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Carboxymethyloxysuccinic acid, hereinafter referred to as CMOSA, is a known, highly biodegradable ether tricarboxylic acid which is conveniently prepared from maleic anhydride and glycolic acid as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,297 incorporated herein by reference. CMOSA is unique compared to the most similar, structurally analogous ether polycarboxylic acid, namely oxydiacetic acid. Thus, CMOSA is a relatively safe substance having known utility as a food acidulant and flavoring material (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,023) whereas oxydiacetic acid is a known toxic substance. Accordingly, introduction of a carboxymethyloxysuccinic acid residue into an organic molecule to obtain useful polyfunctionality while at the same time not impairing the biodegradability or safety characteristics of the molecule has become a desirable objective.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide methods for preparing the anhydrides and acid halides of carboxymethyloxysuccinic acid.
It is also an object of this invention to provide useful novel derivatives of the anhydrides and acid halides of carboxymethyloxysuccinic acid.
These and other objects will become apparent as the description proceeds.
The attainment of the above objects is made possible by the conversion of CMOSA into novel anhydrides and/or acid halides. The anhydride and acid halide products are reacted with selected active hydrogen compounds such as water, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, amines, alcohols, polyols, carbohydrates, amino acids and the like to produce a variety of useful derivatives of carboxymethyloxysuccinic acid. | {
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1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a fundus photographing apparatus that captures a tomographic image of the fundus of an examinee's eye.
2. Related Art
As a fundus photographing apparatus that captures a tomographic image of the fundus of an examinee's eye, optical coherence tomography (OCT) which uses low coherence light is known (see JP 2009-291252 A).
When such a device is used, the examiner adjusts the positional relationship (alignment state) between the examinee's eye and the device body by using an operating member, such as a joystick, prior to conducting photography. Then, the examiner presses a button on the device for starting optimization control, and the device starts photographing condition optimization control (optical path length adjustment, focus adjustment and/or polarization state adjustment (polarizer adjustment). | {
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Already in German Patent C 10 70 962, it was established that the rotational mobility of the heel part of the sole with respect to the forward part of the sole, in the sense of a wringing, is essential for an undisturbed sequence of development of the foot. In addition, in that publication it is described as known that the insole and/or the outsole of the footwear are provided in the area of the articulated point with cutouts that proceed from the edges of the sole and that may be filled by inserts, which may be made of a more pliant material than that of the in- or outsole. In the area of the articulated point the width of the sole, which is furnished with the inserts, corresponds roughly to the dimensions that are established by the vertical projection of the foot, so that the foot is protected by the base of the shoe. The overall depth of these cutouts may be smaller than the overall width of the sole in the area of the articulation, the cutouts being wider in the area of the edge of the sole than in the area of the interior of the sole. In place of a single cutout, it may be also possible to assign to each edge of the sole a plurality of cutouts running roughly transverse to the longitudinal direction of the sole, whose edges, bordering a cutout, essentially run parallel to each other and whose width corresponds at least to the thickness of the sole.
On the upper side of the sole a molded footbed support may be arranged, which may be bonded in one piece to the material of the inserts that fill out the cutouts. The cutouts here may be situated mainly on the outer edge of the foot, so that the sole of the forward area of the foot is connected via a roughly centered crosspiece to the outsole of the rear area of the foot.
From German Patent U 87 14 923, it is known to use anatomically shaped shoe soles, which are anatomically formed in a natural way in accordance with the imprint of a healthy foot and which can be used for all shoes. It can be seen from the drawing that the sole in the area of the transition between the heel and the forefoot may not be shaped in accordance with the outline of the foot, but rather in accordance with its contact surface. Therefore, in this area, there may be a reduction in the width. The problem of rotational mobility is not described.
From German Patent C 43 16 237, it is also known that a reinforcing element may be provided made of a fibrous material, which may be configured as a supporting plate and which also traces the foot contact surface in the area of the outer edge of the foot.
Despite the measures proposed here, it is believed that there remains a need for improvement in promoting unhindered physiological movement of the foot in all motions: | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to magnetic bearing suspensions for relatively rotatable elements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Magnetic bearing suspensions have been devised using various configurations of permanent magnets and electromagnets to provide stable suspension of rotating shafts or other devices, see, for example, "A Magnetic Journal Bearing", by F. T. Backers, Phillips Technical Review, Vol. 22, No. 7, 1960/61. Such a device comprises a plurality of permanent magnet discs which are radially polarized, thereby resulting in problems due to its radial repulsion design. First, the radially magnetized rings are very difficult to manufacture, especially in small sizes required for weight-effective designs. Second, local nonuniformity of magnetic strength produces flux variations and resulting eddy current and hysteresis losses when the suspended shaft is rotated, thereby resulting in large undesirable "friction" drag torques. | {
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Coatings are applied to paper and fillers are utilized in paints or paper to improve various qualities including printing quality and optical properties such as brightness, opacity and gloss. Sodium aluminosilicates are well known as paper pigments. An important group of sodium aluminosilicates are the composite products produced by the hydrothermal reaction between kaolin clay and alkali metal silicates as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,299. These composite products are described as altered kaolin clay platelets which have an integral rim or protuberance of essentially amorphous alkali metal silicate-kaolin clay reaction product. The composite compositions are structured materials in which the degree of structure is controlled depending on reaction conditions.
An improved structured sodium aluminosilicate composite paper pigment is described in PCT Publication WO92/03387 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,746. The structured sodium aluminosilicates described in these publications are produced by the reaction of sodium silicates and kaolin clay under hydrothermal conditions. The composite products are characterized by having low oil absorption values and high total pore volumes. These products offer high performance properties despite their low oil absorption characteristics.
The present invention provides an improved group of structured pigments which have optimum pore structures and improved slurry rheology at higher solids contents than the prior art. | {
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In Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing OFDM, which is used particularly in WLAN radio networks, such as those functioning in accordance with the IEEE 802.11 Standard as well as for HiperLAN, a method is used in which simultaneously a number of carrier frequencies, also simply referred to as carriers, are employed for the transmission of a digital signal. However, these carrier frequencies are only modulated with a reduced transmission rate in relation to the overall transmission rate available (across all carriers).
For this purpose, the frequency band available for OFDM is subdivided into a number of (sub)carrier bands. The carrier frequency spacing is governed by the transmission rates.
An OFDMA-based access scenario in a system with a number of users (Multiple User system) is based on the approach of assigning each of the users their own OFDM sub-carrier.
In a system of this type and under real transmission conditions crosstalk effects between the carriers arise, also referred to as ICI (Inter-Channel Interferences).
ICI is produced in this case both as a result of a doppler shift arising from the movement of mobile terminals and also as a result of an oscillator phase noise.
In an OFDM system, the so-called “downlink,” which in mobile communications generally identifies communication going from a base station to a mobile station, both the doppler shift as well as the part of the oscillator phase noise generally corrected/compensated in the receiver, which is called Common Phase Error (CPE), is the same for all carrier frequencies of the sub-carrier bands, so that for this communication direction no access problem triggered by the OFDMA principle arises.
A system and a method is known here from US 2002/0105901 A1 in which, by forming the signal waves, a manipulation of the spectrum of an OFDM signal is achieved.
From Staamoulis et al: “Space-time block codes OFDMA with linear preceding for multirate services,” IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, January 2002, a system is known which eliminates a multi-user interference in an OFDMA system.
From EP 0 938 208 an OFDMA/TDMA system is known with a number of users, in which sub-carriers in edge areas of a sub-carrier band are not modulated, in order to eliminate interference on adjoining frequency slots.
In the “uplink,” a term generally used in mobile communication to designate the communication going in the opposite direction, from a mobile station to a base station, the problem arises of the doppler shifts not being constant over all sub-carriers as a result of the different relative speeds of the mobile subscribers. In addition, the phase noise or the correctable part of the phase noise for this communication direction is uncorrelated as a rule since it is predominantly generated by the unsynchronized oscillators of the individual users.
The Inter Channel Interference produced by the doppler shift as well as the phase noise with his/her communication direction represents, in an OFDMA-based uplink a limitation of the transmission characteristics which can go as far as resulting in a complete failure of the system.
Accordingly, the present invention seeks to specify a method as well as an arrangement which make possible an essentially interference-free OFDMA access in the uplink. | {
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The present invention relates to the protection of interior wall, window, and adjacent floor surfaces in and around a paint spray booth. The manufacture of many goods requires the application of a decorative finish, either for appearance or protection. The application of a decorative finish is usually performed inside an enclosed area or spray booth. Generally, a spray booth encompasses a sealed chamber with a clean air supply and removal system. The item to be painted is placed inside the booth, and application of the paint is accomplished via hand or automatic spray equipment. Due to paint transfer efficiencies of usually 60% at best, a good deal of the sprayed paint becomes entrained in the booth air flow and ultimately is deposited on the interior surfaces and equipment inside the spray booth. This uncured paint "overspray" fouls the walls and floor and is easily tracked outside the paint booth by workers' shoes and equipment. If allowed to accumulate, this overspray limits visibility through windows in the spray booth, reduces airflow in the booth by narrowing the gap in floor grates, and creates unsafe work conditions by making walking surfaces and equipment slippery. This is especially true in the automotive assembly industry where the uncured paint overspray remains wet unless cured via heating.
Dry time of the coating is an important factor. Spray booth cleaning and maintenance in automotive assembly plants is typically done on shifts when the assembly line is not running. Occasionally, application of paint removers and coatings is done in a brief time interval between a first and second production shift. The varying demands of maintenance schedules require a coating to dry within 2 hours and sometimes within 30 minutes or less of application. Usage of waterborne coatings here presents dry time problems due to the dependence of the coating on the evaporative conditions present in the booth (humidity, temperature and air flow). Many chemical masks dry too slow for applications in time constrained maintenance environments. In addition, many chemical masks do not provide a coating with the transparency or clarity required for unhindered viewing through glass windows in spray booths.
The assembly operations performed on a vehicle, component, or assembly having a decorative finish can be detrimental to this finish. It is often necessary to mask portions of said items to prevent damage. In practice, masking decorative finishes is a costly, time and labor intensive process, sometimes involving additional disposal costs for peelable or paper and plastic-type masking products.
It has long been known that removal of said paint overspray by solvent wiping or spraying is a very effective method. But in view of worker safety and the ever increasing regulation of solvent waste disposal and volatile organic compound air emissions, this approach is losing favor in industry.
Various chemical coating solutions have been posed for protecting spray booths from uncured paint overspray. However, such solutions have not often been successful or found extensive use. Some proposed chemical masks are peelable. These coatings suffer from application difficulties with film thickness; if the coating is not applied thick enough, peelability is compromised. Difficulty in peeling the applied coating from complex surfaces, rivets, and seams of paint spray booths has also be experienced.
Other chemical masks require heated, alkaline, and/or high pressure water for removal; three attributes of water not typically available to maintenance crews cleaning spray booths.
Yet another difficulty is the need to add a surface tension-modifying agent to provide wetting and flow to the coating. Use of said agent adds cost to the coating, and if allowed to accumulate in a spray booth water system, can cause several detrimental effects including paint defects and foaming of the paint booth detackification system.
To produce a tacky, plasticized coating, some chemical coatings solutions require the incorporation of glycerin. Although effective, this plasticizer can impart excessive water absorption and higher surface tension. Excessive water absorption can result in sagging or running of the coating, while high surface tension can result in poor wetting and film formation.
Film clarity in both the wet and dry phase of the film is important. Some assembly plants, especially ones having short application and dry times, require a coating which has excellent transparency when wet and dry. Some current coatings products suffer from poor film transparency or clarity, both in the wet and dry phase.
Some of the above concerns effect application of some of the proposed chemical masks on decorative finishes as well. Ease of removal is required of the protective coating if it is to be non-injurious to the decorative finish. Peeling operations or use of an alkaline water wash could have negative impacts on the appearance a fresh-applied decorative finish.
From the above, it is seen that an improved barrier masking composition with excellent wetting, clarity, durability, and cold water rinsability is called for. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic apparatus in which a front panel is detachably installed on an apparatus main body, and in particular, to a technique of ensuring an electric connection between a front panel and the apparatus main body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vehicle-mounted AV (Audio/Visual) apparatuses are conventionally known in which a front panel provided with operation buttons and a display is detachably installed on an apparatus main body. FIG. 8 is a conceptual drawing of a structure of a conventional vehicle-mounted AV apparatus as viewed from a diagonal front of the apparatus. As shown in FIG. 8, an apparatus main body 81 of a vehicle-mounted AV apparatus 300 is provided with a plate 83 that can move between a position at which it covers a front surface of the vehicle-mounted AV apparatus 300 (position (A) shown in FIG. 8) and a position at which it opens the front surface (portion (B) shown in FIG. 8. Further, a front panel 82 is detachably held against the plate 83 by holding mechanisms 84 formed at longitudinally opposite ends of a back surface of the front panel 82 and at longitudinally opposite ends of a front surface of the plate 83. Further, the front surface of the plate 83 and the back surface of the front panel 82 are provided with detach connectors 83a and 82a, respectively. The detach connectors 83a and 82a are connected together to supply power from the apparatus main body 81 to the front panel 82 and to allow electric signals to be transmitted between the apparatus main body 81 and the front panel 82.
However, in the conventional vehicle-mounted AV apparatus 300, the holding mechanisms 84 are formed at the longitudinally opposite ends of the front panel 82 and plate 83. Thus, there is a inconvenience that both front panel 82 and plate 83 may be warped.
For example, FIG. 9 is a conceptual drawing of connecting a section between the detach connector 82a provided on the front panel 82 and the detach connector 83a of the plate 83, as viewed from a side of the apparatus. As shown in FIG. 9, the front panel 82 is warped in projecting form, whereas the plate 83 is warped in recess form. As a result, contact pressure is reduced to make contact failure at a connector terminal near a central portion between the detach connector 83a and the detach connector 82a. Thereby, a inconvenience may occur with power supply from the apparatus main body 81 to the front panel 82 and thus with transmission of electric signals from the apparatus main body 81 to the front panel 82.
The amount of information on the display of the front panel 82 and on operational instructions therefor is expected to increase in the future. Accordingly, an increase in number of connector terminals in the detach connector is not avoidable and may make the above inconvenience marked. | {
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Stoppers for beverage contains have long been known and are provided in many forms. In some known constructions, the stopper includes a lid that can be manipulated in order to provide access to a drinking port so that a user can drink a beverage from the container without completely removing the stopper or lid. Furthermore, for convenience, it is also known to provide some form of carrying structure, such as a lanyard loop, on such stoppers for increased convenience in carrying the beverage container and/or attaching the beverage container to a backpack, briefcase, belt loop, or such. In some conventional forms, a rigid lanyard loop is provided on the stopper and extends outwardly and upwardly from the stopper, which may work well for its intended purpose, but does increase the overall size of the stopper in combination with the beverage container, which can be an inconvenience in itself. | {
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A traditional approach to annotate digital images is to manually annotate each digital image with one or more semantically related keywords. Such keywords are often used to facilitate keyword-based image search and retrieval operations in computer-based search environments (e.g., across computing devices, databases, the Internet, etc.). Because of the very large number of digital images that generally exist in such search environments, manual annotation of digital images to facilitate image search and retrieval operations represents a very labor intensive and time consuming task. | {
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1. Field
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to application windows and more particularly relates to modifying application windows based on projection surface characteristics.
2. Description of the Related Art
Projection computing involves projecting the display of a computing device onto a nearby surface. Certain portable electronic devices include integrated projectors, allowing the projected image to act as the monitor for the portable electronic device and display the applications that the user is executing on the computing device.
However, in certain instances, the projection surface may have undesirable characteristics that interfere with the displayed image, such as uneven lighting, interruptions in the surface, and texture. As a result, a user may have difficultly viewing the applications displayed in the projected image. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna apparatus for carrying out data communication in noncontact between the antenna apparatus and a data carrier used by being attached to a person or goods, for example, for control of entrance and evacuation or automatic sorting of goods. More particularly, the present invention relates to an antenna apparatus increasing a receiving capacity in noncontact communication.
2. Description of the Related Art
Normally, a noncontact RF tag (hereinafter, referred to as RF tag) used as a data carrier comprises a coil antenna and an IC chip including an involatile memory. Data communication is carried out by wireless between the RF tag and an antenna apparatus which generates an induced magnetic field. The technology of noncontact communication attracts attention as a recognition technology substituting for a bar code. In the RF tag enabling the noncontact communication, a power source for operating the IC chip is taken out from the induced magnetic field generated by the antenna and therefore, a battery is dispensed with.
Meanwhile, a loop antenna is used for the antenna apparatus and various antenna shapes are constituted depending on methods and location of use thereof.
For example, there is present an antenna apparatus arranged with one antenna provided to be opposite to one side of a detecting region, or a gate type antenna apparatus arranged with two antennas having the same shape provided on both sides of a detecting region so that they are opposite to each other. The antenna apparatus are used for an automatic reading apparatus of goods carried by a conveyer, a reading apparatus for inventory control for entrance and evacuation of goods, or a related-art security gate of preventing shoplifting.
An antenna apparatus used for such an object is requested to read the RF tag within the detecting region without being dependent on a position or a direction thereof and needs to realize the reading within a limited radio wave output in compliance with the radio law. In order to satisfy the conflicting requests, a number of modes of antennas have been proposed in the related-art antenna apparatus using radio wave.
When an investigation is given on a communicating function of an antenna of this kind, in the case that transmission and reception can be carried out by one antenna, normally, the antenna is set to adapt to a transmitting frequency and therefore, a receiving sensitivity is lower than that in an optimum case. Therefore, there is a case of providing a receiving antenna set to adapt to a receiving frequency separately from a transmitting antenna or a transmitting and receiving antenna.
For example, as shown in FIG. 6, when 1 loop of a receiving antenna 62 formed in a rectangular shape is arranged on an inner side of 1 loop of a transmitting antenna 61 similarly formed in a rectangular tape, a current 63 is induced to couple at the receiving antenna 62 by a magnetic field generated in a direction of penetrating a loop shape of the transmitting antenna 61. Therefore, a current flowing in the transmitting antenna 61 is reduced by an amount of being consumed by being coupled to the receiving antenna 62.
As a countermeasure against the reduction in the current, as shown by FIG. 7, a transmitting antenna 71 having a first loop antenna 71a and a second loop antenna 71b in a 8-like shape is provided. When a current having a phase inverse to a phase of a current flowing in the second loop antenna 71b is made to flow in the first loop antenna 71a, a current 73a induced in a receiving antenna 72 by a magnetic field generated by the first loop antenna 71a and a current 73b induced in the receiving antenna 72 by a magnetic field generated by the second loop antenna 71b are provided with the same magnitude and inverse directions of currents. Therefore, the current 73a and the current 73b are canceled by each other. Thereby, coupling of the transmitting antenna 71 and the receiving antenna 72 is eliminated to thereby prevent the reduction in the current of the transmitting antenna 71.
The above-described shape of 2 loops is not limited thereto but as shown by FIG. 8, there can also be provided a transmitting antenna 81 of a 8-like shape which is formed in a rectangular shape, an upper side of which is provided for a first loop antenna 81a and a lower side of which is provided for a second loop antenna 81b. The first and second loop antennas 81a, 81b are formed by narrowing a central portion of the transmitting antenna 81 to an interval by which the 2 loops are not intersected with each other.
Further, when considering a case of 3 loops of a transmitting antenna, as shown by FIG. 9, a transmitting antenna 91 has a first through a third loop antenna 91a through 91c arranged in series in a rectangular shape. In the first loop antenna 91a and the third loop antenna 91c at both end portions of the transmitting antenna 91, currents having a phase inverse to a phase of a current flowing in the second loop antenna 91b is made to flow.
In this case, when a receiving antenna 92 in the rectangular shape is arranged on a plane the same as that of a transmitting antenna 91 and on an inner side of the transmitting antenna 91, respective magnetic fluxes generated by the transmitting antenna 91 are made to pass a first through a third magnetic flux passing region S1, S2, S3 on the inner side of the receiving antenna 92 in correspondence with the first through the third loop antennas 91a through 91c. At this occasion, a direction of magnetic fluxes in the first and the third magnetic flux passing regions S1, S3 is inverse to a direction of magnetic fluxes of the second magnetic flux passing region S2.
When the magnetic fluxes of the respective magnetic flux regions S1, S2, S3 are respectively designated by notations φ1, φ2, φ3, a total φ of the fluxes passing the first through the third magnetic flux passing regions S1, S2, S3 of the receiving antenna 92 becomes φ1−φ2+φ3.
Normally, a relationship of a degree of canceling when the magnetic fluxes passing the magnetic flux passing regions of the receiving antenna 92 are canceled by each other is not φ1+φ3=φ2. Therefore, the total φ of the magnetic fluxes is not nullified. Therefore, a current is induced in the receiving antenna 92, a current flowing in the transmitting antenna 91 is consumed to reduce by the receiving antenna 92 and thus a transmitting function is reduced. When such an inappropriate coupling cannot completely be canceled, a communicating function is reduced and a region of detecting the RF tag is narrowed.
Further, JP-A-2002-237720 discloses a technology of achieving excellent communication by using 4 loops of a transmitting antenna and minimizing a nondetecting region produced at a portion of intersecting loop antennas. However, when a receiving antenna can be a related-art rectangular shape is provided to increase a receiving function of the antenna apparatus, there is a case in which a transmitting function is reduced owing to the above-described fact that the total of the magnetic fluxes is not nullified. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a method for controlling an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there are image forming apparatus that read an original document with a sensor such as a CCD, generate image data, and form an image on a sheet by using the generated image data. There are also image forming apparatus that receive print data from a PC on a network, analyze and expand the received print data to generate image data, and form an image on a sheet by using the generated image data. In such image forming apparatus, the number of pages that can be read per unit time has increased because it has become possible to drive sensors such as CCDs to read original documents at high speed. In addition, because the speed of CPUs provided in image forming apparatus has increased and the cost of the faster CPUs has decreased, the print data received from a PC on a network can be expanded at high speed.
In light of these circumstances, there is a growing demand to increase productivity in operations to form images on sheets.
In order to improve productivity in an image forming operation, an image forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-347987 is known that forms images at a shortened sheet conveyance interval (an interval between two sheets that are successively fed). By shortening the sheet conveyance interval, the number of image formed sheets per unit time increases, resulting in improved productivity of the image forming apparatus.
With the conventional image forming apparatus, however, when setting the sheet conveyance interval to be short, the extent to which the sheet conveyance interval can be shortened is limited.
For example, when developer is applied to a sheet and the developer is fixed, because heat is absorbed from the fixing unit during the fixing process of the developer, it is necessary to increase the temperature of the fixing unit to a temperature necessary to fix the developer until an image is formed on the next sheet.
For this reason, with the conventional image forming apparatus, the sheet conveyance interval can be set only to intervals during which the temperature of the fixing unit can be increased sufficiently.
In other words, the conventional image forming apparatus determines the sheet conveyance interval without taking into consideration a blank area that exists outside of the area in which an image is formed on a sheet.
If images formed on sheets include a blank area, the temperature of the fixing unit can be increased to a temperature necessary to fix the developer during the time between the formation of an image on a sheet and the formation of an image area on the next sheet. In this case, due to the length in the conveyance direction of the blank area, there is enough time to increase the temperature of the fixing unit. | {
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1. Field of the Disclosure
This invention is related to controllers for power supplies. In particular, the invention is related to controllers that control two parameters of a switching signal that controls a switch in a switching power supply.
2. Background
In a typical application, an ac-dc power supply receives an input that is between 100 and 240 volts rms (root mean square) from an ordinary ac electrical outlet. Switches in the power supply are switched on and off by a control circuit to provide a regulated output that may be suitable for providing current to light emitting diodes (LEDs) for illumination. The output is typically a regulated dc current, and the voltage at the LEDs is typically less than 40 volts.
An ac-dc power supply that provides regulated current to LEDs typically must meet requirements for power factor and efficiency as explained below. Designers are challenged to provide satisfactory solutions at the lowest cost.
The electrical outlet provides an ac voltage that has a waveform conforming to standards of magnitude, frequency, and harmonic content. The ac current drawn from the outlet, however, is determined by the characteristics of the power supply that receives the ac voltage. In many applications, regulatory agencies set standards for particular characteristics of the current that may be drawn from the ac electrical outlet. For example, a standard may set limits on the magnitudes of specific frequency components of the ac current. In another example, a standard may limit the rms value of the current in accordance with the amount of power that the outlet provides. Power in this context is the rate at which energy is consumed, typically measured in the units of watts.
The general goal of all such standards for the ac current is to reduce the burden on the system that distributes ac power, sometimes called the power grid. Components of the current at frequencies other than the fundamental frequency of the ac voltage, sometimes called harmonic components, do no useful work, but yet the power grid must have the capacity to provide them and it must endure losses associated with them. Harmonic components generally distort the ideal current waveform so that it has a much higher maximum value than is necessary to deliver the required power. If the power grid does not have the capacity to provide the harmonic components, the waveform of the voltage will drop to an unacceptable value at times that are coincident with the peaks of the distorted waveform of the current. The most desirable ac current has a single frequency component that is at the fundamental frequency of the ac voltage. Moreover, the waveform of the most desirable ac current will be in phase with the ac voltage. That is, the peak ac current will occur at the same time as the peak of the ac voltage. The ideal current will have an rms value that is equal to the value of the power from the outlet divided by the rms value of the voltage. In other words, the product of the rms voltage and the rms current will be equal to the power from the outlet when the current has ideal characteristics.
Power factor is a measure of how closely the ac current approaches the ideal. The power factor is simply the power from the outlet divided by the product of the rms current multiplied by the rms voltage. A power factor of 100% is ideal. Currents that have frequency components other than the fundamental frequency of the ac voltage will yield a power factor less than 100% because such components increase the rms value but they do not contribute to the output power. Currents that have only the fundamental frequency of the ac voltage but are not in phase with the ac voltage will also yield a power factor less than 100% because the power from the outlet is reduced when the peak ac current does not occur at the same time as the peak ac voltage, while the rms value of the current remains at its ideal minimum value. That is, an ideal ac current that is not in phase with the ac voltage will yield a power factor less than 100%. The fundamental frequency of the ac voltage is typically either 50 Hz or 60 Hz in different regions of the world. By way of example, the fundamental frequency of the ac voltage is nominally 60 Hz in North America and Taiwan, but it is 50 Hz in Europe and China.
Since the power supply that receives the ac voltage determines the characteristics of the ac current, power supplies often use either special active circuits or special control techniques to maintain a high power factor. Power supplies that use only ordinary passive rectifier circuits at their inputs typically have low power factors that in some examples are less than 50%, whereas a power factor substantially greater than 90% is typically required to meet the standards for input current, such as for example the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard IED 61000-3-2. Although regulatory agencies in some regions may impose the standards, manufacturers of consumer equipment often voluntarily design their products to meet or to exceed standards for power factor to achieve a competitive advantage. Therefore, ac-dc power supplies for LEDs, for example, typically must include power factor correction.
The efficiency of a power supply is a measure of how much of the power received by the power supply is delivered to the output of the power supply. A power supply that is 100% efficient delivers to the output all the power it receives at the input. A power supply that is for example 80% efficient delivers only 80% of the power it receives to the output, losing 20% of the power it receives. Regulatory agencies usually mandate minimum efficiencies for power supplies under various operating conditions. The efficiency of a power supply usually has a strong relationship to the switching frequency. Therefore, power supplies typically must control the switching frequency to maintain high efficiency.
To provide a regulated output current at high efficiency from a power factor corrected ac input, a power supply typically varies both the on-time and the frequency of a switching signal that switches a switch. As such, there is a need for an integrated circuit controller that can vary two control parameters in a precise and coordinated manner at low cost. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention disclosed herein relates to a fuse circuit assembly having female electrical terminals.
2. Background Art
A fuse circuit assembly having female electrical terminals is disclosed herein. Fuse circuit assemblies are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,878,004; 6,815,841; 5,572,409; 4,394,639; 4,376,927; 4,342,977; and 4,296,398. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to herbal drinks and more particularly pertains to a new method of making an herbal drink for relieving symptoms of fatigue, congestion, fever and asthma.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of herbal drinks is known in the prior art. More specifically, herbal drinks heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious configurations.
Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 4,851,252; U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,984; U.S. Pat. No. 4,357,631; U.S. Pat. No. 5,376,374; U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,928; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,695.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new method of making an herbal drink. The inventive device includes making an herbal drink for relieving symptoms of various ailments such as cough, fever and fatigue. The drink is formed by straining water through a combination of equal portions of rosehip, goldenseal, comfrey leaf, bee pollen, spearmint, chickweed, comfrey root, chamomile flower, catnip, mullein, pennyroyal, eucalyptus, and licorice root.
In these respects, the method of making an herbal drink according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of relieving symptoms of fatigue, congestion, fever and asthma. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Hyperactivity or inappropriate activity of the immune system is a serious and widespread medical problem. It contributes to acute and chronic immune diseases, e.g., allergic and atopic diseases, e.g., asthma, allergic rhinitis, allergic conjunctivitis and atopic dermatitis, and to autoimmune diseases, e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, insulin-dependent diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune thyroiditis, hemolytic anemia and multiple sclerosis. Hyperactivity or inappropriate activity of the immune system is also involved in transplant graft rejections and graft-versus-host disease.
A certain family of transcription factors, the NFAT proteins (nuclear factor of activated T cells), are expressed in immune cells and play a key role in eliciting immune responses. The NFAT proteins are activated by an increase in intracellular calcium levels, e.g., by means of store-operated calcium entry. The activated NFAT proteins, in turn, induce transcription of cytokine genes which are required for an immune response. The immunosuppressive drugs cyclosporin A and FK506 are potent inhibitors of cytokine gene transcription in activated immune cells, and have been reported to act by inhibiting calcineurin such that calcineurin is not able to activate NFAT. These drugs, however, can display nephrotoxic and neurotoxic effects after long term usage. Since calcineurin is ubiquitously expressed in many tissues, the drugs' inhibition of calcineurin activity toward substrates other than NFAT may contribute to the observed toxicity.
There is a need for immunosuppressive agents which selectively inhibit the store-operated calcium entry activation of NFAT. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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With the increasing interest in environmental, clinical and other biological problems, there is a growing need for trace analytical methods that are suitable for complex organic mixtures. While gas chromatography, particularly in combination with mass spectrometers, has been successfully applied to the volatile species, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is many times used for the non-volatile components. Although HPLC technology has made big gains recently, the overall separatory power is still not competitive with gas chromatography. Therefore, there is a real need for improved HPLC detectors, since small sample sizes are required for the highly efficient HPLC separations. Thus, the detectors could be improved with respect to their detectabilities.
Of the three most commonly used HPLC detectors, the fluorometric detectors has been developed sufficiently to be suitable for most situations. For non-fluorescing samples, the absorption detector must be used, but the detection of small differences in two large signals limits conventional detectors to the 10.sup.-3 to 10.sup.-4 range in absorbence. When the species of concern does not show convenient absorption bands, e.g., saturated organic compounds, the refractive index detector is commonly used, despite its poor sensitivity. Since the scope of application of HPLC is virtually related to the detectability of the detectors, there is a real need to improve the refractive index and absorption detectors in sensitivity and detectability.
Absorption detectors can be improved by monitoring an associated effect other than the decrease in light intensity. The most convenient associated effect is the generation of heat through relaxation of the excited molecules of the specimen. The non-uniform heating resulting from absorption of a laser beam gives rise to thermal lens calorimetry. If instead, the temperature gradient, and thus a refractive index (RI) gradient, that is developed is used to deflect a probe laser beam, the technique of photothermal deflection is created. One can also use the heat waves that are generated by a pulsed or chopped excitation source as the basis for photoacoustic detection. These concepts have already been demonstrated as a detection scheme for HPLC. Since the magnitudes of all of these associated effects increase with the power of the excitation (absorbed) light source, one can achieve lower detectabilities by using these associated effects as compared to conventional measurements.
Perhaps the most sensitive way to monitor small changes in the refractive index is interferometry. The same technology that allows one to achieve high frequency stability in lasers and to measure these frequencies to great precision and accuracy, can be applied to the detection of refractive index changes.
One method of doing so would be to use a Mach-Zender interferometer and a single frequency laser to monitor the phase delays in a sample due to absorption and the subsequent heating to detect trace gases. This type of phase-fluctuation heterodyne spectroscopy has been shown to be a fairly good gas chromatography detector. However, detectability depends upon the quality of the interference that can be achieved. The Mach-Zender interferometer has relatively low finesse because a low reflectability mirror (50%) is used for splitting the beam into two paths. It also suffers from having an "idle" arm that can be perturbed by acoustic waves unless the system is evacuated.
Further, arrangement of the optical components is such that system rigidity is difficult to maintain. The Fabry-Perot interferometer, on the other hand, typically has very high finesse, has no "idle" optical paths, and is commercially available with excellent rigidity using materials with low co-efficients of thermal expansion such as Super-Invar, a special composition made principally of nickel and iron and available from such companies as Guterl of Lockport, N.Y.
Additionally, detectability of traditional absorption detectors in HPLC needs improvement. Traditional absorption measurements gain linearly with increasing interaction length. In interferometry, increased length increases the absorbed amount, but at the same time, more volume must be heated up. Therefore, there is no net gain in the accuracy of the change in refractive index. However, the resolution of the interferometer generally increases with the distance between its mirrors, so that longer light paths are still desirable.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a refractive index and absorption detector which successfully adapts Fabry-Perot interferometry to high performance liquid chromatography detection in a system that allows the improved detectabilities of both the refractive index and absorption.
A further object of this invention is to provide a refractive index and absorption detector which provides superior measurements to traditional HPLC detectors.
A further object of this invention is to provide a refractive index and absorption detector which can provide orders-of-magnitude improvement in detectability over commercial HPLC refractive index detectors.
A yet further object of this invention is to provide a refractive index and absorption detector which achieves a detectability orders-of-magnitude better than standard absorption detectors in HPLC.
A further object of this invention is to provide a refractive index and absorption detector which has a very high finesse, has no "idle" optical paths, and is commercially available with excellent rigidity using materials with low co-efficients of expansion.
Another object of this invention is to provide a refractive index and absorption detector which improves the accuracy of both in the same instrument.
A further object of this invention is to provide a refractive index and absorption detector which is economical, durable, accurate and easy to use.
Additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent with reference to the accompanying specification and drawings. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a leakage transformer used in a DC/AC inverter circuit or the like, which is used in a lighting circuit or the like of a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) in a display device of a television monitor or a personal computer for example.
2. Description of the Related Art
A display device of a personal computer or the like has a lighting circuit of a cold cathode fluorescent lamp. In this lighting circuit, a leakage transformer for driving the display device by applying a high voltage is generally used.
For a leakage transformer of this kind, there exists a structure disclosed in Patent Publication No. 2628524 (refer to Claim 1, paragraphs No. 0010 and 0011, and FIG. 1 and FIG. 5) and in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-299134 (refer to paragraphs No. 0016 and 001, and FIG. 5). In the structure disclosed in these patent documents, one end and the other end of a primary winding are connected to two terminals which are different from each other and project from one terminal block. Further, one end and the other end of a secondary winding are connected to two terminals which are different from each other and project from the other terminal block. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The field of the present invention is hydraulic braking systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are conventionally known hydraulic braking systems, as disclosed, for example, in Japanese patent application laid-open Nos. 178255/86 and 134361/87, in which one hydraulic braking pressure path communicated with an output port in a master cylinder is connected to wheel cylinders, so that a hydraulic braking pressure corresponding to a hydraulic pressure delivered from the output port in the master cylinder by a braking operation is applied to the wheel cylinders to provide a braking force.
In such a prior art hydraulic braking system, however, if a defect in hydraulic pressure is produced in a hydraulic pressure system connected to one output port in the master cylinder, it is impossible to provide a braking force in the wheel cylinder corresponding to the output port. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) represents a major advance in cellular technology and is the next step forward in cellular 3G services as a natural evolution of Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). The LTE physical layer (PHY) is a highly efficient means of conveying both data and control information between an evolved NodeB (eNB) and mobile entities (MEs), such as, for example, access terminals (ATs) or user equipment (UE). The LTE PHY employs some advanced technologies that are new to cellular applications. These include Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) data transmission. In addition, the LTE PHY uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) on the downlink (DL) and Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) on the uplink (UL). OFDMA allows data to be directed to or from multiple users on a subcarrier-by-subcarrier basis for a specified number of symbol periods.
Examples of older wireless communication systems widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice and data include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, including CDMA2000, Wideband CDMA, Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). These wireless communication systems and LTE systems generally use different radio access technologies (RATs) and communication protocols, operate at different frequency bands, provide different quality of service (QoS) and offer different types of services and applications to the system users.
Various wireless communication protocols may be used for communications between ATs and access points (APs) of a wireless communication system. For example, the 1xRTT protocol as defined by the Telecommunication Industry Association (TIA) in the TIA-2000 series specifications may be used for voice and certain data transmissions on CDMA systems up to 144 KBps. For further example, a 1x Evolution, Data Optimized (1xEV-DO) as defined 3GPP2 CS0024-0, version 4 and subsequent versions of this standard may be used for data transmissions up to about 600 KBps. Various other transmission protocols may also be used. A particular AP or base station may support two or more protocols independently to enable separate or simultaneous use of different protocols by the same or different access terminals.
When moving between AP coverage areas, an AT in idle mode may detect a beacon periodically transmitted by an AP in a new coverage area to discover that wireless connectivity is available using a particular wireless communication protocol. For example, an AT may detect a 1xRTT beacon for an available 1xRTT connectivity and a Data Optimized (DO) beacon for an available DO connectivity. However, when in idle mode the AT may only wake up and be enabled to detect beacon signals at limited intervals. Accordingly, undesirable delay may be introduced between the time that an AT first moves into a coverage area for an AP and detection of a beacon enabling discovery of an available connectivity via the AP.
In addition, a new class of small base stations for providing access to wireless communication systems has emerged, which may be installed in a user's residence or business to provide indoor wireless coverage to mobile units using existing broadband Internet connections. Such a base station is generally known as a femtocell access point (FAP), but may also be referred to as Home Node B (HNB) unit, Home evolved Node B unit (HeNB), femto cell, femto Base Station (fBS), base station, or base station transceiver system. Typically, the femto access point is coupled to the Internet and the mobile operator's network via a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), cable internet access, T1/T3, or the like, and offers typical base station functionality, such as Base Transceiver Station (BTS) technology, radio network controller, and gateway support node services. This allows a Mobile Station (MS), also referred to as a cellular/mobile device or handset, Access Terminal (AT) or User Equipment (UE), to communicate with the femtocell access point and utilize the wireless service. This new class of small base stations may be subject to certain hardware or resource limitations with respect to beacon signaling, and further may be deployed in an ad hoc (unplanned) fashion. Such factors may further complicate efficient detection of available beacons by ATs moving into a coverage area, or exacerbate delays in beacon detection. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a storage device for athletic equipment and, in particular, to a portable storage device for transporting and retaining elongate items of athletic equipment such as hockey sticks and related athletic equipment.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Numerous team athletic activities require individual players on the team to have their own athletic equipment. For example, each player on a hockey or lacrosse team will typically have one or more hockey or lacrosse sticks. Each player on a baseball or softball team may have their own bat. The volume of athletic equipment required in these type of team activities creates difficulties in organizing the equipment and in transporting the equipment.
In ice hockey, for example, hockey sticks and other equipment are often propped up against walls or left on the floor as players prepare and wait their time on the ice. When that time arrives, there is little time available to transport all of the team's equipment to the team bench or other designated area and organize that equipment-particularly as players previously using the ice gather their own equipment. In addition to the loss of valuable time involved in transporting and organizing the equipment, the equipment is susceptible to damage or loss as players move to and away from the playing surface and intermingle with players and personnel from other teams.
The inventors herein have recognized a need for a portable storage device for athletic equipment that will minimize and/or eliminate one or more of the above-identified deficiencies. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In a typical laser-based printing/copying process, a photoconductive member is charged to a substantially uniform potential so as to sensitize the surface thereof. The charged portion of the photoconductive member is exposed to a light image of the original document being reproduced. Exposure of the charged photoconductive member selectively dissipates the charges thereon in the irradiated areas. This records a latent image on the photoconductive member corresponding to the informational areas contained within the original document.
One approach to the fixing of toner images onto a support has been to pass the support bearing the toner images between a pair of opposed roller members, at least one of which is internally heated. During operation of a fixing system of this type, the support member to which the toner images are electrostatically adhered is moved through the nip formed between the rolls and thereby heated under pressure. A large quantity of heat is applied to the toner and the copy sheet bearing the toner image. This heat evaporates much of the moisture contained in the sheet. The quantity of heat applied to the front and to the back sides of the sheet is often not equal.
One problem associated with moisture loss in paper is paper curl. Deformation of the paper generally occurs due to a change of physical properties in the z-direction of paper. This may occur through the following event: as sheets pass through an image fixing system, moisture is driven out and the sheet temperature is elevated. After image fixing, a sheet typically rests in a collection area exposed to its ambient surroundings, where its moisture content will reach equilibrium with the environment through absorption of moisture across the full face of at least one side of the paper sheet. However, if the copy sheet becomes part of a large compiled set, both sides of all of the papers in the compilation (except for the top sheet) will effectively be sealed off from ambient moisture. The only route available to the papers for moisture re-absorption is through the edges of the sheets, leaving the moisture content of the central portions of the sheets relatively unchanged. This uneven pattern of moisture re-absorption results in edge stresses that lead to paper curl along the edges of the paper.
Further, contact with moisture can cause curl prior to image fixing. Thus, in addition to being cosmetically unsightly, the curl creates a handling problem, in that pages with a wave pattern along their edges are more difficult to feed to secondary paper handling machines. It is especially important to papers which are used in automatic sheet-fed printing operations such as xerography. Excessive curl can cause the paper transport mechanism to jam, thereby creating operator frustration, lost time and service expense. Therefore, curl is an important mechanical property of non-woven webs such as paper which manufacturers seek to minimize, and there is a continuing need for a measuring device to predict the curl performance of webs which will be used in sheet-fed machines.
Moreover, in sheet-fed apparatuses, curl behavior is further influenced by the heat conductivity of the paper, moisture evaporation from the paper, and the other heating conditions. Thus, curl behavior is influenced by different types of paper as well as different apparatuses used with the same type of paper, resulting in the general unpredictability of the tendency of a paper to curl.
Generally, two types of curl may be generated in paper manufacture as a result of moistening or drying a paper sheet. Total (simplex) curl is when a paper curls in one direction, such as a sheet of paper rolled into a cylindrical tube. Diagonal curl results from a twist of paper, such that one portion of the paper rotates axially in one direction, while another portion of the paper rotates axially in a different, generally opposite direction.
Current curl tests for prediction of curl tendency are problematic. One procedure involves running multiple sheets through a specified (Xerox 5388) photo copier, hanging a preset number of sheets by the long edge and matching the resulting bend to a pattern of curves on a reference template. This test, however, requires the use of specific, expensive equipment and is costly and time consuming. It also requires that papers be sheeted prior to testing, delaying results.
Hot plate curl is another method currently in use. It involves placing cut samples on a heated hotplate and manually measuring the corners of the sample as they curl away from the heat. This method is time intensive and has very poor (r^2 0.30) correlation to end use as well as poor reproducibility.
Other tests do not account for the ability of gravity to alter the curl of a paper, resulting in errant data. For example, other mechanisms, such as a computer controlled hot-roll fusing apparatus, are able to test for a variety of paper parameters by mimicking the environment of a typical consumer printer, yet the nips are horizontal and have too high nip pressure, resulting in gravitational and mechanical effects on the test samples.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a test for the tendency of a paper to curl from which information can be achieved quickly and possible corrective feedback is rapid, has a low level of variability, and accounts for the effect of gravity on a tendency to curl for a variety of paper samples. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scuba diver weight carrying apparatus to counterbalance underwater buoyancy. More particularly, it relates to a backpack which encloses predetermined variable amounts of weights to compensate for the flotation factor of a specific diver, and the weights are spread therein in a relatively thin layer whereby air tanks can be mounted on the same backpack. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a rigid metal weight carrying packboard for deep diving scuba divers from which either all or a predetermined variable number of the weights can be released by the diver in an emergency, and, alternatively, all of the weights can be extracted from the backpack en masse even while it is mounted on the diver.
Specifically, the present invention relates to a rigid metal backpack and air tank board for scuba divers which carries variable numbers of identical individual weights in a body-conforming relatively thin layer whereby air tanks can be mounted on the backpack adjacent to the weights and close to the diver's body. The weights are secured to the board with a quick release mechanism to permit the diver to dump all or a predetermined variable number of the weights while underwater in an emergency, and all of the weights may be extracted from the backpack as a unit as the diver emerges from the water. The design of the backpack board makes it possible for deckhands or helpers to assist a diver as he emerges from the water by lifting the weights from his backpack when he is standing on a boat swim step or dive platform.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of dive weights in one form or another for the purpose of offsetting scuba diver buoyancy and thereby facilitating underwater diver mobility is known in the prior art. However, despite the numerous designs, structures, and forms of apparatus disclosed by and utilized in the prior art, which have been developed for the accomplishment of the specific objectives, needs, and requirements of scuba divers, the devices, machines, apparatus, and methods which have been heretofore devised and utilized to accomplish these goals consist basically of familiar, expected, and obvious configurations, combinations, and arrangements of well known apparatus. This will become apparent from the following consideration of the closest known and relevant prior art.
Early scuba diver apparatus included recognition that compensation had to be provided to counterbalance buoyancy of the diver. Initially weights were strung on a belt which was secured around the diver's waist. These weight belt combinations increased in sophistication as the weights evolved in form and the belts transformed into quick release assemblies for emergency situations. The weights transitioned from lead blocks to body conforming configurations and further to bags of metal shot strung on a belt or secreted in pockets in a vest. Each of the evolutions preferably included a quick release mechanism to permit a diver to dump the weights in an emergency and ascend without the drag and negative buoyancy caused by the weights. This form of weight dump is very dangerous under the advanced diving extremes now routinely undertaken by present day experienced deep divers. The release of a weight belt causes an immediate uncontrolled ascent to the surface. This cannot be allowed to happen to a diver at depth who needs to undergo decompression during his ascent to avoid the bends. Therefore, release of a weight belt accidentally or in an emergency under these conditions can be life threatening and must be avoided. However, there are emergencies at depth that do require dumping weight to allow the diver to ascend but at a controlled rate. The present invention provides a solution to this problem.
A significant number scuba divers often have to carry their gear a distance to the water's edge or between multiple departure points, such as a vehicle or a storage area, to a destination, such as a boat or another vehicle. In these circumstances, the weights are a substantial portion of the load that the diver has to transport. The prior art has predominantly put the weight on the diver's waist which makes it hard to carry as the weight does not usually assume or provide a configuration which easily rides the diver's waist without bending over. If a weight belt is carried over the diver's shoulder while transporting it, the weight is unevenly distributed on the diver's body, which can cause severe muscle strain. Other forms of carrying the weights on a diver's back do not provide a quick release mechanism for an underwater weight dump.
Not until the present invention has the problem of weight carrying by scuba divers been significantly altered. The present invention moves the weight from the diver's waist to his back where loads are more easily carried while on land. More importantly, the present invention provides a selectable quick release for an emergency dump of a variable portion up to all of the weights in an emergency situation underwater. The backpack is made of metal and is rigid for mounting the air tanks thereto, and it can take enormous abuse. The design of the weight backpack of the present invention also makes it easier for a helper to lift the weights separately and assist the diver in donning the weights or removing them from the diver when he emerges from the water. The weights can be pulled from the backpack as a unit. Further, the diver can selectively drop a portion of the weights in an emergency and still control his ascent rate by having dropped less than all of the weights.
The scuba diver weight backpack contemplated according to the present invention departs substantially from the conventional concepts and designs taught and used by the prior art, and in doing so, provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of overcoming the problems as described above, but it accomplishes the result in a different and improved manner for facilitating dive weight carrying more easily and conveniently in an ergonomically balanced load with a selectable portion quick release capability for operational safety. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to a novel voice prosthesis device which is insertable through a fistula to connect and channel air directly from the lungs through the trachea to the esophagus for voice restoration after a total laryngectomy.
In the past, voice prosthesis devices have been suggested for insertion into a fistula to connect the tracheostoma with the esophagus to channel air from the lungs to the esophagus to permit alaryngeal speech by the patient or user. One such voice prosthesis device is disclosed in our co-pending application Ser. No. 316,055, filed on Oct. 29, 1981, and entitled "Method and Apparatus for a Tracheal Valve", and in a paper entitled "An Endoscopic Technique For Restoration of Voice After Laryngectomy", Annals of Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology, 1980, Vol. 89, No. 6. However, the elongated hollow tube or duck-bill type valve slit in the elongated hollow tube requires approximately 90 centimeters of water pressure before the duck-bill type valve opens to permit air to enter the esophagus for speaking. Additionally, a voice prosthesis device, known as the Panje device, is a shorted criss-crossed slitted duck-bill device, which includes self-retaining flanges which abut against each side of the tracheoesophageal wall to hold the device in the fistula. However, the Panje type device requires approximately 400 centimeters of water pressure before voice sounds are achieved, a pressure which is totally unsatisfactory for most, if not all, patients or users. Because a normal larynx requires approximately 35 centimeters of water pressure for speech, it can be seen that a voice prosthesis device, which closely approximates normal voice pressure, is highly desirable and has been unattained by the duck-bill type prior art devices.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,127 discloses a fistula valve FA which is merely a check valve mounted on the outside of the exterior proximal end of a tubular extension. Because the valve opens and closes from the top of the proximal end and is unprotected because it is not in a recessed position within the tube, such a structure is unsatisfactory in communicating between the trachea and the esophagus because the valve is readily exposed to the esophageal contents, and liquids and matter therein may penetrate the valve from the esophagus with resultant aspiration into the lungs of the user or patient. Accordingly, such devices have found no limited application in restoring speech to patients having a total laryngectomy. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of well servicing of oil and gas wells, and more particularly to methods and systems useful in well servicing operations such as well stimulation.
2. Related Art
The production of hydrocarbon from reservoirs requires permanently installed wellbores in the ground composed of a multiplicity of largely tubular structures referred to as the wellbore completion. Increasing the production of hydrocarbon typically requires the pumping of a fluid down the wellbore and into the reservoir. Some fluids are designed to increase the flow of hydrocarbon, others impede the flow of water or build-up of scale. Measurements may be made of fluid flow-rate, pressure, etc, at the surface to optimize the treatment. This monitoring operation is non-trivial, however, because the fluids are typically highly non-Newtonian with pressure-drops along the completion that are difficult to determine in advance. The stimulation fluid may include solid particles, such as proppant, which further complicates the monitoring and job optimization.
Solutions to provide a more advanced monitoring capability are known in the industry. For example, a spoolable metallic tube may be run into the well, with the stimulation fluid pumped around that tube. In that case the downhole pressure may be inferred from a pressure measurement made in the interior of the tube. With no fluid flowing down the tube, this inference is relatively simple. Such a tube is often referred to as a “dead-string”. Spoolable tubes known in the industry are typically brought to the rig already coiled around a drum that is mounted onto a large truck. This coiled tubing may vary from 0.25″ to bigger than 3.0″ in diameter. An advantage of the larger size tubing is that cable may be pumped into that coiled tubing before the job, sensors may be attached to the distal end of that cable, and then when the coiled tubing is run into the ground, those sensors may transmit downhole data to the surface. Another advantage of the larger tubing is that it may be possible to pump fluid down the tubing even with the cable in the tubing. Such a system need not be limited to reservoir stimulation but may be used for general wellbore treatments as has been disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pub. Pat. App. No. 20050126777, published Jun. 16, 2005. Traditional cables used in the industry consist of a multiplicity of electrical lines, but more recently optical fibers have been added. These provide higher data rates, but also introduce the possibility of distributed sensing, wherein the cable itself becomes the sensor. Such a system has been disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pub. Pat. App. No. 20040129418, published Jul. 8, 2004.
Unfortunately, there may be disadvantages to having the coiled tubing in the wellbore during the stimulation treatment. The annular space around the tubing may be less than one or two inches, which increases the friction pressure when the fluid is pumped and so increases the surface horsepower required to do the job, compared with pumping straight into the wellbore—a process known as bull-heading. Abrasive and corrosive fluids are often needed to optimize the subsequent hydrocarbon flow. These fluids may also damage the coiled tubing leading to high maintenance costs for the service. Another disadvantage is the large apparatus needed to convey the coiled tubing into the wellbore such as disclosed, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,188. In particular, to avoid crushing the coiled tubing, a large injection apparatus is required to provide the axial conveyance force into, and out of, the wellbore as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,585,061 “Apparatus for inserting and withdrawing coiled tubing with respect to a well” by Lyons et al. In many cases, the cost of such systems may be prohibitive compared to the benefit of the real-time downhole data, so the industry has come to accept taking surface measurements and making inferences of the downhole state.
U.S. Pub. Pat. App. No. 20050263281, published Dec. 1, 2005, discloses applications of real-time downhole data to stimulation operations, but presupposes that the optical fiber is first contained inside a tubular, and the tubular then run into the well. U.S. Pub. Pat. App. No. 20050236161, published Oct. 27, 2005, discloses pumping a fluid into a tubular and deploying a fiber optic tube into the tubular by propelling it in the flow of the pumped fluid. This document also discusses a method of communicating in a wellbore using a fiber optic tube disposed within a wellbore tubular. In certain embodiments, this communication may be combined with a wireless communication system at the surface. In certain embodiments, the tubular may be coiled tubing and the fiber optic tube may be deployed in the coiled tubing while the tubing is spooled on a reel or while the tubing is deployed in a wellbore. As used in this reference the phrases “fiber optic tube” and “fiber optic tether” are used to identify the combination of an optical fiber or multiple optical fibers disposed in a duct. The term “fiber optic cable” refers to a cable, wire, wireline or slickline that comprises one or more optical fibers.
It would be a revolutionary advance in the art if methods and systems could be devised that allow collection of downhole data during a stimulation or other wellbore treatment operation, but which do not require ancillary apparatus to inject or remove coiled tubing or other tubular from the wellbore. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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It is not possible for a user to participate in all the meetings and conference calls that the user has been requested to attend or desires to attend. For example, some conference calls run over their allotted time and may interfere with other scheduled calls. By not attending the meeting(s), the user is unable to obtain information from the meeting(s) and may miss important information conveyed during the call. Furthermore, most of moderators or chairpersons of the conference calls forget to record the conference calls or the meetings. Therefore, the user cannot obtain the recording of the conference calls or the meetings. When there exists a conflict between two or more conference calls, the user may miss one or more conflicting conference calls in order to participate in other conference calls. Additionally, conventional conference management systems depend on calendar systems to determine the absence or presence of an attendee to a conference call. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Phased array transmission is a wireless transmission technique that utilizes an array of antennas known as a “phased array” to reinforce the transmission of electromagnetic signals in a desired direction while suppressing them in other undesired directions. Historically, phased array transmission has been limited to military applications or other highly-specialized applications like airport surveillance, astronomy, space probe communications, and weather research. However, technological advances and lowering costs in recent years have sparked research and development efforts in more commercial and consumer-oriented areas.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, a phased array 100 generally comprises an array of antennas 102 (i.e., “radiating elements” or “radiators”) and a plurality of delay elements 104 and power amplifiers (PAs) 106 disposed in a plurality of transmission paths. The delay elements 104 are configured to delay an input radio frequency (RF) signal by different delays τ1, τ2, τ3 and τ4. The delayed RF signals are then amplified by the PAs 106 and fed to the antennas 102, which radiate the amplified and delayed RF signals into the air or space, where they spatially combine. The radiation angle 110 and transmission characteristics of the main lobe 108 of the resulting composite signal are determined by the geometrical configuration of the antennas 102 as well as the relative delays τ1, τ2, τ3 and τ4 of the delay elements 104.
The different delays τ1, τ2, τ3 and τ4 of the delay elements 104 can be implemented by simply using different lengths of transmission lines in the transmission paths between the RF input of the array 100 and the antennas 102. One limitation of that approach, however, is that the delay lines are fixed, which prevents the main lobe 108 (i.e., the “beam”) of the radiation pattern from being “steered” to different directions during operation. Various types of variable-delay delay elements have been introduced in the prior art that overcome this problem. However, they are typically notorious for having low phase accuracy, particularly when operating at high frequencies, and/or have a less than desired phase resolution, which limits the ability to precisely adjust and control the direction of transmission. | {
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Altitude is one of four degrees of freedom available to rotary wing aircraft. In helicopters, altitude is regulated by controlling the collective pitch of the main rotor blades. Collective pitch refers to the angle at which an airfoil (i.e. a main rotor blade) passes through the air. This angle may be called the "angle of attack"; it is measured between the chord of the airfoil and the direction of the relative wind. By changing the collective pitch, an aviator adjusts the vertical lift and resultant altitude of the aircraft. Minimal collective pitch is used when hovering flight is desired at a given resultant altitude. Changes in collective pitch may be accompanied by automatic or manual adjustments in engine power and cyclic pitch so as to maintain normal engine rpm, to control rates of vertical climb and horizontal flight, to correct dissymmetry of lift in forward flight, and to avoid stalling.
While the precise details of individual systems may vary in their particular components and design characteristics, main rotor blade assemblies typically include pitch control rod assemblies. The control rod assemblies constitute means for translating control impulses from the aviator's movement of the collective and cyclic pitch control levers in the cock pit of the aircraft. Servomechanical power is typically used to provide the mechanical force required for rotating the control rods and adjusting the pitch or angle of attach of each main rotor blade.
The main rotor blades must rotate at high speeds, with tip speeds often in excess of 400 miles per hour, to generate sufficient lift to elevate the aircraft off the ground and to the desired altitude. The blade assemblies, including the pitch control rod assemblies, are subjected to large loads even in routine operations. The loads include high frequency harmonic motion from vibrational resonance, lead-lag oscillations and flapping, turbulence from airflow patterns and Coriolis forces, resultant lift and induced drag.
Because of the loads on the main rotor shaft, blades, and components of their constituent assemblies, maintenance is often a challenge and durability and reliability are abiding concerns. This applies to the pitch control rod assemblies as well as to other components of the main rotor system. The loads that the main rotor system are subject to can adversely affect the pitch control mechanism by allowing the control rods to elongate, thus forcing the rotor blades out of their track. Alternatively, the rotor blades may be free to rotate on the rod axis, unable to hold a pitch setting. A malfunction of either type could threaten the airworthiness of the craft so affected. In turn, mission effectiveness would be jeopardized and the aircraft and crew would be placed at risk in that field repair of such malfunctions would probably be difficult at best and practically impossible in most commonly encountered circumstances.
The present state of the art relating to pitch control rod assemblies encompasses two typical means of safeguarding against the type of mechanical malfunction alluded to above. To fully understand the nature of these safety means, it will be necessary to describe briefly the components and structure of a typical pitch control rod assembly. It is to such an assembly that the improvement provided by the instant invention, described in detail below, applies. Basically, a pitch control rod assembly comprises a barrel which is castellated at one end and two rod ends with elastomeric bearings which threadably engage the inside surface of the barrel ends. Once installed, the rod ends are oppositely displaced to one another. The distance between the center line of the rod ends may be adjusted by turning the barrel; when the desired distance is reached, jam nuts which threadably engage the outside surface of the rod ends are used to lock the adjusted positions of the rod ends. The castellated end of the barrel is machined to provide incremental adjustment notches for changing the center line distance between rod ends in relation to the barrel. A locking kay fits into a notch to hold a predetermined setting; the torque applied to tightening the jam nut holds the key in its designated notch. Adjustment of control rod length is made to provide for the most appropriate rotor blade track and balance. If torque on the jam nut loosens, say as a result of vibratory stress of maintenance error, the key disengages from the notch into which it has been placed for the desired adjustment and the rod is free to rotate and is unable to hold a pitch setting. The free twisting of the rod end when the jam nuts loosen also permits changes in control rod length which results in the rotor blade leaving its track.
This typical pitch control rod assembly of the prior art lacks a passive safety feature to guard against the hazards posed by loosening jam nuts or by jam nuts that have not been properly retorqued after control rod length setting or adjustment. Having passing locking redundancy in the assembly would ensure the structural integrity of the assembly. This invention provides an improvement to the combination pitch control rod assembly of the prior art by adding means to passively engage the locking key in its groove in the event that a locking jam nut loosens in flight or has not been properly torqued into place during routine service or repair.
In another of its aspects, the invention pertains to preload spring means for keeping the control rod barrel in tension even under compressive loads in order to prevent load reversal resulting from loose jam nuts. Such load or stress reversals can result in premature fatigue failures. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to user interfaces for video editors. More particularly, the invention relates to the use of blocks in a workspace window that depict various video elements and which attract or repel other blocks as a function of proximity to each other in order to reduce user errors and to improve user efficiency.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A video consists of electronically stored images called frames that are played back on a video display terminal such as a CRT. Videos may be in either an analog or digital format. However, the digital computer has proven to be very useful in editing video. Thus, many analog videos are converted to digital for editing. The present invention relates to the editing of digital videos. A digital video is a sequence of image frames that are stored in the memory of a digital computer and replayed in frame sequence at a high frame rate, called video rate, to provide full motion images. Because computers have limited memory and because videos consume large amounts of memory, most videos are stored in a compressed format. The compression format standard currently in wide use is called Motion Picture Experts Group ("MPEG") which is described in detail in the following documents which are hereby incorporated by reference: (1) a document entitled Generic Coding of Moving Pictures and Associated Audio Information; Video, ISO/IEC 13818-2; (2) a document entitled Coding of Moving Pictures and Associated Audio for Digital Storage Media at up to about 1.5 MBit/sec (Part 3 Audio) 3-11171 rev 1 (1995); and (3) a document entitled Generic Coding of Moving Pictures and Associated Audio Information ISO/IEC 13818-3. All above-referenced MPEG standard documents may be obtained from ISO/IEC Case Postale 56, CH 1211, Geneva 20, Switzerland.
Video elements consist of digital files containing sound, video clips, still pictures, overlays and transitions. Video editors are in general used to arrange and modify these elements. In the context of the present invention, video clips and sound are illustrated as-blocks on the user interface. The user may rearrange the blocks, add overlays and transitions. In this way, the user forms a long track of frames which constitute the edited video. Because the user is constantly manipulating blocks on a workspace window, it is desirable to have the blocks behave in a most convenient and intuitive manner. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal element of optical writing type, and more particularly to the liquid crystal element of optical writing type which is preferably adapted to a projecting type liquid crystal display apparatus arranged to project an image onto a light-reflective screen, a sensor for an image scanner, and a wavelength converting element for converting near infrared light into visible light, for example.
2. Description of the Related Art
The representative related art about the liquid crystal element of optical writing type known by the present inventors will be described in this item.
The liquid crystal element of optical writing type is composed to have glass substrates on both of the outer sides, transparent electrodes formed on the inner sides of the respective glass substrates, a photoconductive layer formed on one of the transparent electrodes, a dielectric mirror layer formed on the photoconductive layer, orientation films formed respectively on the dielectric mirror layer and the other transparent electrode, and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the orientation films.
The photoconductive layer is made of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (referred to as a-Si:H), which layer is formed by means of a plasma CVD method using silane gas and hydrogen gas as raw materials. The dielectric mirror is formed of multi-layered films composed of silicon or silicon oxide by means of a sputtering method. The orientation film is formed on a polyimide film by means of a spin coating technique. The liquid crystal layer is made of nematic liquid crystal.
This kind of liquid crystal element of optical writing type is allowed to have some operation modes such as a twisted nematic (TN) mode, a hybrid field effect (HFE) mode, a guest host (GH) mode, and a phase transition mode.
In operation, an alternating voltage is applied between the transparent electrodes. When a ray of light is emitted from a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) to one of the glass substrate, the photoconductive layer serves to lower its impedance at the light-hit area (bright condition) so that the applied voltage is strong enough to drive the liquid crystal layer, and keeps its impedance at the other area where no light is hit (dark condition) so that the applied voltage is not strong enough to drive the liquid crystal layer. The contrast between the bright condition and the dark condition results in forming an image.
The foregoing related art uses the a-Si:H layer as its photoconductive layer. The a-Si:H layer has the similar magnitude of dark conductivity as the conductivity of the liquid crystal. It means that the photoconductive layer has the similar magnitude of the impedance as the liquid crystal layer so that a certain amount of voltage is applied to the liquid crystal layer in the dark condition. When a ray of light is hit onto this photoconductive layer, that is, the light-hit area of the photoconductive layer becomes the bright condition, the photoconductive layer lowers its impedance so that the voltage applied to the liquid crystal layer becomes strong enough to drive the liquid crystal at the corresponding portion. However, in this structure, since the impedance of the photoconductive layer is in the similar magnitude as that of the liquid crystal layer as stated above, the ratio of a voltage applied to the liquid crystal layer between the dark condition and the bright condition (on/off voltage ratio) is too small to obtain a high contrast image.
To overcome this shortcoming, the photoconductive layer (a-Si:H layer) may be composed to have Schottky structure or diode structure. The use of such structure leads to the reduction of the voltage applied to the liquid crystal layer in the dark condition where the impedance of the photoconductive layer is made high since it is reverse-biased. It results in enlarging an on/off voltage ratio of the liquid crystal layer between the bright condition and the dark condition. However, this structure has the drawback of applying d. c. voltage component to the liquid crystal. This application of the d. c. voltage to the liquid crystal cell often results in decomposing the liquid crystal material itself and causing attraction of ion components contained in the liquid crystal to the glass substrate, thereby causing the disorder of the molecular orientation and the degradation of the characteristic of the liquid crystal. | {
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The present invention relates to a pattern inspection technique for checking patterns on objects to be inspected by comparing images.
The conventional pattern inspecting technique has been generally used such that, when an image to be inspected and a reference image are compared with each other in order for defects to be detected, the edges of the patterns of both images are aligned so that the minimum displacement between the edges can be computed as a piece of information for matching (alignment). The proposed means used for this purpose are normalized cross-correlation, and summation of residual errors.
Also, examples of the pattern inspection technique by comparing images are disclosed in JP-A-05-264467 and JP-A-2001-22935. The JP-A-05-264467 describes that an object to be inspected on which repeated patterns are regularly arranged is sequentially scanned by a line sensor, and each of the images picked up by the sensor and that image after being delayed by the pitch of the repeated patterns are compared to produce an amount of positional deviation, or displacement, and both successive imaged are aligned on the basis of the displacement to produce a difference, in which case if the difference is greater than a threshold, this object is decided to have a defect, while if it is smaller, the object is decided not to be defective.
The JP-A-2001-22935 describes that, in order that even an object to be inspected on which various patterns are formed mixed can be checked with the error due to mismatching being reduced, a candidate position for matching (alignment) is determined with respect to each of the images successively fed, and alignment is made after determining the optimum matching position of each image from the collection of a plurality of the matching candidate points.
When images of, for example, FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C are checked, the conventional alignment-type inspection method described in JP-A-05-264467 cannot uniquely determine the matching position, and thus has the possibility of often causing computation error of displacement. FIG. 2A shows the case of extremely small edge information, or when the ratio of edge portion to the whole region for alignment (hereafter, referred to as pattern density) is small. FIG. 2B is the case when there are an extremely large number of edges in a particular direction, and FIG. 2C is the case when there are an extremely large number of small-pitch patterns.
Moreover, if other normal patterns exist as a small part in addition to many patterns like those shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C, has the possibility of causing nuisance defect (erroneously detected information) in that part. In addition, since matching candidate positions for images to be matched are calculated by using all regions, an enormous amount of data is used for the computation, thus taking a long processing time. For high speed, it is necessary to construct the Misalignment detection part as hardware or to increase the number of arithmetic circuits, thus making it difficult to reduce the cost and size of apparatus.
The technique described in JP-A-2001-22935 also uses a huge amount of data for the matching candidate points to be computed by using all regions, thus making it difficult to increase the processing speed, and hence to reduce the cost and size of apparatus as in the JP-A-05-264467.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention when the images are compared for pattern inspection, to make it possible (1) to accurately detect particle and pattern defects, (2) to reduce the amount of computation for misalignment detector of images, thus increasing the processing speed, (3) to precisely detect the amount of displacement between images, and (4) to reduce the cost and size of apparatus. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display, and more particularly, it relates to a display having a pixel portion.
2. Description of the Background Art
A liquid crystal display comprising a pixel portion including a liquid crystal layer is generally known as a display. In the conventional liquid crystal display, the liquid crystal layer of the pixel portion is held between a pixel electrode and a common electrode. The conventional liquid crystal display changes the arrangement of liquid crystal molecules by controlling a voltage (video signal) applied to the pixel electrode of the pixel portion, thereby displaying an image responsive to the video signal on a display portion.
When the aforementioned liquid crystal display applies a dc voltage to the liquid crystals (pixel electrode) of the pixel portion over a long period, an afterimage phenomenon referred to as seizure takes place. Therefore, the liquid crystal display must be driven by a method of inverting the voltage supply source (pixel voltage supply source) of the pixel electrode with respect to that of the common electrode in a prescribed cycle. For example, the liquid crystal display is driven by a DC driving method applying a dc voltage to the common electrode. Line inversion driving inverting the pixel voltage supply source with respect to the common electrode receiving the applied dc voltage every horizontal period is known as such a DC driving method, as disclosed in “Introduction to Liquid Crystal Display Engineering” by Yasoji Suzuki, The Daily Industrial News, Nov. 20, 1998, pp. 101-103. The liquid crystal display completes the operation of writing the video signal in all pixel portions arranged along a gate line every horizontal period.
FIG. 13 is a waveform diagram in a case of driving a liquid crystal display by the conventional line inversion driving method. Referring to FIG. 13, a pixel voltage supply source (video signal) VIDEO is inverted with respect to the voltage supply source COM of a common electrode every horizontal period, in order to drive the liquid crystal display by the conventional line inversion driving method. The pixel voltage supply source (video signal) VIDEO is varied with a displayed image every pixel portions A, B, C, D, E and F.
When the liquid crystal display is driven by the conventional line inversion driving method shown in FIG. 13 at a low frequency in order to reduce power consumption, however, flickering is disadvantageously easy to visually recognize. More specifically, a period for holding the pixel voltage supply source is increased when the liquid crystal display is driven at a low frequency, to remarkably fluctuate the pixel voltage supply source. When the pixel voltage supply source is remarkably fluctuated, the brightness of light passing through the pixel portions A to F deviates from a desired level, to cause flickering. In the conventional line inversion driving method, the aforementioned flickering linearly takes place to easily allow visual recognition.
In this regard, a liquid crystal display employing a dot inversion driving method of inverting a pixel voltage supply source (video signal) VIDEO with respect to the voltage supply source COM of a common electrode every adjacent pixel portions A and B, B and C, C and D, D and E or E and F is proposed in general.
FIG. 14 is a waveform diagram in a case of driving a liquid crystal display by a conventional dot inversion driving method. Referring to FIG. 14, a pixel voltage supply source (video signal) VIDEO responsive to a displayed image is inverted with respect to the voltage supply source COM of a common electrode every pixel portion A, B, C, D, E or F in order to drive the liquid crystal display by the conventional dot inversion driving method, dissimilarly to the conventional line inversion driving method shown in FIG. 13. When the liquid crystal display is driven by this conventional dot inversion driving method, flickering caused by low-frequency driving can be rendered hard to visually recognize since this flickering nonlinearly takes place.
A liquid crystal display capable of negatively/positively reversing images is known in general. This liquid crystal display negatively/positively reverses an image having a white background and black characters to that having a black background and white characters, for example. The liquid crystal display capable of negatively/positively reversing images performs negative/positive reversing by inverting a video signal in a driver IC driving/controlling the liquid crystal display. More specifically, the liquid crystal display inverts the respective bits of a 6-bit video signal, for example, by a video signal inversion circuit including six inverter circuits provided in the driver IC. In general, the liquid crystal display capable of negatively/positively reversing images also displays the images by the aforementioned conventional dot inversion driving method.
However, the conventional dot inversion driving method shown in FIG. 14 requires a video signal having a voltage twice a liquid crystal driving voltage, in order to invert the pixel voltage supply source (video signal) VIDEO with respect to the voltage supply source COM of the common electrode receiving a dc voltage. Assuming that V1 represents the liquid crystal driving voltage in FIG. 14, for example, a video signal having a voltage V2 twice the liquid crystal driving voltage V1 is required in order to obtain the same liquid crystal driving voltage V1 before and after inverting the pixel voltage supply source (video signal) VIDEO with respect to the voltage supply source COM of the common electrode. Therefore, reduction of power consumption is disadvantageously limited also when the liquid crystal display is driven at a low frequency in order to reduce power consumption.
In order to negatively/positively reverse images in the aforementioned liquid crystal display employing the conventional dot inversion driving method, further, the driver IC must disadvantageously be provided therein with a video signal inversion circuit including inverter circuits of the same number as the bit number of the video signal. In order to negatively/positively reverse a 6-bit video signal, for example, the driver IC must include a video signal inversion circuit having six inverter circuits in order to invert the video signal, and hence the structure of the video signal inversion circuit is complicated and the driver IC remarkably consumes power when reversing the images. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communication control in a communication system in which a priority terminal is shorter than a non-priority terminal in a standby time.
2. Description of the Related Art
The previous allocation of wireless resources such as time and frequency used for transmission and reception in performing wireless communication between two apparatuses can be wasteful. For this reason, the IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN (hereinafter, referred to as “wireless LAN”), for example, uses a method of the Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) in which transmission rights are acquired on a first-come-first-served basis if a carrier is not detected.
In a wireless LAN, inter frame space (IFS), which is a standby time until which own data can be transmitted after it is detected that the transmission of previous data is finished, is changed according to the kinds of data to avoid the collision of data, thereby preferentially transmitting ACK. Randomly setting a back-off time required before the start of data transmission (random back off) avoids the collision of data similar in priority.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-247051 discusses a technique in which the IFS is controlled to preferentially transmit a packet small in data size. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-301075 discusses a technique in which a random back-off control is further improved to reduce the probability that a collision occurs.
In recent years, non-contact communication (proximity wireless communication) such as near field communication (NFC) and TransferJet (registered trademark) has appeared. The non-contact communication is very short in communication distance, and is controlled so that communicating apparatus are made close to each other in several centimeters (for example, 10 cm or less for NFC, or 3 cm or less for TransferJet) to establish a radio link, and the communicating apparatuses are kept away from each other to cut off the radio link.
In the TransferJet, it is assumed that the apparatuses perform data communication on a one-to-one basis with each other, and a white paper describing use cases is currently published (“TransferJet™ Overview Whitepaper” TransferJet Consortium, 2009). The white paper discloses that users make their apparatuses close to each other to enable sharing data.
For example, a method may be conceived in which a user performs an operation such as the selection of transmission data by its own apparatus and then brings it close to another apparatus to perform data communication for the purpose of sharing data using TransferJet. This is because it is difficult for the non-contact communication like the TransferJet to perform an operation such as the selection of transmission data with the connection of the radio link maintained because only a slight displacement of the apparatuses in the distance therebetween toward the outside of a communication range breaks the radio link therebetween.
The white paper does not deal with how the control of data transmission/reception is performed if both apparatuses are brought close to each other while selections of transmission data are completed in both apparatuses.
As a method for controlling data communication in that case, a method is conceived in which the CSMA/CA method is applied, as is the case with the wireless LAN, for example, to start data transmission on a first-come-first-served basis. However, in this case, until one apparatus previously acquiring transmission right finishes transmitting data, the other apparatus cannot transmit data.
If the other apparatus does not quickly start transmitting data, the user misjudges it as a failure in communication, and can perform unnecessary operations such as operating the apparatus or performing transmission operation again. If the transmission of data is not started even after a predetermined time period passes, it may be detected as a time-out error depending on the application of the other apparatus. If the amount of data in the apparatus previously acquiring transmission right is large in particular, such a problem probably occurs. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the support of marine risers, such as offshore well production risers of deepwater spar type drilling and production platforms, which risers extend upwardly from the seabed to a drilling or production deck or working floor. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a system for combining the, upward forces of buoyant members to the riser or risers of deepwater spars and other marine platforms to thus assist in supporting the weight of the risers. The present invention also concerns selective installation of inflatable buoyant members to the risers during or after riser tieback to provide buoyant riser weight offsetting force along the length of the riser or at or near the upper stem joint of the riser. This invention further concerns the use of buoyancy modules which collapse to a small dimension for installation or retrieval through rotary drilling table openings or small openings in the deck structure of the spar and can be inflated with a gas or an uncured liquid foam composition and/or provided with liquid ballast individually, sequentially or simultaneously as desired.
2. Description of the Prior Art
On deepwater spars, metal buoyancy tanks, also referred to as “cans”, are used to support the weight of production risers within the spar. Currently these buoyancy tanks are installed by two methods. In some cases buoyancy tanks are pre-installed into the spar structure prior to its launching. Alternatively, the buoyancy tanks may be installed after the spar is launched, by using one or more heavy lift vessels or derrick barges. The requirement for buoyancy installation at remote marine sites and the use of heavy lift vessels or derrick barges for buoyancy installation obviously adds significantly to the cost and complexity of buoyancy tank installations. The large dimensions and heavy handling weight of typical buoyancy cans, and the minimal size of most spar deck openings makes it ordinarily impossible to attach buoyancy cans to the riser structure at the level of the deck and then lower the buoyancy cans to the desired water depth thereof along with the riser during its installation and tieback. Thus, specialized and expensive buoyancy can installation equipment, typically in the form of an installation barge, is ordinarily required. The buoyancy tanks or cans are typically connected to various joints of the riser assembly so that buoyancy force is applied to the riser at selected locations along its length. | {
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This invention relates to improvements in hydraulic rock drills of a type in which a hammer piston is hydraulically reciprocable to pound an anvil carrying a drill string, and of a type designed to be automatically fed along a channel as the work progresses.
An advantageous feature of the invention is a sleeve type cycle valve within the piston cylinder which cycles during operation of the tool to control the application and relief of pressure fluid relative to the piston to effect reciprocating action of the latter. A particular advantage of the valve is that it does not close a supply port feeding operating pressurized hydraulic fluid to the piston until at about the moment of completion of the power stroke; and it functions to open the supply port just before the piston has completed its return stroke. This mode of operation enables the piston to have the full force of the operating fluid right up to the time of impact on a power stroke; and to be ready for a power stroke as soon as its return stroke is completed.
Another feature of the invention is a slidable spline coupling between the piston and the anvil which enables pounding of the anvil as the piston reciprocates, and also enables rotation of the piston to be transmitted directly to the anvil, whereby the usual rotation transmitting gear train is eliminated.
A further feature of the invention is a beneficial arrangement of components whereby lubrication and cooling of sliding anvil and piston surfaces is provided by circulating oil of the hydraulic system. This feature promotes greater life of sliding surfaces and seals.
Another feature is an hydraulic shock absorbing thrust bearing arrangement which dampens rebounding actions of the anvil following impact, and has the advantage of returning to the anvil energy that would otherwise be wasted in housing vibrations.
And, a still further feature of the invention is automatic feed mechanism which functions to maintain an optimum amount of anvil travel independently of operator judgement. | {
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1) Technical Field
The subject invention relates to a molding strip for surrounding an outer periphery of a window opening in a vehicle door frame.
2) Description of the Prior Art
Virtually all vehicle doors have a window opening with a surrounding door frame for holding a transitional window pane in place. The prior art door frames typically utilize a window door seal which may be formed of multiple pieces. The door seals provide little or no structural support for sealing the window pane with which they are associated. The door seals are designed to prevent outside elements from entering the passenger compartment and to allow the window pane to move translationally without undue resistance. The window door seals are typically made of a black rubber or similar elastomeric material and are secured to both exterior and interior surfaces of the door frame. Hence, at least a portion of the rubber door seals are exposed to numerous exterior elements which may damage the seals. For example, rubber door seals have a tendency to be degraded by ultraviolet sunlight which will fade, crack and/or split the seal. In addition, rubber door seals cannot be colored or painted. The overall aesthetics of the vehicle doors can be significantly compromised by these exterior facing rubber door seals, especially in the current market of uniform coloring for vehicle bodies.
The prior art has contemplated the use of decorative molding strips used in association with the rubber door seals to improve the appearance of the exterior edge of the door frames. Typically, the molding strips can be colored or painted to match a desired body panel color or trim pattern. In other words, the molding strips can be colored to appear as an extension of the vehicle body. Some molding strips are attached to or molded into the exterior portion of the door seals. Other molding strips are initially welded to the door frames and then the door seal is mounted separately to the door frame. The prior art door seals typically require an internal support structure to ensure a secure mounting relationship with the door frame. The internal support structures are typically metal sheets molded within the door seal. Multiple operations are usually required to fasten the prior art door seals and molding strips to the door frame. Hence, it is desirable to have a molding strip with a window door seal which does not have an internal support structure and can be mounted to the door frame in a single manufacturing step.
A decorative molding assembly for a vehicle door frame having a window opening for a transitional window pane moveable between an open position spaced from the window opening and a closed position abutting the window opening. The assembly comprises a window seal having a retaining portion for engagement with the door frame and having a channel for selective sealing engagement with the window pane. A molding strip has an exterior facing surface for creating an outer peripheral border for the window opening of the door frame and an inwardly projecting arm mating with the window seal. A retaining member engages the arm of the molding strip and the window seal for securing each of the molding strip and the window seal within the window opening of the door frame such that the window pane is securely sealed within the window opening when the window pane is in the closed position.
Accordingly, the subject invention includes a molding strip and a window door seal which are simultaneously mounted to a door frame by a single retaining member. The window door seal does not require an internal support structure. Preferably, a portion of the door seal is wedged between the molding strip and the door frame which securely holds both the door seal and molding strip to the door frame. The door seal and molding strip are installed on the vehicle door frame in a single application. The molding strip can be colored to provide a pleasing appearance and there is only a small portion of the door seal which is visible from the exterior of the vehicle. | {
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Touch sensors have been used in electronic devices for many years, but mostly in conjunction with a display screen, often called a “touch screen.” The use of touch sensors in the body of the device is not as common and is typically limited to determining whether the device is being touched. The recent addition of fingerprint readers will likely spur the use of touch sensors in general, and create additional opportunities to add functionality to these devices. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fluid collection pouches or bags for use in surgical procedures to collect, channel and contain fluids from a surgical site during an operation, and more specifically to pouches such as arthroscopic fluid collection pouches and to pouch and drape assemblies. The invention also relates to methods of making such pouches and such pouch and drape assemblies.
2. Related Art
During many surgical procedures, it is frequently desirable to create a sterile field around a surgical site to reduce the possibility of infection of a patient. Typically, a sterile field is created by draping a sterile material over a patient in such a manner as to leave an opening only at the actual site of an incision. Such surgical drapes have been used for many years. Originally, the focus of draping was to protect the patient from infection. Recently, that focus has expanded to include protection of the surgical staff from infection. Examples of the types of infection that a staff member may be exposed to from fluids include the hepatitis B virus and the AIDS virus. Thus, another function of surgical drapes used today is to provide a barrier to the exposure of liquids or bacteria which may result in contamination of the patient or the staff performing the surgical procedure.
In some surgical procedures very large volumes of fluid may be present either from irrigation sources or from the patient's body fluids. It is desirable in most instances to control and contain such fluids. Some drapes have been used in the past which contain a pouch to collect fluids present during surgery. Collection of the fluids in the pouch also facilitates disposal of the fluids after the surgery.
Fluid collection pouches are commonly used in a number of surgical procedures. Cranial procedures, endourological operations, ophthalmic procedures and arthroscopic surgery use fluid collection pouches to collect, contain and facilitate disposal of fluids produced during the procedure. In arthroscopic surgery, patient blood, other body fluids, as well as irrigation fluid used to flush material from the joint, is collected in the fluid collection pouch.
Fluid collection during arthroscopic procedures is different in some respects from fluid collection during other surgical procedures. For example, using a collection pouch to collect and contain fluid during abdominal surgery has the fluid collection pouch placed adjacent one side of the surgical site and extending down the side of the patient. Arthroscopy procedures typically place a patient's leg through a collection pouch mounted to a drape with one sheet of the collection pouch in front of the surgical site on the limb and another sheet of the collection pouch in back of the surgical site. Therefore, the fluid collection pouch is supported in part by the limb itself, as well as by the surgical drape to which the fluid collection pouch is attached.
One disadvantage of the currently available disposable collection pouches is that they are formed of separate sheets sealed together, and may leak. Leaks may form at any number of seals in the pouch when the pouch is pulled outward or is opened before the procedure for collecting fluids. As many as five seals may be used in the construction of a single bag, each of which may present a risk of leakage in the pouch.
A relatively large number of seals used in assembling a fluid collection pouch uses significant labor and assembly time. Depending on the complexity of a collection pouch design, the location and the positioning of the seal lines may substantially add to handling time. This additional time and labor represents a significant increase in the cost of production for disposable fluid collection bags.
Another disadvantage of prior fluid collection pouches is that they are relatively complicated to manufacture in that they require the joining of multiple sheets to form a pouch that is conformable to the body of a patient to control fluids. For certain applications, the collection pouch pattern may be more complicated in order to control fluids released at a particular surgical site, such as the arm or leg of a patient. Substantial labor steps may be necessary for forming odd-shaped patterns, or for joining multiple sheets of material into a pattern for a pouch specifically constructed for controlling fluids during surgery, such as an arthroscopic procedure.
Another disadvantage of some fluid collection bags, particularly for use during surgical procedures on a patient's leg, is that the collection pouch may not extend forward and away from the patient far enough to adequately expose a surgical site, and it may not provide an opening large enough for capturing fluids. The opening in a conventional fluid pouch, for example, may be symmetrical and relatively simple to manufacture and pack. However, a symmetrical opening in a fluid pouch may not adequately control fluid at an irregularly-shaped area of a body, such as the leg of a patient.
Some conventional collection pouches having extended portions to control fluids during a surgical procedure formed of multiple sheets of flexible plastic that require multiple seals and multiple sealing steps. One disadvantage of these pouches is that they require separate sheets of plastic and a significant number of seals. The increased number of seals in a collection bag generally increases the risk of fluid leakage and the spread of infection, in addition to an added cost of assembly.
Therefore, there is a need for a fluid collection pouch and for a pouch and surgical drape assembly which minimizes the possibility of leaks developing during use, such as at seal points, and which is easier to assemble and use. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to a turn off circuit for a multiphase motor, and is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Patent Application Ser. No.: 073,646 filed on Sept. 10, 1979 which is turn, is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Patent Application Ser. No.: 933,656 filed on Aug. 14, 1978 now patent No. 4,214,196.
The above two prior applications, describe a novel, threelegged choke coupling between the central pulse generator core and a tight coupling between the central pulse generator core and the outer cores. To further reduce heat losses in the windings due to trapped energy in the chokes of the outer cores, an improved energy recovery system is included. In addition, it is desirable to reduce oscillations of the power SCRs which occur after firing. Also, it is desirable to facilitate recovery of energy trapped in the outer cores for return to the battery; this will occur when the load is being braked. Furthermore, since quiet operation of a turn off circuit is less annoying, besides reducing energy consumption, a quieter running circuit is obviously desirable. Finally, if energy trapped in the outer core can be more effectively tranferred to the pulse forming capacitors which fire the SCRs, rather than being dissipated or retained as heat, circuit firing will be more uniform and stable, and this will improve overall efficiency.
The apparatus of this invention has application not only to variable speed motors which may be used in electric cars, but also to stationary drives which supply power to variable load devices. As an example, although many machines in industrial plants operate at varying loads, they are powered by constant speed motors. To accommodate for these varying load requirements, the machine output may be reduced or throttled back while still operating under a constant load. Obviously, if an effective variable control could be found for the motor, considerable energy savings would be effected since the output requirements of the motor could be decreased when the load on the machine is reduced.
In addition, it would be desirable to recover decay energy from the motor for firing the SCRs which receive a pulse width modulation signal in response to changes in power requirements. Recovery of decay energy reduces power consumption that otherwise would form heat and noise. Also, if the discharge times of the capacitors which fire the SCRs are increased, this would improve their firing characteristics. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of Art
The disclosure relates generally to performing motion compensated deinterlacing, and more specifically to deinterlacing using a combination of directional interpolation, motion compensated deinterlacing, and motion adaptive deinterlacing.
2. Description of Related Art
Motion compensation describes a target image in terms of which section (specifically, macroblock) of a target frame came from which section of a reference frame. The motion compensation is often employed in video compression as well as video processing such as deinterlacing, noise reduction, and video stabilization. In order to perform the motion compensation, motion estimation must be performed before performing the motion compensation.
The motion estimation is the process of finding optimal or near-optimal motion vectors of macroblocks in the frames of a video sequence. When using the motion estimation, an assumption is made that objects in the scene have only translational motions. Under such an assumption, a macroblock of the frame is compared with macroblocks in the reference frame to choose the best matching macroblock in the reference frame. Generally, the search for the macroblock is conducted over a predetermined search area (i.e., search window) of the reference frame.
The motion estimation is the most computationally demanding process in image compression applications, and can require as much as 80% of the processor cycles spent in the video encoder. The simplest and most thorough way to perform motion estimation is to evaluate every possible macroblock (e.g., 16×16 pixels) in the search window of the reference frame, and select the best match. Typically, a sum of absolute differences (SAD) or sum of squared differences (SSD) computation is used to determine how closely the pixel region of the reference frame matches a macroblock of the target frame. The SAD or SSD is often computed for the luminance plane only, but can also include the chrominance planes. A relatively small search area of 48 pixels by 24 pixels, for example, contains 1024 possible 16×16 pixel regions at half-pixel resolution. Performing an SAD on the luminance plane only for one such region requires 256 subtractions, 256 absolute value operations, and 255 additions. Thus, not including the interpolation required for non-integer motion vectors, the SAD computations needed to exhaustively scan this search window for the best match require a total of 785,408 arithmetic operations per macro block, which equates to over 4.6 billion arithmetic operations per second at CIF (352 by 288 pixels) video resolution and a modest frame rate of 15 frames per second.
Accordingly, the motion estimation is a crucial operation in video compression and processing. Software or hardware dedicated to perform the motion estimation has been developed and is called a motion estimation engine. The motion estimation engine is very crucial to the performance of video compression and video processing. To enhance accuracy and speed, complex algorithms and dedicated circuits have been employed in the motion estimation engines. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Drilling through rock generally requires the use of some type of fluid to clear cuttings from the bore hole formed by the drill. In some applications, the drilling fluid can be as simple as compressed air. However, when drilling is conducted to tap fossil fuel resources, the drilling fluid used is usually a “drilling mud.” Drilling muds are generally placed in three categories, depending on the major fluid component: water-based, oil-based, and pneumatic. In the natural gas industry, oil-based muds predominate.
Oil-based muds serve several functions during drilling: removing cuttings from the well, suspending the cuttings, controlling formation pressure, sealing permeable formations, stabilizing the wellbore, reducing formation damage, cooling the drill, lubricating the drill, transmitting hydraulic energy to tools and the bit, and reducing corrosion. Oil-based drilling muds typically comprise a hydrocarbon-water emulsion, an emulsifier, and clay. Bentonite is the most widely used clay in drilling muds, although other clays can be used. Other ingredients are often present. Barite, for example, is often used as a weighting agent to increase the outward hydrostatic pressure in the borehole.
Typically, used drilling mud will be recirculated through a drill and borehole at the drill site. The larger cuttings are removed from the mud prior to recirculation. This is generally achieved by running the used mud over a shaker screen. This collects the drill cuttings, which are mixed with drilling mud and groundwater. The waste drilling mud and the cuttings are then subject to disposal, either with or without some form of treatment. In some situations an unused drill mud must be subject to disposal. This can occur for example if a mud is stored for too long, and loses some of its beneficial properties. All such muds, used or unused, are referred to in this disclosure as “waste drilling mud.”
Disposal of waste drilling muds is a major problem in the art. Diesel is commonly used as an oil in drilling muds. Diesel poses environmental hazards, so diesel-based mud must be deposited in special landfills constructed with an impermeable lining. This is expensive, and the possibility remains that the hazardous components of the mud could leak from the landfill, damaging the environment and exposing all parties involved to toxic cleanup liability. Used drilling muds may also contain groundwater with high salt concentrations. Such saline water can also be environmentally harmful if not disposed of properly; its disposal is similarly expensive and can constitute a continuing threat to the environment with attendant legal liabilities. The task of disposal of drilling muds is complicated by the complex, multi-phase nature of the muds, which makes it difficult to isolate the hazardous components to reduce disposal volumes.
Even when the bulk oil fraction of a drilling mud is separated and purified, residual organic compounds often remain tightly associated with solids in the mud (either the clay or drill cuttings), requiring disposal as a hazardous substance. Methods for completely removing hydrocarbons from the solid phase, such as steam distillation, are energy-intensive and inefficient. Solvent-based methods of hydrocarbon separation from the solid phase merely compound the problem by the introduction of hazardous solvent. Combustion of the liquid hydrocarbon in emulsion requires very high operating temperatures and can be a source of air pollution. Combustion of liquid hydrocarbon when mixed with the solid phase is problematic, as it requires the facility be licensed as an incinerator.
If the hydrocarbon fraction is effectively removed, the remaining components of most waste drilling muds (water, clay, and possibly cuttings) are not hazardous, and may be disposed of without special protective measures or reused for muds or other purposes. When waste mud contains saline water, disposal of the aqueous fraction may pose a problem. Although salt concentrations in “saline” groundwaters are low compared to marine waters, they are often sufficiently high to damage soils and bodies of freshwater. Saline water may be disposed of by storage in a lagoon, in which the water slowly evaporates and the salt precipitates. Although this method greatly reduces the volume of the waste material, the concentrated salt evaporite that remains can be highly damaging to soil and groundwater, and requires either alternative disposal or further treatment. Another method of disposal is permanent storage of the saline water in an impermeable landfill. This method is expensive, may result in leaks, and is not available in every location.
Consequently, there is a long-felt need in the art for a method of waste drilling mud disposal that requires no disposal of hydrocarbons and creates no persistent pollution. There is a further long-felt need in the art for a method of waste drilling mud disposal that requires no disposal of saline water. There is a further long-felt need in the art for a method of treatment of waste drilling mud that requires no disposal of hazardous pollutants. There is a further long-felt need in the art for a method of cost-effective diesel recycling from drilling mud. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The Internet provides access to various pieces of information, applications, services, and the like for publishing information. Today, the Internet has significantly changed the way we access and use information. The Internet allows users to quickly and easily access services such as banking, e-commerce, e-trading, and other services people use in their daily lives.
In order to access such services, a user often shares his or her personal information such as name; contact details; highly confidential information such as usernames, passwords, bank account numbers, and credit card details; and so on with service providers. Similarly, confidential information of companies such as trade secrets, financial details, employee details, company strategies, and the like are also stored on servers that are connected to the Internet. There is a threat that confidential and/or personal information will be accessed by hackers using unauthorized access methods. Specifically, such unauthorized access methods may include, for example, using malware, viruses, spyware, key loggers, compromised remote desktop services, and the like.
Recently, the frequency and complexity level of attacks has increased with respect to attacks performed against all organizations including, but not limited to, cloud providers, enterprise organizations, and network carriers. Some complex attacks, known as multi-vector attack campaigns, utilize different types of attack techniques to identify weaknesses in the target network and/or application resources. Identified weaknesses can be exploited to achieve the attack's goals, thereby compromising the entire security framework of the network.
One example of a multi-vector attack campaign is an advanced persistent threat (APT). An APT is an attack in which an unauthorized hacker gains access to a network and remains undetected for a long period of time. Due to the complexity of multi-vector attack campaigns, such attacks are frequently successful and go undetected by current security solutions. This is due to the fact that current security solutions are not sufficiently agile and adaptive with respect to detection, investigation, and mitigation of resources needed to meet such evolving threats. Specifically, current security solutions cannot easily and promptly adapt to detect and mitigate new attack behavior or attacks that change their behavior in a significant manner in order to bypass the security.
In addition, security solutions and, in particular, solutions for APT attacks, do not provide reliable automatic decision-making capabilities. Typically, security solutions are not designed for both detection and automatic decision-making. In addition, system administrators do not trust currently available security solutions' designed to mitigate complex attacks due, in part, to the high level of false positive alerts generated by such systems because of inaccurate mitigation control. As a result of such false positive alerts, system administrators often manually perform decision-making processes rather than permit automatic decision-making, which usually increases the time needed to mitigate attacks. As such, current solutions cannot predict potential risks such as future activities that are associated with pre-attack intelligence gathering, malware propagation, data breach, and exfiltration of data. Current solutions also suffer from a lack of situational awareness of the main risks and loss potential that attacks can impose on a business.
Furthermore, due to the lack of automatic decision-making, remediation and/or mitigation actions are not well defined and prioritized, thereby resulting in inefficient utilization of security resources such as investigation resources and mitigation resources. Specifically, mitigation actions cannot be automatically activated in advance in order to protect the victims from future exploitation attempts, protect before a protected object is victimized or exploited. Current solutions do not even offer an advance or proactive mitigation when a mitigation action is executed against the attacker. For example, if an attacker carries out an ATP attack against a specific target and such an attack is detected and mitigated, current solutions are not designed to automatically and proactively mitigate propagation of the attack against other targets. Thus, current solutions are limited in the defense that they can provide to protected objects and are further limited in their ability to block the expansion of cyber-threats, and particularly of multi-vector attack campaigns (e.g. APTs).
It would therefore be advantageous to provide a security solution that would at least overcome the deficiencies noted above. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a screwdriver, and more particularly to a ratchet type screwdriver, wherein the user can view the inside of the screwdriver to inspect and adjust connection between the pawl members and the ratchet wheel, thereby facilitating the user repairing the screwdriver.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional screwdriver in accordance with the prior art shown in FIG. 19 comprises a body 90, a ratchet wheel 91 mounted on the body 90 and having an outer wall formed with a toothed portion 910, two pawl members 92 each pivotally mounted in the body 90 and each a first face formed with a toothed portion 920 engaged with the toothed portion 910 of the ratchet wheel 91, and two elastic members 93 each urged between a second face of a respective one of the pawl members 92 and the body 90.
However, each of the pawl members 92 has a first side toothed portion A′ and a second side toothed portion B′ with a greater height differential H′, so that the second side toothed portion B′ of each of the pawl members 92 has a smaller thickness. Thus, each of the pawl members 92 cannot withstand a larger torque to drive the ratchet wheel 91 to rotate, so that the pawl members 92 are easily worn out at the second side toothed portion B′. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present application relates to fingerprint or palmprint sensors, and more generally to sensors of prints of skin portions. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The invention relates to a two-chamber dispenser for a gas-pressurized or non-pressurized package, said dispenser comprising a rigid or semi-rigid one-piece can body with a shoulder forming a flanged opening and inserted therein a flexible inner pouch (herein after simply pouch) of a material which forms a barrier to diffusion, said pouch being for liquid, pasty or creamy contents.
There are various two-chamber dispensers for gas-pressurized and non-pressurized packages which permit separation of a propellant from the contents.
In the case of one two-chamber package a pressure-resistant can body contains a flexible, folded or semi-rigid pouch which can be deformed radially and/or axially. The pressure of the propellant between the pouch and the can body is so great that on opening the valve the liquid, pasty or creamy contents are expelled from the container. For environmental reasons the main propellant gases used today are nitrogen, air and liquid methane, which are fed or forced into the container through a sealable hole in the base of the can body.
By using a pump facility, which for physical reasons is particularly suitable for low viscosity fluids, the contents are sucked out of the pouch. There is no excess pressure in the space between the flexible pouch and the can body. The contents removed from the pouch cause the volume of the pouch to become smaller; the resultant negative pressure is constantly equalized.
Known versions of two-chamber dispensers for gas-pressurized and non-pressurized packages exhibit the following disadvantages:
The resistance to diffusion is not sufficient, either because the material used does not provide an adequate barrier, or because the connection of the pouch to the valve or pump facility is not sufficiently airtight.
The material necessary to provide a perfect barrier to diffusion e.g. in the form of an aluminum sleeve, is too thick. Under the action of radial compression the residual volume is large, which results in a loss of material i.e. contents. Axial compression is not possible here. Furthermore, under the action of radial deformation kinking or buckling can occur producing stresses that could lead to perforation (British Patent Document 2162901.)
The pouches are secured in a complicated manner e.g. in two-part can bodies. PA0 Known two-chamber dispensers are very expensive making the final product difficult to sell.
The object of the present invention is to develop a two-chamber dispenser of the kind discussed above which is diffusion-proof also in the region of transition to the valve or pump, even with critical products and this for several years, at the same time permitting manufacture at a favorable cost. Furthermore, the residual volume which is left in the pouch after emptying should be small. Finally, and this is of particular importance, the filling operation should save the introduction and attachment of the pouch to the can body. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In data networks, devices are linked to one another via connections in order to interchange data with one another. With regard to the devices, a distinction is drawn between central devices, for example servers, and end points, for example PCs. End points such as these are frequently also referred to as clients. In general, the devices communicate with one another in data networks on the basis of allocated addresses. When the data is interchanged in a data network on the basis of the Internet Protocol, the addresses which are used are so-called IP addresses (IP=Internet Protocol).
Many data networks, in particular those with a large number of devices, are structured. This is necessary, for example, in order to reduce the network load and to ensure data protection in networks with a large number of branches. For structuring, the data networks are subdivided into logical subareas, which are also referred to as domains. Within one domain, for example, a number of PCs may be allocated to one specific server or to another central device.
One widespread embodiment of the described data networks is speech data networks, which are also referred to as VOIP networks (VOIP=Voice over Internet Protocol). Speech data networks also have central devices, for example gateways, gatekeepers and DNS servers, as well as end points (“clients”, “VoIP-clients”) which, in speech data networks, may, for example, be in the form of a telephone with a data network connection (“IP phone”), in the form of a multimedia PC, or else in the form of a PC with telephone emulation (“soft phone”). These end points or “clients” are also generally referred to as terminals, by analogy with line-switching telephony.
Before they are used, the devices in data networks must be configured in order to ensure disturbance-free operation. In the case of clients in speech data networks, by way of example, this means that these devices have to be set for the transmission and/or compression protocol (“Codec”) which may be used for speech transmission in the data network or data network element, and for the central device which may be used by the respective terminal, that is to say, for example, for the gateway which is allocated to the corresponding appliance, etc. In this case, the IP addresses of the central devices to be used must also be configured in the corresponding terminals, in order that the terminals can communicate with them.
The DHCP method (DHCP=Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) is known for the configuration of computers (PCs) in data networks (for example: R. Droms, “Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol”, Request for comments: 2131, Brucknell University, March, 1997). The DHCP method is implemented with the aid of a central instance in a data network, which generally runs in the form of software on computer hardware and is generally referred to as a “DHCP Server”. The method is predominantly used in computer networks in which the availability of useable (free) IP addresses is short, or in those in which a large number of mobile computers are active at different times. In this case, from the limited range of available IP addresses, an IP address is assigned “on loan” only to those computers which are currently connected to the data network (“online”). For this purpose, after being switched on (“booted up”), a computer first of all sets up a connection to the DHCP server, and in the process requests the assignment of a free IP address. The DHCP server then assigns the computer an IP address—generally for a specific validity period—and the IP subnetwork mask that is required in that network segment, and also transmits to the computer the address of a DNS server (Domain Name System server) which can be used in this network segment.
In known data networks, it has been found to be disadvantageous that devices must be configured manually at regular intervals, which is associated with a large amount of labor effort. This is particularly true when an existing configuration has to be changed because, for example, a central device in the corresponding data network has changed its network address, or when central devices are added to the network, or are removed from it. Whenever the association between end points and central devices in the data network is changed, this results in the necessity to change the configuration of the end points in real time.
Although the use of the DHCP method as described above allows the configuration of devices with an IP address, an IP subnetwork mask and with the address of a DNS server, it is, however, possible only to a restricted extent with the known DHCP servers to transmit to the devices (computers) an amount of configuration data which is significantly greater than this “basic configuration”. As mentioned above, the clients in speech data networks, in particular, must be supplied not only with the “basic configuration” but also with a large number of other information items (parameters). Furthermore, although the DHCP method is able to assign a newly connected device a free IP address from the range of available free IP addresses, this is not intended to allow, for example, selection of a suitable gateway for a device from a number of gateways in a data network, and to assign this for use.
It is known for the association between end points and central devices (servers) to be updated automatically by the servers in a data network carrying out so-called “scanning” at regular time intervals. The aim of the “scanning” is to find end points which have been added to the network and to send all of the necessary information to these end points in order to configure them for operation in the data network. In this case, each server sends test messages to each address from a specific address range (“address band”) and thus checks whether the corresponding addresses have each been allocated to end points. The end points which are found in this process are then supplied with appropriate information, if they have not yet been configured, or have not yet been correctly configured, thus setting them up for operation in the corresponding data network.
With the “scanning method”, it has been found to be disadvantageous that the cyclic transmission of a large amount of test messages results in a high network load, to be precise even when only a small number of end points, or none at all, have been added to the data network. Those end points which have been newly added to the data network between two “scanning” processors cannot be used until the next run has been completed. A further disadvantage of this method is that the address structure in the data network must be designed such that the network addresses of the end points that have been added must be matched to the address bands which the corresponding servers search through or, conversely, the address bands must be matched to the addresses being used in the data network. | {
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A video decoder receives encoded video data and decodes and/or decompresses the video data. The decoded video data comprises a series of pictures. A display device displays the pictures. The pictures comprise a two-dimensional grid of pixels. The display device displays the pixels of each picture in real time at a constant rate. In contrast, the rate of decoding can vary considerably for different video data. Accordingly, the video decoder writes the decoded pictures in a frame buffer.
Among other things, a display engine is synchronized with the display device and provides the appropriate pixels to the display device for display. The display engine determines the frame buffer address of the appropriate pixels, in order to provide the appropriate pixels to the display device. The address of the appropriate pixels is dependent on the manner that the video decoder writes the picture to the frame buffer.
Characteristics that characterize the manner that the video decoder writes the picture to the frame buffer include the packing of luma and chroma pixels, the linearity that the picture is stored and the spatial relationship between the luma and chroma pixels are factors. The foregoing characteristics are usually determined by the native format and the encoding format of the source video data.
The luma and chroma pixels of a picture can either be packed together or separately. The chroma pixels include red difference pixel Cr, and blue difference pixel Cb. In macroblock format, the luma pixels are packed in one array, while both chroma pixels Cr/Cb are packed together in another array. In planar format, the luma pixels are packed in one array, the Cr pixels are packed in a second array, and the Cb pixels are packed in a third array. In packed YUV, the luma pixels and both the chroma Cr/Cb pixels are packed together in a single array.
The video decoder does not necessarily store the frame in a linear manner. In planar & packed YUV formats, the video decoder stores pictures in left to right and top to bottom order in the memory. However, in MPEG 1, 2, and 4, and DV-25 formats, pictures are stored in the frame buffer in a macroblock format. In the macroblock format, the pixels of the frame are divided into two dimensional blocks. The video decoder stores the two dimensional blocks in consecutive memory locations.
Additionally, the spatial relationship of chroma pixels to luma pixels can differ among the many standards. Standards defining the spatial relationship of the chroma pixels to luma pixels include MPEG 4:2:0, MPEG 4:2:2, DV-25 4:1:1, and DV-25 4:2:0, to name a few. Where the standards for the display and the decoded video data differ, chroma pixels for the display can be interpolated from two or more chroma pixels in the decoded video data. The chroma interpolation depends on the native format of the source video data.
Conventionally, after each horizontal synchronization pulse, the host processor calculates the address of the first pixels of a line and the parameters for chroma format conversion. The host processor then programs the display engine with the foregoing.
Programming the display engine at each horizontal synchronization pulse consumes considerable bandwidth from the host processor.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with embodiments presented in the remainder of the present application with references to the drawings. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A control device of this kind is a so-called "load sensing" control in which the fraction of the delivery flow which reaches each actuator is determined by means of a delivery flow controller that is pressurized as a function of the opening area of the associated control valve. Thus the displacement setting of the pump is set in accordance with the actuator loads which are transmitted to the adjusting device of the pump by means of load pressure feed back lines.
The flow controller usually comprises so-called pressure compensators which perform the .DELTA.P.sub.2 delivery flow regulation by ensuring a constant pressure difference of about 8 to 20 bar. With this "loadsensing" principle the displacement adjustment thus occurs with the above-mentioned pressure difference from the load pressures, which can result in oscillation problems. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to a diagnostic apparatus for diagnosing a vehicle for presence of any abnormality based on the driving condition parameters of various portions of an engine system, which are input to an electronic control unit of the vehicle.
In recent years, a vehicle engine system has been controlled using an electronic control unit (ECU). Specifically, the ECU receives signals from sensors provided at various portions of the engine system, and performs an computation based on the thus received data to control the ignition timing, the fuel injection quantity or the like.
In such an electronic control system, a self-diagnostic function for detecting an abnormal part of the engine system and informing a driver or a mechanic of an abnormality is usually incorporated. Diagnostic results of the ECU is typically stored in an EEPROM which is a writable non-volatile memory as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-98639. Another means for storing the self-diagnostic results is aback-up RAM (random access memory), which is less expensive than the EEPROM, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-31041. The back-up RAM is supplied with a maintaining current from a battery of the vehicle even when the power of the system is turned off, and the stored data is maintained. That is, the back-up RAM is used as if it were a non-volatile memory by maintaining the power supply to the RAM. The back-up RAM loses the contents when the battery is removed from the vehicle, as may occur when replacing the batteries.
For example, when a battery is replaced in the car examination and maintenance, the diagnostic data stored in the back-up RAM is lost. This raises a problem when a car examination party tries to inspect the diagnostic data or check whether or not the self-diagnostic function is normal.
A diagnostic apparatus as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-31041 has two lamps, a code display lamp for blinking a trouble code designating an abnormality detected by the diagnosis, and a warning lamp which is lighted when the back-up data is broken and the diagnosis is uncompleted. If a user knows that the diagnosis is uncompleted as indicated by the warning lamp, the user can complete the diagnosis by running the vehicle for the period or distance required for the system to complete the diagnosis.
The present invention has been achieved in the light of such demand, and it is an object of the invention to effect the display of the diagnostic results and an indication of whether or not the diagnosis has been completed using a single display device or an indicator.
The information displayed on a driving panel of the vehicle or near a driver""s seat includes the vehicle speed, engine speed, fuel amount, seat belt warning, door warning, rear window heater warning, and the parameters regarding the air conditioning, the car audio, and the car navigation. The meters and displays are too complicated for ordinary drivers. Accordingly, it is desired that the number of warning lamps near the driver""s seat be suppressed or decreased.
According to one aspect of the invention, a diagnostic apparatus to be mounted on a vehicle is provided for diagnosing the vehicle based on the driving condition parameters of the vehicle. The diagnostic apparatus comprises: a display for displaying the presence or absence of an abnormality based on the diagnostic results; a switch for switching the diagnostic apparatus into a notification mode in response to a predetermined operation state; and a display controller, responsive to being switched into the notification mode, for displaying on the display whether or not the diagnosis has been completed. The operation state refers to a state where a user has or has not performed a specific operation.
According to the invention, an indication of whether or not the diagnosis has not been completed can be displayed on a display device or an indicator for indicating the diagnostic results by switching the mode of the diagnostic apparatus into the notification mode in response to a predetermined operation state.
According to another aspect of the invention, in the above mentioned diagnostic apparatus, the display is a lamp provided near a driver""s seat of the vehicle, and the indication of whether or not the diagnosis has been completed can be effected by blinking the lamp.
According to another aspect of the invention, one lamp is used as the display to effect the display of the diagnostic results and the indication of whether or not the diagnosis has been completed.
According to further another aspect of the invention, the predetermined operation state is a state of an ignition switch.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the diagnostic apparatus is switched into the notification mode in accordance with the predetermined operation state of the ignition switch. The apparatus according to the invention can be built by programming a conventional apparatus without substantially changing a hardware.
Further, according to another aspect of the invention, the display controller indicates an undiagnosed portion by a blinking pattern of the lamp. Since the undiagnosed portion is indicated in the blinking pattern of the lamp, a driver or a mechanic can learn the undiagnosed portion and can take a measure correspondingly.
According to yet another embodiment of the invention, the notification mode is released by starting the engine. The releasing function can be incorporated into to the diagnostic apparatus by programming without requiring a separate releasing device. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Mobile phones become people's necessities, and people always carry them. For people who want to be more beautiful, mirror is another necessity to be carried. When the display screen becomes black, it is useless, and cannot act as a mirror due to a low reflectivity. In related art, a back surface of a screen lens is coated with a layer of reflective film so as to enhance the reflective effect. However, when the display screen is used for displaying, the reflective film significantly affects the light transmission.
This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an adjusting device for adjusting, a sheet transport cylinder in a sheet-fed rotary printing machine, depending upon various thicknesses of printing material.
Such an adjusting device is described in the published German Patent Document DE 39 02 923 A1, wherein an outer cylindrical or jacket surface of the sheet transport cylinder is provided with an outer or jacket film or foil, the outer diameter of which is variable by a variable-height element disposed under the outer film or foil and on a surface of the sheet transport cylinder. The outer film or foil is fixed by an adjusting device to at least one clamping point of the sheet transport cylinder so that a change in the outer diameter of the outer film or foil is effected by the adjusting device. The adjusting device can be operated manually or by a servodrive, for example, a pneumatic servodrive. In the case of a sheet-fed rotary printing machine having many printing units and therefore many sheet transport cylinders, an unacceptably long machine stoppage and refitting time is needed to change the outer diameter of the sheet transport cylinders manually. Although the refitting times can be shortened by using the servodrive, it would have to be integrated into the rotating sheet transport cylinder. This is firstly very complicated to implement in construction terms with regard to the power supply, for example, of a compressed air connection to the servodrive, and secondly is not possible at all in certain cases, for example, because the installation space needed in the sheet transport cylinder for the integration of the servodrive is not available.
Diagonal register adjusting devices described in German Patent DE 465 246 and German Patent Documents DE 34 00 652 C2 and DE 40 13 003 A1 represent only further prior art, and do not correspond to the generic type of adjusting device mentioned in the introduction hereto, and, in these devices, the axis of rotation of the sheet transport cylinder is adjusted to a following position which is skewed with respect to the initial position.
It is accordingly an object of the invention, therefore, to provide an adjusting device for a sheet-fed rotary printing machine wherein the adjustment is dependent upon various printing-material thicknesses, the adjusting device providing improved construction preconditions for remote operation.
With the foregoing and other objects in view, there is provided, in accordance with one aspect of the invention, an adjusting device for adjusting a sheet transport cylinder in a sheet-fed rotary printing machine, depending upon various printing-material thicknesses, comprising a mounting support for mounting the sheet transport cylinder so that a rotational axis of the sheet transport cylinder is adjustable from a first axial position, which corresponds to a given printing-material thickness, to a second axial position, which corresponds to another printing-material thickness and is axially parallel to the first axial position.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the mounting support comprises at least one eccentric bearing having an eccentricity.
In accordance with a further feature of the invention, a movement path described by an axis of rotation during an adjustment thereof from the first to the second axial position corresponds to a line which determines a change in cylinder nips, which, in terms of size, is effected at least approximately to the same mutual extent, the nips being formed by the sheet transport cylinder together with adjacent cylinders.
In accordance with an added feature of the invention, the sheet transport cylinder is disposed between another sheet transport cylinder and an impression cylinder.
In accordance with an additional feature of the invention, the rotational axis of the sheet transport cylinder, both in the first and in the second axial position thereof, extends axially parallel to an axis of rotation of an adjacent impression cylinder.
In accordance with yet another feature of the invention, adjusting directions lie at least approximately on a bisector of an angle determined by the axis of rotation of the sheet transport cylinder and axes of rotation of other sheet transport cylinders adjacent to the first-mentioned sheet transport cylinder.
In accordance with a concomitant aspect of the invention, there is provided a sheet-fed rotary printing machine having at least one adjusting device for adjusting a sheet transport cylinder, depending upon various printing-material thicknesses, comprising a mounting support for the sheet transport cylinder so that a rotational axis of the sheet transport cylinder is mounted so that it is adjustable from a first axial position, which corresponds to a given printing-material thickness, into a second axial position, which corresponds to another printing-material thickness and is axially parallel to the first axial position.
The sheet transport cylinder is thus mounted so that the rotational axis thereof can be adjusted from a first axial position (initial position), which corresponds to one printing-material thickness, into a second axial position (following position), which corresponds to another printing-material thickness and is axially parallel to the first axial position.
The adjusting device according to the invention is particularly well suited for remote operation, because if an actuating drive is used to operate the adjusting device, the actuating drive can be arranged in a stationary manner and externally to the sheet transport cylinder. In the case wherein the actuating drive is constructed as a pneumatic operating cylinder, fixing it to a frame of the sheet-fed rotary printing machine arranged beside the sheet transport cylinder is advantageous, because an operating cylinder arranged in this way can be connected to a compressed air source in a straightforward manner via hose lines.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in an adjusting device for a sheet-fed rotary printing machine, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein: | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Laquinimod is a compound which has been shown to be effective in the acute experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (aEAE) model (U.S. Pat. No. 6,077,851). Its chemical name is N-ethyl-N-phenyl-1,2-dihydro-4-hydroxy-5-chloro-1-methyl-2-oxoquinoline-3-carboxamide, and its Chemical Registry number is 248281-84-7. The processes of synthesis of laquinimod and the preparation of its sodium salt are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,077,851. An additional process of synthesis of laquinimod is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,875,869. Pharmaceutical compositions comprising laquinimod sodium are disclosed in PCT International Application Publication No. WO 2005/074899.
Laquinimod sodium has high oral bioavailability and has been suggested as an oral formulation for the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). (Polman, C. et al., (2005) “Treatment with laquinimod reduces development of active MRI lesions in relapsing MS”, Neurology. 64:987-991; Sandberg-Wollheim M, et al. (2005) “48-week open safety study with high-dose oral laquinimod in patients”, Mult Scler. 11:S154). Studies have also shown that laquinimod can reduce development of active MRI lesions in relapsing MS. (Polman, C. et al., (2005) “Treatment with laquinimod reduces development of active MRI lesions in relapsing MS”, Neurology. 64:987-991). | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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An apparatus for rolling or winding up a web of material can have a driven supporting roll on which one or more winding rolls rest during the winding process and a plurality of press rolls pressable against the circumference of one of the winding rolls, which are mounted pairwise parallel to the axis of the supporting roll on an end of at least one lever mounted laterally adjacent the supporting roll and pivotable upwardly.
This apparatus is used especially for rolling or winding up longitudinally-divided webs of paper. They have one or more winding stations on both sides of the peak line of the supporting roll. The individual webs made by the longitudinal cutting are fed alternately to winding stations on both sides (of the supporting roll). The winding stations comprise two winding frames or brackets suspended on crossbars movable transversely to the web on which a holder with a guide head extending downwardly is attached for insertion in a winding tube.
During the winding process, each winding roll is held between two guide heads.
To wind with a new tube and to influence the roll hardness by the pressing force of the winding roll bearing on the supporting roll, a pivoting lever with two press rolls which are pressable on the circumference of the winding roll is mounted laterally adjacent the supporting roll.
A winding apparatus of this type is described in German Patent 31 02 894. In this apparatus the press roll pairs are mounted on an end of pivoting levers which are attached to raisable and lowerable longitudinal supports on both sides of the supporting roll. The press roll pairs are pressed at the beginning of the rolling or winding process against the winding roll. The upwardly pivotable press rolls are moved into an upper position before removal of the full winding roll after the end of the winding process.
Press roll pairs as described in German Patent 20 60 758 are mounted pivotally on the free end of a pivoting lever. By this mount, the press rolls can be swung about an axis parallel to its rotating axis to avoid any excess or non-uniform pressure by the press rolls against the winding roll.
Disadvantageously, a uniform winding or rolling up over the width of a winding roll is not guaranteed so that included folds can occur inside the winding roll. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Technical Field
The invention relates to the field of devices for separating oxygen from a more complex gas containing oxygen to deliver the separated oxygen for use. More particularly, the invention relates to solid state electrochemical devices for separating oxygen from a more complex gas.
2. Background Art
The ceramic oxygen generation system, Integrated Manifold and Tube (IMAT), as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,624, has demonstrated the capability of generating high purity oxygen at high pressure. In a typical IMAT, tubes in each row are electrically connected in parallel and each row is electrically connected in series through via wires. Using this approach, the IMATs can be operated at reasonable current and voltage levels as compared to the approach when all tubes are connected in parallel which requires larger current to generate the same amount of oxygen. Further, the via wires are inserted into the via holes on the IMAT bases. To generate oxygen with above ambient pressure, the via wires need to be sealed tightly with the ceramics.
The challenge the prior approach faces is the difficulty associated with sealing via wires and labor time and equipment/materials cost involved with via insertion. Because of the operation temperature (600-750° C.) and the conductivity requirements, only a limited number of metals such as silver (Ag), gold (Au), platinum (Pt), and their alloys can be viable candidates. From a cost standpoint, silver would generally be the best candidate. However, silver has a thermal expansion coefficient that is much larger than that of IMAT ceramics and thus makes the sealing process very challenging due to unavoidable temperature cycling in product manufacturing and application.
While the above cited references introduce and disclose a number of noteworthy advances and technological improvements within the art, none completely fulfills the specific objectives achieved by this invention. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Isolation of adjacent semiconductor devices is an important structural consideration when manufacturing integrated circuits. Isolation is critical for improving integrated circuit yield and performance. In most cases, in order to improve device isolation, integrated circuit surface area increases or integrated circuit process complexity increases.
For example, most integrated circuits are manufactured using metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) field effect transistor (FET) technology. The most commonly used MOSFET technology for integrated circuit (IC) fabrication is known as complementary MOS (CMOS). CMOS devices, or other known IC devices, are conventionally isolated by field oxide which is usually formed as a thermally grown oxide layer. As semiconductor film thicknesses and lithographic features shrink, the field oxide isolation structures do not scale downward accordingly. Therefore, field oxide isolation structures and similar technologies, such as local oxidation of silicon (LOCOS), polysilicon buffered LOCOS (PBL), and the like, may not provide sufficient circuit density or sufficient isolation for future IC designs.
Trench or dielectric plug isolation is sometimes used to improve isolation between adjacent devices. Trench isolation or dielectric plug isolation increases process complexity and introduces etch damage into an integrated circuit substrate. Interface states and etch damage increase undesirable leakage currents within the integrated circuit. In addition, process integration of trench isolation results in gate oxide reliability problems and device defectivity problems.
In order to achieve further isolation, a modified field oxide approach is used wherein epitaxial growth is utilized to grow substrate material vertically and/or laterally over a field oxide region. The grown epitaxial regions are then used to form lateral transistors which are conventional (i.e. identical to conventional top-contacted bipolar and top-contacted MOS transistors). Although the method of epitaxially growing adjacent and/or over oxides improved isolation, the transistor devices which are formed within the grown epitaxial region have surface areas which are large due to electrical contacts methodologies and lithographically defined features, such as gate electrodes, source and drains, and contacts.
Another form of isolation is achieved via the use of silicon on insulator (SOI) technology or a similar technology, such as silicon on sapphire (SOS). Many different SOI processes and devices exist but most SOI processes result in a device-quality substrate material, such as single-crystalline silicon, entirely overlying a dielectric layer wherein the device-quality substrate material is not connected to the substrate. In another form, an SOI structure may be formed which has a source region, a drain region, and a channel region formed overlying a dielectric layer wherein only the channel region is connected to the substrate by a conductive plug region.
SOI transistors provide improved isolation over field oxide approaches and most SOI transistors have several advantages over planar substrate-formed transistors. Some of these advantages are the absence of latch-up in SOI, higher soft-error immunity and reduced parasitic capacitance. SOI transistors with no substrate or body contact suffer from a known and understood "kink effect", suffer from a known and understood "snap-back" phenomenon (which is similar to the "kink effect"), and have an undesirable parasitic bipolar transistor. SOI transistors with a substrate contact tend to have no "kink effect" or "snap-back" problems and may allow for adjustable threshold voltages and noise margins due to substrate biasing and the known and understood body effect.
Therefore, SOI transistors with a substrate contact have advantages and disadvantages, and SOI transistors without a substrate contact also have advantages and disadvantages. Neither SOI transistor is optimal in all cases and applications. In most cases, the most desirable SOI transistor is a thin-film SOI device which operates in a fully-depleted mode of operation. A thin-film SOI transistor operating in a fully-depleted mode of operation reduces "kink effect", has low electric fields, has a high transconductance, has excellent short channel behavior, and has a quasi-real subthreshold slope. SOI processing tends to be complex or unreliable. For example, separation by implantation of oxygen (SIMOX), which is used to form SOI devices, is a high temperature process and may produce substrate defects which degrade device performance.
Therefore, the need exists for an improved isolation structure and an improved method of isolation formation wherein the method is not complex. In addition, the structure should result in isolation which is superior to field oxide isolation, result in minimum device separation, and result in reduced device surface area. Furthermore, a flexible, dynamic, and easy to manufacture SOI device is desired for improved isolation and improved device performance. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data processing system and a slave device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a data processing system in which a master device which issues a data transmission request and a slave device which performs data transmission in response to the request are connected to each other via a system bus, and to the slave device.
2. Description of the Background Art
A conventional data processing system in which data request and transmission are performed between a master device and a slave device is generally realized with a configuration such as that shown in FIG. 12. In the conventional data processing system shown in FIG. 12, a master device 500 and a slave device 100 are connected to each other via a system bus 600. The slave device 100 includes a bus interface 101, a data buffer 102, a prefetch control section 103, and a memory 105.
When the master device 500 needs data held by the slave device 100, the master device 500 transmits to the slave device 100 a read transfer request for the data. The slave device 100 having received the read transfer request from the master device 500 then temporarily stores in the data buffer 102 contiguous data units starting at an associated address in the memory 105, for a subsequent burst transfer.
In a normal DMA transfer, the master device 500 presets in the slave device 100 information such as the number of words to be transferred. By doing so, the slave device 100 can read data of only the necessary number of words from the memory 105 and temporarily store the data in the data buffer 102. In a bus protocol such as a PCI bus, however, the slave device 100 starts on a prefetching process of data upon reception of a first request from the master device 500, and responds to a request for reception after the prefetching process of the data has been completed. Here, even if the number of words for a read transfer requested by the master device 500 to the slave device 100 is one word, since the slave device 100 does not know the requested number of words for the read transfer, the slave device 100 reads contiguous data units having a quantity equal to the number of stages in the data buffer 102 from the memory 105 and then temporarily stores the contiguous data units in the data buffer 102. Therefore, in a system in which a burst transfer does not occur or a system in which only such a burst transfer occurs that the number of data units to be transferred is smaller than the number of stages in the data buffer 102 of the slave device 100, unnecessary data transfer is caused in the slave device 100, resulting in inefficient data transfer in the entire system. FIG. 13 is a diagram for describing data processing for the case where the number of prefetch words is “8” and the number of data units requested by the master device 500 is “1”.
As techniques for solving the above-described problem, there is suggested a technique for improving the utilization efficiency of the system bus by optimizing the quantity of data to be transferred according to the maximum buffer size of the slave device 100. See, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-330929.
In a slave device of the above-described conventional technique, however, although a data write transfer from a master device to the slave device is considered, a data read transfer from the slave device to the master device is not considered. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to remotely controlling a camera, and more particularly to a method and an apparatus for providing an image in a camera or a remote controller of a camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
A digital camera is a device for converting a still image or a moving image to digital signals and storing the digital signals in a storage medium, such as a memory card. An image of an object captured via a lens is converted to electric signals by a Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) or a Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS). The electric signals are converted to digital signals by an Analog-to-Digital (ND) converter, and the digital signals are stored in a memory after correction and compression. The stored digital signals are transmitted to a Personal Computer (PC) or a recording medium via any of various interfaces. Accordingly, a digital image is formed.
An object is photographed by using a digital camera by directing a lens of the digital camera toward the object, focusing the digital camera to capture an optimal image, and triggering a shutter. The series of operations is applicable when a person operating a digital camera and a person to be photographed are different people. When a person operating a digital camera and another person shall be photographed together, a timer function of a digital camera is generally used. However, it is difficult to obtain a desired angle and focus by using a timer function, and thus it is difficult to obtain a clear image. Therefore, a remote controller for remotely controlling a digital camera is used. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of apparatus and methods for determining and treating cognitive disorders including attention deficits and/or cormorbidities, treating attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and/or conditions with attentional impairment such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), anxiety, depression and epilepsy.
2. Background of the Art
The co-pending and priority applications disclose apparatus and methods for determining and treating cognitive orders using an interactive system of graphics and sounds employed on a plurality of wireless sensors that each contain accelerometers, Bluetooth/near field transducers, LCD screens, buttons microprocessor and wireless input-output means for communicating to a base station. The sensors are commercially available as Sifteo cubes, hereinafter “cubes”, whereby a patient is prompted to play a game that has predetermined activity. The player must manipulate the cubes in response to stimuli and direction. His ability to do so is affected by and indicative of cognitive disorders. The cubes communicate to a base station where the data is recorded and analyzed statistically to determine whether the patient may be suffering from a cognitive disorder. Similarly, the cubes may be programmed with games and or other activity that causes the patient to engage in activity that may treat a diagnosed cognitive disorder. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to reciprocating piston electromagnetic fluid pumps, and in particular to a transistorized circuit for a reciprocating piston electromagnetic fluid pump.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Reciprocating piston electromagnetic fluid pumps as disclosed in the patent to Parker U.S. Pat. No. 2,994,792 (August, 1961) and Wertheimer et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,381,616 (May, 1968) have obtained wide commercial acceptance, but in a highly competitive field, material and fabrication costs, and improvements in operation are very important. The early models of these pumps as represented by the one disclosed by Parker cited above included an electrical switch in circuit relationship with a solenoid coil which is either mechanically or magnetically actuated by the piston in the fully retracted or cocked position. Opening of the switch terminates the electrical power to the solenoid coil and the piston initiates its pumping stroke under the force of a cocked spring. Although this type of pump functions very satisfactorily and has a reasonable operational life, the switch is highly subject to failure and is determinative of the pump's operating life.
To increase the operational life of the pump, the use of the switch was abandoned and the art turned to blocking oscillators as taught by Wertheimer above. Blocking oscillators eliminated the switch problem but introduced the need for a sensing coil, increasing the complexity and cost of the pump. Unfortunately, blocking oscillators work fine only within limited temperature and voltage ranges, and outside the nominal ranges, starting problems were encountered. Temperature compensating networks using thermistos and voltage control networks using Zener diodes are presently being used to overcome these problems with limited success but have further increased the complexities and costs of the pumps as compared to the simple circuits disclosed by Wertheimer. The present invention combines the simplicity and reliability of the switch for assuring starting of the pump over a wide voltage and temperature range and the effectiveness of a solid state switch for trouble free switching of the current flow in the solenoid. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to the dry distillation of overworn discarded rubber tires of vehicles and more particularly to a process and apparatus for continuously and smoothly dry distilling discarded tires thereby to recover gases and liquids for combustion.
As a consequence of the rapid development of motorization in recent years, there has been a tremendous increase in the rate at which overworn or worn-out rubber tires (hereinafter referred to simply as tires) of land vehicles are being discarded. Of these tires, one portion is being reutilized as retreaded tires, but most of the tires are being disposed of as refuse. Because of the shape and bulk of tires, however, they cannot be disposed of as they are as filling material for land reclamation and other purposes, and, in some instances as a stopgap lawful method of land reclamation, tires are being cut up into pieces of suitable size and then used as filling material.
Another method of disposal of such tires is the combustion thereof. On a small scale, tires are being burned outdoors in agricultural fields and orchards for the purpose of preventing frost damage. In this case, however, the gases of combustion of rubber have a characteristic bad odor, whereby tires cannot be burned in the open except in such emergency cases. The quantity of tires used in such instances is a mere 2 to 3 percent of the total quantity of tires discarded.
On the other hand a sudden interest in the utilization of tires as a combustible material is becoming apparent as a result of the rise in energy costs. This is a natural result because of the high calorific value of tires of approximately 8,000 Kcal/kg, and already most of the tires, exclusive of those being retreaded, are beginning to be used as a substitute fuel.
However, because of structural features of tires such as their characteristic shape and steel wire incorporated therein, direct combustion of these tires requires pretreatment such as cutting and an after treatment, such as the removal of steel wires from the tires after combustion. Furthermore, because of the characteristicly high surface density of rubber, the degree of contact of the rubber with air for combustion is small, whereby incomplete combustion tends to occur, and black smoke and unpleasant odors are easily given off. Combustion of tires in large quantities is difficult in actual practice without the use of large furnaces affording long combustion zones.
As another approach, it is also possible, since combustible gases and liquid fuels can be generated by dry distilling rubber at relatively low temperatures, to once extract gas and liquid fuels and to burn them in a separate combustion furnace. In this case, the steel wire and other solids are left as residue and separated, and even if the distillation furnace and the combustion furnace are installed in a spaced apart relation, continuous operation is possible by merely connecting them with transfer piping for gaseous and liquid fuels, whereby effective utilization is readily attainable.
Accordingly, numerous techniques relating to the dry distillation of tires have heretofore been disclosed and proposed. For example, Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 25874/1978 and 27752/1978 disclose apparatuses in each of which vertical preheating and dry distillation furnaces are coupled in a gas-tight manner, and, for horizontally stacking tires therein to carry out preheating and dry distillation, respectively, and means for horizontally, handling each tire for charging the tires and removing the residue must be installed. In the operation of each apparatus, preheating and dry distillation proceed as the tires being processed in the furnaces descend one at a time, being continually maintained in horizontal state, and finally the non-volatile residue is taken out.
In a furnace of this known character, support of the tires in an orderly disposition is maintained within the furnace by a tire supporting mechanism comprising a forkshaped tire receptacle provided near the bottom of the furnace and functioning as a movable grate. In the dry distillation furnace described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 27752/1978, a butterfly-shaped grate is separately provided below the support fork to function cooperatively in supporting the tire charged into the furnace and in taking out the dry distillation residue. However, after a long period of operation of these apparatuses, problems tend to arise in the taking out of the residue.
Still another proposed furnace is of a construction wherein the inner diameter of the vertical furnace is made greater than the outer diameter of the tires at the upper part of the furnace and is tapered to become smaller than the tire outer diameter at the lower part of the furnace, and this constricted lower part is caused to exhibit a grate effect to support the tires charged into the furnace. Since there are no support structures such as a grate in the interior space of this furnace, there is little possibility of substances such as residue and semi-molten material formed in the high-temperature part of the furnace being caught or adhering to parts of the furnace, and it would seem that the operation can be expected to proceed under considerably favorable conditions.
However, this furnace has a drawback in that it is difficult to take out scrap wire after completion of dry distillation and incompletely distilled residual tires frequently produced in actual operation because of the constriction at the lower part of the furnace. Particularly in the case of continuous operation, which almost always means operation over a long period, there is a continuous accumulation of residue at the bottom of the furnace, whereby removal of this residue tends to become difficult.
In the case of batch-wise operation, it is possible, upon the completion of dry distillation of each batch, to take out the residue, including scrap wire, and carbon particles adhering to various interior parts of the apparatus as described hereinafter. This work, however, is extremely troublesome and requires much time and labor. Furthermore, a batch-wise operation unavoidably entails periodic interruptions thereof, whereby a stable operation under steady conditions cannot be achieved.
In view of the above described circumstances in the state of the prior art, we have carried out a detailed analysis of the phenomena occurring within a dry distillation furnace of the instant character during operation in order to facilitate the taking out of the dry distillation residue. As a result, from a completely separate line of thinking, we have arrived at the conceptual conclusion that the cross-sectional area of the furnace at its lower part should be made the same as or greater than that of its upper part. Furthermore, we have carried out tests based on this concept, as a result of which we have succeeded in developing this invention.
More specifically, we have carried out studies on the premises:
(1) that, within a furnace reaching a high temperature, mechanisms which can become obstructions to the falling or downward movement of charged material must be eliminated as much as possible;
(2) that, since continuous operation is the general rule, mechanisms such as that for holding charged material and that for taking out residue, which are used only at the starting and stopping of operation must be dispensed with and substituted by a mechanism for continuous operation which is most easy to control and, moreover, is efficient for ordinary continuous operation; and
(3) that, for facilitating of tire charging and for uniformity of heat distribution within the furnace, the tires charged into the furnace must be stacked in random directions.
As a result, we have found that, during steady operation, the charged tires, the residue of these tires, and the like, while combining naturally to form suitable gas passages within the furnace, brake and retard the charged material in the upper part of the furnace, whereby not only is a grate unnecessary, but since the combined mechanism progressively varies, it is useful in the stabilization of the furnace condition. Moreover, since the dry distillation residue is predominantly steel wire, it is extremely bulky, and if there are some obstructions within the furnace, this steel wire is readily caught thereby, whereby the taking out of the residue is hindered.
Therefore, it was verified that expanding the furnace cross-sectional area in the downward direction is desirable for facilitating the work of taking out the residue, that at least there is absolutely no necessity of constricting the lower part of the furnace relative to its upper part, and that, if the lower diameter is smaller than the upper diameter, trouble occurs frequently during the work of taking out the residue.
It was confirmed further that when the inner diameter of the furnace is made constant or is downwardly expanded, bridging blockage or a so-called log-jamming effect of the charged tires as they naturally fall or move downward is prevented, and that, in addition, the charged tires are automatically restacked as they sink while they are dry distilled and burned, whereby uniform reaction is facilitated, and the solid materials exhibit an effect of forming their own grate. These effects cannot be obtained in systems wherein tires are charged horizontally one at a time.
On the basis of the above described findings and conclusion, we have developed a process and furnace for continuously dry distilling tires over long periods of time. However, still another problem must be solved before this continuous and long-period dry distillation of tires can be profitably practiced. That is, one hindrance to the continuous and long-period distillation of tires has heretofore been the presence of a great quantity of dust particles, comprising principally carbon particles, in the gases generated in and discharged from the tire dry distillation process step.
More specifically, oils produced in the dry distillation adhere to these dust particles (hereinafter referred to as carbon) to form sticky carbon, which adheres to the inner wall surfaces of the apparatus and parts such as complicated bent parts and gas passages and, upon accumulating, gives rise to various difficulties such as clogging of passages. Accordingly, we have developed an apparatus for dry distilling tires which can be operated continuously and over long periods under stable conditions within the dry distillation furnace, and in which removal of adhering carbon can be accomplished without stopping the operation of the apparatus. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates in general to an upwardly projecting styling accessory bar assembly, hereinafter frequently referred to as a show bar or sport bar assembly, to be mounted on pick-up trucks, off-road vehicles and the like, capable of supporting various automotive accessories and being mounted on vehicles of various sizes.
Automotive roll bars and sport bars are pick-up truck or off-road vehicle accessories which have gained considerable popularity recently. Basically, they comprise a wide U-shaped tubular bar system which is attached to the panel sides of the pick-up bed of a pick-up truck, or upper side portions of other styles of off-road vehicles, located rearwardly or just behind the passenger cab. The bar assembly usually spans the width of the cab and projects vertically upwardly to a level approximately at or slightly above the level of the top of the passenger cab, and is usually bolted or welded to the portions of vehicle on which it is mounted. It serves as an appearance accessory as well as a functional roll bar or protective device for the vehicle cab.
Roll bars or sport bars have been manufactured and sold for some time, primarily as off-road accessory attachments for vehicles, and to the best of applicant's knowledge, are available on the market today as "fixed dimension" products individually designed for a specific vehicle type and size. Separate roll bar or sport bar kits of such "fixed dimension" types with different dimensions and/or mounting systems are typically manufactured for different vehicle makes and models, and consequently the supplier is required to stock a large number of different size roll bar or sport bar stocking units. The show bar system of the present invention, in contrast to available fixed dimension designs of numerous sizes, is a single product kit adapted to fit a large variety of pick-up trucks and similar vehicles regardless of the vehicle make, size or model.
An object of the present invention is the provision of the show bar styling accessory for pick-up trucks and the like which can be used with pick-up trucks of a wide variety of sizes, models or makes, wherein the show bar assembly has adjustable width over a large range of adjustments to be custom matched to the bed size of pick-up trucks of many sizes form the full size models to the variety of compact or mini pick-up available on the market. In this way, a single stocking item is available which is easily adjustable to many different vehicles sizes, providing a distinct advantage over built-to-size products This enables realization of valuable simplification and cost saving benefits at all stages in the manufacturing, warehousing, distribution and retailing process.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of a novel show bar styling accessory for pick-up trucks and the like, which is normally available in a basic "double" show bar configuration, but can be readily expanded into a "triple" show bar using standard component parts.
A further object of the present invention is the provision of a novel show bar styling accessory assembly for pick-up trucks and the like as described in the preceding paragraphs, wherein a modular accessory mounting system is provided which is movable and expandable, permitting installation by the customer at locations of his choice, facilitating achievement of a custom appearance or custom combination of different accessories.
A still further object of the present invention is the provision of a novel show bar styling accessory assembly for pick-up trucks and the like as described in the preceding paragraphs, wherein a deliberate mechanical tension is produced throughout the bar structure to eliminate or minimize looseness and slack between the component parts, to produce a vibration resistant assembly.
Other objects, advantages and capabilities of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention. | {
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The present invention relates to an imaging device having a function of correcting pixel defects.
As a background technique in the present technical field, for example, JPA-2010-273378 can be mentioned. According to ABSTRACT of JP-A-2010-273378, PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED is to provide an imaging device that can accurately detect a defect even if dark current noise occurs when performing noise reduction, and can prevent as much as possible reduction of an imaging dynamic range caused by increase of dark current noise; and a noise elimination method; and a noise elimination program using the imaging device. According to SOLUTION in ABSTRACT, an imaging device includes: an imaging means including a plurality of pixels for imaging a subject; a bright-state signal acquisition means for acquiring a bright-state signal obtained in a light non-shielding state; a dark-state signal acquisition means for acquiring a dark-state signal obtained in a light-shielding state; a first amplification means for amplifying the obtained bright-state signal or dark-state signal; a subtraction means for subtracting the acquired dark-state signal from the acquired bright-state signal and outputting a subtraction signal; a second amplification means for amplifying the subtraction signal as a result of the subtraction; an imaging condition acquiring means for acquiring an imaging condition when acquiring the bright-state signal; and a gain correcting means for changing gains of the first amplification means and the second amplification means based on the acquired imaging condition. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic electro luminescence device, and more particularly, to a top emission type organic electro luminescence device and a fabrication method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the fields of flat panel display devices, a liquid crystal display device (LCD) is widely used because it is lightweight and has low power consumption. However, the LCD is a non-luminous display device and has technical limitations in brightness, contrast, viewing angle, and large size. Therefore, new flat panel display devices capable of overcoming these drawbacks have been developed actively.
One of the new flat panel display devices is an organic electro luminescence device. Since the organic electro luminescence device is a self-luminous display device, it has a high contrast and wide viewing angle compared with the LCD. Also, since the organic electro luminescence device does not require a backlight assembly, it is lightweight and slim. In addition, the organic electro luminescence device can decrease power consumption.
Further, the organic electro luminescence device can be driven at a low DC voltage and has a fast response speed. Since all of the components of the organic electro luminescence device are formed of solid materials, it is endurable against external impact. It can also be used in a wide temperature range and can be manufactured at a low cost.
Specifically, the organic electro luminescence device is easily fabricated through a deposition process and an encapsulation process. Therefore, the fabrication method and apparatus of the organic electro luminescence device are simpler than those of an LCD or PDP.
If the organic electro luminescence device is driven in an active matrix type, uniform brightness can be obtained even when a low current is applied. Accordingly, the organic electro luminescence device has advantages of low power consumption, high definition and large-sized screen.
FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a related art bottom emission type organic electro luminescence device.
As shown in FIG. 1, first and second substrates 10 and 30 are arranged to face each other. Edge portions of the first and second substrates 10 and 30 are encapsulated by a seal pattern 40. A TFT T is formed on a transparent substrate 1 of the first substrate 10 in each sub-pixel unit. A first electrode 12 is connected to the TFT T. An organic electro luminescent layer 14 is formed on the TFTs and the first electrode 12 and is arranged corresponding to the first electrode 12. The organic electro luminescent layer 14 contains light emission materials taking on red, green and blue colors. A second electrode 16 is formed on the organic electro luminescent layer 14.
The first and second electrodes 12 and 16 function to apply an electric field to the organic electro luminescent layer 14.
Due to the seal pattern 40, the second electrode 16 and the second substrate 30 are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance. Therefore, an absorbent (not shown) and a translucent tape (not shown) may be further provided in an inner surface of the second substrate 30. The absorbent absorbs moisture introduced from an exterior, and the translucent tape adheres the absorbent to the second substrate 30.
In the bottom emission type structure, the first electrode 12 and the second electrode 16 are an anode and a cathode, respectively.
The first electrode 12 is formed of a transparent conductive material and the second electrode 16 is formed of a metal having a low work function. In such a condition, the organic electro luminescent layer 14 includes a hole injection layer 14a, a hole transporting layer 14b, an emission layer 14c, and an electron transporting layer 14d, which are sequentially formed on the first electrode 12.
Preferably, the first electrode 12 is formed of indium tin oxide (ITO) and the second electrode 16 is formed of Al, Mg or Ca, which is a metal having a low work function.
The emission layer 14c has red, green and blue color filters in sub-pixels.
However, the related art bottom emission type organic electro luminescence device has a limitation in aperture ratio and thus has difficulty in the application to high-resolution products.
FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of a related art top emission type organic electro luminescence device.
Referring to FIG. 2, the emission direction of light emitted from an organic electro luminescent layer 24 is opposite to that of the bottom emission type organic electro luminescence device shown in FIG. 1. For this purpose, the construction of the first and second electrodes 22 and 26 is changed.
Also, in the top emission type organic electro luminescence device, a polarization film 29 is attached on the second substrate 30 so as to solve the reduction of contrast ratio (CR), which is caused by the reflection of an external light.
For example, when the first and second electrodes 22 and 26 are respectively the anode and the cathode, the first electrode 22 must reflect light generated from an organic electro luminescent layer 24 and the second electrode 26 must transmit the light generated from the organic electro luminescent layer 24.
Accordingly, when the first electrode 22 is formed of ITO, a reflection plate 28 must be further provided below the first electrode 22 and the second electrode 26 must be formed thinly so that light can be transmitted.
In another example, when the first and second electrodes are respectively the cathode and the anode, that is, when the polarity of the electrodes in the bottom emission type are reversed, the top emission type can be provided by changing the construction of the organic electro luminescent layer formed between the first electrode and the second electrode.
Like this, in the top emission type organic electro luminescence device, the light generated from the organic electro luminescent layer 24 and passing through the second electrode 26, and the light reflected from the first electrode 22 and passing through the second electrode 26 are emitted toward the second substrate 30, thereby achieving the top emission.
In this case, however, the wavelength of the light reflected from the first electrode 22 and passing through the second electrode 26 is lengthened due to reflection, thus causing a color shift problem. The color shift problem becomes serious as the reflectivity of the first electrode 22 increases.
Also, since the polarization film 29 is attached, only the left-polarized or right-polarized light is transmitted so that optical efficiency of the organic electro luminescence device is reduced by 50%. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data communication service and, more particularly, to a data communication service using a call connection networking.
2. Description of the Background Art
First- and second-generation mobile communication provides voice-centered service, while the third-generation provides various types of services such as a data service and a multimedia service as well as voice service, for which communication service providers adjust a billing system and a billing reference to the changing service environment.
With the billing system changing, a billing amount of the voice service is calculated depending on service use time, and a billing amount of the data service is calculated depending on a provided data amount (referred to as ‘the number of packets’, hereinafter).
In general, a radio data service is provided in such manner that information of a network server is directly downloaded to a mobile communication terminal or that information of the network server is downloaded to a terminal equipment (TE) such as a personal computer (PC) or a notebook computer. In the second manner, the mobile communication terminal is simply functioned as a modem.
FIG. 1 shows information displayed on a screen of a terminal when a call connection networking is performed in accordance with a conventional art.
As shown in FIG. 1, with the conventional mobile communication terminal, only a connection time (or a call time) of a corresponding service is displayed regardless of types of services (e.g., a call service, a data service or a multimedia service).
FIG. 2 illustrates a call connection networking procedure using the mobile communication terminal.
As shown in FIG. 2, the TE (Terminal Equipment), referring to the personal computer (PC) or a notebook computer, includes a screen easily recognizably by a user and a manipulation-easy device. A mobile terminal (MT) signifies a mobile communication terminal and serves as a modem of the TE.
When the TE intends to download desired information or data from a specific server, it attempts a connection to the MT 20 (step S1).
When the TE 10 and the MT 20 are connected, the TE 10 transfers a data service start request message to the MT 20 (step S2).
Upon receiving the start request message from the TE 10, the MT 20 sets a channel to a packet data serving node (PDSN) 30 or an inter-working function (IWF) (step S3).
As the channel is set, the MT 20 transfers a service activation message to the TE 10. Upon receiving the service activation message, the TE 10 starts uploading and downloading of data from the PDSN 30 (step S4).
When the data transmission is completed and the data service is terminated, the TE 10 transfers a service termination request message to the MT 20 (step S5).
Then, the MT 20 releases the set channel to the PDSN 30 (step S6) and transfers a non-activation message on the data service to the TE 10.
Upon receiving the data service non-activation message, the TE transfers a connection release request message to the MT 20 to release connection to the MT 20 (step S7).
In case of the voice service, a communication provider calculates duration (that is, a communication channel occupancy time) from the point when the communication channel was set between the MT 20 and the PDSN 30 to the point of releasing of the communication channel, and estimates a billing amount according to the calculated time.
Meanwhile, in the case of the data service, the communication provider calculates the number of packets from the point when the communication channel was set between the MT 20 and the PDSN 30 to the point of releasing of the communication channel, and estimates a billing amount according to the calculated number of packets.
However, in the conventional art, all the information the MT provides to a user is merely the call time (or the connection time) as information for the billing amount estimation or on the service use amount. This makes the user totally dependent on the information of the communication provider as far as concerned the billing amount of the data service.
The above references are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate for appropriate teachings of additional or alternative details, features and/or technical background. | {
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Due to an increased knowledge base, the number of documents across different subject matter areas continues to grow. For example, with the advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW), the documents on the different web sites on the Internet continues to grow as the number of networks and servers connected thereto continue to increase on a global scale. Accordingly, the fields of information retrieval, document summarization, information filtering and/or routing as well as topic tracking and/or detection systems continue to grow in order to track and service the vast amount of information.
In the field of information extraction, work has been done to automatically learn patterns from a training corpus in order to extract entity names and their relations from a given document. A training corpus is defined to include writings, documents, or works for a given subject matter. Moreover, an entity name is defined to include, but is not limited to, proper names. Examples of entity names include a person's name, a organization's name and a product's name. Currently, tools for the extraction of entity names include man-made rules and keyword sets to identify entity names. Disadvantageously, building rules is often complex, error-prone and time-consuming and usually requires a through understanding and detailed knowledge of the system internals of a given language.
Another technique currently employed in the extraction of entity names includes a statistical method. However, the training of such a system requires vast amounts of human annotated data in order to provide an accurate statistical analysis. Moreover, this statistical method for the extraction of entity names is limited in that only local context information can be employed during the training of this method. | {
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There have been several methods of hydrogen extraction from cellulose (C6H10O5). One of the methods is focused on using microbial bugs along with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and a catalyst to cause a reaction that releases the hydrogen in cellulose and captures the carbon in cellulose as sodium carbonate (Na2CO3). There is still a remaining need for developing a simpler and cost effective way of generating hydrogen gas from all C—O—H compounds found in cellulosic biomass more generally, and in a fashion that allows efficient use of the resulting hydrogen for use on-site, for purification, packaging, and distribution or for power generation from the reaction-product hydrogen gas using a reciprocating engine, turbine, or fuel cell.
While various cellulosic biomass hydrogen extraction techniques exist in the art, there is still a general need for the development of alternative techniques that may be cost effective, energy efficient and useful for applications using hydrogen, including hydrogen on demand, and conversion to a hydrogen-rich gas stream that can be directly combusted to produce power and heat. Heat and power applications from efficiently generated hydrogen rather than fossil fuels are useful for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of other applications that require heat or power, including the production of liquid biofuels. This need may be driven at least in part by the wide variety of applications that make use of hydrogen, some of which have significantly different operation considerations than others. Hydrogen, produced on demand, available for use on the site at which it is generated and therefore that does not require extensive infrastructure for its transportation, and produced at atmospheric pressure and lower temperatures than exist in the prior art, would satisfy that need.
Furthermore, extensive work has been done on conversion of cellulose, which is one example of a C—O—H compound, into ethanol (molecular formula: C2H5OH). Ethanol is known as drinking alcohol found in beverages. Ethanol is a flammable solvent and miscible with water and many organic solvents. The largest use of ethanol is as a motor fuel and fuel additive. In the United States, ethanol is most commonly blended with gasoline as a 10% ethanol blend. This blend is widely sold throughout the U.S. Midwest, and in cities required by the 1990 Clean Air Act to oxygenate their gasoline during wintertime. The energy returned on energy invested for ethanol made from corn in the U.S. is 1.34. This means that it yields 34% more energy than it takes to produce it. While various techniques thus exist in the art for making liquid fuel from C—O—H compounds, there is still a general need for the development of alternative techniques to generate liquid fuel.
In addition, cellulose may be converted to ethanol and some for producing bio-oil. Some techniques may utilize enzymes to convert the cellulose to ethanol. Some techniques may involve the use of synthesis gas from cellulose that is then converted to ethanol using the Fisher-Tropsch method. These techniques have been largely uneconomical. Fast pyrolysis may be used to make bio-oil in some cases. However, the bio-oil is generally not adequate for utilization as produced. While various techniques thus exist in the art for making bio-oil, compounds, there is still a general need for the development of alternative techniques to generate bio-oil and in particular for techniques for generating liquid fuels, such as diesel, from bio-oil using biomass. | {
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In various surgical procedures, fasteners in the form of staples or the like are employed for holding tissue portions together to facilitate healing of a wound or incision. For example, a locking staple, having a tongue and groove structure by which the staple is locked, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,881,762. A metal staple especially adapted for ligating blood vessels is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,079,608. International patent application No. PCT/SU79/00049 discloses a variety of fastening devices and instruments for performing circular anastomoses on the large intestine. The aforementioned disclosures serve as examples of a wide variety of tissue fastening devices and techniques that may be employed in general and/or specific surgical situations.
One common type of fastening device for joining or holding together soft tissue portions is the generally "U"-shaped staple which is typically fabricated from a suitable metal. Such staples, although generally described as having two legs joined to define a "U"-shape when unclinched, may also be regarded as having a configuration of an "open" loop when unclinched. The legs need not necessarily be parallel but are typically adapted for penetrating the tissue portions and for receiving between them some of the tissue material.
Other examples of U-shaped or open loop staples, as well as of methods and instruments for applying such staples to tissue, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,252,643, 3,482,428, 3,692,224, 3,790,057, 3,795,034, 3,889,683, 4,198,982, 4,316,468, and 4,319,576.
Other tissue fastening devices have been proposed and differ from staples per se in that these other devices may have a plurality of components and do not have to be clinched in the manner used to set a staple. One such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,089 and includes a fastener strip provided with a plurality of longitudinally spaced, parallel prongs which are adapted to penetrate two overlapped tissue portions from one side so that the distal ends of the prongs project from the other side of the tissue portions.
The fastener device further includes a retainer strip which is adapted to be placed on the other side of the tissue portions opposite the fastener strip to engage the ends of the projecting fastener strip prongs and thus secure the tissue portions tightly between the fastener strip and the retainer strip. The retainer strip defines frustoconical openings for receiving the fastener strip prongs which each include a plurality of spaced-apart, frustoconical engaging members for engaging the retainer strip at a desired position relative to the prongs. This provides for the capability of adjusting the distance between the fastener strip and the retainer strip. Such a fastening device may be fabricated from a biodegradable or absorbable material.
Yet another tissue fastening device having a plurality of components is disclosed in co-pending commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 359,443 filed Mar. 18, 1982, abandoned. The fasteners disclosed in that application are made from various polymeric materials and the legs of the U-shaped staple portion of the fastener have a pointed taper to improve the penetration of the staple into tissue.
Although many of the above-discussed types of tissue fastening devices and techniques are satisfactory in various applications, there is a need to provide an improved fastening device, especially one completely fabricated from absorbable materials.
Also, it would be desirable to provide an improved fastening device fabricated from absorbable materials that can provide primary approximation of the tissue edges to insure that the tissue edges are in continuous contact. Further, such an improved fastener should provide a desired amount of hemostatic compression to minimize bleeding, but allow some collateral blood circulation to the wound or incision edges of the tissue to promote healing. In addition, such an improved fastener should have the capability to accommodate varying tissue thicknesses and should leave as little tissue cuff or margin as possible in effecting the joining of the tissue.
It is also desirable that the fastener cause as little trauma to tissue as possible. Hence when using a "U"-shaped fastener the legs of the "U" should be smooth, free of projection, so that the leg will readily penetrate tissue without tearing or causing undo trauma of the tissue.
Because humans are of different sizes and configurations and because tissue in the human body is of varying thickness it is desirable that polymeric fasteners be locked or set in place at any desired thickness and not at some predetermined thickness.
Further, it would be beneficial if such an improved fastener had a configuration that would enable the fastener to be fabricated with as small a size as possible to minimize the amount of implantable material. Also, another desirable feature of such an improved fastener would be a fastener configuration that minimizes the possible sites of formation of pockets of infection in the tissue.
Further, such an improved fastener would desirably provide the surgeon with tactile feedback and compensating control during the application of the fastener.
Finally, such an improved fastener should have the capability for maintaining the tissue portions in approximation and compression for a minimum of 21 days in vivo.
It would also be advantageous to provide such a fastener with a design that would facilitate its application to the tissue portions with a simple yet effective method. It would also be desirable if the improved fastener could readily accommodate application by means of an appropriately designed instrument. | {
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Broadband access networks may provide a viable alternative to present local exchange carrier (LEC) loops in providing voice and data transmissions. Although a number of innovations have occurred concerning high-speed cable modems and radio frequency (RF) telephony equipment, these innovations do not support both data and telephony well. Furthermore, present broadband access networks such as cable systems are susceptible to network failures and power outages. During, for example, a power outage, transmission over the cable system is not possible. LEC loops have very limited bandwidths; however, the LEC loops have separate power sources and operate even during power outages providing for emergency calls or other lifeline services.
What is needed is an invention that supports data and telephony access over broadband access networks while still providing, at least, basic telephony service during power outages. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a storage device and is suitably applied to a semiconductor storage device configured to receive data transmitted from an information processing device such as a personal computer and store the data in an internal semiconductor memory (flash memory, etc.).
2. Description of the Related Art
As a semiconductor storage device of such a type, card type semiconductor storage devices have become popular in recent years. Among them, a memory stick® and the like are widely known.
When such a semiconductor storage device receives data (hereinafter, referred to as “actual data”, for the sake of convenience) to be stored in an internal flash memory from an information processing device corresponding to a personal computer, it firstly generates parity data for error detection/correction processing corresponding to the received actual data. Then the actual data and generated parity data are associated with each other and stored in the flash memory.
When reading out the actual data stored in the internal flash memory, the semiconductor storage device reads out the parity data corresponding to the actual data together with the actual data and performs error detection/correction processing for the actual data based on the read out parity data. In the error detection/correction processing, the semiconductor storage device detects whether there occurs an error in the actual data based on the read out parity data. When detecting that there occurs no error in the actual data, the semiconductor storage device outputs the actual data to an external device without change. On the other hand, when detecting that there occurs any error in the actual data, it corrects the error of the actual data based on the parity data and outputs the corrected actual data to an external device.
As described above, the semiconductor storage device is configured to ensure accuracy of the actual data stored in the flash memory (refer to, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-164634). | {
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The present disclosure relates to an imaging device such as a capsule endoscope, which performs transmission and reception of data and the like via radio communication, and to a transmission/reception system using the imaging device.
Recently, research and development of a capsule endoscope have been actively advanced. For example, the capsule endoscope has a capsule of 11 by 26 to 33 mm packaged with a light-sensing chip, a button battery, LED (Light Emitting Diode), CPU (Central Processing Unit), and a radio transmitter. Typically, such a capsule endoscope may shoot 2 to 35 images per second, and may shoot about 50 to 870 thousands of images in examination time of about 8 hours.
Data of the shot images are transferred as a real-time video signal by radio in a megahertz band from the capsule endoscope to an external portable receiver (data logger) via a radio-receiving antenna attached to a subject. Actually, eight or nine patch antennas are attached to a stomach region of the subject, and the image data are stored in a portable receiver carried by the subject.
A transmission/reception system including such a capsule endoscope includes a capsule endoscope as a transmission device introduced into a body cavity of a subject, a reception device for receiving data transmitted from the capsule endoscope, a recording medium in the reception device, and a display device. In the transmission/reception system, data of the internal images of the subject shot by the capsule endoscope are sequentially transmitted by radio in realtime, the data received via the plurality of antennas attached to the stomach region of the subject are recorded into the recording medium in the reception device, and after the data are acquired, the recording medium is transferred into a display device, or the data are displayed through cable communication or wireless communication (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-189475 or No. 2009-153617). In addition, a system has been developed, where general-purpose PC (Personal Computer) acquires image data from a portable medical device via an insulation-compensating cable communication adaptor device using USB (Universal Serial Bus), a photocoupler, or a transformer (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-178234).
However, these transmission/reception systems are expensive. In addition, since the antennas and the receiver are attached to a subject body, the subject has been significantly restricted in motion, leading to burden on the subject. Furthermore, the quantity of data transmission is limited, and image-shooting data may become imperfect in a portion such as an esophagus, through which the capsule endoscope moves fast. Moreover, since the transmission/reception systems are low in reception sensitivity, further development has been demanded | {
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The present disclosure relates to non-volatile storage.
Semiconductor memory has become increasingly popular for use in various electronic devices. For example, non-volatile semiconductor memory is used in cellular telephones, digital cameras, personal digital assistants, mobile computing devices, non-mobile computing devices and other devices. Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM) and flash memory are among the most popular non-volatile semiconductor memories. With flash memory, also a type of EEPROM, the contents of the whole memory array, or of a portion of the memory, can be erased in one step, in contrast to the traditional, full-featured EEPROM.
Both the traditional EEPROM and the flash memory utilize a floating gate that is positioned above and insulated from a channel region in a semiconductor substrate. The floating gate is positioned between the drain and source diffusion regions. A control gate is provided over and insulated from the floating gate. The threshold voltage (VTH) of the transistor thus formed is controlled by the amount of charge that is retained on the floating gate. That is, the minimum amount of voltage that must be applied to the control gate before the transistor is turned on to permit conduction between its drain and source is controlled by the level of charge on the floating gate.
In a NAND architecture, memory cells are arranged as NAND strings. A NAND string includes memory cells (each including a floating gate) connected in series over a substrate. At each end of the NAND string there is a select transistor (also referred to as a select gate). One of the select transistors (source side select transistor) connects/disconnects the NAND string to a source line that is common to a large group of NAND strings. Each NAND string is associated with one bit line. The other select transistor (drain side select transistor) connects/disconnects its NAND string to a bit line. In one approach, a memory cell on a NAND string may be read by applying a voltage to its control gate and sensing a signal on the bit line.
Typically, a program voltage VPGM applied to the control gate during a program operation is applied as a series of pulses that increase in magnitude as programming progresses. In one possible approach, the magnitude of the pulses is increased with each successive pulse by a predetermined step size, e.g., 0.2-0.4 V. VPGM can be applied to the control gates of flash memory cells. In the periods between the program pulses, verify operations are carried out. That is, the programming level of each element of a group of cells being programmed in parallel is read between successive programming pulses to determine whether it is equal to or greater than a verify level to which the element is being programmed.
After a given memory cell on the word line selected for programming reaches its intended threshold voltage, programming may be inhibited for that memory cell. In one approach, programming is inhibited by applying an inhibit voltage to the bit line associated with the NAND string. The voltage applied to the gate of the drain side select transistor should be low enough to keep the transistor off, such that the channel of an inhibited NAND string may float. Likewise, the voltage applied to the gate of the source side select transistor should be low enough to keep the transistor off, such that the channel of an inhibited NAND string may float. Also, a voltage is applied to control gates of unselected memory cells, which boosts the voltage in the channel region of the memory cells on inhibited NAND strings. This boosted channel voltage helps to reduce or eliminate program disturb.
However, it is possible for the channel voltage of the inhibited NAND strings to drop, which can result in program disturb. One possible reason for the drop in channel voltage is leakage of current from a boosted channel. For example, the current could leak across the channel of either select transistor.
One type of leakage is due to punch-through conduction across a select transistor. Punch-through conduction may occur due to the difference in the drain to source voltage across the channel of a select gate transistor. As memory arrays continue to scale down in size, the channel length of select gate transistors is getting shorter. Therefore, short channel effects such as punch-through conduction may become more problematic.
Another type of leakage from the channel of inhibited NAND strings may arise due to drain induced barrier lowering (DIBL). DIBL may cause the VTH of the select transistors to drop. If the VTH of a select transistor of an inhibited NAND string is lowered enough, it may turn on, at least weakly. If this happens, then current may leak from the boosted channel across the channel of the select transistor, thereby discharging the voltage of the NAND string channel. Consequently, program disturb could occur.
Gate induced drain leakage (GIDL) is another problem that may cause program disturb. GIDL refers to charge carriers leaking into the channel from a select transistor as a result of a voltage applied to the gate of one of the select transistors. These charge carriers (e.g., electrons) may be accelerated in an E-field in the channel of the NAND string. Program disturb may result due to hot carrier injection of the electrons from the channel to a floating gate of a memory cell.
It is desirable to prevent or reduce program disturb, which may arise from a variety of causes including, but not limited to, punch-through conduction, DIBL, and GIDL. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing plate automatic exposing device which places a printing plate at a predetermined position on a surface plate and exposes an image onto the printing plate.
2. Description of the Related Art
A technique (printing plate automatic exposing device) has been developed which, by using a printing plate (hereinafter, xe2x80x9cphotopolymer platexe2x80x9d) in which a photosensitive layer (e.g., a photopolymerizable layer) is provided on a support, an image is recorded directly by a laser beam onto the photopolymerizable layer of the photopolymer plate.
In this technique, in order to rapidly carry out image recording onto photopolymer plates, the photopolymer plates must be fed one after the other. A plurality of photopolymer plates are made to wait in a stacked state at a predetermined position, and are automatically removed one at a time, positioned on a surface plate, and fed into an exposure section.
Conventional devices are not provided with a means for detecting whether or not a photopolymer plate is placed on the surface plate. As a result, there is the possibility that proper processings, based on the results of detection as to whether there is or is not a photopolymer plate placed on the surface plate, will not be carried out. For example, there is the possibility that the process will proceed to the next step after the exposure step regardless of the fact that a photopolymer plate is not correctly placed on the surface plate. Further, for example, there is the possibility that, at times when the printing plate automatic exposing device is initially used or times when use of the printing plate automatic exposing device is started up again after the supply of electricity thereto has been stopped, a new printing plate will be conveyed regardless of the fact that a printing plate is placed on the surface plate, and thus two printing plates will be placed on the surface plate, leading to image defects.
In view of the aforementioned, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing plate automatic exposing device which detects whether or not a printing plate is placed on a surface plate, and which carries out appropriate processing on the basis of the results of detection.
A first aspect of the present invention is a printing plate automatic exposing device in which a printing plate supplied to a predetermined position on a surface plate is vacuum suction adhered onto the surface plate by air being sucked from a suction hole and a suction groove provided in the surface plate, and in this state, an image is exposed onto the printing plate, said printing plate automatic exposing device comprising: a detection portion provided independently from the suction hole and the suction groove at a position on the surface plate which is blocked by printing plates of all dimensions which are set on the surface plate; a suction device communicating with the detection portion and sucking in air from the detection hole; and a pressure sensor communicating with the detection portion, and able to detect that a degree of vacuum of the detection portion is a predetermined degree of vacuum which is set in correspondence with a case in which a printing plate is set on the surface plate.
The predetermined degree of vacuum is set on the basis of the capability of the suction device and on the air permeability (amount of leakage of air) between the suction hole and the printing plate.
Further, the pressure sensor of the printing plate automatic exposing device of the first aspect may be a pressure sensor which outputs a signal which is linear with respect to the degree of vacuum. Or, the pressure sensor may be a pressure switch which outputs a constant signal (a signal turning a contact on and off) when the degree of vacuum is greater than or equal to a set degree of vacuum.
In the printing plate automatic exposing device of the first aspect, the printing plate is supplied to a predetermined position on the surface plate. By sucking air from the suction hole provided in the surface plate, the printing plate can be vacuum suction adhered to the surface plate, and an image can be exposed onto the printing plate in this state.
Further, in the printing plate automatic exposing device, the detection hole is provided in the surface plate independently of the suction hole and the suction groove for vacuum suction adhesion. The detection hole communicates with the suction device and the pressure sensor. When the printing plate is supplied onto the surface plate, in order to detect whether the printing plate is placed on the surface plate, the suction device sucks air from the detection hole, and the pressure sensor detects the degree of vacuum of the detection hole.
Here, when a printing plate is set on the surface plate, i.e., when the detection hole is blocked by the printing plate, the degree of vacuum of the detection hole is the predetermined degree of vacuum. At this time, the pressure sensor detects that the degree of vacuum of the detection hole is the predetermined degree of vacuum, and outputs a predetermined signal.
On the other hand, when no printing plate is set on the surface plate, i.e., when the detection hole is not blocked by the printing plate, the degree of vacuum of the detection hole is not higher than the predetermined degree of vacuum. As a result, the pressure sensor does not detect that the degree of vacuum of the detection hole is the predetermined degree of vacuum, and does not output the predetermined signal.
In this way, in the printing plate automatic exposing device of the first aspect, on the basis of the output signal of the pressure sensor, it can be detected whether or not a printing plate is placed on the surface plate. In this way, a printing plate automatic exposing device which carries out appropriate processing on the basis of the detection signal of the pressure sensor can be obtained.
Moreover, because an inexpensive pressure sensor is used, the printing plate automatic exposing device can be provided at a low cost.
A second aspect of the present invention is a device for automatic exposure of printing plates in accordance with image data, the device comprising: (a) a surface plate mountable in the automatic exposure device for receiving printing plates thereon, the surface plate having a suction hole, a suction groove and a detection hole; (b) a suction system in fluid communication with the suction hole and groove and the detection hole, and operable for applying reduced pressure thereto for suction adherence of printing plates and for use in printing plate detection; (c) a pressure sensor in fluid communication with the detection hole, and providing an output signal when the degree of vacuum in the detection hole at least equals a level corresponding to when a printing plate is received on the surface plate obstructing the detection hole with reduced pressure applied to the detection hole by the suction system; (d) a scanner operable for exposing a printing plate in accordance with image data; and (e) a controller connected in electronic communication to the scanner and the pressure sensor and receiving the output signal and controlling the scanner, the controller controlling processing based at least in part, in accordance with the signal received.
A third aspect of the present invention is a method for detecting printing plate presence on a support surface in an exposure device, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a hole on the support surface; (b) applying a reduced pressure to the hole; (c) sensing the pressure in the hole using a pressure sensor; and (d) determining that a printing plate is present on the support surface if the degree of vacuum sensed is at least equal to a predetermined level, and otherwise determining that a printing plate is not present on the support surface. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic light emitting display, and more particularly, to an organic light emitting display having pixel data self-retaining functionality.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Because flat panel displays (FPDs) have advantages of thin appearance, low power consumption, and low radiation, various kinds of flat panel displays have been developed and widely applied in a variety of electronic products such as computer monitors, mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), or flat panel televisions. Among them, active matrix organic light emitting displays (AMOLEDs) have gained more and more attention due to further advantages of self-emitting light source, high brightness, high emission rate, high contrast, fast reaction, wide viewing angle, and extensive range of working temperature.
FIG. 1 is a structural diagram schematically showing a prior-art active matrix organic light emitting display 100. As shown in FIG. 1, the active matrix organic light emitting display 100 comprises a gate driving circuit 110, a data driving circuit 120, a plurality of pixel circuits 140, and a power unit 190. Each pixel circuit 140 includes a first transistor 141, a second transistor 142, a storage capacitor 143, and an organic light emitting diode 144. The power unit 190 is employed to provide a high power voltage Vdd and a low power voltage Vss which are furnished to each pixel circuit 140. The gate driving circuit 110 and the data driving circuit 120 are utilized for providing plural gate signals and plural data signals respectively. Each pixel circuit 140 employs corresponding gate and data signals to control the light-emitting driving operation of one organic light emitting diode 144 based on the voltage difference between the high power voltage Vdd and the low power voltage Vss. However, while the active matrix organic light emitting display 100 is displaying a still frame, the gate driving circuit 110 and the data driving circuit 120 still continue to provide the gate and data signals for periodically performing writing operations on the pixel circuits 140. And therefore the power consumption of displaying a still frame is substantially equal to that of displaying motion frames. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Silicon-on-insulator technology is becoming increasingly important for high performance thin film transistors, solar cells, and displays, such as, active matrix displays. The silicon-on-insulator wafers consist of a thin layer of substantially single crystal silicon (generally 0.1-0.3 microns in thickness but, in some cases, as thick as 5 microns) on an insulating material.
Various ways of obtaining such a wafer include epitaxial growth of Si on lattice matched substrates; bonding of a single crystal silicon wafer to another silicon wafer on which an oxide layer of SiO2 has been grown, followed by polishing or etching of the top wafer down to, for example, a 0.1 to 0.3 micron layer of single crystal silicon; or ion-implantation methods in which either hydrogen or oxygen ions are implanted either to form a buried oxide layer in the silicon wafer topped by Si in the case of oxygen ion implantation or to separate (exfoliate) a thin Si layer to bond to another Si wafer with an oxide layer as in the case of hydrogen ion implantation. Of these three approaches, the approaches based on ion implantation have been found to be more practical commercially. In particular, the hydrogen ion implantation method has an advantage over the oxygen implantation process in that the implantation energies required are less than 50% of that of oxygen ion implants and the dosage required is two orders of magnitude lower.
Exfoliation by the hydrogen ion implantation method was initially taught in, for example, Bister et al., “Ranges of the 0.3-2 MeV H+ and 0.7-2 MeV H2+ Ions in Si and Ge,” Radiation Effects, 1982, 59:199-202, and has been further demonstrated by Michel Bruel. See Bruel, U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,564; M. Bruel, Electronic Lett. 31, 1995 pp 1201-1202; and L. Dicioccio, Y. Letiec, F. Letertre, C. Jaussad and M. Bruel, Electronic Lett. 32, 1996, pp 1144-1145.
The method typically consists of the following steps. A thermal oxide layer is grown on a single crystal silicon wafer. Hydrogen ions are then implanted into this wafer to generate subsurface flaws. The implantation energy determines the depth at which the flaws are generated and the dosage determines flaw density. This wafer is then placed into contact with another silicon wafer (the support substrate) at room temperature to form a tentative bond.
The wafers are then heat-treated to about 600° C. to cause growth of the subsurface flaws for use in separating a thin layer of silicon from the Si wafer. The resulting assembly is then heated to a temperature above 1,000° C. to fully bond the Si film with SiO2 underlayer to the support substrate, i.e., the unimplanted Si wafer. This process thus forms a silicon-on-insulator structure with a thin film of silicon bonded to another silicon wafer with an oxide insulator layer in between.
Cost is an important consideration for commercial applications of SOI structures. To date, a major part of the cost of such structures has been the cost of the silicon wafer which supports the oxide layer, topped by the Si thin film, i.e., a major part of the cost has been the support substrate.
Although the use of quartz as a support substrate has been mentioned in various patents (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,140,209 6,211,041, 6,309,950, 6,323,108, 6,335,231, and 6,391,740), quartz is itself a relatively expensive material. In discussing support substrates, some of the above references have mentioned quartz glass, glass, and glass-ceramics. Other support substrate materials listed in these references include diamond, sapphire, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, ceramics, metals, and plastics.
As the present inventors discovered, it is not at all a simple matter to replace a silicon wafer with a wafer made out of a less expensive material in an SOI structure. In particular, it is difficult to replace a silicon wafer with a glass or glass-ceramic of the type which can be manufactured in large quantities at low cost, i.e., it is difficult to make cost effective SOG structures. This is so because prior to the present invention, the art has not had practical techniques for using glass or glass-ceramics as support substrates in semiconductor-on-insulator structures.
The present invention provides such techniques and thus satisfies the longstanding need in the art for lower cost substrates for SOI structures. In addition, the invention provides novel forms for such structures. Among the numerous applications for the invention are those in such fields as optoelectronics, RF electronics, and mixed signal (analog/digital) electronics, as well as display applications, e.g., LCDs and OLEDs, where significantly enhanced performance can be achieved compared to amorphous and polysilicon based devices. In addition, photovoltaics and solar cells with high efficiency are also enabled. Both the invention's novel processing techniques and its novel SOI structures significantly lower the cost of an SOI structure and thus satisfy the continuing demand in the semiconductor field for lower cost devices. | {
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Pertinent areas of the classification manual concerned with this type of invention are, among others, Class 208, Subclass 310 and Class 585, Subclasses 820, 701 and 738.
In Gray Jr. et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,345, an invention is disclosed in which a portion of one of the product streams in an isomerization process is used to wash a recycle gas stream to improve the quality of the isomerate products. The molecular sieve adsorbent of Gray is one which can be naturally occurring or synthetically produced comprising a three-dimensional crystalline-zeolitic aluminosilicate which will selectively, on the basis of molecular size of the pores, adsorb normal paraffins from the isomerized product from branched chained and/or cyclic paraffins. The molecular sieves have pore diameters of about 5A and are exemplified by a calcium 5A zeolite which exhibits pore diameters ranging from about 3 to about 5 Angstroms.
The Gray et al disclosure is an improvement upon an isomerization process as taught in Holcombe, U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,771. This is a process for the virtual complete isomerization of normal paraffin hydrocarbons in a feed stream consisting essentially of mixed normal and branched hydrocarbons, where the feed stream is passed first through an isomerization reactor and the products derived therefrom are passed to an adsorption section which separates normal from branched paraffins to form an isomerate having both di- and mono-branched paraffins. A recycle stream comprising nearly pure normal paraffins is usually recycled to exhaustion. Other disclosures which may be commensurate with Holcombe comprise U.K. Pat. No. 876,730 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,755,144 issued to Asselin.
The zeolite molecular sieve employed in Gray et al and Holcombe may be selected from any adsorbent which selectively adsorbs normal paraffins based on the molecular pore size of the aluminosilicate. Particularly suitable zeolites of this type are calcium exchanged zeolite 5-A. Naturally occurring zeolite molecular sieves which could be substituted for calcium 5-A zeolite include chabazite and erionite. The particular flow scheme of adsorption as taught by Holcombe '771 is herein incorporated by reference to show an operable multiple zeolitic molecular sieve absorption means, to achieve proper adsorption-fill and desorption-purge. The Holcombe patent is completely silent as to arrangements of multiple number of different sieves which ma be present in the absorption separation technique. In fact, in the drawing of Holcombe, the adsorption bed systems, 44, 46, 48, and 50, are all comprised of calcium 5A zeolite in the form of 1/16-inch cylindrical pellets. Branched paraffins, whether they be mono- or di-branched, flow through the adsorption bed while unbranched normal paraffins are adsorbed. After a purge of the adsorbed normal paraffins from the zeolite molecular sieve, the recycle stream is comprised nearly entirely of normal paraffins and recycle hydrogen. This is mixed with the incoming feed before charge to the isomerization zone. The placement of these types of molecular sieves upstream of isomerization will result in only normal paraffins being passed to the isomerization zone while mono-methyl-branched paraffins, in admixture with the more desirable di-branched paraffins, will not be captured and, therefore, will not be further isomerized into the more valuable di-branched paraffins.
A second Holcombe patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,053, discusses a normal paraffin-isomerization separation process. By this technique, normal paraffins are isolated from a feedstock mixture comprising normal and branched paraffins at super atmospheric pressures using an adsorption system comprising at least four fixed adsorbent beds containing a calcium 5A molecular sieve. A stream is formed comprising vapor from void space purgings of the adsorbent and feedstock containing iso-paraffins and normal paraffins. The molecular sieve employed to separate normal paraffins from said stream is selected to adsorb only normal paraffins from a mixture of branched, cyclic and normal hydrocarbons.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,836,455 issued to Blytas, the separation of methylpentane and 2,2-dimethylbutane (as contrasted with 2,3-dimethylbutane of the instant invention) is accomplished using an offretite zeolite. U.S. Pat. No. 4,251,499 issued to Nanne et al teaches that ferrierite sieves are effective for dividing substantially unbranched structures (n-paraffins) from mixtures of same with branched structures (both mono-methyl and di-branched paraffins). Such was the state of the art in 1981 although the instant invention has shown that this teaching is no longer accurate in regard to the adsorption capacity of ferrierite aluminosilicates as defined herein.
These patents teach that it is most advantageous to recycle normal paraffins to thereby isomerize the same to the isomerate components comprising mono-methyl-branched paraffins and di-branched paraffins. These disclosures suggest that the isomerate will have a certain quantity of mono-methyl-branched paraffins derived from the isomerization zone. These mono-methyl-branched paraffins will have an inherently lower octane value than the di-branched paraffins whether or not they are mixed with the more preferred di-branched paraffins before or after isomerization.
In contrast, applicants have discovered a new and more efficient isomerization process utilizing a multiple number of preisomerization molecular sieve whereby both normal paraffins and mono-methyl-branched paraffins are passed to isomerization with little or no presence of di-branched paraffins. Using the specific multiple pre-isomerization molecular sieves separation technique of this process in either discrete or stacked bed configuration, mono-methyl-branched paraffins are diminished in the refinery gasoline pool while di-branched paraffins or multi-branched paraffins ar both preserved and produced. In other words this process increases the degree of branching in the ultimate refinery gasoline pool by improving the effectiveness of the isomerization step. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic vibrator and an ultrasonic motor using the ultrasonic vibrator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, different types of ultrasonic motors have been known. For example, Japanese Patent No. 3311446 discloses an example of the ultrasonic motors.
Hereinafter, the ultrasonic motor disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3311446 will be described as a typical one.
Ordinarily, ultrasonic motors are provided with ultrasonic vibrators. The ultrasonic vibrator is formed as described below.
First, for the ultrasonic vibrator, a plurality of first piezoelectric sheets which are thin and have a rectangular shape and a plurality of second piezoelectric sheets which are thin and have a rectangular shape are laminated to each other. A pair of internal electrodes are printed on each first piezoelectric sheet. A pair of internal electrodes are printed on each second piezoelectric sheet. The ultrasonic vibrator has a structure in which these first and second piezoelectric sheets are alternately laminated.
The internal electrodes are formed so as to extend to the side faces and the upper surface of the ultrasonic vibrator. Regarding these piezoelectric sheets, the internal electrodes are printed on green sheets made of lead titanate zirconate (hereinafter, abbreviated to PZT). Then, the green sheets are positioned, laminated, and fired. Thus, these piezoelectric sheets are formed into a piezoelectric laminate unit.
External electrodes are provided in the positions of the piezoelectric laminate unit where the internal electrodes of the ultrasonic vibrator are exposed (two sites as positive poles on the upper surface of the ultrasonic vibrator and two sites as negative poles on the side faces of the ultrasonic vibrator).
Further, in the piezoelectric laminate unit, the external electrode provided on the upper surface on the left side and the external electrode provided on the left side-face are connected to each other via a lead wire. Thus, an electrical terminal is formed. An alternating voltage, which is described below, is applied to this electrical terminal for phase A.
Moreover, in the piezoelectric laminate unit, the external electrode provided on the upper surface on the right side and the external electrode provided on the right side-face are connected to each other via a lead wire. Thus, an electrical terminal is formed. An alternating voltage, which is described below, is applied to this electrical terminal for phase B.
The polarization can be performed by application of predetermined DC voltages to the respective electrical terminals for the phases A and B.
Furthermore, in the piezoelectric laminate unit, a driving piece (friction projection) is bonded to the position at which the amplitude of the bending-vibration of the lower surface of the ultrasonic vibrator has substantially a maximum.
In the ultrasonic vibrator having the above-described structure, alternating voltages with a phase difference of π/2 are applied to the electrical terminals for the phases A and B, respectively. This excites the primary longitudinal vibration and the secondary bending vibration. Thus, a large elliptical vibration in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction is generated.
The ultrasonic motor using the ultrasonic vibrator further contains the following elements.
A through-hole is provided in the center of the ultrasonic vibrator. A pin for taking out a driving force is inserted and bonded in the trough-hole. Further, a pressing means which is engaged with the pin to press the driving piece in a predetermined direction, and a driven piece which is in contact with the driving piece of ultrasonic vibrator and is moved relatively to the driving piece. Thus, the ultrasonic motor is formed.
The driven piece is held on a linear guide. Thus, the driven piece can be slidingly moved while it is in contact with the driving piece and is guided by the linear guide.
In the ultrasonic motor formed as described above, alternating voltages with a phase difference of π/2 are applied to the electrical terminals in the phases A and B. Thereby, the primary longitudinal vibration and the secondary bending vibration are excited. As a result, a large elliptical movement is caused in the clockwise or counterclockwise direction. Thus, the driven piece is moved in the right and left direction. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope, or more particularly, to an endoscope characterized by a distal cover thereof that is freely detachable from a distal part of an insertion unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, endoscopes having an elongated insertion unit have been widely adopted in the fields of medicine and industry. The distal part of the insertion unit is formed with a rigid distal member to which an illuminating means and viewing means are fixed.
When the rigid distal part is inserted into a tortuous body cavity in a human body, if the insertion unit is thrust too forcibly with the rigid distal part in contact with the bent part of the cavity wall, there arises a possibility of injuring the cavity wall with the rigid distal part.
In some endoscopes, a portion on the front side of the distal part is shielded with a distal cover having elasticity in order to prevent the distal part from injuring the cavity wall during insertion.
In another endoscope, a stowage in which a stand used to stand a therapeutic instrument is stowed so that the stand can pivot freely is formed with a distal cover. In particular, when the stand used to stand a therapeutic instrument is stowed, it is necessary to fully clean and sterilize the distal cover after use. The distal cover is therefore often structured to be freely detachable.
For example, in a prior art disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-19509, a cap similar to a distal cover is fixed to a main distal part by inserting a fixing screw into a screw hole in the main distal part, and then affixed thereto using a sealant. Furthermore, a screw hole larger than the screw hole in the main distal part is bored in the cap. For removing the cap, after the fixing screw is detached, a separation screw is used to push the main distal part in order to separate (detach) the cap affixed to the main distal part using the sealant.
However, in a structure like the structure of the prior art in which the distal cover (cap) is fixed using a screw, a jig such as a driver is needed to attach the distal cover. If the jig is missing, the distal cover cannot be attached. Moreover, the screw is inserted into the distal part and is therefore small in size. The screw is liable to get missing. If the screw gets missing prior to an endoscopic examination, the distal cover cannot be fixed and the examination cannot be started. Moreover, since the screw must be tightened to fix the distal cover, the work is cumbersome. Furthermore, the separation screw is needed to detach the cap.
By the way, a distal cover formed with an elastic member made of a rubber or the like and having a hole into which a convex part of a main distal part is fitted is conceivable as a simple detachable distal cover. This structure has possibilities of not being fixed satisfactorily, being positioned with poor precision, or being displaced or coming off during an examination.
Talking of a known side-looking endoscope, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-243071 has disclosed an endoscope in which a distal cover thereof is made detachable and the efficiency in cleaning the surroundings of a forceps stand is improved. In this endoscope, as shown in FIG. 51, the distal cover is thrust in an axial direction, a jut 503 of a distal part 502 is fitted into a hole 501 in a cover 500, and the cover is fixed using a screw 504. According to this method described in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-243071, if the screw 504 comes off after the endoscope is inserted into a body cavity, there is no means for recognizing the fact. If the screw 504 comes off within the body cavity and the cover 500 almost comes off, the fact cannot be recognized until the cover 500 drops. This is a critical problem in terms of safety.
In medical-purpose endoscopes including a gastroscope and duodenoscope, an insertion unit of an endoscope is inserted into a patient's body cavity in order to view or treat a lesion. Some medical-purpose endoscopes include a therapeutic instrument standing unit as a mechanism for directing forceps or any other therapeutic instrument toward a desired lesion so as to collect a biomedical tissue or treat the lesion while viewing the lesion.
The therapeutic instrument standing unit basically comprises a therapeutic instrument stand capable of pivoting with a standing axis located in a distal structure as a center, and an operation wire coupled to the therapeutic instrument stand. When an operator advances or withdraws the operation wire by handling an operation unit, the angle of the therapeutic instrument stand is changed to direct the forceps in a desired direction.
When the endoscope is in operation, intracavitary fluid invades into an area in which the standing axis of the therapeutic stand and the distal structure are engaged with each other, or an area in which an operation wire fixing member connected to an end of the operation wire and the therapeutic instrument stand are engaged with each other.
The endoscope must therefore be cleaned (sterilized) after use. It is time-consuming to clean the operation wire fixing member and standing axis. Under the circumstances, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-323001 has proposed an endoscope whose distal cover is easily attachable or detachable to or from a distal structure.
However, in known endoscopes, in which a distal cover is freely detachable from a distal structure, including the endoscope disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-323001, a small gap may be created between the distal cover and distal structure. In this state, if a treatment using a high-frequency current is carried out, there arises a possibility that the high-frequency current may leak out to the outer surface of a distal part via intracavitary fluid invading into the gap between the distal cover and distal structure. If the outer surface of the distal part should be in contact with an intracavitary wall, there would arise a possibility that the current flows to the intracavitary wall. | {
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The cucurbit[n]uril (CB[n]) family has been extensively studied in recent years on account of their scope within the fields of molecular recognition and aqueous self-assembly.[1] CB[7], a member of the CB[n] family, has a substantially higher water solubility than CB[6] and CB[8] and a larger binding cavity than its water soluble brother, CB[5].[2]
Recent reports have shown that CB[7] is an excellent host for binding and stabilising a wide range of small molecules, such as fluorescent dyes,[3] controlling aggregate formation of guest molecules,[4] and for use in light-harvesting systems.[5] However, a major drawback which has limited the study and application of CB[7] is its difficult isolation and purification from the synthesised mixture of CB[n] homologues.
Traditional isolation methods of CB[7] are based on the different solubilities of CB[n] in various solvents, such as acetone/water and methanol/water mixtures, limiting the overall yield of CB[7] to just under 3%.[6, 7] Nau et al. [8] has reported a more direct approach to preparing CB[7] by controlling the direct reaction of formaldehyde, glycoluril and sulfuric acid, followed by a similar isolation methodology based on solubility of CB[7] in an acetone/water mixture. This method gives a substantially better yield with higher purity, however, the separation and purification is still based primarily on solubility differences in a variety of mixed solvents. For the standard separation routes, it is difficult to obtain CB[7] in high purity as both CB[5] and CB[7] have low solubility in the mixed solvent systems (either acetone/H2O or MeOH/H2O), requiring multiple solvent-based separation cycles.
Another isolation method which has been reported by Isaacs et al. uses column chromatography with a harsh acidic eluent HCO2H (88%):HCl (0.2 M) (1:1 v/v).[9] This can be a highly toxic process which results in acidic products and may limit the viability of scale-up.
The use of alkyl imidazolium salts to form complexes with cucurbituril compounds has been described [18], although this disclosure was made after the priority date of the present application.
Herein is reported a new cucurbituril isolation method which is convenient for obtaining pure cucurbituril material, is inherently more environmentally friendly and suitable for large scale purification by exploiting the reversible association and dissociation of a host-guest complex in a controlled manner. | {
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The invention relates to wire straight and cut machines or mechanisms, and in particular to the wire straightener systems using such wire straight and cut machines or mechanisms used in the production of wire and wire related products, but specifically to the dies used in such wire straightener systems.
A need has existed for a die unit for wire straighteners in wire straight and cut machines or mechanisms that is simple to set up in the wire straightener rotating arbor and, at the same time, has a long life cycle so that frequent die changes are not required.
Existing dies for wire straightener systems in wire straight and cut machines or mechanisms have several disadvantages, some of which are herein described.
Existing wire straightener dies are made of a very soft metal, usually soft iron, so as not to score the wire as it passes through the sequence of dies in the wire straightener. The wear-out time is very short and set up changes are frequent, costly in both time and materials.
The present invention provides a hardened core of carbide or ceramic material in the die which can be given a smooth finish and then lightly polished so as not to score the wire and yet has an extremely long life. Thus, set up changes are infrequent and hence the present invention is much more economical.
Current wire straightener dies are split into two parts, a top half and a bottom half. This "pair" feature consumes time during set up as the multiple parts are handled and care is exercised so that the two halves are assembled to match properly and rest in the proper direction.
The present invention eliminates these problems as each die is in one piece instead of two, and each die is symmetrical about its center so that it may be assembled in either direction, no matching or aligning is required.
Regarding the set up of the die in the rotating arbor of the wire straightener in the wire drawing machine or mechanism, the existing dies (made in a top and a bottom half) have a long entrance bell and a short exit bell, thus the need during set up for matching and aligning the two non-symmetrical halves.
In the present invention the symmetrical design provides a bell at each end of similar size and shape and a straight section between the two bells. With this symmetrical design the die may be set up with either end as the entrance.
As to placing the dies in the die recesses or slots of the rotating arbor of the machine or mechanism, the die of the present invention has a distinct advantage over the existing die.
Both the die of the present invention and the existing die are rectangular in outside configuration. The outside rectangular size of each, for a particular machine for which they are made, is the same, as they both fit into the same die recess or slot.
The existing die can only be placed into the die recess or slot in two positions because of the non-symmetrical passageway through the die; whereas the die of the present invention can be placed into the die recess or slot in four positions. With the symmetrical passageway of the present invention the set up operator may place the die in any position without attention to alignment as is necessary with existing dies. Thus, a distinct set up time advantage for the present invention.
It is to be noted that this invention concerns the straightener die itself and not the positioning or offsetting of any one said die in relation to the other dies in the sequence or series of dies (usually five) that make up the straightener arrangement, nor does it concern the rotary arbor (or drum) or the recesses or slots in said rotary arbor in which any one of said straightener dies is positioned to perform the straightening operation, likewise the invention does not relate to the screws that hold any one said straightener die in position in said recesses or slots in said rotary arbor.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a wire straightener die that is a one-piece unit.
It is another object of the invention to provide a wire straightener die that is symmetrical about its center to facilitate positioning in a rotary arbor, without the need for special alignment.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a wire straightener die with a hardened passageway to prolong its usefulness.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent in light of the following description of the preferred embodiment. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
In current gaming machines such as slot machines, players are able to receive various awards associated with various events. Sometimes the games directly involve the slot machine reels which are often in video form. Each reel typically includes several symbols. Existing gaming machines use the symbols in a variety of ways. For example, existing gaming machines include winning symbols and winning symbol combinations as well as losing symbols and symbol combinations. The symbols generally determine the awards.
It is often desirable to emphasize or signify certain symbols during a game, especially after the occurrence of a winning event or a game event such as a winning combination of symbols. One known technique is to signify certain winning symbols by visually enhancing or highlighting the symbols which are part of a winning combination. However, existing gaming machines do not signify certain winning combinations of symbols by means of visually altering the losing symbols alone. Furthermore, existing gaming devices do not include bonus schemes where a player can choose certain reel symbols which are visually signified as selectable.
To increase player enjoyment and excitement, it is desirable to provide players with new techniques for emphasizing game events and directing a player's attention to the presence and purpose of certain symbols on certain reels using alternative methods. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of hinge mechanisms and in particular to a swivel hinge apparatus for an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
As used in the context herein, the term electronic devices refer to portable communication devices, computers, portable electronic calculators, etc. The term ‘portable communication device’ (PCD) refers to devices carried and in some cases may perform a type of radio or wireless communication (e.g., cellular, Wi-Fi, 3G, and/or 4G. For example, portable communication devices may include a hand-held phone (HHP), cordless telephone (CT2) cellular phone, a digital phone, a personal communications systems (PCS) phone, and a personal digital assistant (PDA) and other similar types devices. For example, smartphones, such as the SAMSUNG GALAXY S, and the SAMSUNG TAB, commercially available from SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., are portable communication devices. Typically, PCDs are sorted into various types according to their shapes. For example, devices (i.e., terminals) are classified based on their shape or operation. For example, terminals may be classified as a bar-type terminal, flip-type terminal, or a folder-type terminal. The bar-type terminal has a single housing shaped like a bar. The flip-type terminal has a flip or cover pivotably mounted to a bar-shaped housing by a hinge unit. The folder-type terminal has a folder coupled to a single bar-shaped housing by a hinge unit in such a manner that the folder can be rotated to fold to or unfold from the housing.
With the miniaturization of communication or receiving devices such as the portable communication devices, portable mini cassettes, MP3 players, radio players, etc., earsets connected to the electronic devices for listening have been widely used to allow the electronic devices to be easily carried.
The earset may also operate as a microphone, which may wired to device or wirelessly connected to the device. For example, a headset including a BLUETOOTH wireless transceiving (transmitting/receiving) device, with BLUETOOTH being a short range wireless communications technology at the 2.4 GHz band, commercially available from the BLUETOOTH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP, INC., may operate to receive communications from a portable communication device or transmit communication to the portable communication device. BLUETOOTH technology is a well-known short range wireless communications technology, technology at the 2.4 GHz band, commercially available from the BLUETOOTH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP, INC., and need not be discussed in detail herein.
A headset containing the BLUETOOTH technology, with BLUETOOTH being a short range wireless communications technology at the 2.4 GHz band, commercially available from the BLUETOOTH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP, INC., is advantageous in that it is free from the restrictions of action and movement that exist when the earset is connected to the portable communication device by an electric wire. Moreover, a user can access the Internet and make a call or receive a call without having to access the portable communication device directly, as commands may be issued through the BLUETOOTH wireless protocol, with BLUETOOTH being a short range wireless communications technology at the 2.4 GHz band, commercially available from the BLUETOOTH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP, INC., to the PCD.
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional wireless headset 1 includes a BLUETOOTH module 2, with BLUETOOTH being a short range wireless communications technology at the 2.4 GHz band, commercially available from the BLUETOOTH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP, INC., a microphone portion 3, a speaker portion 4, and a hinge apparatus 5 for rotating the speaker portion 4. The BLUETOOTH module 2, with BLUETOOTH being a short range wireless communications technology at the 2.4 GHz band, commercially available from the BLUETOOTH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP, INC., includes at least a transceiving device that is adapted for the BLUETOOTH communication protocol, with BLUETOOTH being a short range wireless communications technology at the 2.4 GHz band, commercially available from the BLUETOOTH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP, INC.
However, a hinge apparatus 5 of a conventional portable communication device and a hinge apparatus 5 of a conventional headset are structured such that a speaker portion 4 of the communication device and a speaker portion 4 of the headset 1 are folded or unfolded merely by being rotated in a vertical direction along the hinge apparatus 5. As a result, when the speaker portion 4 is positioned at a user's ear, a microphone portion 3 may move away from a user's mouth, such that user's sound is not accurately delivered to the partner in a communication mode. Moreover, since the speaker portion 4 linearly rotates in the vertical direction, the speaker portion 4 of the communication device and the speaker portion 4 of the headset 1 may unintentionally rotate, thus executing the communication mode, or may be closed, thus being suddenly disconnected.
Korean Patent Publication No. 2008-0107876 discloses a bending apparatus of a BLUETOOTH headset, with BLUETOOTH being a short range wireless communications technology at the 2.4 GHz band, commercially available from the BLUETOOTH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP, INC. Referring to FIG. 2, a bending apparatus 10 of a BLUETOOTH headset, with BLUETOOTH being a short range wireless communications technology at the 2.4 GHz band, commercially available from the BLUETOOTH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP, INC., is structured such that an earphone portion 20 and a body portion 30 coupling a left body and a right body are coupled upright, face to face, through inclined surfaces 21 and 31, and a pivoting apparatus 40 is provided in a coupling portion of the earphone portion 20 and the body portion 30 to adjust a bending angle of the earphone portion 20 according to inclinations of the inclined surfaces 21 and 31.
However, the conventional bending apparatus 10 of the BLUETOOTH headset, with BLUETOOTH being a short range wireless communications technology at the 2.4 GHz band, commercially available from the BLUETOOTH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP, INC., is structured such that the pivoting apparatus 40 is mounted along the inclined surfaces 21 and 31 of the earphone portion 20 and the body portion 30. As a result, the pivoting apparatus 40 is separated along the inclined surfaces 21 and 31, thus being difficult to install and reducing an applicable force for retaining the pieces in position, whereby the strength of engagement and assembly processing of a product are difficult and a time for assembly processing also increases.
Therefore, there is a need for an apparatus which assembles a hinge apparatus to an electronic device in a simple and easy way and improves the strength of engagement. | {
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Optical communication systems have become widely implemented in todays telecommunication networks. The Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) is a standard for Synchronous Telecommunication Signals used for optical transmission based on the synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH). SONET can provide the ability to combine and consolidate traffic through grooming, and can reduce the amount of back to back multiplexing in providing transport services for ATM, SMDS, and Frame Relay, etc. Furthermore, network providers can use SONET network features to reduce the operation costs of the transmission network. The next generation of optical networks may be the optical transport network (OTN) standard.
The network standards are ANSI T1.105 for SDH and Bellcore GR-253-CORE for SONET, which define the physical interface and optical line rate known as the optical carrier (OC) signals, a frame format, and an OAM Protocol. In operation of the SONET system, user signals are converted into a standard electrical format called the Synchronous Transport Signal (STS), which is the equivalent of the optical signal. A single optical channel operates and transmits data according to a high speed synchronous digital hierarchy standards, such as the SONET OC-3, OC-12, and OC-48 rate protocols, which carry rates equivalent to tens of thousands of voice calls. Accordingly, it is critical in todays optical communication systems to provide and maintain the integrity of data communication networks even during problem time periods, due to the large number of transmissions that can be interrupted.
The increased capacity of optical fibre has raised concerns about the reliability and survivability of an optical network, since a single cable cut or equivalent malfunction can impact a large amount of data traffic. Cable cuts can be frequent and almost impossible to avoid, caused by human error or inclement weather. Furthermore, equipment failures resulting from man made or natural disasters are additional possibilities. Accordingly, optimized protection signaling systems and methods are desired in order to quickly re-establish network communications once failures have been detected.
Two types of failures can be experienced in a telecommunication network, such as line failures and module failures. The basic telecommunication network structure consists of various links situated between corresponding transmitters and receivers, which are also referred to as modules. Accordingly, a line failure can include damage to the physical fibre and optical components, such as the malfunction of amplification equipment situated along the optical data path. In contrast, the module failure can consist of the transmission or reception equipment, such as a laser diode transmitter. It should be noted that both line failures and module failures may disable the network segment or link between two adjacent nodes. It is therefore required in todays telecommunication network systems to provide restoration techniques to restore the interrupted traffic temporarily until the detected failure is repaired. One such protection system currently in use is line protection.
One known line protection system is Bi-direction Line Switched Ring systems (BLSR), which have the advantage of relatively fast speed protection circuitry. These ring systems consist of a plurality of nodes coupled in a ring by two multiplexed communication paths, which provide data transmission in opposite directions around the ring. In the presence of a fault such as a fibre cut, the BLSR system detects the presence of this failure in the two nodes immediately adjacent the fault and the communications are maintained via both paths forming the closed loop. The communication signals are therefore transmitted along the two paths from the two nodes adjacent to the fault. The BLSRs are currently used in Backbone networks and are therefore built for higher data transfer rates such as the OC-12/48 Further BLSR protection systems can include 4F and 2F implementations.
One disadvantage with BLSR systems is that they can not be easily applied to already existing (synchronous or asynchronous) communication systems without requiring costly equipment upgrades, for example a change in wavelength or bit rate involves a change in equipment. In addition, BLSR systems have disadvantages in that they do not provide for 1:N protection (i.e. protection of N working paths using at least one shared protection link) since path deployment is typically designated as 50% working and 50% protection, however as BLSR does not support Timeslot Interchange (TSI), the actual efficiency of the working bandwidth is about three quarters of the designated 50% deployment. Furthermore, BLSR systems can have an additional limitation that all nodes around the ring must be of the same type and must have the same capacity
One technique that has been tried in order to remove the problems of the BLSR design is a mesh protection design. In a full mesh design, each network element within a network is coupled to every other network element. On a partial mesh design, less optical carrier links are utilized. Well known mesh techniques have an advantage in terms of minimising the requirements for dedicated protection link bandwidth, since the optical bandwidth used for protection is only assigned to a protection link (or protection path having a series of links) during a failure situation, hence reducing the cost of additional fibre and providing greater network flexibility. However, one key problem with these well known mesh designs is the amount of time that is required to locate and establish the required protection link and a subsequent new working path after a failure occurs. The time it takes to re-establish communications after failure is critical since the time period during protection switching and protection link establishment should be small enough so as to practically unnoticeable the devices or people transmitting/receiving the data traffic. These systems typically use the control layer of the network to assist in protection switching, which can provide undesirable protection switching times on the order of seconds. Accordingly, alternative protection signaling systems and methods are desired to potentially reduce the switching times by an order of magnitude.
A further solution to address the desirability of fast protection times is to provide switching at the line level between adjacent network elements. This type of system could probably provide times in the 50 msec range, however would require protection bandwidth to be made available between every network element which would add to the complexity of the network architecture. Another solution could be to use the signaling network to do the switching, which could provide flexibility of sharing bandwidth between adjacent network elements. However, this method of using the signaling network has a disadvantage due to the processing of network overhead, whereby desirable protection times of less than 300 msec may not be achievable consistently. Accordingly, alternative protection signaling systems and methods are desired to reduce switching times, without substantially increasing network architecture and/or overhead processing.
A further disadvantage of present mesh protection schemes is that once a shared protection link is assigned to help provide protection backup to a particular working path, the remaining working paths associated with the shared protection link typically become unprotected. The process of implementing nodal/path diversity for the mesh network can help alleviate some of the risk involved with using a shared protection link between multiple working paths. However, there is a possibility of two unrelated failures occurring on separate working paths, thereby resulting in the undesirable situation of the two working paths competing to acquire usage of the one common shared protection link.
Another disadvantage of current mesh protection schemes is that both working paths and protection paths (having a plurality of protection links) are defined from the source node to the termination node. Therefore, once selected, the entire protection pathway consisting of multiple protection channels or timeslots is assigned to accommodate any transmissions originally destined over the failed working path. This symmetrical assignment of protection capacity can result in an inefficient use of available bandwidth on the protection path, as some of the protection capacity assigned is typically not used by the traffic demands when transferred from the failed working path.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a protection signaling system in a shared mesh environment to obviate or mitigate some of the above-presented disadvantages. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a device which compresses still image data in accordance with a JPEG (Joint Photographic Expert Group) algorithm and records the compressed image data in a recording medium and, also, to a device which reads the compressed image data from the recording medium and expands the compressed image data to reproduce the still image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image data contains a large amount of information. Accordingly, if the image data is directly processed, a large capacity memory and protracted data transfer time is required. Thus, conventionally, the image data is, first, decoded, so that the image data can be compressed, and is then processed.
A standard algorithm, for the encoding of high resolution images and the transfer of that information through telecommunication transmission channels, has been recommended by the JPEG. In order to enable a large-scale data compression, the baseline process of the JPEG algorithm breaks down the original image data into components on a spatial frequency axis using a two-dimensional discrete cosine transformation (two-dimensional DCT) process. Thereafter, the data expressed on the spatial frequency axis is quantized by using a quantization table. The quantized data is then encoded using a Huffman table.
By performing such a data compression, part of the information of the original image is lost. Namely, the image quality of the reproduced image may be deteriorated in comparison with the original image. If the value of each of the quantization coefficients included in the quantization table is set to have a smaller value, the values of the quantized DCT coefficients become large. This improves the quality of the reproduced image, but the amount of the compressed data is increased. Conversely, it is possible that, by estimating the quality of the reproduced image, the values of the quantization coefficients can be altered so as to obtain a sufficiently high quality image. The data compression is then performed again, but such an operation needs a lengthy time to process the image data, and thus, the operation efficiency is low.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-135568 (corresponding to U.S. Ser. No. 08/337,409) discloses an image compression device, in which second quantization coefficients are obtained in such a manner that a quantization error, i.e., a difference between a DCT coefficient and a corresponding dequantized DCT coefficient, becomes a minimum. Thus, an optimum quantization table composed entirely of second quantization coefficients is generated, which is then recorded in a recording medium together with the compressed image data.
However, the optimum quantization table, by using minimum value quantization errors which relate to one image as a whole, is not necessarily the optimum regarding each block of pixels which, together, form the one image, even though the quantization error has a minimum value with respect to the one image as a whole. Therefore, in the expansion process using the optimum quantization table, the improvement of the quality of the reproduced image is limited to some extent. Therefore, it is desired that the image quality is further improved. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Modern integrated circuits are generally produced by creating several identical integrated circuit dies (usually square or rectangular areas) in an area on a single (usually round) semiconductor wafer, then scribing and slicing the wafer to separate (singulate, dice) the dies (chips) from one another. An orthogonal grid of "scribe line" (kerf) areas extends between adjacent dies, and sometimes contain test structures, for evaluating the fabrication process. These scribe lines areas, and anything contained within them, will be destroyed when the dies are singulated from the wafer. The singulated (separated) dies are then individually packaged, and may be tested after packaging.
Under ordinary circumstances, pressure to maximize the useful, or productive area of a wafer dictates that scribe line area be kept as small as possible. Dies are laid out on a wafer in a pattern that is packed as tightly as possible. Scribe line widths are only large enough to ensure that the dies can be separated without damage to the area of the dies.
Circuits and active elements on the dies are created while the dies are still together (un-singulated) on the wafer by ion deposition, electron beam lithography, plasma etching, mechanical polishing, sputtering, and numerous other methods which are well known to those skilled in the art of semiconductor fabrication. These processes are highly developed and are capable of producing extremely complicated circuits on the dies at a relatively low cost.
The complexity of integrated circuits is limited, in part, by the purity of the semiconductor wafers available. These wafers contain minuscule defects which may be distributed randomly throughout the wafer, especially the surface where integrated circuit elements are fabricated. The larger the integrated circuit (i.e., the greater its "die size"), the greater the probability that it will be affected by such a defect. Integrated circuits which intersect a defect on the semiconductor wafer are generally rendered non-functional, and therefore useless. Improvements in the wafer production process are yielding purer wafers with smaller defect sizes and densities.
By reducing the size of individual circuit elements, e.g. transistors, it has become possible to place more circuitry in the same area (e.g., die site) which would previously have been occupied by larger circuit elements of lesser complexity. However, the same size reductions which enable greater circuit complexity also render the resulting smaller circuits more sensitive to more minuscule defects in the semiconductor wafer.
Trade-offs between circuit complexity (i.e., number of transistors and circuit area) and anticipated yield (i.e., the number of "good" circuits per wafer) are made by integrated circuit manufacturers based upon a number of factors. The higher the yield, the less a circuit costs the manufacturer to produce, permitting a lower market price.
Among the problems faced by integrated circuit manufacturers are packaged chips (dies) which fail in final test and, even worse, chips which pass final test but which have undetected flaws due to an inability to test them completely. The inability to test an integrated circuit completely arises from the fact that while circuit density and complexity has increased dramatically, the number of Input/Output (I/O) pads which can feasibly be disposed to a chip has not increased correspondingly. Generally, pads are much larger than individual circuit elements. This creates serious testing problems, since ever-increasing amounts of test information must be obtained through the use of a relatively limited number of I/O pads (test points).
"Burn-in" is a process whereby a chip (die) is either simply powered up ("static" burn-in), or is powered up and has signals exercising to some degree the functionality of the chip ("dynamic" burn-in). In both cases, burn-in is typically performed at an elevated temperature--the object being to detect chips that are defective. Burn-in is usually performed on a die-by-die basis, after the dies are separated (diced) from the wafer.
Another technique for burning-in dies, prior to dicing (on the wafer), is to mechanically place test probes or bond wires on each die, or on pads associated with each individual die and located in the scribe lines between the dies.
Another technique for burning-in dies, prior to dicing (on the wafer), is to provide a common network of power and ground conductors in the scribe lines, the power and ground lines connected to all of the dies on a wafer. Generally, the power and ground lines simply power up the device for static burn-in, but built-in self test (self-starting, signal-generating) circuitry on the chip can also provide signals on power up to exercise some of the functionality of the chip. This is discussed in copending, commonly-owned U.S. patent application No. (Docket No. LLC-2087/LSI1P006), entitled METHODS FOR DIE BURN-IN, filed by Rostoker and Dell'Oca.
It should be noted that where "power and ground" are referred to herein, any and all power connections are included. Recent trends in technology have tended to push the design of semiconductor devices in the direction of single voltage supplies, and this terminology reflects this trend. However, herein, the term "power and ground" refers to all required power supply voltages.
Another technique for die burn-in, on the wafer, is discussed in the aforementioned copending, commonly-owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/933,325, filed Aug. 21, 1992, now abandoned. This technique involves bonding wires to the wafer either (1) to bond pads on each die, or (2) to bond pads for each die in adjacent scribe lines.
Generally, for either burn-in or testing, difficulties arise in a few areas:
1) Traditional methods of testing do not provide adequate fault coverage to guarantee that the dies identified as functional ("good") are indeed fully functional; PA1 2) A large number of test points is generally required, necessitating cumbersome expensive equipment to interface with the wafer for testing; and PA1 3) Routing channels for signal interconnections can require a great deal of surface area. PA1 1. Placing an appropriate, minimum number of conductors in the scribe line areas on a wafer, including: PA1 2. Providing a means of isolating short circuits, whether these shorts occur on a particular die (more likely) or in the conductors (especially power and ground) in the scribe lines (less likely). This is accomplished by: PA1 3. Providing a mechanism for implementing die selection, such PA1 4. Providing an electronic mechanism in an area of the wafer for selecting individual dies for testing and/or burn in by either: PA1 5. Providing a unique address for each die, on the die, by either: PA1 6. Rather than placing the power and ground, and/or the probe and sense lines in the scribe lines, or through or on adjacent dies, providing the power, ground, probe and sense lines in a grid of overlying metal lines, whereby: PA1 7. Integrating signal exercising circuits, signal generators, power-on reset circuits, or self-starting self-test circuits onto the wafer for generating signals for dynamic burn-in, thereby avoiding a plurality of dynamic-burn-in signal lines, permitting automatic power-on initialization of dies and test circuitry, and minimizing the number of physical probe points required to control elaborate test sequences. This circuitry may be placed in mutant die sites, normal die sites, in the scribe line area, or any combination of these. PA1 8. Using a separate E-beam tool to: PA1 9. Mounting the wafer, such as by a vacuum chuck to a heating platform, to elevate the temperature of the dies on the wafer for burn-in. PA1 10. Providing redundant die selection circuitry in conjunction with appropriate isolation circuitry (e.g. fusible links) to minimize the likelihood that a flawed selection circuitry will prevent testing and burning in of dies prior to dicing.
In recent years, a number of schemes have arisen to address the testability problems of large, complex integrated circuits. Some example of these techniques are known as SCAN or "Scan-path testing" (ref. T. W. Williams and K. P. Parker, "Design for Testability--A survey" Proc. IEEE, Vol. 71, pp. 98-112, January, 1983), BIST or "Built-in Self-Test" (ref. E. B. Eichelberger and T. W. Williams, "A logic Design Structure for LSI Testing", Proc. 14th Design Automation Conf., June, 1977, 77CH1216-1C, pp. 462-468; also, E. J. McClusky, "Built-In Self-Test Techniques" and "Built-In Self-Test Structures" IEEE Design and Test, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 437-452, April, 1985). These techniques deal with testing large integrated circuit structures by incorporating on-chip test facilities (structures) which allow stimuli to be applied to portions of the circuit and responses to be readily read back and observed. SCAN and BIST testing are based on providing a means for accessing the storage elements of a sequential circuit (e.g. flip-flops) and using them to control and/or observe various portions of the integrated circuit to which they are applied.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,806,891; 4,293,919; and 4,513,418 (assigned to the IBM Corporation) describe methods whereby the flip-flops of a circuit may be used as test points by re-configuring them into a serial chain (shift-register) and used to shift in test data and to shift out test results.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,857 (Fasang) describes the use of linear feedback shift registers (LFSRs) for generating test patterns and for compacting test results.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,423,509 (Feisel) describes yet another use of the flip-flops of an integrated circuit as test points.
Another technique applicable to a broader range of test problems is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,947 (Gheewala), entitled "Grid-Based, `Cross-Check` Test Structure for Testing Integrated Circuits", incorporated by reference herein. The patent is directed to providing a grid of externally--as well as individually-accessible probe lines and sense lines with electronic switches at the crossings of these probe and sense lines. One end of each switch is connected to a test point on a die, which test point is intended to be monitored or controlled during a testing regimen, and the other end of each switch is connected to an associated sense line. The ON or OFF state of each switch is governed by a control input from a probe line. The probe and sense lines are connected to external test electronics. By excitation of an appropriate probe line, and monitoring (or exciting) an appropriate sense line, test signals present at any one of the test points can be monitored (or controlled). Generally, four lines per die are required: power, ground, a plurality of probe lines, and a plurality of sense lines. (In the case of a die requiring multiple supply voltages,
U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,947 also suggests the possibility of cross-checking multiple ICs on a wafer. FIG. 7 therein shows a grid of numerous probe and sense lines criss-crossing multiple ICs. FIGS. 9a and 9b therein also show many ICs being cross-checked on a wafer. In FIG. 9a, the usually unused "kerf area" (scribe line) lying between adjacent ICs is used to place probe points for the probe and sense lines. In FIG. 9b, it is suggested that I/O pads on "other" (typically adjacent) ICs can be used as probe points for cross check testing a particular ICs, when the "other" ICs are not being cross checked.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,826 (Gheewala, et al.), entitled "Method and Apparatus for Sensing Defects in Integrated Circuit Elements", incorporated by reference herein, describes an improvement to the technique of the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,947, involving pre-charging the sense lines to adjust detection levels. The patent also discloses a method of reducing test patterns to Boolean expressions, using "path sensitization".
U.S. Pat. No. 4,975,640 (Lipp), entitled "Method for Operating a Linear Feedback Shift Register as a Serial Shift Register with a Crosscheck Grid Structure", incorporated by reference herein, describes a further improvement to the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,947, whereby a linear feedback shift register (LFSR) may be used in combination with the grid based cross check structure to reduce the number of logic structures required to shift data out serially, and to provide increased controllability over the cross check structure with compaction of the test result data while dramatically reducing the number of I/O points required to accomplish the testing.
The techniques of testing, particularly cross-check testing described above are largely per-die-oriented, with little or no teaching of efficient implementation at wafer level.
Similarly, the techniques of static or dynamic burning-in, described above, fail to show efficient implementation at wafer level.
What is needed is efficient techniques for implementing cross-checking (testing) and dynamic burning-in at wafer level. For example, with regard to the cross-check techniques, in order to efficiently test numerous dies on a wafer, it would be desirable to dramatically reduce the number of probe and sense lines required. A reduction on the order of "n"/2:1 where "n" is the number of dies on the wafer is this kind of "dramatic" reduction (i.e., a reduction in the number of probe and sense lines of 50:1 for a wafer with 100 dies on it is a "dramatic" reduction over known cross-check techniques. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In some cases, a mark such as an alignment mark to be used for positioning in processing a substrate such as a glass substrate is desired to be formed in a resin layer which is composed of a resin sheet attached on each of front and back surfaces of the substrate. Meanwhile, as a method of forming an alignment mark on a substrate, a method performed by machining means such as a drill disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-7776 (Patent Document 1) has been conventionally known. When the alignment mark is formed in the resin layer of the substrate according to this method, a crack is caused in the glass substrate at the position where the alignment mark is formed. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Bases or base precursors are frequently incorporated into heat developable light-sensitive materials for the purpose of accelerating development upon heating. In view of preservability of the light-sensitive materials, it is preferred to employ base precursors which release basic substances upon heat decomposition.
Examples of typical base precursors are described in British Pat. No. 998,949. A preferred base precursor is a salt of a carboxylic acid and an organic base, and examples of the suitable carboxylic acids include trichloroacetic acid and trifluoroacetic acid and examples of the suitable bases include guanidine, piperidine, morpholine, p-toluidine and 2-picoline, etc.
Guanidine trichloroacetate as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,220,846 is particularly preferred. Further, aldonic amides as described in Japanese patent application (OPI) No. 22625/75 (the term "OPI" as used herein refers to a "published unexamined Japanese patent application") are preferably used because they decompose at a high temperature to form bases.
When these heretofore known base precursors are employed, however, the following problems are often encountered. Specifically, a relatively long time is required for obtaining images and a high level of fog is formed. Further, they have a disadvantage in that they are susceptive to air and humidity and decompose. As a result, the photographic properties of the light-sensitive materials containing them undergo a change and the preservability of the light-sensitive materials is seriously degraded. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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It is known that the introduction of charge material in end-fired furnaces is significantly more difficult and less satisfactory than in cross-burner furnaces. In the end-fired furnaces, so-called doghouses are provided on one side or on both sides of the furnace longitudinal axis; the charge material is placed into the doghouses from above and is pushed in the direction of the melting tank. These doghouses act as pre-sintering zones. If the doghouses are made too small, the not yet pre-melted batch is exposed at the surface to the flame flowing above it at a high speed. This causes a high degree of dust to develop in the melting tank, and the dust deposits on the side walls and on the tank cover, and, together with the refractory material, enters into low-melting compounds. This is known in connection with the corrosion of refractory materials. In addition, parts of the dust are carried into the regenerative chambers. There as well, the dust reacts with the refractory material and results in corrosion. In addition, the dust can also collect on the grating in the regenerative chambers and can reduce the efficiency of the air pre-heating. This type of dust contamination is even more pronounced in particular with the use of pre-heated batch material, with the named consequences.
In his book, “Glasschmelzöfen, Konstruktion und Betriebsverhalten [Glass melting furnaces, construction and operating performance]”, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, Tokyo, 1984, page 154, Dr. Wolfgang von Trier describes this problem and suggests, inter alia, to correspondingly enlarge the doghouse. The fact that up to today this has not been realized is clearly due to the fear that in a larger doghouse the glass would freeze in, i.e. would become too cold. The known front parts have therefore deliberately continued to be kept small.
The problem is thus that the introduced raw material mixture has a too-short dwell time in the pre-sintered zone, i.e. the doghouse. It is known that for a mixture of raw materials suitable for production of a glass melt a finite period of time is required in order to sinter the surface as a pile in an environment having a temperature of greater than 1000° C. This surface sintering of the supplied batch prevents the danger of the above-described dust contamination.
The dwell time of the material in the doghouse can be determined from the raw material bulk, the surface of the doghouse, the density of the pile, and the charging quantity per time unit. Here, the mass flow per hour conveyed through the doghouse into the melt installation is decisive. This defines the so-called K factor. This is generally known as a measure of the specific melting performance of a glass melting furnace. The use of the K factor in connection with the doghouse is not known.
Independently of the above-described damaging dust contamination, in short doghouses the charge material also loses thermal energy to the atmosphere, and this energy is lost to the melting process. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adjustable feed block for a coextrusion die, which block is particularly suitable for the continuous production of articles such as thermoplastic profiles which locally possess at least one coating layer such as, for example, a protective layer or a decorative layer.
2. Description of the Background
In the production of extruded articles such as profiles used especially for the production of door frames or window frames, it is desirable to have available profiles which locally possess a surface coating layer providing protection and/or decoration of the profiles. Thus, for example, it is desirable that the face of the profile which subsequently will be required to be exposed to sunlight should be effectively protected by a coating layer containing anti-ultraviolet agents, as is proposed in particular in French Pat. No. 1,571,391. Moreover, it can also be desirable to have available two-coloured profiles which exhibit a particular decorative effect and to achieve this by applying to the surface one or more local coating layers having a different colour from the thermoplastic of which the profile consists.
In order to be able to produce such products it has already been proposed, in Belgian Patent A-805,066, to use an extrusion head equipped with a suitable die, in which the outlet zone of the die is locally equipped with a channel through which the coating layer is delivered, and an adjustment sheet or plate which permits controlling the thickness of the coating layer locally deposited on the extruded profile.
In the device according to the said patent, it is however necessary, for a given profile produced, to change the die and reset the device if, during production, it is desired to alter the location and/or width of the coating layer, and hence it is necessary to clean the die. Moreover, changing to a different type of profile also involves a rather lengthy operation of changing the die and the adjustment. Furthermore, the presence of a thickness-adjusting plate or sheet creates the danger of producing stagnation of molten thermoplastic and hence the danger of thermal degradation of this thermoplastic, especially if it is heat-sensitive. Finally, the equipment required with the device according to the said patent is expensive because it requires having available a series of very elaborate and hence very costly dies. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to outdoor lamps and, more specifically, to outdoor low power LED lamps.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are lighting elements that are based on semiconductor diodes. While LEDs have traditionally been used only to generate monochromatic light, modern configurations allow for the generation of white light either by combining red, blue and green LEDs or by the use of a phosphor material. Accordingly, LED based lighting fixtures have been developed to provide illumination.
LED based lighting fixtures may be used to produce a relatively high quality and high intensity light while drawing relatively low power. Moreover, LED based lighting fixtures may have a very long useful life span and may maintain a consistent color spectrum over a very long period of time. LED based lighting fixtures may also be free of harmful chemicals such as those commonly found in fluorescent lights. Accordingly, LED based lighting fixtures may provide a means of lighting that is both inexpensive to operate and environmentally responsible.
LED based lighting, however, tends to provide a very narrow and focused beam of light, rather than the wide disbursement of light generally found with fluorescent and incandescent lighting fixtures. This property may make LED based lighting unsuitable for providing illumination in certain circumstances. Moreover, the individual LEDs of the lighting fixture may generate heat that tends to be localized to the circuit upon which the LEDs are mounted. Excess heat may then adversely affect the performance and life span of the LED based lighting fixture.
Because of the narrow light disbursement and heat characteristics, LED based lighting has generally been impractical for applications such as municipal street lighting where it is often difficult to dissipate heat and where wide disbursement of light is desired. | {
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Printed circuit boards containing wiring patterns and electronic components mounted thereon are vulnerable to damage or short circuiting as a result of mechanical contact with other circuit boards or objects. It therefore is desirable to encapsulate or insulate the boards, particularly in multiple circuit board environments. Accordingly, copending application Ser. No. 881,172 describes a technique to encapsulate a circuit board by wrapping the board with a shrink wrap tubing, then applying heat to shrink the tubing around the board and any components thereon.
While satisfactory, there still remains a need in some types of circuits that generate radio frequency (RF) energy to electrically shield the circuits and thereby prevent transmission of spurious RF energy therefrom that would tend to cause interference with neighboring equipment. Conversely, it is desirable to shield circuits sensitive to RF interference from RF generated from elsewhere.
An object of the invention, therefore, is to provide an RF shielded and electrically insulated circuit board structure.
Another object is to provide an RF shielded and electrically insulated circuit board structure using heat shrink tubing layers.
A further object of the invention is to provide a method of applying RF shielding and electrical insulation to a printed circuit board having electronic components mounted thereon.
Another object is to provide RF shielding and electrical insulation to a circuit board without adding significantly to the weight or cost of the board.
In accordance with these and other objects of the invention, an RF shielded and electrically insulated electronic circuit board structure comprises a circuit board and a first heat shrink tubing layer wrapping the circuit board and any wiring patterns and components thereon. An electrically conductive layer is located on the first heat shrink tubing layer and second heat shrink tubing layer is wrapped on the conductive layer to retain the conductive layer to the circuit board structure. The two layers of heat shrink tubing are in their shrunk condition to seal the circuit board and retain the electrically conductive shielding layer. Edge portions of the structure may be folded inward to prevent leakage of RF energy from the circuit board out through the edges.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the RF shielded and electrically insulated circuit board structure is made by wrapping a circuit board with a first layer of heat shrink tubing and applying heat to shrink the tubing to enclose the board and any wiring patterns and components thereon. An electrically conductive layer for RF shielding is applied on the first heat shrink tubing and the circuit board and electrically conductive layer are wrapped with a second layer of heat shrink tubing. Heat is applied to shrink the second tubing and thereby to retain the electrically conductive layer to the board. With any electrical wiring extending outward from the circuit board, edge portions of the tubing and RF shielding layers are folded inward to seal the edges of the circuit board structure.
Still other objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description, wherein only the preferred embodiment of the invention are shown and described, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated of carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawing and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Page resizing is needed for example when a user of the web browser enlarges or shrinks a web browser window on their terminal, for example a computer, laptop, tablet or smart phone. Currently, a typical web browser calculates the coordinates for the objects to be displayed based on relative size parameters and a reference point on a screen. These calculations based on relative parameters are prone to errors and inaccuracies due to different resolutions and varying aspect ratios of the displays, for instance.
In practice, most web users have noticed situations in which a certain elements of the displayed page are incorrectly located of apparently wrong size. This is particularly annoying when for example the user is prompted to enter information but, because of errors in resizing, it is difficult to find the box for entering the requested data. It can also happen that one of the elements is incorrectly displayed over another element thus hiding relevant information and preventing efficient use of the webpage. Actually, it is surprising how common these errors are even though web browsers are extremely widely used products, often developed by highly respected technology companies with huge resources. This allows a conclusion that there are some particular difficulties and problems in programming web browsers and there is still need for improvement. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The printing process is one small part of the total quality control procedure for a MICR printing system user. Quality and accuracy of the check documents must be closely controlled during printing to prevent problems from occurring when the document is processed off-site. The MICR line is the line of machine readable information that is printed at the bottom of each check. Financial institutions are dependent on the accuracy and integrity of the data in this line. Unlike the fixed elements of the form, the MICR line must be printed using magnetic ink and a special MICR font, such as E13B or CMC7.
Under current law, a bank may send the original paper check for payment unless it has an electronic payment agreement with the paying bank. Under Check 21 legislation in the United States, by authorizing the use of a new negotiable instrument called a “substitute check” (aka image replacement document), electronic check processing is enabled without mandating that any bank change its current check collection practices. The substitute check is a paper reproduction of an original check that contains an image of the front and back of the original check, which is suitable for automated processing in the same manner as the original check, as long as the check image meets other technical requirements, such as having mandated image quality, otherwise referred to as image readiness that includes acceptable print contrast between the check background and any critical data (e.g. signatures, printed amounts, etc.) placed over the background.
As a result of Check 21, banks that wish to scan the original paper check to create a substitute check require it to satisfy not only MICR character requirements but also print contrast signal (PCS) standards with respect to the check background. Print contrast acceptability is the design attribute of a check that ensures optimum recognition of amounts, legibility of handwriting, MICR character capture optically, and reasonably low file size that are positioned overtop of any background design images on the surface of the check.
When designing MICR documents, it is critical to remember that the document acts as a vehicle to transfer money from one party to another. The MICR document must clearly communicate the information required to complete that transfer, without interference from colorful backgrounds or confusing layout. Digital image capture, processing, and storage for the entire check make this requirement more important. Work is in progress to make the digital image of a check legally binding when captured and processed by banks. This is necessary to permit truncation of the paper documents early in processing and eliminate the cost of transporting the paper to the issuing bank. Checks should be designed to be easily interpreted when digitized into black and white images. MICR documents are not the only documents in which readability is a concern. Many payment processing systems are designed to use an OCR-printed turnaround document to direct a check based payment. In these cases, readability of the OCR line may be compromised if the document is printed using magnetic ink. The processing system detect checks by the presence of magnetic ink and initiate an E13B font recognition routine. If the turnaround document is magnetic, failure to read would result. Therefore, MICR printers are not recommended when an OCR font is used for data collection.
The smoothness of paper used on which to print the MICR characters can impact image quality. With increasing roughness, the print quality of solids and halftones degrades. Extremely rough paper does not properly accept fused dry ink, which rubs or flakes off. Rough papers require a higher density setting and more ink than smooth papers to achieve the desired level of image darkness, because surface irregularities must be filled in with ink. In this case, the amount of magnetic ink used to print the MICR characters can also be irregular.
Further, it is recognised that quality control of the MICR characters, for each MICR symbol, is also impacted by any variability or non-standard numbers or spaces between those symbols, which must be properly registered so that the fields do not flow into one another.
Further, each MICR symbol and character has an ideal waveform and nominal signal strength. Every MICR printing technology modifies the waveform from the ideal in a different way, so that the nominal MICR signal varies somewhat among the characters and symbols. These variations from the norm are characteristics of the printing technology and font design
If a MICR quality issue arises, it can be visible on the printed document. Even signal strength problems can be seen if prints are compared. Low signal characters are thin and poorly formed; high signal characters are fat and usually surrounded by xerographic background. However, occasionally, problems are reported by test equipment, but no problem is visible. This is usually due to improper use of intelligent magnetic test equipment, which evaluates optical specifications using magnetic waveforms. Equipment vendors are aware of the limitations of their products, and therefore recommend visual inspection of suspected characters. Some users, however, misinterpret these findings as specifications failures. It is important to understand the differences between optical and magnetic measurements and why all ANSI standards for MICR character dimensions can be evaluated optically only.
Further, MICR signal strength is measured magnetically, along with uniformity and spots, and is specified numerically as 50 to 200 percent of nominal. Waveform uniformity is not specified numerically, but as an indicator for visual inspection. Spots are categorized as magnetic or non-magnetic, because different size allowances apply. No other specifications are measured magnetically. Any MICR failures other than signal strength must be confirmed optically. However, it is recognized that the magnetic waveform test may pass the magnetic signal strength criteria but are actually contain poorly printed (e.g. too short, too narrow, improper spacing, too light, etc.) characters in those cases where the magnetic ink may be of sufficient metal oxide content/strength to mask those visual deficiencies.
Accordingly, it is recognised in the industry that one must identify the source of the problem for MICR character reading errors before one can implement corrective actions. For document quality problems, one can best identify the cause by examining the rejected document and determining the most likely reason for rejection. However, rejected documents may not be available, or they may not visibly show any printer or application-related issues. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Network systems provide a capability to transport data from various sources to various destinations. However, user demands for data transport capability tend to increase over time. Thus, it is necessary to provide an ability to expand the capability of network systems. Network systems are typically provided in housings of standardized dimensions, such as those that allow mounting in an equipment rack. Thus, efforts are typically made to provide as much data transport capability as possible using existing technology within the confines of the standardized dimensions. As an example, one housing of rack-mountable equipment may be referred to as a shelf. Within that shelf, a plurality of subsystems of a network system may be mounted. As the demand for data transport capability exceeds that provided by one shelf, it may be desirable to expand the network system from a single shelf network system to a multiple shelf network system. Different approaches to providing for such expansion have been tried with varying results.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an existing technique for expanding a single shelf network system by interconnecting two single shelf network systems using input/output cards. A first single shelf network system 101 includes switching fabric 104, control card 105, and input/output (I/O) cards 106–108. A second single shelf network system 102 includes switching fabric 109, control card 110, and I/O cards 111–113. I/O card 108 is coupled to I/O card 113 via link 103.
The technique of FIG. 1 suffers from several disadvantages. For example, the bandwidth of link 103 is necessarily limited by the bandwidth of I/O cards 108 and 113. Thus, unless at least half of the switching capacity in each shelf is dedicated to interconnection of the two single shelf network systems, non-blocking communication between the two single shelf network systems cannot be provided. Non-blocking communication is desirable in that it provides the ability of the full bandwidth of network traffic originating at each of several nodes of a network to be passed to among the several nodes in any combination without constraint, loss, or delay of the network traffic. The analogous example of non-blocking communication in traditional telephony is that an arbitrary half of all subscribers can call each call a unique subscriber among the remaining half of all subscribers in any combination without anyone receiving a busy signal. By not practically supporting non-blocking communications, the technique of FIG. 1 increases the likelihood of network congestion and loss or delay of data.
Another disadvantage of the technique of FIG. 1 is that both data and control information are carried over link 103. Thus, it is not possible to guarantee that control information will not adversely affect the transmission of the data. For example, control information might inadvertently be propagated to other network nodes, and those network nodes might incorrectly interpret the control information or be unable to interpret the control information, resulting in degradation of network performance or network failure. Also, in the event of a failure in either of the single shelf network systems, any attempt to isolate data between the two single shelf network systems will also cut off any communication of control information between the two single shelf network systems, thereby complicating or preventing effective diagnosis of the failure. Additionally, as more control information is passed between the two single shelf network systems, the amount of available bandwidth for communication of data is correspondingly reduced. Thus, shortages of data bandwidth may be experienced.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an existing technique for expanding a single shelf network system by interconnecting two single shelf network systems by installing expansion cards in dedicated expansion card slots. Single shelf network system 201 includes switching fabric 204, control card 205, I/O cards 206 and 207, and dedicated expansion card slot 208, which is not available for use with an I/O card. Single shelf network system 202 includes switching fabric 209, control card 210, I/O cards 211 and 212, and dedicated expansion card slot 213, which is not available for use with an I/O card. As can be seen, within the physical constraints of a given housing, the provision of space for dedicated expansion card slots necessarily reduces the space available for I/O cards, and, therefore, the number of I/O cards that can be supported. Consequently, the overall data bandwidth capability is correspondingly reduced. Additionally, the technique illustrated in FIG. 2 also suffers from disadvantages mentioned above in reference to FIG. 1. For example, the prevention of interference to data communication by control information cannot be guaranteed. Also, diagnosis of failures is complicated, as described above.
As can be seen, existing techniques for expansion of single shelf network systems exhibit numerous deficiencies. Thus, a technique is needed that provides for expansion of single shelf network systems without the disadvantages that result from existing techniques. | {
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Suppression of gene expression by double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) has been demonstrated in a variety of systems including plants (post-transcriptional gene suppression) (Napoli et al., 1990), fungi (quelling) (Romano and Marcino, 1992), and nematodes (RNA interference) (Fire et al., 1998). Early attempts to similarly suppress gene expression using long dsRNAs in mammalian systems failed due to activation of interferon pathways that do not exist in lower organisms. Interferon responses are triggered by dsRNAs (Stark et al., 1998). In particular, the protein kinase PKR is activated by dsRNAs of greater than 30 bp long (Manche et al., 1992) and results in phosphorylation of translation initiation factor eIF2α which leads to arrest of protein synthesis and activation of 2′S′-oligoadenylate synthetase (2′-5′-OAS), which leads to RNA degradation (Minks et al., 1979).
In Drosophila cells and cell extracts, dsRNAs of 150 bp length or greater were seen to induce RNA interference while shorter dsRNAs were ineffective (Tuschl et al., 1999). Long double-stranded RNA, however, is not the active effecter molecule; long dsRNAs are degraded by an RNase III class enzyme called Dicer (Bernstein et al., 2001) into very short 21-23 bp duplexes that have 2-base 3′-overhangs (Zamore et al., 2000). These short RNA duplexes, called siRNAs, direct the RNAi response in vivo and transfection of short chemically synthesized siRNA duplexes of this design permits use of RNAi methods to suppress gene expression in mammalian cells without triggering unwanted interferon responses (Elbashir et al., 2001a). The antisense strand of the siRNA duplex serves as a sequence-specific guide that directs activity of an endoribonuclease function in the RNA induced silencing complex (RISC) to degrade target mRNA (Martinez et al., 2002).
In studying the size limits for RNAi in Drosophila embryo extracts in vitro, a lower threshold of around 38 bp double-stranded RNA was established for activation of RNA interference using exogenously supplied double-stranded RNA and duplexes of 36, 30, and 29 bp length (Elbashir et al., 2001b). The short 30-base RNAs were not cleaved into active 21-23-base siRNAs and therefore were deemed inactive for use in RNAi (Elbashir et al., 2001b). Continuing to work in the Drosophila embryo extract system, the same group later carefully mapped the structural features needed for short chemically synthesized RNA duplexes to function as siRNAs in RNAi pathways. RNA duplexes of 21-bp length with 2-base 3′-overhangs were most effective, duplexes of 20, 22, and 23-bp length had slightly decreased potency but did result in RNAi mediated mRNA degradation, and 24 and 25-bp duplexes were inactive (Elbashir et al., 2001c).
Some of the conclusions of these earlier studies may be specific to the Drosophila system employed. Other investigators established that longer siRNAs can work in human cells. However, duplexes in the 21-23-bp range have been shown to be more active and have become the accepted design (Caplen et al., 2001). Essentially, chemically synthesized duplex RNAs that mimicked the natural products that result from Dicer degradation of long duplex RNAs were identified to be the preferred compound for use in RNAi. Approaching this problem from the opposite direction, investigators studying size limits for RNAi in Caenorhabditis elegans found that although a microinjected 26-bp RNA duplex could function to suppress gene expression, it required a 250-fold increase in concentration compared with an 81-bp duplex (Parrish et al., 2000).
Despite the attention given to RNAi research recently, the field is still in the early stages of development. Not all siRNA molecules are capable of targeting the destruction of their complementary RNAs in a cell. As a result, complex sets of rules have been developed for designing RNAi molecules that will be effective. Those having skill in the art expect to test multiple siRNA molecules to find functional compositions. (Ji et al., 2003) Some artisans pool several siRNA preparations together to increase the chance of obtaining silencing in a single study. (Ji et al., 2003) Such pools typically contain 20 nM of a mixture of siRNA oligonucleotide duplexes or more (Ji et al., 2003), despite the fact that a siRNA molecule can work at concentrations of 1 nM or less (Holen et al., 2002). This technique can lead to artifacts caused by interactions of the siRNA sequences with other cellular RNAs (“off target effects”). (Scherer et al., 2003) Off target effects can occur when the RNAi oligonucleotides have homology to unintended targets or when the RISC complex incorporates the unintended strand from and RNAi duplex. (Scherer et al., 2003) Generally, these effects tend to be more pronounced when higher concentrations of RNAi duplexes are used. (Scherer et al., 2003)
In addition, the duration of the effect of an effective RNAi treatment is limited to about 4 days (Holen et al., 2002). Thus, researchers must carry out siRNA experiments within 2-3 days of transfection with an siRNA duplex or work with plasmid or viral expression vectors to obtain longer term silencing.
The invention provides compositions useful in RNAi for inhibiting gene expression and provides methods for their use. In addition, the invention provides RNAi compositions and methods designed to maximize potency, potentially increase duration of action and ease site selection criteria, while minimizing “off target effects.” These and other advantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for achieving rapid hemostasis in sealing a puncture in a tubular tissue structure or the wall of a body cavity. More particularly, the present invention is directed to sealing a puncture site with submucosal tissue or another extracellular matrix-derived tissue capable of remodeling endogenous connective tissue.
2. Description of Related Art
The control of bleeding during and after surgery is important to the success of the procedure. The control of blood loss is of particular concern if the surgical procedure is performed directly upon or involves the patient's arteries and veins. Well over one million surgical procedures are performed annually which involve the insertion and removal of catheters into and from arteries and veins. Accordingly, these types of vasculature procedures represent a significant amount of surgery in which the control of bleeding is of particular concern.
Typically, the insertion of a catheter creates a puncture through the vessel wall and upon removal the catheter leaves a puncture opening through which blood may escape and leak into the surrounding tissues. Therefore, unless the puncture site is closed clinical complications may result leading to increased hospital stays with the associated costs. To address this concern, medical personnel are required to provide constant and continuing care to a patient who has undergone a procedure involving an arterial or venous puncture to insure that post-operative bleeding is controlled.
Surgical bleeding concerns can be exacerbated by the administration of a blood thinning agent, such as heparin, to the patient prior to a catheterization procedure. Since the control of bleeding in anti-coagulated patients is much more difficult to control, stemming blood flow in these patients can be troublesome. A common method of healing the puncture to the vessel is to maintain external pressure over the vessel until the puncture seals by natural clot formation processes. This method of puncture closure typically takes about thirty to ninety minutes, with the length of time usually being greater if the patient is hypertensive or anti-coagulated.
Furthermore, it should be appreciated that utilizing pressure, such as human hand pressure, to control bleeding suffers from several drawbacks regardless of whether the patient is hypertensive or anti-coagulated. In particular, when human hand pressure is utilized, it can be uncomfortable for the patient, can result in excessive restriction or interruption of blood flow, and can use costly professional time on the part of the hospital staff. Other pressure techniques, such as pressure bandages, sandbags, or clamps require the patient to remain motionless for an extended period of time and the patient must be closely monitored to ensure the effectiveness of these techniques.
Other devices have been disclosed which plug or otherwise provide an obstruction in the area of the puncture. In current practice, submucosal tissue or another extracellular matrix-derived tissue is used to seal punctures in tubular tissue structures, such as blood vessels, or in the wall of a body cavity. The prior art method of placing the submucosal or extracellular matrix-derived tissue is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,790,220, which is herein incorporated by reference, a simplified version of which is reproduced in FIGS. 1A-1D.
An introducer 10 with a sheath 11 carrying a ribbon or sheet 12 of extracellular matrix-derived tissue is inserted through the skin, the underlying muscle tissue, and through the blood vessel wall. Ribbon or sheet 12 includes a cuff 14 and an extended length 15. The cuff 14 is usually situated and secured directly above a hole 13 in the sheath 11, in which the extended length 15 is inserted. The outer diameter of the cuff 14 is greater than the outer diameter of the sheath 11. As is also shown in FIG. 1A, pull-up tether 16 is woven through the extended length 15 and pull down tether 18 is woven into the cuff 14 and both tethers are exposed externally. The introducer 10 is inserted until the greater diameter of the cuff 14 prevents further insertion of the introducer 10. The cuff 14 is then released so that it is free to move relative to the sheath 11. The sheath 11, is advanced as the cuff remains in position and the extended length is withdrawn from the interior of the sheath 11 through the hole 13.
When the procedure is completed, the entry to the artery will need to be closed. As shown in FIGS. 1B-1D, the user pulls the tethers 16, 18 to bunch the ribbon or sheet 12 into a ball 15. When the sheath remains inserted, the ball 15 is held to the side of the puncture site by the sheath 11. When the sheath is removed, the ball 15 moves into the puncture site, sealing the puncture site immediately. When the user determines that the patch completely seals the hole in the tubular structure, the tethers 16, 18 may then be cut and removed.
This method of sealing a hole in a tubular structure has an excellent safety profile, but can suffer from inconsistent tether compression of the device. If the user pulls too hard on the tether, the ribbon or sheet may be pulled out of position to seal the hole. At the same time, if the user does not pull hard enough on the tether, the ribbon or sheet will not be compressed sufficiently to effectively seal the hole. Even after the ribbon or sheet is compressed into a ball, by removing the sheath a space is created within the cuff. An incomplete mechanical closure of the hole may contribute to longer hold times being necessary to reach hemostasis. Some users advocate adding a “little” pull on the suture tether to further tighten the ball after removing the sheath, but it's success is very operator dependent and inconsistent.
In addition, in order to determine when hemostasis has been achieved, the user must hold pressure externally on the skin over the puncture site and intermittently check for bleeding at the skin level. However, this method is not consistent in revealing what is actually going on at the arteriotomy site, sometimes very deep inside other tissue. This uncertainty can lead to hold times that are longer or shorter than needed contributing to hematomas or ecchymosis.
Accordingly, there is a need for surgical techniques suitable for sealing punctures in a tubular tissue structure or in the punctured wall of a body cavity, such as a heart chamber, or a body cavity of another organ, that is more consistent between users and allows more certainty in determining hemostasis. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Additive manufacturing or rapid prototyping methods for producing objects comprise layer-by-layer solidification of a material, such as a metal powder material, using a high power energy beam, such as a laser beam. A powder layer is deposited on a powder bed in a build chamber and a laser beam is scanned across portions of the powder layer that correspond to a cross-section of the object being constructed. The laser beam melts or sinters the powder to form a solidified layer. After selective solidification of a layer, the powder bed is lowered by a thickness of the newly solidified layer and a further layer of powder is spread over the surface and solidified, as required. In a single build, more than one object can be built, the objects spaced apart in the powder bed.
Usually, an object is not built directly onto a build plate but is supported on the build plate by a series of support structures. For example, the support structures may be a series of cones extending from the build plate to the under-surface of the object. These support structures help to fix the solidified layers to the base, prevent warping of the object during the build and allow the object to be easily separated from the build plate on completion of the build.
To control the apparatus a set of instructions are generated from the geometric data. Such geometric data may define slices of the object corresponding to areas to be melted or sintered in each powder layer and a scan path for the laser to take in melting or sintering the powder layers. Software, such as AutoFab of Marcam Engineering and Magics of Materialise NV, include operations for slicing an object defined in a StereoLithography/Standard Tessellation language (STL) file format to identify layers (slices) of the object to be built in the powder layer and for defining a scan path based upon those slices.
In AutoFab, imported CAD data defining an object is converted into the STL file format. As a first step, the user selects an orientation in which the object is to be built relative to a build platform. Changing the orientation of the object can affect build time, the stresses that the object is subjected to during the build and the number of supports required. Choosing an appropriate orientation can be key to success or failure of the build. Supports are then designed for the selected orientation of the object and combined with the object. The combined object and supports is saved in a .vfx file format. In a single process (from the point of view of the user), the combined object and supports defined in the vfx file is sliced into sections and a scan path is determined for each section, the result saved in a .fab file format. The object and supports as defined by the .fab file can then be positioned within a build volume.
The user can import further objects that are in the .fab format into the build volume. However, it is not possible to import an object that is in one of the other formats (STL, vfx). Accordingly, if one wants to make a change to one of the objects in a build, which requires returning to an earlier file format for that object, either all objects will have to be returned to that earlier stage or the object to be changed will have to be deleted and progressed to the required .fab stage in a separate instance of the application (so in a separate representation of the object in the build volume) and then imported back into the application in which the build comprising multiple objects is being designed. This arrangement does not provide a user friendly, intuitive interface.
Magics also generates supports, slices and a scan path. However, all objects that are to be built together in a single build must first be located on the base plate and then sliced in a single operation.
A problem with the current software is that the slicing operation can take a long time, in some instances hours. Accordingly, a user should ensure that he/she is happy with the orientation of the object(s) and supports before commencing the slicing operation as to change these attributes after the slicing operation would require the object(s) and supports to be re-sliced, introducing significant delays into the build process. However, it is possible to miss regions that require support, even the automatic support generation software of AutoFab and Magics potentially failing to identify regions that require supports. A missing support may only be identified by the user when reviewing the slices. To add one or more missing supports, the user must go back to an earlier stage and re-slice the object, introducing further significant delays.
Furthermore, a user may wish to change the material used to build an object. Changing the material may require parameters, such as hatch distance (the distance between adjacent laser lines of a laser path), spot size and laser power, to be altered. However, to make such alterations, the user must revert to a stage before the slicing operation, requiring the user to re-slice the object and supports for the new parameters. | {
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} |
Diesel/electric marine propulsion systems are known, whose power supply has synchronous generators which are accommodated at some suitable point in the vessel's hull, and which themselves feed converter-fed synchronous or else asynchronous motors. The electric motors which drive the vessel propellers may, for example, be arranged as in-board motors, and may drive the vessel propellers via shaft systems.
Furthermore, pod propulsion systems are known, which have a synchronous motor with permanent-magnet excitation, arranged in a motor gondola which can be rotated. The motor gondola is arranged outside the vessel's hull and may have one or two vessel screws. The heat losses from the electric motor are in this case dissipated solely by the external surface of the motor gondola to the sea water. The asynchronous motors and generators have air/water heat exchangers.
Furthermore, JP 63217969 and JP 04304159 disclose marine propulsion systems for two vessel propellers including an associated so-called “homopolar motor”, which comprises two disc rotors or cylindrical rotors through which direct current flows in opposite directions via brushes, and in which a torque is produced in the field of a superconducting coil. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The invention relates to a process for selective production of polymerization-quality propylene from an olefinic C4 fraction.
The steam-cracking of feedstocks that consist of light paraffinic fractions produces the ethylene and the propylene that are necessary to petrochemistry. It also produces a certain number of other heavier products, and in particular a C4 hydrocarbon fraction that contains mainly butadiene-1,3, isobutene, n-butenes and butanes, accompanied by traces of acetylenic hydrocarbons.
The catalytic cracking of heavy hydrocarbon feedstocks produces, alongside gasoline and gasoil fractions that are the main products, lighter products, including a C4 hydrocarbon fraction that contains mainly isobutane, isobutene, n-butenes and butanes, accompanied by small amounts of butadiene-1,3 and acetylenic hydrocarbons.
Until recently, only butadiene-1,3 and isobutene were used in the polymer industry, in particular in the tire industry. The increase of the longevity of tires and a relative stagnation of the demand ensure that there is now excess butadiene that is not used or is poorly used. To date, isobutene was used, for example, for the synthesis of ethers with the use of additives in automobile fuels or as a monomer in the synthesis of polyisobutene. These uses, however, can lead to saturation and render the isobutene useless.
This invention proposes a process for treatment of a C4 hydrocarbon fraction that contains primarily isobutene, n-butenes, butanes, and butadiene-1,3 in a variable amount that includes the skeletal isomerization of isobutene into n-butenes and that makes it possible to transform all of the C4 unsaturated compounds into propylene that can be used for, for example, polymerization.
The fractions that are treated in the process according to the invention correspond to the C4 fractions of conversion processes. They can correspond to, for example, the crude C4 fraction for steam-cracking, the C4 fraction for steam-cracking after extraction of the butadiene that is commonly called raffinate-1, or the C4 fraction for catalytic cracking.
The relative proportions of ethylene and propylene that are produced in a steam-cracking operation can be modulated to a certain extent by changing the nature of the feedstock and by modifying the operating conditions (the degree of rigor) of the cracking. The operating method that is oriented toward a larger proportion of propylene, however, inevitably entails a decline in the yield of ethylene and a higher C4 fraction and gasoline fraction production.
Another object of this invention is thus to increase the propylene production while maintaining a high ethylene yield with the treatment of the C4 hydrocarbon fraction and therefore without it being necessary to reduce the rigorous conditions of the steam-cracking device.
The process that is the object of the invention is more specifically a process for converting into propylene an olefinic C4 fraction, whereby said fraction comprises diolefins, primarily butadiene-1,3, butene-1, butene-2, isobutene and acetylenic impurities, and whereby said process comprises the following stages that take place successively:
1) the selective hydrogenation of diolefins and acetylenic impurities with isomerization of butene-1 into butenes-2, carried out in a reactor, in the presence of a catalyst, in order to obtain an effluent that contains for the most part butenes-2 and isobutene, and that contains virtually no diolefins or acetylenic compounds;
2) the separation by distillation of a top fraction that contains for the most part isobutene and unconverted butene-1 in the first stage, and a bottom fraction that contains essentially butene-2 and butane; and
4) the metathesis of the butenes-2 fraction that is obtained from stage 2 with the ethylene so as to obtain an effluent that contains propylene, whereby the metathesis is followed by a separation of the propylene;
whereby said process also comprises a stage 3 of skeletal isomerization of the isobutene into n-butenes in the top fraction, with recycling of at least a portion of the effluent in stage 1.
The isomerization of butene-1 into butenes-2 as carried out in stage 1 can also be carried out in part in association with the distillation (stage 2) by using an isomerization catalyst as described for stage 1 according to the teachings of French FR-B-2 755 130, in the name of the applicant.
The special conditions of the different stages of the process according to the invention, carried out from a C4 hydrocarbon fraction that contains primarily isobutene, n-butenes, butanes, as well as butadiene in a variable amount, whereby said C4 fraction is subjected to these stages to produce essentially propylene, are described in more detail below.
The main object of the first stage is to transform the butadiene and the n-butenes into butenes-2. Actually, the butenes-2 are the source of the propylene that is produced in stage 4 of metathesis in the presence of ethylene. It is therefore desirable to maximize the butenes-2 yield, i.e., to draw as close as possible to the ratio that is allowed by thermodynamics. The second object of this stage is to eliminate the acetylenic hydrocarbon traces that are always present in these fractions and that are poisons or contaminants for the subsequent stages.
In this first stage, the following reactions are thus carried out simultaneously in the presence of hydrogen:
the selective hydrogenation of butadiene into a mixture of n-butenes;
the isomerization of butene-1 into butenes-2 to obtain a distribution that is close to the thermodynamic equilibrium; and
the selective hydrogenation of the acetylenic hydrocarbon traces into butenes.
These reactions can be carried out with various specific catalysts that comprise one or more metals, for example from group 10 of the periodic table (Ni, Pd or Pt), deposited on a substrate. A catalyst that comprises at least one palladium compound that is fixed on a refractory mineral substrate, for example on an alumina, is preferably used. The palladium content in the substrate can be 0.01 to 5% by weight, preferably 0.05 to 1% by weight. Various pretreatment methods that are known to one skilled in the art optionally can be applied to these catalysts to improve the selectivity in the hydrogenation of butadiene into butenes at the expense of the total hydrogenation of butane that it is necessary to avoid. The catalyst preferably contains 0.05 to 10% by weight of sulfur. Advantageously, a catalyst is used that comprises palladium that is deposited on alumina, and sulfur.
The catalyst can advantageously be used according to the process that is described in Patent FR-B-2 708 596. According to this process, the catalyst is treated, before it is loaded into the hydrogenation reactor, by at least one sulfur-containing compound that is diluted in a solvent, then the catalyst that is obtained that contains 0.05 to 10% by weight of sulfur is loaded into the reactor and activated under a neutral atmosphere or a reducing atmosphere at a temperature of 20 to 300xc2x0 C., a pressure of 0.1 to 5 MPa and a VVH of 50 to 600 hxe2x88x921, and the feedstock is brought into contact with said activated catalyst.
The use of the catalyst, preferably with palladium, is not critical, but it is generally preferred to use at least one down-flow reactor through a catalyst fixed bed. When the proportion of butadiene in the fraction is large, which is the case, for example, of a steam-cracking fraction when it is not desired to extract the butadiene from it for specific uses, it may be advantageous to carry out the transformation in two reactors in series to better monitor the selectivity of the hydrogenation. The second reactor can have a rising flow and play a finishing role.
In some cases, it may be advisable to dilute the feedstock that is to be treated by said C4 fraction in which the butadiene is partially or totally hydrogenated.
The amount of hydrogen that is necessary for all of the reactions that are carried out in this stage is adjusted based on the composition of the fraction advantageously to have only a slight hydrogen excess relative to the stoichiometry.
The operating conditions are selected such that the reagents and the products are in liquid phase and such that they promote the formation of butenes-2. It may be advantageous, however, to select an operating mode such that the products are partially evaporated at the outlet of the reactor, which facilitates the thermal monitoring of the reaction. The temperature may vary from 0 to 200xc2x0 C., preferably from 0 to 150xc2x0 C. or better from 0 to 70xc2x0 C. The pressure may be adjusted to a value of 0.1 to 5 MPa, preferably 0.5 to 4 MPa and advantageously from 0.5 to 3 MPa, such that the reagents, at least in part, are in liquid phase. The volumetric flow rate may be from 0.5 to 20 hxe2x88x921 and preferably from 1 to 10 hxe2x88x921, with an H2/diolefin molar ratio of 0.5 to 5 and preferably 1 to 3.
The hydroisomerization reactor or reactors may advantageously be followed by a stabilization column that eliminates the traces of gaseous hydrocarbons that are optionally present in the feedstock hydrogen.
The object of the second stage is to separate by distillation the C4 fraction that is obtained from the preceding stage to obtain, on the one hand, a fraction that contains isobutene, isobutane and the majority of butene-1, on the other hand, a fraction that contains a small amount of butene-1, butenes-2 and n-butane. The isobutene that is thus concentrated is conducted to stage 3 of skeletal isomerization. The butenes-2 fraction is directed toward the metathesis stage.
To reduce as much as possible the butene-1 concentration in the effluent of the column head, it is possible to use a reactive distillation column that comprises, on the inside of the column or outside, one or more feedstocks of the catalyst that is used as described for stage 1. The reactive distillation column that is used can then be of any type. In a preferred arrangement, at least one zone that contains the catalyst is arranged. The mechanical arrangement of the catalyst in the catalytic zone or zones should be such that it disturbs the flows of vapor and liquid as little as possible between the two separation zones that frame it. The catalyst can be placed, for example, in a thin layer on perforated plates or on grids, or in bags that are suspended or laid on substrates that ensure their mechanical behavior, or any other way that is known to one skilled in the art. On the other hand, the catalyst can be placed in the column so that only an upward flow of liquid phase passes through it. It can also be arranged in the form of catalytic packing according to the different implementations that are known. The separation zones that frame the catalytic zones can comprise plates or packing.
One of the uses of the column can correspond to, for example, the one that is described in French Patent FR-B-2 755 130 in the name of the applicant.
The distillation top fraction that is rich in isobutene is subjected in stage 3 to a skeletal isomerization that is intended to transform the isobutene into n-butenes, which can be sent to the inlet of zone 1. The optionally present isobutene may be purged.
This skeletal-isomerization reaction can be carried out with catalysts that have an alumina base or more particularly activated or vapor-treated aluminas (U.S. Pat. No. 3,558,733) or that comprise compounds such as those of titanium (U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,195 of the applicant) and/or boron (U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,104 of the applicant) in the case of eta- or gamma-aluminas, halogenated aluminas (U.S. Pat. No. 2,417,647) or bauxite. Zeolites or molecular sieves that have a mono-dimensional microporous network (Patent Documents EP-A-523 838, EP-A-501 577 and EP-A-740 957 of the applicant) can also constitute active phases of skeletal-isomerization catalysts. The alumina-based catalysts are generally used in the presence of water at temperatures of from 200xc2x0 C. to 700xc2x0 C., at a pressure of 0.1 to 2 MPa, at a volumetric flow rate of 0.1 to 20 hxe2x88x921 and with a molar ratio of injected water to hydrocarbon of 0.1 to 10. The zeolitic catalysts are used without water, at a temperature of 200xc2x0 C. to 500xc2x0 C., under a pressure of 0.1 to 2 MPa and at a volumetric flow rate of 0.1 to 20 hxe2x88x921.
The skeletal isomerization of the isobutene into n-butenes is carried out preferably with a catalyst that comprises alumina and titanium at a temperature of 300xc2x0 C. to 570xc2x0 C., a pressure of 0.1 to 1 MPa, at a volumetric flow rate of 0.1 to 10 hxe2x88x921, and in the presence of water injection, whereby the molar ratio of injected water/olefinic hydrocarbons is 0.1 to 10.
A catalyst that contains alumina and 0.03 to 0.6% by weight of titanium and that can also contain 0.05 to 5% by weight of an oxide of an element of group IIIA, whereby this element advantageously is boron, will preferably be used in the invention. Before being brought into contact with the hydrocarbons of the feedstock, this catalyst advantageously will have undergone a water vapor treatment at a temperature of 120-700xc2x0 C. under a partial water vapor pressure that is greater than 0.05 MPa, for a period of 0.5 to 120 hours.
The bottom fraction of the distillation zone, rich in butenes-2, preferably contains at most 1% by weight of butene-1, advantageously at most 0.5% by weight, and at most 1% by weight of isobutene. The butenes-2 fraction that is obtained from stage 2 does not contain outside contaminants and can therefore be sent directly into the fourth stage of the process. In this last stage, the butenes-2 are reacted with ethylene to produce propylene by metathesis. Because of the small amount of butene-1 in the feedstock, the by-product formation is very limited.
The metathesis reaction of the ethylene with the butenes-2 can be catalyzed by varied metallic oxides that are deposited on substrates, for example, by molybdenum, tungsten or rhenium oxides. A catalyst that comprises at least one rhenium oxide that is deposited on a substrate that comprises a refractory oxide that itself contains at least alumina and that has an acidic nature, such as, for example, alumina itself, silica-aluminas or zeolites, is preferably used.
It is possible to cite, by way of preferred examples, the catalysts that comprise rhenium heptoxide that is deposited on a gamma-alumina, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,734. The rhenium content (expressed in metallic rhenium) can be 0.01 to 20%, preferably 1 to 15% by weight. The catalysts are subjected to, for example, a final thermal activation at a temperature of 400 to 1000xc2x0 C. for a period of 10 minutes to 5 hours under a non-reducing atmosphere.
The catalysts that comprise rhenium heptoxide that is deposited on an alumina can also be modified by the addition of an oxide of another metal. Such modified catalysts comprise, for example, rhenium in the oxide state, at a rate of 0.01 to 20% by weight expressed in metallic rhenium, deposited on a substrate that contains at least 75% by weight of alumina and 0.01 to 30% by weight of at least one oxide of a metal that is selected from the group that is formed by niobium and tantalum, as described in Patent FR-B-2 709 125. Another class of modified catalysts comprises rhenium in the oxide state, at a rate of 0.01 to 20% by weight expressed in metallic rhenium, deposited on a substrate that contains at least 75% by weight of alumina and 0.01 to 10% by weight of aluminum of a compound of formula (RO)qAIRxe2x80x2r, where R is a hydrocarbyl radical of 1 to 40 carbon atoms, Rxe2x80x2 is an alkyl radical of 1 to 20 carbon atoms, and q and r are equal to 1 or 2, with q+r equal to 3 (see Patent FR-B-2 740 056).
The metathesis reaction is carried out preferably in a liquid phase, without oxygen, oxidized compounds and moisture, and at a temperature of 0 to 200xc2x0 C., preferably 20 to 150xc2x0 C., under a pressure at least equal to the vapor pressure of the reaction mixture at the reaction temperature.
The catalyst can be used in a fixed bed. Since it must be regenerated frequently, however, it is then necessary to use at least two reactors in parallel, whereby one is in use while the other is being regenerated. A catalyst moving bed system as described in French Patent FR-B-2 608 595 is preferably used. The catalyst is drawn off at regular time intervals from the bottom of the reactor and transferred to a continuous regeneration system, from where it is sent to the top of the reactor.
Taking into account the limitations that are imposed by thermodynamics, the unconverted ethylene is fractionated in a first distillation column and recycled in the metathesis reactor. A second distillation column separates the propylene and the unconverted C4 hydrocarbons that can be recycled in the metathesis reactor or in another location of the process.
When the process is applied to a steam-cracking C4 fraction, it may be advantageous to integrate the metathesis unit with the cracking device to take advantage of the fractionation train of the latter. The ethylene that is obtained from the steam-cracking operation is then used in the metathesis stage.
The succession of treatments adopted in the process according to the invention has many advantages. The most reactive compounds of the fraction, in particular the butadiene-1,3 that is present in variable amounts, as well as the traces of acetylenic hydrocarbons, are transformed from the first stage and therefore will not be the cause of parasitic reactions in the following stages. Furthermore, the selective hydrogenation of diolefins (butadiene-1,3 and, if necessary, butadiene-1,2) into butenes, the hydroisomerization of butene-1 and the skeletal isomerization of isobutene into n-butenes make it possible to increase considerably the butenes-2 concentration in the fraction, which thereby promotes a high yield of propylene in the metathesis stage.
The fractionation of the fraction that is obtained from the hydroisomerization into isobutene and butene-1, on the one hand, and into butenes-2, on the other hand, makes it possible to concentrate the isobutene for the skeletal-isomerization stage, as well as the butenes-2 that are then subjected to metathesis.
In addition, in the following metathesis stage (stage 4), the low butene-1 content in the butenes-2-rich fraction makes it possible to obtain a propylene selectivity that is close to 100%. Actually, it is known that the butene-1 reacts with the butenes-2 to produce propylene and pentenes, and that it reacts with itself to produce hexenes. Pentenes and hexenes are by-products of low value, which it is necessary to eliminate, in a costly manner. The process therefore makes possible an appreciable increase of the propylene yield and facilitates the recycling of butenes-2 in the metathesis reactor, since there are few pentenes and hexenes to eliminate. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention relates to a method for the growing of single crystals of metal orthophosphates of the crystallographic point group 32, especially GaPO4 or AlPO4, from a liquid culture medium using seed crystals with surfaces especially selected for the crystals to be grown.
Such crystals are piezoelectric and have a single optical axis, i.e., they have a preferred crystallographic direction, which is designated z or c or as xe2x80x9coptical axisxe2x80x9d. The crystallographic axes X, Y, Z, and the growth surfaces R, r, m, and z of such crystals are shown in FIG. 1. In a position normal to the wall surfaces m there are three symmetry-equivalent Y-axes (only one shown) and normal to the plane Y and Z there are three X-axes (only one shown). The X-axes are polar, i.e., the + and xe2x88x92 directions have different physical properties, such as etching characteristics and velocity of growth. The GaPO4 monocrystal (gallium orthophosphate) has better physical properties than quartz. Particularly to be noted are its piezo effect which is twice as large as in quartz, a higher coupling constant (of interest for surface acoustic wave (SAW) elements) and the absence of an xcex1-xcex2 phase transition at 573xc2x0 C., which permits the material to be used up to 900xc2x0 C.
For the manufacture of large series of sensors or resonators based on a metal orthophosphate, the use of already existing technology facilities would be desirable. Most lithographic processing plants (for instance for the application of SAW layers) are designed for semiconductor materials, where wafers of 3xe2x80x3 diameter or larger are processed. To make good use of the advantages of the new crystals both, from an economic and technological point of view, large undisturbed crystal regions will thus be required.
The absence of natural seeds has given rise to various growth processes in order to obtain single crystals of as large a size as possible. The problem is that the y faces and m faces and the major rhombohedral faces (R faces) will limit growth (see FIG. 1), which means that only seeds of suitably large Y-dimensions will yield satisfactory results. In the direction of the crystallographic X-axes, however, growth is relatively fast.
Terminology for the directions and faces in metal orthophosphates is summed up in tables 1 and 2. Directions are given in the form of surface normals in brackets (the face being specified by the Bravais-Miller index).
From the growth criteria described above it follows that the optimum choice would be a straight seed 1 whose dimensions should be as large as possible in Y-direction, from where the X wing could develop (see FIG. 2, which also shows the symmetry-equivalent axes Yxe2x80x2, Yxe2x80x3 and Xxe2x80x2, Xxe2x80x3). With artificial metal orthophosphates only relatively small dimensions are obtainable when spontaneous crystals are used, even in the case of multiple growth cycles, because the growth rate in Y-direction is extremely low.
The hydrothermal growth process disclosed in AT-B 398 255 will permit use of the longer Y-rods of quartz as seed crystals for producing metal orthophosphates (epitaxy on quartz) . In this way considerable dimensions may be achieved in the X- and Y-directions. During the hydrothermal growth process of the epitaxial method problems will occur in the form of growth disturbances. Next to Brazil twinning, the main disturbance will concern the seed quartz itself, which will be a foreign body inside the grown crystal. This situation is shown in FIG. 3, where individual crystal regions are marked out as seen in the direction of the Y-axis. Inclusions, dislocations and cracks due to mechanical stresses are found in the xe2x80x9cdirect z regionxe2x80x9d 4. On the other hand, the excellent crystal quality of the xe2x80x9cindirect z regionxe2x80x9d 5 has come as a surprise. The xe2x80x9cdirect x regionxe2x80x9d 6 is marked by disturbances in the form of inclusions of the nutrient solution. Depending on conditions of growth, it will be possible nevertheless to use partial regions thereof for applications. The border region between disturbed and undisturbed areas of direct X-growth is formed by the so-called 123 surfaces. These faces are denoted by surface indices {1,2,{overscore (3)},3}. Starting from this region crystals may be grown without the risk of a disturbed direct x region.
Other known methods have been employed to obtain a larger Y dimension by placing several seed crystals one behind the other in a straight line, as discussed in EP-A 0 123 809, for instance, according to which the faces (z faces) selected for crystal growth are arranged in a plane, the individual wafers having a hexagonal cross-section. EP-B1 0 515 288 presents a method of hydrothermal growth using wafer-shaped seed crystals consisting of crystallization nuclei, which are arranged on a planar base element.
Although it has been attempted to use slowly growing surfaces as seed material, this has only served to confirm the slow growth rates. As a consequence the view has been held until now that the use of straight Y-rods will offer the fast growing x faces maximum space for growing and thus help obtain maximum yield.
It is an object of this invention to propose a method for growing large, high-quality crystals of metal orthophosphates, while avoiding growth disturbances as far as possible.
In accordance with the invention this object is achieved by using a seed crystal with at least two rod- or wafer-shaped legs forming an angle with each other and defining a main growth region, which are positioned eccentrically in the single crystal grown. It has been found unexpectedly that conventionally slow-growth surfaces will grow much faster if two contiguous crystallographic faces selected for crystal growing form an angle of less than 180xc2x0 with each other.
The new process will permit the growing of crystals that are just as large as the ones obtained by using conventional straight seeds, whilst the seed crystal is moved to the edge of the main growth region, thus permitting use of the entire growth zone (e.g., indirect z region). The useful surface area, for example in the X-Y plane, may be doubled in this way, permitting wafers of 3xe2x80x3 diameter to be obtained from metal orthophosphate crystals. This is made possible by a new configuration and alignment of the seed crystals.
The invention provides that the seed crystal be obtained from a single crystal as a monolith forming at least two legs, or that it consist of individual rod- or wafer-shaped single crystal elements whose crystallographic axes are aligned so as to be parallel to each other. Best results are obtained by aligning the axes as accurately as possible, although deviations of 2xc2x0 to 3xc2x0 will be tolerated.
Different seed geometries can be obtained by cuts from a single crystal piece, or by fitting together (xe2x80x9csplicingxe2x80x9d) individual crystal elements. If a splicing technique is used, a most accurate alignment of the legs of the seed crystal is essential, which must be maintained while the seed cystals are beginning to grow.
Best results will be obtained if the seed crystals can be taken from a single piece of crystal, i.e., monolithically. In that instance any problems concerning mechanical stability or configuration will be avoided and the relative alignment of the legs of the seed crystals is provided automatically. Minor errors of absolute orientation (i.e., small rotations in the angle of the seed crystals) to the extent of a few degrees have virtually no influence on the quality of growth.
It is further provided by the invention that the seed crystal consist of crystal material that is a homeotype of the single crystal to be grown. GaPO4, AlPO4, FePO4, GaAsO4, AlAsO4, SiO2, or GeO2 are the materials preferred in this context. With the use of an epitaxial process a thin layer of the desired crystal material is applied. This process must be performed in two steps, however. The advantage of the epitaxial method is that quartz seeds can be used which are considerably larger and less costly than seed crystals based on metal orthophosphates.
In the instance of a seed crystal with rod-shaped legs it is preferable for the main axes of the legs to define a plane normal to the crystallographic Z-axis. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
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