An exposure apparatus includes a light source for emitting exposure light, an illumination optical system illuminating an original on which a pattern is formed by the exposure light emitted from the light source, a projection optical system projecting the pattern to a photosensitive object, a first photodetector, disposed in a portion for receiving light from an optical path between the light source and a portion where the original is placed, for monitoring an emission light amount from the light source, and a processing system. The processing system obtains information regarding light exposure provided to at least an optical element included in one of the illumination optical system and the projection optical system, estimates a change in transmittance of the optical element on the basis of the information obtained and corrects a proportional coefficient for the light amount detected by the first photodetector and the emission light amount from the light source on the basis of the estimated change of transmittance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates mainly to an exposure apparatus used for a photolithographic operation in a process for manufacturing ICs, LSIs, or other types of semiconductor devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
To manufacture semiconductor devices, such as ICs and LSIs, by using photolithography, an exposure apparatus is employed in which a reticle (mask) pattern as an original is directly projected, or reduced at a predetermined proportion and projected, onto a photosensitive material applied to a semiconductor wafer or a photosensitive substrate. Most photosensitive materials applied to wafers have established proper light exposures. In a conventional exposure apparatus, a half mirror is disposed in an illumination optical system, and the amount of exposure light branched by the half mirror is monitored by a photodetecting element (a first photodetecting means). Based on a result of the monitoring, the light exposure is controlled to obtain an appropriate light exposure.
With the recent trend toward microminiaturization of semiconductor devices, excimer lasers that emit light in a far ultraviolet ray range are being increasingly employed as light sources of exposure apparatuses. It has been found, however, that repeated use of excimer laser beams gradually changes the optical characteristics of an illumination optical system, optical components, such as a half mirror, and coating films. This is considered to be caused by changes primarily in transmittance or refractive index of the vitreous materials of optical components and coating films, the changes being attributed to their exposure to the excimer laser beams. Therefore, the ratio of the light amount of an excimer laser beam branched by the half mirror to the light amount of an excimer laser beam that reaches a wafer changes accordingly. If the light exposure control is conducted on the assumption that the aforesaid ratio stays constant, then the difference between an actual light exposure and an appropriate light exposure may exceed a predetermined permissible value.
Normally, the amount of light emitted from an excimer laser, which is a light source, is controlled by regulating a voltage corresponding to energy for each pulse from an exposure apparatus, thereby conducting the light exposure control. As the transmittance of an illumination optical system changes, a relationship between the transmittance and a voltage value of an excimer laser determined based on the amount of a laser beam monitored will change accordingly. As the transmittance lowers, a light exposure that has been reduced due to the lowered transmittance will be obtained in relation to a command value. In order to perform accurate light exposure control, if the amount of light of a preceding pulse that reaches a wafer is smaller than a set value, then it is necessary to increase the succeeding pulse energy. This requires a higher voltage to be applied accordingly. If the voltage deviates from a permissible voltage range, then a desired amount of light cannot be obtained, preventing precise light exposure control from being carried out.
As a solution to the problem described above, there has been known the following method. A photodetecting element (a second photodetecting means) and a light transmitting portion through which exposure light passes to a portion other than a transfer pattern, with a mask resting thereon, are disposed in the vicinity of a wafer. A ratio is obtained of an output of the first photodetecting means that monitors the light amount in the aforesaid illumination optical system relative to an output obtained when exposure light is passed through the light transmitting portion and incident upon the second photodetecting means, while the mask is away from an exposure range, and irradiation to the wafer is OFF. By using the ratio, the sensitivity of the first photodetecting means under exposure is corrected, thereby to perform exposure with an appropriate amount of light. At this time, a relationship between a command voltage applied to a light source that is dependent upon the amount of light emitted from the light source and an output of the first photodetecting means can also be corrected.
However, in a vacuum ultraviolet range of a wavelength of 200 nm or less, in particular, the transmittance of a vitreous material changes with the irradiation time. The amount of change ranges from 0.1 to 0.3% per one cm, and gradually eases after completion of the irradiation. The time constant is extremely long, e.g., a few tens of seconds. The change amount of the transmittance depends on the pulse energy or oscillation frequency of a laser serving as a light source, an oscillation duty (ratio of a burst oscillation ON versus an oscillation OFF time), exposure duration, the transmittance of a mask, and the amount of light incident upon an optical component in a unit time in an illumination range. A marked change in transmittance is observed, especially immediately after exposure is begun. For this reason, a change in the transmittance of a vitreous constituent located between the aforesaid first photodetecting means and a photosensitive substrate surface presents a significant problem from a standpoint of accuracy in light exposure control. Recently, the diameters of the wafers are being increased, resulting in longer replacement intervals of the wafers. Hence, it is difficult to maintain an appropriate light exposure control accuracy when the relationship between the first photodetecting means, the second photodetecting means, and the voltage of a light source is corrected each time the wafer is replaced. In addition, making frequent corrections inevitably leads to a lower throughput.
Accordingly, it is a first object of the present invention to provide an exposure apparatus and an exposure method that each enables a minimized drop in throughput to be achieved and, also a proper light exposure control accuracy to be maintained.
In one aspect, the present invention provides an exposure apparatus that includes a light source, an illumination optical system illuminating an original on which a pattern is formed by the exposure light emitted from the light source, a projection optical system projecting the pattern to a photosensitive object, a first photodetector, disposed in a portion for receiving light from an optical path between the light source and a portion where the original is placed, the first photodetector being used for monitoring an emission light amount from the light source, and a processing system. The processing system obtains information regarding light exposure provided to at least an optical element included in one of the illumination optical system and the projection optical system, estimates a change in transmittance of the optical element on the basis of the information obtained and corrects a proportional coefficient for the light amount detected by the first photodetector and the emission light amount from the light source on the basis of the estimated change of transmittance.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for producing devices by use of an exposure apparatus. The method includes steps of illuminating, with an illumination optical system, an original on which a pattern is formed by exposure light from a light source, projecting, with a projection optical system, the pattern to a photosensitive object, receiving light by a first photodetector from an optical path between the light source and a portion where the original is placed, monitoring, by the photodetector, an emission light amount from the light source, obtaining information regarding light exposure provided to at least an optical element included in one of the illumination optical system and the projection optical system, estimating a change in transmittance of at least the optical element on the basis of the information obtained, correcting a proportional coefficient for the light amount detected by the first photodetector and the emission light amount from the light source on the basis of the estimated change of transmittance and developing the photosensitive object with a projected pattern, a circuit device being produced from the developed object. The illuminating step is performed on the basis of the corrected proportional coefficient for the first photodetector.
In yet another aspect, the present invention provides a method for exposing an original and for projecting a pattern formed on the original onto a photosensitive object. The method includes steps of illuminating, with an illumination optical system, the original by exposure light from a light source, projecting, with a projection optical system, the pattern of the original onto the photosensitive object, receiving light by a first photodetector from an optical path between the light source and a portion where the original is placed, monitoring, by the photodetector, an emission light amount from the light source, obtaining information regarding light exposure provided to at least an optical element included in one of the illumination optical system and the projection optical system and correcting a proportional coefficient for the light amount detected by the first photodetector and the emission light amount from the light source on the basis of a change in transmittance. The illumination step is performed by using the corrected proportional coefficient for the first photodetector.


A dual-layer suction cup includes an outer body, an adhesive soft inner body and an elastic unit. The outer body is made of a hard material. The adhesive soft inner body can be attached to a smooth airtight surface and a rough airtight surface, providing an adhesion effect. The elastic unit will provide elasticity in an opposite direction after being pressed, such that the chamber in the suction cup is in a vacuum state to enhance the adhesion effect. The adhesive soft inner body and the elastic unit of the present invention greatly enhance the adhesion effect.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a suction cup, and more particularly, to a dual-layer suction cup capable of adhering to a smooth airtight surface or a rough airtight surface in a press type.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A suction cup is widely used because there is no need for nails and adhesion. Besides, the suction cup won't damage the wall surface and the position of the suction cup can be changed at any time. Most vacuum suction cups on the market only can adhere to a smooth and airtight surface, such as a glass surface or a tile surface.
A conventional suction cup comprises a rubber soft pad disposed in an outer suction body. The bottom of the soft pad has a chamber. The soft pad is pressed to adhere to a working surface through the outer suction body by exhausting the air in the chamber. By the pressure difference inside and outside, the rubber soft pad can adhere to a smooth airtight surface. If the working surface is a rough airtight surface, the rubber soft pad cannot seal the rough airtight surface, which results in that this kind of suction cup cannot be used.
An improved suction cup is provided with an air-extracting structure to enhance its adhesion effect. But, it cannot attach to a rough airtight surface, either. This suction cup is complicated and has a high cost, so it cannot be used widely. Accordingly, the inventor of the present invention has devoted himself based on his many years of practical experiences to solve this problem.


Systems, methods, and apparatus embodiments for electric power grid and network registration and management of active grid elements. Grid elements are transformed into active grid elements following initial registration of each grid element with the system, preferably through network-based communication between the grid elements and a coordinator, either in coordination with or outside of an IP-based communications network router. A multiplicity of active grid elements function in the grid for supply capacity, supply and/or load curtailment as supply or capacity. Also preferably, messaging is managed through a network by a Coordinator using IP messaging for communication with the grid elements, with the energy management system (EMS), and with the utilities, market participants, and/or grid operators.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of electrical power management systems, and more particularly, to systems, methods, and apparatus embodiments for electric power grid and network registration and management of grid elements.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, electric power management systems for an electric power grid are known. However, most prior art systems and methods apply to normal grid management, macro (large) generation subsystems, transmission subsystems for transporting high voltage power bulk power to distributions systems where it is sent to end customers. Prior art to control power load curves include load curtailment where controls managing the system are used to deactivate or reduce power supplied to predetermined service points from the grid. In addition advances in macro-generation and a transformation from Coal based generation to gas based generation has led to new (large) gas fired turbines and their associated subsystems to manage introduction of supply to the grid, but not particularly operable to smaller distributed supply sources or methods or technologies introduce a new elements to the grid wherein those elements are immediately identified, tracked, and managed within the overall electric grid system for meeting the needs and/or requirements of an energy management system (EMS) and/or grid governing authority.
In particular, relevant prior art is known for the management of traditional large scale energy supply and technologies associated with transmission, distribution and consumption of electricity in the power system. Collecting, transmitting, storing, and analyzing information associated with a variety of devices associated with the electric power grid is also known in the art.
By way of example, relevant prior art documents include the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 7,502,698 filed Jul. 5, 2005 by inventors Uenou et al., issued Mar. 10, 2009, and assigned on the face of the issued patent document to IP Power Systems Corp. for Power consumption measuring device and power control system, describes a single phase, 3-wire watthour meter that measures power consumption, alters a contract capacity, controls the stop/start of power supply/distribution, and updates programs from a higher level control apparatus, including a central processing unit, a storing means, a communicating means, and interfaces; the device measures the detailed behavior of a power consumption by totaling a power consumption every 30 minutes (and a clocking process for clocking a standard time and for collecting data within that time), interlocks with a gas leakage detector and a fire alarm, controls opening/closing of rain doors and the operation/stop of Internet home electric appliances, and enables low-cost communication by means of dynamic IP address based communication.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,022 for Power management coordinator system and interface, describes a power management system and interface providing a flexible and uniform protocol for controlling power management within a computer system including various software layers and add-in components; a programmable power policy manager, which allows user to define a performance/economy setting for the system that is communicated to all registered devices so that dwell and decay times are set by the device; and a programmable event sequencer, which maintains an event notification sequence and control sequence for power events; a programmable power budgeter that maintains and allocates power on a request basis for system elements; a programmable thermal budgeter that maintains and allocates energy based on thermal considerations; and a computer system including a bus for communicating address and data information, a central processor couple to the bus for executing instructions and processing data, and memory coupled to the bus for containing information, and a power management coordinator that includes a power management core for communication of power management information with system devices within the computer system under a uniform power management protocol, wherein particular devices are add-in devices requiring power management, and one of the devices provides programmable dwell time and decay time periods for power management of the add-in devices, wherein power events are generated by clients and broadcast by power management core to power management clients, including a power event sequencer for maintaining a particular sequence of communication about the power events.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,095,233 filed Oct. 10, 2006 by inventors Shankar et al., issued Jan. 10, 2012 and assigned on the face of the issued patent to American Grid, Inc., for Interconnected premises equipment for energy management, describing a system for facilitating direct monitoring and control of energy-consuming appliances, in real time, using automatic programmatic control and a plurality of human interfacing including local display and control, email, web browser, text messaging, and integrated voice response, and describing a monitoring and control coordinator that provides centralized coordination of functions and one or more communicating appliance interfaces that interact with energy consuming appliances that are interconnected via wired and wireless communication networks and protocols, wherein the system allows a user to regulate energy consumption of a premises for heating and air conditioning systems, including a premises control communication gateway in communication with the monitoring and control coordinator.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,301,528 field Aug. 15, 2000 by inventors Bertram et al., issued Oct. 9, 2001, assigned on the face of the patent document to Robert Bosch GmbH, describes a method and an arrangement for controlling electric consumers in a vehicle that are suggested with a control structure provided for consumers, the control structure including at least a high-ranking consumer management that receives requests from the consumers with respect to consumer power individually or as sums; the control structure including a coordinator for the vehicle electrical system and power generation therefor, and for receiving the sum of the requested consumer power from the consumer management; the vehicle electric system adjusting the requested electric power via orders to the vehicle electrical system components and the consumer management taking the generated electrical power via control of the consumers.
US Patent Application Publication No. 20070067132 for Method and apparatus for routing data streams among intelligent electronic devices, disclosing an intelligent electronic device (IED) for protection, monitoring, controlling, metering, or automation of lines in an electrical power system, wherein the IED is adapted to communicated with a variety of other IEDs, including a communication configuration setting that is configured to allow communication with one of the other IEDs; and further including an input element in communication with the communication configuration setting, whereupon a signal from the input element selects a particular communication configuration setting therein, allowing for the communication with other IEDs. Also, including a data stream management device for routing data streams among IEDs associated with the electrical power system, wherein the data streams are substantially unaltered from sent and received forms, and an IED associated with the data stream management device and adapted to communicate with the other IEDs, wherein assertion of an input element selects a particular communication configuration setting.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,609,158 filed Oct. 26, 2006 issued Oct. 27, 2009 for inventors Banting et al., and assigned on the face of the patent document to Cooper Technologies Co., describes a communications network for an electrical power distribution system, the network communicating monitoring signals and control signals for a network of electrical circuits, the network including a sensor node with a sensor device configured to detect an operating condition of the transmission or distribution systems, a sensor communication node corresponding to the sensor device, and configured to transmit a first wireless signal corresponding to the detected operating condition of transmission/distribution, a control communication node separately provided from the sensor communication node, configured to receive the first wireless signal and transmit a second wireless signal corresponding to the first wireless signal, a gateway device in communication with the control communication node and receiving the second wireless signal, and wherein the sensed electrical signals are broadcast.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,060,259 field Jun. 15, 2007 for inventors Budhraja et al., issued Nov. 15, 2011 and assigned on the face of the patent document to Electric Power Group, LLC, (also see US Patent Application Pub. No. 20100100250) for Wide area, real time monitoring and visualization system, describes a real-time performance monitoring system for monitoring an electrical power grid, including grid portions having control areas, and monitoring of reliability metrics, generations metrics, transmission metrics, suppliers metrics, grid infrastructure security metrics, and markets metrics for the electric power grid, wherein the metrics are stored in a database, and visualization of the metrics is displayed on a computer having a monitor.
US Patent Application Pub. No. 20090119039 filed Nov. 7, 2007 by inventors Banister et al., published May 7, 2009 and assigned on the face to SPROUTLETS, INC., describes an electrical power metering system including a plurality of gated power receptacles, each of them being configured to selectively provide electrical power in response to receiving a wireless signal, and further including a service application configured to receive a request to provide electrical power for one of the receptacles, the request including an identifier that designates the receptacle at which power is requested. A local host application executable on a computing device is configured to send wireless signals via a coordinator module to the receptacle to provide power in response to receiving a communication from the service application that includes the identifier.
In the area of managing supply of energy to the grid, detailed attachment modeling is required; also, due to the requirements that any amount of supply, even micro-scale supply, must comply with standards applicable to full scale utilities or macro-generation supply, this compliance is difficult and expensive. However, there are relevant prior art documents relating to management electric power grids in the field of the present invention.
By way of example, consider the following US patent and US patent application Publication documents:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,022 issued Sep. 24, 1996, filed Jul. 19, 1994 by inventors Dunstand, et al., and assigned on the face of the document to Intel Corporation, for Power management coordinator system and interface.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,301,528 issued Oct. 9, 2001, filed Aug. 15, 2000 by inventors Bertram et al., and assigned on the face of the patent to Robert Bosch GmbH for Method and device for controlling electric consumers in a motor vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,502,698 issued Mar. 10, 2009, filed Jul. 5, 2005 by inventors Uenou et al., and assigned on the face of the patent to IP Power Systems Corp., for Power consumption measuring device and power control system.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,095,233 issued Jan. 10, 2012, filed Oct. 10, 2006 by inventors Shankar et al., and assigned on the face to American Grid, Inc., for Interconnected premises equipment for energy management.
US Patent Application Publication No. 20070067132 published Mar. 22, 2007 and filed Sep. 19, 2006 by inventors Tziouvaras et al., for Method and apparatus for routing data streams among intelligent electronic devices.
US Patent Application Publication No. 20080040479 filed Aug. 9, 2007 by inventors Bridge, et al. and assigned on the face of the publication to V2Green, Inc. for Connection locator in a power aggregation system for distributed electric resources, discloses a method to obtain the physical location of an electric device, such as an electric vehicle, and transforming the physical location into an electric network location, and further including receiving a unique identifier associated with a device in a physical location. See also related publications WO2008073477, US Pat. Application No.'s 20110025556, 20090043519, 20090200988, 20090063680, 20080040296, 20080040223, 20080039979, 20080040295, and 20080052145.
International Patent Application No. WO2011079235 filed Dec. 22, 2010 and published Jun. 30, 2011 by inventor Williams and assigned on the face of the document to Interactive Grid Solutions, LLC for Distributed energy sources system, describes an energy management system that includes distributed energy sources (for example a wind turbine) that communicate with consumer devices and electric utilities, wherein a CPU is in communication with the distributed energy source and is operable to control the flow of energy produced by the distributed energy source.
International Patent Application No. WO2012015508 filed May 2, 2011 and published Feb. 2, 2012 by inventor Cherian, et al. and assigned on the face of the document to Spriae, Inc. for Dynamic distributed power grid control system, describes a control system for a distributed power grid that includes a simulation module operative to directly interface with the operational control of the distributed energy resources (DER) to develop and dynamically modify the control inputs of the distributed power grid, and wherein the distributed control module can simulate control response characteristics of the DER to determine control methodology by conducting decentralized and distributed simulation. See also WO201200879, WO2012015507, US Pat. Application No.'s 20110106321, 20120029720, and 20120029897.
International Patent Application No. WO2012058114 filed Oct. 21, 2011 and published May 3, 2012 by inventor Alatrash, et al. and assigned on the face of the document to Petra Solar, Inc. for Method and system facilitating control strategy for power electronics interface of distributed generations resources, discloses a method and system for implementing a control strategy for distributed generation (DG) units, wherein the DG unit behaves similarly to a synchronous generator.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,949,435 filed Aug. 9, 2007 and issued May 24, 2011 to inventors Pollack, et al. and assigned to V2Green, Inc. on the face of the document entitled User interface and user control in a power aggregation system for distributed electric resources, describes a method and operator interface for users or owners of a distributed power resource, such as an electric vehicle, which connects to a power grid, wherein the user or owner controls a degree of participation of the electric resource power aggregation via the user interface, and further including an energy pricing preference, a vehicle state-of-charge, and a predicted amount of time until the electric resource disconnects from a power grid. See also US Patent Application Pub. Nos. 20090043520 and 20080039989.
US Patent Application Pub. No. 20110282511 filed Mar. 26, 2011 and published Nov. 17, 2011 to inventor Unetich and assigned on the face of the document to Smart Power Devices Ltd for Prediction, communication and control system for distributed power generation and usage, describes an apparatus for obtaining, interpreting and communicating a user reliable and predictive information relevant to the price of electricity service at a prospective time.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,844,370 filed Aug. 9, 2007 and issued Nov. 30, 2010 by inventors Pollack et al. and assigned on the face of the document to GridPoint, Inc. for Scheduling and control in a power aggregation system for distributed electric resources, describes systems and methods for a power aggregation system in which a server establishes individual Internet connections to numerous electric resources intermittently connect to the power grid, such as electric vehicles, wherein the service optimizes power flows to suit the needs of each resource and each resource owner, while aggregating flows across numerous resources to suit the needs of the power grid, and further including inputting constraints of individual electric resources into the system, which signals them to provide power to take power from a grid.
US Patent Application Pub. No. 20090187284 filed Jan. 7, 2009 and published Jul. 23, 2009 by inventors Kreiss et al. for System and method for providing power distribution system information, describes a computer program product for processing utility data of a power grid, including a datamart comprised of physical databases storing utility data applications comprising an automated meter application configured to process power usage data from a plurality of automated meters, a power outage application configured to identify a location of a power outage, and a power restoration application configured to identify a location of a power restoration. See also US Pat. Application No.'s 20110270550, 20110270457, and 20110270454.
The increased awareness of the impact of carbon emissions from the use of fossil fueled electric generation combined with the increased cost of producing base load, intermediate, and peak power during high load conditions has increased the need for alternative solutions utilizing new power technologies as a mechanism to defer, or in some cases eliminate, the need for the deployment of additional generation capacity by electric utilities, generating utilities, or distributing utilities or any grid operator or market participant whose primary function is to facilitate the production, distribution, operation and sale of electricity to individual consumers. Existing electric utilities are pressed for methods to defer or eliminate the need for construction of fossil-based or macro large scale electricity generation while dealing with the need to integrate new sources of generation such as renewable energy sources or distributed energy resources whose production and integration into the electric grid is problematic.
Today, a patchwork of systems exist to implement demand response load management programs, dispatch of macro-generation, and energy management and control for both supplying "negawatts", supply and grid stability to the electric utility grid whereby various radio subsystems in various frequency bands utilize "one-way" transmit only methods of communication or most recently deployed a plurality of proprietary two-way methods of communications with electric customers or their load consuming device and measurement instruments including, by way of example, "smart meters." In addition, macro generation is controlled and dispatched from centralized control centers either from utilities, Independent Power Producers (IPPs) or other Market Participants that utilize point to point primarily "Plain old telephone service" POTS dedicated low bit rate modems or nailed time division multiplex (TDM) circuits such as T-1s that supply analog telemetry to Energy Management Systems or in some cases physical dispatch to a human operator to "turn on" generation assets in response to grid supply needs or grid stress and high load conditions. Under traditional Demand Response technologies used for peak shaving, utilities or other market participants install radio frequency (RF)-controlled relay switches typically attached to a customer's air conditioner, water heater, or pool pumps, or other individual load consuming devices. A blanket command is sent out to a specific geographic area whereby all receiving units within the range of the transmitting station (e.g., typically a paging network) are turned off during peak hours at the election of the power utility. After a period of time when the peak load has passed, a second blanket command is sent to turn on those devices that have been turned off. This "load shifting" has the undesired effect of occasionally causing "secondary peaks" and generally requires consumer incentives for adoption.
Most recent improvements that follow the same concepts are RF networks that utilize a plurality of mesh based, non-standard communications protocols that utilize IEEE 802.15.4 or its derivatives, or "ZigBee" protocol end devices to include load control switches, programmable thermostats that have pre-determined set points for accomplishing the "off" or "cut" or reduce command simultaneously or pre-loaded in the resident memory of the end device. These networks are sometimes referred to in the industry as "Home Area Networks" or (HANs). In these elementary and mostly proprietary solutions, a programmable thermostat(s) or building control systems (PCTs) move the set point of the HVAC (or affect another inductive or resistive device) or remove a resistive device from the electric grid thus accomplishing the same "load shifting" effect previously described. All of these methods require and rely on statistical estimations and modeling for measuring their effectiveness and use historical information that are transmitted via these same "smart meters" to provide after-the-fact evidence that an individual device or consumer complied with the demand response event. Protocols that are employed for these methods include "Smart Energy Profiles Versions 1 & 2" and its derivatives to provide utilities and their consumers an attempt at standardization amongst various OEMs of PCTs, switching, and control systems through a plurality of protocols and interfaces. These methods remain crude and do not include real time, measurement, verification, settlement and other attributes necessary to have their Demand Response effects utilized for effective Operating Reserves with the exception of limited programs for "Emergency" Capacity Programs as evidenced by programs such as the Energy Reliability Council of Texas' (ERCOT's) Emergency Interruptible Load Service (EILS). Furthermore, for effective settlement and control of mobile storage devices such as Electric Vehicles, these early "Smart Grid" devices are not capable of meeting the requirements of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) or other standards setting bodies such as the National Institute of Science & Technology (NIST) Smart Grid Roadmap.
While telemetering has been used for the express purpose of reporting energy usage, no cost effective techniques exist for calculating power consumption, carbon gas emissions, sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas emissions, and/or nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions, and reporting the state of a particular device under the control of a two-way positive control load management device or other combinations of load control previously described. In particular, one way wireless communications devices have been utilized to de-activate electrical appliances, such as heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) units, water heaters, pool pumps, and lighting or any inductive or resistive device that is eligible as determined by a utility or market participant for deactivation, from an existing electrical supplier or distribution partner's network. These devices have typically been used in combination with wireless paging receivers or FM radio carrier data modulation, or a plurality of 2-way proprietary radio frequency (RF) technologies that receive "on" or "off" commands from a paging transmitter or transmitter device. Additionally, the one-way devices are typically connected to a serving electrical supplier's control center via landline trunks, or in some cases, microwave transmission to the paging transmitter. The customer subscribing to the load management program receives a discount or some other form of economic incentive, including direct payments for allowing the serving electrical supplier (utility), retail electric provider or any other market participant to connect to their electrical appliances with a one-way load control switch and deactivate those appliances during high energy usage periods. This technique of demand response is used mostly by utilities or any market participant for "peak shifting" where the electric load demand curve is moved from a peak period to a less generation intensive time interval and are favored by rate-based utilities who earn capital returns of new power plants or any capital deployed to operate their electric grids that are approved by corresponding Public Utility Commissions. These methods are previous art and generally no conservation of energy is measured. In many instances, secondary peak periods occur when the cumulative effect of all the resistive and inductive devices are released from the "off" state simultaneously causing an unintended secondary peak event.
While one-way devices are generally industry standard and relatively inexpensive to implement, the lack of a return path from the receiver, combined with the lack of information on the actual devices connected to the receiver, make the system highly inefficient and largely inaccurate for measuring the actual load shed to the serving utility or compliant with measurement and verification for presenting a balancing authority or independent system operator for operating reserves. While the differential current draw is measurable on the serving electric utility's transmission lines and at electrical bus or substations, the actual load shed is approximate and the location of the load deferral is approximated at the control center of the serving utility or other statistical methods are considered to approximate the individual or cumulative effect on an electric utility grid. The aforementioned "two-way" systems are simultaneously defective in addressing real time and near real time telemetry needs that produce generation equivalencies that are now recognized by FERC Orders such as FERC 745 where measurable, verifiable Demand Response "negawatts", defined as real time or near real time load curtailment where measurement and verification can be provided within the tolerances required under such programs presented by FERC, NERC, or the governing body that regulate grid operations. The aforementioned "smart meters" in combination with their data collection systems commonly referred to as "Advanced Metering Infrastructure" generally collect interval data from meters in HISTORICAL fashion and report this information to the utility, market participant or grid operator AFTER the utility or grid operator has sent notice for curtailment events or "control events" to initiate due to high grid stress that includes lack of adequate operating reserves to meet demand, frequency variations, voltage support and any other grid stabilizing needs as identified by the utility or grid operator and published and governed by FERC, NERC, or other applicable regulations.
One exemplary telemetering system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,891,838 B1. This patent describes details surrounding a mesh communication of residential devices and the reporting and control of those devices, via WANs, to a computer. The stated design goal in this patent is to facilitate the "monitoring and control of residential automation systems." This patent does not explain how a serving utility or customer could actively control the devices to facilitate the reduction of electricity. In contrast, this patent discloses techniques that could be utilized for reporting information that is being displayed by the serving utility's power meter (as do many other prior applications in the field of telemetering).
An additional exemplary telemetering system is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0240315 A1. The primary purpose of this published application is not to control utility loads, but rather "to provide an improved interactive system for remotely monitoring and establishing the status of a customer utility load." A stated goal of this publication is to reduce the amount of time utility field personnel have to spend in the field servicing meters by utilizing wireless technology.
Another prior art system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,633,823, which describes, in detail, the use of proprietary hardware to remotely turn off or turn on devices within a building or residence. While initially this prior art generally describes a system that would assist utilities in managing power load control, the prior art does not contain the unique attributes necessary to construct or implement a complete system. In particular, this patent is deficient in the areas of security, load accuracy of a controlled device, and methods disclosing how a customer utilizing applicable hardware might set parameters, such as temperature set points, customer preference information, and customer overrides, within an intelligent algorithm that reduces the probability of customer dissatisfaction and service cancellation or churn.
Attempts have been made to bridge the gap between one-way, un-verified power load control management systems and positive control verified power load control management systems. However, until recently, technologies such as smart breakers and command relay devices were not considered for use in residential and commercial environments primarily due to high cost entry points, lack of customer demand, and the cost of power generation relative to the cost of implementing load control or their ability to meet the measurement, telemetry, verification requirements of the grid operator or ISO. Furthermore, submetering technology within the smart breaker, load control device, command relay devices or building control systems have not existed in the prior art.
One such gap-bridging attempt is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2005/0065742 A1. This publication discloses a system and method for remote power management using IEEE 802 based wireless communication links. The system described in this publication includes an on-premise processor (OPP), a host processor, and an end device. The host processor issues power management commands to the OPP, which in turn relays the commands to the end devices under its management. While the disclosed OPP does provide some intelligence in the power management system, it does not determine which end devices under its control to turn-off during a power reduction event, instead relying on the host device to make such decision. For example, during a power reduction event, the end device must request permission from the OPP to turn on. The request is forwarded to the host device for a decision on the request in view of the parameters of the on-going power reduction event. The system also contemplates periodic reading of utility meters by the OPP and storage of the read data in the OPP for later communication to the host device. The OPP may also include intelligence to indicate to the host processor that the OPP will not be able to comply with a power reduction command due to the inability of a load under the OPP's control to be deactivated. However, neither the host processor nor the OPP determine which loads to remove in order to satisfy a power reduction command from an electric utility, particularly when the command is issued by one of several utilities under the management of a power management system. Further, neither the host processor nor the OPP tracks or accumulates power saved and/or carbon credits earned on a per customer or per utility basis for future use by the utility and/or customer. Still further, the system of this publication lacks a reward incentive program to customers based on their participation in the power management system. Still further, the system described in this publication does not provide for secure communications between the host processor and the OPP, and/or between the OPP and the end device. As a result, the described system lacks many features that may be necessary for a commercially viable implementation.
Customer profiles are often used by systems for a variety of reasons. One reason is to promote customer loyalty. This involves keeping information about not only the customer, but about the customer's actions as well. This may include information about what the customer owns (i.e., which devices), how they are used, when they are used, etc. By mining this data, a company can more effectively select rewards for customers that give those customers an incentive for continuing to do business with the company. This is often described as customer relationship management (CRM).
Customer profile data is also useful for obtaining feedback about how a product is used. In software systems, this is often used to improve the customer/user experience or as an aid to testing. Deployed systems that have customer profiling communicate customer actions and other data back to the development organization. That data is analyzed to understand the customer's experience. Lessons learned from that analysis is used to make modifications to the deployed system, resulting in an improved system.
Customer profile data may also be used in marketing and sales. For instance, a retail business may collect a variety of information about a customer, including what customers look at on-line and inside "brick-and-mortar" stores. This data is mined to try to identify customer product preferences and shopping habits. Such data helps sales and marketing determine how to present products of probable interest to the customer, resulting in greater sales.
However, the collection of customer profile information by power utilities, retail electric providers or any other market participant that sells retail electric commodity to end customers (residential or commercial) has been limited to customer account information of gross electrical consumption and inferential information about how power is being consumed but requires customers to take their own actions. Because power utilities, REPs, market participants typically are unable to collect detailed data about what is happening inside a customer's home or business, including patterns of energy consumption by device, there has been little opportunity to create extensive customer profiles.
Thus, none of the prior art systems, methods, or devices provide complete solutions for power management including grid elements and network management including messaging over communication networks and energy management over the electric power grid network, including the grid elements that are attached to the electric grid, and further management of these for creating operating reserves for utilities and market participants. Therefore, a need exists for a system and method for active power load management that is optionally capable of tracking power savings for the individual customer as well as the electric utility and any other market participant to thereby overcome the shortcomings of the prior art.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System, method, and apparatus for electric power grid and network management of grid elements


The first, third, fourth, and seventh photosensors are disposed on one side with respect to the centerline, and the second, fifth, sixth, and eighth photosensors are disposed on another side with respect to the centerline. The first and seventh photosensors are positioned between the third and fourth photosensors in the direction parallel to the centerline. The second and eighth photosensors are positioned between the fifth and sixth photosensors in the direction parallel to the centerline. The first photosensor receives overlapped light of the 0th-order light with the +1st-order diffracted light, the second photosensor receives overlapped light of the 0th-order light with the −1st-order diffracted light, each of the third to sixth photosensors receives the 0th-order light, and does not receive the +1st-order diffracted light and the −1st-order diffracted light, and each of the seventh and eighth photosensors receives at least the 0th-order light.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a recording and playing apparatus for optically writing and reading information on and from a recording medium.
2. Description of Related Art
Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. H11-025482 A discloses an optical disc drive apparatus capable of keeping track of a recording medium using the Advanced Push-Pull method (APP method). The optical disc drive apparatus uses the APP method to reduce a tracking offset caused by an object lens shift. Thus, it is possible to achieve stable tracking of the recording medium.

Recorder and player apparatus stably keeping track of recording medium

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


Disclosed are a compound and a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, which can be used, by means of a chemical small molecule which targets both UHFR1 and HDAC1, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, as corresponding inhibitors or drugs for treating diseases, and are used for treating myelodysplastic syndrome, psoriasis, scar hyperplasia, prostate or breast hyperplasia, hematologic neoplasms and solid cancers alone or combined with other methods. Same have a good therapeutic effect.

The present invention relates to a kind of compound and its pharmaceutical use, and specifically relates to a small molecule compound dual-targeting UHRF1 and HDAC1.
HDAC family molecules and DNMT1 are important epigenetic regulatory molecules. Although they are highly expressed in several tumor tissues, they are also expressed in varying levels in different normal tissues and organs. HDAC inhibitors Vorinostat or Chidamide have been clinically shown to have relatively good therapeutic effects on cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, and DNMT1 inhibitors such as 5-azacitidine and decitabine have been clinically shown to have relatively good therapeutic effects on myelodysplastic syndrome. However, they have also shown various degrees of toxic side effects, so their use in treating solid tumors is limited. UHRF1 is an important gene that regulates DNA methylation in epigenetics, and is also involved in the regulation of DNA replication and repair of DNA damage, UHRF1 is also an oncogene, with low expression in normal tissues (5 to 70 times lower than HDAC1 and DNMT1), but high expression in many blood tumors and solid cancer tissues, making it an ideal target for anticancer drugs, UHRF1 knockdown by RNAi interference significantly reduces cell proliferation and promotes sensitivity of cells to radiochemotherapy. Therefore, effective small molecule compound targeting UHRF1 and HDAC1 can be developed and used solely or in combination with other methods to treat proliferative abnormalities and disorders, including but not limited to proliferative diseases such as myelodysplastic syndrome, psoriasis, scar hyperplasia, and prostatic hyperplasia or ductal hyperplasia, benign tumors, hematological tumors and solid cancers including types of cancers of neuroendocrine transformation.


A power system including a power transfer device that prevents a common load from at once being powered by a main and auxiliary power source, and eliminates any possibility of back feeding the main power source from the auxiliary power source. First and second circuit breakers are mounted side by side in reversely positioned relationship and have handles joined by a coupler, so that movement of the coupler in either direction opens one circuit breaker and closes the other one.

The present invention relates to a power system including a power transfer device that prevents a common load from at once being powered by a main and auxiliary power source, and eliminates any possibility of back feeding the main power source from the auxiliary power source.
Reliance on electrical power in homes and industry causes power outages resulting from breakdowns in electrical utility equipment to become aggravating and oftentimes costly to varying degrees. The frequency of disruptions in utility electrical service has resulted in the popularity of standby generating equipment to supply at least critical load circuits. To accommodate these alternative electrical sources supplying common electrical load circuits, a power transfer switch is usually used. Such a transfer switch is normally conditioned to connect the utility source to the common load circuits, while maintaining generating equipment disconnected on standby. Upon the occurrence of a power outage, the transfer switch is thrown, either automatically or manually, to first disconnect the utility or main source and then connect the standby source or generator to the common load circuits. Obviously, precaution must be taken to ensure that the two sources can never be simultaneously connected to the common load circuits. In addition, where an auxiliary power source feeds an existing load center normally powered by a utility, the possibility of back feeding the utility with a generator through a common or neutral return conductor from the utility may exist, posing a safety hazard to utility workers dispatched to repair damaged power lines. Thus, there is a need for a power system that includes a power transfer device that prevents a common load from simultaneously being powered by a main and auxiliary power source, and eliminates any possibility of back feeding the main power source from the auxiliary power source.


A method of forming a semiconductor on insulator structure in a monolithic semiconducting substrate with a bulk semiconductor structure. A first portion of a surface of the monolithic semiconducting substrate is recessed without effecting a second portion of the surface of the monolithic semiconducting substrate. An insulator precursor species is implanted beneath the surface of the recessed first portion of the monolithic semiconducting substrate, and a trench is etched around the implanted and recessed first portion of the monolithic semiconducting substrate. The insulator precursor species is activated to form an insulator layer beneath the surface of the recessed first portion of the monolithic semiconducting substrate. The semiconductor on insulator structure is formed in the first portion of the monolithic semiconducting substrate, and the bulk semiconductor structure is formed in the second portion of the monolithic semiconducting substrate.

This invention relates to the field of integrated circuit fabrication. More particularly, this invention relates to a planarized semiconductor on insulator structure that has a reduced number and severity of crystal dislocations.
Semiconductor on insulator is a technology that is used to enhance the performance of integrated circuits. The technology involves forming a relatively thin layer of a semiconducting material, such as silicon, over a layer of an insulating material, such as an oxide or nitride of the semiconducting material, like silicon oxide. Semiconductor on insulator integrated circuits tend to operate more reliably at faster speeds and at lower powers than do bulk semiconductor devices. One reason for this performance enhancement is that semiconductor on insulator integrated circuits tend to have relatively lower junction capacitances.
One method of forming semiconductor on insulator integrated circuits is called separation by ion implantation of oxygen, which is commonly referred to as SIMOX. In this method, oxygen is implanted at a certain target depth beneath the surface of a semiconducting substrate, such as a silicon substrate. The implanted substrate is then thermally processed to stimulate a reaction between the semiconductor and the oxygen atoms, producing an oxide layer that acts as an electrically insulating layer below a relatively thin overlying layer of the semiconducting material.
There are often incentives for combining semiconductor on insulator structures in the same monolithic integrated circuit with bulk semiconductor structures. For example, a given integrated circuit may have need for both the relatively faster and lower power semiconductor on insulator structures and the higher power handling bulk semiconductor structures.
Unfortunately, SIMOX tends to best produce structures where the entire surface of a substrate has been processed. In other words, the insulation layer precursor material is implanted across the entire surface of the substrate, and the insulation layer is formed beneath all portions of the surface of the substrate.
What is needed therefore is a method for producing a semiconductor on insulator structure in the same monolithic integrated circuit with a bulk semiconductor structure.
The above and other needs are met by a method of forming a semiconductor on insulator structure in a monolithic semiconducting substrate with a bulk semiconductor structure. A first portion of a surface of the monolithic semiconducting substrate is recessed without effecting a second portion of the surface of the monolithic semiconducting substrate. An insulator precursor species is implanted beneath the surface of the recessed first portion of the monolithic semiconducting substrate, and a trench is etched around the implanted and recessed first portion of the monolithic semiconducting substrate. The insulator precursor species is activated to form an insulator layer beneath the surface of the recessed first portion of the monolithic semiconducting substrate. The semiconductor on insulator structure is formed in the first portion of the monolithic semiconducting substrate, and the bulk semiconductor structure is formed in the second portion of the monolithic semiconducting substrate.
In this manner, both bulk structures and semiconductor on insulator structures are formed in the same monolithic substrate. By recessing the first portion prior to the activation and growth of the insulating layer, the surface of the first portion of the substrate is preferably substantially coplanar with the surface of the second portion of the substrate. Further, by also forming a trench around the implanted and recessed first portion of the substrate prior to the activation and growth of the insulating layer, the substrate tends to not suffer crystal dislocation damage as the insulating layer grows.
In various preferred embodiments of the invention the step of recessing the first portion of the surface of the substrate is accomplished by growing a thermal oxide layer on the surface of the substrate, and then depositing a nitride masking layer on the thermal oxide layer. A patterning layer is formed on the nitride masking layer, and openings are formed in the patterning layer. Portions of the nitride masking layer and the thermal oxide layer are etched through the openings in the patterning layer. The patterning layer is removed, and the first portion of the surface of the substrate underlying the etched portions of the nitride masking layer and thermal oxide layer are recessed. All material remaining on the surface of the substrate is stripped off.
In further preferred embodiments, the step of recessing the first portion of the surface of the substrate is accomplished by oxidizing the first portion of the surface of the substrate underlying the etched portions of the nitride masking layer and the thermal oxide layer to partially consume the substrate. Most preferably the oxidizing step forms an oxide layer of between about one hundred nanometers and about one thousand nanometers in thickness. In alternate embodiments the step of recessing the first portion of the surface of the substrate is accomplished by one or more of etching the first portion of the surface of the substrate with an etching solution or a dry etch.

Integration of semiconductor on implanted insulator


A spark plug is provided providing resistance to fouling. The spark plug includes a metal shell having a first end, a second end and an intermediate portion that collectively define a central cavity. The spark plug also includes an insulator that extends through the central cavity of the metal shell. The insulator includes a first end portion extending through an intermediate portion to a stepped tip portion having a first length. The stepped tip portion includes a first section and a substantially straight second section having a second length. The substantially straight second section includes a segment that extends beyond the second end of the metal shell to a third length. The second length of substantially straight portion is based upon at least one of the first length and the third length.

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention related to spark plugs and, more particularly, to spark plugs having a ceramic tip configured to resist cold fouling.
In general, spark plugs include an insulative sleeve having a central axial bore through which a center electrode extends. The insulating sleeve is positioned within, and secured to, a metal shell that serves as a mounting platform and interface to an internal combustion engine. The metal sleeve also supports a ground electrode that is positioned in a particular spaced relationship relative to the center electrode so as to generate a spark gap. The insulating sleeve includes a shaped tip portion that resides in a recessed end portion of the metal shell. The shaped tip portion is configured to protect the electrode from engine heat and products of combustion. The spark plug is typically mounted to an engine cylinder head and selectively activated to ignite a fuel/air mixture in an associated engine cylinder.
Over time, products of combustion or combustion deposits build up around the center electrode and particularly the shaped tip portion. This build up of combustion product inhibits spark formation across the spark gap. A significant build up of combustion products may foul the spark plug and resulting in ignition failure, i.e., the combustion products completely block the spark from forming between the center and ground electrodes. Combustion deposit build up is particularly problematic during cold starts. During cold starts, complete combustion of the air/fuel mixture is seldom achieved which results in an increased generation of combustion product. As a result of continuous cold starts, combustion product builds up on the center and ground electrodes causing spark plug to become fouled, thereby preventing or weakening the formation of a spark across the spark gap.


The embodiments of the invention are directed to a synthetic ceramic comprising pyroxene-containing crystalline phase, a clast, and a glass phase, wherein at least a portion of the synthetic ceramic is plastically deformable in a certain temperature range. Other embodiments of the invention relate to a method of making a synthetic ceramic, comprising heating a green ceramic material to 900-1400° C., to a temperature sufficient to initiate partial melting of at least a portion of the green ceramic material, transferring the heated green ceramic material to a press, pressing the heated green ceramic material in a die at 1,000 to 10,000 psi, and transferring the heated, pressed green ceramic material to a furnace for cooling to form the synthetic ceramic.

"Uniaxial hot pressing" and "hot isostatic pressing" of ceramics are well-known processing methods for sintering of advanced ceramics. These processes in the field of advanced ceramics might appear to be similar to the present invention, but are actually quite unrelated processes and are described in W. D. Kingery, "Introduction to Ceramics," John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1960, pp. 72-74, 394, and also D. W. Richardson, "Modern Ceramic Engineering," Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 1992, pp. 552-564, and also in the Background section of U.S. Pat. No. 6,159,400. A key distinction between hot pressing and the present invention is that hot pressing is conducted at approximately half the absolute melting temperature of the material, meaning it is in essence a solid-phase sintering process at high pressure, typically 6.9 to 34.5 MPa (1 to 5 ksi). Hot pressing also differs from the present invention in that pressure is applied to the material while it is still in a furnace. This requires that the pressing parts and molds be made from a highly heat-resistant material such as graphite. Graphite parts oxidize over time and are highly susceptible to wear, which makes the hot pressing process expensive and only in use for manufacture of high-cost specialized parts. Hot isostatic pressing diverges even further from the present invention, as described in Richardson, pp. 562-564.
The conventional method of forming ceramic tiles also differs from uniaxial hot pressing, hot isostatic pressing, and the present invention. The conventional method includes the steps of shaping and forming a ceramic composition containing ceramic powders, binder, and water, pressing the ceramic composition near room temperature and then firing the ceramic composition at high temperature near atmospheric pressure. The conventional ceramic tiles are rigid, brittle and cured to a permanently set (thermosetting) composition. Thus, the conventional ceramic tiles cannot be recycled by and reformed by heating and melting the ceramic tile like a thermoplastic polymer can be recycled and reformed. The ceramic tiles of this invention overcome the above deficiencies of conventional ceramic tiles.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,795 to Thomas McGee, entitled "Method of compressing ceramic refractory bodies," describes "hot forging" of ceramic refractory blocks with low thermal conductivity for use in the bed of a steel-making furnace, and provides a method to reduce wear of the die or mold. McGee's method requires a complicated and expensive apparatus to remove the sides of the mold and avoid friction. Further, the preheated blank (or billet) in McGee's method must be smaller than the mold so that it can be placed inside. This requires the material flow out to engulf the entire space, which means that the material must have higher processing temperature in order to have low enough viscosity. The higher processing temperature is more expensive to operate, and tends to liquefy a greater portion of the starting material, resulting in a weaker final product.

Process for hot-forging synthetic ceramic


A plurality of electrochemical corrosion protection systems (30) for underground buried structure installed geographically dispersed are utilized so as to predict an earthquake. Changes in amounts of current flowing through closed loop electric circuits (W) for electrochemical corrosion protection in the electrochemical corrosion protection systems (30) are detected and an earthquake is predicted based on the detected changes in the amounts of current.

If a quasi-static fracture occurs at some location of an earthquake zone in the Earth's crust, a phenomenon of emission of a fracture-induced charge will arise during a precursor period of the earthquake. If placing detection electrodes in the ground and placing second electrodes at the ground surface or in the ground near the ground surface, while the reason is not necessarily clear, in actuality a telluric current will flow between the detection electrodes and the second electrodes. Therefore, known in the art is a telluric current detection device configured for placing a detection electrode deep into the Earth's crust so that manmade noise at the ground surface does not affect the detection results (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-232243).
Therefore, if using this telluric current detection device, prediction of an earthquake becomes possible. In this regard, however, to predict an earthquake, it is necessary to set up a large number of these ground current detection devices geographically dispersed. However, such telluric current detection devices are expensive, and accordingly. as a practical problem, it is difficult to install a large number of such telluric current detection devices.

Earthquake prediction method and earthquake prediction system


A metal substrate includes a first insulating substrate, a second insulating substrate, a first metal layer, a second metal layer and a release layer. The first insulating substrate has a first modified surface and a second surface opposite to the first modified surface. The first metal layer faces the second surface. The release layer is bonded on the first modified surface. The second insulating substrate is bonded on a side of the release layer, such that the release layer is between the first modified surface and the second insulating substrate. The second metal layer is disposed on a side of the second insulating substrate, such that the second insulating substrate is between the release layer and the second metal layer. An original surface roughness of the first modified surface has a variation substantially less than 10% after the first modified surface is released from the release layer.

Field of Invention
The present disclosure relates to an electronic circuit substrate and a method of manufacturing the electronic circuit substrate. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a metal substrate and a method of manufacturing the metal substrate.
Description of Related Art
A printed circuit board is an indispensable material in electronic products. A demand of the printed circuit board is increased with a growing demand of consumer electronic products. With the development toward compact size and flexibility for the electronic products, a flexible printed circuit hoard is widely applied recently in computers and its peripheral equipment, communication products and consumer electronic products because of its features able to be bent and be three-dimensionally wired.
A typical flexible printed circuit board is a composite board constituted by a dielectric substrate, such as resin, glass fiber or other plastic materials, and a conductive layer, such as copper foil or other metal material layers. For example, a flexible copper clad laminate is constituted by a polyimide (PI) substrate as the dielectric substrate, and a non-adhesive single-sided copper foil coated or bonded on the PI substrate using a casting method or a lamination method.
Recently, it is required for the flexible printed circuit board to be ultra-thin, high density of components and multifunction, in that an electronic system is becoming compact and low cost. However, fold damage, pad damage or delamination (or called as blistering) may occur in a single layer PI substrate for manufacturing an ultra-thin flexible printed circuit board during processing due to inadequate stiffness of the substrate, and thus to affect production yield and dimensional stability. For this reason, an adhesive layer formed on a surface of the single layer PI substrate using a coating method or a transfer printing method and a reinforcing layer overlying the adhesive layer are introduced, and a lamination is then performed to let the reinforcing layer tightly adhere to the PI substrate to obtain a composite structure and to reinforce the ultra-thin copper clad substrate, and thus to increase yield thereof.
However, during the thermal lamination with high temperature and high pressure, the adhesive may be fused and bonded to the PI substrate. The adhesive may be remained during the reinforcing layer is tore off, which results in increasing of product defect rate. If the reinforcing layer is retained, the thickness of the flexible printed circuit board is increased. Therefore, there is a need for an advanced printed circuit board and a method of manufacturing the same to solve problems in prior art.

Metal substrate and method of manufacturing the same


Systems and methods for stitching videos are disclosed. Image-based registration between frames from a first video source and frames from a second video source is performed at a first rate. Calibration-based registration between frames from the first video source and frames from the second video source are performed at a second rate higher than the first rate. Then, for a first frame from the first video source for which calibration-based registration data and image-based registration data have been generated, a stitching transform that maps the first frame to a counterpart frame from the second video source based on image-based registration data is generated. A delta transform from the image-based registration data and the calibration-based registration data at the first frame is also derived. For a subsequent frame from the first video source for which calibration-based registration data have been generated, but no image-based registration data have been generated, a stitching transform that maps the subsequent frame to a counterpart frame from the second video source based on the calibration-based registration data and the delta transform is generated. Frames from the first video source and frames from the second video source are stitched according to their respective generated stitching transforms.

The present disclosure refers to techniques for stitching of video images, in particular, to techniques of image alignment that employ image-based registration (IBR) and calibration-based registration (CBR).
Many modern consumer electronic devices are equipped with multiple built-in cameras that are integrated into fixed positions within the devices and possess different intrinsic characteristics. Some application generate composite "stitched" images from outputs of the camera forming a composite view of a captured scene. Techniques for stitching multiple images often utilize registration methods to align the images spatially, and blending methods that merge the aligned images' content. Typical image registration techniques, however, involve resource-intensive image processing techniques that search for commonality in content among multiple images. They can be inappropriate for use in many consumer computing environments such as smartphones, which typically have fewer processing resources than more robust computing environments provided, for example, by personal computers. Thus, there is a need in the art for an image stitching technique that achieves high accuracy and yet lowers resource consumption.

Seamless preview stitching for multiple cameras