A semiconductor device has recesses formed in the substrate during removal of the anti-reflective coating (ARC) because these recess locations are exposed during the etching of the ARC. Although the etchant is chosen to be selective between the ARC material and the substrate material, this selectivity is limited so that recesses do occur. A problem associated with the formation of these recesses is that the source/drains have further to diffuse to become overlapped with the gate. The result is that the transistors may have reduced current drive. The problem is avoided by waiting to perform the ARC removal until at least after formation of a sidewall spacer around the gate. The consequent recess formation thus occurs further from the gate, which results in reducing or eliminating the impediment this recess can cause to the source/drain diffusion that desirably extends to overlap with the gate.

This invention relates to integrated circuits and more particularly to integrated circuits with a recess in the substrate.
In the manufacture of integrated circuits one of the problems that has become more significant as dimensions have become smaller is recesses in the substrate that occur under normal processing. The recesses in the substrate occur primarily as a consequence of the substrate being exposed during the etching away of some portion of a layer of material that was over the substrate. An etchant is applied to the substrate for some amount of time during and/or after the layer that is being etched has been removed. One example is that there is a situation in which there is exposed substrate at the onset of an etch of another material in a different location. Another example is that a thin layer over the substrate is etched through during an etch of a material elsewhere so that the substrate becomes exposed part way through the etch of the material elsewhere. Another example is that a layer over the substrate is being etched and after the substrate becomes exposed, the etch continues as an over-etch to ensure that the layer that is desired to be removed is completely removed. The etchant that is chosen desirably does not significantly etch semiconductor substrates, but as a practical matter such etchants are very difficult to work with. Consequently the layers that are desired to be removed are removed by an etchant that does have some etching effect on the semiconductor substrate, typically silicon. Such a process is shown in FIGS. 1-9.
Shown in FIG. 1 is a semiconductor device 10 useful in making an integrated circuit comprising a substrate 12, a polysilicon gate 14, an anti-reflective coating (ARC) 16 of nitride, and a thin oxide 18 which is between gate 14 and substrate 12 as well as extending in areas adjacent to gate 14. In order to remove nitride ARC 16, an etchant, such as a halogen based material such as fluorine and chlorine, is used. These etchants also etch silicon although at not as fast a rate as nitride is etched. The result of removing ARC 16 is a recess surface 22 shown in FIG. 2. Shown in FIG. 3 is device 10 after formation of a sidewall spacer 24. Sidewall spacer 24 is formed of oxide and occurs as a result, as is commonly known, of applying a relatively conformal layer and subsequently etching it with an anisotropic etch. This causes a further recess in substrate 12 aligned with sidewall spacer 24. Shown in FIG. 4 is formation of source/drain region 26 and source/drain 28 using sidewall spacer 24 as a mask. This implant is commonly called the extension implant and has a relatively lower doping concentration than a subsequent heavy source/drain implant.
Shown in FIG. 5 is device 10 after deposition of an oxide liner 30 and a nitride layer 32. Nitride layer 32 is then etched back as is liner 30 resulting in sidewall spacer 34 and liner portion 38. During this processing, source/drain regions 26 and 28 diffuse, expanding the area of source/drain regions 26 and 28. Shown in FIG. 7 is device 10 after a heavy implant to form heavily-doped regions 40 and 42 using sidewall spacer 34 as a mask. Shown in FIG. 8 is continued expansion of source/drain regions 26 and 28 as well as diffusion of regions 40 and 42 due to standard processing.
Shown in FIG. 9 is device 10 after formation of silicide regions 48 and 50 which extend under regions 40 and 42. This also shows a completed diffusion of regions 49 and 51, which are the remaining portions of regions 26 and 28. These regions may not extend all the way to gate oxide 20. With the regions 49 and 51 not fully extending to be in contact with gate oxide 20, there is some additional space between gate 44 and the channel formed between regions 49 and 51 so that current passing between regions 49 and 51 is less than it would be if they had diffused in closer proximity to gate 20. This is a disadvantage and is a direct result of the additional distance the diffusion must travel due to the recess of substrate 12 adjacent to gate 44. Silicide region 46 is also formed on top of gate 14 and consumes a significant amount of gate 14 to leave a gate that is a combination of a region 44 of polysilicon and a region 46 of silicide.
Thus, there is a need to reduce the adverse effects of a recess that occurs in the substrate during normal processing. This problem continues to get worse as dimensions decrease and voltages decrease. The ability to completely invert the channel and provide optimum current between source and drain is compromised if the source and drain do not have the proper overlap with the overlying gate.

Integrated circuit device and method therefor


A storage system generates a low-density parity check (LDPC) code from a plurality of subcodes. The storage system stores each subcode in a different page of a word line in the memory. The subcode can be stored in one plane in the memory or across multiple planes. When the subcodes are stored across multiple planes, they can be stored in a checkboard pattern.

Low-cost memories are desired for cold storage products. Cold storage products typically have relaxed specifications in terms of endurance and data retention and reduced performance requirements (i.e., lower write/read performance). In order to achieve significant memory cost reduction, logical scaling can be used to store more information per memory cell by increasing the number of programming states and/or reducing the error correction code (ECC) redundancy, both of which degrade the ECC performance either by introducing more errors (e.g., more states per cell) or by weakening the code.

Storage system and method for using subcodes and convolutional-based LDPC interleaved coding schemes with read threshold calibration support


In one embodiment, detecting a host device on a port of a forwarder switch in a network, detecting a movement of the host device from a first forwarder switch to a second forwarder switch, and multicast broadcasting an updated device information for the host device to a convergence group switches and a proximity group switches, where the convergence group switches includes switches in the network that are not configured as forwarder switches, and the proximity group switches include forwarder switches grouped together based on radio proximity is provided.

In today's wireless communications world, mobility is a large factor. With the ever increasing speed of wireless connections, mobility requires fast host route convergence, in the order of few milliseconds. Whenever a host moves from one switch to another switch in the network, in order to continue to keep host connections, whether they be established voice calls or data Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connections, and minimize traffic loss to the host, the network needs to have the latest consistent reachability information about the host as quickly as possible in order to keep the network outages limited.
The routing convergence domain size is limited due to sheer number of messages propagated by the switches when each host/device in the network moves form one switch to another. The flooding of the route update messages sent throughout the entire network utilizes more bandwidth, and consumes processing cycles of the network, thus limiting the number of devices on the network domain. However, not every switch in the network needs to be notified of each individual movement of a host device. Each switch only needs to be notified if a host device movement will cause a change in its own data path, thus, there is much possible room for optimization compared to today's traditional wired and wireless networks.


An electrical contact is provided. An embodiment of the electrical contact includes a bottom member, a pair of side walls and a tongue. The bottom member includes a first portion and a second potion and also defines a horizontal plane. The pair of sides walls extend away from the bottom member. The pair of side walls define an opening therebetween which is located above the second portion of the bottom member. The tongue extends at an angle with respect to the horizontal plane. A wire is insertable into the electrical contact from the first portion of the bottom member and a post or conductor is insertable into the opening. At least a portion of the tongue helps maintain at least a portion of the post at least partially within the electrical contact. The electrical contact may also include a fold and a stop member.

The present disclosure relates to the field of electrical contacts and more particularly to electrical contacts that provide an electrical connection between two electrical components.
Contacts are generally used to provide detachable electrical connections between components of a system. For example, connectors may be used to help transmit electrical power in a system. As connectors are mated, the mating parts exert normal forces on each other. Stronger normal forces result in less contact resistance at the connection. Stated another way, as the normal forces exerted by two connectors on one another increase, the resistance between the connectors decreases, and visa versa. As the resistance is decreased, the current capacity of the connectors increases. Contacts may also be gold-plated to reduce contact resistance. Lower contact resistance is generally desirable, since, as current passes through the contact, the contact will heat up more as the contact resistance level increases. The contact resistance, and resulting heating of the contact, determine the maximum amount of current that the connector is capable of carrying. However, higher normal forces, while reducing contact resistance, generally have the detrimental effect of increasing wear as the connector is mated and unmated, thereby limiting the durability of the connector. Prior art contacts have had to sacrifice one of the important qualities of lower contact resistance or durability to achieve the other.
In the field of electrical contacts, an electrical contact may be inserted into a contact housing. The electrical contact may be held in place by a lance disposed on the electrical contact or by a finger disposed on the contact housing. The strength of the lance or finger may help to determine how much of a back-out force the contact housing may be able to withstand.
The process of connecting a plurality of wires to an electrical contact may be accomplished by inserting the wires into the electrical contact, aligning the wires and crimping the wires in place. During this process, the wires may enter areas of the electrical contact where they are not intended to enter, such as where a post enters the electrical contact. Additionally, it may be difficult to precisely align all of the wires with each other.
It may be useful to provide an electrical contact which provides a greater normal force on a portion of a connector that is inserted therein. It may also be useful to provide an electrical contact including a fold which is capable of withstanding a relatively large back-out force (relative to an electrical contact without a fold). Further, it may be useful to provide an electrical contact which facilitates proper insertion and alignment of a plurality of wires therein.

Electrical contact including integral stop member


A direct-light type backlight module and a liquid crystal display (LCD) are proposed. The direct-light type backlight module includes a base frame, a light source, a diffuser plate, and a plurality of support pins. The light source is disposed on the base frame. The diffuser plate is disposed on the light source. The plurality of support pins are disposed on the base frame and support the diffuser plate. At least one of the plurality of support pins is made of first transparent materials, or is made of is made of top and bottom connected second transparent materials and opaque materials. Through the abovementioned method, support pin shadow mura could be successfully prevented, and a backlight effect and a display effect could be effectively enhanced when light emitted by the light source shines on the at least one of the plurality of support pins.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) technology, and mare particularly, to a direct-light type backlight module and an LCD.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) used to be backlight sources of an LCD. However, LEDs have been substituted for most CCFLs and become the mainstream light sources on the market. This is because LEDs have advantages of becoming flatter, consuming lower power, and containing no mercury. Moreover, the LEDs have been used in direct-light type backlight modules gradually.
Low-cost direct-light type backlight modules use LEDs mounted by surface mount technology (SMT) and use a secondary optical lens as well. In such LCD technology, a type that maximum luminous intensity occurs at a wide viewing angle replaces the lambertian scattering light pattern (LEDs emit light). Referring to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 shows a diagram of refraction of light emitted by an LED in the secondary optical lens 102 in a conventional direct-light type backlight. A light source 101 is an LED and is disposed under the secondary optical lens 102. The center of the secondary optical lens 102 is concave. The concave center could deflect light emitted by the light source 101 at a frontal viewing angle to emitting light at a wide angle. Therefore, the formed light pattern is transformed from the lambertian scattering light pattern into the wide angle scattering light pattern. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, FIG. 2 is a coordinate diagram showing a relation between brightness and viewing angles in the lambertian scattering light pattern formed when an LED light source without the secondary optical lens emits light. In FIG. 2, x-coordinate indicates viewing angles, and y-coordinate indicates brightness of light. FIG. 3 is a coordinate diagram showing the relation between relative brightness and viewing angles of the wide viewing angle light pattern shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 3, x-coordinate indicates relative brightness of light, and y-coordinate indicates viewing angles. As can be seen, the wide viewing angle light pattern combining with the secondary optical lens could reduce the number of LEDs, which helps reduce production costs.
However, a serious technical problem would occur when the wide viewing angle light pattern is realized in the direct-light type backlight module. Whenever light emitted at a wide viewing angle usually shines on support pins which support a diffuser plate, a shadow is produced. Referring to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 shows a location relationship diagram of a support pin 402 and a light source in a conventional direct-light type backlight module. As shown in FIG. 4, due to a shielding effect of the support pin 402, a luminous domain 403 is formed on the upper part of the support pin 402, and a shadow is formed at one side of the support pin 402 against light which is emitted by an LED 401 (the light source) and shines on the support pin 402. In other words, an emitting surface of the direct-light type backlight module would produce a stripe of shadow on one side of the support pin 402 against the LED 401, which is called "support pin shadow mura." Referring to FIG. 5, FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of support pin shadow mura generated when light is blocked by the support pin 402 in FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 5, a domain 403′ represents the shadow after light emitted by the LED 401 is blocked by the upper part of the support pin 402. As can be seen, an emitting effect of the direct-light type backlight module is affected.
Therefore, there is a need for a direct-light type backlight module for preventing support pin shadow mura occurring in the conventional technology.

Direct-light type backlight module and liquid crystal display

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.


An integrated medical software system with embedded transcription functionality, and a method of using that system, is disclosed. The system includes a clinical software module that is configured to be executed by a processor to create an electronic document and to capture clinical data for a patient in the electronic document during an encounter with the patient. The system also includes a transcription software application that is configured to be executed by the processor to select predefined clinical data that will appear within the electronic document in response to speech commands and to automatically transcribe dictated clinical data that will appear within the electronic document in response to dictation, wherein the predefined clinical data being previously linked to at least one of a diagnosis code and a procedure code and the dictated clinical data being automatically linked to at least one of a diagnosis code and a procedure code as it is transcribed. And the system includes an account management software module that is configured to be executed by the processor to automatically generate at least one of a bill, a claim, or a statement for the patient using the at least one of a diagnosis code and a procedure code linked to at least one of the predefined clinical data and the dictated clinical data.

Traditionally, healthcare providers have kept all of their patients' information in paper filing systems. That patient information includes, but is not limited to, patients' demographic information (e.g., age, weight, gender, race, income, and geographic location), financial information (e.g., outstanding balances, insurance claims currently being processed, and other account information), and clinical information (e.g., clinician documentation of observations, thoughts and actions, treatments administered, patient history, medication and allergy lists, vaccine administration lists, laboratory reports, X-rays, charts, progress notes, consultation reports, procedure notes, hospital reports, correspondence, and test results). The healthcare providers, or clinicians, that maintain that patient information include, but are not limited to, physicians (Doctors of Medicine (MDs) and Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DOs)), dentists, chiropractors, podiatrists, therapists, psychologists, physician assistants, nurses, medical assistants, and technicians.
The manual, paper-based practice of keeping a patient's information, however, is a very inefficient, labor-intensive process that requires many checks and balances to ensure accurate processing of the information and, therefore, takes up a significant amount of clinician's time that could otherwise be spent with patients. Accordingly, electronic medical records (EMRs), Electronic Health Records (EHRs), and Personal Health Records (PHRs) have been developed to provide many of the functionalities and features of paper filing systems in an electronic, paperless format.
An EMR is an electronic record of patient information that can be created, gathered, managed, and consulted by the authorized clinicians and other staff at the healthcare practice where the record is created. An EHR is an electronic record of patient information that conforms to nationally recognized interoperability standards and that can be created, managed, and consulted by authorized clinicians and staff, both at the healthcare practice that creates the record and at other healthcare practice sites. And, a PHR is an electronic record of patient information that conforms to nationally recognized interoperability standards and that can be drawn from multiple sources while being managed, shared, and controlled by the patient to whom it belongs. Accordingly, EMRs are aimed primarily at the efficient management of multiple records in a single healthcare provider's practice, while EHRs and PHRs are aimed primarily at integrating multiple data sources into each electronic record.
The nationally recognized interoperability standards for EHRs are currently endorsed by the Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HTISP) and certified by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT). Those standards require EHRs to have the ability to communicate and exchange data accurately, effectively, securely, and consistently with different information technology systems, software applications, and networks in various settings such that the clinical or operational purpose and meaning of the data are preserved and unaltered as that data is exchanged. Thus, while an EMR is generally characterized as an electronic version of a physician's paper record, an EHR is characterized as a more comprehensive record containing additional data integrated to and from other sources. EHRs are further characterized as being either "basic" or "fully functional." A basic EHR includes patient demographics, problem lists, clinical notes, orders for prescription, and viewing laboratory and imaging results. A fully functional EHR includes patient demographics, problem lists, clinical notes, medical history and follow-up, orders for prescriptions, orders for tests, prescription orders sent electronically, laboratory and imaging results, warnings of drug interactions or contraindications, out-of-range test levels, and reminders for guideline-based interventions.
At their core, EMR and EHR systems include large-capacity databases that contain patient information stored in structured, relational tables of searchable data. Unfortunately, many of the vendors of EMR and EHR systems have resisted making their software capable of exporting and importing patient information using uniform electronic messaging, document, and form management standards (e.g., the Health Level Seven (HL7) messaging standard, the Continuity of Care Document (CCD) document standard, and the Retrieve Form for Data Capture (RFD) form management standard). And, when data is not captured and stored using uniform, standardized medical vocabularies, and when it is not transmitted using uniform messaging, document, and form management standards, that data of little use outside of the system in which it is captured and stored. Instead, custom interfaces must be designed to allow the import and export of data between systems so that data can be shared between those systems. The process of developing different interfaces between the disparate formats used by different vendors is expensive and difficult. Moreover, such interfaces are also costly and labor-intensive to maintain.
The problem of interfacing different EMR and EHR systems is exacerbated by the fact that, in the present health care industry, most patient visits are to small, self-contained practices that often treasure their autonomy and are unwilling and/or unable to acquire EMR and EHR systems unless each of those systems is individually tailored to the narrow objectives of each specific self-contained practice. Accordingly, most EMR and EHR vendors have been forced to provide healthcare practices with individually customized systems that employ stand-alone features and functions on the basis of what a specific practice group wants and needs, which means that similar practice groups in adjacent counties may have very different system features and functions based on their different priorities. Thus, the various existing EMR and EHR systems are not well suited for interaction and data exchange with each other, or for maintaining information that would be useful to other systems. The data collected by the different practice groups using EMR and EHR systems is therefore severely fragmented.
In addition, most of the commercially available EMR and EHR systems have not been well received by healthcare providers. In fact, according to a 2008 survey conducted by the National Center for Health Services (NCHS), a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), while about 40% of U.S. office-based physicians reported using EMR systems, only 17% reported using basic EHR systems, and only 4% reported using fully functional EHR systems. Healthcare providers tend to resist such systems because those systems are unable to keep up with the workflow demands of clinicians during the various tasks they perform throughout the day. Traditional EMR and EHR systems are generally technology-driven, as opposed to being user-driven. Accordingly, healthcare providers find them difficult to use, especially those healthcare providers that have difficulty with computer technology, and especially when it involves adopting new software with which the healthcare provider is not already familiar. Many healthcare providers would rather focus solely on patient care than be bothered with learning how to operate the latest computer technology.
In an attempt to gain wider acceptance of EMR and EHR systems, some health information technology (HIT) engineers have developed user interfaces to help ease healthcare providers' transition into the electronic record-keeping medium. For example, because healthcare is a dictation-intensive field, some HIT engineers have adopted a speech recognition approach for interfacing with EMR and EHR systems. That approach allows healthcare providers to dictate information as they traditionally have done, except that the information is captured in a computer-readable medium (e.g., an XML file) that can be input directly into EMR and EHR systems. Two different types of speech recognition technology have been developed to help ease healthcare providers' transition into the electronic record-keeping medium and improve turnaround time in generating electronic patient records—back-end speech recognition and front-end speech recognition.
Back-end speech recognition generates an electronic text document in the background as a healthcare provider dictates without the healthcare provider being able to see or edit, and oftentimes without the healthcare provider even being aware of, what is being transcribed in the electronic text document. The resulting electronic text document, along with the corresponding voice file, is then sent to a medical transcription/editing service that reads the electronic text document, listens to the voice file, and corrects any mistakes (recognition and/or dictation) in the electronic text document. The medical transcription/editing service then returns the corrected electronic text document to the healthcare practice for entry into an EMR or EHR system. The medical transcription/editing service may also enter the appropriate information into the EMR or EHR system themselves. And, if the information captured by back-end speech recognition is used to generate documentation that requires the healthcare provider's signature (e.g., progress notes, consultation reports, procedure notes, hospital reports, etc.), that documentation will also need to be provided to the healthcare provider for review and signature. The turnaround time required for a medical transcription/editing service to review and correct the electronic text document is unpredictable and inconvenient. Using such services also creates an additional expense for healthcare providers, who already suffer from large overhead costs.
Front-end speech recognition provides faster turnaround times and eliminates the need for medical transcription/editing services by allowing the healthcare provider to view and edit the electronic text document as it is generated. Thus, instead of using medical transcription/editing services to review and edit the electronic text document, the healthcare provider can immediately see and correct any mistakes (recognition and/or dictation) in the electronic text document Like traditional EMR and EHR systems, however, traditional front-end speech recognition is often provided as separate software that must be interfaced with the EMR or EHR system with which it is being used. Thus, unlike back-end speech recognition running in the background, healthcare providers must familiarize themselves with, and ultimately accept, that new software platform for it to be of any beneficial use.
Although back-end speech recognition does not require healthcare providers to familiarize themselves with and accept new software, neither the software used to provide traditional back-end speech recognition nor the software used to provide traditional front-end speech recognition incorporates uniform electronic messaging, document, and form management standards to import and export the information captured therewith. Instead, the information captured by that software is typically only used to complete the specific clinical documentation for which it was captured (e.g., progress notes, consultation reports, procedure notes, hospital reports, etc.) rather than being provided in a format that can be used for other purposes, such as data collection and analysis for practice management and medical research. And, as discussed above, when data is not captured and stored using uniform, standardized medical vocabularies, and when it is not transmitted using uniform messaging, document, and form management standards, that data is of little use outside of the system in which it was captured unless custom interfaces are designed to connect that system to other systems. Much less, it is of little use outside of the document for which it was captured.
Another shortcoming of conventional speech recognition technology is that such technology requires a significant amount of voice recognition training by a user for the speech recognition to be accurate. For example, a user will be required to dictate several passages into a computer to "train" the voice recognition software on that computer to recognize that user's voice and mannerisms. A "voice profile" is created for that specific user based on that training. The user must either save that voice profile to a portable electronic storage medium (e.g., a CD-ROM or zip disk) or perform the training again whenever that user uses a different computer, or accesses the computer remotely, to dictate speech. Accordingly, management of a user's voice profile can become problematic and burdensome when a user frequently uses different systems to dictate speech.
Because most EMR and EHR systems, and the speech recognition software with which they are interfaced, are not capable of exporting and importing patient information in a standardized format, and because they do not utilize functions and features suited for interaction and data exchange with other systems, the fragmented pools of data collected using those systems cannot easily be combined. Accordingly, an individual healthcare practice cannot share data between its individually customized systems in a way that streamlines management of that healthcare practice, but instead must capture, store, and manage duplicate sets of data between its disparate, stand-alone systems. Moreover, researchers cannot easily collect data from multiple healthcare practices for performing medical research, maintaining disease registries, tracking patient care for quality and safety initiatives, and performing composite clinical and financial analytics. Instead, those processes remain time-consuming and expensive. For example, a clinical research organization (CRO) tasked with identifying patients that satisfy specific criteria for participating in a clinical trial must still sort through voluminous libraries of paper medical records and unstructured data, spending large amounts of time and money searching for candidates.
Those problems are compounded by the regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The implementation of the regulations of HIPAA has increased the overall amount of paperwork and the overall costs required for healthcare providers to operate. And the complex legal implications associated with those regulations have caused concerns with compliance among healthcare providers. With regard to researchers, the HIPAA regulations have hindered their ability to perform retrospective, chart-based research as well as their ability to prospectively evaluate patients by contacting them for follow-up surveys. The HIPAA regulations have also led to significant decreases in patient accrual for research, increases in time spent recruiting patients for research, and increases in mean recruitment costs. And by requiring that informed consent forms for research studies include extensive detail on how the participant's protected information will be kept private, those already complex documents have become even less user-friendly.
Accordingly, there is a need for a medical software system that seamlessly integrates the systems required to manage the different activities performed at a healthcare practice (i.e., an EMR or EHR system, a patient registration system, a scheduling system, an account management system, a billing system, etc.) so that duplicate and/or inconsistent data is not captured, stored, and managed by disparate, stand-alone systems. There is also a need for that integrated medical software system to include embedded speech understanding functionality for capturing data in a cost-effective and user-friendly manner. And there is a need for a plurality of such systems for systematically analyzing, collecting, and tracking patient data across a vast patient population (e.g., a community, region, state, nation, etc.) while complying with HIPAA regulations.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Integrated medical software system with embedded transcription functionality


An electrochemical device includes an electrochemical cell and an electric circuit. The electrochemical cell comprises a first solid component and a second solid component. The two solid components comprise same chemical elements but have different concentrations of at least one type of the chemical elements. A solid electrolyte is arranged between the two solid components. The solid electrolyte is a dielectric material. The electric circuit is connected to the electrochemical cell. The electrochemical cell may be operated according to a redox process, so as to exchange chemical elements of the at least one type between the first solid component and the second solid component and thereby change an electrical conductance of each of the two solid components.

Machine learning often relies on artificial neural networks (ANNs), which are computational models inspired by biological neural networks in human or animal brains. An ANN comprises a set of connected units or nodes, called artificial neurons. Signals are transmitted along connections (also called edges) between artificial neurons, similarly to synapses. That is, an artificial neuron that receives a signal processes it and then signals connected neurons. Connection weights (also called synaptic weights) are associated with the connections and nodes. Each neuron may have several inputs and a connection weight is attributed to each input (the weight of that specific connection). Such weights adjust as learning proceeds.
Neural networks are typically implemented in software. However, a neural network may also be implemented in hardware, e.g., as a resistive processing unit (relying on crossbar array structures) or an optical neuromorphic system. That is, a hardware-implemented ANN is a physical machine that clearly differs from a classic computer (general- or specific-purpose computer) in that it is primarily and specifically designed to implement an ANN (for training and/or inference purposes). Synaptic elements used in neuromorphic hardware apparatuses typically comprise a memristive device, e.g., a phase-change memory device, a resistive random-access memory (RRAM), or a magnetic random-access memory (SRAM).
Aside from neuromorphic hardware apparatuses, various electrochemical devices are known. Electrochemical cells are devices configured to generate electrical energy from chemical reactions or, conversely, to leverage electrical energy to cause some chemical reactions. Solid state electrochemical capacitors have been proposed, as well as computer memory element based on such capacitors, in particular electrochemical random-access memory (ECRAM) devices see, e.g., Sharbati, Mohammad Taghi, et al., "Artificial Synapses: Low-Power, Electrochemically Tunable Graphene Synapses for Neuromorphic Computing (Adv. Mater. 36/2018).", Advanced Materials 30.36 (2018): 1870273, and J. Tang. et al., "ECRAM as Scalable Synaptic Cell for High-Speed, Low-Power Neuromorphic Computing", IEDM, p. 13.1.1, 2018.

Electrochemical device of variable electrical conductance

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


The present invention relates to a VCSEL array comprising several VCSELs arranged side by side on a common substrate (1). Each VCSEL is formed of at least a top mirror (5, 14), an active region (4), a current injection layer (3) and an undoped bottom semiconductor mirror (2). The current injection layer (3) is arranged between the active region (4) and the bottom semiconductor mirror (2). At least an upper layer of the substrate (1) is electrically conducting. Trenches (8) and/or holes are formed between the bottom semiconductor mirrors (2) of said VCSELs to said upper layer of said substrate (1). A metallization (9) electrically connects the upper layer of the substrate (1) with the current injection layer (3) through said trenches (8) and/or holes. The proposed VCSEL array allows a homogeneous current injection an has a high efficiency and power density.

High efficient VCSELs require highly reflective semiconductor mirrors, typically realised as distributed Bragg reflectors (DBR). Doped DBRs show a higher absorption of the generated laser light than undoped DBRs. Therefore, for high efficient VCSEL designs the use of undoped DBRs is preferred.
R. C. Strijbos et al., "Current crowding in oxide-confined intracavity-contacted VCSELs", Proceedings Symposium IEEE/LEOS Benelux Chapter, 2000, Delft, The Netherlands, pages 223 to 226 disclose such a top-emitting VCSEL with undoped DBRs. On both sides of the active region contact layers are formed to which a metallization is applied in order to electrically contact the contact layers from the top side.
High power VCSEL array designs, consisting of multiple single VCSEL light sources, need to take care of homogeneous carrier injection. This means that all single VCSELs in a VCSEL array typically get the same operation current and that a voltage drop over the electrical lines of the array must be avoided. In case of a state of the art top-emitting VCSEL array, a highly conductive substrate is used for the homogeneous n-current injection and a thick, usually plated, gold layer is used for homogeneous p-carrier-injection. This requires an electrically conducting (doped) bottom DBR, which then on the other hand has an increased absorption for the laser light and thus lowers the efficiency of the VCSELs.


The invention relates to a hydraulic valve for an oscillating motor adjuster that utilizes camshaft alternating torques by means of non-return valves for more rapid adjustment. The non-return valve that is not used for the respective rotation is additionally closed by means of the piston of the hydraulic valve.

The invention relates to a hydraulic valve for an oscillating motor adjuster that utilizes camshaft alternating torques by means of non-return valves for more rapid adjustment.
An oscillating motor adjuster having a hydraulic valve with which camshaft alternating torques can be utilized for more rapid adjustment is already known from DE 10 2006 012 733 B4 and DE 10 2006 012 775 B4. For this purpose, pressure peaks caused by camshaft alternating torques are conducted from each of the pressure chambers of the oscillating motor adjuster to be discharged via a non-return valve into the flow of the oil pump. Thus, additional volume is provided for the pressure chamber to be filled, in addition to the normal flow volume of the oil pump. In order to make possible a more rapid adjustment in both oscillating directions, a non-return valve is provided for each of the oscillating directions. Structurally, the hydraulic valve has two working ports for this purpose. These two working ports each have a standard port part axially adjacent to one another and a port part for utilizing pressure peaks as a consequence of camshaft alternating torques. The hydraulic pressure can be introduced from a supply port to the working port that is to be loaded, whereas the working port that is to be relieved of pressure is guided to a tank port.
In order to also maintain the adjusting capacity in the case of internal combustion engines with very greatly fluctuating camshaft alternating torques, DE 10 2010 014 500.9, which has not been pre-published, proposes that one switching position of the hydraulic valve can be controlled proportionally, in which the pressure peaks of the working port to be relieved of pressure are blocked relative to the supply port and the working port that is to be loaded.
DE 102 11 467 A1 relates to a central valve that takes over the function of a so-called central screw and clamps the rotor against the camshaft. Thus, as a disadvantage, stresses occur in the hydraulic valve.
A hydraulic valve for an oscillating motor adjuster is already known from EP 1 476 642 B1, which has two hollow pistons that support each other via a flat spiral spring. A gap can be opened and closed therewith between the two pistons.
The problem to be solved by the present invention is to create an oscillating motor adjuster that has a high adjusting capacity despite a high adjusting speed with a low oil pump pressure.

Hydraulic valve for an oscillating motor adjuster


A disc cartridge and a disc drive apparatus. The disc cartridge includes an upper case and a lower case which form an internal space to accommodate a disc, and a pair of elastic protrusions formed at both sidewalls of the lower cases, which are elastically biased toward the internal space so that ends of the elastic protrusions support the disc. Surfaces are formed at the ends to slope toward the internal space so that the disc is located in an upper portion of the internal space and the pair of elastic protrusions supports the disc. The disc descends on the surfaces when the pair of elastic protrusions are opened and the disc is then located in a lower portion of the internal space.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disc cartridge accommodating a disc and a disc drive apparatus into which the disc cartridge is loaded, and more particularly, to a slot-in disc cartridge and a disc drive apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 1, slot-in refers to a way in which a disc cartridge 20 directly goes into and out of a disc drive 10 via a slot 11. As shown in FIG. 2, the disc cartridge 20 inserted into the disc drive 10 via the slot 11 goes to a position where a clamp 21 of a disc 22 is located above a motor hub 12. A shutter 20a, which covers an opening hole 20b, is opened by an opening and closing unit during the incoming of the disc cartridge 20. A magnet 13 installed in the motor hub 12 pulls the disc clamp 21 with a magnetic force, and thus a centering boss 12b is clamped into a cavity 21a of the disc clamp 21 so that the disc 22 rotates with the movement of the motor hub 12. A motor shaft 14 rotates the motor hub 12. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2001-6210 discloses a structure similar to the above-described structure.
In slim disc drive apparatuses, a space of the disc drives into which a disc cartridge is inserted has been reduced. Thus, a gap between the disc cartridge 20 and the motor hub 20 hardly exists. Therefore, when the disc cartridge 20 is inserted into the disc drive 10, the shutter 20a is opened. As a result, the disc 22 contacts with the motor hub 12 and is scratched by the motor hub 12.
Accordingly, a slim disc drive apparatus requires a new structure so as not to damage a disc inserted therein.

Disc drive cartridge and disc drive apparatus to prevent scratching of a disc when the disc is loaded into a disc drive


An abrasive composite is presented having a controlled rate of erosion, the composite comprising abrasive particles dispersed in the binder, wherein the binder comprises an addition polymerized resin having clay particles dispersed therein. The abrasive composite may be adhered to various substrates, including paper, cloth, polymeric films, and nonwovens. The clay particles allow the binder, and thus the composite, to controllably erode upon abrasion of a workpiece, thus exposing fresh abrasive particles to the workpiece. Coatable compositions comprising clay particles dispersed in a binder precursor composition, and optionally containing abrasive particles, are also described, as well as methods of making and using the composites and articles.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to an abrasive article comprising a plurality of abrasive particles and a clay-modified binder. The addition of the clay allows the binder to exhibit a controlled rate of erosion.
2. Background Art
Abrasive articles typically comprise a plurality of abrasive particles and a binder. In coated abrasives the binder is coated onto a backing, and the binder may comprise conventional make and size resins which bond abrasive particles to the backing, or the abrasive particles may be dispersed in a slurry which is coated onto a backing. In nonwoven abrasives, the binder bonds abrasive particles to the fibers of a nonwoven fibrous substrate.
In both coated and nonwoven abrasives, the binder may comprise a resinous adhesive (referred to hereinafter as simply "resin"), and optionally other additives, such as inorganic fillers. Examples of typical resins include phenolic resins, aminoplast resins, urethane resins, epoxy resins, and the like.
Typically, during the manufacture of a coated abrasive article, the resin is applied in a liquid state and subsequently solidified or cured. This curing process is usually accomplished by exposing the resinous adhesive to an energy source such as thermal energy, or radiation energy such as electron beam, ultraviolet (UV) light or visible light. In recent years, UV light curable resinous adhesives have become of interest due to the several advantages over thermally curable adhesives. These advantages include considerably faster cure times, lower capital investments and lower energy costs.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,322,156 (Oglesby) discloses the use of fillers in glutinous and resinous adhesives to improve the resulting binder's hardness, heat resistance and moisture resistance and to lower their overall cost. This patent refers to typical fillers as being inert, relatively nonabsorbent, nonfibrous, hard, dense, inelastic and nondeformable materials.
More recent patents disclose use of various radiation-cured resins but do not appreciate the interference that clays present to efficient radiation curing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,318,766 (Smith) discloses photocopolymerizable compositions which may contain "conventional non-basic fillers (e.g., silica, talc, glass, glass bubbles, clays, powdered metal such as aluminum, zinc oxide, etc.) up to about 50% by volume or more."However, this patent does not mention the effect clay fillers might have on curing of radiation-curable binders.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,126 (Zador et al.) pertains to a lapping film containing a blend of a radiation curable resin and abrasive grains coated preferably on a film substrate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,703 (Kaczmarek et al.) discloses a lapping film type abrasive product designed for fining plastic ophthalmic lenses. Radiation curable acrylates are disclosed, and the patentees state that the preferred abrasive grains are white aluminum oxide for its ability to transmit UV radiation. Fillers must be selected with UV absorbance in mind, and listed as preferred fillers are silica and calcium sulfate, although no filler is used in the examples.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,632 (Oxman et al.) discloses the use of a visible light photoinitiator with any free-radically polymerizable resin as a binder for coated abrasives. The patent states generally that inorganic or organic fillers may be used, and Example 5 discloses using a radiation curable binder resin filled 50% with calcium carbonate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,138 (Tumey et al) pertains to electromagnetic radiation curable resin systems for coated abrasives. The binder contains either a physical mixture of materials having 1,2-epoxide groups and materials having ethylenically unsaturated groups, or materials having both groups on the same compound. Fillers which apparently may be utilized include kaolin clay; however, only quartz is used as filler in the examples of this patent, perhaps because of its transparency.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,920 (Chasman et al) discloses a lapping film abrasive product comprising abrasive grains and a free radical curable resin. No use of fillers is mentioned in the patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,440 (Larson et al.) discloses the use of an aminoplast resin having at least 1.1 pendant alpha, beta unsaturated groups as a binder resin for coated abrasives. Larson et al. also mention kaolin clay as a possible filler, however an aminosilane-treated calcium metasilicate filler is used in the examples of this patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,431 (Buchanan et al.) pertains to a coated abrasive binder containing a blend of thermally curable and radiation curable resins. The patent is devoid of disclosure or teaching of the use of clays as fillers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,513 (Zador et al.) discloses a coated abrasive especially designed for lens fining applications. The coated abrasive comprises a substrate, a radiation cured make coating, abrasive grains and a radiation cured size coating. Zador et al. point out that fillers may, and preferably are used; however, the filler must exhibit low optical absorption, so as to not unduly interfere with the UV light curing. Thus, this reference teaches away from the use of low transmittance fillers (i.e., those providing a make coating with less than about 70% transmittance).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,468 (Ravipati et al.) pertains to a lapping abrasive article intended for ophthalmic applications. The lapping film comprises a patterned surface coating of abrasive grains dispersed in a radiation cured resin. Although the patent mentions that the abrasive grains must be selected to allow adequate curing by electron beam and UV radiation, and that white aluminum oxide (a low absorber of UV radiation) is thus preferred, there is no disclosure or suggestion of the use of clay fillers in the binders.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,917 (Pieper et al.) discloses an abrasive article having as its abrasive surface a plurality of precisely shaped abrasive composites. The abrasive composites comprise abrasive grains, a binder and optionally a filler. No suggestion of the use of clay fillers is given, nor the advantages or disadvantages of using clay fillers.
Patents which appear to be concerned with erodability of binders but do not discuss clays and their possible effect on binder erodability are the following patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,806,772 (Robie) discloses an abrasive body comprising a brittle, porous, pore support, abrasive grains and an organic binder. The porous support may be individual small thin-walled balloons of vitrified clay material described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,676,892 (McLaughlin). Use of addition polymerizable organic binders are not disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,588,419 (Caul et al.) discloses the use of calcium carbonate, aluminum silicate, alumina trihydrate, and fumed silica as fillers in radiation curable resins incorporated into coated abrasives to impart good rheological properties to an uncured binder and to promote flexibility and strength to the cured resins. Clay is not disclosed, nor its effect on erodability of addition polymerized binder resins.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,275 (Bloecher et al.) discloses erodible abrasive grain agglomerates comprising abrasive grains, a thermoset binder and a matrix material selected from wood pulp, wood flour and vermiculite. The matrix material renders the abrasive agglomerates erodible. There is no disclosure of clay or addition polymerizable binder resins.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,376 (DeWald) pertains to a coated abrasive binder comprising a resinous adhesive, filler, and a coupling agent providing for bonding between the resin and filler. Although there is a general listing of organic resins (e.g., acrylates) and inorganic fillers (e.g., clay) useful in binders, there is no suggestion of the advantages and disadvantages attendant with that combination of resin and filler. The examples utilize calcium metasilicate, calcium carbonate, and quartz as fillers.
Assignee's application Ser. No. 07/839,132, filed Feb. 20, 1992, now U.S. Pat. 5269821 (Helmin et al.) describes coatable mixtures including erodible filler agglomerates which are formed in situ and comprised of water-soluble and water-insoluble filler particles. During wet grinding operations, the water-soluble filler gradually dissolves. The agglomerates may be employed in many organic resins, including radiation cured resins. However, there is no teaching of the use of clay to provide a more erodible binder.
Microabrasive products have been commercialized since 1987 by assignee Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, St. Paul, Minn., ("3M") under the trade designation "Imperial Beaded Microfinishing Film", which utilize as the abrasive surface grade 600 abrasive particles, clay, and a phenolic resin. While these products have enjoyed much success, the industry is continually seeking improved binder systems.
Some clays expand on exposure to water, while some do not (such as kaolin clay). See for example "Clay Colloid Chemistry", pp. 64-71 (1977). However, it appears the abrasives art is devoid of teaching the significance that clay fillers may have on the erodability of binders which include addition polymerized resins. This may be because past experience has revealed that in some instances when addition polymerized resins have been incorporated into abrasive articles, the binder does not sufficiently erode. If the binder does not sufficiently erode, the abrasive surface tends to dull and decrease in performance. It would thus be a significant advance in the abrasives art if binders incorporating addition polymerized resins would controllably erode.

Abrasive composites having a controlled rate of erosion, articles incorporating same, and methods of making and using same


A method of partitioning a page of an electronic memory includes creating a first sub-page by interleaving a first user data section of the page with another section of a spare area of the page excluding a specified address in a section of the spare area that stores a bad block marker. The method also includes creating the sub-pages by interleaving the user data sections with sections of the spare area excluding the specified address until a last sub-page is to be created. Further, the method includes creating the last sub-page by interleaving a last user data section with the section of the spare area that includes the specified address in an interleaving sequence that retains the bad-block marker at the specified address.

A non-volatile memory is an electronic memory that retains data when power is inactivated. A NAND flash memory is a favored non-volatile memory for storage media due to higher density, faster access time, and lower cost than other non-volatile memories. Techniques of manufacturing the non-volatile memory are not perfect, and as a result the non-volatile memory often has defective memory cells. Such defective memory cells are referred to as bad blocks. There is no way to repair the bad blocks after the non-volatile memory has been fabricated and the non-volatile memory is usually shipped with a bad-block marker indicating the defective memory cells. The bad-block marker is used by a host system to ensure that data is not written to or read from the bad blocks.
Pages in the non-volatile memory are partitioned into sub-pages of user bytes, out-of-band data bytes, and error correcting code (ECC) parity bytes. The bad-block marker is located in the out-of-band data bytes to mark the bad blocks. The user bytes, the out-of-band data bytes, and the ECC parity bytes are usually protected by error correcting codes. Partitioning in the non-volatile memory is usually performed to achieve low-latency decoding and minimum intermediate buffering. In existing methods of partitioning, pages in the non-volatile memory are partitioned into the sub-pages or ECC code words. An original location of the bad-block marker gets overwritten in such methods and the bad-block marker gets re-positioned within a page. Since the bad-block marker resides in a different position, re-building of a bad-block table becomes tedious and time-consuming as software requires distinguishing between used blocks and unused blocks in the non-volatile memory.
Hence, there is a need for an improved method of partitioning pages of an electronic memory into ECC code words in order to prevent the bad-block marker from being moved, and to allow immediate building and maintenance of the bad block table.

Partitioning pages of an electronic memory


An actuator structure in which the arms which support the magnetic heads are of sheet material in back-to-back pairs having ends fitted into and clamped between the confronting faces of pads arranged in columns on an actuator body. The pads in each column are cantilevered from the body on deflectable supports, except for one rigid support substantially centrally positioned in each column. A bolt extending through axially aligned holes in the pads and the arms in each column applies pressure to deflect the pad supports and clamp the arms between the pads.

Disk memory drives generally comprise rotating magnetic memory disks, transducer heads and a linear or pivotally mounted magnetically driven actuator assembly which supports and positions the magnetic transducer heads at the disk surfaces and provides bidirectional movement of the magnetic heads over the disk or disks. Such disk memories are very high precision units requiring close dimensional tolerances in manufacturing. They are complex and delicate mechanically. In application, information stored on the disk must be accessed at high speed. This requires track seeking at high speeds and with precision. Structures such as the magnetic head suspension assemblies must be light in weight to minimize inertia yet be structurally stable and rigid while providing spring loading of the head and head mobility for track seeking and track following purposes.
Prior art magnetic head suspension assemblies as seen in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,931,641, 4,620,251, 4,754,353 and 4,796,122 typically comprise a rigid arm of aluminum or other lightweight material which is usually a casting of single piece or integrated construction in a disk drive involving multiple disks. These castings are provided with projecting fingers or pads to which the ends of the individual load beams or flexures which carry the magnetic heads are secured. The load beams or flexures, as the name implies, are flexible and permit spring loaded movement of the magnetic head. This movement is required in order to follow disk axial motion. Also by this means, a predetermined preloading of the magnetic head slider rails against a disk surface is provided so that at disk rotational speed the head takes off and literally flies on the thin film of air clinging to and traveling with the surface of the disk. The magnetic head is attached to the free end of the flexure or load beam by means of a thin, lightweight spring material providing flexible mobility of the magnetic head in roll and pitch and stiffness in yaw.
As will be seen by reference to these patents, the arm which supports the flexure which is either mounted for linear or angular movement is a rigid arm of aluminum or other lightweight material as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,931,641. When viewed with respect to the flexures, it is a large bulky heavy structure constituting the bulk of the magnetic head support and is the primary contributor to a high moment of inertia of the magnetic head suspension assembly.

Actuator structure for a magnetic head suspension assembly in a disk drive


A hip prosthesis wherein a saddle-shaped head has a seat flanked by two horns and engageable with the surface bounding a recess in the lower part of a damaged pelvic bone. The head is rotatably or rigidly secured to a substantially S-shaped adapter which, in turn, is rotatably or non-rotatably secured to the adjacent end of a shank that is implantable in the cavity of a femur. One or more distancing rings can be inserted between the adapter and the head.

The invention relates to prostheses in general, and more particularly to improvements in hip prostheses of the type wherein a saddle-like head engages a pelvic bone and a shank is anchored in the cavity of the femur.
Prostheses of the above outlined type are popular and in widespread use, especially if the pelvic bone is damaged so that the acetabulum is useless and the head of the prosthesis must engage another portion of the hipbone. This can happen as a result of an accident or due to illness. As a rule, a substitute socket is formed in the lowermost portion of the remaining pelvis and the saddle-shaped head of the properly implanted prosthesis is maintained in sliding engagement with such substitute socket. The two horns of the saddle-shaped head of the prosthesis flank the substitute socket to prevent the head from leaving the socket. It is also possible to have the head of the prosthesis extend into a hole of the pelvis. Reference may be had to commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,507 granted Feb. 24, 1987.
It has been found that heretofore known prostheses with saddle-like heads fail to satisfy all of the requirements which must be fulfilled by an artificial hip joint. First of all, when the wearer of the prosthesis is walking, relative movement between the head of the prosthesis and the socket of the pelvis entails a pronounced mechanical stressing of the remainder of the pelvis. When the pelvis and the femur perform large movements relative to each other, the horns of the saddle-like head of the implanted prosthesis strike the adjacent portions of the pelvis. Secondly, frictional engagement between the head of the implanted prosthesis and the adjacent portion of the pelvis brings about extensive wear upon the pelvis; in fact, the head is likely to penetrate into the pelvis and to shorten the respective lower extremity of the patient.
It was further discovered that, when the pelvis has undergone extensive damage (either as a result of an accident or as a result of illness), the muscles in the region of an implanted conventional prosthesis with a saddle-like head can exert only relatively small forces in a sense to straighten out the extremity into which the prosthesis is implanted because they are incapable of finding an appropriate lever arm for the application of conversion or transmission forces which are being generated thereby. Therefore, a patient wearing such a prosthesis is likely to limp because she or he must continuously strive to maintain the center of gravity of the body above the vertical axis which is common to the saddle-like head and the shank of the implanted artificial hip joint. Consequently, many patients prefer to forego or to prematurely interrupt therapies involving pronounced physical stresses which are necessary to save or prolong the life of a patient following a serious illness (such as the removal or partial removal of a malignant tumor) because the prospects of walking again, and especially of walking without a pronounced limp, are slim or nil.

GMT Gesellschaft fur Medizinische Technik mbH


An apparatus for performing data processing in a single program multiple data fashion on a target data set is provided, having execution circuitry configured to execute multiple threads, thread schedule configuration storage configured to store information defining a plurality of thread schedule configurations, and thread scheduling circuitry configured to cause the execution circuitry to execute the multiple threads in a selected order defined by a selected thread schedule configuration. A method of operating the apparatus, as well as a method of compiling a source program for the apparatus are also provided.

Data processing apparatuses which are programmed in a single program multiple data (SPMD) fashion to then execute multiple threads to perform the required data processing, in particular graphics processing units (GPUs), have grown in capability and indeed have emerged as a popular platform for non-graphics computations. Through programming models such as OpenCL, Renderscript and CUDA, programmers can use these massively parallel architectures for computational domains such as linear algebra, image processing and molecular science. The increased popularity of such devices has made programmability, maintainability and portability issues of major importance.
SPMD programming models such as those mentioned above are advantageously flexible in that they allow the programmer to specify the independence of threads, removing ordering constraints. However, this very flexibility also places a burden on the programmer, because of the effect that the particular manner in which the threads are programmed can have on the architecture performance. As such, programmers are still required to manually perform data-locality optimizations such as memory coalescing or loop tiling, and to take into account GPU architectural characteristics such as the core count and the on-chip memory hierarchy. Furthermore, the programmer's freedom to determine the allocation of the threads to workgroups (in OpenCL)/blocks (in CUDA) may be desirable from a pure programming point of view but can negatively affect the GPU's scheduling freedom and cache performance.
There remains the potential to improve the performance of a multi-threaded data processing apparatus (such as a GPU).

Configuring thread scheduling on a multi-threaded data processing apparatus


An image pickup apparatus includes: an image pickup unit; a first connection unit that allows a stereoscopic shooting interchangeable lens and an ordinary shooting interchangeable lens to be selectively attached thereto so that an image of a subject can be formed on the image pickup unit; a second connection unit that allows a finder including two display units corresponding to a right eye and a left eye, the finder being capable of displaying a plurality of images, and a finder including a single display unit, the finder being capable of displaying a single image, to be selectively attached thereto; and a display control unit that controls display of an image picked up by the image pickup unit on the finder, based on at least one of information on the interchangeable lens connected to the first connection unit and information on the finder connected to the second connection unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus enabling shooting and display of two dimensional and three dimensional images.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, portable apparatuses equipped with a shooting function, such as a digital camera, have overcome the problem of shooting various types of scenes, which such portable apparatuses have been weak at, using image processing. Also, in recent years, in the film industry, there has been a trend of introduction of 3D (three-dimensional) effect making much of realistic sensation, and following the trend, the television industry has the tendency of 3D-display apparatuses becoming popular.
Among the consumer image shooting apparatuses such as digital cameras, apparatuses enabling 3D shooting have been developed. There are a wide variety of proposals for a method for shooting and recording an image with stereoscopic information included and reproducing and viewing such image. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-165601 discloses a technique in which incoming light from a lens is divided into a plurality of light beams and then the light beams are made to be incident on a plurality of image pickup devices having different incidence directional characteristics, thereby generating images with parallax.
Also, for example, Japanese Patent No. 4225768 discloses an apparatus including correction means for correcting an error (inclination) and/or positional misalignment in the vertical direction between horizontally-arranged images for both eyes according to the display means.
Although there are various kinds of factors for a human to have a stereoscopic sensation, in general, it has been said that a human has a stereoscopic sensation based on information such as binocular parallax, motion parallax, binocular vergence, focus and relative size. From among these pieces of information, binocular parallax, which is the largest factor for getting a stereoscopic sensation, is often used in a method for artificially providing a stereoscopic image.
As described above, for enabling provision of a stereoscopic vision, it is necessary to pick up a right-eye image and a left-eye image, that is, at least two image having parallax according to the viewpoints of both left and right eyes. The right-eye image and left-eye image are images having displacements from each other according to the parallax. Thus, unless camera shooting is performed while viewing 3D display, a desired view angle is not necessarily obtained.
Furthermore, there is a difference between stereoscopic sensation a human has with his/her bare eyes and stereoscopic sensation provided by a shot image due to various causes such as the distance between the right-eye and left-eye lenses and the distance to the subject. Accordingly, in order for a user to perform shooting so as to achieve desired stereoscopic effect, it is necessary to perform the camera shooting while viewing 3D display.
Also, in 3D shooting, two image pickup apparatuses, that is, an image pickup apparatus for picking up a right image and an image pickup apparatus for picking up a left image. Furthermore, an image pickup apparatus that obtains a 3D image by means of such one image pickup apparatus has been developed. The image pickup apparatus is provided with one image pickup device to form optical images from two image pickup lenses, that is, right-eye and left-eye pickup lenses, on the image pickup plane of such one image pickup device.
In such image pickup apparatus, in order to enhance the quality of 3D display, it is important to display two 3D images aligned with each other. In the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-165601, correction is performed according to the displacement between the left and right images.

Image pickup apparatus having a display controlled using interchangeable lens information and/or finder information


The present invention relates to a process for improving the devolatilization of polymer slurry produced in an olefin polymerization reactor. The process is characterized in that it involves an adjustment of the temperature of the interior surface of the flash line for periodically transferring polymer slurry from the polymerization reactor to a downstream processing unit. In particular, in accordance with the present process, the temperature of the interior surface of the flash line is adjusted to a temperature which is equal to or higher than the softening temperature of the polymer passing through said flash line whereby said temperature is higher in a first half of the length of the flash line than in the remaining length of the flash line.

Polyethylene (PE) is synthesized by polymerizing ethylene (CH2═CH2) monomers. Because it is cheap, safe, stable to most environments and easy to be processed polyethylene polymers are useful in many applications. According to the properties polyethylene can be classified into several types, such as but not limited to LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene), LLDPE (Linear Low Density Polyethylene), and HDPE (High Density Polyethylene). Each type of polyethylene has different properties and characteristics.
Ethylene polymerizations are frequently carried out in a loop reactor using monomer, liquid diluent and catalyst, one or more optional co-monomer(s), and hydrogen. The polymerization in a loop reactor is usually performed under slurry conditions, with the produced polymer usually in a form of solid particles which are suspended in the diluent. The slurry in the reactor is circulated continuously with a pump to maintain efficient suspension of the polymer solid particles in the liquid diluent. Polymer slurry is discharged from the loop reactor by means of settling legs, which operate on a batch principle to recover the slurry. Settling in the legs is used to increase the solids concentration of the slurry finally recovered as product slurry. The product slurry is further discharged through heated flash lines to a flash tank, where most of the diluent and unreacted monomers are flashed off and recycled. The polymer particles are dried, additives can be added and finally the polymer may be extruded and pelletized.
In passing from the reactor to the flash tank the pressure drops and the polymer slurry is partially devolatilized, i.e. the volatile components thereof are removed. Insufficient devolatilization of polymer slurry may ultimately result in polymer end products that contain an undesired amount of diluent and/or unreacted reactants, such as e.g. (co-)monomer(s). Devolatilization is improved with higher temperature of the polymer slurry resulting in lower content of volatiles in the polymer. However, high temperatures in the flash lines induce fouling problems, i.e. sticking of polymer product to the interior walls of the flash lines, and degradation of the polymer particles in the flash lines. On the other hand, in the flash lines where temperatures are too low, devolatilization of the polymer slurry turns out to be insufficient, resulting in polymer end products having unsatisfactory properties and qualities.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,428,619 discloses a method for transferring polymer slurry from a polymerization reactor to a flash tank via a transfer line wherein the liquid diluent is substantially vaporized and the polymer particles are dried during the transfer. The transfer line comprises a plurality of externally heated zones, for instance two or four zones, of varying size. The method comprises controlling the flow rate of the materials flowing through the different zones. The external heating of the zones is carried out at a temperature sufficiently elevated to vaporize the liquid present on the solid particles but which is below the softening temperature of the polymer particles.
In view of the above, there remains a need in the art for providing an improved process for the devolatilization of polymer slurry issued from a polymerization reactor.
The present invention aims to provide an improved process for the devolatilization of polymer slurry produced in a polymerization reactor. More in particular, the present invention aims to provide a process wherein devolatilization of polymer is improved.

Process for improving the devolatilization of polymer slurry produced in a polymerization reactor


Systems and devices are provided for detecting access to an object. A pattern of conductors extending in spaced, isolated configuration is provided on the object defining a tamper detection area. At least one sensor device is connected to the pattern of conductors and is capable of detecting a change in the continuity of the pattern of conductors. A communication circuit provides at least one signal indicative of the change in continuity of the pattern of conductors. The tamper detection area of conductors confronts each surface of the object.

Cargo theft and intentional damage to cargo carried on rail, shipping and air lines is steadily on the rise with cargo industry estimates of loss from cargo in transit and storage surpassing the $30-$50 billion per year. In order to protect cargo in transit or storage, it is known to provide cargo seals on the entrance of cargo containers as part of good security practice. The principal purpose of a cargo seal is to assure carriers, beneficial owners of cargo, and government officials that the integrity of a shipment is intact by acting as a 'tell-tale' indicator that a cargo container has or has not been tampered with. There are two major categories of cargo container seals, i.e., indicative and barrier seals, both of which detect tampering or entry.
Indicative seals are usually made of plastic, wire, or strips of sheet metal marked with a unique serial number or identifier. These seals may be looped through a hasp or around locking bars and handles so that the container or trailer door cannot be opened without removing the seal. Indicative seals offer no physical protection, they simply reflect whether or not the sealed entrance has been compromised. They may be used together with locks or alone.
Barrier seals add physical protection to tamper detection and are more difficult to defeat. It usually takes bolt cutters or special tools to remove a barrier seal, not simple wire cutters or a sharp knife. Barrier seals take many forms, with the simplest using steel cable rather than wire. Bolt seals are generally more protective, using heavy-duty bolts with specialized single-use locking nuts and unique identifiers.
Barrier seals vary widely in the degree of protection they offer. Many factors affect protection, including the design, materials, and construction of the locking device, and the design and materials in the hasp, bolt, or cable. However, the typically robust appearance of such seals does not guarantee great protection as they can be defeated by experienced and determined criminals. Further, the trade abounds with tales of popular barrier seal designs that have been copied with inferior materials.
Electronic seals can simply mirror the traditional indicative and barrier seals in terms of protection. Some approaches use electronics as intrusion sensors or indicative seals. It is also common to find electronic devices married to traditional barrier seal components such as steel bolts and cables.
More sophisticated and expensive approaches use electronics to control the operation of locks and seals. One approach programs a latitude/longitude location or key code into the seal, which will not open until an internal or external device confirms the correct location or code. Another approach enables remote control of the locking mechanism via satellite or radio frequency (RF) messages.
Still another approach uses electronic seals that have sensors equipped with radio frequency transponders that generate radio frequency signals that indicate that a mechanical door seal has been tampered with. In some cases, the transponders provide self-identifying signals. Radio frequency transponders of this latter type are commonly known as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags. There are two main types of RFID tags, passive and active. Passive tags do not initiate transmissions, i.e., they respond when activated by the energy in the signal from a reader. Interrogated by a reader, a passive tag can identify itself by reporting its identification number, analogous to a standard bar code. The passive tag can also perform processes, such as testing the integrity of a seal. One advantage of a battery-free passive seal is that it can be a simple, inexpensive, and disposable device. Although not a formal term, it is useful to think of such devices as purely "passive" a term that describes what most have in mind when they discuss passive RFID electronic seals.
However, passive RFID seals can carry batteries for either or both of two purposes. The first is to aid communication by boosting the strength of the reflective signal back to the reader. The second purpose is to provide power so functions can be performed out of the range of readers. One example of the latter is to power a clock, so that the integrity of the seal can be periodically tested and, when the integrity is compromised, a record can be made indicating the time that the seal was tampered with. Adding substantial capability, however, could raise the cost of a passive seal sufficiently that it would be practical only as a reusable product.
Conventionally, users employ three different terms to describe passive tags with batteries. They are semi-active, semi-passive, and battery-assisted passive. Since the terms appear to be used in the art in an interchangeable manner, this is a source of confusion in RFID tag discussions. Some manufacturers have used the term semi-passive, but are now transitioning to the term battery-assisted passive to reduce customer confusion.
Besides the battery-assisted passive RFID tag, all other known passive electronic seals are "pure passive," with no battery whatsoever. Pure passive functionality is limited to testing the integrity of the seal when interrogated by a reader and reporting that status, its ID, and other on-board information to the reader. Further, manual seal manufacturers often use batteries on passive tags, preferring instead, if forced to use a battery in the tag doing so in the context of an active seal.
Passive seals tend to be short range and directional to maximize antenna exposure to reader signal strength. Maximum read range for electronic seals without battery-assisted communications tends to be two or three meters, with some debate about efficacy beyond two meters. Adding a battery can boost the range, i.e., design target is greater than 30 meters, but concerns about safety, regulations, and the operating environment impose practical limits on power and range.
Active seals can initiate transmissions as well as respond to interrogation. All active tags and seals require on-board power, which generally has meant providing the tag with some sort of a battery.
A major attraction of active tags and seals is the potential for longer-range and omni-directional communications, i.e., up to 100 meters. Customers expressed need for greater range and the ability of signals to wrap around obstructions in terminal operating environments prompted an international standards group working on electronic seal and read/write container RFID standards to add active RFID protocol(s).
At the lowest functionality, active seals typically cost more than pure passive seals because of the battery and the ability to initiate communications, but the difference would be relatively small. Actual price differences between passive and active RFID seals in the marketplace tend to be much larger, reflecting design choices to host greater functionality on active tags, i.e., taking advantage of the battery, the potential to initiate communications, and the greater, more flexible range.
All active RFID electronic seals in or approaching commercial use monitor seal integrity on a near-continuous basis, and most capture the time of tampering and write it to an on-board log. Examples of such seals are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,831,531 (Tuttle), U.S. Pat. No. 6,501,390 (Chainer et al), U.S. Pat. No. 6,069,563 (Kadner et al) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,222 (McCurdy et al) each of which are hereby incorporated by reference and are directed to an RF tag provided with a battery for detecting and actively (or passively) reporting to a unit, e.g., interrogator attached to a host computer. Some RFID seals can accept GPS and sensor inputs, and some can provide live "mayday" tampering reports as the events happen, mostly within specially equipped terminals.
There are trade-offs between these technologies from theoretical and practical perspectives. Theoretically, the only difference between passive and active tags and seals is the ability to initiate communications from the tag—a distinction that means, for example, that passive RFID tags could not initiate mayday calls or generate routine self-initiated status signals.
However, there is an unmistakable clustering in the marketplace, in which an overwhelming number of manufacturers choose cost and simplicity, i.e., passive RFID-based seal designs which are battery-free.
The types of cargo seals described above are placed on the entrance to a cargo container and as a result many thieves simply avoid these conventional cargo seals by simply cutting through a roof, side wall or bottom of a cargo container to avoid the seal altogether. There is a distinctive need for a low cost, easy to install cargo seal which is reliable and cannot be defeated by simply avoiding the seal altogether.
All of the above are used for protection or detection of tampering at the entrance, door or opening of a container and do not address tampering of the sides of a container.

System and device for detecting object tampering


A method of making an optical scanner is disclosed that includes light transmitting and receiving optical fibers to illuminate and scan an image to be copied, transmitted or stored.

This invention relates to image scanners for use in facsimile machines and the like. Document scanning devices transform images on paper (text or art) into a digital format suitable for processing by a computer. This data base can then be used for a host of applications ranging from facsimile (FAX) machines to copying machines.
Current scanning devices rely on optical lansing to focus the image on paper onto the image plane of a "camera tube". Modern "camera tubes" are actually solid state charge coupled devices (CCD) or photo-junction sensors that convert the image into a digital signal.
In scanning the paper image, two approaches have been taken: area array scanning and line scanning. In area array scanning, "snap shot" composite pictures are actually of the document as it passes the viewing window of the scanning optical lansing (similar to composite aerial photography). An "area" CCD device (with other electronic circuits) then digitizes each "snap shot" and electronically "glues" these images back together inside computer memory. Once this electronic photograph is created, it can be used for any application where digitized image scanning is required (facsimile FAX machines, solid state paper copiers, computer document scanner, inspection machines, etc.).
The drawback for area scanners is in their limited resolution and cost. State-of-the-art resolution for an area CCD ranges from 128.times.128 lines square to 2000.times.2000 lines square. For use on an 81/2 inches-wide documents, this represents a horizontal resolution of from 14 to 200 lines per inch. As a reference point, 200 lines per inch is still very coarse resolution for photographs, while newspaper quality pica type requires at least 70 lines per inch for proper font reproduction.
Area black and white (B/W) CCD pick-up devices are expensive and increase greatly in cost as the resolution and span coverage increase (above 81/2 inch scan width). As an example, a zero defect 128.times.128 high speed area array can cost over one thousand dollars. Other arrays with higher resolution can exceed $10,000 just for the imaging CCD! (e.g. the Kodak 4-Mpixel imager; Electronic Engineering Times, Dec. 12, 1988. p. 14) The high cost of CCD's forces many imaging applications to use hybrid solutions where mechanical scanning is combined with CCD technology. A fast full feature FAX machine with no pixel defects and capable of 200 lines per inch resolution can sell for over two thousand dollars. Even the least expensive B/W FAX machine (with slow mechanically scanned CCD carriages) will still cost over $600.00. Low cost ($300 or less), high resolution scanners simply do not exist today.
In line scanning, linear photodiode or CCD arrays scan one line at a time as the document passes the sensor strip. This technique also requires optical lansing and supporting optical hardware. Sensor strip scanner integrated circuits are also very expensive; for example a zero defect 1024.times.1 linear array can cost over one thousand dollars (e.g. the Reticein RL1024C).
Black and white grey shade scanners are still premium devices available only to high level industry. In general, these scanners are very expensive and run just behind color scanners in high cost.
Color scanning devices are now afforded only by industry and run over $15,000. They use very expensive in-line strip CCD sensors, plus the document must be scanned three times (one for each primary color) for color encoding. A severe problem with such machines is maintaining exact alignment of the three scans so that color bleeding and loss of resolution does not occur.
Conventional optical scanners have many parts. This adds to product cost and therefore, selling price. This is one reason why low-cost scanners are currently not available. The following items highlight the major cost variables for a modern day image scanner:
a. Optics. Major cost items include a camera pickup device with scanning electronics, optical lenses, focus system, and strip aperture system. PA1 b. Drive System. The mechanical drive system must be highly precise and requires stepper motors coupled to precision gears. Electronics to drive the stepper and precision parts are costly. PA1 c. Illumination. A bright and flat source of illumination is required. This source must span a minimum of 9 inches and typically uses a gas discharge tube bulb powered by a high voltage power supply. In addition, green light filtering is necessary since CCD imaging devices must use this color to achieve maximum resolution.
Large document scanners for "D" size prints or drawings are not known to exist since it is quite costly to produce a 36 inch scanner (suitable for E size industrial prints). that offers 200 lines per inch resolution.

Method of making a modulated fiber optic image scanner


A retention and control system includes a rotor configured to rotate about an axis. A shroud ring has a peripheral groove and surrounds the rotor with a clearance defined between the rotor and the ring. A support ring engages the shroud ring in the peripheral groove and axially locates the shroud ring. The support ring includes a series of tabs, each with an aperture, projecting radially outward from the support ring. A retention spring engages the support ring radially outward from the shroud ring and includes a series of openings, one of which registers with each of the apertures. An alignment pin extends through each of the registered openings and apertures to locate the support ring and the engaged shroud ring concentrically with the turbine about the axis.

In gas turbine engines, the operational clearances between static engine structures and the tips of rotating blades impact performance aspects such as the thermodynamic efficiency and fuel burn of the engine. It is desirable to reduce the operational clearances, while at the same time avoiding contact between the rotating blade tips and the static structure. The performance improvement value of as little as a tenth of a millimeter in clearance reduction is significant. In response to thermal excursions, the lengths of the blade tips typically vary at a different rate than that at which the static structures expand or contract. Variation in position or concentricity leads to a need for greater clearances and suboptimal performance. For example, without excess clearance, the blade tips may contact the static structure negatively impacting engine performance. Excess clearance between the blade tips and the static structure may also reduce engine performance. When engine designs result in higher temperatures such as to achieve greater efficiency, maintaining optimal clearance without excess cooling air becomes more challenging.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide systems that effectively retain and control the position of the static structure relative to the blade tips. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.

Retention and control system for turbine shroud ring


An electrode pattern includes unit patterns having a mesh-shape, the unit patterns connected to each other and including a first unit pattern and a second unit pattern, in which each of the first and second unit patterns includes sides connected to each other, an area of the first unit pattern is smaller than an area of the second unit pattern, and at least one side of the first unit pattern has a line width smaller than a line width of one side of the second unit pattern.

Field
Exemplary embodiments relate to a mesh-type electrode pattern, a formation method of an electrode pattern, and a touch panel including an electrode pattern.
Discussion of the Background
An electronic device, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, and an electrophoretic display, may include a touch sensing function so that a user may interact with the electronic device. A touch sensing function may determine whether a user's finger, stylus, etc., touches a screen and touch position information thereof, by sensing a change of pressure, light, etc., which may occur on the screen of the display device when the user's finger or a stylus contacts the screen to write a character or draw a picture.
The touch sensing function of the electronic devices may be realized through a touch sensor. The touch sensor may be classified into various types, such as a resistive type, a capacitive type, an electro-magnetic (EM) type, and an optical type.
In the capacitive type, a capacitive touch sensor may include a sensing capacitor formed by a sensing electrode. The sensing electrode may sense a change in capacitance of the sensing capacitor and transfer a sensing signal when a conductor such as a finger approaches the touch sensor so as to determine existence of a touch, a touch position, and the like. The capacitive touch sensor may include touch electrodes disposed in a touch sensing region and touch wires connected to the touch electrodes. The touch wires may transmit a sensing input signal to the touch electrode and transmit a sensing output signal of the touch electrode, which may be generated depending on the touch, to a touch driver.
The touch sensor may be installed in a display device (an in-cell type), formed on an outer surface of a display device (an on-cell type), or attached on a separate touch sensor panel that may be attached to a display device (an add-on cell type). The panel in which the touch sensor is formed may be referred as a touch panel.
When manufacturing an electronic device such as the touch panel, a glass substrate may be used. Due to heavy and fragile nature of the glass substrate, portability thereof may be lowered, and implementation of the electronic device in a large-size screen display may be difficult. Accordingly, a flexible electronic device, which may be light, withstand impact, and utilizes a plastic substrate having a high flexibility such as polyamide (PI), is being actively researched. In the flexible electronic device, a flexible touch sensor device may include a portion that may be bendable, foldable, rollable, stretchable in at least one direction, or elastic and transformable. Accordingly, an electrode pattern included in the flexible electronic device may include a conductive material having flexibility. For example, the electrode pattern may include at least one of a metal nanowire, a conductive polymer such as poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), a metal mesh, a carbon nanotube (CNT), and a conductive material, such as a thin metal layer. The electrode pattern may have a predetermined transmittance to transmit light.
The electrode pattern included in the electronic device, such as the touch sensor, may be a mesh-type, which may have a regular or irregular arrangement. In case of a regularly arranged mesh-type, since the mesh-type has a predetermined space frequency component, when the electrode pattern is attached to the display device, directly formed in the display device, or adhered outside the display device to be folded on the display device, the mesh-type may generate a moiré phenomenon along with other periodic patterns (e.g., a black matrix) included in the display device, which may deteriorate visibility therein. In case of an irregularly arranged mesh-type, a size of a polygon formed by the electrode pattern, that is, the size of an opening, may not be uniform throughout the electrode pattern, such that luminance of light passing through a layer in which the electrode pattern is formed may not be uniform on some regions thereof, such that a dark spot may be recognized by a user.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the inventive concept, and, therefore, it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Mesh-type electrode pattern and manufacturing method thereof, and touch panel including the same