire longitudinal extent of the profiled rail. The mounting opening forms a second opening for passing the attachment element and has a second opening width that is measured in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal profile axis.
In this rail likewise, the distance between the opposite wall sections of the side walls measured in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal profile axis of the profiled rail is greater than the opening width of the first opening and of the mounting opening.
The drawback of the rail of the Swiss publication consists in that with this rail, likewise during passing of the attachment element through the through-openings, it can engage the edge of the opposite through-opening. Because the two opposite through-openings have different opening widths, there exists a danger that at mounting of the profiled rail at a distance from the constructional component, the profiled rail would tilt in a direction transverse to the profile axis under load unless expensive measures are undertaken to prevent tilting.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a profiled rail suitable for different types of suspension from a constructional component and which can be easily mounted on the constructional component. | {
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Eye make-up/mascara cosmetic products are well known in the art. With presently marketed mascaras, thickening and lengthening of the eyelashes is typically achieved by incorporating in such products a high level of waxes and film formers. This generally leads to difficulty in washing the mascara off the eyelashes, which in turn causes damage to the eyelashes. Attempts to solve the problem by use of thin moisturizing mascaras have been unsuccessful as such products usually are not thickening or lengthening in effect. Moreover, they do not wear well and smudge and smear easily. | {
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Without limiting the scope of the invention, its background is described in connection with detecting gas in the vadose zone.
Measurement, monitoring and verification (MMV) will be required at geologic carbon storage (GCS) sites to document that storage effectively retains CO2 in the subsurface [European Commission, 2009: US EPA, 2010a, b]. MMV can utilize many techniques deployed at a range of depths from the storage reservoir to the atmosphere, however techniques that monitor leakage through the near surface vadose zone are valuable because: (1) the vadose zone is the interface between subsurface storage and release to atmosphere, (2) gases moving through the shallow subsurface are easily and cheaply monitored, and (3) vadose zone monitoring can directly address concerns of landowners living above GCS sites [Shenk et al., 2011].
The most studied and currently widely accepted approach for vadose zone gas monitoring above GCS sites directly measures CO2 concentrations either by extracting vadose zone gas through hollow push probes or by measuring CO2 surface flux with accumulation chambers. Measurements are made in a grid pattern or in areas of concern, such as faults, fractures, or plugged and abandoned wells [Riding and Rochelle, 2009: Strazisar et al., 2009: Furche et al., 2010]. A minimum of 1 year of background concentration measurements is required prior to CO2 injection to document natural seasonal ranges in vadose zone CO2 apart from leakage. If CO2 concentrations statistically exceed the background range during the lifetime of a GCS project, a storage formation release may be indicated. This approach is herein referred to as a “CO2 concentration-based” approach.
A CO2 concentration-based approach has several drawbacks: (1) high variability of CO2 generated in situ could mask a moderate leakage signal; (2) 1 year of background characterization cannot account for CO2 variability from climatic, land use, and ecosystem variations over the lifetime (tens to hundreds of years) of a storage project; (3) background measurements require a long lead time potentially hindering a project's progress; and (4) background CO2 cannot be measured across all potential small diameter leak points within the area of review: therefore, if concerns arise in an area lacking local background measurements, no baseline data exist with which to compare monitored CO2 concentrations. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to crop oil concentrates. More particularly, the subject invention relates to improved crop oil concentrates which enhance the efficacy of herbicides, over and above standard crop oil concentrates which are commercially available.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well established that a variety of adjuvants play important roles in the application of herbicides. These adjuvants are a diverse group of components with equally diverse functions which may often be determined from their generic names, i.e. "spreaders," "stickers," "solubilizers," "emulsifiers," "flow control agents," "drift control agents," and so on. Among the many useful herbicide adjuvants are the so-called "crop oil concentrates."
Crop oil concentrates are often recommended by herbicide manufacturers and formulators for inclusion in tank mixes to increase the efficacy of postemergent herbicide formulations. Crop oil concentrates are available from a variety of sources, and generally consist of from 75-95 percent by weight of a hydrocarbon oil or solvent with the balance being a surfactant. The hydrocarbons which form the bulk of the crop oil concentrate may be derived from mineral (petroleum) or vegetable sources.
Although the use of selected crop oil concentrates may enhance herbicidal efficacy, it is well known that many of the proprietary concentrates available are not as effective as others. Some may even impact negatively upon herbicidal efficacy. Additionally, there is a great deal of inconsistency with regard to the make up of available crop oil concentrates. Finally, to further complicate the situation, manufacturers frequently change the formulations without notifying the consumer, resulting in a great deal of uncertainty with regard to their performance.
In recent years, the situation with respect to crop oil concentrates has achieved such a level of notoriety that some agriculturists refer to them as "snake oils." Thus there is a need in the agricultural sector, for a crop oil concentrate with a well defined make-up which is capable of enhancing the efficacy of a broad spectrum of herbicides, and which gives reproducible results.
In copending application Ser. No. 104,658 are disclosed crop oil concentrates containing a specific class of anionic polyoxyalkylene surfactants, a long chain fatty acid component, a lower alkanol ester of a fatty acid, and optionally, a hydrocarbon component. These crop oil concentrates were effective adjuvant systems and moreover, decreased the apparent antagonism which occurs when certain herbicides are utilized together in the same tank mix. | {
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1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an organic light emitting diode display device, and more particularly to an organic light emitting diode driving circuit with minimized characteristic changes.
2. Related Art
Various flat panel display devices gradually replace a cathode ray tube (CRT) because they may be compact, light and thin. Flat panel display devices include a liquid crystal display (LCD), a field emission display (FED), a plasma display panel (PDP), a light emitting diode (LED) display device and so on.
An LED display device uses an LED which emits light by recombining electrons and holes. The LED display device is divided into an inorganic LED display device which uses inorganic compounds and an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device which uses organic compounds. OLED display devices are expected to be a next generation display device because they have many advantages such as low voltage driving, self-luminescence, thinness, wide viewing angle, rapid response speed and high contrast.
An OLED is generally made up of an electron injection layer, an electron transport layer, a light emitting layer, a hole transport layer and a hole injection layer which are deposited between a cathode and an anode. In an OLED, if a designated voltage is applied between the anode and the cathode, electrons generated from the cathode move to the light emitting layer through the electron injection layer and the electron transport layer, and holes generated from the anode move to the light emitting layer through the hole injection layer and the hole transport layer. Accordingly, electrons and holes supplied from the electron transport layer and the hole transport layer are recombined in the light emitting layer, thereby emitting light.
FIG. 1 illustrates an active matrix type of OLED display device 10 using an OLED. The OLED display device 10 includes an OLED panel 13 having n×m number of pixels P[i,j]. P[i,j] is a pixel located at the ith row and the jth column, where i is a positive integer which is equal to or smaller than n, and j is a positive integer which is equal to or smaller than m. The pixels are arranged in n×m matrix at an area which is defined by n numbers of gate lines G1 to Gn (n is a positive integer) and m numbers of data lines D1 to Dm (m is a positive integer). A gate drive circuit 12 drives the gate lines G1 to Gn of the OLED panel 13 and a data drive circuit 11 drives the data lines D1 to Dm of the OLED panel 13. The m number of power voltage supply lines S1 to Sm are arranged in parallel to the data lines D1 to Dm to supply the high potential power voltage Vdd to each pixel P[i,j].
The gate drive circuit 12 supplies scan pulses to the gate lines G1 to Gn to sequentially drive the gate lines G1 to Gn. The data drive circuit 11 converts a digital data voltage input from the outside into an analog data voltage. The data drive circuit 11 supplies the analog data voltage to the data lines D1 to Dm whenever the scan pulse is supplied. Each of the pixel P[i,j] receives the data voltage from the jth data line Dj to generate a light corresponding to the data voltage when the scan pulse is supplied to the ith gate line Gi.
Each pixel P[i,j] includes an OLED having an anode connected to the jth power voltage supply line Sj. An OLED drive circuit 15 is connected to the cathode of the OLED and the ith gate line Gi and the jth data line Dj to supply a low potential power voltage Vss. The OLED drive circuit 15 includes a first transistor T1 and a second transistor T2 and a storage capacitor Cs. The first transistor T1 supplies the data voltage from the jth data line Dj to a first node N1 in response to the scan pulse from the ith gate line Gi. The second transistor T2 controls a current flowing in the OLED in response to the voltage of the first node N1. The storage capacitor Cs is charged with the voltage on the first node N1.
FIG. 2 illustrates driving waveforms of the OLED drive circuit 15. In FIG. 2, ‘1F’ is one frame period, ‘1H’ is one horizontal period, ‘Vg_i’ is a gate voltage supplied from the ith gate line Gi′, ‘Psc’ is a scan pulse, ‘Vd_j’ is a data voltage supplied from the jth data line Dj, ‘VN1’ is a voltage on the first node N1, and ‘IOLED’ is a current flowing through the OLED. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the first transistor T1 is turned on to supply the data voltage Vd supplied from the data line Dj to the first node N1 when the scan pulse is supplied through the gate line Gi. The data voltage Vd supplied to the first node N1 is charged to the storage capacitor Cs and supplied to a gate terminal of the second transistor T2. In this way, the second transistor T2 is turned on by the supplied data voltage Vd, and the current flows through the OLED. Because the current flowing through the OLED is generated by the high potential power voltage Vdd, the current is proportional to the magnitude of the data voltage Vd applied to the second transistor T2. When the first transistor T1 is turned off, the second transistor T2 remains turned on with the first node voltage VN1 from the storage capacitor Cs. As a result, the current which flows through the OLED may be controlled until the data voltage Vd of the next frame is supplied.
In FIG. 2, a positive data voltage Vd is applied for a long time to the gate electrode of the second transistor T2. An accumulated gate bias stress may be generated in the second transistor T2 with the positive data voltage Vd, as shown in FIG. 3. The accumulated gate-bias stress may cause deterioration, which in turn may cause characteristic changes, as shown in FIG. 4A. FIG. 4A represents a characteristic change of a transistor caused by a positive gate bias stress, and FIG. 4B represents a characteristic change of a transistor caused by a negative gate bias stress. The arrow marks in FIGS. 4A and 4B represent a threshold voltage change of the second transistor T2. The characteristic change of the OLED drive circuit, in particular, the second transistor T2 may deteriorate reliability of operations of the OLED drive circuit 15 by changing the current flowing in the OLED. Reliability of the entire OLED display device may be further affected. | {
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Solid state lighting arrays are used for a number of lighting applications. For example, solid state lighting panels including arrays of solid state light emitting devices have been used as direct illumination sources, for example, in architectural and/or accent lighting. A solid state light emitting device may include, for example, a packaged light emitting device including one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs), which may include inorganic LEDs, which may include semiconductor layers forming p-n junctions and/or organic LEDs (OLEDs), which may include organic light emission layers.
Visible light may include light having many different wavelengths. The apparent color of visible light can be illustrated with reference to a two dimensional chromaticity diagram, such as the 1931 International Conference on Illumination (CIE) Chromaticity Diagram illustrated in FIG. 1, and the 1976 CIE u′v′ Chromaticity Diagram shown in FIG. 1B, which is similar to the 1931 Diagram but is modified such that similar distances on the 1976 u′v′ CIE Chromaticity Diagram represent similar perceived differences in color. These diagrams provide useful reference for defining colors as weighted sums of colors.
As shown in FIG. 1, colors on a 1931 CIE Chromaticity Diagram are defined by x and y coordinates (i.e., chromaticity coordinates, or color points) that fall within a generally U-shaped area. Colors on or near the outside of the area are saturated colors composed of light having a single wavelength, or a very small wavelength distribution. Colors on the interior of the area are unsaturated colors that are composed of a mixture of different wavelengths. White light, which can be a mixture of many different wavelengths, is generally found near the middle of the diagram, in the region labeled 100 in FIG. 1. There are many different hues of light that may be considered “white,” as evidenced by the size of the region 100. For example, some “white” light, such as light generated by sodium vapor lighting devices, may appear yellowish in color, while other “white” light, such as light generated by some fluorescent lighting devices, may appear more bluish in color.
Light that generally appears green is plotted in the regions 101, 102 and 103 that are above the white region 100, while light below the white region 100 generally appears pink, purple or magenta. For example, light plotted in regions 104 and 105 of FIG. 1 generally appears magenta (i.e., red-purple or purplish red).
It is further known that a binary combination of light from two different light sources may appear to have a different color than either of the two constituent colors. The color of the combined light may depend on the relative intensities of the two light sources. For example, light emitted by a combination of a blue source and a red/orange source may appear purple or magenta to an observer. Similarly, light emitted by a combination of a blue source and a yellow source may appear white to an observer.
Also illustrated in FIG. 1 is the Planckian locus 106, which corresponds to the location of color points of light emitted by a black-body radiator that is heated to various temperatures. In particular, FIG. 1 includes temperature listings along the Planckian locus. These temperature listings show the color path of light emitted by a black-body radiator that is heated to such temperatures. As a heated object becomes incandescent, it first glows reddish, then yellowish, then white, and finally bluish, as the wavelength associated with the peak radiation of the black-body radiator becomes progressively shorter with increased temperature. Illuminants which produce light which is on or near the Planckian locus can thus be described in terms of their correlated color temperature (CCT).
The chromaticity of a particular light source may be referred to as the “color point” of the source. For a white light source, the chromaticity may be referred to as the “white point” of the source. The white point of a white light source may fall along the Planckian locus. Accordingly, a white point may be identified by a correlated color temperature (CCT) of the light source. White light typically has a CCT of between about 2000 K and 10000 K. White light with a CCT of 3000 may appear yellowish in color, while light with a CCT of 8000 K may appear more bluish in color. Color coordinates that lie on or near the Planckian locus at a color temperature between about 2500 K and 8000 K may yield pleasing white light to a human observer.
“White” light also includes light that is near, but not directly on the Planckian locus. A Macadam ellipse can be used on a 1931 CIE Chromaticity Diagram to identify color points that are so closely related that they appear the same, or substantially similar, to a human observer. A Macadam ellipse is a closed region around a center point in a two-dimensional chromaticity space, such as the 1931 CIE Chromaticity Diagram, that encompasses all points that are visually indistinguishable from the center point. A seven-step Macadam ellipse captures points that are indistinguishable to an ordinary observer within seven standard deviations, a ten step Macadam ellipse captures points that are indistinguishable to an ordinary observer within ten standard deviations, and so on. Accordingly, light having a color point that is within about a ten step Macadam ellipse of a point on the Planckian locus may be considered to have a substantially similar color as the point on the Planckian locus.
The ability of a light source to accurately reproduce color in illuminated objects is typically characterized using the color rendering index (CRI). In particular, CRI is a relative measurement of how the color rendering properties of an illumination system compare to those of a reference illuminator, with a reference illuminator for a CCT of less than 5000K being a black-body radiator. For CCT of 5000K and above, the reference illuminator is a spectrum defined by the CIE which is similar to the spectrum of sunlight at the earth's surface. The CRI equals 100 if the color coordinates of a set of test colors being illuminated by the illumination system are the same as the coordinates of the same test colors being irradiated by the reference illuminator. Daylight has the highest CRI (of 100), with incandescent bulbs being relatively close (about 95), and fluorescent lighting being less accurate (70-85).
Generally speaking, incandescent bulbs tend to produce more natural-appearing illumination than other types of conventional lighting devices. In particular, incandescent bulbs typically go from a color temperature of about 2700K at full brightness to a color temperature of about 2000 k at 5% brightness and to a color temperature of about 1800K at about 1% brightness. This compares favorably with daylight, which varies from about 6500K at midday to about 2500 k at sunrise and sunset. Research indicates that people tend to prefer warmer color temperatures at low brightness levels and in intimate settings.
In illumination applications, it is often desirable to provide a lighting source that generates a light with a color behavior that approximates the behavior of incandescent lighting. LED-lighting units have been proposed that may be coupled to an ac dimmer circuit (such as a rheostat or phase cut dimming circuit) and approximate the lighting variation of a conventional incandescent light as the dimmer circuit increases or decreases the brightness of the generated light, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,038,399 to Lys et al.
One difficulty with solid state lighting systems including multiple solid state devices, is that the manufacturing process for LEDs typically results in variations between individual LEDs. This variation is typically accounted for by binning, or grouping, the LEDs based on brightness, and/or color point, and selecting only LEDs having predetermined characteristics for inclusion in a solid state lighting system. LED lighting devices may utilize one bin of LEDs, or combine matched sets of LEDs from different bins, to achieve repeatable color points for the combined output of the LEDs.
One technique to tune the color point of a lighting fixture is described in commonly assigned United States Patent Publication No. 2009/0160363, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The '363 application describes a system in which phosphor converted LEDs and red/orange LEDs are combined to provide white light. The ratio of the various mixed colors of the LEDs is set at the time of manufacture by measuring the output of the light and then adjusting string currents to reach a desired color point. The current levels that achieve the desired color point are then fixed for the particular lighting device. LED lighting systems employing feedback to obtain a desired color point are described in U.S. Publication Nos. 2007/0115662 and 2007/0115228 and the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
It is known to provide a solid state lighting apparatus, such as one including Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), that operates in response to a rectified ac voltage. In some conventional lighting devices, segments of the LED string can be separately biased so that as the magnitude of the rectified ac voltage increases, additional segments of the LED string can be forward biased so that light is provided in a sequentially increasing manner. Moreover, as the magnitude of the rectified ac voltage signal decreases (i.e. passes 90 degrees of phase) the separate LED segments are deactivated in reverse order. | {
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The development of immunoassy provides a powerful method for the measurement of drug levels in biological fluids. The extensive clinical use and continued development of benzodiazepines as a class of drugs makes it desirable that immunoassays be developed for these compounds.
Several such immunoassays directed to benzodiazepines have been developed and reported in the literature. Thus Peskar and Spector described a radioimmunoassay procedure useful in detecting nanogram amounts of diazepam or N-desmethyldiazepam in plasma samples in J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 186, 167 (1973). This assay utilized .sup.14 C-diazepam as the tracer. Antibodies were elicited using either 5- [3-(4-aminophenylazo)-4-hydroxyphenyl] -7-chloro-1,3-dihydro-1-methyl-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one or 7-amino-5-(2-chlorophenyl)-3H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-(1H)-one as haptens which were subsequently coupled to bovine serum albumin (BSA) to form the desired immunogens.
Subsequently, Dixon et al. reported in J. Pharm. Sci. 64, 937 (1975) of a radioimmunoassay for chlordiazepoxide in plasma. Once again the tracer compound was a .sup.14 C-labelled compound. The immunogen was derived by coupling the reactive acyl azide of 7-chloro-5(4-hydrazinocarbonylmethoxyphenyl)-2-methylamino-3H-1,4-benzodia zepine 4-oxide to BSA.
Spin labelling of benzodiazepinse for use in a Free Radical Assay Technique is disclosed by Goldstein et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,690,834. Specific benzodiazepines disclosed include chlordiazepoxide, diazepam and oxazepam.
Another paper, by Dixon et al., Pharm. 17, 251 (1975), describes a radioimmunoassay for clorazepam using an immunogen consisting of 3-hemisuccinoyloxyclorazepam covalently bound to BSA. The tracer employed for the assay was .sup.3 H-clorazepam. Sensitivity of the assay was 5 ng/ml using a 0.1 sample of plasma. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for sample identification by mass spectrometry and more particularly the invention is concerned with a method for sample identification based on isotope abundance.
2. Background of the Invention
Gas chromatography (GC) and liquid chromatography (LC) are important analytical techniques used today for the separation, identification and quantification of a broad range of samples and mixture of compounds. While elution time can serve for crude sample identification, mass spectrometry is by far the best and most established technology for such identification, including at trace levels. For gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), sample identification is predominantly based on the use of extensive available 70 eV electron ionization (EI) mass spectral libraries. Library based sample identification is performed via a comparison of the experimental mass spectrum to all the library mass spectra and than the provision of a hit list (such as of 100 compounds) of candidates for the sample identity with reducing order of fitting or of a matching parameter. Accordingly, sample identification with MS libraries is predominantly based on fragment ions that provide a compound specific “finger print”. These libraries are both powerful and easy to use, however, sample identification with MS libraries is confronted with three major limitations: a) While the current libraries include a few hundred thousand compounds with the majority of all environmentally important compounds, a few millions of possible compounds are not included in the libraries, and in particular, novel synthetic organic compounds and drugs are (by definition) absent from the MS libraries; b) Occasionally, the library fails in sample identification either since the sample is not included in the library or due to coelution of two or more compounds or due to statistical errors; and c) About 30% of the sample compounds do not show a significant molecular ion in their 70 eV electron ionization MS. For these compounds sample identification through libraries alone cannot be trusted due to the possibility of false identification of a homologous compound or a degradation product. Thus, there is a need for additional supplementary and complementary means of preferably automated sample identification. An alternative approach for mass spectral sample identification is the measurement of accurate mass, typically with mass measurement precision of a few parts per million, followed by computer based conversion of that accurate mass into a list of possible elemental formulas which are arranged in order of increased deviation from the measured mass. For such inversion of experimental data into elemental formula the user must provide as an initial input parameter a short list of possible elements, otherwise the generated hit list will be too large and the calculation time could be too long even with the most powerful computers. The use of accurate mass for the provision of elemental formulas is based on the elemental specific distribution of isotopic masses. The method of accurate mass for the provision of elemental formulas is powerful but requires the use of costly mass spectrometer instrumentation such as time of flight, ion cyclotron or magnetic sectors. In addition, this method fails to provide any information if the molecular ion does not appear in the mass spectrum and can even give false identification on a fragment or impurity ion. Furthermore, in contrast to libraries, accurate mass does not provide any isomer identification information. Finally, for relatively large compounds and when the list of possible elements is not limited to very few elements, accurate mass can provide a too long list of candidates without real sample identification.
A closer look at the molecular ion in any typical mass spectrum reveals that it is actually a group of peaks spaced at 1 amu apart, emerging from the natural abundance of two or a few isotopes for most of the elements. It is well known and established that the relative height of the various molecular ion peaks that belong to the same molecule but with different isotopes (isotopomers) emerges from the relative abundances of the various isotopes and several programs are available for the calculation of the isotope abundance patterns from a given input of elemental formulas and natural isotope abundances of the various elements in that elemental formula. However, the opposite method of inversion of experimental mass spectral isotope abundance patterns into elemental formula (which is referred to as isotope abundance analysis (IAA)) is a much harder challenge. The challenges in the successful inversion of MS isotope abundance data into elemental formulas seems daunting for a few well established practical reasons: a) Isotope abundance analysis requires that the molecular ion will be available while it is missing from ordinary 70 ev EI mass spectra of more than 30% of the sample compounds; b) IAA requires that the relative heights of the various isotopomers can be accurately measured, including with low sample amounts during their short elution time from a GC or LC; c) IAA requires the absence of matrix and or sample induced self chemical ionization that distorts the experimentally measured isotope abundances due to uncontrolled degree of protonation; d) IAA requires the absence of vacuum background that distorts the measures isotope abundances, especially at low sample levels. e) IAA requires a useful method for the inversion of isotope abundance MS data into a short list of most probable elemental formulas that can provide a reliable method of sample identification. These obstacles and the seemingly limited possibility of success resulted in lack of motivation. Thus, isotope abundance analysis was generally neglected in view of the combination of lack of motivation, absence of automated effective inversion method and scarcity of useful experimental isotope abundances data.
In recent years a new type of electron ionization mass spectrometry with supersonic molecular beams (SMB) was developed, and applied with GC-MS and LC-MS. The use of SMB for analytical mass spectrometry is based on the introduction of sample compounds into an electron ionization ion source as vibrationally cold molecules in a seeded supersonic molecular beam. The electron ionization (EI) is performed in a unique fly-through EI ion source, adopted for the ionization of sample compounds while they are traveling along the ion source axis as vibrationally cold molecules, due to their cooling by the seeding gas in the supersonic expansion. The most important attribute of electron ionization of vibrationally cold sample molecules in SMB is that the molecular ion is significantly enhanced and it is practically always observed. In addition, the use of SMB with a light carrier (seeding) gas such as helium (or even vaporized solvent in LC-EI-MS of large molecules) enables the sample compounds to acquire directional hyperthermal kinetic energy. As a result, a unique mass spectral vacuum background filtration was achieved and the experimentally obtained mass spectra are clean, without vacuum background distortion. Furthermore, the collision free conditions prevailing in the EI of sample compounds in SMB ensure the full elimination of the adverse effects of self and matrix induced chemical ionization (CI). Consequently, electron ionization mass spectra of samples in SMB in both GC-MS and LC-EI-MS with SMB seems ideal for IAA, if an appropriate and preferably automated method will be developed for the inversion of its useful mass spectral isotope abundance data into elemental formula information. | {
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Typically, a punching machine comprises a punch body including a punch holder on one side of the punch body, and a punch on the opposite side of the punch body. Punch has spiral ridges on shank and a pointed front end. Punch holder is held by a chuck. As a result, the punching machine is tightly held.
However, for example, as the conventional punching machine punches a hole on a glass, a short furlike edge will be formed on the punched hole due to the cutting speed and/or the spiral shape of the punch. To the worse, the short furlike edge even causes a break extended from the punched hole. In brief, products made by such conventional punching machine is poor in quality. Further, life cycle of punch is relatively short.
A need remains for an improved punching machine in order to overcome the above drawbacks of prior art. | {
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Medical radionuclide imaging (Nuclear Medicine) is a key component of modern medical practice. This methodology involves the administration, typically by injection, of tracer amounts of a radioactive substance, which subsequently localizes in the body in a manner dependent on the physiologic function of the organ system being studied. The radiotracer emissions, most commonly gamma photons, are imaged with a detector outside the body, creating a map of the radiotracer distribution within the body. When interpreted by an appropriately trained physician, these images provide information of great value in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of disease. Typical applications of this technology include detection of coronary artery disease (thallium scanning) and detection of cancerous involvement of bones (bone scanning). The overwhelming bulk of clinical radionuclide imaging is performed using gamma emitting radiotracers and detectors known as “gamma cameras”.
Gamma cameras typically consist of a large scintillation crystal (e.g. sodium iodide) having the property of emitting light when struck by gamma photons. Affixed to the rear of this crystal are multiple photomultiplier tubes with associated circuitry to detect the light flashes and to locate their position within the scintillation crystal. In front of the crystal is a collimator, typically consisting of several millimeters of lead with multiple holes penetrating it. The collimator serves to absorb all incoming photons except those approaching the crystal generally from the appropriate direction. The crystal, photomultiplier tubes and associated circuitry are typically enclosed in a large lead case that serves to shield the detector from unwanted external radiation. The entire apparatus is mounted on a gantry with a motorized apparatus for positioning the detector near the patient.
A gamma camera provides a two-dimensional image of radiotracer distribution. However, the distribution of radiotracers within the body is typically three-dimensional. The technique of single photon emission tomography (SPECT) is used to create three-dimensional, tomographic images similar to a “radionuclide CT scan” by using computer processing to “reconstruct” the three-dimensional tracer distribution from a series of two-dimensional gamma camera images obtained from multiple angles around the patient. This is almost universally accomplished by mounting one or more gamma cameras to a motorized gantry and orbiting them around the patient. The data thus acquired is then processed to yield the three-dimensional images.
The three-dimensional SPECT images have been demonstrated to provide higher image contrast and to reduce apparent overlap of body structures. SPECT imaging is now considered to be the state-of-the-art in radionuclide imaging of the heart and now accounts for more than half of all cardiac nuclear imaging performed in the United States.
Despite its many advantages, SPECT imaging is not yet available to all patients who might benefit from it. Current SPECT instrumentation has a number of disadvantages which have impeded its wider implementation.
Current SPECT systems are bulky, typically requiring a large, dedicated room to house them. The collimating systems are relatively inefficient, blocking a high percentage of emitted radiation. Thus, most new clinical systems simultaneously utilize two or more gamma camera detectors mounted on a single gantry. Since each detector typically weighs several hundred pounds, the supporting gantry must be large and heavy. Most SPECT installations require specially constructed rooms with added floor reinforcement. Since accurate image reconstruction requires precise detector placement, SPECT systems require heavy positioning systems consisting of motors and gearing capable of moving and positioning hundreds of pounds of apparatus to a precision of approximately a millimeter. These systems are necessarily large, heavy and expensive.
Although there is great medical need to image patients in a variety of settings, including doctors' offices, emergency rooms and intensive care units, the great size and bulk of current SPECT systems has required them to be in a fixed location, typically a hospital Radiology or Nuclear Medicine department. There are significant medical and patient convenience advantages to having cardiac SPECT imaging performed in the immediate presence of the attending Cardiologist. Many studies have shown that the cost of care delivered in an outpatient office setting is less than that of a hospital setting. Despite these compelling factors, the size and cost constraints of current systems have greatly limited their penetration into the community and have particularly limited their availability in physicians' offices. In addition, the large space requirements of current systems have imposed significant costs on hospitals providing SPECT services.
Current SPECT systems have additional limitations. As the gamma cameras orbit around the patient, large multi-conductor cables are required to carry power and data to and from each detector. These cables are repeatedly flexed during system operation and are a frequent cause of equipment breakdown.
The large and heavy nature of existing systems has dictated a mechanical gantry design that is highly stable, yet cost effective. This has resulted in systems in which the patient must lie in a supine (flat on the back) position on a narrow platform that extends into a vertically oriented gantry. In order to permit the detectors to be as close as possible to the chest and to enable the large, moving detectors to safely pass around the patient, current systems require the patient to maintain one or both arms in an uncomfortable position held over the head. This is painful for most patients and impossible for some. In addition, the supine position is uncomfortable for many patients, particularly for those with back problems. Many patients feel claustrophobic when inside the equipment. The narrow platform required to permit camera rotation around the patient is uncomfortable for large individuals and is often perceived as insecure or precarious by those undergoing scans. Also, the fact that the patient is partially enclosed by the equipment during imaging may serve to limit physician or nursing access to critically ill patients. | {
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Field
The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly, to techniques for dynamically splitting bearers between various radio access technologies (RATs).
Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.
These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. An example of an emerging telecommunication standard is Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE is a set of enhancements to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobile standard promulgated by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). LTE is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by improving spectral efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use of new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards using OFDMA on the downlink (DL), SC-FDMA on the uplink (UL), and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology. However, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, there exists a need for further improvements in LTE technology. Preferably, these improvements should be applicable to other multi-access technologies and the telecommunication standards that employ these technologies. | {
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1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a resin energy absorber and a method for forming the resin energy absorber. In particular, the disclosure relates to a resin energy absorber that ensures sufficient deformation stroke not only in the case where a uniform impact load is applied to the whole energy absorber but also in the case where an impact load is applied from an oblique direction. This resin energy absorber reduces local variation in energy-absorbing property. In particular, the disclosure also relates to a method for forming the resin energy absorber that has: a low-cost, lightweight, and simplified structure; and a satisfactory energy-absorbing property. This method forms the resin energy absorber with satisfactory formability.
2. Related Art
An impact energy absorber for vehicle protects an occupant inside the vehicle by absorbing impact energy caused by external impact load due to vehicle crash. The impact energy absorber for vehicle is installed, for example, inside a door panel or a ceiling panel.
An impact load by an unexpected vehicle crash makes it difficult to predict a position and a direction of the impact applied to the impact energy absorber for vehicle. Enlarging a surface for receiving this impact load in the impact energy absorber for vehicle to deal with the unpredictable impact load makes it difficult to reduce the weight of the vehicle.
The impact energy absorber for vehicle includes one of structures that are classified broadly into a grid-shaped rib type, a truncated-cone-shaped rib type, and a long-groove-shaped rib type.
Japanese Patent No. 2775146 discloses the grid-shaped rib type. The grid-shaped rib type is made from synthetic resin material. The grid-shaped rib type has, on its one surface of a planar top panel, plate-shaped ribs with predetermined height disposed upright in a grid pattern. The plate-shaped ribs are coupled to one another in the grid pattern and are integrally deformed upon receiving an impact load. This reduces local variation in absorbing property of the impact energy absorber for vehicle. This structure increases a repulsion force in response to the impact load, thus making it difficult to sufficiently deform the impact energy absorber for vehicle by the impact load. In view of this, this structure has difficulty in ensuring a desired impact energy-absorbing property.
Further, the grid-shaped rib type is formed by injection forming. The injection forming requires the grid-shaped rib disposed upright relative to a top panel. In view of this, in the case where an impact load is obliquely applied to the load receiving surface of the impact energy absorber for vehicle, the grid-shaped rib tends to fall down. This makes it difficult to ensure a sufficient deformation stroke. Due to the grid-shaped rib, on the other hand, there is a limit to thinning the impact energy absorber for vehicle. This increases the repulsion force of the impact energy absorber for vehicle. This makes it difficult to sufficiently deform the impact energy absorber for vehicle under the impact load.
Japanese Patent No. 3186563 discloses the grid-shaped rib type, similarly to Japanese Patent No. 2775146. The grid-shaped rib type includes a plurality of ribs, which are oriented in a predetermined direction and disposed in a grid pattern, and a base plate that is integrally formed with respective ends of the plurality of ribs. The plurality of ribs is installed on the base plate along the direction of the impact load. The injection forming requires a draft angle. The draft angle thickens a root portion of the rib, thus making it difficult to deform the rib. The rib includes a cross-sectionally reduced portion made by forming a cut-out portion. The cross-sectionally reduced portion reduces an increase of the deformation load when the deformation, which is caused by the impact load, of the ribs advances toward the base plate of the ribs. This actively promotes the deformation of the ribs.
However, the grid-shaped ribs are formed by injection forming similarly to Japanese Patent No. 2775146. This requires the grid-shaped rib disposed upright relative to the base plate. In view of this, the grid-shaped ribs easily fall down in the case where the impact load is obliquely applied to the load receiving surface of the impact energy absorber for vehicle. This makes it difficult to ensure a sufficient deformation stroke.
Japanese Patent No. 4597832 discloses the truncated-cone-shaped rib structure. The truncated-cone-shaped rib type is made from synthetic resin. The truncated-cone-shaped rib type includes a plurality of truncated-cone-shaped ribs arranged at required intervals, and surface connecting portions, which are located in areas where the truncated-cone-shaped rib is missing. The surface connecting portion is coupled to bottom portions of these truncated-cone-shaped ribs to be supported. The truncated-cone-shaped ribs include a plurality of slits around the truncated-cone-shaped ribs, the slits allowing outer peripheral side faces of the truncated-cone-shaped ribs to deform outward when the truncated-cone-shaped ribs are crushed and deformed. This structure increases the repulsion force since the truncated-cone-shaped ribs are each independent. This structure sufficiently deforms the impact energy absorber for vehicle under the impact load. However, this structure is likely to cause local variation in absorbing property of the impact energy absorber for vehicle.
More specifically, the truncated-cone-shaped rib type has a plurality of slits around the truncated-cone-shaped ribs. The truncated-cone-shaped ribs tend to cause circular apical surfaces of the truncated-cone-shaped ribs to bottom out in the case where the impact load is squarely applied to the load receiving surface of the impact energy absorber for vehicle. This makes it difficult to ensure the sufficient deformation stroke of the impact energy absorber for vehicle. On the other hand, the truncated-cone-shaped ribs tend to fall down in the case where the impact load is obliquely applied to the load receiving surface of the impact energy absorber for vehicle. This makes it difficult to ensure the sufficient deformation stroke of the impact energy absorber for vehicle.
WO 2008/105517 A discloses the long-groove-shaped rib type. The long-groove-shaped rib type includes a first wall on the impact-receiving side, a second wall facing the first wall through a hollow portion at a distance, a deep groove portion, and a plurality of impact absorbing ribs. The deep groove portion includes a melt-bonding surface that is formed by hollowing each of the first wall and the second wall to make long groove shapes and integrally bonding respective apical surfaces of the long groove shapes. The plurality of impact absorbing ribs includes a shallow groove portion that faces the apical surface of the deep groove portion at a distance. The long-groove-shaped rib type is different from a configuration disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4597832 in the following points. The long-groove-shaped rib type includes a long groove formed by “vacuuming respective mold-side surfaces of two sheets of molten thermoplastic resin toward corresponding molds” or “applying pressure to the respective other surfaces of the two sheets of molten thermoplastic resin sheets toward the corresponding molds”. The long-groove-shaped rib type is integrally formed by melt-bonding with the apical surfaces of the long grooves by clamping split mold blocks. The long-groove-shaped rib type includes a hollow portion that is formed through formation of a ring-shaped parting line.
This configuration ensures reduced local variation in absorbing property of the plurality of impact absorbing ribs in a long groove shape, compared with the independent truncated-cone-shaped rib disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4597832. However, the long-groove-shaped rib type lacks a rib oriented across the plurality of impact absorbing ribs. This is likely to cause the impact absorbing ribs to fall down in the case where the impact load is obliquely applied to the load receiving surface of the impact energy absorber for vehicle. This makes it difficult to ensure a sufficient deformation stroke of the impact energy absorber for vehicle.
Additionally, the long-groove-shaped rib type increases air pressure in a hermetic hollow portion in the case where the impact load is squarely applied to the load receiving surface of the impact energy absorber for vehicle. This increase in the air pressure increases a repulsion force, which makes it difficult to ensure the sufficient deformation stroke of the impact energy absorber for vehicle under the impact load. This makes it difficult for the impact energy absorber for vehicle to have a desired energy-absorbing property. This requires an extra process such as providing an opening on the load receiving surface. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the making of flat glass by delivering molten glass onto a pool of molten metal and supporting it thereon while cooling and forming the glass into a continuous sheet of flat glass. More particularly, this invention relates to conditioning molten glass just prior to delivery onto the molten metal for forming.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Molten glass may be delivered as a layer of molten glass onto molten metal and then formed into a continuous sheet or ribbon of glass according to the teachings of Heal, U.S. Pat. No. 710,357, or Hitchcock, U.S. Pat. No. 789,911. According to the teachings of Hitchcock and the later improvements of Edge and Kunkle disclosed in the application incorporated herein, it is useful to discharge the molten glass for forming from a pool of molten glass in a glassmaking furnace and deliver it along a substantially horizontal path onto the surface of the pool of molten metal. In one aspect the invention disclosed by Edge and Kunkle provides for cooling the molten glass beneath the surface of the pool of molten glass to establish an increased flow of molten glass at and near the surface of the pool of molten glass toward a discharge region of the pool of molten glass. This improves the quality of the formed glass sheet, particularly along its marginal edges where "herringbone" distortion is encountered in the methods disclosed by Hitchcock and Heal.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for adapting the invention of Edge and Kunkle for improved performance when a forming chamber is connected to a glassmaking furnace in an unsymmetrical manner, particularly to allow the furnace to accommodate a plurality of forming chambers. | {
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The present invention relates to computer animation. More particularly, the present invention relates to techniques and apparatus for efficient rendering of hair on objects.
Throughout the years, movie makers have often tried to tell stories involving make-believe creatures, far away places, and fantastic things. To do so, they have often relied on animation techniques to bring the make-believe to “life.” Two of the major paths in animation have traditionally included, drawing-based animation techniques and physical animation techniques.
Drawing-based animation techniques were refined in the twentieth century, by movie makers such as Walt Disney and used in movies such as “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937) and “Fantasia” (1940). This animation technique typically required artists to hand-draw (or paint) animated images onto a transparent media or cels. After painting, each cel would then be captured or recorded onto film as one or more frames in a movie.
Physical-based animation techniques typically required the construction of miniature sets, props, and characters. The filmmakers would construct the sets, add props, and position the miniature characters in a pose. After the animator was happy with how everything was arranged, one or more frames of film would be taken of that specific arrangement. Physical animation techniques were developed by movie makers such as Willis O'Brien for movies such as “King Kong” (1933). Subsequently, these techniques were refined by animators such as Ray Harryhausen for movies including “The Mighty Joe Young” (1948) and Clash Of The Titans (1981).
With the wide-spread availability of computers in the later part of the twentieth century, animators began to rely upon computers to assist in the animation process. This included using computers to facilitate drawing-based animation, for example, by painting images, by generating in-between images (“tweening”), and the like. This also included using computers to augment physical animation techniques. For example, physical models could be represented by virtual models in computer memory, and manipulated.
One of the pioneering companies in the computer aided animation (CA) industry was Pixar. Pixar developed both computing platforms specially designed for, computer animation and animation software now known as RenderMan®. RenderMan® was particularly well received in the animation industry and recognized with two Academy Awards®.
RenderMan® software is used to convert graphical specifications of objects and convert them into one or more images. This technique is known in the industry as rendering. One specific portion of the rendering process is known as surface shading. In the surface shading process, the surface shader software determines how much light is directed towards the viewer from the surface of objects in an image in response to the applied light sources. Two specific parameters that are used for shading calculations includes a surface normal and a surface illumination.
The surface shading process is quite effective for coherent surfaces where there are smoothly varying surface properties. However, this process is not effective for shading hair, because hair is typically a large collection of infinitely thin curves (one-dimensional) that have little physical relation to neighboring hairs. Further, this process is not effective because unlike standard surfaces, hair does not have a well-defined surface normal.
Hair illumination processes have been proposed to solve the problem of illuminating a one dimensional hair in a three dimensional world. One such process has included the use of tangent-based lighting response to determine hair illumination, and the use of deep shadows for self-shadowing.
Drawbacks to tangent-based illumination solutions include that this method often leads to visually distracting artifacts. That is, viewers typically expect hair to have smooth illumination across neighboring hairs, but with this method, there is no hair to hair lighting coherency, thus hair will “sparkle” or “pop” to a viewer. Another drawback is that unrelated hairs that are spatially far apart may erroneously have the same lighting response. For example, in the case of back-lit head, if a hair on the front of a head and a hair on back of the head have the same tangent, they will have the same illumination. As a result, even though the head is supposed to be silhouetted, hairs on the front the head will be still be illuminated.
Drawbacks to the use of deep shadows for hair self-shadowing include that they are computationally intensive, and they are inflexible. As is known, deep shadows maps are computed separately for each illumination source, and for a specific illumination position. If an animator decides to change the position of the camera, the entire deep shadow map for that illumination source will need to be recomputed. Yet another drawback is that because hair is computationally expensive to shade, a hair model having fewer hairs may used. However, if the hair is back-lit, the thinness of the hair model will be apparent to a viewer.
In light of the above, what is needed are improved techniques to render hair without the visual problems described above. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements in the manufacturing and performance of spatial light modulators such as interferometric modulators.
2. Description of the Related Art
Spatial light modulators are display devices that contain arrays of individually addressable light modulating elements. Examples of spatial light modulators include liquid crystal displays and interferometric modulator arrays. The light modulating elements in such devices typically function by altering the characteristics of light reflected or transmitted through the individual elements, thus altering the appearance of the display. | {
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Sensor signals can often have characteristics such that under some set of conditions the sensor signals give erroneous readings. For example, sensor signals indicating the presence of a device may, during the addition or deletion of a device to a system while the system is active, toggle between present and not present. Errant sensor signals may also be generated during a ramp-up of power for an added device. Errant sensor signals may also be generated due to malfunctions in an Integrated Circuit (IC). In these and other situations multiple sensor state changes may be falsely sensed and reported.
Following a de facto process of waiting a certain time before looking at a sensor signal, thereby allowing the sensor signal time to debounce, two approaches are customarily taken to handle sensor signals that are sensitive to other events. In the first of these approaches some error reports related to the sensor signal are accepted as issues with the product and ignored by the event consumer. Herein, the “event consumer” may be an application program, an operating system, a firmware entity, hardware entity, or the like. In certain circumstances it may be a user of the associated processor-based system. In the aforementioned first existing approach taken to handle sensor signals that are sensitive to other events, an initial value of a present sensor reading and a previous sensor reading are each set as equal to a default sensor state value. Then an algorithm, which may be referred to as a sensor monitor loop, is executed, wherein the present sensor reading is set equal to a retrieved sensor reading. If the present sensor reading is not equal to the previous sensor reading, a state change event is reported and the previous sensor reading is set as equal to the present sensor reading. The sensor monitor loop is then repeated.
Problematically, in this first approach it is difficult to distinguish erroneous reports from actual events. Also, under this first approach sensor-signal glitches often force the reporting of multiple events in quick succession, many of which are erroneous.
In a second existing approach, often referred to as signal debouncing, a sensor signal is read multiple times to determine if it is stable, prior to reporting a state change. In this second existing approach, initial values for a present sensor reading, a previous sensor reading and a last stable sensor reading are each set as equal to a default sensor state value. An initial value of a stable reading counter is initially set at zero. An algorithm, which may also be labeled a sensor monitor loop, sets the present sensor reading as equal to a retrieved sensor reading. If the present sensor reading is equal to the previous sensor reading, a stable reading counter is incremented. If the present sensor reading is not equal to the previous sensor reading, a stable reading counter is zeroed. However, if the stable reading counter is greater than or equal to a stable reading tolerance level, the stable reading counter is zeroed. If in addition to the stable reading counter being greater than or equal to a stable reading tolerance level, the present sensor reading is not equal to the last stable sensor reading, a state change event is reported. The last stable sensor reading and previous sensor reading are then set to be the present sensor reading. The sensor monitor loop is then repeated.
Problematically, this second approach may mask out actual errors where the sensor signal is metastable. Herein, metastable refers to a condition wherein a sensor signal continues to transition above and below a threshold that would indicate one signal state or another. Typically, a metastable sensor signal never holds at a state long enough to be considered at that value. Problematically, a metastable sensor signal may transition at some frequency greater than the number of samples required to determine that the transient state should be reported. Thus, the latter approach for signal debouncing might filter out true instability, such as where the frequency of a metastability is higher than the required threshold hold time to report a state change, thereby possibly never reporting a state change. | {
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It is well known to fabricate an IR Emitter based on silicon process. Such devices typically consist of a resistive micro-heater embedded within a thin membrane and supported on a silicon substrate. When current is passed through the heater, it heats up to a high temperature (which can be as much as 700° C. or even higher), and at this high temperature the device emits Infra Red radiation.
A large number of designs with IR emitters have been reported. For Example, Parameswaran et. al. “Micro-machined thermal emitter from a commercial CMOS process,” IEEE EDL 1991 reports a polysilicon heater for IR applications made in CMOS technology, with a front side etch to suspend the heater and hence reduce power consumption. Similarly, D. Bauer et. Al. “Design and fabrication of a thermal infrared emitter” Sens & Act A 1996, also describes an IR source using a suspended polysilicon heater. U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,131 by Muller et al. and patent US2008/0272389 by Rogne et. al, San et. al. “A silicon micromachined infrared emitter based on SOI wafer” (Proc of SPIE 2007) also describe similar devices using a polysilicon heater.
Yuasa et. al “Single Crystal Silicon Micromachined Pulsed Infrared Light Source” Transducers 1997, describe an infrared emitter using a suspended boron doped single crystal silicon heater. Watanabe, in patent EP2056337 describes a suspended silicon filament as an IR source. The device is vacuum sealed by bonding a second substrate.
Many designs based on a platinum heater have also been described. For example, Hildenbrand et. al. “Micromachined Mid-Infrared Emitter for Fast Transient Temperature Operation for Optical Gas Sensing Systems”, IEEE Sensor 2008 Conference, reports on a platinum heater on suspended membrane for IR applications.
Similarly Ji et. Al. “A MEMS IR Thermal Source For NDIR Gas Sensors” (IEEE 2006) and Barritault et. al “Mid-IR source based on a free-standing microhotplate for autonomous CO2 sensing in indoor applications” (Sensors & Actuators A 2011), Weber et. al. “Improved design for fast modulating IR sources”, Spannhake et. Al. “High-temperature MEMS Heater Platforms: Long-term Performance of Metal and Semiconductor Heater Materials” (Sensors 2006) also describe platinum based as well as other emitters.
Some other IR Emitter designs are given by U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,511 by Syllaios et. al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,500,569, 5,644,676, 5,827,438 by Bloomberg et. al, and WO 02/080620 A1 by Pollien et. al.
One limitation of many of these devices is that their emissivity is not optimal. There is also no control over the emission at specific wavelengths. For this purpose, the devices are often coated with different materials to improve the emissivity. Some materials used are metal blacks, carbon, carbon nanotubes and other thin film interference structures. These structures can be difficult to deposit and require additional processing steps. In addition they may degrade over time at high temperatures, and hence limit the operating temperature of the IR emitter.
There have been several reports in literature that suggest that the emissivity of devices can be varied at particular wavelengths by using plasmonic structures, which are periodic structures created on a surface. For example these are described in V. Shklover et. al., “High-Temperature Photonic Structures, Thermal Barrier Coatings, Infrered Sources and Other Applications,” Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience, Vol 5, 2008, pp. 862-893.
There are also several reports of IR emitters with plasmonic structures. For example, M. Tsai et. al., “Two Color Squared-Lattice Plasmonic Thermal Emitter,” Proceedings of Sixth IEEE Conference on Nanotechnology, Vol 2, pp 746-748, describes a silver/silicon dioxide/silver sandwich structure on a silicon substrate, where the top silver and/or silicon dioxide layer have a periodic pattern. The emission spectrum of the device shows peaks near 4 μm and 6 μm. Heat is provided by passing current through a gold and chromium layer at the back of the substrate. However, as there is no membrane, the device would consume a lot of power. Very similar devices are also described in Y. Jiang, “Enhancement of thermal radiation in plasmonic thermal emitter by surface plasmon resonance,” Proceeding of IEEE conference on Nanotechnology 2008, pp. 104-107, and in H. Fu, “A thermal emitter with selective wavelength: Based on the coupling between photonic crystals and surface plasmon polaritions,” Journal of Applied Physics 105, 033505 (2009). S. Huang, “Triple peaks plasmonic thermal emitter with selectable wavelength using periodic block pattern as top layer,” Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Nanotechnology 2011 pp. 1267-1270, also describe a device based on silicon dioxide and silver layers, but using block shapes in different patterns at the top surface. Another device is described by J. Daly et. al. “Nano-Structured Surfaces for Tuned Infrared Emission for Spectroscopic Applications,” Micro-Nano-photonic Materials and Devices, Joseph W Perry, Axel Scherer, pp. 80-89, which has a plasmonic structure made of gold with chromium as an underlying layer, and this structure is tested by putting on a graphite sheet ont a hotplate.
S. Tay et. al., “Plasmonic thermal IR emitters based on nanoamorphous carbon,” Applied Physics Letters 94, 071113 (2009), and U.S. Pat. No. 8,492,737B2 describe an IR emitter with nanoamorphous carbon patterned at the top as a hexagonal lattice of holes. K. Ikeda et. al, “Controlled thermal emission of polarized infrared waves from arrayed plasmon nano cavities,” Applied Physics Letters 92, 021117 (2008) describes a plasmonic IR emitter based on an epoxy substrate. Similarly I. E. Araci et. al. “Mechanical and thermal stability of plasmonic emitters on flexible polyimide substrates,” Applied Physics Letters 97, 041102 (2010) describes a plasmonic emitter based on a polyimide substrate. The use of epoxy or polyimide limits the maximum operating temperature of the device.
While these all these designs are made to optimise the emission spectrum of the surface, these devices do not have a proper mechanism for heating up. Either the heater is based on a metal layer at the back surface or need to be couple to an external heater, which can result in very high power consumption. Unlike conventional miniaturised IR emitters, none of these devices are based on a membrane to isolate the heat and reduce power consumption.
There are a number of reports on MEMS based IR emitters with plasmonic structures. X. Ji et. al. “Narrow-band Midinfrared Thermal Emitter Based on Photonic Crystal for NDIR Gas Sensor,” Proceedings of IEEE ICSICT 2010, pp. 1459-1461. describes a platinum heater on top of a silicon nitride/silicon dioxide/silicon composite membrane, where all these layers are patterned with an array of holes in a square pattern. F. Li et. al. “MEMS-based plasmon infrared emitter with hexagonal hole arrays perforated in the Al—SiO2 structure,” Journal of Micromechanics and Micro-engineering 21 (2011) 105023, describe an aluminium heater on an silicon dioxide/silicon membrane, and all these layers have circular holes in them in a hexagonal pattern. While these designs will have lower power consumption due to the use of a membrane for thermal isolation, making holes through most of the membrane layers requires extra steps, and can also structurally weaken the membrane as many of the layers including the silicon dioxide layers have holes in them.
Puscasu “Plasmonic Photonic Crystal MEMS Emitter for Combat ID,” Proc of SPIE Vol 8031, 80312Y, describes a plasmonic structure coupled with a MEMS platform. The plasmonic structure consists of circular holes in a hexagonal pattern, while the platform is a heater suspended on a micro-bridge type membrane. Similarly T. Sawada “Surface Plasmon Polarities Based Wavelength Selective IR Emitter Combined with Microheater,” proceedings of IEEE conference on Optical MEMS and Nanophotonics 2013, pp. 45-46, also describes an IR emitter which is suspended. Similarly the device described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,825,380 also describes a plasmonic structure on a suspended heater, which is held together by only two beams. Such suspended structures are less stable than full membrane structures.
M. Zoysa, “Conversion of broadband to narrowband thermal emission through energy recycling,” Nature Photonics 2012, 20.12.146, describe an IR emitter based on a gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrate and a membrane consisting of GaAs/Al—GaAs, with the membrane layers pattern into holes in a hexagonal pattern. Gallium arsenide is not as widely used as silicon, and so is more expensive. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of controlling an optical drive to write data, more specifically, a method of adjusting a write-in strategy and a write-in power according to a linear velocity of an optical disc operating on the optical drive.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the rapid development of computer technology, most data can be transformed into digital form for convenience of transmitting and storing.
In order to help users store data more conveniently, various data storage devices, such as CD recorders, are being introduced. A CD-R drive, due to a low price, small volume, and large capacity of a disc, can record data onto the CD, letting the user store data more easily.
The conventional CD-R drive rotates at a zone constant linear velocity (ZCLV). When a pickup head of the CD-R drive is passing through different zones of a disc, for keeping a constant linear velocity, the angular velocity of the operating CD-R drive also changes so as to accurately record the data on the disc. In addition, a fixed-angular-velocity-operated CD-R drive does not need to frequently adjust the motor turns, and has also become a widely used drive in recent years.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which shows a schematic diagram of the CD-R drive 10 recording data onto an optical disc 20. The disc 20 has a spiral track 22 covered by a photoresist layer from the center outward. The drive 10 comprises a pickup head 12. While the drive 10 writes data onto the disc 20, the pickup head 12 makes the photoresist layer of the track 22 on the disc 20 be intermittently exposed to an on-and-off laser according to the data. The exposed photoresist layer of the track 22 will cause pits to form. On the contrary, the unexposed photoresist layer will be kept as lands. Reflections of the pits and the lands are not similar, in this way, the different data (for example, the digital “0” or “1”) can be represented by the pits and the lands respectively, and stored in the disc 20. While reading the data stored in the disc 20, the drive 10 can receives reflecting laser from the disc 20 to read the data stored in the disc 20.
The extended length of the pit and the land represent the times of the particular repetition bit in disc 20, a length for continuing representative data. For example, if the pit represents bit “1”, the three repetition bits “1 1 1” is represented by longer extended pits. As above-mentioned, when the disc 20 passes through the pickup head 12, the pickup head 12 will apply energy onto the disc 20 with a laser so as to write data onto the disc 20. Both the applied energy (that is, the laser power) and the applied time of the energy can affect the extended length of the pits and further affect the precision of the written data on the disc 20.
Please refer to FIG. 2, which shows a relation plot of an amount of exposure of the photoresist layer against the fragment position relative to the pickup head 12 while the disc 20 is rotating. When the drive 10 is going to write data into the disc 20, the pickup head 12 begins to emit a laser while passing through the fragment of p0. At this moment, the received energy of the disc 20 is not enough to form a pit. As the disc 20 is rotating, the pickup head 12 constantly supplies energy onto the disc 20. While the fragment of p1 is passing through the pickup head 12, a temperature of the photoresist layer of the fragment reaches a threshold temperature Eth and a pit is formed. While passing through the fragment of p2, the pickup head 12 stops emitting a laser and the temperature of the disc 20 decreases gradually. While the pickup head 12 is passing through the p3, the temperature of the photoresist layer is lower than threshold temperature Eth and a pit is no longer formed. In other words, a real extended length of the pit is from position p1 to p3. From FIG. 2, a length from p0 to p1 is obviously different from a length from p2 to p3, that is, if a pit intends to be formed from p1 to p3, the pickup head 12 of the drive 10 must begin/stop emitting a laser while passing through the position p0 and p2 respectively. In addition, the energy applied from the pickup head 12 affects the formed pit as well. For instance, the larger energy the pickup head 12 applies to the disc 20, the closer to the initial position, where the pickup head 12 begins to apply energy, the reaching threshold temperature Eth position of the photoresist layer is. Generally speaking, while writing data into the disc 20, the drive 10 can determine a position and a length of a pit, i.e. the position of p1 and p3, according to the data. As to the position where the pickup head 12 actually applies energy, i.e. the position of p0 and p2, are determined by a specific write-in strategy along with an optimal write-in power based on the position p1 and p3. Because the data within the disc 20 has direct relation to the extended length of the pit, an over-length or an under-length of the pit is incapable of correctly recording data onto the disc 20.
Please refer to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is an enlarged plot according to a dotted line section of the disc 20 shown in FIG. 1. For a rewritable disc 20, its track 22 can be divided into two kinds of tracks, one is a data track 26 for use to record data, and the other is a wobble track 28 for use to record relative information of each frame on the disc 20. The data track 26 is an arc along the disc 20 and around the center of the disc 20, like the track 22. Because FIG. 3 is an enlarged plot of a tiny part of the arc track, the data track 26 shown in FIG. 3 is a straight line. However, the wobble track 28 is not only an arc along the disc 20 and around the center of the disc 20, from a view of FIG. 3, but also appears as crawl-shaped with small amplitude along the track 22. The pickup head 12 of the drive 10 can receive reflected light from the wobble track 28 and forms a wobble signal. The drive 10 can detect which part of data on the disc 20 is being read by the pickup head 12 based on the wobble signal.
According to the orange book regulating the specification of the disc 20, while the emitted laser power from the pickup head 12 has optimal power, the reflected signal measured by the pickup head 12 is an AC coupled high frequency (HF) signal with a perfect symmetrical amplitude. Please refer to FIG. 4 which shows a waveform of the HF signal reflected from the disc 20 while the pickup head 12 of the drive 10 writes data onto the disc 20 based on an optimal write-in power, where the horizontal axis represents time, the vertical axis represents amplitude, and the place marked as level dc represents a corresponding amplitude of a long-term average of the waveform. If a laser is reflected from a pit, the HF signal shows an upper amplitude A1 over the level dc. If a laser is reflected from a land, the HF signal shows a lower amplitude A2 below the level dc. A measurement amplitude parameter β=(A1−A2)/(A1+A2) is for use to compare the A1 and A2. During writing data into the disc 20, the drive 10 will encode the data, resulting in a total extended length of pits equaling to a total extended length of lands. In other words, a total spent time of the laser reflecting from pits and a total spent time of the laser reflecting from lands are the same, which causes a long-term average level dc of the reflected HF signal to be exactly in the middle of the upper amplitude A1 and the lower amplitude A2, that is β=0. If the laser power emitted from the pickup head 12 is lower than the optimal power or if the laser-emitting time is too short, either causes the insufficient extended pits, which makes the waveform of the HF signal move downward and causes A1 to be less than A2, leading to β<0. On the contrary, if the laser power emitted from the pickup head 12 is higher than the optimal power or if the laser-emitting time is too long, either forms an over-length of an extended pit, which makes the waveform of the HF signal move upward and causes A1 to be more than A2, leading to β>0. In other words, β represents an amount of the pits matching an amount of the lands during encoding. When β does not equal to 0, it means either the length of the pit or that of the land is incorrect, resulting in errors during encoding. Besides β, a signal jitter in the duration of data-reading also can be used to judge a correction of data-writing. If there is something wrong when the disc 20 is written, even identical bits, the last time of signal-reading (that is, the extended length of the pits or the lands), are not the same, which increases the signal jitter.
Please again refer to FIG. 1. The drive 10 further includes an absolute time in pregroove decoder (ATIP decoder) 14 for decoding the absolute time code acquired from pickup head 12 and an eight-to fourteen modulator (EFM) 16 for modulating the data into EFM data. The drive 10 includes a table 18, which shows write-in strategies corresponding to write-in powers. The drive 10 adjusts the write-in strategy and the write-in power based on both a time code and the table 18. The drive 10 can be a constant-angular-velocity-operated drive. While the drive 10 rotates the disc 20, the rotation angular velocity of the drive 10 stays constant. Due to the fixed angular velocity of the drive 10, when the drive 10 is operating, a linear velocity of an inner orbit of the disc 20 is smaller, but a linear velocity of an outer orbit of the disc 20 is larger. If intending to write data into the inner orbit of the disc 20, due to a smaller linear velocity of an inner orbit, the pickup head 12 has enough time to emit a laser exposing the photoresist layers on the inner orbits, therefore the emitted laser power from the pickup head 12 is not too large. On the other hand, if intending to write data into the outer orbit of the disc 20, due to a larger linear velocity of an outer orbit, the pickup head 12 has to augment the laser power or increase the heating time so that the photoresist layer on the outer orbit of the disc 20 can complete exposure in a predetermined time. As a result, the write-in strategy and the write-in power have to be adjusted adequately along with the process of data-writing.
Please refer to FIG. 5, FIG. 6, and FIG. 7. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of distribution frames along the disc 20. FIG. 6 is a relation plot showing the linear velocity of the rotating disc 20 against the record time of the drive 10 while the pickup head 10 is passing through the disc 20. FIG. 7 is a relation diagram showing the value of β against time. The track for recording data on the disc 20 can be divided into a plurality of frames, each having identical data capacity. In CD-R/CD-RW, a linear length of each frame (an arc along the track) is identical. Two frames FA and FB are marked in FIG. 5, where the inner frame FA is from Fa0 to Fa1 and the outer frame FB is from Fb0 to Fb1. In the prior art, the drive 10 adjusts the laser power emitted from the pickup head 12 according to the frames, that is, the emitted laser powers from the pickup head 12 are the same in an identical frame. The emitted laser powers from the pickup head 12 changes as a change of frames.
As a curve 50 shows in FIG. 6, while the pickup head 12 is moving from the inner part of the disc 20 outward, the linear velocity of the disc 20 skipping the pickup head 12 is increasing. On the other hand, even though the linear length of each frame is identical, the spread angle of the center of the disc 20 corresponding to the frame distributed in the inner disc 20 (like frame FA) is also larger and each point within the frame corresponding to the radius of the center of the disc 20 has a larger difference. As inner frame FA shows in FIG. 5, the radius from the center to the start point of Fa0 is different from that from the center to the end point of Fa1. Relatively, the spread angle of the center of the disc 20 corresponding to the frame FB distributed in the outer disc 20 is smaller, and the radius from the center to the point Fb0 and Fb1 are almost the same. That the radius from each point to the center has a larger difference means while the pickup head 12 passes through different points within the frame FA, the linear velocity changes more greatly. As shown in FIG. 6, where an interval between the time t0 and t1 represents the spent time of the pickup head 12 passing through the inner frame FA, an interval of the time t5 and t6 represents the spent time between the pickup head 12 passing through the outer frame FB. Despite the change of the linear velocity among different points within the inner frame of the disc 20 being larger, the write-in strategy and the write-in power are adjusted according to the frames in prior art, resulting in the same write-in strategy and the write-in power are used to write data into the inner frame. In this way, the linear velocity at the end fragment of the inner frame is faster than that at the start fragment of the inner frame during writing data into the inner frame. For the end fragment of the frame, the write-in strategy and the write-in power adapted to the start fragment of the frame can cause a lack of absorption energy, which leads to too short a length of the pits. Similarly, for the start fragment of the frame, the write-in strategy and the write-in power adapted to the end fragment of the frame can cause over-absorption energy, which leads to too long a length of the pits. From FIG. 7, while the pickup head 12 writes data into the end of the inner orbit, the absolute value of β being maximum, that is, the laser power emitted from the pickup head 12 at this moment is most far from the optimal power, meaning that the pickup head 12 is prone to generate errors at this position of the disc 20.
While writing data into the outer frame of the disc 20, owing to little linear velocity change at each position of the outer frame, the pickup head 12 is unable to make mistakes, even when writing data into a sequence of two or three frames with the same write-in strategy and the write-in power. From FIG. 7, β is approximate to 0 when the pickup head 12 writes data into the outer orbit of the disc 20. As a result, it is not necessary to store too many write-in strategies and the write-in powers in the table 18 in prior art.
In addition to the above defect, a change of the drive 10 operation speed makes the table 18 useless. For example, the table 18 adapted to the two-times drive is not suitable for the four-times drive. Even at the same frame, while the operation speed of the drive changes, the linear velocity of the pickup head passing the frame changes, and the corresponding write-in strategy and the write-in power also change. In this way, arising from a promotion of the drive operation speed, the conventional drives have to test new write-in strategies and write-in powers again, resulting in a wasted time and a cost increase of the drive development. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention concerns an electronic dictionary for the electrical translation of words or compound words from one language (source language) into words or compound words of another language (target language); in particular, it concerns the means of input into the electronic dictionary of the words or compound words to be translated.
So-called electronic dictionaries have been commercially available. Such electronic dictionaries require keyboard input, for example, of English words or compound words to be translated, and display on a display unit translated language information including the meanings of the translated words, eg., Japanese words, their pronunciation, or their parts of speech.
FIG. 1 shows a perspective external view of such a conventional electronic dictionary, and FIG. 2 shows a block diagram depicting the internal configuration of such an electronic dictionary. In these diagrams, the English word to be translated is entered in alphabetical characters from keyboard 1 by a finger-pressing action of the operator. The alphabetical characters are fed to retrieval controller 3. Then retrieval controller 3 retrieves the corresponding English word from semantic dictionary 2, and the meaning and other items associated with the Japanese word corresponding to the English word are displayed on display panel 4.
The above electronic dictionary, however, requires keyboard input in alphabetic characters of the words or compound words to be translated, a process liable to input errors due to misreading of keys or misunderstanding, especially when the operator enters the words by looking at the source document and the keyboard alternately. Therefore, each time an input error is made, the word must be reentered by correcting the error. Thus, input has been slow, requiring more than the time it takes to consult an ordinary dictionary. Thus, the conventional electronic dictionaries have been far from being practical, and they have not been able to provide the full benefit of an electronic dictionary.
Further, when translating English words into Japanese, normally the operator has to write on the source document containing the English words so as not to forget the meanings in Japanese words output on the display panel. The procedure has thus been extremely cumbersome.
Further, if the word or compound word to be translated is in a variant form (e.g., the past tense or progressive form of a verb), in most cases the user has to take the trouble to keyboard input the original or canonical form of the word. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present disclosure relates to a phase difference element having optical anisotropy and a display device having the element, and particularly relates to a phase difference element preferably used in observation of a three-dimensional image by using a polarizing glass, and a display device having the phase difference element.
In a certain type of three-dimensional image display device using a polarizing glass in the past, light in different polarization states are outputted from left-eye pixels and right-eye pixels, respectively. In such a display device, while a viewer puts on a polarizing glass, light outputted from left-eye pixels is allowed to enter only into a left eye, and light outputted from right-eye pixels is allowed to enter only into a right eye, so that a three-dimensional image may be observed.
For example, in patent literature 1, a phase difference element is used to output light in different polarization states between left-eye pixels and right-eye pixels. In the phase difference element, a flake-like phase difference member having a slow axis or a fast axis in one direction is provided in correspondence to left-eye pixels, and a flake-like phase difference member having a slow axis or a fast axis in a direction different from the one direction of the above phase difference member is provided in correspondence to right-eye pixels. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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One class of opto-electrical devices is that using an organic material for light emission or as the active component of a photocell or photodetector (a “photovoltaic” device). The basic structure of these devices is a semiconducting organic layer sandwiched between a cathode for injecting or accepting negative charge carriers (electrons) and an anode for injecting or accepting positive charge carriers (holes) into the organic layer.
In an organic electroluminescent device, electrons and holes are injected into the semiconducting organic layer where they combine in to generate excitons that undergo radiative decay. In WO 90/13148 the organic light-emissive material is a polymer, namely poly (p-phenylenevinylene) (“PPV”). Other light emitting polymers known in the art include polyfluorenes and polyphenylenes. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,507 the organic light-emissive material is of the class known as small molecule materials, such as (8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (“Alq3”). In a practical device one of the electrodes is transparent, to allow photons to escape the device.
A organic photovoltaic device has the same construction as an organic electroluminescent device, however charge is separated rather than combined as described in, for example, WO 96/16449.
FIG. 1 illustrates the cross-sectional structure of a typical organic light-emissive device (“OLED”). The OLED is typically fabricated on a glass or plastic substrate 1 coated with a transparent first electrode 2 such as indium-tin-oxide (“ITO”). A layer of a thin film of at least one electroluminescent organic material 3 covers the first electrode. Finally, a cathode 4 covers the layer of electroluminescent organic material. The cathode is typically a metal or alloy and may comprise a single layer, such as aluminum, or a plurality of layers such as calcium and aluminum. Other layers can be added to the device, for example to improve charge injection from the electrodes to the electroluminescent material. For example, a hole injection layer such as poly(ethylene dioxythiophene)/polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT-PSS) or polyaniline may be provided between the anode 2 and the electroluminescent material 3. When a voltage is applied between the electrodes from a power supply one of the electrodes acts as a cathode and the other as an anode.
The nature of the electrodes has a strong influence on the efficiency, and also lifetime, of the device. For the cathode electrode a number of materials have been proposed, with materials having a low work-function being generally preferred. The inclusion of a high dipole dielectric layer between the cathode and the electroluminescent layer has been shown to improve device efficiency by assisting electron injection. For example, EP 0822603 discloses a thin fluoride layer between the EL layer and a thick conductive layer. The fluoride can be selected from the group of alkali fluorides and alkali earth fluorides. The conductive layer can be selected from the group of elemental metals, metal alloys and conductive materials. For the fluoride layer thicknesses in the range 0.3 nm to 5.0 nm are taught. Similarly, Applied Physics Letters 79(5), 2001, 563-565 discloses metal fluoride/Al cathodes. In addition, WO 00/48257 describes an arrangement comprising a metal fluoride layer, a layer of calcium and a layer of aluminum.
A focus in the field of OLEDs has been the development of full color displays utilizing organic red, green and blue (RGB) electroluminescent materials. To this end, a large body of work has been reported in the development of both small molecule and polymeric red, green and blue emitters. These emitters comprise aromatic moieties which may carry substituents. Appropriate selection of the aromatic moiety, and/or the substituents therefor, enables tuning of the color of emission. Electroluminescent materials comprising sulfur, such as polymers comprising thiophene or benzothiadiazole repeat units, have been reported. For example, red and green emitters comprising these units are disclosed in WO 00/46321.
Full color OLEDs have been disclosed in, for example, Synthetic Metals 111-112 (2000), 125-128. A difficulty with these devices is poor overall device performance (i.e. efficiency, lifetime, etc.) resulting from incompatibility of the cathode with at least one of the red green and blue emitters. For example, the cathode disclosed in Synthetic Metals 111-112 (2000), 125-128 is LiF/Ca/Al which is particularly efficacious with respect to the blue emissive material but which shows poor performance with respect to green and, especially, red emitters. A particular problem of degradation in green and red efficiency has been observed when pixels of these colors are not driven.
The present inventors have identified deleterious interactions between the cathode and sulfur containing materials in the aforementioned devices. In addition to the deleterious effect of this interaction on an OLED, the same deleterious interaction will affect the semiconducting properties of the organic material in an organic photovoltaic device. It is therefore a purpose of the invention to provide a cathode that has improved compatibility with organic semiconducting materials comprising sulfur. It is a further purpose of the invention to provide a cathode which has improved compatibility with all of red, green and blue electroluminescent organic semiconducting materials. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to semiconductor chip packaging, and more specifically to a collar structure placed around solder balls used to connect a semiconductor die to a semiconductor chip package substrate.
In a typical assembly of a semiconductor die or integrated circuit to a semiconductor chip package substrate, solder balls are attached to respective bond pads on the die. The semiconductor die is then placed onto the semiconductor chip package substrate. An anneal is performed to join the solder balls on the semiconductor die to respective bond pads on the semiconductor chip package substrate. Typically, there is a high degree of mismatch between the coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) between the solder balls, the semiconductor die and the semiconductor chip package substrate. The mismatch of CTE results in the formation of large strains that cause thermal stresses to develop about the solder balls and the semiconductor die during thermal cycling. Thermal stresses become more prevalent with the use of low-k dielectrics in the semiconductor dies and lead-free solder balls. In particular, low-k dielectrics tend to be more porous, making them mechanically weak and more susceptible to the formation of thermal stresses resulting from CTE mismatch. Lead-free solder balls generally have a higher melting point than lead solder balls, which further exacerbates the CTE mismatch, and results in more thermal stress formations during thermal cycling. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The mineralocorticoid hormone aldosterone is produced by the adrenal gland and acts on the distal tubules and collecting ducts of the kidney to increase reabsorption of ions and water in the kidney. Aldosterone causes conservation of sodium, secretion of potassium, increased water retention, and increased blood pressure.
Aldosterone has been implicated in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and heart failure. In clinical trials, treatment with the nonselective mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA) spironolactone or the selective MRA eplerenone significantly reduced morbidity and mortality among patients with heart failure or myocardial infarction already taking an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or a β-blocker. However, significant side effects such as gynecomastia and impotence were observed in male patients receiving spironolactone while hyperkalemia was seen in patients taking either drug. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparatus for flow conducting devices, and more particularly but not by way of limitation, to apparatus for quick connection and disconnection of flow conducting members in the use of liquid herbicides and the like.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Herbicides play a dominant role in the control of unwanted plant growth in modern agribusiness. Historically, farmers have had unlimited access to herbicides in various kinds of packaging such as small metal cans. Due to environmental considerations, modes of distribution are increasingly regulated and restricted for toxic substances such as herbicides. Farmers must often store a large volume of herbicide in a tank prior to use in order to comply with regulations. The present invention is intended to aid the farmer connect herbicide vessels in a quick fashion with minimal efficiency.
None of the prior art specifically teaches applications for herbicide dispensing systems. Most of the art, like the present invention, has general application in connecting members which conduct fluid flow. Much of the art was developed in the 1940s in the context of airplane fueling systems. Main, U.S. Pat. No. 2,457,251 issued Dec. 28, 1948, and Fisher, U.S. Pat. No. 2,254,997 issued Sept. 2, 1941, are two representative patents from that era. A problem that neither patent resolves is port indexing, i.e. the ports of the coupling members are not indexed, therefore the flow axis is obstructed by the internal apparatus of the invention. Also, neither patent effectively addresses the problem of leakage during engagement and disengagement. Finally, the related inventions do not solve the problem of internal fluid pressure buildup due to repeated engagement and disengagement with fluid in the apparatus. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention generally relates to the detection of missing components in a package, particularly to an x-ray scanner and processing system for detecting missing components in a package, and specifically to an x-ray scanner and processing system for detecting missing components which can have a variety of positions within a package.
A number of products are marketed in the form of multiple components which are included within a sealed package, with the consumer removing the components from the package at a location remote from the point of purchase and combining those components to form the final product. As the components are located within the package, the manufacturer as well as the consumer are unable to verify whether or not the package includes all components until after the package is opened. As many products are now mechanically packaged, packages where all the components are not there, where multiple components are present, and like deficiencies will be created depending upon machinery reliability. As such packaging errors are a major cause of consumer complaints especially when packages do not include all the necessary components to produce the final product, there exists a need for systems to detect whether the proper components are present in the package without requiring the opening of such packages.
One manner of such detection is by weighing the final package after sealing. This suffers from several shortcomings including reliability of correctly weighing the individual packages as they are being conveyed on a conveyor. Similarly, the weight of a component may be such that if one component were omitted (or a duplicate included), the package including the remaining components would be within the range of weights for the package including all components manufactured within the normal manufacturing tolerances.
Also, the components could be manufactured including identifiers which can be sensed outside of the package. However, it can then be appreciated that this has limitations in the number of identifiers which can be included in a single package and still be separately identifiable, typically requires extra manufacturing steps, and results in false negatives as the components could be present in the package but either the identifiers were omitted or could not be sensed from outside of the package.
X-ray scanning systems have had wide commercial success in the detection of contaminants in a package. Typical applications would be detecting metal in food products, bone portions in fillets, lumps or clumps in powdered or semi fluid components, or the like. Although prior x-ray scanning systems have been utilized for detecting missing components, use of x-ray scanning systems were generally limited to packages where the components are in a consistent position within the packages. Example packages would include egg cartons, TV dinners, and the like.
X-ray scanning detection systems are desirable for several reasons including but not limited to they do not require use of identifiers, do not require any modifications to the production line upstream from the detection system, do not leave marks or have the potential of damaging the sealed package and the like. Thus, a need exists for an x-ray scanning system which is able to detect which packages include one or more missing components where the components can have a variety of arrangements or positions within the package and which do not generate a substantial number of false negatives. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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It is known to transesterify and amidify esters, for example methyl 3-(3,5,di-t-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl) propionate, with alcohols, such as pentaerythritol, dipentaerythritol, stearyl alcohol, 1,6-hexanediol, 2,2'-thiodiglycol and neopentylglycol, or with amines, such as N-methylamine, N-cyclopropylamine, ethylenediamine and tetramethylenediamine, in the presence of a basic catalyst, such as lithium amide, sodium t-butoxide, potassium hydroxide, and sodium N-methyl-N-phenylamide, in the presence of solvent, such as tetralin or toluene, to form the ester or amide of the alcohol or amine, respectively, employed and methanol as the by-product.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,288,297 describes the transesterification of the above propionate in an inert solvent, such as tetralin, which is used to assist in the removal of the methanol by-product of the reaction. However, the yield from this process is low, and it can lead to peroxide formation, and, in some cases, to undissolved alcohol or amine. U.S. Pat. No. 4,547,858 discloses a process of reacting the above propionate with pentaery-thritol in the presence of a solvent and water, whereby the solvent is distilled off prior to the neutralization of the reaction mixture.
In another process disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,700, a 15-50 mol % excess of the propionate is used in place of the inert solvent to assist in the removal of the methanol. While the yield with this process is good, the reaction temperature and pressure are quite severe, e.g. 200.degree. C. at 7 mbar.
To obtain high conversion yield, it is necessary to run such reactions at higher temperatures, i.e. about 180.degree. C. or more, which results in a product having significant discoloration, or to run such reactions for long reaction times, or both. When lower temperatures and times are used, the conversion is reduced. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to integrated circuits and more particularly to high power, voltage isolated integrated circuits having IGFET and bipolar transistors therein.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Insulated gate field effect transistors (IGFET), and especially metal oxide field effect transistors (MOS) are very desirable elements in integrated circuits because of their low power dissipation and relatively simple fabrication. However, the low transconductance and limited current capacity of MOS devices preclude their use in many applications. Addition of bipolar transistors in junction isolated circuits with IGFETs have been used to decrease the switching time and as protective devices. The junction isolated integrated circuits of the prior art, including IFGETs and bipolar transistors, do not provide devices with high breakdown voltages, i.e., breakdown voltages greater than 30 volts. Similarly, the process of fabrication in these prior art isolated integrated circuits have generally been quite complex and expensive. Thus there exists a need for a junction isolated integrated circuit having IGFETs and bipolar transistors with high breakdown voltages and which may be fabricated using a minimum number of processing steps. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates in general to enterprise-wide data management and in particular to a service-oriented architecture adapted to handle media assets, services and other media-related applications.
A “media asset” as used herein refers generally to any form of media content, including video, audio, still images and the like. Media assets can exist in digital (e.g., MPEG-4 or raw video) and/or analog (e.g., film) forms. Organizations that create and distribute media content typically generate numerous media assets that must be managed. For instance, the organization needs to track assets in various forms and formats, generally distributed across a range of storage locations and systems. The organization also needs to regulate access to the various assets so that people or business units within the organization that need an asset (or information about an asset) can obtain what they need while unauthorized uses are prohibited.
In an effort to meet these needs, numerous computer-based media management services and systems have been developed. These services and systems use a variety of protocols and interfaces to support asset management functions such as creation, distribution, updating, storage and retrieval of media assets. The protocols and interfaces vary greatly depending, e.g., on the type of asset being managed and the particular needs of a business unit or organization that implements a given service or system. Allowing business units to select or develop their own media services and systems provides tremendous flexibility to an organization, as each business unit can adopt a solution that meets its particular requirements.
Integrating these solutions across disparate business units, however, has proven difficult. Often, the various services and systems are proprietary and cannot be easily modified to intercommunicate with other vendors' products. Different services and systems may also support different and potentially incompatible protocols for performing asset management functions such as locating and/or transferring assets.
One solution that has been tried is to create point-to-point connections between pairs of media asset management services or systems on an as-needed basis. For instance, when two business units determine that they would benefit from sharing access to media assets and/or metadata about their respective media assets, these business units can contract with a developer to create an interface that will enable the two services or systems to communicate. Creation of custom interfaces is generally a slow process, as the developer must design and test the interface for the specific services or systems being connected; six-month set-up cycles are typical. Such interfaces are also fragile, in that modifications to either service or system may break the communication path until such time as modifications to the interface are made. In some cases, business requirements may change so rapidly that the developers of point-to-point interfaces simply cannot keep up.
Further, creating and maintaining a point-to-point connection can be a major expense. The expense multiplies as the number of services and systems to be integrated increases, making the point-to-point solution cost prohibitive for large organizations. Thus, point-to-point solutions are not scalable to large media enterprises with many business units and disparate media services and systems.
Another solution is to create a monolithic structure that supports intercommunication between a number of “preferred” media asset management services or systems. As long as every business unit in the organization is amenable to using one of the preferred services and systems, this solution is workable. However, as with the point-to-point approach, the cost of implementing this approach scales with the number of different services or systems on the “preferred” list. Thus, as a practical matter, it is usually necessary to limit the number of preferred systems. Business units may then face a difficult choice between a system that meets their needs but is not a preferred system and a preferred system that is a poor fit to their needs.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a more flexible, scalable solution to the problems of creating, distributing, updating, storing and retrieving media assets across a large organization. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In the practice of keyless inking for lithographic printing whereby ink is metered into the printed system by means of a metering roller and a cooperating scraping blade, Fadner in U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,242, Fadner and Hycner in U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,127 and Fadner in U.S. Pat. No. 4,603,634 have disclosed advantageous method and means wherein the surface of an ink metering roller will possess the dual property of being both hydrophobic and oleophilic, that is water-repelling and oil attracting. This dual property can be present whether the lithographic ink metering roller surface is formed with ink retaining dimensioned cells or is formed with a surface possessing irregularly spaced cavities capable of retaining ink. In practicing keyless inking the presence of oleophilic and hydrophobic properties at the surface of the ink metering roller is vital, since lithography requires the presence of water in the films of ink being used. The presence of hydrophilic, or water attracting regions on the ink metering roller surface will allow water to displace or debond ink from those regions, thereby disrupting the roller's ink carrying and ink metering capabilities.
The above-named Fadner, et al, prior art references also teach that even when consistent ink metering is assured by providing a metering roller surface that is both hydrophobic and oleophilic, the water contents of the ink films on the inking rollers may vary across the press width, depending upon the relative amounts of ink and water consumed in satisfying the format being printed. To accomplish uniform ink availability across the press during a printing run, it is necessary to assure that a constant ink composition is continuously available to all portions of the printing plate. Unless constant ink composition is available across the press width, the water content tends to increase in regions of low print density and undesirable print quality occurs. Means for obtaining press wide uniformity of ink composition are disclosed in the Fadner, et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,055.
When hydrophilic regions are purposefully included in either a random or in geometrically uniform manner, such as the land areas of the celled metering roller disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,310 by Sato and Harada or as in the non-celled or smooth-surfaced metering roller disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,287,827 by Warner, it might be reasoned that predictability of ink metering will be achieved because any water interference due to debonding of ink from the hydrophilic regions would be in accord with the pattern selected when forming the hydrophilic regions. However, the through-puts of water and ink across the press width and therefore the relative amounts of each required, are determined by the image and non-image format on the printing plate being used at any given time. Printing formats are not uniform generally and are rarely the same from press-run to press-run. Consequently, the extent of ink debonding by water when operating an apparatus utilizing the oleophilic and hydrophilic technology will depend upon the instantaneous amounts of water present in the ink at various locations on the metering roller. These locations correspond in turn to the various cross-press ink and water amounts required to print the format on the printing plate. The higher the water content in the ink at a hydrophilic/region, the greater will be the propensity for loss of ink carrying capability because of debonding of ink in the corresponding localized region. The result is variable ink input from press-run to press-run as the printed format is changed, with concomitant printed regions of unexpectedly low or unexpectedly high optical density.
Hard ceramic materials, such as chromium and aluminum oxides and tungsten carbide are naturally high energy materials and correspondingly tend to be hydrophilic in the presence of water and tend to be oleophilic in the presence only of oily materials. Metering rollers manufactured using these materials, while often used successfully in conjunction with either water based inks or with oil based inks in letterpress printing, fail to deliver consistent quantities of ink during lithographic printing utilizing oil-based inks having water present. The extent of ink delivery inconsistency is determined by whether water present in the ink has displaced or debonded ink from the roller's ceramic surface. As previously noted, the extent of debonding depends upon the water content of the ink at any selected cross-press location, which water content in turn depends upon the format being printed.
The previously referred to Fadner U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,242 discloses one means to use the advantageously hard and wear-resistant ceramic property to obtain reasonably long lithographic ink metering roller lifetimes. Specifically, ceramic powder, and in particular alumina, is flame sprayed in a purposefully thin layer of less than about 2 mils thickness over a copper-plated metering roller base. Copper is naturally hydrophobic and oleophilic. This procedure results in a hard, wear-resistant surface that has sufficient inter-particle porosity relative to ink and water interactions that the surface acts as if it was copper, therefore retaining ink in preference to water, yet simultaneously acts as a wear-resistant ceramic material relative to scraping blade wearing action. Although commercially viable, this type of roll has a lifetime on a printing press of about 20 to 30 million printing impressions, because the ceramic layer must be kept relatively thin to assure that the oleophilic property of the underlying copper is not negated by the hydrophilic properties exhibited by the ceramic layer. Further, the ceramic layer, which is naturally hydrophilic, may become increasing hydrophilic due to accumulation of contaminants associated with use and cleaning of printing presses.
A primary object of this invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive ink metering roller that ensures long operational lifetimes in keyless lithographic printing press systems where the presence of water in the ink is involved.
An additional object of this invention is to provide a process for producing an ink metering roll having a microporous wear-resistant surface layer that is infused with a substantially organic material that reacts with the ceramic to form a reaction product surface layer that is oleophilic and hydrophobic.
Still another object of this invention is to provide means whereby hard and wear-resistant but naturally hydrophilic ceramic materials can be rendered hydrophobic and oleophilic without detracting from their naturally excellent wear-resistant quality.
A further object of this invention is to provide an improved inking roller having a composite structure that combines high degrees of wear resistance with a preferential attraction for and retention of oil inks in the presence of water.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will be in part obvious and in part explained by reference to the accompanying specification and drawing in which: | {
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Energy conversion, utilization and access underlie many of the great challenges of our time, including those associated with sustainability, environmental quality, security, and poverty. New applications of emerging technologies are required to respond to these challenges. Biotechnology, one of the most powerful of the emerging technologies, can give rise to important new energy conversion processes. Plant biomass and derivatives thereof are a resource for the biological conversion of energy to forms useful to humanity.
Among forms of plant biomass, lignocellulosic biomass (“biomass”) is particularly well-suited for energy applications because of its large-scale availability, low cost, and environmentally benign production. In particular, many energy production and utilization cycles based on cellulosic biomass have near-zero greenhouse gas emissions on a life-cycle basis. The primary obstacle impeding the more widespread production of energy from biomass feedstocks is the general absence of low-cost technology for overcoming the recalcitrance of biomass materials to conversion into useful products. Lignocellulosic biomass contains carbohydrate fractions (e.g., cellulose and hemicellulose) including pentose sugars (e.g., xylose and arabinose) that can be converted into ethanol or other products such as lactic acid and acetic acid. In order to convert the lignocellulose fractions, the cellulose, hemicellulose, and pentoses must ultimately be converted into monosaccharides; it is this conversion step that has historically been problematic.
Biomass processing schemes involving enzymatic or microbial hydrolysis commonly involve four biologically mediated transformations: (1) the production of saccharolytic enzymes (cellulases and hemicellulases); (2) the hydrolysis of carbohydrate components present in pretreated biomass to sugars; (3) the fermentation of hexose sugars (e.g., glucose, mannose, and galactose); and (4) the fermentation of pentose sugars (e.g., xylose and arabinose). These four transformations occur in a single step in a process configuration called consolidated bioprocessing (CBP), which is distinguished from other less highly integrated configurations in that it does not involve a dedicated process step for cellulase and/or hemicellulase production.
CBP offers the potential for lower cost and higher efficiency than processes featuring dedicated cellulase production. The benefits result in part from avoided capital costs, substrate and other raw materials, and utilities associated with cellulase production. In addition, several factors support the realization of higher rates of hydrolysis, and hence reduced reactor volume and capital investment using CBP, including enzyme-microbe synergy and the use of thermophilic organisms and/or complexed cellulase systems. Moreover, cellulose-adherent cellulolytic microorganisms are likely to compete successfully for products of cellulose hydrolysis with non-adhered microbes, e.g., contaminants. Successful competition of desirable microbes increases the stability of industrial processes based on microbial cellulose utilization. Progress in developing CBP-enabling microorganisms is being made through two strategies: engineering naturally occurring cellulolytic microorganisms to improve product-related properties, such as yield and titer; and engineering non-cellulolytic organisms that exhibit high product yields and titers to express a heterologous cellulase and hemicellulase system enabling cellulose and hemicellulose utilization.
One way to meet the demand for ethanol production is to convert sugars found in biomass, i.e., materials such as agricultural wastes, corn hulls, corncobs, cellulosic materials, and the like to produce ethanol. Efficient biomass conversion in large-scale industrial applications requires a microorganism that is able to tolerate high concentrations of sugar and ethanol, and which is able to ferment more than one sugar simultaneously.
Pentoses appear in great abundance in nature. As much as 40% of a lignocellulosic material can be comprised of pentoses (Ladisch et al., “Process considerations in the enzymatic hydrolysis of biomass.” Enz. Microb. Technol., 5: 82-100. (1983)). By fermentation, pentoses can be converted to ethanol which can be used as a liquid fuel or a chemical feedstock. Although many microorganisms have the ability to ferment simple hexose sugars, the pentose sugars, xylose and arabinose, are among the most difficult sugars in biomass to metabolize. Some microorganisms can ferment pentoses to ethanol and other co-products, and microorganisms with improved ethanol production from pentose sugars have been genetically engineered. However, many of these studies have been conducted in bacteria that are sensitive to low pH and high concentrations of ethanol. Therefore, their use in fermentations is associated with undesired co-product formation, and the level of ethanol they are capable of producing remains low.
Bakers' yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is the preferred microorganism for the production of ethanol (Hahn-Hägerdal, B., et al., Adv. Biochem. Eng. Biotechnol. 73, 53-84 (2001)). Attributes in favor of this microbe are (i) high productivity at close to theoretical yields (0.51 g ethanol produced/g glucose used), (ii) high osmo- and ethanol tolerance, (iii) natural robustness in industrial processes, also (iv) being generally regarded as safe (GRAS) due to its long association with wine and bread making, and beer brewing. Furthermore, S. cerevisiae exhibits tolerance to inhibitors commonly found in hydrolysates resulting from biomass pretreatment. However, S. cerevisiae does not naturally break down components of cellulose, nor does it efficiently use pentose sugars.
Progress has been made in engineering S. cerevisiae to express heterologous enzymes that enable it to break down cellulose. (See e.g. U.S. application Ser. No. 13/130,549 and PCT/US2011/039192, incorporated herein by reference in their entirety). However, utilization of arabinose for industrial ethanologenic fermentation has not been demonstrated in yeast. In addition, there is a need for an ethanologenic organism capable of efficiently utilizing arabinose and xylose that is also capable of breaking down cellulose. The highest products yields are obtained when all the cellulose and hemicellulose are broken down into monomer sugars and fermented into the desired product.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an ethanologenic organism capable of fermenting pentose sugars in quantities sufficient for commercial applicability. There is also a need to combine efficient pentose utilization with cellulose digestion in order to maximize the efficiency of cellulosic feedstock use and to generate the highest yield of product. | {
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This invention relates in general to vehicle transmissions and in particular to a method and apparatus for automatically controlling the operation of a clutch for use with an automated mechanical transmission in a vehicle drive train assembly.
In virtually all land vehicles in use today, a transmission is provided in a drive train between a source of rotational power, such as an internal combustion or diesel engine, and the driven axle and wheels of the vehicle. A typical transmission includes a case containing an input shaft, an output shaft, and a plurality of meshing gears. Means are provided for connecting selected ones of the meshing gears between the input shaft and the output shaft to provide a desired speed reduction gear ratio therebetween. The meshing gears contained within the transmission case are of varying size so as to provide a plurality of such gear ratios. By appropriately shifting among these various gear ratios, acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle can be accomplished in a smooth and efficient manner.
To facilitate the operation of the transmission, it is well known to provide a clutch between the vehicle engine and the transmission. When the clutch is engaged, the transmission is driven by the vehicle engine to operate the vehicle at a selected gear ratio. To shift the transmission from a first gear ratio to a second gear ratio, the clutch is initially disengaged such that power is not transmitted from the vehicle engine to the transmission. This allows the gear shifting operation to occur within the transmission under a non-torque loading condition to prevent undesirable clashing of the meshing gear teeth. Thereafter, the clutch is re-engaged such that power is transmitted from the vehicle engine to the transmission to operate the vehicle at the second gear ratio.
A typical structure for a vehicle clutch includes a cover which is connected to a flywheel secured to the end of the output shaft of the vehicle engine for rotation therewith. A pressure plate is disposed within the clutch between the cover and the flywheel. The pressure plate is connected for rotation with the flywheel and the cover, but is permitted to move axially relative thereto. Thus, the flywheel, the cover, and the pressure plate are all constantly rotatably driven by the vehicle engine. Between the flywheel and the pressure plate, a driven disc assembly is disposed. The driven disc assembly is supported on the input shaft of the transmission for rotation therewith, but is permitted to move axially relative thereto. To engage the clutch, the pressure plate is moved axially toward the flywheel to an engaged position, wherein the driven disc assembly is frictionally engaged between the flywheel and the pressure plate. As a result, the driven disc assembly (and the input shaft of the transmission upon which it is supported) are driven to rotate with the flywheel, the cover, and the pressure plate. To disengage the clutch, the pressure plate is moved axially away from the flywheel to a disengaged position. When the pressure plate is moved axially to this disengaged position, the driven disc assembly is not frictionally engaged between the flywheel and the pressure plate. As a result, the driven disc assembly (and the input shaft of the transmission upon which it is supported) are not driven to rotate with the flywheel, the cover, and the pressure plate.
To effect such axial movement of the pressure plate between the engaged and disengaged positions, most vehicle clutches are provided with a release assembly including a generally hollow cylindrical release sleeve which is disposed about the output shaft of the clutch. The forward end of the release sleeve extends within the clutch and is connected through a plurality of levers or other mechanical mechanism to the pressure plate. In this manner, axial movement of the release sleeve causes corresponding axial movement of the pressure plate between the engaged and disengaged positions. Usually, one or more engagement springs are provided within the clutch to urge the pressure plate toward the engaged position. The engagement springs typically react between the release sleeve and the cover to normally maintain the clutch in the engaged condition. The rearward end of the release sleeve extends outwardly from the clutch through a central opening formed through the cover. Because the release sleeve is connected to the cover and the pressure plate of the clutch, it is also constantly driven to rotate whenever the vehicle engine is operating. Thus, an annular release bearing is usually mounted on the rearward end of the release sleeve. The release bearing is axially fixed on the release sleeve and includes an inner race which rotates with release sleeve, an outer race which is restrained from rotation, and a plurality of bearings disposed between the inner race and the outer race to accommodate such relative rotation. The non-rotating outer race of the release bearing is typically engaged by an actuating mechanism for moving the release sleeve (and, therefore, the pressure plate) between the engaged and disengaged positions to operate the clutch.
In a conventional mechanical transmission, both the operation of the clutch and the gear shifting operation in the transmission are performed manually by an operator of the vehicle. For example, the clutch can be disengaged by depressing a clutch pedal located in the driver compartment of the vehicle. The clutch pedal is connected through a mechanical linkage to the outer race of the release bearing of the clutch such that when the clutch pedal is depressed, the pressure plate of the clutch is moved from the engaged position to the disengaged position. When the clutch pedal is released, the engagement springs provided within the clutch return the pressure plate from the disengaged position to the engaged position. Similarly, the gear shifting operation in the transmission can be performed when the clutch is disengaged by manually moving a shift lever which extends from the transmission into the driver compartment of the vehicle. Manually operated clutch/transmission assemblies of this general type are well known in the art and are relatively simple, inexpensive, and lightweight in structure and operation. Because of this, the majority of medium and heavy duty truck clutch/transmission assemblies in common use today are manually operated.
More recently, however, in order to improve the convenience of use of manually operated clutch/transmission assemblies, various structures have been proposed for partially or fully automating the shifting of an otherwise manually operated transmission. In a partially or fully automated manual transmission, the driver-manipulated clutch pedal may be replaced by an automatic clutch actuator, such as a hydraulic or pneumatic actuator. The operation of the automatic clutch actuator can be controlled by an electronic controller or other control mechanism to selectively engage and disengage the clutch without manual effort by the driver. Similarly, the driver-manipulated shift lever may also be replaced by an automatic transmission actuator, such as a hydraulic or pneumatic actuator which is controlled by an electronic controller or other control mechanism to select and engage desired gear ratios for use.
In both manually operated transmissions and in partially or fully automated manual transmissions, one of the most difficult operations to perform is to initially launch the vehicle from at or near a stand-still. This is because the force required to overcome the inertia of the vehicle is the greatest when attempting to initially accelerate the vehicle from at or near zero velocity. This relatively large amount of inertial force results in a relatively large load being placed on the vehicle engine when the clutch is engaged during a vehicle launch. Thus, the movement of the release bearing from the disengaged position to the engaged position must be carefully controlled during the initial launch of the vehicle to prevent the engine from stalling and to avoid undesirable sudden jerking movement of the vehicle. Although the same considerations are generally applicable when re-engaging the clutch during subsequent shifting operations in the higher gear ratios of the transmissions, the control of the movement of the release bearing from the disengaged position to the engaged position has been found to be less critical when shifting among such higher gear ratios because a much lesser force is required to overcome the inertia of the vehicle when the vehicle is already moving.
To address these considerations, the total movement of the release bearing from the disengaged position to the engaged position can be divided into three ranges of movement. The first range of movement is from the disengaged position to a first intermediate position (referred to as the transition point). The transition point is selected to be relatively near, but spaced apart from, the position of the release bearing at which the driven disc assembly of the clutch is initially engaged by the flywheel and the pressure plate. Thus, during this first range of movement (referred to as the transition movement), the clutch is completely disengaged, and no torque is transmitted through the clutch to the transmission. The second range of movement is from the transition point to a second intermediate position (referred to as the kiss point). The kiss point is the position of the release bearing at which the driven disc assembly is initially engaged by the flywheel and the pressure plate. Thus, during this second range of movement (referred to as the approach movement) from the transition point to the kiss point, the clutch is disengaged until the release bearing reaches the kiss point, at which point the first measurable amount of torque is transmitted through the clutch to the transmission. The third range of movement of the release bearing is from the kiss point to the engaged position. The engaged position is the position of the release bearing at which the driven disc assembly is completely engaged by the flywheel and the pressure plate. Thus, during this third range of movement (referred to as the engagement movement), the clutch is gradually engaged so as to increase the amount of torque which is transmitted through the clutch to the transmission from the first measurable amount at the kiss point to the full capacity of the clutch at the engaged position.
As mentioned above, during the engagement movement of the release bearing from the kiss point to the engaged position, the clutch is gradually engaged so as to increase the amount of torque which is transmitted through the clutch to the transmission from the first measurable amount at the kiss point to the full capacity of the clutch at the engaged position. Thus, although it is desirable that this engagement movement of the release bearing be accomplished as quickly as possible, it is still important to engage the clutch smoothly to prevent the engine from stalling and to avoid undesirable sudden jerking movement of the vehicle. In the past, the rate of engagement movement of the release bearing (referred to as the engagement rate) has been determined as a function of the difference between the rotational speeds of the input member and the output member of the clutch. However, it has been found that such a comparison of input and output member rotational speeds may not be well suited for all of the varying conditions under which the vehicle may be operated. For example, it is desirable to insure that the actual load on the vehicle engine does not drop below a predetermined level which might result in a stall condition. Thus, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus and method for controlling the operation of a clutch in a partially or fully automated mechanical transmission which is responsive to the actual load on the vehicle engine for varying the engagement rate of release bearing during re-engagement of the clutch. | {
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In order to effectively fire a projectile over long distances, a bipod is used to ensure stability of the firearm. Traditional or conventional bipods for firearms, however, are based on designs that are focused on stability, but ignore speed or efficiency in configuring the bipod for firing the projectile or for collapsing the bipod during movement (which involves carrying the firearm). A number of these traditional or conventional bipods, in fact, require two hands to adjust or (re)configure the bipods to set up a shot or to set the firearm (with the bipod) for movement. Such traditional or conventional bipods are thus ill-suited for situations or activities that require speed and mobility (such as during firearm competitions or during live engagement with an enemy force, etc.).
Recent developments in the design of bipods have improved the efficiency (e.g., in terms of single-handed use) in configuring the bipod for use or for mobility, but such bipods still require time to configure the bipod, and in some cases may be difficult to configure while the user is in a prone position with the butt stock of the firearm pressed against his or her shoulder.
Accordingly, there is a need for a bipod design for a firearm that further improves efficiency and ease of (re)configuration of the bipod while providing stable support for the firearm and limiting excessive weight of the bipod. | {
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Most devices today, which may be integrated circuit (IC) devices or embedded core devices within an IC, include an IEEE standard 1149.1 (JTAG) Test Access Port (TAP) architecture to access target circuits within the devices. The TAP includes an interface which comprises a test data input (TDI) signal, a test clock (TCK) signal, a test mode select (TMS) signal, a test data output (TDO) signal and an optional test reset signal. Devices also use other IEEE standards that are based on the IEEE 1149.1 TAP such as but not limited to IEEE 1149.4, IEEE 1149.6, IEEE 1149.7, IEEE P1149.8.1, IEEE 1532, and IEEE P1687. The TAP is used to control various activities in the device such as but not limited too, device to device boundary scan testing, device testing, device debugging, and device programming.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example implementation of a TAP within a device 102. The TAP includes a TAP state machine (TSM) 104, an instruction register 106, two or more data registers 108, a data register control (DRC) router, multiplexers 112 and 114, a falling TCK edge operated TDO register (R) 116, and TDO buffer 118. The TSM operates in response to the TCK and TMS input signals to; (1) place the TAP is a Test Logic Reset state, (2) place the TAP in a Run Test/Idle state, (3) perform a scan operation to the instruction register from TDI to TDO, or (4) to perform scan operation to a selected data register from TDI to TDO.
During instruction scan operations, the TSM outputs a bus of instruction register control (IRC) signals to the instruction register, a select (SEL) signal to multiplexer 114, and an enable (ENA) signal to TDO buffer 118. In response to an instruction scan operation, the instruction register inputs data from TDI and outputs data to TDO via multiplexer 114, R 116, and TDO buffer 118.
During data scan operations, the TSM outputs a bus of data register control (DRC) signals 120 to a selected data register via DRC router 110, the SEL signal to multiplexer 114, the ENA signal to TDO buffer 118. In response to a data scan operation, the selected data register inputs data from TDI and outputs data to TDO via multiplexer 112 and multiplexer 114, R 116, and TDO buffer 118.
In the FIG. 1 example, a data register is selected for access by data register enable (DRE) signals output from the instruction register. The DRE signals are set by the instruction loaded into the instruction register. The DRE signals are input to the DRC router to couple the DRC signal outputs 120 from the TSM to the DRC signal inputs 122,124 of the selected data register. The DRE signals also control multiplexer 112 to couple the output of the selected data register to the TDO signal via multiplexer 114, R 116 and TDO buffer 118.
FIG. 2 illustrates the state diagram of the TSM 104 which is well known in the art. The state diagram has a Test Logic Reset state 202, Run Test/Idle state 204, data register scanning states 206 (Capture-DR, Shift-DR, Exit1-DR, Pause-DR, Exit2-DR and Update-DR) and instruction register scanning states 208 (Capture-IR, Shift-IR, Exit1-IR, Pause-IR, Exit2-IR and Update-IR). State transitions occur in response to the TMS signal on the rising edge of the TCK signal. The data scanning states are entered via the Select-DR state 210 and the instruction scanning states are entered via the Select-IR state 212.
In the Capture-DR state the selected data register captures data from its parallel inputs. In the Shift-DR state the selected data register shifts data from TDI to TDO. In the Pause-DR state the selected data register pauses shifting. In the Update-DR state the selected data register updates data to its parallel outputs.
In the Capture-IR state the instruction register captures data from its parallel inputs. In the Shift-IR state the instruction register shifts data from TDI to TDO. In the Pause-IR state the instruction register pauses shifting. In the Update-IR state the instruction register updates data to its parallel outputs.
FIG. 3 illustrates two known types of DRC signal output groups 302, 304 of the TSM DRC signal bus 120. DRC output group 302, comprising ClockDR, ShiftDR and UpdateDR signals, is used to control scan access to asynchronous data registers 108. In this disclosure asynchronous data registers are registers comprising scan cells that do not have the ability to hold their present state when no capture, shift or update operations are taking place. Thus they must be timed by a gated clock input (i.e. ClockDR). The ClockDR signal is a gated TCK clock signal that is active in the Capture-DR and Shift-DR TSM states of FIG. 2. The ShiftDR signal controls the selected data register to capture data in the Capture-DR state and shift data in the Shift-DR state. The UpdateDR signal is a gated clock output that is active in the Update-DR state to update data from the parallel outputs of the selected data register.
DRC output group 304, comprising a Capture signal, a Shift signal and an Update signal, is used to control scan access to synchronous data registers 108. In this disclosure synchronous data registers are registers comprising scan cells that do have the ability to hold their present state when no capture, shift or update operations are taking place. Thus they can be timed by a free running clock (i.e. TCK). The Capture signal is set when the TSM is in the Capture-DR state of FIG. 2 to cause the data register to capture data from its parallel inputs on the rising edge of the free running TCK signal. The Shift signal is set when the TSM is in the Shift-DR state of FIG. 2 to cause the data register to shift data on the rising edge of the free running TCK signal. The Update signal is set when the TSM is in the Update-DR state of FIG. 2 to cause the data register to update data to its parallel outputs on the falling edge of the free running TCK signal.
While not shown, the IRC signals from TSM 104 may use similar groups of signals for performing capture, shift and update operations on asynchronous or synchronous types of instruction registers 106.
FIG. 4 illustrates the DRC router 110 in more detail. In this example, the DRC router 110 is used to couple the DRC bus signals 120 of TSM 104 to four types of data registers, (1) an asynchronous capture, shift and update (CSU) data register 410, (2) an asynchronous capture and shift (CS) data register 412, (3) a synchronous capture, shift and update (CSU) data register 414 and (4) a synchronous capture and shift (CS) data register 416. As will be shown in example FIGS. 9 and 10, the CSU data registers 410 and 414 include an update register that is coupled to the parallel outputs of the shift register of the data register. As will be shown in example FIGS. 13 and 14, the CS data registers 412 and 416 only include a shift register with parallel outputs.
When scan access to data register 410 is required, a first instruction is scanned into the instruction register 106 to output DRE control signals that enable routing circuit 402 to; (1) couple the ClockDR signal of bus 120 to the ClockDR signal input of data register 410, (2) couple the ShiftDR signal of bus 120 to the ShiftDR signal input of data register 410, (3) couple the UpdateDR signal of bus 120 to the UpdateDR signal input of data register 410
When scan access to data register 412 is required, a second instruction is scanned into the instruction register 106 to output DRE control signals that enable routing circuit 404 to; (1) couple the ClockDR signal of bus 120 to the ClockDR signal input of data register 412 and (2) couple the ShiftDR signal of bus 120 to the ShiftDR signal input of data register 412.
When scan access to data register 414 is required, a third instruction is scanned into the instruction register 106 to output DRE control signals that enable routing circuit 406 to; (1) couple the Capture signal of bus 120 to the Capture signal input of data register 414, (2) couple the Shift signal of bus 120 to the Shift signal input of data register 414, (3) couple the Update signal of bus 120 to the Update signal input of data register 414. Data register 414 is clocked by the free running TCK signal.
When scan access to data register 416 is required, a fourth instruction is scanned into the instruction register 106 to output DRE control signals that enable routing circuit 408 to; (1) couple the Capture signal of bus 120 to the Capture signal input of data register 416 and (2) couple the Shift signal of bus 120 to the Shift signal input of data register 416. Data register 416 is clocked by the free running TCK signal.
Routing circuits 402-408 that are not enabled by the current instruction in the instruction register will decouple their outputs from the DRC bus signals 120 and set their outputs to static desired states.
FIG. 5 illustrates a simplified view of a TAP within a device 502 that has a data register 108 that has been enabled for scan access by the DRE signals from instruction register (IR) 106. The simplified view of FIG. 5 and other Figures to follow does not show multiplexers 112 and 114, R 116, or TDO buffer 118 between the data register output and TDO, but they are assumed to exist. The data register 108 can be any type of data register or similar type circuit including but not limited too, an asynchronous CSU data register 410, an asynchronous CS data register, a synchronous CSU data register 414, a synchronous CS data register 416 or a test compression architecture having a compressed data input coupled to TDI and a compressed data output coupled to TDO.
FIG. 6 illustrates the scan access timing of accessing a CSU type data register 108. As seen, the scan access timing is controlled by the TSM 104 repeatedly transitioning through the Select-DR, Capture-DR, Shift-DR, Exit1-DR and Update-DR states of FIG. 2. The data register performs a data Capture operation (OP) on the rising edge of the TCK when the TSM is in the Capture-DR state. The data register performs a data Shift operation (OP) on the rising edge of the TCK when the TSM is in the Shift-DR state. The data register performs a data Update operation (OP) on the falling edge of the TCK when the TSM is in the Update-DR state.
FIG. 7 illustrates the scan access timing of accessing a CS type data register 108. As seen, the scan access timing is controlled by the TSM 104 repeatedly transitioning through the Select-DR, Capture-DR, Shift-DR, Exit1-DR and Update-DR states of FIG. 2. The data register performs a data Capture operation on the rising edge of the TCK when the TSM is in the Capture-DR state. The data register performs a data Shift operation on the rising edge of the TCK when the TSM is in the Shift-DR state. The data register does not perform a data Update operation on the falling edge of the TCK when the TSM is in the Update-DR state since it has no update register.
FIG. 8A is provided to illustrate that the data register 108 of FIG. 5 could be a test data register 802 coupled to circuitry to be tested, such as but not limited too combination logic and memories.
FIG. 8B is provided to illustrate that the data register 108 of FIG. 5 could be a debug data register 804 coupled to circuitry to be debugged, such as but not limited too microcontrollers and DSPs.
FIG. 8C is provided to illustrate that the data register 108 of FIG. 5 could be a programming data register 806 coupled to circuitry to be programmed, such as but not limited too FPGAs, CPLDs and memories (Flash/PROM) as described in IEEE standard 1532.
FIG. 8D is provided to illustrate that the data register 108 of FIG. 5 could be a Instrumentation data register 808 coupled to instrumentation circuitry embedded within a device, such as but not limited too instrumentation circuitry described in IEEE standard P1687.
FIG. 8E is provided to illustrate that the data register 108 of FIG. 5 could be an IC boundary register 810 coupled to the IC interconnects for the purpose of testing the IC interconnects as described in IEEE standards, 1149.1, 1149.4, 1149.6, and P1149.8.1 and shown in FIG. 8I.
FIG. 8F is provided to illustrate that the data register 108 of FIG. 5 could be an IC boundary register 812 of an IC coupled to the IC system logic for the purpose of testing the system logic as described in IEEE standard 1149.1 and shown in FIG. 8J.
FIG. 8G is provided to illustrate that the data register 108 of FIG. 5 could be a core wrapper boundary register 814 coupled to the core interconnects for the purpose of testing the core interconnects as described in IEEE standard 1500 and shown in FIG. 8I.
FIG. 8H is provided to illustrate that the data register 108 of FIG. 5 could be a core wrapper boundary register 816 coupled to the core system logic for the purpose of testing the system logic as described in IEEE standard 1500 and shown in FIG. 8J.
FIG. 8I illustrates how the IC boundary register 810 could be used to test the interconnects between two ICs according to IEEE 1149.1 and how the core wrapper boundary register 814 could be used to test the interconnects between two cores in an IC according to IEEE 1500.
FIG. 8J illustrates how the IC boundary registers 814 could be used to test the system logic of an IC according to IEEE 1149.1 and how the core wrapper boundary register 816 could be used to test the system logic of a core in an IC according to IEEE 1500.
FIG. 9 illustrates an example asynchronous CSU data register 902 coupled to TSM 104 via a routing circuit 906 located within DRC router 110 of FIG. 4. Data register 902 could be, but is not limited to being, the IEEE 1149.1 IC boundary register of FIGS. 8E and 8F or the IEEE 1500 core wrapper boundary register of FIG. 8G or 8H. When the routing circuit 906 is enabled by DRE inputs from the instruction register 106, the ClockDR, ShiftDR and UpdateDR signals from the TSM pass through the routing circuit to operate CSU scan cells 904 within data register 902.
FIG. 10 illustrates the CSU scan cell 904 which comprises a multiplexer 1002, a shift register FF 1004, an update register FF 1006 and optionally a multiplexer 1008. When the TSM is in the Capture-DR state of FIG. 2, multiplexer 1002 will be set by the ShiftDR signal to couple the scan cell's data input (DI) to FF 1004 to allow the DI to be captured into FF 1004 in response to a clock input on ClockDR. When the TSM is in the Shift-DR state of FIG. 2, multiplexer 1002 will be set by the ShiftDR signal to couple the TDI signal to FF 1004 to allow TDI data to be shifted into FF 1004 and TDO data to be shifted out of FF 1004 in response to clock inputs on ClockDR. When the TSM is in the Update-DR state of FIG. 2, FF 1006 will update (load) with the data output from FF 1004 in response to a clock input on UpdateDR and outputs the data on the scan cell's data output (DO). If the scan cell 904 does not include multiplexer 1008 the DO from update FF 1006 will pass directly to DO 1010. If the scan cell 904 includes multiplexer 1008 the DO from update FF 1006 will pass to DO 1012 via multiplexer 1008. When scan cell 904 includes the multiplexer 1008 it operates as an IEEE 1149.1 boundary scan cell which allows DO 1012 to be selectively driven by DI or by the output of update FF 1006 in response to a Mode signal input from the DRE bus. Including multiplexer 1008 supports boundary scan testing on the interconnects between devices as shown in FIG. 8I
FIG. 11 illustrates routing circuit 906 which comprises a gating circuit 1102, a gating circuitry 1104, a gating circuitry 1106 and optionally a clock multiplexer 1108 as shown in FIG. 12. When routing circuit 906 is enable by DRE signal inputs, the ClockDR signal from TSM 104 is routed to the ClockDR input of data register 902, the ShiftDR signal from TSM 104 is routed to the ShiftDR input of data register 902, and the UpdateDR signal from TSM 104 is routed to the UpdateDR input of data register 902. When the routing circuit 906 is disabled by DRE signal inputs, the gating circuits 1102-1106 isolate the TSM ClockDR, ShiftDR and UpdateDR outputs from the data register ClockDR, ShiftDR and UpdateDR inputs and sets the ClockDR, ShiftDR and UpdateDR inputs to the data register to static desired states. If clock multiplexer 1108 is included in the routing circuit 906, it will be controlled by a DRE input to select the ClockDR input to the data register 902 to be driven by either the ClockDR output of gating circuit 1102 during test mode or by a functional clock (FC) signal during non-test mode, i.e. during functional device operation mode.
The Gating circuits of FIG. 11 and following Figures of this disclosure can be any type of gating circuitry required to control the data register inputs to the appropriate signal levels during test and during functional operation modes.
FIG. 13 illustrates an example asynchronous CS data register 1302 coupled to TSM 104 via a routing circuit 1306 located within DRC router 110 of FIG. 4. When the routing circuit 1306 is enabled by DRE inputs from the instruction register 106, the ClockDR and ShiftDR signals from the TSM pass through the routing circuit to operate CS scan cells 1304 within data register 1302. Data register 1302 could be, but is not limited to being, the test data register of FIG. 8A for testing circuitry coupled to the DI input and DO output of the scan cells 1304. The FF 1404 of the scan cells 1304 is typically shared between functional and test operations.
FIG. 14 illustrates the CS scan cell 1304 which comprises a multiplexer 1402 and shift register FF 1404. When the TSM is in the Capture-DR state of FIG. 2, multiplexer 1402 will be set by the ShiftDR signal to couple the scan cell's data input (DI) to FF 1404 to allow the DI to be captured into FF 1404 in response to a clock input on ClockDR. When the TSM is in the Shift-DR state of FIG. 2, multiplexer 1402 will be set by the ShiftDR signal to couple the TDI signal to FF 1404 to allow TDI data to be shifted into FF 1404 and TDO data to be shifted out of FF 1404 in response to clock inputs on ClockDR. As seen the data output from FF 1404 is output on the scan cell's DO and TDO output.
FIG. 15 illustrates routing circuit 1306 which comprises a gating circuit 1502, a gating circuitry 1504 and optionally the previously describe clock multiplexer 1108 of FIG. 12. When routing circuit 1306 is enable by DRE signal inputs, the ClockDR signal from TSM 104 is routed to the ClockDR input of data register 1302 and the ShiftDR signal from TSM 104 is routed to the ShiftDR input of data register 1302. When the routing circuit 906 is disable by DRE signal inputs, the gating circuits 1502-1504 isolate the TSM ClockDR and ShiftDR outputs from the data register ClockDR and ShiftDR inputs and sets the ClockDR and ShiftDR inputs to the data register to static desired states. If clock multiplexer 1108 is included in the routing circuit 1306, it will be controlled by a DRE input to select the ClockDR input to the data register 902 to be driven by either the ClockDR output of gating circuit 1502 during test mode or by a FC during non-test mode.
FIG. 16 illustrates an example synchronous CSU data register 1602 coupled to TSM 104 via a routing circuit 1606 located within DRC router 110 of FIG. 4. Data register 1602 could be, but is not limited to being, the IEEE 1149.1 IC boundary register of FIGS. 8E and 8F or the IEEE 1500 core wrapper boundary register of FIGS. 8G and 8H. When the routing circuit 1606 is enable by DRE inputs from the instruction register 106, the Capture, Shift and Update signals from the TSM pass through the routing circuit to operate CSU scan cells 1604 within data register 1602.
FIG. 17 illustrates the CSU scan cell 1604 which comprises a multiplexer 1702, a shift register FF 1704, a multiplexer 1706, an update register FF 1708 and optionally a multiplexer 1710. When the TSM is in the Capture-DR state of FIG. 2, multiplexer 1702 will be set by the Capture and Shift signals to couple the scan cell's data input (DI) to FF 1704 to allow the DI to be captured into FF 1704 in response to the free running TCK signal. When the TSM is in the Shift-DR state of FIG. 2, multiplexer 1702 will be set by the Capture and Shift signals to couple the TDI signal to FF 1704 to allow TDI data to be shifted into FF 1704 and TDO data to be shifted out of FF 1704 in response to the free running TCK signal. When the TSM is not in either the Capture-DR or Shift-DR state, multiplexer 1702 couples the output of FF 1704 to the input of FF 1704 causing FF 1704 to hold its present state in response to TCK inputs. When the TSM is in the Update-DR state of FIG. 2, FF 1708 will update (load) with the data output from FF 1704 in response to the free running TCK input and output the data on the scan cell's data output (DO). If the scan cell 1604 does not include multiplexer 1710 the DO from update FF 1708 will pass directly to DO 1714. If the scan cell 1604 includes multiplexer 1710 the DO from update FF 1708 will pass to DO 1712 via multiplexer 1710. When scan cell 1604 includes the multiplexer 1710 it operates as an IEEE 1149.1 or IEEE 1500 boundary scan cell which allows DO 1712 to be selectively driven by DI or by the output of update FF 1708 in response to a Mode signal input from the DRE bus. Including multiplexer 1710 supports boundary scan testing on the interconnects between devices as shown in FIG. 8I
FIG. 18 illustrates routing circuit 1606 which comprises a gating circuit 1802, a gating circuitry 1804 and a gating circuitry 1806. When routing circuit 1606 is enable by DRE signal inputs, the Capture signal from TSM 104 is routed to the Capture input of data register 1602, the Shift signal from TSM 104 is routed to the Shift input of data register 1602, and the Update signal from TSM 104 is routed to the Update input of data register 1602. When the routing circuit 1602 is disable by DRE signal inputs, the gating circuits 1802-1806 isolate the TSM Capture, Shift and Update outputs from the data register Capture, Shift and Update inputs and sets the Capture, Shift and Update inputs to the data register to static desired states.
As seen in FIG. 16, a clock multiplexer 1608 as shown in FIG. 16A can be included in the TCK path to the scan cells of data register 1602. If included, the clock multiplexer can be controlled by a DRE input to select the TCK input to the scan cells to be driven by either the TCK signal during test mode or by a FC during non-test mode.
FIG. 19 illustrates an example synchronous CS data register 1902 coupled to TSM 104 via a routing circuit 1906 located within DRC router 110 of FIG. 4. When the routing circuit 1906 is enable by DRE inputs from the instruction register 106, the Capture and Shift signals from the TSM pass through the routing circuit to operate CS scan cells 1904 within data register 1902. Data register 1902 could be, but is not limited to being, the test data register of FIG. 8A for testing circuitry coupled to the DI input and DO output of the scan cells 1904.
FIG. 20 illustrates the CS scan cell 1904 which comprises a multiplexer 2002 and shift register FF 2004. When the TSM is in the Capture-DR state of FIG. 2, multiplexer 2002 will be set by the Capture and Shift signals to couple the scan cell's data input (DI) to FF 2004 to allow the DI to be captured into FF 2004 in response to the free running TCK signal. When the TSM is in the Shift-DR state of FIG. 2, multiplexer 2002 will be set by the Capture and Shift signals to couple the TDI signal to FF 2004 to allow TDI data to be shifted into FF 2004 and TDO data to be shifted out of FF 2004 in response to the free running TCK signal. When the TSM is not in either the Capture-DR or Shift-DR state, multiplexer 2002 couples the output of FF 2004 to the input of FF 2004 causing FF 2004 to hold its present state in response to TCK inputs. As seen the data output from FF 2004 is output on the scan cell's DO and TDO output.
FIG. 21 illustrates routing circuit 1906 which comprises a gating circuit 2102 and gating circuitry 2104. When routing circuit 1906 is enable by DRE signal inputs, the Capture signal from TSM 104 is routed to the Capture input of data register 1902 and the Shift signal from TSM 104 is routed to the Shift input of data register 1902. When the routing circuit 1902 is disable by DRE signal inputs, the gating circuits 2102-2104 isolate the TSM Capture and Shift outputs from the data register Capture and Shift inputs and sets the Capture and Shift inputs to the data register to static desired states.
As seen in FIG. 19, clock multiplexer 1608 shown and described in regard to FIGS. 16 and 16A can be included in the TCK path to the scan cells of data register 1902 to allow the scan cells to be driven by either the TCK signal during test mode or by a FC during non-test mode.
FIG. 22 illustrates an example test compression architecture (TCA) 2202 within a device coupled to a TSM 104 via routing circuit 1306. TCA architectures are well known, such as but not limited to Mentor's TestKompress™ architecture. The example TCA comprises a decompressor circuit 2204, parallel scan paths 2206, and a compactor circuit 2208. Each scan path comprises scan cells as described in FIGS. 13 and 14. The TCA of FIG. 22, while significantly more complex in construction, can be operated in basically the same way as the asynchronous data register 1302 of FIG. 13 by coupling the TSM 104 to the TCA via routing circuit 1306. The decompressor circuit operates to input compressed test data from TDI and decompress the test data into individual stimulus data inputs to the scan paths. The compactor circuit operates to input individual outputs from the scan paths and compact them down to a compressed test data output signal on TDO.
When routing circuit 1306 is enabled by DRE inputs from the instruction register 106, the ClockDR and ShiftDR signals from the TSM pass through the routing circuit to operate the decompressor, scan paths and compactor circuits to perform capture and shift operations as described in regard to the data register 1302 of FIGS. 13, 14 and 15. When the TSM is in the Capture-DR state of FIG. 2, the ClockDR and ShiftDR signals are operated to perform a capture operation which loads response data from combinational logic associated with the scan paths and initializes the decompressor circuit 2204 to receive a stream of compressed test data from TDI. When the TSM is in the Shift-DR state of FIG. 2, the ClockDR and ShiftDR signals are operated to perform a shift operation which shifts stimulus data from the decompressor circuit into the scan paths and shifts response data from the scan paths into the compactor circuit. The response data input to the compactor circuit during the shift operation is compacted down to a single stream of compressed test data output on the TDO signal.
As seen in FIG. 22, clock multiplexer 1108 shown and described in regard to FIGS. 11 and 12 can be included in the ClockDR path to the scan cells of the scan paths 2206 to allow the scan cells to be driven by either the ClockDR signal during test mode or by a FC during non-test mode.
FIG. 23 illustrates another example test compression architecture (TCA) 2202 within a device coupled to a TSM 104 via routing circuit 1906. The example TCA comprises a decompressor circuit 2304, parallel scan paths 2306, and a compactor circuit 2308. Each scan path comprises scan cells as described in FIGS. 19 and 20. The TCA of FIG. 23, while significantly more complex in construction, can be operated in basically the same way as the synchronous data register 1902 of FIG. 19 by coupling the TSM 104 to the TCA via routing circuit 1306. The decompressor circuit operates to input compressed test data from TDI and decompress the test data into individual stimulus data inputs to the scan paths. The compactor circuit operates to input individual outputs from the scan paths and compact them down to a compressed test data output signal on TDO.
When routing circuit 1906 is enabled by DRE inputs from the instruction register 106, the Capture and Shift signals from the TSM pass through the routing circuit to operate the decompressor, scan paths and compactor circuits to perform capture and shift operations as described in regard to the data register 1902 of FIGS. 19, 20 and 21. When the TSM is in the Capture-DR state of FIG. 2, the Capture, Shift and TCK signals operate to perform a capture operation which loads response data from combinational logic associated with the scan paths and initializes the decompressor circuit 2304 to receive a stream of compressed test data from TDI. When the TSM is in the Shift-DR state of FIG. 2, the Capture, Shift and TCK signals operate to perform a shift operation which shifts stimulus data from the decompressor circuit into the scan paths and shifts response data from the scan paths into the compactor circuit. The response data input to the compactor circuit during the shift operation is compacted down to a single stream of compressed test data output on the TDO signal.
As seen in FIG. 23, clock multiplexer 1608 shown and described in regard to FIGS. 16 and 19 can be included in the TCK path to the scan cells of the scan paths 2306 to allow the scan cells to be driven by either the TCK signal during test mode or by a FC signal during non-test mode. | {
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This invention relates to a cellular antenna coil; and, more particularly, to a molded cellular antenna coil encapsulated in a resin material for holding the antenna coil in the proper position at a specific dimension for maximum effectiveness for use in a wireless communication device, and a method and an apparatus for making the same.
Currently, contemporary mass produced wireless communication devices, such as: a cellular telephone, a pager, or a similar device, are dependent on the use of sophisticated, specially tuned antennas to perform the function of sending and receiving the radio-wave signals, that they require to function. The recent introduction of digital technology on a widespread and growing basis continues to place further performance demands on antennas. In order for a wireless communication device to operate at maximum efficiency, the signal quality must be maintained.
In an antenna for a cellular telephone, it is especially critical to provide an extremely specific dimension for the antenna to achieve the maximum effectiveness for the cellular telephone as to range and clarity of signal. With this specific dimension maintained, the maximum effectiveness of the antenna, and hence the telephone or other communication device, is achieved.
For any wireless communication device, the antenna must be tuned to a specific radio frequency and be capable of rejection of all other unwanted radio frequencies to prevent reception from fading. Any antenna for such a device must be engineered to send and receive signals within a very specific radio frequency range. The effectiveness (and even the basic ability to function) of a wireless communication device is intimately linked to the consistent performance of the antenna assembly.
In the United States, these operating frequencies are mandated and assigned by the Federal Communication Commission. In other countries, they are likewise assigned by the appropriate governmental regulatory agencies in specific countries. In order for the antenna to perform within the strict frequency parameters mandated by the United States and foreign governments, the antenna assembly must be manufactured to extremely exacting, difficult to reproduce, tolerances and specifications.
One of the key components of the antenna assembly, and a component which is critical to the antenna's ability to operate within the specified radio frequency range, is the antenna's coil assembly. Due to the difficulty of maintaining such exacting tolerances in a high production environment, most antennas produced today require some type of auxiliary adjustment method, which enables them to be individually tuned to the government mandated operating frequency.
Because it enables the antenna manufacturer to incorporate desirable features (such as mounting holes, assembly positioning features, structural integrity, and attachments points for other required components), the plastic injection molding process is often used to manufacture the coil assembly of an antenna.
Frequently, the antenna's primary component (a conductive coil typically constructed from metal), is encapsulated in a body of plastic. The process of encapsulating components in plastic is commonly referred to as insert molding. The dimension of the coil must be accurate within 0.1 millimeter (0.004 inch) for the tang and the coil.
To produce a coil assembly using the insert molding process, the following procedures are typically employed.
(1) The conductive coil constructed from metal wire (typically formed in the configuration of a common coil spring and typically manufactured on traditional spring forming machinery) is placed on a type of mandrel called a core pin. PA1 (2) The core pin, with the coil in place, is placed into the cavity of an injection mold. The cavity is the section of the mold which has been formed into the configuration of the finished molded part. The mold is then closed. PA1 (3) Molten plastic is injected under very high pressure into the mold cavity, (over and around the coil on the core pin) at a high rate of speed. PA1 (4) The molten plastic is allowed to cool, the mold is opened, and the coil (now encapsulated in plastic) is removed from the core pin. The coil is now ready to be used in a cellular telephone or other wireless communication device. PA1 (1) overall wire length of the conductive coil; PA1 (2) overall winding length of the conductive coil; PA1 (3) conductive coil location within the plastic encapsulation; PA1 (4) overall conductive coil diameter; and PA1 (5) coil to coil pitch. PA1 (1) exceptionally tight "as molded" tolerances; and PA1 (2) greatly reduced dimensional variability of the conductive coil location, within the surrounding molded plastic, around a specified standard in its "as molded" state.
In the manufacturing process described above, the high injection pressures, and high molten plastic injection speeds inherent in the injection molding process can cause undesirable movement and can change the desired dimensions of the conductive coil on the core pin. This undesirable movement, coupled with the basic inability of the coil spring manufacturer to adequately control the winding process used to manufacture the conductive coil, results in finished products with imprecisely located conductive coils.
The precise dimensional relationships of the coil assembly are critical factors, which govern the radio frequency range and performance of the characteristics of the complete antenna assembly. Some of these factors are:
Because such precise dimensional control is usually unattainable in the as molded state with commonly used manufacturing practices, it is often necessary to compensate for any manufacturing discrepancies. Most often, overcoming these manufacturing inconsistencies (including, but not limited to, imprecise coil production and undesirable coil movement during molding) is a costly process which requires that each individual coil assembly be "tuned" to the proper operating frequency before the finished coil assembly can be used in production.
Therefore, it is very desirable that a method of producing coil assemblies which are useable to manufacturers of wireless communication devices in the as molded state be developed. To do so will eliminate the costly and time consuming requirement of individually tuning the antenna of each finished wireless communication device.
To produce such a pre-trued or accurately tuned antenna coil assembly requires:
Based upon the radio frequency response requirements of each individual application, various dimensions of the conductive coil portion of the assembly can be altered. The conductive coil variables can include, but are not limited to, wire diameter, overall length, outside coil diameter, inside coil diameter, the "pitch angle" of the coil winding, and the space between the individual coils.
Since there is no such thing as a "standard" coil assembly showing, for the sake of clarity, a single representative version for the purpose of explaining the invention may be used. In this manner greatly improved dimensional control of the most critical aspects of the conductive coil, that is overall length and coil to coil pitch specifications.
Otherwise difficult to mold resins or plastics are operable herein. The particular mold design is applicable to an engineering grade plastic or resin, or to a high temperature plastic resin. The mold of this invention is designed to be filled with a resin at a lower pressure and a lower temperature than is customary in the art. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a mechanical and electrical coupling device for airborne charges, particularly military charges, such as projectiles. It also concerns projectiles equipped with such devices.
More specifically, the invention concerns such a coupling device capable of simultaneously fulfilling the functions of hanging and steadying a plurality of charges, e.g., projectiles, so as to transport them under an aircraft, and of ejecting them one by one, beginning with the one located furthest from said aircraft. 2. Description of the Prior Art
One means of transporting multiple charges under an aircraft consists of fastening to a pylon which is integral with the aircraft an intermediate piece generally called an "adapter", having a plurality of fastening sites for the charges to be transported. At each of these sites are installed elements enabling handing, steadying, safety control, and ejection of the charge. On planes flying at present day speeds, an ejection system is generally installed in the adapter in order to eject the charge downward at a specified speed. At each site, installation of the charge requires, in succession, hanging, then steadying (generally using wedging screws carried on arms), and finally electrical or mechanical connection with safety control elements. The ejector, which is generally explosive, is included in the adapter at each site. It is activated by a powder impeller. Because on such adapters it is possible to hang and eject only one charge per site, a mission requiring the successive release of a great number of charges (e.g., a drop in a string) poses considerable problems if the number of pylons is not sufficient or if one must reserve some of them for other uses. | {
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The present disclosure relates to computer networks and, more specifically, to file sharing using a message switch.
A message switch is a device that supports publication and subscription to topics for sharing messages with many subscribers. Messages are typically limited to a relatively small payload for publishing information. The format of messages for a topic is determined by a scheme associated with message payloads. Each topic has a first-in-first-out (FIFO) message queue that stores message payloads to be shared with subscribers to the topic. A publisher produces a message associated with a topic and applies the associated scheme such that consumers of the message can receive the message for the subscribed topic and apply the associated scheme to interpret the payload of the message. Larger data objects, such as files, are not typically supported by message switches due to message size constraints and throughput limitations. For example, a message switch may ingest millions of messages per second across many thousands of users. | {
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Silver halide emulsions for use in silver halide photographic light-sensitive materials are, in general, chemically sensitized by using various chemical substances to obtain, for example, desired sensitivity and gradation. As typical methods for the chemical sensitization, various sensitizing methods, such as sulfur sensitization, selenium sensitization, tellurium sensitization; noble metal sensitization using, for example, gold, and combinations of these sensitizing methods, are known. Various improvements in the aforementioned sensitizing methods have been recently made to cope with a strong need, for example, for excellent granularity, high sharpness, and high sensitivity of silver halide photographic light-sensitive materials, and further rapid processing promoted by accelerating development.
It is known that a serenocarboxylate; namely, a sereno ester, may be used as a selenium sensitizer in a selenium sensitization among the aforementioned sensitizing methods. Examples of disclosures showing specific compounds include U.S. Pat. No. 3,297,446, U.S. Pat. No. 3,297,447, and JP-B-57-22090 (“JP-B” means examined Japanese patent publication).
Although there is the case in which the selenium sensitizer has a greater sensitizing effect than a sulfur sensitizer used in the fields of the art, such a sensitizer largely tends to cause much fogging, to result softened gradation, and to cause increased variation of sensitivity during storage. Many patent publications have been disclosed aiming to improve these drawbacks. However, satisfactory results have not yet been brought by these improvements, and there has been a strong need for basic improvement; in particular, for greater suppression of the occurrence of fogging. Also, if sulfur sensitization, selenium sensitization, or tellurium sensitization is used in combination with gold sensitization, respectively, sensitivity is significantly increased in each case. However, fogging is increased at the same time. Although, particularly, gold-selenium sensitization and gold-tellurium sensitization result in greater sensitivity than gold-sulfur sensitization, they also result in much fogging, and they are apt to result increased gradation softness. There remains, therefore, a strong need for development of a selenium sensitizer and a tellurium sensitizer that give increased sensitivity, less fogging, and increased gradation hardness.
In this situation, the following compounds are described as examples of useful selenium sensitizers: diacyl serenide compounds, as described in JP-A-4-271341 (“JP-A” means unexamined published Japanese patent application); compounds in which two carbonyl groups are bonded with a selenium atom, as described in JP-A-5-11385; and selenocarboxylic acid (Se-ester) compounds, as described in JP-A-7-140579. Although these compounds are disclosed to enable suppressing fogging to a low level and achieving high sensitivity, they nonetheless remain unsatisfactory, and compounds that can better suppress fogging and attain higher sensitivity have been desired.
A known chemical sensitizer used is a compound in which gold (I) ion is coordinated with a selenourea, as a known selenium sensitizer. Example references disclosing specific examples of the compound include JP-A-2001-75215, JP-A-2001-75216, and JP-A-2001-75217. Although the aforementioned drawbacks can be improved using such a compound, its effect remains insufficient. It is also disclosed, in JP-A-9-269554, that compounds in which gold (III) ion is coordinated with phosphine selenides as known selenium sensitizers, are used as a chemical sensitizer. However, the effect remains insufficient. Moreover, a gold (I) halide compound coordinated with a chalcogeno ether compound is also disclosed, in JP-A-2002-268170. However, the level reached by this gold halide compound is likewise insufficient.
Further, a gold (I) compound (hereinafter referred to as a meso-ion gold (I) compound) containing a meso-ion ligand is known as a gold compound for use in gold sensitization. It is disclosed, in JP-A-4-267249, that the meso-ion gold (I) compound is useful to produce a highly sensitive and hard gradation (contrast) emulsion. It is, however, known that the meso-ion gold (I) compound has a problem concerning stability in a solution, as disclosed in JP-A-11-218870. It has been desired to improve the stability of the meso-ion gold (I) compound, because stability in solution is an essential condition to produce a light-sensitive emulsion having constant qualities, stably.
As a measure to solve this problem, a method of utilizing a gold (I) complex of a mercapto compound is proposed in JP-A-11-218870. Although this gold sensitizer has improved stability in a solution, it is still a compound that will be decomposed, and it remains only an insufficient solving measure.
It is also known that many selenium compounds and tellurium compounds generally have lower stability than corresponding sulfur compounds. Not a few selenium compounds and tellurium compounds to be used as chemical sensitizers have less comparative stability. When these compounds are stored in a solution state, they resultantly gradually decompose. There is, therefore, a tendency for there to be a large difference in sensitivity, fogging, gradation, and the like, between the case of producing a light-sensitive emulsion just after a solution of a selenium compound or a tellurium compound is prepared, and the case of producing a light-sensitive emulsion a while after the solution is prepared. Therefore, chemical sensitizers that suppress fogging to attain high sensitivity are desired to have higher stability.
In this background, there is strong need for development of a gold-chalcogen sensitizer that can largely increase the sensitivity and causes less occurrence of fogging. | {
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The present invention relates to a crown-shaped cage which is used, for example, in a deep groove ball bearing, and particularly to a crown-shaped cage which is able to positively hold balls inserted easily in its pockets using the elasticity of its component material, and can, particularly, have the balls inserted in the pockets even when it is made of a material with nominal flexibility.
When made of plastics, bearing cages can be made lightweight and can be manufactured using monolithic molding processes offering higher mass productivity, and the flexibility of the plastics can be used for press insertion of each ball in the respective pockets. For these reasons, plastics are widely used for crown-shaped cages. Among these, nylon is widely used as plastic material mainly because it provides sufficient flexibility to cages.
However, demand has risen in recent years for bearings which can be used in high temperature environments, resulting directly in growing demand for cages with high heat resistance. Various plastics with higher heat resistance than nylon, including polyphenylene sulfide (hereinafter referred to as PPS), polyether ether ketone (hereinafter referred to as PEEK), and other plastics with resistance to heat of 200.degree. C. or more, have therefore been tested recently for their suitability as a material for crown-shaped cages. PPS and PEEK, however, are less flexible than nylon.
A conventional crown-shaped cage has multiple pockets that are open on both ends in the radial direction and open on one side in the axial direction. Each of the entrances to the pockets, which are open in the axial direction as described above, is smaller in width in the circumferential direction than the diameter of each ball by a given dimension. Insertion of a ball into its pocket is performed by pressing the ball from the entrance in the axial direction, flexibly forcing the walls, which are on both sides of the entrance to form the pocket, out in the circumferential direction. After the ball is completely inserted, the entrance returns to the original width, thereby holding the inserted ball in the axial direction. When all balls are inserted in such a way in their respective pockets the balls are held at specified regular intervals in the circumferential direction.
Since the construction of the conventional crown-shaped cage as described above is such that walls on both sides of an entrance are simply spread flexibly in the circumferential direction when a ball is inserted in the axial direction into the cage, the entire walls must give or deflect flexibly when the pocket is opened. When the cage is constructed of nylon or a similar flexible material, the walls can be elastically deformed in the circumferential direction to expand the entrance to the diameter of the ball so that the ball can be inserted. However, when the cage is made from PPS or PEEK, materials with excellent heat resistance but much less flexibility, the entrance cannot be spread to the diameter of the ball and it is therefore not possible to insert the ball into the pocket. | {
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Adenosine is a naturally occurring nucleoside, which exerts its biological effects by interacting with a family of adenosine receptors known as A1, A2A, A2B, and A3, all of which modulate important physiological processes. For example, A2A adenosine receptors modulate coronary vasodilation, A2B receptors have been implicated in mast cell activation, asthma, vasodilation, regulation of cell growth, intestinal function, and modulation of neurosecretion (See Adenosine A2B Receptors as Therapeutic Targets, Drug Dev Res 45:198; Feoktistov et al., Trends Pharmacol Sci 19:148-153), and A3 adenosine receptors modulate cell proliferation processes.
Adenosine A2B receptors are ubiquitous, and regulate multiple biological activities. For example, adenosine binds to A2B receptors on endothelial cells, thereby stimulating angiogenesis. Adenosine also regulates the growth of smooth muscle cell populations in blood vessels. Adenosine stimulates A2B receptors on mast cells, thus modulating Type I hypersensitivity reactions. Adenosine also stimulates gastrosecretory activity by ligation with A2B in the intestine.
While many of these biological effects of adenosine are necessary to maintain normal tissue homeostasis, under certain physiological changes it is desirable to modulate its effects. For example, the binding of A2B receptors stimulates angiogenesis by promoting the growth of endothelial cells. Such activity is necessary in healing wounds, but the hyperproliferation of endothelial cells promotes diabetic retinopathy. Also, an undesirable increase in blood vessels occurs in neoplasia. Accordingly, inhibition of the binding of adenosine to A2B receptors in the endothelium will alleviate or prevent hypervasculation, thus preventing retinopathy and inhibiting tumor formation.
A2B receptors are found in the colon in the basolateral domains of intestinal epithelial cells, and when acted upon by the appropriate ligand act to increase chloride secretion, thus causing diarrhea, which is a common and potentially fatal complication of infectious diseases such as cholera and typhus. A2B antagonists can therefore be used to block intestinal chloride secretion, and are thus useful in the treatment of inflammatory gastrointestinal tract disorders, including diarrhea.
Insensitivity to insulin exacerbates diabetes and obesity. Insulin sensivity is decreased by the interaction of adenosine with A2B receptors. Thus, blocking the adenosine A2B receptors of individuals with diabetes or obesity would benefit patients with these disorders.
Another adverse biological effect of adenosine acting at the A2B receptor is the over-stimulation of cerebral IL-6, a cytokine associated with dementias and Alzheimer's disease. Inhibiting the binding of adenosine to A2B receptors would therefore mitigate those neurological disorders that are produced by IL-6.
Type I hypersensitivity disorders, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, hay fever, and atopic eczema, are stimulated by mast cells binding to A2B-receptors. Accordingly, blocking such adenosine receptors provides a therapeutic benefit against such disorders.
There are several compounds presently used in the treatment of asthma. For example, theophylline is an effective anti-asthmatic agent, even though it is a poor adenosine receptor antagonist. However, high plasma levels are needed for it to be effective. Additionally, theophylline has substantial side effects, most of which are due to its CNS action, which provide no beneficial effects in the treatment of asthma, and to the fact that it non-specifically blocks all adenosine receptor subtypes.
Additionally adenosine treatment, such as inhaled adenosine (or adenosine monophosphate), provokes bronchoconstriction in asthmatics, but not in the normal population. This process is known to involve mast cell activation, in that it releases mast cell mediators, including histamine, PGD2-β-hexosaminidase and tryptase. This response is blocked by specific histamine H1 blockers and chromolyn sodium. Accordingly, there is an intrinsic difference in the way adenosine interacts with mast cells from asthmatics, and thus A2B antagonists are particularly useful in modulating mast cell function or in the activation of human lung cells.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,825,349 discloses novel A2B adenosine receptor antagonists that are potent and selective for the A2B adenosine receptor. A category of preferred compounds disclosed in the above patent application has been identified in which the 7-position of the xanthine moiety is unsubstituted. Such compounds are known to be relatively insoluble in aqueous media and difficult to formulate using conventional pharmaceutical excipients, and thus potentially difficult to formulate in a manner that provides reproducible plasma levels of the compound undergoing evaluation in mammals, in particular humans. We have discovered compounds that are more soluble in aqueous media and/or conventional pharmaceutical excipients, and are surprisingly active as prodrugs of the compounds of '349. | {
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Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are directed to systems and methods for supporting two different protocols on the same physical connection in a network of master and slave field bus devices. As used herein, master and slave field bus devices are those that can be connected in a line or ring topology and where the protocol has strict timing requirements. The strict timing requirements can be due to a short time lapse between sending a request and receiving the response in a polled network or due to pre-assigned time slots for the packets in a cyclic network. Additionally, such devices are configured so that there is at least one master device and it either polls the slave devices or else sets up a schedule of cyclic communication.
There are known several field bus communication protocols in this category, including but not limited to EtherCAT (IEC 61158 and IEC 61784-2), SynqNet (such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,969,985, 7,460,471, 7,406,354, 7,143,301, and 7,024,257) and Varan (as specified by the Varan Bus User Organization). These field busses all use the Ethernet physical layer (ANSI X3.263: 1995 TP-PMD and section 25.2 of IEEE802.3-2002). These field busses are well-known in the art and will not be described in further detail. Although the following discussion focuses on EtherCAT, the present invention can be implemented with any other type of field bus.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional master-slave arrangement. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a master device 100 is connected to a first slave device 110 via cable 103, which in turn is connected to an intermediate slave 120 via cable 113. Intermediate slave 120 is connected by cable 123 to final slave 130. The cables 103, 113, and 123 can be conventional Ethernet cables, which carry the field bus packets. As illustrated in FIG. 1, each slave has two full-duplex, bi-directional, field bus ports designated X and Y. Thus, the master 100 is connected to the X port 111 of the first slave 110 and the Y port 112 of the first slave 110 is wired to the X port 121 of the second slave 120 and so on until the last slave of the network 130, where X port 131 is connected to the final slave 130, but the Y port 132 of the final slave is unused. For ease of understanding, and not for purposes of limitation, FIG. 1 and subsequent figures illustrate only a first slave, intermediate slave and final slave. One skilled in the art, however, would recognize that such field bus arrangements can include more than one intermediate slave, in which case the operation of further intermediate slave devices would be the same as the disclosed intermediate slave.
During their service life and especially during commissioning, field bus slave devices typically require programming while connected in a network, which is achieved using a device known in the art as a configurator. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a conventional arrangement for programming field bus slave devices using a configurator. Specifically, each slave device includes an auxiliary port 211, 221, 231, which can be coupled to an Ethernet switch 250. Configurator 240 is also coupled to the Ethernet switch 250, which allows configurator 240 to program slave devices 110, 120 and 130 using TCP/IP formatted packets. This arrangement provides a separate and distinct physical transmission path for configuration programming from the field bus data, which is important given that the field bus data is formatted with a protocol that is time-sensitive.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the some of the internal components of a conventional first, intermediate or final field bus slave device. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the X port 111, 121, 131, Y port 112, 122, 132 and auxiliary port 211, 221, 231 have a similar structure, including a physical connector, a pair of transformers and a PHY device, which is a transmitter and receiver circuit. Field bus logic module 311 is coupled to the X port 111, 121, 131 and Y port 112, 122, 132 in order to interact with field bus packets, which includes reception, transmission and modification (if necessary) of field bus packets. The field bus logic module 311 is typically implemented as field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). For ease of explanation, and not limitation, the following discussion will refer simply to an FPGA. However, an ASIC can be used as an alternative. FIG. 3 also shows the auxiliary port 211, 221, 231 which allows TCP/IP communication with microcontroller 312. In this case, the microcontroller itself has a built-in Ethernet MAC. The auxiliary port is essential for connecting the configurator in the manner of FIG. 2, however it will be omitted from all further figures as this invention renders the auxiliary port unnecessary.
The overall operation of the slave is typically controlled by microcontroller 312, which is coupled via processor bus 313 to field bus logic module 311. It should be recognized that the microcontroller 312 can be a microprocessor, a digital signal processor or similar device, any of which may be integrated into the same FPGA or ASIC as the field bus logic module 311. Processor bus 313 can be a conventional parallel processor bus or a serial connection such as SPI, so that microcontroller 312 can respond to commands transmitted via the field bus. For ease of explanation, the sensor/actuator aspects of the slave device have been omitted as the invention is not concerned with these aspects.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of some of the internal components of a conventional first or intermediate slave device handling field bus packets. In the case of EtherCAT, field bus packets arriving at X port 111, 121 pass into the field bus logic module 311, where the packets are modified (if required) or otherwise acted upon and then pass out to the next downstream slave device via Y port 112, 122. Conversely, packets arriving from a downstream slave device at Y port 112, 122 are the forwarded to X port 111, 121 via field bus logic module 311.
It should be recognized that other field busses behave slightly differently. For example, SynqNet also allows a slave to originate packets that are normally sent via the X port. The variations in the operation of the field bus logic module 311 do not affect the essential operation of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram of some of the internal components of a conventional final slave device handling field bus packets. As is evident from FIG. 1, the final slave device, unlike other slave devices, does not have a downstream slave device connected on its Y port 132. Accordingly, field bus logic module 311 in the final slave 130 is able to detect, using the link or activity signals from the PHY in the Y Port 132, that there is nothing attached to its Y port 132, and the final slave 130 puts itself into loop-back mode. In this mode, packets that would otherwise be transmitted via the Y port 132 to a downstream slave are instead returned to the master via the X port 131 of the final slave. Accordingly, as illustrated by the dashed representation of Y port 132 in FIG. 5, if the slave is at the end of the chain then the Y port 132 is unused.
Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 6, where the field bus nodes are connected in a line, the Y port 132 of the final slave 130 is deactivated. | {
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(Field of the Invention)
The present invention relates to a heat shielding structure for an intake system for an engine of a motorcycle in which a cylinder is tilted frontward.
(Description of Related Art)
In a motorcycle equipped with an engine in which a cylinder is tilted frontward, a throttle unit which is a portion of an intake system is often disposed above and rearward of the cylinder (e.g., JP Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2009-241820). Since the temperature of the cylinder becomes high, the necessity for protecting the throttle unit from heat of the cylinder may arise depending on a cooling structure for the engine, the structure of a cowling or fairing, or the like. As an example of protecting a throttle body from radiation heat of an exhaust pipe, in JP Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2009-241820, a heat insulating plate is disposed between the exhaust pipe and the throttle body.
The heat insulating plate in JP Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2009-241820 is composed of a sheet metal and is connected to a motorcycle frame structure by means of bolts. However, since many components are disposed around the engine, it may be difficult to ensure a space for installing such a heat insulating plate. In addition, since the plate is mounted to the motorcycle frame structure, change of the design of the motorcycle frame structure is necessary, and the structure of the motorcycle frame structure is also rendered to be complicated. | {
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Thin-Film-Transistor Liquid Crystal Display, TFT-LCD has been widely used because of its advantages of high speed, high brightness and high contrast ratio. The modes of the TFT substrate there are many kinds, the more common are TN, IPS, MVA and so on. The TN mode has the fastest response, but the worst color, viewing angle is relatively smaller, low cost, mainly used in the field of display apparatus and small TV. The TFT substrate with IPS mode is a wide viewing angle display technology, viewing angle is relatively high, fast response, accurate color, the cost is moderate.
However, in the traditional technology, the In-Plane Switching, IPS mode requires higher driving voltage. When the driving voltage is applied to the IPS panel electrode, the liquid crystal molecules closed to the electrode will get more power, but the upper liquid crystal molecules away from the electrode cannot get the same power, and have slower movement, only to increase the driving voltage can make the liquid crystal molecules away from the electrode also get large power, so the drive voltage will be higher. This makes the power consumption in coplanar conversion mode is increased and difficult to match with the TFT. While the molecular electric field driven is weakened to the liquid crystal molecules closed to the substrate, resulting in lower transmittance of light. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air path inside an indoor unit (air handler) of an air conditioner. More specifically, the present invention relates to an indoor unit of an air conditioner, in which at least one air inlet is formed at part or entire bottom surface of the indoor unit and an evaporator is installed between the air inlets and a blowing fan so that indoor air sucked in through air inlets passes through the evaporator and is discharged from an outlet vent formed at the front surface of the indoor unit by the operation of a blowing fan.
2. Discussion of the Background Art
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a related art air conditioner.
Referring to FIG. 1, the related art air conditioner includes an outdoor unit (the condensing unit) 10 disposed outside of a building for heat exchange with outdoor air, an indoor unit (the air handler) 20 disposed inside of a building for circulating and delivering the cooled air, and a series of connecting duct 30 for connecting the outdoor unit 10 to the indoor unit 20.
To be more specific, the outdoor unit 10 pumps low-temperature, low-pressure vaporized refrigerant from the indoor unit 20, compresses it, and liquefies it to low-temperature, low-pressure refrigerant. The outdoor unit 10 includes a compressor 11, a condenser 12, and an expansion valve 13.
The compressor 11 changes the low-temperature, low-pressure vaporized refrigerant from the indoor unit 20 to high-temperature, high-pressure vaporized refrigerant The condenser 12 changes the high-temperature, high-pressure vaporized refrigerant to mid-temperature, high-pressure liquefied refrigerant. The expansion valve 13 changes the mid-temperature, high-pressure liquefied refrigerant to low-temperature, low-pressure liquefied refrigerant.
Among these components, the condenser 12 is the one that is directly involved in heat exchange with outdoor air. Thus, it has a separate fan 12a for blowing air from outside.
On the other hand, the indoor unit 20 changes low-temperature, low-pressure liquefied refrigerant from the outdoor unit 10 to low-temperature, low-pressure vaporized refrigerant and as a result thereof, the indoor temperature goes down. Thus, the indoor unit 20 includes an evaporator coil 21, and a fan 21a.
The connecting duct 30 connects the outdoor unit 10 to the indoor unit 20, and allows the refrigerant to flow therein. Its position is determined depending on the distance between the outdoor unit 10 and the indoor unit 20.
As explained above, the air conditioner in general has a built-in refrigeration cycle that includes a compressor, a condenser, a capillary expansion valve, and an evaporator coil as a heat exchanger. When the temperature outside begins to climb, the air conditioner provides the cool comfort of indoor air conditioning by controlling the amount of cool air generated by the evaporator coil and hot air generated in the condenser.
Air conditioners are classified into two types: window air conditioners that implements the refrigeration cycle in a body and is small enough to fit into a window frame, and split air conditioners that allows the indoor unit (air handler) to be installed in a different location from the outdoor unit (the condenser). Especially the split air conditioners, depending on where the air conditioner is installed, are divided into wall-mounted split air conditioners, floor standing split air conditioners (including package air conditioners), ceiling-mounted split air conditioners, and ceiling cassette split air conditioners. Particularly, portable indoor units that can be placed on the wall, the floor or the ceiling at users' convenience are called convertible indoor units.
In short, the outdoor unit includes a noise generating compressor, a condenser, and a cooling fan, and the indoor unit includes an evaporator coil and a blowing fan.
Now referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, an indoor unit 1 of an air conditioner includes a rectangular shaped case 10; air inlets 12 formed at the center of the front surface of the case 10 for sucking up indoor air; a blowing fan 14 installed inside the case 10 and guiding the indoor air to the air inlet 12 through rotation; an evaporator coil 16 installed between the indoor air inlet 12 and the blowing fan 14, and generating cooled air by performing heat change between a refrigerant and the indoor air that is flown in the case 10 by the blowing fan 14; and an outlet vent formed on the edge of the front surface of the case 10 or on the upper/lower part of the case 10 to discharge the cooled air formed by the operation the evaporator coil 16 back to the indoor through the operation of the blowing fan 14.
The operational process of the related art indoor unit is now described below.
Low-temperature, low-pressure liquid expanded refrigerant from the outdoor unit (10 in FIG. 1) flows in the evaporator coil 16 inside the indoor unit (1 in FIG. 2), and at the same time, the indoor air flows in the indoor unit 1 through the air inlet 12 formed at the center of the front surface of the indoor unit 1 by the rotation of the blowing fan 14. Then the indoor air is cooled through heat change with the refrigerant traveling in the pipe of the evaporator coil 16, and by the operation of the blowing fan 14 the cooled air is discharged to the indoor through the outlet vent 18 that is formed either on the same surface where the air inlet 12 is formed, namely on the edge of the front surface of the case 10 as shown in FIG. 3(a), or on the upper/lower part of the case 10 as shown in FIG. 3(b). This process is repeated until indoor air conditioning is sufficient.
However in the related art indoor unit 1 the duct from the air inlet 12 formed at the center of the front surface of the indoor unit 1 en route to the outlet vent 18 via the evaporator coil 16 and the blowing fan 14 is typically in a “U” shape or “L” shape. Therefore, air flow resistance in the duct was great, and because of this, the indoor unit 1 usually generated a lot of noises.
Another problem arises when both the air inlet 12 and the outlet vent 18 are formed on the front surface of the indoor unit as shown in FIG. 3(a). In such case, the size or the area of the air inlet 12 is naturally limited by the size of the outlet vent 18. The limitation set on the size or the area of the air inlet 12 also affects the size or the area of the evaporator coil 16. Typically in the indoor unit of the related art air conditioner, the evaporator coil 16 is as big as the air inlet 12, or a little smaller than the air inlet 12.
The limitation set on the size or the area of the air inlet 12 and the evaporator coil 16 is a main factor of the deterioration of work efficiency of the evaporator coil 16 for performing heat exchange between the refrigerant and the indoor air flown into the indoor unit 1.
Moreover, the installation of the indoor unit 1 had to be very careful to place it in a position where air passage can be smooth in the “U” shaped duct from the air inlet 12 to the outlet vent 18, provided that the air inlet 12 and the outlet vent 18 are formed on the same surface.
As shown in FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b), the air inlet 12 and the outlet vent 18, or the air inlet 12 alone is formed on the front surface of the indoor unit 1. Therefore, it is not easy to engrave a logo or a pattern on the limited space or to coat the front surface of the indoor unit 1 with a unique finishing material on the front surface for the purpose of decoration. | {
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A. Field
The invention relates to a method for operating a loom, having a first drive motor which drives a first element, such as a batten, and at least a second drive motor which drives a second element, such as a shedding mechanism.
B. Related Art
In looms, the motions of the individual elements must be chronologically adapted to one another. To achieve this chronological adaptation when independent drive motors are used, it is known to detect the rotational angle position of a main shaft, which in particular drives a batten, and to synchronize the drive motor or drive motors of the other elements with these rotational angle positions. This synchronization presents problems, since the main shaft rotational speed changes. Before the beating-up of an inserted weft yarn, the rotational speed of the main shaft decreases. When the batten with the weaving reed reaches the rearward position, the rotational speed of the main shaft increases. If it is a goal to synchronize the drive motor of a shedding mechanism, for instance, with the main drive motor that drives the batten, then the drive motor of the shedding mechanism must likewise perform the nonuniform motion. As a result, the shedding mechanism drive motor, which is already subjected to a heavy load, and the shedding mechanism itself are both subjected to further loads, which are intrinsically not necessary.
To reduce the energy expenditure required for fully synchronous operation, it is known (European Patent Disclosure EP 0893535 A1) to embody the control and regulating device such that a switchover can be made between hard and soft regulation. In hard regulation, which is employed during the starting of the loom, the drive motor of the shedding mechanism follows the main drive motor with very precise synchronization. During normal weaving operation, a switchover to soft regulation is then made, in which mode the drive motor of the shedding mechanism is allowed to lead or trail the main drive motor with slight deviations from synchronized operation.
It is also known (European Patent Disclosure EP 0946801 B1) to control a selvedge tuck-in device of a loom independently of the main drive motor, in accordance with a program. In the process, monitoring is done as to whether desynchronization beyond an allowable value is occurring. If this desynchronization occurs, a correction is made in accordance with a correction program.
It is known to drive all the elements of a loom by means of one common main drive motor. To make it possible to search for a weft yarn if a weft yarn has broken, it is also known (European Patent Disclosure EP 0161012 B1) to provide an additional motor for the search for the weft yarn and for slow motion. In a search for the weft yarn the main drive motor is decoupled, so that by means of the additional motor, either only the shedding means, or the loom, can be moved at low speed.
It is also known (European Patent Disclosure EP 0726345 A1) to design the loom drive such that the same functions, that is, normal weaving operation, searching for a weft yarn, and the slow motion, can all be performed with only a single main drive motor.
It is also known (French Patent Disclosure FR 2660672 A1) to provide a drive motor for the shedding means, in particular a Jacquard mechanism, and a further drive motor for all the other elements of the loom. The two drive motors are connected to one another via an electronic comparator. The electronic comparator constantly compares the information from two pickups, namely one pickup that detects the rotation position of the main shaft of the loom and one pickup that detects the rotation position of the drive motor for the shedding means, and in this way assures that the two motors operate synchronously.
It is the object of the invention to operate a loom of the type defined at the outset such that if at all possible no unnecessary loads have to be overcome by the drive motors for elements. | {
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1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to sample rate conversion in data processing systems; and, more particularly, it relates to variable sample rate conversion used in data processing systems that perform rational ratio conversion of the sample rate.
2. Description of Prior Art
Within conventional communication systems, the interfacing of various devices operating at various data transmission rates invariably requires the conversion of the data transmission rates between the various devices. For example, when one device operating at a first data transmission rate communicates with a second device operating at a second data transmission rate, there must be some method by which the data can be converted between the two devices while preserving the information contained within the plurality of data. Ideally, this conversion is performed in a manner that maintains a maximum throughput within the communication system. The data transmission rate itself may be viewed as a sample rate in such conventional communication systems. Typically, the various devices within the communication system each operate according to various, sometimes internal, clock frequencies. Similarly, the data transfer to and from these devices is associated with this clock frequency. The interfacing of the various devices, each possibly being driven by a different clock frequency, creates an interfacing difficulty.
One common application area for such data conversion is in television displays. Various television display standards exist for displaying image data. For example, one common standard is the National Television System Committee (NTSC). Another common standard is the phase alternate line (PAL) standard. A difficulty arises when a user attempts to interface a peripheral device, such as a video cassette recorder (VCR), that operates using one standard with a television display operating at another. Some method for converting the image data must be employed for proper communication between the devices and ultimate display for the user.
Within various stand alone image processing devices including photo-copy machines and video display units, enlargement and reduction of image data is often performed. From one perspective, the image data having a first resolution may be viewed as data having a first sample rate. Typically, the sample rate is associated with the number of pixels per distance along a given trajectory of the image data. This sample rate is often given in terms of dots per inch (dpi) in printing systems and simply as screen resolution for video display units, i.e. 640.times.480, 800.times.600, 1024.times.768, etc. This screen resolution typically corresponds to the number of pixels that are displayed at any given time across the viewable portion of the video display unit. When enlarging or reducing such image data using such devices, a user typically desires to preserve the resolution of the image data as much as possible. Still, the limitation remains, particularly with enlargement, that the image data only possesses a fixed amount of information. A difficulty lies in how to expand the finite amount of data available to display as if it were a larger amount of data; the difficulty is how to increase the viewable size of the image data while preserving the visible perceptual quality of the image data.
One common limitation within such conventional stand alone devices is the inability to perform rational ratio conversions of either enlargement or reduction of an image. This stems from the inability of many conventional systems to perform sample rate conversion using rational ratios. Common within such systems, the option of enlarging or reducing an image by a number of fixed amounts is provided, e.g. 16%, 32%, 64%, etc. However, the ability to perform arbitrary values of reduction and enlargement is seldom provided. For stand alone conventional devices which do provide for arbitrary data conversion rates, there is often associated a high computational cost corresponding to the hardware required to perform such a function. In many applications where system cost is a hard design constraint, the user is typically provided with selection from a predetermined number of choices for performing enlargement or reduction, as the associated cost to provide such a high level function is simply prohibitive. A cost effective solution to provide for arbitrary conversion rates of data would be well suited for many such stand alone devices.
One conventional method for performing conversion of data having a first sample rate to data having a second sample rate uses a very inefficient method including up-sampling and down-sampling. This conventional method typically performs operation and filtering on the up-sampled data that contains an abundance of either redundant or useless information. Typically within digital systems which convert a plurality of data from a first sample rate to a plurality of data having substantially similar characteristics yet having a second sample rate, the original plurality of data is up-sampled by inserting a number of zeros into the plurality of data. During this process, the plurality of data is up-sampled by the number of zeros that have been introduced. These inserted zeroes provide no new information to the original plurality of data. They merely serve as placeholders within the up-sampled data.
Typically and undesirably, the up-sampled plurality of data is filtered when it is in this highly redundant state. This is computationally intensive, as the inserted zeroes must be processed during the filtering. The system has no method by which it can detect which samples are actual data and which are inserted zeroes. This processing of the inserted zeroes adds no new information to the plurality of data. For up-sampling of extremely large numbers, this is very undesirable due to the wasteful appropriation of processing resources in such systems. For example, if a plurality of data is up-sampled by a factor of ten, the up-sampled plurality of data is then processed in the time which will take approximately ten times as long as would be required for the original plurality of data, assuming a substantially linear processing function of processing time in terms of data.
Later, the filtered signal is then down-sampled wherein only a predetermined number of the samples of the up-sampled, post-filtered plurality of data are selected. For example, for a down-sampling by a factor of two, every other data sample would be taken from the plurality of data, thereby reducing the amount of information by the factor of two. The filtering is performed when the plurality of data is at the up-sampled state in an effort to minimize resolution loss during the subsequent down-sampling step. In other embodiments, a single datum value is calculated for every two data within the plurality of data. Such a method employs an averaging scheme. In either case, a predetermined number of the data is discarded during the down-sampling step using this conventional approach.
Ultimately, the conversion rate is the ration between the up-sampling and the down-sampling rates. For example, if the plurality of data is up-sampled by a factor or twenty and down-sampled by a factor of thirteen, then the conversion ratio would be twenty thirteenths (20/13). As can be seen in this trivial example, the insertion of as many as twenty zeroes is often associated with conversion rates that do not even approach a factor of two. This example is demonstrative of the potentially extreme inefficiency of this conventional method.
A typical modification of the conventional method of up-sampling and down-sampling is performed in an effort to provide for more efficient use of a data converter's resources. One solution is to employ a finite impulse response filter to the plurality of data before the up-sampling step and after the down-sampling step. While this solution is more optimal that the conventional method described above in that there is no filtering performed at the highly redundant intermediary state, it is nevertheless inefficient in that a filtering step is performed two different times. Additionally within this modified conventional method, even though the filtering is performed at the states where the plurality of data is relatively smaller than at the intermediary state after up-sampling yet before down-sampling, some manner must be implemented to accommodate this large sized data.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional systems will become apparent to one of skill in the art after reviewing the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings. | {
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Machine-type communication (MTC) or machine-to-machine communication (M2M) refers to automated data communications among devices and the underlying data transport infrastructure. The data communications may occur between an MTC device and a server, or directly between two MTC devices. MTC has great potential in a wide range of applications and services that are widespread across different industries, including healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, process automation, energy, and utilities. To spread these applications widely, cellular systems are considered as a potential candidate to provide connectivity for MTC devices. However, the potential MTC applications have very different features and requirements, which imply constraints on the cellular network technology as well as on MTC devices. As a result, different types of MTC devices and different MTC device operating features are being developed and implemented to satisfy the diverse device requirements while balancing overall network service provisioning quality and efficiency. In order to manage MTC service provisioning effectively, the network is informed of the different MTC features and functionalities of the MTC devices serviced by the network. However, current mechanisms for determining capabilities of user equipments (UEs) serviced by cellular network systems are not suitable for collecting device capability information for MTC devices. | {
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Prior art security systems for electronic and other devices require the entry of a code at a keypad to allow the device to be used. One such security system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,604,708, entitled "Electronic Security System for Externally Powered Devices," by Gainer R. Lewis. This patent describes a security system, wherein the user must reenter a code whenever the protected device is reconnected to a power source. However, the user does not have to reenter the code each time the power switch is turned on and off. When the correct code is entered, power is then coupled to the protected device. Other security systems, such as home alarm or car entry systems require the user to enter the code upon each entry attempt.
The problem with coded security systems, such as that described above, is that the user often forgets the password provided by the manufacturer. Further, the user cannot easily program the password to make it easier to remember, like a significant other's name, or immediately program the password to prevent others who know the password from accessing the protected device.
Still further, users may want to require password entry upon each use, such as to protect a car, house, etc, not only when the protected unit is reconnected to a power source. Requiring manual entry of the password for each use would be tedious. To make it easy for the user to enter the password upon each use, current security systems, such as car alarms, allow the user to disable the alarm from a remote activation unit. However, these remote devices are not easily and immediately programmable. With prior art remote activation units, the user is relying on passwords selected by the manufacturer which are pre-installed in both the protected unit and the remote activation unit. Furthermore, the user must rely on the manufacturer to provide a properly coded replacement remote activation unit. This situation may be problematic because in many instances it may be difficult or unfeasible for the user to contact the manufacturer and immediately program the password or obtain a new activation unit.
Alternatively, some prior art systems allow the user to manually change the password code stored in the protected unit and activation unit by pushing switches to an on/off position. However, these systems too are problematic because anyone who can gain physical access to the switches can program the password.
The problem with present security systems can be illustrated with the current situation in the car stereo market. Some car stereos require the entry of a code only when the car stereo is reconnected to the battery. The problem with this system is that if the user gets a battery recharge a considerable time after writing down the password, the user may not have the password readily available when it is needed, i.e., when they get "jump started" on an automobile trip far from home. In such case, the user cannot use the car stereo until the manufacturer is contacted and provides the code. This set-up could be extremely inconvenient, especially if the password is lost on a holiday weekend or in a location where the manufacturer may not be easily contacted.
Other car stereos have a removable face plate which prevents the stereo from being used. However, the removable face plate also has problems. The face plate is bulky and, thus, a burden for the driver to have to carry every time the driver leaves the car. Moreover, the face plate is very expensive to replace. In fact the replacement cost is a significant portion of what the entire car stereo cost in the first place.
Still further, none of the current car stereo systems allow the user to access the car stereo using a remote activation or allow the user to easily program the security code in both the car stereo and remote activation unit. | {
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The use of bifunctional chelating agents, such as EDTA, is well known in fields such as medicinal chemistry. They are used, for example, in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. See, e.g., Sgouros, Encyclopedia of Cancer, Second Edition, (Vol. 4, New York, 2002, pp. 29-40).
To elaborate on the use of these chelators in, e.g., cancer diagnosis and therapy, a chelator combines with and sequesters a therapeutic or diagnostic agent, such as a metal ion, which may be radioactive, and the combination is combined with a molecule that targets a cell, organ, etc., of interest. Examples of such molecules are antibodies of all types (e.g., polyclonal, monoclonal, chimeric, humanized, human, oligomeric, and fragmented antibodies), peptides, or ligands for receptors. For some discussion of relevant molecules, see Heppeler, et al., Chem. Eur. J., 5(7):1974-1981 (1999); Fu, et al., Eur. J. Org. Chem., 3966-3973 (2002). When combined in this way, the agent, e.g., a radio-pharmaceutical, targets, e.g., malignant tissue, and the risk of unspecific radiation, etc., is minimized.
Ideal chelators have high thermodynamic stability paralleling their chelates, and should also be relatively inert in vivo, to reduce complications caused by loss of the chelate.
Exemplary of chelators now in use are “DTPA” (diethylenetriaminetetraacetic acid), (Brechbiel, et al., J. Chem., Soc. Perkin Trans., 1:1173-1178 (1992)); and DOTA (1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-N,N′,N″,N′″-tetraacetic acid), and derivatives like “BAD”, described by Kukis, et al., Canc. Res., 55:878-884 (1995). There is always interest, however, in new chelators with improved properties, or different properties, useful in different applications.
The chelator “TAME,” or 1,1,1-Tris-(aminomethyl)ethane, described by Geue, et al., Aust. J. Chem., 36:927-935 (1983), and incorporated by reference, is known as a tridentate ligand, and as a starting material for more complex ligands, as shown by Geue, et al., supra. For example, Green, et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 106:3689-3691 (1984) describe salicylaldimines of TAME, as chelating agents for incorporation of gallium ions, such as Ga3+ ions. Ga3+, when used with the positron emitting isotope 68Ga, is useful in “positron emission tomagraphy” or “PET.” The skilled artisan is very much aware of the usefulness of this technique in medical diagnosis. The chelating agent H3-[(5-MeOsal)3tame], a TAME derivative, is described by Green, et al., J. Nucl. Med., 26:170-180 (1985), as being useful in assessing myocardial blood flow.
The structures of the chelators described supra are presented, in FIG. 4, for ease of reference.
While Viguier, et al., Eur. J. Inorg. Chem., 2001:1789-1795, incorporated by reference, discloses monofunctional TAME-based polyaminocarboxylic acids, the art does not describe any bifunctional chelating agents, based on TAME, which would be useful for radioimmuno imaging, or therapy. Similarly, there are no reports on TAME based, polyamino polycarboxylic acids.
It is a purpose of this invention to describe the synthesis of new chelators, based upon the basic TAME structure. This chelators are tripodol, and are bifunctional or monofunctional. When complexed with metal ions, for example, radioisotopes, such as 67Ga3+ and/or 68Ga3+, they are useful in the diagnostic and therapeutic modalities discussed supra.
Various features of the invention are described in the description which follows. | {
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With advancement of the science and technologies, wireless communication network technologies have been developed in succession to meet various demands on wireless communications. In recent years, machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless communication networks have emerged gradually. An M2M wireless communication network allows different apparatuses to communicate with and exchange data with each other with minimal human-machine interactions. As an example, the M2M communication may be applied in dynamic electrocardiogram (ECG) to monitor a subject's physiological conditions by periodically uploading the subject's electrocardio response data. As another example, the M2M communication may be applied in a reservoir water level monitor to provide data for reference or to give an alert by periodically monitoring the water level of the reservoir.
However, an M2M wireless communication network comprises wireless apparatuses and a base station, and the number of the wireless apparatuses is usually very large. When wireless apparatuses are to set up connections with the base station, the wireless apparatuses must send connection requests to the base station individually. If the base station or an evolved packet core (EPC) network to which the base station connects is in a loadable status, it means that the base station is able to set up a connection with a wireless apparatus and then the base station transmits a connection setup signal back to the wireless apparatus so that the wireless apparatus transmits a connection setup complete signal to the base station. In this way, the connection is set up between the wireless apparatus and the base station so that the wireless apparatus can upload information to or download information from the base station.
If the base station or the EPC network to which the base station connects is in an overload status when the connection request is received by the base station, it means that the base station is currently unable to set up a connection with the wireless apparatus. Then, the base station transmits a connection reject signal back to the wireless apparatus. The connection reject signal, which carries a time length of a waiting duration, instructs the wireless apparatus to exit from the connection setup communication procedure and then transmit a retransmitted connection request to the base station after the waiting duration so as to start a new connection setup communication procedure again.
As can be known from the above descriptions, if the base station or the EPC network to which the base station connects is in an overload status continuously, the wireless apparatus will start new connection setup communication procedures repeatedly in the prior art. This will postpone the time for the wireless apparatus and the base station to set up a connection therebetween and lead to a signal overload status of the base station, which makes it impossible to efficiently set up a connection with the wireless apparatus. Accordingly, an urgent need exists in the art to provide a mechanism for an M2M wireless apparatus to set up a connection with a base station efficiently. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for silk screen printing on fabrics and particularly to a machine which is capable of printing multi-color repetitive patterns or designs on a plurality of articles with high precision.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Presently known multiple station silk screen printers include automated rotary tables having fabrics secured in platens which are moved around from station to station with a squeegee applying different colors through successive screens at each position. Heat may be applied at one station for drying the ink patterns, or the articles may be removed and passed through a separate heating chamber. A second type of multi-station printer, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,287,826, utilizes a supporting frame having moving upper and lower horizontal tracks carrying platens with articles which are automatically fed through loading, printing and end heating stations in a linear continuous operation. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,106,890 and 2,846,946 show similar longitudinal conveyor printing machines with devices for automatically moving a squeegee across a screen to apply different colors to work pieces at successive positions. The difficulty in achieving accurate registration when printing a pattern having a plurality of colors is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,500, which utilizes registration marks and photoelectric detectihg devices. Rotary, as well as longitudinal continuous feed printers, require phase adjustment mechanisms to obtain the necessary precision. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to conduit support structure and more particularly to a combination locking strip and buckle for securing one or more cables to a structural support in a manner permitting the cable to be secured in a selective position along the length of the structural support.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known to use interlocking clamp plates in suspending electrical cable, pipes, conduits and the like from a channel-shaped support member. Generally the clamp plates are curved to form a seat for the cable. The clamp plates are notched at one end to form a shoulder engageable with the flange of the channel member, and the opposite ends of the plates are bolted together so as to securely grip the cables. Examples of this type of cable hanger are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,145,962; 3,522,921; 3,532,311; 3,547,385; and 3,650,499.
The recognized disadvantage of the above described cable hanger is that the clamp plates are connected by threaded members and the like which are subject to damage when exposed to a corrosive environment. Corrosive damage to the metallic clamp plates and the threaded connection of a bolt to the plates can prevent effective reuse of the conduit hanger and substantially weaken the structural strength of the clamp plates. Also, if the threaded connection of the bolt to the plates becomes so corroded that it freezes the connection, movement of the cable hanger on the channel shaped support member for selective positioning of the cable can be substantially prevented.
As an alternative to the metallic clamping plates for securing cables to a channel member, it is known to use flexible bands to secure cables, such as pipes or conduits, to a channel member as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,633,857. One of the primary advantages of this type of cable connecting device is the use of flexible bands which are non-metallic and are not subject to corrosion. The bands are easily adjustable to accommodate a plurality of cables. The bands extend through spaced slots provided in the base portion of a channel member to secure the conduits in a selected position on the channel member. U.S. Pat. No. 3,677,339 discloses a tube bank arrangement in which a plurality of tube coils is connected to a spacer bar by U-shaped tube clips which are retained in grooves of the spacer bar. Locking strips engage the tongues of the tube clips to retain the coils in the tube clips and secured to the spacer bar.
It is also well known to utilize nylon cable ties for securing together a plurality of cables, wires, hoses and the like. The nylon ties are particularly adaptable in corrosive environments because they are chemically resistant to solvents, alkalies, acids, oils and greases. Another device that is commercially available for gathering and directing single or groups of cables is a plastic cable holder having a gate for facilitating cable entry and preventing unintentional cable exit. The cable holder is adaptable for connection to a mounting panel. However, the above described cable ties and cable holders are not readily adaptable alone for securing cables and the like to a channel-shaped member.
Therefore, there is need for a cable hanger that is resistant to damage in a corrosive environment and sufficiently adaptable for securing cables and the like to a channel-shaped member where the hanger is easily assembled and disassembled and adjustable for selective positioning of the cables on the channel-shaped member. | {
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In typical commercial reproduction apparatus (electrographic copier/duplicators, printers, or the like), a latent image charge pattern is formed on a uniformly charged charge-retentive or photoconductive member having dielectric characteristics (hereinafter referred to as the dielectric support member). Pigmented marking particles are attracted to the latent image charge pattern to develop such image on the dielectric support member. A receiver member, such as a sheet of paper, transparency or other medium, is then brought directly, or indirectly via an intermediate transfer member, into contact with the dielectric support member, and an electric field is applied to transfer the marking particle developed image to the receiver member from the dielectric support member. After transfer, the receiver member bearing the transferred image is transported away from the dielectric support member, and the image is fixed (fused) to the receiver member by heat and/or pressure to form a permanent reproduction thereon.
A reproduction apparatus generally is designed to generate a specific number of prints per minute. For example, a printer may be able to generate 150 single-sided pages per minute (ppm) or approximately 75 double-sided pages per minute with an appropriate duplexing technology. Small upgrades in system throughput may be achievable in robust printing systems, however, the doubling of throughput speed is mainly unachievable without a) purchasing a second reproduction apparatus with throughput identical to the first so that the two machines may be run in parallel, or without b) replacing the first reproduction apparatus with a radically redesigned print engine having double the speed. Both options are very expensive and often with regard to option (b), not possible.
Another option for increasing reproduction apparatus throughput is to utilize a second print engine in series with a first print engine. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,245,856 discloses a tandem printing system which is configured to reduce image registration errors between a first side image formed by a first print engine and a second side image formed by a second print image. Each of the '856 print engines has a photoconductive belt having a seam. The seams of the photoconductive belt in each print engine are synchronized by tracking a phase difference between seam signals from both belts. Synchronization of a slave print engine to a main print engine occurs once per revolution of the belts, as triggered by a belt seam signal, and the velocity of the slave photoconductor and the velocity of an imager motor and polygon assembly are updated to match the velocity of the master photoconductor. Unfortunately, such a system tends to be susceptible to increasing registration errors during each successive image frame during the photoconductor revolution. Furthermore, given the large inertia of the high-speed rotating polygon assembly, it is difficult to make significant adjustments to the velocity of the polygon assembly in the relatively short time frame of a single photoconductor revolution. This can limit the response of the '856 system on a per revolution basis, and make it even more difficult, if not impossible, to adjust on a more frequent basis.
Therefore, it would be beneficial if there were a less expensive, yet reliable, method and system for enabling a user of a reproduction apparatus to double their simplex and/or duplex throughput while enabling tighter control over print engine synchronization. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method of forming an interlayer insulating film, and more particularly to an improved method thereof wherein the film can be formed uniformly on a substrate of large size.
2. Description of the Background Art
In a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, a step of forming an interlayer insulating film is indispensable. FIGS. 5A-5C are cross sectional views of a semiconductor device in respective process steps of forming a conventional interlayer insulating film.
Referring to FIG. 5A, an aluminum interconnection pattern 12 is formed on a silicon substrate 11. A first plasma oxide film 13 is then deposited on the silicon substrate 11 such that it covers the surface of the aluminum interconnection pattern.
Referring to FIG. 5B, a silicon oxide film 14 (interlayer insulating film) is formed by chemical vapor deposition using mixed gas including silane gas (SiH.sub.4) and hydrogen peroxide to cover the aluminum interconnection pattern.
Referring to FIG. 5C, a second plasma oxide film 15 is formed on the semiconductor substrate 11 to cover the silicon oxide film 14, thereby a planar insulating film is obtained.
The silicon oxide film 14 formed by CVD using silane gas and hydrogen peroxide can fill the space less than 0.25 .mu.m between densely patterned interconnections. Further, the silicon oxide 14 is excellent in fluidity and therefore shows a self planarization feature, so that this method attracts attention as the next generation way for planarizing an interlayer insulating film alternative to the conventional way employing SOG (Spin on glass). (Technical Digest of IEDM 1994, Proceedings of DUMIC Conference, 1995)
A silicon oxide film has been formed as described above by CVD using silane gas and hydrogen peroxide. However, in the LSI process, as the diameter of a substrate wafer becomes larger, to deposit an uniform film over such a large wafer has become extremely difficult. Even if an interlayer insulating film is formed by CVD using silane gas and hydrogen peroxide as described, the CVD method still has the same problem. Although attempts have been made to improve the uniformity of film thickness by modifying the structure of a reaction chamber and adjusting the conditions of forming a film, an appropriate method has not been established. | {
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Running, jogging, and walking have become increasingly popular as being a beneficial activity for losing weight, building muscle, and improving cardiovascular health. Studies have also recorded benefits to mental health and overall well-being for those who participate in regular cardiovascular activity. Many participants have access to outdoor trails, walks, running tracks, and other designated areas for exercise, including fitness clubs, gymnasiums, and exercise centers, but others cannot use these resources due to weather, costs, travel time, and home and family needs.
Over time, home exercise solutions have been developed to address the needs of fitness-conscious consumers who are home-bound, time-restricted, or budget-conscious. Home treadmills have allowed some consumers to bring running, jogging, and walking activities indoors, but are often a burden on the user due to their traditionally large size and weight, leaving few options for those with low available space and those who lack the strength to move around large and heavy machines. Many varieties of folding treadmills have been produced to allow a treadmill to compact into a smaller space when in a storage position. Such folding treadmills efficiently use space whether within a home or exercise center. However, even folding treadmills are not always convenient to place under existing furniture or within a small space within an office, home, or gym. The inclusion of a flywheel and electric motor is a significant factor in their size, contributing to a high profile of the treadmill, even while folded. Generally, treadmills also tend to have a high profile due to handlebars and status panel equipment adding thickness to the treadmill, even while stowed in a folded or collapsed position. The inclusion of wheels and other transportation features also tend to add thickness and weight to the treadmill.
One type of foldable exercise machine, including treadmills, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,987 to Donald Allemand. This reference describes a treadmill that is portable by folding into a relatively compact size when not in use. The treadmill has telescoping handles that can be reduced in size and release tension on the belt of the base when turned downward. The base also folds in half for storage with the handle being placed on top of the belt halfway across its top surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,471,622 to Rodney L. Hammer describes a treadmill having a motorized tread base and a folding handrail that folds relative to the tread base such that the treadmill achieves a low profile when the handrail is in a folded position. The treadmill includes: (i) a tread base, the tread base comprising first and second rollers and an endless belt movably trained about the first and second rollers; (ii) a motor coupled to the tread base, the motor also being movably coupled to the first roller such that the motor selectively turns the first roller, thereby causing the belt to move; and (iii) a handrail pivotally coupled to the tread base, the handrail selectively folding with respect to the tread base. In a preferred embodiment, the treadmill is less than about 8 inches in height when the handrail is in a folded position. Other types of low profile exercise machines are described in, for example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0123073 to Michael Olson, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,033,347 to William T. Dalebout, et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,923,747 to Yong S. Chu. Each of the above mentioned references are herein incorporated by reference in their entireties. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a light-emitting diode (LED) package structure, and in particular to an LED package structure that separately arranges a light-emitting die and a voltage regulation diode in different sections.
2. The Related Arts
A liquid crystal display (LCD) is a flat panel display (FPD) that uses the nature of liquid crystals to display an image and shows, as compared to other known displays, several advantages in respect of being light and thin, low drive voltage, and low power consumption, making it a main stream product in the whole consumer market. However, the liquid crystal used in the liquid crystal display does not emit light by itself and must be provided with an external light source. Consequently, a liquid crystal display is additionally combined with a backlight module to provide the desire light source.
Generally, the backlight module is classified in two forms, namely an edge type backlight module and a direct type backlight module. The existing backlight modules use a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL), a hot cathode fluorescent lamp (HCFL), or a semiconductor based lighting device to serve as a light source. The semiconductor based lighting device generally uses light-emitting diode (LED) to emit light and, as compared to the cathode fluorescent lamps, can reduce more power consumption and save more energy and has a longer service life and a compacter size, making it increasingly replace the cathode fluorescent lamps. The LEDs will be the main stream light source for the backlighting of future LCDs.
Currently, an LED is subjected to semiconductor packaging in the form of a die to make an LED package, which is eventually coupled to a retention board of a backlight module. Categories of the product package structure of LED are divided according to characteristic factors including light color, die material, brightness, and size. A single die often constructs a point light source, while a combination of multiple dies may form a planar light source or a linear light source to provide indication and display of message and status. A light-emitting display also uses multiple dies and is formed by proper connection of the dies (including series connection and parallel connection) and suitable optic structures, which constitute a light-emitting section and a light-emitting spot of the light-emitting display. Among these devices, a surface-mount-device (SMD) LED is laid flat on a surface of a circuit board, making it suitable for surface mounting technology (SMT) processing and allowing for reflow soldering so as to be capable of solving problems in association with brightness, view angle, planarity, reliability and consistency, and also making it possible to eliminate the carbon steel lead pins of the pinned LED and reduce the quantity of epoxy resin filled in the display reflective layer, due to adoption of printed circuit boards (PCBs) and reflective layer materials that are lighter. The SMD LED can easily reduce the product weight by half, making it perfect for final application. As a result, the SMD LED is increasingly replacing the pinned LED, making the application and design thereof more flexible and taking a certain share of the LED display market with a trend of accelerated development.
Reference is made to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a conventional light-emitting diode (LED) package structure. As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional LED package structure 90 comprises a housing 91, a first electrode plate 92, a second electrode plate 93, a light-emitting diode 94, a voltage regulation diode 95, and a light-transmitting package portion 96. The housing 91 has a top surface forming a cavity 911. The first electrode plate 92 has a portion exposed on a bottom of the cavity 911 and another portion extending outside the housing 91 for external electrical connection. The second electrode plate 93 has a portion exposed on the bottom of the cavity 911 and another portion extending outside the housing 91 for external electrical connection. The light-emitting diode 94 is exposed inside the cavity 911 and has a first electrode electrically connected to the first electrode plate 92 and a second electrode electrically connected to the second electrode plate 93 through a first lead 941. The light-transmitting package portion 96 fills the cavity 911 and encloses components located inside the cavity 911. Light from the light-emitting diode 94 is allowed to transmit through the light-transmitting package portion 96 for upward emission.
However, in the conventional LED package structure 90, to protect the light-emitting diode 94 from being punctured by static electricity, a single one or a set of voltage regulation diodes 95 is set in parallel connection therewith to solve the problem. Reference is made to both FIGS. 1 and 2, wherein FIG. 2 shows a schematic circuit diagram of the conventional LED package structure shown in FIG. 1. In the LED package structure 90, the voltage regulation diode 95 is set on the housing 91, namely on the second electrode plate 93, with a first electrode thereof located on the underside to electrically connect to the second electrode plate 93 and a second electrode located on the upper side electrically connected to the first electrode plate 92 through a second lead 951. In other words, the voltage regulation diode 95 and the light-emitting diode 94 are in parallel connection, wherein the voltage regulation diode 95 is arranged as being reversely biased. As such, the voltage regulation diode 95 provides a function of protecting the light-emitting diode 94 from being punctured by static electricity. However, the voltage regulation diode 95 is positioned on the second electrode plate 93, namely in the upper portion of the housing 91, and is thus located inside the light-transmitting package portion 96. Further, since the voltage regulation diode 95 has an outside appearance that is not light transmittable and is often of a black color, the voltage regulation diode 95 shows a characteristics of blocking and absorbing light, causing influence on some light flux of the light-emitting diode 94 and thus lowering the lighting performance of the LED package structure 90.
Thus, it is desired to provide an LED package structure that overcomes the existing technical problems. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
As a method of modulating a signal into carrier light using an optical amplifier, a method of modulating the intensity of pumping light to be supplied to an amplification medium, and modulating a gain is used. An erbium-doped optical fiber amplifier (EDFA) that uses an EDF (Erbium-Doped Fiber) for an amplification medium, and a Raman amplifier that uses an optical fiber using quartz for a base material, for an amplification medium, are used as optical amplifiers. Patent Document 1 and Nonpatent Literature 1 disclose that the Raman amplifier is more suitable than the EDFA, to execute modulation in a relatively high frequency.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-344732
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-311973
Nonpatent Literature 1: The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE) Communications Society Conference B-10-107 “Study on Gain Modulation Characteristics of Distributed Raman Amplification Line”, 2002 (Imai et., al.) | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates generally to apparatus for cutting threaded rods to any required lengths without ruining the threads thereon, and more specifically to a machine comprising a fixed and a movable cutting bit, the latter being power driven for linear travel past the fixed cutting bit for shearing threaded rods. Still more specifically, the invention deals with provisions in such shearing machines for preventing the jamming engagement of the movable cutting bit with the threaded rod when the rod is sheared.
Portable, power-driven shearing machines for threaded rods have been known in which both fixed and movable cutting bits have each a semicircular recess bearing a series of internal screw threads of the same pitch as that of the thread on the rod to be cut. The internal threads on the cutting bits are designed to mate with the thread on the rod being cut. As the movable cutting bit is thrust past the fixed cutting bit, as by a hydraulic cylinder of the familiar single acting, spring return type built into the machine, the threaded rod is cut by shearing action between the parallel cutting faces of the two cutting bits.
The shearing machines of the foregoing general construction offers the advantage that threaded rods can be readily cut to any required lengths without ruining the threads thereon, with the result that mating nuts can be smoothly turned onto such rod lengths. Conventionally, however, this advantage was limited only to cases where the machines were put to use with relatively small diameter rods. The machines had a serious drawback with larger diameter rods.
Any threaded rod undergoes elastic deformation when sheared, to an extent depending upon the diameter of the rod and the shearing force exerted thereon. The elastic deformation includes a component in the longitudinal direction of the rod, which component initially causes either of the separated sections of the rod to travel longitudinally away from the other rod section. Then the rod section in question recoils and, conventionally, has butted fast against either of the cutting bits. For this reason, the movable cutting bit has so far been easy to stick to either of the separated rod sections.
As has been mentioned, the shearing machines of the class under consideration usually employ a single acting, spring return hydraulic cylinder for driving the movable cutting bit back and forth past the fixed cutting bit because this type of cylinder is far less expensive than the double acting type. Consequently, on sticking to either of the rod sections as above, the movable cutting bit has conventionally been prone to become unretractable to its initial position under the force of the return spring, particularly when the rod is of relatively large diameter. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drive voltage adjusting method for an office-use or industrial-use ink jet printer with piezoelectric elements for ejecting ink on demand.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are thermal and piezoelectric type on-demand ink jet heads. Thermal type ink jet heads use heaters to boil a portion of ink filling the head, to generate a bubble. Ink is ejected by force of the expanding bubble. Piezoelectric type ink jet heads include a piezoelectric element that deforms a portion of an ink chamber wall, in order to apply pressure to ink in the chamber and eject an ink droplet.
Thermal type heads are advantageous because they can be formed using lithography to a fine nozzle pitch of 100 .mu.m or less. However, thermal type heads can only be driven at an ejection frequency of about 10 to 12 kHz during consecutive ejection. Also, only ink with a boiling point of about 100.degree. C. can be used as the ink to be ejected, which hinders broad use of thermal type heads in industry. In addition, thermal type heads uses a thin-film resistor with a protective layer deposited thereon to generate heat. Generally, because the thin-film resistor and/or the protective layer is corroded before ejecting one hundred millions dots, replacement of the head needs to be performed at a short interval.
With regard to piezoelectric type heads, piezoeleotric elements deform only in small amounts, so the diaphragm in the ink chamber must have a large surface area to produce sufficient deformation for ink ejection. As a result, the nozzle pitch of piezoelectric type heads can not be formed smaller than about 140 .mu.m at the present technology. However, piezoelectric type heads are well suited for high speed printing. That is, the drive frequency depends on the shape of the piezoelectric elements, so piezoelectric elements can be driven at a frequency of 20 kHz or more. Also. piezoelectric type heads are well adapted for industrial use, because in contrast to thermal type heads, they can be used to eject any type of ink and service life is much longer than that of the thermal type.
In a multi-nozzle ink jet printer, a head having a plurality of nozzles is mounted on a carriage, and the carriage is scanned in a horizontal direction across a recording sheet. The head is driven to print while the carriage is scanned horizontally across the recording sheet. Next, the recording sheet is transported in its lengthwise direction, that is, in a direction perpendicular to the horizontal direction. Then, the carriage is again scanned horizontally across the recording sheet. This cycle is repeated until images are printed across the entire recording sheet.
When all nozzles in the nozzle row are driven simultaneously and consecutively while the carriage is scanned across the recording sheet, then the resultant image will appear as a thick strip following the direction of the carriage scan direction. When the all nozzles in the nozzle row are driven simultaneously, but only intermittently while the carriage is scanned across the recording sheet, the resultant images appear as thin lines extending perpendicular to the direction of the carriage scan direction.
Multi-nozzle heads suffer from a problem called cross-talk. Cross-talk occurs when all nozzles of a nozzle row are fired simultaneously. When all nozzles are fired simultaneously, influence from adjacent nozzles changes the ejection speed, usually by reducing the ejection speed compared to when the nozzles are fired individually.
Because cross-talk changes the ejection speed of ink droplets, the position where the ink droplets impinge on the recording sheet can also vary. This can reduce the quality of printed images. The adverse effects of cross-talk are particularly noticeable when all nozzles in a nozzle row are intermittently driven simultaneously. FIG. 6 shows a line printed by driving all nozzles in a row simultaneously once. As can be seen, the resultant line is curved, rather than straight.
It can also be seen in FIG. 6 that the nozzles in the center of the row are more greatly affected by cross-talk. Ink droplets ejected from the nozzles of the center of the row impinge on the recording sheet at positions downward from positions where ink droplets impinge from nozzles in the end of the nozzle row. This is because nozzles near the center of the row are more greatly influenced by cross-talk so that ejection speed of droplets from nozzles in the center of the row is more greatly reduced. In contrast, nozzles near the end of the row are relatively uninfluenced by cross-talk, so that ink droplets ejected from the end nozzles have relatively small reduction in the ejection speed. Because the different nozzles are affected differently, the ink droplets impinge at positions shifted from each other on the recording medium. As a result, a printed line that should be straight is actually curved.
The reason for this is that the drive conditions of the nozzles are individually determined to achieve a desired ejection speed and influence of cross-talk is not taken into account when all the nozzles are driven simultaneously.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. HET-10-119260 discloses a configuration with a compensation piezoelectric member for reducing cross-talk. However, this configuration requires provision of the compensation piezoelectric member. Also, in order to eject ink properly, it is necessary to drive the compensation piezoelectric member by applying compensation drive voltages in complete or substantial synchronization with operations for reducing and increasing pressure in the ink chambers. This requires addition of control circuitry for the compensation piezoelectric member. As a result, cost for producing the configuration increases. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of fusion splicing optical fibers, and more specifically, to the fusion splicing of thermally dissimilar glass fibers, that is glass fibers with substantially different softening temperatures.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of fiber optics, fiber splicing is a well-known and widely practiced technique. Typically, the fibers are brought close to each other and aligned so that their cores are coaxial with each other. Heat is transferred to both fiber ends by a filament around the end of the fiber or an electric arc between two electrodes that are positioned on either side of the axis of the two optical fibers. The heat is sufficient to soften the glass at the end of each of the two fibers. The optical fibers are then brought in contact and the hardening of the softened glass occurs as the temperature is lowered below the softening and glass transition temperatures to form a permanent bond between the fibers. See, for instance, D. L. Bisbee, “Splicing Silica Fibers with an Electric Arc”, Applied Optics, Vol. 15, No. 3, March 1976, pp. 796-798. These techniques have been designed for and used to fuse fibers that have the same or very similar material compositions, e.g. two standard silica fibers.
In many applications, two fibers having different glass compositions and substantially different softening temperatures must be fusion spliced. Typically, a specialty fiber of some sort is being fusion spliced to a standard silica fiber. The standard fusion splicing process must be modified to accommodate the difference in softening temperatures and provide a low loss (<0.3 dB), low back reflection (<−50 dB) and mechanically reliable fusion splice. See, for instance, A. Barnes et al., “Sapphire fibers: optical attenuation and splicing techniques,” Vol. 34, No. 30 Applied Optics, 20 Oct. 1995 pp. 6855-6858 discloses a capillary-tube splice technique for splicing sapphire fiber to silica fiber, Y. Kuroiwa et al., “Fusion Spliceable and High Efficiency Bi2O3-based EDF for Short-length and Broadband Application Pumped at 1480 nm,” Optical Fiber Communication, Optical Society of America, February, 2001, discloses a method of fusion splicing a bismuth oxide (Bi2O3) based Er doped fiber (Bi-EDF) to a silica telecom fiber, U.S. patent application Publication No. US 2001/0047668 A1 published on Dec. 6, 2001 discloses a method of fusion splicing Bismuth based glass fibers with standard silica fibers in which the fibers are aligned with their cleaved ends in contact and then asymmetrically heated, and U.S. patent application Publication No. US 2002/0164132 A1 published on Nov. 7, 2002 discloses heating the end of the fiber of lower melting point by conduction from the pre-heated end of the fiber of higher melting point.
Formation of a mechanically sound joint between thermally dissimilar fibers without degrading optical performance remains an elusive problem. Present techniques focus on optimizing the fusion splicing parameters, e.g. temperature and time, and post-treatment of the joint to improve mechanical strength. These techniques are limited and often ineffective and may degrade optical performance. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to packaging. More specifically, the invention relates to a multi-sided container or box made of corrugated paperboard. In particular, the invention relates to a corrugated paperboard tray for containing poultry products, wherein the tray has improved stacking strength and resistance to distortion from lateral forces applied to the sides or ends of the tray.
2. Prior Art
Various styles of paperboard boxes are known in the prior art for containing a variety of products. Conventional boxes may have four sides and be square or rectangular in plan view, or they may have eight sides, with opposed pairs of parallel side and end walls and diagonal corner panels oriented at 45xc2x0 to the longitudinal axis of the box and connecting adjacent side and end walls.
Examples of prior art eight sides boxes or trays are disclosed in applicant""s prior patents Des. 361,892 and 5,752,648. These boxes are designed for containing poultry pieces packed in ice, and are usually termed poultry trays. They are formed from a unitary blank of corrugated paperboard, and are sometimes coated on both sides with wax or other material to impart rigidity and resistance to water degradation. The diagonal corner panels subtend an angle of 45xc2x0 with respect to the longitudinal axis of the box.
Eight sided trays have greater compressive strength when stacked on top of one another, and exhibit less side wall bulge from the weight of the contents therein, than do four sided trays. However, because of the diagonally oriented corner panels, an eight sided tray tends to flex or distort, especially at the open top edge, when lateral force is applied to the sides or ends of the tray, as occurs for example when two eight sided trays are pushed together end-to-end during stretch wrapping of the trays to form a unit load. This distortion of the tray can result in dislodgement of the cover which is usually applied to the tray, or make it difficult to apply a cover. Additionally, these changes in dimension of the tray may cause other difficulties when the trays are palletized during shipment and/or storage. Additionally, there are no square corners on an eight sided tray around which a label can be wrapped so that it is visible from each of two adjacent sides.
Accordingly, there is need for a tray that has superior stacking strength and resistance to distortion when transverse forces are applied to the ends or sides of the tray.
The tray of the invention has stacking strength superior to a four sided container, and resistance to distortion superior to an eight sided container when transverse forces are applied to the ends of the tray.
In one embodiment of the invention, for a tray having diagonal corner panels, the diagonal corner panels are oriented from about 35xc2x0 to about 40xc2x0, and in a preferred embodiment 38xc2x0, with respect to the longitudinal axis of the tray. The shallower angle of the corner panels, compared with the conventional 45xc2x0 angle, changes the resultant force vector slightly toward the ends of the tray, increasing resistance to distortion from force applied to the ends of the tray. The shallower angle of the corner panels also results in wider corner panels and concomitant shorter side panels, with comparable or even improved stacking strength over similarly sized eight sided trays with the diagonal corner panels oriented at 45xc2x0. These beneficial results are obtained in trays having six, seven or eight sides, for example, with two, three or four diagonal corner panels, respectively.
In an alternate embodiment, for a tray having diagonal corner panels, at least one corner of the tray is squared. Thus, an eight sided tray, for example, is modified to have one square corner, producing a seven sided tray, or two diagonally opposite corners are made square to produce a six sided tray. The remaining diagonal corner panels may be oriented at any angle, including 38xc2x0 or 45xc2x0 relative to the longitudinal axis of the tray, although if oriented at 38xc2x0 some of the benefits discussed above can be additionally obtained. Although the seven sided tray resists distortion caused by lateral force applied to the side or end of the tray, the resistance is not as great as that provided by the six sided tray. Both the six sided tray and the seven sided tray provide a square corner around which a label can be wrapped so that it is visible from two adjacent sides of the tray. The seven sided tray can be formed from the same blank size as the standard eight sided package, and neither its machine nor manual assembly is any more complicated than the standard eight sided package. Further, the top to bottom compression resistance of the seven sided tray is 10% to 25% greater than a standard four sided tray.
In the six sided tray, the two diagonal corner panels not squared are lengthened approximately 30% as compared with a conventional eight sided tray of comparable size. The longer diagonal corner panels increase the top to bottom compression strength of the six sided tray so that it is about the same as a similar size eight sided tray. This compression performance of the six sided tray was unexpected. Moreover, better fit of the cover was obtained because of the two diagonally opposed square corners. Further, machine conversion from four sided to six sided is easier than from four sided to eight sided. The six sided tray may be adapted for either machine set up or manual set up.
The invention is a simple, economical and effective way to maintain stacking strength and improve resistance to distortion from force applied laterally to the sides or ends of trays having diagonal corner panels. Trays incorporating the invention, whether orienting the diagonal corner panels at 38xc2x0, or squaring at least one corner, or both, can be produced and generally handled with existing machinery. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved shelf mounting system and to improved parts for such a shelf mounting system or the like as well as to a method of making such a shelf mounting system.
2. Prior Art Statement
It is known to provide a shelf mounting system wherein a shelf unit is mounted to one side of a wall means solely by a plurality of rigid hangers interconnected by interconnecting portions thereof to the shelf unit and having installing portions thereof respectively disposed in a plurality of openings of the wall means and bearing against the other side of the wall means or being received in studs or the like of the wall structure.
For example, see the following seven U.S. patents:
(1) U.S. Pat. No. 1,636,364--Hoegger PA1 (2) U.S. Pat. No. 2,542,753--DeSwart PA1 (3) U.S. Pat. No. 2,909,352--VanBuren,Jr. PA1 (4) U.S. Pat. No. 3,333,555--Kapnek PA1 (5) U.S. Pat. No. 3,527,175--Kapnek PA1 (6) U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,088--Kapnek PA1 (7) U.S. Pat. No. 4,103,854--Pliml et al. PA1 (8) U.S. Pat. No. 2,789,783--Jones PA1 (9) U.S. Pat. No. 3,094,892--Topf PA1 (10) U.S. Pat. No. 3,289,992--Brooks
It is also known to provide a generally J-shaped mounting hanger.
For example, see the following U.S. patent:
It is also known to provide peg board mounting hangers.
For example, see the following two U.S. patents: | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
There has hitherto been known a power transfer device that includes a counter shaft disposed in parallel with an input shaft of a speed change mechanism, a differential device (differential gear) that has a ring gear (differential ring gear) disposed below the counter shaft and meshed with an output gear of the counter shaft, a case member that houses the speed change mechanism and the differential device, and a differential partitioning member that partitions a space in the case member into a differential chamber, in which the differential device is housed, and a storage chamber, in which oil (working oil) is stored (see Patent Document 1, for example). In the power transfer device, the differential partitioning member is composed of a part of the case member, a rib member provided to extend along the outer peripheral surface of the ring gear from the case member, and a hemispherical reservoir plate disposed so as to cover the differential device from the side opposite to the case member and tightly contact the inner peripheral surface of the rib member. Consequently, in the power transfer device, an inflow of oil from the storage chamber into the differential chamber is suppressed by the differential partitioning member. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Malignant tumor is one of the common diseases that threaten human health, and ranks first among all diseases in terms of mortality rate. Regarding anti-tumor drugs available in current clinical application, their toxicity is a prominent problem in tumor chemotherapy. Improving the effectiveness of tumor treatment and simultaneously reducing drug toxicity are the key study subjects on current cancer drugs.
Cytidine derivatives having anti-tumor effects includes cytarabine and gemcitabine. Cytarabine is turned into active triphosphate cytarabine in the body to achieve anti-cancer effect. Triphosphate cytarabine prevents DNA synthesis and inhibits cell growth by inhibiting NDA polymerase and inserting a small amount of DNA, which is mainly used for the treatment of acute myeloblastic leukemia. However, cytarabine has comparatively great toxic side-effects, which may cause bone marrow suppression, white blood cell reduction and thrombocytopenia to the hematopoietic system. Aplastic anemia or megaloblastic anemia may occur in severe cases. Hyperuricemia may occur for the patient with leukemia or lymphoma inearly treatment, and uric acid nephropathy may occur in severe cases.
Gemcitabine is a derivative of deoxycytidine, and is similar to cytarabine in structure and metabolism. Gemcitabine is, through nucleoside monophosphate kinase in the cell, catalyzed into activated Dipridecyl diphosphate (dFdCDP) and Tripolytic acid triphosphate (dFdCTP), and dFdCTP impedes DNA synthesis through inhibiting DNA polymerase. The DNA chain discontinues to extend clue to the incorporation to DNA, thereby inhibiting the growth of tumor cells.
Gemcitabine is applicable for pancreatic cancer (primary and secondary treatments), non-small cell lung cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. However, the toxicity of gemcitabine is also relatively great. Its adverse reactions are bone marrow suppression, such as leucopenia, thrombocytopenia and anemia; gastrointestinal reactions such as mild nausea, vomiting and abnormal liver function; fever, flu-like symptoms, fatigue, mucositis and so on.
After the above-mentioned cytidine derivatives enter the human body, the tumor cells will produce multi-drug resistance gene. Besides, the amino on the ring are easily acetylated, causing loss of compound anticancer activity and other resistance factors. The above-mentioned cytidine derivatives have great toxic side-effects, and tend to produce drug resistance.
In order to reduce the toxicity of cytarabine and gemcitabine, and improve or maintain anti-tumor efficacy, researchers modify the chemical structure of cytidine derivatives.
For example, Synthesis and Biological Activity of a Gemcitabine Phosphoramidate Prodrug (J. Med. Chem 2007, 50, 3743-3746; Weidong Wu) reported a kind of gemcitabine phosphate prodrug.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,265,096 B2 (application Ser. No. 10/701,965) disclosed gemcitabine prodrugs, pharmaceutical compositions and uses thereof. This article substituted the amino of gemcitabine, hydrogen atom of hydroxyl and hydrogen atom of hydroxymethyl on ribofuranose. The hydrogen atom of hydroxymethyl on the ribofuranose was substituted by H, acyl, substituent acyl, acyloxy-carbonyl, substituent acyloxy-carbonyl, oxy-carbonyl and substituent oxy-carbonyl; the hydrogen atom of hydroxyl on the ribofuranose was substituted by H, acyl, substituent acyl, acyloxy-carbonyl, substituent acyloxy-carbonyl, oxy-carbonyl and substituent oxy-carbonyl; the amino was substituted by —N═C(R10)(R11) or —NHR12, wherein, R12 was C5-C9 acyl or C5-C9 substituent acyl. The compound prepared by this patent is a prodrug that only exhibits anti-tumor activity after transformation in the body. In addition, clinical studies discover that gemcitabine prodrug has high toxicity and low anti-tumor activity, which is not yet developed as a medicine. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to a system for detecting contraband.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In recent years, the detection of contraband, such as explosives, being transported in luggage and taken onto various means of transportation has become increasingly important. Advanced Explosive Detection Systems (EDSs) have been developed that can not only see the shapes of the articles being carried in the luggage but can also determine whether or not the articles contain explosive materials.
These detection systems include computed tomography (CT) machines. There are also explosive detection devices (EDDs) based on other technologies such as quadrupole resonance (QR). EDDs differ from EDSs in that the former cannot find the whole range of explosives as specified by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The EDDs and/or EDSs are typically manufactured by different companies and compute results in a way unrelated to each other.
To improve the performance of explosive detection systems, one approach is to combine multiple systems. In order to fuse the data from the different systems in a meaningful way, a tedious process of collecting joint data, designing a tailored data fusion algorithm, and subsequently tuning this algorithm is required. Additionally, in order for one to be able to accomplish this, he or she may have a very intimate knowledge of how each of the EDDs and EDSs work. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A commutator motor generally comprises a stator having a plurality of stator poles and a rotor having a rotor shaft, a rotor core fixed to the shaft, a commutator fixed to the shaft and a rotor windings wound about poles of the rotor core and electrically connected to segments of the commutator. Brushes transfer electrical power to the windings via the commutator. The number of brushes generally increases with an increase in the number of the stator poles. For example, a two pole motor usually has two brushes, and a four pole motor usually has four brushes. The increase in the number of brushes increases the cost as well as the size of the motor.
As is known, wave winding is one methods to reduce the number of brushes. However, traditional wave windings require the motor to have a rotor with an odd number of winding slots and a commutator with an odd number of segments, and also require the number of the winding slots (rotor poles) as well as the number of segments to be not a multiple of the number of stator poles. Therefore, wave windings are limited to some specific motors. Further more, traditional wave windings are wound by a winding machine using a single flyer due to the odd number of coils, which takes more time than using a dual flyer winding machine.
It is desired to develop an improved multi-pole motor, particularly a motor which has an even number of segments. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The Luer Taper is a standardized system of small-scale fluid fittings used for making leak-free connections between a male-taper fitting and its mating female part on medical and laboratory instruments, including hypodermic syringe tips and needles or stopcocks and needles. Named after the 19th century German medical instrument maker Hermann Wulfing Luer, it originated as a 6% taper fitting for glass bottle stoppers. Key features of Luer Taper connectors are defined in the ISO 594 standards. It is also defined in the DIN and EN standard 1707:1996 and 20594-1:1993.
There are two varieties of Luer Taper connections: Luer-Lok and Luer-Slip. Luer-Lok fittings are securely joined by means of a tabbed hub on the female fitting which screws into threads in a sleeve on the male fitting. Luer-Slip fittings simply conform to Luer taper dimensions and are pressed together and held by friction (they have no threads). Luer components are manufactured either from metal or plastic and are available from many companies worldwide.
As mentioned above, the Luer connectors are defined in the ISO 594 standard. This standard like many is written by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the worldwide federation of national standards bodies (ISO member bodies).
In the 1990s concern grew in the federation regarding the proliferation of medical devices fitted with Luer connectors and the reports of patient death or injury arising from misconnections that resulted in the inappropriate delivery of enteral solutions, intrathecal medication or compressed gases. Concerns regarding the use of Luer connectors with enteral feeding tubes and gas sampling and gas delivery systems were raised with the European Committee for Standardization (CEN/BT) and the European Commission. In November 1997 the newly created CHeF steering group set up a Forum Task Group (FTG) to consider the problem. The FTG produced CEN Report CR 13825, which concluded that there is a problem arising from the use of a single connector design for a number of incompatible applications. In a coronary care unit there are as many as 40 connectors on the medical devices used with a single patient. Therefore it is not surprising that misconnections are made. Medical devices have for many years followed the established principle of “safety under single fault conditions”. Simply stated this means that a single fault should not result in an unacceptable risk. This principle is embodied in the requirements of numerous medical device standards. Extending this principle to the application of Luer connectors, i.e. that misconnection should not result in an unacceptable risk to a patient the FTG recommended that Luer connectors should be restricted to medical devices intended to be connected to the vascular system or a hypodermic syringe. In addition, new designs of small-bore connectors should be developed for other applications, and these should be non-interconnectable with Luer connectors and each other.
In reaction to this defined need, during the past few years a new set of standards have been developed with the standard ISO/ICE 80369-(1); “Small-bore connectors for liquids and gases in healthcare applications” defining the general requirements for connectors used with fluids in the medical environment, where “Part 2” defines the specific connectors for “breathing systems and driving gases for respiratory use.” This category includes connectors for Capnography, which is the monitoring of the concentration or partial pressure of CO2 in respiratory cases.
In Part 2, the requirements for connectors used with breathing systems and driving gasses are provided including definition and dimensions of a recommended new connector for this purpose. In this document, the concept, shape and dimensions of the proposed connector fittings are similar to the original Luer connectors defined in ISO 594, but its dimensions are enlarged by some 30%, sufficiently in order that the newly proposed connector cannot be mated with its original version. The tapered Luer connector as defined in the original ISO 594 standard was retained for use with infusion systems only. In fact, a third connector design using the same concept and shape, but with smaller dimensions is defined for a third group of connectors intended for use with enteral applications. Again, the dimensions have been chosen so that inter-connectivity among different types of connectors is prevented.
Even in the era when ISO 594 was used to define Luer connectors for breathing systems, and consequently for Capnography applications, it was noted that the defined design for the Luer may not have been optimal for Capnography. Somewhat unique to Capnography, where accurate display of the CO2 waveform as created by ever changing inhalation and exhalation stages of breathing is necessary, major attention must be given to how the sampled breath is transferred from the patient to the measuring device. The sampling technique must ensure that the waveform fidelity and shape of the changing CO2 concentration is kept by using very constant laminar flow with an undisturbed wave-front. Such disturbances are magnified if the gas flow passes via rough tubing, liquid filters, or sections of varying diameter in the tubing, conduits or connectors, abrupt changes in direction and irregularities etc. A measure of merit for the system ability to transfer the sampled breath from the patient to the measuring sensor of the Capnograph is the system Rise Time (sometimes referred to as the response time). A fast rise time is indicative of a well designed transfer of the sampled breath, while a slow rise time is indicative of a poor transfer of the breath suffering from the disturbing features defined above.
It is noted in Patent application No. US 2008/0284167; Low volume fittings: that the defined shape and dimensions dictated by the ISO 594 standard do not lend themselves to providing a fast rise time because of inevitable changes in the gas flow conduit diameter of the mating connectors. This is a result of the fact that a preferred diameter for the internal conduit used for transmitting the sampled gas is 1 mm, especially for a Capnograph that uses low gas sampling flow rates, e.g. 50 ml/min. This is further worsened by material choice, since the common material used for producing these connectors is plastic as it is more economic and appropriate for disposable components With plastic it is difficult to control tolerances of the 6% tapered cone, and these differences in tolerance dictate differences in the matching and final position of the two mated fittings. The problem can be seen in FIGS. 1 (A, B and C), which shows Luer connectors according to the prior art. Luer connector 10 includes a 6% tapered Luer male connector 12 and Luer female connector 14 having an inner a 6% tapered cone. When the matched fittings (Luer male connector 12 and Luer female connector 14) are coupled, there still remains a conduit section of length E that may change because of the inherent tolerances that are inevitable when producing mass production, plastic parts, for example, between E min (FIG. 1A), E avg. (FIG. 1B) and E max (FIG. 1C). These E values are defined in the standard and must be maintained when manufacturing Luer connector. E max, for that matter, may be defined as the largest (worst) length of conduit that is formed between the Luer male connector and Luer female connector that is still acceptable by the standard.
This drawback is increased considerably with the new pending standard, ISO/CD 80369-1.2, where as mentioned, the new dimensions proposed are even larger, creating an even larger change in diameters and consequently distorting further the wave-front and producing an even slower rise time. Tests performed with Aluminum connectors representative of the maximum, mean and minimum tolerances (see Table 1 hereinbelow) as defined in the new standard have shown up to a 180 msec increase in rise time, meaning a much slower rise time. Such an increase would mean that requirements and performance parameters for rise time defined in Capnograph specifications will become non-compliant.
TABLE 1Male and Female Aluminum Cones for Large LuerConnector Simulators Rise Time Tests:SamplesParametersAluminium ConesStandard LuersRangeMaxmeanMinMeanLd. sp. int, mm3.51.8~0.02.3Response Time188±19 92±9 6±7 9±9Tested Samples:Aluminium Cones:Male - min & max deviations(ID = 5.2).Female - min & maxdeviations.Standard Luer Locks:Typical Male (ID = 4.0) andFemale.Symbols for given dimensions:Ld. sp. int. - Male to FemaleCones distanceinternal dimensions.Testing Conditions:Qsampl. ~50 mL/min.Amb.: 24° C.; 33%; 931 mBar.Testing Device:Capnosat Capnograph (tubingdirect to sensor)(RT)Back. ~45 mSec - minimum RiseTime background.
An attempted solution to this problem is provided in patent application No. US 2008/0284167; Low volume fittings. However, this approach cannot be used to solve the issue while still remaining compliant to the new standard: ISO/CD 80369-1.2. For example; see FIGS. 1D and 1E showing a Luer connector 100 as described in patent application: No. US 2008/0284167. It is proposed to increase the length of the 6% tapered Luer male connector 102, with an elastomeric material 106 that protrudes away from Luer male connector 102 by a distance F away from top 108 to a distal surface 110. As a result, when the matched fittings (Luer male connector 102 and Luer female connector 104) are coupled, elastomeric (soft) material 106 is squeezed from distance F to distance E and a reduced length of large diameter is accomplished and the extended elastomeric material would prevent the previously inevitable region of larger diameter conduit and thereby reducing it to a minimum. Such a solution is not permissible with the new standard, since the extended elastomeric section of the tapered male Luer, and its reducing diameter with length (6% taper) could easily be pushed into the female connector of a smaller sized Luer. As explained, three sized Luers with similar 6% tapered cones are expected to be introduced, but their sizes are such that when rigid materials as required are used, a larger size Luer cannot mate with a smaller defined size. This would not be the case with the proposed solution in the said application (US 2008/0284167).
To prevent such miss-connection, the new standard requirements dictate the use of rigid materials as well as an absolute dimension for the diameter of the male and female cone edge i.e. the diameter of the female side input edge and male inserting edge noted with the letter “d” for the male side and “D” for the female side. FIG. 2 shows such small-bore connector and its corresponding dimensions (summarized in Table 2 herein below) as appeared in standard ISO/ICE 80369-2.
TABLE 2aISO/ICE 80369-2 - RESP-125 dimensions of male small-bore connector(dimensions are in mm unless otherwise indicated).DimensionRef.DesignationMinimumNominalMaximumaAngle of taper (degrees) (6% taper nominal) 3.44°3.44° 3.52°bThread angle of male lock fitting50° 50.0°55° dDiameter at the tip of the male taper 6% 4.8514.902 4.953eLength of male taper 8.5098.636 8.763fInner diameter at the tip of the male taper 6%1.0 1.952.9 hMajor diameter of internal thread of male lock 9.0399.166 9.293fitting (diameter at thread root)jMinor diameter of internal thread of male lock 7.7477.8748.01fitting (diameter at thread crest)kThread width of male lock fitting at root1.061.191.32LLength of taper engagement5.085.085.70mWidth between thread flanks at root1.221.3501.48nWidth between thread flanks at crest1.831.962.08oThread lead, (mm per 360° revolution)4.955.085.21Right-hand trapezoidal thread is double start,5, 1 mm per revolution)pPitch on internal trapezoidal tread2.412.542.67qThread width of male lock fitting at crest0.460.580.71rProjection of nozzle from collar2.162.292.41sThread length from collar end of male lock fitting7.5 7.67.8 uInner diameter at the fluid lumen (recommended)2.402.552.70wWidth of majr projections13.4 13.513.8 xAngle of inner lumen taper of the male taper 6% 1.80°2.00° 2.20°yInner diameter at the end of the male taper 6%2.582.712.84zLength of inner lumen inside the male taper 6%9.8 9.910.0 (f to y)NR—not restricted
In addition to the issue of conduits with changing diameters that occur when connecting the Luer fittings that comply with the standard, and the slower rise times that they promote, a further issue with these type connectors, is that they may incur leaks that will introduce erroneously low CO2 concentrations measurements because of dilution. This is found more so with the Luer lock version, i.e. the version where correct mating is realized by screwing the two mating fittings together firmly. In the hospital and emergence environment, the number of tasks required and the limited time available together with the state of emergency often create a situation where connectors are not mated securely and firmly. This results, as mentioned in even larger regions of increased diameters as well as, in some cases leaks with their negative effect on the readings. Though the user is required to feel the positive feedback received when the fittings are screwed on correctly, the conditions in the medical environment often do not lend themselves for the user to be sensitive to this feedback.
Hence there is an important need to find an economical means for structuring and mating two fittings for use with Capnograph monitors and their patient interfaces that comply with all the relevant ISO standards, and that incur only a negligible and minor increase in rise time and will provide a means for permitting gas flow between them only when this condition has been realized without the need for the user to control it.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the figures. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to a device for the illumination of a passive display element.
Various constructions of the devices for the illumination of passive display elements of the type under consideration have been known in the art. German patent publication DE-OS No. 31 45 127 discloses the device in which the passive display element is illuminated by direct through light. Although the known device is efficient this device requires a sufficient room, particularly in the direction of the depth of the device due to the fact that glow lamps utilized in this known device require relatively large space. It is also disadvantageous in the known device that such structural components as control blocks, are arranged only at the small peripheral portion in the region of the display element. This means that a complex path of the wiring from the display device is required.
A further device for the illumination of the passive display element has been described in German patent publication DE-OS No. 3,117,783. The light guide system in this known device is, however, relatively voluminous. Although fairly flat display elements are realizable the photoconductors available on the market have still relatively large width. This is particularly disturbing when a number of display elements should be accommodated in a narrow space. Finally, U-shaped light guide systems have been proposed. In such systems light emanated by a glow lamp is coupled via both arms of the light guide system from both sides of the field of visibility. The disadvantage of this system is a large volume of the photoconductive system resulted from the U-shaped design and also a large depth of the construction. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
IVR systems are a communications technology that allow a computer to detect voice and touch tones during a normal phone call. An IVR system can respond with pre-recorded or dynamically generated audio to further direct callers on how to proceed with a customer service request. IVR systems can be used to control almost any function where the interface can be divided into a series of menu choices. IVR systems are typically used to service high call volumes, reduce cost and improve the customer experience. Examples of typical IVR applications include telephone banking and credit card transactions.
IVR systems may be monitored and updated for any of several reasons. For example, an IVR system may be updated to keep pace with changing business needs and changing customer service requests. Similarly, IVR systems may be updated in terms of improving an IVR system's performance. IVR system performance may be defined in any of several ways. For example, IVR system performance may relate to delivering better customer service by increasing customer satisfaction metrics. Similarly, IVR system performance may relate to improving customer containment within the IVR, thereby reducing the number of callers transferred to a live customer service representative (CSR). Regardless of the motivating factor, updating an IVR system to improve its performance may be referred to as tuning the IVR system.
Because IVR systems are computerized systems that address large call volumes and generate numerous data records, monitoring and analyzing such IVR systems may pose a challenge in terms of information management. Various analysis packages have been developed that allow an IVR system analyst to review data recorded from the IVR system and make decisions regarding where best to tune the IVR system. Some such analysis packages segment calls from an IVR system by category so that companies can see the most common types of calls and where they may need to correct or improve a current business practice. Other types of analysis packages may record audio files from caller interactions with the IVR for future playback by an IVR system analyst. Still other analysis packages may map calls to graphically show their sequence and where callers may be experiencing difficulty with an IVR system.
While several analysis packages do exist to help IVR system analysts review the performance of an IVR system, these analysis packages are limited because they perform analysis from the IVR system's or IVR system analyst's point of view. These approaches do not explicitly include the caller's experience with the IVR, which may indicate the caller's state of mind, his environment, and the caller's hidden requirements that are not explicitly stated in the IVR. Hence, from the IVR system's or IVR system analyst's point of view, a call may be perfect with no errors, but the caller may still be unsatisfied. Hence, the outputs of the prior art analysis packages do not always address the callers' needs. Certain embodiments described further herein are designed to provide a solution to one or more of the weaknesses in IVR tuning technology set forth above. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Treatment of grassy surfaces, e.g., golf course putting greens, with liquid materials such as liquid fertilizers, pesticides, and the like, is presently effected by various methods. In one method, a hand-held spray nozzle connected to a remote tank by a supply hose is carried onto the surface and moved about by the operator to effect coverage. This method, while requiring a minimum of equipment, is laborious and results in non-uniform coverage since it is difficult for the operator to determine which areas have been treated resulting in some areas not being treated at all, with other areas receiving more than one application. Consequently, a non-uniform growth or other result is obtained which is not only unpleasing in appearance but, in the case of putting greens and the like, causes a non-uniform playing surface.
In another method, a wheeled, multi-nozzle sprayer connected to a remote tank by a supply hose is pushed over the surface by the operator. While this method permits a somewhat more accurate application of liquid to the surface, it is highly laborious, often requiring a second operator to pull the hose. Furthermore, non-uniform coverage still results since the degree of application is related to the walking speed of the operator.
A third approach has been to employ a vehicular sprayer having a supply tank communicating with multiple spray nozzles to direct liquid onto the surface. While utilization of a sprayer of this nature is fast and permits generally uniform coverage, it is difficult to operate within the confines of a putting green, tends to compact the surface due to the weight of the liquid causing ruts and inhibiting the growth of grass, and requires frequent refilling because of the inherent limits on supply tank capacity. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Cardiac arrhythmias are a leading cause of stroke, heart disease and sudden death. The physiological mechanism of arrhythmia involves an abnormality in the electrical conduction of the heart. There are a number of treatment options for patients with arrhythmia which include medication, implantable devices, and minimally invasive procedures.
Minimally invasive procedures, such as catheter ablation, have evolved in recent years to become an established treatment for patients with a variety of supraventricular and ventricular arrhythmias. A typical minimally invasive procedure involves mapping of the heart tissue in order to identify the site of origin of the arrhythmia followed by a targeted ablation of the site. Other minimally invasive procedures involve the delivery of biological agents such as cells or genes as a form of therapy to the identified site of origin of the arrhythmia. The procedure takes place in an electrophysiology laboratory and takes several hours, most of which is spent mapping the electrical conduction in the heart.
Conventional 3D mapping techniques include contact mapping and non-contact mapping. In contact mapping techniques one or more catheters are advanced into the heart. Physiological signals resulting from the electrical activity of the heart are acquired with one or more electrodes located at the catheter distal tip after determining that the tip is in stable and steady contact with the endocardium surface of a particular heart chamber. Location and electrical activity is usually measured sequentially on a point-by-point basis at about 50 to 200 points on the internal surface of the heart to construct an electro-anatomical depiction of the heart. The generated map may then serve as the basis for deciding on a therapeutic course of action, for example, tissue ablation, to alter the propagation of the heart's electrical activity and to restore normal heart rhythm. Although the electrode(s) contacting the endocardium surface enable a relatively faithful acquisition of physiological signals with minimal signal degradation, contact-based mapping techniques tend to be time consuming since the catheter, and thus its electrodes, have to be moved to a relatively large number of locations in the heart cavity to acquire sufficient data to construct the electro-anatomical depiction of the heart. Additionally, moving the catheter to different locations so that the catheter's electrode(s) touch the endocardium is a cumbersome process that is technically challenging. Further complicating the contact-based mapping methodology is the occurrence of unstable arrhythmias condition. Particularly, ventricular tachyarrhythmias may compromise the heart's ability to circulate blood effectively. As a result, the patient cannot be maintained in fast tachyarrhythmia's for more than a few minutes, which significantly complicates the ability to map during the arrhythmia. In addition, some arrhythmia's are transient or non-periodic in nature. Contact-based sequential mapping, therefore, is less suitable for mapping these arrhythmia's since the sequential contact-based methodology is predicated on the assumption that recorded signals are periodic in nature.
On the other hand, in non-contact-based mapping systems a multiple electrodes catheter is percutaneously placed in the heart chamber of interest. Once in the chamber, the catheter is deployed to assume a 3D shape. Using the signals detected by the non-contact electrodes and information on chamber anatomy and relative electrode location, the system provides physiological information regarding the endocardium of the heart chamber. Although non-contact mapping techniques can simultaneously acquire signals using the multiple electrodes catheter and thus enable faster reconstruction of the electrical activity on the endocardial surface, because the catheter's multiple electrodes are not in contact with the endocardium surface some loss of accuracy of the reconstructed map, which is proportional to the distance from the endocardium, occurs due to the degradation of the signals acquired by the multiple electrodes. Moreover, the computation of the complex transformations required to transform the signals acquired by the catheter's electrodes to determine the corresponding reconstructed information at the endocardium surface is relatively time consuming. Also, the accuracy of the reconstructed information is constrained by the number of electrodes that can be attached to the catheter. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
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