US07715056B2
An image control system includes an image control apparatus and an image forming apparatus. The image control apparatus includes a pattern generating unit that generates a pattern based on a preset process for preventing a fraudulent use of an image; and an image combining unit that combines the image with the pattern to generate a combined image. The image forming apparatus includes a printing unit that prints out the combined image received from the image control apparatus.
US07715054B2
An image processing apparatus includes an input section and a binarizing section. The input section inputs multilevel image data. The binarizing section binarizes multilevel image data to generate output image data representing halftone dots each having a hollow-structure. The binarizing section enlarges the halftone dots in a predetermined direction preferentially in accordance with the input multilevel image data.
US07715052B2
The system provides for controlling color reproduction of input color image data representing one or more pages or page constituents in a network having nodes (or sites). Each one of the nodes comprises at least one rendering device. The system distributes the input color image data from one of the nodes to other nodes, and provides a data structure (virtual proof) in the network. This data structure has components shared by the nodes and other components present only at each node. Next, the system has means for providing color calibration data at each node characterizing output colors (colorants) of the rendering device of the node, and means for producing at each node, responsive to the color calibration data of the rendering device of the node, information for transforming the input color image data into output color image data at the rendering device of the node. The information is then stored in the data structure in different ones of the shared and other components. Means are provided in the system for transforming at each node the input color image data into output color image data for the rendering device of the node responsive to the information in the data structure. The rendering device of each node renders a color reproduction of the page constituents responsive to the output color image data, wherein colors displayed in the reproduction at the rendering device of each node appear substantially the same within the output colors attainable by the rendering devices. The system further has means for verifying at each node that the information for the rendering device of the node properly transformed the input color image data into the output color image data, and means for revising the information stored in the data structure at the node responsive to results of the verifying means. Shared components of the data structure may also store color preferences selected by a user. The information producing means of the system may further operate responsive to both the color calibration data and the color preferences. The rendering devices in the system can provide color reproductions having three or four colorants, and may provide more than four output colors (color inks).
US07715044B2
A method of gray component replacement receives a current pixel color value. A highlight likelihood and color neutrality is determined for the current pixel color value. An output pixel color value depending upon the color neutrality and the highlight likelihood is generated. The input pixel color value is obtained from an image acquisition system and the output color pixel value is used by an output engine to render the pixel.
US07715034B2
A data processing device includes an image capturing unit for capturing an image so as to generate digital data, a time certification request unit for requesting time certification of the digital data in order to acquire time information regarding when time certification was performed, and a storage control unit for controlling the digital data associated with the time information to be stored in a storage destination. Thus, time certification of an image can be easily performed, and confirmation thereof can also be readily performed.
US07715022B2
A shape measuring apparatus and a shape measuring method suited for measuring an edge profile of a thin sample such as a semiconductor wafer or the like is provided. A distribution of surface angle and an edge profile of a measurement site is calculated by emitting light at sequentially different angle to the measurement site of a wafer by sequentially switching and lighting a plurality of LEDs each disposed at one of plurality of positions in one plane by an LED driving circuit, obtaining an image data showing a luminance distribution of the reflected light form the measurement site through a camera by a calculator each time light is emitted and, estimating an emitting angle of the light when the luminance of the reflected light becomes peak based on image data and emitting angle of the light corresponding to each LED by the calculator.
US07715018B2
The present invention relates to a system for three-dimensional (3-D) acoustic imaging of a scattering structure using information from a two-dimensional (2-D) image. The system uses a characterized sensor array to emit a signal from the sensor array into an object of interest to generate at least one 2-D representation of the object of interest. The 2-D representation comprises a plurality of x and y coordinate pairs and at least one candidate scattering structure. The candidate scattering structure comprises a shape defined by at least one pair of x and y coordinates. The candidate scattering structure shape is restricted to at least one pair of x and y coordinates. The pair of x and y coordinates of the candidate scattering structure shape are then compared with a first coordinate-dependent response function to assign an x, y, and z position of a scattering structure in 3-D space.
US07715014B2
Systems and methods for performing vibration error suppression in a fiber optic gyro sensor. An example system includes a light source, a sensing loop assembly, a photo detector, and a processing component. The light source generates a light signal that is then modulated by the sensing loop assembly and applied to a fiber optic coil in the assembly. The photo detector receives a modulated light signal that is an output of the sensing loop assembly (coil) and generates an analog signal. The processing component converts the generated analog signal into a modulated digital signal, determines an average of the modulated digital signal, determines an intensity modulation amplitude based on the determined average of the modulated digital signal, and re-scales the modulated digital phase signal based on the determined intensity modulation amplitude.
US07715012B2
A sensor unit of a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assay system includes a transparent dielectric medium. A thin film has a first surface and a sensing surface. The first surface is connected with the dielectric medium to constitute an interface. The sensing surface is back to the first surface, for detecting (bio) chemical reaction. A flow cell block has a flow channel for flowing of the sample to the sensing surface. Attenuated total reflection of illuminating light is checked at the interface, to analyze interaction between ligand and analyte as samples. The flow channel includes a first inner surface, disposed opposite to the sensing surface to extend along, for passing the sample to flow between. The first inner surface has a height, defined with reference to the sensing surface, and in a range of 200-500 microns.
US07715007B2
Alignment of layers during manufacture of a multi-layer sample is controlled by applying optical measurements to a measurement site in the sample. The measurement site includes two diffractive structures located one above the other in two different layers, respectively. The optical measurements include at least two measurements with different polarization states of incident light, each measurement including illuminating the measurement site so as to illuminate one of the diffractive structures through the other. The diffraction properties of the measurement site are indicative of a lateral shift between the diffractive structures. The diffraction properties detected are analyzed for the different polarization states of the incident light to determine an existing lateral shift between the layers.
US07715001B2
Methods and systems for real-time monitoring of optical signals from arrays of signal sources, and particularly optical signal sources that have spectrally different signal components. Systems include signal source arrays in optical communication with optical trains that direct excitation radiation to and emitted signals from such arrays and image the signals onto detector arrays, from which such signals may be subjected to additional processing.
US07715000B2
A lithographic apparatus has an illumination system that conditions a beam of radiation. A patterning support supports a patterning device, which serves to impart the beam of radiation with a pattern in its cross-section. A substrate support holds a substrate. A projection system projects the patterned beam of radiation onto a target portion of the substrate. A particle detection system detects a particle on a surface of an object. The particle detection system has a radiation source, which generates an illumination beam of radiation. The illumination beam of radiation is directed along a first optical path to a detection area at the surface of the object. A radiation detector receives a detection beam of radiation from the detection area along a second optical path. The length of the first optical path is made substantially equal to the length of the second optical path.
US07714999B2
A method for inspecting a region, including irradiating the region via an optical system with a pump beam at a pump wavelength. A probe beam at a probe wavelength irradiates the region so as to generate returning probe beam radiation from the region. The beams are scanned across the region at a scan rate. A detector receives the returning probe radiation, and forms an image of the region that corresponds to a resolution better than pump and probe Abbe limits of the optical system. Roles of the pump and probe beams may be alternated, and a modulation frequency of the pump beam may be changed, to produce more information. Information extracted from the probe signal can also differentiate between different materials on the region.
US07714997B2
This invention is a defect inspection apparatus having a reflecting objective lens free from chromatic aberration, or an achromatic catadioptric lens, and a dioptric objective lens, and thus constructed to suppress changes in brightness due to multi-wavelength illumination (i.e., illumination with the irradiation light having a plurality of wavelength bands), to provide a clearer view of defects present on a sample, by means of selective wavelength detection in order to improve sensitivity, and to allow one spatial image on the sample to be acquired as different kinds of optical images.
US07714996B2
Automatic optical inspection (AOI) systems are described comprising optical modules that include an illumination component and a lens array configured to direct illumination of the illumination component at a portion of a substrate. The lens array includes a Fresnel lens. The optical module includes a camera that receives reflected light resulting from an interaction of the illumination and the substrate. The camera includes a time delay integration (TDI) sensor. A telecentric imaging lens directs reflected light from the substrate to the camera. The illumination component comprises a controller coupled to multiple LED light sources, each emitting light at a different wavelength. The controller independently controls each LED light source. The illumination component includes a bright field and/or a dark field light source. The illumination component can include a front side and/or a back side light source. An optical fiber is coupled to the camera and an image processor.
US07714994B2
The optical element in the form of a beam splitter which is used preferably in interplay with optical measurement systems for determining the characteristics on machine tools, or for other measurement purposes. A combination of five-edged prisms which are cemented or glued to one another is provided. The cement surface borders the partial mirroring (50%). The beam splitter is combined with at least one optoelectronic detector. With the latter the point of incidence of the light beam can be determined. A measurement system is formed of a plurality of units, each of which has a machine-mountable housing that encloses such an optical element.
US07714993B2
The present invention provides operators the ability to follow a predetermined path and achieve desired digging depth by watching steering and elevation indicators of just one system. The indicators are activated by data derived from the interception of signals generated by a single laser transmitter and a receiver array mounted on the machine. The system according to the present invention uses the multiple, tilted fan beams provided by the laser transmitter to calculate elevation angle and azimuth of the tool carried by machine.
US07714975B1
An electro-optical device typified by an active matrix type liquid crystal display device, is manufactured by cutting a rubbing process, and in addition, a reduction in the manufacturing cost and an improvement in the yield are realized by reducing the number of process steps to manufacture a TFT.By forming a pixel TFT portion having a reverse stagger type n-channel TFT, and a storage capacitor, by performing three photolithography steps using three photomasks, and in addition, by having a uniform cell gap by forming wall-like spacers by performing one photolithography step, without performing a rubbing process, a multi-domain perpendicular orientation type liquid crystal display device having a wide viewing angle display, and in which a switching direction of the liquid crystal molecules is controlled, can be realized.
US07714965B2
Methods for treating aligning substrates produces uniform alignment of liquid crystals in at least two modes. The method is based on the treatment of liquid crystal aligning substrates with a collimated or partially collimated plasma beam. In one embodiment, the method comprises a step of bombarding an aligning substrate with at least one plasma beam from a plasma beam source at a designated incident angle to align the atomic/molecular structure or the surface profile of the aligning substrate in at least one aligned direction.
US07714956B2
A front-illuminating device of the present invention, which is placed over the entire surface of an object to be illuminated such as a reflection-type liquid crystal display device when it is used, is provided with a light source and a light-directing body. The light-directing body has an incident surface on which light from the light source (light-source light) is made incident, a first light-releasing surface for releasing the light toward the object to be illuminated, and a second light-releasing surface which faces the first light-releasing surface and releases reflected light from the object to be illuminated. The second light-releasing surface is formed into a step shape in which slanting portions and flat portions are alternately placed. The light source light, released from the first light-releasing surface to the object to be illuminated, is reflected by the object to be illuminated and the reflected light is allowed to reach the observer from the first light-releasing surface through the flat portions. In this case, among the light-source light rays, the light components progressing in parallel with the flat portions are reflected by the slanting portions and directed to the object to be illuminated. Consequently, the present invention makes it possible to provide a brighter front-illuminating device in which the efficiency of use of the light-source light is improved.
US07714952B2
A backlight assembly capable of reducing a frame size, and a liquid crystal display (LCD) apparatus having the backlight assembly is provided. The backlight assembly includes a bottom chassis having a receiving space, a lamp unit disposed at an edge portion of the receiving space, a light-guide plate disposed on the receiving space and an optical sheet. The lamp unit includes a light-emitting lamp a lamp cover covering a portion of the lamp and a sheet-fixing part that protrudes in an upward direction. The light-guide plate guides light from the lamp unit toward an upward direction. The optical sheet includes a fixing hole in which the sheet-fixing part is be inserted.
US07714949B2
A TFT LCD array substrate and manufacturing method thereof are provided. In the TFT LCD array substrate, a part of the drain electrode of the thin film transistor that is connected with the pixel electrode is overlapped with the common electrode that is formed to increase the storage capacity for the respective pixel area. The TFT LCD of the present invention increases the aperture ratio of the pixel area.
US07714948B2
An active matrix substrate includes a substrate, a TFT formed on the substrate, a storage capacitor element formed on the substrate, an interlayer insulating film covering the storage capacitor element, and a pixel electrode formed on the interlayer insulating film. The storage capacitor element includes a storage capacitor line, an insulating film formed on the storage capacitor line, and two or more storage capacitor electrodes opposed to the storage capacitor line with the insulating film interposed therebetween. The two or more storage capacitor electrodes are electrically connected via associated contact holes formed in the interlayer insulating film to the pixel electrode and electrically continuous with a drain electrode of the TFT.
US07714939B2
A method for reliability estimation of temporal noise estimation in a sequence of video frames. The temporal local differences from a difference between a previous frame and a next frame in the sequence of frames is determined. A distribution of the temporal local difference is determined. Characteristics values of the distribution are determined. The characteristics values are compared to the thresholds to obtain an indication of the reliability of the temporal noise estimation. If the estimated noise variance is determined as not reliable, it will be discarded and the previous estimated reliable noise variance will be used instead indicating the noise level of the current frame.
US07714938B2
A method for enhancing a video image by processing a video signal includes inputting a video signal and boosting color saturation or lightness of the video signal as a its hue gets closer to a secondary color, and/or shifting the hue of the video signal toward one or more secondary colors. This produces an enhancement of secondary color representation, for example by boosting cyan and yellow colors while not boosting primary colors.
US07714917B2
A pixel array includes a first photosensor for generating charge in response to applied light, a second photosensor for generating charge in response to applied light, and a first and second storage transistor having a common first storage gate respectively connected to said first and second photosensors for storing charge from said first and second photosensors in respective first and second storage regions.
US07714912B2
An intelligent imaging system, includes an image generator that projects multiple angle views of a user, a plurality of cameras for capturing a plurality of images of the user, an image processing unit, a style advisor, and a control mechanism.
US07714910B2
Clock time information displayable together with a corresponding image upon image playback display is recorded in a header field of an image file as EXIF data, and clock time information specific to a digital camera is recorded in a header field of the image file difference from the header field for the clock time information recorded as the EXIF data. Since the camera-specific time information is recorded in addition to the display time information, even if pictures are taken with a digital camera abroad where there is a difference in time after the display clock time is corrected or changed to the local time, images of the pictures can be playback-displayed in order of actual shooting based on the camera-specific time information.
US07714905B2
A digital camera such that the order of processing of image data recorded on a recording medium and a method of changing the order of processing of the recorded image data. When an image is recorded, information concerning image data is recorded in an image data management file as a management record of respective image data units. The image number of the images of which the order or processing is desired to be changed is determined, and a desired, processing order is determined. The management records after the image number are saved and the control record of the image to be processed is written in the control record position of the desired processing order. The saved control records are written in the control record positions in the desired order, and the written image numbers are rearranged in the ascending order.
US07714902B2
In a camera apparatus of the present invention, a phase difference sensor, which is normally used for automatic focusing operation, is effectively used to detect a flicker of the fluorescent light (S104), and it is judged whether the flicker has been detected or not (S105). When the flicker has been detected, gain No. (3) prepared for the fluorescent light is selected to be set to a gain control circuit at a time of a capture (S106). The infrared light is detected (S107) based on an output used from an infrared light sensor, which is provided for receiving an infrared-light code signal from a remote control unit, and it is judged whether the infrared light has been detected or not (S108) . When the infrared light has been detected, gain No. (4) prepared for the incandescent light is selected to be set to a gain control circuit (S109).
US07714897B2
The invention relates to a digital camera comprising at least a memory unit for saving pictures and a control unit that is adapted to control the operation of the camera and to form a trigger tone on the basis of the state of the camera. The trigger tone indicates the triggering of the camera and the current state of the camera. The invention also relates to a method and a computer program product for forming an information tone of a digital camera.
US07714895B2
An augmented reality system including a camera movably located at a local site captures an image. A registering unit generates graphics and registers the generated graphics to the image from the camera to provide a composite augmented reality image. A display device located at a remote site, physically separated from the local site, displays a view including the composite augmented reality image. A communication link communicates information between the local and the remote site. A specifying unit specifies a position and an orientation in the remote site. The registering unit is adapted to register the generated graphical representation to the image in dependence of the specified position and orientation. The camera is arranged such that its position and orientation is dependent on the specified position and orientation.
US07714891B2
An imaging apparatus includes an imaging section which captures an object to obtain a first image signal of interlace scan type, a motion vector detection section which detects a motion vector by use of the first image signal, a vibration correction section which corrects, according to the motion vector detected by the motion vector detection section, vibration of an object image included in the first image signal, and a conversion section which converts, according to the motion vector detected by the motion vector detection section, the first image signal to a second image signal of progressive scan type.
US07714885B2
An endoscope imaging apparatus includes an imaging unit in which an imaging optical unit that contains at least one optical lens in a rigid member the one end side of which is airtightly sealed is airtightly joined to an imaging element unit that contains at least one imaging element in a rigid member the one end side of which is airtightly sealed through a tubular member to which a bellows portion having an elastic force is formed.
US07714881B2
The present invention provides a method for reducing the visual impact of defects present in a matrix display comprising a plurality of pixels, said pixels comprising at least three sub-pixels, each sub-pixel intended for generating a sub-pixel color which cannot be obtained by a linear combination of the sub-pixel colors of the other sub-pixels of the pixel, the method comprising: providing a representation of a human vision system, characterizing at least one defect sub-pixel present in the display, the defect sub-pixel intended for generating a first sub-pixel color, the defect sub-pixel being surrounded by a plurality of non-defective sub-pixels, deriving drive signals for at least some of the plurality of non-defective sub pixels in accordance with the representation of the human vision system and the characterizing of the at least one defect sub-pixel, to thereby minimize an expected response of the human vision system to the defect sub-pixel, and driving at least some of the plurality of non-defective sub-pixels with the derived drive signals, wherein minimizing the response of the human vision system to the defect sub-pixel comprises changing the light output value of at least one non-defective sub-pixel for generating another sub-pixel color, said another sub-pixel color differing from said first sub-pixel color. The present invention also provides a corresponding system for reducing the visual impact of defects present in a matrix display, and a matrix display with reduced visual impact of defects present in the display.
US07714868B2
Apparatus and methods of selecting special characters in a mobile communication terminal are provided. The method includes storing a set of European alphabet letters in a memory, inputting an alphabet letter to be converted in a European alphabet letter, determining a mode conversion key has been activated, displaying a plurality of European alphabet letters corresponding to the inputted alphabet letter on a pop-up window when it is determined that the mode conversion key has been activated, wherein the European alphabet letters are read from the memory, and selecting a desired one of the displayed European alphabet letters.
US07714845B2
A touch panel includes a light-transmissible, piezoelectric substrate having a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface of the piezoelectric substrate, a first light transmissible, resistor layer provided on the first surface of the substrate, and a second light transmissible, resistor layer provided on the second surface of the substrate. A portion of the piezoelectric substrate, upon being pressed, has an electric resistance locally decreasing. The touch panel, even having a simple construction, can avoid reflections of external light and suppress a Newton's ring.
US07714844B2
An optical mouse employs an optical mouse controller and an optical mouse sensor. In operation, the optical mouse sensor generates an image sensing report signal indicative of a movement of the optical mouse over a surface of an object and communicates the image sensing report signal to the optical mouse controller based on a CPI resolution setting of the optical mouse sensor. To be responsive to varying applications, the optical mouse sensor detects a dynamic movement variable associated with the movement of the optical mouse over the surface of the object and controls a switching of the CPI resolution setting among at least two different CPI resolutions based on a detection of the dynamic movement variable.
US07714839B2
A mobile terminal is provided for use in a wireless communication system. The mobile terminal comprising a housing having an opening and a selective input device. The selective input device includes a hub secured in the opening in the housing such that at least a portion of the periphery of the hub extends from the housing. A capacitance layer is integral with the periphery of the hub. A resilient ring is movably disposed on the periphery of the hub and operatively connected with the capacitance layer for generating signals when the ring is moved relative to the hub. A controller is operably connected to the input device for receiving and processing the signals.
US07714834B2
A flat panel display, particularly a liquid crystal display has a front plate with a plate area defined by a plate perimeter, which is in turn defined by a first and second pair of parallel sides, the pairs of sides in perpendicular relationship to each other. An active display area providing a unitary visual display is located within the plate perimeter. In the invention, this active display area is divided into at least first and second display areas, a visual output of said first and second display areas being separately driven. In some embodiments, one or both of the display areas is subdivided into first and second subdisplay areas, with the visual output of the first and second subdisplay areas being separately driven.
US07714830B2
A display is backlit by a source having spatially modulated luminance to attenuate illumination of dark areas of images and increase the dynamic range of the display.
US07714829B2
A field sequential liquid crystal display maintains its white colour point through compensation values to at least one colour light emitting diode that illuminates the display. The compensation values may be impedances to control the current or pulsing of the current source according to a pulse width modulation technique. A degradation curve may be used to calculate extrapolate the theoretical forward voltage of the light emitting diode. Additional complexity arises from the need for calculating uptime for multiple light emitting diodes of different colours. Brightness levels may also be factored in.
US07714823B2
A liquid crystal display panel includes a first scan line, a second scan line, a data line, a first pixel and a second pixel. The first pixel has a first switch, a second switch and a first pixel electrode. The second pixel has a third switch and a second pixel electrode. The driving method of the liquid crystal display panel includes the following steps. During a first time period, the first scan line and the second scan line are enabled at the same time, and a first pixel voltage is inputted to the data line. During a second time period, the first scan line is enabled, the second scan line is disabled, and a second pixel voltage is inputted to the data line. The second time period is shorter than the first time period.
US07714812B2
A driving circuit comprising a reference-voltage circuit, an amplifier, an adjusting circuit, and a current-setting circuit. The reference-voltage circuit is used for generating a reference voltage. The amplifier comprises a first input terminal used for receiving the reference voltage, a second input terminal used for receiving feedback voltage from a load, and an output terminal used for outputting an output current to the load. The adjusting circuit is used for adjusting a voltage of the load when a resistance of the load changes. The current-setting circuit is used for setting a value of the output current based on the feedback voltage.
US07714807B2
A plasma display apparatus and a method of driving the same are disclosed. The plasma display apparatus includes a driver supplying a first signal and a second signal to a scan electrode during a reset period of at least one of a plurality of subfields of a frame. The first signal gradually rises from a first voltage to a second voltage with a first slope, and then falls from the second voltage to a third voltage with a second slope. The second signal rises from the third voltage to a fourth voltage, and then gradually rises from the fourth voltage to a fifth voltage with a third slope.
US07714805B2
Disclosed therein a method of driving a plasma display panel, which can improve display quality. The method is separately driven by a data driving period for supplying a driving waveform and a preliminary period for raising voltages for supplying the driving waveform up to a desired voltage, in order to display an image in each discharge cell, wherein a waveform supplied to electrodes during a sustain period of the data driving period is different from a waveform supplied to the electrodes during a sustain period of the preliminary period. The method does not create a sustain discharge during a sustain period and prevents an afterimage caused by a previous state when the PDP is turned on from being displayed, improving display quality. Moreover, charges within a discharge cell are eliminated by supplying a ground voltage to electrodes for 1 to 3 seconds, preferably 2 seconds, before a data driving waveform is supplied. Therefore, an afterimage is prevented from being displayed on the entire screen, and display quality can be improved.
US07714796B1
A hemispherical helical antenna employs a support frame assembly. The support frame assembly is configured to align and stabilize the turns of the helical antenna element above the ground plane. The support frame assembly includes a plurality of panels manufactured from a dielectric material. The panels are disposed at a fixed angular orientation that defines a central axis and form a series of supports for the element.
US07714794B2
An antenna particularly suitable for use in radio frequency identification (RFID) transponders. First and second half portions each include nominally straight conductive sections primarily defining a radiating characteristic and nominally spiral conductive sections creating a positive reactive characteristic of the antenna. The straight conductive sections have feed points for connecting the antenna into the RFID transponder, and further connect with the respective spiral conductive sections. The first and said second half portions characterize the antenna as being a dipole type, and adding an optional loop section connecting the straight conductive sections can further characterize it as being of a folded dipole type.
US07714793B2
A superior high-frequency magnetic material having a smaller ratio (μ″/μ′) of a real part μ′ of permeability and an imaginary part μ″ of permeability in a high-frequency region and an antenna system using thereof are provided. The high-frequency magnetic material includes a substrate and a composite magnetic film formed on the substrate and made of a magnetic phase forming a plurality of columnar bodies whose longitudinal direction is directed in a direction perpendicular to a surface of the substrate and an insulator phase filling gaps of the columnar bodies. The magnetic phase contains at least one of Nb, Zr, and Hf, and Fe and B, is amorphous, and has in-plane uniaxial anisotropy of Hk2/Hk1≧3 and Hk2≧3.98×103 A/m when a minimal anisotropic magnetic field in a plane parallel to the surface of the substrate is Hk1 and a maximal anisotropic magnetic field is Hk2.
US07714792B2
An array antenna with reflector(s) (AR) comprises i) an array (RS) of at least two feeds (S1-S5), including a central feed (S1), arranged and positioned so as to transmit and/or receive beams (F1-F5) in chosen directions, ii) beam-forming means responsible for controlling the amplitude and phase of each of the feeds by means of amplitude/phase laws applied to their ports and providing an appropriate amplification level, in order for each feed (S1-S5) to transmit a chosen radiation pattern (forming a beam and comprising a main lobe) intended to cover a chosen zone (Z1-Z5), and iii) at least one reflector (RC) provided with a surface (SU) specifically for reflecting the beams delivered by the feeds and/or intended for the latter, and shaped tree-dimensionally so as to reflect the beam delivered by each feed (S1-S5) by spreading its energy such that it covers the chosen associated zone, that the main lobe of the radiation pattern associated with the central feed (S1) defines a primary coverage (CP) fully including each active coverage zone (ZC1,ZC2) of the antenna (AR), of chosen shape and dimensions, and that the main lobe of the radiation pattern associated with each non-central feed (S2-S5) at least partially overlaps the primary cover (CP).
US07714786B2
An antenna device including a ground plane, a circuit board, an antenna, and a conductive wire is provided. The circuit board includes a signal feed point, and the antenna includes a radiation portion and a feed portion extending externally from the radiation portion. The feed portion is electrically connected to the signal feed point, and the conductive wire is disposed on the circuit board and electrically connected to the ground plane and the signal feed point. The conductive wire is, for example, a printed trace formed on the circuit board.
US07714781B2
A method and system for analog beamforming in wireless communication system, is provided. Analog beamforming coefficients are constructed by performing an iterative beam acquisition process based on beam search training, and determining optimized beamforming weighting coefficients based on the iterative beam acquisition process.
US07714780B2
A beamforming radio frequency (RF) circuit includes a plurality of antennas, a plurality of amplifiers and an adjust module. The plurality of antennas is operably coupled to interrelate a plurality of beamformed signal components with a beamformed signal. The plurality of amplifiers is operably coupled to interrelate the plurality of beamformed signal components with a plurality of adjusted signal components. The adjust module is operably coupled to interrelate coordinates of a signal with the plurality of adjusted signal components.
US07714756B2
The present invention discloses a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), including a bias voltage generating unit, a digital-to-analog converting stage, and an operating amplifier. The bias voltage generating unit is utilized for generating a first bias voltage. The digital-to-analog converting stage is utilized for converting a digital signal into a voltage signal, the digital-to-analog converting stage includes a current source for providing a current, and a switching unit is coupled to the current source for controlling the current to pass the switching unit according to the digital signal, and a load. The current flows through the load to generate the voltage signal. The operating amplifier is coupled to the bias voltage generating unit and the digital-to-analog converting stage for controlling the current source according to the first bias voltage.
US07714750B2
An audio processing circuit includes a clock synthesizer, a clock divider, a digital interpolator module, a sampling rate converter and a digital-to-analog converter. The clock synthesizer generates a base clock signal according to a sampling clock signal and a first reference clock signal. The clock divider generates a multiple frequency clock signal according to the base clock signal. The digital interpolator module interpolates a digital audio data according to the multiple frequency clock signal. The sampling rate converter processes the interpolated digital audio data into a re-sampled digital audio data according to the multiple frequency clock signal and a second reference clock signal. The digital-to-analog converter is coupled to the sampling rate converter for converting the re-sampled digital audio data into an analog audio signal according to the second reference clock signal.
US07714740B2
A digital monitoring device for monitoring an analog gauge including a pointer, the digital monitoring device comprising: a pixilated optical sensor array for mounting over the analog gauge to generate a digital signal corresponding to movement of the pointer; an image processing means for reading the pointer of the analog gauge from the electrical signals from the pixilated array, and an alert output for outputting an alert corresponding to pointer exceeding acceptable boundaries.
US07714733B2
A hazard alarm system includes a hazard alarm notification appliance, and a warning detector which detects a warning alert message from an external source (such as a governmental organization). The hazard alarm system processes the warning alert message and issues an alarm system alert via the notification appliance. In issuing the alarm system alert, the hazard alarm system determines whether, how, what, where, and/or when to issue the alarm system alert using the notification appliance.
US07714729B2
Enhanced product tracking, in which a data collection interface is established between a first supply management device and a transaction database, the data collection interface providing the transaction database with access to identification data and event data, the identification data uniquely identifying a pharmaceutical, and the event data relating to a supply chain process step for the pharmaceutical. Tracking also includes receiving a tracking request for formatted identification data and/or event data from a second supply management device; and establishing a data conversion interface between the second supply management device and the identification data and/or the event data, the data conversion interface providing the second supply management device with access to the identification data and/or the event data, according to the tracking request.
US07714728B2
Systems, methods, and devices for using body-worn RFID tags related instrumentation located in the premises where a monitored person is located to prevent or detect specific types of movements of the person, such as falls from which the person has not recovered, wandering, bed egress, attempted room egress, and medication errors. The body-worn RFID tags may include an upper body RFID tag located in a wrist band and a lower body RFID tag located in a sock worn by the monitored person. The RFID instrumentation located in the premises may include one or more antennas located in the floor, door, bed frame, and mattress. The systems may also activate response actions upon detecting specified movements, such as sending an alert message to a patient monitoring system, activating an alarm, activating an camera, and/or playing a recorded message to the person.
US07714726B2
A “semi-transparent” antenna and Radio Frequency (RF) device implementing the same. The semi-transparent antenna gathers some of the RF energy in a carrier signal, but most of the energy in the RF wave does not couple into the antenna. Accordingly, because the antenna minimally affects the electromagnetic RF fields surrounding the antenna even in the vicinity of the antenna, assemblies of objects carrying the RF devices can be formed while maintaining acceptable communications with the RF devices.
US07714719B2
A system, device, and method for monitoring an uncontrolled area around a mobile object uses a distributed antenna, which can be a leaky coaxial cable, enclosing its perimeter. A field disturbance sensor, such as a microwave sensor, detects an intruder entering a protected area defined by field of the antenna. An alarm signal is sent to a wireless transceiver for transmission of an alarm event to a remote station. A biometric sensor, such as a passive infrared heat detector, can be used in conjunction with the field disturbance sensor to reduce possible false alarms. Identification of a legitimate alarm may alternatively be verified with video images obtained near an area of interest in proximity to the mobile object, which may be forwarded by the wireless transceiver to a remote station for analysis.
US07714713B2
A relay apparatus for relaying communication between a water heater main body and a radio remote control unit, comprising: a switch section for setting an address of the radio remote control unit; a control section for establishing communication with the water heater main body and commanding and controlling to read out maintenance information stored in the water heater main body assuming that input information at the switch section is a request from the radio remote control unit having an address which was set by operation of the switch section; and a display section for displaying the maintenance information received from the water heater main body.
US07714709B1
A plug-in module providing the functionality of a covert alarm and locator apparatus allows the module to be moved between various articles of footwear or other apparel, as desired, and it allows the module to be used for additional purposes, such as pet monitoring, or the inclusion within a golfer's glove having a display which shows the distance to the pin on a particular course. By modularizing the circuitry, it is fast, easy, and inexpensive for a parent to replace a child's footwear when the child needs a larger size. Further, there is no need to have numerous cellular phone or monitoring subscriptions, as they are all tied to a single, moveable module. In addition, traditional competitive apparel manufacturers can each supply units capable of receiving the module on a competitive basis, thereby extending the user's purchase and style options while still providing the benefits of having a covert alarm and locator apparatus, as described.
US07714708B2
Smart cargo container system comprising auditable, secure, sealable, stackable, trackable and pollable, universal, “pallet boxes” used: 1) auto-latchingly secured to the under-carriage transverse I-beams of over-the-road semi-trailers by means of a guiding latching system; and 2) stackable, up to three or more high, in the trailers or warehouses. Sophisticated battery-powered electronic locks, sensors and alarms are provided, as well as an RF communications and GPS locator module that radios to a base station the time, location and status of the inventive smart cargo container, and any anomalous events as they occur, including unauthorized attempts to open or break into the container, or potential damage events. In addition, both the locks and comm modules are programmable, and provide extensive, and selectably pollable and downloadable event, access and transport history and audit trails. The comm system permits remote tracking and real time status check via the Internet, LAN or WAN wireless networks.
US07714704B1
A removable video safety system for a moving vehicle comprising: a display device and a video device, both adapted to be removably mounted on the moving vehicle, and an audio device in proximity to the display device. The video device and audio device are in communication with the display device. Computer instructions and data storage in the display device instruct a processor to receive a video stream from the video device, display the video stream on the display device, prevent operation of the audio device while the display device is not displaying the video stream, and permit operation of the audio device while the display device is displaying the video stream.
US07714692B2
A thermal overload trip apparatus capable of minimizing inferiority caused by variations during manufacturing of an adjusting means and simply adjusting sensitivity by duplicating the means for adjusting a sensitivity to a trip operation current, comprising: a trip mechanism driven to a trip position by a driving force from a shifter mechanism on occurrence of an overload in a circuit; a release lever mechanism for driving the trip mechanism to the trip position by pressing it when there is the driving force from the shifter mechanism or for releasing the trip mechanism when there is no driving force, on occurrence of the overload in the circuit; an adjusting lever for operating the release lever mechanism to be horizontally moved by rotation; an adjusting knob having an upper surface having a setting groove and a lower portion having a cam portion; and a means independently adjusting the sensitivity to the trip operation current regardless of manipulation of the adjusting knob.
US07714690B2
A coil component has a first coil part and a second coil part, a middle member, and a shield member. Each of the first and second coil parts includes a drum core and a winding. The middle member is located between the first and second coil parts arranged in a state in which axes of winding drums in the respective first and second coil parts are parallel to each other. The shield member is formed at least in part of an outside surface of the winding in each of the first and second coil parts and is a resin containing a magnetic material powder. The magnetic permeability of the middle member is lower than that of the core and the shield member.
US07714687B2
In a transformer including a coil part having a first bobbin to which a coil is mounted, a second bobbin to be fitted to the first bobbin combined to each other, the coil part being sandwiched between magnetic cores from above and below, the first bobbin includes at least one lead drawing through holes on a periphery on the inner peripheral side of a coil mounting surface, and at least one of coil-drawn-leads of the coil is drawn through the lead drawing through hole. With this transformer, coming out of the coil-drawn-lead, displacement, and erroneous wiring are prevented, and hence the inserting capability of the coil is improved. Therefore, the workability is remarkably improved, and hence a product which is low in price can be provided.
US07714686B2
The invention relates to an air-cooled frequency converter, especially for construction site equipment, such as internal and external vibrators which are operated at a higher frequency than the existing electricity supply, said frequency converter comprising a housing and preferably being connected to a separation transformer for producing a protective extra-low voltage. The housing is divided into a converter receiving element surrounding a plate chamber, and a housing section connected to the receiving element and used as a cooling region, inside which cooling air channels and a fan for conveying the cooling air through the cooling air channels are arranged. The configuration of the housing in the cooling region are created by annular profiled elements which are cross-cut as desired, surround each other in an interspaced manner, and are coaxially arranged in relation to each other.
US07714684B2
Disclosed is an acoustic resonator that includes a substrate, a first electrode, a layer of piezoelectric material, a second electrode, and an alternating frame region. The first electrode is adjacent the substrate, and the first electrode has an outer perimeter. The piezoelectric layer is adjacent the first electrode. The second electrode is adjacent the piezoelectric layer and the second electrode has an outer perimeter. The alternating frame region is on one of the first and second electrodes.
US07714676B2
An embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus, comprising an RF matching network connected to at least one RF input port and at least one RF output port and including one or more voltage or current controlled variable reactive elements and wherein the RF matching network is adapted to maximize RF power transferred from the at least one RF input port to the at least one RF output port by varying the voltage or current to the voltage or current controlled variable reactive elements to maximize the RF voltage at the at least one RF output port. The variable reactive elements may be variable capacitances, variable inductances, or both.
US07714662B2
Disclosed are a multiband output impedance matching circuit having passive devices, an amplifier including a multiband input impedance matching circuit having passive devices, and an amplifier including a multiband input/output impedance matching circuit having passive devices, which can be miniaturized without a separate output terminal buffer and reduce current consumption by using the passive devices.
US07714659B2
Embodiments of the invention show a bias circuit for providing a biasing signal at a bias connection. The bias circuit includes a bias transistor and a feedback node, wherein the feedback node is coupled to a control terminal of the bias transistor via a first impedance element. The feedback node is furthermore coupled to the bias connection via a second impedance element. The control terminal of the bias transistor is coupled to the bias connection via a bypass-coupling path, which bypasses the first impedance element and the second impedance element, such that there is a feedback path via the bypass-coupling path and via the bias transistor from the bias connection to the feedback node.
US07714651B2
A rail-to-rail amplifier is provided. The rail-to-rail amplifier includes a p-type differential pair, an n-type differential pair, switches, and an output stage. The switches are arranged to selectively couple either the p-type differential pair or the n-type differential pair to the output stage so that only one of the differential pairs is coupled to the output stage at a time.
US07714650B2
Method and device for performing offset cancellation in an amplifier using floating-gate transistors
An operational amplifier including: a differential pair of transistors coupled to a pair of input signals; and a pair of floating-gate transistors coupled to the differential pair of transistors, wherein the pair of floating-gate transistors are operable for reducing an offset voltage of the operational amplifier.
US07714647B2
A multi-mode power amplifier and an electronic device including the amplifier are described.
US07714642B2
The present invention provides an integrated virtual voltage circuit for use with a sub-circuit. In one embodiment, the integrated virtual voltage circuit includes a MOS transistor switch coupled to a supply voltage and configured to employ a drain to provide an operating voltage for the sub-circuit during switch activation. Additionally, the integrated virtual voltage circuit also includes a connection unit coupled to the MOS transistor switch and configured to provide a standby voltage for the sub-circuit during deactivation of the MOS transistor switch wherein the standby voltage is based on a static coupling of the drain to a body region of the MOS transistor switch. In an alternative embodiment, the connection unit is further configured to connect a voltage reference between the supply voltage and the drain of the MOS transistor switch to determine the standby voltage.
US07714641B2
A voltage regulator arrangement having a first voltage regulator, whose input connection is connected to the supply potential connection and whose output connection is connected to a first supply potential connection of a circuit arrangement, with the first voltage regulator supplying the circuit arrangement with a supply voltage in a rest state. A second voltage regulator is also provided, whose input connection is connected to the supply potential connection, and whose output connection is connected to a second supply potential connection of the circuit arrangement, with the second voltage regulator supplying the circuit arrangement with a supply voltage during its normal operation.
US07714636B2
A charge pump cell with an input and output nodes includes a first, second, and third equalization units, and a first, second, and third capacitors. The input node is coupled to the inputs of the first, second and third equalization units, and the output node is coupled to the second equalization unit. One end of the second capacitor is coupled to the control end of the first equalization unit for enabling or disabling the first equalization unit, and also coupled to the output of the third equalization unit. One end of the third capacitor is coupled to the output of the second equalization unit. One end of the first capacitor is coupled to the control ends of the second and third equalization units, and also coupled to the output of the first equalization unit.
US07714629B2
A delay circuit includes an interface for giving a command of setting a delay time and a delay device that can be set to any desired delay time, and the delay time of the delay device is set according to a command from the interface.
US07714621B2
An input signal detecting circuit includes a plurality of comparators configured to output a plurality of differential output signals in response to a differential input signal, respectively; and a differential exclusive OR circuit configured to output an exclusive OR resultant signal from the plurality of differential output signals outputted from the plurality of comparators. In at least one of the plurality of comparators, a DC operation voltage is changed in response to a control signal supplied to the comparator.
US07714610B2
Field Programmable Logic Arrays (FPGAs) are described which utilize multiple power supply voltages to reduce both dynamic power and leakage power without sacrificing speed or substantially increasing device area. Power reduction mechanisms are described for numerous portions of the FPGA, including logic blocks, routing circuits, connection blocks, switch blocks, configuration memory cells, and so forth. Embodiments describe circuits and methods for implementing multiple supplies as sources of Vdd, multiple voltage thresholding Vt, signal level translators, and power gating of circuitry to deactivate portions of the circuit which are inactive. The supply voltage levels can be fixed, or programmable. Methods are described for performing circuit CAD in the routing and assignment process on FPGAs, in particular for optimizing FPGA use having the power reduction circuits taught. Routing methods describe utilizing slack timing, power sensitivity, trace-based simulations, and other techniques to optimize circuit utilization on a multi Vdd FPGA.
US07714607B2
A resistor circuit includes n-stage unit circuits, each of which includes a first resistor element provided between first and second terminals, a first disconnection element provided between the second and third terminals, and a second disconnection element and a second resistor element provided in series between the second and fourth terminals. The first terminal of each of the n-stage unit circuits is connected with a first interconnect, the fourth terminal of each of the n-stage unit circuits is connected with a second interconnect, the third terminal of the first-stage unit circuit is connected with a third interconnect, and the third terminal of the mth-stage unit circuit is connected with the second terminal of the (m−1)th-stage unit circuit.
US07714606B2
A plurality of MOS transistors each having an SOI structure includes, in mixed form, those brought into body floating and whose body voltages are fixed and variably set. When a high-speed operation is expected in a logic circuit in which operating power is relatively a low voltage and a switching operation is principally performed, body floating may be adopted. Body voltage fixing may be adopted in an analog system circuit that essentially dislikes a kink phenomenon of a current-voltage characteristic. Body bias variable control may be adopted in a logic circuit that requires the speedup of operation in an active state and needs low power consumption in a standby state. Providing in mixed form the transistors which are subjected to the body floating and the body voltage fixing and which are variably controlled in body voltage, makes it easier to adopt an accurate body bias according to a circuit function and a circuit configuration in terms of the speedup of operation and the low power consumption.
US07714594B2
A current detection printed board includes: a board having a penetration hole that penetrates the board; and at least one wire that is formed in a coiled shape having both ends by penetrating the board along the periphery of the penetration hole and alternately connecting a front surface layer and a rear surface layer of the board, wherein, when a conductor, in which an AC current flows, is disposed to pass through the inside of the penetration hole, a current flowing in the wire is output through electromagnetic induction.
US07714574B2
A superconducting magnet includes: a superconducting coil for generating a static magnetic field; a refrigerant container for containing the superconducting coil and a refrigerant; a vacuum container for holding the refrigerant container in a vacuum state; a radiation shield between the refrigerant container and the vacuum container; a refrigerator for re-liquidfying the refrigerant; and a dynamic magnetic field shield. The refrigerator includes: first and second regenerative refrigerants. The dynamic magnetic field shield is an electric good conductor and arranged around the first regenerative refrigerant along a motion axis of the first regenerative refrigerant, wherein a direction of the motion axis is aligned with a direction of a magnetic force line of the static magnetic field at the first regenerative refrigerant.
US07714573B2
An instrument for investigating properties of an earth formation includes a body housing a nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) probe, the probe having at least one coil wound around a core material and an electronics coupling, the body being adapted for insertion into a wellbore within the earth formation. A method and computer program product are provided.
US07714570B2
Methods and apparatus for a sensor include a signal generation module including a first magnetic sensor to generate a first waveform in the form of a sine wave and a second magnetic sensor to generate a second waveform in the form of a cosine wave, the first and second waveforms containing angular position information of a magnet in relation to the first and second magnetic sensors, and an analog signal processing module for providing an algebraic manipulation of the first waveform and the second waveform to generate a linear position output voltage signal.
US07714565B2
According to the methods of the invention, a further delayed DLL signal is compared to the reference clock and a delayed reference clock signal is compared to a DLL signal. These two comparisons are performed on the 360° signal and on the 180° signal. The delay introduced by the methods of the invention is preferably adjustable based on the results of a process monitor test. The process monitor test can be run continuously and accounts for process, voltage and temperature. The methods of the invention can also be used to test for clock skew in a clock tree on a chip.
US07714564B2
A measurement technique that provides a full solution to the gated local oscillator sweep measurement and improves the accuracy of signal analyzers in gated sweep mode by pre-sweeping the local oscillator at the beginning of a gate pulse and over-sweeping the local oscillator at the end of each gate pulse.
US07714557B2
According to an embodiment, a DC-DC converter comprises: an error amplifier that receives a soft start signal and amplifies a difference between an output voltage signal and a reference voltage signal; a PWM control circuit that controls ON and OFF states of a first switching transistor and a second switching transistor based on the output of the error amplifier; a frequency divider that divides a frequency signal and outputting a divided frequency signal; an accumulator that performs an adding operation based on the divided frequency signal and a control signal; and a DA converter that generates the soft start signal based on an output of the accumulator.
US07714542B2
A battery unit having at least two pouch type secondary battery cells and a single safety device serving each cell in the battery unit. Each individual battery or cell body fits into a space within a casing. The battery unit may use one or more casings. The battery cells are arranged such that the terminals of different battery cells are located near the terminals of other battery cells within the unit. These terminals are connected to the safety device. The safety device may be a safety circuit board that is positioned in a space within the battery unit so that the battery unit does not consume any more space than when no safety circuit board is used.
US07714539B2
A plurality of discharge resistors Rd1 to Rdn having different resistance values is provided. A CPU 72 selects one from a plurality of unit cells B1 to B16 as a connection cell and selects one resistance value according to a voltage across the connection cell from the plurality of resistance values. The CPU 72 turns on/off a cell selecting switch group 2, a polarity reversing switch group 3 and a discharge resistor selecting switch group 5 and connects the connection cell to the discharge resistor having the selected resistance value to discharge stored electric charge of the connection cell, thereby equalizing the respective voltages across the unit cells.
US07714529B2
A low-cost sine-wave drive for a 3-phase permanent magnet synchronous AC machines (PMSM) in open-loop control is based on the measurements of two linear Hall sensors. The two Hall sensors are excited by a magnetic ring with the same pole number as the PMSM rotor magnet and sinusoidal flux distributions. The output signals of the Hall sensors are unified through a two-phase-type phase-lock-loop in order to reduce the impact of the sensor mounting non-uniformity during mass production. The peak torque and speed of motor is simply controlled by adjusting the amplitude of pulse-width-modulation carrier. Smooth torque control is achieved due to sinusoidal 3-phase currents. Such a simple sine-wave drive can be achieved with or without the assistance of a micro-controller unit (MCU). No current sensor is required for the motor phase current detection. This motor can be used in industrial applications where there is no strict requirement on torque response and constant speed control of PMSM machines.
US07714527B2
The garbage container, having a simple structure, a reliable performance, and being easy to install and cost effective, includes a container body, an infrared induction device, a movable cover automatically opened through infrared induction device, an infrared induction device, an automatic cover-opening device connected with the control unit, an output shaft of the driving motor connected with a cable-collecting wheel via a first set of reduction gears. One end of the cable is fixed to the cable-collecting wheel while the other end of the cable is connected with the cover. An output shaft of the cable-collecting wheel is connected with a cam via a second set of reduction gears. The protruding part of the cam is rotated to contact a cover-opening stroke switch and a cover-closing stroke switch respectively. The cover-opening stroke switch and the cover-closing stroke switch are connected respectively with the control unit through a data line.
US07714521B2
This invention provides an improved digital luminance controlling system, which can control the luminous intensity of an illuminating apparatus by choosing the number of the ignited luminaries. It optimizes the number of the ignited luminaries according to the different contribution rate of each luminary to the general luminous intensity to reduce the power consumption. By properly adjusting the sampling frequency of the luminous intensity of the circumstance, this invention could decrease the operating frequency of the luminance controlling system, thereby to further reduce the power consumption. This invention also provides a analog type of the luminance controlling system, which consists of a optical sensing apparatus, a analog type of the luminance controlling apparatus and a set of optical source and can realize a real time luminance adjustment, to reduce the power consumption.
US07714520B2
An LED driver circuit includes a power controller, a voltage regulator, a detecting resistor, a light emitting device, and a voltage detecting circuit. The voltage detecting circuit has a first input end connected to a higher potential end of the detecting resistor, and a second input end thereof is connected to a lower potential end of the detecting resistor. The output end of the voltage detecting circuit is connected to a feedback end of the power controller so as to output a detected voltage signal to the power controller for adjusting the output voltage and supplying a stable and proper value of current to the light emitting device. The voltage detecting circuit is a differential amplifier capable of detecting the voltage difference between the detecting resistor and amplifying it as a feedback to the power controller. Therefore, the output current from the power controller is precisely controlled.
US07714517B2
A backlight system for use in an LCD display with a driver providing current sink control includes an LED array module, a current feedback circuit, and a current compensation circuit. The LED array module has N columns of LEDs and each LED column has M LEDs connected in serial, wherein the current feedback circuit includes N current feedback units and the current compensation circuit includes N current compensation units, both of the current feedback circuit and the current compensation circuit being electrically coupled to the LED array module. When the backlight system is in operation, a current passes through an LED column, a current feedback unit, and a current compensation unit to generate an output voltage that is used for comparison with a predetermined DC voltage, and the current is compensated based on the results of the comparison.
US07714510B2
A plasma display apparatus is provided that includes a front substrate, a plurality of first and second electrodes formed on the front substrate, a rear substrate that is faced with the front substrate, a plurality of third electrodes formed on the rear substrate, and a discharge cell that is disposed where the first, and second electrodes intersect with the third electrode, wherein at least one of the plurality of the first and second electrodes is formed with one layer, wherein a thickness of at least one of the plurality of the first and second electrodes ranges from 3 μm to 7 μm. By removing the transparent electrode consisting of ITO, the manufacturing cost of the plasma display panel may be reduced. Further, by forming projecting electrodes protruded to the opposite direction of the center of the discharge cell or in the direction of the center of the discharge cell from the sustain electrode line or the scan electrode, the firing voltage may be lowered, and the discharge diffusion efficiency in the discharge cell increased.
US07714506B2
An organic electroluminescence display device is disclosed wherein plural organic electroluminescence elements each having an anode, a cathode and an organic layer sandwiched in between the anode and the cathode, the plural organic electroluminescence elements including organic electroluminescence elements developing different colors in a row direction, and at least one of the organic layers having an outer edge of a conic section at an end portion in a column direction thereof, the outer edge of the conic section becoming narrower gradually in its width in a row direction of vapor deposition thereof toward an extreme end at an end portion in a column direction thereof. The organic electroluminescence display device can improve the vapor deposition accuracy and the degree of design freedom.
US07714505B2
An object of the present invention is to provide an EL element, which is with a problem of the EL layer deterioration caused at the time of forming a cathode layer on an EL layer resolved, and without the decline of the original functions; and a production method suitable for producing such an EL element. The object has been achieved by providing an EL element having a lamination structure with an anode layer, an EL layer, a charge transporting protection layer and a cathode layer formed in this order on a substrate, and by using a hole transporting material such as TPD for the charge transporting protection layer.
US07714503B2
An organic electroluminescent panel includes several sub-pixels. The sub-pixels include at least one first electrode; at least one shadow wall formed at the periphery of the first electrode; at least one first common layer formed on the first electrode; several emission layers independently formed on the first common layer; at least one second common layer formed on the emission layers; and at least one second electrode formed on the second common layer. During the fabricating process, the first, second, and third color evaporation sources are provided independently for forming the first, second, and third color emission layers on the corresponding region of first electrode. The tilt directions of three color evaporation sources and the evaporation angles between the evaporation source and the substrate surface are determined according to the positions and heights of the shadow walls.
US07714482B2
An ultrasonic sensor is disclosed. The ultrasonic sensor includes a plurality of sensor elements arranged in an array. Each sensor element includes an ultrasonic sensing element and an acoustic matching member. The ultrasonic sensor further includes a bonding member having a thickness approximately equal to a space interval between adjacent ultrasonic sensing elements. The bonding member adhesively fixes the plurality of sensor elements, and includes a portion contacting each ultrasonic sensing element. An elastic modulus of the portion is smaller than that of each ultrasonic sensing element.
US07714481B2
An ultrasonic treatment apparatus includes an ultrasonic transducer that generates ultrasonic vibrations, a probe that includes a proximal end connected with the ultrasonic transducer, and transmits ultrasonic vibrations generated by the ultrasonic transducer from the proximal end to a distal end thereof, and a treatment portion that is formed at the distal end of the probe, and utilizes the transmitted ultrasonic vibrations to treat a living tissue. The treatment portion includes two or more protrusions.
US07714477B2
In a stator core support structure in a conventional rotating electric machine, it has been difficult to set the circumferential and radial stiffnesses with which elastic bars support a stator core, to appropriate values in view of a relationship between transmission of torque and vibration prevention. In order to solve the above problem, sectional shape of elastic support bars is formed as rectangular, elliptic, rhombic or the like, and accordingly, the ratio between circumferential and radial stiffness of the elastic support bars can be changed.
US07714475B2
In a multiple phase claw pole type motor which includes: a plurality of claw poles including a claw portion extending in an axial direction and having a magnetic pole surface facing a rotor in a state of being separated from the rotor by a small gap, a radial yoke portion extending radially outwardly from this claw portion, and an outer peripheral yoke extending from this radial yoke portion in the same direction as the direction of extension of the claw portion; a stator core formed by alternately placing the claw poles in a circumferential direction so that a distal end of each claw portion faces the outer peripheral yoke of an adjacent one of the claw poles; and a stator constructed by sandwiching an annular coil with the adjacent claw poles of this stator core, a multiple phase claw pole type motor characterized in that the claw poles are formed by compacting a magnetic powder and are formed of a magnetic compact having a DC magnetizing property of its flux density becoming 1.7 teslas or more when 10000 A/m of magnetic field is applied.
US07714473B2
The present invention provides an electrical machine 1 with reduced cogging. The magnet poles 3 of the electrical machine are comprised of at least two separate groups of at least two circumferentially adjacent magnet poles. One of the circumferentially outer magnet poles 3 in one of the groups of magnet poles is defined as being in its reference position. The reference position of each other magnet pole 3 is defined as the position each other magnet pole would occupy if all the magnet poles were equally circumferentially spaced around the first or second body and the one circumferentially outer pole was in its reference position. At least one of the circumferentially outer magnet poles 3 in each group is sited in its reference position. At least one magnet pole 3 in each group is a displaced magnet pole and is sited in a position that is displaced from its reference position by an amount that is not equal to an integral multiple of the reference angular pitch of the winding slots. The displacement of the magnet poles 3 provides a pronounced reduction in cogging.
US07714456B1
A road vehicle actuated energy device for use in a path of a vehicle includes an actuator for transverse disposal in a cavity of a road across the path of the vehicle, wherein the actuator includes a bent member having a first end and a second end and when so disposed in the road the first end moves between a first position above the road and a second position below the first position, a rotatable drive shaft, a one-way clutch ring operably connected to the second end of the bent member wherein the one-way clutch ring has an inner opening configured to receive the drive shaft therethrough and engage the drive shaft in a manner to cause one-way rotation thereof when the first end is moved from the first position to the second position and freely releases the drive shaft when moving from the second position to the first position and an energy generator operably connected to the drive shaft in a manner to generate energy upon rotation of the drive shaft.
US07714455B2
Provided are semiconductor packages and methods of fabricating the same. An exemplary semiconductor package includes a die pad including a dimple filled with an insulating material in an upper surface or a lower surface thereof. A semiconductor chip is mounted on the upper surface of the first die pad. A package body encapsulates the first die pad and the first semiconductor chip and includes a pinhole. A bottom surface of the pinhole terminates at the insulating material.
US07714453B2
Apparatuses, methods, and systems for improved integrated circuit packages are described. An integrated circuit (IC) package includes a substrate having opposing first and second surfaces, an IC die, a plurality of conductive elements, and an encapsulating material. The substrate has a plurality of contact pads on the first surface that are electrically coupled to a plurality of electrically conductive features on the second surface. The plurality of conductive elements is formed on the first surface of the substrate. The IC die is located on the first surface of the substrate. The encapsulating material encapsulates the IC die and a portion of each element of the plurality of conductive elements.
US07714450B2
An integrated circuit includes a first die and a second die positioned in a package. The first die has a redistribution layer formed on the die and including a plurality of relocated bond pads. The relocated bond pads are positioned near an inner edge of the first die that is adjacent to an inner edge of the second die. Each relocated bond pad is coupled to a corresponding bond pad on the second die through a respective bonding wire. The first die further includes a plurality of original bond pads. The redistribution layer further includes at least one intermediate bond pad electrically interconnected through a respective conductive trace to a corresponding original bond pad. Each intermediate bond pad is electrically connected to a corresponding relocated bond pad through a respective bond wire.
US07714444B2
The present invention provides a conductive resin composition for connecting electrodes electrically, in which metal particles are dispersed in a flowing medium, wherein the flowing medium includes a first flowing medium that has relatively high wettability with the metal particles and a second flowing medium that has relatively low wettability with the metal particles, and the first flowing medium and the second flowing medium are dispersed in a state of being incompatible with each other. Thereby, a flip chip packaging method that can be applied to flip chip packaging of LSI and has high productivity and high reliability is provided.
US07714438B2
Molecular systems are provided for electric field activated switches, such as a crossed-wire device or a pair of electrodes to which the molecular system is linked by linking moieties. The crossed-wire device comprises a pair of crossed wires that form a junction where one wire crosses another at an angle other than zero degrees and at least one connector species connecting the pair of crossed wires in the junction. The connector species comprises the molecular system, which has an electric field induced band gap change, and thus a change in its electrical conductivity, that occurs via one of the following mechanisms: (1) molecular conformation change; (2) change of extended conjugation via chemical bonding change to change the band gap; or (3) molecular folding or stretching. Nanometer-scale reversible electronic switches are thus provided that can be assembled easily to make cross-bar circuits, which provide memory, logic, and communication functions.
US07714437B2
A semiconductor device includes a rigid substrate, a flexible solid-state image sensor and bumps. The bumps are aligned along a pair of opposing edges of the rigid substrate, and the diameter of the bumps gradually increases from the center to the ends of the edges. Owing to the difference in diameter of the bumps, the solid-state image sensor is curved convexly to the rigid substrate.
US07714431B1
A method of forming an electronic component package includes coupling a first surface of an electronic component to a first surface of a first dielectric strip, the electronic component comprising bond pads on the first surface; forming first via apertures through the first dielectric strip to expose the bond pads; and filling the first via apertures with an electrically conductive material to form first vias electrically coupled to the bond pads. The bond pads are directly connected to the corresponding first vias without the use of a solder and without the need to form a solder wetting layer on the bond pads.
US07714428B2
A high power semiconductor package includes a substrate including a base metal layer, a base insulation layer formed on the base metal layer, and a plurality of conductive patterns formed on the base insulation layer. In one embodiment one or more high power semiconductor chips are mounted on the substrate, each including a plurality of bonding pads, one or more first package leads having end portions that are electrically connected to the corresponding conductive patterns, and a second lead having an end portion electrically which may be connected to either the base insulation layer or the base metal layer.
US07714426B1
Layers suitable for stacking in three dimensional, multi-layer modules are formed by interconnecting a ball grid array electronic package to an interposer layer which routes electronic signals to an access plane. The layers are under-filled and may be bonded together to form a stack of layers. The leads on the access plane are interconnected among layers to form a high-density electronic package.
US07714424B2
Corresponding parts to a first path portion in a first signal transmission path to a first semiconductor chip are an interconnection member and a second path portion a second signal transmission path to a second semiconductor chip and are not formed on the first tape. An electric length of the second signal transmission path is allowed to be adjusted independently of the first tape, so that the electric length of the second signal transmission path can be easily made equal to or substantially equal to that of the first signal transmission path.
US07714414B2
In one embodiment, the disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for surface recovery of a polymer insulation layer through implantation. The method includes providing a substrate having thereon a conductive pad and an insulation layer, optionally processing the conductive pad to remove oxide layer formed on the conductive pad and conducting ion implantation to recover dielectric properties of the insulation layer.
US07714410B2
A semiconductor device includes: a semiconductor substrate that has an integrated circuit and an electrode, the electrode being electrically coupled to the integrated circuit; a resin layer that is formed on the semiconductor substrate, the resin layer having an upper surface and a lower surface, the upper surface and the lower surface opposing each other, the lower surface facing the substrate; and a spiral inductor that is formed on the upper surface of the resin layer with a spiral wiring line, the spiral inductor being electrically coupled to the electrode. The wiring line has both ends in a width direction intersecting an axial line spirally extending and a mid-portion between the both ends. At least a part of the mid-portion makes contact with the upper surface of the resin layer, and at least the both ends are positioned apart from the upper surface of the resin layer.
US07714409B2
A semiconductor device 1 includes a semiconductor chip 10. Each of the semiconductor chips 10 includes a semiconductor substrate 12, a semiconductor layer 14 and an interconnect layer 16. The semiconductor substrate 12 has a specific resistance ρ1 (first specific resistance). A semiconductor layer 14 is provided on the semiconductor substrate 12. Such semiconductor layer 14 exhibits a specific resistance ρ2 (second specific resistance). The relationship of these specific resistances is: ρ2<ρ1. The interconnect layer 16 is provided on the semiconductor layer 14. An inductor 18 for transmitting and receiving signals with an external element outside the semiconductor chip 10 is provided in the interconnect layer 16.
US07714399B2
A magnetic memory element includes a laminated construction of an electrode, a first pinned layer, a first intermediate layer, a first memory layer, a second intermediate layer, a second memory layer, a third intermediate layer, a second pinned layer and electrode. The magnetization direction of the first memory layer takes a first and a second directions and that of the second memory layer takes a third and a fourth directions corresponding to a value and polarity of a current between the electrodes. In response to the current, the second intermediate layer has an electric resistance higher than the first intermediate layer and than the third intermediate layer.
US07714389B2
A semiconductor device includes a pair of transistors formed in a first conductive type semiconductor substrate. Each of the transistors contains a collector region of a second conductive type, opposite to the first conductive type, formed in the semiconductor substrate, a base region of the first conductive type formed in the collector region, and an emitter region of the second conductive type formed in the base region, the collector region of one transistor of the pair of transistors being separated from that of the other transistor. The semiconductor device further includes a first region of the first conductive type formed between the collector regions of the pair of transistors, and a buried layer of the second conductive type formed in the semiconductor substrate under the collector region of one transistor of the pair of transistors to connect the collector regions of the transistors therethrough.
US07714387B2
A semiconductor device with a TFT includes a substrate, an island-shaped semiconductor film serving as an active layer of the TFT on or over the substrate, a pair of source/drain regions formed in the semiconductor film, and a channel region formed between the pair of source/drain regions in the semiconductor film. The pair of source/drain regions is thinner than the remainder of the semiconductor film other than the source/drain regions. The thickness difference between the pair of source/drain regions and the remainder of the semiconductor film is in a range from 10 angstrom (Å) to 100 angstrom. The total process steps are reduced and the operation characteristic and reliability of the device are improved.
US07714379B2
In an example embodiment, a semiconductor substrate has a plurality of active regions separated by a plurality of trenches. A gate insulation film fills at least a portion of the trenches, and a conductive gate film is formed over the gate insulation film. In an example embodiment, the gate insulation film, may include a tunneling insulation film, a charge storage film, and a blocking insulation film. The example embodiment may also include field isolation films, which partially fill the trenches of the semiconductor substrate, such that the upper surfaces of the active regions or the substrate are higher than the upper surfaces of the field isolation films.
US07714377B2
Embodiments of the invention relate to integrated circuits having a memory cell arrangement and methods of manufacturing thereof. In one embodiment of the invention, an integrated circuit has a memory cell arrangement which includes a fin structure extending in its longitudinal direction as a first direction, including a first insulating layer, a first active region disposed above the first insulating layer, a second insulating layer disposed above the first active region, a second active region disposed above the second insulating layer, a charge storage layer structure disposed at least next to at least one sidewall of the fin structure covering at least a portion of the first active region and at least a portion of the second active region, and a control gate disposed next to the charge storage layer structure.
US07714376B2
Non-volatile memory device with polysilicon spacer and method of forming the same. A dielectric layer lines a sidewall of a polysilicon gate. A polysilicon spacer is patterned on the dielectric layer adjacent to the sidewall of the polysilicon gate. A protection spacer is patterned on the dielectric layer and disposed on the polysilicon spacer adjacent to the sidewall of the conductive gate for preventing a shortage path between the polysilicon gate and the polysilicon spacer during a subsequent silicidation process.
US07714375B2
A memory device having at least one memory cell, and each memory cell is configured to store multiple bits. Each bit is stored in a charge storage layer of the memory cell. The memory device can include a double gate structure that can store 4-bits per cell that expands the density of the non-volatile memory device such as flash memory.
US07714374B2
A method for forming a flash memory cell and the structure thereof is disclosed. The flash memory cell includes a substrate, a first raised source/drain region and a second raised source/drain region separated by a trench in-between, a first charge-trapping spacer and a second charge-trapping spacer respectively on the sidewall of the first and second raised source/drain region, a gate structure covering the first and second spacers, the trench and the first and second raised source/drain regions and a gate oxide layer located between the gate structure and the first and second raised source/drain regions and the substrate. By forming the charge-trapping spacers with less e-distribution, the flash memory affords better erasure efficiency.
US07714373B2
There is disclosed a semiconductor device including a plurality of memory cell transistors, each memory cell transistor including a floating gate electrode isolated from each other via an isolation insulating film every memory cell transistor, an inter-electrode insulating film comprising a HfxAl1-xOy film (0.8≦x≦0.95) formed on the floating gate electrode, and a control gate electrode formed on the inter-electrode insulating film, wherein the memory cell transistors are arrayed to form a memory cell array.
US07714372B2
Dynamic random access memory (DRAM) devices include first node pads and second node pads alternately arranged in a first direction on a substrate to form a first pad column. A width of the second node pads in a second direction, perpendicular to the first direction, is greater than a width of the first node pads in the second direction. Storage electrodes are electrically connected to the first node pads and the second node pads. Bit line pads may be arranged in the first direction on the substrate to form a second pad column. The second pad column is adjacent the first pad column and displaced therefrom in the second direction.
US07714366B2
Polysilicon electrical depletion in a polysilicon gate electrode is reduced by depositing the polysilicon under controlled conditions so as to vary the crystal grain size through the thickness of the polysilicon. The resulting CMOS transistor may have two or more depth-wise contiguous regions of respective crystalline grain size, and the selection of grain size may be directed to maximize dopant activation in the polysilicon near the gate dielectric and to tailor the resistance of the polysilicon above that first region and more distant from the gate dielectric. A region of polycrystalline silicon may have a varying grain size as a function of a distance measured from a surface of the dielectric film.
US07714364B2
A semiconductor device is disclosed, which comprises a gate electrode having a laminated structure of a polycrystalline silicon film or a polycrystalline germanium film containing arsenic and a first nickel silicide layer formed in sequence on an element forming region of a semiconductor substrate through a gate insulating film, a sidewall insulating film formed on a side surface of the gate electrode, source/drain layers containing arsenic formed in the element forming region at both side portions of the gate electrode, and second nickel silicide layers formed on the source/drain layers, wherein a peak concentration of arsenic contained in the gate electrode is at least 1/10 of a peak concentration of arsenic contained in the source/drain layers.
US07714363B2
Wiring of a PDP address driver IC is disclosed which affords an adequate permitted current capacity. In the PDP address driver IC that drives the PDP, a layer, in which a planar high voltage ground wiring layer and a planar high voltage power wiring layer are formed, is provided atop a layer in which planar high voltage ground wiring layers that supply a ground potential to the active element that is formed within the PDP address driver IC and in which planar high voltage power wiring layers that supply a source potential to the active element are formed. Accordingly, the PDP address driver IC can comprise an adequate permitted current capacity while maintaining a compact size and comprising a multiplicity of output bit portions.
US07714360B2
A high electron mobility transistor is disclosed which has a main semiconductor region formed on a silicon substrate. The main semiconductor region is a lamination of a buffer layer on the substrate, an electron transit layer on the buffer layer, and an electron supply layer on the electron transit layer. A source, drain, and gate overlie the electron supply layer. Also formed on the electron supply layer is a surface-stabilizing organic semiconductor overlay which is of p conductivity type in contrast to the n type of the electron supply layer.
US07714359B2
A field effect transistor includes a nitride semiconductor layer; an InxAlyGa1-x-yN layer (wherein 0
US07714356B2
A design structure for a circuit providing the same trigger voltage across the multiple fingers is provided, which comprises a data representing an external current injection source connected to individual fingers of a multi-finger semiconductor device. For example, the external injection current is supplied to the body of a MOSFET or the gate of a thyristor. The magnitude of the supplied current from each external current injection source is adjusted so that each finger has the same trigger voltage. The external current supply circuit may comprise diodes or an RC triggered MOSFET. The components of the external current supply circuit may be tuned to achieve a desired predetermined trigger voltage across all fingers of the multi-finger semiconductor device.
US07714341B2
A sub-amount for mounting a light emitting device and a light emitting device package using the sub-mount are disclosed. The light emitting device package includes a package body having a mount for mounting a light emitting device, and through holes, electrodes formed on the package body, and a reflective layer arranged on one of the electrodes formed on an upper surface of the package body. The reflective layer has openings for enabling the light emitting device to be coupled to the electrodes.
US07714335B2
The present invention relates to a light-emitting device comprising at least one light-emitting diode, which emits light, and a housing arranged to receive at least a portion of said light. The housing comprises a translucent inorganic material and is provided with at least one recess, which comprises positioning and orientating means. The at least one light-emitting diode is arranged in the at least one recess and is positioned and orientated by said positioning and orientating means, and a translucent inorganic contact layer material is arranged between the at least one light-emitting diode and the housing in the at least one recess to receive at least portion of the light and to connect said light-emitting diode to said housing.
US07714329B2
The present invention has an object to provide an active-matrix liquid crystal display device that realizes the improvement in productivity as well as in yield. In the present invention, a laminate film comprising the conductive film comprising metallic material and the second amorphous semiconductor film containing an impurity element of one conductivity type and the amorphous semiconductor film is selectively etched with the same etching gas to form a side edge of the first amorphous semiconductor film 1001 into a taper shape. Thereby, a coverage problem of a pixel electrode 1003 can be solved and an inverse stagger type TFT can be completed with three photomask.
US07714322B2
Embodiments of the present invention are generally directed to a method for disposing nanoparticles on a substrate. In one embodiment, a substrate having a plurality of recesses is provided. In this embodiment, a plurality of nanoparticles is also provided. The nanoparticles include a catalyst material coupled to one or more ligands, and these nanoparticles are disposed within respective recesses of the substrate. In some embodiments, the substrate is processed to form nanostructures, such as nanotubes or nanowires, within the recesses. Devices and systems having such nanostructures are also disclosed.
US07714314B2
A semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same with easy formation of a phase change film is realized, realizing high integration at the time of using a phase change film as a memory element.Between MISFET of the region which forms one memory cell, and MISFET which adjoined it, each source of MISFET adjoins in the front surface of a semiconductor substrate, insulating. And the multi-layer structure of a phase change film, and the electric conduction film of specific resistance lower than the specific resistance is formed in the plan view of the front surface of a semiconductor substrate ranging over each source of both MISFET, and a plug and a plug stacked on it. The multi-layer structure functions as a wiring extending and existing in parallel on the surface of a semiconductor substrate, and an electric conduction film sends the current of a parallel direction on the surface of a semiconductor substrate.
US07714309B2
A phantom for heavy ion radiation therapy provides characterization of an ion beam that may enter but not exit from the phantom. The phantom may include multiple materials and multiple spatially dispersed ion detectors to obtain signals that may be fit to known beam curves to accurately characterize the location and other parameters of Bragg peak of a given ion beam within a patient.
US07714298B2
A multi-beam pattern definition device for use in a particle-beam processing or inspection apparatus, which is set up to be irradiated with a beam of electrically charged particles and allow passage of the beam through a plurality of apertures thus forming beamlets, which are imaged onto a target. A deflection array has a plurality of electrostatic deflector electrodes for each beamlet. Each deflector electrode can be applied an electrostatic potential individually. Counter electrodes are electrically connected to a counter potential independently of the deflection array through a counter-electrode array. The counter potentials may be a common ground potential or individual potentials in order to improve system reliability. In conjunction with an associated counter electrode, each deflector electrode deflects its beamlet sufficiently to deflect the beamlet off its nominal path when applied an activating voltage against the respective counter electrode.
US07714294B2
A radiation detecting apparatus includes: a sensor panel having a substrate and a photoelectric conversion element array arranged on the substrate; a scintillator layer arranged on one surface side of the sensor panel; and a light generator arranged on the sensor panel at the other side in opposition to the one side on which the scintillator layer is arranged, in corresponding to an area in which the photoelectric conversion element array is arranged. The light generator includes a light transmitting electrode layer, a rear electrode layer and a light emitting layer arranged between the light transmitting electrode layer and the rear electrode. The light emitting layer according to a first aspect is formed from light emitting substance, a binder and a black pigment. The light emitting layer according to a second aspect contains a first pigment or dye absorbing a light of the same wavelength of a maximum light emission from the scintillator layer, and a second pigment or dye different from the first pigment or dye.
US07714285B2
A spectrometer (10) for sample surface analysis by irradiation of the surface by primary particles and a corresponding method of surface analysis spectroscopy. The spectrometer (10) provides sample viewing and secondary charged particle collection substantially normal to the sample surface. A collection chamber (22) comprises a secondary charged particle lens arrangement (20) to focus the emitted particles in a downstream direction along a first normal axis (24) and thereby to define a charged particle optical crossover location (25); and a light-reflecting optical element (50) downstream of the lens arrangement and arranged to receive image light (41) and reflect it away from a second normal axis (42) for providing a viewable image of the surface. The optical element (50) is positioned at, or near to, the crossover location (25) and comprises an opening (52) therethrough, such that the focused particles pass through the opening for downstream spectroscopic analysis substantially without obstruction by the optical element.
US07714283B2
An electrostatic trap such as an orbitrap is disclosed, with an electrode structure. An electrostatic trapping field of the form U′(r,φ,z) is generated to trap ions within the trap so that they undergo isochronous oscillations. The trapping field U′(r, φ,z) is the result of a perturbation W to an ideal field U(r, φ,z) which, for example, is hyperlogarithmic in the case of an orbitrap. The perturbation W may be introduced in various ways, such as by distorting the geometry of the trap so that it no longer follows an equipotential of the ideal field U(r, φ,z), or by adding a distortion field (either electric or magnetic). The magnitude of the perturbation is such that at least some of the trapped ions have an absolute phase spread of more than zero but less than about 2π radians over an ion detection period Tm.
US07714275B2
The methods described herein generally relate to characterization of large analytes, such as biomolecules, by molecular mass analysis. Specifically, the methods are directed to molecular mass analysis of singly- or multiply-charged ions by selective ion filtering carried out by a digital thresholding process.
US07714272B2
An optical absolute rotary encoder can have a simple and small structure, for determining the absolute values of rotational positions with high accuracy. The encoder can include an optical scale having an absolute pattern representing a code corresponding to a single absolute value using a transmitting area and/or an intercepting area. A light emitting unit can be arranged at one side with respect to the optical scale, and configured to project light on the optical scale. A light receiving unit can be arranged at the same side as the light emitting unit, can configured to receive light passing through the transmitting area of the optical scale. A light guide unit can be provided and configured to guide the light from the light emitting unit to the light receiving unit. The optical scale and the light emitting unit can rotate relative to each other about an axis of rotation, and the light receiving unit can be disposed on the axis of rotation.
US07714267B2
A system is described that may determine an intensity measure. In certain example embodiments, a system may include circuitry for receiving and circuitry for assessing. The circuitry for receiving may receive an input signal at an input of a first gain element of a cascade of N gain elements. The circuitry for assessing may assess an intensity in response to one or more times associated with one or more output signals of the cascade of N gain elements satisfying one or more threshold values.
US07714258B2
A useful energy product created by a process where a chemical species flow passes through a macroscopic artificial dielectric structure for a gas-permeable susceptor having (a) first regions in the structure that are primarily transparent to applied electromagnetic energy and (b) second regions in the structure that are not primarily transparent to applied electromagnetic energy.
US07714257B2
An electrical connector assembly for an arcuate surface in a high temperature environment and associated method of use is disclosed for a variety of applications. This can include, but is not limited to, an injection molding heater assembly having at least one heater and an injection molding heater and nozzle assembly having at least one heater and a nozzle that is in thermal communication with the at least one heater. This at least one electrical connector, having a first electrical conductor that is electrically connectable to at least one first conductive portion on at least one arcuate surface and a second electrical conductor that is electrically connectable to at least one second conductive portion on the at least one arcuate surface, and at least one disconnect mechanism positioned adjacent to the at least one electrical connector and in electrical connection with the first electrical conductor and the second electrical conductor.
US07714251B2
Since the size of a plate for issuing gas used for a conventional laser irradiation apparatus is large and the distance between an optical system through which a laser light lastly passes and the plate is not enough, it is difficult to check the state of laser light delivered from the optical system which the laser light lastly passes through. A laser irradiation apparatus includes a laser oscillator, an optical system shaping laser light produced by the laser oscillator, a plate having an opening for issuing a gas, a stage provided below the blower, means for maintaining a constant distance between the blower and the stage above the stage, and means provided between the optical system and the blower for observing the laser light transmitted through the optical system are provided.
US07714243B2
The push button doorbell switch is used interchangeably within the decorative plates of a doorbell button assembly. Each insert of the push button doorbell switch is capable of being interchanged in a congruent aperture of a variety of decorative plates. These doorbell switch assemblies allow for the user to interchange a plurality of button shapes without having to repurchase and install a new decorative plate. The plurality of doorbell button shapes, associated with the interchangeable doorbell button switch, can increase the variety of push button doorbell switch assemblies that can be created and installed as house décor.
US07714242B2
A switch device including a switch operation shaft movable between a plurality of operation positions for setting a control amount for an apparatus. A follower is driven to follow the movement of the switch operation shaft. An attraction member generates magnetic force to attract the follower so that the follower becomes immovable and to hold the switch operation shaft at a single operation position.
US07714238B2
A weighing system and method associated with a mattress is operable to determine a patient weight value while the patient is positioned on the mattress.
US07714228B2
A wiring harness for connection to a body, the wiring harness includes at least one conductor and a protective covering having an inner portion for insulating the at least one conductor and an outer portion arranged over a region of the inner portion, wherein at least a section of the outer portion is adapted to be fused to said body.
US07714225B2
A modular power supply particularly adapted for mounting to standard junction boxes in a system to provide a solid state lighting system compatible power signal. One embodiment of a modular power supply for mounting to a junction box according to the present invention includes a housing holding internal electronic components and a first extension integral to the housing for mounting to a junction box. The extension has an opening to the interior of the housing with primary wires passing from the interior of the housing through the extension. The first extension is positioned so that the power supply is capable of being mounted to the mounting surface of a junction box when the power supply is at different orientations.
US07714211B2
According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the hybrid corn variety designated CH933105. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CH933105, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CH933105 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to genetic complements of plants of variety CH933105.
US07714205B1
A novel inbred maize variety designated PHH54 and seed, plants and plant parts thereof. Methods for producing a maize plant that comprise crossing inbred maize variety PHH54 with another maize plant. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into PHH54 through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. Hybrid maize seed, plant or plant part produced by crossing the inbred variety PHH54 or a trait conversion of PHH54 with another maize variety. Inbred maize varieties derived from inbred maize variety PHH54, methods for producing other inbred maize varieties derived from inbred maize variety PHH54 and the inbred maize varieties and their parts derived by the use of those methods.
US07714194B2
The invention provides seed and plants of the pea line designated 08240773. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of pea line 08240773, and to methods for producing a pea plant produced by crossing a plant of pea line 08240773 with itself or with another pea plant, such as a plant of another line. The invention further relates to seeds and plants produced by such crossing. The invention further relates to parts of a plant of pea line 08240773, including the seed, pod, and gametes of such plants.
US07714180B2
A process and apparatus for recovering product from reactor effluent of a reactor for a hydrocarbon feedstream is disclosed. An indigenous C4 stream is used as lean oil in a demethanizer, which facilitates significant cost and operational savings. C4 bottoms from a downstream depropanizer is used as lean oil recycle.
US07714173B2
The present invention relates to a method for preparing high-purity terephthalaldehyde which comprises re-crystallizing terephthalaldehyde crystals containing impurities, using an anti-solvent. Specifically, the present invention relates to a method for preparing terephthalaldehyde which comprises dissolving low-purity terephthalaldehyde prepared by a conventional method in dimethylsulfoxide and then re-crystallizing the solution, using water as an anti-solvent. The present invention is not only environment-friendly because it uses water only as an anti-solvent, but also economical because it may simply prepare high-purity terephthalaldehyde in a short time.
US07714172B2
The present invention relates to a process for preparing a cyclic ketone having from 7 to 16 carbon atoms, which comprises at least the steps (a) oxidation of a composition (I) comprising at least one cyclic alkene which has from 7 to 16 carbon atoms and at least one C—C double bond by means of dinitrogen monoxide to give a composition (A), (b) treatment of the composition (A) with at least one base to give a composition (B), (c) hydrogenation of the composition (B) in the presence of at least one catalyst to give a composition (C), (d) purification of the composition (C), comprising at least the steps (di) thermal treatment of the composition (C) with at least one acid or at least one catalyst comprising at least one transition metal, (dii) further purification by a method selected from the group consisting of distillation, extraction and crystallization.
US07714171B2
The present invention relates to a process for purifying a composition (I) comprising at least one cyclic ketone having from 7 to 16 carbon atoms, which comprises thermal treatment of the composition (I) with at least one acid and further purification by means of a process selected from the group consisting of distillation, extraction and crystallization, Furthermore, the present invention relates to a process for preparing cyclododecanone, which comprises such a purification, and the use of at least one acid for purifying a composition (I) comprising at least one cyclic ketone having from 7 to 16 carbon atoms by thermal treatment of the composition (I) with the acid.
US07714169B2
In the continuous process for preparing alkylamines by reacting C1-4-alkanols with ammonia in the gas phase in the presence of a shape-selective fixed-bed catalyst in a cooled reactor, the shape-selective fixed-bed catalyst is present in a single contiguous fixed bed in the reactor and tubes through which coolants are passed run within the fixed bed to regulate the temperature of the fixed bed.
US07714168B2
Since an amide compound represented by the formula (1) is effective for controlling plant diseases, it is useful as an effective ingredient of a composition for controlling plant diseases.
US07714152B2
A carrier for a catalyst useful for the epoxidation of an olefin which comprises an inert, refractory solid carrier is provided. The carrier has no or little absolute volume from small pores, of less than 1 micrometer, and large pores, of above 5 micrometer. By “no or little absolute volume from small pores of less than 1 micron” it is meant that the pore volume of such pores is less than 0.20 ml/g. By “no or little absolute volume from large pores of above 5 micron” it is meant that the pore volume of such pores is less than 0.20 ml/g. The invention further provides a catalyst useful for the epoxidation of an olefin supported on such a carrier and a process for the oxidation of an olefin, especially ethylene, to an olefin oxide, especially ethylene oxide.
US07714144B2
The present invention relates to a novel process for preparing known 5-fluoro-1,3-dialkyl-1H-pyrazole-4-carbonyl fluorides which can be used as starting materials for active fungicidal ingredients by a halex reaction.
US07714137B2
The present invention relates to pyridyl substituted heterocycles and hydro isomers thereof and pharmaceutical compositions thereof that inhibit replication and/or proliferation of HCV virus. The present invention also relates to the use of the pyridyl heterocycles and hydro isomers thereof and/or pharmaceutical compositions comprising the compounds to treat or prevent HCV infections.
US07714130B2
Methods of making Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone (“GnRH”) (also known as Leutinizing Hormone Releasing Hormone) receptor antagonists, comprising reacting a compound having Formula I: with a compound having formula Lg—(CR13R14)k—D, are disclosed.
US07714127B2
Disclosed are processes to produce a compound of the formula (I):
US07714125B2
An object of the invention is to provide an industrially advantageous process capable of remarkably suppressing the generation of an undesirable by-product cepham compound to thereby efficiently produce a desired 2α-methyl-2β-[(1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)methyl]penam-3α-carboxylic acid ester. In the present invention, a diphenylmethyl 2β-bromomethyl-2α-methylpenam-3α-carboxylate (BMPB) is reacted with 1,2,3-triazole in a halogenated hydrocarbon solvent at −5° C. or lower. The reaction in a halogenated hydrocarbon solvent at −5° C. or less can remarkably suppress the generation of an undesirable by-product cepham compound, so that the desired diphenylmethyl 2α-methyl-2β-[(1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)methyl]penam-3α-carboxylate (TMPB) can be efficiently produced.
US07714123B2
The invention relates to crystalline forms of 5,6-dichloro-2-(isopropylamino)-1-β-L-ribofuranosyl-1Hbenzimidazole, pharmaceutical compositions comprising the same, processes for preparing the same, and their use in medical therapy.
US07714120B2
The present invention encompasses isolated antibodies, or antigen-binding portions thereof, that specifically bind mature human IL-1 Beta. These antibodies, or antigen-binding portions thereof, generally exhibit high binding affinities (low kooff values), reduced deamidation compared to the native antibody, and can be used to treat various diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, or neuroinflammation.
US07714118B2
Host cells comprising recombinant vectors encoding the FK-520 polyketide synthase and FK-520 modification enzymes can be used to produce the FK-520 polyketide. Recombinant DNA constructs comprising one or more FK-520 polyketide synthase domains, modules, open reading frames, and variants thereof can be used to produce recombinant polyketide synthases and a variety of different polyketides with application as pharmaceutical and veterinary products.
US07714107B2
The present invention relates to porous freeze-dried fibrin matrices substantially devoid of external anti-fibrinolytic agents, and methods of producing such matrices. Resilient matrices, also known as sponges, that are particularly beneficial for supporting three dimensional cell growth are obtained from plasma proteins substantially devoid of plasminogen or from partially purified plasma proteins, thus obviating the need for exogenous anti-fibrinolytic agents. Furthermore, incorporation of glycosaminoglycans and bioactive agents during the formation of the matrix results in a sponge having advantageous biological, mechanical and physical properties. The compositions of the present invention are useful clinically, without cells or as a cell bearing implants.
US07714104B2
Polypeptides and other compounds that can bind specifically to the CH2-CH3 cleft of an immunoglobulin molecule, and methods for using such polypeptides and compounds to inhibit Fc-mediated immune complex formation, are described.
US07714098B2
The invention relates to novel mono-, oligo- and polythieno[3,2-b]thiophenes, to their use as semiconductors or charge transport materials, in optical, electro-optical or electronic devices like for example liquid crystal displays, optical films, organic field effect transistors (FET or OFET) for thin film transistor liquid crystal displays and integrated circuit devices such as RFID tags, electroluminescent devices in flat panel displays, and in photovoltaic and sensor devices, and to field effect transistors, light emitting devices or ID tags comprising the novel polymers.
US07714095B2
Polyether polymers, such as polyetherimides, are prepared by the reaction of a dihydroxy-substituted aromatic hydrocarbon alkali metal salt, such as bisphenol A disodium salt, with a bis(N-(chlorophthalimido))aromatic compound, such as 1,3- and/or 1,4-bis(N-(4-chlorophthalimido))benzene, in a solvent such as o-dichlorobenzene and in the presence of a phase transfer catalyst such as a hexaalkylguanidinium chloride. Several embodiments may be employed to improve the method. They comprise employing substantially dry reagents, employing a high solids level in solvent, beginning with an excess of bis(N-(chlorophthalimido))-aromatic compound and incrementally adding alkali metal salt, employing alkali metal salt of small particle size, and using reagents of high purity.
US07714093B2
Provided are a urethane resin solution to provide a urethane resin having a low tensile elasticity, a low elastic modulus under low temperatures, good elastic recovery, excellent heat resistance and excellent adhesion, a production method of the solution and a production method of the urethane resin.An isocyanate group-terminated prepolymer is synthesized by reacting a polyisocyanate compound with a polyetherester diol having a molecular weight of from 800 to 4,000, which is obtained by a ring-opening polymerization of a mixture of an alkylene oxide and a lactone monomer using a polyoxy tetramethylene diol having a molecular weight of from 500 to 2,500 as an initiator and using a composite metal cyanide complex catalyst if necessary, and the resulting prepolymer is reacted with a chain extender, for example, comprised of a low molecular weight diamine and/or a low molecular weight diol, in an organic solvent. The urethane resin solution obtained is molded into a predetermined shape, or a substrate is coated or impregnated with the urethane resin solution and thereafter the organic solvent is removed to obtain a urethane resin.
US07714084B2
Cobaloxime derivatives and methods of producing cobaloxime derivatives are disclosed herein. Methods of producing decolorized homo- and co-polymers through polymerization of monomers in presence of the cobaloxime derivatives and decolorization of the produced polymer by exposing the polymer to a sorbent and, optionally, a solvent are also disclosed herein.
US07714082B2
A process for increasing a granular particle density of a polymeric product using at least one particle density promoting agent is described. The process includes passing a gaseous stream comprising at least one monomer through a fluidized bed reactor in the presence of a catalyst to form a polymeric product having a first granular particle density of less than or equal to about 850 kg/m3, contacting the polymeric product with at least one particle density promoting agent to increase the granular particle density of the polymeric product by at least 2%, withdrawing the polymeric product having an increased granular particle density and a recycle stream comprised of unreacted monomers, and cooling and reintroducing the recycle stream into the fluidized bed reactor with sufficient additional monomer to replace the monomer polymerized and withdrawn as the polymeric product.
US07714078B2
A method is provided in which PGN is end-modified in a process using a single solvent. The resulting end-modified PGN may be stably crosslinked using aliphatic polyisocyanates. Further provided are methods of producing energetic compositions comprising PGN which has been end-modified in a process using a single solvent. Such energetic compositions may be stably crosslinked using aliphatic polyisocyanates.
US07714074B2
Polyethylene resin suitable for formation into pipes or pipe fittings having an M15 of from 0.40 to 0.70 g/10 min, and including from 47 to 52 wt % of a low molecular weight polyethylene fraction, and from 48 to 53 wt % of a high molecular weight polyethylene fraction. The high molecular weight polyethylene fraction includes a copolymer of ethylene and 1-hexen or 1-octene, and the resin has a density after granulation and addition of additives of between 957 kg/m3 and 963 kg/m3.
US07714071B2
Polymer blends comprises 1) at least one ethylene/α-olefin interpolymer and 2) at least one polyolefin, or at least one styrenic block copolymer, or a combination thereof. Such polyolefins include, but are not limited to, high melt strength high density polyethylene and high melt strength polypropylene. The ethylene/α-olefin interpolymers are random block copolymers comprising at least a hard block and at least a soft block. The polyolefins can be homopolymers or interpolymers. The resulting polymer blends can be used to make flexible molded articles.
US07714060B2
A rubber composition for a pneumatic tire containing 100 parts by weight of a diene-based rubber and 5 to 120 parts by weight of carbon black having a particle size of 15 to 40 nm, a nitrogen absorption specific surface area N2SA of 60 to 200 m2/g, and a pH of 1 to 5 or 8.5 to 13, which can improve wet performance of a tire without causing problems in productivity and conductivity.
US07714050B2
A rubber composition is disclosed wherein the rubber composition contains at least (a) a rubber component; (b) a silica filler; (c) a coupling agent; (d) an effective amount of a nitrogen-containing compound; and, (e) a thiuram disulfide having a molecular weight of at least about 400.
US07714039B2
Disclosed are soft, high refractive index, acrylic materials. These materials, especially useful as intraocular lens materials, contain one or more aryl acrylic hydrophobic monomers as principal device-forming monomers and a tack-reducing macromer additive. In addition to their use as intraocular lens materials, the present materials are also suitable for use in other ophthalmic or otorhinolaryngological devices, such as contact lenses, keratoprostheses, corneal inlays or rings; otological ventilation tubes and nasal implants.
US07714034B2
Polymerizable dental material which contains at least one radically-polymerizable monomer and at least one bisacylphosphine oxide of the Formula I, in which R1 is a linear or branched C2 to C14 alkyl residue, which can be interrupted by one or more O atoms, PG-Y—R2—X— or a substituted or unsubstituted, aromatic C6 to C14 radical; R2 is absent or a linear or branched C1 to C20 alkylene radical, which can be interrupted by one or more O atoms; R3 is H, a linear or branched C1 to C6 alkyl residue or PG-Y—R2—X—; R4 is a linear or branched C1-C6 alkyl or —O—C1-C6 alkyl residue; R5 is H or PG-Y—R2—X—; R6 is H or PG-Y—R213 X—; PG is a polymerizable group; X is absent, O or S; Y is absent, O, S, an ester, amide or urethane group; the bisacylphosphine oxide having at least one PG-Y—R2—X group and X and/or Y being absent if R2 is absent.
US07714029B2
An expandable polystyrene bead production method, which is a two-step process, is disclosed. The method includes obtaining suspendable, homogenous micropellets from a mixed composition prepared by mixing graphite particles with a styrene-based resin and extruding the composition, and carrying out seed polymerization by suspending graphite-containing micropellets in water and adding a styrene-based monomer and an aromatic hydrocarbon having 6 to 10 carbon atoms, and impregnation by adding a blowing agent. The produced expandable polystyrene beads, which contain graphite particles, are considerably low in thermal conductivity. In addition, the expandable polystyrene beads exhibit a little change in the thermal conductivity over time due to the use of the graphite particles, so that the heat insulation property can be sustained for an extended period of time.
US07714028B2
Solid and liquid compositions containing particles of highly fluorinated ion-exchange polymer having sulfonate functional groups with an ion exchange ratio of less than about 33. The compositions contain at least about 25% by weight of polymer particles having a particle size of about 2 nm to about 30 nm.
US07714009B2
There is provided a CRF receptor antagonist comprising a compound of the formula (I): wherein, ring A is a 5-membered ring represented by the formula (A′): wherein X is a carbon and X1 is an oxygen, a sulfur or —NR5—, or formula (A″): wherein X is a nitrogen and R6 is an optionally substituted hydrocarbyl, R1 is an amino substituted by two optionally substituted hydrocarbyl groups, R2 is an phenyl, Y1 is CR3a or a nitrogen, Y2 is CR3b or a nitrogen and Y3 is CR3c or a nitrogen, provided that one or less of Y1, Y2, and Y3 is nitrogen, W is a bond, —(CH2)n-, and Z is a bond, —NR4—, etc.; or a salt thereof or a prodrug thereof.
US07714008B2
The present invention provides compounds useful, for example, for treating metabolic disorders in a subject. Such compounds have the general formula I: where the definitions of the variables are provided herein. The present invention also provides compositions that include, and methods for using, the compounds in preparing medicaments and for treating metabolic disorders such as, for example, type II diabetes.
US07714004B2
This invention relates to novel indane acetic acid derivatives which are useful in the treatment of diseases such as diabetes, obesity, hyperlipidemia, and atherosclerotic diseases. The invention also relates to intermediates useful in preparation of indane acetic derivatives and to methods of preparation.
US07714000B2
The present invention relates to new substituted pyrrolidinones of general formula wherein A, X, B and R1 to R9 are defined as in claim 1, the tautomers, the enantiomers, the diastereomers, the mixtures thereof and the salts thereof, particularly the physiologically acceptable salts thereof with inorganic or organic acids or bases, which have valuable properties.
US07713996B2
The invention is concerned with novel heterobicyclic derivatives of formula (I): wherein R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, A, X and Y are as defined in the description and in the claims, as well as physiologically acceptable salts and esters thereof. These compounds inhibit L-CPT1 and can be used as medicaments.
US07713991B2
Compounds of the formula (I) provide pharmacological agents which are inhibitors of the P450 enzyme, aldosterone synthase, and thus may be employed for the treatment of aldosterone mediated conditions. Accordingly, the compounds of formula (I) may be employed for prevention, delay of progression, or treatment of hypokalemia, hypertension, congestive heart failure, renal failure, in particular, chronic renal failure, restenosis, atherosclerosis, syndrome X, obesity, nephropathy, post-myocardial infarction, coronary heart diseases, increased formation of collagen, fibrosis and remodeling following hypertension and endothelial dysfunction. Preferred are the compounds of formula (I) which are selective inhibitors of aldosterone synthase devoid of undesirable side effects due to general inhibition of cytochrome P450 enzymes.
US07713989B2
The present invention provides non-steroidal compounds of formula I which are selective modulators (i.e., agonists and antagonists) of a steroid receptor, specifically, the glucocorticoid receptor. The present invention also provides pharmaceutical compositions containing these compounds and methods for using these compounds to treat animals requiring glucocorticoid receptor agonist or antagonist therapy. Glucocorticoid receptor modulators are useful to the diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, inflammation and others as described below. The present invention also provides intermediates and processes for preparing these compounds.
US07713983B2
The present invention relates to compounds useful as inhibitors of voltage-gated sodium channels and calcium channels. The invention also provides pharmaceutically acceptable compositions comprising the compounds of the invention and methods of using the compositions in the treatment of various disorders.
US07713971B2
The invention relates to 3,5-dioxo-(2H,4H)-1,2,4-triazine compounds of formula I in which the variables are defined herein, as well as additive salts with pharmaceutically acceptable bases and the various enantiomers of compounds having asymmetrical carbons, as well as their mixtures in all proportions, including racemic mixtures in particular.
US07713969B2
The present invention relates to pyrroloquinolinyl-pyrrole-2,5-dione compounds and pyrroloquinolinyl-pyrrolidine-2,5-dione compounds, and methods of preparation of these compounds. The present invention also relates to pharmaceutical compositions comprising pyrroloquinolinyl-pyrrole-2,5-dione compounds and pyrroloquinolinyl-pyrrolidine-2,5-dione compounds. The present invention provides methods of treating a cell proliferative disorder, such as a cancer, by administering to a subject in need thereof a therapeutically effective amount of a pyrroloquinolinyl-pyrrole-2,5-dione compound or pyrroloquinolinyl-pyrrolidine-2,5-dione compound of the present invention.
US07713968B2
Compounds comprising or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or a prodrug thereof, are disclosed, wherein Y, A, and B are as described. Methods, compositions, and medicaments related thereto are also disclosed.
US07713962B2
A method for determining the Braak stage of neurofibrillary degeneration associated with a tauopathy in a subject having neurofibrillary degeneration is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of (i) administering to the subject a conjugated, chelated or detectable chemical group-associated ligand that labels aggregated paired helical filament (PHF) tau protein and is capable of crossing the blood brain barrier; (ii) determining the presence and\or amount of ligand bound to extracellular aggregated PHF tau in the medial temporal lobe of the brain of the subject, and (iii) correlating the result of the determination made in (ii) with the extent of neurofibrillary degeneration in the subject. Preferred ligands include sulphonated-benzothiazole-like compounds and diamonophenothiazines.
US07713953B2
This invention discloses 2-methylene-(22E)-25-(1-methylene-hexyl)-26,27-cyclo-22-dehydro-19-nor-vitamin D analogs, and specifically 2-methylene-(22E)-25-(1-methylene-hexyl)-26,27-cyclo-22-dehydro-19-nor-1α,24(R)-dihydroxyvitamin D3, and pharmaceutical uses therefor. This compound exhibits relatively high transcription activity as well as pronounced activity in arresting the proliferation of undifferentiated cells and inducing their differentiation to the monocyte thus evidencing use as an anti-cancer agent and for the treatment of skin diseases such as psoriasis as well as skin conditions such as wrinkles, slack skin, dry skin and insufficient sebum secretion. This compound also shows lower activity in vivo on bone calcium mobilization and intestinal calcium transport activity compared to the native hormone 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, and therefore may be used to treat autoimmune disorders or inflammatory diseases in humans as well as renal osteodystrophy. This compound may also be used for the treatment or prevention of obesity.
US07713952B2
This invention discloses 2-methylene-19,26,27-trinor-(20S)-vitamin D analogs, and specifically 2-methylene-19,26,27-trinor-(20S)-1α-hydroxyvitamin D3 and pharmaceutical uses therefor. This compound exhibits pronounced activity in arresting the proliferation of undifferentiated cells and inducing their differentiation to the monocyte thus evidencing use as an anti-cancer agent and for the treatment of skin diseases such as psoriasis as well as skin conditions such as wrinkles, slack skin, dry skin and insufficient sebum secretion. This compound also has little, if any, calcemic activity and therefore may be used to treat autoimmune disorders or inflammatory diseases in humans as well as renal osteodystrophy. This compound may also be used for the treatment or prevention of obesity.
US07713951B2
2-alkylidene-18,19-dinor-vitamin D compounds are disclosed as well as pharmaceutical uses for these compounds and methods of synthesizing these compounds. These compounds are characterized by low bone calcium mobilization activity and high intestinal calcium transport activity. This results in novel therapeutic agents for the treatment and prophylaxis of diseases where bone formation is desired, particularly osteoporosis, as well as autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, diabetes mellitus and lupus. These compounds also exhibit pronounced activity in arresting the proliferation of undifferentiated cells and inducing their differentiation to the monocyte thus evidencing use as an anti-cancer agent and for the treatment of skin diseases such as psoriasis. These compounds also increase both breaking strength and crushing strength of bones evidencing use in conjunction with bone replacement surgery such as hip and knee replacements.
US07713950B2
Novel florfenicol compounds having the chemical structure: or a pharmaceutically-acceptable salt thereof or a solvate thereof, or prodrug thereof, wherein R1 is CHCl2, CHClF, CHF2, CHBrCl, CH3, CH2N3, CH2CN, CH(R2)NH2 or CHX1X2; where R2 is H, CH3 or CH2OH, and X1 and X2 are independently selected halogens; and R3 is CH2Cl, CH2F, CHF2, CHCl2 or CH2OH are disclosed. The compounds are useful for the treatment and/or prevention of bacterial infections in a broad range of patients such as, without limitation, birds, fish, shellfish and mammals.
US07713949B2
Compositions and methods for enhancing paracellular permeability at an absorption site in a subject are disclosed. The method includes: (a) administering an effective amount of a phospholipase C inhibitor to a subject at a time in which enhanced paracellular permeability is desired; and (b) enhancing paracellular permeability in the subject at the absorption site through the administering of the effective amount of the phospholipase C inhibitor. The disclosed compositions and methods provide enhanced absorption of a hydrophilic drug in a subject.
US07713946B2
Disclosed are novel compounds a compound of Formula I that are partial and full A1 adenosine receptor agonists, useful for treating various disease states, in particular dyslipidemia, diabetes, decreased insulin sensitivity, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, Stein-Leventhal syndrome, and obesity.
US07713944B2
The activated oligomer compounds described herein are capable of forming bio-reversible covalent bonds with plasma proteins, in particular with human serum albumin. The plasma protein-oligomer complexes of the present invention exhibit enhanced cellular entry and significantly enhanced serum half-life.
US07713943B2
The present invention is related to use of protein kinase N beta or a fragment or derivative thereof as a downstream target of the PI 3-kinase pathway, preferably as a downstream drug target of the PI 3-kinase pathway.
US07713942B2
The present invention pertains to complexes comprising sterols and saponins. The complexes are capable of binding a genetic determinant including a polynucleotide. The complexes may further comprise a lipophilic moiety, optionally a lipophilic moiety comprising a contacting group and/or a targeting ligand, and/or a saccharide moiety. The complexes may further comprise an immunogenic determinant and/or an antigenic determinant and/or a medicament and/or a diagnostic compound. The complexes may in even further embodiments be encapsulated by an encapsulation agent including a biodegradable microsphere. The present invention also pertains to pharmaceutical compositions and methods of treatment of an individual by therapy and/or surgery, methods of cosmetic treatment, and diagnostic methods practised on the human or animal body.
US07713937B2
The invention relates to synthetic peptide amides that are ligands of the kappa opioid receptor and particularly to agonists of the kappa opioid receptor that exhibit low P450 CYP inhibition and low penetration into the brain. The synthetic peptide amides of the invention conform to the structure: wherein Xaa is a D-amino acid and G is selected from the following three groups: The compounds are useful in the prophylaxis and treatment of pain, pruritis and inflammation associated with a variety of diseases and conditions.
US07713936B2
The invention describes compounds, compositions, and methods of using the same comprising a chemical moiety covalently attached to amphetamine. These compounds and compositions are useful for reducing or preventing abuse and overdose of amphetamine. These compounds and compositions find particular use in providing an abuse-resistant alternative treatment for certain disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), ADD, narcolepsy, and obesity. Oral bioavailability of amphetamine is maintained at therapeutically useful doses. At higher doses bioavailability is substantially reduced, thereby providing a method of reducing oral abuse liability. Further, compounds and compositions of the invention decrease the bioavailability of amphetamine by parenteral routes, such as intravenous or intranasal administration, further limiting their abuse liability.
US07713935B2
The invention relates to compounds that inhibit thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) degrading ectoenzyme and/or enhance, and/or mimic the biological actions of TRH. The compounds find therapeutic application, particularly in conditions involving neuronal cell injury and disturbances in neurobiological function.
US07713924B2
The present invention is methods and compositions for reducing and preventing the excess accumulation of extracellular matrix in a tissue and/or organ or at a wound site using a combination of agents that inhibit TGFβ, or using agents that inhibit TGFβ in combination with agents that degrade excess accumulated extracellular matrix. The compositions and methods of the invention are used to treat conditions such as fibrotic diseases and scarring that result from excess accumulation of extracellular matrix, impairing tissue or organ function or skin appearance in a subject.
US07713917B2
A thermal insulating composition containing an organic solvent of low thermal conductivity and a gelling agent hydratable in the solvent is useful for controlling heat transfer from a production tubing or transfer pipe in a wellbore to a surrounding annuli and/or the environment. Further, the composition is capable of reducing convection flow velocity within the annulus surrounding production tubing or a transfer pipe.
US07713916B2
Provided are treatment fluids that comprise a base fluid and an orthoester-based surfactant. In some instances, the treatment fluid may have a pH of about 8.5 or greater. Also provided are emulsified treatment fluids that comprise an oleaginous phase, an aqueous phase having a pH of about 8.5 or greater, and an orthoester-based surfactant. Methods of using the treatment fluid and methods of facilitating flow through a conduit also are provided.
US07713911B2
A method of producing catalyst powder of the present invention has a step of precipitating a transition metal particle and a base-metal compound in a reversed micelle substantially simultaneously, and a step of precipitating a noble metal particle in the reversed micelle. By this method, it is possible to obtain catalyst powder which restricts an aggregation of noble metal particles even at the high temperature and is excellent in the catalytic activity.
US07713888B2
The electronic properties (such as electron mobility, resistivity, etc.) of an electronic material can be modified/enhanced when subjected to dynamic or stationary magnetic fields in conjunction with select cycles of heating, cooling and passage of electric current through the material. This “processing” includes one or more cycles using combinations of the aforementioned variables.
US07713883B2
An object of this invention is to make it possible to suppress early-stage oxidation of a substrate surface prior to oxidation processing, and to remove a natural oxidation film. For this reason, a method is provided comprising the steps of loading a substrate into a processing chamber, supplying a hydrogen-containing gas and an oxygen-containing gas into the processing chamber, and subjecting a surface of the substrate to oxidation processing, and unloading the substrate subjected to oxidation processing from the processing chamber. In the oxidation processing step, the hydrogen-containing gas is introduced in advance into the processing chamber, with the pressure inside the processing chamber set at a pressure that is less than atmospheric pressure, and the oxygen-containing gas is then introduced in the state in which the introduction of the hydrogen-containing gas is continued.
US07713882B2
A patterning method for a semiconductor substrate is disclosed. A substrate is provided and a stack structure is laid thereon. The stack layer includes at least a target layer and a pad layer sequentially formed on the substrate. Follow by a lithography process, wherein photoresists are laid on the stack layer to form a plurality of photoresist elements. Thus, a plurality of pattern is formed on the target layer, and a portion of target layer's surface is exposed. Lastly, ion implanting is provided and defines a doped area as hard mask for the etching process.
US07713877B2
A dielectric film production process comprising a baking step in which a dielectric film is formed by heating a precursor layer formed on a metal layer, wherein the metal layer contains at least one type of metal selected from the group consisting of Cu, Ni, Al, stainless steel and austenitic nickel-chromium-based superalloy and during at least part of the baking step the precursor layer is heated in a reduced pressure atmosphere.
US07713873B2
Methods of forming a contact structure in a semiconductor device include providing a semiconductor substrate including active regions and word lines crossing the active regions. A first interlayer dielectric layer is formed on the semiconductor substrate. Direct contact plugs are formed extending through the first interlayer dielectric layer to contact selected ones of the active regions. Bit line structures are formed on the first interlayer dielectric layer and crossing the word lines that are coupled to the selected ones of the active regions by the direct contact plugs. A second interlayer dielectric layer is formed on the semiconductor substrate including the bit line structures. Barrier patterns are formed extending in parallel with bit line structures and into the second interlayer dielectric layer. Mask patterns are formed overlying an entirety of top surfaces of the direct contact plugs on the second interlayer dielectric layer and the bit line structures. The second and first interlayer dielectric layers are etched using the mask patterns, the barrier patterns and the bit line structures as an etching mask to form buried contact holes and buried contact plugs are formed in the buried contact holes.
US07713872B2
A silicon substrate has a protective film formed on each side. A semiconductor surface opening not smaller than a given region is formed by removing the protective film. A through-hole having an inner size smaller than the given region is formed in the opening by laser machining. Thereafter, the inner size of the through-hole is increased by anisotropic etching, and the etching is ended when the inner size of the through-hole reaches the given size. In this way, a through-hole of a given size can be formed without allowing reversely tapered crystal planes to appear from a surface of the substrate toward the inside of the through-hole.
US07713869B2
An interlayer insulating film having a concave portion is formed on a semiconductor substrate. A tight adhesion film is formed on the inner surface of the concave portion and the upper surface of the insulating film. The surface of the adhesion layer is covered with an auxiliary film made of Cu alloy containing a first metal element. A conductive member containing a second metal element other than the first metal element is embedded in the concave portion, and deposited on the auxiliary film. Heat treatment is performed to make atoms of the first metal element in the auxiliary film segregate on the inner surface of the concave portion. The adhesion layer contains an element for enhancing tight adhesion of the auxiliary film more than if the auxiliary film is deposited directly on a surface of the interlayer insulating film. During the period until the barrier layer having also the function of enhancing tight adhesion, it becomes possible to retain sufficient tight adhesion of a wiring member and prevent peel-off of the wiring member.
US07713855B2
A method for forming a bit-line contact plug includes providing a substrate including a transistor which includes a gate structure and a source/drain at both sides of the gate structure; forming a conductive layer, a bit-line contact material layer and a hard mask layer; performing an etching process using the conductive layer as an etching stop layer to etch the bit-line contact material layer and the hard mask layer and forming the bit-line contact plug on the source/drain. A transistor structure includes a gate structure and a source/drain at both sides of the gate structure, a conductive layer covering part of the gate structure and connected to the source/drain, and a bit-line contact plug disposed on the conductive layer and directly connected to the conductive layer.
US07713853B2
A method for manufacturing electronic devices on a semiconductor substrate with wide band gap that includes the steps of: forming a screening structure on the semiconductor substrate to include at least a dielectric layer that leaves a plurality of areas of the semiconductor substrate exposed, carrying out at least a ion implantation of a first type of dopant in the semiconductor substrate to form at least a first implanted region, carrying out at least a ion implantation of a second type of dopant in the semiconductor substrate to form at least a second implanted region inside the at least a first implanted region, carrying out an activation thermal process of the first type and second type of dopant with low thermal temperature suitable to complete the formation of the at least first and second implanted regions without diffusing the at least first and at least second type dopants in the substrate.
US07713846B2
A process applied to grinding, dicing, and/or stacking semiconductors is disclosed. One of its features is that after transparent material is stuck on its active surface, a semiconductor is ground from another surface thereof to become thinner, then take advantage of transparency of the transparent material to cut the transparent material and the semiconductor, to obtain at least one smaller semiconductor unit such as die or chip. Another feature is that the transparent material remains sticking to the active surface of the die by an adhesion layer until the die is attached to a carrier or another die, and then the transparent material and the adhesion layer are removed by taking advantage of a function of the adhesion layer: receiving a ray to lose adhesion between it and the active surface. Preferably the ray reaches the adhesion layer via the transparent material stuck on the active surface of the die.
US07713845B2
A laser processing method for a wafer such that a laser beam is applied to a work surface of the wafer along a separation line formed on the work surface to thereby form a laser processed groove along the separation line on the work surface by ablation. The laser processing method includes a protective material coating step for coating the work surface of the wafer with a liquid protective material mainly containing a water-soluble silicone oil and a laser processed groove forming step for applying the laser beam to the work surface coated with the protective material along the separation line in the condition that the protective material has fluidity, thereby forming the laser processed groove along the separation line.
US07713844B2
A method for working a nitride semiconductor substrate, comprising the steps of: preparing a disk-shaped nitride semiconductor substrate comprising a plurality of striped regions having defect concentration regions in which crystal defect density is higher than in surrounding low defect regions; and forming a cut-out at a specific location along the edge of the nitride semiconductor substrate, using as a reference the direction in which at least one from among the plurality of striped regions extends.
US07713839B2
Electronic assemblies and methods for forming assemblies including a diamond substrate are described. One embodiment includes providing a diamond support and forming a porous layer of SiO2 on the diamond support. A diamond layer is formed by chemical vapor deposition on the porous layer so that the porous layer is between the diamond support and the diamond layer. A polycrystalline silicon layer is formed on the diamond layer. The polycrystalline silicon layer is polished to form a planarized surface. A semiconductor layer is coupled to the polysilicon layer. After coupling the semiconductor layer to the polysilicon layer, the diamond support is detached from the diamond layer by breaking the porous layer. The semiconductor layer on the diamond layer substrate is then further processed to form a semiconductor device.
US07713838B2
Since a supporting wafer contains boron of 9×1018 atoms/cm3 or more, therefore a part of the metal impurities in an active layer wafer and the metal impurities in the wafer can be captured by the boron during the heat treatment for bonding. As a result, metal contamination in the active layer can be reduced. Moreover, the wafer strength is enhanced, thus preventing the wafer slipping. Since the wafer has no COP, micro voids are not detected in the LPD evaluation of the active layer, thereby improving the reliability of the evaluation. Such a bonded wafer can be manufactured at a low cast.
US07713836B2
A separation layer is formed over a substrate having a depressed portion, using a silane coupling agent; a conductive layer and an insulating layer that covers the conductive layer are formed in the depressed portion over the separation layer; and a sticky member is attached to the insulating layer, then the conductive layer and the insulating layer are separated from the substrate. Alternatively, after these steps, a flexible substrate is attached to the conductive layer and the insulating layer.
US07713830B2
A method of forming a poly pattern for minimizing a change in a storage value in the R-string pattern of the LCD panel drive IC (LDI) that includes depositing a poly silicon layer used as a resistor in a R-string structure over a semiconductor substrate; and then forming a poly silicon layer pattern having interconnected H-shaped cross-sections; and then forming a silicide-anti blocking area (SAB) layer over the poly silicon layer pattern and then patterning the SAB layer to thereby form SAB layer patterns over portions of the poly silicon layer pattern while exposing other portions of the poly silicon layer pattern; and then forming a silicide layer over the exposed portions of the poly silicon layer pattern. Therefore, although the size of the SAB pattern is reduced due to problems caused in processing steps, the poly line that occupies most of the resistance does not change so that a change in the resistance is entirely reduced.
US07713824B2
A method for controlling etching during photolithography in the fabrication of an integrated circuit in connection with first and second features that are formed on the integrated circuit having a gap there between comprising depositing a layer of photoresist on the integrated circuit, selectively exposing portions of the photoresist through at least one photolithography mask having a pattern including means for alleviating line end shortening of the first and second lines adjacent the gap, and developing the photoresist after the selective exposing step.
US07713820B2
A method for manufacturing a non-volatile memory is provided. An isolation structure is formed in a trench formed in a substrate. A portion of the isolation structure is removed to form a recess. A first dielectric layer and a first conductive layer are formed sequentially on the substrate. Bar-shaped cap layers are formed on the substrate. The first conductive layer not covered by the bar-shaped cap layers is removed to form first gate structures. A second dielectric layer is formed on the sidewalls of the first gate structures. A third dielectric layer is formed on the substrate between the first gate structures. A second conductive layer is formed on the third dielectric layer. The bar-shaped cap layers and a portion of the first conductive layer are removed to form second gate structures. A doped region is formed in the substrate at two sides of each of the second gate structures.
US07713817B2
Electroless plating can be utilized to form electrical interconnects associated with semiconductor substrates. For instance, a semiconductor substrate can be formed to have a dummy structure thereover with a surface suitable for electroless plating, and to also have a digit line thereover having about the same height as the dummy structure. A layer can be formed over the dummy structure and digit line, and openings can be formed through the layer to the upper surfaces of the dummy structure and digit line. Subsequently, a conductive material can be electroless plated within the openings to form electrical contacts within the openings. The opening extending to the dummy structure can pass through a capacitor electrode, and accordingly the conductive material formed within such opening can be utilized to form electrical contact to the capacitor electrode.
US07713804B2
A JFET structure with self-aligned metal source, drain and gate contacts with very low resistivity and very small feature sizes. Small source, drain and gate openings are etched in a thin dielectric layer which has a thickness set according to the desired source, gate and drain opening sizes, said dielectric layer having a nitride top layer. Metal is deposited on top of said dielectric layer to fill said openings and the metal is polished back to the top of the dielectric layer to achieve thin source, drain and gate contacts. Some embodiments include an anti-leakage poly-silicon layer lining the contact holes and all embodiments where spiking may occur include a barrier metal layer.
US07713801B2
A method for making a semiconductor structure (10) includes providing a wafer with a structure (16) having a sidewall, forming a sidewall spacer (22) adjacent to the sidewall, and forming a layer of material (28) over the wafer including over the sidewall spacer and over the structure having the sidewall. The method further includes etching the layer, wherein the etching (i) leaves at least portions of the sidewall spacer exposed and (ii) leaves a portion of the layer located over the structure having a sidewall. The portion of the layer located over the structure having a sidewall is reduced in thickness by the etching. Subsequent to etching the layer, the method includes removing the sidewall spacer.
US07713800B2
To provide a semiconductor device which is higher functional and reliable and a technique capable of manufacturing the semiconductor device with a high yield at low cost without complexing the apparatus or process. At least one of a first conductive layer and a second conductive layer is formed containing one kind or plural kinds of indium, tin, lead, bismuth, calcium, manganese, or zinc; or oxidation treatment is performed at least one of interfaces between an organic compound layer and the first conductive layer and between the organic compound layer and the second conductive layer. The first conductive layer, the organic compound layer, and the second conductive layer which are formed over a first substrate with a peeling layer interposed therebetween can be peeled from the first substrate with the peeling layer, and transposed to a second substrate.
US07713799B2
A method of forming a pattern having a step difference and a method of making a thin film transistor and an LCD device using the method of forming the pattern. The method of forming a pattern having a step difference includes forming a first pattern having a predetermined shape in a first printing roll, rotating the first printing roll on a substrate to transfer the first pattern onto the substrate, forming a second pattern having a predetermined shape in a second printing roll, and rotating the second printing roll on the substrate onto which the first pattern is transferred, to transfer the second pattern onto the substrate.
US07713789B2
Provides semiconductor devices and method for fabricating devices having a high thermal dissipation efficiency. An example device comprises a thermally conducting structure attached to a surface of the semiconductor device via soldering. The thermally conducting structure is essentially formed of a thermally conducting material and comprises an array of freestanding fins, studs or frames, or a grid of connected fins. A process for fabricating such a semiconductor device includes forming a thermally conducting structure on a carrier and attaching the thermally conducting structure formed on the carrier to a surface of the semiconductor device via soldering.
US07713787B2
A mounted body (100) of the present invention includes: a semiconductor element (10) having a surface (10a) on which element electrodes (12) are formed and a rear surface (10b) opposing the surface (10a); and a mounting board (30) on which wiring patterns (35) each having an electrode terminal (32) are formed. The rear surface (10b) of the semiconductor element (10) is in contact with the mounting board (30), and the element electrodes (12) of the semiconductor element (10) are connected electrically to the electrode terminals (32) of the wiring pattern (35) formed on the mounting board (30) via solder connectors (20) formed of solder particles assembled into a bridge shape. With this configuration, fine pitch connection between the element electrodes of the semiconductor element and the electrode terminals of the mounting board becomes possible.
US07713786B2
A method for activating a getter at low temperature for encapsulation in a device cavity containing a microdevice comprises etching a passivation layer off the getter material while the device wafer and lid wafer are enclosed in a bonding chamber. A plasma etching process may be used, wherein by applying a large negative voltage to the lid wafer, a plasma is formed in the low pressure environment within the bonding chamber. The plasma then etches the passivation layer from the getter material, which is directly thereafter sealed within the device cavity of the microdevice, all within the etching/bonding chamber.
US07713779B2
The invention concerns a photoactive nanocomposite (3) comprising at least one donor-acceptor couple of semiconductor elements. One of the elements is made of doped nanowires (7) with sp3 structure, and the other of the elements is an organic compound (8). The elements are supported by a device substrate (1). The invention also concerns a production method. According to a first embodiment, after their growth, the nanowires (7) are retrieved, functionalised and solubilised in the organic component (8). The mixture is deposited by coating on a device substrate. According to a second embodiment, the nanowires (7) are formed on a growth substrate (5) which is also the device substrate. The organic component (8) is combined with the nanowires (7) so as to form an active layer (3). Such a photoactive nanocomposite (3) allows production of a photovoltaic cell.
US07713777B2
A method for manufacturing an image sensor according to an embodiment includes performing a plasma surface treatment on an oxide film microlens to mitigate high surface morphology. The image sensor can include a passivation layer on a substrate having a pad region and a pixel region and a color filter layer on the passivation layer. A first low temperature oxide can be formed over the substrate including the color filter layer; and an oxide film microlens can be formed on the first low temperature oxide layer. A portion of the first low temperature oxide layer can provide a seed microlens upon which a second low temperature oxide layer is formed to form the oxide film microlenses. The plasma surface treatment can then be applied with respect to the oxide film microlenses.
US07713761B2
It is an object of the present invention to provide a doping apparatus, a doping method, and a method for fabricating a thin film transistor that can carry out doping to the carrier concentration which is optimum for obtaining the desired electric characteristic non-destructively and in an easy manner. In accordance with the present invention, an electric characteristic of a semiconductor element (threshold voltage in a transistor and the like) is correctly and precisely monitored by using a contact angle, and is controlled by controlling a doping method. In addition, the present invention can be momentarily acquired information by in-situ monitoring the characteristic and can be fed back without a time lag.
US07713757B2
Embodiments of the invention generally provide methods for end point detection at predetermined dopant concentrations during plasma doping processes. In one embodiment, a method includes positioning a substrate within a process chamber, generating a plasma above the substrate and transmitting a light generated by the plasma through the substrate, wherein the light enters the topside and exits the backside of the substrate, and receiving the light by a sensor positioned below the substrate. The method further provides generating a signal proportional to the light received by the sensor, implanting the substrate with a dopant during a doping process, generating multiple light signals proportional to a decreasing amount of the light received by the sensor during the doping process, generating an end point signal proportional to the light received by the sensor once the substrate has a final dopant concentration, and ceasing the doping process.
US07713756B2
A plasma etching method for a plasma etching apparatus including: a processing chamber for performing plasma etching on an object to be processed; a first gas supply source; a second gas supply source; a first gas inlet for introducing a processing gas into the processing chamber; a second gas inlet for introducing a processing gas into the processing chamber; a flow rate regulator for regulating the flow rate of the processing gas; and a gas shunt for dividing the first processing gas into a plurality of portions, wherein the second processing gas is merged with at least one part between the gas shunt and the first gas inlet and between the gas shunt and the second gas inlet.
US07713755B1
A high-amplitude magnetic angle sensor is described along with a process for its manufacture. A thin tantalum nitride hard mask, used to pattern the device, is left in place within the completed structure but, by first converting most of it to tantalum oxide, its effect on current shunting is greatly reduced.
US07713741B2
The invention is directed to a method and a kit for calibrating a photoluminescence measurement system, in particular a fluorescence measurement system. The kit includes a number of fluorescence standards i and their corrected and certified fluorescence spectra Ii(λ), whereby the fluorescence standards i are selected, so that their spectrally corrected fluorescence spectra Ii(λ) cover a broad spectral range with high intensity. The standards are characterized by large half-widths FWHMi of their bands of at least 1400 cm−1. According to the method of the invention, partial correction functions Fi(λ) are generated by forming the quotient of the measured fluorescence spectra Ji(λ) and the corresponding corrected fluorescence spectra Ii(λ), which are then combined to form a total correction function F(λ) for a broad spectral range. The combination factors αi are hereby computed by statistical averaging of consecutive partial correction functions Fi(λ) over only a predefined, limited overlap region λi/i+1±ΔλOL about the mutual crossover wavelength λi/i+1.
US07713739B1
The present invention provides an effective method for the transfection of dendritic cells by non-viral methods. The present invention provides this benefit by incubating dendritic cells and a specified transfection agent. The transfection agent comprises a polynucleotide and microparticles, with the microparticles being comprised of biodegradable polymer and cationic detergent. The dendritic cells and transfection agent are incubated for a time sufficient to transfect the dendritic cells with the polynucleotide.
US07713735B2
The present invention relates to unique strategies and constructs for producing a nucleic acid product that downregulates or prevents expression of a desired target polynucleotide.
US07713724B2
The invention relates to isolated polypeptides with hydantoin recemase activity, that do not suffer from substrate inhibition. Such polypeptides arc for instance isolated polypeptides with at least 87% identity with SEQ ID: NO. 2 or SEQ ED: NO. 4. The invention also relates to nucleic acid sequences encoding these polypeptides. The invention also relates to processes for the racemisation of enantiomerically enriched hydantoin compounds and to processes for the preparation of enantiomarically enriched I)-or I-α amino acids.
US07713723B1
The present invention relates to variants (mutants) of parent Termamyl-like alpha-amylases, which variant has alpha-amylase activity and exhibits altered stability, in particular at high temperatures and/or at low pH relative, and/or low Ca2+ to the parent alpha-amylase.
US07713722B2
The present invention provides an inexpensive and simple method which allows efficient glycosylation with glycosyltransferases derived from microorganisms of the Vibrionaceae family when compared to conventional enzymatic reaction systems.According to the method of the present invention, glycosyltransferases derived from microorganisms of the Vibrionaceae, such as β-galactoside-α2,6-sialyltransferase derived from Photobacterium damselae, β-galactoside-α2,3-sialyltransferase derived from Photobacterium phosphoreum and β-galactoside-α2,3-sialyltransferase derived from Vibrio sp., enhance their enzymatic activity when an appropriate amount of NaCl is added to their enzyme reaction systems.
US07713721B2
This invention provides compositions and methods for generating components of protein biosynthetic machinery including orthogonal tRNAs, orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, and orthogonal pairs of tRNAs/synthetases. Methods for identifying orthogonal pairs are also provided. These components can be used to incorporate unnatural amino acids into proteins in vivo.
US07713718B1
A process for producing glucose dehydrogenases. This process comprises transferring a DNA containing a sequence represented by SEQ ID NO:1 which encodes an α subunit having a glucose dehydrogenase activity and a β subunit being an electron transfer protein into a microorganism belonging to the genus Pseudomonas to thereby construct a transformant, and culturing this transformant so as to allow the production of a first glucose dehydrogenase containing the above-described β subunit and a second glucose dehydrogenase free from the β subunit. The α subunit as described above has a molecular weight of about 60 kDa measured by, for example, SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under reducing conditions, while the β subunit as described above has a molecular weight of about 43 kDa measured by, for example, SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under reducing conditions.
US07713701B2
Methods and compositions are provided for forming complexes between dsDNA and novel DNA-binding polymers comprising N-terminal thiophene-containing moieties which exhibit selectivity for T-A base pairs. By appropriate choice of target sequences and DNA-binding polymers, complexes comprising polymer-DNA are obtained with high association constants. The formation of complexes can be used for identification of specific dsDNA sequences, for inhibiting gene transcription, and as a therapeutic for inhibiting proliferation of undesired cells or modulation of expression of specific genes.
US07713682B2
A multiple exposure method for enhancing the image resolution in a lithographic system is disclosed. The method comprises, for example, decomposing a desired pattern to be printed on the substrate into at least two constituent sub-patterns that are capable of being optically resolved by the lithographic system, coating the substrate with a positive tone resist layer and a relatively thin positive tone developable material layer on top of a target layer which is to be patterned with the desired dense feature pattern. The positive tone developable material absorbs exposure radiation during a first patterning exposure and, after development, during a second patterning exposure to prevent exposure of at least a portion of the positive tone resist layer, underneath exposed portions of the positive tone developable material layer, to an exposure dose above a fraction of an energy-to-clear exposure dose associated with the positive tone resist layer.
US07713679B2
There is provided a compound represented by a general formula (B1-1) shown below, an acid generator composed of the above compound, a resist composition containing an acid generator composed of the above compound, and a method of forming a resist pattern: (wherein RX represents a hydrocarbon group which may contain a substituent group; Q1 represents an alkylene group of 1 to 12 carbon atoms which may contain a substituent group, or a single bond; n represents an integer of 0 or 1; Y1 represents an alkylene group of 1 to 4 carbon atoms, or a fluorinated alkylene group of 1 to 4 carbon atoms; and A+ represents an organic cation which contains a nitrogen atom).
US07713673B2
A fixing liquid is provided which fixes a toner comprising a resin on a recording medium, in which a fluid particle comprising a component which dissolves or swells at least a portion of the resin comprised in the toner is dispersed in a dispersive medium, as a micro-emulsion.
US07713667B2
A method and system are used to modify pattern data obtained in relation to a pattern on a static patterning device. It is suggested that, in an example when a maskless lithography tool is used, continuous OPC-enhanced features used for maskless lithography rasterization should include a variation in local amplitude and phase transmittance that matches modulation capabilities of a patterning device being used. The modified pattern data is used by a dynamic patterning device to pattern impinging light, which is then projected onto an object. The system and method comprise using a pattern data generating device, a modification device, a dynamic pattern generator, and a projection system. The pattern data generating device generates pattern data corresponding to a pattern on a static patterning device. The modification device receives the pattern data and modifies the pattern data using characteristics of a type of the dynamic pattern generator being used. The dynamic pattern generator receives the modified patterned data and uses the modified pattern data to pattern the beam of radiation. The projection system projects the patterned beam onto the object.
US07713666B2
To provide a reflective mask blank for EUV lithography having an absorber layer which has a low reflectance in a wavelength region of EUV light or light for inspection of a pattern and which is easy to control to have a desired layer composition and thickness.A reflective mask blank for EUV lithography, which comprises a substrate, and a reflective layer to reflect EUV light and an absorber layer to absorb EUV light, formed in this order on the substrate, wherein the absorber layer contains tantalum (Ta) and hafnium (Hf), and in the absorber layer, the content of Hf is from 20 to 60 at. % and the content of Ta is from 40 to 80 at. %.
US07713657B2
In a battery (2) including a battery cell formed in a flattened substantially parallelepiped shape and a terminal contacting section (222) electrically connected to the battery cell, at one end in the longitudinal direction of a face of the battery opposing to the face on which the terminal contacting section (222) is provided, a projecting portion (26) which projects in the longitudinal direction of the face is provided. Meanwhile, another projecting portion (27) which projects in the longitudinal direction of the face is provided at the other end. The projecting portions (26, 27) may have projecting lengths different from each other or may have projecting lengths and projecting thicknesses different from each other. A charging apparatus into which the battery (2) is to be installed includes an accommodating section (40) for the battery (2) which in turn includes projection accommodating portions (46 and 47) configured to individually accommodate the projecting portions (26 and 27). The accommodating section (40) includes a space for accommodating a battery (2D, 2E) wherein the battery cell has a rectangular principal face and another space for accommodating another battery (2) wherein the battery cell has a substantially square principal face, and charging terminals serve as charging terminals not only for the battery (2) but also for the battery (2D, 2E).
US07713646B2
In order to provide a fuel cell unit, comprising a housing which limits at least one gas chamber and has a gas opening in a first housing wall and a gas opening in a second housing wall located opposite the first housing wall, the housing of which has an adequate deformation stability in relation to the sealing surface pressure required for a flat seal even at high temperatures, it is suggested that the fuel cell unit comprise at least one supporting element which is arranged between the first housing wall and the second housing wall and keeps the two housing walls at a distance from one another.
US07713645B2
A conductive connecting member 1 is contacted with an electrochemical cell for electrical conduction. The cell has a solid electrolyte film, a first electrode provided on a first face of the solid electrolyte film and contacting a first gas and the first gas, and a second electrode provided on a second face of the solid electrolyte film and contacting a second gas. The conductive connecting member 1 has a plate-like main part 2 and a tongue piece 3 protruding from the main part 2. One end of the tongue piece 3 is connected with the main part 2.
US07713639B2
Provided are a protective layer made of magnesium oxide containing at least one rare earth element selected from the group consisting of the rare earth elements, in which the content of the at least one rare earth element is from about 5.0×10−5 to about 6.0×10−4 per 1 part by weight of the magnesium oxide, a composite for forming the protective layer, a method of forming the protective layer, and a plasma display panel including the protective layer. The protective layer can reduce a discharge delay time and the temperature dependency of the discharge delay time, and thus, is suitable for single scan and an increase in Xe content.
US07713638B2
The invention relates to layer systems having at least one layer comprising titanium aluminum oxide. The layer comprising titanium aluminum oxide may be either a functional layer—with or without interruption by an intermediate layer which is optically inactive—or a functional layer formed from a metal oxide which is interrupted by an intermediate layer comprising titanium aluminum oxide. The layer systems are structurally and thermally stable at operating temperatures of over 600° C. The layer systems may either comprise only one functional layer or may be a multilayer system, preferably an alternating layer system composed of functional layers with high and low refractive indices.
US07713634B2
A non-linear silicon compound is provided. The non-linear silicon compound may be a non-linear aromatic compound used as a linker for manufacturing an oligomer probe array. The non-linear silicon compound may reduce self-aggregation so as to form a stable and uniform monolayer. As a result, upon hybridization analysis, the fluorescent intensity may be increased.
US07713633B2
A plasma display panel (PDP) includes an EMI filter at a front portion thereof for blocking/shielding substantial amounts of electromagnetic waves. The filters has high visible transmission, and is capable of blocking/shielding electromagnetic waves. In certain example embodiments, a silver based coating of the EMI filter reduces damage from EMI radiation through highly conductive Ag layers, blocks significant amounts of NIR and IR radiation from outdoor sunlight to reduce PDP panel temperature, and enhances contrast ratio through reduced reflection, while maintaining high visible transmission. In certain example embodiments, at least one layer of or including silicon nitride may be Si-rich, and/or at least one layer including an oxide of Ni and/or Cr may be a suboxide, in order to improve heat treatability of the coated article.
US07713630B2
A glass optical element including: a first surface which is formed by transcription of the first transfer surface of the molding die; a second surface which is formed by transcription of the second transfer surface of the molding die and is facing the first surface; and a side surface of the outer periphery formed by transcription of the side transfer surface of the molding die; wherein the glass optical element is characterized by further containing: a first free surface which is formed without contacting with any of the surfaces of the molding die and is connecting the first surface and the side surface of the outer periphery; and a second free surface which is formed without contacting with any of the surfaces of the molding die and is connecting the aforementioned second surface and the side surface of the outer periphery.
US07713627B2
Magnetic particles comprising a group shown by the following formula (1): wherein R1 and R2 individually represent a hydroxyl group, a group shown by the following formula (2), or a group shown by the following formula (3), provided that R1 and R2 are not both hydrogen atoms, wherein R3 represents an a linear, branched, or cyclic alkylene group having 2 to 6 carbon atoms or an arylene group, and wherein R4 is a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group.
US07713626B2
Silanized, structurally modified silicas, characterised by vinyl groups or vinyl silyl groups fixed to the surface, hydrophobic groups such as trimethyl silyl and/or dimethyl silyl and/or monomethyl silyl additionally being fixed to the surface, having the following physico-chemical properties: BET surface area m2/g: 25-400 Average primary particle size nm: 5-50 pH: 3-10 Carbon content %: 0.1-10 DBP value %: <200 or not determinable are produced by treating silica with a surface-modifying agent, heat treating and then structurally modifying the mixture obtained. The silica can be used as a filler in silicone rubber.
US07713621B2
This invention concerns a thermosetting resin system that is useful in the manufacture of high performance prepreg, laminate and composite materials as well as, prepregs, laminates and composites made from the thermosetting resin composition.
US07713613B2
The present invention discloses a composition for antistatic layer formation, which has realized antireflection and prevention of interference fringes. The composition for antistatic layer formation comprises electrically conductive fine particles, an ionizing radiation curing resin, and an organic solvent, the electrically conductive fine particles each comprising a core particle covered with an electrically conductive material, the refractive index of the core particle being lower than that of the electrically conductive material.
US07713593B2
A surface treatment method using a plasma treatment apparatus which has an electric discharge generation portion facing a surface of a substrate with a gap therebetween, the substrate being placed on a supporting body, and a construction in which the gap is supplied with a treatment gas, the method includes: applying different voltages between the electric discharge generation portion and the supporting body such that plasma is obtained from the treatment gas supplied to the gap; moving one of the electric discharge generation portion and the substrate relative to the other in a first direction, while the surface of the substrate being exposed to the plasma; and moving, after the relative movement in the first direction and the exposure above referenced, one of the electric discharge generation portion and the substrate relative to the other in a second direction opposite to the first direction, while the surface of the substrate being exposed to the plasma.
US07713588B2
A piezo-electric film forming method includes (1) a first moving step of moving a nozzle with respect to a substrate along a first direction to form a first piezo-electric band extending along the first direction, (2) a measuring step of measuring thickness distribution along the width of the first piezo-electric band, (3) a calculating step of calculating a shifting distance based on the thickness distribution, (4) a shifting step of moving the nozzle with respect to the substrate along a second direction by the calculated shifting distance, wherein the second direction intersects with the first direction, and (5) a second moving step of moving the nozzle with respect to the substrate along the first direction to form a second piezo-electric band extending along the first direction. The piezo-electric film is formed such that the first piezo-electric band and the second piezo-electric band are overlapped.
US07713587B2
A method of coating a substrate is disclosed. The method includes providing a substrate; depositing an infrared reflecting layer over at least a portion of a substrate; depositing a primer layer over at least a portion of the infrared reflective layer; depositing a dielectric layer over at least a portion of the primer layer; and depositing an absorbing layer, wherein the absorbing layer is deposited either under the infrared reflective layer or over the dielectric layer, wherein the absorbing layer comprises an alloy and/or mixture of (a) a metal having an index of refraction at 500 nm less than or equal to 1.0 and (b) a material having a ΔG°f of greater than or equal to −100 at 1000° K. The metal can be silver and the material can be tin.
US07713586B2
A method for a surface being plated locally includes a fixture for holding at least a work piece and the fixture is supported with two opposite lateral walls of a plating tank. Hence, a plated zone on a surface of the work piece can be immerged into the liquid contained in the plating tank for the plated zone being coated with de-oxide layer and plating layer sequentially.
US07713583B2
An isotope-doped carbon nanotube (40) includes at least two kinds of carbon nanotube segments, each kind of carbon nanotube segment having a unique carbon isotope. The at least two kinds of carbon nanotube segments are arranged along a longitudinal direction of the carbon nanotube alternately or non-alternately. The carbon isotope is selected from the group consisting of a carbon-12 isotope, a carbon-13 isotope and a carbon-14 isotope. Three preferred methods employ different single isotope sources to form isotope-doped carbon nanotubes. In a chemical vapor deposition method, different isotope source gases are alternately or non-alternately introduced. In an arc discharge method, a power source is alternately or non-alternately switched between different isotope anodes. In a laser ablation method, a laser is alternately or non-alternately focused on different isotope targets.
US07713580B2
The invention relates to a manufacturing method of an image recording medium wherein during the process of cutting a long roll body of the medium into sheet like product the curl tendency, a cause of poor printer feedability, is removed, and at the same time the generation of cracking in a recording layer is suppressed. In the manufacturing method a web of a long roll body, a sheet like material of a paper substrate with thermoplastic resin layers formed on both surfaces one of which also has a recording layer with the long roll body wound such that this recording layer surface is on the outside, is unwound into a cutting device whilst at the same time a straightening element of a roller of diameter between 8 mm and 16 mm is pressed against the side of the recording layer with a wrap angle that is less than 60 degrees.
US07713565B2
A process for preparing an instant beverage is provided which includes heating a dried soluble coffee under sufficient pressure thereby forcing gas into internal voids of the dried coffee. The heated dried soluble coffee is cooled and depressurized to produce a dried soluble coffee having internal voids filled with pressurized gas. An instant dry beverage comprising soluble coffee having internal voids filled with pressurized gas is also provided, and this product is advantageous in that it produces a beverage with foam on its surface when reconstituted.
US07713561B2
Oil resistant package material and packages prepared therefrom have cyclodextrin incorporated in or adjacent to a film layer of the package to reduce the permeation of oil through the package material, and particularly out of the package. The film layer comprises a polymer that coordinates or bonds with a cyclodextrin compound in an amount sufficient to reduce the permeation of oil through the film layer as compared to a like film layer that does not contain cyclodextrin.
US07713558B2
Extra-cellular product anti-biofouling against marine invertebrates which are common to the biofouling, which contains an extract of the supernatant of an Alteromonas sp. Culture. Anti-biofouling composition, comprising said extra-cellular product and a biopolymer. The use of said extra-cellular product for preparing a composition useful for inhibiting the marine micro- and macro-biofouling, and the process for preparing said extra-cellular product.
US07713555B2
Present invention provides an efficient way of enhancing male erectile function, without the fear of unknown long-term ill-effect as a result of taking medication orally. The additive of present invention can be used by condom manufacturers directly as part of the lubricant coating. The composition of the additive pursuant to present invention will cause the dilating and expansion of arteries sending blood to the chambers of corpora cavernosa and corpus spongiosum, and at the same time, cause the restricting and contracting of veins that take blood away. As a result, the hardness of penile erection is increases. Particularly, the staying power is enhanced and time of erection is prolonged, leading to increased sexual intercourse time and better sexual satisfaction.
US07713545B2
Presents novel hollow fiber shaped organic nanotubes that can be easily produced in a short time span and also have a broad range of utility. An N-glycoside type glycolipid represented by the general formula (1) shown below. G-NHCO—R (1) (In the formula, G represents a saccharide radical other than a hemiacetal hydroxyl group bonded to the anomer carbon atom of the saccharide, and R represents an unsaturated hydrocarbon group containing ten to 39 carbon atoms.) This molecule self-aggregates and forms hollow fiber shaped organic nanotubes in water when this N-glycoside type glycolipid is dissolved, allowed to cool gradually and allowed to stand undisturbed at room temperature. The average external diameter of the nanotubes is from 70 nm to 500 nm and the average internal diameter (average diameter of the cavity) is from 40 nm to 300 nm.
US07713541B1
Biocompatible terpolymers are manufactured to include a zwitterionic monomer, an alkoxy acrylate monomer, and a hydrophobic monomer. The alkoxy acrylate monomer can be a 2-methoxyethyl methacrylate (MOEMA) or a 2-methoxyethyl methacrylate (EOEMA). Alternatively, the alkoxy acrylate can be 2-methoxyethyl acrylate (MOEA) or 2-methoxyethyl acrylate (EOEA). The alkoxy acrylate monomers advantageously give the zwitterionic copolymers greater ductility, strength, and toughness while maintaining a desired amount of hydrophilicity. The improved toughness allows the zwitterionic copolymers to be processed without cross-linking, which improves the elongation properties of the zwitterionic copolymer, and reduces the risk of cracking during use.
US07713538B2
An intravascular stent has a coat comprising a crosslinked amphiphilic polymer and a sparingly water soluble matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor (MMPI). Preferably the polymer is formed from 2-methacryloyloxy-2′-ethyltrimethylammonium phosphate inner salt, C4-18 alkyl methacrylate and reactive and/or crosslinking monomer and the MMPI is a hydroxamic acid, more preferably batimastat. Preclinical and clinical results are reported, showing good luminal areas and reduced intimal thickening.
US07713536B2
A preparation, in particular a cosmetic preparation, in the form of a workable paste which is present in the form of a W/O emulsion and which is suitable for cosmetic uses, in particular in the area of decorative cosmetics for coloring and improving the skin, the lips and the eyelids. It is also suitable as a fixing for lipstick, as lip care, as a skin care foundation or as a sun protection agent. It is preferably in the form of a water-in-silicone emulsion. It contains a wax, a suitable emulsifier, a volatile silicone oil, a moistening agent, a solid phase and water. In addition it may also contain the additives and adjuvant substances which are approved and usual in cosmetics. Processes for the production of the preparation are also described.
US07713524B2
The invention concerns the use of human or humanized chimeric monoclonal antibodies which are produced in selected cell lines, said antibodies bringing about a high ADCC activity as well as a high secretion of cytokines and interleukins, for treating underpopulations of so-called weak-response patients exhibiting CD16 FCGR3A-158F homozygote or FCGR3A-158V/F heterozygote polymorphism.
US07713523B2
The present invention is directed to compositions and methods of delivery of CoQ-10 and an amino acid solubilized in monoterpenes. Use of monoterpenes as dissolving agents, greatly effects the ability to incorporate greater amounts of bioactive CoQ-10 and the amino acid, such as carnitine, i.e., carnitine tartrate, in formulations, such as soft gel capsules.
US07713511B2
A lithium tantalate substrate obtained by working in the state of a substrate a lithium tantalate crystal grown by the Czochralski method is buried in a mixed powder of Al and Al2O3, followed by heat treatment carried out at a temperature kept to from 350 to 600° C., to manufacture a lithium tantalate substrate having volume resistivity which has been controlled within the range of from 1010 to 1013 Ωcm. The substrate obtained has a very low pyroelectricity or no pyroelectricity, and it can be made colored and opaque from a colorless and transparent state and also sufficiently has the properties required as a piezoelectric material.
US07713508B2
The present invention comprises nanotube structures comprising nanotubes covalently bonded via chemically reactive groups on the outer walls of the nanotubes and methods for forming the covalently bonded nanotube structures. The present invention also comprises materials comprising the functionalized nanotubes covalently bonded to organic based monomers and/or polymers, and methods for their formation.
US07713505B2
State-of-the-art electronic structure calculations provide the likelihood of the availability of YLi3N2, ZrLi3N2, NbLi3N2, MoLi3N2, TcLi3N2, RuLi3N2, RhLi3N2, GeLi3N2, InLi3N2, and SnLi3N2 as compounds for reaction with hydrogen under suitable conditions. Such calculations also provide the likelihood of the availability of YLi3N2Hn, ZrLi3N2Hn, NbLi3N2Hn, MoLi3N2Hn, TcLi3N2Hn, RuLi3N2Hn, RhLi3N2Hn, PdLi3N2Hn, AgLi3N2Hn, CdLi3N2Hn, AlLi3N2Hn, GaLi3N2Hn, GeLi3N2Hn, InLi3N2Hn, SnLi3N2Hn, and SbLi3N2H, (here n is an integer having a value of 1-6) as solid hydrides for the storage of hydrogen. These materials offer utility for hydrogen storage systems.
US07713501B2
A system for providing a chemical to a stream of a fluid. The system includes an elongate member with the chemical therein and moveable through the fluid to provide the chemical to the fluid. Optionally, the elongate member may be unwound from a first reel to a second reel through the stream of fluid to provide the chemical to the fluid.
US07713493B2
An ultra-compact combination exhaust muffler and aftertreatment element and water trap assembly provides exhaust flow through an aftertreatment element surrounded by an annular water collection space receiving water diverted and shed from an upper dome cap above the aftertreatment element and below the upper outlet. In a further embodiment, the assembly includes housing sections separable from each other at a service joint axially between axial ends of the aftertreatment element for ease of servicing. In a further aspect, the aftertreatment element has an axial end within a housing section saving axial extension space.
US07713492B2
An apparatus for treating exhaust gases from a mobile internal combustion engine includes at least an exhaust pipe with a direction of extent, a honeycomb body having at least ceramic or extruded material, and at least one metallic fiber mat, which is at least partially disposed between the exhaust pipe and the honeycomb body. At least two zones with different functions are formed in the direction of extent by the at least one fiber mat. At least one first zone serves a function of mounting the honeycomb body, and at least one other zone serves a function selected from the group consisting of thermal insulation and forming a seal against gas. A vehicle having the apparatus is also provided.
US07713490B2
A process is disclosed for providing a flow of particulate matter such as a catalyst to a reactor, comprising intermittently adding said particulate matter and a diluent to a mixing tank, and continuously withdrawing a slurry of particulate matter in diluent from the mixing tank for introduction into the reactor, wherein prior to each addition of particulate matter and diluent to the mixing tank, the concentration of particulate matter in the diluent already in the mixing tank is measured or calculated, and the amount of particulate matter and diluent subsequently added is measured so as to achieve the same concentration at the end of the addition as that measured or calculated prior to the addition. Preferably measurement of the amount of particulate mailer and diluent added to the mixing tank is carried out before any diluent is added to the particulate matter.
US07713486B2
A well plate and its supporting devices provide capabilities found in larger fermenters, such as controlling the oxygen level, the pH level, and temperature of the contents of the well. The well plate includes a plurality of wells, each of which can be independently controlled. Apertures in the wells, for example, provide access for a gas supply and sensors within each well provide data relating to, e.g., oxygen and/or pH level in the well. A control system controls the gas supply for each well based on the information provided by the sensor within the well. Similarly, temperature control elements, such as a heater or cooler, is placed in thermal contact with the interior of the well, as is a temperature measurement element. A control system can independently control the temperature of the contents of the well based on information provided by the temperature measurement element for that well.
US07713485B2
A microfluidics switch with moving planes has a first substrate with some holes and a second substrate with some micro-channels. Herein, the relative planes of both substrates are covered by a hydrophobic material. Therefore, while the substrates are neighboring and relatively moving, the overlap relation between the holes and the micro-channels are varied and a switch function is provided. Further, by using the hydrophobic material, while the distance between substrates is smaller than the height of drop of each liquid inputted into the holes, the fluids can not fluid between the planes and then different micro-channels are isolated from each other.
US07713483B2
A portable water filtration system filters water as it flows through an inlet of a conventional storage container and removes impurities before they enter the container. The filtration system is implemented within a cap that can attach to a variety of standard water storage containers, such as Nalgene™-type water bottles. When attached to the storage container, the cap seals around the container inlet and prevents the outer surface of the container inlet from contacting the water. To that end, two watertight seals are formed to isolate the outer surface of the inlet from any fluid communication, e.g., during a water-filling process. Because the outer surface of the inlet does not contact the unfiltered water, no contaminants can adhere to the inlet's surface and threaten a drinker's health if he/she drinks directly from the storage container after the cap is removed. The filtration system may be detachable from the base, such that the filtration system can be removed while the filtered water is disinfected using known ultra-violet (UV) and chemicals. In one embodiment, the filtration system may be cleaned and reinserted in an opposite orientation to seal the filtered and treated water in the container.
US07713477B2
A system operable to monitoring bio/chemical activities includes a first measurement probe, a second measurement probe and a comparator. The first measurement probe is operable to interrogate one or more physical properties of a sample at a first location of the sample, and to output, in response, a first measurement signal. The second measurement probe is operable to interrogate one or more physical properties of the sample at a second location of the sample, and to output, in response, a second measurement signal. The comparator is coupled to receive the first and second measurement signals, the comparator configured to output a difference signal comprising the difference between the first and second measurement signals, the difference signal corresponding to the difference in one or more bio/chemical activities occurring at the first location of the sample relative to the second location of the sample.
US07713465B2
Provided is a process for producing a MnZn-base ferrite comprising: firing a compacted raw material to produce the MnZn-base ferrite, wherein the firing comprises, in the following order: a heating phase comprising gradually bringing a firing temperature from room temperature up to a maximum temperature; a maximum temperature holding phase comprising maintaining the maximum temperature for a period of time, wherein a partial pressure of oxygen (p2) at the maximum temperature holding phase is greater than an equilibrium partial pressure of oxygen (p1) as follows: p2>p1, wherein the equilibrium partial pressure of oxygen (p1) is represented by the following equation: log(p1)=log(PO2)=a−b/T, wherein PO2 is measured in a unit of %, and T is measured in a unit of absolute temperature K; and a cooling phase comprising gradually bringing the maximum temperature down to near room temperature, wherein a partial pressure of oxygen (p3) at the cooling phase is operated at an equilibrium partial pressure of oxygen based on the equation log(p3)=a−b/T.
US07713456B2
Processing a die that has an edge and a substrate upon which a layer of moisture permeable material is disposed. The moisture permeable material extends to the edge of the die. One embodiment comprises interrupting the layer of moisture permeable material to form a gap at a boundary near the edge, thereby to substantially block movement of moisture through the gap of the moisture permeable material.
US07713452B2
Compounds that absorb ultraviolet light 380 nm to 400 nm range but avoid absorption in the blue light range, thereby imparting yellowness, i.e., 410-420 nm have suitable refractive characteristics useful in the preparation of optical resins or plastics suitable, for example, for the manufacture of ophthalmic lenses. Methods for making the compounds, optic lenses containing the compounds, and methods for making these are also described.
US07713451B2
A process for manufacturing a water-resistant telecommunication cable. The cable has a solid and compact element having a water-soluble polymer material having vinyl alcohol/vinyl acetate copolymer having a hydrolysis degree of 60-95% and a polymerisation degree higher than 1,800 and at least one solid low-melting and one solid high melting plasticizers. The process produces continuously the water-soluble polymer material by separately feeding, in sequence, a multi-screw extruder, in the flow direction, with the copolymer and the high melting plasticizer melting and mixing them while transporting them through the extruder, and with the low melting plasticizer, melting and mixing them with the copolymer and the high melting plasticizer, subsequently homogenizing the copolymer and the plasticizers and finally discharging the melt, at a temperature lower than or equal to 205° C. A process for extruding the above PVA based water-soluble polymer material. The process allows extrusion of PVA with an enhanced productivity and reproducibility requiring shorter times for absorbing the plasticizers onto the polymer.
US07713450B2
Disclosed are a primer composition having photochromic property and impact resistance for coating transparent materials and a photochromic transparent material having a primer layer formed by coating and curing the primer composition. The primer composition for coating transparent materials comprises: a) 5-90 parts by weight of a polyurethane containing Brønsted salt; b) 5-50 parts by weight of a polyepoxy resin; and c) 140 parts by weight of a photochromic dye, based on 100 parts by weight of the total primer composition. The photochromic transparent material having a primer layer formed by coating and curing the primer composition shows excellent photochromic property and impact resistance.
US07713441B2
To present a green- to yellow-emitting phosphor whereby a light-emitting device having high color rendering properties and high luminance can be obtained, a light-emitting device employing such a phosphor, and an image display device and a lighting system, containing such a light-emitting device.A phosphor made of a compound represented by the following formula (I), which comprises, as matrix, a compound of a garnet structure and which contains, as a luminescent center ion, a metal element in the matrix: M1aM2bXcM3dM43Oe (I) wherein M1 is Mg and/or Zn, M2 is a bivalent metal element excluding Mg and Zn, X is a metal element as a luminescent center ion composed mainly of Ce, M3 is a trivalent metal element excluding X, M4 is a tetravalent metal element, and a, b, c, d and e are numbers satisfying the following formulae, respectively: 0.001≦a≦0.5 2.5≦b≦3.3 0.005≦c≦0.5 1.5≦d≦2.3 e={(a+b)×2+(c+d)×3+12}/2.
US07713431B2
A plasma processing apparatus for converting a processing gas into a plasma by a high frequency power in a processing chamber and performing a plasma processing on a substrate mounted on a mounting table includes a ring portion disposed to surround the substrate on the mounting table, and a temperature control unit for establishing a temperature difference between the ring portion and the substrate, such that the ring portion is at least 50° C. higher than the substrate. Further, the processing gas generates chlorine radicals, and the temperature control unit is at least one of a heating unit for heating the ring portion and a cooling unit for cooling the mounting table.
US07713429B2
The method of manufacturing a nozzle plate comprises the steps of: applying a protective sheet to a first surface of a nozzle plate in which nozzles are to be formed; forming holes which pass through the nozzle plate and have bottoms inside the protective sheet, from a side of a second surface of the nozzle plate reverse to the first surface; filling a filling material into the holes, from the side of the second surface; peeling away the protective sheet after the filling step; forming a liquid-repelling film on the first surface of the nozzle plate after the peeling step; and removing the filling material after the liquid-repelling film forming step.
US07713426B2
Exemplary systems and methods relating to water treatment are described. One implementation filters water through a moving bed media filter sufficient to decrease the water's turbidity. This implementation simultaneously disinfects the filtered water and at least a portion of the moving bed media filter with ultra violet (UV) energy.
US07713420B2
An ion exchange resin tower including a tank, a supply line, an output line, and a plurality of sampling tubes is provided. The supply line guides a liquid into the tank, such that an ion exchange occurs between the liquid and the ion exchange resin in the tank. The processed liquid is guided out of the tank via the output line. The sampling tubes are disposed on a sidewall of the tank to sample the liquid flowing through the resin.
US07713416B2
A process for transforming sludge into NPK type granulated fertilizer in which the energy consume is reduced a 90% thanks to the addition of a special filtration step in which the water content is reduced a 50% and the remaining water is evaporated by the exothermic reaction occurring in the process. Additionally, the process of the present invention includes mechanisms that allow some of the by products generated by some of the reactions, to adsorb crystallization water and reduce the humidity of the mass without using external energy.
US07713409B2
A method for reducing the level of elemental sulfur from sulfur-containing hydrocarbon streams as well as reducing the level of total sulfur in such streams. Preferred hydrocarbon streams include fuel streams such as naphtha streams that are transported through a pipeline. The sulfur-containing hydrocarbon stream is contacted with a mixture of water, a caustic, a surfactant, at least one metal sulfide, and optionally an aromatic mercaptan. This results in an aqueous phase and a hydrocarbon phase containing reduced levels of both elemental sulfur and total sulfur.
US07713408B2
Process for the catalytic hydrotreating of a hydrocarbon feed stock containing silicon compounds comprising the steps of contacting the feed stock in presence of hydrogen with a first hydrotreating catalyst being arranged in at least two reactors being connected in series at an outlet temperature of up to 410° C. to reduce content of the silicon compounds in the feed stock; cooling of the feed stock such treated to a temperature of between 280° and 350° C.; and contacting the cooled feed stock with a second hydrotreating catalyst at conditions being effective in reduction of sulphur compound and nitrogen compound concentration.
US07713403B2
In a water treatment method, a first embodiment of the treatment method comprises the steps of producing electrolyzed acid water by electrolysis of raw water in an anode chamber of an electrolytic cell with an ion permeable partition membrane; removing volatile component in an acid property of the electrolyzed water; and producing electrolyzed neutral water without the volatile component by electrolysis of the electrolyzed acid water in a cathode chamber of the electrolytic cell.
US07713402B2
Chemical decontamination method of dissolving oxide film adhered to contaminated component including, preparing decontamination solution in which ozone is dissolved and oxidation additive agent, which suppresses corrosion of metal base of the contaminated component, is added, and applying the decontamination solution to the contaminated component, thereby to remove the oxide film by oxidation.
US07713401B2
A method for the electrochemical synthesis of dinitro compounds is disclosed. The method comprises using an anode to oxidize an inactive chemical mediator, such as a ferrocyanide (Fe(CN)6−4) ion, to an active chemical mediator or oxidizing agent, such as a ferricyanide (Fe(CN)6−3) ion, in the presence of a differential voltage. The oxidizing agent reacts with a nitro compound and a nitrite ion to form a geminal dinitro compound. The anode may continuously oxidize ferrocyanide to regenerate active ferricyanide, thus keeping sufficient amounts of ferricyanide available for reaction.
US07713397B2
The invention relates to a metal membrane filter (1) and to a method and apparatus for the production thereof. The metal membrane filter (1) has rectilinear, cylindrical filter pores (2), which are arranged statistically distributed on the metal membrane filter surface (3) in a density of from a single filter pore (2) per cm2 up to 107 filter pores (2) per cm2. The average diameter of the filter pores (2) is uniform for all filter pores (2) and is from a few tens of nm up to several micrometers. The metal membrane filter (1) comprises a metal electro-deposited with rectilinear, cylindrical filter pores (2) or a correspondingly electro-deposited metal alloy.
US07713389B2
A perpendicular magnetic recording disk has a granular cobalt alloy recording layer (RL) containing an additive oxide or oxides, an intermediate layer (IL) as an exchange-break layer on the “soft” magnetic underlayer (SUL), and an ultrathin nucleation film (NF) between the IL and the RL. In the method of making the disk, the IL is deposited at a relatively low sputtering pressure, to thereby reduce the roughness of the RL and overcoat (OC), while the NF and RL are deposited at substantially higher sputtering pressures. The resulting disk has good recording properties and improved corrosion resistance over a comparable disk made with an IL deposited at high sputtering pressure and without the NF. The NF may be a discontinuous film with an average thickness of less than about 1 nm.
US07713386B2
The apparatus includes an alkylation unit connected to a first benzene recycle conduit, a feed conduit and an alkylation effluent conduit; a transalkylation unit connected to an polyalkylbenzene recycle conduit, a second benzene recycle conduit, and a transalkylation effluent conduit. A dividing wall distillation column is in fluid communication with the transalkylation effluent conduit, the alkylation effluent conduit, a product stream, a bottoms stream conduit and first and second benzene recycle conduits. A polyalkylbenzene fractionation column is connected to the bottoms stream conduit, the polyalkylbenzene recycle conduit and a heavy component conduit.
US07713383B2
The method and arrangement is for the feed of a chips suspension from one vessel to a subsequent digester in a continuous cooking process for the production of chemical cellulose pulp. The vessel has an inlet defined therein for the input of chips and an outlet defined therein for the output of a chips suspension. The chips suspension in the vessel has a first fluid/wood ratio established above a second fluid/wood ratio that is established at the bottom of the vessel. The second fluid/wood ratio is at least as great as, preferably greater than, the first fluid/wood ratio. After the output of the chips suspension from the vessel and before the chips suspension is placed under pressure for onwards transport to a subsequent digester, a fraction of fluid is withdrawn from the chips suspension, whereby a third fluid/wood ratio is established in the chips suspension.
US07713382B2
A method and an apparatus for processing wood chips, wherein the wood chips are treated with steam in a gas removal apparatus. The condensate formed in the gas removal apparatus is removed from the gas removal apparatus and the wood chips are treated with a processing solution in order to remove metal ions from the wood chips. Condensate formed in the gas removal apparatus is used as processing solution.
US07713381B2
A system for thermomechanical refining of wood chips comprises preparing the chips for refining by exposing the chips to an environment of steam to soften the chips, compressively destructuring and dewatering the softened chips to a solids consistency above 55 percent, and diluting the destructured and dewatered chips to a consistency in the range of about 30 to 55 percent. The destructuring partially defibrates the material. This diluted material is fed to a rotating disc primary refiner wherein each of the opposed discs has an inner ring pattern of bars and grooves and an outer ring pattern of bars and grooves. The destructured and partially defibrated chips are substantially completely defibrated in the inner ring and the resulting fibers are fibrillated in the outer ring. The compressive destructuring, dewatering, and dilution can all be implemented in one integrated piece of equipment immediately upstream of the primary refiner, and the fiberizing and fibrillating are both achieved between only one set of relatively rotating discs in the primary refiner.
US07713364B2
A manganese alloy sputtering target characterized in that oxygen is 1000 ppm or less, sulfur is 200 ppm or less and a forged texture is provided, and a method for producing a forged manganese alloy target stably by eliminating the drawbacks of manganese alloy that it is susceptible to cracking and has a low rupture strength. A manganese alloy sputtering target which can form a thin film exhibiting high characteristics and high corrosion resistance while suppressing generation of nodules or particles is thereby obtained.
US07713363B2
A method of manufacturing a high-strength aluminum alloy extruded product which excels in corrosion resistance and stress corrosion cracking resistance, and is suitably used in applications as structural materials for transportation equipment such as automobiles, railroad carriages, and aircrafts. The method includes extruding a billet of an aluminum alloy containing 0.5% to 1.5% of Si, 0.9% to 1.6% of Mg, 0.8% to 2.5% of Cu, while satisfying the following equations (1), (2), (3), and (4), 3≦Si%+Mg%+Cu%≦4 (1) Mg%≦1.7×Si% (2) Mg%+Si%≦2.7 (3) Cu%/2≦Mg%≦(Cu%/2)+0.6 (4) and further containing 0.5% to 1.2% of Mn, with the balance being Al and unavoidable impurities, into a solid product by using a solid die, or into a hollow product by using a porthole die or a bridge die, thereby obtaining the solid product or the hollow product in which a fibrous structure accounts for 60% or more of an area-fraction of the cross-sectional structure of the product.
US07713361B2
A deposition is gradually formed by molding a product main body, removing a defect periphery including a defect generated on a surface to be treated of the product main body by molding so that a recess portion is formed on the surface to be treated of the product main body, employing a molded electrode composed of a molded body molded from a powder of a metal or the molded body processed with a heat treatment, and generating a pulsing electric discharge between the recess portion periphery including the recess portion and the molded electrode in an electrically insulating liquid or gas so that a material of the molded electrode or a reaction substance of the material carries out deposition and such at the recess portion periphery by energy of the electric discharge.
US07713360B2
It is an object of the present invention to provide a permanent magnet which is observed as a uniform structure without microstructures, but shows a pinning type initial magnetization curve. There is provided a rare earth permanent magnet comprising a magnetic intermetallic compound comprising R, T, N and an unavoidable impurity, wherein R is one or more rare earth elements comprising Y, T is two or more transition metal elements and comprises principally Fe and Co; wherein the magnetic intermetallic compound has an T/R atomic ratio of 6 to 14; a magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy of at least 1 MJ/m3; a Curie point of at least 100° C.; average particle diameter of at least 3 μm; and a substantially uniform structure; wherein the rare earth permanent magnet has a structure that gives a pinning-type initial magnetization curve; and wherein the magnetic intermetallic compound has a Th2Zn17-type structure, and the like.
US07713344B2
Complete liquid formulations, that can seal up cracks on metal surfaces of devices participating in cooling of internal combustion engines and are composed of water soluble fibrous macromolecules, nanometer size metals, and silicon dioxide, are disclosed.
US07713339B2
An air filter monitoring system for indicating when to clean or replace a flexible air filter includes an air filter having a peripheral frame and an interior filtering region, a fixed support structure for receiving the air filter and maintaining the perimeter of the filter frame in a generally fixed position while allowing the interior filtering region to flex in response to air flow through the filter, and a filter change indicator having a predetermined bias force. The filter change indicator is arranged to contact the interior filtering region of the filter, wherein when the predetermined bias force is reached, the filter change indicator is activated to notify a user to clean or replace the filter.
US07713338B2
A method of separating a liquid atomizes a mixed liquid containing a plurality of components into an atomized fine particle by an ultrasonic vibration to obtain a mixed fluid of the atomized fine particle and air, separates the air from the mixed fluid and collects an atomized component, and separates the atomized component into liquids having different component contents. The method of separating a liquid atomizes the liquid while supplying a carrier gas heated with the thermal energy of the outside air to the surface of the liquid to be atomized or supplies the outside air to the surface of the liquid to be atomized, thereby atomizing the liquid while supplying the thermal energy of the outside air to the surface of the liquid.
US07713329B2
The invention relates to an apparatus and method for manufacturing molten iron. The method for manufacturing molten iron includes producing a mixture containing iron by drying and mixing iron-containing ore and additives, passing the mixture containing iron through one or more successively-connected fluidized beds so that the mixture is reduced and calcined to thereby perform conversion into a reduced material, forming a coal packed bed, which is a heat source in which the reduced material has been melted, charging the reduced material to the coal packed bed and supplying oxygen to the coal-packed bed to manufacture iron, and supplying reduced gas exhausted from the coal-packed bed to the fluidized bed, wherein in the conversion of the mixture to a reduced material, oxygen is directly supplied and combusted in an area where reduced gas flows to the fluidized bed. The apparatus for manufacturing molten iron of the invention uses this method for manufacturing molten iron. Through use of the invention, the reduced gas passing through the fluidized beds may be improved, and cohesion of the iron-containing fine ores may be prevented.
US07713327B2
The present invention relates to a cemented carbide tool for the deep drawing operations, especially as the ironing dies, of the manufacturing of aluminum or steel beverage cans. The cemented carbide comprises WC with an ultra fine grain size, a binder phase of Co, and grain growth inhibitors (V and/or Cr), wherein the Co content is from about 5 to about 10 wt-%, and with a specific relation between HV30 and cobalt content.
US07713320B2
An evacuable, reclosable bag including a receptacle having an interior volume and a mouth; a closure operable to open and close the mouth; a one-way valve penetrating a wall of the receptacle; and a filter attached to the same receptacle wall. The filter is arranged so that any air flowing from the interior volume outward through the one-way valve must flow through the filter before flowing through the valve. The filter may be a mesh or fabric (woven or nonwoven) having openings sized to prevent the passage of particulate matter placed inside the bag.
US07713315B2
The invention provides mineral oil distillates having a water content of less than 150 ppm and a conductivity of at least 50 pS/m, which comprise from 0.1 to 200 ppm of at least one alkylphenol-aldehyde resin and from 0.1 to 200 ppm of at least one nitrogen-containing polymer.
US07713312B2
A process for producing an alkali metal hydrogencarbonate by reacting an aqueous solution containing alkali metal ions with carbon dioxide in a prescribed crystallizer to precipitate crystals of an alkali metal hydrogencarbonate, and in this process a part of a slurry containing the alkali metal hydrogencarbonate crystals in the aqueous solution is withdrawn from the crystallizer and, after dissolution of a part of the crystals, it is returned to the crystallizer.
US07713310B2
The present disclosure relates to a cosmetic process for wash-protecting the color of keratin fibers comprising applying a composition comprising, in a cosmetically acceptable medium, at least one zinc-based compound chosen from zinc-based mineral compounds and zinc-based non-nitrogenous organic compounds to keratin fibers previously dyed. Also disclosed is a cosmetic process for wash-protecting the color of dyed keratin fibers, comprising applying to the keratin fibers, after dyeing, at least one zinc-based compound chosen from zinc-based mineral compounds and zinc-based non-nitrogenous organic compounds. The present disclosure further relates to a process for dyeing keratin fibers comprising applying to the fibers at least one dye composition (A), optionally in the presence of an oxidizing agent, for period of time that is sufficient to develop the color, and applying a composition (B) comprising, in a cosmetically acceptable medium, at least one zinc-based compound as defined herein.
US07713301B2
A system for repairing an intervertebral disc by delivering and curing a biomaterial in situ within the disc. The system includes both a device, having an insertable balloon and related lumen, controls and adapters, as well as an in situ curable biomaterial (and related biomaterial delivery means). The system can allow the doctor to determine a suitable endpoint for biomaterial delivery, by controlling distraction and/or biomaterial delivery pressure, and in turn, to deliver a desired quantity of biomaterial to the balloon in order to achieve improved polymer cure and implant characteristics. Also provided is a related method for repairing an intervertebral disc by using such a system to deliver and cure the biomaterial in situ. The system can be used to implant a prosthetic total disc, or a prosthetic disc nucleus in a manner that leaves the surrounding disc tissue substantially intact.
US07713296B2
A stenting system includes a stent delivery catheter having a catheter shaft with a step balloon mounted thereon. The step balloon has a proximal portion and a distal portion, wherein the proximal portion is inflatable to a larger expanded diameter than the distal portion. A two-part stent has a proximal part that is mounted on the proximal portion of the step balloon and a distal part that is mounted on the distal portion of the step balloon and a non-link zone between the proximal part and the distal part of the two-part stent. The proximal part and the distal part of the two-part stent are each configured with stent struts that extend like interdigitating fingers into the non-link zone to provide improved strut coverage in the carina region of the bifurcated vessel. The non-link zone effectively eliminates any difficulties in alignment of the two parts relative to one another during placement of the two-part stent in a bifurcated vessel.
US07713293B2
A transverse suspension device for ACL graft fixation in a femoral tunnel includes a body section and a smooth head section forming the leading end of the device. The body and smooth head sections each may be cannulated along their entire lengths. The head section may further include a recess-engaging section extending proximally from the distal end and is operable to engage with a recess formed in the bone tunnel. The device may further include a graft loop support section between the recess-engaging section and the body section adapted to stably support the graft loop.
US07713292B2
A bone anchoring element (1) for anchoring an external device in a bone is described. A head (2) capable of connection to the external device is provided with a shaft (3) that can be anchored in a bone. A predetermined section of the shaft (3) has a bone thread (5). Moreover, the shaft (3) also has at least one bone thread-free surface (6,7; 11,12; 16,17; 21,22,23) that extends from a first end to a second end of the predetermined section essentially along the direction of the shaft axis. The bone anchoring element (1), thus provided, is pressed or soft-hammered into a hole (8, 28) previously generated in the bone and fixed in the bone by rotation by a predetermined angle. If the bone anchoring element has to be removed this can be achieved by unscrewing it in the standard fashion. The disclosure also describes methods for using the bone anchoring element.
US07713291B2
A vertebral stabilization assembly for stabilizing vertebrae is provided. The vertebral stabilization assembly includes a first and a second pedicle screw, a first and second connecting screw, and a connecting member. The first and second pedicle screws each have a shaft provided with a threaded portion operable for threading engagement of the first and second pedicle screws with a first and second vertebra, respectively, each shaft also has an engaging portion. The first and second connecting screws each have a first end adapted to be received by the engaging portions of the first and second pedicle screws, respectively. The connecting member has a first end connected to the first connecting screw and a second end connected to the second connecting screw for stabilization of the first and second vertebra. A guide member for placement of the connecting screw and method for anteriorly stabilizing vertebrae is also provided.
US07713284B2
A tissue closure apparatus having a collar, a pair of elastically deformable legs, and a flexible adjustment member is provided. The collar includes a collar wall defining a passage therethrough, along which are disposed a plurality of teeth extending outward into the passage. A pair of elastically deformable legs is connected to the collar, and each leg includes a lateral portion adjacent the collar and an engagement portion connected to the lateral portion. A flexible adjustment member is connected to the engagement portion of at least one of the elastically deformable legs. The flexible adjustment member is disposed within the passage of the collar and includes a plurality of teeth to engage the plurality of teeth of the collar.
US07713266B2
Devices, systems, and methods treat cosmetic defects, and often apply cooling with at least one tissue-penetrating probe inserted through of the skin of a patient. The cooling may remodel one or more target tissue so as to effect a desired change in a composition of the target tissue and/or a change in its behavior. Exemplary embodiments of the cooling treatments will interfere with the nerve/muscle contractile function chain so as to mitigate wrinkles of the skin. Related treatments may be used therapeutically for treatment of back and other muscle spasms, chronic pain, and the like. Some embodiments may remodel subcutaneous adipose tissue so as to alter a shape or appearance of the skin surface.
US07713261B2
An attachment tool to facilitate the attachment of one or more catheters or similar elongated instruments to a guide-wire or other elongated guide member, without requiring access to either end of said wire or member. The tool provides repeatable and reliable alignment of components to be attached, while being operated with a single hand. The catheter systems can be used for revascularization or treatment of arteries and lumens within the body, and the associated delivery of therapies therein and can include side attachable and over-the-wire components and/or low profile combination catheters to allow for flush and extraction of debris in small or tortuous anatomic pathways.
US07713259B2
An intracorporeal catheter, such as a guiding catheter, employed for intraluminal procedures is disclosed. The catheter generally has an elongated catheter shaft including a polymeric inner layer and a non-radiopaque outer polymeric layer, along with a radiopaque reinforcing structure disposed between the inner and outer layers. In one embodiment, the reinforcing layer consists of multiple drawn filled tubes braided or wound together. The drawn filled tubes may have a stainless steel outer jacket clad over a radiopaque inner core, or the drawn filled tubes may have a radiopaque outer jacket clad over a stainless steel core. In another embodiment, the reinforcing layer may consist of multiple wires containing radiopaque alloys braided or wound together, wherein at least two of the wires consist of different radiopaque alloys. The strands of the reinforcing structure may have a circular or a rectangular transverse cross-sectional shape.
US07713257B2
A catheter and introducer needle assembly is provided including a catheter adapter at its proximal end. The catheter adapter includes a side port in fluid communication with the catheter and a septum located in the proximal end of the catheter adapter proximal of the side port. The introducer needle is connected at its proximal end to a needle hub and includes at least one notch in communication with the introducer needle lumen. The notch allows blood to flow into the open distal end of the needle and through the notch into the catheter lumen (specifically, the annular space between the outside of the introducer needle and the inside of the catheter and catheter adapter). Thereafter, the blood can flow through the annular space and then through the side port and extension tube that extends from the catheter adapter.
US07713255B2
The invention provides biodegradable implants for treating sinusitis. The biodegradable implants have a size, shape, density, viscosity, and/or mucoadhesiveness that prevents them from being substantially cleared by the mucociliary lining of the sinuses during the intended treatment period. The biodegradable implants include a sustained release therapeutic, e.g., an antibiotic, a steroidal anti-inflammatory agent, or both. The biodegradable implants may take various forms, such as rods, pellets, beads, strips, or microparticles, and may be delivered into a sinus in various pharmaceutically acceptable carriers.
US07713253B2
An improved design for tampons comprising a first material positioned within a flexible inner wrap; the inner wrap is encased by a flexible, fluid permeable outerwrap with a second material positioned between the inner and outer wrap. Either the first or second material may be absorbent or non-absorbent. The first and second materials can take many physical forms including particles, fibers, agglomerates, powders, gels, foams, beads and mixtures thereof.
US07713252B2
A therapeutic article includes a skin contact layer having a plurality of fibers forming a plurality of point-bearing surfaces configured for wear against a user's skin; a personal care composition disposed proximate the fibers; an external layer attached to the skin contact layer; and an intermediate layer interposed between the skin contact layer and the external layer, the intermediate layer being configured to activate the personal care composition, the external layer being configured to direct the activated personal care composition through the skin contact layer to treat the user.
US07713246B2
A valve system is provided having a housing including a first end, a second end and a first passageway. The housing has a first port and a second port. A valve member is disposed within the housing and movable relative thereto. The valve member defines a portion of the first passageway that includes a first opening configured for alignment and sealed fluid communication with the first port and the second port. The portion of the first passageway further includes a second opening having a greater relative dimension than the first opening. The valve member is manipulable to establish sealed fluid communication between the first opening and the first port or the second port while maintaining continuous sealed fluid communication between the second opening and the first passageway adjacent to the second end of the housing. The valve member can be disposed within the housing for rotation relative thereto.
US07713245B2
A plunger for a retracting needle syringe includes a hollow elongate body portion having a proximal end, a distal end, and a side wall therebetween defining a cavity. The distal end includes a distal wall having an inside surface and an outside surface. A stopper, at the distal end of the body portion, includes a peripheral portion performing a seal with the inside surface of a syringe barrel and at least one radial element extending from about a center of the outside surface of the distal wall to the peripheral portion. The distal end of the body portion includes at least one primary chamfer in the cavity at an intersection of the inside surface of the distal wall and the side wall. The chamfer is positioned under the at least one radial element for supporting the distal wall and the radial element when a hollow sleeve in the syringe barrel cuts through the end wall plunger. A secondary, smaller chamfer on each side of the primary chamfer is also provided.
US07713239B2
A system for injecting a patient, includes a container enclosing a hazardous pharmaceutical; a first pump to deliver a hazardous pharmaceutical to a patient and a fluid path operably connected to the first pump, the container, and the patient. The system further includes a hazardous material containment suitable to confine the hazardous pharmaceutical during connection of the hazardous pharmaceutical container to the fluid path.
US07713238B2
Some embodiments of a wearable, disposable medicine dispensing device may include a piston rod that is advanced to dispense medicine from the device. A rotational motor may be coupled to a drive mechanism so as to carry out a certain number of revolutions and thereby displace the piston rod by a desired distance. Such a device can be used in a method of dispensing liquid medicine.
US07713235B2
An interventional catheter assembly comprises an operating head for removing obstructive material from a target site in a body lumen or cavity and at least one aspiration port located proximal to the operating head and penetrating the catheter assembly, the aspiration port being in communication with a sealed lumen that communicates with a vacuum system for withdrawing aspirate fluid and obstructive material from the target site. A rotatable member is positioned inside the catheter assembly at the site of the aspiration port and rotates during operation of the vacuum system. The rotatable member is provided with at least one upstanding bar that is sized to cooperate with the walls of the aspiration port and the inner surface of the catheter assembly to macerate debris that is drawn into the aspiration port.
US07713234B2
The self-injection guide tablet for subcutaneous injections includes adhesively mounted templates with headings indicating a particular day and body injection area. Each template further includes a grid guide, designed to cover the body injection area, along with instructions for placing the grid guide on the particular body injection area. Each grid guide includes a plurality of injection grids, in column or row format, with indicia marking a predetermined injection grid. Upon removing the grid guide from the specific template, the predetermined injection grid remains on the template, so the vacated injection grid forms the injection area for the subcutaneous injection.
US07713222B2
A medical bandaging product fabricated of a rib-knitted fabric constructed of synthetic yarns selected from the group of acrylic, polyester and polypropylene yarns. An elastic yarn provides elasticity to the fabric, and an effective amount of a water repelling treatment is applied to the fabric for imparting water-repellent characteristics. The fabric may be used as a cast liner or as a protective wrapping of a splint product.
US07713217B2
A system for assisting the motion of a body connected through joints provides a system for imparting a suitable torque to the connected body at the time of various turns including the bending of the joints. The torque imparting system has first and second measuring means, a reference work volume determining means, and an external torque determining means. The first measuring means measures the internal work volume of the around-joint leg. The second measuring means measures an external work volume around a joint imparted to the leg. The reference work volume determining means determines a reference work volume based on the internal work volume. The external torque determining means determines an external torque imparted to the leg so as to reduce the difference between the internal work volume of the leg and the reference work volume, based on the external work volume.
US07713207B2
An ultrasound system provides Doppler spectral data indicative of a monitored moving fluid. The spectral data is analyzed according to the level of power in specified Doppler frequency ranges. Audio signals indicative of each analyzed range are generated to enable a user to audibly determine said range is in order to detect a certain condition manifested by said fluid motion.
US07713205B2
An apparatus and method of dynamically tracking a soft tissue target with ultrasound images, without the use of fiducial markers. In one embodiment, the apparatus includes an ultrasound imager to generate a reference ultrasound and a first ultrasound image having a soft tissue target, and a processing device coupled to the ultrasound imager to receive the reference ultrasound image and the first ultrasound image, to register the first ultrasound image with the reference ultrasound image, and to determine a displacement of the soft tissue target based on registration of the first ultrasound image with the reference ultrasound image.
US07713203B2
The inventive ultrasound treating device comprises a first processing transducer set (11) for transmitting a beam of high-intensity ultrasound waves to a treatable area (3), wherein said beam comprises an aspheric wavefront and forms a focal spot (6) on the treatable area elongated and inclined with respect to the direction of the ultrasound wave propagation and the focal spot (6) length is less than the length of the transducer (11). The inventive device is particularly suitable for treating an elongated area such as vein portions enveloping a pathological valve.
US07713198B2
An ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic equipment according to the present invention is characterized by including a Doppler signal detection device which executes a filtering process for a plurality of reception signals obtained in time series at unequal intervals from a predetermined position within a patient by a transmission/reception device, thereby to detect Doppler signals based on a mobile object; a velocity calculation device which selects Doppler signals obtained at a predetermined time interval, from among the plurality of Doppler signals obtained at the unequal intervals by the Doppler signal detection device, and which calculates a velocity of the mobile object on the basis of the selected Doppler signals; and an image data generation device which generates velocity image data on the basis of the velocity of the mobile object as calculated by the velocity calculation device.
US07713197B2
A tonometry device includes a contact device for contacting the object, means for vibrating the contact device and the object, means for applying a voltage to the vibration means, means for measuring a current flowing through the vibration means, and an information processing means. The information processing means determines two resonance points of the device and the measured object by measuring current through the system at a plurality of vibrational frequencies. The information processing means then determines the internal pressure of the object by determining that a first pressure is higher than a second pressure by determining that the first pressure has a lower measured current than the second pressure at frequencies outside of the range of frequencies between the resonance points, and that the first pressure has a higher measured current than the second pressure at frequencies within the range of frequencies between the resonance points.
US07713193B2
Disclosed is an expandable percutaneous sheath, for introduction into the body while in a first, low cross-sectional area configuration, and subsequent expansion to a second, enlarged cross-sectional configuration. The sheath is maintained in the first, low cross-sectional configuration by a tubular restraint. In one application, the sheath is utilized to provide access for a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure such as percutaneous nephrostomy or urinary bladder access.
US07713184B2
Process and apparatus for the mass production of compound cigarette filters function to deposit granular filter material into the open ends of vertically oriented filter tubes. Predetermined amounts of diverse granular material are withdrawn by suction from sources of such material, and these amounts are deposited into the tubes. Solid filter segments seal the granular material within the tube. After one half of each filter tube is filled with granular material and sealed, the tube is inverted and the opposite end is filled in substantially the same manner. When cut in half each filter tube produces two cigarette filters.
US07713179B2
A dual action weightlifting machine has a stationary frame and first and second spaced vertical guides slidably mounted on the stationary frame for horizontal sliding movement relative to the frame. A horizontally extending exercise bar assembly has spaced first and second vertical slides slidably mounted on the vertical guides for vertical sliding movement relative to the frame, a user engaging portion for gripping by a user when performing weightlifting exercises, and opposite end portions for receiving one or more selected weights. The user engaging portion is located between the vertical slides and rotatably mounted relative to the vertical slides for free rotation through 360 degrees, so that the user's hands may be rotated relative to the vertical slides while lifting weights.
US07713178B2
The invention relates to a skating simulating exercise device including a force transmission means, which exponentially increases the amount of force required to spin a flywheel as the user approaches the limits of ovoid shaped boundaries, thereby eliminating abrupt stoppages and to simulate the digging in and pushing off actions in a real skating stride. The skating simulating exercise device also includes resistance to both rearward and lateral motion, which can be linked together to more effectively strengthen all aspects of a skater's motion.
US07713176B1
A recumbent step exercise machine including a frame, a seat supported from the frame, and a drive mechanism supported from the frame. The drive mechanism includes a first and a second pedal, at least one axle shaft, at least one clutch, a speed increaser, and a brake. The first and the second pedal assemblies are each linked to at least one shaft by a linkage assembly. Each of the shafts are drivingly engaged to at least one clutch. The linkage assemblies act as levers that translate the reciprocating motion of the pedal assemblies into rotational motion of the shaft. Each linkage assembly extends downwardly from the shaft to which it is drivingly engaged and terminates with the pedal assembly. A first and a second arm mechanism may be linked through the linkage assembly to the first and second pedal assembly.
US07713175B2
A safe and fun exercise and walking-training apparatus and method that is ideal for infants in the approximate age range of 10 months to 18 months is disclosed. The apparatus is lightweight, very sturdy, very simple, consisting of only six unique elements, and may be assembled and disassembled by hand without tools. A system of attachable play features is also disclosed.
US07713166B2
Systems and methods for efficiently and effectively controlling the rate of change of ratio, not simply the ratio, in a CVT. By controlling the rate of change of ratio, the acceleration or deceleration of a vehicle can be controlled in an efficient manner. Furthermore, the rate of change of ratio can be controlled by controlling the clamping pressure of the pulleys and/or differential pressure between the pulleys with minimal slip by using a servo control mechanism adapted for control by a system controller based on equilibrium mapping and other control parameters.
US07713165B2
A hydraulic control system for a continuously variable transmission for a hybrid electric vehicle enhances operability as speed changes are made based on input torques and engine rotational speeds since pressure of a primary pulley is controlled based on engine rotational speeds; applies a wide pressure range for solenoids in normal operation by deciding a limp home mode only when a secondary control solenoid valve (SCSV) and a ratio control solenoid valve (RCSV) are under maximum pressure at the same time; reuses flux discharged under reduced pressure from a secondary regulator valve in a lubrication control valve, thus saving energy; controls the lubrication pressure actively using PWM; and generates a pilot pressure for clutch control using a single valve when the transmission control unit fails.
US07713160B2
A multi-stage automatic transmission possesses an input drive shaft (AN), an output drive shaft (AB), three single planetary gear sets (RS1, RS2, RS3) as well as five shifting elements (A to E), via the pairwise selective closure of which, an entry speed of rotation of the input drive shaft (AN) can be transmitted to the output drive shaft (AB) without group shifting. A sun gear (SO3) of the third planetary gear set (RS3) can be set motionless by the first shifting element (A) on the transmission housing (GG). The input drive shaft (AN) is bound to a sun gear (SO2) of the second planetary gear set (RS2) and via the second shifting element (B) can be connected with a sun gear (SO1) of the first planetary gear set (RS1) and via of the fifth shifting element (E) with a spider (ST1) of the first planetary gear set (RS1).
US07713151B2
A mechanical broadhead for attachment to an arrow having a broadhead body including a plurality of blade windows formed therein, a geometrically angled retractable blade attached within each of the blade windows, retaining springs for retaining the blades in a retracted position during flight, a front body slidably mounted onto the broadhead body, and a front tip secured to the front body. Upon contact with a target, the front tip and front body slide rearwardly into an end of the geometrically angled blades, thus pushing each of the blades through the blade windows into a deployed position. The blades of the broadhead are reset by inserting a sharp point underneath an end portion of the retaining springs and applying a slight twisting motion allowing the blades to retract back into the broadhead body into a loaded position.
US07713141B2
A golf club head having a good impact-absorbing property improved to provide a good hitting feel without deteriorating the repulsion property, which includes a metallic face member 8 including at least a part of face F, and a metallic head body 9 to be joined with face member 8, wherein the face member 8 has back surface 8b, and the head body 9 has receiving surface 12 contacting a periphery 8be of the back surface 8b, and fold-back portion 14 which extends backward of the head from the receiving surface 12 and is folded toward the head center without contacting the back surface 8b so that it has opposite surface 18 facing the back surface 8b and it forms space 13 between them, and wherein at least one impact-absorbing member 15 made of an elastic material is disposed in the space 18 such that a front portion 15a thereof is in contact with the back surface 8b, a rear portion 15b thereof is in contact with the opposite surface 18 and a middle portion thereof between them extends in the space 13 without contacting both the face member and the head body to form a non-bound portion 15c.
US07713139B1
A golf club head (such as a putter head), has a face that includes a ball-contacting region. The ball-contacting region has an inset containing an elastically deformable material and at least one rigid element disposed within the elastically deformable material. When a golf ball is struck, the elastically deformable material compresses and the rigid element imparts overspin to the ball that causes it to roll more accurately.
US07713135B2
A golf pitch mark repairer (101) is adapted to be removably retained on an extremity of a golf club, thereby allowing a golfer to utilize the reach afforded by the golf club to facilitate repair of the pitch mark. The pitch mark repairer (101) comprises a sleeve (103) for receiving the golf club extremity, and a retaining mechanism in the form of resilient tabs (111a, 111b) adapted to resist movement of the golf club relative to the pitch mark repairer (101). The golf club extremity is inserted with a sliding collar (117) positioned towards closed end (105) of sleeve (103). The sleeve (103) comprises windows (116a, 116b) through which respective portions of resilient tabs (111a, 111b) are urged to protrude outwardly when the golf club extremity is inserted. Thereafter the sliding collar (117) is engaged by sliding it along the sleeve (103) towards its open end (107). This acts to urge tabs (111a, 111b), and in particular respective valley portions (114a, 114b) thereof, into tighter engagement with the putter handle, resulting in a strong grip on the putter handle.
US07713123B2
A bonus round for a slot game. A player can select random elements in order to win prizes, different elements may have different award amounts. A player is offered an opportunity to receive a hint, and if the player accepts a hint then the player is provided a clue of which random element(s) to select or avoid to obtain a greater award.
US07713116B2
Within a game, a filter is applied to a game inventory based on an attribute of each one of a plurality of virtual items. The filter can be player defined, game developer defined, system programmer defined, or a combination thereof. In certain versions, the virtual items that satisfy the query provided by the filter are displayed to the player. The player can thereupon access any one of the virtual items that are represented by the icons that satisfy the filtering query. In one version, the attributes of the virtual items can be changed using the filtering game inventory system.
US07713110B2
A head assembly for a rotary tool, comprising a body arranged for connection to a drive means, the drive means rotatable about a first axis of rotation; a rotatable element arranged for connection to a pad assembly, the rotatable element rotatable about a second axis of rotation disposed substantially parallel to the first axis of rotation; and, a locking assembly arranged to lock the rotatable element to the body to prevent rotation of the rotatable element relative to the body about the second axis of rotation.
US07713109B2
A quick change mounting system for grinding and other surface preparation pads provides a simple and effective way for the pads to be mounted and changed on the mounting plate of a large surface preparation machine without removing the mounting plate from the machine. (This method also allows that existing mounting plates and preparation pads may be used with a minimal amount of adaptation.) The new quick-change system makes use of a unique slot design (using countersunk keyhole slots) for mounting the pads on the plate. Studs fixed on the pads fit into slots on the plate and may lock into position. In operation, centrifugal and other forces then help to further seat the pad onto the plate.
US07713096B2
A modular electrical connector including at least one body portion having an electrical terminal and at least one mating surface. An end portion has a mating surface interconnected to the mating surface of the body portion. The body portion and the end portion define a connector body.
US07713095B2
A contact includes: an insulating housing, including a first face and a second face opposite to the first face, and formed with an insertion hole parallel to the first face and the second face, the first face formed with a first slit extending in an axial direction of the insertion hole, the insertion hole opening through the first slit; an electrically conductive case, formed with a second slit extending in the axial direction, and inserted into the insertion hole, the second slit facing the second face, a part of the case projected from the first face through the first slit; an electrically conductive plunger, disposed in the case, and having a distal end portion projected from the case; and a spring coil, disposed in the case, and urging the plunger in the axial direction.
US07713093B2
A connecting module for a mobile communication terminal includes a housing, a first connecting terminal member, and a second connecting terminal member. The first connecting terminal member is provided in an upper region of the housing for electrically connecting to connecting terminals of a universal serial bus memory. The second connecting terminal member is provided in a lower region of the housing for electrically connecting to an input/output device. The second connecting terminal member has a different length than the first connecting terminal member.
US07713086B2
A component (30) is to be attached by means of a plug connector (10) in a hole (53) of a base plate (50). To this end, the plug connector (10) has a shaft (15) with a flat profile. When the plug is inserted in the socket, the shaft end (20) projects out of the hole (53) on the rear side of the circuit board (52). The shaft end (20) is followed by a shaft section (13), broadened relative to the hole width (54), which has an opening (14). By means of the opening (14), the shaft section (13) is split into two legs (11, 12), which are sprung against each another and which hold the shaft (15) in the hole (53) of the circuit board (50) when the plug is inserted in the socket. To improve the holding effect, the two legs (11, 12) are constructed differently one from the other, wherein one leg (11) has a greater longitudinal extension (21) than the other (12). This means that the broadened shaft section (13) splits into a long (11) and a short leg (12). Both legs (11, 12) taper into an undercut head (40) on the shaft end (20). When the plug is inserted in the socket, the head (40) engages with the hole-edge of the circuit board (50).
US07713082B2
A multi-functional shackle structure is composed of a tube. Two ends of the tube are transfixed respectively with a USB (Universal Serial Bus) flash disk and an LED (Light Emitting Diode) illuminating assembly. An end of the USB flash disk is a circuit board which is emplaced in the tube, and the other end is a USB connector which is protruded out of the tube for connecting with a computer to download data. A circuit board lamp holder of the LED illuminating assembly is provided with an LED which is assembled above a battery assembly and a spring, such that when the circuit board lamp holder is displaced downward, the LED can be mutually conducted with the battery assembly to energize and illuminate.
US07713077B1
An interposer connector is provided that is suitable for translatable connection between a first and second connector. The interposer connector includes a housing with a face that includes an opening and a terminal positioned in the opening. The terminal is configured to pivot about the opening so that when the interposer is caused to couple the first and second connector, the terminal may translate along a first plane to account for misalignment in a first direction between the first and second connector. The housing may further be configured to allow the terminal to translate in a second plane that is substantially perpendicular to the first plane so as to account for misalignment in a second direction.
US07713062B2
A shoelace pull tab device for facilitating and teaching lace tying. The shoelace pull tab comprises a small flat beadlike device having two spaced apertures therethrough which are tapered and angled. The lace end of a lace member is threaded up through a first aperture and down through a second aperture to create a gripping pull tab which will not slide/move its position at the newly created apex of the loop in the lace. The pull tab provides a grip or pull tab for children to manipulate the laces into a bow. Indicia on the pull tabs are used as action characters or objects in a story-telling teaching method for learning shoelace tying wherein the action characters or objects engage in activities directly related to the actions necessary for tying a shoelace.
US07713048B2
A device (1) for manufacturing a three-dimensional object by a layerwise solidification of a building material at positions in the respective layers corresponding to the object is provided. The device comprises a machine frame (2, 3, 4, 5) and a building space (10) located in said machine frame, wherein in the building space (10) there are arranged: an application device (27) that applies layers of the building material onto a support device (26) and a previously solidified layer, respectively, by means of an application element (61); a dosage device (28, 29) that supplies building material from a building material accommodation region (23, 24) to the application device (27) for an application; and a heating device (31) for heating the applied layers of the building material. The building material accommodation region (23, 24) is limited by a wall that has a double-wall structure, so that a hollow space (34, 35) is formed therein.
US07713046B2
A coinjection molding apparatus includes a manifold, a nozzle body coupled to the manifold, a sleeve disposed within the nozzle body and defining an outer melt channel between the sleeve and the nozzle body, a pin disposed within the sleeve and defining an inner melt channel between the pin and the sleeve, and a nozzle tip having an alignment portion contacting the sleeve. The sleeve is actuated to open and close melt communication of the outer melt channel and a cavity gate. The pin is actuated to open and close melt communication of the inner melt channel and an opening of the sleeve. The alignment portion aligns the sleeve with the cavity gate along the actuated range of the sleeve.
US07713037B2
In a pump apparatus of the present invention, a portion of fluid sent to a fluid-sending destination is circulated to a pumping driving chamber on one side of a cylinder through a circulation passage. The pump apparatus includes a switching valve which switches inflow and outflow of the circulated fluid with respect to the pumping driving chamber. The switching valve is connected to a piston rod through a link mechanism, and mechanically carries out the switching operation using a pumping driving force.
US07713029B1
A turbine blade with a spar and shell construction in which the spar includes a blade tip and a dove-tail on the root end of the spar. A pair of platform halves form a fir-tree attachment capable of sliding into an attachment slot formed within a rotor disk. The platform halves form a slot within the fir-tree configuration that will pinch the dovetail slot of the spar and secure the spar to the platform halves against radial displacement. The shell is secured between the spar tip and the platform of the platform halves when assembled together. The spar includes cooling air passages and impingement cooling holes to provide backside impingement cooling of the shell. A fastener secures the two platform halves together so that the spar and shell blade assembly can slide into the attachment slot within the rotor disk.
US07713024B2
A bling nozzle/carrier interface design for a steam turbine is provided wherein there is limited contact between the carrier (casing, shell) to allow for ease of assembly. There is also limited contact in strategic locations to both reduce the roll, or downstream deflection, of the inner portion and to improve disassembly due to limited contact in areas where corrosion can occur.
US07713023B2
A method of fabricating a steam turbine nozzle box is provided, wherein the method includes forming an annular chamber defined by a radially outer wall and a radially inner wall and coupling a plurality of inlets in flow communication with the annular chamber such that steam is discharged from each of the plurality of inlets into the chamber at an oblique discharge angle with respect to an inlet axial centerline.
US07713020B2
A method and apparatus (10) for extracting energy from flowing fluids using a diffuser (11) which has side walls (14) formed from a series of aerofoil section members (15) with gaps (29) provided between the leading and trailing ends of the members (15) to allow introduction of fluid from outside of the diffuser (11) into the diffuser flow passage (16) such that increased energy can be extracted from the flowing fluid by a prime mover (20) located in the flow passage (16).
US07713015B2
Provided is a bookbinding apparatus including: a conveying unit which sequentially conveys sheets; a gluing unit which glues the sheets conveyed by the conveying unit; a stacking unit which sequentially stacks the sheets glued by the gluing unit; a pressurizing unit which pressurizes glued portions of the sheets stacked on the stacking unit; and a control unit which temporarily stops a stacking process carried out by the conveying unit onto the stacking unit and causes the pressurizing unit to execute a pressurizing process on the sheets stacked on the stacking unit when an operation interrupting event occurs during the stacking process.
US07713008B2
A method of making a deck for storing cargo in a shipping vehicle comprising: securing two pairs of braces to opposed surfaces associated with the shipping vehicle by engaging opposed ends of first elongated supports with the pair of braces such that each first elongated support interconnects one of the pairs of braces and extends substantially parallel to a base associated with the shipping vehicle; engaging second elongated supports with each of the braces, each second elongated support interconnecting a respective brace and the base; and positioning a decking on the first elongated supports for supporting the cargo. A brace for making the cargo deck engageable with a horizontally-extending support and a vertically-extending support.
US07713007B2
A retaining apparatus for securing curved wind turbine rotor blades for at least one of storage and transport is described. The retaining apparatus includes an end frame configured to be connected to a root of a first blade and a connecting frame having a first end and a second end. The first end of the connecting frame is rotatably connected to the end frame. The retaining apparatus also includes a portion configured to be positioned at least partially around a tip of a second blade. The portion is rotatably connected to the second end of the connecting frame. The retaining apparatus also includes a turnbuckle having a first end and a second end, wherein the first end of the turnbuckle is rotatably connected to the end frame, the second end of the turnbuckle rotatably connected to the second end of the connecting frame.
US07712982B2
An actuator includes a rotor, a stator containing the rotor, and a bearing to support the rotor to be rotatable with respect to the stator about the central axis of the rotor and an axis perpendicular to the central axis. The rotor includes rotor central magnetic poles, a rotor upper magnetic pole, and a rotor lower magnetic pole. The stator includes stator central magnetic poles larger in number than the rotor central magnetic poles, stator upper magnetic poles, stator lower magnetic poles, central coils to appropriately magnetize the stator central magnetic poles, upper coils to appropriately magnetize the stator upper magnetic poles, and lower coils to appropriately magnetize the stator lower magnetic poles. The length of each stator central magnetic pole along a central axis of the stator is larger than a length of each rotor central magnetic pole along the central axis of the rotor.
US07712979B2
The present invention provides an optical adapter, which can suppress electromagnetic waves from an optical communication module, is provided. An optical adapter comprises: a housing; an optical fiber which is housed in the housing; and a ferrule which is housed in the housing. The housing has a first edge to be inserted into a receptacle of an optical communication module, and a second edge for insertion of an optical connector plug. The optical fiber has a first edge to optically couple with the receptacle, and a second edge to optically couple with the optical connector plug. The ferrule houses the optical fiber. At least a part of the housing or at least part of the ferrule is formed of an electromagnetic absorption material.
US07712976B2
An active cable that is configured to communicate over much of its length using one or more optical fibers, and that includes an integrated electrical connector at least one end. The active cable includes an integrated retiming mechanism. Thus, multiple links of cable may be used while reducing the chance that the jitter will exceed allowable limits. The cable may be an electrical to optical cable, and electrical to electrical cable, or one of many other potential configurations.
US07712969B2
An unlocking and resetting device for an opto-electronic module comprises a casing having a blind hole and a horizontal slide slot, and first and second mounting parts; an elastic piece; a shell; first springs; an insert block adapted to be inserted into the blind hole; a brake member adapted to be inserted and disposed in the horizontal slide slot; second springs; first and second pressing blocks adapted to be mounted onto first and second mounting parts; and a bail having a cam portion. The single-arm bail of the unlocking and resetting device can return the start position automatically without manual repositions.
US07712967B2
In an outer ring, a first ball filling slot which extends from a first raceway groove to a first end face of one side of an axial direction is formed, and in an inner ring, a second raceway groove and a second ball filling slot which extends from the second raceway groove to a second end face of one side of the axial direction are formed. Circumferential extension grooves which extend from one of the first ball filling slot and the second ball filling slot by a predetermined length in a circumferential direction at the opposite sides of the circumferential direction of the ball filling slot and extend from the first raceway groove to the first end face in the axial direction are formed.
US07712963B2
A bearing structure which is cooperated with a shaft and is disposed in a bearing tube comprises an oil bearing and a cylindrical sealing member. The oil bearing has an axial hole. The shaft passes through the axial hole. The cylindrical sealing member covers a top surface and at least a portion of a sidewall of the oil bearing. The cylindrical sealing member has a through hole defined in its center. The shaft passes through the through hole.
US07712956B2
The specific heat capacity (cp) of a medium is determined using a calorimeter with a reactor (1), a stirrer (3), a first thermostat for providing an inner heat balance, a second thermostat, means for providing an outer heat balance and a central control unit (35). The method uses the steps of: applying a modulated energy profile to the medium, inside the reactor (1), under near isothermal conditions; monitoring the resulting energy changes of: the medium, the reactor (1), the first thermostat, the second thermostat and/or the outer heat balance means as a function of time; determining the respective inner and outer heat balances independently from each other at predefined time intervals; and calculating the overall heat transfer coefficient (UA) and the specific heat capacity of the medium (cp) simultaneously and independently from each other as a function of time from the inner and outer heat balances.
US07712954B2
The crystal (10), in the inner surface of which contact zones (17) are structured, includes close to its edge a hollow (14) machined in one of its faces (11, 12) or a groove (25) machined in its thickness and provided with an enamel deposition (20) for concealing said contact zones (17) after bonding.
US07712952B2
A mixer device for materials made up of various divided solid waste, in a vertical silo (1). The device includes the following: a central working area extending along the entire height of the silo (1); a peripheral zone; elements (6) which are distributed vertically at different successive levels (n1, n2, n3 . . . n21) of the working area, along the entire height of the silo (1) and which can lift materials from each of the levels of the working area and release the materials; elements (1a, 19) for bringing matter from the upper part of the peripheral area to the lower center part of the silo (1).
US07712948B2
A light-source module is described having at least one light-emitting element (3) such as, in particular, LEDs, light guides, collimator elements or lens elements, which together form a light exit area, as also is a holder for a module of this in the form of an LED module, system, such as in particular a motor vehicle headlight or a lighting or projecting means, that is intended to have a given light emission pattern. For this purpose, the module is able to be positioned relative to at least one reference plane of the optical system and, at the same time, is able to be replaced easily without soldered, bonded or welded connections being required.
US07712937B2
The vehicle, e.g. a scooter, has a footboard 116 with side edge channels 130, each housing a rod or tube 112 forming illumination. The rods or tubes are connected to power means, comprising a battery or dynamo. Each rod or tube can comprise a transparent or translucent polymeric sheath for a series of LEDs. A switch provides on/off control and can provide different modes of illumination of the LEDs. The scooter can be a foldable micro-scooter.
US07712936B2
A vehicle lighting unit is provided with: a projection lens arranged on a lens center axis extending in a longitudinal direction of a vehicle; a light source arranged on a rear side of a rear focal point of the projection lens; a reflector for reflecting forward a light from the light source toward the lens center axis; and a shade. An upper end edge of the shade passes in a vicinity of the rear focal point of the projection lens to shield a part of a reflected light from the reflector. An optical axis of the reflector is shifted from the lens center axis that is set to pass through an upper end edge of the shade so that the optical axis of the reflector is apart from the upper end edge.
US07712934B2
A vehicle headlamp. The headlamp comprises a light source and a reflector to direct light received from the light source out of the headlamp. A movable shade is positionable to control the light received by the reflector. A shade driver is coupled to the movable shade to position the shade. A first shade position configures the headlamp for high beam lighting. A second shade position configures the headlamp for low beam lighting. A third shade position configures the headlamp for daytime running lights.
US07712933B2
A light for motor vehicles and the like includes one or more LEDs that are embedded in a polymer material. The light may be positioned on an exposed surface of the vehicle, and the encapsulation of the LEDs and other electrical components provides a waterproof assembly that is substantially impervious to ambient conditions. The light may include a light source and a light guide that are disposed in a watertight housing.
US07712932B2
The light redirecting films have a thin optically transparent substrate having a light entrance surface and an opposite light exit surface, at least one of the surfaces including a pattern of individual optical elements of well defined shape having two differently curved surfaces. The individual optical elements are quite small in size relative to the length and width of the substrate, and redistribute light passing through the substrate in a predetermined angular distribution. The individual optical elements may be distributed on the surface of the substrate such that some intersect each other, or the placement may be randomized.
US07712929B2
A light fixture device comprises a reflector portion having a pair of parallel longitudinal boundary regions and a pair of parallel lateral boundary regions; the reflector portion being shaped according to a longitudinal focal line, a pair of housing portions, each for engaging a corresponding lateral boundary region; at least one connector portion for coupling the housing portions together with the reflector portion.
US07712927B2
An LED lamp includes a top cover, a heat sink, and a conducting member, a plurality of light bars and a light cover. The top cover has a plate and a head extending upwardly from a centre of the plate. The heat sink has a conducting tube coupled to the plate of the top cover and a plurality of fins extending outwardly from the conducting tube. The conducting member is received in and thermally contacts with the conducting tube, and has a top surface attached to the plate and an inner surface on which the plurality of light bars are mounted. The inner surface is oriented downwardly and concaved from a bottom of the conducting member. Each light bar has a printed circuit board and a plurality of LEDs thereon.
US07712925B2
The present invention is directed to an LED light fixture. The LED light fixture comprises an interface for connecting the fixture to a source of electrical power, a power control section for supplying and controlling power to an LED array producing a light of a suitable intensity and color for the task for which the fixture is to be used and a light diffuser for diffusing the light from the LED array. The present invention is also directed to a novel power control for supplying and controlling power to an LED array comprising a non switching linear design based on a monolithic approach of power control whereby the load (the LED array) becomes part of the power control system.
US07712916B2
A reduced emissions work light that includes a bulb having an elongated bulb tube, a handle adjacent the bulb and adapted for being gripped by a user to manipulate the work light, an emissions containment housing positioned adjacent the bulb tube, and an integrated ballast and filter assembly. The integrated ballast and filter assembly is located within the housing and operatively connected to the bulb for providing voltage to the bulb and reducing emissions generated by the work light.
US07712904B2
A prepared substrate including an array of cube corner cavities and protrusions interspersed between the cube corner cavities is described herein.
US07712900B2
Apparatus for determining whether cornea (vitro or in vivo) has been modified (surgically or otherwise). The method includes the steps of: passing a beam of collimated light through the cornea to produce a distorted wavefront; determining the characteristics of the distorted wavefront; and analyzing the distorted wavefront for characteristics that identify the presence of a modification. The analysis of the distorted wavefront can be for the presence of higher order aberrations, or Gausian characteristics which are indicative of modifications. The method includes the steps of providing an optical system that has a pupil plane and an image plane at a detector; positioning the cornea in the pupil plane; passing a collimated beam of light through the cornea to produce at least two images in the image plane; determining the characteristics of the distorted wavefront; and analyzing the distorted wavefront for characteristics that identify the presence of a modification.
US07712880B2
The invention provides for a valve assembly for a printhead cartridge. The valve assembly includes a flanged valve stem defining an inlet opening with a skirt engaging portion for operatively engaging an outlet port of the cartridge. The valve assembly also includes a depressible valve member within the stem, and a pressure regulator having a spacer with a central hub, a diaphragm with central inlet opening, and a clip defining an outlet opening. The clip is configured to operatively engage the valve stem to sandwich the valve member, spacer and diaphragm between the valve stem and clip, so that ink from the cartridge is able to flow into the inlet opening and exit via the outlet opening when the valve is open.
US07712877B2
An inkjet printer whose ink discharge characteristic will rarely change even when used for a long period of time is developed. The inkjet printer has a pressure chamber and a piezoelectric actuator and a controller. The piezoelectric actuator has a first electrode, a first piezoelectric film, a second electrode, a second piezoelectric film, and a third electrode, and they are laminated together in this order. The piezoelectric actuator forms a portion of the wall defining the pressure chanter. The controller applies ink discharge signal between the first and second electrode, ink discharge signal comprises advanced voltage change from a predetermined voltage to the lower voltage and subsequent voltage change from the lower voltage to the predetermined voltage. Ink can be effectively discharged by applying the ink discharge signal, but the ink discharge signal could change piezoelectric characteristic in the second piezoelectric film due to the deformation of the first piezoelectric film. The additional signal applying the second piezoelectric film via the second and the third electrode can reduce the changes of the piezoelectric characteristic. As a result, changes of ink discharge characteristic can be prevented.
US07712869B2
An inkjet printhead comprising: an array of ink chambers, each having a nozzle and an actuator for ejecting ink through the nozzle; wherein, the nozzle has a nozzle rim defining a nozzle aperture and a localized irregularity on the nozzle rim extending toward the center of the nozzle aperture.
US07712867B2
A printhead assembly for an inkjet printer. The assembly comprises: a plurality of printhead modules, each module having: a plurality of inlets for receiving ink; and a printhead integrated circuit with an array of nozzles in fluid communication with the plurality of ink inlets for ejecting ink; a flexible printed circuit board for conducting power and data from the printer to each printhead integrated circuit; and a flexible extrusion having a plurality of outlets in fluid communication with the plurality of inlets of the plurality of printhead modules, wherein the extrusion supplies ink provided by the printer to the array of nozzles of the printhead integrated circuit.
US07712865B2
There are provided a sucking unit having a recording medium transportation surface including a plurality of sucking holes, a decompression chamber communicating with the sucking holes and a sucking device for sucking air in the decompression chamber, and a delivering device for sucking a recording medium supplied onto the recording medium transportation surface of the sucking unit onto the recording medium transportation surface through the sucking hole by the sucking device, and delivering the recording medium from an upstream side of the sucking unit to a downstream side thereof. Each sucking hole of the sucking unit is formed by a through hole section communicating with the decompression chamber and a sucking chamber having a larger area of a sucking surface opposed to the recording medium than a sectional area of the through hole section.
US07712861B2
The image forming apparatus includes: an image forming device which has a plurality of nozzles performing droplet ejection of ink to deposit droplets of the ink to form an image onto a prescribed medium; an image reading device which acquires read image data by reading in the image on the medium; a deviation amount calculation device which, for each of the nozzles, calculates a current deviation amount that is a deviation amount in the droplet ejection with respect to a prescribed central value, by finding a weighted average of an initial deviation amount and past N deviation amounts nearest to a current time calculated for the nozzle according to past read image data; and a droplet ejection correction device which corrects the droplet ejection of each of the nozzles according to the current deviation amount of the nozzle calculated by the deviation amount calculation device.
US07712852B2
A double drawer for a refrigerator has a main drawer, an auxiliary drawer having drawings rails which assist the main drawer to slide out, and guide rails assisting the auxiliary drawer to slide out. A sufficient extended length can be secured, the space usability is improved. The durability can also be improved despite its extended length.
US07712851B2
A slide rail assembly includes a first slide rail having a release portion, a second slide rail having a slot, a third slide rail having a stop portion, a latch member slidably attached to a slot of the second slide rail, and a resilient member connected to the latch member for returning the latch member to an original position. The latch member includes a first engaging portion and a second engaging portion located at opposite sides of the second slide rail. Wherein the first engaging portion engages with the stop portion of the third slide rail such that the third slide rail is capable of driving the second slide rail to slide together relative to the first slide rail. The release portion of the first slide rail is capable of engaging with the second engaging portion to bias the latch member to slide along the slot to release the third slide rail from the first engaging portion.
US07712850B2
The drop-bin unit has at least several bins arranged to pivot outwardly about a generally horizontal axis, from a closed position where outer faces of the bins are generally aligned vertically with each other, to an open position where the outer surfaces angle outwardly from their closed positions. The bins are stacked one above another within a housing, and are connected together, for example via at least one gang bar, such that pivoting one bin outwardly causes all of the bins to pivot outwardly in unison. The units may be sold separately, for use as stand-alone containers, or may be sold to be placed in a holder which holds one or preferably a number of the units. The holder can be sold with one or more of the units, or may be sold as a completely separate item. The holder can take a variety of forms. The units on their own or in holders provide flexibility for carrying job-specific items, avoiding the need to carry an entire toolbox to a particular job.
US07712846B2
An endless drive track for a snowmobile is provided with traction lugs that are inclined relative to normal to the track base. When the traction lugs are inclined away from the direction of travel for the track, the traction lugs can compress the snow before engaging the snow for traction, thereby providing lift for a snowmobile traveling in deep snow. Second traction lugs, angled opposite the first, provide hard snow traction and long traction life.
US07712844B2
A master cylinder assembly includes a housing and a cover coupled to the housing, defining a reservoir adapted to contain fluid at a level. The cover includes an aperture. A sight glass is received within the aperture and adapted to indicate the fluid level. The sight glass has a top portion, bottom portion, and middle portion between the top and bottom portions. The top and bottom portions each have a perimeter sized to be received within the aperture and to seal the reservoir. The middle portion has a reduced perimeter. The sight glass is movable between a raised position where the bottom portion is received within the aperture, sealing the reservoir and a lowered position where the top portion is received within the aperture, sealing the reservoir. The middle portion allows fluid flow through the aperture when the sight glass is moved from the raised position to the lowered position.
US07712840B2
A uniformity and stabilizing system comprising a stabilizing ring used in conjunction with a balanced tire wheel assembly wherein the stabilizing ring destroys, absorbs, and dampens vibrations including those caused by non-uniformities in the tire. The stabilizing ring comprises either a solid ring or a cartridge having at least one interior chamber, the interior chamber filled with a flowable media. The stabilizing ring may be used in combination with balance weights.
US07712835B2
A structure of operation portion of height adjuster of vehicle seat is provided, in which a brake unit associated with the height adjuster and a support element on which a control lever is mounted are disposed. Further, a transmission mechanism of parallel linkage structure with four articulation points is operatively connected between the brake unit and support element. According thereto, the control lever has operative connection with the brake unit via four articulation points of three link members, such that two of the link members are pivotally connected with the respective brake unit and support element, maintaining parallel relation with each other, while other remaining one of the link members is pivotally connected between those two link members.
US07712832B2
A vehicle seat includes a frame, a flexible cover, and a material that is sufficiently mounted with respect to the flexible cover such that the material resists displacement of at least part of the flexible cover with respect to the frame. The material is characterized by a first state in which the material is characterized by a first rigidity, and a second state in which the material is characterized by a second rigidity that is greater than the first rigidity. Thus, the firmness of the seat is selectively variable by causing the material to change between the first and second states. A corresponding method is also provided.
US07712830B2
A child restraint includes a seat support and a juvenile seat mounted to swivel about an axis on the seat support. The seat support is adapted to set on a vehicle seat.
US07712827B2
A cycle saddle structure comprising a base and a container is provided. The base has a front crotch portion and a rear supporting portion. The container is adapted to slide on the bottom portion of the rear supporting portion between an open position and a closed position with respect to the base.
US07712824B2
A cab for a construction machine is provided which is capable of providing a protective space to protect the operator from injury even if a transversely working external force is imposed on the cab, causing deformation of the cab. To this end, a transverse member, which is disposed at a position above an operator's seat and constitutes the framework of the cab, has a deformation inducing part located at a position outside the projected area of the central part of the operator's seat. Even if the cab is deformed by an external force, the cab is not largely deformed in a direction toward the operator.
US07712822B2
Foldable cab extenders are disclosed which are secured to the rearward ends of fixed cab extenders secured to the opposite rearward sides of a tractor cab. Each of the foldable cab extenders includes a forward panel member, an intermediate panel member and a rearward panel member with the forward panel member being secured to the associated fixed cab extender and with the intermediate panel member and the forward panel member being hingedly secured together and with the rearward panel member being hingedly secured to the intermediate panel member. The cab assemblies are selectively movable between a deployed position to a stowed position and vice versa. Actuators are operatively connected to the intermediate panel members and to the rearward panel members to enable the assemblies to be pivotally moved between their stowed and deployed positions. The actuators may be hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders or electrically driven devices.
US07712817B2
A convertible vehicle has a movable roof with a rearward roof part closed divided into a middle region including a rear window and two lateral outer regions. The middle region is upwardly displaceable with respect to the outer regions during the opening of the roof. The movable roof is configured such that the top end of the middle region is connected to the forward roof part, which is held above the rearward roof part when the roof is open. The lower region of the middle region is connected to a movement linkage to move this region upwardly relative to the outer regions during the opening of the roof.
US07712816B2
A movable floor device for a vehicle, which comprises a movable board disposed beneath feet of an occupant seated in an occupant seat, a drive source disposed below the occupant seat, and a driving-force transmission mechanism adapted, according to a driving force of the drive source, to input a force directed in a selected one of frontward and rearward directions of a vehicle body, into a rear portion of the movable board. The movable board is supported in such a manner as to be selectively displaced upwardly and downwardly in response to respective ones of the frontward and rearward forces input from the driving-force transmission mechanism. The movable floor apparatus of the present invention makes it possible to allow a lowermost height position of a movable board to be set at a lower level so as to cope with various seating postures with enhanced flexibility.
US07712803B2
A handle apparatus is provided to a door of a vehicle and inside the vehicle compartment. The handle apparatus includes a handle lever, a locking knob, and cover member. A latch mechanism is released and a door of a vehicle can be opened by operating the handle lever. The locking knob is movable between a lock position and an unlock position by moving a lock operational unit in a specific region. The door gets locked when the locking knob is in the lock position, and the door gets unlocked when the locking knob is in the unlock position. The cover member covers at least a rear region of the specific region in which the lock operational unit can move.
US07712802B2
A mechanism having a pair of pivoting cassette clamping bars. The clamping bars are connected to a pneumatic cylinder or an electromechanical actuator through a series of links and an actuator wheel so that extension and retraction of the pneumatic cylinder or the electromechanical actuator causes the clamping bars to rotate and counter-rotate. The use of a pneumatic cylinder provides smooth, well-controlled movement of the clamping bars.
US07712796B2
A deformable mechanical pipe coupling is disclosed. The coupling has a plurality of interconnectable segments that straddle the ends of pipe elements to be joined. The segments have arcuate surfaces that engage outer surfaces of the pipe elements. The outer surfaces subtend an angle of less than 180° and have radii of curvature greater than the radii of curvature of the pipe element outer surfaces. The segments have adjustably tightenable connection members for connecting the segments to one another. When the connection members are tightened, the arcuate surfaces deform and conform to the radius of curvature of the outer surface of the pipe elements.
US07712792B2
An end fitting for terminating an end of a hose including a tubular body of flexible material arranged between inner and outer gripping members, wherein the end fitting includes: an inner member adapted to be disposed at least partially within the hose; a sealing member adapted to seal at least part of the tubular body fully around the circumference between the sealing member and the inner member; and a separate load transfer member adapted to transfer axial loads between the hose and the inner member in such a manner that said axial loads are diverted around the sealing member in order to reduce, or eliminate, the axial load on the hose between the sealing member and the inner member, and wherein the sealing member is adapted to seal against the tubular body independently of the application of axial loads between the hose and the inner member.
US07712789B2
An adapter for coupling connecting pipes for a commercial aircraft comprises an adapter top and an adapter bottom. The adapter bottom has a first adapter pipe that can be positioned within a recess in a floor of the aircraft. An attachment flange is formed to the external circumference of the first adapter pipe, through whose central flange opening the first adapter pipe is led, which attachment flange is positioned on the first adapter pipe end of the first adapter pipe and is attached by one flange side to a bottom floor region of the floor. The adapter top has a second adapter pipe to which a tubular supporting flange is joined. The pipe end region reinforced with said supporting flange of the second adapter pipe is inserted into the pipe cross section of the first adapter pipe.
US07712788B2
A connecting assembly for coolant lines, in particular for motor vehicle air conditioning systems which are operated with CO2, from a first coupling element that can be connected to a first line end piece, and a further air conditioning circuit component. The first coupling element and the air conditioning circuit component are joined by a screw so that the first line end piece and the air conditioning circuit component are connected to one another by means of one bore each and radially extending sealing faces. A sealing ring is arranged between the faces. A space holder is arranged between the first coupling element and the further air conditioning circuit component. The first line end piece has a radially extending sealing face which is produced by plastic deformation of the line end piece without removing material. The first coupling element has an annular collar which presses the sealing face onto the sealing ring in the mounted state.
US07712783B2
A modular column mount comprising a base fixture, a clamp float in engagement with the base fixture, and a first ring in engagement with the clamp float, the ring defining an aperture adapted to accept a steering column therethrough. The modular column mount further comprising at least one of a plurality of second rings of different predetermined inner and outer diameters used singularly or mixed and matched between the aperture of the first ring so as to provide various combinations providing a column mount of predetermined aperture size. The cost of manufacturing and inventory control of various first and second rings is substantially less than the cost of manufacturing and inventory control of column mounts of fixed aperture size in all the various aperture sizes that are possible and provided by the modular column mount.
US07712780B2
The present invention provides an inflator for an inflatable restraint system in an automobile, or more generally, a gas generator. The inflator includes an inflator body having a plurality of inflation apertures and defining a first combustion chamber wherein a first propellant charge is positioned. At least one annular spring containing a cushion is provided for maintaining the integrity of the shape of the propellant charge.
US07712775B2
A structure of arranging interior components of a vehicle is provided. The structure includes a panel member extending along a side of a roof of the vehicle, and a bracket having a fixing base attached to the panel member, a first attaching base to which a first interior component is attached, and a bent piece connecting the fixing base and the first attaching base. The bent piece includes a sideward extending portion which inwardly extends in a width direction of the vehicle from the fixing base, and a downward extending portion which downwardly extends from the sideward extending portion and to which the first attaching base is connected. A second interior component is arranged between a space surrounded by the panel member and the bent piece.
US07712772B2
The invention relates to a thorax airbag device without housing which is mounted between a guide yoke and a tearing thread. The invention also relates to a seat which is provided with a thorax airbag device without housing which is mounted by a guide yoke and a tearing thread.
US07712770B2
An airbag module including an airbag that is inflated to cushion a vehicle occupant in the event of a collision. The airbag includes an inner chamber enclosed by an inner covering and a plurality of outer chambers that are arranged outside the inner chamber. The inner chamber forms an inner region of the airbag when inflated and the outer chambers at least partially surround the inner chamber when inflated. The outer chambers are in fluid communication with the inner chamber. At least some of the outer chambers are each enclosed by an outer covering having a covering section opposite the inner covering that does not delimit the inner chamber. The covering sections are at least partially spaced apart from the inner covering so that at least one clearance not filled with gas when the airbag is inflated is formed between the inner covering and the opposing covering sections.
US07712768B2
The present invention provides a side curtain air bag facilitating the control of tension with the airbag. The side curtain air bag includes chambers expanded by gas supplied from a gas generator, and expands and develops into a curtain shape along a side part of a vehicle so as to protect vehicle occupants. The side curtain air bag includes primary chambers which expand to form the side curtain air bag, and a secondary chamber which expands after the primary chambers to apply additional tension across the expanded side curtain air bag. The secondary chamber includes an opening communicating with the primary chamber.
US07712766B2
A side airbag arrangement for a vehicle occupant restraint system includes an airbag which is provided for the protection of a vehicle occupant and which has at least two inflatable chambers which are in each case to assume a specific position in a motor vehicle after inflation. A functional band is provided, which is secured by a portion outside the airbag. At least a portion of the functional band exerts on at least one of the chambers of the airbag a holding force, which has the effect that the chamber, after inflation, assumes the position provided for the chamber.
US07712765B2
A stroller utilizes a handle folding assembly and a front frame folding assembly for a compact, easy storing folded size. An axle of the handle folding assembly rotates when a wrench is operated with single hand and two first sliders are brought to approach axially to each other and detach from two fastening elements, making the handle rotatable and folding to a rear frame. A button of the front frame folding assembly is pressed with single hand (or a seat is detached from a seat bracket) to detach a second slider of the front frame from a roller to make the front frame rotatable and folding to the rear frame. The position pins accompanied with a plurality of position holes enable the stroller an adjustable height of a seat and the handle.
US07712760B2
When the electric vehicle is to be towed by a towing vehicle, the two vehicles are connected by a connection tool, and a drive motor prioritization control unit is connected to the communication network by a communication cable. Power from a battery is then supplied to the low voltage line by a power supply cable, and the inverter is controlled by a signal from the drive motor prioritization control unit of the towing vehicle.
US07712759B2
A training wheel assembly for standard bicycles comprises training wheels connected by resilient legs to a dynamic compression fitting. The wheels project generally rearwardly and outwardly apart from the bicycle rear. Adjustable mounting brackets enable wheel height to be varied. The dynamic compression fitting comprises an adjustable flange section mounted to the bicycle frame within the standard trapezoidal void to the rear of the crank sleeve. A pair of yoke segments can be slidably adjusted to accommodate varying dimensions. An intermediate flexing section resiliently coupled beneath the flange section receives ends of the legs and establishes an up and down pivot. A damper section connected beneath the intermediate section comprises a rigid, tubular sleeve that slidably receives a tubular cap. A resilient grommet coaxially confined between the sleeve and the cap is compressed by an elongated through bolt coaxially penetrating the compression fitting. The bolt establishes a radial pivot.
US07712757B2
A rear wheel suspension for bicycles has a link connecting the chainstay, or swingarm, to the lower damper or shock absorber mount. This link allows the requirements of the rider to manipulate the suspension and geometry available for various conditions. In this way, the suspension characteristics, such as spring rate, rising rate, and wheel travel, will automatically change in accordance with the rider's needs.
US07712753B2
The present invention concerns a steering and suspension system of a vehicle and a translational ball joint for use in a steering and suspension system. The system may include a lower joint assembly that employs the translational ball joint to couple a steering knuckle to a strut extension member. The translational ball joint may include a socket having a ball stud mounted therein, with the ball stud including a ball, mounted in the cavity, and a shank, including a cylindrical portion adjacent to the second end that is slidably received in a central bore of the ball and has a retention flange extending radially outward that has a diameter that is larger than a diameter of the central bore to thereby prevent the retention flange from sliding through the central bore.
US07712747B2
A retaining assembly includes a body and a retainer. The body includes a compartment defined in an end thereof. The compartment is defined by a perimeter wall and an end wall. A coupling hole is defined in the end wall for receiving a tool. The retainer is mounted in the compartment of the body and has a through-hole aligned with the coupling hole of the body. The retainer further includes at least one resilient positioning portion abutting against the perimeter wall of the body for retaining the retainer in the compartment of the body. The retainer further includes at least one resilient clamping portion extending into the coupling hole of the body for pressing against at least one face of the tool received in the coupling hole of the body.
US07712746B2
A chuck, which is releasably connectable with a tool spindle (1), includes a guide sleeve (3) having a plurality of openings (4), a plurality of locking elements formed as tilt segments (5) each having an axially fixedly supported, support part (7) and a radially tiltable locking part (8) extendable into a respective opening (4) of the guide sleeve (3) for engaging the tool spindle (1), and a manually displaceable locking sleeve (6) for radially locking the locking elements.
US07712732B2
Sheets after having been sequentially folding-processed are stowed neatly without becoming dog-eared, wrinkled, etc. in the course of being transported to a stacker. A folding process unit folds sequentially fed copy paper or other sheets, and a sheet stacking unit loads/stows sheets from the folding unit. A conveyance device conveying one folding-processed sheet at a time is furnished between the folding unit and the sheet stacking unit. The conveyance device includes a first, upstream conveyance unit conveying sheets from the folding process unit in a direction approximately orthogonal to the sheets' crease(s), and a second, downstream conveyance unit conveying sheets in the orientation of the crease(s). The second conveyance unit is configured with a tray member where sheets are supported one at a time, and is configured so as to sequentially deliver each sheet to the sheet stacking unit along the tray member in the orientation of the crease(s).
US07712727B1
A system and method retracts and lets-out a laterally extending flexible bow seal on an air cushion vehicle having a bow ramp. Attachment loops on the forward outside surface of the bow seal receive a skirt cable. A separate cable routing system is connected to opposite ends of the skirt cable for selectively retracting and letting-out the bow seal. The cable routing systems also include ramp cables connected to the bow ramp to raise or lower the bow ramp. The cable routing systems retract the bow seal with the skirt cable simultaneously as the bow ramp is lowered by letting out the ramp cables, and the cable routing systems let-out the bow seal with the skirt cable simultaneously as the bow ramp is raised by drawing in the ramp cables.
US07712716B2
A clamp for mounting an angle bracket on a tubular upright having a side member, an outer jaw and an inner jaw coupled to the side member, and coupling means permitting the side member to pivot relative to the angle bracket about a fixed or non-fixed pivot axis. The inner and outer jaws preferably feature contact surfaces that are portions of circular, cylindrical outer surfaces, but in any case are shaped to contact the cylindrical outer surface of the upright. The clamp is attached to the angle bracket and the jaws are pivotally mounted in the clamp so that the jaws have the necessary number of degrees of freedom with respect to the side member to permit them to contact the upright on extended areas.
US07712713B2
A fastening means for a patient monitor, comprising a clamp member to be fastened to a supporting structure, a base member for supporting the patient monitor, the clamp member comprising two legs with free ends and a slot between the two legs, and a tightening means between the two legs for fastening the clamp member against the support surface placed between the two legs. The slot is wider at the bottom end than at the area between the free leg ends, and the fastening means is an electrically non-conductive element between the patient monitor and the supporting structure.
US07712712B2
In an object carrier for supporting apparatus such as a minicomputer, a navigation apparatus or cell phones, which carrier comprises a foot adapted to be attached to a support surface, a top part for supporting an apparatus holder or directly an apparatus, and a flexible arm extending between the foot and the top part, the flexible arm is releasably connectable at least to the foot by a plug-in connection consisting of a receptacle part formed at least in the foot for receiving an end of the flexible arm in a rotationally fixed relationship and the plug-in connection further includes locking structure for firmly retaining, and releasably locking, the end of the flexible arm in the foot and respectively, top part.
US07712709B2
A device which may be mounted to a vertical substrate, and which is useful as a rack for storing flexible conduits, such as wires, cables, hoses and the like in an orderly fashion during their non-use. A device according to the invention comprises a main backbone portion, to which a plurality of fingers are attached. The backbone portion is substantially-linear in a preferred embodiment, and is mounted with its longest length dimension in a vertical orientation. Successive loops of a flexible conduit are looped around successive fingers of the device to provide neat and orderly stowage of otherwise cumbersome conduits. A device according to the invention is especially well-suited for storing garden hoses in garages or residential backyard environments.
US07712697B1
An apparatus for winding wire about a tooth of a core includes an amount of wire, a winding member configured to receive a portion of the amount of wire, and a winding device operatively coupled to the winding member. The winding device being configured to apply a number of wraps of the amount of wire to at least one of a plurality of teeth of the core. The number of wraps including a number of twists that is fewer than the number of wraps.
US07712695B2
A spool braking device and a spool braking method for increasing spool braking capability. The spool braking device includes a reel attached to a fishing rod in a detachable manner. A rotatable spool is arranged in the reel. A fishing line is wound to the spool. A brake mechanism electronically brakes rotation of the spool. An acceleration sensor detects swing acceleration produced when the fishing rod is swung and generates an acceleration signal. A brake control unit determines whether or not the spool needs to be braked based on the acceleration signal and drives the brake mechanism.
US07712686B2
A fuel injection valve includes a valve member for regulating a flow of a fuel to a nozzle hole, a movable core axially slidable in an integrated body with the valve member, a fixed core being faced by an end of the movable core, and a coil portion having an increasing number of winding of a winding wire toward the movable core in a bobbin to have a magnetic attractive force between the movable core and the fixed core upon application of an electric current. The number of winding wire increases toward an end on a movable core side in the coil portion. Therefore, the generated magnetic field increases on the movable core side. In this manner, the magnetic attractive force between the fixed core and the movable core is increased without increasing a cross-section and/or a body of the movable core.
US07712684B2
A fuel injection valve which injects fuel from a nozzle hole includes a cavitation generation flow path in which a cavitation bubble is generated in fuel flowing inside the injection valve, and a bubble storage flow path which is connected to the cavitation generation flow path and the nozzle hole and which stores the cavitation bubble generated in the cavitation generation flow path. A fuel containing the cavitation bubble stored in the bubble storage flow path is injected from the nozzle hole so that atomization of an injected fuel spray is enhanced.
US07712680B2
An ultrasonic nozzle configured to form relatively small drops of liquid at relatively high rates. The nozzle includes two horns, at least one of which includes a ceramic material. The nozzle also includes one or more transducers that cause mechanical motion in at least one of the horns. In addition, a method of forming micrometer-scaled drops of liquid at relatively high rates is provided.
US07712677B1
An improved heater and method of controlling the same is provided. The water heater has the combination of a tank for holding water, a heater for heating the water, a controller having logic to regulate the heater, and first and second sensors. Each of the sensors detects the water temperature at different areas within the water heater. The sensors also provide the controller with signals corresponding to the detected water temperature. In response to these signals, the controller regulates the heater when at least one of the signals of the first and second sensors satisfies at least one predetermined state condition.
US07712676B2
In a method for manufacturing a flexible memory device and semiconductor device, a stack including an element layer and an insulating layer which seals the element layer is formed over a substrate having a separation layer, and the stack is separated from the separation layer. The element layer includes a memory element having a layer containing an organic compound between a pair of electrodes, a first electrode layer and a second electrode layer, and at least one of the pair of electrode layers is formed using an alloy layer containing tin. The flexible memory device and semiconductor device include a memory element having a layer containing an organic compound between a pair of electrodes, a first electrode layer and a second electrode layer, in which at least one of the pair of electrode layers is formed using an alloy layer containing tin.
US07712673B2
An identification document includes a lens system and a specially prepared photo of a document bearer. The lens system and the specially prepared photo cooperate to create a three dimensional photo effect. The document includes two or more document layers. There is a lens structure in one of the document layers, and it includes lens elements. A photo is printed on one or more of the document layers. The photo depicts the document bearer, and includes two or more separate images of the bearer from different perspectives. Parts of the separate images are interleaved together into sets, and the sets are positioned relative to corresponding lens elements of the lens structure. These sets include parts of the separate images such that when viewed through the lens structure, the parts are viewed simultaneously making the subject appear three-dimensional to a viewer.
US07712665B2
A method of identifying a product includes generating a code unique to the product, said code being provided by a multitude of individual identifiers, applying the multitude of the identifiers of the code to the packaging of the product as a pattern to identify the product. The method also involves applying a sub-set of two or more of the multitude of the identifiers of said code to the product, said sub-set of the multitude of the identifiers of the code being applied so they will be presented in the same pattern order as they appear in the pattern order of the multitude of the identifiers of the code applied to the packaging. The product can be identified with a reasonable likelihood of being a genuine product by determining that a presented pattern order of the sub-set of the multitude of the identifiers applied to the product corresponds to a presented pattern order within the multitude of the identifiers applied to the packaging.
US07712662B2
A diagnostic system for an oven chamber, an oven system, and a method of wirelessly monitoring item temperature in an oven chamber are disclosed. In some embodiments, a temperature sensor used for sensing the temperature of an item is moved or transported with the item by a conveyor system. Also, in some embodiments, a wireless transmitter coupled to the temperature sensor can transmit a temperature signal to a receiver located outside of the oven chamber, and can also be moved or transported with the item. Data representative of item temperature can be stored, displayed, and/or used to modulate operation of the oven in some embodiments.
US07712660B2
An application for disabling the use of selected applications is provided. A server receives identification information from a user. The location of the user is determined. If the user is determined to be in a reserved location, the use of one or more applications is disabled, for the user.
US07712657B1
An automatic banking machine includes at least one computer, a card reader, transaction function devices, and a display. The display includes a touch display surface having multiple spaced user locations at which transaction sessions by different user can be concurrently conducted. Multiple users can at the same time receive visible outputs from the display surface and provide inputs through physical contact with the display surface. An eye sensing device enables the display surface, based on sensing where a user is looking at the display surface, to display data at the user location.
US07712652B2
First components and second components in which bumps are formed on the lower surface thereof and laminate structures are formed by mounting them to stack with each other on a circuit board 13 are picked up from a component supply unit 1 using a placement head 16, and by lifting and lowering the placement head 16 holding the first components and the second components relative to a paste transfer device 5 supplying a flux 10 in the manner such as coating films having two types of different thicknesses, the flux 10 is supplied to the bumps of the plurality of components in a bundle using a transfer coating method. With such a configuration, it is possible to efficiently perform a component mounting with a satisfactory adhesiveness by ensuring an optimal amount of application quantity of a paste.
US07712644B2
A transponder intermediary device enables a user to selectively retain a toll transponder device in toll-paying position upon a vehicle. The transponder intermediary device comprises a transponder-receiving slot and a vehicular interface. The transponder-receiving slot comprises a superior slot end, an inferior slot end, laterally-opposed slot ends, an anterior slot portion, a posterior slot portion, an inner slot surface, and a relaxed equilibrium position. The inner slot surface is sized and shaped to snugly and removably receive transponder housing. The vehicular interface comprises certain attachment structure for attaching the transponder intermediary device in toll-paying position upon the vehicle. As the transponder housing is received in the transponder-receiving slot, the housing snap-clicks into place, thus aurally alerting the user as to when the housing is securely held by the transponder intermediary device.
US07712638B2
A closure for a container having a mouth wherein the closure is adapted for sealable connection to the mouth of the container and includes an end wall at the upper end of the skirt for closing the mouth when the closure is mounted to the container. The closure includes an opening in the end wall for dispensing a product held by the container and a first flap that has at least one flap aperture that is smaller than the opening. The first flap is adapted for selectively opening and closing the opening. A second flap is adapted for overlaying the first flap and includes a first state wherein one or more of the flap apertures in the first flap are open and a second state wherein the flap apertures in the first flap are sealed.
US07712630B2
A cigarette case includes a cigarette casing including a corner outlet; a double-layer hinged cover including a first slit proximate the outlet and a second slit proximate the adjacent other corner; and a spring biased ejection means within the cover and including a pivotal L-shaped ejector, a pivotal trigger, a pivot bar, a link moveable in the first slit and including an end pusher extending through the first slit, the link having the other end pivotably secured to one portion of the ejector, and a sliding member moveable in the second slit and pivotably secured to the other end of the pivot bar, the sliding member including a door extending through the second slit to block the outlet when the case is closed. Pivoting the trigger will pivot the pivot bar to move the sliding member and the link to cause the pusher to eject a cigarette from the outlet.
US07712629B2
A device for moving articles between positions at time intervals. The device includes at least two gates disposed sequentially in the direction of travel of the article which can controllably be opened and closed. Upstream of each gate there is formed a temporary holding area for the article. The two gates (1; 2; 3; 4) are controllable by means of one single drive motor (8) or actuator. The two gates (1; 2; 3; 4) are each associated with one control element (5; 6) rotatable about a respective axis of rotation, and the drive motor or actuator (8) is adapted to move one actuating element (7) that is rotatable about an axis of rotation and which is common to the respective control elements (5; 6) of the two gates.
US07712622B2
A drinking cup (10, 110) that teaches a child how to drink from a cup while minimizing spills includes an elongated, generally cylindrical housing (12, 112) for holding a liquid (14, 114), the housing (12, 112) has an inside surface (16, 116), an outside surface, and a bottom (20, 120); an elongated, generally cylindrical insert (22, 122) with an inner surface (24, 124) and an outer surface (26, 126) where the insert (22, 122) fits within the housing (12, 112); and a cap (30, 130). The cap (130) may be molded to the insert (122). An annular space (28, 128) is formed between the outer surface (26, 126) of the insert (22, 122) and the inside surface (16, 116) and the bottom (20, 120) of the housing (12, 112). The bottom (123) of the insert (122) may be open and spaced above the bottom (120) of the housing (112). The space (28, 128) receives liquid (14, 114) flowing between the inner surface (24, 124) and the outer surface (26, 126). The cap (30, 130) has a plurality of openings (36a-36h, 136a-136f) formed therein. The openings (36a-36h, 136a-136f) are in fluid communication with the space (28, 128) formed between the insert (22, 122) and the housing (12, 112).
US07712613B2
A filter and filter material for providing or treating potable water is provided. The filter includes a housing having an inlet and an outlet, a filter material disposed within the housing, the filter material formed at least in part from a mixture of a plurality of mesoporous and microporous activated carbon particles. Preferably, at least some of the mesoporous activated carbon filter particles are coated with a cationic polymer, and even more preferably, at least some of the particles are coated with a cationic polymer and silver or a silver containing material. Kits comprising filters and information relating to the reduction, killing or removal of bacteria, viruses, microbials, and TTHM are also provided.
US07712609B2
A canister for housing a tool such as a toilet brush or plunger and the canister has a pair of walls which pivot between an open and closed position via actuation of a platform which moves vertically within the canister upon receipt or removal of the tool therefrom. An actuator is provided to actuate the walls and a bias member may retain the walls in an open position when the tool is removed from the canister.
US07712599B1
In a machine for feeding a partially formed carton in a conveying direction and reorienting the carton for completion, a turn-assist mechanism and related methods help to ensure that proper turning of a skewed carton is achieved in a reliable and highly efficient manner. The mechanism comprises a bed for supporting the carton, which may be skewed from a first orientation in which one of the side flaps could be folded and sealed in an upstream procedure. A conveyor includes at least one lug with a portion generally elongated in a direction transverse to the conveying and vertical directions for engaging a trailing end of the carton. This engagement helps to turn the carton to a second, squared orientation approximately 90° rotated from the first orientation so that the forming operation may be completed, such as by folding and sealing any other side flaps.
US07712598B1
The system (50) includes at least one tread (52) secured to a tread drive means (54) for moving the tread (52) in a direction of a tread work-axis of motion (58) adjacent an object (78) to be moved. A head (57) is secured to the tread (52), and the head (57) includes a device (66) for grabbing the object (78). The head (57) selectively moves in at least a direction opposed to the tread work-axis of motion (58) and at a rate of speed at least the same as the rate of speed the drive means (54) moves the tread (52) in the tread work-axis of motion (58) direction to thereby achieve a net-zero motion relative to the object (58) to facilitate picking and placing the object (58). A plurality of treads (52) with such heads (57) may be secured in an endless loop (56).
US07712590B1
A luggage grip includes two fixing seats spaced from each other, and a flexible holding bar mounted between the two fixing seats and having two opposite end portions each movably mounted on the respective fixing seat. Thus, the holding bar is pulled upward to have a curved shape for use with the user and is retractable to have a flat shape when not in use, thereby facilitating the user operating and folding the holding bar. In addition, the luggage grip has a simplified construction to decrease the cost of fabrication. Further, the luggage grip is assembled easily and quickly.
US07712577B2
An air induction housing having a perforated wall which simultaneously provides ample air entry into the air induction housing and excellent intake noise attenuation. The size, number and arrangement of the perforations is selected such that ample airflow is provided and audibility of intake noise is minimized, based upon simultaneous optimization of: providing a plurality of perforations which collectively have an opening size that accommodates all anticipated airflow requirements; sizing each of the perforations such that the airflow demand involves an airflow speed through each perforation that is below a predetermined threshold at which perforation airflow noise is generated; and arranging the perforation distribution in cooperation with configuring of the air induction housing to provide a highest level of intake noise attenuation.
US07712576B2
In order to provide sound absorbing structure capable of reducing the noise of electronic equipment while maintaining the cooling capability of the electronic equipment, there is provided sound absorbing structure in which a plurality of penetrating openings are provided by arranging a plurality of acoustic materials having a predetermined shape at predetermined intervals in a flow channel of cooling fluid from a blower, and the plurality of acoustic materials are arranged so that the sound vertically incident on a penetrating plane of the penetrating openings from the blower does not directly go out of the electronic equipment.
US07712573B2
An object of the invention is to change a layout structure of a hydraulic continuously variable transmission apparatus (HST) particularly constituting a hydromechanical continuously variable transmission apparatus (HMT) as a continuously variable transmission apparatus, thereby achieving a simplification of structures of a working vehicle and a traveling drive system, and an easiness of a maintenance. In a working vehicle provided with an HMT structured such as to combine an HST and a planetary gear mechanism as the traveling drive system so as to output and rotate a power of an engine while shifting gear, the HST is provided with a hydraulic pump and a hydraulic motor integrally in a front wall of a transmission case, and is arranged in an upper side of a transmission shaft transmitting the power to the transmission case from the engine.
US07712572B2
The invention relates to a steering actuation device for a vehicle, in particular for an industrial truck, having an operating element for inputting steering commands by exerting torques on the operating element, having a sensor arrangement for monitoring the steering command input state of the operating element and having a control device for converting the steering command input data detected by the sensor arrangement into control information for a steering drive apparatus of a wheel, which can be steered, of the vehicle, the sensor arrangement detecting the respective steering command input state of the operating element by means of monitoring the elastic material deformation, in particular torsion, of an element, which is subjected to elastic deformation by means of a steering command input torque on the operating element and is coupled to or associated with the operating element.
US07712566B2
A bicycle transmission assembly that is mountable to a bottom bracket shell of a bicycle frame. The bicycle transmission assembly includes an input crank assembly, an output chainring, a planetary gear mechanism, a control system and a mounting system. The input crank assembly is mounted to a rotatable crank axle mounted to the bottom bracket shell. The planetary gear mechanism is mounted to the bottom bracket shell and provides a plurality of transmission paths. The planetary gear mechanism includes a sun gear, a ring gear and a locking element operatively connecting the sun gear and the ring gear. The control system is operatively connected to the planetary gear mechanism for selecting one of the transmission paths.
US07712560B2
A hybrid electric vehicle powertrain has motor-generator units and gear units assembled in an efficient configuration with an economy of space. Engine power and motor-generator power are distributed through split-power flow paths to front traction wheels of the vehicle.
US07712553B2
A polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) cutter having a body of diamond crystals containing a catalyzing material is coated with a material impervious to a given acid. After the coating has dried, a segment of the coating is removed and acid is supplied to the diamond crystal body through the template in the coating to leach out the catalyzing material contained within the body of diamond crystals.
US07712549B2
A drilling tool (10) includes a pilot bit (14) and a plurality of mills (16) encircling the pilot bit. The pilot bit and the plurality of mills are each driven by a separate, hydraulically powered turbine or positive displacement motor. (20) The drilling tool does not include a transmission for transmitting power from the turbine or motor to any of the plurality of mills or the pilot bit.
US07712543B2
A method of designing a residential fire protection system in a residential dwelling unit are shown and described. The residential dwelling unit has a plurality of compartments as defined in the 2002 National Fire Protection Association Standards 13, 13D, and 13R. The method can be achieved by: determining a minimum quantity and location of residential fire sprinklers required to determine a hydraulic demand calculation of the residential fire sprinklers of a piping network filled with water and arranged to protect the plurality of compartments; and specifying the minimum quantity and location of residential fire sprinklers in a piping network filled with a gas. Various aspects of the invention are also shown and described.
US07712541B2
A technique is provided to temporarily protect well system components during transport, movement downhole and/or initial downhole operations. A sacrificial material is formed as a protective sacrificial element disposed proximate susceptible well system components. The protective sacrificial element is at least partially dissolvable in fluids within a wellbore to facilitate removal of the element after a desired time period. Once the temporary, protective sacrificial element is removed, the protected well system component is fully operable.
