This invention relates to a device for transporting and positioning dough triangles in crescent shaped dough rolls forming machines.
The technique for preparing crescents, also called "croissants", consists in preparing a strip of dough which is rolled on a roller machine.
After some dough strip calibration operations, the strip is transferred into a machine which cuts out triangles.
In order to waste no materials and reduce costs, the triangles are arranged, after the cutting thereof, in parallel rows with opposing orientations, as shown in FIG. 1.
After cutting, the triangles or at least one half of them must be orientated such that they are all presented to the rolling machine with their bases onwards.
On commercially available machines, these orientation operations are carried out by simply turning upside down alternately one half of the triangles, as shown diagramatically in FIG. 2.
The triangles will then enter the rolling machine which comprises essentially a main roller A which carries the dough triangle 2, an upper roller B which guides the dough triangle 1, and two roll-up belts C and D which perform the rolling operation with the aid of the roller A (FIG. 3).
The problem encountered with this processing originates from the fact that the dough, upstream of the cutting station, is located on a continuous conveyor belt, thereby the top face, being exposed to air, is drier than the bottom face which bears onto the belt and is thus prevented from losing moisture.
This position is also satisfactory on the roll-up machine, because the wetter face will adhere on the roller A which transfers it onto the roll-up belts C and D without problems, since a weak adhesion engagement is established between the dough and roller B.
However, when the triangles 1 which have been upturned arrive, the higher adhesion due to higher moisture will occur on the roller B, so that the dough triangle 1 readily separates from the roller A and is not inserted in between the roll-up belts C and D and is instead ejected, as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 3.
This situation produces considerable inconvenience, accompanied by a reduced output, and requires constant attention by an operator for recovering the high number of dough triangles which are not processed.


German patent DE 195 25 131 C2 discloses a known method. In this known method, a sensor having two measuring coils is used, which are arranged immediately one after the other perpendicular to the conducting surface, and also offset from each other. In the known method, frequencies are applied to the input side of the two measuring coils from an oscillator in each case, where the oscillator frequencies differ from each other. Depending on the respective distance of the sensor from the conducting profiled surface, there is a resultant impedance change in the measuring coils that is detected by means of differential amplifiers connected to the output side of the measuring coils.
A demodulator unit comprising two demodulators and connected to the output of the differential amplifiers, and a circuit comprising two EPROMs connected to the output of the demodulator unit, are used to generate digital measured-values that correspond to the distance of the respective coil of the sensor from the conducting profiled surface. The digital measured-values are supplied to an arithmetic unit implemented in the form of a comparator and then examined there to evaluate whether the digital measured-values of the two measuring coils agree within a certain tolerance range. If this is the case, then the distance currently detected is deemed to be measured correctly, and an OK signal is generated by the arithmetic unit.


Vehicles, such as automobiles and trucks for example, include a rear drive module (RDM) that is connected to the vehicle engine by a prop-shaft. The prop-shaft transmits rotational energy (torque) developed by the vehicle engine to the rear drive module, which in turn transmits the rotational energy to the wheels. In a rear-wheel drive vehicle, the prop-shaft directly couples the RDM to the vehicle's transmission. In an all-wheel or four-wheel drive vehicle, additional components may also be included, such as a power take-off unit for example.
It should be appreciated that the transmission of rotational energy from the propshaft to the RDM, and from the RDM to the wheels generates reaction forces within the RDM to counter the transmitted torque. These reaction forces generally may be characterizes as a “roll” type and a “pitch” type movement. The roll type movement is a rotation about a longitudinal axis passing through the RDM. A roll type movement may cause the axles to flex with respect to the RDM and cause undesired noise and vibrations. A pitch type of movement is a rotation about the lateral axis the RDM due to a reaction to the drive torque at the wheels. Articulation of the RDM due to pitch also results in undesirable noise and vibration, and may also reduce the operating life of the prop-shaft.
Traditionally, to counter the reaction torques placed on the RDM, a mounting system was used that securely coupled the RDM to the vehicle structure, such as directly to the vehicle frame, or to an intermediary cross-member or cradle-member. Typically, these systems used some type of three-point mount that included isolation bushings that reduced the transmission of vibration from the RDM to the structure. It should be appreciated that these vibrations may have been due to the operation of the RDM and by the operation of the engine as well.
Traditionally, the vehicle engine was an internal combustion engine having cylinders that are alternately fired to produce the rotational energy. Due to a need to improve fuel efficiency, alternate control schemes for the vehicle engine have been developed that selectively deactivate cylinders. Under certain circumstances, when a cylinder is deactivated, no fuel is combusted and fuel efficiency is increased. However, it has been found that the deactivation of cylinders results in low frequency vibrations being transmitted to the RDM via the prop-shaft that were not previous experienced in traditional engine control configurations. Further, it has been found that in some circumstances, existing RDM mounting arrangements were inadequate to counter the excitation forces generated at these low frequencies.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an RDM and RDM mounting arrangement that provides a desired level of performance when subjected to low frequency vibrations from the vehicle engine.


The present invention relates generally to landfills, and more particularly to systems and methods for disposing of liquid condensate from landfill gas recovery systems.
Waste products decompose in landfills, and after the free oxygen in the landfill is depleted, the waste product decomposition generates methane gas. It is desirable to recover this methane gas for environmental and safety reasons. To this end, landfill gas recovery systems have been introduced which collect the gas generated in landfills and burn the gas in flares on the landfill.
Occasionally, gas in the recovery system condenses with other fluids such as water. This methane-based condensate, like the gas, must be removed from the landfill for safety and environmental reasons, and to ensure that blockage of gas piping and damage to the flare system does not occur. Typically, the condensate is simply pumped out of the gas recovery system and transported to a hazardous waste dump site, where it is disposed of.
As recognized herein, transporting hazardous condensate to another waste facility for disposal is not only expensive, it does not solve the environmental problem of disposing of the condensate, but rather only moves the problem to a hazardous waste disposal facility. With this in mind, the present invention recognizes the desirability of economically disposing of the condensate at the site at which it is recovered in an environmentally benign way.
As recognized herein, one method for disposing of the condensate is to burn it in the flare chamber that is used to burn the methane gas. Typically, a landfill gas recovery flare chamber includes a ring of vertically-oriented burners located near the bottom of the chamber, and methane gas is piped through the burners and oxidized, with the hot oxidation products exhausting upwardly up through the flare chamber and out of the open top end of the chamber. In such a flare chamber, the condensate can be injected radially into the flare chamber above the burners by entraining the condensate in a pressurized high velocity air stream above the flame of the flare.
Such a system, as understood by the present invention, unfortunately requires a relatively expensive air compressor to generate the pressurized air stream. Also, a portion of the high velocity condensate stream tends to impinge on the wall of the flare chamber that is opposite the condensate injection point, damaging the wall.
Alternatively, the present invention understands that condensate can be pumped upwardly into the flare chamber through a vertical pipe that is centrally located in the flare chamber below the ring of burners. As the condensate moves upwardly past the burners, it flashes into vapor. As recognized by the present invention, however, the injection rate of condensate sometimes must undesirably be limited to avoid excessively cooling the flare chamber as the latent heat of vaporization of the condensate is overcome. Excessively cooling the flare chamber could reduce the ability of the flare to burn the methane gas and condensate. Moreover, the present invention understands that landfill process controls, including those related to condensate injection systems, preferably be automatic, to more accurately control the processes and to avoid the necessity of personnel undertaking time consuming and repetitive process monitoring and adjustment.
As further recognized herein, it is possible to provide a condensate injection system having a relatively high condensate injection rate without excessively cooling a flare chamber, and to automatically control the condensate injection rate as appropriate for the particular energy level of the flare. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to address one or more of the abovenoted considerations.
A compressorless condensate injection system is disclosed for a landfill having a flare chamber including at least one wall that is heated when the flare chamber burns methane gas extracted from the well. The system includes a condensate reservoir and a condensate pump in fluid communication with the reservoir to pump condensate into the chamber at a high pressure, preferably 40-250 pounds or more. At least a first injection line is in fluid communication with the condensate pump but not with an air compressor. The first line terminates in a first nozzle that is positioned on the flare chamber for directing condensate into the chamber such that condensate from the nozzle is vaporized when it is sprayed into the chamber without requiring the use of compressed air.
In a preferred embodiment, the first line has a heat exchange segment that is curved, e.g., the segment can extend partially or completely around the flare chamber before terminating in a nozzle. In this way, fluid in the first line can be heated when the flare chamber burns gas extracted from the well.
A first control valve preferably is in fluid communication with the first injection line for selectively blocking fluid flow therethrough, with the first control valve being responsive to electrical control signals. Indeed, secondary injection lines with respective solenoid valves and nozzles can be provided for selectively injecting even greater amounts of condensate into the chamber, depending on vaporization conditions. These secondary nozzles can be oriented to direct condensate upwardly and radially inwardly into the flare chamber. If desired, a ring line can communicate with the condensate pump, and the ring line terminates in a ring line nozzle disposable adjacent the burners of the flare.
Additional features can include a methane gas inlet line and a methane sensor for measuring a methane concentration in the inlet line, a flow sensor for measuring gas flow rate in the inlet line, and a temperature sensor for sensing temperature in the flare chamber. Also, condensate temperature and pressure can be measured in each heat exchange segment. Electrical control signals for controlling the solenoid valves can be generated by a computer based on these signals.
In another aspect, a computer program device can include a computer program storage device readable by a digital processing system, and a computer program on the program storage device and including instructions executable by the digital processing system for performing method steps for controlling at least one control valve disposed in at least one condensate injection line in a landfill flare chamber. The method undertaken by the computer includes determining a gas volume burn rate based on a combination of methane concentration in gas to be burned in the chamber, flow rate of gas, and flare chamber temperature. Also, the computer generates one or more control signals to control the valve or valves in response to the determination of gas volume burn rate.
In still another aspect, a condensate injection nozzle includes a nozzle body defining a pathway therethrough, and an orifice element disposed in the pathway. An diversion plate is also disposed in the pathway. In accordance with present principles, the diversion plate causes turbulent flow of the condensate, prior to the condensate passing through the orifice element and being injected into the flare chamber.
The details of the present invention, both as to its structure and its operation, can best be appreciated in reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts, and in which:


1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally pertains to the field of remotely located network connected intelligent devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Related Information
In legacy bandwidth-limited distributed networks prior to the Internet era, to update the code of a large numbers of (lottery, for example) terminals, a download server typically “pushed” the data to each terminal. Under such a scheme, scheduling and error recovery are carried out entirely under the control of the download server.
However, new generation lottery terminals, gaming machines and Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals based on PC architecture or other multimedia-enabled architecture may require frequent and voluminous updates and downloads of programs and data in order to provide continuously updated rich services. In such systems, downloading is commonly carried out using a traditional “pull” method in which each remote machine is scheduled to initiate a download at a predetermined time from a predetermined remotely located server. At the scheduled time, the entire transfer is carried out under the control of the remote terminal, including error recovery. Well-known and popular downloading utilities include programs such as GetRight (www.getright.com) and Gozilla (www.gozilla.com). Using such programs, however, the server that delivers the data file to be downloaded by the remote terminal devices is usually a generic FTP server that does not have capability of intelligently managing the network traffic.
Geographically distributed download cache technologies, such as available from Akamai (www.akamai.com) and Digital Island “2Deliver” service (www.digitalisland.com) accelerate Internet network performance when downloading static data from global Internet servers. For example, Amakai has deployed on the order of 10,000 servers around the world.
There is a significant risk for the network that links the remote terminal devices and the central system to be subjected to unauthorized intrusion, virus infection and distributed denial of service (DDOS); consequently costly bandwidth limited private networks are often preferred. Alternatively, Virtual Private Networks (VPN) to carry secure communication through an encrypted tunnel via the Internet is becoming increasingly popular for company inter-communications. However, the setup and infrastructure management costs are high, as is the cost of training software developers. Moreover, the scalability of VPNs to very a large number of client devices has not been demonstrated at this time.
Uncontrolled data downloads may render the operational network traffic useless, with the same consequences as Distributed Denial Of Service attacks (DDOS); therefore, data downloading is conventionally scheduled outside of operational hours. The requirement to perform data downloads outside operational hours results in significant waste of data bandwidth resources and longer download campaigns.
In addition, with the traditional “pull” download method, there is no feed-back that would enable performing a close-loop regulation of the individual terminal device download rates in order to ensure a uniform or predetermined download level. Although the “push” method allows fine-grained download bandwidth throttling, error recovery management requires a very complex download server that cannot easily scale to a very large number of client devices. Legacy distributed network also make use of broadcast download techniques, but error recovery is complex and the Internet infrastructure cannot readily support such broadcast download techniques.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a conventional unregulated download session. In FIG. 6, the boundaries between the remote device (such as devices 104-122, for example), the network 124 and tire transactional server 102 of FIG. 1 are shown in dashed lines. According to the conventional method of FIG. 6, a device whose identifier (ID) is XYZ initiates a download session to retrieve data file ABC from a server 102, at step S601. The download session then requests the first packet of file ABC, as shown at S602. The server 102 receives this request, opens a download session for file ABC at S603, retrieves packet #1 and sends the retrieved packet #1 to the requesting remote device at S605. The remote device receives packet #1 from the server and stores it, as shown at S606. Packet #2 is then requested, retrieved and sent back to and stored by the remote device, as shown at S607, S608, S609 and S610. The remote device then continues in a similar manner, until Packet n is requested at S611 and retrieved at S612. As the transactional determines that Packet n is the last packet of file ABC, the server 102 sets a last packet flag at S613 and sends the last Packet n together with the last packet flag at S614. The remote device then receives this last Packet and stores it, as shown at S615. Upon receipt of the last packet flag together with the last Packet n, the remote device closes the download session, as shown at S616. Upon confirmation of the good receipt of file ABC by the remote device, the server 102 may then close the download session opened in step S603.
As shown in FIG. 6, the remote device initiates the download session, which session is ended by the remote device when the last data packet is received. The remote device, therefore, is called the session master. Details of error recovery are not shown in FIG. 6. However, it will be apparent to those of skill that the remote device may request the transmission or re-transmission of any packet. The flow of data in FIG. 6 is un-regulated and download speed is inherently limited by the capacity and congestion of the network 124. Each remote device “fights” to get its own data immediately. When considering a very large number of download sessions using the same unregulated scheme, data traffic can be drawn down to a crawl, thereby denying high priority traffic and resulting in the dreaded DDOS (Distributed-Denial-Of-Service). Although QOS (Quality-Of-Service) mechanisms are available in order to route traffic according to priority attributes, such mechanisms are not universally implemented in routers across all wide area networks. Consequently, prioritization of traffic using QOS or other similar scheme by routers does not regulate data traffic in a satisfactory manner.


The proliferation of electronic devices capable of displaying video information in the form of movies, television programs and games, for example, has prompted great demand for video content. The advent of low cost video recording devices and the ability to circumvent anti-copy protection techniques has lead to unauthorized copying and distribution of such video content. In an effort to reduce the incidence of unauthorized copying, content creators now place a forensic mark, sometimes referred to as a watermark, within the video content for identification. By tracing the forensic mark, the content creator can isolate the source of the unauthorized copies.
The forensic mark can take various forms. For example, a content creator can apply a unique serial number to each copy or to a batch of copies. Alternatively, the content creator could apply a unique combination of alphanumeric characters or graphical symbols. The nature of the mark will depend on various factors, including but not limited to, the nature of the content itself.
Present day techniques for forensically marking video content suffer from several difficulties. Placing a forensic mark within the image itself incurs the disadvantage that the forensic mark becomes easy to spot and easy to circumvent by either editing or applying pixilation to the mark for example. Altering the video format to create a forensic mark incurs the disadvantage that converting the video content from one format to another can destroy the mark.
Thus, a need exists for a technique for forensically marking video content that overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector assembly, especially to an electrical connector assembly having electrical connector with low profile and processor having cone pins to make it be assembled to the electrical connector with little force.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 6,135,784 issued to Pei on Oct. 24, 2000 discloses a LIF Pin Grid Array (PGA) electrical connector. The electrical connector comprises an insulative housing with a plurality of contacts received therein and a processor assembled on the insulative housing. The processor includes a plurality of pins connecting with the contacts. The contact comprises a pair of spring arms. When the processor is assembled to the insulative housing, the pin of the processor exerts a force on the two spring arms pushing the spring arms move away from each other, and finally the pin connect with the spring arms. Thus, an electrical connection is established between the processor and the electrical connector. However, the number of the contacts becomes more and more, and the force that exerts on the processor becomes larger and larger. Thus, it is difficult to assemble the processor and the pin is easily deformed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,544,064 issued to McHugh on Apr. 8, 2003 discloses a ZIF Pin Grid Array (PGA) electrical connector. The electrical connector comprises a base with a plurality of contacts received therein, a cover assembled to the base and a lever assembled between the cover and the base. When the processor is assembled to the electrical connector, the processor and the cover are in the first position that the pins of the processor disconnect with the contacts. Then rotate the lever to make the cover move relative to the base and the processor also moves with the cover to a second position that the pins connect with the contacts. When assembled the processor to the electrical connector, this type of electrical connector is easy to operate and can prevent the deformation of the pins. However, the cover and the lever occupy more space, which violates the development trend of the minimization of the electrical connector.
Hence, an improved electrical connector assembly is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.


Generally, a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) device includes a plurality of unit cells, each of which comprises a MOS transistor and a storage capacitor. In continuing the trend of higher memory capacity, the size of the unit cell has been continuously decreased in order to increase the packing density of the DRAM device. The reduced cell size results in a decrease in capacitor area of the unit cell. The decreased capacitor area means low cell capacitance, which often induces problems like as low read-out capability and soft error.
One proposal to solve the above-mentioned problems is to use high dielectric constant material as a capacitor dielectric layer, which constitute a capacitor together with a lower electrode and an upper electrode. Typical examples of the high dielectric constant material are tantalum oxide (Ta2O5) and BST ((Ba,Sr)TiO3). The material of the lower electrode or the upper electrode is required to have a high work function value and not to be reactive with the capacitor dielectric layer. A typical example of the material of the lower and the upper electrodes is a noble metal, which includes platinum, ruthenium, iridium, rhodium and osmium.
FIG. 1 is cross-sectional views illustrating a conventional method for forming a capacitor using tantalum oxide layer as a capacitor dialectic layer. Referring to FIG. 1, a lower electrode 20 is formed on a substrate 10. The material of the lower electrode 20 is ruthenium. A capacitor dielectric layer 25 is deposited on the lower electrode 20. The material of the dielectric layer 25 is tantalum oxide. The thickness of the dielectric layer 25 is 140˜160 Å. The dielectric layer 25 is crystallized by a thermal treatment at 700° C. or more. Subsequently, an upper electrode 30 is formed on the crystallized dielectric layer 25, thereby completing a capacitor 30 on the substrate 10. The material of the upper electrode 30 is ruthenium.
FIG. 2 is a graph showing a change in equivalent oxide thickness value by the crystallization process. The equivalent oxide thickness value represents an effective thickness of a capacitor dielectric layer of a capacitor on the assumption that the capacitor dielectric layer was made of silicon oxide. Therefore, in general, higher equivalent oxide thickness value means lower capacitance per unit capacitor area. Referring to FIG. 2, the vertical axis represents equivalent oxide thickness value. On the horizontal axis of the graph, the reference “NO” means that the crystallization is not performed, and the reference “700° C.” means that the crystallization is performed at 700° C. As shown in the graph, the equivalent oxide thickness value is favorably decreased by performing the crystallization process.
However, the crystallization process has also problems. That is to say, the crystallization process is usually performed at relatively high temperature, thereby generating a lot of grain boundary in the tantalum oxide layer. The grain boundary often acts as a path of leakage current and may induce unfavorable leakage current in the capacitor. Moreover, the crystallization process under relatively high temperature may induce unfavorable deformation of the lower electrode and damage on the tantalum oxide layer.
Meanwhile, it is thought to be difficult to decrease the equivalent oxide thickness value into 10 Å or less in the conventional method, because both nuclear generation and crystal growth occur simultaneously during the crystallization process.
Accordingly, the need remains for a method for forming a capacitor having low leakage current as well as low equivalent oxide thickness.


Commercial technologies developed for vehicular “runflat” or “airless” tires include Michelin's Tweels and Resilient Technologies' “non-pneumatic tire.” Both of these use a honeycomb configuration for consumer applications. Runflat technology is also important to military applications. A representative military vehicle may impose 10,000 lbs of vehicle load per tire. To enable the vehicle to operate after tires are perforated by terrain or gunfire damage, passive runflat systems are employed inside the tire. The runflats currently found on the military vehicle are designed to provide mobility for a short time after a tire goes flat, but weigh approximately 100 lbs per tire. In addition to runflat technology, the vehicle utilizes a central tire inflation system (CTIS) to operate effectively across different terrain conditions.
Poisson's ratio (v), named after Simeon Poisson, is the ratio of the relative contraction strain, or transverse strain (normal to the applied load), divided by the relative extension strain, or axial strain (in the direction of the applied load). Some materials, called auxetic materials, have a negative Poisson's ratio (NPR). If such materials are stretched (or compressed) in one direction, they become thicker (or thinner) in perpendicular directions.
NPR materials have attracted significant interest due to their unique behaviors. Unlike conventional materials, a NPR material may shrink when compressed along a perpendicular direction. One result of this behavior is that the material can concentrate itself under the compressive load to better resist the load. Thus, a NPR material becomes stiffer and stronger as the amplitude of the load increases. It has also been found that NPR can improve material/structural properties, including enhanced thermal/shock resistance, fracture toughness, indentation resistance and shear modulus. [1-3].
Auxetic and NPR structures have been used in a variety of applications. According to U.S. Pat. No. 7,160,621, an automotive energy absorber comprises a plurality of auxetic structures wherein the auxetic structures are of size greater than about 1 mm. The article also comprises at least one cell boundary that is structurally coupled to the auxetic structures. The cell boundary is configured to resist a deformation of the auxetic structures.
The vast majority of auxetic structures are polymer foams. U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,557, for example, discloses an open cell foam structure that has a negative Poisson's ratio. The structure can be created by triaxially compressing a conventional open-cell foam material and heating the compressed structure beyond the softening point to produce a permanent deformation in the structure of the material. The structure thus produced has cells whose ribs protrude into the cell resulting in unique properties for materials of this type.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,910,193, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes two- and three-dimensional NPR structures/materials and applications. The negative Poisson ratio effect causes the surrounding material to concentrate into the local area of loading. Consequently, the material becomes stiffer and stronger in the area of the applied load. Moreover, this stiffening behavior is retained under nonlinear, large deformation response.
NPR structures can react differently under different applied loads. Three unique features of NPR systems include: a) material concentration, b) bulging effect, and c) impact force mitigation. FIG. 1 of the '193 patent illustrates a reactive shrinking mechanism of a NPR material. The unique property of this structure, which includes a plurality of “nested-V” shapes, is that it will shrink in two directions if compressed in one direction. When the structure is under a compressive load on the top of the structure, more material is gathered together under the load so that the structure becomes stiffer and stronger in the local area to resist against the load.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 8,544,515, also incorporated herein by reference, is broadly directed to the use of NPR materials to produce runflat or airless tires. Such materials should provide improved stiffness/weight and survivability, compared to honeycomb, foam, or other cellular materials. Further, because the stiffening behavior of certain NPR structures is retained under nonlinear, large deformation responses and it can be functionally tailored, a runflat tire system based upon such materials should provide performance responses similar to pneumatic tire.
NPR tires can be tailored and functionally-designed to optimally meet runflat requirements for both military and commercial vehicles. NPR runflat tires may be fabricated using standard materials and simple manufacturing processes, resulting in low-cost and high-volume production. NPR runflat tire designs are fully compatible with Central Tire Inflation Systems (CTIS), while providing a performance equivalent to current military vehicle solutions but at half the weight.


A prior art method for coding phonetic features was formally set up during the U.S. census in 1858. A certain abstraction of phonetic features was considered to be required, in particular because at that point of time, a fairly high fraction of immigrants in first or second generation lived there who named their children with some assimilated names, i.e., first names or last names. For example, the name Schmidt was assimilated to Smith, or Johannson to Johnson. As it was foreseeable that the original way for writing these names would be lost anyhow, the evaluation of the census was stored supplementary with those phonetical features without using any electronic data processing.
This method is known by the name SOUNDEX and is applied until now in many technical fields, for example, in reservation systems in which lists of names are searched according to phonetical features only since customer contact is often by telephone call and the typist may not know the proper spelling of the customer's name. The basic algorithm is the same as it was in 1858 and comprises the rules and steps as follows:
1. Every code according to SOUNDEX contains four characters: a letter followed by three digits whereby in case of missing digits the code is filled up with the digit ‘0’.
2. The first letter of the character string which is transformed by the SOUNDEX code, for example a name, is taken without any change as the first code element into the SOUNDEX code.
3. The letters a, e, i, o, u, y, w, h are not coded. All remaining characters are coded as follows:                b, f, p, v are coded to 1        c, g, j, k, q, s, q, z are coded as 2        d, t are coded as 3        l is coded as 4        m, n is coded as 5        r is coded as 6.
4. Two subsequent occurrences, i.e., instances, of the same SOUNDEX code is avoided by only taking the first of them.
Based on the above mentioned rules the following examples result:
EulerE460GaussG200HilbertH416HeilbronnH416SchmidtS530SmitS530
A more detailed description of the prior art SOUNDEX coding method is provided by D. Knuth in ‘The Art of Computer Science, Vol. III’, Addison-Wesley, 2nd ed., S. 391–392.
The disadvantages of said prior art SOUNDEX coding method can be summarized as follows:
1. The SOUNDEX code is limited to 1+3=4 characters. As a typically character string has a bigger length, e.g., a length between 6 and 8 characters not all characters can be coded. Thus, as described above the character strings ‘Hilbert’ and ‘Heilbronn’ have the same SOUNDEX code although they sound quiet different, they have a different length and they can thus be described as ‘not related with each other’. In this respect the SOUNDEX method is too ambiguous.
2. The rules of the SOUNDEX method are not able to transfer longer character groups into their phonetical equivalence. The SOUNDEX method is limited to avoiding the vowels and to the comprehension of consonants having the same phonetic code. The SOUNDEX code is not adapted to particular letter combinations as are for example the English ‘ight’ as in ‘fight’ which has the same phonetic features as ‘ite’.
3. Today, phonetic features are often stored together with the original data in a data base. Accordingly, the SOUNDEX code properties have to be checked for the persistency and comparability. Such a check yields that the SOUNDEX code has to be stored as a character string as it comprises at least one character and a character compare procedure has to be started against the code whenever the SOUNDEX code is applied in a database search. Compared to a bit string compare procedure this represents a significant loss of performance.


The present invention relates to a method of preparing 2-sulfochloride benzoates, and, more especially, relates to a method of preparing such compounds which comprises diazotizing an anthranilic acid ester to form a 2-diazonium chloride benzoate and then reacting the 2-diazonium chloride benzoate with sulfur dioxide to form the 2-sulfochloride benzoate. This invention also relates to a method of synthesizing saccharin which comprises pyrolyzing a 2-sulfochloride benzoate at elevated temperatures and then ammonolyzing the resulting o-sulfobenzoic anhydride to saccharin.
Saccharin is variously known as o-benzosulfimide; gluside; benzoylsulfonic imide; and is the anhydride of o-sulfimide benzoic acid having the formula: ##STR1## Saccharin is employed in the manufacture of syrups, medicine (substitute for sugar), soft drinks, foods, and the like, and is a nonnutritive sweetener which can readily be converted to sodium or soluble saccharin, and is a white, crystalline powder. It has an exceedingly sweet taste (500 times that of cane sugar), a melting point of about 226.degree. C. to 230.degree. C., and is soluble in amyl acetate, ethyl acetate, benzene and alcohol; slightly soluble in water, chloroform and ether.
Saccharin has been made from toluene by the following series of reactions: ##STR2## The imide is converted to the sodium salt to increase the solubility in water. Saccharin can also be prepared by converting a mixture of toluene sulfonic acids into the sodium salt, then by distillation with phosphorus trichloride and chlorine to obtain the ortho-toluene sulfonyl chloride, which by means of ammonia is converted into ortho-toluenesulfamide. This is oxidized with permanganate, treated with acid and saccharin crystallized out. It is reported that the slight bitter taste associated with the saccharin prepared by either of the above methods is caused by the presence of o-toluamide. Moreover, the disposal of the p-toluenesulfonyl chloride obtain by-product in the above processes has also been a problem.
Both of these objections have been attempted to be overcome by two more recent processes, the first [A] commencing with thianaphthene (prepared from styrene and sulfur) and the other [B] with anthranilic acid, as follows [see Noller, Chemistry of Organic Compounds, 2nd Edition, pp. 556-7 (1957)]: ##STR3## Nevertheless, it too is reported that even when utilizing these alternate routes there still is a slight bitter taste associated with the saccharin, here probably caused by the presence of certain trace contaminants.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microscope apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Regarding a super-resolution microscope in the related art, STORM (Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy) is known (for example, refer to United States Patent Application, Publication No. 2008/0032414 and United States Patent Application, Publication No. 2008/0182336). In this microscope, a fluorescent material or a sample having a fluorescent material adhering thereto is used as an observed sample. This fluorescent material has a characteristic of being activated when irradiated with activation light having a predetermined wavelength and fluorescing to be inactivated when irradiated with excitation light having a different wavelength from the activation light later. A fluorescent material is activated with low density by irradiating an observed sample with weak activation light. By emitting excitation light later in order to make only the activated fluorescent material emit light, a fluorescent image is acquired. In the fluorescent image acquired in this manner, images of the fluorescent material that emits light with low density are separated individually. Accordingly, it is possible to obtain the position of the center of gravity of each image. By repeating such a step of obtaining the position of the fluorescent material multiple times, for example, hundreds of times to tens of thousands of times or more to create one image in which all images of the fluorescent material are disposed at their positions, it is possible to acquire a high-resolution observation image.
In addition, as a super-resolution microscope apparatus, a STORM based on a three-dimensional method capable of improving not only the resolution within the sample surface (XY plane) but also the resolution in the thickness direction (Z direction) of the sample is known (for example, refer to Bo Huang, et. al. Science 319, 810-813 (2008)). In such a STORM based on the three-dimensional method, the image of a fluorescent material can be made to have an elliptical shape by giving a predetermined astigmatic difference to the image of the sample by inserting a cylindrical lens in the imaging optical system, and the coordinate in the Z direction can be obtained from the ellipticity.


The present invention relates to the textile arts and, in particular, to an apparatus adapted to provide for the removal of lint, dust and other unwanted materials from a circular knitting machine.
It is well known and recognized that the processing of textile fibers, including the knitting thereof into fabric, generates large quantities of fiber lint and other debris. This debris often permeates the environment in which the processing equipment is located, and settles on the exposed surfaces of the equipment. It is well recognized that the continued accumulation of the debris, especially on the active machinery elements, can result in unsatisfactory operation, and possible ultimate machinery failure. In addition, the debris can be trapped in the produced fabric, creating defects therein.
Debris accumulation and contamination is a significant problem in circular knitting machines, which because of their size can generate a large amount of lint and other debris. Such large machines can have a diameter of many feet, utilizing a large number of reciprocating needles and associated devices, including yarn feeds and linkages needed to synchronize the knitting process. Associated with such operation is the generation of an often prodigious amount of lint and other debris.
In order to limit the amount of such debris accumulating on the equipment, and to remove the debris therefrom, a variety of fan-type apparatus have been developed. The device set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,337 to Alan Gutschmidt presents a typical apparatus, As disclosed therein, a cleaning device for a circular knitting machine includes a centrally mounted arm journaled for 360 degree rotation about a central mounting, typically positioned at the center of the knitting machine, A fan is mounted at the distal end of the arm, and oscillates in a vertical plane over a limited angle to direct a flow of air over portions of the knitting machine as the arm rotates.


During the mounting of wheels, the alignment between the hub bore and the bolt holes can rotate making the use of nuts and sleeved cap nuts difficult to align within the bolt holes. The operator must rotate the wheel assembly to align bolt holes while maintaining its position on the center hub bolts. A brake drum is mounted to a wheel hub on the wheel hub mounting tabs, which are typically very short. As the wheels are assembled over the brake drum, the assembly process can cause the brake drum to slide from the wheel hub mounting tabs causing a non-flush connection to the wheel hub itself When the brake drum is non-flush with the wheel hub, the nuts used to attach the wheels to the wheel hub may not be sufficiently threaded onto the wheel studs to securely attach the wheels to the wheel hub and prevent the wheels from falling off the vehicle during operation.


This invention relates generally to semi-automated dialer system and method to provide fast and efficient dialing from a mixed entry sequence. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for determining intended entry from a mixed dialing sequence that includes both numeric and non-numeric input.
In mobile communications appliances equipped with a deterministic input device, such as a QWERTY keyboard, the large number of keys may be a disadvantage. To keep the number of physical keys to a smaller number, it is common to find that the numeric keys share the same physical keys as some of the text symbol keys. For example, in one such implementation on a Windows Smartphone®, the E, R, T and Y are also labeled 0, 1, 2 and 3, respectively.
The particular allocation of numerical keys on the alphabetic keypad is flexible by design, but most implementers attempt to construct a layout that approximates the numeric layout typical of a telephone keypad.
This ambiguous structure results in design choices that are contextually driven and it is usual to find that the keyboard operates either in numeric mode or in text symbol mode. However, there is limited interactivity between the two modes. Usually it is left to the user to determine which mode is desired.
Current dialer applications which signals a numeric string to the network system via the appliance's transceiver is ill conditioned to send strings that are not entirely numbers.
Similarly the fact that the text symbols normally allocated to the touch-tone keypad have no resemblance to the way that numbers are allocated to the qwerty layout results in an unexpected complexity for the typical user. For example, in voice-mail systems it is usual for a caller to be asked to identify the recipient by entering a numeric string that ambiguously spells their surname or first part thereof. If there is an ambiguous possibility where more than one recipient could be intended, the system may resolve this interactively with the user. It is extraordinarily difficult for a user of a qwerty keyboard labeled with a group of numbers, having no other labeling to show the possible ambiguous meaning of the numeric keys in the context of a telephony application, to perform this entry task accurately. This is further exacerbated by the fact that the staggered key layout of a QWERTY keyboard lends a distortion to the numeric labeled keys, as if the standard telephony pad were not rectangular but more a parallelogram shape, which further complicates the ergonomic task.
It is therefore apparent that an urgent need exists for an improved system and method for semi-automated dialing using mixed sequences for input that is both accurate and efficient. This solution would fulfill a long felt, yet unmet, need for dialing applications that is able to effectively provide dialing when provided input that contains both numeric and non numeric input; thereby increasing effectiveness of dialing and number entry on a mobile device.


Present day techniques for the spray application of coatings are generally categorized in one of three basic spray application techniques. The first of these techniques is air atomization wherein the coating particles ride on an air stream from the spray gun to the product being coated. The second of these techniques is airless atomization wherein the coating material is atomized and propelled by hydraulic pressure. The third is electrostatic spraying wherein the coating material is atomized by air or airless techniques and the deposition of coating on the product being sprayed is by electrical attraction of the coating particles. With each of these spray techniques spray booths are commonly employed and usually required by federal or state regulatory agencies.
Present day spray booths are designed with the objectives of providing a safe working place, preventing pollution of the atmosphere and enhancing the quality of the product being sprayed. The rapid and thorough removal of volatile solvents and vehicle fumes from the premises is essential in many spray applications to meet the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and insurance carriers. The air moving through the spray booth carries coating over-spray away from the product, avoiding the finish marring consequences of semi-dry coating particles settling on already coated surfaces. By effectively removing coating particles from the air being discharged to the outside, the spray booth eliminates a common cause of air pollution and thus helps the user avoid risking violations of legal requirements, particularly those of the Environmental Protection Agency, and prevents staining and dirtying of immediately adjacent property.
Numerous filter designs have been proposed for spray booth applications, but in each case these designs have been found to be inadequate due to the fact that they have either clogged too rapidly or have been cumbersome and costly in design. There exists a need for a replaceable filter for use with spray booths that is simple in construction and suitable for allowing large volumes of air to pass through with a minimal loss of efficiency.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,909,237 discloses a collapsible filter for separating particulate matter from a fluid stream. U.S. Pat. No. 3,075,337 discloses a replaceable filter medium that is particularly suited for use in spray booths. The filters disclosed in each of these patents, however, are complex in design and construction and do not offer the advantages of the present invention.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mechanism for moving an optical pickup radially along a disc. Particularly, the invention is concerned with an optical pickup moving mechanism suitable for the reduction of cost and weight.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a disc unit which, with use of an optical pickup, records and reproduces information to and from a disc such as CD (compact disc), MD (minidisc), or DVD (digital versatile disc), an optical pickup moving mechanism as shown in FIG. 7 is provided for moving the optical pickup radially along the disc.
In the same figure, an optical pickup P0 is principally composed of an objective lens 2, a drive mechanism (not shown) for actuating the objective lens 2, and a base 1 which carries thereon the objective lens 2, the objective lens drive mechanism and an optical device for radiating a laser beam to a disc D through the objective lens 2. The base 1 is disposed between a guide shaft 3 and a screw shaft 4. The guide shaft 3 and the screw shaft 4 are arranged in an opposed parallel relation to each other on a mechanical chassis (not shown). The screw shaft 4 is rotated in both forward and reverse directions by means of a thread motor (not shown). Bearing portions 1a and 1b as portions to be guided are projected from both sides of the base 1. One bearing portion 1a is in abutment against a peripheral surface of the guide shaft 3, while the other bearing portions 1b are loosely fitted on the screw shaft 4. A plate spring 5 is screwed in a cantilevered fashion to the base 1 and a female screw member 6 called half nut is fixed to a free end side of the plate spring 5. The female screw member 6 is toothed over an approximately semicircle. This toothed portion remains in contact with the threaded portion of the screw shaft 4 due to the resilience of the plate spring 5.
In the optical pickup transfer mechanism thus roughly constructed, when the screw shaft 4 is rotated in either forward or reverse direction, the rotational force thereof is converted to a linear motion and transferred to the base 1 by means of the female screw member 6, so that the base 1 moves in the thrust direction (right and left direction in FIG. 7) of the guide shaft 3 and the screw shaft 4. As a result, the whole of the optical pickup 2 is moved radially along the disc D through the base 1, thus permitting information recording and reproducing operations for the disc.
Recently, for promoting the reduction of cost and weight of the optical pickup moving mechanism, studies have been made about a technique wherein the base of the optical pickup is formed by molding a synthetic resin instead of using such a metallic material as die casting aluminum, and the guide shaft is formed by molding a synthetic resin as a substitute for a metallic shaft such as a stainless steel shaft. If, however, the base and the guide shaft are each formed by molding a synthetic resin, the bearing portion of the base, which is always kept in sliding contact with the guide shaft at the same portion thereof, becomes worn-out. This may result in tilting of an optical axis of the objective lens mounted on the base, which deteriorates the recording or reproducing function.
In the case of a vehicular disc unit, it is necessary to select a material superior in both rigidity and heat resistance. With a synthetic resin material, PPS (polyphenylene sulfide) with glass fibers incorporated therein is used. If both base and guide shaft repeat sliding, their constituent synthetic resins are apt to wear more rapidly. Such a problem is also true of the case where the screw shaft as the other movement guide member is formed by molding a synthetic resin.
The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above-mentioned circumstances and it is an object of the invention to provide an optical pickup moving mechanism wherein even if a base of an optical pickup and a movement guide member are each formed from a synthetic resin, it is possible to suppress the growth of wear caused by sliding contact between their constituent synthetic resins, and which can attain the reduction of cost without impairing the reliability.
According to the present invention, for achieving the above-mentioned object, there is provided an optical pickup moving mechanism including an optical pickup and a movement guide member, the optical pickup having a base with an objective lens mounted thereon and with a to be guided portion being projected sideways thereof, the movement guide member having a guide surface which is extended in a predetermined direction and supporting the base slidably through the to be guided portion, the base being slid along the guide surface of the movement guide member, thereby allowing the optical pickup to move radially of a disc, wherein the to be guided portion and the movement guide member are each formed from a synthetic resin and a metallic slide member is disposed in the to be guided portion at a position opposed to the guide surface so that an outer peripheral surface of the slide member comes into sliding contact with the guide surface.
According to the optical pickup moving mechanism of the above construction, since the base which includes the to be guided portion and the movement guide member which supports the base slidably are each formed by molding a synthetic resin, it is possible to attain the reduction of cost and weight, and since the metallic slide member disposed in the to be guided portion is brought into sliding contact with the guide surface of the movement guide member, it is possible to suppress the growth of wear caused by sliding contact between their constituent synthetic resins and hence possible to ensure a high reliability.
In the above optical pickup moving mechanism, by disposing a resilient member for urging the to be guided portion in a direction in which the slide member comes into pressure contact with the guide surface of the movement guide member, the slide member is allowed to slide on the guide surface always under a moderate pressing force without leaving the guide surface.
It is preferable that the slide member be a metal pin of a generally circular section. As such a metal pin of a generally circular section there may be used, for example, a commercially available parallel pin made of stainless steel which is inexpensive and high in dimensional accuracy. Thus, it is not necessary to newly provide a special mold for the metal pin; in other words, the metal pin itself does not become a cause of increase in cost. If the metal pin of a generally circular section is reciprocated in the optical pickup moving direction while being kept in sliding contact with the guide surface of the movement guide member, lubricating oil (grease) applied to the guide surface stays in wedge-like gaps formed before and behind the sliding contact position of the metal pin, thereby functioning as grease sumps and thus giving rise to an advantage that a smooth sliding motion of the metal pin is ensured.
In connection with the above optical pickup moving mechanism, if there is adopted a structure wherein a recess is formed in the to be guided portion at a position opposed to the guide surface and the metal pin is fitted in the recess, the metal pin mounting workability for the to be guided portion is improved. Further, if the recess is formed with a flat inner bottom surface and is narrower on its side close to the guide surface and if the metal pin is fitted in the recess while its outer peripheral surface is brought into abutment against the inner bottom surface of the recess, the metal pin can be fitted in the recess with the inner bottom surface of the recess as a reference. Here, the position of the bottom surface can be easily defined relative to the guide surface. This allows for improved relative positional accuracy between the metal pin and the guide surface and easier dimensional management in a design stage or in an assembling stage.
In connection with the above optical pickup transfer mechanism, if a through hole is formed in the to be guided portion so as to communicate with the recess and open to a side of the metal pin which side is not opposed to the guide surface, and if an adhesive is poured from this through hole into the recess to fix the metal pin within the recess, the metal pin fitted in the recess can be fixed firmly to the to be guided portion with the adhesive by using a slight force. Additionally, the assembling work efficiency can be improved because there is no fear that the adhesive may adhere to the guide surface side of the metal pin.
Preferably, the metal pin is disposed so that its longitudinal direction is substantially orthogonal to the extending direction of the guide surface. According to this arrangement, the base can be moved while keeping the contact area between the metal pin and the guide surface to a minimum, so that the sliding resistance between the metal pin and the guide surface becomes extremely small and hence it is possible to prevent the occurrence of such an inconvenience as the metal pin is caught on the guide surface during movement of the optical pickup and tilting of the optical pickup results. For example, if the guide surface of the movement guide member is arcuate in section, then by disposing a metal pin in a direction approximately orthogonal to a generator of the circular arc it is made possible to maintain the metal pin and the guide surface in a state of point contact.


Powder coatings, which are dry, finely divided, free flowing, solid materials at room temperature, have gained considerable popularity in recent years over liquid coatings for a number of reasons. For one, powder coatings are user and environmentally friendly materials, since they are virtually free of harmful fugitive organic solvent carriers that are normally present in liquid coatings. Powder coatings, therefore, give off little, if any, volatile materials to the environment when cured. This eliminates the solvent emission problems associated with liquid coatings, such as air pollution and dangers to the health of workers employed in coating operations.
Powder coatings are also clean and convenient to use. They are applied in a clean manner over the substrate, since they are in dry, solid form. The powders are easily swept up in the event of a spill and do not require special cleaning and spill containment supplies, as do liquid coatings. Working hygiene is, thus, improved. No messy liquids are used that adhere to worker's clothes and to the coating equipment, which leads to increased machine downtime and clean up costs.
Powder coatings are essentially 100% recyclable. Over sprayed powders can be fully reclaimed and recombined with the powder feed. This provides very high coating efficiencies and also substantially reduces the amount of waste generated. Recycling of liquid coatings during application is not done, which leads to increased waste and hazardous waste disposal costs.
In the past, most powder coating was performed on metals which can withstand high temperatures at which many conventional coating powders fuse and cure. Recently, however, several coating powders have been developed for substrates, such as wood, which require coating powders which fuse (in the case of thermoplastic coating powders) or fuse and cure (in the case of curable coating powders) at relatively low temperatures. Examples of such coating powders are found, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,824,373, 5,714,206, 5,721,052, and 5,731,043, the teachings of each of which are incorporated herein by reference. Low temperature coating prevents charring of the substrate and excessive outgassing of moisture.
A frequent problem encountered when coating low-temperature substrates, such as wood, with coating powder is non-uniformity of coating in areas of the substrate which are difficult to coat, such as the edges and corners of kitchen cabinet doors. It has been found that preheating wood substrates, particularly in the 200.degree. F. to 275.degree. F. range, prior to electrostatic application of coating powders, provides more uniform coating of flat surfaces but can dry out sharp edges, making electrostatic coating difficult.
However, preheating to near or above the boiling point of water tends to dry cellulosic products such as wood, fiberboard, particle board, paper, etc. Such materials tend to have a residual water content, wood typically having a water content of between about 3 and about 10 wt %. This residual moisture presents problems in coating cellulosic substrates with coating powder in that if the temperature is too high, significant outgassing causes defects, e.g., pinholes, in the coating. Similar problems have been noticed with fiber-containing plastic. This is one reason why cellulosic substrates must be coated with powders that fuse and cure at relatively low temperatures. On the other hand, the residual moisture in cellulosic materials is necessary for the material to hold sufficient electrical charge to be electrostatically coated with coating powder. Preheating of cellulosic substrates for the purpose of achieving uniform, continuous coatings may reduce the water content to where the charge-carrying capacity of the substrate is so reduced that electrostatic application of the coating powder is inefficient. Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to be able to preheat a substrate, such as a cellulosic substrate, for the purpose of achieving a uniform, continuous coating and at the same time maintaining sufficient moisture level of the substrate for electrical charge-carrying purposes.
In this regard, it was proposed to moisten the surface of lignocellulosic substrates prior to the pre-heating step so that the substrates would retain sufficient moisture and charge-carrying capacity at the point of electrostatic coating powder application. An example of this approach is found in above-referenced U.S. Pat. No. 5,824,373 which teaches maintaining substrates in a high humidity environment prior to pre-heating and optional humidity control through application of the coating powder. This approach, however, was discarded because it tended to warp the surface of the substrate.


1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a bladed rotor, and more particularly relates to a bladed rotor for a turbo-machine such as a gas turbine engine. The disclosure is particularly suited for use in gas turbine compressor rotors, although it is to be appreciated that the disclosure is not limited to compressor rotors and could find application in other types of bladed rotors for use in other types of turbo-machines.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional axial compressor rotors for gas turbine engines typically comprise a number of discs which are bolted or welded together to form an integral rotatable drum. Each disc can be considered to represent a central hub around which a plurality of rotor blades of aerofoil configuration are mounted. Each rotor blade is normally attached to the hub using a mechanical connection known as a root fixing. One such type of arrangement involves axially fixing the rotor blades to the periphery of the hub and involves the provision of a series of slots which are machined into the peripheral region of the hub and which are generally elongate parallel to one another. The slots are typically arranged so that they extend in a lengthwise direction which makes an acute angle of between 10 and 30 degrees to the rotational axis of the hub. Each slot is configured to receive a dove-tail or fir-tree shaped root fixing of a respective rotor blade.
A radially outwardly biased sprung retaining ring is normally used to secure the root portions of the rotor blades within their respective mounting slots. The retention ring locates within radially inwardly open grooves formed around the hub at positions located between the blade mounting slots, under its radially outward bias. Similar grooves are provided on the rotor blades and so the retaining ring also locates in the blade grooves to axially retain the root portions of the blades in the mounting slots.
It is important for integrity reasons that during operation of the rotor that the retaining ring does not apply radial load to the blades within the blade grooves. The retaining ring must at all times remain radially inwardly spaced from the radially outmost region of each blade groove by a clearance gap. It is therefore normal to configure the arrangement such that the retaining ring only bears against the radially outmost regions of the hub grooves.
However, it has been found that during service the retaining rings of the above-described type of axial fixing arrangement can be susceptible to wear on their radially outmost surfaces, as also can the inner surfaces of the hub grooves within which the rings locate. Over time, this wear can reduce the size of the radial clearance gap between the retaining ring and the blade grooves which, as indicated above, cannot be allowed to occur due to integrity concerns.


In recent years, systems for playing back the contents of optical discs such as video CDs that record video data, audio data, and the like have been developed, and have prevailed for the purpose of playing back movie software titles, karaoke data, and the like.
Among such systems, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) standard that uses MPEG2 (Moving Picture Experts Group 2) international standards has been proposed.
This standard supports MPEG2 as a moving picture compression scheme, and AC-3 audio, MPEG audio, and the like as audio schemes. The standard is appended with sub-picture data for superimposed dialogs and menus obtained by compressing bitmap data, and control data (navigation data) for special playback control. Furthermore, this standard supports the UDF (Universal Disc Format) Bridge (a hybrid of UDF and ISO9660) to allow a computer to read data.
Also, optical discs such as a DVD-RAM and the like on which digital data can be written or rewritten have been developed. A function that allows one to easily edit the recorded contents is required of a digital video system using such DVD-RAM or the like.
However, a home-use digital video system which allows end-users to easily edit the recorded contents has not become available yet.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal detecting apparatus in an optical disc apparatus, in which a tracking error is detected by a push-pull method and a focusing error is detected by a spot-size method.
2. Description of Related Art
In a known optical disc apparatus, a bundle of rays reflected by an optical disc is received by light receiving surfaces of error detecting light receiving elements. The signal data output from the divided areas of the light receiving elements is used to calculate the tracking error and focusing error.
For instance, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (kokai) No. 61-206944 (JPP '944) (U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,218) discloses a focus error detecting system in which light reflected from an optical disc is convered into a beam spot so that the focus state of an objective lens can be detected in accordance with the size of the beam spot. This known error detecting method will be referred to as a spot-size method hereinafter.
In the spot-size method, light receiving elements are located on opposite sides of and optically equidistant from a convergence point on which the light reflected from the optical disc is converged when the objective lens is in a focused state, so that the sizes of the respective beam spots formed on the light receiving elements can be compared with each other to generate a focus error signal.
However, in an optical system as disclosed in FIG. 1 of JPP '944 mentioned above, it is impossible to detect tracking error with the same optical elements that are used for detecting the focusing error. In the optical system shown in FIG. 4 of JPP '944, both tracking error and focusing error can be detected with the same optical elements. However, the pattern into which the light receiving elements are divided is complex.
Furthermore, if the optical axis of the bundle of rays, incident upon the objective lens, is inclined with respect to the optical disc, or if the objective lens is displaced in the radial direction of the optical disc to correct tracking error, the optical path of the reflected light is deviated from a reference position. This results in the displacement of the beam spots in a direction corresponding to the radial direction of the optical disc. Consequently, in a tracking error detecting system that uses the push-pull method, even if there is no change in light intensity distribution, which is caused when the beam spot moves across the optical disc, the light receiving areas will be unbalanced, resulting in track offset signals being carried on the detected signals. Therefore, the deviation of the beam spots from the track of the optical disc and the track error signals no longer maintain a predetermined relationship, and accordingly, the position of the beam spot can not be precisely controlled by a track servo control in accordance with the detected signals.
The "track offset signal" is one of the track error signal components detected by the light receiving elements. Track offset is caused by the displacement of the beam spot on the light receiving element due to the deviation of the reflected light.
In the known focusing error detection system using the spot-size method, the resultant signal of the outputs of the two light receiving elements is set to be zero when the objective lens is in the focal position. Namely, the respective signals of the light receiving elements are not individually taken into account.
Consequently, it is necessary to adjust the position of the light receiving elements while observing the balance of the quantities of light to be received by the light receiving elements, thus resulting in a complex and troublesome adjustment operation.
Furthermore, if the light receiving elements are used to reproduce the recorded magnetic optical signals of the magnetic optical disc as disclosed in the above-mentioned JPP '944, a slight change in the balance of the quantity of light to be received by the light receiving elements due to the rotation of the polarizing surface by the Kerr effect occurs, and accordingly, the change may result in an interference contained in the focus error signal, thus resulting in an imprecise focus servo control.
In the prior art, as disclosed in JPP '944, in which each light receiving element is split into three light receiving areas, the tracking error, using the push-pull method, and the focusing error cannot be detected by the same light receiving element.
Furthermore, JPP '944 also discloses light receiving elements, each being split into three light receiving sections in the form of elongated bands, wherein the center light receiving section is split into three mosaic areas, so that the tracking error can be detected by the same light receiving element as that for detecting the focusing error. The split pattern of the light receiving element is, however, complex, especially at the center portion thereof. Accordingly, it is necessary to form a relatively large beam spot on the light receiving element, thus resulting in a decreased freedom of optical design and a large apparatus.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for forming a pattern of a film made of a desired material on a side wall of a stepped base, which pattern formation method is appropriately used, for example, for forming a desired film pattern of good precision on a plane which extends orthogonally to the main plane of the base in order to achieve high integration of an LSI.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to improve the degree of integration of an LSI over a limited substrate area, the reduction of areas over which individual semiconductor elements constituting the LSI are defined on the main plane of the substrate has become more and more necessary. To this end, a technique has been employed wherein a groove is made in the substrate so that the side walls (portions corresponding to wall surfaces) are utilized as regions for forming semiconductor elements in order to provide an increased surface area over which the elements can be formed. However, the side walls defining such grooves have only been used, for example, to accommodate capacitor elements and have never been used to form a wiring pattern or a gate electrode of a transistor. Nevertheless, the necessity for forming a wiring pattern or elements on the side wall will be more and more in demand, and so it is believed to be necessary to establish a method wherein a wiring pattern or a gate electrode can be readily formed.
FIG. 5 illustrates a thin film pattern on a side wall, and is a perspective view of an ideal form of a thin film pattern. In this case, a semiconductor substrate 13 has a groove 11 with a depth l, and the thin film pattern 17 extends on a side wall 15 defining the groove 11 along the depth l of the groove 11.
However, it is very difficult to form such an ideal thin film pattern 17 as shown in FIG. 5.
FIGS. 6(A)-(C) illustrate main steps used to form a film pattern on a side wall according to a pattern forming method using the known single layer resist process. More particularly, FIGS. 6(A) and (C) are, respectively, partial perspective views taken in the direction P shown in FIG. 5, and FIG. 6(B) is a plan view of the sample shown in FIG. 6(A).
When the single resist process is used, a film 21 of material used to form a thin film pattern is formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate 13 including over the inner surfaces thereof defining the groove 11. Next, the film material 21 is coated over the entire surface thereof, for example, with a positive resist (not shown). Subsequently, a light-shielding mask is provided at such a position that it crosses a boundary 11a of the step established by the groove 11, the resist is exposed to light irradiated from above the light-shielding mask, and the resist is developed to form a resist pattern 25 on a region traversing the boundary 11a of the step (FIG. 6(A)). However, the thus formed resist pattern 25 has a shape which is completely different from the shape of the light-shielding mask 23 as is particularly shown in FIG. 6(B). The reason for this is that the resist which has been applied over the surface of the semiconductor substrate 13 is thicker at the bottom portion of the groove and particularly at the corner portions of the groove 11, so that the exposure light does not reach the lower side of the thicker portion of the resist. Accordingly, a thin film pattern 21a which is obtained by an anisotropic etching technique, such as RIE (Reactive Ion Etching), has a shape which is far different from the shape of the light-shielding mask 23 as is shown in FIG. 6(C). More particularly, a useless region as shown in FIG. 6(C) as hatched is left at the lower portion of the step.
As a measure for overcoming the drawback involved in the known single layer resist process, there was known a so-called double layer resist process disclosed, for example, in "Process Techniques For Next Generation Super LSI," Applications, Apr. 4, 1988, by Realize Co., Ltd., (pp. 297-298). In this process, after the step of the substrate is filled in with a first resist layer, a second resist layer is formed on the first resist layer and is exposed to light and developed to obtain a mask. The first resist layer is subjected to patterning through the mask, thereby precisely controlling the patterned shape at the stepped portion.
FIGS. 7(A)-(F) illustrate the principle of the double layer resist process wherein there are shown steps of forming a film pattern on side walls 31a, 33a of two recesses 31, 33 of a semiconductor substrate 35, respectively. These figures are sectional views, respectively, of the semiconductor substrate 35 taken along the direction orthogonal to the side walls 31a, 33a.
Initially, a film 37 of material is formed on the entire surface of the semiconductor substrate 35 having the recesses 31, 33. A first thick resist layer 39 is then provided to define a flat upper surface (FIG. 7(A)).
Then, a second resist layer 41 is formed on the first resist layer 39 (FIG. 7(B)), after which the second resist layer 41 is subjected to exposure light in a desired pattern and developed to form resist patterns 41a, 41b (FIG. 7(C)).
Subsequently, the first resist layer 39 is subjected to patterning by, for example, dry etching to form the double layer resist patterns 43a, 43b (FIG. 7(D)).
The double layer resist patterns 43a, 43b are used as a mask for patterning the film material 37 so that portions 37a, 37b of the film material 37 are left over the respective side walls 31a, 33a defining the recesses 31, 33 (FIG. 7(E)).
Then, the double layer resist patterns 43a, 43b are removed to expose the desired film patterns 37a, 37b (FIG. 7(F)).
According to the double layer resist process, the flattening layer (first resist layer) and the layer exposed to light and subjected to development (second resist layer) are provided separately, so that a pattern shape corresponding to the shape of the exposure mask can be obtained even at the stepped portion.
However, the double layer resist process is complicated. As will be apparent from the process illustrated with reference to FIGS. 7(A)-(F), the double layer resist process has additional steps, including the step of applying the first resist layer and the step of patterning the first resist layer, compared with the single layer resist process. Moreover, although omitted in the above description, the double layer resist process inevitably requires a baking step after the application of the first resist layer and prior to the application of the second resist layer, wherein heat is applied to dry the first resist layer.
In addition, when the first resist layer is anisotropically etched, the second resist layer should have a satisfactory etching selection ratio to the first resist layer, thus presenting a problem in that the selection of materials is difficult.
The complicated process and the reduction in degree of freedom with respect to the selection of resist materials are not favorable, for example, in view of the fact that they contribute to a direct rise in the production costs of the semiconductor device.
Both the known single layer resist process and the known double layer resist process are disadvantageous in that the film pattern cannot be left only on the side wall or walls of the step (e.g. the ideal film pattern 17 should be left only on the side wall as shown in FIG. 5), i.e. the film pattern also remains on the upper and lower portions of the step. This is because in the prior processes, after the film material has been formed on the entire surface of the substrate including the step, a resist pattern is formed on the film material so as to cover the side wall. More particularly, in order to reliably cover the side wall with the resist pattern, a shift in the alignment between the mask used to form the resist pattern (the light-shielding mask as in FIG. 6(A)) and the side wall has to be taken into account. Accordingly, the light-shielding mask 23 must inevitably extend over the upper and lower portions of the step while covering the step. Since the material film 21 is formed on the entire surface of the substrate, the film pattern 21a will be left on the upper and lower portions of the step as corresponding to the additional regions required for the mask alignment. This phenomenon takes place in the double layer resist process illustrated with reference to FIG. 7.


In recent years, numerous improvements have been made in eyewear design and production, which have produced increasingly lightweight, comfortable, and attractive products. However, these product improvements have exposed a number of problems with traditional eyewear designs. First, many eyewear products are very delicate, have multiple small components, and require sophisticated tools or custom parts for repair or assembly. Second, the delicate components inevitably break after extended use, and the repairs are time consuming, expensive, or inconvenient for the user. Third, for a given set of eyeglasses frames, it is often difficult, expensive, or impossible to customize the eyeglasses for a given user. In addition, repairs to damaged eyeglasses can often not be made by the end user, necessitating a visit to an optician. The present invention can provide a solution to at least one of these problems.
A major problem with many eyeglasses designs is the need for multiple fasteners such as screws, pins, or small bolts. These fasteners may be located at hinge points between the eyeglasses temple arm and temple arm hinge block or at various positions on the eyeglasses rim. In some cases, multiple fastener types or sizes are used on the same pair of eyeglasses. Furthermore, these fasteners are often not easily replaced through a vender's stock and often require custom orders to make repairs.
Fasteners may be used both on eyeglasses rims and eyeglasses hinges. When used on eyeglasses rims, the fasteners may help secure a lens in place, connect the rim to another portion of the eyeglass, or hold multi-component parts together. In any case, the fastener, whether it be a screw, pin, or bolt design, is subject to back-out after extended wear. When this occurs, the fastener will often be lost, and the product will be rendered useless until a repair is made.
Fasteners are also used for eyeglasses hinges, for which numerous designs exist. Some designs require threaded fasteners such as screws or small bolts. Others require threadless fasteners such as pins. Some designs also employ an adhesive, washers, or friction-fit materials. Regardless, with all of these hinge designs, the screw, bolt, or pin risks backing out of the socket in the hinge or other frame section, rendering the eyeglasses unwearable and potentially requiring the purchase of new parts, the use of special tools, or a consultation with an optician to make repairs.
Another problem with eyeglasses hinges is that they are sometimes subject to relatively severe stress due to accidental or intentional misuse. Traditional eyeglasses hinges will often break or become distorted under sufficient stress. Broken eyeglasses cannot be worn, and distorted eyeglasses may fit improperly. With most current designs, repairs may require significant training, the purchase of replacement parts, or the use of unsightly materials such as tape or glue.
Yet another problem with current eyeglasses designs pertains to the temple arm ear piece. The temple arm ear piece comes in one length for a given set of frames. Although consumers often need shorter or longer temple arm lengths, this part is rarely stocked and must be special ordered by a vendor. This process is time-consuming if the appropriate piece is available at all. Most temple arms on frames are not universal, are typically left and right-sided, and cannot be switched with other frame styles. The earpiece sock or paddle is not designed to be removed once applied by the manufacturer. In the event that the paddle is lost or breaks, replacing it is very difficult. Paddle styles are often custom items designed for only one temple arm style, color, and size; and manufacturers do not often use paddle part numbers for reordering. Most provide complete frames only for replacement.


Generally described, computing devices utilize a communication network, or a series of communication networks, to exchange data. Companies and organizations operate computer networks that interconnect a number of computing devices to support operations or provide services to third parties. The computing systems can be located in a single geographic location or located in multiple, distinct geographic locations (e.g., interconnected via private or public communication networks). Specifically, data centers or data processing centers, herein generally referred to as a “data center,” may include a number of interconnected computing systems to provide computing resources to users of the data center. The data centers may be private data centers operated on behalf of an organization or public data centers operated on behalf, or for the benefit of, the general public.
To facilitate increased utilization of data center resources, virtualization technologies may allow a single physical computing device to host one or more instances of virtual machines that appear and operate as independent computing devices to users of a data center. With virtualization, a single physical computing device can create, maintain, delete, or otherwise manage virtual machines in a dynamic matter. In the simplest embodiment, users can request single computing device computer resources from a data center. In more complex embodiments, users, such as system administrators, can request the configuration of virtual machine instances corresponding to a desired set of networked computing devices. In such embodiments, the data center can implement varying number of virtual machine instances to implement the functionality and configuration of the requested physical computing device network, generally referred to as a virtual machine network.
For virtual machine network embodiments, users often want to utilize various services, components (such as network-based appliances), or other functionality in accordance with at least aspects of the implementation of a hosted virtual machine network. In one aspect, users are required to configure various information about a hosted network, such as address space information, domain name service (DNS) zones information, resilient packet transport (RPT) information, and the like, in order for the desired functionality to be implemented in the hosted virtual machine network. Additionally, in another aspect, users are also required to delegate access to, or otherwise grant access, to at least a portion of the hosted virtual machine network to the entity providing desired functionality. As such, the virtual machine network service provider would prefer for users to be aware of the type permissions or authorizations that are delegated in conjunction with the utilization of requested functionality. Current approaches to the management of configuration information and delegated permission information are ad hoc in nature.


In the past, music games have been enjoyed in which the progress of a game is controlled by causing an indication sign having a shape of a musical instrument such as a drum to move along a predetermined path on a display screen so as to be matched with a piece of music, determining a propriety of an operation input when the indication sign reaches a predetermined criterion position, and adding a score (for example, see JP-A-2005-87323). In most of such music games, when an operation input to the indication sign could not be performed, a part of a piece of music to be output is not output merely instead of changing the piece of music.


This invention relates to an optical connector and, more particularly, to an optical connector incorporating a polarization-independent optical isolator to be provided between optical fibers in fiber optics communication systems and the like.
With the recent advances in optical communications that use semiconductor lasers as signal light sources, it has become possible to transmit signals at high speed and density exceeding several gigahertz. Among the various optical components used in such high-speed and density signal transmission is an optical isolator which prevents the reentrance of reflected light into semiconductor lasers.
Optical isolators are of two types, a polarization-dependent isolator which transmits only the light travelling in a specified direction of polarization and a polarization-independent isolator which transmits light in any direction of polarization. The second type of optical isolators are typically used in light amplifiers at repeaters in signal transmission systems and will be in great demand in the future.
FIG. 26 shows the construction of a typical example of the conventional polarization-independent optical isolator. Generally indicated by 410, the isolator comprises one Faraday rotator and three birefringent crystal plates.
In FIG. 26, the first to the third birefringent crystal plates are identified by 411, 412 and 413, respectively, and the Faraday rotator 414 is provided between the plates 411 and 412. A magnetic field parallel to the Z direction is applied to the Faraday rotator 414. The birefringent crystal plates 411, 412 and 413 are parallel plates prepared by polishing slices of a uniaxial crystal that have been cut in such a way that their C axis is at an angle with the surface. A ray of light incident normal to each of these parallel plates is separated into two components that are polarized in orthogonal crossed directions. The birefringent crystal plates 411, 412 and 413 have different thicknesses in the direction of light transmission and their ratio is 1:1/.sqroot.2:1/.sqroot.2. The plate 413 is such that its C axis coincides with the C axis of the plate 412 if the latter is rotated through 90.degree. about the Z axis. The Faraday rotator 414 is typically formed of a bismuth-substituted garnet and can rotate the direction of light polarization non-reciprocally through an angle of 45.degree.. Shown by 415 is a coupling lens for coupling the light to an optical fiber 416 or 417.
For the purpose of the following discussion, the direction of light travel is assumed to be "forward" if it is launched from the birefringent crystal plate 411 and "backward" if it is launched from the plate 413. Thus, the forward incident ray of light is indicated by 410f and the backward incident ray of light is indicated by 410b. When the incident light is separated into two components, those in the forward direction are indicated by f1 and f2 whereas those in the backward direction are indicated by b1 and b2. The direction of light travel is represented by the arrow.
FIG. 27 shows how light travels through the optical isolator when it is seen from the birefringent crystal plate 411. A part (1) of FIG. 27 refers to the case of forward light propagation and a part (2) of FIG. 27 refers to the case of backward light propagation; A-E correspond to the respective positions A-E in FIG. 26; the dots represent the positions of respective light components and the arrows represent the directions of planes of polarization. The plane of polarization is assumed to rotate in "+" direction if it rotates clockwise.
The operating principle of the optical isolator will now be described with reference to FIGS. 26 and 27. If the C axis of the birefringent crystal plate 411 is directed upward (along the Y axis), forward signal light 410f launched from the coupling lens 415 to be incident on the plate 411 is separated into two components f1 and f2 in orthogonal crossed directions of polarization (see at B in FIG. 27(1)). With their relative positions remaining the same, the components f1 and f2 have the respective planes of polarization rotated through +45 degrees by the Faraday rotator 414 and then enter the birefringent crystal plate 412 (see at C in FIG. 27(1)). The plate 412 is such that its C axis coincides with the C axis of the birefringent crystal plate 411 if the latter is rotated through -45 degrees, so the component f1 is refracted as an extraordinary component whereas the component f2 which is an ordinary component is not diffracted but simply transmitted through the plate 412 (see at D in FIG. 27(1)). The birefringent crystal plate 413 is such that its C axis coincides with the C axis of the plate 412 if the latter is rotated through +90 degrees, so the component f2 is refracted as an extraordinary component whereas the component f1 which is an ordinary component is simply transmitted through the plate 413 (see at E in FIG. 27(1)). Thus, the two components of polarization are recombined at point E and coupled to the optical fiber 416 by means of the coupling lens 415.
The backward light 410b, as far as it travels to point C, behaves in essentially the same way as the forward light 410f, except that due-to the non-reciprocity of the Faraday rotator 414, the incident light components b1 and b2 have their planes of polarization rotated through +45 degrees as seen in the forward direction before they are incident on the birefringent crystal plate 411 (see at B in FIG. 27(2)). As a result, the component b1 is refracted as an extraordinary component whereas the component b2 which is an ordinary component is simply transmitted through the plate 411 (see at A in FIG. 27(2)). Thus, the components b1 and b2 emerge from the birefringent crystal plate 411 in different positions than when the forward light was launched into the same plate 411 and, hence, they will not couple with the optical fiber 417, thereby insuring that the reflected light will be isolated from the semiconductor laser.
FIG. 28 shows the exterior appearance of a conventional polarization-independent optical isolator. The optical isolator generally indicated by 420 comprises an isolator portion 418 and a connector portion 419 at both ends. The isolator portion 418 has the components that are shown in FIG. 26 and which are adjusted and fixed within a case. The connectors 419 are connected to optical fibers in other transmission systems. The size of the optical isolator portion 18 may be about 7 mm in diameter and 45 mm long.
The conventional polarization-independent optical isolator comprising a plurality of birefringent polarizing plates and a single Faraday rotator has suffered from the following disadvantages.
(1) It contains many parts that need precise optical adjustments, so the number of steps involved in assembly is so great as to make it a cumbersome and time-consuming operation.
(2) When the optical isolator portion is to be coupled to optical fibers, the great number of its components increases the length of the space through which light propagates between fibers. In addition, the rays of light that entered in the forward direction will emerge at positions deviating from the axes of the incident rays; therefore, the positions that serve as guides for the coupling lenses and optical fibers at opposite ends cannot be uniquely determined and, hence, considerable labor is needed to achieve optical axial alignment.
(3) Coupling to other transmission systems is only accomplished by means of the connectors at opposite ends, so a large installation space is required to incorporate the optical isolator into a measuring instrument or communication equipment.
(4) The individual optical devices are provided normal to the optical fibers, so the reflected light from these optical devices will return to the optical fibers such as to deteriorate the system's reflection attenuation characteristics.
(5) If the optical isolator is to be provided on the exit side of an optical fiber amplifier, a separate wavelength filter operating over a narrow band of frequencies is necessary but then the construction of the amplifier becomes complicated.