A low drag nose assembly for use with an acoustic homing torpedo in an aqus environment has at least one planar array mounted in the slanting side of a substantially conical support member and provides a plurality of preformed sonar beams which display an azimuth selectively extending from fore to aft simultaneously.

This invention is drawn to the field of underwater acoustics, and more particularly, to a low drag homing torpedo nose assembly having side mounted planar arrays, which, with suitable associated electronics, are capable of forming a plurality of preformed beams displaying an azimuth which selectively extends from vehicle fore to vehicle aft.
Conventional homing torpedos use an acoustic sensor of the so-called forward looking variety which typically comprises a planar array of transducer elements mounted in a blunt shaped nose section of the vehicle in such a manner that the beams formed by the array selectively display an azimuth centered to vehicle fore. U.S. Pat. No. 4,192,246, issued Mar. 11, 1980 to Hodges et al, incorporated herein by reference, is exemplary of the forward looking acoustic homing torpedo.
In order to search those regions of an aqueous medium which lie outside the azimuth of the forward looking array, the torpedo executes a preprogrammed snake-like path which points the nose assembly to port and to starboard repetitively. The torpedo switches to an attack mode after target detection and adopts a course calculated to intercept the target. Whenever the target vehicle is moving, the intercept course closes the torpedo on a nonperpendicular angle of attack. In such a situation, it often happens that the forward looking sensor loses track of the target vehicle and the torpedo must again switch back to the search mode.
Thus, the extensive vehicle maneuvering, which is often required by this search and close procedure, when combined with significant hydrodynamic drag resulting from, among other factors, the blunt shaped nose assembly, effectively limits maximum range for a given quantity of fuel. Conversely, for a given range, it places a minimum limit on the quantity of the fuel required, which is often fifty (50) to sixty (60) percent of vehicle volume, thereby detracting from the payload volume.

Low drag homing torpedo nose assembly having side mounted planar arrays

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


The present invention is directed to electrical devices incorporating mesoscopically conductive liquids. The devices of the present invention include switches constructed such that in one configuration a charge carrying element, such as an electrode, is insulated from a charge receiving element by a thick (super-mesoscopic) layer of a mesoscopically conductive liquid; and in another configuration, the charge carrying elements are proximate each other and the charge is conducted between the elements by a thin (sub-mesoscopic) layer of a mesoscopically conductive liquid. Preferred embodiments of the switches of the present invention are suitable substitutes for switches, relays, or other switching interfaces.

The present invention relates to electric devices that facilitate, regulate, monitor, or otherwise modify current flowing through a current carrying system. Preferred embodiments of the present invention are electrical switches.
A principal feature of the present invention is the discovery that certain liquids have varying dielectric properties depending upon the thickness of the liquid layer. These liquids are referred to herein as mesoscopically conductive liquids or mesoscopic conductors or mesoscopic liquids. Thick layers of these mesoscopic liquids are insulators; whereas thin layers are conductors. One embodiment of the present invention involves a use of such mesoscopic conductors in a current carrying device wherein a conductor moves relative to a conducting surface, which it engages. Such embodiments are effective and dependable substitutes for various conventional switches such as mercury switches.
A mercury tilt switch is used for indicating the presence of an angular orientation through the creation of an electrical signal. Such uses range from thermostat controls and motion detectors, to ordinance devices and liquid level controls, among others. While liquid mercury provides an ideal medium in such a case, mercury possesses substantial drawbacks such as environmental pollution and toxicity. It is desirable to provide a non-mercury alternative to the mercury switch.
Workers attempting to satisfy that need have devised switches comprised of a chamber surrounding a mobile conductive element, e.g., gold plated balls, which fulfills the role of mercury. Strategically disposed within the chamber are electrodes. The gold plated ball functions as an alternative to the free flowing mercury. Thus, when the ball simultaneously contacts the electrodes, an electrical signal is transferred. Those devices, however, suffer from low current carrying or switching capacity, high contact resistance, short life and/or electrical bounce.

Current conducting devices employing mesoscopically conductive liquids


The case has an opening and a wall section with a hole provided on the wall section and the wall section forms an inner space. The case also has a recessed area surrounding the hole. The piezoelectric diaphragm is supported around its periphery on top of the case so that an enclosure, including the hole, is formed within the inner space. An acoustic resistance sheet is bonded on to the wall section with the adhesive that is filled into the recessed area to close off the hole. With this structure, defective damping caused by seeping of the adhesive is prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a piezoelectric transducer, in particular, it relates to an improvement on the type of piezoelectric transducer commonly used for telephones, intercom systems and the like.
2. Discussion of Background
In piezoelectric transducers of this type, there is normally a considerable difference between the resonance frequency of the piezoelectric diaphragm and the cavity resonance frequency, resulting in poor frequency characteristics between the two resonance frequencies. As a means to solve this problem, a technology that uses a fabric damper is known in the prior art. In this technology, an appropriate degree of acoustic resistance is created by the fabric damper to flatten the frequency characteristics and to improve the frequency band width. This technology was disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid Open Utility Model Publication 17899/1988. The fabric damper is usually made of a cloth with several hundred openings/inch and with this, the acoustic resistance requirement for flattening the frequency characteristics is ensured. The fabric damper is bonded onto the case that supports the piezoelectric diaphragm with an adhesive. The area in which the fabric damper is to be bonded has a damping hole and the entire surface of the fabric damper, excluding the area that corresponds to the damping hole, is adhered to the case. Such technology is disclosed in, for example, the aforementioned Japanese Laid Open Utility Model Publication No. 17899/1988.
Another reference on the prior art is Japanese Laid Open Utility Model Publication No. 68298/1988. This piezoelectric transducer is provided with a ring-like end surface on the circumference of the inner space of the case. The circumference of the piezoelectric diaphragm is secured on to the end surface of the case with an adhesive and a enclosure is formed by the inner space on the adhered surface-side. Lead wires are lead out to the outside from the enclosure. The lead wires are lead out to the outside of the case via a passage provided through part of the case. In order to maintain an air tight seal within the enclosed portion, this passage is sealed with a material such as silicon resin. The above mentioned piezoelectric transducer is disclosed in a receiver and transmitter described in Japanese Laid Open Utility Model Publication No. 135851/1989. The two piezoelectric transducers, one for transmission and the other for reception, are separately arranged inside the handset main unit so that they correspond with the receiving and transmitter sections. In order to maintain an air tight seal between the space leading to the piezoelectric transducers and the inner space of the handset main unit, a packing member is provided between the two spaces. The packing member is provided as an independent component, separate from the piezoelectric transducers and the handset main unit and it is secured between the piezoelectric transducers and the handset main unit by the assembly clamping force of the piezoelectric transducers against the handset main unit.
As described above, since the fabric damper is made of a meshed cloth, when it is bonded with an adhesive, the adhesive tends to seep all over the surface of the bonded area surrounding the damping hole, resulting in deterioration of the acoustic characteristics of the fabric damper and consequently causing a damping failure. The foregoing represents a problem with the above-mentioned prior art technology. The prior art technology described above does not disclose any means for solving this problem of damping failure due to seeping adhesive.
Also, since the lead wires connected to the piezoelectric element are lead out to the outside of the case via a passage provided in part of the case, the sealing agent for maintaining the air tight seal of the enclosure sometimes runs out via the passage to the surface of the outer circumference of the case, resulting in a defective product.
Moreover, since, in the prior art receiver and transmitter, the packing member is provided as an independent component, separate from the piezoelectric transducer and the handset main unit, and is secured between the piezoelectric transducers and the handset main unit by the assembly clamping force of the piezoelectric transducers against the handset main unit, the packing member is liable to shift at the time of assembly causing misalignment and resulting in loss of the air tight seal. Therefore, extra care must be taken so that misalignment will not occur. This means reduced efficiency in assembly work. Furthermore, the misalignment problem can never totally solved, even when maximum care is taken in assembly. Also, as the packing member is an independent component, separate from the handset main unit and the piezoelectric transducers, the number of components and assembly steps is greater so production costs are increased.


A coolant mixture, method and apparatus for accelerated cooling of product, especially foodstuffs, is disclosed. A further aspect of this invention is the optimizing and controlling of the cooling process and the cooling medium without the need for pressurization. It further relates to a method of effectively increasing the flexibility and maximizing of cooling capacity and its storage without inducing a change of physical state within the coolant nor incurring high energy costs. Finally it relates to effectively eliminating any corrosive properties of the cooling medium.

Large-scale heating and cooling systems use air, water and/or steam as the heating and cooling media. Pasteurization or sterilization systems conventionally use water and steam as the heating medium and water as the cooling medium. It is well known that the conventional form and function of large-scale foodstuff heating and cooling systems present major issues to manufacturing, especially in relation to product consistency and finished product quality. This is particularly true in large volume continuous systems, where cooking temperatures are elevated to meet essential microbial safety regulations and product with low thermal conductivity properties is being processed. Such products and conditions usually require extended periods of cooking and holding at elevated temperatures to achieve the necessary safety requirements.
The slow temperature rise associated with such continuous, high volume systems frequently results in significant uneven, temperature distribution. However it is the protracted high temperature holding periods to ensure effective microbial treatment that leads to overcooking of product and a significant resultant deterioration in food quality. This overcooking is not primarily due to the protracted heating cycle but is, more frequently, a consequence of a slow cooling of the product that follows the completion of the cooking and holding cycles. Pasteurization temperatures are well above optimal temperatures needed for cooking most foodstuffs, but those needed for sterilization are substantially higher still as the medium used to achieve these elevated final temperatures is primarily pressurized steam which has both a considerable latent heat content as well as a very poor thermal conductivity. Consequently, it needs very considerable amounts of energy and thermal transfer to effectively start the cooling cycle. It is the inherent inefficiencies in this part of the processing cycle that make the greatest contribution to the general over-processing and resultant deterioration in finished product quality.
Dry and wet cooking and cooling systems present different issues. The rate of thermal conductivity in air is around 20 times less efficient than that of water. While cooking times take considerably longer in air when compared with wet cooking systems, the much lower thermal conductivity makes holding times and holding temperatures much easier to maintain and control.
Similarly, cooling systems using air as the cooling medium are much slower at equivalent temperatures compared with liquid cooling systems. But much larger volumes of substantially cooler air at accelerated velocities can be moved across the product surface in unit time, so improving their efficiency, overall performance and cost effectiveness.
Generally, large-scale heating and cooling systems have tended to use water and steam to provide the cooking and cooling capabilities because of the relative low cost of the medium, its relative abundance and availability and its relative safety. Most importantly, water has one of the highest rates of thermal conductivity for liquids. Unfortunately, it is this rapid thermal conductivity that causes the greatest problems.
Firstly, such high heat capacities mean that it frequently has more energy available than the receiving product can dissipate. The result is a very rapid heating of the surfaces closest to the energy source, a slower transfer of energy within the container and considerable overcooking of some parts of the container contents, particularly that closest to energy/container interfaces. To counteract such properties, heating curves are less steep than could be optimally achieved.
Conversely, cooling curves using water as the coolant medium have to be steeper, particularly at the onset of cooling, because of the considerable amounts of latent heat encountered in the steam component, especially in sterilization systems, to a lesser extent in pasteurization systems, but particularly with retort-based processing and continuous sterilization systems.
But the heating and cooling inefficiencies of water and steam-based systems are not the only major problems for these media. Both are extremely corrosive, especially at elevated temperatures, not just to the structure and function of the processing equipment but also the containers themselves. In an effort to reduce the corrosive properties of these media, considerably additional costs are incurred, both in the capital construction costs, due to the requirement to use more resistant materials within the system structure and in their maintenance and running costs where very expensive compounds/mixtures have to be frequently added to the water to reduce leaching rates and consequent increases in its corrosiveness.
Over time there is a steady build-up of dissolved solids in the cooling water, this causes a steady increase in its Redox potential and thus its corrosive properties as well as making it more difficult to buffer. This, in turn, leads to a steady increase in the amount of anti-corrosion compound needed to maintain water quality. Eventually the only practical answer is to replace the cooling medium.
All of this generates further issues. These corrosion-resisting compounds are often toxic and, as they usually, directly or indirectly, contact foodstuffs and/or foodstuff containers, their maximum concentrations are strictly controlled, often well below their optimal protective capability. Because of their toxicity, if they directly contact foodstuffs the product has to be discarded. The thermal conductivity rate of water and its corrosive nature also seriously limits the type of containers that can be used and processed within such systems and the rate of cooling that can be achieved without damaging the container.
And finally, the change of state of water from liquid to gas on heating and reversion back to liquid on cooling, necessitates considerable system structural strengthening to counter the large pressure differences encountered.
There is one final issue that makes water a far from ideal cooling medium and that is the change of state that occurs as it cools further, i.e. from liquid to solid, and the amount of energy required (and its associated cost) to achieve this change of state. While the latent energy generated in changing from a liquid to a solid is extremely useful as a 'reservoir of cool energy', the change of state makes the formation of any solid materials, such as ice, in any circulatory cooling system extremely dangerous and potentially damaging to expensive machinery. The falling temperature may also result in a reduced solubility of dissolved solids.
Based on the foregoing, it is obvious that replacing water as a coolant, reducing or eliminating coolant corrosive properties, improving coolant refrigerant capabilities and improving cost efficiency of coolant heat transfer are all essential to achieving any significant improvement in the overall performance of a cooling system, particularly product pasteurizing and/or sterilizing systems.
While there are many liquids or mixtures that could be used to achieve one or more of these properties, extensive regulatory requirements severely limits which compounds can be used, particularly for food application uses.
Glycerin had historically been used as an automobile anti-freeze but was later replaced by more efficient and cheaper glycol mixtures. More recently, with the main source of glycerin/glycerol coming from the manufacture of biodiesel from renewable resources and from sources other than petroleum resulting in a much lower supply cost than previously, there has been renewed interest in the use of glycerin/water and glycerin/alcohol/water mixtures as refrigerants (e.g. USPA 20080315152). Glycerin has GRAS status and although generally considered safe, it does produce a poisonous gas, Arcolein, when decomposed by excessive heat.
The raw glycerin is a byproduct of biofuel manufacturing, has a typical concentration of 60-82% glycerin but also contains numerous contaminants and other byproducts including glycols, alcohols, particularly methanol and ethanol, various organic and inorganic compounds, fatty acids and water.
Many refrigerant systems use various glycol mixtures or glycol/alcohol mixtures (c.f. U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,662 and USPA 20080048147). Unfortunately such compounds (particularly glycols and methanol) are not allowed to directly contact foodstuffs, although potentially they could be used as an indirect cooling medium. As such they have found considerable use as coolants in engine cooling systems as well as components of winter windscreen washer and antifreeze mixtures because, unlike water they remain in a liquid state when external or operating temperatures fall below 0° C. They have also been suggested as a suitable refrigerant in solar powered refrigerators (U.S. Pat. No. 7,543,455).
However, all these refrigerant/coolant media still contain significant amounts of water (30%-50% v/v or w/v). As a consequence, they will still generate considerable corrosion to metal components, particularly the system's physical structures. As such they need the addition of anti-corrosion compounds to allow them to function as coolants and antifreezes. Eventually, as the temperature falls, some of the water component will form solid ice.
We have found methods and apparatus that will allow a suitable glycerin only or glycerin/water mixture to function as an effective and efficient coolant, be composed only of GRAS approved components and without the need for anti-corrosion additives, they avoid any constraints in their application or use.

Accelerating, optimizing and controlling product cooling in food processing systems


The present invention concerns a device for the heating of a liquid in a beverage machine comprising at least one set of at least two resistors, wherein said resistors are electrically linked together so as to use one resistor of each set individually or in serial with one or more of the resistors of the same set, at least one individual resistor and at least one set of two resistors, wherein said resistors are electrically linked together so as to use the first resistor of a set individually or in serial with one or more of the following resistors of the same set, said resistors transferring the maximum of energy to the flow of liquid and allowing a finer control of the liquid temperature.

The present invention concerns a device for the heating of a liquid in a beverage machine.
It is already known to have a liquid heating module for use in a hot beverage machine. The patent application WO 01/54551 in the name of the assignee concerns a liquid heating module for use in a hot beverage machine, which comprises a hollow tube of metallic material, a cylindrical insert, disposed inside the hollow tube, at least one electrical resistor on a first part of the outside of the tube for preheating liquid and at least one other electrical resistor on a second part of the outside of the tube for temperature adjustment of the liquid flowing through the tube. The problem with this solution is that the resistors work in parallel and therefore there is a high demand of energy, because said resistors add their energy requirements, which can reach high level, when a high increase of the liquid temperature is required.
The objective of the present invention is to have also a device for the heating of a liquid in a hot beverage machine, wherein the variation of demand of power is less important, wherein the target temperature of the liquid is reached quickly and wherein there is a fine adjustment of the liquid temperature at the moment of the arrival of said liquid on an extraction head or other.


A cutting insert for threading of the present invention includes two opposing end surfaces and a peripheral side surface extending therebetween. The peripheral side surface has a first side surface portion and a second side surface portion arranged at different positions in a circumferential direction. A cutting edge is formed at an intersecting ridgeline portion between the first end surface and the first side surface portion and at least a portion of this cutting edge has a shape corresponding to a thread groove. The second side surface portion has an inclined portion which enlarges outward from the side of the first end surface toward the side of the second end surface. This inclined portion is configured to engage with a side wall surface of a tool body so as to prevent floating of the cutting insert.

As a conventional cutting insert for threading, there is the one as shown in Patent Literature 1. The cutting insert for threading of Patent Literature 1 has a square block shape and has two opposing end surfaces, three side surfaces which form right angles with these end surfaces, and a saw-tooth-like side surface. An even number of protruding portions of the saw-tooth-like side surface each have a shape corresponding to a thread groove and define a cutting edge for threading. The protruding portion of the saw-tooth-like side surface has a shape extending over between the two end surfaces, and the protruding portions include two protruding portions which define a cutting edge on one end surface and two protruding portions which define a cutting edge on the other end surface. In this cutting insert, both of the end surfaces can be used as surfaces with the cutting edges for threading in this way.
This cutting insert of Patent Literature 1 is attached to a tool body via a shim plate and a cartridge and thereby a cutting edge for machining a thread groove is given to the cutting tool for threading. The cutting insert has two through holes and each through hole extends so as to be orthogonal to the two end surfaces. According to description in Patent Literature 1, this cutting insert is clamped by a clamp member which engages with these through holes.

Cutting insert for threading, tool body and cutting tool


The present invention relates to a method and to an apparatus for encoding and decoding images by adaptively using an interpolation filter in consideration of the characteristics of input images. The apparatus of the present invention comprises a prediction block-generating unit including a selector for adaptively selecting an interpolation filter for generating a prediction block in consideration of the context information of an input image block, a filter bank in which groups of interpolation filters are stored in correspondence with the context information, and a specific interpolation filter which is selected from the filter bank in accordance with the control of the selector, and which interpolates a reference image block associated with the input image block.

Multimedia transmission is widespread in a recent network environment. Especially, video images occupy a large bandwidth in multimedia communication. In this context, compression techniques aiming at higher transmission rates and better video quality have been proposed.
One of video compression standards is H.264/AVC (MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding). Like conventional coding techniques such as MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4, H.264/AVC was designed to achieve high-efficiency coding using intra-coding mode and inter-coding mode.
The intra-coding mode relies on the fact that there is a high spatial correlation within one video frame. After prediction data of a current image block to be encoded is generated using adjacent image blocks, spatial redundancy is eliminated from the predicted data in the intra-coding mode. On the other hand, the inter-coding mode relies on the fact that there is a high temporal correlation between images. In the inter-coding mode, prediction data of a current image is generated using images previous to or next to the current image and then temporal redundancy is eliminated from the prediction data. In general, accurate prediction data is generated using an interpolation filter before a prediction block is searched for, in the inter-coding method.
Conventionally, however, interpolation is repeated using only a preset single interpolation filter with no regard to the characteristics of an input image. As a consequence, the conventional interpolation technology is not effective in generating various accurate prediction data, that is, in interpolating an input image in an optimal manner in a recent multimedia communication environment having a variety of images. Another shortcoming with the conventional interpolation technology is high computation complexity in relation to processing high-quality, large-capacity images.
Accordingly, there exists a pressing need for an interpolation scheme having reduced computation complexity, for encoding high-quality, large-capacity images, especially a more accurate interpolation scheme for an input image containing various pieces of video information.

Method and apparatus for encoding and decoding images by adaptively using an interpolation filter

Kwangwoon University Industry-Academic Collaboration Foundation


A bunt training device includes a shield with opposite ends which is mounted to a baseball or softball bat using one or more straps. The device is mounted on the bat in a position which allows a batter to slide his or her top hand to the end of the device adjacent the barrel of the bat for bunting practice. The shield protects the batter's top hand from a pitched ball and thereby eliminates or reduces the fear a batter may have when bunting. The device may be formed as a separate shield to be mounted on a conventional bat, or the shield and bat can be formed as a single unit for bunting practice.

It is common practice within the games of baseball and softball to bunt, or more specifically, square the body toward the pitcher and use the baseball bat to dampen the rebound trajectory of the batted ball in a forward motion toward the pitcher. The art of bunting requires that while batting, the top hand be slid to a position near the barrel of the bat for the purpose of control. If the top hand is incorrectly positioned, the art and control of bunting is sacrificed.
To bunt a ball means having direct contact between a pitched ball and the ball bat in such a manner as to dampen, or absorb, the kinetic energy of the pitched ball by the action of the bat so as to have minimal rebound of the ball into the field of play. This is a physical event which requires proper hand-eye coordination, precise skill and controlled touch of the bat to the pitched ball. Additionally, the art of bunting requires being able to control the direction of the bunted ball either toward the pitcher, or toward either the first or third base foul lines. In summary, the art of bunting is about controlling the rebound location of a pitched ball with the ball bat.
While bunting a ball, the top hand is slid from the handle location (or grip) to the barrel portion of the bat. The hand is positioned such that the thumb and forefinger are formed to positively receive the convex curvature of the bat. This positioning of the hand tends to promote the feeling of leaving the remaining fingers on the top hand vulnerable to exposure of the pitched ball, and thus the possibility of being hit by the pitched ball. For younger players, and others first learning the art of bunting, this aspect can be intimidating and instill fear in the batter from their hand being hit by the pitched ball. This fear can cause the batter to position their top hand closer to the handle of the bat than the barrel, causing improper position and lack of bat control. In addition to being concerned about being hit by the pitched ball, the act of training the body for specialized events such as bunting a ball requires constant training and muscle memory exercises such that in a real-time, fast-paced game situation, the natural actions of the mind and body are instinctive. To instill this level of natural mind and body instinct, discipline of the top hand position must be mastered.
There is not a commercially available solution for these problems for bunt training. Common practice of training batters in the art of bunting, especially youth in Little League®, is to demonstrate the bunting technique during instructional drills such as soft-toss and live batting practice. While these are techniques and practice methods which positively benefit the learner, a method and apparatus to support proper learning is needed.
The present invention satisfies the following objectives:                provides a means of quickly and easily attaching a training apparatus to a baseball or softball bat;        provides means of an apparatus to protect the top hand and fingers from being hit with a pitched baseball or softball while practicing the art of bunting;        provides means of an apparatus to properly locate the top hand at a position to provide the optimum portion of the barrel of the bat to be used for bunting;        provides a method of protecting the top hand and fingers from being hit by a pitched ball while bunting;        provides a method of properly locating the top hand position while practicing the art of bunting; and        provides an apparatus and method of directly promoting brand awareness for a company within the baseball/softball market space by utilizing the invention for space to locate an industry-related company logo.


A highly reliable signal analysis is performed by suppressing over-learning and appropriately distinguishing an abnormal signal. A signal analysis device 1 includes a data storage unit 4 which stores digital data of a measured signal, a training data storage unit 11 which stores training data to which a label of normality or abnormality is attached, a plurality of machine learning classifiers 5 which identify whether the measured signal is normal or abnormal by comparing the digital data of the measured signal stored in the data storage unit 4 with an identification boundary value and output identification results according to machine learning by the training data, and a determination unit 6 which determines whether the measured signal is normal, abnormal, or uncertain by comparing the identification results of the plurality of machine learning classifiers 5 with a determination threshold value.

For example, when detecting an abnormality in an apparatus such as vibration or operation noise of a machine, belt conveyor vibration, bearing wear, and the like, in a case of analyzing waveforms measured by various sensors, for example, such as a microphone, a vibration sensor, an optical sensor, and the like and detecting the abnormality from the change, it is necessary to analyze signals with wide ranges from electrical or mechanical high-speed transients to a low-speed repetitive phenomenon.
For example, in a case of performing a defect inspection of an electronic component, first, a three-dimensional displacement distribution of a measurement target is imaged or is converted into image data by using a camera or the like. An image process is performed on the obtained image data, and a defect or the like is detected by determining a feature amount of a target portion with a threshold value. Meanwhile, in the determination based on the threshold value, if the threshold value is set to be strict, over-detection is increased, a yield deteriorates or re-checking is required, and post-processes are increased. On the other hand, if the threshold value is set to be loosened, there is a possibility that non-detection occurs and a defective product flows out, and there are cases where it is difficult to perform operation only by a threshold setting.
In addition, in some cases, data obtained by the apparatus may be digitized, a signal process may be performed, and a computer may perform automatic inspection. However, in the automatic inspection by the computer, (1) there is an individual difference and the automatic inspection cannot be numerically defined, (2) an error is likely to occur due to a fine difference in measurement conditions, and (3) relative sizes of inspection areas are different due to a size and a shape of a target object and it is difficult to perform a single process on the inspection area. Therefore, in some cases, even if algorithms of the signal process are combined, there are many target objects which cannot be automated and accuracy may be low.
For this reason, in the case described above, an inspector visually inspects a measurement result so as to make a final determination. In the case of the visual inspection, it is possible to flexibly handle a change in an inspection item and an inspection condition, and there is a merit that any difference can be inspected by experience. However, on the other hand, since there is a problem that a determination reference is distorted due to a person or a physical condition and an environment, it is difficult to pass on the know-how of a skilled inspector, and there is a problem such as a labor shortage due to low-birth and aging, automation is desired.
Therefore, in the related art, a method using machine learning for the purpose of realizing the automation is proposed, for example, as in Patent Document 1 to be described below.

Signal analysis device, signal analysis method, and signal analysis program


An engine is supported on a frame of a motor vehicle by a plurality of engine mounts. At least one of said engine mounts are positioned on a main axis of inertia of the engine, and has substantially equal vertical and lateral static spring rates, a vertical dynamic spring rate greater than the vertical static spring rate, and a lateral dynamic spring rate between the vertical dynamic and static spring rates. The engine mount is effective in reducing muffled sound in the passenger compartment of the motor vehicle without impairing riding comfort of the motor vehicle. The spring rates are set to the following ratios: EQU Ksz:Ksy:Kdy:Kdz=1.0:1.0:1.3:1.9.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an engine mount for use in a motor vehicle such as an automobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
Motor vehicles such as automobiles give poor riding comfort when muffled sound is produced in the passenger compartment or the power plant resonates upon vibration of the engine. It has been customary to support the engine on a vehicle frame through resilient engine mounts in order to prevent the engine vibrations from being transmitted to the vehicle body.
The engine mounts have a relatively low spring rate to reduce muffled sound that is produced in the passenger compartment by engine vibrations at a high frequency ranging from 50 to 500 Hz with a small amplitude of .+-.0.05 mm, and a relatively high spring rate to improve poor riding comfort that is developed by engine vibrations at a low frequency ranging from 5 to 50 Hz with a large amplitude of .+-.1.0 mm.
The conventional engine mounts are designed to dampen only vertical vibrations, and hence suffer performance limitations. Specifically, if the vertical spring rate of an engine mount is lowered to minimize muffled sound in the passenger compartment, then the damping force of the engine mount is reduced accordingly, resulting in impaired riding comfort. Conversely, if the vertical spring rate of the engine mount is increased, then the passenger compartment is filled with more muffled sound.
In order to lower muffled sound in the passenger compartment, it would be possible to lower a lateral static spring rate for thereby reducing a lateral dynamic spring rate. According to such a solution, since the lateral static spring rate would be lowered in consideration of the lateral dynamic spring rate, it would not be considered and determined solely for itself. While the engine mount thus designed signed would be effective to reduce muffled sound in the passenger compartment, its rigidity for supporting the power plant would be lowered, making the riding comfort poor.


Provide is a display device. The display device includes a watchcase, a first display screen and a flexible display component. The first display screen is arranged on a front side of the watchcase. The first display screen includes a first display surface. The flexible display component is arranged on a back face of the watchcase. The flexible display component may be bent along a first direction to be reused as a watchband. Moreover, in the condition that the flexible display component is reused as the watchband, a surface of the flexible display component facing away from the watchcase is a second display surface.

With the progress of display technology, flexible display technology has been greatly developed, and flexible display devices have been widely used.
However, the flexible display devices in the related art are merely used for displaying, that is, the flexible display devices merely implement functions such as bent screen displaying. The usage of the flexible display devices is singular. When the flexible display devices are not used for displaying, a great waste of resources exists.

Wuhan Tianma Micro-Electronics Co., Ltd.


An electrically suppressed helix (ESH) ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) display cell with fast response includes: a liquid crystal layer, disposed between two transparent substrates, wherein helix pitch of chiral smectic liquid crystals of the liquid crystal layer is less than the thickness of the liquid crystal layer; at least one polarizer; and a voltage source, configured to apply electrical driving voltage pulses to electrodes of the display cell with amplitude greater than a critical voltage for helix unwinding of the chiral smectic liquid crystals.

Conventional displays are designed on basis of spatially "simultaneous additive color mixing process." FSC displays, on the other hand, in which color displaying can be carried out with one pixel, use a "successive additive color mixing process" by a temporally-divided backlight system. FSCDs offer several fundamental advantages over conventional transmissive and emissive displays. The absence of sub-pixels and color filters give high transmission, large aperture ratio, and the possibility of at least three times higher pixel density as well as three times less power consumption. Furthermore, the primary chromaticity is determined solely by the light sources, which enables wider gamut. However, an inherent problem of FSCDs is the presence of saccadic color break-up artifacts. These artifacts may be eliminated only by increasing the frame rate, which requires LCs with fast response time.
Due to fundamental working principle of FSCDs, conventional nematic LCs cannot satisfy the high frequency requirement to avoid color break up. However, a number of other LC-based architectures and electro-optical modes have been proposed for FSCDs to attempt to improve the response time for LCs.
One approach uses the flexoelectric effect of short pitch cholesteric LCs shows a response time of ˜200 μs. This technology, however, has several material issues and a very complicated fabrication procedure.
In some alternate approaches, polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystal and cholesteric liquid crystal have been proposed with very fast response time (around 1 ms). Drawbacks which limit these technologies are the very high requirement of driving voltage at the electric field of E=20 V/μm and several material issues.
FLCs, because of their fast response times, are another possibility for FSCDs. One approach is a polymer stabilized FLC to enable monostable V-shape switching (hereinafter abbreviated PSV-FLCD). Another approach is a photoaligned fast FLC display using deformed helix ferroelectric (hereinafter abbreviated DHF) mode LC used for FSCDs, for example, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/110,680 (published as U.S. Publication No. 2011/0285928), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The electronic driving scheme for this DHF FLC includes amplitude modulation, which may increase the fabrication expense.
Recently, in-plane switching (IPS), Advanced Super Dimension Switching (ADS), and fringe field switching (FFS) have been used in high-end LCD applications because they provide wide view angle and high resolution. However, such conventional IPS, ADS and FFS devices suffer from severe drawbacks in terms of image-sticking due to residual DC (RDC) of the alignment layer, as well as non-uniformity and loss of light transmittance at the edge of the pixels due to non-uniformity liquid crystal alignment. Image flickering is also an issue with respect to FFS displays, and complex fabrication and manufacturing costs are additional drawbacks as well.
While FLCs, due to their in-plane switching behavior, provide the advantages of fast switching speed and lower power consumption along with simpler and cheaper fabrication. However, due to certain limitations of FLCs (e.g., the geometrical, optical and mechanical defects associated therewith), FLCs have not conventionally been adopted for high-end LCD applications.

Field sequential color ferroelectric liquid crystal display cell

THE HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


A Schottky diode includes an n+-substrate, an n-epilayer, trenches introduced into the n-epilayer, floating Schottky contacts being located on their side walls and on the entire trench bottom, mesa regions between the adjacent trenches, a metal layer on its back face, this metal layer being used as a cathode electrode, and an anode electrode on the front face of the Schottky diode having two metal layers, the first metal layer of which forms a Schottky contact and the second metal layer of which is situated below the first metal layer and also forms a Schottky contact. Preferably, these two Schottky contacts have different barrier heights.

High-voltage PN diodes are generally used for high-voltage applications. Such high-voltage PN diodes advantageously have a low leakage current and a high robustness. Disadvantages of such high-voltage PN diodes are that they have a high forward voltage and a high switching power loss.
In a high-voltage PN diode of this type, the voltage is primarily taken over by the slightly doped region which is provided in such diodes. In the case of operation in the forward direction, electrons and holes are injected into the slightly doped region. At a high current density, high injection prevails in the slightly doped region and the electron and hole densities are greater than the doping concentration of the slightly doped region. This increases the conductivity of the slightly doped region. This advantageously results in a reduction of the forward voltage. However, the current of a high-voltage PN diode at room temperature does not begin to flow until forward voltage UF=0.7 V, for example. Under normal operating conditions, for example, at a current density which is greater than 100 A/cm2, forward voltage UF rises to values greater than 1 V. This is associated with a correspondingly high, undesirable power loss. Since a high-voltage PN diode requires a thick slightly doped region, the voltage drop in the forward direction is relatively great across the slightly doped region despite the conductivity modulation.
The charge carriers (electrons and holes), which are injected into the slightly doped region and stored there during the operation in the forward direction, must be reduced at the time of a shut-off, for example, at the time of an abrupt current commutation, before the high-voltage PN diode is actually capable of taking over the reverse voltage again. For that reason, the current first flows in the reverse direction at the time of an abrupt current commutation until the stored charge carriers are reduced or removed. This process, i.e., the level and the duration of the drain current for reducing the stored charge carriers, is primarily determined by the volume of the charge carriers stored in the slightly doped region. A higher and longer lasting drain current means a higher turn-off power loss.
If high-voltage Schottky diodes are used instead of high-voltage PN diodes in high-voltage applications, the turn-off power loss is advantageously reduced. A high-voltage Schottky diode is a majority charge carrier component, in which no high injection occurs even at high current density during operation in the forward direction, i.e., no injection of electrons and holes into the slightly doped region. However, since no injection with conductivity modulation occurs in the case of a high-voltage Schottky diode, a high voltage drops at the slightly doped region during operation with high currents. This has previously limited the use of high-blocking Schottky diodes to very low currents. Additional disadvantages of high-voltage Schottky diodes are the high leakage currents, in particular at high temperature, as well as their severe voltage dependence due to the barrier-lowering effect.
In German Application No. DE 10 2010 043 088.9, a Schottky diode is described which has the advantage of a low turn-off power loss and, at least partially, overcomes the disadvantages of a high forward voltage and high leakage currents occurring in customary high-voltage Schottky diodes. Such a Schottky diode, which is also referred to as a super trench Schottky barrier diode (STSBD), is shown in FIG. 1. It has an n+-substrate 10, an n-epilayer 20, trenches 30 etched into n-epilayer 20, each of which has a width Wt and a distance D_epi to the n+-substrate, mesa regions 40 having a width Wm between adjacent trenches 30, a metal layer 50 acting as a Schottky contact and used as an anode electrode on front face V of the Schottky diode implemented as a chip, a metal layer 60 acting as a cathode electrode on back face R of the chip, and additional Schottky contacts 70 on the walls of trenches 30. Each of these additional Schottky contacts 70 has a width D_sk in the direction to n*-substrate 10 and a distance D_gap to each next additional Schottky contact 70. Metal layer 50 covers each of the trench walls to a depth D_anode and has a distance D_gap to each adjacent first additional Schottky contact 70. Schottky contacts 70 float on the trench walls. Each additional Schottky contact 70 closest to n*-substrate 10 covers one trench bottom each. Any number of floating contacts may be selected. Preferably, significantly more contacts are selected than are represented in FIG. 1.
In an STSBD of this type, the space charge region in n-epilayer 20 expands in the reverse direction with increasing voltage toward the trench bottom. If the space charge region at a voltage V1 reaches the first floating Schottky contact, this voltage V1 is taken over by the first floating Schottky contact. The space charge region expands with continuously increasing voltage toward the trench bottom. The voltage at the first floating Schottky contact remains unchanged.
In a similar way, the space charge region at a higher voltage Vn reaches the nth floating Schottky contact. In this connection, the nth floating Schottky contact takes over voltage Vn. In turn, with a continuing increase in voltage, the voltage on the nth floating Schottky contact remains unchanged.
If width D_sk and distance D_gap in the STSBD structure are selected to be equal for all additional Schottky contacts 70, a periodically homogeneous field distribution is present in mesa region 40. The field distribution in the mesa region is continuously repeated according to a distance D_sk+D_gap until the trench bottom is finally reached. The voltage distribution in mesa region 40 is then largely linear. Compared to conventional high-voltage PN diodes or high-voltage Schottky diodes, in the case of the STSBD, a significantly higher voltage may be accommodated at a predefined thickness of the slightly doped region.
This results in a very advantageous compromise between breakdown voltage, forward voltage and turn-off power loss.

Super trench schottky barrier schottky diode


A new method for releasing sample nucleic acids from cells, bacteria and viruses comprises non-invasively sonicating the sample contained within a sample container brought into physical contact with the vibrating element of a sonicator tuned to resonate at a frequency of 40 KHz or greater.

Nucleic acid probe hybridizations (DNA or RNA probe hybridizations) require biological samples to be processed to provide sample or target nucleic acid prior to hybridization with extrinsic nucleic acid probes. This processing is required because in order to hybridize the nucleic acid probes with complementary portions of the sample nucleic acids in turn contained within microorganisms defined as fungal cells, bacterial cells or viral particles, the sample nucleic acid must be released from inside the structure so as to be rendered accessible to the probes.
Nucleic acids have been traditionally released from biological systems via a variety of methods including the chemical action of detergents, bases, acids, chaotropes, organics and mixtures of these chemicals on samples. Various organisms, cells, bacteria or viruses characteristically require different chemical conditions in order to effectively release their nucleic acids. Physical methods of processing samples have also been practiced and include pressure, heat, freeze-thaw cycles and sonication with and without glass beads. Further, combinations of physical and chemical methods have also been used to prepare samples for DNA probe hybridizations such as chemical cell lysis followed by sonication.
Sonication devices employ ultrasonic vibrations and have previously been employed for a variety of processes including homogenization, cellular disruption, molecular disassociation, humidification, aerosol generation, lubrication, coating systems and instrument nebulizers. Ultrasound is commonly understood to encompass the propagation of a sound wave in a solution with the accompanying formation of regions of compression and rarefaction. The alternating acoustic pressure causes the making and breaking of microscopic bubbles. Pressure changes of 20,000 atmospheres can be achieved in cavitational microenvironments. The microscopic bubbles or cavities grow over many cycles and collapse with great force once they reach certain critical dimensions known as the critical bubble size. The critical bubble size is substantially a function of frequency; as frequency is increased, more power is required in order to produce cavitation. Above 1 MHz, the intensity of sonication is greatly diminished and cavitation cannot be produced at all above 2.5 MHz.
A number of different sonicators which cause cavitation have been used in studies involving nucleic acids including systems offered commercially by Heat Systems Ultrasonics, Tomy Co., Rapidis, Raytheon, Mullard and Branson. These commercial sonicators have traditionally been designed to resonate at a frequency between 5 and 35 KHz and most resonate at approximately 20 KHz. The typical commercially available sonicator has been used in one of two modes: (1) direct immersion of the vibrating probe into the sample, and (2) placement of both the container holding the sample and the vibrating transducer of the sonication unit into a common liquid or bath. The first mode disadvantageously incurs sample-to-sample carry-over and thus is not practical in a clinical setting. In the second mode of use, the liquid acts to couple the sonic vibrations to the sample in the container or cuvette and may also assist in cooling and/or controlling the sample temperature. While this method is relatively efficient, it is disadvantageously complicated by the necessary mechanics of the liquid bath and the contamination threat posed thereby. Accordingly its application in the clinical environment is also limited.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new sonication system having an effectiveness comparable to the liquid bath sonication method.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new sonication method for preparing samples for DNA probe hybridization which avoids the contamination disadvantages associated with immersion type sonication.
It is known that when a conventional ultrasonic transducer is applied directly to the surface of a container, ultrasonic energy is not readily transmitted to a liquid contained within the container. This occurs because a significant percentage of the energy is lost in the form of heat, either in the contact surfaces of the transducer and the container wall, or in the container material itself. The amount of energy actually transmitted is further limited by the acoustic impedances of each material. Thus, only a relatively small amount of the initial energy is actually transmitted to the liquid and cavitation fails to occur unless a very large excess of initial energy is applied. Application of such an excess of energy is generally highly disadvantageous because such results in highly localized heating often to the extent that melting of the container may occur. Such a result is quite clearly unacceptable, particularly in a clinical environment where samples may be dangerously infective.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a new method for preparing samples for DNA hybridization which utilize direct transducer - container contact while avoiding the application of previously required high levels of energy.

Methods for preparing sample nucleic acids for hybridization


When forming field effect transistors with a semiconductor alloy layer, e.g., SiGe, embedded in the source/drain regions, a strategy called tucking has been developed in order to improve formation of the semiconductor alloy layer. An improved tucking strategy is hereby proposed, wherein the interface between the isolation region and the active region is not straight, but it rather defines an indentation, so that the active region protrudes into the isolation region in correspondence to the indentation. A gate is then formed on the surface of the device in such a way that a portion of the indentation is covered by the gate. An etching process is then performed, during which the gate acts as a screen. The etching thus gives rise to a cavity defined by a sidewall comprising portions exposing silicon, alternated to portions exposing the dielectric material of the isolation region.

1. Field of the Invention
Generally, the present disclosure relates to integrated circuits, and, more particularly, to transistors comprising a semiconductor alloy embedded in their respective source/drain regions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Transistors are the dominant components in modern electronic devices. Currently, several hundred millions of transistors may be provided in presently available complex integrated circuits, such as microprocessors, CPUs, storage chips and the like. It is then crucial that the typical dimensions of the transistors included in an integrated circuit are as small as possible, so as to enable a high integration density.
One of the most widespread semiconductor fabrication technologies is the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology, wherein complementary field effect transistors (FETs), i.e., P-channel FETs and N-channel FETs, are used for forming circuit elements, such as inverters and other logic gates, to design highly complex circuit assemblies.
Transistors are usually formed in active regions defined within a semiconductor layer supported by a substrate. Presently, the layer in which most integrated circuits are formed is made out of silicon, which may be provided in crystalline, polycrystalline or amorphous form. Other materials such as, for example, dopant atoms or ions may be introduced into the original semiconductor layer.
A MOS field effect transistor (MOSFET), or generally a FET, irrespective of whether an N-channel FET or a P-channel FET is considered, comprises a source and a drain region, highly doped with dopants of the same species. An inversely or weakly doped channel region is then arranged between the drain and the source regions. The conductivity of the channel region, i.e., the drive current capability of the conductive channel, may be controlled by a gate electrode formed in the vicinity of the channel region and separated therefrom by a thin insulating layer. The conductivity of the channel region depends on, among other things, the mobility of the charge carriers and the distance along the transistor width direction between the source and drain regions, which is also referred to as channel length. For example, by reducing the channel length, the channel resistivity decreases. Thus, an increased switching speed and higher drive current capabilities of a transistor may be achieved by decreasing the transistor channel length.
However, reduction of transistor channel length may not be pushed to extreme limits without incurring other problems. For example, the capacitance between the gate electrode and the channel decreases with decreasing channel length. A solution to this problem consists in the so-called high-k/metal gate (HKMG) technology, which has become the standard manufacturing technology for transistors with gate lengths less than about 50 nm. According to the HKMG manufacturing process flow, the insulating layer separating the gate electrode from the channel region is comprised of a high-k material. This is in contrast to the conventional oxide/polysilicon (poly/SiON) method, whereby the gate electrode insulating layer is typically comprised of an oxide, preferably silicon dioxide or silicon oxynitride in the case of silicon-based devices. By high-k material, it is here referred to a material with a dielectric constant "k" greater than 10.
One more approach developed in order to increase the charge carrier mobility in the channel region consists of generating a certain type of strain in the channel region, since the charge carrier mobility in silicon strongly depends on the strain conditions of the crystalline material. This approach may be conveniently used in conjunction with the HKMG technology or with the conventional poly/SiON method.
Strain has been extensively used in semiconductor manufacturing based on the experimental finding that a compressive strain component in the channel region of a P-channel transistor generally results in a superior mobility of holes, thereby increasing switching speed and drive current of P-channel transistors. Analogously, applying a tensile stress to the channel region of an N-channel transistor may likely cause an increase of the mobility of electrons in the channel region.
In silicon-based transistors, a semiconductor alloy with the same crystal structure as silicon but with a slightly greater or smaller lattice constant may be used for applying a desired amount of compressive or tensile stress in the channel region of a FET, respectively. For example, if a certain degree of compressive strain is to be applied to the channel region of a P-channel FET, a semiconductor alloy with a greater lattice constant than silicon (Si) may be used, such as a silicon/germanium (SiGe) alloy with a variable concentration of germanium (Ge). Symmetrically, a semiconductor alloy with a slightly smaller lattice constant than Si, such as silicon/carbon (SiC), may be used for applying a desired degree of tensile stress to the channel region of an N-channel FET.
In order to induce the desired level of stress in the transistor channel region, the appropriate semiconductor alloy is embedded in the active region at the ends of the channel region. For example, after forming the gate electrode, cavities may be formed in the active region, adjacent to the gate electrode structure and on opposite sides thereof. The cavities thus formed may then be filled with a layer of the semiconductor alloy, by epitaxially depositing the semiconductor alloy into the cavity. When epitaxially grown on the silicon material, the semiconductor alloy generally experiences an internal compressive or tensile strain, depending on the lattice mismatch with silicon. This strain may then induce a corresponding compressive or tensile strain component in the adjacent channel region. Consequently, a plurality of process strategies have been developed in the past in order to incorporate a highly strained semiconductor alloy material in the drain and source areas of a transistor. A semiconductor alloy layer, for example an SiGe alloy or an SiC alloy, used in the manner described above will be hereinafter referred to as an "embedded semiconductor alloy."
Embedding a semiconductor alloy in the source/drain region of a FET usually entails drawbacks and inconveniences, mainly due to the epitaxial growth process of the semiconductor alloy layer in the cavity formed in the active region.
FIG. 1a shows a cross-section of a semiconductor structure 100 formed according to the method known from the prior art. The semiconductor structure 100 includes a first active region 110a formed in a semiconductor layer 110, which may be comprised of crystalline silicon or of any other appropriate semiconductor material, such as germanium, gallium arsenide, indium arsenide, any other III-V semiconductor or the like.
A second active region 110b has been formed in the semiconductor layer 110. The second active region 110b is separated from the first active region 110a by an isolation region 140. The isolation region 140 is comprised of a dielectric material. For example, the material making up the isolation region 140 may comprise silicon dioxide (SiO2).
The isolation region 140 may be, for example, formed as a shallow trench isolation (STI). Typically, the isolation region 140 is obtained by forming a trench in the semiconductor layer 110, which is subsequently filled with the desired dielectric material. The trench is formed by using an etching process. The etching process is normally carried out in the presence of a patterned mask, which leaves exposed the surface portions of the semiconductor layer 110 to be etched and screens all other surface portions from the etching. The mask is first deposited as a continuum layer on the surface of the semiconductor structure and then patterned, typically by means of optical lithography.
The semiconductor structure 100 includes a transistor 150 formed partly in and partly on top of the first active region 110a. A second transistor, not shown in FIG. 1a, might be formed partly in and partly on top of the second active region 110b.
The transistor 150 includes a gate structure 160 formed on the surface of the active region 110a. The gate structure 160 may have been formed according to the HKMG technology, or may be a traditional poly/SiON gate. A spacer structure 163 may be conveniently formed on the sidewalls of the gate structure 160. The spacer structure 163 may protect sensitive materials included in the gate structure 160. Furthermore, the spacer structure 163 may be conveniently used as a mask during implantation or etching processes performed in the course of the device manufacturing flow after gate formation.
As shown in FIG. 1a, two cavities are formed in the first active region 110a on opposite sides of the gate structure 160. More specifically, a first cavity has been formed on the left-hand side of the gate 160 and a second cavity has been formed on the right-hand side of the gate 160. The second cavity is partially defined by a surface of the isolation region 140 exposing dielectric material.
The first and the second cavities of the first active region 110a are filled with a first and a second embedded semiconductor alloy layer 122a and 124a, respectively. The semiconductor alloy layers 122a and 124a have been epitaxially formed in the first and second cavity, respectively. The semiconductor alloy of layers 122a and 124a is preferably the same. For example, layers 122a and 124a may comprise an SiGe alloy if the transistor 150 is a P-channel FET. Alternatively, layers 122a and 124a may comprise an SiC alloy if the transistor 150 is an N-channel FET.
As shown in FIG. 1a, the embedded semiconductor alloy layer 124a grown in the second cavity exposes a non-flat, tilted surface to the outside. This is due to the fact that the growth rate of the semiconductor alloy layer 124a is different at different points of the second cavity. More specifically, the semiconductor alloy layer 124a grows faster in correspondence to portions of the second cavity exposing the semiconductor material of the semiconductor layer 110. The exposed semiconductor material acts as a seed for the epitaxial growth of the semiconductor alloy. On the other hand, the epitaxial growth of the semiconductor alloy on the portions of the surface exposing the dielectric material of the isolation region 140 is seriously hindered. This causes an extremely uneven growth of the semiconductor layer 124a in the second cavity, resulting in a curved upper surface. This problem is known as the "ski slope" defect.
In order to get around the ski slope problem, a manufacturing strategy called "tucking" has been developed. The idea behind the tucking strategy is shown in FIGS. 1a-1c.
FIG. 1a shows that the semiconductor structure 100 comprises a second gate structure 160d, besides the first gate 160 formed on the surface of the first active area 110a. The second gate 160d will be hereinafter referred to as a "dummy gate." The dummy gate 160d may conveniently have been formed during the same manufacturing stage used for forming the gate 160. Thus, the dummy gate 160d has an analogous structure to the gate 160 and typically comprises analogous or the same materials as the gate 160. For example, the dummy gate 160d also has a spacer structure 163d formed on its sidewalls, analogously to the gate 163.
The dummy gate 160d extends partly on the surface of the isolation region 140 and partly on the surface of the second active region 110b. More specifically, a portion of the gate 160d, or of the spacer structure 163d, is formed onto a surface portion of the second active region 110b lying in proximity to the interface with the isolation region 140. A portion 112 of the second active region 110b is thus screened by, or "tucked," under the dummy gate 160d.
The semiconductor structure 100 also includes a further embedded semiconductor alloy layer 122b epitaxially grown in a cavity formed in the second active region 110b. The semiconductor alloy constituting layer 122b might be the same as that constituting layers 122a and 124a or a different semiconductor alloy.
The cavities hosting the semiconductor alloy layers 122a, 124a and 122b shown in FIG. 1a are preferably formed in the course of the same etching process, which is carried out after forming the gate structures 160 and 160d. Thus, the tucked semiconductor material in portion 112 of the second active region 110b is unaffected by the etching process, since it is screened by the dummy gate 160d. Consequently, the cavity formed by the etching process in the second active region 110b and to be filled with the semiconductor alloy 122b is defined by a surface exclusively exposing the semiconductor material of the active region 110b.
FIGS. 1b and 1c are top views of the same portion of the semiconductor structure 100 during consecutive stages of the manufacturing flow leading to the configuration shown in FIG. 1a.
FIG. 1b shows the semiconductor structure 100 after the isolation region 140 has been formed in the semiconductor substrate 110. We assume that the surfaces of the semiconductor layer 110 and of the isolation region 140 define a common plane, identified as the horizontal xy-plane. The isolation region 140 is adjacent to the active region 110b, so that the isolation region 140 and the active region 110b share an interface 142 defined by the boundary surface between the two areas. According to the state of the art, the interface 142 is flat, so that it defines a vertical plane substantially perpendicular to the horizontal xy-plane.
FIG. 1c shows the portion of the semiconductor structure 100 during a subsequent manufacturing stage to that shown in FIG. 1b. A gate structure 160d has been formed on the surface of the semiconductor layer 110. The gate structure 160d could, for example, be the dummy gate 160d shown in FIG. 1a. The gate 160d shown in FIG. 1 c has a longitudinal axis parallel to the direction identified by the intersection of the interface 142 with the horizontal xy-plane. This direction is parallel to the y-axis in the figure. The gate structure 160d is partly formed on the surface of the isolation region 140. Furthermore, a portion of the gate 160d in proximity to its right-hand edge is formed on the active region, so that the semiconductor region 112 indicated with a dotted line is tucked under the gate 160d.
An etching process is then carried out in order to form a cavity 132b in the active region 110b. As the tucked semiconductor portion 112 is screened by the gate structure 160d, this is not etched away by the etching process. Consequently, the surface defining cavity 132b only exposes the semiconductor material making up the active region, and not the dielectric material of the isolation region. When the cavity 132b is filled with an embedded semiconductor alloy 122b, the system looks as shown in FIG. 1a.
FIGS. 1a-1c show examples of single-sided tucking, which does not entail significant technical challenges. However, the manufacturing process is extremely critical when double-sided tucking is to be achieved, i.e., using the same gate structure for simultaneously tucking respective portions of two neighboring active areas.
Some of the problems encountered when trying to achieve double-sided tucking are schematically illustrated in FIG. 1d, wherein the semiconductor structure 100 includes two neighboring active areas (not shown) formed on opposite sides of the isolation region 140. The gate structure 160 has been formed so as to simultaneously lie on the surface of the isolation region 140 and of the two active regions, so that the gate 160 tucks a portion 114 of the first active region and a portion 112 of the second active region. An etching process results in the formation of a cavity 134a in the first active region and a cavity 132b in the second active region.
In order for the gate structure 160 to be able to tuck a semiconductor layer portion included in both active regions, the distance between the active regions must be small enough. This requirement results in an upper bound on the thickness of the isolation region 140, i.e., on the distance between the interfaces 142 and 146 formed by the isolation region 140 with the first and the second active regions, respectively.
As the gate length shrinks, the thickness of the isolation region 140 is required to decrease accordingly. For example, considering that typical gate lengths may be as small as about 20 nm in the currently most advanced semiconductor manufacturing technologies, the thickness of the isolation region 140 should ideally be of a few nanometers and may by no means exceed an upper bound of about 10 nm. However, by making the isolation region 140 thinner and thinner, other problems arise, due, for example, to the limited precision of the optical lithography techniques used when forming the isolation region 140.
A likely effect of excessively shrinking the thickness of the isolation region 140 is shown in FIG. 1 d, with the formation of an overlapping or bridging area 116 connecting the first and the second active regions. The bridging areas 116 arise since the thickness of the isolation region 140 is too small to be able to be resolved by optical lithography. Bridging areas 116 are extremely undesirable, since they act as electrical short circuits between neighboring active areas, thereby likely leading to device failure.
A need then exists for an improved transistor manufacturing technique enabling double-sided tucking in transistors requiring a semiconductor alloy embedded in the source/drain regions. Specifically, the trend of semiconductor manufacturing technologies towards a progressive reduction of the transistor gate length calls for an improvement in the tucking strategies known from the prior art.

Tuck strategy in transistor manufacturing flow


A system, apparatus, and method are directed to network communication over a tunnel by downloading selective tunneling (STM) components into memory of a client device. The STM components selectively employ tunneling to route network traffic to a requested resource. The STM components may include a network API, application, and a tunnel manager that have been modified based in part on a client configuration. As a network request is made it is evaluated against the client configuration. If the connection is to be tunneled, a network tunnel is selectively established. If the client configuration and/or the request indicate that the request is to be un-tunneled, an un-tunneled network connection may instead be established. The client configuration may also indicate that the client device is to be redirected to enable remediation. When the application component is closed, or otherwise terminated, the client's memory may be purged of the loaded STM components.

This invention relates generally to network communications, and more particularly but not exclusively, to managing network communications by selectively employing tunneled network connections based, in part, on a client configuration and the request.
Many of today's enterprises regularly use the Internet to remotely connect employees, business partners, and, even customers to hosted resources. The benefits are significant, but not without risk. Unfortunately, the risks are growing.
In response to the growing risks of attacks, potentials for legal suits, federal compliance requirements, and so forth, enterprises have spent millions to protect their digital resources. In particular, many enterprises have recognized that the first security barrier to their information systems is a strong security perimeter. While a security perimeter is designed to restrict improper flow of network traffic between networks, they may also block desirable network traffic flows. This may be particularly true where a client device resides on one side of the security perimeter and a resource server, or another client resides on the other side of the security perimeter.
Some traditional solutions that have been implemented to enable communications across the security perimeter include Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), proxy servers, and reverse proxy servers. However, each of these solutions also bring with them problems that may limit their usefulness to an enterprise. For example, while traditional VPNs enable secure communications across the security perimeter, they often also require VPN software to be pre-installed on the remote client. This may require access rights or skills that an end-user of the device may not possess.
While traditional proxy servers may enable some communications through the security perimeter, many of today's applications and protocols do support the use of proxy servers. For example, in the case of some browsers, some active components embedded within a web page may not properly function through the security perimeter using a proxy server. Reverse proxy servers may also create complications for communications through the security perimeter. For example, many implementations of reverse proxy servers may rewrite protocols and/or web content before sending the content through the security perimeter to the client. However, web pages that include client side scripts, active components, or the like, may be virtually impossible to be rewritten and thereby limiting the use of reverse proxy servers. Therefore, there is a need in the industry for an improved mechanism to enable communications across a security perimeter. Thus, it is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.

Selective tunneling based on a client configuration and request


A method for determining merchant availability is provided. The method includes storing in an electronic storage device a database of merchant transactions; accessing information in the database concerning the transactions, including time of the transactions and locations for merchants participating in the transactions, and assembling the information to provide locations where a merchant is currently available for conducting business. A computer readable non-transitory storage medium storing instructions of a computer program, which when executed by a computer system, results in performance of steps of the method.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to payment card systems. More particularly, it relates to methods for exploiting the information generated by the transactions conducted on such systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
The first credit payment systems were two party systems in which a merchant sold goods to a customer without requiring full or any initial payment, but where the customer paid for the goods at a later date, or may have made periodic payments over a predetermined period of time. This method of payment is of limited scope and is not flexible, in that it involves only one merchant, and the customer must make individual arrangements with each and every merchant, and for each and every transaction.
In a three party system, a single card issuer contracts with customers and issues credit cards to them. The issuer also contracts with merchants, who agree to make sales to a customer having a credit card from the issuer. When a card is presented at a merchant's establishment, it is generally the issuer who approves the transaction and pays the merchant. However, this system, a so-called closed system, has occasionally been modified so that another party approves the transaction and interacts with the merchant.
MasterCard, the assignee of the present application, operates within what is known as a "four-party" payment card system. The four key participants in a four-party system are: (i) the consumer and business cardholders that use the cards; (ii) the merchants that accept the cards; (iii) the financial institutions that issue the cards (referred to as the card issuer); and (iv) the financial institutions that sign up merchants to accept the cards (referred to as the acquirer). In a typical four-party payment card transaction, the merchant pays a "merchant discount fee" (i.e., a merchant service charge) to the acquirer in recognition of the services provided by the acquirer in facilitating payment card acceptance by the merchant. However, a substantial portion of the benefits that the merchant receives through card acceptance comes from the value of the network and services performed by the card issuer. For example, the card issuer underwrites and extends credit to the cardholder of a credit card, which enables the sale, and the card issuer assumes the risk of nonpayment by the cardholder, which enables the merchant to get paid for the transaction even if card issuer does not. To compensate the card issuer for providing such benefits to the acquirer's merchant customer, the acquirer pays an "interchange fee" to the card issuer in connection with a payment card transaction. The interchange fee helps to partially reimburse the card issuer for the many activities it performs and costs it incurs that enable the acquirer to provide significant benefits and value to its merchant customers. Interchange fees are only one of the many cost components of the merchant discount fees that are established by acquirers and paid by merchants in exchange for card acceptance services provided by acquirers to merchants.
In general, the transaction system and associated methods described above work. However there are situations in which additional convenience for the user would be desirable.

System and method for determining merchant location and availability using transaction data


A system for tracking register and/or storage area assignments and warning a programmer of potential assignment errors. More specifically, the system tracks programmer assignments to registers and storage areas and determines if a register or storage area has been modified prior to a call to a program or process external to the source code being examined. The system notes whether a modified register or storage area is restored to its original value subsequent to the external call. If the register or storage area has not been restored, the system displays a warning of a possible assignment error.

In many programming languages, the programmer has the illusion of allocating arbitrarily many variables while a compiler decides how to allocate these variables to specific storage areas (specific memory address or block of memory addresses) or a small, finite set of registers. However, in low-level languages and for some applications it is desirable or necessary for the programmer to specifically allocate and/or assign values to the specific storage areas and registers. Direct assignment to registers and storage areas is often done in assembly language, and in complex programs there are often low-level tasks that either can be better implemented in assembly, or can only be implemented in assembly language. Also, it is frequently useful for the programmer to look at the assembly output of a compiler, and hand-edit, or hand optimize the assembly code in ways that the compiler cannot. Assembly is also useful for time-critical or real-time processes, because unlike with high-level languages, there is no ambiguity about how the code will be compiled. The timing can be strictly controlled, which is also useful for writing simple device drivers.
Separate programs sometimes work together by referencing one another to provide a particular feature or functionality. A first program can make a "call" to a second program. The second (called) program can be another complete program, whose instructions form a logical pattern which further process information passed to it by the first program and, optionally, pass back processed information. Alternatively, the second program can be a series of unrelated statements or macros whose sole purpose is to always process information passed to it, then execute one statement which always passes information back.
When calling an external program, there is a convention that registers and control blocks (a data or storage area with a predefined structure containing the information required for the control of a task, function, or operation) in use by the calling program when the call is made are saved prior to the call and reestablished to their pre-call state or value when control is returned to the calling program. For example, registers may have been used by the calling program for storage of variable values which the calling program used prior to the transfer of control to the called program, and which the calling program may need to use when the called program returns control. The called program may not, however, need to use all of the registers for its processing, and it would be extra, perhaps unnecessary, effort to save the contents of all of these registers in memory if only some of the registers are to be used by the called program. As such, it may suffice to re-allocate only one register (or a limited number) needed by the second program. However, failure to re-allocate the one register back to its original use or value when control is returned to the calling program can lead to subsequent errors in the logic of the calling program. Tracing the source of such an error can be a difficult process as the error may not appear for a time after the control is returned to the calling program.

Warning of register and storage area assignment errors

International Business Machines Corporation


A counter-rotation wash system is provided in an automatic washer wherein the basket and agitator are reversely oscillated during a wash mode and the basket and agitator are co-rotated during a liquid extraction or spin mode. A reversing PSC motor is connected through a planetary device to both the agitator and basket with the basket being free from restraint during the agitate mode. Reduced torque requirements and other advantages accrue.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic clothes washer and more particularly to a vertical axis washer having an agitator and wash basket.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In conventional vertical-axis automatic washers, there is a central agitator which oscillates during the wash portion of the cycle within a wash basket holding the materials to be washed, the wash basket being held in a fixed position relative to the washer cabinet by a brake. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,216,227 discloses a direct drive motor that drives an agitator by means of the motor shaft and drives the basket by means of a coupling between the motor housing and the basket. The basket is locked by a brake mechanism during agitation.
In other constructions the basket does move during agitation, but either there is no agitator present, or else the basket moves with the agitator.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,066,521 discloses an automatic washer in which there is no vertical axis agitator, but rather the basket itself is rotated periodically during the wash operation to effect mechanical agitation of the clothes load.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,648,486 discloses an automatic washer wherein a central agitator is affixed to the basket and both the basket and agitator move together during the agitation portion of the wash cycle.


A hat is temporarily or permanently formed from fabric that matches or complements the appearance of one""s ensemble by wrapping and tucking peripheral portions of the fabric about a relatively stiff yet pliable annular brim core member after a central portion of the fabric has been shaped to define a crown of the hat. The inner periphery of the annular brim core member may be provided with formations that enhance brim flexibility and fit, and/or that assist in holding the fabric covered hat in place on the wearer""s head. Unless the fabric is permanently affixed to the brim core member, the brim core member may be reused with other pieces of fabric that match or complement other ensembles. The brim core member can be configured, shaped and styled to give a variety of attractive appearances to hats that are formed in this manner.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hats that can be temporarily or permanently formed using a wide variety of fabrics that match or complement one""s ensemble by wrapping and tucking peripheral portions of one or more selected pieces of fabric about a relatively stiff yet pliable annular brim core member after central portions of the selected piece or pieces of fabric have been shaped to define a crown of the hat. In its simplest form, the present invention provides a way in which hats can be quickly and easily formed for one-time wearing from fabric that matches or complements one""s outfit by positioning a central portion of a piece of fabric over the crown of one""s head to define the crown of a hat, positioning a generally annular shaped brim core member over the fabric covered crown of the head at a location where the hat is to have a brim, and covering the brim core member with such peripheral portions of the fabric as depend beneath the location of the brim core member by wrapping a first part of these peripheral portions to extend outwardly from the fabric covered crown of the head across the bottom surface of the brim core member, a second part to extend upwardly around the outer periphery of the brim core member, a third part to extend inwardly across the top surface of the brim core member, and a fourth part to be retainingly engaged by the inner periphery of the brim core member. In more complex forms of the invention, one or more crown shaping members can be put in place before the central portion of a piece of fabric is shaped to define the crown portion of a hat, the brim core member can be preconfigured or shaped and styled during hat formation to provide hats of a variety of appearances, and the brim core member can be provided with formations 1) that enhance brim flexibility or fit, 2) that assist in holding the fabric in securely retained engagement with the inner periphery of the brim core member, and/or 3) that assist in holding the fabric covered hat in place on the wearer""s head. Unless the selected fabric used to form a hat is permanently affixed to the brim core member, the brim core member may be reused with other pieces of fabric to provide other hats that match or suitably complement other ensembles.
2. Prior Art
While it is known to specially make ladies"" and mens"" hats from flexible cover fabric that is selected to match or to complement the appearance of one""s ensemble, specially made hats tend to be costly when ordered from a professional supplier. Inasmuch as the work involved in specially making a hat can prove tedious and may require skills that tax the abilities of the average person, the making of hats on a xe2x80x9cdo it yourselfxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cat homexe2x80x9d basis has often proven to be impractical.
While a variety of simplifications in the design of hats have been proposed in an effort to provide methods and means that enable those skilled in crafts to make their own hats using fabrics that match or complement one""s ensembles, prior proposals have met with relatively little success in the marketplace due to their complexity, their cost and their failure to offer a flexible variety of attractive hat styles. A long-standing need for a simple approach that will enable a variety of hat styles to be formed on a xe2x80x9cdo it yourselfxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cat homexe2x80x9d basis by those who do not necessarily have good crafting skills, using inexpensive materials that can be reused, has gone unsatisfied by prior proposals.
The present invention addresses the foregoing and other drawbacks of the prior art by providing hats that are simply formed utilizing a minimum number of relatively low-cost components, and that offer flexibility of design as well as flexibility in the character of the fabrics that can be utilized.
A feature of the approach taken by the present invention to provide hats that can be simply, easily and relatively inexpensively formed on a xe2x80x9cdo it yourselfxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cat homexe2x80x9d basis is that, unless the components of a particular hat are permanently connected (as may be desired if a particular hat is to be repeatedly worn, or if the hat will need to be removed and put back in place on one""s head repeatedly during a single wearing), the components can be reused to make other hats, and the fabric may be reused even for other purposes inasmuch as it is in no way damaged when hats are temporarily formed for single wearing use.
In one simple form of the invention, a hat is formed from a relatively stiff yet pliable, generally annular brim core member formed at least in large part from relatively thin material and having an inner periphery, an outer periphery, and oppositely facing upper and lower surfaces that extend between the inner and outer peripheries, wherein the inner periphery is adapted to extend perimetrically about a lower part of a crown of a head of a person who is to wear the hat; and a piece of flexible cover fabric having a central portion adapted to cover at least a large part of the crown of the head of said person, and having a peripheral portion that extends about the central portion and is adapted to cover the brim core member when the brim core member is positioned to extend perimetrically about the lower part of the crown of the head of said person at a time when the central portion is covering at least said large part of the crown of the head of said person, wherein the peripheral portion has a first part that connects with and extends outwardly from the central portion to cover the lower surface, a second part that connects with the first part and extends upwardly to cover the outer periphery, a third part that connects with the second part and extends inwardly from the outer periphery to cover the upper surface, and a fourth part that connects with the third part and is retainingly engaged by the inner periphery. Any remainder of the peripheral portion may be tucked between the lower surface and the first part, and/or may be utilized in the vicinity of the inner periphery to further enhance the appearance of the resulting hat.
In another simple form, the invention includes a method of forming a hat, comprising the steps of: providing an annular hat brim core member configured to extend perimetrically about a base of a crown portion of a head of a person who is to wear the hat, wherein the annular hat brim core member has top and bottom surfaces on opposite sides thereof that are interconnected by an inner periphery and an outer periphery; providing flexible fabric material having a central portion of sufficient size to cover an upwardly extending the crown portion of the head of the person who is to wear the hat, and having a peripheral portion of sufficient size to extend perimetrically about the central portion to cover exterior surface portions of the hat brim core member when the hat brim core member is positioned to extend perimetrically about a lower part of the central portion; forming the central portion of the flexible fabric material to define a configuration that conforms to the shape of and can serve as a cover for the upwardly extending crown portion of the head of the person who is to wear the hat, with the peripheral portion depending from the lower part thereof; positioning the brim core member to extend perimetrically about the lower part of the central portion; and, wrapping the peripheral portion of the flexible fabric material to extend from the inner periphery across the bottom of the brim core member to the outer periphery, upwardly across the outer periphery, inwardly from the outer periphery to the inner periphery, and into retaining engagement with the inner periphery, for example by extending downwardly between the inner periphery and the crown of the hat. Any remainder (i.e., xe2x80x9cexcessxe2x80x9d or non-essential part of the peripheral portion) may be tucked into a space between the bottom of the brim core member and such fabric as covers the bottom of the brim core member, or may be used in the vicinity of the inner periphery to further enhance the appearance of the resulting hat.
Flexibility can be added to the inner peripheral region of the brim core member by utilizing a rubber band or other resilient member to define the inner periphery, or by providing arcuate portions of the brim core member that are only intermittently connected to other parts of the brim core member about the inner peripheral region. Slits can be provided at selected locations in the brim core member to enhance its flexibility and its ability to be shaped, as desired, in an effort to stylize the resulting hat. More than one piece of fabric may be used to define the crown of the hat and/or to cover the brim of the hat, to give contrasting colors or to provide a way in which one-sided fabrics (such as chair covering and wall hanging fabrics) can be used to attractively cover both the crown and the brim of a hat. And, inwardly extending projections can be provided along the inner periphery to enhance the fit of the hat on a wearer""s head and/or to help in retaining the hat on a wearer""s head.

Hats, hat components, and method of forming hats