U.S. patent application No. 528,043, filed Aug. 31, 1983, teaches the use of a flexible magnetized layer (e.g., the material commercially designed "Plastiform" available from Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, Saint Paul, Minn.) to magnetically hold and drive flexible sheets of coated abrasive material containing ferromagnetic material. Typically the magnetized layer is incorporated in a back up pad wherein it is attached to one surface of a layer of resiliently compressible foam, the back up pad either being adapted to be manually manipulated or having a rigid backing plate adapted to be driven by a drive motor attached to an opposite surface of the layer of foam so that the motor can be used to drive the pad and thereby the abrasive against a surface to be abraded, while the layer of foam affords applying resilient pressure between the abrasive and the surface to be abraded.
The flexible magnetized layer can securely hold the abrasive sheets in place to abrade a workpiece while the back up pad is being used manually or driven by the motor, however, the material of the magnetized layer is somewhat friable and thus the edge of the magnetized layer can be worn away during use.


In the related art, there is known an electronic apparatus (such as a mobile phone terminal) where a card unit (such as a SIM card) obtained by installing various devices on a substrate can be mounted. Such an electronic apparatus is driven by electric power from a battery. In addition, the electric power from the battery is also supplied to the card unit mounted on the electronic apparatus.
However, there is a problem in that it is difficult to drive the devices installed in the card unit when an electric power supply capability of the battery becomes lower than a predetermined value (for example, when a remaining battery level is lower than a predetermined value and the like).


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an application providing method for a mobile terminal and, more particularly, to a mobile terminal and an application providing method that provide an application using an application package installer having multiple pieces of signature information.
2. Description of the Related Art
With active development of applications for mobile terminals, application servers provide users with various application packages in downloadable form.
To install an application onto a mobile terminal using an application package, the mobile terminal has to receive signature information signed with a signature key suitable for the mobile terminal together with the application package.
Currently, an application package is associated with a single piece of signature information.
To provide an application to a particular mobile terminal, multiple application packages are created corresponding in number to terminal types and each such application package is associated with signature information specific to a particular terminal type.
Creating multiple application packages for different terminal types is an unnecessary use of time and effort. In addition, whenever a new type of mobile terminal is manufactured, new application packages need to be created and maintained.


Field of the Disclosure
Embodiments described herein generally relate to a chamber liner for a semiconductor process chamber and a semiconductor process chamber having a chamber liner. More specifically, embodiments disclosed herein relate to a chamber liner for processing temperatures greater than about 650 degrees Celsius while shielding chamber components from halogen damage.
Description of the Related Art
In the fabrication of integrated circuits, deposition processes such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or plasma enhanced CVD processes are used to deposit films of various materials upon semiconductor substrates. These depositions may take place in an enclosed process chamber. The process gases used in the depositions deposit films on the substrate, but may also deposit residue on the internal walls and other components of the process chamber. This residue builds up as more substrates are processed in the chamber and leads to generation of particles and other contaminants. These particles and contaminants can lead to the degradation of the deposited films on the substrates causing product quality issues. Process chambers must be periodically cleaned to remove the deposited residue on the chamber components.
A chamber liner may be disposed in the chamber to define a processing region in a desired location within the chamber with respect to the substrate. The chamber liner may be configured to assist in confining the plasma to the processing region and help prevent other components in the chamber from being contaminated with deposited materials, such as the residue mentioned above. The process gases may be supplied above a substrate support. A purge gas may be provided from below the substrate support to prevent process gases from reaching areas at the bottom of the chamber and causing deposit of residue in the areas below the substrate support. The process gas and the purge gas may be removed from the process chamber using a common exhaust disposed away from the process area, such as around an outer perimeter of the process chamber, to prevent mixing of the purge gas with the process gas in the process area. Using the arrangement described above, particle formation can occur in the process area above the substrate and cause defects in the products made in the process chamber.
Furthermore, substrate processing temperatures are typically capped between about 400 degrees Celsius and about 480 degrees Celsius for silicon based depositions due to the aggressive erosion and corrosion by the halogen clean on the high temperature components. As such, optimal film quality is often sacrificed due to manufacturability and reliability concerns.
Thus, there is a need for an improved liner for a process chamber to prevent particle formation and/or to permit significantly higher substrate processing temperatures while shielding sensitive components from halogen damage.


1. Technical Field
The present invention is related to a vehicle mirror apparatus in which the mirror-face angle of a mirror is adjusted by a worm gear being rotated to rotate a wheel gear.
2. Related Art
In a mirror-face adjusting actuator described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2006-88788, a worm gear is connected to the rotation shaft of a motor, the worm gear is meshed with a worm wheel, and the worm wheel is rotated by rotating the worm gear using motor driving force, thereby tilting a side mirror. The mirror-face angle of the side mirror is accordingly adjusted.
However, with the mirror-face adjusting actuator, and in particular in circumstances in which tilting of the side mirror is stopped and rotation of the worm wheel is in a stopped state, the worm gear greatly displaces in the radial direction towards the worm wheel radial direction outside when rotation force due to driving force of the motor acts on the worm gear. This leads to the possibility of operation noise of the mirror-face adjusting actuator getting louder when the meshing depth of the worm gear with the worm wheel changes greatly.


The present invention relates to the removal of sediment from bodies of water, and in particular to a sediment removal method and system that removes sediment from significant depths while limiting or avoiding turbidity.
Methods of removing sediment from bodies of water exist, however, such known methods of removal often include undesirable side effects. For example the equipment and process of dredging generates significant turbidity in that the sediment is openly disturbed from its settled condition. Such disruption to the sediment bed causes portions of the sediment to become suspended in the water. This is undesirable, particularly when the sediment is contaminated, as the level of contamination in the water is increased. Furthermore, dredging processes, such as cutter head dredging, are inefficient in that a much greater percentage of water is removed as compared to sediment. Cutter head dredging is also an unfocused or less controlled process in that the equipment is not easily maneuvered and, therefore, also susceptible to damage from submerged objects.
Therefore an apparatus is needed that enables controlled removal of sediment while avoiding turbidity.


The Superconducting Quantum Interference Device, or SQUID, is well known as a sensitive detector of weak magnetic fields. As indicated in FIG. 1, a SQUID is comprised of a superconducting loop containing one or more Josephson junctions (indicated by X in FIG. 1), and magnetic flux Φ is inductively coupled into the loop through a coupling inductor L. A Josephson junction is known to act as a lossless nonlinear inductance below its critical current Ic, and also exhibits nonlinear resistance above Ic. A one-junction SQUID (FIG. 1A) comprises a single junction and a loop, and exhibits a nonlinear impedance which depends on the flux Φ in a periodic manner, with periodicity Φ0=h/2e=2.07 fT−m2, where h is Planck's constant and e is the charge on the electron. The one-junction SQUID does not have a direct voltage readout since the junction is shunted by a lossless superconducting inductor, so it must be embedded in a radio-frequency (RF) circuit for its impedance to be measured. For this reason, this structure is sometimes called an RF-SQUID, although the flux Φ can be at any frequency down to DC. Another SQUID device is the two-junction SQUID (FIG. 1B), which is generally operated with a DC bias current greater than the device critical current Ic=Ic1+Ic2 of the two constituent junctions. This then exhibits a DC voltage output across the Josephson junctions, modulated by the flux Φ in a way that is again periodic in Φ0 (FIG. 1C). This two-junction SQUID was historically called the DC-SQUID, since it operates down to DC frequencies, although it may alternatively operate with flux modulation up to gigahertz radio frequencies. The DC SQUID is much more commonly used than the RF SQUID, so in general usage, the term SQUID commonly refers to two-junction SQUID. Such a SQUID may be used not only for low-frequency magnetic field detectors, but also for radio-frequency amplifiers and active radio antennas if appropriate inductive inputs are used.
Both high-Tc and low-Tc superconductor based SQUID-amplifiers have been studied during the past ten years [7], [8], [9], [15], [16], [17]. See also Hilbert, U.S. Pat. No. 4,585,999, “RF amplifier based on a DC SQUID”. However, the characteristics of the amplifiers are still far from desired performance values. Despite the fact that the noise temperature Tn≈1-3 K [15] is reasonably low, the dynamic range (amplitude ratio) D=(Tsat/Tn)1/2 of the amplifiers is strongly limited by their saturation temperature Tsat, which is as low as 100-150° K [7], [15], [16]. The other disadvantage of the SQUID-amplifiers is a narrow range of linearity of the transfer function. Implementation of a flux-locked-loop operating mode can substantially increase dynamic range and linearity, but at the same time the external feed-back loop will limit the maximum operation frequency to a few tens of megahertz at best. Therefore an internal negative feedback has been suggested in order to increase dynamic range and to linearize the transfer function of such an amplifier [8], [9]. However this is very problematic given typical low values of the SQUID-amplifier gain [7], [15], [16] of 10-15 dB, since higher amplification gain is needed to effectively achieve the negative feedback. What is needed is a way to use arrays of SQUIDs to achieve both greater dynamic range and greater linearity, without requiring such negative feedback. Linearity is particularly important for processing signals at radio frequencies, where a nonlinear transfer function can give rise to undesired harmonics and intermodulation products.
One approach to overcoming the drawbacks of SQUID-amplifiers is associated with multi-element Josephson structures and arrays, including Superconducting Quantum Interference Filters (SQIF). See Schopohl, U.S. Pat. No. 6,690,162, “Device for High Resolution Measurement of Magnetic Fields”; Oppenlander, U.S. Pat. No. 7,369,093, “Superconducting Quantum Antenna.” A SQIF is an array (parallel, series or parallel-series) of DC SQUIDs with an unconventional array structure [10-12]. The SQIF voltage response is characterized by a single sharp peak. Contrary to the usual SQUID, which shows unique properties due to the strict periodicity of its structure, the unique properties of the SQIF result from just the opposite, an unconventional non-periodic array structure. SQIFs are therefore a new development of an intelligent network of SQUIDs. SQIFs certainly offer an approach to achieving increased dynamic range, but this approach does not offer a clear way to achieve linearization of these fundamentally nonlinear devices.


The present invention pertains to a method of manufacture of fishing rods, and more particularly to a method of applying decorative windings to a rod shaft. Windings of the type to which this invention pertains are for decorative purposes and are placed along any part of a rod shaft which is free of hardware and are normally positioned just forward of the handle. The present invention is specifically concerned with intricate windings which, as will hereinafter become apparent, have heretofore been reserved for very expensive custom built rods.
In the past, intricate designs in decorative windings were produced by first tightly winding thread around the shaft to form a base for the decoration and then winding individual threads around the rod shaft over the base spiraling one thread in one direction and then spiraling the next in the opposite direction so that the threads intersect at precise intervals with the points of intersection forming a straight line parallel to the axis of the rod shaft. The process is repeated until a diamond, or like effect is achieved after which the windings are fixed and protected by application of clear epoxy or the like.
This process, while yielding a very acceptable product, suffers from numerous disadvantages from a commercial standpoint. More specifically, in order to produce a large or "full-size" diamond design with respect to the rod shaft diameter, with each diamond touching the next adjacent diamond, the exact position and angle must be determined, measured and laid out on the surface of the rod shaft prior to actual winding requiring a great deal of care and concentration. Each thread is then wrapped individually or in small groups side by side. After each wrap is made, the thread or groups of thread must be secured at both ends before proceeding with the next thread or group. Each of the foregoing steps is extremely time consuming and intricate and can usually be done only by the most skillful rod wrappers. This significantly increases the cost of the rod, thus prohibiting application of decorative windings to mass produced rods.
In addition to the cost factor, since the thread must be wound around the shaft, only spirals, cross-hatch or diamond designs have heretofore been possible. Large multi-colored cross-hatch or diamond designs are virtually impossible to produce uniformly, and to produce multi-colored designs, a thread for each color must be used which further complicates design and layout. Moreover, the known method is restricted to colors available for threads that can be used for fishing rods. Metallic or translucent threads are unavailable.
Thus, the only process presently available suffers from numerous problems and disadvantages and is completely inapplicable to rods for the average customer.


In recent years, as for a variable displacement oil pump, a two-stage discharge pressure characteristic is often required for supplying different apparatus and parts, whose required discharge pressures differ from each other, for example, moving engine parts and a variable valve actuation device configured to control engine-valve operating characteristics, with oil discharged from an oil pump. According to such a two-stage discharge pressure characteristic, the pump discharge pressure can be maintained at a first discharge pressure in a first pump speed range and also maintained at a second discharge pressure in a second pump speed range. One such variable displacement oil pump has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2008-52450 (hereinafter referred to as “JP2008-524500”), corresponding to International Publication No. WO 2006/066405 (A1).
To satisfy such a two-stage discharge pressure characteristic, the variable displacement oil pump, as disclosed in JP2008-524500, has a cam ring, which is moveable or pivotable against the spring force of a return spring. The variable displacement oil pump is configured to achieve the two-stage discharge pressure characteristic by supplying the discharge pressure (the pressurized working fluid) to a selected one of two pressure-receiving chambers defined on the outer peripheral surface of the cam ring and by changing an eccentricity of a geometric center of the cylinder bore of the cam ring with respect to the axis of rotation of a rotor (exactly, a vane rotor)


In the optical communication industry, requirements of optical components are getting more and more severe. The optical devices suppliers have to provide smaller while cheaper components to meet customer's requirements. By applying semiconductor manufacturing process and other machining processes, kinds of high-precision and high-quality micro mechanical elements can be made in a mass production scale.
Movable micro mirror chip is a kind of micro component applicable in optical communication or display modules. The micro mirror chip mainly includes a mirror layer and an actuation layer. The mirror layer is a suspended mirror actuated to swing or revolve by electrostatic force of the actuation layer. The micro mirror chip works as an attenuator in optical communication by steering the light beam direction. The biggest challenge in fabrication of a conventional movable micro mirror chip is the positioning alignment of the mirror layer and the actuation layer. The alignment process requires operations of hands or specific positioning machines that cause a high manufacturing cost very difficult to be reduced.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,442,307 discloses a micro mirror device, in which the mirror layer and the actuation layer are jointed together by solder joints. Though the construction solves conduction and jointing problem, the solder joint does not provide precise positioning. Therefore, a spacer is user for the positioning function. However, when the solder melts, it loses its form. In order to stabilize the jointing and to remove the spacer after soldering, special materials for the spacer is required that makes the material selection very difficult. Also, the height of the solder layers is hard to be controlled after the large temperature variation. Moreover, since the mirror layer and the actuation layer all require electrical circuit to operate, there are wire-bonding areas on the layers that are easy to be stained by re-flow solder because there is no protection manner. The melted solder may stain the bonding areas and make the afterward wire bonding impossible, or even ruin the whole chip and increase fabrication cost of the product.


In recent years, lithium-ion secondary batteries and lithium-ion capacitors have been drawing attention as electric storage devices for use in mobile electronic devices such as mobile phones or laptop personal computers, electric vehicles, and hybrid vehicles. As anode current collectors for such electric storage devices, porous metal foils are used or are being considered for use. This is because making the foil porous provides benefits such that the weight of the foil can be reduced (to improve fuel consumption in automobiles), that adhesive power of an active material can be improved by anchoring effect making use of the pores, and that pre-doping of lithium ions (e.g., vertical pre-doping) can be efficiently conducted by making use of the pores.
Known methods for producing such porous metal foils include (1) a method of masking the surface of a substrate in a desired pattern with an insulating film, onto which electrolytic plating is conducted to form pores in accordance with the pattern; (2) a method of providing the surface of a substrate with a specific surface roughness or a specific surface condition, onto which electrolytic plating is conducted to control nucleation; (3) a method of perforating a non-porous metal foil by etching or machining; and (4) a method of forming a three-dimensional network structure by techniques for producing metal foams or plating nonwoven fabrics.
In particular, various techniques have been proposed for the above method of (2) since its steps are relatively simple and suitable for mass production. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a method for producing a fine-porous metal foil by subjecting an anode having a surface roughness Rz of 0.8 μm or less to electrolytic plating. Patent Literature 2 discloses a method comprising forming an oxidized film on the surface of a cathode body made of titanium or a titanium alloy by anode oxidization method; electro-depositing copper on the surface of the cathode body to form a porous copper foil; and peeling the foil from the cathode body. Patent Literature 3 discloses a method for producing a porous metal foil provided with an aluminum alloy carrier, comprising forming even projections by etching aluminum; and gradually growing metal particles from the projections as cores for electro-deposition so as to connect the metal particles.
However, the actual situation is that the porous metal foils produced in accordance with these techniques fail to achieve a sufficiently high aperture ratio due to a concern that the foil strength would be lowered. In addition, a long foil is difficult to produce, and anode oxidation process had problems with the peelability of the porous metal foil and the stability of the aperture ratio, in that continuous peeling of the foil destroys the oxidized film. In particular, a higher aperture ratio is required for anode current collectors of electric storage devices, such as lithium-ion secondary batteries and lithium-ion capacitors, with improvement in performance.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device and, in particular, to a reflection/transmission type liquid crystal display device capable of performing a display both in a reflection mode and a transmission mode.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there have been a reflection type liquid crystal display device utilizing ambient light, a transmission type liquid crystal display device utilizing backlight, and a semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device equipped with a half mirror and a backlight.
In a reflection type liquid crystal display device, a display becomes less visible under dim environment, whereas in a transmission type liquid crystal display device, a display becomes hazy under strong ambient light (e.g., under outdoor sunlight). As a liquid crystal display device capable of functioning in both modes so as to perform a satisfactory display under any environment, a semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device is disclosed by Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 7-333598.
However, the above-mentioned conventional semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device has the following problems.
The conventional semi-transmission type liquid crystal display device uses a half mirror in place of a reflective plate used in a reflection type liquid crystal display device, and has a minute transmission region (e.g., minute holes in a metal thin film) in a reflection region, thereby performing a display by utilizing transmitted light as well as reflected light. Since reflected light and transmitted light used for a display pass through the same liquid crystal layer, an optical path of reflected light becomes twice that of transmitted light, which causes a large difference in retardation of the liquid crystal layer with respect to reflected light and transmitted light. Thus, a satisfactory display cannot be obtained. Furthermore, a display in a reflection mode and a display in a transmission mode are superimposed on each other, so that the respective displays cannot be separately optimized. This results in difficulty in performing a color display, and causes a blurred display.
A liquid crystal display device according to the present invention, includes: a first substrate, a second substrate, a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, and a plurality of pixel regions defined by a pair of electrodes for applying a voltage to the liquid crystal layer, wherein each of the plurality of pixel regions includes a reflection region and a transmission region, and the liquid crystal layer is made of a liquid crystal material having positive dielectric anisotropy, the device further including: a first polarizing element provided on the first substrate opposite to the liquid crystal layer; a second polarizing element provided on the second substrate opposite to the liquid crystal layer; a first phase difference compensator provided between the first polarizing element and the liquid crystal layer; and a second phase difference compensator provided between the second polarizing element and the liquid crystal layer, a twist angle xcex8t of the liquid crystal layer being in a range of 0xc2x0 to 90xc2x0, wherein retardation Rd and the twist angle xcex8t in a visible light region of the liquid crystal layer in the reflection region are in ranges within curves respectively represented by the following Formulae (1) and (2), and Formulae (3) and (4), in ranges within curves respectively represented by the following Formulae (5) and (6) and Formulae (7) and (8) at the twist angle xcex8t in a range of 0xc2x0xe2x89xa6xcex8txe2x89xa654.3xc2x0, and in ranges within curves respectively represented by the following Formulae (5) and (8) at the twist angle xcex8t in a range of 54.3xc2x0 less than xcex8txe2x89xa690xc2x0, and wherein the retardation Rd and the twist angle xcex8t in a visible light region of the liquid crystal layer in the transmission region are in ranges within curves respectively represented by the following Formulae (9) and (10) and Formulae (11) and (12):
Rd=xe2x88x920.0043xc2x7xcex8t2xe2x88x920.065xc2x7xcex8t+1011.8xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
Rd=xe2x88x920.0089xc2x7xcex8t2+0.1379xc2x7xcex8t+914.68xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2)
Rd=xe2x88x920.0015xc2x7xcex8t2xe2x88x920.1612xc2x7xcex8t+737.29xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(3)
Rd=xe2x88x920.0064xc2x7xcex8t2xe2x88x920.0043xc2x7xcex8t+640.65xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(4)
Rd=xe2x88x920.0178xc2x7xcex8t2+0.2219xc2x7xcex8t+458.92xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(5)
Rd=xe2x88x920.0405xc2x7xcex8t2+0.4045xc2x7xcex8t+364.05xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(6)
Rd=0.0347xc2x7xcex8t2xe2x88x920.4161xc2x7xcex8t+186.53xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(7)
Rd=0.0098xc2x7xcex8t2xe2x88x920.1912xc2x7xcex8t+89.873xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(8)
xe2x80x83Rd=xe2x88x920.0043xc2x7xcex8t2xe2x88x920.065xc2x7xcex8t+995.66xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(9)
Rd=xe2x88x920.0058xc2x7xcex8t2xe2x88x920.0202xc2x7xcex8t+665.8xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(10)
Rd=xe2x88x920.0248xc2x7xcex8t2+0.6307xc2x7xcex8t+439.58xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(11)
Rd=0.0181xc2x7xcex8t2xe2x88x920.6662xc2x7xcex8t+109.51xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(12)
In one embodiment of the present invention, the retardation Rd is in a range within the curves respectively represented by Formulae (7) and (8) at the twist angle xcex8t in the reflection region in a range of 0xc2x0xe2x89xa6xcex8txe2x89xa654.3xc2x0, and in a range within the curves respectively represented by Formulae (5) and (8) at the twist angle xcex8t in the reflection region in a range of 54.3xc2x0 less than xcex8txe2x89xa690xc2x0, and the retardation is in a range within the curves respectively represented by Formulae (11) and (12) at the twist angle xcex8t in the transmission region in a range of 0xc2x0xe2x89xa6xcex8txe2x89xa690xc2x0.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the reflection region and the transmission region include a liquid crystal layer made of the same liquid crystal material, and a thickness of the liquid crystal layer in the reflection region is smaller than a thickness of the liquid crystal layer in the transmission region.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the first phase difference compensator has a first phase difference plate, the twist angle xcex8t of the liquid crystal layer is 0xc2x0, the retardation Rd of the reflection region is 90 nmxe2x89xa6Rdxe2x89xa6187 nm, the retardation Rd of the transmission region is 110 nmxe2x89xa6Rdxe2x89xa6440 nm, and the retardation Rd of the first phase difference plate is 30 nmxe2x89xa6Rdxe2x89xa6250 nm.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the first phase difference compensator further has a second phase difference plate, and the retardation Rd of the second phase difference plate is in a range of 220 nmxe2x89xa6Rdxe2x89xa6330 nm.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the second phase difference compensator has a third phase difference plate, and the retardation Rd of the third phase difference plate is in a range of 120xe2x89xa6Rdxe2x89xa6150 nm.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the second phase difference compensator further has a fourth phase difference plate, and the retardation Rd of the fourth phase difference plate is in a range of 240xe2x89xa6Rdxe2x89xa6310 nm.
Hereinafter, the function of the present invention will be described. First, the terms used herein will be described. In a reflection/transmission liquid crystal display device, a region where a display is performed by using transmitted light is referred to as a transmission region, and a region where a display is performed by using reflected light is referred to as a reflection region. The transmission region and the reflection region respectively include a transparent electrode region and a reflective electrode region formed on a substrate and a liquid crystal layer interposed between a pair of substrates. The transparent electrode region and the reflective electrode region on the substrate respectively define two-dimensional areas of the reflection region and the transmission region. The transparent electrode region is typically defined by a transparent electrode. The reflective electrode region is defined by a reflective electrode or a combination of the transparent electrode and the reflective electrode.
The liquid crystal display device of the present invention has a reflection region and a transmission region per pixel region. Thus, retardation of the liquid crystal layer can be optimized independently in the reflection region and the transmission region. More specifically, by prescribing the retardation of the liquid crystal layer in the reflection region to be those which (hatched regions (including double-hatched regions) in FIG. 5) are within curves represented by Formulae (1) and (2), Formulae (3) and (4), Formulae (5) and (6), and Formulae (7) and (8), and by prescribing the retardation of the liquid crystal layer in the transmission region to be those which (hatched regions (including double-hatched regions) in FIG. 6) are within curves represented by Formulae (9) and (10) and Formulae (11) and (12), the brightness (reflectivity) in the reflection region can be set to be about 70% or more, and the brightness (reflectivity) in the transmission region can be prescribed to be about 30% or more.
It is preferable that the conditions of the retardation are satisfied with respect to a central wavelength (high visibility) of visible light of about 550 nm. Furthermore, it is more preferable that the conditions of the retardation are satisfied in the entire wavelength range (about 400 nm to about 800 nm) of visible light.
Furthermore, since the twist angle xcex8t is in a range of about 0xc2x0 to about 90xc2x0, the same twist angle can be obtained in both the reflection region and the transmission region having different thickenesses of the liquid crystal layer by single rubbing treatment. In order to render the twist angle different between the reflection region and the transmission region, rubbing is required to be conducted separately for two regions, which complicates a production process.
Furthermore, by prescribing the retardation Rd in a region within the curves represented by Formulae (7) and (8) at the twist angle xcex8t of the reflection region in a range of 0xc2x0xe2x89xa6xcex8txe2x89xa654.3xc2x0, and in a region (double-hatched region in FIG. 5) within the curves represented by Formulae (5) and (8) at the twist angle xcex8t of the reflection region in a range of 54.3xc2x0xe2x89xa6xcex8txe2x89xa690xc2x0, and by prescribing the retardation Rd in a region (double-hatched region in FIG. 6) within the curves represented by Formulae (11) and (12) at the twist angle xcex8t of the transmission region in a range of 0xc2x0xe2x89xa6xcex8txe2x89xa690xc2x0, retardation of a liquid crystal layer in the reflection region and the transmission region becomes 0 in the presence of an applied voltage. If a black display is set to be performed at this time, a satisfactory black display is realized by applying the same voltage to the reflection region and the transmission region.
Furthermore, the above-mentioned condition corresponds to the case where a white region in which retardation is closest to 0 (i.e., the first peak from the lowest retardation side in FIGS. 7 and 8) is selected as a condition of realizing a white display. Thus, a gray-scale display is also satisfactorily performed. More specifically, in a gray-scale state in which a white display is changed to a black display, brightness (reflectivity and transmissivity) is monotonously decreased, so that a satisfactory gray-scale display is obtained. If a white display is performed by using the second peak from the lowest retardation side in FIGS. 7 and 8, the first peak is present in a region for a gray-scale display. Thus, a satisfactory gray-scale display cannot be performed.
When the liquid crystal layer in the transmission region and the reflection region are made of the same liquid crystal material, a structure and a production method will be simplified, compared with the case where the kind of a liquid crystal material is varied. It is effective to vary the thickness of the liquid crystal layer in the reflection region and the transmission region, so as to set different retardation in the reflection region and the transmission region. Furthermore, in order to match the length of an optical path with respect to light which contributes to a display in the reflection region with that in the transmission region, it is effective to prescribe the thickness of the liquid crystal layer in the transmission region to be larger than that in the reflection region. It is most preferable that the thickness of the liquid crystal layer in the transmission region is twice that in the reflection region.
If the first phase difference compensator has a first phase difference plate, the twist angle xcex8t of the liquid crystal layer is 0xc2x0, the retardation Rd of the reflection region is 90 nmxe2x89xa6Rdxe2x89xa6187 nm, the retardation Rd of the transmission region is 110 nmxe2x89xa6Rdxe2x89xa6440 nm, and the retardation Rd of the first phase difference plate is 30 nmxe2x89xa6Rdxe2x89xa6250 nm, a bright display of a normally white mode can be realized in the reflection region with a high contrast ratio.
If the first phase difference compensator has a second phase difference plate as well as the first phase difference plate, and the retardation Rd of the second phase difference plate is in a range of 220 nmxe2x89xa6Rdxe2x89xa6330 nm, wavelength characteristics in the reflection region can be alleviated, so that a display with a higher contrast can be obtained.
If the second phase difference compensator has a third phase difference plate, and the retardation Rd of the third phase difference plate is in a range of 120 nmxe2x89xa6Rdxe2x89xa6150 nm, a dark display is optimized even in the transmission region, so that a display with a higher contrast can be obtained.
If the second phase difference compensator has a fourth phase difference plate as well as the third phase difference plate, and the retardation Rd of the fourth phase difference plate is in a range of 240 nmxe2x89xa6Rdxe2x89xa6310 nm, wavelength characteristics of the transmission region are alleviated, so that a display with a higher contrast can be obtained.
Thus, the invention described herein makes possible the advantages of providing a liquid crystal display device which has outstanding mass-productivity and is capable of performing a satisfactory display irrespective of the brightness of ambient light.
These and other advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying figures.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and related device for controlling operation of a portable electronic device, and more particularly, to a method and related device for determining whether a lid of a portable electronic device is open using a gravitational acceleration sensor and correspondingly determining the operation of the portable electronic device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A laptop (i.e., a notebook computer) has several advantages, such as a small-sized volume, lightweight, and convenient for carrying due to its portability. These properties allow a user to work in any location. A small, thin, and light notebook computer provides the user with powerful computation abilities and document or multimedia processing functions anywhere and anytime, and thereby the work location of the user is not limited.
Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a notebook computer system 10 according to the prior art. Generally speaking, the notebook computer system 10 is composed of a lid 100 and a base 102. A hinge 104 connects the lid 100 and the base 102. The lid 100 comprises a screen, a camera, etc. The base 102 comprises a keyboard, a touchpad, a power switch, a host, an expanding interface, and so on. When using the notebook computer system 10, the user has to turn on the power of the host and adjusts a display angle of the screen of the lid 100 to a specific angle. In order to save power, a switch installed in the notebook computer system 10 can switch ON/OFF states of the screen and operation of the host according to an opening angle of the lid 100. For example, when the user doesn't need to use the notebook computer system 10 after turning on the notebook computer system 10, the user can close the lid 100 to make an angle, between the lid 100 and the base 102, smaller than a specific value, so that the notebook computer system 10 turns off the screen and operates in a sleep mode.
Adjusting the angle between the lid 100 and the base 102, the user can save power and timely switch the operation of the notebook computer system 10. Therefore, it is considerably important to precisely detect the angle between the lid 100 and the base 102. In the prior art, there are many ways to detect the opening angle of the lid 100 and one of these is using a mechanic switch connected to the hinge 104. That is, turning off the screen and executing related operations, e.g. operating in the sleep mode when a rotating angle of the hinge 104 is smaller than a specific angle. However, the assembly of the mechanic switch is difficult and the mechanic switch may weary or malfunction by time, and finally, the reliability of the mechanic switch is decreased.
In addition, a magnetic sensor, such as a Hall sensor or a magnetic reluctance sensor, is used in the prior art. The notebook computer system 10 receives a distance from the lid 100 to the base 102 for determining the angle between the lid 100 and the base 102. For example, the Hall sensor can sense magnetic pole and magnetic force. Therefore, by installing a magnet in the lid 100 and a Hall sensor in the base 102, the notebook computer system 10 can determine the distance between the lid 100 and the base 102 so as to determine the angle between the lid 100 and the base 102. However, it is necessary to take the sensibility of the Hall sensor and magnetic flux of the magnet into account to meet demands when installing the magnet and the sensor. Besides, the magnetic reluctance sensor is difficult to design because of its high sensibility and narrow linear range.


The mining of gypsum or phosphogypsum produces incredible volumes of gypsum and phosphogypsum waste. This waste is typically stacked in very large piles, or gypsum stacks, which sometimes cover up to 400 acres in area to a depth of 100 to 200 feet or more. Thus, the land upon which the gypsum or phosphogypsum waste is stored is severely restricted with respect to any future uses. Therefore, gypsum stacks typically provide economic drain on the landowner or landholder.
Currently, a closed or capped phosphogypsum stack poses several economic challenges to the phosphate industry. In addition to the loss of use of the land upon which the stack is situate, governmental regulations that impose post-closure maintenance requirements necessitate ongoing expenses for decades. Until the current invention, gypsum stacks and other mineral waste sites, provided little or no economic return for gypsum mining companies to offset these ongoing expenses. Thus, for every company in the U.S. and abroad that mines, processes or produces gypsum, a gypsum stack always generates the inevitable: a large nonperforming asset. Numerous gypsum stacks currently exist with many more yet to come.
The present invention provides means and methods for converting presently existing gypsum stacks, or other mineral waste piles such as those found in any type of mining activity, into huge containers for holding refuse like biomass such as sugar, sugar cane, sugar cane waste, seaweed, fish, fish waste, shellfish, shellfish waste, agricultural waste, waste from forestry operations, other solid wastes, industrial waste or phosphate waste. The present invention is similarly applicable to other mineral waste piles such as those found in many types of mining activities, strip mining for example. The present invention also provides methods of doing business that will turn existing and future phosphogypsum stacks or mineral waste piles into income-producing waste containment and processing facilities.
Gypsum and waste phosphogypsum are capable of being formed into container structures which will withstand high compressive loads. Gypsum and phosphogypsum waste can therefore be used to form the bottom and walls of large containers. Thus, present gypsum stacks can be excavated to form large concavities which can be used as receptacles for solid waste. Current and future gypsum stacks can be formed into containers having one or more concavities as they are being created or enlarged. These concavities can be lined with geosynthetic liners or other membranes in order to prevent or limit leakage from the concavity. Examples of suitable geosynthetic fabrics, membranes, geocomposites, liners, liner combinations and liner-drain combinations and systems can be found in Designing With Geosynthetics, 2nd Edition, by Robert M. Koerner (1990, Prentice-Hall, ISBN 0-13-202300-8) which is incorporated herein by reference. Space in a concavity according to the present invention can be used to store waste materials, thereby providing an income-producing use of the gypsum stack or other mineral waste pile, and the land upon which they are located.
Thus, by providing hitherto unavailable waste storage facilities, the present gypsum stack and mineral waste pile conversion invention will significantly decrease the amount of new land that is used for landfills, while simultaneously converting gypsum stacks or waste piles from nonperforming assets into income-generating landfill facilities. The present means and methods for converting gypsum stacks or mineral waste piles into waste containment facilities is both economically and environmentally advantageous.
For instance, in comparison with conventional methods that would clear an additional 400 or more acres of forested or otherwise productive land to create a new MSW or C&D landfill, the present invention affords, among other advantages, at least one additional use for the presently existing tract of 400 or more acres of land by converting the space above, within or partially within an existing gypsum stack or mineral waste pile into waste containment or processing facilities. According to the present invention, instead of creating a new landfill or waste containment facility on a heretofore productive or uncleared parcel of land, the new landfill is constructed on top of, or wholly or partly within, a gypsum stack or other mineral waste pile, thereby sparing the productive land. Indeed, with the installation of one or more liner systems, and some minor modifications to the conversion site, the conversion site is very quickly able to receive waste such as biomass or other refuse.
The economic advantages of the present invention are significant. For instance, the governmental permits for establishing a 400-acre landfill are as much as $800,000.00. The present invention eliminates or substantially reduces such expenses because phosphogypsum stacks are already permitted as waste disposal sites. Thus, the present invention provides for an income-producing dual use of land upon which gypsum stacks or other mineral waste piles already exist.
In conventional use in the United States, when gypsum stacks reach maximum capacity at 100 to 200 feet of elevation, they are capped with an HDP membrane or liner in accordance with EPA regulations. In some embodiments of the present invention, the already existing gypsum stack cap membrane or liner can be used as a bottom liner for a waste containment concavity. Therefore, the cost to install a secondary liner in a landfill bottom liner system is reduced or eliminated in some embodiments of a phosphogypsum stack conversion according to the invention because the secondary liner is already in place in the form of the gypsum stack cap membrane or liner.
An additional economic advantage of the present invention pertains to subgrade costs. The costs relating to the preparation of the subgrade of a waste-containing site, which often requires the importation of clean subgrade material from offsite sources, can be as much as $2,000,000 U.S. for a 400-acre site. This expense is substantially reduced or eliminated with some embodiments of the present gypsum stack conversions since the phosphogypsum already available at the gypsum stack conversion site can be used as the subgrade material.
One significant aspect of the present invention is based upon the engineering parameters of mineral waste having high compressive strengths, such as waste gypsum, phosphogypsum or other mineral mining waste or byproducts. With the present invention, such waste or byproducts can be formed into one or more large concavities. Formation of a concavity according to the invention, can be effected, for instance, by excavation into an existing gypsum stack and then adding side walls of waste gypsum on top of the stack to extend the depth of the concavity to a desired dimension, by forming a concavity directly from phosphogypsum waste as the waste is being added to a particular geographic site, or by any other method or means that result in one or more concavities of desired dimensions. The concurrent delivery of waste and formation of the concavity is particularly useful when the gypsum waste is being transported to the site in the form of aqueous slurry, which may then be provided with strengthening binders or additives such as Portland cement as the concavity is being formed on top of an existing stack or as the concavity is being formed in place on the site. Thus, the cost of excavating a gypsum stack will be diminished.
The present invention can be used also with conventional means, devices and elements of the waste containment arts to thereby arrive at a facility of desired capabilities and capacities. For example, depending on the use to which a particular concavity is to be placed, liners or covers can also be provided to seal the bottom, walls or top of the concavity. Also in accordance with the invention, binders such as cement, for example Portland cement, can be combined with the phosphogypsum waste as it is being transported to the containment site. Addition of binders, such as cement, may be used to increase the compressive strength of the waste gypsum material and thereby assist in stabilizing the shape of the resulting concavity.
There is therefore a need for methods and means to provide additional and alternate uses for mineral waste piles, such as gypsum stacks. There is also a need for methods of forming phosphogypsum stacks into facilities useful for such purposes, and for business methods for producing revenue streams from such facilities.


The invention relates to a fuel supply unit comprising a pumping element and an electromotor arranged to drive the same. The pumping element and electromotor are housed in a common housing. A fuel supply unit is already known which is secured upright within a fuel container in such a manner that the pumping element is disposed near the bottom of the fuel container, a first intake area being provided oriented toward the bottom of the fuel container and a second intake area being provided which is remote from the bottom of the fuel container. As a result of this arrangement, it is possible to carry any vapor bubbles arising at elevated fuel temperatures away from the pump chamber and thus to assure satisfactory fuel supply. However, this arrangement also has the disadvantage that when the fuel level in the fuel container drops below the level of the second intake area, no further fuel is supplied. This stops the engine or prevents it from turning over upon starting, even though, since such containers at the present time are generally quite flat in shape, the container may still contain a relatively large quantity of fuel.


This invention relates to the field of separation science and analytical biochemistry.
The methods of this invention have applications in biology and medicine, including analysis of gene function, differential gene expression, protein discovery, cellular and clinical diagnostics and drug screening.
Cell function, both normal and pathologic, depends, in part, on the genes expressed by the cell (i.e., gene function). Gene expression has both qualitative and quantitative aspects. That is, cells may differ both in terms of the particular genes expressed and in terms of relative level of expression of the same gene. Differential gene expression can be manifested, for example, by differences in the expression of proteins encoded by the gene, or in post-translational modifications of expressed proteins. For example, proteins can be decorated with carbohydrates or phosphate groups, or they can be processed through peptide cleavage. Thus, at the biochemical level, a cell represents a complex mixture of organic biomolecules.
One goal of functional genomics (“proteomics”) is the identification and characterization of organic biomolecules that are differentially expressed between cell types. By comparing expression one can identify molecules that may be responsible for a particular pathologic activity of a cell. For example, identifying a protein that is expressed in cancer cells but not in normal cells is useful for diagnosis and, ultimately, for drug discovery and treatment of the pathology. Upon completion of the Human Genome Project, all the human genes will have been cloned, sequenced and organized in databases. In this “post-genome” world, the ability to identify differentially expressed proteins will lead, in turn, to the identification of the genes that encode them. Thus, the power of genetics can be brought to bear on problems of cell function.
Differential chemical analyses of gene expression and function require tools that can resolve the complex mixture of molecules in a cell, quantify them and identify them, even when present in trace amounts. However, the current tools of analytical chemistry for this purpose are limited in each of these areas. One popular biomolecular separation method is gel electrophoresis. Frequently, a first separation of proteins by isoelectric focusing in a gel is coupled with a second separation by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The result is a map that resolves proteins according to the dimensions of isoelectric point (net charge) and size (i.e., mass). However useful, this method is limited in several ways. First, the method provides information only about two characteristics of a biomolecule—mass and isoelectric point (“pI”). Second, the resolution power in each of the dimensions is limited by the resolving power of the gel. For example, molecules whose mass differ by less than about 5% or less than about 0.5 pI are often difficult to resolve. Third, gels have limited loading capacity, and thus sensitivity; one may not be able to detect biomolecules that are expressed in small quantities. Fourth, small proteins and peptides with a molecular mass below about 10-20 kDa are not observed.
Other analytical methods may overcome one or more of these limitations, but they are difficult to combine efficiently. For example, analytical chromatography can separate biomolecules based on a variety of analyte/adsorbent interactions, but multi-dimensional analysis is difficult and time consuming. Furthermore, the methods are limited in sensitivity.
Clinical diagnostics requires the ability to specifically detect known markers of disease. However, the development of such diagnostics is hampered by the time necessary to prepare reagents that specifically bind to markers, or that can discriminate the marker in a complex mixture.
Drug discovery requires the ability to rapidly screen agents that modulate ligand/receptor interactions. Often the rate-limiting step in such screens is the ability to detect the ligand/receptor interaction. Thus, rapid and specific methods for identifying binding events would be an advance in the art.
Until now, the process from identifying a potential marker or member of a ligand/receptor pair to producing an agent that specifically binds the marker or member has been difficult. In one method, normal and diseased tissue are compared to identify mRNA species or expressed sequence tags (“ESTs”) that are elevated or decreased in the diseased tissue. These species are isolated and the polypeptides they encode are produced through routine methods of recombinant DNA. Then, the polypeptides are isolated and used as immunogens to raise antibodies specific for the marker. The antibodies can be used in, for example, ELISA assays to determine the amount of the marker in a patient sample.
This process is long and tedious. It can take nine months to a year to produce such antibodies, with much of the time being spent on developing protocols to isolate a sufficient quantity of the polypeptide for immunization. Furthermore, the method relies on the hope that differences in RNA expression are expressed as differences in protein expression. However, this assumption is not always reliable. Therefore, methods in which differentially expressed proteins are detected directly and in which specific ligands could be generated in significantly shorter time would be of great benefit to the field.
Thus, tools for resolving complex mixtures of organic biomolecules, identifying individual biomolecules in the mixture and identifying specific molecular recognition events involving one or more target analytes are desirable for analytical biochemistry, biology and medicine.


1. Reservoir Modeling
Seismic data are routinely and effectively used to estimate the structure of reservoir bodies, but often play no role in the essential task of estimating the spatial distribution of reservoir properties. Reservoir property mapping is usually based solely on wellbore data, even when high resolution 3D seismic data are available. "Wellbore data" includes information typically obtained from a wireline log or core sample from an oil well and is typically the desired fine grain information for characterizing a "reservoir property."
Porosity, permeability, fluid and gas saturation, and other reservoir properties are measured at high accuracy near oil wells (e.g. by wireline logs), but these data do not assure reliable estimates of reservoir properties away from the wells. Seismic waves are not limited to wells, and seismic data may contain useful information about reservoir properties between the wells.
Processing of seismic data produces "seismic attributes" which may be effectively used to delineate the structure. See e.g., M. T. Taner, F. Koehler, and R. E. Sheriff, 1979, Complex Trace Analysis, Geophysics 44,1041-1063 and L. Sonneland, O. Barkved, and O. Hagness, 1990, Construction and Interpretation of Seismic Classifier Maps, EAEG meeting in Copenhagen. Seismic attributes are mathematical transformations on the data, computed either poststack (e.g., reflection intensity, instantaneous frequency, acoustic impedance, dip, azimuth) or prestack (e.g., AVO or moveout parameters). Well data are not used in their computation: attributes are purely properties of the seismic data alone. Otherwise, any analysis of the significance of seismic attributes to reservoir properties will be frustrated. Other seismic attributes include: acoustic impedance and velocity; reflection heterogeneity and instantaneous frequency; depth; dip and azimuth.
Specific seismic attributes may be related to specific reservoir properties. For example, acoustic impedance estimated from reflectivity by inversion of seismic data is an important seismic attribute. FIG. 13, shows cross sections of seismic data--reflectivity and acoustic impedance, together with wellbore data--porosity and water saturation. From FIG. 13, porosity does not appear directly related to the reflectivity, but it seems related to acoustic impedance--high impedance seems to imply low porosity. However, it is unclear how to actually use acoustic impedance to estimate porosity.
One problem in using seismic attributes is that their relation to rock properties is not obvious. For example, it is unclear how to use AVO to estimate gas saturation. Even if estimates are made, the confidence level in such estimates are unknown. There are unknown local factors that may affect the data in unexpected ways, and it is risky to predict functional relationships among seismic attributes and reservoir properties based on a simplified theoretical analysis with no familiarity of what "works" in a certain region. Region familiarity is built by comparing seismic and wellbore data. There is a need for interpretation methods and tools to build region familiarity, quantify its reliability, and subsequently use it to estimate properties. There is a need for a method to identify statistically-significant associations of seismic attributes and reservoir properties in any area, to determine the functional relationships implicit in these associations, to use them to predict the distribution of reservoir properties, and to quantify the reliability of the estimates.
2. Artificial Neural Networks
A great deal of recent research has been published relating to the application of artificial neural networks in a variety of contexts. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,134,685, 5,129,040, 5,113,483, and 5,107,442 (incorporated by reference). Artificial neural networks are computational models inspired by the architecture of the human brain. As a result three constraints are usually imposed on these models. The computations must be performed in parallel, the representation must be distributed, and the adjustment of network parameters (i.e., learning) must be adaptive. From an engineering perspective ANNs are adaptive, model-free estimators that estimate numerical functions using example data. While many different types of artificial neural networks exist, two common types are radial basis function (RBF) and back propagation artificial neural networks.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus, such as a digital camera and a digital video camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. (“JP”) 2003-295047 proposes a hybrid focus detection unit for moving a focus lens to a position near an on-focus position using an autofocus unit of a phase difference detection method (“phase difference AF”), and then for precisely moving the focus lens to the on-focus position using an autofocus unit of a contrast detection method (“contrast AF”). JP 2009-003122 realizes a phase difference detection function by providing an image pickup device with a focus detection pixel.
However, the contrast AF has a problem in that a high contrast background in a focus detection region increases a contrast and causes an erroneous detection of this contrast change (which will be referred to as a “false peak” hereinafter) as an on-focus position. In addition, a noise ratio at the image pickup time increases as the ISO sensitivity increases, and the false peak is detected due to the noises. Hence, there is a demand for improved contrast AF accuracy or ultimately the hybrid AF accuracy.


Pulse oximetry systems for measuring constituents of circulating blood have gained rapid acceptance in a wide variety of medical applications, including surgical wards, intensive care and neonatal units, general wards, home care, physical training, and virtually all types of monitoring scenarios. A pulse oximetry system generally includes an optical sensor applied to a patient, a monitor for processing sensor signals and displaying results and a patient cable electrically interconnecting the sensor and the monitor. The monitor may be specific to pulse oximetry or may be a multi-parameter monitor that has a pulse oximetry plug-in. A pulse oximetry sensor has light emitting diodes (LEDs), typically one emitting a red wavelength and one emitting an infrared (IR) wavelength, and a photodiode detector. The emitters and detector are typically attached to a finger, and the patient cable transmits drive signals to these emitters from the monitor. The emitters respond to the drive signals to transmit light into the fleshy fingertip tissue. The detector generates a signal responsive to the emitted light after attenuation by pulsatile blood flow within the fingertip. The patient cable transmits the detector signal to the monitor, which processes the signal to provide a numerical readout of pulse oximetry parameters such as oxygen saturation (SpO2) and pulse rate.


This disclosure relates to an interfacial encapsulation process for making encapsulated beads particularly suited to enclose a fumigant effective against selected insect species. A typical insect species of concern is the fire ant. Fire ants are difficult to kill with ingested poisons. While ingested poisons may thoroughly decimate foraging worker ants, the use of a chain of tasters in the fire ant colony prevents ingested poison from reaching the queen of the colony, thereby protecting the colony. A particularly valuable volatile insecticidally effective poison includes volatile phosphoric or thiophosphoric acid esters. In addition to operating by ingestion, they provide a fumigant which is airborne, by-passing the tasters. Thus, if the bait is carried into the colony and opened in that closed environment, there is a much greater possibility that the bait will be effective to kill the queen of the colony. The fumigant is is commonly known as DDVP, a fumigant including as one ingredient dimethyl-2, 2-dichlorovinyl phosphate acid ester. There are other fumigant phosphoric or thiophosphoric acid esters which will be collectively referred to also as DDVP. As an example, several such insecticidally effective compounds or mixtures thereof are set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,094,970.
DDVP produces a toxic atmosphere for the ants in the colony particularly if the bait can be carried into the colony by foraging ants and is opened in that closed atmosphere. The ants are enticed to open it by incorporation of an attractant food comprising the shell. One suitable attractant food is soybean protein. Hence, the present apparatus contemplates fabrication of a small bead by means of microencapsulation wherein the shell is fabricated with a small measure of soybean protein, and the core is an edible mixed with DDVP. The amount of DDVP is sufficient to be effective in the atmosphere; that is, once the bait has been broken open, DDVP volatilizes sufficiently to have the fatal impact required for colony decimation.
The bead shell is an important factor in preparing the bead of bait material for eventual extermination of a fire ant colony. On the one hand, it should be frangible and broken easily by the insect so that the insect can readily bite through the surrounding shell. On the other hand, the shell must be impervious to water from the exterior, impervious to the core on the interior to prevent DDVP from weeping or saturating the shell material whereby premature fumigation might occur. If this were to happen, premature toxicant exposure might well warn away the foraging ants. Moreover, toxicant exposure might well poison foraging ants before they have the opportunity to deliver the bead into the colony. Thus, it is desirable that the ant finding the bead remove it as a result of foraging; this is a delicate balance wherein the bead must be tough enough to be handled, delivered by machine, and yet should be sufficiently easily opened by insect bite. Moreover, it should be sufficiently free of DDVP which might possibly weep through the wall of the shell and thereby defeat the highly desirable fumigant procedure for insect eradication.
One prior art structure is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,094,970 setting forth a polyurethane system. Additional references are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,492,380; 3,575,882; 3,270,100 and 3,577,515. By and large, they generally refer to solid carrier pelletization processes. It is submitted, however, that a quality insecticidal bait must have a toxicant which is enclosed within the bead formed by interfacial encapsulation and there should be an attractant food dissolved in the shell. That is, the attractant food material must in some fashion be in the shell to attract foraging insects. Otherwise, the foraging insects will have no interest in the bead and will ignore it.
The core in the bead is made with DDVP as the fumigant mixed with soybean oil. Separately, the shell ultimately formed should have an attractant such as soybean protein or oil in or on the shell to serve as an attractant. It must either taste or smell good to the foraging insect, sufficiently to cause the insect to carry the bead back to the colony or hive. In this light, it will be understood that the completed bead has the secure, impervious surrounding shell which encapsulates the DDVP. Fumigation does not start until the shell is actually broken open. In the meanwhile, the shell is sufficiently attractive to the foraging insect that it will be carried back to the hive or colony.
Interfacial polycondensation encapsulation is one procedure which enables this to be accomplished. As an example, an interfacial liquid body is defined as having two portions, one being an oil phase which forms droplets in water. The oil phase is added to the water to react with the oil phase at the droplet interface. The polycondensate system is defined by the two parts, one part being the oil phase and the other being the water phase. This method brings the two parts together, thereby achieving bead formation at the droplet interfacial area. With controlled stirring and the addition of either a surfactant or anti-foaming agent, bead size is controlled to form coated beads which are recovered and washed. By this procedure, beads of a selected size are formed and are recovered, washed and thereafter used. The interfacial polycondensate system obtains production of beads in the range of about 1.0 mm or smaller wherein the surrounding shell is impervious to DDVP enclosed therein.


Sausage making machines such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,115,668 include a meat emulsion pump connected to an elongated stuffing tube which extrudes into a shirred casing thereon a strand of sausage into the rotatable chuck of a twister housing. The strand then moves through a conventional linker and the linked strand discharged therefrom typically moves into a rotatable looper horn and deposits on the hooks of a moveable conveyor.
It would be advantageous to use such machines in spaced parallel relationship, to be attended by a single operator. However, conventional sausage making machines do not make this possible because the chuck and the looper horn can only be rotated in a single direction.
It is therefore the principal object of this invention to provide a sausage making machine which has power means associated with both the twister housing and the looper horn to permit the chuck in the twister housing and/or the looper horn to be rotated in both clockwise or counterclockwise directions.


In conventional speaker systems, there are solutions for controlling individual speakers or using a control component for managing a group of speakers. However, these conventional solutions rely upon wired connections or, in the case of wireless connections, individual speakers are often controlled by a single device, which is often inflexible and confines media to that selected using the single control device. Further, conventional solutions are often time-consuming and technically complex to set up and manage, often requiring extensive training or expertise to operate.
Conventional media playback solutions are typically found in mobile devices such as mobile phones, smart phones, or other devices. Unfortunately, conventional speaker control devices are often limited connections between a mobile device and a single speaker. Further, the range of actions that can be taken are often limited to the device that is in data communication with a given speaker. If different users with different playlists and mobile devices want to use a given speaker, individual connections often need to be established manually regardless of the type of data communication protocol used.
Current radio standards (e.g., Bluetooth systems, WiFi systems) allow for a receiver to measure signal strength (e.g., of a RF signal) from a source transmitting data and one measure of signal strength includes received signal strength (RSSI). Although there have been studies that utilize RSSI information to understand how well RSSI values correlate to how far away a transmitter and a receiver are from one another, it is also known that it is difficult to utilize RSSI for distance measurements due to a number of factors. One of those factors may include a multipath effect where the RF signal being transmitted reflects off of surrounding objects, such as walls, stationary objects, and moving objects. Another factor may include antenna radiation pattern and polarization of antenna of the transmitter and the antenna of the receiver, both of which may contribute to RSSI error vs. distance. However, close distance measurements perform with higher accuracy than long distance measurement due to an inverse square power drop off (e.g., 1/R2 where R=Distance) in a far field region, and where for a near field region the inverse power drop can be greater than 1/R3 of the RF signal as a function of distance between the transmitter and the receiver. Close proximity sensing can be utilized to improve intuitiveness on how two or more devices interact with one another rather than having a user interact with them. One example is for the user to place one of the devices close to another device, within boundaries of a set threshold RSSI for close proximity detection. Although close proximity sensing via RSSI may have a statistically high level of accuracy and a device may infer that two devices are close to one another, there still exists a small probability that a false alarm can be triggered (i.e., the device is detected as being in close proximity, but actually in reality the device is not in close proximity). In conventional implementations, use cases would require perfect or near perfect inference of close proximity of the devices.
Thus, a need exists for a for speaker control solution without the limitations of conventional techniques and a solution that does not trigger false alarms when a received RSSI value is within a pre-determined RSSI threshold value, but the devices are not within close proximity of one another.
Although the above-described drawings depict various examples of the present application, the present application is not limited by the depicted examples. It is to be understood that, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate like structural elements. Also, it is understood that the drawings are not necessarily to scale.


The present invention relates to a facsimile machine and, more specifically, relates to a facsimile machine that can provide a charge management system in which beneficiaries are charged costs of expendable supplies in accordance with the amounts they have spent.
Conventionally, where one facsimile machine is commonly used by a plurality of business sections, there has been a problem of how to share the related expenses. There are known the following patent documents which describe techniques for sharing such expenses.
(1) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho. 56-10773: A key counter is activated when document information is received by a facsimile machine. Since the key counter has functions of starting the facsimile machine and accumulating the charge, the communication costs can be shared by beneficiaries.
There also exists a technique which employs a magnetic card as a key. Copying and transmission operations are prohibited unless the card is set into the machine. If the card is properly set, the number of copied sheets or the communication charge are registered in association with a business section number recorded in the card being set into the machine.
(2) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho. 58-133073: A sender is charged for the communication time of image information and for the quantity of recording sheets he has spent. Where a direct mail is sent through a facsimile machine, a sender is charged for recording sheets consumed.
(3) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho. 62-227262: Communication costs are distributed to users in a facsimile machine connected to an ISDN network.
Except for special cases of, e.g., the direct mail as described in above item (2), it would be appropriate that when information is received by a facsimile machine, costs of expendable supplies, such as recording sheets, of the receiving-side facsimile machine be paid by a receiver. However, in the prior art as described above, the costs for the expendable supplies cannot be distributed to receivers. That is, the expenditures of a facsimile machine cannot be shared in a correct manner.


Traditional mainframe computer configurations provided for user interface to the computer through computer terminals which were directly connected by wires to ports of the mainframe computer. As computing technology has evolved, processing power has typically evolved from a central processing center with a number of relatively low-processing power terminals to a distributed environment of networked processors. Examples of this shift in processing include local or wide area computer networks which interconnect individual work stations where each workstation has substantial independent processing capabilities. This shift may be further seen in the popularity of the Internet which interconnects many processors and networks of processors through devices such as, for example, routers. This type of network environment is often referred to as a client-server environment with client stations coupled to and supported by a server station.
In the modern distributed processing computer environment, control over software, such as application programs, is more difficult than where a mainframe operated by an administrator is used, particularly for large organizations with numerous client stations and servers distributed widely geographically and utilized by a large number of users. Furthermore, individual users may move from location to location and need to access the network from different client stations at different times. The networked environment increases the challenges for a network administrator in maintaining proper licenses for existing software and deploying new or updated application programs across the network.
A further complication in network systems is that, typically, these systems include combinations of network applications and native applications as well as combinations of different connection types and hardware devices. As used herein “native applications” refers to applications which are installed locally on a workstation such that characteristics associated with the native application are stored on the workstation. The combinations of network connections, differing hardware, native applications and network applications makes portability of preferences or operating environment characteristics which provide consistency from workstation to workstation difficult. Furthermore, differences in hardware or connections may create inefficiencies as users move from workstation to workstation. For example, a user may, in a first session, access the network utilizing a high speed connection and a workstation with a high resolution color monitor to execute an application and then, in a later session, access the network to execute the same application from a mobile computer with a monochrome display and a low speed modem connection to the network. Thus, session content, such as color display data or preferences associated with the application, which may have been appropriate for the first session may be inappropriate or inefficient in a later session.
Efforts to address mobility of uses in a network have included efforts to provide preference mobility such as, for example, Novell's Z.E.N.works™, Microsoft's “Zero Administration” initiative for Windows® and International Business Machines Corporation's (IBM's) Workspace On Demand™. However, these solutions each typically require pre-installation of software at the workstation to support their services. For example, Novell's Z.E.N. and IBM's Workspace On Demand utilize a vendor-supplied support layer in the operating system to enable their services. In addition to modifying the workstations operating system at startup to setup tasks to customize the user's environment, the Microsoft Zero Administration solution may be limited to a homogeneous environment where the workstation and the server are utilizing the same operating system.
Each of these “mobility” systems typically do not address the full range of complications which may arise in a heterogeneous network utilizing differing devices and connections. Users would typically have to manually define session characteristics at each differing workstation they used in the network or maintain local characteristic definitions which may be inappropriate for particular applications a user is executing and may substantially reduce the administrative convenience of a centrally controlled network. Thus, these various approaches fail to provide a seamless integration of session characteristics across heterogeneous network devices. Such solutions may reduce network administration only after initial installation on each workstation. Furthermore, content is typically not addressed such that inefficiencies in use of the network may result.


This invention relates generally to computer architectures and more particularly to memory and busing architectures within computers.
Computers are known to include a central processing unit, system memory, a memory controller, a chip set, video graphics circuitry, interconnecting buses, and peripheral ports. The peripheral ports enable the central processing unit and/or other components, to communicate with peripheral devices such as monitors, printers, external memory, etc.
In most computer systems, a computer will include cache memory to more effectively access larger memory, such as a system memory hard drive. As is known, cache memory is relatively small in comparison to system memory and can be accessed by the central processing unit much more quickly than the system memory. As such, when the central processing unit has a read and/or write function to process pertaining to a particular data element stored in the system memory, the data element, and related data elements, are retrieved from system memory and provided to the cache memory. As is also known, the related data elements may be in the same memory line (e.g., 128 bytes) as the data element, or in the same memory block (e.g., several memory lines) as the data element.
The rationale for retrieving a line or several lines of memory is based on the assumption that the central processing unit is processing sequentially related operations that have data elements stored in groupings (i.e., in the same memory line or group of memory lines). For example, video graphics data is often stored in a linear or tiled manner, wherein the memory locations correspond to pixel locations of the display. As such, filling the cache with the needed data element and the related data elements requires only one read operation from the system memory, while the central processing unit may perform multiple reads and/or writes of data in the cache. Thus, memory access is much more efficient. Note that the retrieved data elements may be related temporally or spatially.
As is also known, data elements are bused in a pipeline manner wherein, for a given transaction, i.e., a read and/or write of data, the transaction includes an arbitration phase, a request phase, an error phase, a response phase, and a data phase. Each of these phases may be several clock cycles in length and their length varies depending on the busyness of the bus. As such, some data elements may be processed quickly while others are delayed or preempted due to higher priority data traffic. As is known, the error phase is used to determine whether a particular transaction is being preempted for a higher priority transaction. Thus, additional processing is required due to the varying processing lengths of transactions.
In some computer systems, there are multiple processors, where each processor has its own cache, which may include two levels of cache. The first level cache being smaller and more readily accessible than the second level. Thus, in such multiprocessor environments, when a processor is not utilizing its cache, it remains idle. Conversely, when a processor is processing a significant amount of data its cache may be too small, thus forcing the data to be thrashed between cache memory and system memory, which is inefficient. As such, the cache memory in a multiprocessor environment is not used as effectively as possible.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus that more efficiently utilizes cache memory and more efficiently buses data within a computer system.


The use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags for inventory control is well known. These tags are broadly defined as radio frequency transponders allow tagged inventory items to uniquely self identify themselves to a suitably configured network of RFID readers. These readers interface with a computer network to monitor the movement and/or status of inventory or work-in-process.
Systems tend to fall into two categories, fixed point monitoring and scanning. In the fixed point modality tagged items move passed a fixed reader that localizes the item in time and position. This modality is well suited to monitoring movement of items into and out of a specific area as well as movement along a linear process such as a packaging or assembly line. In a scanning modality, a mobile scanner moves in an area reading and logging, all the RFID tags that are in range of the reader as it moves through the inventory area. This modality is better suited for monitoring static inventory such as materials in a warehouse or books in an archive, in further discussion, it should be understood that warehouse may be taken to mean for holding static inventory.
In many warehouse applications using a scanning or roaming reader, it is also advantageous to know not only that an item is present in the warehouse but also where the item is located, i.e. on which shelf our in which aisle in a storeroom. In order to localize items in a space, the roaming reader may follow a preprogrammed track or may periodically update its location through a number of methods. The mobile reader may have an integrated Real Time Location System (RTLS), the reader may have its location manually updated by an operator, or it may pass certain reference points in its progress along a preplanned route through the warehouse. In general these approaches are adequate for determining the inventory state of a warehouse; however they have the disadvantage that the reader must follow a pre-programmed (deterministic) path or route through the warehouse and they require an initial sweep to determine the initial locations of items in the warehouse. This may be time consuming and may not provide the degree of real time location of items that is required, especially in an active warehouse where items may be moved from storage location to storage location or there may be several stocking locations for similar or associated items with the same warehouse. Further the ease of monitoring, storing and moving data associated with a large operation may be difficult.


The invention pertains to the practice of cleaning objects. The invention solves the problems of lack of abrasion and lack of durability found in prior swabs (such as cotton tipped or foam tipped).


The present invention relates to corona treaters and more specifically to the electrical connection between the electrode of the corona treater and a high voltage source. A corona treater utilizes an electrode magazine or cassette that must be periodically removed from the corona treater. In the past, the electrical connection between the high voltage source and the electrode magazine was a permanently soldered connection that made removal of the electrode magazine from its station a time consuming and somewhat difficult job.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a simple high voltage plug-in connection between the electrode and the high voltage source so that the connection can be easily disconnected to facilitate the removal of the electrode magazine from its station.


This invention relates to preparing fluorinated electrets.
The filtration properties of nonwoven polymeric fibrous webs can be improved by transforming the web into an electret, i.e., a dielectric material exhibiting a quasi-permanent electrical charge. Electrets are effective in enhancing particle capture in aerosol filters. Electrets are useful in a variety of devices including, e.g., air filters, face masks, and respirators, and as electrostatic elements in electro-acoustic devices such as microphones, headphones, and electrostatic recorders.
Electrets are currently produced by a variety of methods including direct current (xe2x80x9cDCxe2x80x9d) corona charging (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Re. 30,782 (van Turnhout)), and hydrocharging (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,496,507 (Angadjivand et al.)), and can be improved by incorporating fluorochemicals into the melt used to produce the fibers of some electrets (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,052 (Crater et al.)).
Many of the particles and contaminants with which electret filters come into contact interfere with the filtering capabilities of the webs. Liquid aerosols, for example, particularly oily aerosols, tend to cause electret filters to lose their electret enhanced filtering efficiency (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,576 (Jones et al.)).
Numerous methods have been developed to compensate for loss of filtering efficiency. One method includes increasing the amount of the nonwoven polymeric web in the electret filter by adding layers of web or increasing the thickness of the electret filter. The additional web, however, increases the breathing resistance of the electret filter, adds weight and bulk to the electret filter, and increases the cost of the electret filter. Another method for improving an electret filter""s resistance to oily aerosols includes forming the electret filter from resins that include melt processable fluorochemical additives such as fluorochemical oxazolidinones, fluorochemical piperazines, and perfluorinated alkanes. (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,052 (Crater et al.)). The fluorochemicals should be melt processable, i.e., suffer substantially no degradation under the melt processing conditions used to form the microfibers that are used in the fibrous webs of some electrets. (See, e.g., WO 97/07272 (Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing)).
In one aspect, the invention features an electret that includes a surface modified polymeric article having surface fluorination produced by fluorinating a polymeric article. In one embodiment, the article includes at least about 45 atomic % fluorine as detected by ESCA. In another embodiment, the article includes a CF3:CF2 ratio of at least about 0.25 as determined according to the Method for Determining CF3:CF2. In other embodiments, the article includes a CF3:CF2 ratio of at least about 0.45 as determined according to the Method for Determining CF3:CF2.
In one embodiment, the article has a Quality Factor of at least about 0.25/mmH2O, (preferably at least about 0.5/mmH2O, more preferably at least about 1/mmH2O).
In some embodiments, the article includes a nonwoven polymeric fibrous web. Examples of suitable fibers for the nonwoven polymeric fibrous web include polycarbonate, polyolefin, polyester, halogenated polyvinyl, polystyrene, and combinations thereof. Particularly useful fibers include polypropylene, poly-(4-methyl-1-pentene), and combinations thereof. In one embodiment, the article includes meltblown microfibers.
In another aspect, the invention features an electret that includes a polymeric article having at least about 45 atomic % fluorine as detected by ESCA, and a CF3:CF2 ratio of at least about 0.45 as determined according to the Method for Determining CF3:CF2. In another embodiment, the electret includes at least about 50 atomic % fluorine as detected by ESCA, and a CF3:CF2 ratio of at least about 0.25 as determined according to the Method for Determining CF3:CF2.
In other aspects, the invention features a respirator that includes the above-described electrets. In still other aspects, the invention features a filter that includes the above-described electrets.
In one aspect, the invention features a method of making an electret that includes: (a) fluorinating a polymeric article to produce an article having surface fluorination; and (b) charging the fluorinated article in a manner sufficient to produce an electret. In one embodiment, the method includes charging the fluorinated article by contacting the fluorinated article with water in a manner sufficient to produce an electret, and drying the article. The method is useful for making the above-described electrets. In another embodiment, the method includes charging the fluorinated article by impinging jets of water or a stream of water droplets onto the fluorinated article at a pressure and for a period sufficient to produce an electret, and drying the article.
In other embodiments, the method includes fluorinating a polymeric article in the presence of an electrical discharge (e.g., an alternating current corona discharge at atmospheric pressure) to produce a fluorinated article. In one embodiment, the method includes fluorinating the polymeric article in an atmosphere that includes fluorine containing species selected from the group consisting of elemental fluorine, fluorocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons, fluorinated sulfur, fluorinated nitrogen and combinations thereof. Examples of suitable fluorine containing species include C5F12, C2F6, CF4, hexafluoropropylene, SF6, NF3, and combinations thereof.
In other embodiments, the method includes fluorinating the polymeric article in an atmosphere that includes elemental fluorine.
In other embodiments, the method of making the electret includes: (A) fluorinating a nonwoven polymeric fibrous web (i) in an atmosphere that includes fluorine containing species and an inert gas, and (ii) in the presence of an electrical discharge to produce a web having surface fluorination; and (B) charging the fluorinated web in a manner sufficient to produce an electret.
In other aspects, the invention features a method of filtering that includes passing an aerosol through the above-described electrets to remove contaminants.
The fluorinated electrets of the invention exhibit a relatively high oily mist resistance relative to non-fluorinated electrets.
In reference to the invention, these terms having the meanings set forth below:
xe2x80x9celectretxe2x80x9d means a dielectric material exhibiting a quasi-permanent electrical charge. The term xe2x80x9cquasi-permanentxe2x80x9d means that the time constants characteristic for the decay of the charge are much longer than the time period over which the electret is used;
xe2x80x9csurface modifiedxe2x80x9d means that the chemical structure at the surface has been altered from its original state.
xe2x80x9csurface fluorinationxe2x80x9d means the presence of fluorine atoms on a surface (e.g., the surface of an article);
xe2x80x9cfluorine containing speciesxe2x80x9d means molecules and moieties containing fluorine atoms including, e.g., fluorine atoms, elemental fluorine, and fluorine containing radicals;
xe2x80x9cfluorinatingxe2x80x9d means placing fluorine atoms on the surface of an article by transferring fluorine containing species from a gaseous phase to the article by chemical reaction, sorption, condensation, or other suitable means;
xe2x80x9caerosolxe2x80x9d means a gas that contains suspended particles in solid or liquid form; and
xe2x80x9ccontaminantsxe2x80x9d means particles and/or other substances that generally may not be considered to be particles (e.g., organic vapors).


This application relates to video input circuits and, more particularly, to video input circuits for a video hard copy controller of the type that converts and formats video signals into digital signals for application to a hard copy generating device.
Prior art video input circuits have included a video amplifier circuit having input terminals for receiving a composite video signal comprised of a video data component and a synchronization component, control terminals for receiving a gain control signal to control the gain of the amplifier circuit, and output terminals at which an amplified composite video signal is developed.
In the past, a combination automatic gain control and d-c restorer circuit was also employed to generate the gain control signal and to restore the tip extremity of the synchronization component to a reference potential, such as a d-c common.
A major problem with the above video input circuits arises from the fact that the amplified composite video signal at the output of the video amplifier was first started to be d-c restored and then, during the d-c restoration process, the automatic gain control (AGC) circuit was enabled. Although d-c restoration started before the AGC circuit was enabled and the AGC circuit completed its first operational iteration after d-c restoration was terminated, yet there was a significant period of time during which the d-c restoration and AGC operations overlapped. This posed significant conflicting effects with unreliable results. Also, since the tips of the synchronization component were restored to the d-c reference common, there was substantial likelihood of unwanted ground noise influence.
It would be desirable to provide video input circuits of the general type above described wherein the undesirable overlap of d-c restoration and AGC operations is eliminated. It would further be desirable if such video input circuits could include a simpler and more efficient d-c restorer circuit that could reduce ground noise.


The invention relates to an electro-surgical treatment instrument comprising a holder connectable to a high frequency generator with at least two electrodes provided at the proximal end of the holder which can be brought into contact with the tissue of a patient.
In a known treatment instrument of this kind, (DE 34 23 352 C2) the two electrodes are arranged alongside one another with respect to the axis of the treatment instrument and formed as the branches of a pair of tweezers. In this way, tissue regions of a patient which can be grasped in a tweezer-like manner with the electrodes can be subjected to bi-polar coagulation.
If, however, tissue regions are to be coagulated which cannot simply be grasped in a simple tweezer-like manner, then coagulation requires very much attention and skill on behalf of the operator. This is because he must then select the electrode spacing necessary for bi-polar coagulation by pressing the tweezer-like electrodes together and adapt it as necessary to the resulting coagulation.