Acidic and alkaline cleaning compositions for hard surfaces have been used for many years to remove stubborn soils from a variety of surfaces found in household and institutional locations. Such soils include inorganic soils and soils derived from organic sources, such as fats, oils, proteins and carbohydrates. Such soils when heated can form hard tenacious deposits on a variety of surfaces including ceramic, stainless steel, concrete, tile and metal food preparation surfaces. Typical inorganic solids comprise insoluble materials derived from the hardness components of service water including substantially insoluble salts of calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, etc. Such inorganic salts can be combined in some cases with organic residues which can form large, difficult to remove soil deposits. These soils can be unsightly, can take the form of large deposits of charred or baked-on residue, or large areas of white insoluble soap scum or hardness deposits. These soils can also promote or support the growth of microorganisms that can under certain circumstances contaminate food or other contaminatable materials or surfaces.
A variety of cleaning compositions have been developed to deal with the tenacious organic and organic/inorganic matrix soils common in a variety of surfaces. One particularly useful form of cleaner is an aqueous alkaline cleaner commonly delivered from a pressurized aerosol or pump spray device. These types of cleaners have great utility for a variety of surfaces because the material can be delivered by spray to vertical, overhead or inclined surfaces or to surfaces having a complex curved or convoluted surface while achieving substantially complete coverage of the surface with the spray-on liquid cleaner. Acid spray-on cleaners are also known for removing basic inorganic soils and are becoming more common.
One substantial problem that arises with such spray-on materials relates to an airborne mist or finely divided aerosol generated during the spraying process. The aqueous liquid is converted by the action of propellant or pump action into a spray that is accompanied by a finely divided aerosol or mist. The spray portion contacts and remains on the target surface, while a substantial proportion of the aerosol can remain suspended in the atmosphere.
Such aqueous compositions having a strong acid or strong base cleaning component in the form of a finely divided aerosol or mist can cause respiratory distress in the user. Upon breathing the finely divided aerosol or mist, a very strong and irrepressible choking response is seen in most individuals that come in contact with irritating proportions of the aerosol produced by typical spray-on cleaners. The choking response is inconvenient, reduces cleaning efficiency in a variety of applications and in sensitive individuals can cause asthma attacks, respiratory damage, or other discomfort or injury.
To alleviate, to some degree, the choking response, some products have been formulated with reduced quantities of the strongly alkaline or strongly acid cleaning components to reduce the choking response. Strong caustic has been replaced by reduced alkalinity bases such as bicarbonate or by solvent materials. The reduction in concentration or substitution of these materials can often reduce the cleaning activity and effectiveness of the material when used.
Crotty et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,644,210, teach an alkaline cleaning material useful for removing burnt-on, baked-on food and grease from cooking surfaces comprising substantial proportions of alkali metal hydroxide in an aqueous cleaning base. Eisen, U.S. Pat. No. 3,779,933, teaches an aqueous alkali metal cleaning composition using clay and organic thickening materials. Mukai et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,813,343, teach oven cleaning compositions containing an amine or ammonia base combined with dimethyl sulfoxide solvent and other compositions. Wise et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,829,387, teach caustic cleaning compositions containing substantial proportions of sodium hydroxide, clay thickeners, and solvents in an aqueous base. Dillarstone et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,915, and Canadian Patent No. 1,523,491, teach oven cleaning compositions using a relatively mild base such as sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate in an aqueous cleaning material. Culshaw, U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,920, teaches a thickened viscous scouring material using surfactants, abrasives and solvents for soil removal. De Buzzaccarini, U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,563, teach liquid scouring cleaning compositions using solvents, abrasives and surfactants for soil removal from hard surfaces. Cockrell, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,691 (International Application No. PCT/US91/05092) teaches a barrier coating composition used to pretreat an oven to promote the subsequent removal of hardened baked-on soils that form on the pretreatment material. Dimond et al., Canadian Patent No. 1,047,903, teach oven cleaning compositions having reduced proportions of sodium hydroxide which are thickened using a bentonite in a substantially aqueous base. Silvester, Canadian Patent No. 1,211,674, teaches an improved oven cleaner using sodium bicarbonate as an alkali, glycerol as a solvent, a clay thickener in an aqueous formulation for oven cleaning. Flannery, United Kingdom Patent No. 2,019,876, teaches an aerosol comprising sodium bicarbonate as an oven cleaner.
The prior art taken as a whole shows that skilled artisans in experimenting with improving acid and alkaline hard surface cleaners, in particular alkaline oven cleaners, have attempted to reduce concentrations of sodium hydroxide to reduce the choking response. Ammonia or an organic base has been used to replace sodium hydroxide in reduced alkaline cleaners. Other relatively mild inorganic basic materials, such as sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate have also been used to replace sodium hydroxide. A variety of organic surfactants or glycol, alkyl ether or dimethyl sulfoxide solvent materials have been used to enhance the detergent properties of the reduced alkaline materials.
The prior art taken as a whole has attempted to replace sodium hydroxide to reduce choking response but does not recognize that the choking properties of these cleaners is related to the median particle size of the aerosol. For this reason, no attempt has been made in the prior art to formulate to adjust the particle size of the aerosol to reduce respiratory distress or choking reflex.


In recent years, wireless power transfer techniques have been gaining attention in order to provide power supply or perform charging. Research and development are being conducted regarding a wireless power transfer system wirelessly performing power transfer to various electronic apparatuses such as mobile terminals and notebook computers and household electrical appliances or to power infrastructure equipment.
In order to use wireless power transfer, it is preferable to standardize so that no problem occurs in the use of a power source of a power source and a power receiver of a power receiver that are of different manufactures.
Among conventional wireless power transfer techniques, a technique using electromagnetic induction and a technique using radio waves have generally been known. On the other hand, expectations for power transfer techniques using magnetic field resonance (magnetic resonance) or electric field resonance have been increasing recently, as techniques allowing for power transfer to a plurality of power receivers and power transfer to various three-dimensional postures while maintaining some distance between power sources and the power receivers. Electric field resonance may also be called electric resonance.
As described above, attention has conventionally been paid to wireless power transfer techniques for wirelessly transferring power for the purposes of power supply or charging. Nevertheless, standardization of power transfer techniques, for example, using magnetic field resonance or electric field resonance has not been made so far.
There has thus been a concern over stagnation of practical application of a power transfer system using magnetic field resonance or electric filed resonance or of a power source and a power receiver.
A variety of wireless power transfer techniques have conventionally been proposed.    Patent document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-239769    Patent document 2: U.S. Pat. No. 7,825,543    Non-Patent document 1: SHOKI Hiroki, et al., “Standardization Trends on Wireless Power transfer”, Technical Report of The Institute of Electronics Information, and Communication Engineers (IEICE technical report), WPT 2011-19, December 2011.


A video capture apparatus can record a moving image as a series of still frames. The series of still frames may be digitally recorded as image data. When outputted, the series of still frames are displayed at a consistent rate. The consistent rate allows a viewer to see the image captured by the apparatus as a moving picture. Before viewing the series of image frames, the image may be stored at a local media player. When stored, the series of frames can consume a relatively large amount of computer memory. Therefore, video compression can be used to conserve memory.
In video compression, algorithms are applied to the image data. The algorithms attempt to reduce an amount of storage space that the image data consumes. When the image data is displayed, a reverse algorithm is applied to the image data. The reverse algorithm allows a near identical image or an identical image of the retained image to be displayed. Many algorithms used in compression affect the quality of the displayed image and may be inefficient. A more advantageous frame and storage management system may be desired.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an in-vehicle electronic control device which is a constant voltage control device built into an in-vehicle electronic control device such as an engine control device and a transmission control device, the in-vehicle electronic control device being so improved as to reduce a fluctuation error in output voltage of a constant voltage control circuit generating a predetermined constant voltage output by the use of power supplied from an in-vehicle battery.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the in-vehicle electronic control device, it is important to enhance a constant voltage control accuracy of the built-in constant voltage power source circuit in view of, for example, improvement in AD conversion accuracy in a multi-channel AD converter and improvements in generation accuracy of various comparison reference voltages.
However, though an individual fluctuation of each component parts is inevitable, an expensive constant voltage power source circuit will undesirably be required for obtaining a very high accuracy constant voltage output.
In order to avoid such problem, the constant voltage control accuracy has been improved by using a constant voltage power source device having a constant voltage control accuracy lower than an expectation value and adding an auxiliary unit for correcting a reduction in constant voltage control accuracy.
For instance, Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Publication 2002-366238 “Circuit Device and method for Setting Adjustment Data of Circuit Device” (refer to paragraph [0009] and FIG. 5) describes that in a constant voltage generation circuit included in a semiconductor sensor or an engine control unit (ECU) for a vehicle, a reference voltage VBGR which is an output voltage of a reference voltage generation circuit having a band gap regulator is amplified by an operational amplifier to obtain a predetermined constant voltage output Vcc, and, at the same time, a predetermined constant voltage output Vcc is obtained by writing adjustment data to an EPROM memory in order to correct an individual fluctuation in reference voltage VBGR and by changing a gain of the operational amplifier by the adjustment data.
In the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1, functions not only improving the constant voltage control accuracy but also adjusting a threshold value of a reset circuit in tandem with the adjustment data are added to the unit.
Also, Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Publication 09-297623 “Voltage/Current Regulator Circuit” (refer to FIG. 3 and Abstract) describes that a resistance circuit network deciding a resistance value by the use of ROM data is included as a resistance circuit for deciding a differential amplification ratio in a constant voltage regulator circuit which is used for a temperature compensation oscillator, for example, and outputs signals subjected to differential amplification between a reference voltage source and a detected voltage, and fine regulation of a stabilized voltage is achieved by the use of the ROM data.


Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (herein referred to as ‘ESWT’) is non-surgical, non-invasive treatment of medical conditions using acoustic shockwaves. First use of shockwave therapy in the early 1980's was utilized to fragment kidney stones termed shockwave lithotripsy. Continued development of shockwave treatment showed the possibility of stimulating bone formation, angiogenesis, chronic orthopedic inflammation healing, bone healing (osteogenesis), wound healing, revascularization, angiogenesis are well known and described in medical literature.
A shockwave is a form of acoustic energy resulting from phenomena that create a sudden intense change in pressure for example an explosion or lightning. The intense changes in pressure produce strong waves of energy that can travel through any elastic medium such as air, water, human soft tissue, or certain solid substances such as bone.
Acoustic shockwaves may be generated by various methods, electrohydraulic (also referred to as spark gap), electromagnetic (also referred to as ‘EMSE’), piezoelectric and ballistic shockwave.
Each method needs an apparatus to focus the generated shockwave so as to provide a focal point and/or focal zone for the treatment area. In the focal zone shockwaves produce much higher pressure impulses as compared with the zones outside of the focal zone.
Mechanical means for focusing each of these methods is generally realized with an appropriate arrangement of surfaces reflecting the wave toward the desired focal point and/or an appropriate arrangement of the generating devices.
Spark gap systems incorporate an electrode (spark plug), to initiate a shockwave, and ellipsoid to focus the shockwave. EMSE systems utilize an electromagnetic coil and an opposing metal membrane. Piezoelectric systems form acoustical waves by mounting piezoelectric crystals to a spherical surface to provide focus. Of the three systems, the spark gap system is generally preferred in the art for generating therapeutic shockwaves ESWT as it introduces more of the generated shockwave energy to the treatment target site.
In spark gap systems, high energy shockwaves are generated when electricity is applied to an electrode positioned in an ellipsoid immersed in treated water. When the electrical charge is fired, a small amount of water is vaporized at the tip of the electrode and a shockwave is produced. The shockwave ricochets from the side of an ellipsoid and converges at a focal point, which may then be transferred to the area to be treated.
In electromagnetic systems an electrical impulse is circulated in a coil. The coil produces an electromagnetic field that expels a metallic membrane to produce the mechanical impulse.
In piezoelectric systems ceramic material with piezoelectric characteristics is subjected to an electrical impulse. The electric impulse modifies the dimension of the ceramic material to generate the desired mechanical impulse. A focal point is attained by covering a concave spherical surface with piezoelectric ceramics converging at the center of the sphere.
The electrohydraulic, electromagnetic, and piezoelectric are all forms of shockwave generators that utilize high voltage power sources from 10 kV to about 25 kV in order to generate the required shockwave of about 100 bar to about 1000 bar). The drawbacks for such high voltage shockwave technology includes limitations both relating to the actual treatment and to the actual device and system. Treatment related limitations for example include production of a limited focal zone treatment area and low treatment efficacy. System limitations for example include cost, size, and durability where systems are generally expensive, large, heavy and require frequent maintenance. However, the biggest limitation of such system relates to the operating costs where such systems require many disposable accessories and integral electronic parts.
While high voltage device produce a shockwave pressure wave of about 100 bar to about 1000 bar, state of the art ballistic shockwave system offer generation of low level shockwaves, having pressure wave from about 50 bar to about 150 bar. As its name suggests ballistic shockwave system generate shockwaves as a result of a ballistic collision between a projectile and a generating surface. The projectile is accelerated and allowed to collide with the shockwave generating surface.
State of the art, ballistic shockwave systems are utilized for medical applications such as in physiotherapy applications for example for the treatment of inflammations and/or in dermatology and cosmetic applications, for example in the treatment of cellulite.
Current ballistic shockwave systems are limited in that a low pressure gas source (1-6 bar) leads to shockwaves that have low tissue penetration, small treatment and/or focal zone, high rates of re-treatment, discomfort due to the applicator's movement during the ballistic collision, are not readily mobile as they require an air compressor to produce the appropriate pressure. Other prior art ballistic shockwave system utilize an operational pressure of 15-30 bar, for example as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,470,274 to Lebet. Moreover ballistic shockwave system generally do not provide for non-invasive extracorporeal shockwave treatment.
Similarly other prior art US2005/0209586, U.S. Pat. No. 6,413,230, WO2003084608, WO2008/007502 A1, WO2008/145273, U.S. Pat. No. 6,736,784, WO2010049519 describe ballistic shockwave systems using low level shock wave production by low gas pressure ballistic technology.
Other forms of ballistic shockwave generators include electromagnetic ballistic systems are further limited in that they tend to heat up and therefore require a cooling system due to the inclusion of an electromagnetic components.


1. Field of the Invention
The current invention generally relates to digital logic systems. More specifically, the current invention relates to capacity on demand using control over latency and bandwidth of signal bussing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computing systems are currently available that provide capacity on demand. Capacity is used to denote a performance characteristic of a computing system. For example, in a commercial workload, ability to handle some number of “transactions per minute” is one measure of capacity. Ability to provide a fast response time to a request is another measurement of capacity. Ability to perform some number of floating point operations per second is a third example of capacity. Demand is the workload being placed on the computing system. A computing system having a large capacity but only seeing a small demand is wasteful and expensive. A computing system having a demand higher than a capacity provides slow response to the user. Demand tends to vary greatly during a day or day of week (e.g., in many cases, during weekends, demand is low on many computing systems).
IBM Corporation of Armonk, N.Y., currently provides capacity on demand (COD), which is sometimes called Capacity Upgrade on Demand (CUoD), for IBM eServer pSeries p650, 670 and 690 computing systems. Reference “pSeries Capacity Upgrade on Demand advantages” viewable at the following URL:
http://www-8.ibm.com/servers/eserver/au/pseries/cuod/advantages.html
This capability allows a customer to accommodate unexpected demands on a computing system installed. For example, pSeries 670 and 690 servers are available in units of four active and four inactive processors with up to 50% of the system in standby. As workload demands require more processing power, unused processors can be activated simply by placing an order to activate the additional processors, sending current system configuration to an authorizing source and receiving over the internet an electronically encrypted activation key which unlocks the desired amount of processors. There is no hardware to ship and install, and no additional contract is required. Memory activation works the same way. CUOD is available in various sizes for the p650, p670 and p690 systems. Activation in 4 GB (Gigabyte) increments is made by ordering an activation key to unlock the desired amount of memory.
Providing CUoD by enabling entire processors limits granularity of capacity upgrades (or reductions). For example, in a computing system having four active processors, the smallest increment in capacity is one processor.
Providing CUoD by adding a processor, in some computing environments, may not provide a proportional increase in capacity. For example, if a computing system is running a numerically intensive program and an improvement in that numerically intensive program is desired, adding a processor will not provide the desired improvement, unless the numerically intensive program is capable of distribution across more than one processor. Adding a large increment of memory may not be of much help in the numerically intensive program, either, since many such programs make extensive use of a relatively small amount of memory, and bandwidth, rather than total memory size, is the dominant consideration.
Additional references include patent applications filed by the current assignee of the present patent application include: Ser. No. 10/616,676, “Apparatus and Method for Providing Metered Capacity of Computer Resources”, by Daniel C. Birkestrand et al, filed Jul. 10, 2003; Ser. No. 10/406,164, “Billing Information Authentication for On-Demand Resources”, by Daniel C. Birkestrand et al, filed Apr. 03, 2003; and Ser. No. 10/640,541, “Capacity On Demand Grace Period for Incompliant System Configurations”, by Daniel C. Birkestrand et al, filed Aug. 28, 2003.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus to provide a finer granularity of capacity on demand.


With the continuing growth in performance of computing technology, the interconnect bandwidth required among microprocessors, memories, and input/output devices continues to increase. Such high speeds create increasing problems for the technology used for interconnections among the microprocessors, memories, and input/output devices. For example, copper trace technology, such as conventionally employed on printed circuit boards, is expected to be limited to 15-20 Gigabits per second as a result of signal degradation, power dissipation, and electromagnetic interference unavoidable at such high clock speeds.
Manufacturers of many electronic products have sought to address the limitations of copper by using more exotic substrates with lower dielectric loss or using more sophisticated input/output equalizers at the transmitter and receiver. Unfortunately all of these potential solutions are costly and power consumptive. Therefore traditional interconnect scaling will no longer satisfy performance requirements. Defining and finding solutions beyond copper and low dielectric loss material will require innovation in design, packaging and unconventional interconnect technology.
One alternative attracting increasing attention is the use of optical interconnect technology. Optical communication technology has been used for many years in long distance applications such as telephony and the internet, and is now sometimes implemented for use in shorter distance applications for the enterprise such as storage area networks and rack-to-rack interconnections. Such optical technology has already demonstrated that at high frequencies, the optical fibers provide longer distance-higher bandwidth capability as compared with electrical cables, yet minimize loss in the transmitted signal.
Unfortunately, optical interconnect technology has associated with it a separate set of implementation difficulties. These difficulties include optical coupling efficiencies, fiber alignment, complex packaging technologies, including hermeticity, thermal management, electrical performance, and manufacturability—the ease of assembly and amenability to automation. Thus, generally speaking, current optical modules or transceivers like SFP, 300 pins MSA, Xenpack, Xpak, X2 and XFP form factors provided by various suppliers including Emcore, Finisar, Agilent, and Bookham are still complex to manufacture and expensive.
Additionally for substantial utility in the computing market, optical transceivers also need (1) extremely low power consumption to compete with electrical solutions, (2) a smaller form factor adapted for and appropriate to the computer industry, and (3) very large interconnect bandwidth to provide data consummate with processing power. One example of a prior art solution is the IBM Terabus project (Exploitation of optical interconnects in future server architectures, Benner et al., 49 IBM J. Res. & Dev. No. 4/5, July/September 2005). In this concept the transmitter and receiver modules are separate and require a complex structure with multiple chips/modules mounted on a substrate—one module with an array of transmitters and another module with an array of receivers.
A novel solution adapted for computing application to interconnect processing units while increasing communication bandwidth, maintaining an ultra small form factor, decreasing power consumption, simplifying and enabling automated assembly is required.


Patient beds used in health care facilities and home care settings often include a lift system allowing a patient or caregiver to adjust the height of the bed. The lift system must satisfy a number of potentially conflicting constraints. For example, the lift system should be quiet, dependable, safe and damage resistant. It should also be inexpensive to manufacture and should be adaptable to different bed models with no more than simple, inexpensive modifications. Because the lift system typically resides underneath the elevateable components of the bed, it must be compact enough to allow the bed to be positioned at very low elevations and yet must also have enough reach to position the bed at elevations high enough to be satisfactory for the caregiver. Compactness also makes space available for other under-bed components.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adaptive writing method for a high-density optical recording apparatus and a circuit thereof, and more particularly, to an adaptive writing method for optimizing light power of a light source, e.g., a laser diode, to be suitable to characteristics of a recording apparatus, and a circuit thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the multi-media era requiring high-capacity recording media, optical recording systems employing high-capacity recording media, such as a magnetic optical disc drive (MODD) or a digital versatile disc random access memory (DVD-RAM) drive, have been widely used.
As the recoding density increases, such optical recording systems require optimal and high-precision states. In general, with an increase in recording density, temporal fluctuation (to be referred to as jitter, hereinafter) in a data domain increases. Thus, in order to attain high-density recording, it is very important to minimize the jitter.
Conventionally, a write pulse is formed as specified in the DVD-RAM format book shown in FIG. 1B, with respect to input NRZI (Non-Return to Zero Inversion) data having marks of 3T, 5T and 11T (T being the channel clock duration), as shown in FIG. 1A. Here, the NRZI data is divided into mark and space. The spaces are in an erase power level for overwriting. The waveform of a write pulse for marks equal to or longer than 3T mark, that is, 3T, 4T, . . . 11T and 14T is comprised of a first pulse, a last pulse and a multi-pulse train. Here, only the number of pulses in the multi-pulse train is varied depending on the magnitude of a mark.
In other words, the waveform of the write pulse is comprised of a combination of read power (FIG. 1C), peak power or write power (FIG. 1D) and bias power or erase power (FIG. 1E). Here, the respective power signals shown in FIGS. 1C, 1D and 1E are all low-active signals.
The waveform of the write pulse is the same as that in accordance with the first generation 2.6 GB DVD-RAM standard. In other words, in accordance with the 2.6 GB DVD-RAM standard, the waveform of the write pulse is comprised of a first pulse, a multi-pulse train and a last pulse. Although the rising edge of the first pulse or the falling edge of the last pulse can be read from a lead-in area to be used, adaptive writing is not possible since the write pulse is fixed to be constant.
Therefore, when a write operation is performed by forming such a write pulse as shown in FIG. 1B, severe thermal interference may occur back and forth with respect to a mark in accordance with input NRZI data. In other words, when a mark is long and a space is short or vice versa, jitter is most severe. This is a major cause of lowered system performance. Also, this does not make it possible for the system to be applied to high-density DVD-RAMs, e.g., second generation 4.7 GB DVD-RAMs.


A video mosaic effect is created using a conventional digital video effects system by compressing the size of the image represented by an input video signal, thereby reducing its resolution, then progressively expanding the reduced-resolution image until a desired size is attained. At that point, the expanded, reduced-resolution image is replicated over the output scene, whereby the output scene is composed of multiple rectangular mosaic tiles. The nature of the mosaic effect is limited because the mosaic tiles are all identical.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a nail gun, and more particularly to a safety structure of a nail gun.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, to prevent a nail gun from being triggered unexpectedly to hurt somebody, the nail guns are equipped with a safety for protection of user and people around.


Prior to the initial experimentation with double-finned surfboards in the early 1970's, a single center fin, located at the very tail of the board, provided the directional stability essential to the basic performance of the board. Since the advent of tri-fin or “thruster” type surfboards in the early 1980's, high-performance surfboards have also incorporated two side-fins to dramatically increase the board's speed and maneuverability. The side-fins are located on opposite sides of the board near the perimeter edge or “rail,” and well forward of the single, central trailing fin at the tail.
In the tri-fin configuration, it is well established that the center fin is primarily a stabilizing fin and functions in a manner very similar to the fixed keel on a sailboat or the vertical stabilizer on an aircraft—i.e. if the board yaws or departs from its original heading, the rotation of the board causes the water-flow to strike the fin at an angle; this creates a low-pressure area on the opposite or lee side of the fin that resists the yaw, and allows directional stability to be maintained.
Knowledge is still very limited, however, as to how the side-fins enhance the speed and maneuverability of modern multi-finned type boards. This has long been a major problem in surfboard design. As a result, the first, largely experimental “twin-fin” and “fish” style surfboards, the double-finned predecessors of the modern tri-fin, suffered for many years from a variety of poorly understood control problems. The early control problems—which were collectively referred to as “tracking”—were found to be greatly reduced by using a negatively angled side-fin setting. Although this eliminated the original tracking problem, it also caused an overly loose, drifting type of turn that many riders, even at the expert level, found very difficult to control. Eventually, the problem was remedied by adding a third stabilizing fin at the very tail of the board, the configuration in current use today. Though much faster and more maneuverable than the single-finned board types that preceded it, the current tri-fin setting was arrived at almost entirely through trial and error; as a consequence, it retains features that actually contribute to a marked increase in drag. The main drawbacks of prior art tri-fins may be summarized briefly as follows:
Each side-fin is set at a negative angle of attack or “toe-in” angle of between three and five degrees, so that the leading edge points in the approximate direction of the longitudinal centerline at the nose. The angle is measured using the chord line (a straight line drawn through the leading and trailing edges of the fin at the fin base), which is referenced to the longitudinal centerline provided by the wooden center spar or “stringer” that runs the length of the board. The negative angle of attack or toe-in causes the water-flow to strike the side-fins at an angle, and creates high drag from the “snowplow” effect when the rider's weight is neutrally centered on the board.
The cambered foil of the side-fin adds to this drag: in the longitudinal cross-section view commonly used to depict the airfoil section of a wing, the foil of the side-fin is asymmetrical, and has an average curvature greater on one side than the other. The foil of the conventional prior art side-fin is flat to slightly concave on the inside surface (the side facing the longitudinal centerline or stringer), and curved on the outside (the side facing the perimeter edge or “rail”). Although the cambered side-fin foil appears to give better performance and greater average speed, knowledge is currently very limited as to the reasons why, since both the flat-sided, and particularly the slightly concave side-fin foil, would appear to greatly increase the drag from the negative toe-in angle. It is well known that separation of the boundary layer and turbulence occurs more readily when a flat or concave surface is set at an angle to a fluid flow, versus a symmetrical foil, for example, where both sides are convex and curve equally in opposite directions in a low-drag, streamlined shape.
Currently, the rider can overcome the high drag of the side-fin setting by constantly turning the board. As noted above, the high drag condition occurs primarily when the rider's weight is neutrally centered on the board—the drag is reduced, however, when the rider leans to initiate a turn and lifts the opposing side-fin free; the angle of the side-fin remaining in the water then acts like a deflected rudder and aids the board's rotation in the turn; on a tri-fin board, the rider's normal weight shift further in the turn will then set the center stabilizing fin, and prevent the overly loose, difficult to control, drifting type of turn that, subsequent to the “tracking” problem, was the major drawback that greatly limited the acceptance of the early double-finned style boards. Surfboard designers have long noted that adding a third stabilizing fin does little to diminish the maneuverability of the board—it instead produces such a noticeable burst of speed and acceleration in a turn that, in the early development of the tri-fin, the center stabilizing fin almost immediately came to be referred to as “thruster” fin, and the tri-fin set-up as a “thruster” type board. In the tri-fin or thruster configuration, however, the addition of the center stabilizing fin causes a third and final drawback:
3) The location of the center stabilizing fin is precisely the opposite of the optimum theoretical configuration: i.e., if the negatively angled side-fin functions as a deflected rudder, it should be placed as far behind the board's axis of rotation as possible so as to increase its moment arm; the added leverage would lessen the surface area of the side-fin and the amount of negative toe-in angle required for a given turning moment, and thereby reduce drag. Locating the fin or fins required for directional stability forward of a negatively angled trailing fin, closer to the axis of rotation, would increase the directional instability of the fin-setting by allowing the negatively angled rearward fin to truly function as a permanently deflected rudder. Failure to correct the drawbacks outlined above, and the absence of innovation regarding fin placement on multi-fin type boards (the group includes other multi-finned variants, e.g., “twinzers,” “quads,” “fishes,” etc. all of which use the negatively angled side-fin setting), is largely due to the poor understanding of the role the fins play in enhancing the performance of the board. Despite the high speed and exceptional maneuverability of modern multi-finned boards vs. the early single-finned board types, at present, their higher performance actually comes at a cost of considerable drag. From a hydrodynamic standpoint, it can be seen that the board-making arts currently have need of a cambered side-fin foil that exhibits reduced drag at the conventional negatively angled side-fin setting, as well as multi-fin arrangements that will introduce directional instability, but at a reduction in drag over the multi-fin configurations of the prior art.
The following description is intended to impart an understanding of the present invention to a person skilled in the art of surfboard design. Those skilled in the art, however, will be aware of the current lack of tank-testing facilities, and the absence of any method that can accurately duplicate a breaking wave, the movement of the board on a wave, or the effects of the rider maneuvering the board in a controlled setting. Therefore, at least some of the material disclosed herein is a subjective interpretation of observed phenomena, and the descriptions provided below should not be interpreted in a way that will limit the invention, which is defined more fully and accurately in the appended claims.
At the time the present invention was made, the board-making arts lacked an explanation for the clearly superior performance of multi-finned type boards. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art upon reviewing the disclosure below, the much higher speed of currently available multi-finned boards can be largely attributed to the higher lift coefficient of the cambered side-fin foil. The following detailed description of the invention therefore begins with a discussion of the relationship between the (hydro-) foil of the fin, and the airfoils of a wing and a sail, which respond in similar ways to a fluid flow despite the differing densities between air and water.
Sailboats and aircraft are able to maneuver because of the differential “lift” of a plurality of separate air- and hydrofoils at differing angles of attack: on a sailboat, for example, the “lift” of the deflected rudder creates a yawing moment behind the fixed keel that causes the sailboat to rotate in a turn; on an airplane, the differential lift between the wing and the horizontal tail (as altered by deflected control surfaces such as ailerons, elevons, the elevator, etc.) makes it possible for the aircraft to execute banked turns and fly in a loop. The board-designer, therefore, may use the same principles and analyze the angle of attack of the fin(s) relative to the direction of the water-flow through a turn, and arrange the fins, and the foil of the fins, to optimize the speed and performance of the multi-finned board as it is maneuvered on a wave.
Board designers may therefore benefit from a fuller knowledge of the similarities between the hydrofoil of the fin and the airfoil of the wing and sail, and make use of the extensive aeronautical research that has been compiled comparing the performance of various airfoil sections at different wind speeds and angles of attack. As shown in greater detail below, aeronautical engineers have developed sophisticated means of accurately measuring the performance of a wing; typically, the relevant wind tunnel data are plotted in graph form or, as shown in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, by using vectors, in which the length and direction of an arrow indicates the magnitude and direction of the force of the air pressure, or pressure field, that develops around the airfoil of a wing in response to its incidence, or angle of attack, relative to the airstream. For illustration purposes, the vectors shown in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, which actually represent the pressure differential around the airfoil of a wing, will be assumed to be completely interchangeable with the flat-sided cambered side-fin foil of the prior art. In addition, although the foils in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are depicted in a vertical orientation, in the following discussion they will be referred to as being in a horizontal position when the description is of an airfoil in flight, while the fluid flow F will be understood to represent both air- and water-flow.
In FIG. 1A, the vectors shown represent the pressure differential typically seen around the airfoil of a wing at cruise, when the airstream or airflow F is almost parallel to the airfoil of the wing. Ordinarily, the aircraft is designed so that the airplane's fuselage is completely level under normal flight conditions for minimum drag, while the wing is positioned at a very low but slightly positive angle of attack (e.g., typically about two degrees), so that the highest pressure will be at the leading edge of the wing, as shown, while the much lower pressure on the upper surface of the airfoil holds the aircraft aloft.
In aircraft design, a basic problem is that the pressure field depicted in FIG. 1A is unequal; as a result, the wing has a “pitching moment” and the aircraft tends to nose downward until the pressure around the wing is equalized. To prevent this, a horizontal stabilizer is provided at the tail, the airfoil of which is set at a slightly negative incidence or angle of attack so as to provide steady downward pressure, which counters the pitching moment of the wing and allows the aircraft to remain in steady, level flight.
Comparing the foil of a board fin to the airfoil of the wing, it can be assumed that a parallel side-fin setting will create a “yawing moment” similar to the pitching moment of the wing, and create control problems that would require a negatively angled trailing fin to counter, assuming the example set in aircraft design is followed. In surfboard design, however, the “tracking” problems exhibited by the very early fish style boards, which originally used a parallel side-fin setting, were eliminated by changing the fin position so the side-fin was fixed at a negative angle of attack. Despite the high drag and snowplow effect of the now standard, negatively angled side-fin setting, the modern multi-finned board type is much faster than the single-finned board types that preceded it. As will be appreciated by those of skill in the art after reading the disclosure below, this is because the rotation of the board in a turn places the side-fin foil at a high angle of attack, and a pressure differential forms around the fin that is much like the airfoil of a wing or sail at a similar angle of attack, as described in greater detail below.
In FIG. 1B, the pressure differential shown is typical of an airfoil at a very high angle of attack, when the airflow F is striking the underside of the wing, as is the case when the aircraft is flying in a loop or pulling out of a dive. Note that in either case the motion of the aircraft describes an arc, and that the direction of the airflow F is almost entirely due to the motion of the aircraft itself (assuming a still day with little breeze). When the airfoil is at a high angle of attack as shown, a very large area of negative pressure develops around the leading edge of the airfoil and pulls the wing forward. It is known that a similar area of low-pressure around the forward portion of a sail drives a sailboat forward and enables it to sail into the wind. From FIG. 1B, it can be assumed that if the rotation of the board through a turn places the fin at a correspondingly high angle of attack, an area of very low pressure will develop around the leading edge of the fin and accelerate the board forward; the aforementioned effect provides an explanation for the greater speed of multi-finned type boards.
In terms of board design, however, it is equally important to note that the pressure differential between the leading and trailing sections of the airfoil in FIG. 1B is very large; hence, an airfoil at a high angle of attack tends to have a very large pitching moment (in the case of a wing) or yawing moment (in the case of a sail), the effects of which must be countered with considerable deflection of the elevator or rudder to maintain directional control. It can be assumed that the cambered side-fin foil at a similarly high angle of attack will also have a very large yawing moment, and that the yawing moment will be opposite the rotation of the turn. The reverse yawing moment of the side-fin in a turn provides an effective explanation for the poorly understood control problems exhibited by the original wide-tailed twin-fins and the very early double-finned fish style boards of the prior art.
As previously discussed, the “tracking” problems of the original double-finned boards were eliminated through trial and error, without benefit of the information provided in the discussion above. As a consequence, current multi-fin configurations retain a number of features that actually contribute to a marked increase in drag. The source of the drag is illustrated in more detail in FIG. 2, which depicts the bottom of a conventional tri-fin surfboard according to the prior art. As shown, the two side-fins are located on opposite sides of the board near the perimeter edge or “rail,” and well forward the center stabilizing fin at the tail. When the board is at speed on the wave and the rider's weight is neutrally centered on the board, the heading H of the board will cause a water-flow F that is substantially opposite the heading; when the water-flow F parallels the longitudinal centerline or stringer as shown, the negatively angled side-fin setting, which has a standard toe-in angle of approximately four degrees, causes the water-flow F to strike the outside, cambered surface of the side-fins (the side facing the perimeter edge or rail), and creates high drag due to the low-pressure area (depicted here as turbulence) that develops on the lee or inside surface of the side-fins (the side facing the longitudinal centerline or stringer).
FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are closer, cross-section views depicting the cambered foil of prior art side-fins. The conventional flat-sided cambered foil of the prior art is shown in FIG. 2A; for a given thickness, the prior art foil shown in FIG. 2B has slightly increased camber due to the shallow concave of the inside surface. The views depict how the negative toe-in of the side-fin causes the water-flow F to strike the side-fins at an angle, which causes the water-flow on the lee or inside surface of the side-fins to tend to separate or become turbulent, and increases drag.
Note that the actual angle of the side-fin foil in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B is equivalent to an aircraft flying upside down; since this is known to be an inefficient way to generate lift, it follows that the negatively angled side-fin setting will compromise the basic functions of the side-fin(s), which, as will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art after reading the disclosure which follows below, are as follows: the negative toe-in angle of the side-fins improves directional stability when the rider's weight is evenly balanced on the board; when the rider leans to turn the side-fin functions as a deflected rudder and aids the board's initial rotation and, as the prior art tri-fin (shown in FIG. 2) rotates further in the turn, the angle of the water flow changes so that it is striking the “underside” of the fin(s), which places the fins of the board at a high, “flying” angle of attack and, much like a sail, accelerates the board forward.
FIG. 3A shows the rotation of the board in more detail: in the diagram depicted, the rider's weight shift when leaning in a turn creates a yawing moment YM that, in relation to the board's original heading H, changes the angle of the “apparent” water-flow F striking the fins, and places the fins at a higher angle of attack. (Note: the term “apparent” water-flow is used in the same manner as the term “apparent wind” is used in sailing—from the board's perspective, the water is “apparently” moving, although the actual angle of the water-flow striking the fins is caused almost entirely by the motion of the board itself.) In the turn shown, an arrow H represents the board's original heading (shown in FIG. 2), while the three arrows running parallel to and in an opposite direction to the first arrow are used to represent the apparent water-flow F resulting from that heading. The board's rotation in the turn is referenced by an imaginary axis of rotation AR, and the arrows at either end of the board depict the direction and rotation R of the nose and tail of the board as the rider, leaning in the turn, shoves the tail in one direction, and causes the nose to move in the opposite direction. The view shows that the movement of the tail as the board rotates causes the fins at the rear of the board to be placed at a higher angle of attack relative to the water-flow F, and increases their potential “lift.” (The “lift” is depicted here as the pressure field described above. In addition, the rotation of the board and angle of attack of the fins may be better visualized if the view is assumed to be from the rider's perspective with the deck or top surface of the board transparent.)
FIG. 3B depicts a very early, and largely unsuccessful, split-tailed fish style board of the prior art, and shows that the same rotation on a board with a wide tail and correspondingly wide fin-spacing will place the side-fins at a higher angle of attack. The added problem is that on a wide-tailed board the side-fins are further away from the rider's feet—because the rider controls the board through weight shifts that are transmitted through the feet, it follows that a wide side-fin spacing will increase the moment arm of the side-fin, and that the added leverage will lead to control problems since the rider will be less able to counter the reverse yaw of the side-fins and maintain control of the board through a turn.
From the preceding discussion, it will also be apparent that increasing the length of the board 10f or the speed at which it is ridden will exacerbate the problems outlined above. Persons knowledgeable in board design will note that the early double-finned fish style boards, which originally used the parallel side-fin setting shown in FIG. 3B and had large, low aspect ratio keel type fins, were limited to roughly five and a half feet in length. Although these boards at times exhibited exceptional speed in smaller surf, they became difficult or impossible to control at higher speeds in larger, faster waves, where the size of the board was typically increased. As a result, the parallel side-fin setting shown in FIG. 3B was quickly abandoned in favor of the negatively angled side-fin setting of the prior art. The early twin-fin style boards of the same era (not depicted) were also notoriously prone to tracking problems, particularly in larger surf. As will be appreciated by those of skill in the art after reading the disclosure below, this was due to the wide spacing of the side-fins, which were placed near the extreme edge of the very wide square tail and far from the rider's feet.
Therefore, when comparing the modern prior art tri-fin depicted in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3A to the early, wide-tailed fish of FIG. 3B, it can be seen that the design modifications have comprised a considerable narrowing of the tail; the side-fin placement has moved further forward on the board; and the side-fins are now universally set at a negative angle of attack. These design changes have had the effect of eliminating prior art control problems, but without first identifying their cause—the prior art tri-fin, which is considered to be a fast, exceptionally maneuverable board, retains the inherent drawbacks of the negatively angled side-fin setting, and suffers from seriously compromised performance and considerable unnecessary drag as a result.
Accordingly, much room remains for improvement in the structure and placement of fins and foils on surfboards.


Ambulatory physiological monitoring has many applications in sports, medicine, industry and the military. In all these applications, it is advantageous to configure sensors on an comfortable, unobtrusive garment to be worn by a monitored individual.
Among the known technologies for physiological monitoring is inductive plethysmography (“IP”). IP applied to respiratory monitoring, respiratory IP (“RIP”), has been shown to be a reliable and robust monitoring technology. RIP devices and processing methods are described in U.S. patents and US patent applications including: U.S. Pat. No. 6,047,203 issued Apr. 4, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,551,252 issued Apr. 22, 2002; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/822,260 filed Apr. 9, 2004. These patents are included by reference herein in their entireties for all purposes.
Known physiological monitoring garments have been configured in the form of clothing for significant portions of a subject's body, such as shirts, pants, and the like. Known clothing items of such type are not advantageous in certain applications of physiological monitoring, for example, in situations where strenuous activity is possible or when personal garment size fitting is not possible.


In magnetic storage systems for computers, digital data serves to modulate the current in a read/write head coil so that a sequence of corresponding magnetic flux transitions are written onto a magnetic medium in concentric tracks. To read this recorded data, the read/write head passes over the magnetic medium and transduces the magnetic transitions into pulses in an analog signal that alternate in polarity. These pulses are then decoded by read channel circuitry to reproduce the digital data.
Decoding the pulses into a digital sequence can be performed by a simple peak detector in a conventional analog read channel or, as in more recent designs, by using a discrete time sequence detector in a sampled amplitude read channel. Discrete time sequence detectors are preferred over simple analog pulse detectors because they compensate for intersymbol interference (ISI) and, therefore, are less susceptible to noise. As a result, discrete time sequence detectors increase the capacity and reliability of the storage system. There are several well known discrete time sequence detection methods including discrete time pulse detection (DPD), partial response (PR) with Viterbi detection, maximum likelihood sequence detection (MLSD), decision-feedback equalization (DFE), enhanced decision-feedback equalization (EDFE), and fixed-delay tree-search with decision-feedback (FDTS/DF).
In conventional peak detection schemes, threshold crossing or derivative information, implemented in analog circuitry, is normally used to detect peaks in the continuous time analog signal generated by the read head. The analog read signal is "segmented" into bit cell periods and interpreted during these segments of time. The presence of a peak during the bit cell period is detected as a "1" bit, whereas the absence of a peak is detected as a "0" bit. The most common errors in detection occur when the bit cells are not correctly aligned with the analog pulse data. Timing recovery, then, adjusts the bit cell periods so that the peaks occur in the center of the bit cells on average in order to minimize detection errors. Since timing information is derived only when peaks are detected, the input data stream is normally run length limited (RLL) to limit the number of consecutive "0" bits.
Detection errors are also caused by intersymbol interference (ISI). Storage density is directly related to the number of pulses stored on the storage medium, and as the pulses are packed closer together in the effort to increase data density, they eventually interfere with each other resulting in intersymbol interference. This interference can cause a peak to shift out of its bit cell, or its magnitude to decrease, and result in a detection error. The ISI effect is reduced by decreasing the data density or by employing an encoding scheme to ensure that a minimum number of "0" bits occur between "1" bits. For example, a (d,k) run length limited (RLL) code constrains to d the minimum number of "0" bits between "1" bits, and to k the maximum number of consecutive "0" bits. A typical RLL code is a (1,7) 2/3 rate code which encodes 8 bit data words into 12 bit codewords to satisfy the (1,7) constraint.
Sampled amplitude detection, such as partial response (PR) with Viterbi detection, allows for increased data density by compensating for intersymbol interference. Unlike conventional peak detection systems, sampled amplitude recording detects digital data by interpreting, at discrete time instances, the actual value of the pulse data. The analog pulses are sampled at the baud rate and the digital data is detected from these discrete time sample values. A discrete time sequence detector, such as a Viterbi detector, interprets the discrete time sample values in context to determine a most likely sequence for the data. In this manner, the effect of ISI can be taken into account during the detection process thereby decreasing the probability of a detection error. After processing a consecutive sequence of sample values, the sequence detector compensates for ISI by selecting the most likely digital sequence associated with the sample values. This increases the signal to noise ratio and, for a given (d,k) constraint, allows for significantly higher data density as compared to conventional analog peak detection read channels.
The application of sampled amplitude techniques to digital communication channels is well documented. See Y. Kabal and So Pasupathy, "Partial Response Signaling", IEEE Trans. Commun. Tech., Vol. COM-23, pp.921-934, September 1975; and Edward A. Lee and David G. Messerschmitt, "Digital Communication", Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, 1990; and G. D. Forney, Jr., "The Viterbi Algorithm", Proc. IEEE, Vol. 61, pp. 268-278, March 1973.
Applying sampled amplitude techniques to magnetic storage systems is also well documented. See Roy D. Cideciyan, Francois Dolivo, Walter Hirt, and Wolfgang Schott, "A PRML System for Digital Magnetic Recording", IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, Vol. 10 No. 1, January 1992, pp.38-56; and Wood et al, "Viterbi Detection of Class IV Partial Response on a Magnetic Recording Channel", IEEE Trans. Commun., Vol. Com-34, No. 5, pp. 454-461, May 1986; and Coker Et al, "Implementation of PRML in a Rigid Disk Drive", IEEE Trans. on Magnetics, Vol. 27, No. 6, November 1991; and Carley et al, "Adaptive Continous-Time Equalization Followed By FDTS/DF Sequence-Detection", Digest of The Magnetic Recording Conference, Aug. 15-17, 1994, pp. C3; and Moon et al, "Constrained-Complexity Equalizer Design for Fixed Delay Tree Search with Decision Feedback", IEEE Trans. on Magnetics, Vol. 30, No. 5, September 1994; and Abbott et al, "Timing Recovery For Adaptive Decision Feedback Equalization of The Magnetic Storage Channel", Globecorn'90 IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference 1990, San Diego, Calif., November 1990, pp.1794-1799; and Abbott et al, "Performance of Digital Magnetic Recording with Equalization and Offtrack Interference", IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Vol. 27, No. 1, January 1991; and Cioffi et al, "Adaptive Equalization in Magnetic-Disk Storage Channels", IEEE Communication Magazine, February 1990; and Roger Wood, "Enhanced Decision Feedback Equalization", Intermag'90.


Light diffusing films are currently widely used in many optical, lighting, and display applications. Many of the most efficient diffusers utilize engineered microstructures to effectively distribute the light in a desired manner. Most of these diffusing films are formed by either molding or casting a polymer against a mold surface having relief structures present to produce the appropriate structure on the film surface. These structures are usually made of non-elastomeric polymeric materials, such as polyacrylates, polystyrenes, polycarbonates and polyolefins.
A problem arises when the required diffusing microstructures are of a shape that it becomes fragile and thereby easily damaged by routine handling of the film in assembly processes. Minor surface rubs can result in permanent, visible scratches and abrasions on the diffusing film rendering it useless for many applications or at least cosmetically. Therefore, a need exists for an improved light diffusing film.


Generic lighting control consoles are used for controlling lighting systems such as are used for example in theaters and/or on concert stages. These lighting systems normally include a large number of lighting devices, such as stage spotlights, and in their turn the lighting devices themselves can be switched between a wide variety of lighting states, for example different colors. The various lighting devices with their different lighting states are controlled by programmed parameters in the lighting software of the lighting control console.


The field of art to which this invention pertains is the treatment of aqueous streams containing water-soluble inorganic sulfide compounds. More specifically, the invention is directed toward a method for treating an aqueous stream containing a water-soluble, inorganic sulfide compound.


In a conventional technology related to an electronic control device equipped in vehicles that can control in-vehicle equipment, module type electronic equipment disclosed in JP-A-8-274440 is known.
This module type electronic equipment is constituted so that a power source module can be inserted to and detached from a front side of a card cage or a power supply module part.
A power supply module connector is automatically connected with a power supply connector in a backplane when the power source module is completely inserted into a card receptor, and the connection is automatically disconnected when the power source module is detached from the card cage.
Moreover, a daughter circuit card is constituted similar to the connection structure as the above, and an operation power is supplied easily without wiring each other with the power supply relative to the power source module and the daughter circuit card.
An electronic system disclosed in JP-A-2004-246615 is a device adopted for personal computers or servers, and is constituted with a plurality of electronic modules, circuit board modules for control, and power source modules, etc. installed in a case.
A CPU that is a heat generating element and other heat generating elements are installed on each surfaces of the installed electronic modules together with a hard disk etc., and each electronic module is a part of the computer.
Moreover, a respective necessary electrical connection between each electronic module and the circuit board module or the power source module, etc. of the device side is performed by inserting (press-fitting) the connector into a connector of a common wiring circuit board.
A liquid circulation loop is constituted by inserting (press-fitting) liquid connectors of each electronic module into liquid connectors of a liquid cooling jacket at the time of the electric connection, and cooling of each electronic module becomes possible by a coolant that flows in the liquid circulation loop.
By the way, in recent years, the number of electronic control unit (ECU) required for in-vehicle equipment such as an engine and a transmission, etc. equipped in a vehicle increases in order to cope with the demand of making the vehicle with high performance.
However, when the number of the in-vehicle ECU increases, it is necessary to provide an assembly space and a cooling space for each ECU, thus causes a problem that required capacity for equipment in the vehicle increases.
Moreover, the number of wire harnesses that electrically connect between each ECU and between the ECU and power supplies increases according to the increase of ECUs, thus causes a problem that required capacity for equipment in the vehicle further increases.
Since the current used is low and the function of the electronic module is limited, a composition adopted in a personal computer or a server as shown in the above-mentioned JP-A-2004-246615 is insufficient to deal with the electronic control unit for the vehicle that has various functions increasing.
Moreover, the composition of the above-mentioned JP-A-8-274440 has a similar problem.


This application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-084407 filed Mar. 25, 2002, which is incorporated hereinto by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet print head and an ink jet printing apparatus for ejecting ink onto a print medium to form an image thereon.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink jet printing apparatus forms an image on a print medium by ejecting ink droplets from a print head mounted in an apparatus body onto the print medium, with the ink droplets adhering to the print medium and fixing in it to produce their intended colors. Recent years have seen a proliferation of a so-called serial scan type ink jet printing apparatus. In this type, an image is formed by alternately repeating two operationsxe2x80x94a printing scan for scanning the print head over the print medium to eject ink onto the medium and a paper feed for moving the print medium or the print head relative to each other in a direction perpendicular to a printing scan direction. The serial scan type ink jet printing apparatus, however, has the following drawback.
In the serial scan type apparatus, a single printing scan can only produce an image of a predetermined printing width for at least one color of ink (this single printing operation is referred to also as a xe2x80x9cone-pass printingxe2x80x9d). Hence, to form an image over the entire print medium requires performing a plurality of printing scans. When in such a system an image of high duty is to be formed, a problem may occur that a boundary portion between an image area formed on the print medium in a certain printing scan and an adjoining image area formed in another printing scan appears light in density.
This problem is considered to occur in the following mechanism. FIGS. 7A to 7D are schematic views showing how an image of high duty is formed during the one-pass printing, as seen in the print head scanning direction. In the figure, reference number 1 represents a print head, 2 a print medium, and e a column of nozzles (also referred to as a xe2x80x9ccolumn of ejection openingsxe2x80x9d) for ejecting ink droplets.
FIG. 7A shows ink droplets adhering to a print medium which were ejected in one printing scan. In the figure, p1 denotes an ink adhering to the print medium. With the elapse of time the ink on the print medium soaks into the medium and fixes there. FIG. 7B illustrates this state and p2 denotes the ink that has soaked into the print medium and fixed there. After the printing scan, the print medium is fed in a direction perpendicular to the printing scan direction of the print head (this operation is called a line feed) and the next printing scan is performed. FIG. 7C shows a state in which the line feed and the second printing scan have been performed. In the figure, a distance that the print medium was fed is indicated by an arrow. This line feed distance is equal to the length of the nozzle column of the print head. Ink droplets adhering to the print medium that were ejected in the second printing scan are indicated by p3.
FIG. 7D shows a state in which the ink that landed on the print medium during the second printing scan has soaked and fixed with elapse of time. As shown by p1 of FIG. 7A and p3 of FIG. 7C, the ink that has just landed on the print medium and has not yet soaked into and fixed in the print medium forms an ink surface that is low at ends and bulges at a center. This is a common phenomenon produced by a surface tension of the ink. In this state, the ink penetrates and fixes in the print medium. Therefore, as indicated by p2 and p4 of FIGS. 7B and 7D, in an image area formed by each printing scan, an amount of ink that fixes at the end portions is less than at other portions and the color of that portions tends to be lighter. Thus, when the printing scan is repeated a plurality of times to form an image of high duty, the end portions of an image area formed by each printing scan appear light. That is, the boundary portions between adjoining image areas are printed lighter than other portions, giving rise to a problem of light stripes showing up in the printed image. In the case of a black ink in particular, since its penetration capability is generally low, it tends to produce a greater density difference between a dot center and a dot end than do color inks. This may result in boundary portions between adjoining image areas printed by different printing scans appearing lighter and in the worst case showing up as white horizontal stripes.
A possible measure to deal with this problem may involve making the line feed distance shorter than the printing width or nozzle column length of the print head. One such example is to design a nozzle-to-nozzle interval (nozzles may also be referred to as xe2x80x9cejection openingsxe2x80x9d) somewhat longer than normal. As a result, the length of the nozzle column used for the one-pass printing becomes somewhat longer than the line feed distance, producing the following advantages.
FIGS. 8A to 8D show dots ejected from a nozzle column with a longer-than-normal nozzle-to-nozzle interval. In the figure, reference numeral 1 represents a print head, 2 a print medium and e a nozzle column for ejecting ink droplets. FIG. 8A shows ink droplets adhering to the print medium which were ejected in one printing scan. In the figure, p1 denotes an ink adhering to the print medium. With the elapse of time the ink on the print medium soaks into the print medium and fixes there. FIG. 8B illustrates this state and p2 denotes the ink that has soaked into the print medium and fixed there. After the first printing scan, the print medium is fed (line feed) in a direction perpendicular to the printing scan direction of the print head and the next printing scan is performed. Because the nozzle-to-nozzle interval of the print head is set somewhat longer than normal, the line feed distance is shorter than the nozzle column length e. FIG. 8C shows a state in which the line feed and the second printing scan have been performed. In the figure, a distance that the print medium was fed is indicated by an arrow and, as described above, is somewhat shorter than the nozzle column length e of the print head. Ink droplets adhering to the print medium that were ejected in the second printing scan are indicated by p3. Then, the ink that landed on the print medium during the second printing scan also sinks and fixes in the print medium over time, as shown in FIG. 8D.
Since the line feed distance shown in FIG. 7C is equal to the nozzle column length or a difference between the line feed distance and the nozzle column length is smaller than that of FIG. 8C, a comparison between FIG. 8D and FIG. 7D shows that an overlap between p2 and p4 is somewhat larger in FIG. 8D than in FIG. 7D. Thus, as shown in FIG. 8D, the above-described problem that a boundary portion between an image area formed on the print medium by a printing scan and an adjoining image area formed by another printing scan appears lighter than other portions is less likely to occur.
Printing apparatus capable of printing color inks as well as black ink are available in recent years. Some of these printing apparatus have a black ink nozzle column set longer than other color ink nozzle columns in order to reduce a time taken by the printing operation using only the black ink as in a document printing. In this arrangement, when printing is done using only the black ink, all the nozzles of the black ink nozzle column are used, whereas during color printing, only that part of the black ink nozzle column which is almost equal in length to other color ink nozzle columns is used. In such a printing apparatus, in which the length of that nozzle portion in the entire nozzle column which is used for printing is changed according to an image being formed, a problem may arise that lighter horizontal stripes will show up in a printed image at boundaries between adjoining image areas formed on a print medium by separate printing scans, depending on the length of the nozzle portion used for printing. This problem will be explained as follows.
Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, reference number 1 denotes a print head, 3 a nozzle column for ejecting a black ink, and 4 nozzle columns for ejecting color inks. To solve the problem described above, the black ink nozzle column is formed longer than the color ink nozzle columns. In the black nozzle column 3, the entire nozzles are represented as a nozzle portion e and a part of the nozzle column is denoted a nozzle portion b. The nozzle portion b has one-half the length of the nozzle portion e. The entire nozzles arrayed in each of the color ink nozzle columns are represented as a nozzle portion a. The number of nozzles in the nozzle portion a counted in the column direction is equal to that of the nozzle portion b.
FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing an operation of the printing apparatus when an image is formed using only a black ink. When an image is formed using only the black ink, the whole black nozzle column (nozzle portion e) is used as described above. In the figure, (f1)-p1 represents a position relative to the print head of an image formed with the black ink in one printing scan. This is followed by a line feed of a predetermined distance in a direction indicated by LF. The line feed distance is shorter than the length of the nozzle portion e. The printed image p1 moves to a position (f2)-p1. After this, another printing scan is performed to form an image (f2)-p2.
FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing an operation of the printing apparatus when an image is formed using a black ink and color inks. As described above, when an image is formed using color inks as well as a black ink, the nozzle portion b of the black nozzle column and the nozzle portion a of the color nozzle columns are used. In the figure, (f1)-p1 represents a position relative to the print head of an image formed with the black ink in one printing scan. After this, a line feed of a predetermined distance is carried out in the direction of LF, moving the printed image p1 to a position (f2)-p1. This is followed by another printing scan to form an image at a position (f2)-p1 using color inks and an image at a position (f2)-p2 using a black ink. As a result, in the (f2)-p1 area the image forming using the black ink and the color inks is completed.
Whether an image is to be made using only a black ink or both a black ink and color inks is determined based on image data sent from a host computer. A printer driver running on the host computer displays an operation window for the user to select either a color printing or a black-only printing. When the user makes a selection on the operation window, the printer driver sends a color printing instruction or a black-only printing instruction along with image data to the printing apparatus. The printing apparatus determines the operations of various driving units according to the instruction received. Another arrangement is also available in which, rather than the user selecting either a color printing or a black-only printing, the printing apparatus checks the image data transferred from the host to make a decision. Still another arrangement is available in which a detailed control is performed to switch the black nozzle operation between a long nozzle portion and a short nozzle portion of the black nozzle column according to the image data in each page. That is, in an area of each page to be printed with only a black ink a long black nozzle portion, i.e., entire black nozzle column, is used and, in an area to be printed with color inks as well, a short black nozzle portion equal in length to the color nozzle columns is used.
In a printing apparatus with a means to change the length of a black nozzle portion to be used for printing, it has been proposed to set a nozzle interval a predetermined amount longer than normal to deal with the aforementioned problem of light density portions showing up in a printed image at boundaries between image areas printed by separate printing scans. As explained earlier in conjunction with FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the length of an activated portion of the black nozzle column differs between the black-only printing and the color printing. Therefore, the difference between the line feed distance and the width (in the line feed direction) of a black printed area also varies. More specifically, the black nozzle column is set somewhat longer than normal by expanding the nozzle intervals uniformly. If it is assumed that the black nozzle column is set longer by t than the normal nozzle column length s, an entire length of the nozzle column is s+t. In a black-only printing, the entire black nozzle column is used and, if the line feed distance is assumed to be s, image areas printed by separate printing scans overlap each other over a distance of t. In a color printing, only the nozzle portion b of the black nozzle column is used, that is, only one-half of the black nozzle column is used. Then, the length of the nozzle portion b is 1/2xc2x7(s+t). Suppose that the line feed distance is s/2. The difference between the line feed distance and the length of the nozzle portion b is only t/2. Thus the overlap between the image areas is only t/2. This means that, if the nozzle interval is expanded to ensure an enough overlap during the black-only printing, the color printing cannot secure a sufficient overlap. Conversely, if the nozzle interval is set so as to cause a sufficient overlapping during the color printing, the amount of overlap at the boundary portions between separate printing scans becomes too large, giving rise to a problem that the overlapped portions may look darker than other portions.
In light of the conventional problems described above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an ink jet print head and an ink jet printing apparatus which can produce a good printed result at all times at boundary portions between image areas printed by separate printing scans even in ink jet printing apparatus in which a range of use of the nozzle column varies according to the printing condition.
In one aspect, the present invention provides an ink jet print head having a plurality of nozzles arrayed in a predetermined direction to form a nozzle column, wherein the nozzle column ejects ink droplets, the ink jet print head comprising: a long nozzle column portion formed in a predetermined portion of the nozzle column, the long nozzle column portion having a wider nozzle interval than those in other portions of the nozzle column.
In another aspect, the present invention provides an ink jet printing apparatus comprising: a ink jet print head having a plurality of nozzles arrayed in a predetermined direction to form a nozzle column, the nozzle column being adapted to eject ink droplets; wherein the ink jet print head is scanned over a print medium a plurality of times in a direction different from the direction of array and a printing scan and a line feed are performed to print on a predetermined image area on the print medium, the printing scan ejecting ink droplets onto the print medium during each scan and the line feed feeding, between each of the plurality of scans, the print medium and the ink jet print head relative to each other in a direction different from the scan direction of the ink jet print head; wherein a portion of the nozzle column in the ink jet print head is a long nozzle column portion whose nozzle-to-nozzle interval is wider than that in another portion of the nozzle column; wherein a width in the line feed direction of each image area printed by a single printing scan of the ink jet print head is longer than a distance that the print medium is fed by one print feed.
With this construction, by arranging the nozzles in the nozzle column such that, in only that portion of the nozzle column always used in any printing condition, such as color printing and black-only printing, its nozzles have a wider nozzle-to-nozzle interval than those of other nozzle portions, the width of each image area printed by a single printing scan can be made a predetermined amount longer than the line feed distance at all times. This arrangement can produce a printed result in which adjoining image areas printed by separate printing scans overlap each other at their boundary portions by a predetermined amount in whatever printing condition.
The above and other objects, effects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique of lithography and, particularly to a manufacturing method for semiconductor device wherein a stepwise taper is formed in a contract hole, that is, a opening portion, which is formed in an insulating film and metal, by the combination of a resist patterning process and a dry etching process.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is known, the degree of integration of the semiconductor element has been improved with the advance of a fine process technique of the semiconductor element. For the purpose of fining, the so-called multilayered wiring element has been generally used. In order to control leak current generated in the element, the necessary an interlayered insulating film is formed to have the thickness of 1 .mu.m or more regardless of quality. Thereby, the depth of the opening portion, which is formed in the interlayered insulating film, is increased.
As one of the fine process techniques, the frequency in use of a dry etching such as a reactive ion etching, in which an anisotropic etching is performed, is increased. For this reason, the side wall of the opening portion, which is formed in the interlayered insulating film, becomes almost vertical. Therefore, in a case where the inside of the opening portion cannot be completely embedded with the metal layer for wiring, which is deposited on the interlayered insulating film, the connection between the electrode in the opening portion and the external wiring layer is defective. To overcome this problem, there is known a method for forming taper in the opening portion contacting the wiring metal layer, that is, 20 to 30% of the entire depth, by using the combination of a chemical reaction or a physical etching.
Also, an image reversal process which can be used as the fine process technique was disclosed in Vacuum, Vol. 29, No. 12, 1989, page 585. Specifically, a mask, in which a layer interrupting light is formed, is superimposed at a predetermined position of a positive resist of a novolak type, an exposing process, which is a part of a photo engraving process, is provided therein, so that a photosensitive portion is formed therein other than the light interrupting layer of the mask. However, if this lamination layer is processed in ammonia atmosphere, the exposed and photosensitive indene carboxylic acid generates decarboxylic acid, insoluble indene is formed in alkali developer. If this phenomenon is used, a pattern to be originally formed is reversed. FIG. 1 illustrates an example of forming taper by the combination of the chemical etching and the physical etching. More specifically, a wiring layer forming of Al or Al alloy or an electrode 2 is directly or indirectly deposited on a semiconductor substrate 1 via a coating layer, and an interlayered insulating layer 3 is entirely deposited thereon.
Then, an opening portion 4 is formed on the interlayered insulating layer 3 by CDE process as a chemical etching, in which radical, which is generated by plasma generated by a magnetron tube, is moved to the distant position and RIE process as a physical etching. The edge of the opening portion 4 is etched in a certain horizontal and vertical isotropic direction by CDE process. Due to this, as is obvious from the drawing, a taper 6 is formed and a double edge is formed in positioning marks 5, which are used in an aligner process, as shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a plane view of the opening portion 4 for the positioning marks 5 seen from the above.
Moreover, FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view showing the opening portion 4 formed by providing image reversal process in the interlayered insulating layer 3. However, the side wall of the opening portion 4 is not vertically formed, and the double edge is formed in the positioning marks which are formed at the same with the above process. This causes the deterioration of the accuracy of the positioning.
In a case where the taper is formed in the opening portion 4 by the combination of the chemical etching and the physical etching, the positioning marks 5 are shaped similarly and the edges of the positioning marks look double as shown in FIG. 2. In general, to detect the positioning marks 5, reflected light of the irradiated laser is electrically compared between a setting coordinate and a measuring coordinate. Then, if the edges are discriminated several times, a plurality of detection signals are obtained, so that the positioning step fails or the accuracy of positioning is deteriorated.
Moreover, if the opening portion and the positioning marks are formed by use of the image reversal process, both the opening portion and the positioning marks are simultaneously formed, so that the taper 6 is formed in the positioning marks. As a result, since a detection signal having a clear waveform is not obtained, the accuracy of the positioning is deteriorated. In addition, regarding etching, it is difficult to set conditions such as an angle of a reverse taper and controllability and there is problem in reproductivity.


1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed to an improved data processing system. More specifically, the present invention is directed to an apparatus and method for implementing multicast on a system area network channel adapter associated with a logically partitioned (LPAR) data processing system, with no visibility to either the Fabric Manager (Subnet Manager) or other Fabric Participants, that LPAR techniques are being employed.
2. Description of Related Art
InfiniBand (IB), which is a form of System Area Network (SAN), defines a multicast facility that allows a Channel Adapter (CA) to send a packet to a single address and have it delivered to multiple ports. Each multicast group is assigned a unique address, and end-nodes that wish to participate in a multicast group do so via a ‘Join’ process initiated by the candidate participant with the Subnet Manager. The InfiniBand architecture is described in the InfiniBand standard, which is available at http://www.infinibandta.org and also hereby incorporated by reference.
With the InfiniBand architecture, the CA sending the multicast packet may be a Host Channel Adapter (HCA) or a Target Channel Adapter (TCA). A multicast packet is sent to all ports of a collection of ports called a multicast group. These ports may be on the same or different nodes in the SAN. Each multicast group is identified by a unique Local Identifier (LID) and Global Identifier (GID). The LID is an address assigned to a port which is unique within the subnet. The LID is used for directing packets within the subnet. The GID is a 128-bit identifier used to uniquely identify a port on a channel adapter, a port on a router, or a multicast group, across all infiniband subnets. The LID and GID are in the Local Route Header (LRH) and Global Route Header (GRH), respectively, of the IB packet. The LRH is present in all IB packets and is an address used for routing IB packets through switches within a subnet. The GRH is present in IB packets which are either multicast packets, or which are targeted to destinations outside the originator's local subnet and is used as an address for routing the packets when the packets traverse multiple subnets.
An IB management action via a Subnet Management Packet (SMP) is used when a node joins a multicast group, and at that time the LID of the port on the node is linked to the multicast group. A subnet manager then stores this information in the switches of the SAN using SMPs. The subnet manager via SMPs tells the switches the routing information for the various multicast groups, and the switches store that information, so that the switches can route the multicast packets to the correct nodes. When a node is going to send a packet to the multicast group, it uses the multicast LID and GID of the group to which it wants the packet to be delivered. The switches in the subnet detect the multicast LID in the packet's Destination LID (DLID) field and replicates the packet, sending it to the appropriate ports, as previously set up by the subnet manager.
It is the Subnet Manager's job to look at the topology and adjust the multicast forwarding tables of each applicable switch in the fabric such that a member of a multicast group will receive a multicast packet sent to that Multicast Group address.
Within a CA, one or more Queue Pairs (QPs) may be registered to receive a given multicast address. IB allows for the number of QPs within a CA that can be registered for the same address to be only limited by the particular implementation. The registration process is done via the IB verb interface. The verb interface is an abstract description of the functionality of a Host Channel Adapter. An operating system exposes some or all of the verb functionality through its programming interface.
When the CA recognizes a multicast packet, the CA must somehow distribute the packet to all the registered QPs within that CA. This must be done in an efficient manner. How this is done is not specified by the InfiniBand Architecture (IBA).
Commonly-owned co-pending Published U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/003426 of Beukema et al., application Ser. No. 09/925,578, filed Aug. 9, 2001, which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a system for implementing multicast on an Infiniband CA. However, the solution described in the Beukema application does not address the additional complexity associated with a logically-partitioned (LPAR) data processing system.
When implementing LPAR, it is advantageous that each Operating System believes that it has control of a single CA. This is further substantiated by the requirement to maintain transparency to the Subnet Manager and other end-nodes, i.e., neither of these must operate any differently when talking to an LPAR end-node vs. a non-LPAR end-node. In order to achieve this, each LPAR sees a logical CA. The ports on this logical CA are assigned LIDs, just like real ports. In addition, packets coming into the ‘real’ port of a CA effectively see a logical switch. This logical switch has a set of logical Multicast Forwarding Tables that the Subnet manager will set up.
In an LPAR computing environment, a single data processing system is “virtualized” to multiple software partitions, each representing a different instance of an operating system. An LPAR data processing system thus functions as if it were several separate machines, though the “machines” (generally unbeknownst to each other) share a common hardware platform. LPAR systems are well suited for situations in which multiple computing platforms are needed, but the additional expense and inconvenience of installing and maintaining multiple physical hardware platforms is undesirable. In particular, it would be beneficial if a CA for a SAN such as Infiniband could be shared among multiple partitions of an LPAR system.


Medical ceiling pendant is the essential medical device in the modern operating room in the hospital, which is mainly used for terminal-transferring the medial gas, such as oxygen supply, compressed air, nitrogen, etc., in the operating room and the intensive care unit, the lower part of the medical ceiling pendant is provided with a load platform, which facilitates placing some surgical instruments or equipments and meters. As the huge structure size of the medical ceiling pendant, the arms and the box body are separately packaged during the prior packaging and transportation, such packaging process has the defects as follows: 1. there needs two packing box for one medical ceiling pendant, thus resulting in more consumables and higher logistical cost, 2. the gas tubes and the wires on the box body are required to pass through the ceiling pendant arm at the customer's field, thus resulting in time-consuming and labor-consuming, 3. it requires some skills to pass through the gas tubes and the wires in field, thus unable to guarantee the quality.