An encrypting keypad module (30) comprising a keypad (40) and an encryption unit (42) is described. The encryption unit (42) includes an interpreter (56) for receiving a file (150) containing data and instructions for processing the data. The encryption unit (42) is operable to process the data in the file (150) by interpreting the instructions in the file (150). This enables a file (150) to be used to instruct the encryption unit (42) about the data that is to be operated on and the type of operations to be performed on the data.

The present invention relates to an encrypting keypad module. In particular, the present invention relates to an encrypting PIN pad (EPP) module for use with a retail point of sale (PoS) terminal or a self-service terminal (SST) such as an automated teller machine (ATM). The invention also relates to a terminal including such an encrypting keypad module.
ATMs require high electronic security because sensitive information, such as a user's personal identification number (PIN), is entered by a user at the ATM. The entered information is conveyed within the ATM and also outside the ATM to an authorization center that authorizes a requested transaction.
To ensure that the user's PIN is not divulged by the ATM after it has been entered by the user, a tamper-resistant integral unit is provided having a keypad and an encryption unit. The integral unit is referred to as an encrypting PIN pad (EPP) module.
Once a user has entered his/her PIN, the EPP encrypts the entered digits to ensure that the digits are encrypted prior to leaving the EPP. This ensures that a user's PIN is never conveyed (either within or outside the ATM) as plaintext.
The EPP includes an encryption unit having a random number generator, a cryptographic processor, a non-volatile memory for storing a unique master encryption key and an encryption algorithm, and a volatile memory for storing customer-specific encryption keys, such as a key exchange key and a PIN key.
Typically, when an EPP is manufactured the unique master key is generated by the cryptographic processor within the EPP and stored in the non-volatile memory (which may be EEPROM or battery-backed RAM). The encryption algorithm to be used by the module is also loaded into the non-volatile memory during manufacture of the EPP. The algorithm may be, for example, the data encryption standard (DES).
If the EPP is tampered with, for example by a third party attempting to gain access to it, then the EPP deletes the master key stored in the non-volatile memory, and any other keys stored in the volatile memory.
When a user enters his/her PIN at an ATM, the EPP uses its PIN key and the stored encryption algorithm (such as DES) to encrypt the entered digits using a standard protocol. The result of this encryption on the entered digits is generally referred to as a PIN block.
A protocol (also referred to as a framework) indicates how a cryptographic processor is to operate on data, how the processor is to use encryption keys, what type of algorithm is to be used for encryption, and such like.
A number of different protocols exist, some of these are described in international standards, such as: ANSI standard X9.8 "PIN management and security", ANSI X9.9 "Financial institution message authentication", ANSI X9.17 "Financial institution key management", Australian standard for electronic funds transfer AS 2805, and such like.
The PIN block is then transmitted from the EPP to an ATM controller, which transmits the PIN block (together with the requested transaction, and typically a sequence number and a date/time stamp) to an authorization center. The authorization center decrypts the encrypted PIN block to verify the claimed identity of the user, and authorizes a requested transaction if sufficient funds are present.
One problem associated with current EPPs is that it is difficult to change the protocol used by the EPP. Another problem is that it is difficult to derive new keys for current EPPs. There are a number of reasons for these problems. To upgrade the EPP protocol and to derive new keys, a complex application programming interface (API) must be used. In addition, the ATM application program is constrained so that only certain functions can be performed relating to deriving new keys and upgrading protocols. Furthermore, the architecture of an EPP is typically vendor-specific, so an ATM application program may have to be changed if a new type of EPP is used in the ATM.
Thus, when a new key is to be derived, or when a new protocol is to be implemented, on a network of ATMs having different types of EPPs (that is, EPPs from different vendors), then each type of EPP requires different instructions. This makes upgrading the ATM network a time-consuming, complex, and expensive task. However, to ensure high levels of data security, EPPs in ATM networks have to be upgraded frequently.


Applying an alternating current to a magnetic head as a sample generates an alternate-current magnetic field from the sample. A cantilever includes a probe that is made of a magnetic material or is coated with a magnetic material. The cantilever is displaced when it approaches the sample. Detecting the displacement of the cantilever detects distribution of the magnetic field from the sample. It is possible to fast measure distribution of the magnetic field generated from the sample when a frequency of the alternating current applied to the sample differs from a resonance frequency of the cantilever.

The present invention relates to an inspection apparatus that inspects a magnetic field generated from a magnetic device.
Means for inspecting write heads used for magnetic recording devices such as hard disks include: appearance inspection using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), an atomic force microscope (AFM), and optical means; electric inspection such as resistance measurement; and magnetic field measurement using a magnetic force microscope (MFM).
The appearance inspection using SEM is just applicable to a very small number of products as samples because an electron beam damages elements or a time loss results from vacuuming. The inspection using AFM or MFM consumes time in units of minutes when the measurement requires a resolution on the order of nanometers. The inspection is also just applicable to a very small part of products as samples.
The appearance inspection using optical means is capable of fast inspecting a shape failure in micrometers or the presence or absence of foreign particles. However, restrictions on a horizontal spatial resolution make it impossible to inspect the detailed shape of a write head or measure a magnetic field generated from the write head. The electric measurement using a head tester is widely used because the measurement can concurrently inspect many products at a time and inspect all products. The measurement has been expected to be used for a higher level of inspection because the measurement is suited for high value-added products.
Scanning probe microscopes (SPM) such as AFM and MFM two-dimensionally scan a probe along a surface under observation, making it difficult to shorten the measurement time. Various approaches have been attempted to speed up the measurement. For example, Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2007-85764 discloses a step-in technology. Instead of two-dimensionally scanning a probe, the step-in technology discretely repeats contact with a sample and observes it only at contact points. The technology decreases observation points and aims at speeding up the observation.
As one feature, the step-in technology allows a probe to approach the sample surface approximately perpendicularly thereto, making it possible to more accurately measure steep shapes. As another feature, the step-in technology uses fewer measurement points than continuous scanning methods, making it possible to fast scan a large area.
On the other hand, the step-in technology performs discrete measurement and degrades the horizontal in-plane resolution when a large area is measured. Improving the recording density requires narrowing the write width for magnetic recording apparatuses such as hard disks, for example. Therefore, it is also necessary to narrow a writing magnetic field generated from a write head. In order to inspect and evaluate the writing magnetic field, the magnetic field detection method and the apparatus need to provide the spatial resolution of approximately one to ten nanometers precise enough to be capable of analyzing the writing magnetic field and need to be capable of measuring the magnetic field at a speed capable of inspecting all products.

Magnetic device inspection apparatus and magnetic device inspection method


An environmental control system for the handicapped provides a user interface which is totally integrated and programmable. An audible nested control option selection structure organizes logically related tasks and subtasks together so the user can access the tasks and subtasks in a natural fashion--providing an easy to learn user interface that is user friendly, minimizes frustration in accomplishing desired tasks, and also minimizes the time required to perform even complex control operations. Enhanced user interface features, including time encoding of control switch functions and synthesized speech prompting, further increases ease of operation and functionality. Interaction between different control channels allows the user to perform different tasks simultaneously. Enhanced telephone line manipulation is provided, including off-line assembly of telephone numbers for dialing which can be stored and easily accessed by the user through the unified audible sub-menu structure. Sharing of common hardware for multiple functions minimizes system cost, increases reliability and makes the system easier to use.

It is difficult or impossible for those of us blessed with all five senses and full mobility and control of our limbs and muscles to even imagine the isolation and helplessness experienced by the severely handicapped.
Someone with sensory and/or mobility impairments may be completely unable to control the devices (e.g., telephones and radio and television receivers) we all rely upon to interact with the rest of the world. A severely handicapped person is typically confined to a bed or a wheelchair, and his entire "world" or environment may be the room or set of rooms he is confined to by reason of his lack of mobility. Electrical communications links such as the telephone, the television, the radio, the computer and "talking book" records/audio tapes may be the principal or only contact a severely handicapped person has with people and places outside of his immediate environment (fortunately, mass media is now capable of bringing a wealth of information into the home through electrical communications). Yet, an unassisted quadriplegic or other seriously handicapped person may be physically incapable of operating the controls to dial a telephone, turn a radio receiver on and off and select a station (and adjust the volume) operate a television receiver, or turn a room lamp off at night before going to sleep at night.
A person unable to perform such rudimentary control functions without assistance must rely upon the help of others to do almost everything. Turning on the television set, adjusting its volume, dialing the telephone, and switching radio stations each become a group effort requiring the cooperation of a friend, family member or personal care attendant (PCA). Sometimes a person forced to rely on another person's help for nearly all aspects of his interaction with his environment feels demoralized, useless, and purposeless--and at the very least feels very frustrated because he cannot do anything for himself.
Although a severely disabled person usually does have the mental capabilities, the skills and the determination to manage his own affairs and to function independently, complete physical dependence on someone else can easily lead to total mental dependence at worst and great frustration at best. Needless to say, a severely disabled person in such circumstances almost never can be an employable, productive member of society regardless of his skills, talents and experience (which may be considerable indeed). This frustration of the work ethic often leads to extremely low self esteem and intellectual stagnation.
Fortunately, the modern electronics age has provided severely handicapped persons with systems that allow them to interact with and control their environment. These so-called "environmental control" units or systems typically provide a user control with a small number of positions (e.g., a "sip-and-puff" switch, a joystick, a voice actuated switch, or the like) capable of being operated by a severely handicapped person. By operating the user control in accordance with feedback (e.g., audible tones and/or visual indicators) he may remotely select between and control many different electrical and electronic devices in his immediate environment.
The following is a (by no means exhaustive) listing of environmental control devices and systems having some or all of the capabilities discussed above:
NuLife Environmental Control System (a mid 1970s discrete TTL based system providing some control of a telephone and on/off of various appliances discussed in greater detail below);
"Control 1", a system sold by Prentke Romich Company, Wooster Ohio and described in published brochures entitled "Control 1", "Scanning X-10 Powerhouse Environmental Control Unit", "Accessories for Control 1" and "Control Interfaces" ;
The "Mecca" and "Deuce" systems developed by Du-It Control Systems Group of Shreve, Ohio and described in "Controls For the Severely Disabled";
"Model 2814" Environmental Control System sold by Rehab Technology Inc. of Highland, Illinois and described in the brochure "Environmental Control From RTI";
Various environmental controls described at pages 11-17 of the 1985/1986 Catalog published by "Technical Aids and Systems for the Handicapped, Inc." (TASH) of Markham, Ontario;
"Mastervoice" brochure distributed by J-B Communications of Minneapolis, Minn.;
EZRA single switch environmental control system described in the brochure "EZRA Easy Remote Access" published by KY Enterprises of Long Beach, California;
DIRECTEL model telephone interface manufactured by Bell Canada and described at page 11 of the AT&T Publication "ATT National Special Needs Center Product Catalog";
"Dialess I The Ultimate Family Phone", TTC, Carson, California (1985);
OMNI PILOT environmental control unit manufactured by Everest & Jennings, Concord, Ontario, which includes a five switch user interface with sequential scanning, an ultrasonic environmental control channel, a tape recorder hook up channel, and an infrared environmental control channel to allow user to operate a television converter;
Home Brain environmental control unit made by Hypertek of Whitehorse, New Jersey, a microprocessor based system (programmed by downloading from an IBM personal computer) which includes appliance and lighting control and optional voice output and telephone interface;
Environmental Control System manufactured by Fortress Scientific, Buffalo, New York, including a four-channel ultrasonic transmitter built into a joystick wheel chair control and providing the ability to dial preset telephone numbers and control a radio dial;
PMV Independence made by PMV Systems of Hank, The Netherlands, providing visual indicator lamps and associated audible indication to indicate state scanning; and
CEPCO Home Remote Control System made by Cepco of Canoga Park, California, providing a multiswitch remote control module for applying and removing control voltages from appliances.
The following prior issued U.S. patents may possibly be generally relevant to environmental control systems of the type discussed above:
Katz U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,927 (1986); PA0 Hofmann U.S. Pat. No. 4,427,847 (1984); PA0 Drew et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,183,015 (1980); and PA0 Stanton U.S. Pat. No. 4,322,744 ( 1982).
One example of a prior art environmental control system that has provided some severely handicapped users with considerable control over their environment is the "NuLife" system manufactured in very limited quantities in the mid 1970s by Scientific Systems International located in Huntsville, Alabama. This NuLife system included a wall-mounted control module and a further switching module connected to the control module via cables. A three-position hand-actuated joystick (center=off, left="ON" position one or "red-stick", right="ON" position two or "yellow-stick") or a three-position "sip and puff" respiratory-actuated switch (normally off, sip="ON" position one, puff="ON" position two) provides the control input from the user to the control module. The control module includes a discrete TTL logic type state machine that is capable of scanning a sequence of input states ( "control channels") in response to control switch actuation. The input state scanning sequence is indicated by an audible tone (that is, each channel could be preset with a tone of a different pitch) and also by an array of indicator lights. No matter how the tones are setup, the user has to rely on memory of previous tones to know "where" he is in the sequence of options being presented to him. A control was provided to change the scanning rate at which the system sequences through the states. Further switch actuation when the control module occupies a certain input state causes the switching module to exercise on/off (and in some cases, more complex) control over an external device assigned (by hard wiring) to that input state.
For example, suppose the user wishes to turn on the television set and increase the television volume level. Assume that television set on/off control has been assigned to input state no. 2, and television volume selection has been assigned to input state no. 5. A typical user control input sequence using a joystick might be as follows:
(a) user moves joystick to the left ("red-stick") momentarily; PA1 (b) the control module begins "scanning" through input states in sequence in response to the joystick input, providing a visual (light array) state indication for sighted users and alternating pitched tones to indicate the sequence of input states to blind users; PA1 (c) when the control module "reaches" input state no. 2 (corresponding to television set on/off control channel and indicated to the user by an illuminated indicator lamp and by the fact that two tones have been generated since scanning began) the user moves joystick to the left again ( "red-stick") to stop the scanning process; PA1 (d) the user then moves the joystick to the right ( "yellow-stick") momentarily to "toggle" the control output state of input state no. 2 (that is, if the switching module formerly did not supply power to the television, it will now operate a relay to apply power to the television); PA1 (e) the user repeats step (a) and the control module repeats step (b) by resuming scanning in sequence at input state no. 3; PA1 (f) when the user sees/hears that the control module has "reached" input state no. 5 (corresponding to television receiver volume control), he moves the joystick to the left ( "red-stick") to stop the scanning process; PA1 (g) the user moves the joystick to the right ( "yellow-stick") to change the control output state for input state no. 5 (e.g., stepper relay may be operated to switch a different resistance in series with a television receiver audio amplifier output each time the joystick is operated); PA1 (h) the user repeats step no. (a) to cause the control module to resume scanning; and PA1 (i) the control module resumes scanning at input state no. 6, cycles to the last state (e.g., state no. 9), and waits at a null state (e.g., state no. 0) for further joystick input.
The NuLife system also allows the user to control a telephone line assigned to one of the input states. Once the state corresponding to the telephone line is selected by the "red-stick" sequence described above, the user moves the joystick to the right ( "yellow-stick") to take the telephone line "off hook". A speaker phone allows the user to hear the dial tone. A similar scanning sequence is then used to permit the user to dial a telephone number. Specifically, a "yellow-stick" causes the system to begin counting from 1, with alternating pitched tones corresponding to different counts. The user selects a desired telephone number digit 0-9 by waiting for the system to count up to the desired digit and then operating "yellow-stick" again. The control module automatically transmits the selected digit in repertory pulse form (only) over the telephone line. This digit selection process is repeated by the user a number of times (e.g., eleven times for a long distance call) to dial a complete telephone number. While this procedure does permit the user to dial telephone numbers himself (as opposed to placing every call through the operator), it takes a long time to dial a single telephone number using this procedure (during which the telephone line is "off hook" so that all incoming callers hear a "busy" signal) and errors are easily introduced into the dialing process. New telephone services such as call waiting, hold, 3-way calling to call forwarding cannot be accessed with NuLife.
Many of the operational characteristics of the NuLife system have proven to be highly successful and useful. For example, the NuLife scanning input state/feedback feature (which permits the user to access a large number of different control functions by operating a three-position switch) is highly valid for any environmental control system for the severely handicapped. However, many improvements are possible and desirable.
The environmental control system user interface is the most important area for improving existing environmental control systems. The NuLife user interface, for example, is extremely cumbersome because control functions are arranged in the scanning sequence based on hard-wired relay configurations (e.g., the only stepper relay capable of controlling amplifier volume might be assigned to input state 5). This requires the user to select control functions from several different input states in order to obtain the same control results that non-handicapped users are able to achieve through a single manual operation (e.g., turning the television set ON and setting desired volume in the same knob-twisting motion). In addition, control functions were generally not grouped together logically (e.g., it was possible to change the television volume level when the television was OFF)--adding to user confusion and increasing the probability that the user would become "lost" in the control functions provided. Control operations using prior user interfaces take a great deal of time to perform and require the user to memorize essentially arbitrary assignments of control functions to input states. It would be highly desirable to provide a more flexible user interface which minimizes the number of control switch movements and the time required to obtain specific control objectives and is as user friendly and easy to learn as possible.
Perhaps one of the most serious shortcomings of prior environmental control systems is their lack of flexibility and the resulting difficulty in changing or customizing the systems to accommodate the needs of different users. Different users may have different needs (for example, some users may need multiple telephone lines, blind users may not wish to listen to television but prefer listening to talking books instead, etc.). The NuLife system described above was not a so-called "state machine" (as that term is defined in the art) in that it had no memory and could not be programmed. Rather, the system was implemented using discrete logic gates and state components and therefore provided a fixed set of functions which could be altered only by physically rewiring the combinatorial and sequential circuits (components) and associated external connections. Because of these limitations, additional functionality cannot practically be added to the system. Therefore, the only way to provide additional functions to the user is to provide additional, non-integrated control mechanisms (thereby adding to user confusion and inconvenience, increasing overall cost, cluttering the user area with additional devices and associated control and power cords, exacerbating reliability problems, and making it difficult to maintain all equipment in working order). It would be highly desirable to provide an integrated environmental control system architecture which is expandable, provides sufficient generality and flexibility to permit a wide variety of devices to be readily interfaced to it under a common flexible unified user interface/control scheme, can be customized (preferably by the user himself in some cases via the same user interface/control scheme) to accommodate the needs of different users and the changing needs of a single user, and yet is compact, portable and battery operable (so that is can be mounted on a wheelchair).
Further disadvantages of prior "complete" environmental control systems such as the NuLife system and other systems presently offered for sale relate to cost. A high percentage of disabled people cannot afford equipment to enhance their lives and many times are bitterly disappointed when provided equipment fails to live up to expectations. Because currently available systems have been designed to provide a certain fixed repertoire of functions, the basic system cost is relatively high. A few manufacturers currently provide "full featured" environmental control systems (offering multiple channels of AC power control, a telephone interface capable of prestoring telephone numbers, electric bed control, television control, intercom, and other control functions)--but the system cost is excessive ($3000 to $4000 for a fully configured system) is simply out of reach for all but a few severely handicapped people. Severely handicapped people without an environmental control system are often not employable--and therefore cannot afford to purchase the equipment they need to make them employable- It would be highly desirable to provide an affordable environmental control system which has a modular, expandable architecture so that the basic system cost can be minimized and the user can purchase additional control features (without risking functionality already provided) if and when additional funds become available. It would also be highly desirable to share as many facilities as possible between different control functions (e.g., to share a microphone between the telephone, a note-taking tape recorder, and a two-way radio) to minimize overall system cost and reduce the number of input/output cables that must be connected to the system.
Another serious shortcoming in existing environmental control systems is the lack of interaction between different control channels. For example, if the telephone rings while the user is watching television or listening to the radio, the user may have to manually mute the sound filling his room through a first time-consuming control sequence before he can answer the telephone (typically a speakerphone type system) through another time-consuming control sequence (it is not generally possible for a severely handicapped person to run to a quieter room to answer the telephone). It would be highly desirable to provide automatic control channel interaction in a flexible manner.
Another deficiency in existing environmental control systems is their inability to effectively interface with modern Touch-Tone telephone lines having advanced features such as call waiting or with modern computerized automatic call processing systems (which typically require one to key additional tones corresponding to account number, for example). The telephone is a powerful and vital link to the outside world, and a severely handicapped person should be capable of using the power of the telephone to the fullest extent possible. Unfortunately, most existing environmental control system telephone interfaces are extremely limited (some require the user to place every call through an operator) and do not take advantage of the tremendous flexibility provided by modern electronic Telephone Company switching networks--nor do they provide local speed calling or off hook programming features that could save the user a great deal of time and anxiety. Even if access was provided to the speed dialing feature offered by the telephone company, there would be no way for the severely handicapped person (who often cannot write and may be unable to read due to sight impairments) to keep track of what numbers have been programmed for the various speed calling digits.
Our invention provides an environmental control system for the severely handicapped which overcomes many of the disadvantages of prior systems. Some of the advantageous features of the presently preferred exemplary embodiment of our invention are listed below:
Totally integrated and programmable system provides flexibility, expandability and versatility;
An audible nested control option selection structure organizes logically related tasks and subtasks together so the user can access the tasks and subtasks in a natural fashion, providing an easy to learn user interface that is user friendly, minimizes frustration in accomplishing desired tasks, and also minimizes the time required to perform even complex control sequences;
Enhanced user interface features, including time encoding of control switch functions and synthesized speech prompting, further increases ease of operation and functionality;
Interaction between different control channels allows the user to perform different tasks simultaneously. All items with a high potential "nuisance factor" (NF) (such as volume controls) are programmed to reduce their nuisance factor whenever a mute subroutine is called. For example, all potentially interfering audio being generated by the system is muted automatically whenever the telephone is placed off-hook. Once on the phone, the user may play his favorite music as loud as he wishes (the system assumes he knows what he is doing).
System modularity allows the user to purchase a low-cost starter system that meets immediate needs and permits later (inexpensive) expansion without risk at will:
The system form factor is small enough to be mounted on a wheel chair or carried as an attache case;
The system may be battery operated; is portable and transportable;
Open system architecture will encourage users and technologists to develop their own specific hardware customized for specific control needs--and control such hardware through the common integrated user interface;
Enhanced telephone line manipulation, including off-line assembly of telephone numbers for dialing, a catalog of user preprogrammed telephone numbers indexed for easy access by the user through the unified audible sub-menu structure;
Wireless control links minimize wire connections and also facilitate control over off-the-shelf consumer electronics devices with built-in wireless remote control functionality; and
Sharing of common hardware for multiple functions minimizes system cost, increases reliability and makes the system easier to use.

Environmental control system for the handicapped

Rice-Kelly Research and Engineering, Inc.


A two-piece modular automotive wheel includes a rear section having a relatively thick center portion and a thinner rim portion. The rear section is produced by a spin forging process to achieve the desired thickness at various locations. A registration surface is machined in the center portion. A front rim section is secured to the rear section at the registration surface. A locking ring, which may also be spun forged, may be secured to the front rim section to lock the bead of the tire.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle wheels and more particularly to lightweight automotive wheels made of aluminum. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to modular, high performance automotive wheels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many prior art high performance wheels are three-piece types in which a pair of rim sections are secured by means of rivets or otherwise to a center section. Generally, all three pieces of the wheel are formed of aluminum. In order to provide sufficient strength yet minimize the weight of the wheel, the center section has a relatively thick cross section, whereas the rim portions have a thinner cross section. One difficulty encountered in the manufacture of such wheels is that of achieving proper registration of the parts to ensure that they are all coaxial. In addition, the three-piece construction is more complicated, and therefore more expensive, than a typical two-piece wheel.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,538, issued to Ray W. Lipper and assigned to Center Line Tool Co., Inc., the same assignee as the present application, discloses a two-piece wheel construction in which two wheel halves are provided and are aligned by means of a centering element including a disk-shaped portion having a central opening and an integral cylindrical collar along the inner circumference thereof. Although the structure provides substantial improvements over prior art wheels, it has the disadvantage of requiring a centering element in addition to the wheel halves. Furthermore, the center section of the resulting wheel is a laminated structure which has a material thickness which is twice that of the rim portions. This structure therefore does not enable the relative thickness of the different portions of the wheel to be optimized.
In order to securely clamp the bead of a tire with respect to the wheel, locking rings which attach to the wheel rim have been developed. Recent locking rings are comprised of one-piece forged aluminum rings which are secured to the wheel rim by means of bolts or the like. Although such locking rings provide the advantage of securely holding a tire, they have the disadvantage of increasing the weight of the wheel.


Defects in walls need to be repaired and need to be repaired so that the wall does not appear to have had a defect in the wall. This is particularly difficult when texture is on the wall. This method will permit texture that appears on the wall to be transferred to the area being repaired with no distinction between the originally damaged area and the original texture of the wall.

A. Field of the Invention
One of the difficulties in repairing walls is to match, on a consistent basis, the textured materials. The textured material can be as varied as the individual and it is important to get as close to the texture for cosmetic or aesthetic purposes.
B. Prior Art
There are many other types of devices in the prior art. which apply to textured materials, ceiling surfaces, and other wall surfaces. A representative example can be found at Western and Greer, U.S. Pat. No. 7,278,590. There is an aerosol system for dispensing textured materials on a horizontal surface. The current device is not an aerosol system. Other aerosol systems, however, do exist in the prior art including Stern, U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,518, and Greer, U.S. Pat. No. 6,913,407.
The Greer '407 reference is a tube with a resilient applicator for dispensing textured materials. Again, however, the tube contains the textured material and defines the container opening through which the textured material may flow. The sponge may be able to find the applicator surface of the sponge opening, which is applied much like shoe polish, but is different from the current system.
Other aerosol applications include Greer, U.S. Publication 2005/0161531, and Krens, U.S. Publication 2002/0020328.

Method to apply texture to a wall surface


Methods and systems for optimizing the utilities of receiver devices in a wireless communication network are disclosed. Precoder design formulations that maximize a minimum worst-case rate or a worst-case sum rate are described for both full base station cooperation and limited base station cooperation scenarios. In addition, optimal equalizers are also selected to optimize the worst-case sum rate.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to optimizing the utility of devices in a wireless communication network and, more particularly, to the determination of precoders that optimize the network utility.
2. Description of the Related Art
The increasing demand for accommodating growing numbers of users within wireless networks has a tendency to limit the signal quality in such networks due to interference generated by serving a large number of users. A useful approach for mitigating the interference in downlink transmissions is to equip the base stations with multiple transmit antennas and employ transmit precoding. Such precoding exploits the spatial dimension to ensure that the signals intended for different users remain easily separable at their designated receivers. To enable precoded transmission, the base stations should acquire the knowledge of channel states or channel state information (CSI).
Many existing works have addressed the beamforming design problem by assuming that each base station communicates with its respective terminals independently. In such a framework, inter-cell interference is simply regarded as additional background noise and the design of the beamforming vectors is performed on a per-cell basis only. Other works assume that both data and channel state information of all users could be shared in real-time, so that all base stations can act as a unique large array with distributed antenna elements. These works employ joint beamforming, scheduling and data encoding to simultaneously serve multiple co-channel users. Moreover existing works also assume that the channel state information is perfectly known to the sources.

Robust linear precoder designs for multi-cell downlink transmission


[Problems]

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surge absorber that protects various equipment from a surge to be generated by lightning or the like and is used for preventing accident from happening.
2. Description of the Related Art
A surge absorber is connected to a portion at which electronic equipment for communication devices such as telephones, fax machines, modems, and the like is in contact with a communication line, and a portion such as power lines, antennas, CRT drive circuits, and the like that is vulnerable to an electric shock due to abnormal overvoltage (surge voltage) such as lightning surge, static electricity, or the like in order to prevent electronic equipment or a printed circuit board mounted on electronic equipment from being damaged due to a thermal damage or ignitions caused by an abnormal overvoltage.
Conventionally, as a surge absorber having good responsibility, Patent Document 1 proposes a surge absorber that employs a surge absorbing element having a micro gap. The surge absorber is a discharge-type surge absorber in which so-called "micro gap" is formed on the circumferential surface of a ceramic component that is a cylindrical insulating component provided with conductive coating, a surge absorbing element having a pair of cap electrodes on the opposite ends of the ceramic component is housed in a glass tube together with a discharge control gas, and a sealing electrode having lead wires on the opposite ends of the cylindrical glass tube is sealed under a high-temperature heating.
On the other hand, Patent Document 2 proposes a discharge-type surge absorbing element having a carbon trigger line in which a plurality of discharge electrodes consisting of rod-like discharge bases are arranged opposing one another across a discharge gap, and is then sealed in a gastight container together with discharge gas. In the discharge-type surge absorbing element in which a lead terminal connected to the lower end of the electrode base is lead outside the gastight container, a trigger electrode made of carbon lines is provided on the dielectric substrate base surface within the gastight container in a micro-spaced apart relation to each of the discharge electrodes.

Abstract: [Problems]

Abstract: Disclosed is a surge absorber which can absorb a surge having a long wave tail, wherein a stable sparkover voltage is obtained without applying a discharging aid to electrodes.

Abstract: [Means for Solving the Problems]

Abstract: The surge absorber is comprised of a pair of terminal electrode members (2) which are opposed to each other; and the insulation tube (3) on which the pair of terminal electrode members (2) are disposed on opposite ends thereof and that has a discharge control gas sealed therein. Bulging electrode elements (4) having an expanded center portion (4a) are formed on the inner surfaces of the terminal electrode members (2). The bulging electrode elements (4) contain metal which can emit more electrons than the terminal electrode members (2).


A semiconductor memory device including a first memory to which a first address and first input data are input, and which outputs first output data, a content-addressable memory to which the first address is input as a search address, and which performs a search to determine whether or not the first address and a defective address coincide with each other and, when the first address and the defective address coincide with each other, outputs a second address and a control signal, a second memory which, when the second address is input thereto, outputs redundant data corresponding to the second address, and a multiplexer which, when the control signal is input thereto, switches the output data from the first output data to the redundant data, and outputs the redundant data to an input/output terminal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device and a redundancy method thereof, and is applied to, for example, a redundancy system and the like of a memory incorporated in a system LSI in a combined state.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, the capacity of a semiconductor memory device such as a static random access memory (SRAM) integrated into a system LSI tends to increase still more. On the other hand, in an SRAM or the like, redundancy for replacing a defective cell in a memory cell array with a redundant memory cell needs to be carried out. As a configuration for carrying out conventional redundancy, there is a configuration in which, for example, a spare row or the like including a redundant memory cell is provided in a memory cell array of an SRAM to be saved.
In the redundant memory cell of the spare row, a defective address of the SRAM (macro) to be saved, and replacement data thereof are stored. The defective address of the SRAM and the replacement data thereof are checked in advance by means of a tester, for example, in a functional test performed at the time of shipment.
Further, a row address included in externally input addresses (Add.) input to the SRAM is compared with a preprogrammed defective row address by an address comparator circuit provided in the SRAM. Subsequently, if the row address and the defective row address coincide with each other, then the row is replaced with any one of spare word lines (SWL) in the spare row to which any one of defective word lines (WL) corresponding to the defective row address is assigned.
However, in the conventional configuration, if it is tried to provide high-capacity redundancy, the area tends to increase.
This is because the defective word line (WL) of the cell array to be saved is replaced with one spare word line (SWL) as a unit, i.e., not with one memory cell as a unit, but with one word line (row) as a unit. With this configuration, not all the cells in the defective word line (WL) to be replaced are defective, and hence even cells which do not originally need to be replaced are replaced. Thus, all the cells connected to the word line (WL) are replaced, and replacement in units of one word (cell) cannot be performed.
For example, in the case of an SRAM provided with additional 64 spare rows for a memory cell array of 512 rows, the ratio of the area of the spare rows to that of the memory cell array is 12.5%. Further, even the ratio of the area of the spare rows to the entire SRAM (macro) area exceeds 10% leading to an area penalty. Thus, the area efficiency is remarkably low. As a result, when it is necessary to provide the high-capacity redundancy, the area efficiency is very low.
Furthermore, the spare rows and the address comparator circuit and the like constituting the redundancy are provided as hard intellectual property (IP) on the layout level. As a result, once the SRAM is designed, when, for example, it becomes necessary to obtain a macro in which the number of spare rows is reduced, and the area is also reduced due to an improvement in the manufacturing level of the factory, the time needed to redesign the spare rows tends to increase.
Examples of known documents relating to the invention of the present application are K. Pagiamtzis et al., "Content-Addressable Memory (CAM) Circuits and Architectures: A Tutorial and Survey", IEEE J. of Solid-State Circuits., vol. 41, No. 3, pp. 712-727, March 2006, and H. Ito et al., "Pure CMOS One-time Programmable Memory using Gate-Ox Anti-fuse", in CICC Tech. Dig., 2004, pp. 469-472H.

Semiconductor memory device and redundancy method thereof


Implants for repairing tissue defects, such as cartilage tissue defects, and methods of their preparation and use are disclosed. A mold of a tissue defect is prepared by pressing upon the defect a substrate having shape memory, such as aluminum foil. The mold, which has contours substantially conforming to those of the defect, is removed from the defect, and tissue particles are added to the mold ex vivo. A biological carrier such as biocompatible glue is also added to the mold. The combination of tissue particles and the biological carrier thereby form an implant, which retains its shape after separation from the mold. The implant can be transferred to the tissue defect, with contours of the mold matching corresponding contours of the defect.

The need for implants for repairing tissue defects, such as cartilage tissue defects, is ongoing. Materials have been developed to fill spaces comprising tissue defects, but have typically been two-dimensional, comprising, for example, a flat sheet cut to approximate the dimensions of a tissue defect, or a layer of cells grown in vitro, from which a two dimensional sheet of cells is applied to a tissue defect.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,964 to Richmond et al. discloses an articular cartilage repair piece and methods of forming. This patent discloses a repair piece which includes a backing layer of non-woven, felted fibrous material which is conformable to flat and curved surfaces.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,655,546 and 6,179,871 to Halpern disclose methods for repairing a cartilage defect, comprising the provision of apertures in the cartilage by drilling holes at the base of the cartilage defect. The holes may enter the mesenchymal depot. In these methods, a porous scaffold material containing a plurality of magnetic particles is introduced into the apertures. Subsequently and sequentially, magnetically-tagged cartilage growth promoting materials such as chondrocytes or growth factors are injected into the area of the defect.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,988 to Felt et al. discloses methods and apparatuses for repairing a tissue site. The method involves use of a curable polyurethane adapted to be mixed at time of use in order to provide a flowable composition and initiate cure.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,511,958 and 6,514,514 to Atkinson et al. disclose devices and products for repair of cartilage lesions, comprising a cartilage repair matrix suitable for conforming to a cartilage defect and a cartilage-inducing composition on or within the matrix.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,626,945, 6,632,246 and 6,852,125 to Simon et al describe cartilage plugs made from a biocompatible artificial material. These plugs are made according to pre-determined shapes.


A plurality of element isolation insulating films are formed in a semiconductor substrate in a memory cell array and have a first direction as a long direction. A plurality of element formation regions are formed isolated by the element isolation insulating films. A memory string is formed in each of the element formation regions. A plurality of element formation region groups are each configured by the element formation regions. In a memory cell array, in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, a spacing between the element formation region groups is configured larger than a spacing between the element formation regions in each of the element formation region groups. A control circuit executes a write operation on the memory cell array on an element formation region group basis.

NAND type flash memory is widely employed as a semiconductor memory device for storing data in a nonvolatile manner. Due to the need for multi-functionality in electronic appliances in which such NAND type flash memory is installed, the NAND type flash memory itself requires to have its storage capacity increased, which in turn requires miniaturization of size and wiring pitch of storage elements.
A NAND type flash memory normally employs a memory transistor having a MOSFET structure of a stacked floating gate and control gate. A NAND cell unit in the NAND type flash memory is configured by a plurality of such memory transistors connected in series. One end of the NAND cell unit is connected to a bit line via a select gate transistor and the other end of the NAND cell unit is connected to a source line similarly via a select gate transistor.
To meet requirements for further miniaturization, for example, the so-called sidewall transfer process is employed in manufacture of the latest NAND type flash memory. In the sidewall transfer process, patterning of resist is performed with a minimum processing dimension F, and a slimming process is executed that further thins the patterned resist. Subsequently, the resist is used as a mask to process a hard mask, and a sidewall film is deposited on sidewalls of that hard mask. Then, an etching process is performed that allows the sidewall film to remain while removing the hard mask only. This remaining sidewall film is employed to perform etching of material film in layers below the sidewall film. This enables various kinds of wiring and so on to be formed with a width and pitch that are smaller than the minimum processing dimension F.
However, progress in miniaturization leads to interference effects on adjacent memory cells increasing, which in turn causes a write operation to be greatly affected.


A method of reducing residual defect on a dielectric surface includes performing a treatment process of the dielectric surface prior to a lithograph process. The treatment process includes at least a first wet chemical treatment step and a second wet chemical treatment step.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a method of reducing surface residual defect. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of treatment on a dielectric layer prior to a lithograph process.
2. Description of Related Art
Silicon nitride has been a widely used in the semiconductor manufacturing process for surface passivation. For example, a silicon nitride layer is applied as an etching mask for a silicon oxide layer. Further, since a silicon nitride layer is not easily penetrated by oxygen, a silicon nitride layer can also serve as a mask layer for preventing oxidation on a chip surface in an oxide layer fabricating process. Additionally, a silicon nitride layer is not easily penetrated by moisture; therefore, it has been used as a protection layer for semiconductor devices. Due to its many applications, silicon nitride plays a very important role in the semiconductor manufacturing process.
However, it has been demonstrated that metal contaminants or residual particles are easily bond to the surface of a silicon nitride layer, for example, subsequent to a photoresist removing process or a plasma etching process. As a result, the functions of a silicon nitride layer are greatly compromised.

Method of reducing surface residual defect


Aspects herein describe transmitting reference signals in wireless communications. An indication of resources over which to transmit an uplink reference signal can be received from an access point, where the resources are at least partially used by another device to transmit a downlink reference signal or a second uplink reference signal. The uplink reference signal can be transmitted over the resources.

Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to configuring resources for transmitting reference signals.
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code-division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time-division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) systems, and orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, and single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems.
These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. For example, a fifth generation (5G) wireless communications technology (which can be referred to as 5G new radio (5G NR)) is envisaged to expand and support diverse usage scenarios and applications with respect to current mobile network generations. In an aspect, 5G communications technology can include services such as: enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) addressing human-centric use cases for access to multimedia content, services and data; ultra-reliable-low latency communications (URLLC) with certain specifications for latency and reliability; and massive machine type communications, which can allow a very large number of connected devices and transmission of a relatively low volume of non-delay-sensitive information. As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, however, further improvements in 5G communications technology and beyond may be desired.
In 5G, the availability of unpaired spectrum in high frequency band has led to selection of time division duplexing (TDD) as a prominent deployment scenario for resource utilization. Dynamic TDD, which is similar to enhanced interference mitigation and traffic adaptation (eIMTA) in LTE, can provide additional flexibility for configuring resources, but may be limited due to cross-link interference (CLI) where a device served by one base station may transmit uplink communications that interfere with downlink communications from another base station (to another device) and/or where a base station may transmit downlink communications (to a device) that interfere with uplink communications from another device to another base station.

Configuring reference signal transmission in wireless communications


The object of the present invention is to provide a touch switch that enables reduction in the low-sensitivity region where the contact by fingers cannot be detected. The touch switch of the present invention comprises an insulating layer; sensor electrodes as a plurality of first electrodes provided on one surface of the insulating layer; a plurality of wire portions provided on one surface of the insulating layer, individually connected to the sensor electrodes; and auxiliary electrodes as a plurality of second electrodes provided on the other surface of the insulating layer, each auxiliary electrode being provided in a portion opposite each sensor electrode, wherein a boundary of adjacent auxiliary electrodes is provided in a region between adjacent sensor electrodes.

Known touch switches are generally classified into types that detect a change in light, and types that detect a change in electrical characteristic. Touch switches based on change in electrical characteristic include capacitive coupling touch switches. Patent Document 1 discloses an example of a capacitive coupling touch switch in which a plurality of sensor electrodes is laid out on a substrate. Each sensor electrode is connected to a conductive wire (wire portion) that is connected to a capacitance detection circuit. When a user touches one of the sensor electrodes with a finger, the capacitance detection circuit detects the capacitance change due to the capacitance of the human body, thereby specifying the touched position. At this time, by detecting the value of the electric current in the sensor electrode, it is possible to calculate the touched position.


A method comprises discharging each of a plurality of cells of a battery pack, stopping the discharging of a selected cell of the plurality of cells when the selected cell reaches a predetermined capacity, and charging the plurality of cells after the discharging has stopped for all of the plurality of cells.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a functional block diagram of a battery pack 100 according to the prior art is presented. The battery pack 100 includes multiple cells 106-1, 106-2, 106-3, and 106-4, each having a positive and a negative terminal. The cells 106 are connected in series, with the positive terminal of one cell 106 connected to the negative terminal of the next cell 106. In various implementations, the cells 106 may be lithium ion (LiIon) charge storage cells.
The negative terminal of the cell 106-4 is connected to an external contact, which may interface with a power tool or a charger. The positive terminal of the cell 106-1 is connected to a switch 110. When the switch 110 is conducting, the positive terminal of the cell 106-1 is connected to an external contact, which may interface with the power tool or the charger. The switch 110 is controlled by a protection system 114. The protection system 114 monitors voltages at the positive and negative terminals of each of the cells 106.
The cells 106 may have varying charge storage capacities. The cells 106 with lower charge storage capacities will decrease in voltage faster than the cells 106 with larger storage capacities. The protection system 114 measures the voltages of the cells 106 and instructs the switch 110 to stop conducting when the voltage of one of the cells becomes too low. In addition, the switch 110 may stop conducting if the current flowing through it exceeds a safe operating level.
Referring now to FIG. 2, a graphical depiction of battery charging according to the prior art is presented. During battery charging, each of the cells is charged to a predetermined voltage. In FIG. 2, four cells are depicted, and they are each charged to 3.6 volts. At 3.6 volts (V), however, the cells may have varying capacities. For example, the first three cells may have a fully charged capacity of 1.1 ampere-hours (Ah), while the fourth cell has a capacity of 1.0 Ah. This imbalance causes problems during discharging, as shown in the next figure.
Referring now to FIG. 3, a graphical depiction of battery discharging according to the prior art is presented. As the battery pack is discharged, the voltages of the cells decrease. After 1.0 Ah has been drawn from the cells, the first three cells have 0.1 Ah remaining, and may be at a voltage of approximately 2.5 V. However, the fourth cell has zero capacity remaining, and may be at a lower voltage, such as 1.8 V, or even a negative voltage.
Battery cells, and especially LiIon cells, may be permanently damaged, and may even become unstable, when driven to low or negative voltages. The voltage of the fourth cell may be too low after 1.0 Ah has been drawn from the battery pack. For this reason, the protection system 114 of FIG. 1 monitors the voltage of each of the cells. Without this monitoring, the user may continue using the battery pack even as one or more of the cells 106 runs out of capacity. As current is drawn from the first three cells, the fourth cell may even be driven to a negative voltage, which is likely detrimental to the fourth cell. The protection system 114 can prevent this from happening, but is expensive and complicated to include in each battery pack.
The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.

Bottom based balancing in lithium ion system


An extinguisher includes a mounting seat fixed in the driver's cab of an automobile near the driver's seat, an extinguisher body mounted removably on the mounting seat, a resilient element depressing the push-button type switch of the extinguisher body, a hose extending from the driver's cab to the engine compartment in communication with the spray-opening of the extinguisher body, and a nozzle disposed at the end of the hose and directed to the automobile engine. When a safety lock is pulled away from the extinguisher body, the fire-extinguishing substances contained in the extinguisher body spray from the nozzle due to the fact that the switch is depressed by the resilient element.

This invention relates to an extinguisher to be installed in an automobile which is effective for extinguishing fire burning from the engine of the automobile.
In case of traffic accident, the engine of the automobiles involved sometimes catch fire. As a precaution against this kind of dangerous situation, miniature extinguishers are often stored in automobiles. Referring to FIG. 1, such an extinguisher (A) includes a push-button type switch (B), a safety lock (C) and a spray-opening (D). In a situation where the safety lock (C) is not removed from the extinguisher (A), the switch (B) cannot be depressed. In use, referring to FIG. 2, the safety lock (C) is first pulled away from the extinguisher (A) so that the switch (B) can be depressed, thereby spraying the high-pressure gaseous helium in the extinguisher (A) from the opening (D). Normally, the extinguisher (A) is placed in the trunk of an automobile or under the driver's seat of the same. When an automobile is involved in a traffic accident, either the occupants or the extinguisher (A) in the automobile may be stuck inside the automobile as a result of the damage to the body thereof. In a case where the engine of an automobile is on fire due to a traffic accident, if the occupants in the automobile cannot gain access to either the extinguisher (A), or the engine, because the automobile body is damaged, the extinguisher (A) cannot be used to extinguish the fire in the engine.


A clock generation circuit for use in a television system displaying images encoded in television signals and images represented by network application data. The clock generation circuit generates a clock signal synchronized with HSYNC signals of the television signals. The clock generation circuit includes a phase-lock-loop (PLL) circuit and a tracking block. PLL circuit includes an oscillator (e.g., VCO) driven by an error signal to generate an internal periodic signal having frequency substantially equal to the frequency of the desired clock signal. The tracking block includes a resettable VCO (RVCO) driven by the error signal. A restart signal is asserted prior to the expected arrival time of the HSYNC edge to cause the RVCO to stop generating the desired clock signal. The restart signal is deasserted on receiving the HSYNC edge to cause the RVCO to start generating the clock signal. Accordingly, the clock signal is synchronized with the HSYNC signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to television systems, and more specifically to a method and apparatus for generating a clock signal synchronized with time reference signals (e.g, HSYNC) associated with a television signal.
2. Related Art
Phase-lock-loop circuits (PLLs) are often used to generate a clock signal synchronized with an external time reference signal. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of illustrating an example implementation of a PLL circuit. PLL circuit 100 includes phase detector 110, charge pump 120, filter 130, voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) 140, and frequency divider 150. Phase detector 110 compares an external time reference signal received on line 101 and a signal having a fraction (determined by frequency divider 150) of the frequency of the generated clock signal received on line 151. The two signals are referred to as f1 and f2 for brevity.
Phase detector 110 provides on line 112 a voltage signal indicative of the difference of the phases of f1 and f2. The signal on line 112 charges charge pump 120. When frequencies f1 and f2 are synchronized perfectly, the signal on line 112 may be at zero voltage and charge pump 120 may not be charged. Filter 130 is generally designed as a low pass filter to eliminate undesirable high frequency components. When the frequencies f1 and f2 are close, but not equal, line 123 will carry a voltage signal proportional to the difference in frequencies.
VCO 140 is designed to generate a clock signal with a predetermined frequency (equal to the desired clock frequency). The predetermined frequency equals f2.times.N, where N is the divisor in the frequency divider 150. When f2 is not an integral multiple of f1, a multiplier can be used to multiply frequency f1 and the value of n is chosen to achieve the desired frequency f2. The frequency of VCO 140 is altered depending on the voltage level received on line 123. The voltage level on line 123 is generated so as to achieve a synchronization of the frequencies f1 and f2. The voltage level on line 123 may be amplified if needed to achieve such a synchronization.
Frequency divider 150 divides the frequency of clock signal received on line 145 by a factor of N. In a steady synchronized state, f1=f2 and the clock frequency generated by VCO 140 equals N.times.f1. Thus, by a proper choice of N, a clock signal of a desired frequency can be generated.
PLL circuits such as the one described in FIG. 1 are generally acceptable when the value of N is small (e.g., about 10). However, as the value of N becomes large, synchronizing the clock signal with the external time reference signal can become problematic as the correction of any misalignments between f1 and the generated clock signal occurs only once every cycle of the reference clock f1.
The large correction times can be problematic in several environments such as display units which operate at high speeds. The absence of synchronization can result in display artifacts as is also well known in the art. For example, a television system may be used for displaying images encoded in television signals as well as images representative of services/data accessed on a network. One or more embodiments of such television systems are described in Related Patent 1 noted above.
In such systems, the display of network application data may need to be synchronized with the time reference signals associated with a television signal. To process and display network application data, clock signals having a frequency of as high as 40 MHZ may be required. The time reference signals of television signals can have a frequency of as low as 30 KHz. Thus, magnifications of the order of few hundreds to a thousand (N=100 to 1000) may be required. In such situations, PLL circuits such as the one described with reference to FIG. 1 may not be acceptable.
Therefore, what is needed is a PLL circuit for generating a clock signal, which is synchronized well even in situations when the clock signal has a frequency substantially greater than the frequency of the external time reference signal. In addition, the PLL should operate in situations such as the television systems (e.g, those described in Related Patent 1) which provide combined display of television signal images and network application data image.

Circuit and method for generating a clock signal synchronized with time reference signals associated with television signals


An antenna includes a simple structure and a small null angle, which achieves communication using a circularly-polarized wave. The antenna includes a conductive wire arranged in loops in such a way as to form a cross shape. A part at which two line portions projecting outward from the center portion define a right angle is included in the loop path of the conductive wire. This part allows the antenna to transmit and receive an electromagnetic wave in all directions and have a circular polarization characteristic.

IC tags having an electronic circuit and transceiver mounted on a small substrate are becoming popular; for example, cards used as electronic money for a fare for a railroad, or the like have appeared. Further, applications in the field of animal husbandry are also expected as merchandise management, or measures against the mad cow disease and the avian influenza. A dipole antenna or a loop antenna is used in the spreading cards. These antennas have intense directivity, so that they have a high sensitivity in a specific direction while having a low sensitivity in the other directions.
Patent Document 1 describes that communications in all directions are enabled by selectively using two dipole antennas which are arranged orthogonal to each other.
Patent Documents 2 and 3 describe magnetic coil antennas which read a magnetic signal. Patent Documents 4 to 6 describe antennas for a noncontact IC card.    [Patent Document 1] JP-A-2006-39899    [Patent Document 2] JP-A-2002-109497    [Patent Document 3] JP-A-2000-114853    [Patent Document 4] JP-A-2001-84343    [Patent Document 5] JP-A-2006-168913    [Patent Document 6] JP-A-2001-175960

National University Corporation Ehime University


A high-pressure pump is provided with a high-pressure delivery line, a low-pressure supply line, a pumping element defined by a piston and cylinder, a cylinder head, and a gasket. The gasket is essentially flat and is provided with a sheet extending in a first plane and that has a first hole defining part of the low-pressure supply line, a second hole into which the cylinder head can be inserted, and a third hole defining part of the high-pressure delivery line. A coating of elastic material is provided to extend only around the first and second holes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gasket and a high-pressure pump comprising said gasket. The invention particularly relates to a gasket and to a high-pressure fuel supply pump for an internal-combustion engine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
High-pressure pumps generally comprise a pump body, at least one pumping element defined by a cylinder and piston, and a cylinder head. The pumping element receives fuel from a low-pressure supply line, compresses it and sends it, along a high-pressure delivery line, to a high-pressure manifold or "common rail" as it is commonly known.
To prevent fuel leaks it is normal to use an essentially flat gasket placed between the pump body and the cylinder head: this gasket has a first hole defining part of the low-pressure supply line, a second hole into which the cylinder head can be inserted, and a third hole defining part of the high-pressure delivery line.
Document DE 103 10 124 discloses a flat gasket with a sealing edge that extends around the first and third holes, creating a sort of embankment against potential fuel leaks from the first, second and third holes.
However, this type of gasket has proved to have a number of disadvantages. In particular, even when subjected to leak tests before being sold, gaskets of this type are often returned by the buyer as they do not give early indications of fuel leaks, which develop over the long term.

Gasket for high-pressure pump and high-pressure pump comprising said gasket


A railcar control apparatus comprises a synchronous slide/slip detector which determines that the axles are synchronously sliding/slipping if an absolute value of axle's speed difference is less than a synchronous slide/slip speed difference threshold and an absolute value of axle's acceleration is greater than a predetermined synchronous slide/slip acceleration threshold.

The railcar has a plurality of axles each supporting at its opposite ends respective wheels running on the rails. Acceleration and deceleration of the railcar are accomplished by using adhesion, or frictional force, between the wheels and rails. The adhesion varies depending upon conditions such as wear and existence of water and/or dust at the contact surfaces between the wheels and rails. Also, the adhesion may vary with dynamic conditions between the wheels and rails such as slide/slip rate. For example, the adhesion increases with the increase of the slide/slip of the wheel against the rail. The adhesion, on the other hand, begins to decrease once it has exceeded an adhesion limit between the wheels and rails.
Accordingly, an application of a certain amount of braking or accelerating torque to the axles can cause differences in rotational speeds thereof due to the adhesion variation between the wheels and the rails. The axles with excessive slide/slip beyond the adhesion limit may result in a significant decrease in adhesion, which in turn causes further slide/slip of the wheels against the rails. The decrease in adhesion may result in that the wheels with sliding/slipping axles exert insufficient braking or accelerating forces between the wheels and rails.
To overcome this problem, there have been used various railcar controlling operations in which the sliding/slipping is detected and then the braking/accelerating torque for the axles associated with the sliding/slipping is decreased to eliminate the sliding/slipping.
Typically, it can be thought that, in the braking operation the increased rotational speed of the axle causes less sliding of the wheels to the rails while the decreased rotational speed causes more sliding of the wheels, and in the acceleration operation the decreased rotational speed of the axle causes less slipping of the wheels to the rails while the increased rotational speed causes more slipping of the wheels. Therefore, according to the conventional method, an assumption is made that the axle with the maximum rotational speed is not sliding in the braking operation while the axle with the minimum rotational speed is not slipping in the acceleration operation, and the maximum and the minimum rotational speeds are used as references in the determinations of the sliding and slipping in the braking and accelerating operations, respectively, in each of which it is determined that the axle is sliding/slipping if an absolute difference between the reference and the actual rotational speed of the axle is greater than a predetermined threshold.
Various conditions such as weight of railcar, characteristic of the motor/brake, and torque command may impose a limitation on the acceleration of the railcar. Then, conventionally the axle is determined to be sliding or slipping if the absolute rate of acceleration of the axle exceeds a threshold corresponding to the limited acceleration.
As described above, according to the conventional control of the railcar, it is determined that the axle is sliding or slipping if the absolute difference of rotational speed or the absolute rate of acceleration is greater than respective threshold and, if at least one of above conditions is true, the braking or accelerating torque applied to the axle is decreased in corresponding to the absolute rotational speed difference and the absolute acceleration rate difference to reduce the sliding or slipping and thereby to reproduce adhesions between the wheels and the rails.
According to the conventional control, however, the adhesion recovers gradually with the decrease in the speed in the same manner irrespective of whether all of or part of the axles are sliding or slipping, which takes relatively much time to recover the adhesion for each and every axle if all of the axles are sliding or slipping to a certain extent (hereinafter referred to as "synchronous sliding" and "synchronous slipping".)
JP 61-199401 A discloses a method for detecting of sliding, which comprises providing two thresholds of speed difference and acceleration, and determining that all the axles are sliding if at least one of the speed difference and acceleration of the axle is greater than its first threshold but less than its second threshold for more than a predetermined number of axles and also the speed and the acceleration of each axle are less than respective second thresholds. However, if all of the axles are sliding uniformly and synchronously, the acceleration increases beyond its second threshold while the speed difference remains less than its first threshold. Therefore, the method may be unable to detect the synchronous slide and, as a result, the adhesion is recovered individually for respective axles and then takes much time to complete the adhesion recovering process.
JP 11-70870 A discloses that not only the speed difference and the acceleration of the axle but also a differential value of acceleration is used in the determination of the sliding. This method, however, may not be able to detect the synchronous slide/slip, which means that recovering adhesions for all the axles takes a considerable time.
To solve those problems, the present invention provides railcar control apparatus for detecting synchronous slide/slip of the axles to reduce the slide/slip and a method for detecting synchronous slide/slip of the railcar.

Apparatus for controlling railcar and methods for detecting synchronous slide/slip


Methods of performing controllable lateral etches into the silicon layer using a plasma-enhanced etch-deposit-etch sequence are disclosed. The first etch step etches into the silicon layer. The deposition step passivates horizontal surfaces, including the bottom of the etched feature. The second etch step increases the lateral undercut, resulting in a low V:L ratio silicon layer etch.

New methods for achieving faster transistors are being developed for the 90 nm semiconductor logic technology and below. One method for achieving faster transistors is to "strain" the silicon under the gate electrode. There are several ways to achieve the strain. One way is to etch away the silicon in the vicinity of the gate and to fill the recess with silicon germanium (SiGe) or another suitable material. The SiGe then forms a compressive strain on the gate channel. This compressive strain has been known to enhance hole mobility and thus improve the performance of PMOS devices.
FIG. 1 shows an example prior art PMOS transistor architecture that features a recess for forming the compressive strain. PMOS transistor 100 includes a polysilicon (or another suitable gate material) gate 108 that is surrounded by a spacer (102 of FIG. 1). A hard mask 118 is shown disposed above the polysilicon line. The spacer material may be formed of, for example, silicon nitride, which may be deposited by a low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) process. An oxide liner may also be employed (not shown).
An etch process removes the silicon material (e.g., bulk c-Si or Silicon-On-Insulator, also known as SOI) in silicon layer 110 to a depth 104. The etching proceeds both vertically into silicon layer 110 and laterally under spacer 102 to form a recess 114, where the SiGe strain will be formed. Etching laterally under spacer 102 permits the strain to be formed near the gate channel, thereby improving performance.
Plasma etching has been employed for the silicon etch to create the strain recess. Due to shadowing of the neutrals species by the spacer (102) itself, for example, etching of the recess under the spacer (102) can be challenging. In particular, it is important that the etching of the strain recess be well controlled so that while a substantial and controlled amount of lateral etching of the silicon material into the region under spacer 102 is achieved, the remainder of silicon layer 110 is not unduly damaged. A well-controlled low V:L ratio etch (i.e., an etch into the silicon layer with a low vertical to lateral etch ratio) is therefore desired to effectively strain the gate and enhance hole mobility to improve device performance.

Multi-step method for etching strain gate recesses


A MEMS microphone includes a substrate having a cylindrical cavity, a back plate disposed over the substrate and having a plurality of acoustic holes defined therethrough, a diaphragm disposed between the substrate and the back plate, the diaphragm spaced apart from the substrate and the back plate, covering the cavity to form an air gap between the back plate, and being configured to generate a displacement with responding to an acoustic pressure and an anchor extending from an end portion of the diaphragm and extending along a circumference of the diaphragm, and the anchor including a lower surface in contact with an upper surface of the substrate to support the diaphragm, and a connecting portion, which is connected to the diaphragm, presenting a stepped cross section. Thus, the MEMS microphone may have improved flexibility and improved total harmonic distortion.

Generally, a capacitive microphone utilizes a capacitance between a pair of electrodes which are facing each other to generate an acoustic signal. A MEMS microphone may be manufactured by a semiconductor MEMS process to have an ultra-small size.
A MEMS microphone may include a substrate including a cavity, a bendable diaphragm and a back plate which is facing the diaphragm. The diaphragm can be a membrane structure to generate a displacement due to the acoustic pressure. In particular, when the acoustic pressure reaches to the diaphragm, the diaphragm may be bent upwardly or downwardly due to the acoustic pressure. The displacement of the diaphragm can be sensed through a change of capacitance between the diaphragm and the back plate. As a result, an acoustic wave can be converted into an electrical signal for output.
The characteristics of a MEMS microphone can be determined by measuring various factors such as: a pull-in voltage, sensitivity, a frequency resonance, and a total harmonic distortion (THD). In particular, a THD value may serve as an indicator for or symptom of unnecessary harmonic components in the acoustic signal to result in distortion. The distortion component is a component tone which is not originally included in the input acoustic signal, which may cause sound quality to degrade upon reproduction. Therefore, a MEMS microphone should ideally be configured such that the THD value does not exceed a proper level. It can be especially important to maintain an appropriate level of the THD value in cases where the flexibility of the diaphragm is low.

MEMS microphone and method of manufacturing the same


In a damper device of a lock-up clutch-equipped torque converter which has at least two rotating members that have a common rotation axis and are rotatable relatively to each other via an elastic member, an axial-direction support portion that supports the at least two rotating members in the direction of the rotation axis with respect to each other, and a radial-direction support portion that supports the rotating members in a radial direction with respect to each other are disposed on circumferences that are substantially equidistant from the rotation axis.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a damper device. More particularly, the invention relates to a damper device of a lock-up clutch for use in a torque converter of a motor vehicle or the like, and to a lock-up clutch device that incorporates the damper device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Automatic transmissions are equipped with a torque converter, and are designed so that the rotation of an engine output to the crankshaft is transferred to the input shaft of a speed change device via the torque converter. Generally, the torque converter is made up of a pump impeller, a turbine runner, a stator, etc., and is equipped with a lock-up clutch device and a damper device.
Furthermore, the damper device of the lock-up clutch serves to absorb great impacts caused by sharp changes in torque at the time of lock-up engagement, and also absorbs vibrations caused by fluctuations in the torque of the engine while the vehicle is running during the locked-up clutch state.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 11-141617 proposes a damper device which is disposed between a clutch plate for engaging and disengaging a lock-up clutch device and an output member and which includes a spring disposed between a drive plate fixed to the clutch plate and two driven plates fixed to the output member.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 10-47453 proposes a damper device in which strength members are reduced in size to reduce weight and reduce the size in the direction of an axis.
In the damper device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 11-141617, the drive plate and the driven plates need to be rotatable relatively to each other. Therefore, it is conceivable that the drive plate and the driven plates rotatable relatively to each other are defined in position in radial directions by utilizing a portion of engagement between a groove formed in an outer peripheral edge of the drive plate and an engaging piece provided at an outer peripheral side of the clutch plate, and that the positioning of the drive plate and the driven plates, rotatable relatively to each other, in the direction of the axis is accomplished by utilizing a portion where the drive plate is sandwiched between the two driven plates via rivets.
In that case, however, the portion for positioning the drive plate and the driven plates in radial directions is located radially outward of the portion for positioning the drive and driven plates in the direction of the axis. Therefore, the damper device tends to have great dimensions in radial directions.


An integrated circuit structure includes a substrate, and a first metal layer over the substrate. The integrated circuit structure further includes a second insulating layer over the first metal layer, the second insulating layer having a damascene opening and two via openings. The damascene opening has a first depth. The two via openings have a second depth greater than the first depth. The integrated circuit structure further includes a stress buffer having a flat upper surface extending from a first side of the stress buffer to a second side of the stress buffer, the first side and second side being parallel, the stress buffer having a thickness between the upper surface of the stress buffer and the first metal layer, the thickness being less than the second depth and greater than the first depth. The integrated circuit structure further includes a second metal layer over the stress buffer.

The disclosure relates generally to the fabrication of semiconductor bond pad structures, and more particularly, to a structure and method of forming a bond pad structure having enhanced reliability.
Semiconductor bond pad structures having bond wires and solder bump structures using flip chip technology continue to face new challenges as semiconductor device geometries continue to decrease in size. As a consequence of device miniaturization, the RC time constant of the interconnection between active circuit elements increasingly dominates the achievable chip speed-power product. One challenge is the adoption of extreme low-k (ELK) dielectric materials for use in semiconductor bond pad structures to reduce RC delay and parasitic capacitances. ELK dielectric materials generally have dielectric constant (k) values of less than about 2.5. However, as the k values decreases, as a general rule, the strength of the dielectric material decreases and these ELK materials are mechanically much weaker than the conventional silicon dioxide layers. Hence, many ELK materials are highly susceptible to cracking or lack the strength needed to withstand some mechanical processes, such as when the bond pad structure is subjected to an application of force. For example, during wire bonding tests, the overlying bond pad receives a large bonding force causing defect formation or cracking of the underlying inter-metal dielectric (IMD) layers. These wire bonding and other bonding processes induce mechanical and temperature stress in and around the bond pad, including in the conductive and dielectric layers underlying the bond pad.
These cracks may also come about when the device is subjected to thermal cycling during manufacturing, assembly, packaging, testing, and handling. Furthermore, these cracks may propagate as a result of the differences in the coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) between different semiconductor chip materials. These cracks and peeling of various layers under the bond pad can adversely affect device performance and reliability.
For these reasons and other reasons that will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description, there is a need for an improved bond pad structure and a method of fabrication that avoids the reliability issues associated with conventional bond pad structures. The method should be low cost and use existing manufacturing equipment so that no investment in new equipment is needed.

Structure and method of forming a pad structure having enhanced reliability

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD.


A flexible impeller pump having a transparent safety cover. The pump includes a flexible impeller and a housing having a pump and cover. The pump end cover comprises a transparent safety cover which is capable of attachment to the housing. A transparent heat resistant insert is also in contact with the impeller. A spacing means separates the transparent heat resistant insert from the safety cover, thereby forming a chamber. Typically the transparent heat resistant insert is made of borosilicate glass and the transparent safety cover of acrylic plastic or polycarbonate plastic.

This invention relates to improvements to rotary pumps and more specifically to pumps that incorporate rotating flexible impellers for their pumping action.
Most rotary pumps have a housing that allows access to an impeller via an end cover. The impeller is driven by a drive shaft that causes water to be drawn through an inlet at low pressure and expelled through an outlet at higher pressure.
There are a number of refinements that can be added to this basic design that will assist monitoring of pump performance and condition whilst increasing pump reliability and simplifying the servicing or repair of the pump when required.
In certain applications, such as marine engine cooling pumps, it is difficult to identify if the pump is the cause of engine overheating without partial dismantling of the pump to visually inspect the flexible impeller for damage.
In numerous marine engine installations access to the pump is extremely difficult because of restricted access in the engine compartment and the physical location of the cooling pump on the engine.
In some cases it becomes necessary to remove adjacent parts of the engine such as alternators and drive belts, heat exchangers etc, to gain access to the cooling pump which can be quite hazardous in rough seas with an overheated engine.
It is an object of this invention to overcome at least some of the above disadvantages or provide the consumer with a useful or commercial choice.

Flexible impeller pump having a transparent safety cover


Disclosed is a touch window including a sensing electrode to sense a position, and a wire to electrically connect the sensing electrode. A width of the sensing electrode is variable in the sensing electrode.

The disclosure relates to a touch window and a touch device including the same.
Recently, a touch panel, which performs an input function through the touch of an image displayed on a touch device by an input device, such as a stylus pen or a finger, has been applied to various electronic appliances.
The touch panel may be representatively classified into a resistive touch panel and a capacitive touch panel. In the resistive touch panel, the position of the touch point is detected by detecting the variation in resistance according to the connection between electrodes when pressure is applied to the input device. In the capacitive touch panel, the position of the touch point is detected by detecting the variation in capacitance between the electrodes when a finger of the user is touched on the capacitive touch panels. Recently, the capacitive touch panel has been spotlighted in a smaller model when taking into consideration the convenience in a manufacturing scheme and a sensing power.
Meanwhile, a sensing electrode of the touch panel is electrically connected to a wire and the wire is connected to an external circuit so that the touch panel may be driven. In this case, short circuit may occur between the sensing electrode and the wire due to variation in a design or in density. Further, the sensing electrode may not smoothly make electrical connection with the wire due to crack in the sensing electrode so that the characteristics of the sensing electrode may be degraded.

Touch window and touch device including the same


Systems and methods presented herein provide for optical surveillance using modulated lasers, or other forms of light, and optical detection. In one embodiment, an optical surveillance system includes a light source, such as a laser or light emitting diode, and a signal generator operable to modulate the light source. The system also includes a detector operable to detect the modulated light source and a processor communicatively coupled to the detector to distinguish the modulated light source from other detected light based on the modulating waveform of the modulated light source. The processor is also operable to determine a presence of an object between the laser and the detector based on an obscuration of the laser pulses on the detector.

Fences are generally designed to prevent people, animals, etc. from leaving and accessing a particular area. Mechanical fences, such as chain-link and barbed wire, can be scaled if not continuously monitored. Continuous monitoring, however, is not always possible. For example, some fences stretch relatively long lengths of land, such as the case with national border fences. There is simply not enough manpower, nor is it economically feasible, to physically and continuously monitor the entire length of these fences.
Lasers can be used in determining intrusions by detecting a break in a beam. For example, a laser may be in continuous optical communication with a detector. If an intruder crosses the beam, then the detector may trigger an alarm. However, these detection systems do not provide any identification of the intrusion. Rather, they merely indicate that some form of intrusion has taken place. As such, animals or moving objects can trigger false alarms. Moreover, these detection systems do not function well in the outdoors due to the presence of ambient light (e.g., sunlight) so they are generally not able to provide any type of "fencing".

Optical surveillance systems and methods


The present invention relates to pharmaceutical compositions for preventing or treating pulmonary metastasis of cancer. More specifically, the present invention relates to compositions that enhance anti-cancer immunity of the lung rather than induce death of advanced cancer, thus being effective in inhibiting, preventing or treating pulmonary metastasis of cancer.

Cancer is a leading cause of death among modern people and still remains incurable despite continuous efforts over the past decades. Cancer is the most serious disease threatening to human health and is caused when a cell proliferates in an unlimited and uncontrolled way via a mutation process and becomes immortal. Carcinogenesis mechanisms and many therapeutic agents based on these mechanisms have been developed as a result of extensive research, but basic therapies for cancer have not been found yet.
The majority of cancer-related deaths has been attributed to cancer metastasis, particularly pulmonary metastatic recurrence. Metastasis refers to the spread of cancer cells within the primary organ or from the primary organ to another organ or its surrounding part. Usually, only malignant cancer cells have the ability to metastasize. Cancer cells escape from the primary cancer, migrate through the lymph or vascular system, circulate through the blood vessels, and grow in normal tissues of another part of the body. Cancer metastasis is a typical characterization of malignant cancer and accounts for 90% of all cancer-related deaths.
According to a report by the Korea Central Cancer Registry, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Korea, in December, 2014, the 5-year survival rate of breast cancer patients after treatment was 97% when the cancer lesion was localized to the primary site, 90% when it spread to the surrounding parts, and considerably reduced to 35% when it metastasized from the primary site to distant sites.
Some genes were found to regulate metastatic stages of cancer. However, since cancer metastasis is a very complicated process resulted from various genetic or epigenetic mutations, increased or decreased expression levels of specific genes do not lead to direct results in practical applications.

Pharmaceutical compositions for preventing or treating pulmonary metastasis of cancer including CHI3L1 inhibitor as active ingredient

Industry-University Cooperation Foundation Hanyang University