Author: claimsbot

1. A micro-electromechanical fluid ejection device which comprises
a wafer substrate;
drive circuitry positioned on the wafer substrate;
a nozzle chamber structure arranged on the wafer substrate to define a nozzle chamber and a fluid ejection port in fluid communication with the nozzle chamber; and
a fluid ejection member that is operatively positioned with respect to the nozzle chamber such that displacement of the fluid ejection member results in the ejection of fluid from the fluid ejection port, wherein
at least a portion of the fluid ejection member is of a shape memory alloy which defines an electrical heating circuit and which is connected to the drive circuitry to be heated by an electrical current received from the drive circuitry, the shape memory alloy being displaceable towards the fluid ejection port when heated to transform from its martensitic phase to its austenitic phase to eject fluid from the fluid ejection port.
2. A micro-electromechanical fluid ejection device as claimed in claim 1, in which the nozzle chamber structure is defined partly by the substrate which is etched to define walls of the nozzle chamber, the substrate including a structural layer which is etched to define the fluid ejection port.
3. A micro-electromechanical fluid ejection device as claimed in claim 1, in which the heating circuit defined by the shape memory alloy is interposed between a pair of structural layers, one of the structural layers being pre-stressed so that, upon release, the fluid ejection member is drawn away from the fluid ejection port while the shape memory alloy is in the martensitic phase.
4. A micro-electromechanical fluid ejection device as claimed in claim 3, in which the structural layers are of a resiliently flexible material which is configured so that the shape memory alloy can be drawn away from the fluid ejection port when the heating circuit cools and the alloy becomes martensitic.
5. A micro-electromechanical fluid ejection device as claimed in claim 3 in which the heating circuit defined by the shape memory alloy traces a serpentine path from one via to another, the via providing an electrical connection to the heating circuit.
6. A micro-electromechanical fluid ejection device as claimed in claim 3, in which the nozzle chamber is in fluid communication with a fluid reservoir, one of the structural layers forming part of a fluid passivation layer that covers the drive circuitry layer to protect the drive circuitry layer from fluid damage.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A cutting device for cutting a thin metallic plate with a predetermined width, comprising:
a shearing cutter which is pressed to a predetermined position on a front side of the thin plate to cut the thin plate, and
a contacting member which has a groove facing a cutting position of the shearing cutter and makes contact with a back side of the thin plate,
wherein the shearing cutter is made of a metal having a higher hardness than the thin plate and has a blade angle of 50 to 90\xb0, the groove of the contacting member is shaped like a letter V in cross section, an interval between upper edges of opposing inner walls of the groove is 15 to 30 times a thickness of the thin plate, a depth of a deepest portion at a center of the groove is one to three times the thickness of the thin plate, and the inner walls of the groove have curved surfaces each of which has a curvature radius of 15 to 50 times the thickness of the thin plate and is expanded to an inside of the groove.
2. The cutting device according to claim 1, wherein the groove of the contacting member comprises a flat portion which is evenly formed so that the deepest portion has a constant depth between the inner walls.
3. The cutting device according to claim 2, wherein when the thin plate is cut by the shearing cutter, a first cut inclined surface which is inclined along a face of the shearing cutter, a second cut inclined surface which is inclined along the flat portion of the groove, and a cut top portion where an edge of the first cut inclined surface and an edge of the second cut inclined surface intersect with each other are formed on a cut edge of the thin plate; and when a width from a starting point of the second cut inclined surface to the cut top portion is set beforehand to position the cut top portion of the thin plate at the center of the thickness of the plate, the width of the flat portion between the inner walls of the groove is set at twice the width of the second cut inclined surface.
4. The cutting device according to claim 1, wherein the thin metallic plate forms a cylindrical drum, the contacting member is formed into a cylinder which can make contact with an inner peripheral surface of the drum and holds the drum on an outer periphery thereof, a plurality of the grooves are formed on the outer periphery of the contacting member at predetermined intervals, the shearing cutter is formed like a disk having a cutting edge on a circumference thereof, the shearing cutter cuts in the grooves on an outer peripheral surface of the drum while rotating, and the shearing cutter cuts the drum with a predetermined width in a circumferential direction to form a metal ring shaped like an endless belt.
5. The cutting device according to claim 4, wherein the contacting member comprises a plurality of slots borne along the longitudinal direction and is expandable in a diameter direction.
6. The cutting device according to claim 4, wherein the contacting member comprises clamping means for fixing one end of the drum when the drum is held on the outer periphery thereof, and when the shearing cutter cuts in the groove via the drum, a position of an edge of the shearing cutter is set closer to an unfixed side on the other end of the drum by a distance within one third of a thickness of the drum from the center of the interval between the upper edges of the opposing inner walls of the groove.
7. The cutting device according to claim 6, wherein during cutting of the drum, a position of the edge of the shearing cutter is set at a distance of 0.2 to 0.4 times the thickness of the drum from the deepest portion of the groove when the shearing cutter enters most deeply in the groove.
8. The cutting device according to claim 2, wherein the thin metallic plate forms a cylindrical drum, the contacting member is formed into a cylinder which can make contact with an inner peripheral surface of the drum and holds the drum on an outer periphery thereof, a plurality of the grooves are formed on the outer periphery of the contacting member at predetermined intervals, the shearing cutter is formed like a disk having a cutting edge on a circumference thereof, the shearing cutter cuts in the grooves on an outer peripheral surface of the drum while rotating, and the shearing cutter cuts the drum with a predetermined width in a circumferential direction to form a metal ring shaped like an endless belt.
9. The cutting device according to claim 3, wherein the thin metallic plate forms a cylindrical drum, the contacting member is formed into a cylinder which can make contact with an inner peripheral surface of the drum on an outer periphery thereof, a plurality of the grooves are formed on the outer periphery of the contacting member at predetermined intervals, the shearing cutter is formed like a disk having a cutting edge on a circumference thereof, the shearing cutter cuts in the grooves on an outer peripheral surface of the drum while rotating, and the shearing cutter cuts the drum with a predetermined width in a circumferential direction to form a metal ring shaped like an endless belt.

1. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code being executable by a processor to:
generate a key that is associated with a first entity that is associated with a spacetime region, wherein the spacetime region represents a spatial region, a time interval, and a non-spatial feature, and wherein the first entity is associated with the spacetime region based on spacetime coordinates for the first entity;
generate an anonymized key to be associated with the first entity from the key, the anonymized key and the key representing the spacetime region with which the first entity is associated; and
compare the anonymized key with a previously anonymized key that is associated with a second entity to discover spacetime co-occurrence of the first entity and the second entity in the spacetime region.
2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the spacetime region comprises a plurality of dimensions, the plurality of dimensions including one or more of:
spatial dimensions describing the spatial region, the spatial dimensions including one or more of: a longitude coordinate and a latitude coordinate,
non-spatial dimensions describing the spatial region, and
a temporal dimension describing the time interval.
3. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein a granularity of one or more dimensions is configurable.
4. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the temporal dimension of the spacetime region is represented as a set of numerical values that represent one or more of: a year, a month, a day, an hour, a minute, a second, and a millisecond.
5. The computer program product of claim 2, further comprising program code executable by a processor to:
receive data representing an observation of the first entity, wherein the data includes a precision of at least one dimension; and
associate the data with the spacetime region based on a qualification criterion.
6. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the qualification criterion is related to a granularity of at least some of the dimensions and is one of: a predefined qualification criterion and a dynamically derived qualification criterion.
7. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the anonymized key is created by using one of: a reversible cryptographic algorithm and an irreversible cryptographic algorithm.
8. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising program code executable by a processor to:
store the discovery of the spacetime co-occurrence of the first entity with the second entity.
9. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising program code executable by a processor to:
determine whether the first entity is associated with a particular set of one or more spacetime regions on at least a certain number of occasions over a certain time interval; and
in response to a positive determination, flag the first entity as a hanging out entity.
10. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the first entity is one of a person, a place, a thing, and an event.
11. A system, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory containing instructions that when executed by the processor causes the processor to:
generate a key that is associated with a first entity that is associated with a spacetime region, wherein the spacetime region represents a spatial region, a time interval, and a non-spatial feature, and wherein the first entity is associated with the spacetime region based on spacetime coordinates for the first entity;
generate an anonymized key to be associated with the first entity from the key, the anonymized key and the key representing the spacetime region with which the first entity is associated; and
compare the anonymized key with a previously anonymized key that is associated with a second entity to discover spacetime co-occurrence of the first entity and the second entity in the spacetime region.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the spacetime region comprises a plurality of dimensions, the plurality of dimensions including one or more of:
spatial dimensions describing the spatial region, the spatial dimensions including one or more of: a longitude coordinate and a latitude coordinate,
non-spatial dimensions describing the spatial region, and
a temporal dimension describing the time interval.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein a granularity of one or more dimensions is configurable.
14. The system of claim 12, wherein the temporal dimension of the spacetime region is represented as a set of numerical values that represent one or more of: a year, a month, a day, an hour, a minute, a second, and a millisecond.
15. The system of claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to:
receive data representing an observation of the first entity, wherein the data includes a precision of at least one dimension; and
associate the data with the spacetime region based on a qualification criterion.
16. The system of claim 15, wherein the qualification criterion is related to a granularity of at least some of the dimensions and is one of: a predefined qualification criterion and a dynamically derived qualification criterion.
17. The system of claim 11, wherein the anonymized key is created by using one of: a reversible cryptographic algorithm and an irreversible cryptographic algorithm.
18. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to:
store the discovery of the spacetime co-occurrence of the first entity with the second entity.
19. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to:
determine whether the first entity is associated with a particular set of one or more spacetime regions on at least a certain number of occasions over a certain time interval; and
in response to a positive determination, flag the first entity as a hanging out entity.
20. The system of claim 11, wherein the first entity is one of a person, a place, a thing, and an event.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A gas generator for an airbag comprising:
a housing having gas discharge ports;
an ignition means accommodating chamber formed in a central part of the housing;
an ignition means installed in the ignition means accommodating chamber;
a gas generating means to be ignited by the ignition means and generate a gas; and
a cooling and cleaning means for cooling and cleaning the gas generated by the gas generating means;
wherein the ignition means includes a transfer charge container and an igniter, the transfer charge container having a cup for accommodating the transfer charge and a cover for hermetically closing the cup, the igniter to be activated by a signal and ignite the transfer charge;
wherein the gas generated by the gas generating means in response to an impact is introduced into an airbag to protect an occupant against the impact;
wherein the transfer charge container comprises a cup part and a cover part, either of the bottoms of the cup part and the cover part being outwardly curved to form an outwardly convex surface, the container being resiliently held between a top wall portion of the ignition means accommodating chamber and the igniter.