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In recent years, the production of mobile terminals in which the substantially entire surface is formed by a display unit and a touch panel (liquid crystal display device or the like) and which are operated through the touch panel, such as smartphones, have been increasing in number. For this reason, the production of mobile terminals operated with hard keys have been decreasing in number.
In the mobile terminal, from the viewpoint of battery durability, the brightness of the display unit and the battery durability are balanced by performing backlight control according to ambient light using the information of an illuminance sensor or the like. In addition, the brightness up to the limit is not output in terms of the lifespan of the display device, such as a liquid crystal display device.
As conventional apparatuses in which a touch panel is disposed so as to overlap a display unit and which are operated through the touch panel, for example, there are apparatuses disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2. The information processing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 sets the center point and the magnification when enlarging or reducing an image on the basis of one trajectory when a touch position on the display screen of the display unit is moved, so that image enlargement and reduction can be performed with a simple touch operation of drawing the trajectory with one finger. The image pickup device disclosed in Patent Document 2 includes a liquid crystal monitor with a backlight that displays an image on the basis of an image signal from a charge coupled device (CCD), a release button having a touch sensor that detects a finger touch, and light control means for turning on or off the backlight based on the determination of the touch sensor regarding whether or not a finger has touched the release button.
In addition, in the mobile terminal disclosed in Patent Document 3, when a sliding operation is performed within the operating region for a touch panel provided on the top surface of an LCD monitor that displays the operating region including a plurality of keys, the CPU determines whether or not the sliding operation is a specific operation. If it is determined that the sliding operation is a specific operation, an unresponsive region is set in a touch reaction region of the touch panel.
In addition, most smartphones described above have a communication function that enables Internet connection, and can obtain various programs provided by the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) and the like. Therefore, by downloading various applications other than an application installed initially (dedicated program; hereinafter, referred to as an “application”), the functions different from the application installed initially (referred to as a “pre-installed application”) can be enjoyed. As the pre-installed application, for example, there is a camera application. By downloading another camera application having a different function from the camera application, the function different from the pre-installed application can be enjoyed. | {
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Since 1970 numerous attempts have been made to replace products derived from petroleum (in particular fuels) by products obtained from vegetable matter so as to reduce the dependency on oil-producing countries and increase the markets and sales of agricultural products. The industrial route utilizing oleaginous plants as starting materials starts from the production of free fatty acids constituting the raw materials for the conversion industries and ends up with fuels, lubricants, etc. The lipids accumulated by the oleaginous plants may be converted into fatty acids by hydrolysis: two processes are currently used industrially to effect this conversion.
The first process consists in hydrolyzing the lipids after extraction by contacting the extracted lipids under conditions of heat and pressure with sulphuric acid/methanol or methanolic potassium hydroxide. Another process consists in carrying out the hydrolysis under similar conditions directly on the crushed seed material without prior extraction. Further details of these processes, which are the only ones used industrially to hydrolyze vegetable oils, may be found in the following reference: K. J. Harrington and C. d'Arcy-Evans, Ind. Eng. Chem. Prod. Res. Dev. 1985, 24, 314-318. The well-known high operating costs, large industrial infrastructure, polluting nature of the effluents, production of glycerol as a by-product without an existing market. These processes are used on account of the lack of simple alternatives.
In addition, experiments have been carried out in the laboratory to effect the hydrolysis of lipids enzymatically by mixing a lipase with the lipids extracted from seeds (G. P. McNeill et al., JAOCS, Vol. 68 No. 1st January 1991, p. 1-5; S. M. Kim and J. S. Rhee, JAOCS Vo. 68 No. 7th July 1991, p. 499-503; C. Gancet, In Heterogeneous Catalysis And Fine Chemicals II 1991, Guisnet Editors, p. 93-104). However, these experiments have remained at the laboratory stage since the technique is incompatible with an industrial exploitation on account of the amounts of enzyme required and the cost of the latter.
It should be emphasized that processes are already known enabling enzymes to be produced from plants (patent WO-A-92/01042 and EP-A-0.449.376). These processes lead to the linexpensive production of enzymes which are then used, after or without having been isolated, in various industrial or food industry conversion processes.
Nevertheless, this teaching is completely unconnected with the problem in question, which concerns the production of fatty acids directly from oleaginous plants. | {
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There are in various parts of the world ponds or former ponds which have been completely filled by hazardous chemical wastes discharged by nearby industrial plants. Often these ponds are adjacent to or actually communicate with waterways and an especially egregious example of such ponds are the so-called tar ponds of Sydney, Nova Scotia which have received for over 80 years the toxic discharge from coke ovens of an adjacent steel mill. The sediment in these ponds is thixotropic by nature and thick enough to sustain the weight of a man walking on the surface. Removal of this material by surface diggers and trucks is undesirable not only because of the spongy nature of the terrain but such digging can release into the air carcinogous matter existing in some ponds, e.g. the Sydney ponds, and known as polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's). The presence of an adjacent waterway suggests dredging as a solution but a cutter head dredge is not acceptable not only because of the dense nature of the sediment but because a cutter head dredge would cause excessive turbidity thereby contaminating the adjacent waterway for possibly miles beyond the dredging site. An auger type dredge is therefore suggested and one such dredge intended for substantially the same purpose as the present invention is disclosed in the U.S. patent to Blackburn et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,762. There a longitudinally extending auger is thrust directly into the sediment to transfer the sediment axially to and through a dredge pipe for disposal at a remote site. A problem with this arrangement is that the exposed rotating auger head is bound to create turbidity in the surrounding water and though this may be acceptable in a land-locked pond it could be disastrous if the sediment contained flowable toxic matter and the pond had open access to a substantially uncontaminated waterway, or the sediment contained gaseous poisons such as PAH. | {
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The present invention relates to novel halogenated polycarbosilanes and to processes for their preparation.
Polycarbosilanes are polymers having a skeletal structure formed of the elements carbon and silicon in which, in general, Si groups and hydrocarbon groups are alternatingly present. The skeletal structure of such polycarbosilanes is composed, for example, of repeating structural units corresponding to the formula ##STR1## wherein R.sup.0 represents, for example, a hydrocarbon substituent. According to known preparation processes, such polycarbosilanes are obtained by converting monosilanes such as, for example, tetramethylsilane, trimethylchlorosilane, dimethyldichlorosilane or methyltrichlorosilane into mixtures of different polycarbosilanes by thermal decomposition. Another known process for preparing such polycarbosilanes starts from polysilanes in which at least one of the two substituents on the silicon atom is a methyl group. These polysilanes are converted pyrolytically into the polycarbosilane at temperatures of 350.degree. to 450.degree. C., methylene groups, which are each inserted between adjacent Si atoms of the polysilane, being formed from a part of the methyl substituents during the thermal conversion, and a hydrogen atom remaining on the silicon atom. Such pyrolyses are radical processes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,761,458 discloses converting such polycarbosilanes, which carry at least 0.1% by weight of SiH groups, into chlorinated or brominated polycarbosilanes by reaction with chlorinating or brominating reagents in a radical reaction. In this process, SiCl or SiBr groups are formed from the SiH groups. This patent employs, as starting materials for the halogenation reaction, ordinary polycarbosilanes of the above-described type which are known in the prior art and are substituted with lower alkyl groups. These were prepared by pyrolysis, for example, of polydimethylsilane (--(CH.sub.3).sub.2 Si--).sub.n.
Prepolymers which are composed of ceramic forming elements for the preparation of ceramic polymeric materials and in which readily detachable elements were in part replaced by elements detachable with difficulty such as fluorine or fully fluorinated hydrocarbon compounds, are disclosed in German published application No. DE 3,616,378. In this German application, hydrogen is named as a readily detachable element. The illustrative embodiment of this German application likewise starts from an ordinary polycarbosilane of the above-described type which is known in the prior art and which was prepared by pyrolysis of polydimethylsilane (--(CH.sub.3).sub.2 Si--).sub.n. Fluorine is introduced into this polycarbosilane by electrofluorination with tetraethylammonium fluoride or by direct fluorination (by radical means) with elemental fluorine. In this case, in addition to the conversion of SiH groups into SiF groups fluorine atoms are also introduced into the methyl substituents of the silicon atoms and into the methylene bridges of the Si--CH.sub.2 --Si skeleton of the polycarbosilane.
A number of disadvantages exist with regard to the product properties and the preparation process for these halogenated polycarbosilanes known in the prior art, i.e. halogenated polycarbosilanes prepared by radical halogenation methods from pyrolytically obtained polycarbosilane starting materials.
In part, the disadvantageous properties of the known halogenated polycarbosilanes are to be attributed to the unfavorable properties of the pyrolytically obtained unhalogenated polycarbosilanes to the extent that their use as starting materials essentially already predetermines the basic structure and the maximum achievable degree of purity of the halogenated products. Thus, for example, the ability to introduce halogen atoms into these polycarbosilanes depends directly on the SiH groups present in these polycarbosilanes since these SiH groups are converted into the SiHal groups (Hal=halogen) in the known processes for preparing halogenated polycarbosilanes. In this connection, however, it is disadvantageous that the formation of the SiH groups in the pyrolytic preparation of the polycarbosilane starting material can be controlled only with difficulty and this fact consequently directly affects also the properties of the halogenated polycarbosilanes prepared therefrom.
Furthermore, the preparation of the known halogenated polycarbosilanes under radical halogenation conditions also entails disadvantages. Thus, the degree and position of halogenation can be controlled with difficulty. Although the SiH groups first react preferentially to form SiHal groups, side reactions come about to a substantial extent, in particular with long reaction times and under slightly more severe reaction conditions. Thus, in addition to the desired halogenation in the SiH groups, halogenation reactions also occur in the hydrocarbon substituents (for example, formation of CH.sub.2 F--, CHF.sub.2 -- and CF.sub.3 -- from methyl substituents) or in the methylene bridges (for example, formation of Si--CHF--Si or Si--CF.sub.2 --Si) of the polycarbosilane employed. In addition, the radical reaction conditions may also result in cleavage reactions in the Si--C--Si skeleton of the polycarbosilane, as a result of which the polycarbosilane employed and/or the halogenated polycarbosilane is partially decomposed into undesirable fragments or even into more or less readily volatile, low molecular weight compounds.
On the one hand, the halogenated polycarbosilanes known in the prior art consequently are nonuniform products which have irregular Si--C skeletons just like the basic unhalogenated polycarbosilanes and which are accompanied by more or less readily volatile decomposition products due to the manner in which they are prepared. On the other hand, further measures for the purpose of restriction to a product spectrum more favorable for an intended use (for example, purification and/or separation by fractional crystallization or fractional distillation) are labor- and energy-intensive and consequently are also costly. | {
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In the processing of wood chips preparatory to introduction to a digester, it is preferred to discard those chip particles which have fibers shorter than a preset minimum length or which are in the form of flakes thinner than a preset thickness, because these are considered to be poor digesting materials. For purposes of the present description, such undesired chip particles and flakes will be called "fines."
Previously, various filtering and sorting machines have been used for removing fines, such as, for example, gyrating screens. However, these machines have been relatively inefficient respecting the percentage of fines removed and have been relatively expensive as compared to the advantage gained by removal of fines.
Accordingly, the present invention aims to provide an improved sorting machine of relatively simple, compact and economical construction which will efficiently and economically remove fines from wood chips or the like in an effective, continuous process. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention constitutes a new and distinct variety of Rosa damascena which originated from a breeding program employing mutation induction technology coupled with tissue culture technology. Research and first propagation were carried out at a research greenhouse and trial station in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Unpatented, proprietary mother plants of Rosa damascena were collected Oct. 2, 2011. Explants of the same were successfully initiated, established and proliferated in vitro using tissue culture technology. The cultures were irradiated with 5 different doses of gamma rays (10Gy, 20Gy, 30Gy, 40Gy, 50Gy, 70Gy) in mid 2012, and a total of over 5000 putative mutants were obtained in the M1V3 generation. The rooted population was grown to adult plants and then established in the field for evaluations.
The mutant ‘KACST491-1’ was selected as a single plant on 25 Apr. 2014 from the population of 5000 putative mutants established in the field at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The new mutant variety ‘KACST491-1’ can be distinguished from its non-irradiated parent primarily from its flower coloration and growth habit. Tissue culture as well as asexual reproduction by cuttings of ‘KACST491-1’ was carried out in mid 2014 at a research laboratory in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The initial and other subsequent propagations have demonstrated that the characteristics of ‘KACST491-1’ are true to type and are transmitted from one generation to the next. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a switching device equipped with a controller duty-controlling a controlled variable of a controlled system to a desired amount, and in particular, to the switching device that is able to perform such a control by making a switching element turn on/off with less noise due to the switching operations of the switching device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, on-vehicle power electrical equipment is equipped with a switching device that uses a power switching device. This kind of power switching device is on/off-operative on, for example, pulse width modulation (PWM). Hence, controlling the on/off operations of the power switching device allows controlled systems, such as DC-DC converter on a hybrid car, to have a desired amount of controlled variable.
Especially, when the controlled variable shows a desired target amount, the power switching element is then subjected to periodical on/off operations. Such operations are likely to raise the energy of only noise components whose frequencies correspond to switching frequencies and their harmonic frequencies, which are due to intervals between start timings of the on operations and/or the off operations. Such noise components of higher energy are occasionally superposed on a broadcasting signal tuned by an on-vehicle radio receiver or other similar radio devices. In such an undesired situation, the speaker of a car radio is obliged to output bloop for users.
To resolve this drawback, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No, 2002-335672 and 2003-88101 disclose a countermeasure for noise removal. That is, in those documents, a switching frequency is decided such that its harmonics are related to a broadcasting frequency band by a predetermined relationship. Practically, the predetermined relationship is that the harmonics have a specific frequency difference from a tuned broadcasting frequency. This is helpful for preventing the speaker from outputting the noise.
However, in such countermeasures, if modes of the on/off operations carried out by the power switching element are changed by, for instance, the PWM control, the possibility that a switching frequency or its harmonics overlaps with a tuned broadcasting frequency cannot be denied. | {
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The present disclosure relates generally to input/output (I/O) processing, and in particular, to providing features to facilitate transport mode I/O operations.
Input/output (I/O) operations are used to transfer data between memory and I/O devices of an I/O processing system. Specifically, data is written from memory to one or more I/O devices, and data is read from one or more I/O devices to memory by executing I/O operations.
To facilitate processing of I/O operations, an I/O subsystem of the I/O processing system is employed. The I/O subsystem is coupled to main memory and the I/O devices of the I/O processing system and directs the flow of information between memory and the I/O devices. One example of an I/O subsystem is a channel subsystem. The channel subsystem uses channel paths as communications media. Each channel path includes a channel coupled to a control unit, the control unit being further coupled to one or more I/O devices.
The channel subsystem and I/O device may operate in a transport mode that supports the transfer of one or more command control blocks to transfer data between the I/O devices and memory. A transport control word (TCW) specifies one or more I/O commands to be executed. For commands initiating certain I/O operations, the TCW designates memory areas associated with the operation, the action to be taken whenever a transfer to or from the area is completed, and other options. | {
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Today's network links carry vast amounts of information. High bandwidth applications supported by these network links include, for example, streaming video, streaming audio, and large aggregations of voice traffic. In the future, network bandwidth demands are certain to increase.
As a business grows, so can its network, increasing in the number of network elements coupled to the network, the number of network links, and also geographic diversity. Over time, a business' network can include physical locations scattered throughout a city, a state, a country, or the world. Since it can be prohibitively expensive to create a private network that spans these great distances, many businesses opt to rely upon a third-party provider's transport network to provide connectivity between the disparate geographic sites of the business' network elements. In order for the business' network to seamlessly function through the transport network, the transport network must be able to provide a medium for transmission of all the business' various types of datastreams, including multicast transmission.
Multicast routing protocols enable multicast datastream transmission (i.e., one-to-many connections and many-to-many connections) by replicating a multicast data packet close to the destinations of that packet, thereby obviating the need for multiple unicast connections for the same purpose; thus, saving network bandwidth and improving throughput. Upon receiving a multicast packet, a network node (e.g., a router) can examine a multicast group destination address (GDA) of the packet and determine whether downstream subscribers to the multicast packet (i.e., members of the multicast group) are connected to the network node (either directly or indirectly). The network node can then replicate the multicast packet as needed and transmit the replicated packets to any connected subscribers.
FIG. 1A is a simplified block diagram of a network transporting a multicast transmission. Network router elements 110, 120, 130 and 140 are coupled through network links 150, 160, and 170. Network router element 110 is also coupled to network elements 111 and 112; network router element 120 is coupled to network element 121; network router element 130 is coupled to network elements 131 and 132; and, network router element 140 is coupled to network element 141. Such coupling between the network router elements and the network elements can be direct or indirect (e.g., via a L2 network device or another network router element).
For the purposes of this illustration, network element 111 is a multicast source transmitting a datastream to a multicast group that includes network elements 112, 121, 131, 132 and 141. A multicast datastream, having a group destination address to which the above network elements have subscribed as receiver members, is transmitted from network element 111 to network router element 110 (illustrated by the arrow from 111 to 110). Network router element 110 determines where to forward packets in the multicast datastream by referring to an internal address table that identifies each port of network router element 110 that is coupled, directly or indirectly, to a subscribing member of the multicast group. Network router element 110 then replicates packets of the multicast datastream and then transmits the packets from the identified ports to network element 112, network router element 120 and network router element 130.
Network router elements 120 and 130 can inform network router element 110 that they are coupled to a subscribing member of a multicast datastream using, for example, a protocol independent multicast (PIM) message. Using PIM, network router elements 120 and 130 can send messages indicating that they need to join (a “JOIN” message) or be excluded from (a “PRUNE” message) receiving packets directed to a particular multicast group or being transmitted by a particular source. Similarly, a network element can inform a first-hop network router element that the network element wishes to be a subscriber to a multicast group by sending a membership report request through a software protocol such as internet group management protocol (IGMP). When a network element wishes to subscribe to a multicast transmission, an IGMP membership request frame can be transmitted by the network element. An IGMP-enabled network router element (or a L2 network device) can have “snooping” software executing to read such a frame and build a corresponding entry in a multicast group address table.
Upon receipt by network router elements 120 and 130, packets from the multicast datastream will be replicated as needed by those network router elements to provide the multicast datastream to network elements coupled to those network router elements (e.g., network elements 131 and 132 or network router element 140). In this manner, a multicast datastream from network element 111 can be transmitted through a network to multiple receiving network elements. The path of such a transmission can be thought of as a tree, wherein network element 111 is the root of the tree and network elements 121, 131, 132, and 141 can be thought of as the tips of branches.
FIG. 1B is a simplified block diagram of a network in which multiple sources are transmitting to a multicast group. As in FIG. 1A, network element 111 is a source for a multicast datastream directed to a multicast group including network elements 112, 121, 131, 132, and 141. That multicast datastream is illustrated by path 180 (a solid line). Network element 132 is also transmitting a multicast datastream to the multicast group, and that datastream is illustrated by path 190 (a dashed line). In a multiple source multicast group, any subscriber network element can be a source. In order to provide this two-way routing of multicast data packets, a bi-directional version of protocol independent multicast (PIM bidir) is used to configure the network router elements in the multicast tree. In bi-directional multicast, datastream packets are routed only along the shared bidirectional tree, which is rooted at a rendezvous point for the multicast group, rather than at a particular datastream source. Logically, a rendezvous point is an address (e.g., a network router element) that is “upstream” from all other network elements. Passing all bidirectional multicast traffic through a rendezvous point establishes a loop-free tree topology having the rendezvous point as a root. In FIG. 1B, the rendezvous point is illustrated as network router element 110.
FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate transmission of multicast datastreams in a network in which the network router elements 110, 120, 130 and 140 are directly coupled with one another. But, as stated above, as a business and its network grow, a business' network elements can become geographically diverse and therefore the path over which the datastream must flow can include an intervening third-party provider transport network.
FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a network configuration in which geographically diverse subnets of a business' network are coupled through a transport network 200. The business' network includes network router elements 210, 220, 230, and 240, wherein network router element 210 is coupled to network elements 211 and 212, network router element 220 is coupled to network element 221, network router element 230 is coupled to network elements 231 and 232, and network router element 240 is coupled to network element 241. In order to connect to the transport network, a network router element on the edge of the business' network (a customer edge router) is coupled to a network router element on the edge of the transport network (a provider edge router (PE)). In FIG. 2, customer edge router elements 250(1)-(3) are coupled to PEs 260(1)-(3), respectively. Network router element 240 is coupled to PE 260(4) (that is, network router element 240 is configured as a customer edge router). It should be noted that the terms “provider edge router” and “customer edge router” are used to distinguish between an edge router that is a member of a transport network (a provider edge router) and an edge router that is a member of a network external to the transport network (a customer edge router). Such terms are not meant to limit the discussion or the invention presented herein to networks of a third-party provider and customers of the provider.
The customer edge router and the provider edge router functionality can be provided by a single router. Further, a network router element such as 240 can also serve as an edge router. The provider edge routers provide access to the transport network which can contain data transmission lines, network router elements, and OSI Level 2 network devices to aid in the transmission of data packets from one provider edge router to another provider edge router. The transport network illustrated in FIG. 2 contains, as an example, network router elements 270(1)-(5) and 270(r), which are coupled in a manner to permit transmission of packets through the transport network. Such network router elements internal to a transport network are called “core router elements” or “core routers.” A transport network is not limited to such a configuration, and can include any number of network router elements, transmission lines, and other L2 and L3 network devices.
In order to facilitate transmission of data packets through a transport network, the transport network can utilize different protocols from those used in coupled customer networks. Such transport network protocols can permit faster or more efficient data transmission and routing through the network. Any needed translation between customer and transport network protocols can be performed by the edge routers.
FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram illustrating another representation of a transport network 300. It should be understood that the term “transport network” corresponds to any network of coupled network router elements including edge network router elements (“edge routers”) and core network router elements (“core routers”) as those terms are understood in the art. FIG. 3 illustrates a set of transport network edge routers 320(1)-(4). These edge routers are connected by a network including core routers 310(1)-(6) and 315(1)-(2). Using transport network protocols, such as MPLS or tunneling protocols, a datastream can be transmitted from an edge router to any other edge router via a subset of the core routers in the transport network. A datastream can also be transmitted from an edge router to a plurality of other edge routers via a configured point-to-multipoint path through the core of the transport network; such a configured path is called a transport tree. A transport tree can also be configured to transport datastreams from a plurality of transmitting edge routers to a plurality of other edge routers via a multipoint-to-multipoint configured path through the core of the transport network; such a transport tree can be specifically called a multipoint-to-multipoint transport tree.
FIG. 4A is a simplified block diagram illustrating relevant components of a multipoint-to-multipoint transport tree configured in transport network 300 of FIG. 3. A multicast datastream source S1 is coupled, directly or indirectly, to edge router 320(1), which is configured as an ingress router to the transport network for a datastream originating with source S1. Edge routers 320(2)-(4) are egress routers for the datastream from source S1 to exit the transport network en route to subscribers for the multicast datastream. Datastream packets from source S1 flow through network core routers along the path illustrated by solid arrows through transport network 300. Similarly, a multicast datastream source S2 is coupled to edge router 320(4), which serves as an ingress router to the transport network for a datastream from source S2. Edge routers 320(1)-320(3) are egress routers for the datastream from source S2 to exit the transport network en route to subscribers for the multicast datastream. Datastream packets from source S2 can flow through transport network 300 core routers along a path illustrated by the dashed arrows. Transport network core routers 310(1)-(6) and 315(1) can transmit and replicate packets from the two datastreams, as necessary.
In a multipoint-to-multipoint transport tree, datastreams must be able to flow “downstream” from a source to a group of receivers and also “upstream” from each receiver acting as a source to each other receiver of the group. Similar to bi-directional multicast trees, in order to permit loop-free, upstream data flow, a root node is established within the transport network. Each transport network router will be configured to find a path to the root node. When a multipoint-to-multipoint transport tree is configured, the root node is selected for that transport tree. Typically, a root node is chosen to be convenient and well-connected to all edge routers that may become members of the transport tree. Edge routers can be informed of the identity of a root node associated with a transport tree when that transport tree is constructed. Static configuration of the edge routers can be used to inform the edge routers of the identity of a root node associated with a transport tree.
In FIG. 4A, core router 315(1) is the root node of the illustrated multipoint-to-multipoint transport tree. From the perspective of each edge router not coupled to a multicast datastream source and each intermediate core router, the root node is always considered to be in the upstream direction. Thus, datastream packets transmitted on the multipoint-to-multipoint transport tree will first be directed to the root node and from there will be directed toward member edge routers via the core routers.
The root node in a multipoint-to-multipoint transport tree serves a role as a hub of datastream transport through the transport tree. In the event of failure of a root node, datastream transport on the associated transport tree will also fail. In a typical transport network, recovery from failure of a transport tree root node requires constructing a new transport tree with an associated new root node.
FIG. 4B is a simplified block diagram illustrating a second multipoint-to-multipoint transport tree configured in transport network 300 to transport the multicast datastreams from sources S1 and S2. It is noted that datastream packets from S1 and S2 have the same multicast group destination address. Rather than routing the datastreams through failed core router 315(1) (which served as the root node for the transport tree illustrated in FIG. 4A), the second transport tree has a selected root node at core router 315(2). Building such a second transport tree re-establishes multipoint-to-multipoint communications, but communications are disrupted during the time to build the second transport tree. The length of time to create the new transport tree can be affected by activities such as detection of the failure of root node 315(1), coordinating the building activities of the various edge network router elements, and reestablishing a link between the native transport trees of sources S1 and S2 (e.g., multicast transport trees).
A mechanism is therefore desired to decrease or eliminate the amount of time of disruption in communications due to the failure of a root node. | {
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Calorimetry is used to measure enthalpic changes, including enthalpic changes arising from reactions, phase changes, changes in molecular conformation, temperature variations, and other variations of interest that may occur for a particular specimen. By measuring enthalpic changes over a series of conditions, other thermodynamic variables may be deduced. For example, measurements of enthalpy as a function of temperature reveal the heat capacity of a specimen, and titrations of reacting components can be used to deduce the equilibrium constant and effective stoichiometry for a reaction. Calorimetry measurements are useful in a broad variety of applications, including, for example, pharmaceuticals (drug discovery, decomposition reactions, crystallization measurements), biology (cell metabolism, drug interactions, fermentation, photosynthesis), catalysts (biological, organic, or inorganic), electrochemical reactions (such as in batteries or fuel cells), and polymer synthesis and characterization, to name a few. In general, calorimetry measurements can be useful in the discovery and development of new chemicals and materials of many types, as well as in the monitoring of chemical processes. It is understood that an enthalpy array may be considered an array of calorimeters (e.g., nanocalorimeters).
Calorimeters and enthalpy arrays can, therefore, be used to screen for substrates, cofactors, activators, and inhibitors of enzymes, including at the proteome level, and can also be used to quantify the enzymatic kinetics. Calorimeters/enthalpy arrays detect the amount of heat evolved from an enzymatic reaction. The heat evolved depends on the enthalpy of the reaction, enzyme concentration, substrate concentrations, the presence of inhibitors, activators, or cofactors, values for the kinetic parameters for the reaction of interest, buffer conditions, as well as various other factors and parameters. In particular, the concentrations of the enzyme, one or more substrates, and/or regulators (e.g. agonists, inhibitors, and inverse agonists) are often a limiting factor in analyzing enzymatic reactions by detecting the enthalpy of reaction. Specifically, it is often necessary to use low concentrations of enzyme and/or substrates when examining enzymatic reactions, yet at the low concentrations of interest, the amount of heat evolved is low.
One benefit of low concentration studies is that the use of smaller concentrations provides for more selective reactions. Consider, for example, the study of a binding reaction with a dissociation constant Kd:
A + B -> C K d = [ A ] [ B ] [ C ] In this reaction, A and B bind to form the complex C, and the dissociation constant is written in terms of concentrations denoted by square brackets. This equation assumes ideal solution behavior, but it is sufficient for the purposes herein. In testing for binding, it is often desired to obtain an indication of the magnitude of Kd. In many biochemical studies, including drug screening and development studies and proteome-wide investigations of protein-protein interactions, among others, Kd values of interest are typically <1-10 μM, and values from 1-1000 nM—and especially <100 nM—are not uncommon and often of particular interest. In order to measure Kd, the reaction must be studied at concentrations that are not too distant from the value of Kd. At the upper end of this range, titrations may be performed at concentrations of 10 to 100 times Kd, but titrations at concentrations near the value of Kd are preferred when possible. Thus, there is a benefit to performing studies at as low a concentration as possible. In particular, there is a benefit to being able to perform studies at concentrations as low as 10−6 to 10−7 M. Likewise, it is a benefit to be able to measure kinetics of enzymatic reactions at low concentrations, including enzymatic reactions with slow turnover rates.
It is also useful to work with substrates at low concentrations. In analyzing enzymatic reactions, benefits arise from determining the Michaelis constant, Km, which provides an indication of the substrate concentration at which an enzyme is most effective at increasing the rate of reaction. If the concentration of the substrate needs to be increased beyond the Km for that substrate, it then becomes difficult or impossible to accurately determine Km using calorimetry. Measuring reactions at lower concentrations allows one to differentiate, e.g. strong binding from weaker binding, or larger Km in the case of enzymatic reactions from smaller Km, etc.
Likewise, in drug screening studies, reaction information at lower concentrations is often necessary to determine binding constants, for example, or to differentiate strongly binding hits in drug screening campaigns from hits that do not bind as strongly. The concentrations used in the experiments will then set the lower limits of reactions that are being distinguished. It is therefore advantageous to work at low concentrations in a variety of areas, including but not limited to drug screening and biochemical research.
In addition to the needs for using low concentrations, it is also important in many studies to use as small a volume of materials as possible, since the combination of small volume and low concentration means small amounts of the materials of interest. The amount of sample, e.g. purified enzyme or other protein, is often limited, and making the samples is often labor intensive and costly. Additionally, the quantity of desired experiments may require the use of low concentrations and small volumes. In drug screening or proteome scale experiments, for example, researchers may be running anywhere from 1,000 to 100,000 or more different experiments. Also, one may desire to study a natural extract or synthesized compound for biological interactions, but in some cases the available amount of material at concentrations large enough for calorimetry might be no more than a few milliliters. The use of enzymes and/or substrates in such studies can only be kept within a tolerable range if sample concentrations and volumes are kept as low as possible. In particular, performing such studies is not feasible using sample sizes of about 1 ml, as required for measurement using commercially available microcalorimeters such as products sold, for example, by MicroCal® Inc. (model VP-ITC) or Calorimetry Sciences Corporation® (model CSC4500).
In certain situations, the enzymatic reactions of interest, at the low concentrations and small volumes required by many studies, may not generate a sufficient amount of heat to be reliably detected by calorimetric methods. Thus, using small quantities of materials may not yield a signal and prevents researchers from monitoring the reactions. It would, therefore, be advantageous to provide a method for monitoring enzymatic reactions using calorimetric measurements and/or enthalpy arrays that allows researchers to operate and perform experiments within the boundaries in which they are required to work, including limitations in concentration and sample volume. In that regard, it would be a further advantage to provide a method for monitoring enzymatic reaction via, calorimetry and/or enthalpy arrays using low concentrations and small volumes of enzymes, substrates, activators, regulators, inhibitors and/or co-factors.
Binding of ligands, such as agonists, inverse agonists, or inhibitors, to GPCRs (G-protein coupled receptors) is an example of a reaction that may not produce a sufficient amount of heat to be reliably detected using a desired calorimetric method. It may be desirable in drug screening applications to test for binding of library compounds to GPCRs by high throughput calorimetry, using arrays of calorimeters such as those described in, U.S. application Ser. No. 10/114,611, filed Apr. 1, 2002, titled “Apparatus and Method for a Nanocalorimeter for Detecting Chemical Reactions”; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,380,605 B1 and 6,545,334 B2, each entitled, “Device and a Method for Thermal Sensing”, to Verhaegen; U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,413, entitled, “System and Method for an Improved Calorimeter for Determining Thermodynamic Properties of Chemical and Biological Reactions”, to Lieberman; Johannessen, et al., Applied Physics Letters, vol 80(11):2029-2031; Johannessen, et al., Analytical Chemistry A 2002 May 1; 74(9):2190-7; K. Verhaegen, et al., Sensors and Actuators 82(2000):186-190; and F. Hellman, NSF Award Abstract—#9513629 AWSFL008-DS3: “Development of Instrumentation for Microcalorimetry of Biological Systems”. However, preparing samples with a high enough GPCR concentration to yield a detectable signal in such systems can be difficult or even impractical, in part because the cost of expressing GPCRs in the desired amounts is large and in part because GPCRs are membrane proteins. Membrane proteins can be provided in suspensions of cell membranes, membrane fragments, vesicles, or micelles, but they are only a part of the membranes, fragments, vesicles, or micelles, which makes increasing the concentration more challenging than for soluble proteins.
GPCRs are one of the most important classes of protein targets for the pharmaceutical industry. GPCR's are membrane proteins involved in signaling cells based on extracellular signaling molecules, and approximately 50% of the top 200 drugs currently on the market target GPCRs. Today, GPCRs with known ligands are screened by measuring how test compounds affect the behavior of the GPCR, using assays that include the known ligand. Accordingly, traditional drug screening for GPCR targets has relied on the identification of small molecules that interfere with binding of a know ligand to the GPCR, as described in “The Use of Constitutively Active GPCRS in Drug Discovery and Functional Genomics”, Derek T. Chalmers & Dominic P. Behan, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 1, 599-608 (2002). The situation for orphan GPCRs, which do not have known ligands, is more complicated. In an article on assays for ligand regulation of orphan GPCRs (Drug Discovery Today vol. 8, No. 13, July 2003, pp. 579-585) by G. Milligan, the author states that efforts to identify ligands that interact with orphan GPCRs have shifted from ligand-binding assays to functional assays because it is currently impossible to perform binding assays in the absence of a known ligand. Methods for screening for ligands of orphan GPCRs use cellular assays that involve fluorescent tagging, hypotheses about cellular behavior of the GPCRs, and possibly modifying the GPCR itself, e.g. to make it constitutively active. Examples include AequoScreen™ technology from Euroscreen, which is based on using fluorescent reporters of Ca+2 activity in cellular assays, Ca+2 changes being a common result of GPCR activity, and CART Constitutively Activating Receptor Technology (CART), described in an article in, “Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 1, 599-608 (2002); “The Use of Constitutively Active GPCRS in Drug Discovery and Functional Genomics”, by Chalmer and Behan, which is based on modifying GPCRs to make them constitutively active and using these GPCRs in cellular assays. These methods do not directly detect ligand binding to a GPCR or the associated G-protein activity. A method that directly probes ligand binding to a GPCR without requiring an assay based on a previously known ligand would be very useful. In particular, a calorimetric method would be very useful, especially if it could be used with arrays of calorimeters that enable parallel measurements at appropriate concentrations and with small amounts of material for each measurement.
Similarly, calorimetric studies of kinases, proteases, ion channels, phosphatases, metabolic enzymes, nucleic acid binding and modifying enzymes, transcription/translation factors, signaling enzymes, protein modifying enzymes, transport/trafficking enzymes, and orphan enzymes are all of potential benefit in biological research and drug discovery activities, especially if they could be performed with arrays of calorimeters that enable parallel measurements at appropriate concentrations and with small amounts of material for each measurement. | {
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Maize (or corn; Zea mays L.) plant breeding is a process to develop improved maize germplasm in an inbred or hybrid plant. Maize plants can be self-pollinating or cross pollinating. Self pollination for several generations produces homozygosity at almost all gene loci, forming a uniform population of true breeding progeny, known as inbreds. Hybrids are developed by crossing two homozygous inbreds to produce heterozygous gene loci in hybrid plants and seeds. In this process, the inbred is emasculated and the pollen from the other inbred pollinates the emasculated inbred. Emasculation of the inbred can be done by chemical treatment of the plant, detasseling the seed parent, or the parent inbred can comprise a male sterility trait or transgene imparting sterility, eliminating the need for detasseling. This emasculated inbred, often referred to as the female, produces the hybrid seed, F1. The hybrid seed that is produced is heterozygous. However, the grain produced by a plant grown from F1 hybrid seed is referred to as F2 grain. F2 grain which is a plant part produced on the F1 plant will comprise segregating maize germplasm, even though the hybrid plant is heterozygous.
Such heterozygosity in hybrids results in robust and vigorous plants. Inbred plants on the other hand are mostly homozygous, rendering them less vigorous. Inbred seed can be difficult to produce due to such decreased vigor. However, when two inbred lines are crossed, the resulting hybrid plant shows greatly increased vigor and seed yield compared to open pollinated, segregating maize plants. An important consequence of the homozygousity and homogeneity of inbred maize lines is that all hybrid seed and plants produced from any cross of two such lines will be the same. Thus the use of inbreds allows for the production of hybrid seed that can be readily reproduced.
There are numerous stages in the development of any novel, desirable plant germplasm. Plant breeding begins with the analysis and definition of problems and weaknesses of the current germplasm, the establishment of program goals, and the definition of specific breeding objectives. The next step is selection of germplasm that possess the traits to meet the program goals. The aim is to combine in a single variety an improved combination of desirable traits from the parental germplasm. These important traits may include, for example, higher yield, resistance to diseases, fungus, bacteria and insects, better stems and roots, tolerance to drought and heat, improved nutritional quality, and better agronomic characteristics.
Choice of breeding methods depends on the mode of plant reproduction, the heritability of the trait(s) being improved, and the type of cultivar used commercially (e.g., F1 hybrid cultivar, pure line cultivar, etc.). For highly heritable traits, a choice of superior individual plants evaluated at a single location may be effective, whereas for traits with low heritability, selection can be based on mean values obtained from replicated evaluations of families of related plants. Popular selection methods commonly include pedigree selection, modified pedigree selection, mass selection, and recurrent selection.
The complexity of inheritance influences the choice of breeding method. Backcross breeding is used to transfer one or a few favorable genes for a highly heritable trait into a desirable cultivar. This approach has been used extensively for breeding disease-resistant cultivars and introducing transgenic events into maize germplasm. Thus, backcross breeding is useful for transferring genes for a simply inherited, highly heritable trait into a desirable homozygous cultivar or inbred line which is the recurrent parent. The source of the trait to be transferred is called the donor parent. After the initial cross, individuals possessing the phenotype of the donor parent are selected and repeatedly crossed (backcrossed) to the recurrent parent. The resulting plant is expected to have the attributes of the recurrent parent (e.g., cultivar) and the desirable trait transferred from the donor parent.
Each breeding program generally includes a periodic, objective evaluation of the efficiency of the breeding procedure. Evaluation criteria vary depending on the goals and objectives, but should include gain from selection per year based on comparisons to an appropriate standard, overall value of the advanced breeding lines, and number of successful cultivars produced per unit of input (e.g., per year, per dollar expended, etc.).
The ultimate objective of commercial corn breeding programs is to produce high yield, agronomically sound plants that perform well in particular regions of the U.S. Corn Belt, such as a plant of this invention. | {
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Please refer to FIG. 1, a functional block diagram illustrating a conventional computer system. The computer system includes a central processing unit (CPU) 10, a north bridge chip 11, a south bridge chip 12, first storage device 13 and second storage device 14. To boot the computer system, it is necessary to load both basic input/output system (BIOS) codes and operating system (OS) codes into a core circuit of the computer system. The BIOS codes and the OS codes are usually stored in different types of storage devices. For example, the BIOS codes 130 are usually stored in a read-only memory (the first storage device 13) while the OS codes 140 are usually stored in a hard disk drive (the second storage device 14). Hence, the first transmission interface 131 for data transmission between the south bridge chip 12 and the first storage device 13 is quite different from the second transmission interface 141 for data transmission between the south bridge chip 12 and the second storage device 14. For example, the first transmission interface 131 may be implemented with an industry standard architecture (ISA) interface, a low pin count (LPC) interface or a serial peripheral interface (SPI) while the second transmission interface 141 may be implemented with an integrated drive electronics (IDE) interface or a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) interface.
Since two kinds of storage devices and two kinds of transmission interfaces are required, the wasteful duplication of the devices with similar functions is arranged in the computer system. Such arrangement causes higher cost and wastes more power. It adversely affects the energy efficiency and competitiveness. Hence, a computer system with an integrated storage device is desired to enhance the overall performance. | {
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The use of a metallocene catalyst in combination with alumoxanes as a co-catalyst to polymerize ethylene, propylene and other olefins is well-known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,510 (Kaminsky et al.) discloses the use of a metallocene catalyst with an alumoxane co-catalyst in polymerizing ethylene. In Kaminsky, polymerization is carried out by using a dilute solution of metallocene catalyst/alumoxane in toluene. The solution is formed by mixing 360 milligrams of methylalumoxane in 330 milliliters of toluene and then adding 3.3.times.10.sup.-6 moles of racemic zirconium dichloride metallocene catalyst. The propylene to be polymerized is then condensed into the solution. In Kaminsky, polymerization is carried out by mixing a methylalumoxane with a zirconium dichloride catalyst and then subsequently condensing propylene into the solution. This patent does not disclose the amount of time which lapsed between the mixing of the methylalumoxane and the catalyst and the addition of the propylene to the mixture. Another patent which discloses the use of a metallocene catalyst and an alumoxane as a co-catalyst is U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,851 (Ewen et al.). Ewen et al discloses the use of a metallocene-alumoxane-co-catalyst in a process for preparing syndiotatic polyolefins.
The amounts of milligrams of catalyst used per milliliter of alumoxane and toluene ranges from one milligram of catalyst per milliliter of alumoxane in toluene to 0.05 milligrams of catalyst per one milliliter of alumoxane in toluene. The catalyst was precontacted for 20 minutes with a toluene solution containing 10.7% by weight of metallocene-alumoxane with an average molecular weight of about 1300. The catalyst and co-catalyst solution was then added to a zipper-clave reactor followed by the addition of 1 liter of liquid propylene. The polymerization reaction was then allowed to run for 60 minutes during which time the reactor was maintained at the polymerization temperature of 20 deg. C. In Ewen '851, the metallocene catalyst and alumoxane co-catalyst were mixed in toluene immediately prior to the time of its injection into a zipper-clave reactor which was then followed by the addition of the propylene. None of the examples in Ewen teach that the catalyst and co-catalyst were precontacted for more than a period of 20 minutes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,912,075 (Chang) is yet another patent which teaches the use of a metallocene-alumoxane catalyst for the use of polymerizing olefins. In Chang, a silica gel is used as a support for the metallocene and alumoxane co-catalysts. Chang discloses a process whereby methylalumoxane in toluene was slowly added to dehydrated silica gel and was stirred for one hour at room temperature. Thereafter, 300 milliliters of a 13% weight toluene solution of zirconium dichloride catalyst was slowly added to the stirred suspension of silica gel solids and stirring continued for 0.5 hours at 75 deg. C. Thereafter, the volatile solvent was evaporated with the resulting free-flowing powder comprised of a metallocene-alumoxane catalyst complex supported on a silica gel with the ratio of aluminum to zirconium of 50:1. The free-flowing powder was then utilized as a catalyst for the gas-phase polymerization of ethylene. The process disclosed in Chang uses a support medium to pre-contact the metallocene and alumoxane. The polymerization process was carried out by adding 5 grams of the catalyst to a vile. Subsequent to that, ethylene gas was injected into the vile wherein polymerization was allowed to proceed for one hour. The process disclosed in Chang involves a metallocene/alumoxane powder and therefore is very difficult to monitor and regulate in a continuous reactor system because the powder is not in solution.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,474 (Ewen et al.) also discloses a process which uses a metallocene/alumoxane co-catalyst to polymerize ethylene or higher alpha olefins. In Ewen et al. '474, the alumoxane solution was injected into a vessel followed by the injection of 0.091 mg. of zirconium dimethyl metallocene catalyst dissolved in 1 milliliter of toluene and was allowed to react for 1 minute. Thereafter, ethylene was injected into the reaction vessel wherein polymerization of the ethylene occurred.
The process of using metallocene catalyst and alumoxane as a co-catalyst in Ewen et al. '474 does not disclose any systems whereby the metallocene and alumoxane as a composition can be conveniently stored in solution for long periods of time which would be an advantage for monitoring and pumping purposes in a continuous reactor system.
The use of a continuous loop reactor system in a bulk process using a heterogenous Ziegler-Natta supported catalyst system which uses an aluminum alkyl as a co-catalyst is also well known in the art. Generally, the olefin to be polymerized is continuously fed into the reactor system and serves as both monomer and diluent. When polymerization of the olefin is desired, the catalyst which is typically suspended in a suitable diluent is activated by contacting with the aluminum alkyl co-catalyst and then injected into the reactor where polymerization then occurs. The heterogeneous Ziegler-Natta catalyst systems are not preactivated because Ziegler-Natta catalysts begin decomposing within hours after being contacted with the aluminum alkyl co-catalyst.
The prior art adequately discloses both use of homogeneous metallocene-alumoxane catalyst systems and the use of the continuous loop reactor system in a bulk process with the traditional heterogeneous Ziegler-Natta-aluminum alkyl catalyst systems. However, the prior art does not describe, teach or even imply any process or composition which would provide for the metallocene and alumoxane co-catalyst to be precontacted in a concentrated solution for a long period of time. Without the advantage of having a composition of metallocene-alumoxane solution which is capable of being stored for long periods of time, the processes and compositions disclosed by the prior art make it very difficult to efficiently monitor and pump the metallocene and alumoxane solutions. This disadvantage is remedied by the present invention. | {
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U.S. Pat. No. 3,426,100 to McDonough relates to copolymers of crystallizable linear polyesters and polycarbonates. Although such polyesters have improved properties, they are not pertinent to the present invention since they do not even suggest melt blends of two different types of polyesters.
British Pat. No. 1,546,698 relates to transparent sheets made from blends of polycarbonate and polyethylene terephthalate. However, once again no suggestion is made of melt blends of applicants' specific polyesters.
"Crystallization Studies of Blends of Polyethylene Terephthalate and Polybutylene Terephthalate" by Escala and Stein, Advances in Chemistry series, 176, 455 (1979) relates to a study wherein a single glass transition temperature for a blend is observed which varies with composition suggesting that the components are compatible in the amorphous phase. This article is not pertinent since it does not relate to any use of a melt blend of polyisophthalate.
A fairly thorough discussion of various polymer blends is set forth in "Polymer Blends," Vol. 1, Chapter 10, by Paul and Newman, Academic Press, 1978. However, no suggestion is contained therein with regard to applicants' melt blends of polyesters. | {
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A “drive-through” is a type of service provided by a business such as, for example, fast-food restaurant, bank, pharmacy, and coffee shop that permits a customer to purchase a product without leaving their vehicle. Such drive-through services provides the customer with fast and convenient service while increasing the number of customers that may be served through conventional walk-in transactions. Orders can be generally placed utilizing a microphone and picked up in person at the window. As the order is being placed, an order-taker enters the order information into an order management system. The order information can be displayed on a display such that the order can be assembled by a runner.
Conventionally, ordering paradigms utilize a single-queue approach that makes the customers with small, quick orders wait behind the customers with large complex orders. The problem associated with such approach is that the vehicles can get out of order between the time the order is placed and the vehicle receives the product. Additionally, such prior art approaches does not ensure that the correct product is being delivered to the vehicle that placed the order which further reduces order accuracy and efficiency. Such problems are exacerbated in highly trafficked locations where multiple lanes of order placement exist for each order processing window which result in decreased customer satisfaction and significant loss of revenues.
Based on the foregoing, it is believed that a need exists for an improved system and method for providing signature based drive-through order tracking, as described in greater detail herein. | {
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The present invention relates to utility meter monitoring systems and particularly to a system for automatically and remotely reading and processing data from one or more utility meters.
Efforts have been made to automate utility meters; i.e., gas, electric, water, for many years. The reason for the efforts is abundantly clear. The present manual system requires meter readers to visit every user premises, residence and business, and actually read the utility consumption from the meter dials. The cost is considerable and the reliability is subject to human error.
The various efforts to automate utility meter readings have included early efforts to use wireless devices and direct wiring between the user facility and utility. These efforts have not materialized, probably due to the high cost involved.
Other proposed systems have focused on use of existing telephone lines to facilitate utility meter reading.
One system described in U.S. Pat. No. Re. 26,331 Brothman et al. relies on the telephone leakage testing systems, which varies from company to company and is subject to change. Other systems have utilized the tip and ring of the telephone line to provide a communication line between the utility meter and the utility office. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,922,490, Pettis, a D.C. system is disclosed in which resistances are switched on and off across the tip and ring of a telephone line by the least significant digit pointer of the utility meter. Each resistance change is sensed in a central office and counted. An A.C. system described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,540,849 Oliver also relies on the tip and ring of the telephone line but is a one way communication system adapted to be powered by the telephone line when in the idle ON-HOOK condition. Although these various systems have their particular functions and advantages they all lack broad versatility and adaptability for use with a wide variety of utility meters
The present invention is directed to providing a fully automated, error-free, two-way system for remotely reading and managing the data from utility meters of all types in a rapid and efficient manner.
The present system is intended to save utility companies tremendous meter reading expense, provide essentially 100% coverage of all meters, speed up billing cycles and improve customer relations. Furthermore, through the use of the system a utility can position itself in the future as an energy manager as well as a utility supplier. | {
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As the specific thrust of a conventional turbofan engine is reduced to improve propulsive efficiency, or to reduce fan and jet noise, its bypass ratio increases, the fan rotational speed reduces and the fan shaft torque increases, requiring a larger diameter shaft. The increased fan shaft diameter increases the minimum bore diameters of the core components, requiring them to be designed for lower rotational speeds that, in turn, increase parts counts, cost and weight. The increased bypass ratio also results in a mismatch between the hub radius of the fan and the hub radius of the subsequent compressor stages, increasing duct lengths and duct losses between compressors. The higher bypass ratio also requires an increased number of turbine stages to drive the fan, the maximum turbine radius being limited by installation constraints. Very high bypass ratio engines are prohibitively heavy, and when installed under-wing on a conventional low wing aircraft they require an increase in aircraft undercarriage length which adds further cost and weight penalties to the aircraft. The larger size engines are also more difficult to transport to and from the aircraft.
In order to avoid an excessive number of turbine stages and their associated cost, mass and complexity, the generally proposed solution for very high bypass ratio engines is to incorporate a gearbox between the fan and the turbine so that the turbine rotational speed can be increased to increase work per stage and reduce the total number of turbine stages. However this arrangement adds the cost, mass, complexity and potential unreliability of incorporating a high power gearbox, it is unproven for large engines, and is unattractive to aircraft operators. Problems still remain with the mismatch in compressor hub radii and with the installation of the engine on the aircraft.
Increasing the number of engines on an airframe by installing two or three smaller engines side by side in a common nacelle on each under-wing pylon is a well-known arrangement. This would enable lower specific thrust engines to be fitted without an increase in undercarriage length or a reduction in ground clearance or a reduction in the ‘gully depth’ (the distance between the wing and the nacelle) that is needed to minimise interference drag. Small engines are however less efficient and less cost effective than large engines and this arrangement does not solve the problem that each engine needs either a very large number of turbine stages or a geared fan.
Aircraft engine configurations where a single engine has more than one fan are also known.
Aircraft engines having two fans with parallel flows have been proposed with the fans arranged in series on the same shaft and driven by the same turbine. These so called tandem fan engine arrangements can increase the total mass flow for a given frontal area and reduce the total number of turbine stages required for a given overall bypass ratio. However, the convoluted exit nozzles for the first fan and the bifurcated intakes for the second fan add significantly to the installation losses for a low specific thrust version of such an engine. In a conventional under-wing installation the extra length of a tandem fan engine projecting forwards from under the wing results in higher wing bending moments and a significant weight penalty for the wing and the pylon supporting the engine. The forward extension of the engine also interferes with the space available for loading and unloading the aircraft. Variable specific thrust versions of such engines may be better suited to supersonic aircraft where the engine nacelles can be integrated with a delta wing.
The use of separate lift fans or propellers driven by shafts and gears through clutches is another known arrangement and multiple low specific thrust fans have also been proposed mounted around the rear fuselage of an aircraft and driven by gears and shafts from a smaller number of gas generators driving power turbines buried within the fuselage. These arrangements have the disadvantage of needing complex geared drive systems.
It has also been proposed to drive a low specific thrust fan by turbine blades mounted on the periphery of the fan rotor assembly. Such tip turbines can be fed from gas generators that are not coaxial with the fans. However, tip turbines are not easy to design and manufacture, and sealing them is particularly difficult. Gas leakages result in poor performance, making such arrangements unattractive.
Remote fans driven by compressor bleed air and separate combustors and turbines have also been proposed. Such engines need additional combustors that add to the complexity and potential unreliability of the engines, making them unattractive. The fans would also need to be geared to avoid an excessive number of turbine stages in a low specific thrust power plant.
A turbojet engine with an auxiliary pair of parallel flow fans arranged on either side of it and driven by parallel flow turbines is also known. Such a multiple fan aero engine arrangement was first described in GB1,110,113. This engine has a turbojet core with its own intake, and two auxiliary parallel flow fans with their own separate intakes. An auxiliary turbine directly drives each of the auxiliary fans. The core exhaust gasses can be supplied to the two parallel flow auxiliary turbines by means of a bifurcated duct. This engine, mounted with the fans side by side in an under-wing installation, overcomes the problem with ground clearance for low specific thrust engines. The disadvantages of this multiple fan engine arrangement, for a low specific thrust engine, are that a very large number of turbine stages are required; the core intake is not protected from ingestion of foreign objects by an upstream fan; the core needs its own intake with its additional pressure losses; and the core compressors do not benefit from the supercharging of the air through a fan.
None of these previously described designs is entirely satisfactory for a very low specific thrust engine mounted in an under-wing installation. | {
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Lattice structures are very popular for many purposes where panels are typically useful, and generally combine desirable characteristics of strength, light weight, and low cost. FIG. 1, labeled prior art, shows a typical lattice structure 11 formed from straight elements such as elements 13 arranged in a crossing pattern and fastened together, forming openings 15 in the shape of parallelograms, often referred to as diamond-shaped.
The crossed lattice structure typically has border elements, such as elements 17, 19, 21, and 23, to make the overall structure stronger, and the define a boundary and elements for joining with other lattice structures to provide such as a fence or divider.
By varying structural dimensions and relationships in the assembly of a conventional lattice structure the relative area of openings may be varied, and the geometry of the parallelogram openings may be varied as well. For example, lattice structures of this conventional sort may have crossed horizontal and vertical elements (slats) fastened at right angles, in which case the openings are rectangles or squares. As is well known, and evident in FIG. 1, the structural elements form regular and repeatable openings by the fact that about one-half of the elements are arranged parallel at one angle with a fixed reference, and the other one-half are arranged parallel at a second angle with the same reference.
In the art up until the lime of the present invention, conventional lattice structures have been formed of straight elements, or slats, as shown in FIG. 1, and although these structures have many uses, the geometry is not pleasing to everyone, and the use of such structures is thus somewhat limited.
What is clearly needed is a lattice structure formed of other than straight elements, providing thereby a unique and more pleasing appearance, and openings of curved outline, which will provide structures adapted to expanded use. | {
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1. Technical Field
The inventive concept relates to semiconductor devices and methods of fabricating the same. More particularly, the inventive concept relates to metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors and methods of fabricating the same.
2. Description of Related Art
There is an ever increasing demand for more highly integrated and higher performance semiconductor devices. In this respect, metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors constituting semiconductor devices are continuously being scaled down. For example, the thickness of gate insulation layers of MOS transistors and the channel length of the MOS transistors are being minimized in an attempt to maximize the density of integration and performance of semiconductor devices. In particular, reducing the thickness of the gate insulation layers of the MOS transistors and the channel length of the MOS transistors results in an increase in the mobility of carriers (e.g., electrons or holes) of the MOS transistors and thus, an increase in the operating speed of the semiconductor devices. However, small channel lengths of the MOS transistors sometimes give rise to a so-called short channel effect, and thin gate insulation layers may allow for excessive gate leakage current. To suppress such a short channel effect, the channel of a MOS transistor may be formed with a high concentration of impurities. However, in this case, the carrier mobility in the channel region is compromised by the impurities in the channel region because the greater the concentration of the impurities the lower the carrier mobility. Therefore, the switching speed of the MOS transistors is impeded even though the channel length is kept to a minimum. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Imagers are used in many applications nowadays. This includes 2D CMOS imagers as well as 3D imagers such as 3D depth imagers (3D cameras) which may be based for example on the ToF principle (time-of-flight principle) or other principles. 3D cameras may provide human gesture recognition in natural user interfaces or passenger recognition for automotive safety functions. Distinguished from 2D cameras, 3D cameras for example provide an array of pixel in which each pixel is capable to provide information related to a distance of the object captured by the pixel. Such information may for example be based on a time of flight of light reflected from an object captured by the pixels.
With the implementation of increasing number of pixels on a depth imager chip and the shrinking of pixel sizes going along therewith, the need exist for a concept which allows efficient conversion of light into charge carriers and efficient controlling of the charge carriers in each pixel.
In view of the above it would be beneficial to have a concept which is capable of providing a high degree of efficiency for imagers. In addition, it would be beneficial to have a concept which allows the parallel processing of control electrodes in the optical sensitive areas as well as transistors for an integrated circuit provided for further signal processing. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a system for thin film deposition, and more particularly to a replaceable film precursor support assembly for use in the film precursor evaporation system of a thin film deposition system.
2. Description of Related Art
The introduction of copper (Cu) metal into multilayer metallization schemes for manufacturing integrated circuits can necessitate the use of diffusion barriers/liners to promote adhesion and growth of the Cu layers and to prevent diffusion of Cu into the dielectric materials. Barriers/liners that are deposited onto dielectric materials can include refractive materials, such as tungsten (W), molybdenum (Mo), and tantalum (Ta), that are non-reactive and immiscible in Cu, and can offer low electrical resistivity. Current integration schemes that integrate Cu metallization and dielectric materials can require barrier/liner deposition processes at substrate temperatures between about 400° C. and about 500° C., or lower.
For example, Cu integration schemes for technology nodes less than or equal to 130 nm currently utilize a low dielectric constant (low-k) inter-level dielectric, followed by a physical vapor deposition (PVD) TaN layer and Ta barrier layer, followed by a PVD Cu seed layer, and an electro-chemical deposition (ECD) Cu fill. Generally, Ta layers are chosen for their adhesion properties (i.e., their ability to adhere on low-k films), and Ta/TaN layers are generally chosen for their barrier properties (i.e., their ability to prevent Cu diffusion into the low-k film).
As described above, significant effort has been devoted to the study and implementation of thin transition metal layers as Cu diffusion barriers, these studies including such materials as chromium, tantalum, molybdenum and tungsten. Each of these materials exhibits low miscibility in Cu. More recently, other materials, such as ruthenium (Ru) and rhodium (Rh), have been identified as potential barrier layers since they are expected to behave similarly to conventional refractory metals. However, the use of Ru or Rh can permit the use of only one barrier layer, as opposed to two layers, such as Ta/TaN. This observation is due to the adhesive and barrier properties of these materials. For example, one Ru layer can replace the Ta/TaN barrier layer. Moreover, current research is finding that the one Ru layer can further replace the Cu seed layer, and bulk Cu fill can proceed directly following Ru deposition. This observation is due to good adhesion between the Cu and the Ru layers.
Conventionally, Ru layers-can be formed by thermally decomposing a ruthenium-containing precursor, such as a ruthenium carbonyl precursor, in a thermal chemical vapor deposition (TCVD) process. Material properties of Ru layers that are deposited by thermal decomposition of metal-carbonyl precursors (e.g., Ru3(CO)12), can deteriorate when the substrate temperature is lowered to below about 400° C. As a result, an increase in the (electrical) resistivity of the Ru layers and poor surface morphology (e.g., the formation of nodules) at low deposition temperatures has been attributed to increased incorporation of CO reaction by-products into the thermally deposited Ru layers. Both effects can be explained by a reduced CO desorption rate from the thermal decomposition of the ruthenium-carbonyl precursor at substrate temperatures below about 400° C.
Additionally, the use of metal-carbonyls, such as ruthenium carbonyl, can lead to poor deposition rates due to their low vapor pressure, and the transport issues associated therewith. Overall, the inventor has observed that current deposition systems suffer from such a low rate, making the deposition of such metal films impractical. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to a ball used in ball games such as a volley ball and a soccer ball, and more particularly to a ball having a fabric layer as a reinforcing layer obtained by sewing together a plurality of pieces of woven fabric in a specific manner.
Hitherto, in the technical field of the above kinds of balls used in ball games, there is known a structure comprising a rubber hollow tube or bladder, a fabric layer, a rubber based thin layer and a leather outer casing (for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,091,455 and 2,244,503) U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,091,455 and 2,244,503 disclose a ball structure comprising a rubber hollow bladder, a fabric layer surrounding the bladder, a rubber based thin intermediate layer coated on the fabric layer and a surface layer or outer casing. The fabric layer, used as a reinforcing layer, is formed by sewing together a plurality of shell-like fabric pieces. Further, it is known to form a fabric layer by overlapping and adhering a plurality of fabric pieces to each other (for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,653,818 and 4,239,568. and Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 8519/1956). U.S. Pat. No. 653,818 discloses a nonspherical athletic ball (ellipsoidal ball) such as a football, wherein the fabric pieces of the reinforcing layer are adhered to the bladder in a previously stretched state so as to minimize circumferential enlargement of the ball in a direction parallel to the minor axis. U.S. Pat. No. 239,568 and Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 8519/1956 disclose a ball wherein a fabric layer is formed by adhering cloth strips in two layers on a spherical body in such a manner that edges of cloth strips overlap one another. The majority of current ball products, such as volley balls, use reinforcing layers comprising windings of thread formed by winding several thousands of meters of thread, such as nylon yarn, around a tube (for example, U.S Pat. No. 4,333,648 and Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 3,934/1983). A reinforcing layer comprising wound yarn has a drawback because it gives a poor feel when the ball collides with the human body although such a ball having this type of reinforcing layer is superior with respect to several desirable characteristics namely, sphericity and durability. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,648 and corresponding Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 319,34/1983, rubber threads are mixed into nylon threads to reduce this drawback.
Recently, with respect to ladies' volley balls, boys' soccer balls and the like, it has been strongly desired that such volley balls or soccer balls produce less pain upon collision of the balls with a body and have a soft "feel".
However, it is difficult to make the current balls feel soft using reinforcing layers comprising wound threads. As a result of vigorous investigation, we inventors discovered that balls having a softer feeling could be obtained by employing a structure wherein, instead of a reinforced layer comprising wound threads, a plurality of fabric pieces of woven fabric and the like are sewed together in a particular manner to form a sphere containing a bladder therein. Various kinds of concrete constructions thereof were examined.
Since fabric layers which ar sewed together not only feel soft but also provide dimensional stability, sphericity and durability, strict limitations are required for the quality of the material, shape, sewing structure of fabric pieces abutting each other, and the like.
Therefore, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,091,455 and 2,244,503, using a structure comprising a rubber bladder, a fabric layer, a rubber based thin intermediate layer and a surface casing, it is almost impossible to maintain the sphericity of a ball because the sewed together portions are not equally distributed on the ball surface; the strength of the sewed together portions is different from that of other portions, i.e. it is generally larger than that of other portions; the direction of the warp and the direction of the weft of the fabric become uniform; and further stress is unevenly distributed due to the existence of two poles generated by the design of the fabric pieces. Moreover, the ball has a drawback because a soft feeling, which can be obtained in a bias direction of fabric texture, is lost since circumferential lines on the ball are solely composed of sewed together portions. Therefore, at present, no balls are manufactured having the above structure.
Also, balls having fabric layers obtained by pasting a plurality of fabric pieces to each other as in the above U.S. Pat. No. 4,239,568 and Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 8519/1956 are inferior in mechanical strength, particularly in the tensile strength of the joined portions of the fabric pieces, because the fabric pieces are merely overlapped over one another. These balls also have problems in sphericity and durability. Further, the balls have a drawback because of a large change in their shape over time. Still further, in balls having the structure as described hereinbefore, the joined portions of the fabric pieces are thicker than the other portions of the fabric pieces, whereby unevenness in the outer surface of the ball occurs, i.e. so-called mirror through phenomenon, on the surface of the balls. This mirror through phenomenon causes passing errors when using, for example, volley balls, because the players hands are caught in the unevenness when the ball is passed. This unevenness can also cause pain when the ball hits the player's hands. The balls are inferior in merchandise value.
In order to avoid the above drawbacks, a method is used to equalize the thickness of the fabric layers by adhering additional pieces to the concave portions of the fabric layer where there is no seam overlap. As a result, a good feeling inherent in the fabric itself, is remarkably reduced due to the thick fabric layer and the interposition of adhesive. A ball having a structure wherein the fabric layer is composed of pasted fabric pieces, improves the feeling of the ball during a collision with the ball at the sacrifice of other characteristics of the ball such as sphericity and durability. A ball of the present invention not only gives a better feeling than these balls, but satisfies the other desirable characteristics such as sphericity, and durability.
In the balls of the above type composed of pasted fabric pieces, it is possible to pile up several more fabric layers described hereinbefore and to paste then one on another to reinforce the ball, in order to improve sphericity dimensional stability and durability. However, when the structure of the ball comprises piled up fabric layers, it is difficult to obtain balls having satisfactory properties such as sphericity, dimensional stability and durability.
The present invention was made to solve the above mentioned problems. An object of the present invention is to provide a ball having superior sphericity, dimensional stability and durability as well as having a soft feeling. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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With respect to direct current motor, low noise is very important. A conventional method of reducing noise is to adhere vibration dampeners on vibration sources. However, this kind of conventional method is complicated and costly.
Furthermore, in some motors, for example motors for window lift applications in vehicles, Hall sensors are needed for counting rotations of the shaft or for calculating the rotation speed of motor, which is complicated and costly. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In the past several years, there has been an explosion in the use of LEDs in a variety of applications. Initially, LEDs were small and did not provide a significant degree of illumination. Accordingly, LEDs were often used as indicator lights and not as a source of illumination. However, as the technology surrounding the construction and use of LEDs has progressed, LEDs are now being used in many illumination applications where incandescent lamps were previously once used. However, since the amount of light produced by LEDs is still small in comparison to many incandescent lamps, there remains a need in the art to maximize the illumination provided by one or more LEDs and to place the LEDs in a replaceable package similar to an incandescent light for user convenience. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In vehicle applications, such as aviation and boating, vehicle-to-vehicle collisions are prevented by mounting navigation lights on the exterior of the vehicle. The lights function by alerting approaching vehicles of the presence and orientation of the first vehicle. The success navigation lights have in preventing collisions is partly due to an industry standard that dictates the color of light a navigation light must emit depending on the light's position on the body of the vehicle. Based on the color pattern of navigation lights visible to an approaching vehicle, the approaching vehicle can quickly deduce the direction, and therefore heading, of the vehicle it is approaching. For example green, red or white are often used to indicate the starboard, port or rear positions of a vehicle, respectively.
Several types of lighting are used in navigation light applications. One lighting type is the light emitting diode (LED). One problem with LED lighting in navigation lighting applications is that LED lights degrade gradually over time, compared with the catastrophic failure of incandescent lights. As a consequence of their gradual failure, LED lights carry the risk of being left in use after their level of intensity has degraded below that required for industry compliance. The airline industry imposes minimum standards for intensity level, as shown in the following table. According to industry guidelines, an aircraft should not be allowed to dispatch without navigation lights that are compliant with the following minimum standards:
Degrees from longitudinal axis0-1010-20.20-110110-180Minimum intensity (cd)4030520
To prevent LED lights from being inadvertently left in operation after their intensity has fallen below an accepted intensity threshold, a number of systems have been developed. One system is a timer system that disables LED light operation after a certain period of time. Another is a manual maintenance log system. The timer system does provide a level of assurance that the lights will comply with requirements, however disablement can occur unexpectedly, leading to the need for unexpected delays in vehicle operation for maintenance. The manual maintenance log system suffers from the requirement for human diligence. An ideal maintenance system would provide an indication a certain period of time in advance that an LED lighting system is approaching the time when it needs to be replaced. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The original stun gun was invented in the 1960's by Jack Cover. Such prior art stun guns incapacitated a target by delivering a sequence of high voltage pulses into the skin of a subject such that the current flow through the subject essentially “short-circuited” the target's neuromuscular system causing a stun effect in lower power systems and involuntary muscle contractions in more powerful systems. Stun guns, or electronic disabling devices, have been made in two primary configurations. A first stun gun design requires the user to establish direct contact between the first and second stun gun output electrodes and the target. A second stun gun design operates on a remote target by launching a pair of darts which typically incorporate barbed pointed ends. The darts either indirectly engage the clothing worn by a target or directly engage the target by causing the barbs to penetrate the target's skin. In most cases, a high impedance air gap exists between one or both of the first and second stun gun electrodes and the skin of the target because one or both of the electrodes contact the target's clothing rather than establishing a direct, low impedance contact point with the target's skin.
One of the most advanced existing stun guns incorporates the circuit concept illustrated in the FIG. 1 schematic diagram. Closing safety switch S1 connects the battery power supply to a microprocessor circuit and places the stun gun in the “armed” and ready to fire configuration. Subsequent closure of the trigger switch S2 causes the microprocessor to activate the power supply which generates a pulsed voltage output on the order of 2000 volts which is coupled to charge an energy storage capacitor up to the 2000 volt power supply output voltage. Spark gap “GAP1” periodically breaks down, causing a high current pulse through transformer T1 which transforms the 2000 volt input into a 50,000 volt output pulse.
TASER International of Scottsdale, Ariz., the assignee of the present invention, has for several years manufactured sophisticated stun guns of the type illustrated in the FIG. 1 block diagram designated as the TASER® Model M18 and Model M26 stun guns. High power stun guns such as these TASER International products typically incorporate an energy storage capacitor having a capacitance rating of from 0.2 microfarads at 2000 volts on a light duty weapon up to 0.88 microfarads at 2000 volts as used on the TASER M18 and M26 stun guns.
After the trigger switch S2 is closed, the high voltage power supply begins charging the energy storage capacitor up to the 2000 volt power supply peak output voltage. When the power supply output voltage reaches the 2000 voltage spark gap breakdown voltage. A spark is generated across the spark gap designated as “GAP1.” Ionization of the spark gap reduces the spark gap impedance from a near infinite impedance to a near zero impedance and allows the energy storage capacitor to almost fully discharge through step up transformer T1. As the output voltage of the energy storage capacitor rapidly decreases from the original 2000 volt level to a much lower level, the current flow through the spark gap decreases toward zero causing the spark gap to deionize and to resume its open circuit configuration with a near infinite impedance. This “reopening” of the spark gap defines the end of the first 50,000 volt output pulse which is applied to output electrodes designated in FIG. 1 as “E1” and “E2.” A typical stun gun of the type illustrated in the FIG. 1 circuit diagram produces from 5 to 20 pulses per second.
Because a stun gun designer must assume that a target may be wearing an item of clothing such as a leather or cloth jacket which functions to establish a ¼ inch to 1 inch air gap between stun gun electrodes E1 and E2 and the target's skin, stun guns have been required to generate 50,000 volt output pulses because this extreme voltage level is capable of establishing an arc across the high impedance air gap which may be presented between the stun gun output electrodes E1 and E2 and the target's skin. As soon as this electrical arc has been established, the near infinite impedance across the air gap is promptly reduced to a very low impedance which allows current to flow between the spaced apart stun gun output electrodes E1 and E2 and through the target's skin and intervening tissue regions. By generating a significant current flow within the target across the spaced apart stun gun output electrodes, the stun gun essentially short circuits the target's electromuscular control system and induces severe muscular contractions. With high power stun guns, such as the TASER M18 and M26 stun guns, the magnitude of the current flow across the spaced apart stun gun output electrodes causes numerous groups of skeletal muscles to rigidly contract. By causing high force level skeletal muscle contractions, the stun gun causes the target to lose its ability to maintain an erect, balanced posture. As a result, the target falls to the ground and is incapacitated.
The “M26” designation of the TASER stun gun reflects the fact that, when operated, the TASER M26 stun gun delivers 26 watts of output power as measured at the output capacitor. Due to the high voltage power supply inefficiencies, the battery input power is around 35 watts at a pulse rate of 15 pulses per second. Due to the requirement to generate a high voltage, high power output signal, the TASER M26 stun gun requires a relatively large and relatively heavy 8 AA cell battery pack. In addition, the M26 power generating solid state components, its energy storage capacitor, step up transformer and related parts must function either in a high current relatively high voltage mode (2000 volts) or be able to withstand repeated exposure to 50,000 volt output pulses.
At somewhere around 50,000 volts, the M26 stun gun air gap between output electrodes E1 and E2 breaks down, the air is ionized, a blue electric arc forms between the electrodes and current begins flowing between electrodes E1 and E2. As soon as stun gun output terminals E1 and E2 are presented with a relatively low impedance load instead of the high impedance air gap, the stun gun output voltage will drop to a significantly lower voltage level. For example, with a human target and with about a 10-inch probe to probe separation, the output voltage of a TASER Model M26 might drop from an initial high level of 50,000 volts to a voltage on the order of about 5,000 volts. This rapid voltage drop phenomenon with even the most advanced conventional stun guns results because such stun guns are tuned to operate in only a single mode to consistently create an electrical arc across a very high, near infinite impedance air gap. Once the stun gun output electrodes actually form a direct low impedance circuit across the spark gap, the effective stun gun load impedance decreases to the target impedance-typically on the order of 1000 ohms or less. A typical human subject frequently presents a load impedance on the order of about 200 ohms.
Conventional stun guns have by necessity been designed to have the capability of causing voltage breakdown across a very high impedance air gap. As a result, such stun guns have been designed to produce a 50,000 to 60,000 volt output. Once the air gap has been ionized and the air gap impedance has been reduced to a very low level, the stun gun, which has by necessity been designed to have the capability of ionizing an air gap, must now continue operating in the same mode while delivering current flow or charge across the skin of a now very low impedance target. The resulting high power, high voltage stun gun circuit operates relatively inefficiently yielding low electro-muscular efficiency and with high battery power requirements. | {
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The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Begonia.times.hiemalis known by the varietal name of Rosanna. The new cultivar is a natural sport of the cultivar Rosalie. The new cultivar has the same plant foliage and form as Rosalie, but the tonality of Rosalie is a peach to light orange whereas the tonality of Rosanna is pink.
The new cultivar was discovered at Limaplant b.v. in Lisse, Holland; was first asexually reproduced by cuttings at Limaplant b.v. in Lisse, Holland; and has been repeatedly asexually reproduced by cuttings for Oglevee Associates, Inc. in Connellsville, Pa. It has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics through successive propagations.
The new cultivar is generally characterized by its pastel pink blooms which are numerous and long lasting. The plants exhibit superior vigor and strength. The new cultivar has a high tolerance to botrytis and powdery mildew.
The new cultivar, when grown in a greenhouse in Connellsville, Pa. has a response time of 10 to 11 weeks from a well-rooted cutting to a flowering finished plant in a six inch pot (no pinch). | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Alopecia (hair loss) is a common condition that results from diverse causes. For example, adrenergic alopecia (common baldness) is seen in the vast majority of adult males and is considered physiologic and part of the aging process. Besides the loss of hair, the length and diameter of each hair will be reduced in the adjacent areas even though the follicles remain intact.
Telogen effluvium is a transient, reversible, diffuse shedding of hair in which a high percentage of hair follicles enter the telogen phase prematurely as a result of physical or mental illness. Among the most important factors incriminated are childbirth, high fever, hemorrhage, sudden starvation, accidental or surgical trauma, severe emotional stress, and certain drugs.
Alopecia areata is an immunologic alopecia characterized by the abrupt onset of sharply defined areas of hair loss. In the most severe cases, the scalp will develop total hair loss (alopecia totalis) or the hair loss will involve the whole body surface (alopecia universalis). Most of the patients will run an unpredictable and relapsing course with multiple episodes of hair loss and regrowth. Only about 20 to 30 percent will have a single reversible episode. Regrowth of hair is common within several months, but in many instances is not complete, and relapses are common. Alopecia areata may be associated with autoimmune diseases such as vitiligo, pernicious anemia, collagen disease, and endocrinopathies.
Traumatic alopecia is induced by physical trauma, of which the two most important groups, from the therapeutic standpoint are trichotillomania and alopecia resulting from cosmetic procedures or improper hair care. Trichotillomania is a compulsive habit in which the individual repeatedly pulls or breaks off his or her own hair in a partially conscious state similar to thumb sucking or nail biting. Traumatic alopecia from cosmetic procedures is done consciously in ill-advised individuals and is almost exclusively seen among females. Sometimes this type of alopecia is associated with folliculitis induced by the occlusive effect of the oily cosmetics used in the procedure.
Anagen effluvium is a temporary alopecia caused by the inhibition of mitosis in the hair papilla by certain cytotoxic drugs, leading to constriction of the hair shaft or to complete failure of hair formation. In particular, alopecia frequently occurs in cancer patients who are treated with chemotherapeutic drugs such as cyclophosphamide (CY) and/or irradiation. Such agents damage hair follicles which contain mitotically active hair-producing cells. Such damage may cause abnormally slow growth of the hair or may lead to frank loss. While various attempts have been made to protect against alopecia or abnormal rates of hair growth during such treatments, there remains a need for an agent that prevents damage to hair follicles in a safe and effective manner.
Alopecia may also result from nutritional deficiencies and metabolic defects. Caloric deprivation must be very severe to produce hair loss. Increased shedding sometimes occurs after marked weight loss for obesity. Anemia, diabetes, hyper- and hypovitaminosis, and zinc deficiency may also lead to alopecia.
Treatments for androgenetic alopecia have been ineffective in inducing regrowth. The use of cyclic estrogen therapy in females with an estrogen-dominant contraceptive or topical estrogen has been advocated to reduce the rate of hair loss, but results are not impressive. The claim that topical testosterone induces the growth of terminal hairs in bald scalp of males has not been confirmed.
There have been some indications that minoxidil (Rogaine®, Upjohn), a potent vasodilator, has been effective in causing scalp hair regrowth in patients with androgenetic alopecia, but the results have been mixed. Thus, there remains a need in the art for methods of treating and preventing the various types of alopecia.
Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) is a family of structurally homologous dimeric proteins; three mammalian isoforms (TGF-β1, TGF-β2, TGF-β3) share 70% sequence identity and exhibit distinct functions in vivo. All three TGF-β isoforms are potent growth inhibitors for most cell types, induce apoptosis in certain cell types and are physiologically important. TGF-β isoforms regulate multiple biological processes, including hair growth. TGF-β has been implicated in promoting the regression phase (catagen) of hair growth cycle by inducing cellular growth inhibition or apoptosis during anagen-catagen transition. Hair follicles are composed primarily of epithelial and dermal components.
The hair growth cycle is coordinated with the interactions of epithelial and dermal components. Dermal papilla cells (DPCs), which are androgen target cells, are believed to mediate androgenetic alopecia by androgen-induced secretion of TGF-β. The secreted TGF-β induces growth inhibition and/or apoptosis of hair follicle epithelial cells, resulting in loss of hair follicles and resultant alopecia. Increasing evidence also indicates that TGF-β is involved in the pathogenesis of alopecia caused by other factors. TGF-β therefore, appears to be the target for innovative treatment of alopecia. The present invention provides TGF-β peptantagonists and derivatives thereof that are effective in promoting hair growth. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to retrieval of information or processing of commands through a speech interface and/or a combination of a speech interface and a non-speech interface. More specifically, the invention provides a fully integrated environment that allows users to submit natural language questions and commands via the speech interface and the non-speech interface. Information may be obtained from a wide range of disciplines, making local and network inquiries to obtain the information and presenting results in a natural manner, even in cases where the question asked or the responses received are incomplete, ambiguous or subjective. The invention may further allow users to control devices and systems either locally or remotely.
2. Background of the Related Art
A machine's ability to communicate with humans in a natural manner remains a difficult problem. Cognitive research on human interaction shows that verbal communication, such as a person asking a question or giving a command, typically relies heavily on context and domain knowledge of the target person. By contrast, machine-based queries (e.g., questions, commands, requests, and/or other types of communications) may be highly structured and may not be inherently natural to the human user. Thus, verbal communications and machine processing of queries taken from the verbal communications may be fundamentally incompatible. Yet the ability to allow a person to make natural language speech-based queries remains a desirable goal.
Speech recognition has steadily improved in accuracy and today is successfully used in a wide range of applications. Natural language processing has been applied to the parsing of speech queries. Yet, current systems do not reliably provide a complete environment for users to submit verbal and/or textual communications through natural language queries that are processed to provide natural responses. There remain a number of significant barriers to creation of a complete speech-based and/or non-speech-based natural language query and response environment. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a fluid flow meter for indicating the rate of flow through a fluid transport line and in particular the rate of flow of a liquid fuel being consumed by an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One common method of measuring the fuel consumption of an internal combustion engine is to cause the fuel to flow through a vertically oriented tapered tube having a movable member therein. As the fuel flow rate increases the differential pressure forces the movable member into a higher position within the tube where a correspondingly larger space is available for fuel to flow around the movable member. While this method is quite satisfactory for research and development projects on internal combustion engines, it is rather impractical for consumer operated motor vehicles. Various electronic methods of sensing the position of the movable member of this type have been proposed but are generally either too expensive, too inaccurate, or both.
Another well known method of measuring fuel flow rate is to pass the fuel over the blades of a turbine or through a vane-type metering device similar to a vane pump. In actual construction, these devices have a relatively limited range of flow rates for which useful accuracy can be expected. Inaccuracies generally arise due to the wide pressure variations present under ordinary operating conditions or the bearing friction inherent in most turbine designs. Furthermore, the analog read-out devices most easily adapted and normally used with fuel flow metering devices of this type are either inherently expensive, relatively inaccurate or both. These devices are typically difficult to use due to the short term fuel flow variations inherent in the stop-and-go urban traffic patterns. It is difficult if not completely impossible to translate these short term variations into a long term fuel flow average value.
Another method commonly used for test track evaluation of fuel flow is to install a three way valve between the fuel pump inlet and the gas tank with a third port connected to a graduated cylinder of known volume, such as one-tenth of a gallon. The driver manually operates these valves and visually observes the rate of fuel consumption from the graduated container. The valve must then be returned to the fuel tank position and the graduated cylinder refilled or the engine will stop running due to a lack of fuel. The convenience of this fuel flow measuring device leaves much to be desired since the graduated container must be filled by manual techniques. Even though this type of fuel flow measuring device is extremely accurate over a very wide range of flow rates, it is obviously impractical and in some cases unsafe for use on a vehicle operating under normal highway conditions.
It is therefore the object of this invention to produce a simple and inexpensive device, capable of accurately indicating the fuel consumption of an engine over a very wide range of engine sizes and operating conditions without the requirement of extensive fuel system modifications. It is a further object of this invention that no manual operations be required of the operator at any time subsequent to the initiation of the metering interval, which, if neglected, could cause the engine to stop running for a lack of fuel.
It is a further object of this invention to eliminate analog read-out devices since they are relatively expensive, inaccurate and difficult to interpret under normal operating conditions. Another object of this invention is that the fuel flow measurement apparatus must operate with a pressure drop which is small enough under all conditions so as to be negligible when compared to the pressure available from normal automotive fuel pumps. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A self-mailer is conventionally defined as a mailpiece without an envelope. The self-mailer usually contains one or more sheets of printed material, folded once or twice by a folding machine into a smaller piece for mailing. Typically, the folded piece has a folded end and an open end (see FIGS. 11-14). The open end is sealed with one or more tabs before the self-mailer is sent to the addressee.
Folding machines are well-known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,701,233 (Beck et al.) discloses a method of folding a sheet by bulging a portion of the sheet and then folding the bulged portion through a roller nip. U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,965 (Marzullo) discloses a folding apparatus wherein a buckle chute is used for stopping a sheet, causing the sheet to enter a roller nip for folding. U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,131 (Gough) also discloses a folding apparatus having a buckle chute. With the above-identified folding machines, when the folded piece exits the folding apparatus, it travels in the direction of the fold. This means that the folded end is leading the open end. Folding machines are generally designed for folding enclosure material to be inserted into envelopes in an envelope inserting device. In this particular application, the traveling direction of the folded piece is not very important. But for tabbing purposes, it is desirable that the folded piece travels with the open end leading the folded end. Thus, while the traveling direction of the folded piece exiting a prior art folding machine is suitable for envelope insertion, it is not suitable for tabbing.
It is advantageous and desirable to provide a method and an apparatus for folding sheets wherein the leading edge of the folded piece exiting the folding apparatus can be selected. Furthermore, it is advantageous and desirable to provide a method and apparatus for folding sheets wherein the length of the sheet to be folded and the type of fold for the folded piece can be easily selected. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In order to control the traveling of a vehicle correctly, it is necessary to estimate the position of the vehicle upon road map data in an accurate manner. However, since position measurement errors of around several tens of meters can be generated by the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), it is difficult to estimate an accurate position for the vehicle within the road along with it is traveling, even if corrections are performed by using map data and map matching.
Accordingly, a system is per se known that controls the traveling of the vehicle by using information such as the shapes of roads (curves, intersections, and the like), the attributes of roads (speed limits, road gradients, and the like), and so on. The techniques disclosed in Patent Document #1 and Patent Document #2 are per se known as prior art techniques by which enhancement of the accuracy of estimation of the position of a subject vehicle is implemented.
In Patent Document #1, a technique is disclosed for enhancing the accuracy of estimation of the position of the vehicle by attaching a camera to the vehicle, by recognizing, from the camera images obtained during traveling, landmarks which are characteristic objects from which the position of the vehicle can be accurately known such as traffic lights, traffic signs, lines painted upon the road and so on, and by implementing appropriate corrections.
And, in Patent Document #2, a technique is disclosed for implementing management of information for a landmark for which the level of accuracy of existence is high by making a decision as to whether or not to report the result of recognition to a map center, in consideration of the likelihood of the result of landmark recognition and/or of the conditions during photography of the image. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of traveling bags. In particular, the invention relates to a multimode traveling bag that can be used as a hand carrying bag, back pack, or shoulder bag.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Traveling bags have been long used in the prior art. In order to allow the user to carry the traveling bag in a variety of different ways, numerous straps and handles have been added to the bags. Multiple straps have been added at various points on the traveling bag to allow the user to variously carry the bag in one hand, over the shoulder or as a back pack. However, the addition of so many different straps and handles at multiple locations on the bag have resulted in a cluttered disorganized looking bag. In addition, the proliferation of straps and handles can be caught on projecting objects, in doors or escalators. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 954,840 (Wiedmann), 294,622 (Honinger), 4,856,570 (Rushing), 4,566,130 (Coates). Efforts have been made to provide carrying bags with multiple use straps. See, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,273,274 (Freistadt), 3,802,613 (Droeger). However, there is still a need for a versatile traveling bag that can be carried in a variety of different ways. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The Internet provides a vast amount of information, which may be stored at many different sites and on many different devices, such as on servers and clients or in databases, around the world. These different devices at the different sites are communicatively linked to computer or communication networks over wire-line or wireless connections. A person may access specific pieces of information available on the Internet using a suitable network device (e.g., a computer, a smart mobile telephone, an entertainment console, etc.) connected to a network.
Due to the sheer amount of information available on the Internet, it is impractical as well as impossible for a person (e.g., a network user) to manually search throughout the Internet for the specific pieces of information he needs. Instead, most network users rely on different types of computer-implemented tools to help them locate the desired information. One of the most commonly and widely used computer-implemented tools is a search tool, also referred to as a search engine. To search for information relating to a specific topic on the Internet, a user typically provides a few words, often referred to as a “search query” or simply “query”, describing the topic to a search tool. The search tool conducts a search based on the search query using various search algorithms and generates a set of search results, each corresponding to some information that is most likely to be related to the search query. The search results are then presented to the user.
Sophisticated search tools implement many other functionalities in addition to merely identifying the search results as a part of the search process. For example, a search tool usually ranks the identified search results according to their relative degrees of relevance with respect to the search query, such that the search results that are relatively more relevant to the search query are ranked higher than and consequently are presented to the network user before the search results that are relatively less relevant to the search query. Sometimes, a search result may be associated with a clickable call-to-action icon or button so that the user may click on it to further interact with the search result. There are continuous efforts to improve the quality of the search results generated by the search tools. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Polybenzimidazole (PBI) constitutes a well known class of heterocyclic polymers and is described, merely by way of example and not limitation, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,814,400 issued to Sansone. One PBI known as poly-2,2′(m-phenylene)-5,5′-bibenzimidazole has been used, as well as other PBI compounds, to form ionically conductive materials, fire resistant materials, and various types of separatory media, such as membranes and ultrafilters. Poly-2,2′(m-phenylene)-5,5′-bibenzimidazole is resistant to strong acids, bases, and high temperatures up to 500° C. but exhibits very poor solubility in common organic solvents. It is soluble under harsh conditions in highly polar, aprotic organic solvents, such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc), N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), and N-methylpyrrolidinone (NMP), which exhibit high boiling points and low vapor pressures. Accordingly, such solvents are not preferred for polymer processing.
As such, it would be advantageous to modify a PBI, such as poly-2,2′(m-phenylene)-5,5′-bibenzimidazole, to exhibit better solubility in common organic solvents more preferable for polymer processing. Also, an appropriate method for modifying PBI would be advantageous. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to rural-type mailbox assemblies and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, it relates to an improved construction for a mailbox that enables increased resistance to destruction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art includes numerous types of rural delivery mailboxes, some of which have been known and employed since earliest times of mail delivery. A recent U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,161 provides teaching of a breakaway support structure that utilizes a replaceable shear connector. Thus, when the mailbox is damaged by being hit by a vehicle or intentionally mauled, a frangible upright support linkage is adapted to retain the broken mailbox installation for reassembly and upright positioning. Another U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,088 teaches a mailbox that is supported on a spring linked support pole so that any horizontal force striking the mailbox will result in a relatively non-damaging blow as the mailbox is free to give way and reverberate on its spring support, and to return to its supported upright position.
Finally, a U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,111 teaches another type of frangible mailbox support post having a sector that is intentionally devised for breakage with components chain-tethered for subsequent reassembly. The post stanchion employs a sleeve part that includes spiral scores or grooves which allow breakage of the upright post with minimal damage to the mailbox components. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductive polymer composition, to a method for preparing said semiconductive polymer composition, to its use for the production of a semiconductive layer of an electric power cable, and to an electric power cable comprising at least one semiconductive layer, which layer comprises the above mentioned semiconductive polymer composition.
2. Description of Related Art
In wire and cable applications a typical cable comprises at least one conductor surrounded by one or more layers of polymeric materials. In power cables, including medium voltage (MV), high voltage (HV) and extra high voltage (EHV), said conductor is surrounded by several layers including an inner semiconductive layer, an insulation layer and an outer semiconductive layer, in that order. The cables are commonly produced by extruding the layers on a conductor. Such polymeric semiconductive layers are well known and widely used in dielectric power cables rated for voltages greater than 1 kilo Volt. These layers are used to provide layers of intermediate resistivity between the conductor and the insulation, and between the insulation and the ground or neutral potential.
These compositions are usually prepared in granular or pellet form. Polyolefin formulations such as these are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,286,023; 4,612,139; and 5,556,697; and European Patent 420 271.
One or more of said layers of the power cable are typically crosslinked to achieve desired properties to the end product cable. Crosslinking of polymers, i.e. forming primarily interpolymer crosslinks (bridges), is one well known modification method in many end applications of polymers. Crosslinking of polymers, such as polyolefins, substantially contributes i.a. to heat and deformation resistance, creep properties, mechanical strength, as well as to chemical and abrasion resistance of a polymer. In wire and cable applications crosslinked polymers, such as crosslinked polyethylenes, are commonly used as a layer material, e.g. in insulating, semi-conducting and/or jacketing layers.
Crosslinking can be effected i.a. by radical reaction using radiation or free radical generating agents, also called crosslinking agents. Examples of such free radical generating agents are peroxides including inorganic and organic peroxides. Crosslinking using peroxide is known as peroxide technology. A further well known crosslinking method is crosslinking functional groups, e.g. by hydrolysing hydrolysable silane groups, which are linked to polymer, and subsequently condensing the formed silanol groups using a silanol condensation catalyst, for instance carboxylates of metals, such as tin, zinc, iron, lead and cobalt; organic bases; inorganic acids; and organic acids. The crosslinking of polymers via silane groups thereof is known as silane-crosslinking technology, and for hydrolysable silane groups also called as moisture curing technology. Such silane-crosslinking techniques are known e.g. from U.S. Pat. No. 4,413,066, U.S. Pat. No. 4,297,310, U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,876, U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,981, U.S. Pat. No. 4,446,283 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,704. These two type of crosslinking methods are referred herein below shortly as “crosslinking via radical reaction” and, respectively, “crosslinking via silane groups”. In case of crosslinkable semiconductive layer materials using crosslinking via radical reaction, said layer composition may also comprise a crosslinking agent, such as peroxide, which is preferably added onto the pellets after producing the polymer pellets as described e.g in WO00038895 of Pirelli.
The purpose of a semiconductive layer is to prolong the service life, i.e. long term viability, of a power cable i.a. by preventing partial discharge at the interface of conductive and dielectric layers. Surface smoothness of the extruded semiconductive layer is also a property that plays also an important role in prolonging the surface life of the cable. The smoothness is influenced i.a. by the used carbon black (CB). I.a. an uneven distribution of the particle size of carbon black particles can adverse said surface smoothness and cause localised electrical stress concentration which is a defect that can initiate a phenomenon well known as vented trees. Moreover, i.a. the surface properties and particle size as such of the CB may affect the surface smoothness of the semiconductive layer of a power cable. E.g. it is known that the larger the CB particles, the smoother the surface of the semiconductive layer. However, increasing the particle size of a CB for improving smoothness in turn deteriorates, i.e increases, the resistivity of the semiconductive layer material, whereby these properties need often be balanced, especially in case of so called furnace carbon black.
Furnace carbon black is generally acknowledged term for the well known CB type that is produced in a furnace-type reactor by pyroliyzing a hydrocarbon feedstock with hot combustion gases. A variety of preparation methods thereof are known and such furnace carbon blacks are described i.a. in EP629222 of Cabot, U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,789, U.S. Pat. No. 3,922,335 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,401,020. Furnace carbon black is distinguished herein from acetylene carbon black which is also generally acknowledged term for the well known type of CB produced by reaction of acetylene and unsaturated hydrocarbons, e.g. as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,577.
As an example of commercial furnace carbon black grades described in ASTM D 1765-98b are i.a. N351, N293 and N550.
Moreover, many carbon blacks, e.g. above mentioned furnace carbon blacks, are commercially available in a form of “pellet” agglomerates formed from primary CB particles thereof. These agglomerates are broken during the processing, i.e. compounding, step of the preparation of said semiconductive polymer composition. The break down of said agglomerates thus may also have an effect on said surface smoothness property. Without binding to any theory it appears that an extensive mixing of semiconductive polymer mixture in order to get an even particle size distribution amongst the CB particles may adverse the resistivity of the composition. Accordingly there seems to be limitations in particle size window for the CB particles to enable sufficient smoothness and resistivity of the final product.
Thus there is a continuous need in prior art to provide new semiconductive polymer compositions with improved smoothness and at the same time maintain feasible balance with other properties. | {
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Modern vehicles (e.g., airplanes, boats, trains, cars, trucks, etc.) can include a vehicle event recorder in order to better understand the timeline of an anomalous event (e.g., an accident). A vehicle event recorder typically includes a set of sensors, e.g., video recorders, audio recorders, accelerometers, gyroscopes, vehicle state sensors, GPS (global positioning system), etc., that report data, which is used to determine the occurrence of an anomalous event. If an anomalous event is detected, then sensor data related to the event is stored for later review. A vehicle event recorder for cars and trucks (e.g., vehicles that operate on public roads) typically includes road map data comprising location-specific information (e.g., speed limit information, traffic control information, vehicle depot information, vehicle boundary information, etc.). Location-specific information can cause the rules defining when an event is detected to change based on location (e.g., speed limit laws change in different regions; while in a vehicle depot seat belts are not required to be fastened; if the vehicle leaves a vehicle boundary an event is detected; etc.). However, programming a vehicle event recorder with location-specific information can be a complex, arduous, and error-prone process. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A variety of Z-shaped steel sheet pilings are known in the prior art. Z-shaped sheet pilings are typically produced in different sizes characterized by their approximate weight in pounds per square foot (“psf”). Typical sizes include the PZ22, PLZ23, PLZ25, PZ27, PZ35, and the PZ40. Such sheet pilings have been produced by Bethlehem Steel Corporation and United States Steel Corporation.
However, sheet pilings known in the prior art do not provide much versatility with respect to the placement of steel near the junction. This has been found to limit the ability to strengthen the piling with respect to transverse stresses (i.e., those stresses oriented perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the sheet piling).
Hence, it would be useful to provide sheet pilings which can be manufactured efficiently and with greater selectivity for strength. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Advances are continually being made in the area of manned space flight and this area of exploration will certainly play an important role in the progress of science over the next several decades and centuries. As the reaches of manned space flight expand, new technologies are needed protect those who venture into the harsh vacuum above, while also economizing resources for longer missions and lowering the costs associated with space travel. With these goals in mind, improvements may be made to current systems and methods for spacecraft environmental controls and life support.
One aspect of environmental control and life support is air revitalization. Oxygen gas, carbon dioxide gas, and water vapor within the breathable air of an enclosed crew cabin of a spacecraft must be maintained at levels to support life. Active air revitalization may help to maintain the levels. Typical spacecraft generally rely on separate systems to remove carbon dioxide and water vapor from the crew cabin. Resources are not typically shared between the systems. Further, typical air revitalization systems rely solely on fans to pass air therethrough without taking advantage of incidental pressure differentials to move air. Additional disadvantages may exist. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Temporary IVC filters are placed much like permanent filters, but are designed so that they may be retrieved in a separate endovascular procedure, generally from a femoral vein or internal jugular vein approach. Most of the currently available temporary filters include a hook-like feature with which they can be captured and received within a catheter or sheath for removal by employing a gooseneck snare or a multi-loop snare.
While retrieval is a simple procedure in principle, difficulty is often encountered capturing a filter's hook with the snare loop(s). Such difficulty is compounded when the filter is tilted or off-kilter in placement. Several filters are designed to avoid such orientation. However, the problem remains common because the device is not anchored into the IVC in a stable fashion. Constant blood flow in addition to blood clots can disorient the filter within the IVC making recapture difficult. Accordingly, there exists a need for a filter retrieval system with improved ease of use and/or less susceptibility to problems of filter orientation. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an electronic device and method for extracting incoming/outgoing information and managing contacts and, more particularly, to an electronic device and method for distinguishing, storing, and managing short-term contacts.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of functions of electronic devices, electronic devices may now store many details concerning contacts. For example, the electronic device may store not only a telephone number of a specific person, but also other contact details such as a SNS (Social Networking Service) address and an email address of that person.
However, when an electronic device performs communication with a new entity that is not stored as a contact in the electronic device, only the telephone number corresponding to the entity is displayed in the call history list of the electronic device without a user name or company name of the entity. Moreover, since a plurality of entities which are not stored as contacts are displayed in the call history list of the electronic device, the user can not distinguish a specific entity from the other entities when the user wants to perform communication with the specific entity. Therefore, in order to distinguish any of the new entities from each other, the user needs to manually store respective new contacts in the electronic device.
Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus and method for extracting user information for a new contact in an electronic device from at least one of metadata and contents of a communication when the electronic device has or is having a communication with a new entity (i.e., one not previously stored as a contact), thereby improving the user's convenience. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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There are a number of situations in which it is necessary to accurately place a label in association with a substrate. This is most common for mailpieces which have address labels thereon including bar coding or other machine readable information designed to be used with postal service scanners. While commercial mechanisms exist for automatically applying labels in a substantially accurate manner to mailpieces, typically used tamp mechanisms are pneumatically powered, and there are many complex components which make such applicators expensive (e.g. greater than U.S. $20,000.00). Also, they are difficult to install, noisy, and take up more than a desirable amount of work space. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,595,447. Other automatic applicators (such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,784,714 and 4,321,103, and European published application 0577241), even if they do not require pneumatic tamp mechanisms, have a significant number of complex components and/or do not apply the labels to the mailpieces, or other substrates, with a high degree of accuracy.
According to the present invention, a label applicator, and a method of applying labels to substrates, are provided that have the necessary accuracy to apply address labels to mailpieces so that they may be effectively automatically scanned by postal equipment, yet are relatively simple and inexpensive. The applicator according to the invention is semi-automatic, is compact so that it can fit on a desktop (in fact both an associated printer and the label applicator can fit on a desktop), no pneumatic hookup is typically required, and no external power is typically required since the electricity for powering the label applicator may come directly from the printer. Also, in the preferred embodiment the mailpiece is moved into contact with the label; since the label does not move during application this gives greater accuracy in placement. The applicator is compatible with both linered and linerless labels and printers, and can be used with printers of a variety of types including thermal transfer, direct thermal, and ink jet. The applicator may be mounted with the printer, or easily detached from the printer, and the cost of the applicator is less than half of commercial automatic applicators.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a label applicator is provided comprising the following components: A label feed mechanism which feeds a label having a first face with pressure sensitive adhesive and a second face with indicia printed thereon. A label positive stop cooperating with the feed mechanism to stop a label fed by the feed mechanism in a first desired position. A holding device which holds the label in the first desired position. A substrate positive stop which stops a substrate at a second desired position in alignment with a label at the first desired position. And automatic means for moving a substrate at the second desired position into, and then out of, contact with the pressure sensitive adhesive of a label at the first desired position so that the label sticks to the substrate, and is removed from the holding device with the substrate.
The automatic means for moving the substrate may comprise a wide variety of structures. For example, it may comprise a traveling nut on a screw which is powered by an electric or pneumatic motor, a pneumatic cylinder, or a variety of other conventional primarily linear actuators. In the preferred embodiment, however, the automatic means comprises a linear solenoid and a tamp pad connected thereto. Preferably, the substrate positive stop is vertically below the label positive stop, and the linear solenoid is positioned so as to move the tamp pad, and a substrate (such as a mailpiece) thereon, at least primarily upwardly to bring the substrate into contact with the label adhesive. The label positive stop is vertically movable upon contact with the tamp pad; for example the label positive stop may comprise one or more pins which fit through openings in a surface against which the label is held, with a head preventing the pins from falling through the openings, but the pins unconnected to the surface so that they may reciprocate up and down. A number of different holes may be provided so that the position of the label stop is adjustable.
Preferably, the label feed mechanism, the label positive stop, holding device, substrate positive stop, and solenoid are mounted within a housing dimensioned to fit on a desktop. The holding device may comprise a support having first and second faces with one or more apertures therein extending between the faces, the first face for engaging a label; and one or more electric fans adjacent the second face and positioned to pull air through the one or more apertures, suction created by the one or more fans holding a label to the first face. The label feed mechanism may comprise at least one set of rollers (e.g. one set within the label applicator, and possibly--especially where linerless labels are used--another set in the printer).
The automatic means for moving the substrate preferably are controlled by a control device having at least two position sensors for sensing the position of a label and a substrate, respectively. There may be further provided a printer for printing indicia on the label second face, the printer also dimensioned to fit on a desktop, and a mounting plate connecting the printer and housing together at a bottom portion of each, the mounting plate having feet extending downwardly therefrom. Where the applicator is for use with a substrate, there preferably is further provided a mailpiece support extending outwardly from the housing opposite the feed mechanism, the support plate facilitating manual movement of a mailpiece into the housing to contact the positive stop. A solenoid, sensors (e.g. optical sensors), feed mechanism, and holding device are preferably electrically powered, electric power being provided by connection to the printer.
According to another aspect of the present invention a method of applying address labels to a mailpiece in a semi-automatic manner using a label applicator including label and mailpiece positive stops and housing, each label having a first face with pressure sensitive adhesive, and a second face with address indicia thereon, is provided. The method comprises the steps of: (a) Feeding a label into the housing until positively stopped at a first desired position so that the first face thereof is substantially uncovered. (b) Releasably holding the label in the first position. (c) Feeding a mailpiece into the housing until positively stopped at a second desired position aligned with the first position. (d) Sensing the label and mailpiece contemporaneously at the first and second positions, respectively. (e) In response to step (d) automatically effecting relative movement of the label and mailpiece with respect to each other so that the adhesive of the label sticks to the mailpiece. And (f) removing the mailpiece from the housing, with the label applied, the label being automatically released from being held in the first position.
Steps (c) and (f) are preferably practiced manually, and step (e) is practiced by moving the mailpiece while the label remains substantially stationary. There may also be the further step of adjusting the positive stops for both the label and the mailpiece to accommodate labels and mailpieces of different sizes or configurations. Step (d) may be practiced optically, utilizing two different sensors, one for the mailpiece and the other for the label. There is also preferably the further step of printing the label second face (e.g. by thermal transfer, direct thermal, or ink jet techniques) substantially immediately (typically, during normal operation, only about 5-20 seconds) before the label is applied to the mailpiece.
According to another aspect of the present invention a desktop mounted label printer and applicator assembly is provided. The assembly preferably comprises the following components: A printer comprising a housing, a print head within the housing, and a source of electric power. A label applicator disposed in a housing. A feed mechanism which feeds printed labels from the printer housing into the label applicator housing, the feed mechanism being electrically powered. The housings are dimensioned and configured to collectively fit on a desktop. An electrically powered label holding device disposed in the label applicator housing. An electrically powered device which effects relative movement between a substrate (e.g. mailpiece) and the label so that pressure sensitive adhesive on one face of the label moves into contact with, and adheres to, the substrate, disposed within the label applicator housing. Electrically powered sensors for sensing the relative positions of the label and substrate, the sensors disposed in the label applicator housing. And the electrically powered holding device, moving device, and sensors, connected up to the source of electrical power of the printer. The details of the mechanisms utilized herein are preferably as described above, although under some circumstances other mechanisms may be utilized (such as a pneumatically operated moving device for moving the label with respect to the substrate, etc.).
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a simple yet effective label applicator, combination label printer and applicator assembly, and method of applying labels to mailpieces or other substrates, which are simple, inexpensive, yet highly accurate in placement of labels on substrates. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from a detailed description of the invention and from the appended claims. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the shared usage of synchronous memory by a plurality of agents, i.e., processors.
2. Background of Related Art
With the ever-increasing speeds of today""s processors, memory designs have attempted to meet the required speed requirements. For instance, synchronous memory such as static random access memory (SRAM) and dynamic random access memory (DRAM) are commonly available synchronous types of memory.
Synchronous memory technology is currently used in a wide variety of applications to close the gap between the needs of high-speed processors and the access time of asynchronous memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM). Synchronous memory, e.g., SDRAM technology, combines industry advances in fast dynamic random access memory (DRAM) with a high-speed interface.
Functionally, an SDRAM resembles a conventional DRAM, i.e., it is dynamic and must be refreshed. However, the SDRAM architecture has improvements over standard DRAM. For instance, an SDRAM uses internal pipelining to improve throughput and on-chip interleaving between separate memory banks to eliminate gaps in output data.
The idea of using a SDRAM synchronously (as opposed to using a DRAM asynchronously) emerged in light of increasing data transfer demands of high-end processors. SDRAM circuit designs are based on state machine operation instead of being level/pulse width driven as in conventional asynchronous memory devices. In addition, synchronous memory access techniques improve the margin to system noise because inputs are not level driven. Instead, the inputs are latched by the system clock. Since all timing is based on the same synchronous clock, designers can achieve better specification margins. Moreover, since the SDRAM access is programmable, designers can improve bus utilization because the processor can be synchronized to the SDRAM output.
The core of an SDRAM device is a standard DRAM with the important addition of synchronous control logic. By synchronizing all address, data and control signals with a single clock signal, SDRAM technology enhances performance, simplifies design and provides faster data transfer.
Similar advantages hold for other types of synchronous memory, e.g., synchronous SRAM (SSRAM) or even synchronous read only memory (ROM).
Synchronous memory requires a clock signal from the accessing agent to allow fully synchronous operation with respect to the accessing agent. If more than one agent is given access to a shared synchronous memory, each agent must conventionally supply its own clock signal to the synchronous memory. Unfortunately, the clock signals from separate agents are not conventionally synchronous or in phase with one another. Therefore, as the synchronous memory shifts from the use of one clock signal to another, delays or wait states must be added before the new agent""s clock signal can be used to access the synchronous memory. Moreover, arbitration schemes between a plurality of agents for conventional memory systems evidences that the performance of one agent may suffer more than another agent sharing the same memory, particularly if the memory accesses are disproportionately distributed among the accessing agents.
Some synchronous memory devices have the capability to provide burst input/output (I/O), particularly for the optimization of cache memory fills at the system frequency. Advanced features such as programmable burst mode and burst length improve memory system performance and flexibility in conventional synchronous memories, and eliminate the need to insert wait states, e.g., dormant clock cycles, between individual accesses in the burst.
Conventional SDRAM devices include independent, fixed memory sections that can be accessed individually or in an interleaved fashion. For instance, two independent banks in an SDRAM device allow that device to have two different rows active at the same time. This means that data can be read from or written to one bank while the other bank is being precharged. The setup normally associated with precharging and activating a row can be hidden by interleaving the bank accesses.
FIG. 11 shows a conventional synchronous memory system having only one agent 100 and a synchronous memory, e.g., SDRAM 502. The single agent 100 communicates with the synchronous memory using appropriate address, data and control buses (ADC) 506, and one or more clock signals 504. Because the synchronous memory 502 has only the single accessing agent 100, the synchronous memory 302 need only contend with access from a single source.
Conventional processing systems utilizing a plurality of agents have separate memory for each agent. However, depending upon the particular application, it is likely that all memory will not be used by all agents, and thus wasted memory resources may result in each of the separate memories.
There is thus a need for synchronous memory systems which allow efficient use of synchronous memory resources by a plurality of agents.
In accordance with the principles of the present invention, a memory system comprises a multi-port shared synchronous memory, an arbiter, and a plurality of agents adapted to access the multi-port shared synchronous memory under the control of the arbiter.
A method of arbitrating a plurality of agents for access to a shared synchronous memory in accordance with the principles of the present invention comprises submitting a first memory access request signal based a first clock frequency to an arbiter. A second memory access request signal based on a second clock frequency is submitted substantially simultaneously to the arbiter. One of the first and second memory access request signals are selected for access to the shared synchronous memory. A memory access request signal of a currently owning agent having access to the shared synchronous memory is monitored, and the selected one of the first and second memory access request signals is allowed to access the shared synchronous memory. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to imaging systems, and more particularly to systems and methods for x-ray breast imaging.
Mammography is an x-ray imaging modality used to scan breasts for screening, diagnosis and management. The effectiveness of mammography is affected by numerous factors, including radiation scatter, noise and overlapping anatomical structures due to conventional techniques of x-ray projection imaging.
Dedicated systems are known for breast imaging. For example, a digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) or mammography-tomography (mammo-tomo) system is a dedicated mammography system that acquires several (e.g., tens of) angularly offset projection images and reconstructs three-dimensional (3D) image datasets, which can have reduced anatomical overlap. However, although these conventional DBT systems may partially overcome the limitations of standard mammography systems, DBT systems still have limited depth resolution. Additionally, associated artifacts and scatter are still issues when using the DBT systems. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for managing digital contents and, in particular, to a contents management server and method that analyze similarity of the contents distributed among at least one network element (e.g., contents server) and manage the contents on the basis of the analysis result.
2. Background of the Related Art
In recent years, as digital content has been widely used, the need to effectively manage a digital contents file emerges as an issue. In order to effectively manage content, there has been developed a digital content management (DCM) engine for analyzing similarity among digital contents files stored in the network elements.
In the meantime, home network systems have been progressed and the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) has been proposed as a standard for home networking.
The DLNA is an alliance of leading members including Microsoft Corporation, International Business Machines Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Company, Intel Corporation, SONY Corporation, Panasonic Corporation, SAMSUNG Electronics Co., ltd., etc. for developing industry standards to allow products from all companies to be compatible with each other and to enable a network of electronic devices such as TV, VCR, digital camera, and audio components in the home. The DLNA has also focused on interoperability between networked entertainment and media devices for personal media uses involving imaging, audio and video.
The DLNA home network can be implemented on the basis of a wired network standard (IEEE 802.3) or a wireless network standard (IEEE 802.11), which interconnect a home server, a home gateway, and other devices such as Mobile-Digital Media Server (M-DMS), Mobile-Digital Media Renderer (M-DMR), and Mobile-Digital Media Player (M-DMP).
In particular, the DLNA guideline divides the home network devices into a Digital Media Server (DMS), and a Digital Media Player (DMP) or Digital Media Renderer (DMR), and specifies the interoperability between the DMS and DMP or DMR.
DMS assumes the function of a Media Server Device (MSD) under the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) Audio-Visual (AV) part, which provides media contents. The main objective of the DMS is to enable the control point (CP) as a user interface (UI) application to retrieve digital media content items in the DMS such that the user can display or distribute the contents. The DMS is equipped with a broadcast signal receiver and middleware for broadcast. Some examples of DMS includes Video Cassette Recorders (VCRs), Compact Disc (CD) players, Digital Video Disk (DVD) players, Motion Pictures Expert Group 1 (MPEG-1) layer 3 (MP3) players, set-top boxes (STBs), TV tuners, radio tuners, personal computers (PCs), etc.
The DMR plays content received after being setup by another entity. Some examples of DMR devices include a TV, an audio/video receiver, a video monitor, and remote speakers for music.
The DMP is a DMR or M-DMR including the CP functioning to find content exposed by the DMS so as to afford playback and rendering capabilities.
One of the key technologies of utilized in the DLNA guidelines e.g., Home Networked Device Interoperability Guidelines v1.5, is UPnP. DMSs and DMPs are addressed and automatically recognized on the basis of the protocol specified in the UPnP device architecture. For example, the UPnP Media Server is the DMS providing a list of stored files and broadcasting the data.
The DLNA guidelines are based on the UPnP protocol and specify the design architecture of digital information products. Such digital information products as household appliances, PCs, and wireless devices can accordingly share media content over the wired or wireless home network.
Although the DLNA system enables the network elements to share multimedia content, the DCM engine can perform the similarity analysis only for the contents files stored in the local device; there thus exists no effective management for the multimedia contents distributed over the network.
Instead, even though the similarity analyses can be performed for all the respective network devices, this entails all network devices equipped with the DCM engines performing a similarity analysis on their, respective locally stored contents files. As a result, much central processing unit (CPU) processing overhead is wasted.
The arrangement is further disadvantageous in that the issuing of similarity analysis requests for all the network devices having DCM engines represents an inconvenient management burden. | {
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This invention relates generally to video processing, and more particularly to video processing of images provided by multiple cameras.
The traditional way of representing closed circuit television (CCTV) data on a single or multiple video monitors with spatially disjointed camera-views results in non-physical disconnection of the geometrically connected 3-dimensional observation scene. This way of rendering the video-data is not optimal, and it implies that the required number of CCTV observers be linearly proportional to the number of cameras in the system. | {
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The invention relates to a system for turning over plate-shaped bodies, in particular slabs and sheets, having at least one turnover device arm which is arranged so as to be pivotable about a pivot axis and which can be placed in physical contact with a flat side of a plate-shaped body to be turned over, and having at least one further turnover device arm which is arranged so as to be pivotable about a further pivot axis and which can be placed in physical contact with a further flat side of the plate-shaped body to be turned over, wherein the two pivot axes are arranged parallel to and spaced apart from one another.
The invention furthermore relates to a method for turning over plate-shaped bodies, in particular slabs and sheets, using a turnover system having at least one turnover device arm which is arranged so as to be pivotable about a pivot axis and which can be placed in physical contact with a flat side of a plate-shaped body to be turned over, and having at least one further turnover device arm which is pivotable about a further pivot axis and which can be placed in physical contact with a further flat side of the plate-shaped body to be turned over, wherein the two pivot axes are arranged parallel to and spaced apart from one another.
Slabs and sheets are inspected on both flat sides for the purposes of quality control and for any necessary reworking. For this purpose, a slab or a sheet is normally placed onto an inspection bed such that one of the two flat sides can be inspected. To be able to inspect the other flat side of the slab or the sheet, the slab or the sheet must be turned over.
For turning over sheets, use is normally made of sheet turnover devices. These normally have positionally fixedly held turnover device shafts on which turnover device arms are pivotably mounted. As a result, the turnover device arms have a spacing to one another which, owing to the construction, cannot be varied. This has the effect, in particular in the case of thin slabs and sheets, that the slab to be turned over, or the respective sheet to be turned over, turns over with an impact as a result of its own weight during the transfer from an input side to an output side of a sheet turnover device.
A sheet turnover device of said type is known for example from EP 2 170 536B1. Said sheet turnover device comprises transferring turnover device arms situated on one turnover device shaft and receiving turnover device arms situated on a further turnover device shaft. The turnover device arms mounted on the respective turnover device shaft are arranged so as to be pivotable about a common pivot axis, which is identical to a longitudinal central axis of the respective turnover device shaft. The turnover device shafts and thus the pivot axes defined by them are arranged parallel to one another and spaced apart from one another. To reduce operating noises and vibrations in a sheet during a transfer of the sheet from the transferring turnover device arms to the receiving turnover device arms, the turnover device shaft of the receiving turnover device arms is arranged offset in relation to the turnover device shaft of the transferring turnover device arms. Furthermore, on the receiving turnover device arms, there is arranged at least one damping plate by means of which a turnover impact of the sheet against the receiving turnover device arms during a turnover process is mechanically dampened.
DE 10 2007 054 034 A1 relates to an apparatus for turning over plate-shaped bodies of different thickness, having turnover device arms mounted pivotably on turnover device shafts. The turnover device arms are in each case arranged so as to be pivotable about a pivot axis which is identical to a longitudinal central axis of the respective turnover device shaft. The turnover device shafts and thus the pivot axes defined by them are arranged parallel to one another and spaced apart from one another. To be able to turn over plate-shaped bodies of different thickness, one of the turnover device arms is fed to the plate-shaped body arranged on the other turnover device arm with a possibly repeating sequence of reduction and increase of the spacing of said turnover device arm to the plate-shaped body.
DE 31 23 673 A1 discloses a reversible sheet turnover device having turnover device arms mounted pivotably at pivot axes, wherein the spacing of the two pivot axes to one another in a horizontal direction is variable. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of image processing. More specifically, the invention relates processing of images generated by a digital imaging device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the art of image processing, raw images of an object/scene captured from a sensing or capture device are often subject to varying types of "noise" (elements not present in the object or environment which may nonetheless appear in the image). The noise present in an image may be due to the characteristics of the imaging system such as the sensor or processing steps subsequent to the initial image capture which may add noise while trying to achieve a different purpose. The properties and characteristics that would indicate that a pixel or region of pixels is "noisy" and the properties that would indicate a pixel or region of pixels is an edge or a fine detail of the image are difficult to distinguish. Thus, a fundamental problem with the removal of noise is that often a removal of what is indicated as noise may actually be a removal of fine edge or detail. If the fine detail or edge is removed, a blurring effect may occur within that region of the image further, in color images, the blurring effect leads to a bleeding of one color across the edge to another pixel(s). Noise removal procedures that were based upon linear filtering techniques suffered greatly from this malady and thus, a class of filtering techniques based on ranked order statistics such as the median were developed.
The median filter ranks in order the intensity values belonging to a pixel P (for which the filter is being applied) and pixels in a particular neighborhood or along a particular vector about a pixel P. For example, a median filter (applied in a particular direction(s) through the pixel to neighboring pixels) applied to sample values including and about the pixel P of {12, 13, 200, 50, 14} would first be ranked in order as {12, 13, 14, 118, 200}. The so-called uni-directional FIR median hybrid filter would replace the original pixel location P that had a value of 200 with the median of the sample set which is 14. Thus, the output vector, after the filter, would be: {12, 13, 14, 50, 14}. If the value 200 were in fact part of an edge rather than noise, the smoothing caused by applying the filter as shown in the output vector values would decimate the edge feature.
Several improved median filters have been developed to compensate for this problem. One particular such median filter, the multilevel FIR (Finite Impulse Response) median hybrid filter repeatedly takes the median filter in each direction about an image and applies at each filter the original input pixel. The multi-level median hybrid filter has averaging sub-filters that reduce the burden of sorting operations by averaging pixels in a particular filter direction, and then performing the median computation upon a smaller set of values, such as three. Thus, in a median hybrid filter, two neighboring west pixels would be averaged and the result fed to a median filter along with the average of two neighboring east pixels. The third input to the median filter is the pixel under consideration for noise removal. In other directions, a similar procedure is applied. In a three-level median hybrid filter, the first level pairs all such averaged neighboring pixels with vectors in opposing directions (north with south, etc.) and for each pair of direction averages (8 of them) feeds these into a median filter also along with the pixel of concern as a third input. The resulting median values of the first filter are again paired and along with the pixel of concern are input to a median filter. While median hybrid has been shown to work quite well in discriminating some edges, it is deficient in several respects with regard to edge detection. The median hybrid filter does not consider the noisiness of the edge itself In other words, an edge's direction, even though eight are employed, cannot be determined with exacting accuracy. For instance, an edge feature may lie at a 33 degree vector from a particular pixel, and thus the eight directions are inadequate in determining the edge feature. In other words, a single pixel may contain a portion that is edge and a portion that is non-edge in the non-discrete world that cannot be represented in the discrete world of digital images. When applied to digital images, the median hybrid filter, if applied everywhere to all pixels, may propagate noise or shift it from pixel to pixel while attempting to remove it since there is noise along the edge feature due to the non-cardinal direction of the edge. A curved edge is a perfect example of such a problem.
When an object/scene is imaged by a sensing or imaging device such as a digital camera, the resultant image in captured into a CFA (Color Filter Array) bearing a particular color channel pattern. One oft-used pattern for capturing images is known as the Bayer pattern, which has color channels as follows,
G R G R G R . . . PA1 B G B G B G . . . PA1 G R G R G R . . .
with rows thereafter repeating the pattern.
Thus, in a Bayer pattern CFA, each pixel location has an intensity value associated only with one of the three color planes (Red, Green and Blue) which combine to make a full color. The process of estimating the two missing color components for each pixel location is known in the art as color interpolation. The interpolation of color often precedes the removal of noise in color images due to the fact that most traditional noise reduction or removal techniques are designed to operate upon images with full color pixel information. The process of color interpolation itself will introduce noise, and in the case of a digital camera, where the color interpolation is most likely performed after image compression and download to a data processing system such as a computer, the intermediary steps of color resolution companding, compression (quantization and encoding) and decompression may add additional noise such that the original captured image noise may be blended with other noise to perhaps lose the distinction of being noise and gain the distinction of being an image feature. Performing noise removal on the full color pixels attained by the color interpolation process increases the memory and processing needs of the noise removal process by a factor of 3 (since each pixel has thrice the resolution), and thus is difficult and expensive to implement in hardware. Other noise removal techniques attempt to reduce this burden by performing color space conversion after color interpolation into, for instance, the YUV space, where only the Y (chrominance) component is considered for noise removal. However, this too may propagate additional noise beyond that propagated by color interpolation and also cannot be easily be implemented in hardware.
Thus, there is a need for a noise reduction framework that will not only distinguish edge pixels from non-edge pixels, but also one that can work directly in the CFA image domain prior to any color interpolation. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wiring board with an electronic device, and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, technical development has been proceeded for decreasing a cost by forming a film of a predetermined pattern on a substrate by using an ink jet method. Particularly, in an organic thin film transistor using an organic semiconductor, not only a semiconductor film but also all of constituent materials such as a gate dielectric film, a gate electrode, a source electrode, and a drain electrode have been provided by coating materials applicable to the ink jet method.
However, the ink jet method has a limit for a control of a lateral size of an elongate film pattern and this hinders, for example, improvement for a switching performance of an organic transistor.
On the other hand, a study for realizing a fine wire pattern necessary for transistor performance while controlling a spreading of a coating material by use of a dam-like stepped structure referred to as a bank has proceeded (for example, refer to Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2007-158003)). In this case, since a width of an elongate trench has a great concern with a finished size of a pattern width necessary for transistor performance, control for the amount of the coating material filled in the trench is difficult. Further, in the ink jet method, filling into the trench narrower than an impact area is also difficult in view of a landing accuracy. Accordingly, a portion of the trench is defined as a bank of an impact area size. However, in a case where an entire length of the trench is longer, a flowing distance of the coating material from the bank for the impact area is long to sometimes make the pattern width instable due to dry-up or deposited obstacles in the trench during flowing. As a countermeasure for the problem, it has been proposed to promote the flow by static electricity from an external electrode (for example, refer to Document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2006-7061)).
However, in a case of constituting, for example, the organic thin film transistor with a coating pattern, it is in a multi-layered structure. That is, since an elongate film is formed over a region where patterns for an insulation layer, a semiconductor layer and a conductor layer are disposed in a lower layer, flow interference tends to occur in the trench. Then, for the static electricity applied from the external electrode, interference of the lower layer pattern has to be taken into consideration and the electronic circuit by the application of the organic thin film transistor has to be formed while undergoing such restriction. As described above, while there have been great expectations to electronic circuits by applying electronic devices that are constituted with coating materials for realizing saving of the cost and improvement for a throughput comparable with those of printing by the technical development based on a printing technique, the problems described above produce bars.
On the other hand, in a coating material for a conductor in which metal nano-particles are dispersed in a solvent using an organic protective colloid, a compactness of a conductor structure obtained finally is low due to an effect upon decomposition of an organic protection film and a specific resistivity is increased remarkably compared with that of a bulk metal, so that lowering of a conductor resistance is essential.
For attaining a fine conductor wire by the coating material, it is necessary to increase a film thickness by a stack coating upon formation of a fine wire or metal plating after formation of the fine wire for decreasing the resistance of the conductor. Stack coating method is desirable with a reason of reducing installation cost and a shortening of steps. However, in the stack coating method, flow interference in the trench tends to occur more frequently in the second coating step, which tends to deteriorate a uniformity of a wire width. Further, when the conductor film is formed at a bottom of the trench due to a first coating, promotion of flow by static electricity becomes difficult.
For the wiring pattern width required, for example, in a wiring board, since direct drawing is possible by the ink jet system, the problem does not occur during formation of a multi-layer structure. However, for attaining an electronic circuit using the organic thin film transistor that requires the multi-layer structure as described above, a method for forming a fine wire pattern conformable to the multi-layering using the coating material is necessary.
A problem is present in a countermeasure to the flow interference in the trench. The proposal described above is applicable to the formation of the fine wire pattern for the lowermost layer. However, a pattern fabricated substrate from a substrate with a conductor layer can also be utilized in a case of forming a fine wire conductor for the lowermost layer, and the formation of the fine wire pattern for the layer thereabove is more important than the formation of the lower layer pattern. Further, there is also a problem of increasing a thickness of the fine wire by the stack coating method.
Increase for the thickness of the fine wire by the stack coating method requires repeating a coating step and a baking step. In a flexible substrate or the like, local undulation tends to occur due to the difference of the thermal expansion coefficient between the substrate and the pattern material and it is important to form a pattern by supplying the coating material at a high speed for attaining a low cost and high throughput comparable with those of printing.
Particularly, in a case of the organic thin film transistor, it is necessary to attain a gate electrode providing a low resistance at a gate length size of a fine wire width, as well as attain a gap between a source electrode and a drain electrode with a size approximate to the gate length to lower a resistance and to lower a parasitic capacitance for each of electrodes. Accordingly, while increase in the thickness and saving of the area are intended for the electrode, there is a problem that the coating layer covers the gap upon the stack coating. Since a performance of the transistor is deteriorated, it is difficult to increase the thickness of the dielectric layer over the gate.
An object of the present invention is to provide a wiring board having an organic thin film electronic device of good characteristics at a reduced cost. | {
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The present invention relates generally to semiconductor integrated circuits, and more particularly to circuits for detecting operational modes while a semiconductor integrated circuit is undergoing a burn-in operation.
An important step in ensuring the reliability of semiconductor devices is xe2x80x9cburn-in.xe2x80x9d While modern semiconductor manufacturing processes result in very low defect densities, defects can still occur due to uncontrollable factors, such as inherent variations in the manufacturing process. While some types of defects may be immediately detected by testing the devices, other types of defects can result in xe2x80x9cinfantxe2x80x9d mortality. Infant mortality defects, while not immediately apparent, arise after a device has been operational for a short period of time, resulting in semiconductor devices which have an abnormally short lives.
In order to eliminate infant mortality defects, semiconductor devices are often screened in a xe2x80x9cback-endxe2x80x9d (i.e., post wafer fabrication) manufacturing step, referred to as xe2x80x9cburn-in.xe2x80x9d During burn-in, power is applied to semiconductor devices for a prolonged period of time to induce infant mortality failures. To accelerate infant mortality failures, the burn-in step can be conducted at elevated power supply voltages and/or temperatures. In the latter case, semiconductor devices are powered-up within a burn-in oven. In the former case, the semiconductor devices may include specialized circuitry to apply a higher than normal voltage to the circuits within.
In some burn-in operations, the functions of a semiconductor device are exercised under the burn-in stress. In such cases, the semiconductor is essentially xe2x80x9ctestedxe2x80x9d during burn-in. For semiconductor devices having relatively few functions, the testing process can be rapidly performed. For more complex semiconductor devices, the testing process can be relatively lengthy. For example, in the case of semiconductor memory devices, it may be desirable to test each memory location during burn-in in order to screen all the memory cells of the device for infant mortality type defects. Such an approach can require relatively long periods of time, as millions of such memory cells have to be accessed by unique addresses.
One way in which to increase the speed at which a semiconductor device""s functions may be exercised, is to include built-in testing circuits on the semiconductor device itself. Such testing circuits are often referred to as xe2x80x9cdesign-for-testxe2x80x9d (DFT) circuits. Among the types of DFT circuits in semiconductor memory devices, are those which automatically cycle through the various memory locations of the memory device, reading and writing data into each memory location. In larger semiconductor devices, which are internally divided into banks, the DFT circuit may exercise the various semiconductor memory device functions on a bank-by-bank basis, or on a multiple bank basis (i.e., write data into all banks simultaneously).
The DFT circuits are usually implemented by placing the semiconductor device in a DFT mode. For example, in the case of a large density semiconductor memory device, during burn-in, the DFT circuits would initially access a first bank of memory cells, and then access a second bank, and continue in this manner until the functions of each bank of the device have been exercised.
A problem associated with burn-in can arise when a command is applied to the semiconductor device to place it in a burn-in mode, and the device, due to noise or other reasons does not actually enter the burn-in mode. In such an event, the device may not receive the increased burn-in voltage, and hence infant mortality defects can be missed. Similar problems can arise in the event the semiconductor device does not enter the correct DFT mode during burn-in, or does not correctly transition from one DFT mode (activating a first bank, for example) to a another (activating a second bank, for example). In such an event, a certain portion of the semiconductor device may not be stressed by the burn-in operation and can subsequently fail at a later time.
It would be desirable to arrive at some way to ensure that devices are properly placed in a burn-in mode, and that DFT circuits within devices are properly enabled during a burn-in operation.
According to the preferred embodiment, a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM) includes a burn-in mode, in which the functionality of the SDRAM can be tested under burn-in conditions. The SDRAM can be placed in a burn-in monitor mode in which burn-in information is provided at data outputs, instead of memory cell information. The burn-in monitor mode helps to ensure that the SDRAM is properly exercised during burn-in.
According to one aspect of the preferred embodiment, the SDRAM includes a data buffer coupled to a data bus and a mode register. The mode register stores burn-in mode data. In a standard mode of operation, the data buffer couples the data bus to data outputs. In a burn-in monitor mode of operation, the data buffer couples the burn-in mode data to the data outputs.
According to another aspect of the preferred embodiment, the SDRAM includes a number of memory cell banks that must be activated in order to access the memory cells within. Activation of a memory cell bank while the SDRAM is in the burn-in monitor mode will automatically take the SDRAM out of the burn-in monitor mode. This eliminates the need for a separate xe2x80x9cexit burn-in monitor testxe2x80x9d command each time the memory cells are to be accessed.
According to another aspect of the preferred embodiment, the SDRAM includes a clock buffer circuit that provides an internal clock signal for the SDRAM. The clock buffer circuit automatically introduces hysteresis into the internal clock signal in a burn-in mode. The test can query the device to verify that the correct DFT parallel test, mode register settings such as burst length and read latency, clock hysteresis activation, and burn-in stress voltage are being applied. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved device and method for monitoring the presence of toxic metals in workplace air, and more particularly, to real-time detection of such toxic metals.
2. Description of Related Art
Toxic metals have a negative impact on human health. The term toxic metals is used herein to include hazardous, inorganic species, such as cadmium, lead, mercury, and thallium and their soluble compounds. These compounds include any oxides, chlorides, acetates, nitrates, perchlorates, phosphates, and other salts that can be dissolved in water or in acidic solutions. The use of toxic metals in the workplace necessitates stringent precautions against accidental release. The Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA) has recently reduced the permissible exposure limit of personnel to airborne cadmium particles to 5.0 micrograms/cubic meter and stipulated an action level for airborne cadmium particles at 2.5 micrograms/cubic meter. Corporations are now faced with a significant liability associated with the exposure of personnel to these materials.
At present, the most commonly used personnel monitors rely upon adsorbent or absorbent tubes and miniature air sampling pumps, followed by laboratory chemical analysis of compounds collected over long periods of time. Organizations that do not have in-house laboratories must often wait days for these analytical results. The detection limits of many of these monitors often lack the sensitivity required by OSHA and suffer from interferences that are difficult or impossible to resolve.
Prior personnel monitors for cadmium require the collection filter from a personnel air sampling pump to be sent to an off-site laboratory for analysis by skilled chemical technicians. Results of these tests are not available for several days. Personnel may experience multiple days of cadmium exposure before corrective action can be taken.
Thus, a need exists for a sensitive, real-time monitor for toxic metals such as those listed above, with detection limits that meet the new, lower OSHA exposure limits for toxic metals, to safeguard both workers and the environment. | {
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The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Nemesia plant that will be referred to hereinafter by the cultivar name ‘Pensky’.
‘Pensky’ was discovered by the inventor in 2000 at the inventor's nursery in Netherwent, Wales, United Kingdom. ‘Pensky’ was first observed on a single plant of the inventor's variety of Nemesia named ‘Pengoon’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,261) in the form of a naturally occurring branch sport which carried lighter-colored flowers than are typical of ‘Pengoon’.
‘Pensky’ and ‘Pengoon’ distinguished from other Nemesias known to the inventor by their compact habit, upright flower spikes, leaves that are more oval in shape, and with thicker tissue.
When compared with the sport parent Nemesia ‘Pengoon’, ‘Pensky’ differs only in respect of the color of its flowers and flower parts. In overall appearance, ‘Pensky’ exhibits soft pale lavender blue flowers whereas ‘Pengoon’ exhibits mid blue flowers. Upon closer examination, the coloration of the palate of the flower of ‘Pensky’ is white with a dark blue margin, whereas the coloration of the palate of the flower of ‘Pengoon’ is red-purple.
‘Pensky’ was first asexually propagated by the inventor at the inventor's nursery in Netherwent, Wales, United Kingdom in 2000 by direct rooting of the single branch that had been observed. ‘Pensky’ has subsequently be asexually propagated, using tip and branch cuttings, and has been determined to reproduce true to type in successive generations. | {
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High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) is a new video coding standard currently being developed in Joint Collaborative Team-Video Coding (JCT-VC). JCT-VC is a collaborative project between Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) and International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T). Currently, an HEVC Model (HM) is defined that includes a number of new tools and is considerably more efficient than H.264/Advanced Video Coding (AVC).
A picture in HEVC is partitioned into one or more slices, where each slice is an independently decodable segment of the picture. This means that if a slice is missing, for instance got lost during transmission, the other slices of that picture can still be decoded correctly. In order to make slices independent, they do not depend on each other. No bitstream element of another slice of the same picture is required for decoding any element of a particular slice.
Each slice contains a slice header which independently provides all required data for the slice to be independently decodable. One example of a data element present in the slice header is the slice address, which is used for the decoder to know the spatial location of the slice. Another example is the Buffer Description also referred to as Reference Picture Set which contains information of which reference pictures to be used when decoding a picture. However, these are only examples of data elements in the slice header.
HEVC has mechanisms for handling reference pictures. The reference pictures are previously decoded pictures to be used for decoding of a current picture. A decoded picture buffer (DPB) contains pictures decoded by the decoder. A reference picture in HEVC is a picture in the decoded picture buffer (DPB) that is available for reference by being marked “used for reference”. There may also be pictures in the DPB that are marked “unused for reference”, these pictures are not available for reference and are not reference pictures.
HEVC uses absolute signaling of reference pictures. The absolute signaling is realized by signaling what reference pictures to keep at the decoder. The signalling is done in a Buffer Description also referred to as Reference Picture Set (RPS), for each picture explicitly or by using a reference to a Sequence Parameter Set (SPS). The RPS also contains an indication of which pictures can be used for reference by the current picture. Reference pictures indicated to be used by the current picture are included in reference picture lists in the decoder. The reference picture lists are then used in the decoding process of the current slice of the current picture.
Each reference picture in the RPS is either identified as a short-term picture or as a long-term picture. The information if it is a short-term or a long-term reference picture is signaled in the RPS by sending two separate sets, one with all short-term reference pictures and one with all long-term reference pictures. An alternative design would be to send a single list and for each element indicate with a flag if it is a long-term reference picture or a short-term reference picture.
Picture Order Count (POC) is used in HEVC to define the output order (or display order) of pictures and also to identify reference pictures. Syntax elements used to derive the POC is signaled for each reference picture in the RPS. For short-term reference pictures the values of POC in the RPS must be identical to the values of POC signaled in the slice header of the reference picture to which the values of the POC in the RPS are referring. For long-term reference pictures there are two options; either the values of POC in the RPS are identical to the values of POC signaled in the slice header of the reference picture to which the values of the POC in the RPS are referring or the values of POC in the RPS are a shorter representation of to the values of POC signaled in the slice header (a.k.a. the least significant bits of the picture order count value or the POC_LSB) of the reference picture to which the values of the POC in the RPS are referring such that the reference pictures are uniquely identifiable. The latter is only allowed when there is only one picture in the DPB with a specific POC_LSB. For long-term reference pictures the term “corresponds to” is used to denote the identification of a reference picture using any of the two above mentioned options.
When buffer descriptions were originally proposed for inclusion in HEVC, the proposal included a marking process performed so that reference pictures that are in the DPB but not included in the RPS are marked as “unused for reference” prior to decoding of the current picture. The output process is also performed prior to the decoding of the current picture. | {
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Historically, large web search engines have sold advertising space based on keyword-driven search results. For example, Yahoo! conducts auctions for certain keywords, and the highest bidder(s) have their ads placed on pages containing Yahoo! search results, or they obtain preferred placement among the search results, i.e., at the top of the results list.
As web advertising develops, a number of companies are now acquiring large publisher bases from which they can sell advertisement placements. Specifically, Google is signing up publishers into their AdSense ad network. Advertisers pay Google to serve advertisements to participants of the AdSense network. Google then pays some or all of the advertising revenue to the individual publishers. For example, a publisher in the AdSense network may have an article on its website that talks about digital cameras, and Google's AdSense would display digital camera advertisements from advertisers in the AdSense network on that website. Google would auction off the “digital camera” keyword to advertisers in its AdSense network and display ads from the highest bidder(s).
There are a number of problems with this proprietary ad network model. First, companies that are building ad networks have an inherent conflict of interest because they represent both the publisher and the advertiser. Second, because there are multiple companies that are creating ad networks, advertisers have the burden of managing buys across many ad networks, which results in significant cost and complexity to the advertiser. Third, because publishers are for all practical purposes locked into a single ad network, the advertiser competition is limited, which results in lower return for the publishers. Fourth, the lack of general standards around terms and conditions, and behavioral segmentation is a major obstacle to reaching the full market value of online display advertising. There is also no current standardization across publishers for accepted media types and ad formats. Fifth, smaller publishers currently have very little power individually, even if they serve a hard-to-reach audience. Sixth, ISPs and other owners of large user databases are not realizing the full value of the information they have due to privacy concerns and lack of a proper marketplace. Finally, the types of participants and transactions possible are limited by the rigid framework of a proprietary ad network model. As a result, there is currently no way for a third party to intervene in an online advertising transaction, and share the risk of the result of the transaction with one or more participants of the transaction (e.g., the publisher, advertiser, or their representatives).
For instance, if one party is only willing to pay $1/impression, but a third party, due to unique insight on the transaction details (e.g., from statistical information, knowledge of a trend, pattern matching etc.), sees that the impressions will yield a lot more for the advertiser (e.g., which would typically cause an advertiser to bid $10 for the same impression), today, there is no way for the third party to share in the risk and reward of the transaction and monetize that insight.
Although certain concerns may be met by the rigid framework of a proprietary ad network model where a central entity can act to shield participants' activities from their competitors and keep end-user ad viewer details from the advertisers and publishers, as will be described in detail below, such concerns as preserving individual user privacy, shielding advertisers and publishers business data and decisions from competitors, and preserving propriety advertising exchange information can be met by the disclosed systems and methods while providing the benefits of third party participation in the exchange.
The above-described deficiencies of current advertising environments are merely intended to provide an overview of some of the problems of today's advertising environments, and are not intended to be exhaustive. Other problems with the state of the art may become further apparent upon review of the description of various non-limiting embodiments of the invention that follows. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
A storage system is a computer that provides storage service relating to the organization of information on writeable persistent storage devices, such as memories, tapes or disks. The storage system is commonly deployed within a storage area network (SAN) or a network attached storage (NAS) environment. When used within a NAS environment, the storage system may be embodied as a file server including an operating system that implements a file system to logically organize the information as a hierarchical structure of directories and files on, e.g. the disks. Each “on-disk” file may be implemented as a set of data structures, e.g., disk blocks, configured to store information, such as the actual data for the file. A directory, on the other hand, may be implemented as a specially formatted file in which information about other files and directories are stored.
The file server, or filer, may be further configured to operate according to a client/server model of information delivery to thereby allow many client systems (clients) to access shared resources, such as files, stored on the filer. Sharing of files is a hallmark of a NAS system, which is enabled because of semantic level of access to files and file systems. Storage of information on a NAS system is typically deployed over a computer network comprising a geographically distributed collection of interconnected communication links, such as Ethernet, that allow clients to remotely access the information (files) on the file server. The clients typically communicate with the filer by exchanging discrete frames or packets of data according to pre-defined protocols, such as the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
In the client/server model, the client may comprise an application executing on a computer that “connects” to the filer over a computer network, such as a point-to-point link, shared local area network, wide area network or virtual private network implemented over a public network, such as the Internet. NAS systems generally utilize file-based access protocols; therefore, each client may request the services of the filer by issuing file system protocol messages (in the form of packets) to the file system over the network. By supporting a plurality of file system protocols, such as the conventional Common Internet File System (CIFS), the Network File System (NFS) and the Direct Access File System (DAFS) protocols, the utility of the filer may be enhanced for networking clients.
A SAN is a high-speed network that enables establishment of direct connections between a storage system and its storage devices. The SAN may thus be viewed as an extension to a storage bus and, as such, an operating system of the storage system enables access to stored information using block-based access protocols over the “extended bus”. In this context, the extended bus is typically embodied as Fibre Channel (FC) or Ethernet media adapted to operate with block access protocols, such as Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) protocol encapsulation over FC (FCP) or TCP/IP/Ethernet (iSCSI). A SAN arrangement or deployment allows decoupling of storage from the storage system, such as an application server, and some level of storage sharing at the application server level. There are, however, environments wherein a SAN is dedicated to a single server.
It is advantageous for the services and data provided by storage system, such as a filer to be available for access to the greatest degree possible. Accordingly, some computer storage systems provide a plurality of file servers (or filers) in a cluster, with a property that when a first filer fails, the second filer is available to take over and provide the services and the data otherwise provided by the first filer. When a first filer fails, the second filer in a cluster should assume the task of processing and handling any data access requests normally processed by the first filer. One such example of a cluster configuration is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/625,234 entitled NEGOTIATING TAKEOVER IN HIGH AVAILABILITY CLUSTER by Samuel M. Cramer, et al., the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Additionally, an administrator may desire to take a filer offline for a variety of reasons, for example, to upgrade hardware, etc. In such situations, it may be advantageous to perform a user-initiated takeover operation, as opposed to a failover operation. After the takeover operation is complete, the filer's data will be serviced by its partner until a giveback operation is performed.
In certain known filer server cluster implementations, the transport medium is Ethernet cabling utilizing the TCP/IP protocol for transport of data. Various file service protocols can execute on top of the TCP/IP protocol. In known failover techniques involving clusters of file server, Network Interface Controllers (NIC) contain the capabilities to support multiple Media Address Control (MAC) addresses. When one of filer servers in a cluster detects a failure of its partner filer server, for example, by sensing the partner file server is no longer emitting a heart beat signal, the surviving file server proceeds to take over the partner's disks. The surviving file server then executes a failover script, which involves obtaining the IP address of the failed file server and determining each MAC address associated with the failed file server. Each NIC of the surviving filer is then assigned a MAC address that is normally associated with a NIC of the failed file server. Thus, transfers with IP addresses, which are mapped to search a MAC address of the failed filer, are no longer routed to the failed filer, but instead are directed to the surviving partner file server.
However, because certain block access protocols, such as FCP do not utilize TCP/IP addresses, known failover techniques will not function in a cluster using FCP. It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for transport-level failover of FCP devices. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
C4 (Controlled-Collapse Chip Connection) is a means of connecting IC (integrated circuit) chips to substrates in electronic packages. Moreover, C4 is a flip-chip technology in which the interconnections are small solder balls on the chip surface. Because it is an area array, C4 technology may provide relatively high densities for chip interconnections.
C4 technology has used since the 1960s and has proven highly reliable in the semiconductor field. Historically, PbSn (lead-tin) solder has been evaporated through a metal mask. In the 1990s, electrochemical fabrication of C4 interconnections was introduced (See, for example, M. Datta, et al., “Electrochemical Fabrication of Mechanically Robust PbSn Interconnections”, J. Electrochem. Soc., 142, 3779 (1995); U.S. Pat. No. 5,162,257 to Yung; and WO 96/30933). Electroplating may be more extendible than evaporation to small C4-pad dimensions, and may provide closer pad spacing, larger wafers, and/or lower-melting solders (having a higher content of Sn).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,320 discusses barrier layers for electroplated PbSn eutectic solder joints. An electrochemically fabricated C4 interconnection may have a barrier layer between the electroplated tin-rich solder bump and the ball-limiting metallurgy that protects the terminal metal in the ball-limiting metallurgy from attack by the Sn in the solder. The barrier layer may be electroplated through the same photoresist mask as the solder and thus may not require a separate patterning step. A thin layer of electroplated nickel may serve as a reliable barrier layer between a copper-based ball-limiting metallurgy and a tin-lead (PbSn) eutectic C4 ball. U.S. Pat. No. 6,622,907 discusses a sacrificial seed layer process for forming C4 solder balls. The disclosures of U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,320 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,622,907 are hereby incorporated herein in their entirety by reference. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The control of invertebrate pests is extremely important in achieving high crop efficiency. Damage by invertebrate pests to growing and stored agronomic crops can cause significant reduction in productivity and thereby result in increased costs to the consumer. The control of invertebrate pests in forestry, greenhouse crops, ornamentals, nursery crops, stored food and fiber products, livestock, household, turf, wood products, and public and animal health is also important. Many products are commercially available for these purposes, but the need continues for new compounds that are more effective, less costly, less toxic, environmentally safer or have different modes of action.
PCT Patent Publication WO 05/085216 discloses isoxazoline derivatives of Formula i as insecticides
wherein, inter alia, each of A1, A2 and A3 are independently C or N; G is a benzene ring; W is O or S; and X is halogen or C1-C6 haloalkyl. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of linear optical sensor arrays, particularly those using dual output channels servicing interleaved sensing elements, and scanners utilizing such arrays.
2. Prior Art
Scanners for scanning documents, x-rays and other images are now well known and widely used for various purposes, with the market therefor now being large and steadily increasing. One common type of scanner utilizes one or more linear arrays together with associated lighting and optics to view a single line of an article at a time, with the article being moved relative to the linear sensor array in a direction orthogonal to the length of the array at a uniform speed so that the image may be scanned line by line to provide two dimensional image data.
In such scanners there is normally a substantial variation in sensitivity exhibited by the output signals of the various sensor elements along the linear array, in part because of some variations in the array itself, but primarily due to variations caused by uneven lighting and particularly lensing which gathers more light from the center of the scan line than from the ends thereof. Thus, the apparent sensitivity across the array will generally be maximum at the center thereof and curve downward at each end thereof to some substantially reduced apparent sensitivity, typically with some asymmetry and roughness in the apparent sensitivity versus position on the array due to variations in the array, non-uniform lighting, dirt on mirrors and other components in the optical system, etc.
Thus, it is common to take a background reading of the sensors with the system (lighting, etc.) turned on but without an article in scanning position to measure these characteristics immediately before a scan. This measured background output for each sensor element is then stored and values computed so as to provide multipliers for each sensor element which, when used to multiply the output corresponding to that sensor element during scanning of an article, will normalize the apparent sensitivity across the linear array (or arrays), at least to the third order. Thus a uniform shade of grey across an article being scanned will ideally provide a uniform output across the array irrespective of the fact that the edge regions of the article being scanned are undoubtedly subjected to lower illumination than the center region and in spite of sensor element to sensor element sensitivity variations within the array, etc.
In practice, there are various sources of error which can vary from time to time and particularly scanner to scanner, thereby diminishing the performance a scanner user can be assured of obtaining upon the use of a scanner.
One source of error which may heretofore not have been recognized is noise in the reference readings used to normalize the apparent sensitivity of the sensor array along the length of a scan line. Aside from the fixed variations, the present inventors have found time variations in these apparent sensitivities. While one can imagine various causes for such short term variations, the net effect is that the typical method of taking the reference readings and normalizing the sensitivities across the array tends to lock in such variations as they existed at the time the reference readings were taken. Since errors in the reference readings will result in errors in the apparent sensitivity of the output of individual sensor elements, such errors will be replicated across entire lines of the image orthogonal to the array (e.g. in the direction perpendicular to the array scan line), resulting in streaking of the image, particularly apparent when part or all of the digitized image is displayed on a monitor. Image processing enhancements (e.g. sharpening filters) increase the appearance of streaks.
Another source of error which has been found by the inventors relates to the charge coupled display device (CCD) frequently used as the linear array in such scanners. One such sensor is the CCD 191 6000 element linear image sensor manufactured by Loral of Milpitas, Calif. Such devices have a row of image sensor elements with two transfer gates adjacent the sensor elements, one on each side thereof, which do a parallel transfer of interdigitated charge packets accumulated in the sensor elements to A and B transport (shift) registers, again one on each side of the row of sensor elements. These shift registers each shift the charge packets to a respective gated charge detector/amplifier, each of which provides an output signal from the linear detector circuit. Thus the outputs from the row of sensor elements appear alternately on the A and B channels, requiring the recombining (interleaving) of these signals into a single channel to provide the typical scan line data stream for storage and display.
Because of the two output channels, there is the possibility of the two channels being of different amplitude. In general, these may be trimmed so that, by way of example, the amplitude end points in the output range for the two channel correspond. However, because of potential non-linearities in the linear image sensor itself, in the external supporting electronics and/or caused by a combination of the two, there is an opportunity for such non-linearities to result in differences between the A outputs and the B outputs at various exactly equal illumination intensities within the normal operating range of the image sensor when in fact the outputs should be exactly equal. Further, because of the cost of such linear image sensors, it is not practical to use only linear image sensors selected from production which exhibit minimal or no detectable deviation between the two channels. The effect of such deviation is again to cause streaking in the digitized image in a direction orthogonal to the linear array, particularly for the grey shades of maximum difference between channels and when a portion of the digitized image is enlarged and displayed on an expanded scale. Further, it has been found that the transient response of the A and B channels is often unequal, which causes streaking in the portions of the image within which substantial changes in grey shade are occuring. Heretofore, to the best knowledge of the inventors, there has been no solution to this problem other than for manufacturers to work on product improvements to reduce the effect on future sensor arrays. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toner and a producing method thereof, a developer, a two-component developer, a developing device and an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A toner developing a latent image is used in a variety of image forming processes. As one of the examples, it is known that the toner is used in an image forming process of an electrophotographic system.
An image forming apparatus of the electrophotographic system is conventionally prevalent as a copying machine, and recently has excellent properties as an output apparatus of a computer image created by a computer. Accordingly, as the computer prevails, the image forming apparatus thereof is also widely used in a printer, a facsimile apparatus and the like. The image forming apparatus of the electrophotographic system is a apparatus for forming a desirable image on a recording medium by performing a charging step of uniformly charging, for example, a photoreceptor layer on a surface of a photoreceptor drum, an exposing step of forming an electrostatic latent image on the charged surface of the photoreceptor drum by projecting signal lights of a document image thereon, a developing step of supplying an electrophotographic toner (hereinafter, simply referred as “toner”) to the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photoreceptor drum so as to visualize the electrostatic latent image, a transferring step of transferring the visualized image on the surface of the photoreceptor drum onto the recording medium such as sheet and viewgraph, a fixing step of fixing the visualized image on the recording medium through heating, pressurization and the like, and a cleaning step of cleaning the surface of the photoreceptor drum after transferring the visualized image by removing the toner and the like remaining thereon by means of a cleaning blade. The visualized image may also be transferred on the recording medium through an intermediate transfer medium.
Due to a further advancement of a variety of techniques as to the computer, for example, due to an advancement of high-definition of the computer image, the image forming apparatus of the electrophotographic system is also required to correctly and distinctly duplicate a fine figure, a subtle hue change and the like in the computer image, and to form a high-definition image comparable to the computer image. In order to meet the requirement, for example, reduction of toner particle size has been intended, where a variety of considerations have been carried out for producing a toner whose particle size is about 5 μm which is useful for the high-definition of the image.
Although such a reduced particle size toner is useful for forming the high-definition image, the toner encompasses a lot of fine powders so that there is a disadvantage in that transferring efficiency is low. The reduced particle size toner has high charge-accumulation property and a large specific surface area compared to a toner for example whose particle size is more than 5 μm, so that adhesiveness of the reduced particle size toner to the photoreceptor drum and the intermediate transfer medium is strong. The reduced particle size toner has the low transferring efficiency and is hard to be transformed to the recording medium, causing a problem that, when the reduced particle size toner is used, an amount of the toner remaining on the photoreceptor drum and the intermediate transfer medium after transferring the visualized images onto the recording medium is increased.
In view of such a problem, it is suggested that, by spheroidizing the toner, a contact area between the photoreceptor drum and the intermediate transfer medium, and the toner is so reduced that the transferring efficiency of the toner is enhanced (referring to Japanese Examined Patent Publication JP-B2 3253228 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 2005-257976, for example).
In JP-B2 3253228, it is disclosed that, by defining the shape coefficient SF-1 indicating the degree of roundness of a toner particle as 111 to 160, the shape coefficient SF-2 indicating the degree of irregularity of a surface of the toner particle as 110 to 140, SF-2/SF-1 as 1 or less, and the content of releasing agent as 5 to 40%, the toner particle can be transferred from a photoreceptor and an intermediate photoreceptor at a high transfer ratio, and the toner which does not cause melt-bonding of the toner and filming is obtained.
In JP-A 2005-257976, it is disclosed that, by defining the degree of circular of the toner particle as 95 or more, the shape coefficient SF-2 thereof as 120 to 150, resistance thereof as 5×107 to 3×1011 Ω·cm, the toner which can achieve a balance among improvement of transferability (reduction of the transfer remaining toner), ungeneration of transfer struggle (prevention of abnormal image generation) and good cleanability, and which can form a high-definition image is obtained.
When the toner particle constituting the toner has irregularity of the surface, that is the toner particle has irregular shape, the toner particle has a tendency to be caught by the cleaning blade so that the cleanability is made good, but the transferability to the recording medium is so low that the high-definition image is not stably formed. When the toner particle becomes nearly spherical shape, the transferability is elevated, but the toner particle is so hard to be caught by the cleaning blade that the cleanability degrades. Therefore, in a spheroidizing technique of the toner, the toner design which has both the transferability and the cleanability at high level and which can respond to the high-definition of the image is required.
The toner disclosed in JP-B2 3253228 and JP-A 2005-257976 is intended to keep both the cleanability and the transferability at high level by controlling the degree of the roundness of the all toner particles and an average value of the shape coefficient indicating the degree of the irregularity of the surface thereof in a constant range so as to control an averaged shape of the all toner particles in a constant range, and further by defying both the content of the releasing agent and a resistance value of the toner.
However, behavior of the toner particles is different from each other due to the particle size, so that when the shape of the all toner particles are defined to be averaged, the smaller the size of the toner particle becomes, the worse the cleanability gets. It is good for the cleanability that the degree of the irregularity of the surface of the toner particle is larger, however, from, the point of view of the fixation, it is not preferable. The higher the degree of the irregularity of the surface of the toner particle becomes, the larger the space between the toner particles gets, so that the heat conductivity between the toner particles degrades, causing negative effect on the fixation. That is, the heat conductivity between the toner particles degrades so that the required temperature for the fixation rises. The effect of the degree of the irregularity of the surface on the heat conductivity rises as the size of the toner particle increases.
Although the so-called struggle caused when the toner flies to the portion to be white of an image bearing member such as the photoreceptor can be prevented or suppressed by controlling the shape of the toner, the struggle caused by the larger size of the toner particle is so remarkable that it is important to prevent the struggle of the large size of the toner particle.
Thus, for a toner property, the balance between the size of the toner particle and the shape thereof is important. However, in the art disclosed in JP-B2 3253228 and JP-A 2005-257976, the effect of the size of the toner particle is not evaluated. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an information processing system for performing a purchase ordering process.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a form of transaction that allows a contract, payment, or the like to be made by way of a network has become popular, purchase orders for goods and services are placed over a network. Such a purchase order is placed by a consumer specifying an item or service with reference to images, text, or the like on a web site, for example.
When utilizing this form of transaction, however, the consumer could specify and place a purchase order for a wrong item or service because he/she does not see the actual item at the time of order. Thus, there is a need for a mechanism for enabling cancellation of a purchase order for an item or service placed over a network, or a mechanism for allowing the consumer to check before placing a purchase order whether the item or service is correctly specified in the order, and techniques related to networked order systems have been disclosed (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2002-259768 and 2008-176414). | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates generally to a lopping apparatus, and more particularly to a lopping apparatus which has handle compartments for stowing its blades during periods of non-use.
Numerous lopping devices have heretofore been designed for pruning branches from plants such as trees, shrubs, and bushes. One such lopping device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,882,599 issued to Plum. In particular, Plum discloses a device 10 that includes a pair of steel blade 12 which are interconnected by a pivotal connection 14. The device 10 further includes a pair of wooden handles 16 which are respectively attached to the steel blades 12 by an attachment mechanism 16. During operation, the handles 16 are moved relative to each other which, in turn, causes a corresponding movement of the steel blades 12 relative to each other. After the operation is complete, the handles 16 are moved toward each other to their fullest extent thereby causing the blades 12 to close to their fullest extent. The device 10 is then stowed in this closed configuration during periods of non-use typically in a storage area such as a garage or utility shed.
Space is generally at a premium in storage areas such as garages and utility sheds. As a result, it would be desirable to decrease the amount of space occupied by implements and tools such as lopping devices which are stowed away in these storage areas. Moreover, it is desirable to provide an extra degree of safety to implements and tools such as lopping devices while such devices are stowed away in storage areas. It is further desirable to provide a lopping apparatus which is extremely durable.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a lopping apparatus which includes a first handle having a first blade storage compartment. The lopping apparatus further includes a first blade member connected to the first handle, the first blade member having a first cutting portion. The lopping apparatus additionally includes a second handle having a second blade storage compartment. Moreover, the lopping apparatus includes a second blade member connected to the second handle, the second blade member having a second cutting portion. The lopping apparatus additionally includes a first connecting link pivotally coupled to both (i) the first handle at a first pivot location which defines a first pivot axis, and (ii) the second handle at a second pivot location which defines a second pivot axis. The first pivot axis and the second pivot axis define a line L. The lopping apparatus is positionable in a lopping mode of operation and a storage mode of operation. When the lopping apparatus is positioned in the lopping mode of operation, (i) the first cutting portion and the second cutting portion are both positioned on a first side of the line L, and (ii) the first blade storage compartment and the second blade storage compartment are both positioned on a second side of the line L. When the lopping apparatus is positioned in the storage mode of operation, (i) the first cutting portion and the second cutting portion are both positioned on the first side of the line L, (ii) the first blade storage compartment and the second blade storage compartment are both positioned on the first side of the line L, (iii) at least a portion of the first blade member is positioned in either the first blade storage compartment or the second blade storage compartment, and (iv) at least a portion of the second blade member is positioned in either the first blade storage compartment or the second blade storage compartment.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of operating and stowing a lopping apparatus which includes (i) a first handle having a first blade storage compartment, (ii) a first blade member connected to the first handle, (iii) a second handle having a second blade storage compartment, and (iv) a second blade member connected to the second handle. The method includes the step of operating the lopping apparatus for a first period of time so that the first blade member and the second blade are manipulated to contact a plant in a manner such that a limb of the plant is sheared off. The method further includes the step of manipulating the first handle, the second handle, the first blade member, and the second blade member so that the lopping apparatus is positioned in a storage configuration, wherein when the lopping apparatus is positioned in the storage configuration, (i) at least a portion of the first blade member is positioned in either the first blade storage compartment or the second blade storage compartment, and (ii) at least a portion of the second blade member is positioned in either the first blade storage compartment or the second blade storage compartment. Moreover, the method includes the step of stowing the lopping apparatus for a second period of time while the lopping apparatus is positioned in the storage configuration.
Yet according to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a lopping apparatus which includes a first handle having a first blade storage compartment. The lopping apparatus further includes a first blade member connected to the first handle, the first blade member having a first cutting portion. The lopping apparatus also includes a second handle having a second blade storage compartment. Moreover, the lopping apparatus includes a second blade member connected to the second handle, the second blade member having a second cutting portion. The lopping apparatus is positionable in a lopping mode of operation and a storage mode of operation. The first cutting portion and the second cutting portion are each spaced apart from both the first blade storage compartment and the second blade storage compartment when the lopping apparatus is positioned in the lopping mode of operation. When the lopping apparatus is positioned in the storage mode of operation, (i) at least a portion of the first blade member is positioned in either the first blade storage compartment or the second blade storage compartment, and (ii) at least a portion of the second blade member is positioned in either the first blade storage compartment or the second blade storage compartment.
One object of the present invention is to provide a new and useful lopping apparatus.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved lopping apparatus.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new and useful method of operating and stowing a lopping apparatus.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method of operating and stowing a lopping apparatus.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a lopping apparatus which occupies less space when stowed away in a storage area relative to other lopping apparatus having comparable pruning abilities.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a lopping apparatus having an extra degree of safety while it is stowed away in a storage area.
It is further desirable to provide a lopping apparatus which is extremely durable.
Other objects and benefits of the present invention can be discerned from the following description and accompanying drawings. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Many internal combustion engines include an electrical generator driven by the engine to generate electrical power. The power generated by the generator can be used to power some engine systems (for example, the ignition and fuel injection systems), and some systems external to the engine (for example, lights and display gauges of a vehicle powered by the engine).
A typical generator for an internal combustion engine has a rotor portion and a stator portion. The rotor includes a plurality of permanent magnets which generate a magnetic field and the stator includes one or more wire coils. The rotor is powered by the engine and is thereby caused to spin with respect to the stator. The relative motion of the magnets and the wire coils induces an electric current in the wire coils. The current can then be transmitted to the various electrical systems that are powered by the generator.
The power output of the generator is typically determined by the internal structure of the generator, such as the arrangement of the magnets and coils, as well as by the rotational speed of the rotor. Thus, although the power consumption of the various electrical systems varies over time, the amount of power produced by the generator at a particular time cannot be conveniently adjusted to correspond to the varying levels of power consumption. Thus, the generator is typically designed to always produce sufficient electrical power to meet the needs of the electrical systems under all operating conditions, to ensure their continuous operation. When the actual power consumption of the electrical systems is less than the power produced by the generator, as is usually the case, the excess power is dissipated by the generator coils, in the form of heat. Thus, cooling must be provided for the generator coils.
One method of cooling the generator coils is to spray them with a coolant, such as oil from the lubrication system of the engine. When the generator coils are in contact with the coolant, they will transfer a portion of their heat to the coolant. The coolant is subsequently transported to a heat exchanger to dissipate the heat into the environment. While this method is effective in cooling the generator coils, it suffers from a number of drawbacks. Because the rotor and stator are located in a confined space, and because the rotor is spinning, it is difficult to provide sufficient coolant to adequately cool the generator coils. In addition, particularly at low speeds, the rotation of the rotor does not adequately distribute the coolant within the generator to cool every part of the generator coils.
Therefore, there is a need for a way of cooling an electrical generator. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
When a jackup platform drills wells in locations that may be subject to sea ice, the risers need to be protected from forces due to impact with the sea ice. The existing options for doing so include:
1. Drilling with the riser unprotected;
2. Providing coatings to the riser to protect against corrosion, fouling etc, but without protection from large ice or ship impacts;
3. Drilling through a minimal wellhead platform which supports the wellhead and conductor but is not designed to provide protection from large forces, for example ice impacts;
4. Drilling through a substantial protection structure such as a conical piled monopod (CPM); and
5. Drilling from a large combined drilling and production platform.
Options 3, 4 and 5 are all permanent structures and cannot be easily removed for reuse when the drilling activity is complete and not economical for exploration drilling where only one well is drilled at a location. As they are permanent they must also be designed for the worst possible design conditions as they cannot be removed if unusually large forces are expected. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a linear vibration device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A general linear vibration device is a part that converts electrical energy into mechanical vibration using a principle of generating electromagnetic force. The general linear vibration device is mounted in a mobile communication terminal, a portable terminal, or the like, so as to be used for notifying mute termination.
In addition, with the sudden expansion of radio communication and mobile phone markets, a demand for a multi-functional mobile communication terminal has been increased. The performance and technology of the linear vibration device has been also developed day by day so as to surprisingly improve disadvantages and quality of the existing products under the conditions that miniaturization and high quality of parts of the mobile communication terminal are demanded.
Further, a release of a mobile phone having a large LCD screen has been suddenly increased in recent years. To this end, a touch screen type that generates vibrations at the time of touch is adopted. Today, a demand of the touch screen type has been increased.
Meanwhile, performance specifically required in vibrations according to the touch of the touch screen is as follows. First, with the increase in use frequency as compared with the vibration generation at the time of receiving a call, operation lifespan needs to be increased. Second, a user can feel vibrations at the time of touch by increasing a response speed of vibrations according to a speed touching the screen.
A linear vibration device, which is a linear vibration device satisfying the above-mentioned characteristics, generates vibrations by being vibrated by electromagnetic force, while having a resonance frequency determined by a spring and a vibrator to be connected to the spring. Further, the electromagnetic force is generated by interaction with current having a predetermined frequency, which is applied to a magnet of the vibrator and a coil of a stator.
The linear vibration device configured as described above generates touch noise by colliding the vibrator with a case or a bracket while the vibrator moves vertically. To prevent the touch noise, in the linear vibration device, a ring-shaped band is made by applying MF or a damping material (rubber, poron, or the like) has been used.
However, in the case of using the MF, since the MF is made of liquid, the MF is sprayed to the periphery at the time of excessive impact and is out of an original position to weaken the damping function, thereby causing the noise at the time of the vibration operation. The damping material such as rubber, poron, or the like, occupies a predetermined volume and thus, is difficult to be disposed within a restricted space and has a degraded freedom in design. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a controller for a motor that has two rotors each of which produces a field by a permanent magnet and can change the phase difference between the rotors.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a permanent magnet type motor, there has been known a double rotor type motor that has two rotors that are coaxially disposed and each have a permanent magnet for producing a field (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-204541 (referred to as Patent Document 1 hereinafter)). In the motor of this type, the two rotors can relatively rotate with respect to each other about the axis thereof, and the phase difference between the rotors can be changed by the relative rotation. By changing the phase difference between the rotors, the strength of a composite field (the magnitude of magnetic fluxes) of the fields produced by the permanent magnets of the rotors can be changed.
The motor disclosed in the Patent Document 1 is mechanically configured so that the phase difference between the rotors changes according to the rotational velocity of the motor. That is, the rotors are connected to each other via a member that is displaced in the radial direction of the motor by the action of a centrifugal force. One of the rotors is capable of integrally rotating with the output shaft of the motor for outputting the torque produced by the motor to the outside. When the member described above is displaced, the other rotor relatively rotates with respect to the rotor capable of rotating integrally with the output shaft, and thus the phase difference between the rotors changes. In this case, the permanent magnets of the rotors are disposed in such a manner that, when the motor is halted, the directions of the magnetic poles (the directions of the magnetic fluxes) of the permanent magnets of the rotors are the same, and the strength of the composite field of the permanent magnets is maximized. As the rotational velocity of the motor increases, the phase difference between the rotors changes by the action of the centrifugal force, and the strength of the composite field of the permanent magnets of the rotors decreases.
For example, for a vehicle on which a motor is mounted as a propulsion force generating source (an electric-powered vehicle), the required maximum value of the torque of the motor is high particularly in a low velocity range, and thus, a motor whose strength of the field of the permanent magnets of the rotors is high is typically used so that a large torque can be produced.
However, for the motor whose strength of the field of the permanent magnets of the rotors is high, a periodic change in produced torque (a so-called torque ripple) is likely to remarkably occur particularly in an operational state of the motor in which the rotational velocity of the output shaft of the motor is low, and the produced torque is low (sometimes referred to as low-velocity and low-torque operational state, hereinafter). For example, as shown by dashed line in FIG. 10, a torque change having a large amplitude relative to the magnitude of the produced torque is likely to occur. In FIG. 10, the axis of abscissas indicates the rotational position (rotational angle) of the output shaft of the motor, and the axis of ordinates indicates the torque.
Such a vehicle having the motor as the propulsion force generating source is likely to vibrate when the vehicle is creeping in situations, such as traffic congestion and slow speed driving, or immediately after start moving (when the vehicle runs on a low torque produced by the motor as an idling torque of the motor in a state where the accelerator of the vehicle is not manipulated). Complementally, in general, in an operational state in which the rotational velocity of the output shaft of the motor is relatively high, a change in torque produced by the motor is sufficiently reduced by the action of an inertial force produced by the rotation of the output shaft even if the produced torque is relatively low.
Therefore, it is desirable to reduce a change in torque (torque ripple) produced by the motor in the low-velocity and low-torque operational state.
However, ordinary permanent magnet type motor having a single rotor cannot change the strength of the field of the permanent magnet, and therefore, it is difficult to reduce a change in torque produced by the motor in the low-velocity and low-torque operational state.
Even if the double rotor type motor such as one disclosed in the Patent Document 1 is used, the strength of the composite field of the permanent magnets of the rotors in the low-velocity and low-torque operational state is substantially kept at the maximum strength. This is because the motor disclosed in the Patent Document 1 uses a centrifugal force to mechanically cause relative rotation of the rotors, and therefore, in the low-velocity and low-torque operational state where a centrifugal force hardly occurs, the phase difference between the rotors is substantially kept at the phase difference for which the strength of the composite field is maximized. Therefore, the motor disclosed in the Patent Document 1 cannot reduce a change in produced torque in the low-velocity and low-torque operational state. | {
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Various beverages are preferably served at a particular temperature. A wide variety of techniques have been employed to keep beverages as close to the optimum consuming temperature as possible for as long as possible. For example, ice buckets have been used to chill wine, and foam and/or fabric insulation devices, e.g., koozies, have been employed to insulate beverages in cans or bottles. Prior techniques suffer from a variety of drawbacks, e.g., spilling, slipping, poor thermal performance characteristics, difficulty of use, etc. Accordingly, one object of this disclosure is to provide a simple, effective technique for neatly maintaining temperature of a beverage in a container. | {
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Color is a psychological phenomenon based on the interaction of the spectrum of light (distribution of light energy versus wavelength) with light receptors in the eye, which have specific sensitivities for specific spectral wavelength bands or regions (hereinafter “spectral components”) of light. Color categories and physical specifications of color are also associated with objects, materials, light sources, etc., based on their physical properties such as light absorption, reflection, or emission spectra.
In the physical sense, a color is the ratio of intensities measured in different spectral components of the electromagnetic spectrum. In the physiological sense, in humans, the different spectral components are defined by the spectral sensitivity curves of three different types of receptors in the eye (i.e., the so-called red, blue, and green cones). The human brain processes and combines signals from the red, blue and green cones to create a composite impression or image of a scene. All colors in the scene are perceived as combinations of the red, blue and green cone signals. The range or gamut of colors that are perceived by humans is represented, for example, by the CIE 1931 chromaticity diagram.
Man-made color image sensors (e.g., color film, or digital cameras using CCD or CMOS sensors) also sense light intensities in a finite number of distinct spectral components. Various types of color image sensors differ in how they separate and measure the distinct spectral components. For example, a color film may have a stack of three different emulsion layers that are exposed by red, green, and blue components of light, respectively. A digital camera may use an array of layered sensors so that every pixel, like a color film, contains a stack of sensors sensitive to individual colors (e.g., sensors available under the Foveon trademark). More commonly, digital cameras or other man-made color image sensor arrangements use a spatial color filter array (e.g., a Bayer color filter array) positioned on top of a CMOS or CCD sensor to capture different spectral components of light in corresponding nominal pixel types.
The man-made color image sensor arrangements sense and collect intensity data for each distinct spectral component received from a scene. The data for each spectral component is monochrome, i.e., it includes only intensity information, but no color information. To create an approximate color image or rendition of a scene, the different intensity data for the distinct spectral components are processed, encoded to certain colors and intensities, and combined.
A three-color Bayer color filter array is used in most single-chip digital image sensors (in digital cameras, camcorders, and scanners) to create a color image. A Bayer filter mosaic is a color filter array for arranging red (R), green (G), blue (B) color filters on a square grid of photosensors. The filter pattern is typically 50% green, 25% red and 25% blue. FIG. 1, which is adapted from Bayer U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,065, shows another exemplary Bayer filter mosaic pattern with red, blue and green color transmissive filters arranged in a repeating pattern. In this pattern, luminance elements (green, denoted by a “G”) assume every other array position. Chromacity elements (red, denoted by an “R”) alternate with the G luminance elements in alternate rows. The R elements also alternate with other chromacity elements (blue, denoted by a “B”) in filling the remaining array positions.
The Bayer filter mosaic patterns are designed to mimic the human eye's greater resolving power with green light. For example, in the Bayer color filter array shown in FIG. 1, B elements contribute only one-eighth of the element population in recognition of the human visual system's relatively limited ability to discern blue detail. Red detail, to which the human visual system is more responsive, is sampled at a higher rate than for blue detail by virtue of the relatively greater population of the R elements. Luminance detail, to which the human eye is most responsive, is sampled at the highest rate by the large population of G elements in the array.
The raw output of a Bayer-filter image sensor may be referred to as a Bayer pattern image. Since each pixel of the image sensor is filtered to record only one of three colors, the data from each pixel does not fully determine color on its own. To obtain a full-color image, various demosaicing algorithms can be used to interpolate a set of complete red, green, and blue values for each pixel of the image sensor.
Other types of three- and four-color filter arrays suggested for use with man-made color image sensors are also based on luminance-chrominance considerations to mimic the human eye's perception of color. (See e.g., Roddy et al. U.S. Pat. No. 7,057,654, Bawolek et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,771,314 B1 and 5,914,748, Vook et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,771,314B1, Silverstein et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,375, Merril et. al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,965,875, and Chang U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US2007/0145273 A1).
In any imaging system, diffraction sets a fundamental image resolution limit that depends only on the aperture's f-stop (or f-number) setting of the image sensor optics, and on the wavelength of light being imaged. The foregoing color filter arrays, which are based on luminance-chrominance considerations, do not address the wavelength-dependent diffraction effects that can occur with the image sensor optics.
Consideration is now being given to color filter arrays for color imaging when diffraction effects caused by image sensor optics may be significant. | {
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Parkinson's disease is a degenerative condition characterized by reduced concentration of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain. Levodopa (L-dopa or L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine) is an immediate metabolic precursor of dopamine that, unlike dopamine, is able to cross the blood-brain barrier, and is most commonly used for restoring the dopamine concentration in the brain. For the past 40 years, levodopa has remained the most effective therapy for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.
However, levodopa has a short half life in plasma that, even under best common current standard of care, results in pulsatile dopaminergic stimulation. Long-term therapy is therefore complicated by motor fluctuations and dyskinesia that can represent a source of significant disability for some patients. A therapeutic strategy that could ultimately deliver levodopa/dopamine to the brain in a more continuous and physiologic manner would provide the benefits of standard levodopa with reduced motor complications and is much needed by patients suffering from Parkinson's disease and other neurological or movement disorders (Olanow C W; Mov. Dis. 2008, 23(Suppl. 3):S613-S622). Sustained-release oral levodopa formulations have been developed, but, at best, such preparations have been found to be no more efficacious than standard tablets. Continuous administration of levodopa by intraduodenal administration or infusion has also been attempted by using ambulatory pumps or patches. Such treatments, especially intraduodenal, are extremely invasive and inconvenient.
The metabolic transformation of levodopa to dopamine is catalyzed by the aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase enzyme, a ubiquitous enzyme with particularly high concentrations in the intestinal mucosa, liver, brain and brain capillaries. Due to the possibility of extracerebral metabolism of levodopa, it is necessary to administer large doses of levodopa leading to high extracerebral concentrations of dopamine that cause nausea in some patients. Therefore, levodopa is usually administered concurrently with oral administration of a dopa decarboxylase inhibitor, such as carbidopa or benserazide, which reduces by 60-80% the levodopa dose required for a clinical response, and thus prevents certain of its side effects by inhibiting the conversion of levodopa to dopamine outside the brain. Various oral formulations together with inhibitors of enzymes associated with the metabolic degradation of levodopa are well known, for example, decarboxylase inhibitors such as carbidopa and benserazide, catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT) inhibitors such as entacapone and tolcapone, and monoamone oxidase (MAO)-A or MAO-B inhibitors such as moclobemide, rasagiline or selegiline or safinamide. Currently available oral drugs include SINEMET® and SINEMET®CR sustained-release tablets that include carbidopa or levodopa; STALEVO® tablets containing carbidopa, entacapone and levodopa; and MADOPAR® tablets containing levodopa and benserazide. There is an on-going and urgent need for methods and compositions that can effect continuous stimulation of L-dopa to more effectively treat movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease. Nevertheless, no stable liquid formulation having e.g., an effective concentration in a volume suitable for use for subcutaneous or transdermal delivery has ever been achieved. | {
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Decubitus ulcers (commonly referred to as “bedsores”) may form on parts or portions of a patient's body when in contact for a prolonged period of time with an object such as, for example, a bed, a wheelchair, or other type of furniture. The pressure exerted on the skin covering or surrounding the bony prominences on the portions of the patient's body that are in contact with a surface on the furniture may result in the skin becoming inflamed, and may obstruct or restrict the blood flow to the skin and/or the underlying tissue, causing the skin and underlying tissue to become ischemic, eventually resulting in the formation of decubitus ulcers. Decubitus ulcers can form in any area of tissue covering a bony prominence that is in contact with the surface of the bed or sofa or other furniture upon which the patient is resting, e.g., parts of the spine, heels, elbows, and shoulders, shoulder blades, as well as the sacral, trochanteric and ischial areas in the coccyx, hips and buttocks.
Specifically, although arterial inflow can continue and withstand pressure upwards of 170-mm Hg or greater, venous return or blood flow from a region is restricted or obstructed with pressures as low as 32-mm Hg on the skin and underlying tissue. The restriction or obstruction of the venous return of blood from the skin and underlying tissue may lead to the buildup of toxins and waste products that may lead to the formation of decubitus ulcers. Initially, pressure on the skin and tissue may lead to pink coloration and/or mild inflammation, which may disappear within a few hours of relieving pressure on the area. If pressure is not relieved, superficial lesions may form on the skin, then turning into ulcers which continue growing deeper until extending through the bone to internal organs, eventually becoming fatal to the patient.
A traditional means for preventing the formation of decubitus ulcers is to physically turn the patient from side to side at short intervals of time, thus alleviating the amount of time a specific body part is subjected to straining pressures. However, this method of prevention often proves ineffective since the turning of the patient only relieves pressure from certain regions of the body. Moreover, a patient will many times return to a default position even after having been rotated. In addition, since nurses or other aids must be present to physically rotate the patient, this method is laborious, time-consuming and costly.
An alternative method for preventing the formation of decubitus ulcers is the use of air mattresses. Since air mattresses reduce the solidity of the contact surface, the mattresses relieve some of the pressure on the patient's body. However, these devices can be costly and not readily available to all patients. Furthermore, the mattresses are not easily portable in case the patient is moved to another unit or bed. | {
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The present invention relates generally to apparatus and methods for removing obstructions from sewers, and more specifically, to apparatus and methods for the removal of obstructions without the need for chemicals or cutters.
Prior methods for removing build-up or obstructions from sewer pipes and drain lines include the use of chemicals, mechanical cutters, and so-called "jetter" nozzles.
A jetter nozzle is connected to a hose and a cold water supply, and advances forwardly in a sewer line by spraying jets of water rearwardly and radially outwardly at an angle from horizontal. A jetter nozzle typically provides for a single forwardly directed stream of cold water, however, the bulk of the cleaning action is limited to along the walls of the sewer line rearwardly of the nozzle, such cleaning resulting from the rearwardly directed streams of water impinging the sewer wall. Although the forwardly directed stream is capable of eroding a hole through certain materials, such nozzles have difficulty advancing through a substantially or completely blocked sewer line since the cleaning action occurs behind the nozzle. Thus, jetter nozzles are typically limited to removing build-up that is relatively soft such as grease or organic waste, and have difficulty advancing through a blocked or substantially obstructed sewer line.
Mechanical cutters are capable of opening large or relative solid obstructions in sewer lines, however, such cutter arrangements tend to be relatively expensive, and to avoid damage to the walls of sewer pipe, mechanical cutters are typically used to open a blockage, not to completely clear the obstruction from the sewer line. Using mechanical cutters to opening a sewer line also tends to be a relatively slow operation.
The use of chemicals is typically limited to those instances where the sewer line is completely blocked since the chemicals will simply flow past the obstruction when an opening is created. It is possible to block a sewer line downstream of an obstruction with, for example, an inflatable plug commonly known as a cherne plug, thus preventing the loss of the chemicals when an opening is created through the obstruction. However, and particularly when dealing with relatively large diameter sewer lines, and considering the distance often encountered between the location of an upstream and a downstream manhole, the volume of chemicals needed to "fill" the closed portion of the line make such a solution relatively expensive and generally impractical. Moreover, it will typically be difficult to determine the time required for the chemicals to sufficiently dissolve the obstruction so as to eliminate the concern that the resulting waste will not become lodged downstream.
Thus, it is desirable to provide for new and improved apparatus and methods for cleaning build-up from sewer lines, for opening blocked sewer lines without the need to use chemicals or mechanical cutters, and for completely clearing the lines of both hard and soft matter such as grease, tree root structure, soap, and organic waste. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to transmitters used in telephones systems and, more particularly, to an electric circuit for matching an electret microphone to the electrical characteristics of existing carbon compatible telephone networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Carbon compatible telephone networks were originally designed for use with telephones employing older technology microphones. That is, microphones with carbon pellets. This type of microphone provides a poor quality of transmission, due primarily to problems associated with the carbon pellets. For example, the pellets often unpack or are packed unevenly. Further, carbon microphones are relatively expensive to manufacture.
More recently, microphone technology has advanced to a more modern state with the development of electret microphones. Electret microphones provide high quality transmission signals at a relatively low cost, with the added benefit of being much smaller in size than the carbon microphones. In other words, electret microphones are particularly well suited for use in the telephone industry.
However, the carbon compatible networks originally designed for use with carbon microphones do not directly interface with telephones employing electret microphones. The carbon compatible networks have a low input impedance, while the electret microphone has a high impedance. Thus, when electret microphones are connected to carbon compatible networks, impedance mismatches occur.
Previously, it has been common practice for handsets employing electret microphones to be interfaced with carbon compatible networks via the use of Darlington pair amplifiers. These Darlington amplifiers are designed to overcome problems arising from mismatched impedances. However, these solutions introduce new problems. The Darlington type amplifiers are designed around bipolar transistors. The emitter of the first transistor is connected to the base of the second transistor, and both collectors are tied together. This connection scheme produces an equivalent transistor with a high gain, which is desirable. Unfortunately, it also results in an equivalent transistor with a base-emitter voltage drop twice that of a normal bipolar transistor. Hence, the demands on bias voltage are undesirably increased.
This last effect is highly undesirable, since the available bias voltage is relatively low. Long transmission lines or additional loads limit the available voltage range even further, and often result in poor transmission quality. For example, in a telephone system that employs multiple extensions, it is common for the transmission quality to degrade substantially when more than one phone is operated on the same circuit. Operating two phones simultaneously outstrips the capacity of the central office to provide voltage to both extensions.
Additionally, a rectifier is commonly used to establish a DC supply voltage for biasing purposes. Both the electret microphone and the amplifier require biasing for stable operation. Presently, standard implementations use silicon rectifiers that exhibit a relatively large voltage drop. As mentioned before, large voltage drops are undesirable in that they degrade the transmission quality and in some instances even limit the use of the handset.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly, to an organic electroluminescent (EL) device and a method of manufacturing the same, wherein the picture quality of an organic electroluminescent display (OELD) can be improved.
2. Description of the Background Art
Recently, as the size of display devices increases, there is an increasing need for flat panel display devices that occupy a smaller area. Electroluminescent (EL) devices have come into the spotlight as one of these flat panel display devices.
The electroluminescent devices can be mainly classified into inorganic electroluminescent devices and organic electroluminescent devices depending on the type of materials used.
The inorganic electroluminescent devices are adapted to emit light in such a manner that a high electric field is applied to a light-emitting unit, and electrons are accelerated within the high electric field in such a way to collide toward the center of emission, thereby exciting the center of emission.
Further, the organic electroluminescent devices are adapted to emit light when exciton, which is generated through combination of electrons and holes that are injected from an electron injection node (cathode) and a hole injection node (anode) into the light-emitting unit, falls from an excited state to a ground state.
The inorganic electroluminescent devices with the above-described operating principle require a high electric field. Thus, a high voltage of 100 to 200V is required as a driving voltage. On the contrary, the organic electroluminescent devices are advantageous in that they can be driven at a low voltage of about 5 to 20V. Thus, research on the organic electroluminescent devices has been actively performed.
In addition, the organic electroluminescent devices have excellent characteristics such as a wide viewing angle, high response rates and high contrast, and they can be thus used for graphic display pixels, pixels of a television image display surface light source and so on. Also, the organic electroluminescent devices are suitable for a next-generation flat panel display device since they are light and have a good color sense.
The organic electroluminescent devices are usually called organic electroluminescent devices. This will be below described in more detail.
Organic EL refers to a display mode in which characters, images, etc. are displayed using an organic luminescent device that emits light by itself if being applied with current. In the concrete, organic EL refers to a condition in which light is generated through a process where electrons and holes form electron and hole pairs within semiconductors, or carriers are excited to a higher energy state and are then stabilized.
The response speed of the organic electroluminescent device is ten thousand times faster than that of thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) devices. Thus, the organic electroluminescent device has an advantage in that it can produce a relatively stable motion picture without blurring. Also, the material of the organic electroluminescent device, which constitutes the screen, is able to emit light by itself. Thus, the organic electroluminescent device does not require a backlight as in LCD product groups. Accordingly, the organic electroluminescent device has advantages in that the life span of a battery can be increased since less power is needed, and a thickness of the panel can be reduced commensurate with the thickness of a backlight which would otherwise have to be used. The organic EL display panel is disadvantageous in implementing a large-size screen, but is advantageous in resolution, power consumption, etc., compared with a PDP.
The organic electroluminescent device has been consistently improved in terms of technology. It is thus expected that the organic electroluminescent device will be in its place as next-generation display devices.
The organic EL display can be classified into a passive matrix (PM) type and an active matrix (AM) type depending on its driving mode.
The PM type is a structure in which a driving circuit is provided outside an organic EL panel to light-emit an organic electroluminescent device. This type is advantageous in that the structure of the panel is simple and the cost is low because the driving circuit is located outside the panel. However, this PM type has problems in that the current flowing through respective pixels must be the same so as to make uniform the brightness of the whole pixel, and power consumption is significantly greater since the charge/discharge current applied to a capacitive load is high.
Meanwhile, the AM type is a structure in which a driving circuit such as TFT is provided in each pixel. Thus, this AM type has advantages in that power consumption is low and deviation in the brightness is small, compared with the PM type.
Meanwhile, the organic EL panel has reflectance of over 80%, which results in degraded contrast.
Further, since the cathode of a device is usually made of a metal having good reflectance, external light, which is incident to the device, is reflected from the surface of the cathode, and is then mixed with light generated from a light-emitting layer.
In order to solve this problem, a circular polarizing filter is formed at the bottom of a transparent substrate in most organic electroluminescent devices, thus reducing the reflection of the externally incident light from the cathode.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the construction of a conventional organic electroluminescent (EL) device.
The conventional organic electroluminescent device includes a transparent anode 102 formed on a transparent substrate 101, an organic EL layer 103 having a hole injection layer (HIL), a hole transport layer (HTL), an emitting layer (EML), an electron transport layer (ETL) and an electron injection layer (EIL), the organic EL layer 103 being coated on the transparent anode 102 through a vacuum deposition method, and a metal cathode 104 of good reflectance, which is formed on the organic-EL layer 103.
In this structure, however, if outer atmosphere is bright, external light that is incident on the device is reflected by the metal electrode 104, and is then mixed with light that is generated from the emitting layer of the organic EL layer 103. Accordingly, contrast is significantly lowered.
In order to solve this problem, in the prior art, a circular polarizing filter 105 is disposed in front of the organic electroluminescent device so as to reduce the reflection of external light. That is, when external light is incident, half of the light is blocked by the circular polarizing filter 105 and the remaining half of the light is blocked when being reflected back from the cathode 104. It is thus possible to prohibit the lowering of contrast due to the external light.
Accordingly, a filter 105 for lowering reflectance and improving contrast is formed in front of the panel. The filter usually includes a circular polarizer (hereinafter, referred to as “circular polarizing filter”).
FIG. 2 is a conceptual view for explaining the structure of a conventional circular polarizing filter and the principle of blocking external light using such a filter.
A circular polarizing filter 210 has a structure in which a linear polarizer 201 and a λ/4 retarder 205 are overlapped. Natural external light is transformed into light that vibrates in a given direction while passing through the linear polarizer 201 of the circular polarizing filter 210. The light is then transformed into light that rotates in a spiral form while passing through the λ/4 retarder 205. In more detail, the λ/4 retarder 205 uses birefringence crystals. When light of a given wavelength, which is vertically incident to an incident surface, transmits the crystals, the λ/4 retarder 205 makes the light have a phase difference of 90 degrees. Since light reflected from the front of the panel is redirected through the circular polarizing filter 210 having this characteristic, reflectance can be lowered by approximately 30 to 50%.
The circular polarizing filter is effective in reducing the reflectance by some degree. However, the circular polarizing filter has an adverse effect of lowering transmissivity, and has a disadvantage in that the cost is high. Furthermore, the reduction in transmissivity results in lowered luminous efficiency of the organic EL display panel. | {
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Recent efforts to reduce the exhaust emissions of internal combustion engines, particularly those of the reciprocating type, have involved staging the combustion for each power cycle of the engine.
It has been found desirable to use a lean mixture in the main combustion chamber in order to provide fewer undesirable by-products of combustion or harmful emissions as they are generally known as, for example, oxides of nitrogen and unburned hydrocarbons.
The most critical period of operation of an internal combustion engine with respect to exhaust emissions is that period following first firing when the engine is started from a cold condition. The cold portions of the cylinder wall and cylinder head cause condensation of the fuel mixture, and further cause undesirable quenching of the burning of the hot gases. When the engine has been operating for a period of time and/or under a sufficient load that it is brought to its normal operating temperature, the combustion of hot gases becomes more efficient and the problem of exhaust emissions is greatly reduced. Therefore it has been found desirable to provide some means of accelerating the initial heating or warm-up of the combustion chamber of the engine when it is started from the cold condition. It has been found that providing two-stage ignition of the fuel charge produces a rapid warm-up effect in a cold combustion chamber and minimizes the exhaust emissions during engine warm up.
More particularly, with regard to reciprocating engines of the spark-ignition type, it has been discovered and it is known in the art that, if a separate, auxiliary, compartment is provided within the combustion chamber and a rich fuel mixture provided within the separate chamber, ignition of the rich mixture may be used to ignite a lean mixture in the main compartment of the combustion chamber. This particular type of two-stage fuel burning is referred to as "pre-chamber" or "stratified-charge" combustion. See, for example, the published German patent specifications No. 2,301,066, 2,259,286 and 2,302,051 published July 26, Aug. 2, and Aug. 29, 1973, respectively.
In the stratified-charge type combustion, a separate auxiliary compartment or pre-chamber is charged at the appropriate time during each cycle, with a very rich mixture of fuel which is then ignited by a conventional spark ignition device. The hot gases from the burning of the rich mixture in the pre-chamber are channeled through passages in the pre-chamber to the main compartment of the combustion chamber, and these hot gases serve as a torch to ignite a lean mixture in the main chamber. This manner of combustion has been a satisfactory solution to the problem of directly spark-igniting a lean mixture in the main combustion chamber.
Previous attempts to provide an auxiliary compartment or pre-chamber in the main combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine have generally used the technique of providing a cup-shaped or hollow tubular insert extending into the main combustion chamber from the cylinder head of the engine.
The pre-chamber is thus formed by the interior of the cup-shaped or tubular member and desired ports are provided in the wall of the cup-shaped member for communication of the interior of the pre-chamber with the spark-igniting means and for communication of the hot gases from the pre-chamber with the fuel mixture in the main combustion chamber. The cup-shaped member is thus usually attached by the open end thereof to the wall of the combustion chamber as, for example, to a portion of the cylinder head of the engine. The rich fuel charge for the pre-chamber may then be supplied to the pre-chamber through the open end of the cup-shaped member attached to the cylinder head by porting the cylinder head to the cup-shaped member. This arrangement has been found desirable because it permits the addition of a pre-chamber to existing cylinder heads without complete redesign on the cylinder head, and also lends itself to economical manufacturing techniques.
In order for the cup to serve its function of rapidly heating the gases in the main combustion chamber upon cold starting, it has been proposed that the cup be made of a material having a high thermal conductivity. However, the pre-chamber cup is exposed to the hot gases of the main combustion chamber, and therefore must have very good oxidation resistance at elevated temperatures and particularly temperatures of up to 850.degree. C. Unfortunately, materials having a desirable high coefficient of thermal conductivity do not provide sufficient oxidation resistance at these elevated temperatures. Furthermore, the materials that have the desired oxidation resistance do not have sufficient thermal conductivity to permit cantilever mounting of the cup from a mounting flange provided on the open end. If such a configuration for a pre-chamber cup is employed using any of these materials, upon the engine's reaching operating temperature, the pre-chamber cup is unable to transfer heat along its length and through the mounting flange to the cylinder head at a sufficiently rapid rate, and the cup suffers destructive overheating in the region of the closed end.
It has therefore been desirable to provide an article for defining a pre-chamber for an internal combustion engine which initially heats rapidly from the burning of the mixture in the pre-chamber yet one which, upon reaching normal operating temperature, maintains a sufficient rate of heat transfer to the engine to prevent overheating of the cup. Such a cup must also have sufficient oxidation resistance when exposed to the gaseous combustion products at normal combustion chamber operating temperatures, to withstand the corrosive attack of the hot combustion gases. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of semiconductor techniques, and more specifically, relates to an apparatus and a method for detecting a mark in a layer of a semiconductor device as well as to a semiconductor device processing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
During the fabrication of a semiconductor device, a process of forming multiple layers on a wafer by using a mask plate is typically involved. In the formation process of the multiple layers, patterning of each layer by etching or the like may be involved. It is known that, in order to make patterns between multiple layers that are overlapped on a wafer align with respect to each other, alignment marks may be formed on each of these layers. By the alignment between the mask plate of the current layer and the alignment mark of the previous layer, it is possible to align the formed pattern on the current layer with the pattern on the previous layer. These alignment marks may have phase contrast (e.g. “topographical” contrast) or reflectivity contrast. Background lighting (generally, visible light) in a process environment is utilized to detect the phase contrast or the reflectivity contrast to obtain a phase contrast signal or a reflectivity contrast signal, thereby optically detecting or imaging these alignment marks.
Alignment marks may be covered by the current layer or by multiple layers that include the current layer. For the aforementioned prior art, in a case where the current layer to be patterned is a layer opaque to the visible light or a layer of low transmissivity to the visible light, or in a case where there is a layer opaque to the visible light or a layer of low transmissivity to the visible light between the current layer to be patterned and the layer with alignment marks, the visible light may be reflected or absorbed by the opaque layer or the layer of low transmissivity, and thus, may not reach the layer with alignment marks, as illustrated in FIG. 1 (in FIG. 1, layer 4 has for example a low transmissivity to the visible light and layer 3 is for example a layer substantially opaque to the visible light). In this case, the obtained phase contrast signal or reflectivity contrast signal may be significantly reduced, resulting in the inability to clearly image the marks. Directed to the problems existing in the prior art as found by the inventor, a new technical solution according to the present invention is proposed. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates generally to the field of cable television systems and, more particularly, to a system for reporting back to a centrally located office, the viewing of certain premium programming for which a subscriber is billed in addition to his regular monthly subscription fee. This practice is popularly referred to as "pay-per-view" (PPV). More specifically, the subject invention relates to the most desirable type of PPV, known as "impulse pay-per-view" (IPPV). An IPPV system allows a subscriber to order a program at the last minute.
Early PPV systems worked with one way addressable set-top terminals (STT). A subscriber who wished to order a PPV event did so by calling an operator and orally placing his order. The operator entered the order into a computer, which then transmitted authorization to the subscriber's set-top terminal.
This system suffers from the requirement of using the telephone and a human operator. This increases the cost of handling PPV requests, and effectively eliminates IPPV as a viable service since only a limited number of people are able to call in during the last minutes before a program begins. Therefore, the majority of people desiring to view a program must order it long before it begins.
Some prior art systems exist which purport to solve the IPPV problem. One such system employs a two-way cable television (CATV) plant, in which the set-top terminal may be equipped for transmitting a signal back to the headend ("upstream transmission") on a suitable frequency, such as between 5 MHz and 30 MHz. The terminal transmits information as to what programs are being or have been viewed to a computer at the headend. This system suffers from the fact that no protocols have been developed which operate efficiently in an enviroment of an exceedingly large number of set-top terminals who "speak" very little, but who must be serviced quickly when they do speak. Further, two-way CATV plants have proved difficult to maintain with adequate integrity to permit reliable return transmission, and the cost of the plant is excessive compared to the revenues to be gained from IPPV.
Another system uses credits downloaded to the terminal, and then makes deductions against the credits when a program is viewed. At the end of the month, certain alpha-numeric characters are displayed, indicating programs viewed. The subscriber writes these characters on a card which is mailed to the CATV operator. This system suffers from excessive delay in reporting programs watched, a limited number of programs which can be viewed (due to the limited number of characters a subscriber can be expected to write down), and the possibility of unrecoverable errors in transcription.
A similar system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,484,217 to Block. In this system, credits are downloaded to the terminal and deductions are made when programs are viewed. An indicator informs the subscriber that the stored credit has expired or is low. The headend office, upon receipt of payment, will add credits to the subscriber's terminal and the indicator will be extinguished. In this system the subscriber must pay in advance and may miss programs due to delay in crediting his account.
An impulse pay-per-view system is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,848, herein incorporated by reference. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Photosynthesis is a process by which biological entities utilize sunlight and CO2 to produce sugars for energy. Photosynthesis, as naturally evolved, is an extremely complex system with numerous and poorly understood feedback loops, control mechanisms, and process inefficiencies. This complicated system presents likely insurmountable obstacles to either one-factor-at-a-time or global optimization approaches [Nedbal et al., Photosynth Res., 93(1-3):223-34 (2007); Salvucci et al., Physiol Plant., 120(2):179-186 (2004); Greene et al., Biochem J., 404(3):517-24 (2007)].
Existing photoautotrophic organisms (i.e., plants, algae, and photosynthetic bacteria) are poorly suited for industrial bioprocessing and have therefore not demonstrated commercial viability for this purpose. Such organisms have slow doubling time (3-72 hrs) compared to industrialized heterotrophic organisms such as Escherichia coli (20 minutes), reflective of low total productivities. In addition, techniques for genetic manipulation (knockout, over-expression of transgenes via integration or episomic plasmid propagation) are inefficient, time-consuming, laborious, or non-existent. | {
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Process control systems, like those used in chemical, petroleum, pharmaceutical, pulp and paper, or other manufacturing processes, typically include one or more process controllers communicatively coupled to at least one host including at least one operator workstation and to one or more field devices configured to communicate via analog, digital or combined analog/digital communication protocols. The field devices, which may be, for example, device controllers, valves, valve actuators, valve positioners, switches and transmitters (e.g., temperature, pressure, flow rate, and chemical composition sensors) or combinations thereof, perform functions within the process control system such as opening or closing valves and measuring or inferring process parameters. A process controller receives signals indicative of process measurements made by the field devices and/or other information pertaining to the field devices, uses this information to implement a control routine, and generates control signals that are sent over the buses or other communication lines to the field devices to control the operation of the process control system.
A process control system can include a plurality of field devices that provide several different functional capabilities and that are often communicatively coupled to process controllers using two-wire interfaces in a point-to-point (e.g., one field device communicatively coupled to a field device bus) or a multi-drop (e.g., a plurality of field device communicatively coupled to a field device bus) wiring connection arrangements or with wireless communications. Some field devices are configured to operate using relatively simple commands and/or communications (e.g., an ON command and an OFF command). Other field devices are more complex requiring more commands and/or more communication information, which may or may not include simple commands. For example, more complex field devices may communicate analog values with digital communications superimposed on the analog value using, for example, a Highway Addressable Remote Transducer (“HART”) communication protocol. Other field devices can use entirely digital communications (e.g., a FOUNDATION Fieldbus communication protocol).
In a process control system, each field device is typically coupled to a process controller via one or more I/O cards and a respective communication path (e.g., a two-wire cable, a wireless link, or an optical fiber). Thus, a plurality of communication paths are required to communicatively couple a plurality of field devices to a process controller. Often the plurality of communication media coupled to the field devices are routed through one or more field junction boxes, at which point, the plurality of communication media are coupled to respective communication media (e.g., respective two-wire conductors) of a multi-conductor cable used to communicatively couple the field devices to the process controller via one or more I/O cards. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Many computing systems comprise multiple, generally independent operating environments such as an operating system (OS) and a basic input/output system (BIOS). Such operating environments communicate with each other. In at least some instances, unfortunately the communication mechanism between the operating environments is susceptible to being snooped by unauthorized entities such as “viruses.” | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of energy recovery systems, and in particular, to systems, program product, and methods related to synthesizing a heat exchanger network for a process or cluster of processes including a plurality of hot process streams to be cooled and a plurality of cold process streams to be heated.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many different types of processes consume multiple steam levels and electricity to obtain an output result, or to produce a required product or compound. For large-scale processes that, for example, consume significant amounts of fuel steam, it is preferable to optimize the consumption of energy through careful operation, design or reconfiguration of the plant and the equipment used. Further, in some industrial manufacturing processes, specific streams of material flows need to be supplied to different types of equipment and machinery at specific temperatures. These material flows may need to be heated or cooled from an original starting or supply temperature to a target temperature. This, in turn, will require the consumption of steam to heat specific streams and consumption of water, for example, to cool down specific streams.
The total energy employed or consumed by the industrial manufacturing processes can be optimized to a global minimal level, for example, through careful placement and configuration of specific material streams with respect to one another. There may be, for example, the potential for hot streams that require cooling to be placed in proximity with cold streams that require heating. Streams having thermal energy already present that need to be removed (waste heat) or streams that need to have heat added can be associated with one another to optimize the energy consumption of the process. A network of heat exchangers can be synthesized to provide a medium for utilizing this waste heat to provide heat to those streams that need to have heat added. This heat exchanger network can be a very important sub-system in any new plant.
As such, the heat exchanger network synthesis problem has arguably been one of the most studied problems in the field of process synthesis in the last four decades. The systematic synthesis of heat exchangers network, however, has proven to be a challenging task. During the last three decades a considerable number of methods have been proposed and utilized in commercial software and/or academia. These methods are referenced in the two famous review papers of T. Gundersen and L. Naess, “The Synthesis of Cost Optimal Heat Exchanger Networks,” Computers and Chemical Engineering, vol. 12, pp. 503-530 (1988), and of Kevin C. Furman and Nikolaos V. Sahinidis, “A Critical Review and Annotated Bibliography for Heat Exchanger Network Synthesis in the 20th Century,” Industrial Engineering & Chemistry Research vol. 41, pp. 2335-2370 (2002).
Other methodologies include mathematical programming-based methods. Although such methods have been in academia since the late eighties, they are still not widely used on a large scale in industrial applications for several reasons. The academics claim that the reasons behind this are: (1) that the computational requirements of such methods are substantial, especially for large problems; and (2) that the resultant solution, in general, can not guarantee globality. These two reasons might be considered the most important obstacles, but there are also other very important ones. Other significant obstacles include the black box nature of the methods, the assumptions regarding problem economics, the types of heat exchangers used in the network (shell & tube, twisted tube, plate and frame types, etc.), the need to know the several utilities types and temperatures beforehand, and the non-inclusive nature of the “transshipment model” used for streams matching and superstructure application. Use of the transshipment model can be seen clearly in superstructures that produce networks that exhibit the structures in which utilities heat exchangers are always at the terminals of the network. In superstructure construction where it is required for the designer to know ahead of time just how many times a stream or one of its branches are going to meet another stream, however, the transshipment model is inadequate as it does not include or account for various situations, such as, for example: those in which it would be beneficial to allow the optimization process to select the utility types and supply temperatures to be used; those in which it would be beneficial for one or more streams to change their identities; and those in which it would be beneficial for one or more utilities streams to effectively become process streams, and so on, or consider the effect of including such possibilities on such streams superstructures.
The state-of-the-art software widely used in industry for initial synthesis of the heat exchange network (HEN) includes, for example, an AspenTech Inc. product known as Aspen Pinch, a Hyprotech Inc. product known as HX-NET (acquired by AspenTech), a KBC product known as Pinch Express, and a UMIST product known as Sprint, which attempt to address the heat exchanger network synthesis problem, systematically, using the well known pinch design method, followed by an optimization capability that optimizes the initial design created by the pinch design method through use of streams split flows in streams branches and the global network heat recovery minimum approach temperature as optimization variables in a non-linear program to recover more waste heat, shift loads among heat exchangers to remove small units, redistribute the load among units, and optimize surface area, of course, always within the constraints of the topology determined using the pinch design method. The pinch design method, followed by the optimization capability method, or combination of methods, has seen wide spread acceptance in the industrial community due to its non-black box approach. That is, the process engineer is in the feedback loop of the design of the heat exchangers network such that process engineer can take design decisions that can change with the progress of the design.
Recognized by the inventor, however, is that in all applications of near pinch and multiple pinches problems to the above software applications, their respective calculations render a larger than optimal number of heat exchange units. Also recognized is that, in addition, software applications that use the pinch design method or that use the pinch design method as a basis for its initial design followed by the optimization option for branches and duties can not handle certain situations/constraints/opportunities that can render better economics, for example, from energy, capital, or both points of view, which means that some superior network designs will never be synthesized using such applications. For example, such software applications do not systematically handle or allow for: stream-specific minimum approach temperatures; situations in which a hot stream is matched with a hot stream and/or a cold stream is matched with one or more cold streams; or situations in which a hot stream is partially converted to a cold stream and/or a cold stream is partially converted to hot stream.
Accordingly, recognized by the inventor is the need for an improved method, system, or technique that can address any or all of the above optimization issues, particularly during the design stage, and which can minimize energy and capital costs for waste heat recovery through application of a systematic process prior to the actual design, construction or modification of actual plant and equipment. Particularly, recognized is the need for a new method in grassroots applications that can render in all cases, a network design including a number of the exchanger units that is less than or an equal number of heat exchanger units for the networks synthesized using the pinch design method, even when combined with heat exchanger duty and branch optimization options currently implemented in commercial software, for all types of problems, i.e., to include pinched problems, problems with near pinch applications, as well as multiple pinches problems, that need both heating and cooling utilities, and problems that need only cooling or only heating utility (called threshold problems).
Still further, recognized by the inventor is that such goals can be realized by employing a method, system, and program product which solves each of such problems, for example, as a single problem, rather than decomposing the problem into multiple separate problems such as, for example, an above-the-pinch problem, a below-the-pinch pinch problem, and an at or near the pinch problem, as is performed by the above described pinch applications, especially for problems that exhibit multiple pinches, pinch problems with near pinch applications, and threshold problems. Where the pinch design method performs matching at the pinch point, e.g., at a medial point along the temperature scale extending between maximum and minimum target and supply temperatures, and moves up on the temperature scale to complete the sub-problem above the pinch point, and then starts again at the pinch point and moves down at the temperature scale to complete the sub-problem below the pinch point, which can result in unnecessary constraints solved by splitting of streams and which can correspondingly result in a network with an excessive number of units, the inventor has recognized that by performing matching between the hot streams and utilities with the cold streams beginning, for example, at the highest temperature or temperature interval on the temperature scale and then proceeding from that point, top to bottom, the streams can be matched at the same temperature interval (where the temperature approach between the hot and cold streams are minimum), which can allow the balance/difference between the supply of the heat and the demand of the cold to be compensated for by a utility or utilities with the lowest possible supply temperature. It is further recognized that such approach can minimize the energy “quality” loss or the “degradation” in energy quality.
Also recognized by the inventor is that, rather than merely employing streams splitting to satisfy problem feasibility for matching, which results from a decomposition of the problem, streams splitting can instead be employed upon user request to reduce energy quality degradation due to undesirable matching of a hot stream at a certain temperature interval at the process sink region with one or more cold streams at lower temperature intervals.
Further, recognized by the inventor is that it is not only unnecessarily, but imprudent, to treat threshold problems that do not have pinch constraints as a pinch problem merely to generalize the pinch design method for handling all types of problems, as is the case in the pinch design method, because doing so creates a constrained situation in a problem that does not have such constraints. Such unnecessary addition of constraints resultingly necessitates splitting of streams at the factious pinch point again to satisfy the matching criteria at the pinch according to the pinch design method rules, which correspondingly results in a network with an excessive number of heat exchanger units. Accordingly, recognized by the inventor is the need for methods, systems, and program product that solve the threshold problems without treating such threshold problems, which do not have a pinch/constraint, as a pinched problem, and thus, can resultingly reduce the number of required heat exchanger units to a number below that of networks synthesized using the pinch design method.
It is further recognized by the inventor that it would be beneficial if the heat exchanger network design, according to such methods, systems, and program product, were also such that the network was configured to be “easily-retrofitable” in future times to allow for growth and/or for contingencies, for example, due to dramatic changes in energy prices. Notably, it is not believed that the pinch design method could adopt retrofitability during the design stage as it does not have a systematic method to select an optimal set of stream specific minimum temperature, either in general, or based upon a trade-off between capital and energy costs, in particular, and because its pinch design philosophy starts the design of the network only after selecting an optimal network global minimum approach temperature using, for example, the “SUPERTARGET” method which targets for both energy consumption and the heat exchanger network area at the same time. Even by repeating such sequential philosophy using the global minimum temperature approach, the resulting new network structure would not be expected to consistently resemble the previous network structure, in class, and thus, would result in a requirement for an undue expenditure in network reconciliation efforts, to try to form a continuum of common-structure heat exchanger network designs which can be used to facilitate user selection of a physical heat exchanger network structure satisfying both current user-selected economic criteria and anticipated potential future retrofit requirements and corresponding physical heat exchanger network development and facility surface area of allotment based upon such selected design. | {
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An object of the present invention is to provide an automated machine for the collection and stamping of mail. Electronic postage metering and stamping machines will be discussed first. Conventional postage metering and stamping machines have the ability to electronically weigh envelopes, package mailings, and to stamp the postage on an envelope. They are operated by an employee and the postage is determined according to the envelope's weight and its destination. The postage can either be debited from the machine's previously charged non-volatile memory or paid in cash to the employee when the machine is used in postal offices. These machines do not significantly affect the further sorting and tracking process.
Only machines which are able to print a horizontally oriented clocked code on an envelope significantly improve the sorting process but due to the nature of the horizontally oriented clocked code, they cannot improve the tracking process or be used for international mail traffic. Furthermore, their process requires a relatively slow procedure because the horizontally oriented clocked code has to be printed fairly precisely in relation to an envelope's lower edge to be sure that both the clock and the information track line-up with their appropriate reading head during the scanning process. This scanning process can be performed only by photosensitive transducers which provide relatively slow, single-pass scanning with a relatively low first read rate ratio.
Hence, another object of the present invention is to improve the entire mailing process from the point of acceptance to the point of delivery for almost all kinds of postcards, envelopes, and packages, referred to as "a" or "the" "mailing" in this text. The advantages of the invention will be listed further. The present invention enables mail collecting procedures to be performed directly by a customer who inserts the mailing and manually enters the instructions and data on a keyboard by following the displayed instructions. Therefore, there is no need for any employees to operate the present invention. According to the process of the present invention, a customer himself chooses and performs the payment procedure by using one of the possible payment modes. The machine can also be installed anywhere for the most convenient and continuous customer usage.
The present invention enables the electronic weighing of a mailing to be performed automatically and securely, without the possibility for a customer to influence the weighing, and the postage is automatically calculated according to the mailing weight data and the destination data entered on the keyboard. Therefore, according to the process of the present invention, there is no possibility for a higher or lower postage being calculated and since each mailing can be returned to the customer in the case of insufficient postage paid or data entered, no further check as to whether the postage was paid is necessary.
Having the ability to convert the entered data about the destination of a mailing and any special requests and print it in a form of laser readable bar code directly on a mailing, the present invention enables the entire further sorting and tracking process to be performed by automated means. By using multidirectional scanners, built-in on both sides of the mailing path at the sorting hubs, each mailing can be sorted and tracked, when required, without any manual labor involved and with extremely high speed and an almost 100% first read rate.
In accordance with the present invention, when the destination zip code is printed on a mailing in a form of said bar code, the mailing can be automatically sorted all the way to the point of delivery by passing through the different sorting hubs. A Zip+four code can also be applied and when an alphanumeric type of bar code is used, the mailing can be sorted and tracked in international mail traffic. This assumes that the part of the printed bar code showing the mailing's zip code is printed in numerals and that the part of the bar code showing the country code is printed in letters so that a combination of two letters represents the country code of each respective country.
When the mail is sent to countries with an alphanumeric zip code, the bar code is printed on the mailing with the letters and numerals arranged according to how they were entered in on the machine's keyboard. When any of the possible special requests are entered, an identification code in numerals is automatically printed together with the type of special request which information is printed using a letter or letters on the same line with the country and zip code. Considering the advantages in the speed and accuracy of sorting and tracking mailings when laser readable bar code is used therefor, the advantages of the present invention are obvious to those skilled in the art.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a pay-phone device for public use. First, conventional pay-phones will be discussed. Presently, pay-phones for public use are designed to accept payment means, such as coins, and debit or credit cards, and most of them are able to accept only one out of the three said means. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device wherein coins, bills, debit cards, different kinds of credit cards, and IC cards can be used to pay the charge by using the same payment accepting means as is used for the mail collection purpose. According to the present invention, the same displaying and processing means are used and this enables the device to be economical while giving the customer all possible options of mode of payment.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a device for listing the data of, and entering into some external database. Various kinds of databases are available for the listing and entering of data using various means, mostly by connecting existing home or corporate PCs and using them as terminals to list the data available in a certain database for a certain predetermined charge.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a device which will make the data from some external database available to the general public. In accordance with the present invention and by using the same payment accepting, displaying, printing, and processing means as those used for the machine's other purposes, a continuous, convenient, and economical data listing and data entry operation can be obtained. A variety of data can be listed, such as data from a phone-book, a Yellow Pages, a Thomas Register, weather report data, and train, bus, and plane schedules, etc., and in addition to getting a listing, a customer can be allowed to enter data into the database for certain purposes, such as for making reservations, etc.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a device where, when the device is connected to a telex line, a telex message can be sent by using the same procedure as that used in an existing telex machine, with the difference that the message is not printed and dispensed to the customer if this is not specifically requested. In accordance with the present invention, a message entered on a keyboard is memorized and, upon confirmation of payment for a calculated and displayed charge, sent on. This enables the general public to send messages whenever desired to any connected telex and since the same data entry, payment acceptance, display, printing, and processing means as for the machine's other purposes are used, this procedure also becomes very economical.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a device including the functions of an automated electronic postage meter, a pay-phone, a capability for listing the data from an external database and for providing entry into said database, and a telex sending machine which device can be simply operated by a customer and installed anywhere for continuous public use. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Field of the Invention
This invention relates to digging and levelling apparatus such as draglines, backhoes, front-end loaders and like equipment and more particularly, to a tooth assembly for mounting on tooth horns of dragline buckets, backhoe shovels and front-end loader excavation or levelling equipment and engaging the material to be excavated or levelled. In a preferred embodiment, each tooth assembly is characterized by a wedge-shaped adapter which mounts directly on the tooth horn of the bucket, shovel or alternative digging or scraping mechanism of the operation equipment. A wedge-shaped tooth point is transversely seated on and bolted to the extending end of the adapter for engaging the material to be excavated or levelled and a pair of wear caps transversely encapsulate and are bolted to that portion of the adapter which projects between the tooth point and the tooth horn, for extending the life of the tooth assembly during the excavating or levelling operation.
One of the problems which is inherent in excavation and levelling operations using heavy equipment such as draglines, backhoes, front-end loaders and similar equipment is that of rapidly wearing the equipment teeth during the excavation or levelling operation. This problem is exacerbated under circumstances where the material to be excavated contains rocks, sand, concrete or other hard or abrasive particles which rapidly wear the bucket or shovel teeth and require expensive periodic retrofits or replacement of the bucket or shovel. Accordingly, it is customary in the industry to provide removable excavating teeth which mount on adapters positioned on shaped, spaced tooth horns provided in the bucket, shovel or other material-moving apparatus, which teeth are typically attached to the tooth adapter using pins or other techniques for removal due to wear. A problem associated with removing these teeth due to periodic wear is the difficulty of driving retaining pins or the like from registering apertures in the teeth and tooth adapters to remove and replace the teeth. Typically, this operation is effected using a large hammer, wherein the pins are manually driven from the teeth and tooth adapter, a procedure which requires considerable effort and is costly due to the labor involved.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a tooth assembly for mounting on buckets, shovels or other digging mechanisms in excavating or levelling apparatus, which tooth assembly is characterized by an adapter for removably mounting on each tooth horn of the excavating apparatus bucket, shovel or alternative excavating implement, a tooth point bolted to the tapered front end of the adapter and a pair of wear caps bolted to opposite sides of the adapter between the tooth point and the tooth horn.
Another object of this invention is to provide a tooth assembly for mounting on each of the teeth of an excavating or levelling apparatus bucket, shovel or alternative digging implement, which tooth assembly includes a wedge-shaped, transversely-slotted adapter for mounting on the tooth horn of the excavating apparatus, a wedge-shaped tooth point fitted with facing tooth point flanges for transversely engaging the corresponding transverse slots located in the adapter and removably fitting the tooth point to the adapter and top and bottom wear caps, each fitted with transverse ribs adapted for engaging corresponding additional grooves or slots provided in the adapter, for transversely mounting the wear caps on opposite sides of the adapter rearwardly of the tooth point to facilitate extended wear of the tooth assembly during excavating or levelling operations.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a tooth assembly for mounting on the conventional tooth horn of individual teeth in the bucket or shovel of various excavating apparatus, which tooth assembly includes a transversely slotted, wedge-shaped adapter having a lock opening in the top for securing the adapter to the tooth horn, a pair of L-shaped wear caps, each fitted with parallel ribs for engaging the corresponding transversely-oriented slots in the adapter and a pair of bolts for securing the wear caps to the adapter and further including a tooth point, also optionally fitted with a bolt opening and having spaced, facing tooth point flanges for engaging additional corresponding transverse grooves located in the adapter and a bolt or lock plate for securing the tooth point to the adapter forward of the wear caps. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This application is the National Phase of PCT/NL2008/000045 filed on Feb. 15, 2008, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/901,661 filed on Feb. 16, 2007, all of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference into the present application.
The invention relates to a hoisting crane comprising: a substantially hollow vertical column with a foot which is or can be fixed to a support, and with a top, an annular bearing structure, which extends around the vertical column and guides and carries a jib connection member, so that the jib connection member can rotate around the column, a jib connected to the jib connection member, the jib connection member forming a substantially horizontal pivot axis so that the jib can be pivoted up and down, a column top cable guide having a topping cable and hoisting cable pulley assembly, a topping winch and an associated topping cable for pivoting the jib up and down, a hoisting winch and an associated hoisting cable for hoisting a load;wherein the topping winch and the hoisting winch are disposed such that the hoisting cable and the topping cable extend from the associated winch upward through the column to the column top cable guide and from said column top cable guide to the jib, wherein the jib has topping cable pulley assembly for the topping cable and a hoisting cable pulley assembly for the hoisting cable, wherein the column top cable guide is mounted via an associated rotary bearing structure at the top of the column, such that said column top cable guide follows rotary movements of the jib about the vertical column and adopts substantially the same angular position as the jib. Hoisting cranes of this type, also known as a Heavy Lift Mast Crane (HLMC) have already been commercially available from the applicant for decades, and have in particular been installed on vessels, such as for example a cargo vessel, transport vessel, a tender vessel used in the offshore industry, marine pipelaying vessel, drilling vessel, etc.
As is preferred the vertical column of the hoisting crane has a substantially continuous outer wall. The horizontal section through the vertical column is substantially circular from the jib connection member to the top, with the cross section gradually decreasing towards the top of the column. The column has a foot which is often substantially rectangular, which has the advantage that the foot can easily be secured (by welding or using bolts) to the longitudinal and transversal bulkheads of a hull of a vessel of which an example is shown in FIG. 1.
The known hoisting crane is popular for vessels that have been specially designed for over sea transport of large and heavy equipment. Capacities in a range from 200 mt up to 1600 mt and load moments in a range from 3000 tm up to 40,000 tm are possible.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a pipelaying and heavy lift vessel equipped with a hoisting crane as described above. Here, the hoisting crane is provided with a fly-jib, which forms the end of the jib. At about a quarter length from the distal end of the jib, a topping cable pulley assembly is mounted to connect the multiple fall topping cable to the jib. Many known hoisting cranes do not have a fly-jib and are provided with a topping cable pulley assembly at the end of the jib. The multiple fall topping cable functions to move the jib up- and downwards.
The upward or topped position of the jib is defined by an angle (angle α in FIG. 1), which is formed between a centerline of the jib and the multiple fall topping cable. When this angle α becomes too small, it is not possible to top the jib further upward anymore. In such a situation the multiple fall topping cable lies nearly parallel to the jib. Thus, a higher vertical column of the crane would permit the jib to be pivoted further in upward direction and with this the hoisting crane can handle larger objects. A higher vertical column is also advantageous during hoisting when the jib is in a lower, e.g. substantial horizontal position.
The forces, which occur when hoisting a heavy load, introduce less tension in the topping cable, when the hoisting crane is designed with a bigger angle α between the topping cables and the jib, when the jib is in the horizontal position. Normally in open sea there are no difficulties with the large geometry of the hoisting crane, but a great height of the crane does effectively limit the operational area of the vessel with such a crane. For example, sometimes the vessel has to come close to a large building on the quayside, close to a drilling rig, or it has to travel inland and pass under a structure like a bridge. | {
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The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for blocking access to an information processing system by an unauthorized user, and more particularly to such a method and apparatus where a channel boundary is employed to allow access just by legitimate users.
For purposes of the present invention and its background, we consider situations where there is an information flow boundary that is intended to prevent unwanted outward flow of information from one or more information technology products while allowing desired information flows. The information flow boundary is enforced by one or multiple information technology products acting as a boundary controller. One possible function of a boundary controller is to prevent or mitigate covert channels. In information theory, a covert channel is a parasitic communications channel that draws bandwidth from another channel in order to transmit information without the authorization or knowledge of the latter channel's designer, owner, or operator. A covert channel is so called because it is hidden within the medium of a legitimate communications channel. The detection of a covert channel can be made more difficult by using characteristics of the communications medium for the legitimate channel that are never controlled or examined by legitimate users. For example, a file can be opened and closed by a program in a specific, timed pattern that can be detected by another program, and the pattern can be interpreted as a string of bits, forming a covert channel. Since it is unlikely that legitimate users will check for patterns of file opening and closing operations, this type of covert channel can remain undetected for long periods.
A storage channel, e.g. as defined in Ira S. Moskowitz and Myong H. Kang, Covert channels—here to stay?, In Proc. COMPASS '94, pp. 235-243 (Gaithersburg, Md., June 1994) (hereinafter “Moskowitz1”), is a covert channel where the output alphabet consists of different behaviors whose timing is irrelevant. Moskowitz defines a timing channel as a covert channel where the output alphabet is made up of different time values corresponding to the same response. For purposes of the present invention and its background, we are interested in a class of covert channels where the output alphabet consists of different values of a statistic S defined on behavior or timing, hence both the timing and the behavior per se are not used as the alphabet. As defined in Ira S. Moskowitz and Myong H. Kang, Discussion of a statistical channel, In Proc IEEE-IMS Information Theory Workshop on Information Theory and Statistics (Alexandria, Va., October 1994) (hereinafter “Moskowitz2”, and incorporated herein by reference), we call this kind of channel a statistical covert channel. Moskowitz2 identified the statistical covert channel that is present in the NRL Pump. The NRL Pump is a boundary controller that blocks storage and timing covert channels but could possibly have a timing-based statistical covert channel: that is, the covert channel is based on varying a statistic defined over the timing of an event. This differs from event-based statistical covert channels; that is, covert channels based on varying a statistic defined over the occurrence of an event. The problem of statistical channels is that they can be present in systems that have minimal or no storage or timing channels, either inherently or because of boundary controllers that block or minimize them. In systems that lack measures to prevent storage or timing channels, statistical covert channels are of little interest. In systems that implement effective measures against storage and timing channels, statistical channels are significant. This is particularly of concern in systems where events happen at Giga Hertz rates.
An early work on covert channels in local area networks described in C. G. Girling, Covert channels in LAN's, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, SE-13(2):292-296 (February 1987), identifies and analyzes storage and timing channels that can be constructed on events visible outside a host on the LAN. Secure networks and their protocols usually consider all of the channels analyzed by Girling. B. Venkatraman and R. Newman-Wolfe, Performance analysis of a method for high level prevention of traffic analysis using measurements from a campus network, In Proc. Tenth Annual Computer Security Applications Conference, pages 288-297 (Orlando, Fla.) December 1994, and B. Venkatraman and R. Newman-Wolfe, Capacity estimation and auditability of network covert channels, In Proc. IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, pp. 186-198 (Oakland, Calif.) describe systems for preventing covert channels in local area networks (in fact any information technology product for which we can define the traffic matrix). Their notion of temporal neutrality exemplifies strong defense against information flow.
Moskowitz2 was the first to discuss covert channels based on varying statistics. It focused on statistics for the timing of replies, as the timing of those replies is managed by the NRL Pump information flow security mechanism. It is interesting to note that the Pump, at least in principle, does not have event-based covert channels because a “high” process connected to a Pump is not capable of causing distinguishable events.
Moskowitz2 and others address sophisticated timing-related covert channels that exist in systems with strong information flow boundaries. The approach is another example of a channel that would be of no significance, if there were no defenses against less sophisticated channels. While their work is focused on anonymity mechanisms, the results apply to many forms of strong information flow boundaries. The channels addressed by their work are not timing channels per se, but they do relate to time, so they are distinct from event-based channels, which do not exploit time.
Event-based covert channels exploit neither storage contents nor timing, and can happen in networks with temporal neutrality. Instead, the occurrence of events is counted. Consider a system with strong information-flow boundaries in which there are at least two classes of externally visible events: the distinguished event used to form the statistical channel, which we denote by x, and the other events, which we denote by y. Both classes of events are visible outside of the system's information flow boundary. An insider, referred to as Alice for purposes of discussion, wishes to transmit a message to Eve but Eve is outside the system's information flow boundary, as shown in FIG. 1. In practice, Alice is not a person but one or more information technology devices that are being exploited by a Trojan horse or other malicious program. Alice cannot control any bit patterns associated with either class of event, nor can she affect the order or timing of the events. What Alice can do is cause event x or y to happen, outside the information flow boundary. In theory, events x or y could be delayed indefinitely, but in practice, the system Alice is using most probably will provide best effort service and the events will happen shortly after Alice requests them.
The events used to form these channels can be any phenomenon that might be found or used in information technology including not only electrical, mechanical, radio, and infrared signals but also computation events such as creation, communication, receipt, storage, or destruction of message or database record. | {
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A method and a control unit for operating an internal combustion engine in overrun condition are described in published German patent document DE 33 01 742.
An overrun condition of an internal combustion engine refers to an operation in which the internal combustion engine gives off no torque, but is rather driven itself by external influences. A overrun condition comes about, for example, during braking or during downhill travel of a motor vehicle, when the driver does not call for torque. The transition into overrun condition may be detected, for instance, by a driver command sensor such as an accelerator sensor.
As power actuators, both air metering actuators, such as a throttle valve or a variable valve control, and fuel metering actuators, typically an injection system, come into consideration. As an error response, for example, the output of the power actuator may be deactivated.
Published German patent document DE 33 01 742, which was mentioned above, relates to an electronic Diesel control system for a Diesel engine (EDC). The present invention also relates to an EDC system, but is not limited to that. It may rather also be used in the case of Otto engines having E-gas (electronically controlled throttle valve) or in the case of variable valve control which is being used as a power actuator.
To the extent that mention is made below of an actuating signal, this concept is supposed to include both a pulse width with which a fuel injector is activated in the opening position and a control signal of an air metering power actuator.
In Diesel engines, the torque that is generated is determined largely by the fuel injection quantity. This applies analogously to Otto engines having direct injection in stratified charge operation. In these cases, errors in fuel metering are able to lead to undesired torque generation. An engine torque generated especially in overrun condition may be particularly critical to safety, because it may lead to an insufficient engine braking effect, or even to an undesired acceleration.
In this connection, it is known that one should monitor the duration of activation of the fuel injectors. In the transition to overrun condition, in this context, by letting up on the accelerator, it is monitored whether, above the maximum intervention speed of an idling regulator, injections still occur because of inadmissibly great activation durations.
In the error case, that is, in the case of undesired injections, an error response is initiated. To do this, the activation signal duration is compared to a fixed threshold value. The quantity of the threshold value determines the sensitivity of the error detection. If the threshold value is small, the sensitivity with which genuine errors are detected is great. However, a high sensitivity also leads to the danger that genuine torque requests of an idling speed control may be valued as errors.
The engine torque at which no release for the overrun condition monitoring takes place, that is the release speed, is rather high, specifically to each internal combustion engine, and, as a rule, corresponds to the upper limiting speed of the idling speed control. A typical value of the limiting speed is approximately 2500 min−1. The result for the monitoring is that, if there is an undesired presence of torque, the vehicle accelerates using the currently active transmission ratio in the gear box until the release speed is reached.
In view of this background, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method that makes possible an increase in the quality of the monitoring by broadening the monitored operating range of the internal combustion engine without sacrifice in the quality of differentiating between an erroneous and a non-erroneous provision of torque. | {
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Computers facilitate with high speed and accuracy a vast myriad of commercial transactions—including credit card transactions. Merchants, who collect from their customers not only the retail charges for purchased goods and services but in addition collect customer payments for sales taxes on those purchases, are responsible for periodically transmitting to the appropriate taxing authority the accumulated tax payments received, typically monthly or quarterly for State taxing authorities. At the end of each such period, some merchants find that they have spent or otherwise failed to segregate and retain sufficient funds to make the required tax payment to the taxing authority.
There is a need to for an improved method by which a merchant may allocate and escrow funds for periodic payment of customer sales taxes owed to a tax authority. Toward this end, it is highly desirable that the improved method enable collection, escrowing and payment to be performed by one or more third parties in order to enable the merchant's direct participation may be limited to a “passive” role. In addition, the method must be capable of generating appropriate payment forms and reports as required by the merchant and the taxing authority. | {
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In order to discriminate either isolated defects or streaks in product webs, an inspection system should first have constant sensitivity to defect conditions which may be encountered at any point in a full scan across the web. Methods of compensating for scan-to-scan sensitivity variations have hitherto assumed that the optical and electrical efficiencies of the scanning system remain constant over each scan length. However, in order to meet high precision inspection requirements, these assumptions do not apply and it is necessary to use a system that corrects for variations in optical/electrical efficiencies throughout each product scan (i.e., across the normally generated scan signal).
This invention is applicable to repetitive scan signals generally, particularly where the magnitudes of signal variation are not large; however, it is equally applicable to pedestal signals displaying relatively large signal variations, in which case logarithmic processing of the scan signals before input to the apparatus of this invention is advantageous.
Optical-electrical photographic film inspection generates non-flat pedestal signals, the compensating of which, according to this invention, requires two operations: (1) storing a logarithmically processed characteristic irregular pedestal reference signal R in a first digital memory circuit and (2) differencing each new log-processed scan A with the stored reference signal to derive the requisite log ratio result, log A/R. The equalized (flattened) instantaneous difference log ratio signal thereby obtained effectively places in true perspective the amplitudes of defect-related signals previously buried in the uneven repetitive portions of the pedestal and thereby facilitates their detection by bipolar amplitude discrimination means.
As a further operation, streak detection is achieved by subsequently accumulating the sums of the amplitudes of the instantaneous difference signals over several scans in a second memory. This procedure is defined as "coherent adding". Summing these difference signals limits the build-up of uncorrelated noise appearing on the pedestals, whereas persistent signal level shifts, such as caused by machine direction streaks, will accumulate rapidly. The second memory is reset automatically when the sum includes a sufficient number of scans to effect a good time average of the difference signals.
An alternate scheme may be used to accumulate the instantaneous difference signals when low frequency machine direction level shifts occur as a result of the product web passing over off-center rolls or from other causes, such as web flutter, which might otherwise be detected as defective product. In these situations, a digital differentiation scheme, effected by inverting and summing the alternate scan instantaneous difference signals with the address shifted accumulated partial sum values of the instantaneous difference signal waveforms stored in the second memory effectively nullifies the accumulation of these periodic bias level changes.
In general, the complete equalizer and streak detection apparatus of this invention for photographic film inspection comprises an A/D converter, two random access memories, two D/A converters and various digital control and arithmetic circuitry arranged in two adjoining loops. Each loop is provided with a random access memory and an adder-subtractor, and functions independently of the other in two operating modes.
The first mode establishes a mean pedestal waveform obtained by averaging the amplitude samples within each sampling interval of each scan in a series of 2.sup.n scans over a streak-free product. The elements in the first loop function first to accumulate a sum of the sampled amplitude values over the predetermined sequence of scans, then to derive, by means of a shifter, the average value of each sample by shifting each of the accumulated binary values stored in the first random access memory a predetermined n places in a known manner and finally to initiate the second operating mode. Although the stored standard waveform amplitude values can be maintained indefinitely in memory, for varying product roll conditions it has been found desirable to compute and store a new reference for each product run (or for each product roll).
The second mode first obtains the differences between the sampled amplitude values of the mean pedestal waveform developed in the first mode and the corresponding sample values of the instant product scan and then accumulates these instantaneous difference signals in one of two selectable ways in the second loop random access memory for later discrimination. In this manner, where, on the one hand, uncorrelated product noise will be summed to zero over the series of P product scans (where P = number of scans accumulated in the second loop before resetting), on the other, machine direction streaks having correlated signal amplitude values will rapidly build in value for easy defect discrimination. The rate at which the defect signal accumulates in memory is dependent on the severity, persistence and orientation of the streak with respect to the machine direction. Reset of the second random access memory occurs automatically when a sufficiently long time average has been obtained, e.g., on the order of P = 300 scans.
A variation of the straight additive accumulation scheme that is useful when low frequency machine direction noise is present includes inverting the instantaneous difference signals and shifting the address locations of the stored partial sum values in the second memory on the even (or odd) scans. This is equivalent to digital differentiation, since small constant changes in signal level are essentially nullified, whereas subtle streak amplitudes are allowed to build up, but at half the rate of the straight additive accumulation procedure hereinbefore described. | {
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The invention relates to a method and to circuit arrangements for producing electrical reference pulse signals and for transmitting such signals to an output terminal. The invention is especially useful for determining the angular position of an imbalance of a rotating body relative to the rotation of such bodies which are provided with a marker whereby the rotation of the marker is sensed without any reactive or feedback effect.
German Patent DBP 1,103,637 describes a method for producing reference pulses for determining the angular position of an imbalance whereby a marker is sensed by photoelectric or electromagnetic means for generating a spike or needle shaped pulse.
It is the purpose of this prior art to produce rectangular voltage wave forms which have an exact pulse shape and which are substantially free of harmonic waves.
Another German Patent DBP 1,103,639 also describes the production of reference pulses by sensing a relatively narrow marker on a rotating body whereby such reference pulses permit the measuring of the angular position of the imbalancing mass.
It is a drawback of the known method and devices for producing and transmitting electrical reference pulses that the accuracy of the produced pulses depends upon the accuracy with which the marker to be sensed is attached to rotating bodies of the same or of different types. Further, the known methods and devices are useful only for narrow markers to be sensed. In addition, there is no possibility in prior art methods and devices to ascertain and remove errors which, for example, may occur due to the aging of the photocells and which necessarily cause a change in the resolution of the pulses and thus in the accuracy of the reference signals to be transmitted. | {
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This invention relates to urea synthesis from ammonia and carbon dioxide, and in particular to a new method of processing the urea reactor effluent solution taken from the reactor.
Urea is conventionally synthesized by reacting ammonia and carbon dioxide in a reactor at elevated temperature and pressure to form ammonium carbamate, which, in turn, is reacted to urea and water. The first reaction of carbamate formation is very rapid and practically complete. The second reaction of urea and water formation from ammonium carbamate is slow and incomplete. In the presence of excess ammonia, i.e. above the stoichiometric amount required to form ammonium carbamate, the conversion of ammonium carbamate to urea and water is promoted. In the presence of excess water in the reactor, i.e. above the stoichiometric amount formed with the urea from ammonium carbamate, the conversion of ammonium carbamate to urea and water is hindered.
Ammonia and carbon dioxide are generally fed to the urea synthesis reactor either separately, or as an aqueous ammoniacal solution containing ammonium carbamate and/or carbonate formed by reaction of ammonia and carbon dioxide, or in a combination of separate fluid ammonia and fluid carbon dioxide with a stream of an aqueous ammoniacal solution of carbamate and/or carbonate. Generally the overall NH.sub.3 to CO.sub.2 molar ratio in the urea synthesis reactor is maintained between about 2.5 and 6 to one at a temperature from about 330.degree. F. to about 400.degree. F. and at a pressure from about 1,800 PSIG to about 6,000 PSIG.
The conversion of ammonium carbamate to urea in the urea synthesis reactor thus attained is generally in the range from about 50% to about 75%. At completion of reaction in the urea synthesis reactor, the reactor fluid is let down in pressure for the purpose of separating the aqueous urea product solution from the unconverted ammonium carbamate and from excess ammonia, both generally present in the reactor effluent. Due to the rapid adiabatic flashing of some NH.sub.3, CO.sub.2 and H.sub.2 O from the solution after pressure reduction, the reactor effluent is cooled to about 100 to 150 degrees F below the reactor temperature. The separation of the urea product is further attained by heating the reactor effluent after adiabatic flashing at reduced pressure in a heat exchanger, generally known as decomposer. As a consequence of the heating, excess ammonia with some water vapor is driven off from the aqueous urea product solution, and the unconverted ammonium carbamate is decomposed back to ammonia and carbon dioxide gas, and the gases are expelled from the aqueous urea solution with some water vapor.
Generally the decomposer off gas containing ammonia, carbon dioxide and water vapor is condensed in a water cooled heat exchanger, and the resulting aqueous ammoniacal solution of ammonium carbamate thus formed by condensation is recycled back to the urea synthesis reactor for recovery of ammonia and carbon dioxide. In such a recirculation process, unless excess ammonia is separated before carbamate decomposition in said decomposer, an excessive amount of water vapor will result in the decomposer off gas. Consequently, an insufficient amount of water will remain available for evaporation, within the limits allowed by the internal water balance of the whole synthesis-decomposition-absorption-recirculation system, in the subsequent second stage decomposition and absorption section that usually follows the first decomposition and absorption stage for more complete recovery of unconverted reactants. Ultimately, it will not be possible to condense all the second stage decomposer off gas due to the above-described reduction in the amount of water available for condensation in the second stage condenser. If water from an external source is added to the second stage condenser for the purpose of reducing the loss of unabsorbed off gas, this amount of excess water, eventually recycled to the reactor, hinders the conversion of carbamate to urea.
In the process described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,886,210 the decomposer off gas containing NH.sub.3, Carbon Dioxide and Water (stream 11 of FIG. 1.B of U.S. Pat. No. 3,886,210) is condensed in indirect heat exchange with the urea product solution being heated for the purpose of decomposing carbamate in heat exchanger 7 of said FIG. 1.B. In such a process, unless excess ammonia is separated from the reactor effluent solution at a temperature that is lower than the adiabatic flash temperature of the reactor effluent solution after let down in pressure, an excessive amount of carbon dioxide will be present in said stream of excess ammonia separated from the reactor effluent solution after let down in pressure from the reactor. As a consequence, in the subsequent step the decomposer off gas will be depleted of valuable carbon dioxide, which is the main source of heat required for exchange with the urea product solution.
In the process described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,527,799 excess ammonia is adiabatically flashed off (stream 11 of Fig. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,527,799) in Separator 10 from the residual urea effluent stream 12 before decomposition of carbamate in decomposer 13 of said figure. In said process the decomposer off gas stream 19 is condensed in heat exchanger 26 in indirect heat exchange and heat recovery with stream 25 from which carbamate is decomposed. In this process there is the drawback that too much water vapor and carbon dioxide are present in stream 11, thus depleting stream 19 of valuable water and carbon dioxide and reducing the efficiency of the heat recovery in heat exchanger 26. Moreover, the second stage off gas stream 35 will be depleted of the equivalent amount of excess water evaporated in gaseous stream 11, thus preventing total condensation and recovery of second stage decomposer off gas in condenser 36. If additional water from an external source is added to condenser 36 via stream 44, such excess water shall be recycled to the reactor 4 via streams 27, 30, 45, 52 and 6, and shall cause a reduction in conversion of carbamate to urea in said rector 4.
The process of the present invention provides a means to overcome both of said problems, namely, an excessive content of water vapor and an excessive content of carbon dioxide in the stream of excess ammonia flashed off from the reactor effluent after reduction in pressure. | {
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Treatment of organic waste has been conventionally carried out by incinerating waste material in an incinerator. However, as such treatment method generates dioxine and carbon dioxide during the incineration, treatment of industrial waste has recently been carried out by using thermal decomposition reaction. A number of apparatuses of treating organic waste, in which organic waste exemplified by municipal waste is subjected to thermal decomposition under a reducing atmosphere to completely combust the waste material, thereby reducing generation of dioxine and carbon dioxide, have been developed. In addition, a number of systems that recycle resources, for example, the heat, water, and wood vinegar produced by cooling of a generated gas, have been developed.
JP 2004-307237A describes an apparatus in which ceramics is produced by treating organic waste by way of such thermal decomposition reaction. Patent Literature 1: JP2004-307237A Patent Literature 2: JP H11-230522A | {
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1. Field of the Invention
In the maintenance of orchard and other trees, it is a known practice to pressure-inject a tree-treating solution into the trunk of a tree by means in a nozzle inserted in a pre-drilled bore therein. However, the devices heretofore available for the purpose have not been wholly satisfactory in that they were frequently inconvenient to manipulate or difficult to attach to a tree trunk, and--after attachment--the nozzle often did not maintain a proper seal with the tree trunk or tended to disengage from the bore therein. The present invention was conceived in a successful effort to provide a device, for the purpose described, which is not subject to the aforementioned problems.
2. The Prior Art
U.S. Pat. Nos. 318,609; 772,776; 1,583,900; 1,756,453; 2,870,576; 3,118,402; 3,136,091 and 3,295,254 represent the prior art to the extent known to applicant, and applicant has no knowledge of any prior art disclosing the particular structure of the herein-claimed tree-treating injecting device. | {
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One of the economies in making injection blow molded articles, especially containers, is that the walls are thin and generally flexible. Providing handles for the containers presents problems in that much more complicated molds are necessary and procedures become more complicated and result in use of more material and reduced molding speed, or multiple stage secondary operations, both of which increase the cost.
This invention molds the container in the usual way but the recesses in the walls of the container are shaped to receive an enlarged end of a separately molded handle with enlargements on both ends of the handle shaped to fit into the recesses but shaped to expand the entrances to the recesses so as to insert the ends of the handles which expand the entrances into the recesses for connecting and disconnecting the handles.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear or be pointed out as the description proceeds. | {
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As communications technology improves and demand for communication services grows, providers often seek to adjust systems to incorporate the improved technology and expand those systems to accommodate the growing demand. Systems that are slow to adjust or expand can be undesirable and are often rendered obsolete. Systems that expand by providing unnecessary redundancy are inefficient and costly. Advances in telecommunication technologies create opportunities for integrating communication capabilities as well as challenges for transitioning between technological generations. | {
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A high-pressure hydraulic system as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,493,913 for hydroshaping a hollow workpiece has a lower die and an upper die vertically shiftable above the lower die between a lower position engaging the lower die and forming therewith a cavity shaped to hold the workpiece and an upper position spaced above the lower die. A hydraulic cylinder is braced between the upper die and a press actuator that can shift this cylinder and the upper die from its upper position to its lower position. A fluid line is connected between the cylinder and the interior of the workpiece and serves for internally pressurizing the workpiece.
Thus with this system the hollow workpiece is typically fitted to the lower die, its ends are plugged if it is a tube, and it is connected via the pressure line to the upper-die cylinder. The press actuator is then operated to shift down the cylinder and, with it, the upper die until this upper die abuts the lower die, at which time the cylinder is compressed so that pressure increases in it and in the workpiece until the workpiece bulges outward to fit the cavity of the die. Connecting the cylinder and workpiece together with a pressure line ensures that pressure in the workpiece will not rise to dangerous levels until the dies are solidly closed together, and uses a single mechanical actuator to both close the die assembly and pressurize the workpiece.
With this system, a hydraulic locking press is required that as far as its control system is concerned, is designed such that during the hydroshaping process the die assembly is closed for a certain period. The holding time for example for chassis parts such as side members and cross bridges is in the range of 5 to 10 seconds. This results in cycle times in the range of 30 to 40 seconds for producing a finished workpiece including transporting the workpiece to be shaped toward the die assembly as well as transporting the shaped workpiece out of the die assembly.
The pressurizing/control system for the press is provided with electronic and hydraulic pressure controllers, valves, hydraulic pumps, hydraulic cylinders and sensors. Due to the plurality of electrical and hydraulic workpieces, the system is too slow for hydroshaping along with mechanical presses as far as series production is concerned. Additional manufacturing operations on the workpieces, such as punching, stamping or cutting are carried out an additional manufacturing process after the hydroshaping process. | {
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The present invention relates to the field of displaying technologies, especially to an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display panel manufacturing method and an OLED display panel manufacturing device.
Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays are new generation displays. By making an organic film on an OLED substrate with the organic film disposed between cathode and anode metal or conductive layers and electrifying the electrodes, the organic film emits light. In comparison to liquid crystal displays, OLED displays have various advantages such as self-light-emission, short response time, wide viewing angles, and high color saturation, etc.
Water-dissolved oxygen in the air oxidizes active metal of a cathode of an OLED device and reacts with organic material, which causes malfunction of the OLED device. Therefore, an effective package of the OLED device sufficiently separating the OLED device from water-dissolved oxygen is of paramount importance for prolonging lifespan of the OLED device. Currently, OLED packaging methods includes drier and UV adhesive packaging, surface mount packaging, frit glue (glass adhesive) packaging, and thin film packaging, etc. The frit glue packaging has excellent packaging effect, is flexible and convenient and may be applied to products with different dimensions. Therefore, the frit glue packaging is a developmental packaging method.
With reference to FIG. 2A, during a packaging process of frit glue 203, because a start point of the frit glue 203 has a cured protruding portion 205, during lamination of a lid 202 and a substrate 201 under nitrogen (N2) environment, one side with the protruding portion 205 frequently fails to be laminated inseparably. The other side without the protruding portion 205 is laminated inseparably, as shown in FIG. 2B. The lid 211 and the substrate 210 are laminated inseparably by frit glue 212 and UV adhesive 213.
With reference to FIG. 2A, during a laser scanning process, because UV adhesive 204 surrounding the lid 202 has been cured, even the frit glue 203 is melted first and then cured again during laser scanning, the cured UV adhesive 204 constantly keeps cured and thus maintains the above loosely laminated status. Therefore, after laser scanning the re-cured frit glue 203 still cannot tightly adhere the lid 202 and the substrate 201 together. Clearances keep existing between the lid 202 and the substrate 201. As such, after periphery of the UV adhesive 204 is cut, an obtained OLED display panel packaged by the frit glue 203 has week sealability, and water-dissolved oxygen in the air enters an internal of the OLED device through the clearances to fail the package.
As described above, according to the conventional OLED display panel manufacturing method and device, during the process of first softening and then curing the protruding portion of the start point of the glass adhesive, because the UV adhesive surrounding the glass adhesive has been cured and maintains the loosely laminated status, under N2 environment one side of the lid and the substrate with the protruding portion fail to be inseparably laminated together such that the OLED display panel has weak sealability and negatively influences the packaging. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to a low beam or fog headlamp for motor vehicles, including a reflector which by reflecting light rays from a light source generates a beam of light directed past an optically effective edge of a light shield into an objective which in turn projects a partial light beam at the edge of the light shield as a light-dark boundary zone on a driveway.
In known headlamps of this kind the light distribution of the projected light beam is determined substantially by the shape of the refIector. In addition, it has been devised to suppress or completely eliminate interfering and undesirable color fringes of the light beam by additional optical means.
For this purpose, additional separate devices have been used in the headlamp which of necessity cost an increased technological expense and in the case of extreme operational conditions, impair the functional safety of the reflector. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to a signal transmission device which is used to electrically connect an auxiliary device provided on a steering wheel side of a vehicle to a wiring harness which is provided on the vehicle body side.
As a signal transmission device which supplies electricity to an auxiliary device provided on a rotating steering wheel, there is also available a signal transmission device which employs a sliding contact system. However, for example, in an air bag system mounted onto a steering wheel, such sliding contacts can be cut off instantaneously, proving fatal to the air bag system. For this reason, a highly reliable cable type of electric connecting device, a Steering Roller Connector (SRC) is employed.
Here, FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional column and FIG. 2 is a section view of the column shown in FIG. 1 taken along the axial direction of a steering unit including a steering roller connector. An SRC 1 comprises an outer cylinder 3 which is a fixed member, and an inner cylinder 5 which is a rotating member and is coaxial with the outer cylinder 3. Outer cylinder 3 and inner cylinder 5 define an annular storage chamber which houses an electrical cable 6 stored in a spiral manner. One end of the cable 6 is guided out from the outer cylinder 3 and is connected to a wiring harness provided on the vehicle body side, while the other end of the cable 6 is guided out from the inner cylinder 5 and is connected to an auxiliary device such as a horn switch, a steering switch, or a squib provided in an inflator. The SRC 1 can be fixed to a column 9 in such a manner that a fixing portion 7 provided on the outer periphery of the outer cylinder 3 is fixed to a screw hole 11 formed in the column 9.
The column 9 includes a pair of connector storage portions 13 which are respectively formed on the two side surfaces thereof; and, a lever unit, such as a turn signal lever 15 or a wiper control switch 17, is mounted into one of the corresponding connector storage portions 13. Also, a canceler 19 is assembled to the column 9.
The canceler 19 includes an engaging projection 27 on the upper surface thereof and, in order to prevent its relative rotation to the SRC 1, the engaging projection 27 is engaged with the lower surface of the inner cylinder 5 of the SRC 1. Also, the canceler 19 can be rotated integrally with the steering and thus, if the canceler 19 is rotated integrally with steering, then it not only transmits the rotation of the steering to the inner cylinder 5 of the SRC 1 but also brings a canceler portion 23 into contact with a return portion 25 provided in a turn signal cancel mechanism (not shown) to thereby return or cancel the turn signal lever 15 to its neutral position. Between the canceler 19 and a base plate 29 provided in the column 9, there is interposed a spring 31 which is used to energize the canceler 19 toward the SRC 1. With this structure, even when the SRC 1 is mounted at a position where the engaging projection 27 is not engaged, the canceler 19 can be moved in the steering axial direction against the energizing force of the spring 31, thereby being able to prevent itself against breakage.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional column structure, since the SRC 1 is disposed on the column 9, the canceler 19 is disposed on the lower surface of the column 9 in such a manner that it can be moved in the steering axial direction, and the spring 31 is used to energize the canceler 19 toward the SRC 1, a wide space is required which extends in the steering axial direction and is used to store these component parts. This not only increases the size of the column structure, but also increases the number of parts to be disposed in the steering axial direction, thus increasing the number of man-hours required for assembly. Also, when the SRC 1 is stored within the column 9, because of the limited space, the cancel system must be replaced with an electronic system, which further increases the number of parts required as well as the cost of the whole device.
Further, since the spring load of the spring 31 is applied to the sliding surfaces of the spring 31 and the canceler 19, there is a friction loss in rotation, which in turn degrades the operating feeling of the steering. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic tunnel junction device and a method of manufacturing the same, particularly to a magnetic tunnel junction device with a high magnetoresistance and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Magnetoresistive random access memories (MRAMs) refer to a large-scale integrated memory circuit that is expected to replace the currently widely used DRAM memories. Research and development of MRAM devices, which are fast and non-volatile memory devices, are being extensively carried out, and sample products of a 4 Mbit MRAM have actually been delivered.
FIG. 8 shows the structure and operation principle of a magnetic tunnel junction device (to be hereafter referred to as a “MTJ device”), which is the most important part of the MRAM. As shown in FIG. 8(A), a MTJ device comprises a tunnelling junction structure in which a tunnel barrier (to be hereafter also referred to as a “barrier layer”) made of an oxide is sandwiched between a first and a second electrode made of a ferromagnetic metal. The tunnel barrier layer comprises an amorphous Al—O layer (see Non-Patent Document 1). As shown in FIG. 8(A), in the case of parallel magnetization alignment where the directions of magnetizations of the first and second ferromagnetic electrodes are aligned parallel, the electric resistance of the device with respect to the direction normal to the interfaces of the tunneling junction structure decreases. On the other hand, in the case of antiparallel magnetization alignment where the directions of magnetizations of the first and second ferromagnetic electrodes are aligned antiparallel as shown in FIG. 8(B), the electric resistance with respect to the direction normal to the interfaces of the tunneling junction structure increases. The resistance value does not change in a general state, so that information “1” or “0” can be stored depending on whether the resistance value is high or not. Since the parallel and antiparallel magnetization alignments can be stored in a non-volatile fashion, the device can be used as a non-volatile memory device.
FIG. 9 shows an example of the basic structure of the MRAM. FIG. 9(A) shows a perspective view of the MRAM, and FIG. 9(B) schematically shows a circuit block diagram. FIG. 9(C) is a cross-section of an example of the structure of the MRAM. Referring to FIG. 9(A), in an MRAM, a word line WL and a bit line BL are disposed in an intersecting manner, with an MRAM cell disposed at each intersection. As shown in FIG. 9(B), the MRAM cell disposed at the intersection of a word line and a bit line comprises a MTJ device and a MOSFET directly connected to the MTJ device. Stored information can be read by reading the resistance value of the MTJ device that functions as a load resistance, using the MOSFET. The stored information can be rewritten by applying a magnetic field to the MTJ device, for example. As shown in FIG. 9(C), an MRAM memory cell comprises a MOSFET 100 including a source region 103 and a drain region 105 both formed inside a p-type Si substrate 101, and a gate electrode 111 formed on a channel region that is defined between the source and drain regions. The MRAM also comprises a MTJ device 117. The source region 103 is grounded via a source junction 113, and the drain region 105 is connected to a bit line BL via a drain junction 115 and the MTJ device. A word line WL is connected to the gate electrode 111 in a region that is not shown.
Thus, a single non-volatile MRAM memory cell can be formed by a single MOSFET 100 and a single MTJ device 117. The MRAMs are therefore suitable where high levels of integration are required.
Non-Patent Document 1: D. Wang, et al.: Science 294 (2001) 1488. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This section provides background information related to the present disclosure and is not necessarily prior art.
Cooling systems, refrigeration systems, heat-pump systems, and other climate-control systems include a fluid circuit having a condenser, an evaporator, an expansion device disposed between the condenser and evaporator, and a compressor circulating a working fluid (e.g., refrigerant) between the condenser and the evaporator. Efficient and reliable operation of the compressor is desirable to ensure that the cooling, refrigeration, or heat-pump system in which the compressor is installed is capable of effectively and efficiently providing a cooling and/or heating effect on demand. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In conventional examples, when both upper and lower surfaces of a sheet-like workpiece such as a silicon wafer are flattened at the same time, a double-side machining apparatus such as a double-side polishing apparatus or a double-side lapping apparatus is used. For example, in the double-side polishing apparatus, a discoid planetary gear called a carrier is arranged between upper and lower turntables each having a polishing pad made of urethane foam or non-woven fabric attached thereto. The workpiece is inserted into and held in a holding hole of this carrier, and the carrier rotates or revolves by mutually rotating a sun gear and an internal gear which engage with the carrier. The upper and lower surfaces of workpiece are simultaneously polished by the rotation, the revolution, the rotation of the upper and lower turntables, and sliding on the workpiece. Further, to efficiently perform polishing, polishing slurry is supplied from a plurality of holes provided in the upper turntable during the double-side polishing.
Furthermore, the upper turntable includes a mechanism which moves up and down, the upper turntable is set at an upper position, and then the carrier is set on the lower turntable, or the workpiece is set in the set carrier. As to the setting of the workpiece into the carrier, there are a case where an operator manually performs loading into a workpiece holding hole of the carrier and a case where an automatic handling apparatus is used for loading. After the workpiece is loaded in this manner, the upper turntable moves down, and the workpiece and the carrier are sandwiched between the upper and lower turntables. Moreover, the workpiece is polished by the rotation and the revolution of the carrier which are realized by the rotation of the upper and lower turntables and the rotation of the internal gear and the sun gear while supplying the polishing slurry. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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