A method of fabricating mask ROMs combines the code mask and via mask into a combination mask such that the isolation layers are removed to reveal the memory cells to be coded and the metal layers to be electrically contacted simultaneously, and the bury implantation process can be shifted and combined with the back-end process. Consequently, the delivery of mask ROM finished-products can be speeded, and the fabricating cost reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of fabricating a mask ROM by which the bury implantation step can be shifted and combined with the back-end process, thereby improving the efficiency of the delivery of mask ROMs.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 1A to 1C shows the conventional process of fabricating a mask ROM in cross-sectional view. First, a plurality of MOS transistors serving as memory cells are formed in a semiconductor substrate 1, as depicted in FIG. 1A. In FIG. 1A, numeral 2 indicates an isolation structure which is usually a field oxide layer formed via LOCOS method; numeral 3 indicates the polysilicon gate of one of the MOS transistors (the gate oxide layer is not shown) and numeral 4 indicates the source and drain (n.sup.+ diffusion regions) of one of the MOS transistors. Next, a photoresist layer 5 is formed over the MOS transistors, and is then defined and patterned using a code mask in conjunction with photolithography, as depicted in FIG. 1B. Then, a bury implantation is carried out to complete the coding process of the mask ROM, as depicted in FIG. 1C.
In the bury implantation step, MOS transistors with their gates revealed by the photoresist layer 5 will be defined as the memory cells having coded data "0". On the other hand, MOS transistors with their gates covered by the photoresist layer 5 will be defined as the memory cells having coded data "1".
After the bury implantation step, subsequent back-end process steps are carried out such as: (a) removing the photoresist layer 5; (b) forming a BPSG layer over the MOS transistors; (c) carrying out a first metalization process; (d) forming a dielectric layer; (e) forming via holes by using a via mask; (f) carrying out a second metallization process etc., and finally forming a passivation layer.
IC manufacturers typically fabricate in advance a mask ROM prepared structure as described in FIG. 1A. When given orders for mask ROMs by customers, IC manufacturers start to fabricate the code mask according to a code specification required by the customers. Then, the code mask is used to pattern the photoresist layer to reveal the MOS transistors to be implanted (coded), as described in FIG. 1B. Next, the bury implantation process is carried out for encoding memory data, thereby completing the mask ROM required by the customers as described in FIG. 1C. However, the mask ROM can not deliver to the customers, until the steps (a)-(f) of the back-end process are performed. Consequently, the delivery of finished products (mask ROM) to the customers depends on the required time for completing the above process.
For IC manufacturers, prompt delivery of finished products means profits and competitive edge. If the bury implantation step can be shifted and combined with the back-end process, then the fabrication of mask ROMs can be simplified and the efficiency of delivery is improved.


Linear alternating polymers of carbon monoxide and at least one ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon are stabilized against degradation caused by exposure to elevated temperatures by the inclusion therein of an alkylated benzoquinone.

The class of polymers of carbon monoxide and olefin(s) has been known for some time. Brubaker, U.S. Pat. No. 2,495,286, produced such polymers of relatively low carbon monoxide content in the presence of free radical initiators, e.g., peroxy compounds. U.S. Pat. No. 1,081,304 produced similar polymers of somewhat higher carbon monoxide content in the presence of alkylphosphine complexes of palladium as catalyst. Nozaki extended the reaction to produce linear alternating polymers in the presence of arylphosphine complexes of palladium moieties and certain inert solvents. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,694,412.
More recently, the class of linear alternating polymers of carbon monoxide and at least one ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon has become of greater interest in part because of the greater availability of the polymers. More recent processes for the production of such polymers, now becoming known as polyketones or polyketone polymers, are illustrated by a number of published European Patent Applications including Nos. 121,965, 181,014, 213,671 and 257,663. The process, now considered broadly conventional, generally involves the use of a catalyst composition formed from a compound of a Group VIII metal selected from palladium, cobalt or nickel, the anion of a non-hydrohalogenic acid having a pKa below about 6, preferably below 2, and a bidentate ligand of phosphorus, arsenic or antimony.
The resulting polymers are relatively high molecular weight materials having established utility as premium thermoplastics in the production of shaped articles by methods conventional for the processing of thermoplastics. Although the polyketone polymers are relatively stable, they do undergo to some degree the degradation upon exposure to elevated temperatures characteristic of most if not all organic polymers.
Russell et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,929,727 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,024,104, teach the use of certain hindered phenolic benzophenones and benzotriazines as thermal stabilizers of certain polymers of carbon monoxide and ethylene with the optional presence of third mononers. Although the scope of the disclosure of polymers by Russell et al is rather broad including linear alternating polymers, the scope of the polymers tested is rather narrow and the Russell et al teachings do not appear to be directed to linear alternating polymers. A copending U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 382,512, filed July 20, 1989 now abandoned describes and claims the use of, inter alia, certain alkylated hydroquinones as thermal stabilizers for polyketone polymers. It would be of advantage, however, to provide additional thermal stabilizers for linear alternating polymers of carbon monoxide and at least one ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon.


A value-document processing apparatus for documents of value, such as, e.g. bank notes, checks, etc. having a transport system and one or more sensors. The sensors have a sensor surface past which the bank notes are transported, where the sensor surface is provided with a plurality of elevations or depressions. Through the structured surface, the friction is decreased between the sensor surface and the transported document of value, so that the transport of the document of value is stabilized and the proneness to jamming is reduced.

In bank-note processing apparatus bank notes are checked with the aid of sensors for example for their denomination, currency, authenticity or for their state. For this purpose the bank notes are conveyed by a transport system and in doing so pass a sensor path with one or more sensors. In doing so, the bank notes are transported substantially parallel to the surface of the sensor facing the bank notes. The sensor surface is usually a plane surface having merely a small number of gaps, e.g. for measuring heads or windows, but without any elevated or depressed areas. In some sensors, the bank notes transported past slide on the sensor surface at least temporarily. However, through the sliding along of the bank notes the sensor surface is soiled and worn in the course of time. What is more, contact with the bank notes takes place randomly and in an undefined fashion, leading to an unsteady transport, e.g. the fluttering of the bank notes. This has an adverse effect on the reproducibility of the measuring results. In order to minimize the friction between the bank note and the sensor surface the sensor surface is consequently designed so as to be as flat as possible. A further disadvantage of contact-type transport is the electrostatic charge of the bank note due to the friction between the bank note and the sensor surface. For these reasons obstructions occur again and again in bank note transport when bank notes are transported past the known sensors.


A preferred method for viewing embedded media in a virtual and augmented reality (VAR) scene can include at a viewer device, defining a real orientation of the viewer device relative to a projection matrix; and orienting a VAR scene on the viewer device in response to the real orientation in block, in which the VAR scene includes one or both of visual data and orientation data. The preferred method can further include selecting a media file in the VAR scene, wherein the media file is selected at a media location correlated at least to the real orientation of the viewer device; and activating the media file in the VAR scene at the media location. The preferred method and variations thereof functions to allow a viewer to interact with media that is embedded, tagged, linked, and/or associated with a VAR scene viewable on the viewer device.

The capability to view augmented reality on mobile devices has been increasing in recent years. The data viewable with these augmented reality devices have largely been controlled by large entities, and as there use has largely been adjusted specifically for the purposes of that entity. The public has not had technology readily available to them to simply create such virtual and augmented reality scenes and to embed and/or interact with the virtual and augmented reality scenes through other media. Thus, there is a need in the virtual and augmented reality field for new and useful systems and methods for embedding and viewing media within virtual and augmented reality scenes. This invention provides such a new and useful system and/or method, the details of which are described below in its preferred embodiments with reference to the following drawings.

System and method for embedding and viewing media files within a virtual and augmented reality scene


A regenerative braking controller for an AC motor. To determine an electromagnetic torque for slowing or stopping the motor, the regenerative braking controller accesses a lookup table to retrieve a braking torque value corresponding to a current estimate of rotor velocity. The retrieved braking torque may correspond to a maximum or minimum torque level at which regenerative braking will occur at the current rotor velocity, or to a torque level at which charging current during regenerative braking will be maximized. If an external mechanical brake is present, the regenerative braking controller can forward an external braking torque signal to a controller so that the mechanical brake can apply the remainder of the braking force beyond that indicated by the regenerative braking torque. A method for establishing the braking torques to be stored in the lookup table is also disclosed.

This invention is in the field of control systems for electric machines. Embodiments described in this specification are more specifically directed to control of electric motors to recover energy using regenerative braking.
Field-oriented control ("FOC") has become commonplace in modern control systems for AC electric motors. According to this approach, stator windings of the AC motor are driven, for example by pulse-width-modulation, in such a way as to maximize the torque/ampere performance of the motor. Field-oriented control of AC motors is a complicated task because the rotation of the magnetic field in the stator with respect to the rotating magnetic field of the rotor can be asynchronous, such that characterization of the operation of the AC motor involves a set of differential equations with time varying coefficients. Indeed, the operative set of differential equations is still nonlinear even in those systems in which the magnetic fields of the stator and rotor are synchronous.
Modern high-speed programmable microcontrollers have been widely adopted for carrying out the complex calculations required for accurate field-oriented control. Many AC motor control algorithms are based on the well-known "Park" transform, which transforms the applicable set of differential equations with angle-dependent coefficients into a set of differential equations that are independent of motor angle. In particular, the Park transform considers motor operation according to a rotating two-dimensional (d, q) coordinate system, where the d axis is aligned with the field flux linkage component (i.e., the rotor flux) and the orthogonal q axis is aligned with the torque component. By separating the field flux linkage and torque components, motor torque can be controlled without affecting the field flux. This decoupling enables the use of techniques such as dynamic torque control and speed control, which can employ proportional-and-integral (PI) control algorithms and the like for the actual controller instantiation.
As known in the art, conventional FOC controllers control the operation of AC motors in response to a desired motor speed input signal in combination with feedback signals indicating the current position and velocity of the rotor. In this regard, speed controllers apply a function such as a proportional-integral control function to an error signal between the desired motor speed and an estimate of the current velocity, to produce direct phase and quadrature phase (d, q) control signals that are applied to the inverse Park transform function. Typically, the inverse Park transform generates spatially fixed (α and β phase) control signals from these d and q phase signals and estimates of the current rotor position. The α and β phase control signals are then converted by a space vector generator function to multiphase control signals, based on which pulse-width modulated (PWM) pulses are driven onto the stator windings of the motor to apply the desired torque.
In a general sense, electric motors have two mechanical operations, motoring and braking. Motoring refers to the motor operation in which the applied torque and rotational velocity of the motor are in the same direction, while the braking operation applies a torque in the opposite direction from the rotational velocity of the motor. FIG. 1 illustrates the torque-speed plane of an electric motor, with quadrant I representing forward motoring (i.e., torque τ>0 and speed ω>0) and quadrant III representing reverse motoring (i.e., torque τ<0 and speed ω<0). Similarly, quadrants II and IV represent reverse braking (i.e., torque τ>0 with speed ω<0) and forward braking (i.e., torque τ<0 with speed ω>0), respectively. As known in the art, the braking operation can be regenerative in the sense that a net reverse current is produced from the kinetic energy of the rotor as the motor is being braked, essentially allowing the electric motor to operate as an electric generator. If the electrical energy of the net reverse current is fed back to the power source, energy is recovered from the motor as it is slowed. Regenerative braking does not occur at all operating points in the braking quadrants of the torque-speed plane, but only within a subset of those braking quadrants. As such, the torque indicated by the multiphase control signals produced by the field-oriented control system will determine whether energy recovery through regenerative braking occurs, and if so, the extent of the energy recovered.

Optimized regenerative braking control of electric motors using look-up tables


Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method of simultaneously co-doping a wide band gap material with p-type and n-type impurities to create a p-n junction within the resulting wide band gap composite material. The method includes disposing a sample comprising a dopant including both p-type and n-type impurities between a pair of wide band gap material films and disposing the sample between a pair of opposing electrodes; and subjecting the sample to a preselected vacuum; and heating the sample to a preselected temperature; and applying a preselected voltage across the sample; and subjecting the sample to at least one laser beam having a preselected intensity and a preselected wavelength, such that the p-type and n-type impurities of the dopant substantially simultaneously diffuse into the wide band gap material films resulting in a wide band gap compound material comprising a p-n junction.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Galium Nitrite (GaN) has been the most studied material for optoelectronic applications among all III-V nitrides. The heteroepitaxial growth and doping problem have been two obstacles that had to be overcome for the realization of blue LEDs and lasers made of GaN. Gallium nitride substrates are typically grown on sapphire Al2O3, 6H—SiC and ZnO utilizing metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) or hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE). Most as grown GaN (and InN) films exhibited high n-type conductivity due to native defects with no p-type conductivity. P-type GaN can be obtained by doping GaN with Mg, thereby creating GaN p-n homojunctions that can be used to provide blue light emitting diodes (LEDs), which are now being made commercially. However, GaN has only been doped successfully to produce such p-n homojunctions in films with a small amount of Al (x˜0.1 for p-type and x<0.4 for n-type).
Aluminum nitride (AlN) has a very wide band-gap, a high thermal conductivity, high electrical resistivity, high acoustic velocity, high thermal stability, and high chemical resistance and radiation stability. These properties make AlN suitable for ultraviolet (UV) optical devices, surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices, electrical insulators or passive layers in microelectronics. Such devices can operate in a harsh environment with high temperatures and/or radiation. However, as grown, AlN films do not show any n-type or p-type characteristics and because of the very wide band gap of AlN, such AlN devices are very difficult to dope with impurities to make n-type and/or p-type semiconductors.

Systems and methods for co-doping wide band gap materials

The Curators of the University of Missouri


Systems and methods are disclosed for processing data in a web service environment. In one implementation, the data processing system includes a Web service for receiving a request via a network. The request includes a first set of data. The system further includes a storage device, coupled to the Web service, for storing a second set of data. The Web service is configured to perform certain functions in response to the request, including accessing the second set of data, performing a data consistency check of the first and second sets of data, generating a response indicating a result of the data consistency check, and sending the response to the requestor via the network.

Web services offer the dual promise of simplicity and pervasiveness. Web services represent the next level of function and efficiency in e-business. A Web service can be viewed as any mechanism by which an application or data processing service can be provided to other applications on the Internet.
Web services may be informational or transactional. That is, some services provide information of interest to the requester while other services may actually lead to the invocation of business procedures. Examples of Web services include stock quote services, services to retrieve news from Web news sources, currency conversion services, etc. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,604,135, issued to Rogers et al. on Aug. 5, 2003, discloses a method and system for location based Web services.
Various approaches for implementing Web services are known, such as described in U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 2003/0093436A1, 2003/0055868A1, 2003/0055624A1, 2003/0018661A1, 2003/0110242A1, 2003/0163513A1, 2004/0064503A1, 2004/0045005A1, 2004/0003130A1, and 2003/0187841A1.
Some types of Web services are responsive to simple object access protocol (SOAP) messages. SOAP is an application invocation protocol that defines a protocol for exchanging information encoded as XML messages. Normally, these services are described by WSDL (Web Service Description Language) notation stored in WSDL documents. A WSDL document can be stored in numerous ways such as in a file, in a DB2 XML registry/repository, or in a DB2 based UDDI registry, for example. UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery, Integration) is a protocol for describing Web services such that interested parties may easily discover them. Service providers may register their services in a UDDI, specifying technical information about how to invoke the service. Often, a WSDL document is stored in a UDDI registry in order to define the messages a particular Web services accepts and generates.
The design of UDDI allows enterprises that own Web service enabled applications to publish data about themselves and their services. By providing this information, UDDI implements a simplified form of searching for those interested in locating a particular service in which to fulfill an application process. The conventional UDDI search is focused on single search criteria such as business name, business location, business categories, business identifier, service type by name, and discovery URL (Uniform Resource Locator).

Systems and methods for processing data in a web services environment


Disclosed is an improved hypocycloidal crank apparatus employing as a stator an internally toothed, continuous, synchronous belt. The apparatus is quiet, easily repaired, and does not require lubrication. It is useful for driving air pumps and the like.

A hypocycloidal cranking apparatus converts rotational motion into rectilinear motion. This apparatus can also operate in the reverse, transforming rectilinear motion into rotational motion to drive devices such as reciprocating piston engines.
In a typical hypocycloidal cranking apparatus, rotational motion is delivered to the device through an input shaft attached to a power source. A crank arm is affixed to the input shaft such that the crank arm rotates in unison with each rotation of the input shaft. A sprocket shaft is offset from the input shaft and is fixedly mounted within the crank arm. An external toothed orbiting member is rotatably mounted on the sprocket shaft, and the teeth of the orbiting member mesh with the teeth within an internal toothed stator member. An eccentric arm is fixedly mounted on the orbiting gear face such that the eccentric arm rotates in unison with each rotation of the crank arm, but in the opposite rotational direction. An output shaft or rod journal is offset from the eccentric arm.
As the input shaft rotates, the crank arm rotates and the sprocket shaft mounted orbiting member rotates within the internal toothed stator member, causing the loci of axis points on the output shaft to transcribe a straight line between the extreme positions of the output shaft. This rectilinear motion can be used to power a variety of devices, including but not limited to, air compressors.
In a typical hypocycloidal cranking apparatus the stator member is machined from a single piece of metal. (See e.g. Wiseman U.S. Pat. No. 6,510,831). Because a tight mesh is required between the teeth of the orbiting member and stator member, the teeth on these components are fabricated with high precision. Manufacture of this type of machined gear is costly, difficult, and time consuming. Improper engagement between the metal teeth of the orbiting member and the teeth of the stator member will result in high wear, vibration, noise and eventually fatigue failure of the gear teeth in one or both components. In addition, the metal on metal contact requires lubrication to reduce wear and damage to these components. In the event that the orbiting member or stator member is damaged, it must be replaced with a completely new component.
A recent published patent application (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/131,819) suggested the use of a chain or belt as a replacement for the conventional machined stator member. In this device, the chain or belt was sandwiched between a front and back ring and was not rigidly fixed on its outer circumference. The application suggested that the flexible chain or belt would prevent or reduce clogging of foreign material within the unit. While this is an appealing idea, a flexible stator member will not work in practice. The stator member must remain rigid in order to synchronize the motion of the orbiting member rotating within it. A hypocycloidal cranking apparatus operating within a flexible stator member would induce destructive oscillations in the device, potentially damaging the crank assembly.
The present invention provides an improved hypocycloidal cranking apparatus that avoids the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a stator member that is practical, inexpensive and easy to implement and maintain.


The present disclosure provides methods for diagnosing and treating anxiety disorders in female subjects. Diagnosis and treatment of such anxiety disorders are based, in part, on an analysis of pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) expression levels in tissue collected from female subjects.

The physiological and behavioral maladaptations to stress have long-term detrimental health consequences with an enormous burden to society. One behavioral manifestation of stress is anxiety-related disorders, which affect approximately 40 million American adults with an estimated annual cost greater than 47 billion dollars. In particular, severe stress and psychological trauma is a necessary component for the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an extreme maladaptative and debilitating psychiatric disorder affecting up to 40% of individuals over lifetime exposure to severe or traumatic stressors. Currently, there are no reliable biochemical or molecular diagnostic tools or targeted treatments for PTSD and other stress-related disorders. Further, current treatments are limited and have not yet been targeted based on the underlying pathophysiology.

Diagnostic and therapeutic methods and products related to anxiety disorders

The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College


A method of image processing within an image acquisition device. In one embodiment an image including one or more face regions is acquired and one or more iris regions are identified within the one or more face regions. The one or more iris regions are analyzed to identify any iris region containing an iris pattern that poses a risk of biometrically identifying a subject within the image. Responsive to identifying any such iris region, a respective substitute iris region, containing an iris pattern distinct from the identified iris pattern to avoid identifying the subject within the image, is determined and the identified iris region is replaced with the substitute iris region in the original image.

The iris surrounds the dark, inner pupil region of an eye and extends concentrically to the white sclera of the eye.
A. K. Jain, A. Ross, and S. Prabhakar, "An introduction to biometric recognition," IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. Video Technol., vol. 14, 2004 discloses that the iris of the eye is a near-ideal biometric.
For the purposes of recognition, typically an image of an iris region is acquired in a dedicated imaging system that uses infra-red (IR) illumination with the eye aligned with the acquisition camera to bring out the main features of the underlying iris pattern.
An iris pattern is a gray-scale/luminance pattern evident within an iris region that can be processed to yield an iris code. The iris pattern can be defined in terms of polar co-ordinates and these are typically converted into rectangular coordinates prior to analysis to extract the underlying iris code.
An iris code is a binary sequence obtained after analysis of the iris pattern. A typical iris code contains 2048 bits. Note that some bits are effectively redundant, or 'fragile', as they are nearly always set to a '1' or a '0' as disclosed in K. Hollingsworth, K. W. Bowyer, and P. J. Flynn, "All Iris Code Bits are Not Created Equal," 2007 First IEEE Int. Conf. Biometrics Theory, Appl. Syst., 2007. Some of these fragile bits can be predicted in advance and as they offer less differentiation, they are often ignored when determining a match.
Nonetheless, systems supporting the acquisition of iris data from mobile persons are known, for example, as disclosed in J. R. Matey, O. Naroditsky, K. Hanna, R. Kolczynski, D. J. Lolacono, S. Mangru, M. Tinker, T. M. Zappia, and W. Y. Zhao, "Iris on the Move: Acquisition of Images for Iris Recognition in Less Constrained Environments," Proc. IEEE, vol. 94, 2006. This employs specialized lighting and requires people to walk along a specified path where multiple successive iris images are acquired under controlled lighting conditions. The system is proposed for airports where iris information is being used increasingly to verify passenger identity.
Separately, each of: C. Boyce, A. Ross, M. Monaco, L. Hornak, and X. L. X. Li, "Multispectral Iris Analysis: A Preliminary Study," 2006 Conf. Comput. Vis. Pattern Recognit. Work., 2006; M. Vilaseca, R. Mercadal, J. Pujol, M. Arjona, M. de Lasarte, R. Huertas, M. Melgosa, and F. H. Imai, "Characterization of the human iris spectral reflectance with a multispectral imaging system.," Appl. Opt., vol. 47, pp. 5622-5630, 2008; and Y. Gong, D. Zhang, P. Shi, and J. Yan, "Optimal wavelength band clustering for multispectral iris recognition," Applied Optics, vol. 51. p. 4275, 2012 suggest that iris patterns from lighter color eyes can be adequately acquired, but that eyes of darker color are difficult to analyze using visible light,
H. Proença and L. A. Alexandre, "Iris segmentation methodology for non-cooperative recognition," IEE Proceedings—Vision, Image, and Signal Processing, vol. 153. p. 199, 2006; and A. E. Yahya and M. J. Nordin, "Non-cooperative iris recognition system: A review," Inf. Technol. (ITSim), 2010 Int. Symp., vol. 1, 2010 disclose non-cooperative iris acquisition, typically obtained at a distance of 3-10 meters using directed IR sources.
As imaging subsystems on smartphones continue to improve in quality of acquisition and as image analysis and post-processing technique also continue to improve, a point at which the quality of images from conventional digital cameras and smart-phones becomes of sufficient quality to analyze to a sufficient degree to determine some of the underlying features of an iris pattern will be reached.
For example U.S. Pat. No. 7,697,735 discloses identifying a person from face and iris data from a single 5 megapixel image. U.S. Pat. No. 7,697,735 provides recommended minimum sizes for face and eye features to enable a sufficiently accurate degree of recognition. However it does not specify any details of lighting or acquisition conditions and most iris acquisitions would not be of sufficient accuracy in an unconstrained use case. Nevertheless we note that the latest handheld devices can feature imaging subsystems with up to 40 megapixel resolutions and high power IR LEDs can be used to improve acquisition lighting conditions.
Other techniques such as high dynamic range (HDR) imaging combine more than one digital image to provide a combined image with improved image quality. This is a standard feature on most smartphone imaging systems and typically two images are acquired in sequence and combined, post-acquisition, to provide a sharper and higher quality final image. Techniques are well known in the literature to combine more than one image and as acquisition systems achieve higher frame rates (currently 60-120 frames per second for preview but likely to double with next-generation technology) it will be practical to capture as many as 8-10 images within the same time window used today to acquire two images. Taking advantage of sub-pixel registration or super-resolution techniques will therefore provide images with significantly higher local image contrast and sharpness than today's devices provide.
Thus, it is highly likely that images acquired with the next generation of imaging devices will be of sufficient quality to enable the determination of iris patterns from faces in standard images. This makes normal personal portraits and small-group photos a potential source for personal iris patterns with a high risk of such biometric information being used for a range of criminal activities ranging from identity theft, forging of personal identity documents up to gaining access to facilities protected by biometric security measures.
US 2009/0141946, Kondo discloses detecting an iris region of an eye from an original image and performing image conversion on the detected iris region so that feature data unique to the person cannot be extracted. For example, the iris region is divided into a plurality of portions and respective images of divided portions are re-arranged in a predetermined order or at random.
US 2010/0046805, Connell discloses generating a cancelable biometric including shifting at least one pixel region in a biometric image comprised of pixel regions. The pixel region is combined with at least one other pixel region to form a replacement region for the at least one pixel region to form a transformed image. The biometric image is reused to generate another transformed image if the transformed image is to be canceled.

Method of avoiding biometrically identifying a subject within an image


An optical deflector comprises a photonic crystal section, a light lead-in means for leading in light having a specific wavelength to the photonic crystal section and an external force application means for deforming the photonic crystal section by way of mechanical external force and changing the angle of refraction of the light led in by the light lead-in means in the photonic crystal section. Such an optical deflector has a compact configuration and operates at high speed.

"Photonic crystal" is an artificial novel crystal that has been proposed in recent years and is attracting attention ever since (E. Yablonovitch, Phys. Rev. Lett., 58 (1987) 2059-2062). It can be obtained by cyclically arranging substances having different refractive indexes at intervals substantially equal to the wavelength of light. Research and development efforts are being paid to produce optical elements out of such a crystal substance because it has peculiar optical characteristics including those of showing a forbidden band of light and having an apparently abnormal refractive index that are attributable to its so-called photonic band structure resembling to the band structure of a semiconductor and can be designed artificially in terms of structure and scale.
Of these optical characteristics a phenomenon referred to as super-prism effect may be worthy of paying attention. It is a phenomenon attributable to the apparently abnormal refractive index it has as pointed out above. More specifically, photonic crystal shows an angle of refraction several to several hundreds times greater than that of an ordinary prism made of optical glass.
As an application of the above-described phenomenon, a method of controlling the angle of deflection by changing the wavelength of the laser beam striking a photonic crystal has been proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-13439, U.S. Pat. No. 6,448,997). There has also been proposed a method of controlling the angle of deflection by shifting the angle of a photonic crystal by means of an actuator (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-42248, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/027696).
However, a variable wavelength laser needs to be used as light source in order to change the wavelength of a laser beam but such a laser is generally expensive. Additionally, the use of such a laser is in principle not suitable for applications that require a constant wavelength. Furthermore, in order to shift the angle of a photonic crystal, it is necessary to use a large mechanism for shifting the entire crystal and such a mechanism is accompanied by a problem that the operation frequency lowers in use.
In view of the above-identified circumstances, it is therefore the object of the present invention to provide an optical deflector, an optical switch and an optical scanner having a compact configuration and adapted to operate at high speed as well as an optical deflection method.

Optical deflector based on photonic bandgap structure


A system and method of reducing noise caused by jet engines is provided. The method comprises the steps of using the afterburner to heat the exhaust gas flow while simultaneously reducing power to the core engine. Together these two operations reduce the pressure of the exhaust gas in the nozzle area while holding the exhaust gas velocity constant, which maintains engine thrust while decreasing engine noise. The method may be supplemented by altering the location of the afterburner flames to create an inverted exhaust velocity profile, thereby decreasing engine noise even further.

Afterburners are systems that provide a temporary increase in jet engine thrust. They work by injecting into the engine nozzle region downstream of the combustion chamber additional fuel, which ignites due to the presence of unused oxygen in the exhaust stream. The ignited fuel produces a blowtorch effect, increasing the temperature and velocity of the exhaust gas shooting through the nozzle, which increases thrust.
Because of the inefficiencies inherent in most afterburner systems, primarily in the form of extra fuel consumption, afterburners typically are used in limited conditions, such as during take offs, when entering supersonic speeds, and during military combat maneuvers where a burst of speed is beneficial. (Afterburners can provide a short increase in thrust in military aircraft of between 40 and 70 percent.)
The jet engine nozzles used with afterburner systems must be able to open wider to accommodate the reduced density of exhaust gas. These special configuration nozzles, aka variable area nozzles, can be found in both military (fighter) jets and commercial (supersonic and business) jets equipped with afterburners.
Exhaust gas exiting the afterburners of high velocity jet engines can create undesirably high levels of noise, particularly mixing noise and shock noise. Mixing noise is a result of the mixing of the jet exhaust gas with the surrounding ambient air (and caused by the difference in shear), and generally increases as nozzle exhaust gas velocity increases. Shock noise is caused by shock waves generated in the engine exhaust plume of jets operating at supersonic speeds.
Thus there is a need for a system and method to reduce the high noise levels caused by jet engines equipped with afterburners.

Method of using an afterburner to reduce high velocity jet engine noise


A switch assembly for an automotive power window having a housing and an actuator with two spaced-apart ends pivotally mounted to the housing about a transverse axis extending across a central portion of the actuator. The actuator includes a first actuator surface extending between the axis on one end of the actuator and a second actuator surface extending between the axis and the other end of the actuator. The actuator is pivotal in a first direction from a rest position by depression of the first actuator surface and is pivotal in the opposite direction from the rest position and to a second position upon depression of the second actuator surface. The second actuator surface is recessed within the housing in an amount sufficient to prevent actuation of the actuator to its second position by a sphere having a radius greater than or equal to 19 millimeters which approximates the size of a child's knee.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electrical switches and, more particularly, to an electrical rocker switch of the type utilized to control the actuation of automotive power windows.
II. Description of Related Art
There are several different types of switches utilized to control the actuation of power windows in an automotive vehicle. One type of such switch is known as a rocker switch.
The previously known rocker switches typically comprise a housing having an actuator pivotally mounted about a midpoint to the housing thus defining a first actuator surface from the pivot axis to one end of the actuator and a second actuator surface from the pivot axis to the other end of the actuator. A spring maintains the actuator at a rest position relative to the housing. In order to actuate the power window in a down direction, the first actuator surface is depressed which pivots the actuator in a first direction thus completing the electrical contact necessary to actuate the window in a down direction. Conversely, depression of the second actuator surface pivots the actuator from the rest position in the opposite direction and to a second position thus completing the electrical contacts necessary to actuate the window in an up direction.
One disadvantage of these previously known rocker switches for power automotive windows is that the switch may be unintentionally actuated in the up direction, e.g. by the knee of a child. This, in turn, can result in injury if the child's head or arm is protruding out from the window.

Switch assembly for an automotive power window

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


Systems, methods, apparatus, computer program code and means for conducting repurchase transactions include identifying at least a first bank loan held by a first party. The at least first bank loan is transferred to a second party in exchange for a first sum, and the parties agree, at substantially the same time as the parties agree to the transfer, that the first party repurchases the first bank loan at a later date for a second sum. In some embodiments, reverse repurchases may also be performed.

Repurchase agreements are widely-used in some fixed income investment sectors. For example, repurchase agreements are common in the U.S. Treasury and mortgage-backed securities (MBS) markets. A repurchase agreement is a contract between parties to transfer an interest in securities (a "sale") along with a simultaneous agreement to repurchase the interest in the same (or similar) securities at a future date. The consideration paid for such an agreement typically reflects short term money market rates. The price difference between the sale and the repurchase is referred to as the "repurchase amount". In a typical two-party repurchase transaction, the securities which are involved in the repurchase are typically fixed income securities such as U.S. government securities (such as U.S. Treasury bills) or other bonds. Details of repurchase agreements which involve the repurchase of these types of securities are provided in "Securities Lending and Repurchase Agreements", 1997, Fabozzi Ed., Frank J. Fabozzi Associates, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
These repurchase agreements provide an efficient form of financing for investors interested in improving returns on capital and returns on equity. Unfortunately, repurchase agreements have generally been limited to use with certain types of securities which are liquid and have a relatively low risk. U.S. Treasury bills are a preferred form of collateral in these transactions. Further, U.S. bankruptcy laws provide additional protection to parties to repurchase transactions which involve securities.
Bank loans are a type of investment which has been increasing in popularity. The secondary market for floating-rate corporate bank loans has steadily grown over the past decade. For example, Standard & Poor's Portfolio Management Data (PMD) products track the new issue volume for leveraged loans. New issue volumes reached over $250 billion in 1998. The Loan Pricing Corporation (a Reuters company) estimated in 2001 that the total active syndicated volume (including both investment and non-investment grade loans) is around $2.8 trillion.
Investments in bank loans can have return profiles that are very skewed to the downside with not much upside beyond the base case. For example, for a single B-rated loan at par that pays Libor+3.00%, the best case scenario is that there is no default or credit deterioration. In the best case, the total return will be Libor+3.00%. There are, unfortunately, a number of potentially-worse scenarios. For example, a spread may widen in which the mark-to-market pricing of the loan is depressed and the loan holder may be forced to sell. Or, the loan may enter into default in which case there may be a partial (or even a full) loss of capital. In general, bank loans have a capped upside because they are usually callable or prepayable.
It would be desirable to provide transactions which allow bank loans to be readily transferred to increase their liquidity. It would further be desirable to provide techniques which allow bank loan investors to reduce the risk associated with their investments in bank loans. It would further be desirable to address deficiencies in prior art bank loan transactions.

Method and apparatus for conducting loan repurchase transactions


A method for fabricating a semiconductor device includes etching a substrate to form a body separated by a trench, forming liner layers that cover sidewalls of the body, forming a sacrificial layer that fills the trench and exposes an upper sidewall of each liner layer, forming a hard mask pattern that covers a first one of the liner layers having the exposed upper sidewalls, forming a barrier layer to be selectively grown over the exposed upper sidewalls of a second one of the liner layers, removing the hard mask pattern, removing a part of the sacrificial layer to expose a lower sidewall of a first one of the liner layers, and removing the lower sidewall of the first one of the liner layers to form a side contact.

1. Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a method for fabricating a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a method for forming a side contact in a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a buried bitline (BBL) is used in a semiconductor device having a cell of a vertical transistor, two cells may be adjacent to one buried bitline. In order to drive one cell by one buried bitline, a one-side-contact (OSC) process for insulating one active region while forming a contact in another active region may be performed. Hereinafter, the 'OSC process' will be briefly referred to as a side contact process. In a cell of a vertical transistor using the side contact process, an active region includes a body separated/isolated by a trench and a pillar formed on the body. The buried bitline fills the trench between bodies and a word line (or a vertical gate) extends in the direction crossing the buried bitline and being adjacent to the sidewall of the pillar. A vertical direction channel is formed by the word line.
A part of one sidewall of the body (an active region) is exposed through the side contact process to form a connection between the active region and the buried bitline. Furthermore, a dopant is implanted or diffused into the exposed part of the sidewall of the body to form a junction for the active region and the buried bitline, and the buried bitline and the body are electrically connected to each other through the junction.
However, since the active region has a high aspect ratio, the degree of process difficulty for forming a side contact is high and it is difficult to ensure the side contact of uniform position and height.

Method for fabricating side contact in semiconductor device


An LED lighting module includes a substrate and an LED chip mounted on the substrate. The substrate includes a base made of metal and an insulating layer. The base includes a principal surface and a raised portion above the principal surface. The insulating layer covers the principal surface of the base and exposes at least a part of the raised portion. The LED chip is supported on the raised portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an LED lighting module and a method of making an LED lighting module.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 24 shows an example of conventional LED lighting module. The LED lighting module 900 shown in the figure includes a substrate 91, an LED chip 95, a sub-mount substrate 96, a case 97 and a sealing resin 99. The LED lighting module 900 may be used in various applications, such as a point light source of an electronic device when structured as a relatively small module, an elongated bar-like light source when provided with a plurality of LED chips 95 arranged on an elongated substrate 91, and a surface light source when provided with a plurality of LED chips 95 arranged in a matrix on a substrate 91.
The substrate 91 is made up of a base 92, an insulating layer 93 and a wiring layer 94. The base 92 is a metal plate made of e.g. aluminum. The insulating layer 93 is made of e.g. an insulating resin and covers the upper surface of the base 92 in the figure. The wiring layer 94 is provided on the insulating layer 93 and constitutes an electrical connection path to the LED chip 95. The LED chip 95 is made up of a plurality of semiconductor layers formed one on top of another, and mounted on the sub-mount substrate 96. The LED chip 95 and the wiring layer 94 are connected to each other via a wire. The sub-mount substrate 96 is made of e.g. Si and bonded to the insulating layer 93. The case 97 surrounds the LED chip 95 and has a reflective surface 98. The sealing resin 99 covers the LED chip 95.
To enhance the brightness of the LED lighting module 900, effective heat dissipation from the LED chip 95 to the base 92 needs to be realized. However, the insulating layer 93 is disposed between the LED chip 95 and the base 92. The insulating layer 93, which needs to have insulating properties, generally has a lower thermal conductivity than e.g. metal. Thus, heat dissipation from the LED chip 95 has been insufficient.

LED lighting module and method of making the same


A backlight unit includes a substrate, a plurality of light sources arranged on the substrate in a spaced-apart relationship with one another for irradiating lights, a total reflection layer for upwardly reflecting the lights irradiated from the light sources, and an optical layer disposed above the light sources and having an oxide compound layer laminated thereon. The optical layer is adapted to allow a part of the lights to pass through the optical layer but reflect the remaining part of the lights downwardly toward the substrate, to thereby induce the lights from the light sources to optically resonate. The optical resonance caused by the oxide compound-laminated optical layer helps to reduce the half amplitude of a color-based spectrum histogram in a light-emitting spectrum, thereby enhancing the color purity.

A cathode ray tube ("CRT"), one of typical display devices, has been extensively used in television sets or computer monitors, but fails to catch up with the recent trend of miniaturization and lightweight of electronic equipments.
Thus, a variety of technologies have been developed in an effort to replace the cathode ray tube with new display devices, examples of which include a liquid crystal display ("LCD") using an electric field optical effect, a plasma display panel ("PDP") using a plasma discharge and an electroluminescence display ("ELD") using an electric field light-emitting effect.
Among these devices, the liquid crystal display, which features thin lightweight configuration and low electricity operability, is showing rapid expansion in its range of applications with the improvement of liquid crystal materials and the development of fine pixel processing techniques, and is widely used in household television sets, desktop computer monitors, notebook computer monitors, large-sized flat panel television sets and so forth.
Most of the liquid crystal displays require the use of a separate backlight unit that serves as a light-flatting element for regulating the quantity of an incoming light to display images.
As shown in FIG. 1, a liquid crystal display module 1 for use in typical liquid crystal displays is comprised of a liquid crystal display panel 2 filled with liquid crystal, polarizing plates 4a and 4b for polarizing a light directed to the upper and lower surfaces of the liquid crystal display panel 2, a backlight unit 6 for supplying an uniform light to the liquid crystal display panel 2, a main support 8a for maintaining an external configuration of the liquid crystal display module 1, and a top case 8b.
Unlike the cathode ray tube or the plasma display panel, the liquid crystal display panel 2 does not emit any light by itself but merely changes orientation or arrangement of the liquid crystal. This makes it necessary to provide, at the rear of the liquid crystal display panel 2, the backlight unit 6 for evenly surface-irradiating the light on an information display surface.
In this regard, the backlight unit 6 is classified into an edge type and a direct type depending on the position of a light source. As illustrated in FIG. 2A, the edge type backlight unit includes a light source 12 disposed at one edge of a light guide plate 14 for surface-irradiating a light. In contrast, the direct type backlight unit is subdivided into a dot type wherein a plurality of dot-like light sources 16a are mounted on a substrate 30 as shown in FIG. 2B and a line type wherein a plurality of linear light sources 16b are mounted on a substrate 30 as shown in FIG. 2C. In such direct type backlight units, the light sources are substantially evenly distributed on the entire surface of the substrate.
Examples of the light source conventionally used include an electroluminescence ("EL") element, a cold cathode fluorescent lamp ("CCFL") and a hot cathode fluorescent lamp ("HCFL"). In recent years, extensive use is made of a light emitting diode ("LED") that has a broad area of color reproduction and is environmentally friendly.
Research has been made to develop methods of using the light emitting diode as a light source in the backlight unit. Subjects of the research include a method of taking advantage of a blue color light emitting diode and an yttrium aluminum garnet ("YAG") fluorescent body, a method of using an ultraviolet emitting diode in combination with fluorescent bodies of red, green and blue colors, and a method of employing red, green and blue light emitting diodes to admix the lights generated from them.
The method of taking advantage of a blue color light emitting diode and an yttrium aluminum garnet ("YAG") fluorescent body is disadvantageous in that the light source thus produced has a reduced ability to express the red color and a low light emitting efficiency. Likewise, the method of using an ultraviolet emitting diode in combination with fluorescent bodies of red, green and blue colors poses a drawback in that it is difficult to develop the fluorescent bodies, with the resultant light source exhibiting a deteriorated thermal characteristic.
The method of employing red, green and blue light emitting diodes is effective in designing the light source to have a broadened range of color reproduction, thank to the increased intensity of red, green and blue lights emitted from the respective light emitting diodes. However, the method has a problem in that it is difficult to compose a combination of diodes for a white surface light source.
In the meantime, along with the recent trend of pursuing a large-sized and high image quality display device, a demand has existed for a backlight capable of outputting a high flux light. In order to comply with such a demand, there have been developed lenses for collecting lights emitted from light emitting diodes, semiconductor chips and diode materials.
A typical light emitting diode, one of solid semiconductor devices that convert electric energy to light energy, includes doping layers and an active layer. If a biasing voltage is applied to two oppositely positioned doping layers, electron holes and electrons are injected into the active layer and recombined to generate a light. The light generated in the active layer is emitted in all directions and escaped from the light emitting diode through every surface exposed to the outside. The light escaped from the light emitting diode is oriented to a desired direction by means of a backlight unit that incorporates the light emitting diode.
However, the light emitting diodes developed thus far cannot provide a sufficiently great light emitting efficiency, due to the light loss when penetrating a current diffusion layer and the light loss caused by a total reflection at a boundary surface.
Accordingly, in a backlight unit requiring an output of a high flux light, it is inevitable either to apply an increased current to a light emitting diode or to increase the number of light emitting diodes used.
In the case that an increased current is applied to a light emitting diode, a great deal of heat is generated from the light emitting diode, thus reducing the light emitting efficiency and making it necessary to add a heat radiation design to a substrate on which the light emitting diode is mounted. In the event that the number of light emitting diodes is increased, it becomes difficult to design the backlight unit, in addition to the increase of production cost of the backlight unit.
Although nitride semiconductor-based light emitting diodes and InGaAlP-based light emitting diodes have been developed for the purpose of enhancing the light emitting efficiency, they tend to emit a light whose flux is lower than that of a cold cathode fluorescent lamp and therefore are not suitable for use in a backlight unit.

Backlight unit with an oxide compound-laminated optical layer

Samsung Corning Precision Glass Co., Ltd.


In at least one embodiment, a hemostatic valve for use with a splittable introducer (10) is provided. The hemostatic valve (22) comprises a seal (24) molded in a first configuration of polymeric material and having two adjacent end surfaces (34,35). The seal is deformable from the first configuration into a second configuration. In the first configuration, the seal is substantially non-planer with the two adjacent end surfaces exposed. In the second configuration, the two adjacent end surfaces are unexposed so as to form a split extending through the seal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to medical devices and more specifically, to a splittable introducer having a hemostatic valve system for use in inserting a medical device into a body vessel.
2. Background
Numerous procedures have been developed in modern medicine requiring the percutaneous insertion of one or more medical devices into the vascular system of a patient. Such procedures include, for example, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), X-ray angiographic procedures, and the alike.
The medical devices intended for use in such procedures may be introduced into the vascular system by a variety of known techniques. One widely-used technique is the Seldinger technique. In the Seldinger technique, a surgical opening is made in an artery or vein by a needle, and a guide wire is inserted into the artery or vein through a bore in the needle. The needle is thereafter withdrawn, leaving the guide wire in place. A dilator which is positioned within the lumen of the introducer device is then advanced over the guide wire into the artery or vein. Once the introducer is properly positioned within the artery or vein, the dilator is withdrawn. The introducer may then be used to insert therethrough a variety of medical interventional devices, such as for example, catheters, cardiac leads, and the alike.
One type of introducer is a splittable introducer (also referred to as a peelable introducer, peelable sheath or peel-away sheath). A splittable introducer is used to introduce a medical device, such as a catheter, into a patient and can be subsequently peeled off or away from the medical device to free the medical device from the introducer. One problem with a splittable introducer, however, is that once its sheath is inserted, and the dilator and guide wire have been removed, the sheath provides a passage for the flow of blood. Uncontrolled blood loss through the sheath can have a negative effect on the patient. Another problem with a splittable introducer is that its sheath allows for the introduction of air into the body vessel of the patient. If air is inadvertently introduced into the patient's vein, an air embolism may result with negative effects.
Accordingly, further improvements and enhancements are needed for a splittable introducer, which provides an efficient seal and avoids at least some of the problems encountered with current splittable introducers.

Hemostatic valve and splittable introducer


A micro-gas chromatograph column is formed by texturing a channel into a plurality of green-sheet layers, which are then sintered together to form a substantially monolithic structure. A thick-film paste may be added to the channel textured in the green-sheet layers to provide a porous plug sintered in the micro-gas chromatograph column in the substantially monolithic. A thermal conductivity detector is formed in the substantially monolithic structure by depositing a conductive thick-film paste on the surface of one of the green-sheet layers to define a resistor in an exit channel of the micro-gas chromatograph column.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of gas chromatography. More particularly, this invention relates to a micro-gas chromatograph device that is formed from multiple layers of green-sheet and also relates to methods for making such devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Gas chromatography is a well-established analytical technique that is commonly used for the separation and detection of the various chemical components present in gases and low boiling point liquids. The technique is widely used in organic chemistry research, pharmaceutical development, and forensic specimen analysis. A gas chromatography system typically has five major components: (1) a carrier gas; (2) a sample injector; (3) a gas chromatography column; (4) a detector; and (5) a data processing system. The carrier gas, also referred to as the mobile phase, is a high-purity and relatively inert gas, such as helium. The carrier gas flows through the column throughout the separation process. The sample injector introduces a precise and, typically, very small volume of the sample, in gaseous form, into the flow of carrier gas into the column. The gaseous sample typically includes a number of different chemical components that are intended to be separated by the gas chromatograph. To effect this separation, the inside of the column is coated with a stationary phase that adsorbs the different chemical components in the sample to differing degrees. These differences in adsorption cause differing propagation delays for the chemical components as they travel down the column, thereby effecting a physical separation of the sample into its chemical components. The detector is located after the column and serves to detect the various chemical components in the sample as they emerge from the column at different times. The data processing system reads the detector and is typically able to store, process, and record the results.
Conventional gas chromatography systems are bench top instruments that are designed for use in a laboratory setting. However, in many instances, it is desirable to have a portable gas chromatograph that can be used outside of the laboratory, such as where the samples are collected. Portable gas chromatographs have potential application for leak detection, environmental screening, monitoring the volatile organic chemical content of waste water, and in the detection and analysis of vent gases, land fill gases, and natural gas.
One of the most significant barriers to making a portable gas chromatograph device is that the separation efficiency of the device is directly proportional to the length of the column. Currently, a few portable gas chromatography systems are available, but they are only suited for the detection of certain specific substances. In recent years, efforts have been made to fabricate the column and detector using newly developed micromachining techniques in order to provide miniaturized gas chromatography systems that are portable and that can analyze multiple substances.
Such micro-gas chromatograph devices are most commonly fabricated from silicon substrates. However, such substrates have a number of disadvantages. For example, a micro-gas chromatograph column has been fabricated by etching an interlocking spiral channel about 10 microns deep and 300 microns wide in a silicon wafer. See Reston, et al., xe2x80x9cSilicon-Micromachined Gas Chromatography System Used to Separate and Detect Ammonia and Nitrogen Dioxide,xe2x80x9d J. Microelectromechanical Systems, 3:134-146 (1994). The top surface of the column was defined by a borosilicate glass plate anodically bonded to the silicon wafer. Because the bond frequently failed along the edges, presumably because of the mismatch in thermal expansion coefficients of the two materials, the column was restricted to an area in the center of the wafer about 3.8 cm in diameter. Accordingly, the anodic bonding process used with silicon substrates serves to limit the length and, thus, the separation efficiency of the column. Another limitation on the length of the column in the Reston device is that it lies all in one plane, namely, the interface of the silicon and glass layers. Still another disadvantage with this approach is that, because the column is defined by dissimilar materials, thermal gradients can develop that further decrease the column""s separation efficiency.
Goedert, U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,040 discloses a micro-gas chromatograph device that is made up of multiple layers. Several planar column sections are defined by the interfaces between pairs of layers, and the planar column sections are connected in series to increase the available column length. The layers alternate between silicon and glass wafers that are joined together by anodic bonding. Alternatively, the layers may be silicon, with bonding effected by a thin layer of silica between. By using multiple layers, the Goedert device is able to provide a longer column. However, anodically bonding multiple layers is difficult to achieve reliably.
In a first principal aspect, the present invention provides a multilayered micro-gas chromatograph device for analyzing an analyte gas that includes a plurality of chemical components. The multilayered micro-gas chromatograph device comprises a substantially monolithic structure having a micro-gas chromatograph column defined therein. The substantially monolithic structure is formed from a plurality of green-sheet layers sintered together, wherein the green-sheet layers include particles selected from the group consisting of ceramic particles, glass particles, and glass-ceramic particles. The micro-gas chromatograph column has an inlet port for receiving the analyte gas and an outlet port for releasing the analyte gas. A stationary phase for differentially adsorbing chemical components in the analyte gas is disposed in a portion of the micro-gas chromatograph column.
In a second principal aspect, the present invention provides a micro-gas chromatography system comprising a supply of a carrier gas, a sample injection valve, a micro-gas chromatograph column, and a detector. The sample injection valve is connected to the supply and injects a sample gas into the carrier gas to provide an analyte gas. The micro-gas chromatograph column separates the analyte gas into a plurality of chemical components. It has an inlet port and an outlet port, with the inlet port connected to the sample injection valve to receive the analyte gas. The micro-gas chromatography column is defined in a substantially monolithic structure that is formed from a plurality of green-sheet layers sintered together. The green-sheet layers include particles selected from the group consisting of ceramic particles, glass particles, and glass-ceramic particles. The detector is connected to the outlet port and detects the plurality of chemical components separated by the micro-gas chromatograph column.
In a third principal aspect, the present invention provides a method for making a multilayered micro-gas chromatograph device. A plurality of green-sheet layers are textured in a predetermined pattern to define a micro-gas chromatograph column. The green-sheet layers include particles selected from the group consisting of ceramic particles, glass particles, and glass-ceramic particles. A thick-film paste is applied to at least a portion of the predetermined pattern in the green-sheet layers. The green-sheet layers are sintered together at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined amount of time to form a substantially monolithic structure having a micro-gas chromatograph column defined therein, with a porous plug, formed from the thick-film paste, disposed in the micro-gas chromatograph column.

Multilayered ceramic micro-gas chromatograph and method for making the same


The invention provides rolls, belts and other biasable members having at least one layer or coating of an elastomeric resilient crosslinked polyurethane formed by reacting (a) a polyisocyanate prepolymer comprising the reaction product of an aliphatic polyisocyanate and a polyether polyol, specifically a polyalkylene glycol in which the alkylene group contains 2 to 3 carbon atoms, and (b) a hardening mixture comprising a polyether polyol of (a) and, as a conductivity control agent, from 0.01 to 3.0 weight percent based on the total weight of (b) of a complex of an oligoethylene glycol selected from the group consisting of di-, tri- and tetraethylene glycol with an ionizable alkali metal salt selected from the group consisting of sodium iodide, lithium iodide and sodium thiocyanate.. The resistivity of the elastomeric resilient polyurethane coating on the biasable member is controlled or adjusted to within a desired level of resistivity due to the inclusion of the conductivity control agent in the crosslinked polyurethane elastomer. Additionally, the inclusion of the conductivity control agent in the crosslinked polyurethane elastomer reduces the sensitivity of the resistivity of the polyurethane coating on the biasable member to changes in relative humidity. Further, since the conductivity control agent is copolymerized with the polyisocyanate prepolymers and polyols used to make the elastomeric polyurethane coatings of the biasable members of the invention, the conductivity control agent is bonded covalently to the backbone and/or the crosslinking portion of the polyurethane elastomer where it forms a permanently fixed part of the crosslinked polymer and will not migrate therefrom resulting in a continuous change in the resistivity of the polyurethane coating over time and possible adverse affects on materials that may come into contact with the migrating agent. The utility of such biasable members is in the transfer of toner images from a photoconductor to a final support sheet where the member, for example, a bias transfer roll, electrically cooperates with a photoconductor to establish a directional force field therebetween.

In electrostatography an image comprising an electrostatic field pattern, usually of non-uniform strength, (also referred to as an electrostatic latent image) is formed on an insulative surface of an electrostatographic element by any of various methods. For example, the electrostatic latent image may be formed electrophotographically (i.e., by imagewise photo-induced dissipation of the strength of portions of an electrostatic field of uniform strength previously formed on a surface of an electrophotographic element comprising a photoconductive layer and an electrically conductive substrate), or it may be formed by dielectric recording (i.e., by direct electrical formation of an electrostatic field pattern on a surface of dielectric material). Typically, the electrostatic latent image is then developed into a toner image by contacting the latent image with charged toner particles. If desired, the toner image can then be transferred to a final support material or receiver such as a web or sheet of paper and affixed thereto to form a permanent record of the original.
Historically, the transfer of toner images between supporting surfaces has been accomplished with the electrostatic transfer of either a corotron or a roller or belt electrode biased to a certain potential, such electrode being referred to as a bias transfer member (roll or belt). In corona-induced transfer as, for example, disclosed by Vandenberg in U.S. Pat. No. 2,836,725, the final support sheet is placed in direct contact with the toner image while the image is supported on the photoconductive surface. The back of the sheet, that is, the side away from the image, is sprayed with a corona discharge having a polarity opposite to that carried by the toner particle causing the toner to be electrostatically transferred to the sheet. The corotron system is relatively simple. The charges deposited electrostatically tack the final support material, such as paper, to the original toner support, such as, the photoconductor, in addition to creating the desired electric field affecting transfer of the toner to the paper. However, the strong attraction between the paper and the original toner support makes it mechanically difficult to separate the two supports.
Transfer of developed images from the photoconductor to the final support material with the aid of a biased transfer member, such as a biased transfer roll, as a means of controlling the forces acting on the toner during transfer and of avoiding the severe tacking problems encountered with the use of the corona induction system have been tried with limited success. A bias transfer member is a member for electrically cooperating with a conductive support surface to attract electrically charged particles from the support surface towards the member. Bias transfer members are well known in the art. A bias transfer roll is disclosed by Fitch in U.S. Pat. No. 2,807,233 where a metal roll coated with a resilient coating having a resistivity of at least 10.sup.6 ohm cm is used as a bias transfer member. Because of the resistivity of the coating, the amount of bias that can be applied to the roll is limited to relatively low operating values because, at the higher ranges, the air in or about the transfer zone begins to break down, i.e., ionizes causing the image to be degraded during transfer. Shelffo, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,520,604, discloses a transfer roll made of a conductive rubber having a resistivity in the range of 10.sup.16 to 10.sup.11 ohm cm. Here, in order to give the roll the needed resiliency required in most practical applications, the coating must be relatively thick. A thick coating of high resistivity acts to build up a surface charge on the roll resulting in air break down in the transfer region and eventually copy degradation.
More recently, improved bias transfer members have been disclosed which reportedly have overcome many of the electrical and image degradation problems associated with some of the previous transfer techniques. Dolcimascolo et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,702,482, disclose a multiple layer transfer roll member for transferring xerographic images under controlled conditions. The member is capable of electrically cooperating with a conductive support surface to attract charged toner particles from the support surface towards the member or towards a transfer material such as paper positioned therebetween, the member having a conductive substrate for supporting a biased potential thereon, an intermediate blanket (primary layer) placed in contact with the substrate to the outer periphery of the blanket and a relatively thin outer coating (secondary layer) placed over the blanket layer having an electrical resistivity to minimize ionization of the atmosphere when the transfer member is placed in electrical cooperation with the image support surface and providing a good toner release property enabling the device to be cleaned of the toner. Meagher, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,781,105 discloses a similar transfer member employed in conjunction with a variable electrical bias means for regulating automatically the electrical field levels at various points on the transfer member during the transfer operation and providing constant current control.
In the preferred embodiment, the transfer member disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,702,482 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,781,105 consists of a roller having a central biasable conductive core further having an intermediate blanket or electrically "relaxable" layer (primary layer) surrounding and in electrical contact with the core, and further having a second blanket or electrically "self-leveling" outer layer (secondary layer) surrounding and in electrical contact with the primary layer. Under operating conditions, it is desirable for optimal image transfer to maintain a relatively constant current flow of less than about 30 micro amps in the nip area between the transfer roll surface, transfer material, and photoconductive surface from which a developed image is to be transferred. For this condition to exist at given potentials, the resistivity of the primary and secondary layers must be within critical values and preferably be relatively constant under normally anticipated extremes of operating conditions. Preferably, it has been found that the primary layer should be a resilient elastomeric material having a volume resistivity within the range of 10.sup.7 to less than 10.sup.11 ohm cm, and the secondary layer should also be a resilient material having a volume resistivity within the range of 10.sup.11 to 10.sup.15 ohm cm.
In practice, it has been found that elastomeric materials used in the transfer member such as polyurethanes which exhibit resistivities within the above ranges, or the resistivities of which can be adjusted or controlled to within the above ranges, are moisture sensitive such that the resistivity may vary by as much as a factor of 50 between 10% and 80% relative humidity as a function of the amount of moisture absorbed from or lost to the surrounding atmosphere. For example, in the case of the polyurethane materials which are employed as the primary layer and which have exceptional good electrical characteristics, the volume resistivity may change from 10.sup.11 ohm cm at low moisture contents, i.e., less than about 0.1% moisture, to 10.sup.9 ohm cm at higher moisture levels, i.e., about 2.5% moisture. Other polyurethanes suitable for use as the secondary layer exhibit resistivity variations from about 10.sup.15 to 10.sup.13 ohm cm as a function of increasing moisture content. The consequent variations in resistivity due to relative humidity effects will ordinarily give rise to erratic performance of the transfer member from day to day particularly in terms of transfer efficiency, i.e., the quality of the image transferred unless compensated for by a concomitant change in the voltages sufficient to maintain a constant nip current, as disclosed by Meagher, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,781,105.
Several attempts have been made in the past both to control the resistivity of such materials to within the critical ranges necessary for optimal image transfer and, at the same time, to reduce the moisture sensitivity of such materials to changes in relative humidity so that the resistivity of the materials remains relatively constant within the ranges required for optimal image transfer. For example, Seanor et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,959,574, disclose that the resistivity of the elastomeric materials which constitute the primary layers of the multiple layer transfer roll members of Dolcimascolo et al, can be controlled to within the preferred resistivity range of about 10.sup.7 to about 10.sup.11 ohm cm and can be rendered less sensitive to changes in relative humidity by the addition of certain ionic compounds or agents to the elastomeric materials. Particularly preferred additives disclosed by Seanor et al are quaternary ammonium compounds, including tetraheptyl ammonium bromide, trimethyloctadecylammonium chloride, and benzyltrimethylammonium chloride. The additive compounds or agents of Seanor et al are worked into the polyurethane by direct melting of the additive into the polyurethane or by incorporating a solution or dispersion of the additive into the polyurethane. As a result, the additive agents of Seanor et al are not anchored in the elastomeric composition and are leached out of the elastomer over time during normal operations resulting in a decline in the level of conductivity in the polyurethane elastomers.
Chen et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,925 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,941 disclose, as coating materials for biasable transfer members, polyurethane elastomers made from certain polyisocyanate prepolymers and polyols in which the resistivity can be maintained between 1.times.10.sup.9 and 1.times.10.sup.11 ohm cm by copolymerizing with the polyisocyanate prepolymers and polyol hardening compounds used to make the polyurethane elastomers certain polyol charge-control agents formed from certain metal salts complexed with particular polyether diols such as, for example, bis[oxydiethylenebis(polycaprolactone)yl]5-sulfo-1,3-benzenedicarboxylate, methyltriphenylphosphonium salt. Unlike the additive control agents of Seanor et al, the polyol charge-control agents of Chen et al are not prone to being leached out of the elastomer during normal usage since they constitute an integral part of the cured polyurethane elastomer into which they are incorporated by virtue of having been copolymerized with the polyisocyanate prepolymers and polyol components used to make the polyurethane during the preparation of the elastomer. The polyurethane elastomers of Chen et al, however, are moisture sensitive. Reference to curve 2 in FIG. 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,925, indicates, for example, that the volume resistivity of the conductive polyurethane elastomer of Example 15 prepared from a commercial polyurethane mix and the polyol control agent of Example 10 therein i.e., bis[oxydiethylenebis(polycaprolactone)yl]5-sulfo-1,3-benzenedicarboxylate, methyltriphenylphosphonium salt, decreased by a factor of about 6.5 when the relative humidity changed from 25% to about 85%.
From the foregoing, it can be seen that there still remains a need in the art for a biasable transfer member capable of electrically cooperating with a conductive support surface to attract charged toner particles towards the member or towards a transfer material such as a sheet of paper positioned between the member and the conductive support in which the resistivity not only can be controlled or adjusted to within a specific range necessary for optimal image transfer but also one in which the resistivity is substantially insensitive to widely varying changes in relative humidity encountered during normal operating conditions such that the resistivity remains relatively constant within the range required for optimal image transfer. The present invention provides such a biasable transfer member and methods for making same.

Moisture stable biasable transfer members and method for making same


A robot hand that changes a space between finger members provided apart from each other includes: moving members on which the finger members are vertically provided; a palm member including a moving mechanism for moving the moving members in a predetermined axial direction; and guide members that guide the movement of the moving members in the predetermined axial direction.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a robot hand that can grip an object.
2. Related Art
According to the progress of robot technologies in recent years, a large number of industrial robots are used in manufacturing sites of industrial products. Recently, practical use of robots in medical and nursing facilities is expected. Root hands for the robots to grip objects need to be capable of gripping objects having various sizes and shapes.
As a system adopted in a robot hand to grip an object, there are known a system for projecting plural finger members equivalent to human fingers from a palm member equivalent to a human palm and rotating the finger members with portions of the bases of the finger members as fulcrums to grip an object (e.g., JP-A-2010-201538) and a system for translating the bases of the finger members to reduce a space between the finger members to thereby grip an object (e.g., JP-A-05-220687).
In the system for rotating the finger members with the bases of the finger members as the fulcrums, according to the size of an object to be gripped, angles of the finger members in contact with the object change. Therefore, the shapes and gripping force of finger members need to be changed according to the object. Therefore, the structure and the control of the robot hand are complicated. In this regard, in the system for translating the bases of the finger members, since the angles of the finger members in contact with an object does not change according to the size of the object, it is possible to simplify the structure and the control of the robot hand.
However, in the robot hand adopting the system for translating the bases of the finger members, it is difficult to apply the robot hand to work for gripping a small object. Reasons for the difficulty are as explained below. First, the work for gripping a small object is usually performed in a narrow work space. For example, in work for picking up small components and assembling the components in predetermined positions, the components to be assembled are often arranged close to one another in a narrow space. Usually, a space for placing the robot hand to pick up the components is limited. Further, when the picked-up components are attached, since the components are small, the components often have to be assembled in a narrow space. In the robot hand adopting the system for translating the bases of the finger members, the palm member is large because the palm member has to support the moving bases of the finger members. As a result, the robot hand is increased in size. This makes it difficult to apply the robot hand to work in a narrow work space.


Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide methods and apparatus for using a shortened block acknowledgement (BlockAck) frame capable of acknowledging fragments. Such a shortened BlockAck frame may include a bitmap field having a shorter length than that of a basic BlockAck frame in the IEEE 802.11 standard (i.e., <128 octets). One example method for wireless communications generally includes receiving a plurality of protocol data units (PDUs) (e.g., media access control (MAC) protocol data units (MPDUs)); determining whether each of the PDUs was successfully received and whether each of the PDUs is associated with a non-fragmented service data unit (SDU) (e.g., MAC service data unit (MSDU)) or a fragmented SDU; and outputting for transmission a shortened BlockAck frame comprising a bitmap field indicating a receive status for the non-fragmented and fragmented SDUs based on the determination.

Field of the Disclosure
Certain aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communications and, more particularly, to using a shortened block acknowledgement (BlockAck) frame capable of acknowledging fragments.
Description of Related Art
Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These wireless networks may be multiple-access networks capable of supporting multiple users by sharing the available network resources. Examples of such multiple-access networks include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) networks, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) networks, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, and Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks.
In order to address the issue of increasing bandwidth requirements that are demanded for wireless communications systems, different schemes are being developed. Once such scheme allows multiple user terminals to communicate with a single access point by sharing the channel resources while achieving high data throughputs. Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technology represents one such approach that has emerged as a popular technique for communication systems. MIMO technology has been adopted in several wireless communications standards such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard. The IEEE 802.11 denotes a set of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) air interface standards developed by the IEEE 802.11 committee for short-range communications (e.g., tens of meters to a few hundred meters). Another scheme to achieve greater throughput is HEW (High Efficiency WiFi or High Efficiency WLAN) being developed by the IEEE 802.11ax task force. The goal of this scheme is to achieve a throughput 4× that of IEEE 802.11ac.

Shortened block acknowledgement with fragmentation acknowledgement signaling


A toilet training device includes a seat defining a cavity shaped to accommodate a child, with an aperture the seat, and a base on which the seat can be mounted. The base defines a pair of receptacles of unequal size. The seat has a peripheral rim for mounting the seat on the base or on the rim of a toilet, and a central seat member which extends below the rim. The aperture is formed near the base of the seat member and has a teardrop shape which accommodates both male and female children. The seat includes a backrest at a first end thereof, the backrest being shaped to support a child using the device. The backrest defines a predetermined angle relative to the vertical to hold the child's body in a correct position for use of the device. The seat can be used in conjunction with the base in first and second “potty” configurations, and can be located on the rim of a toilet bowl in a third configuration of the device.

This invention relates to a toilet training device.
Toilet training of small children is generally undertaken when they are between 18 and 24 months old, and it is not uncommon for a child still to be wearing diapers up to the age of three. The adverse environmental impact as a result of "nappy mountains" is well known. Using fewer nappies not only helps to save the environment but also reduces the cost of nappies to the parent or caregiver.
Conventionally, various toilet training aids are used. The most basic of these is a chamber pot or "potty" which the child is taught to use as a step towards the use of a conventional flushing toilet. The child relieves him/herself in the pot and the parent or other caregiver has to empty the contents of the pot into the toilet bowl. The transition from the potty to the adult toilet is a big step.
Other devices for assisting in toilet training are known. For example, a step-up stool is known which enables a child to reach a toilet seat. Although this aid helps the child to climb up to the toilet seat, the aid is mainly suited for use by older toddlers and creates a risk of falling.
Generally, existing toilet training devices are not suitable for very young children (especially children under the age of 18 months) and require substantial intervention and supervision by an adult for effective use.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an alternative toilet training device.


This detection terminal (2) includes a fixing portion (4) intended to be fixed in a structure, an electrically conductive protective portion (5) secured to the fixing portion (4) and arranged to protect the fixing portion (4), the protective portion (5) being arranged to be accessible from the outside of the structure so as to allow the injection of an electric signal, and connection means intended to connect propagation means capable of propagating an electric signal along the optically invisible network, the connection means being connected to the protective portion (5) so as to hold, when in use, an electrical continuity between the protective portion (5) and the propagation means.

For saving time and costs but also for safety reasons, it is important to be able to detect the presence of an optically invisible network, and to locate it with precision, without digging the ground or destroying structures, upon later works.
Several methods may be used for carrying out the detection of optically invisible networks.
The electromagnetic detection is the most used method. This electromagnetic detection may be performed using electromagnetic detectors based on the active detection of an electromagnetic signal.
There is known an active detection method which comprises injecting, by means a current generator, an electric signal in an electrically conductive wire associated to the network to be identified and disposed along the plot of the latter, and this via connection casings installed at regular distances along the network so as to serve as access points, and of using an electromagnetic detector arranged to sense an electromagnetic field created by an alternating current circulating in the electrically conductive wire.
It is known to dispose each connection casing inside a technical gallery or a manhole.
The drawback of such an arrangement of the connection casings lies in the fact that access to the inside of a technical gallery, a manhole or a wall box is generally prohibited to the unauthorized public. Thus, injecting the electric signal allowing to detect the concerned network most often requires obtaining an authorization of the owner of the network to be detected in order to access the connection casing and/or unlocking a closing device preventing access to said connection casing by means of a suitable unlocking member. For some type of networks to be detected, the presence of an authorized person to access the connection casing may also be essential.
Consequently, the detection of a network may prove to be difficult when the connection casings are disposed inside of technical galleries, manholes or wall boxes.
In order to facilitate access to the connection casings and hence the detection of optically invisible networks, it may be considered to dispose the connection casings in areas accessible to the public. Nonetheless, such an arrangement of the connection casings could generate degradations thereof thereby preventing any later detection of the corresponding network.

Terminal for detecting an optically invisible network, installation comprising such a detection terminal, and method for detecting an optically invisible network