A fogless shower mirror includes a mirror assembly having an elongated hollow body which has a thin, rectangular-shaped mirror frame section on which is mounted a mirror plate, and an upper rearwardly curved water supply conduit section. A rectangular slab-shaped reservoir within the mirror frame communicates at the upper end thereof with a bore through the water supply conduit, which has at an outer end thereof a vertically disposed water fill aperture. The reservoir and water supply conduit are filled with warm water, and the mirror assembly is releasably attached to a mirror support stand attached to a shower enclosure wall. The mirror plate is heated by the warm water in the reservoir to thus resist fogging caused by condensation of water vapor, Water cooled by warming the mirror plate trickles from a small drain hole in the reservoir and is replenished with warm water from the water supply conduit.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mirrors of the type used by people as an aid to performing personal grooming tasks such as shaving. More particularly, the invention relates to a fogless shower mirror which includes a mirror assembly that is removable from a support stand and fillable with warm water from a shower head, or other such source, and re-attachable to the support stand, the warm water warming a mirror plate mounted to the mirror assembly to thus resist formation of image-fogging condensation droplets on the reflective surface of the mirror plate.
B. Description of Background Art
A significant number of people utilize mirrors while showering to facilitate performance of personal care functions such as shaving. However, the use of mirrors in showers was in the past relatively limited, because the warm moist air within a shower enclosure tends to quickly condense on the surface of any mirror used in the shower, obscuring an image of a person's face reflected from the mirror surface so completely as to render the mirror practically useless within a few minutes after a shower has begun.
In response to the problem of moisture condensing on a mirror surface and thereby limiting the usefulness of mirrors in high humidly environments, such as shower enclosures and other locations within a bathroom, the present inventor disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,468, issued Mar. 29, 1988, a "fogless" mirror which is highly resistant to formation of condensation droplets on the surface of the mirror. The fogless mirror disclosed in the '468 patent utilizes warm water tapped from the warm water supply pipe to a shower head, to heat the surface of the mirror. Since water vapor in a shower is produced largely by evaporation, the water vapor is always somewhat cooler than the warm water supplied to the shower head. And, since water vapor will condense only on surfaces which are at lower temperature than the vapor, heating the surface of the mirror precludes fogging of the mirror. Therefore, the fogless mirror disclosed in the present inventor's '468 patent proved to be a highly effective solution to the problem of bathroom mirror fogging, and mirrors utilizing the teachings of that patent have been widely marketed and used.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,475, Daniels, Non-Fogging Shower Mirror discloses a non-fogging shower mirror which has generally the shape of a hollow rectangular box which has on a front wall thereof a rectangular reflective mirror plate. The back wall of the box is penetrated near the top edge of the wall by a fill hole for receiving warm water from a faucet, when the mirror is unhooked from suction cups which are attachable to a shower wall used to support the box with the mirror vertically oriented. A small cross-section exit port in a bottom wall of the box allows water to drain slowly from the hollow interior space of the box, which serves as a water reservoir.
Because the cross-sectional shape of the water reservoir disclosed in Daniels is uniform, the weight of water required to fill the reservoir increases in direct proportion to the size of the mirror used, and thus potentially causes the suction cup or other support mounting elements to fail. Also, the design of the Daniel's fill port inherently requires that it be small relative to other dimensions of the mirror reservoir box, making filling or manual emptying of the reservoir relatively slow. The present invention was inspired at least in part by the limitations of prior art non-fogging shower mirrors, including those alluded to above.


A perfusion trend indicator inputs a plethysmograph waveform having pulses corresponding to pulsatile blood flow within a tissue site. Perfusion values are derived corresponding to the pulses. Time windows are defined corresponding to the perfusion values. Representative perfusion values are defined corresponding to the time windows. A perfusion trend is calculated according to differences between representative perfusion values of adjacent ones of the time windows.

Pulse oximetry is a widely accepted noninvasive procedure for measuring the oxygen saturation level of arterial blood, an important physiological measurement in, for example, critical care and surgical applications. A pulse oximeter typically provides a numerical readout of the patient's oxygen saturation and pulse rate. In addition, a pulse oximeter may display the patient's plethysmograph waveform, which is a visualization of blood volume change over time due to pulsatile arterial blood flow.
Pulse oximetry utilizes a noninvasive sensor to measure oxygen saturation (SpO2) and pulse rate of a person. The sensor has light emitting diodes (LEDs) that transmit optical radiation of red and infrared wavelengths into a tissue site and a detector that responds to the intensity of the optical radiation after attenuation by pulsatile arterial blood flowing within the tissue site. Such reading through motion oximeters have gained rapid acceptance in a wide variety of medical applications, including surgical wards, intensive care and neonatal units, general wards, home care, physical training, and virtually all type of monitoring scenarios.
Pulse oximeters capable of reading through motion induced noise are disclosed in at least U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,770,028, 6,658,276, 6,584,336, 6,263,222, 6,157,850, 5,769,785, and 5,632,272, which are assigned to Masimo Corporation ("Masimo") of Irvine, Calif. and are incorporated by reference herein. Low noise pulse oximetry sensors are disclosed in one or more of U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,027,849, 6,985,764, 6,934,570, 6,760,607, 6,377,829, 6,285,896, 5,782,757, and 5,638,818, which are also assigned to Masimo and incorporated by reference herein. Moreover, pulse oximeters capable of reading through motion induced noise and low noise optical sensors including LNOP® disposable, reusable and/or multi-site sensors and Radical®, Rad-5™, Rad-8™, Rad-9™, PPO+™ monitors are also available from Masimo.
Multiple parameter monitors and multiple wavelength sensors are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/367,033 entitled Noninvasive Multiple Parameter Patient Monitor filed Mar. 1, 2006 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/367,013 entitled Multiple Wavelength Sensor Emitters filed Mar. 1, 2006, incorporated by reference herein. Moreover, multiple parameter monitors and multiple wavelength sensors including Rad-57™ and Radical-7™ monitors and Rainbow™ Rainbow™-brand adhesive and reusable sensors are available from Masimo. MS-brand processor boards incorporating SHARC® DSPs from Analog Devices, Inc. are also available from Masimo.


The present invention relates to a thermosetting resin composition for coating a metal film having high flowability and pattern-filling property and a metal laminate using the same.

A copper clad laminate used for a conventional printed circuit board is produced by impregnating a glass fabric substrate with a varnish of the thermosetting resin and then semi-curing it to prepare a prepreg, which is then heated and pressed together with a copper foil. A circuit pattern is formed on such a copper clad laminate and a prepreg is again used for building-up thereon.
Recently, achieving higher performance, weight reduction, and thickness reduction of electronic devices, communication devices, personal computers, smart phones and the like has accelerated, semiconductor packages are also required to be reduced in size. At the same time, there is a growing need to reduce the thickness of printed circuit boards for semiconductor packages.
In other words, as the form factor of electronic devices has recently been reduced, the thickness of the semiconductor package becomes smaller and smaller.
However, since a prepreg, which is a laminated material among conventional package components, includes a woven glass fabric, it is difficult to reduce the thickness by more than a certain amount.
On the other hand, since a resin-coated copper (RCC) foil as an alternative material for a prepreg does not contain glass fibers, its thickness can be made smaller than the prepreg.
Among the properties of the above-mentioned laminated material, the most important feature is a property of filling a pattern (reclamation property). That is, since the resin-coated copper foil as a laminated material must be filled with a pattern, flowability of the resin is an important feature. In particular, as the thickness of the resin-coated copper foil laminate becomes smaller, the amount of resin is reduced, and it is difficult to fill the pattern. If the pattern is not properly filled, an empty void is generated, and reliability, performance, and the like of the semiconductor substrate are deteriorated. When the thickness of the resin-coated copper foil is reduced, the amount of the resin is also reduced. Thus, the pattern is not filled, and the probability of generating voids after lamination increases. In other words, if the thickness of the resin is reduced to make the substrate thinner, the pattern-filling property is deteriorated.
Therefore, in order to increase the pattern-filling property while reducing the thickness, it is necessary to increase the flowability of the resin.
A commonly used method to achieve this is to use a monomolecular resin. In the case of a resin having a low molecular weight, since the viscosity before curing is low within the lamination process temperature range, the flowability and the pattern-filling property are excellent. However, since monomolecular resins have surface stickiness before curing, a protective film is required. Further, as the curing reaction proceeds slowly during storage at room temperature, it has a disadvantage that it is vulnerable to changes over time and storage stability.

Thermosetting resin composition for coating metal thin film and metal laminate using the same


A non-circular sprocket component comprises a rotor (11) having a plurality of teeth (16) arranged around the perimeter of the rotor, each tooth having a crown (9), and each pair of adjacent teeth having a valley (8) therebetween. The crowns of the teeth lie on a curved envelope forming the perimeter of the rotor. The perimeter has a non-circular profile having at least two protruding portions (22, 23) alternating with receding portions (24, 25). The distance between the midpoints (V) of the crowns (9) of each pair of adjacent teeth is substantially the same. The profile of the valley (8) between each pair of adjacent teeth is substantially the same. The distance between the midpoint (V), of each crown (9) and the axis (A) of the rotor varies around the perimeter to produce the said non-circular profile.

Synchronous drive systems, such as timing belt based systems, are widely used in motor vehicles, as well as in industrial applications. In motor vehicles, for example, timing belts or chains are used to drive the camshafts that open and close the engine intake and exhaust valves. Also other devices such as water pumps, fuel pumps etc. can be driven by the same belt or chain.
Internal combustion engines produce many types of mechanical vibrations during their operation, and these vibrations are usually transmitted through the timing belt or chain in the synchronous drive system. A particularly intense source of mechanical vibrations is given by the intake and exhaust valves and the camshafts that open and close those intake and exhaust valves. Opening and closing the intake and exhaust valves leads to a type of vibration known as torsional vibration. When the frequency of these vibrations is close to the natural frequency of the drive, system resonance occurs. In resonance the torsional vibrations and the span tension fluctuations are at their maximum.
Torsional vibrations cause fluctuations in belt or chain tension, which can lead to increased wear and reduced belt or chain life. Torsional vibrations may also cause timing errors, and result in undesirable amounts of noise.
It is known to provide non-circular sprocket components in such drive systems to attempt to reduce or eliminate vibration. In DE-A-195 20 508 (Audi AG), there is disclosed a wrapped belt drive for an internal combustion engine, the timing belt being wrapped around two driven pulleys coupled to the camshaft of the engine, and one drive pulley coupled to the crankshaft of the engine. It is proposed in the citation to reduce torsional vibrations by an "out of round" pulley, which is shown as consisting of one of the camshaft pulleys. The out of round pulley which is shown has four protruding portions and four receding portions arranged regularly around the pulley.
In Japanese Utility Model JP 62-192077 (Patent Bulletin No. HEI 1-95538) of 1987 (Hatano et al/Mitsubishi), there is disclosed a tension equalising driving device which transmits the rotation of a drive pulley to a driven pulley by a belt drive such as a timing belt in an internal combustion engine. There is shown a timing belt arrangement in which a toothed pulley of the drive shaft of a camshaft is driven by an oval timing belt driving sprocket connected to the drive shaft of an internal combustion engine. In Japanese Application No. HEI 9-73581 (Patent Bulletin No. HEI 10-266868) of 1997 (Kubo/Mitsubishi) reference is also made to the use of an oval sprocket as a crank sprocket.


A device includes: a millimeter-wave radar sensor circuit configured to generate N virtual channels of sensed data, where N is an integer number greater than one; and a processor configured to: generate a 2D radar image of a surface in a field of view of the millimeter-wave radar sensor circuit based on sensed data from the N virtual channels of sensed data, where the 2D radar image includes azimuth and range information, generate a multi-dimensional data structure based on the 2D radar image using a transform function, compare the multi-dimensional data structure with a reference multi-dimensional data structure, and determine whether liquid is present in the field of view of the millimeter-wave radar sensor circuit based on comparing the multi-dimensional data structure with the reference multi-dimensional data structure.

Liquid detection sensors are capable of detecting the presence of liquid in a medium. Liquid detection sensors typically operate by detecting a change of a property of a portion of the liquid detection sensor that is designed to change in the presence of liquid, such as water. For example, some electronic devices include small stickers that are designed to change color (e.g., from white to red) when the sticker is in contact with water.
Electronic liquid detection sensors conventionally rely on the change in conductivity of a medium to detect the presence of water or other liquids. For example, an electronic liquid detection sensor may include two terminals spaced apart and configured to conduct a current. During normal operation, since there is no electrical conduction path between the two terminals, no current flows between the two terminals during normal operation. When water is present between the two terminals, the water creates an electrical path that allows the flow of current between the two terminals. Therefore, the liquid detection sensor can sense the presence of a liquid between the two terminals when the current flowing through the terminals is greater than a predefined threshold. The electronic liquid detection sensor may, for example, trigger an alarm to alert a user of the presence of water when the current flowing through the two terminals is greater than the predefined threshold.
Conventional electronic liquid detection sensors, therefore, are capable of detecting the presence of liquid when at least a portion of the liquid detection sensor is in contact with the liquid.

Liquid detection using millimeter-wave radar sensor


An address translation unit includes a translation lookaside buffer (TLB), a miss queue, and a control unit. The TLB may store a plurality of address translations. The miss queue may store received address translation requests that missed in the TLB. The miss queue includes a plurality of entries. At least some entries may each store a respective address translation request and a corresponding identifier. The corresponding identifier of a given entry identifies another entry in the miss queue that stores another respective address translation request having a process ordering constraint that is the same as a process ordering constraint of the respective address translation request in the given entry. Address translations having a same ordering constraint that are linked together via the identifier belong to the same virtual miss queue. The control unit may process the received address translation requests in an order dependent upon the identifier.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to digital processing systems and, more particularly, to address translation mechanisms in such systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Address translation is often used in systems that include multiple memory request sources and a memory shared by the sources. The sources can include processors, direct memory access (DMA) units acting on behalf of various peripheral devices, and/or the peripheral devices themselves. Address translation may be used to ensure that different sources do not interfere with each other's access to memory, to provide a larger virtual memory than is actually available in the physical memory (along with software to page data in and out of the memory as needed), to simplify the dynamic allocation of memory (allowing scattered pages of real memory to appear as a contiguous block of virtual memory), etc. Thus, a given source may transmit a memory request with a virtual address, and the address translation mechanism may translate the address to a corresponding physical address.
Typically, the virtual to physical address translations are stored in a set of software-managed page tables in memory. The virtual address can be used as an index (relative to a base address of the page table) from which a page table entry or entries is read in order to locate the correct translation. Some address translation schemes use multiple page table reads in a hierarchical or non-hierarchical fashion to locate a translation. Other schemes can use a single page table read to locate a translation.
The latency for performing the translation can be reduced by providing a translation lookaside buffer (TLB) that caches recently used translations for rapid access in response to a memory request from a source. However, in some conventional translation mechanisms, since the TLB may be shared among multiple sources, a TLB miss on one translation may increase the latency of another unrelated translation request. This type of latency may be unacceptable in some systems.

Address translation unit with multiple virtual queues


A new and distinct cultivar of Astilbe plant named ‘Valery’, characterized by its compact, upright and sturdy plant habit; strong and healthy dark green-colored foliage; freely flowering habit; red purple-colored flowers arranged on thick flowering stems; and good garden performance.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Astilbe, botanically known as Astilbe chinensis and hereinafter referred to by the name 'Valery'.
The new Astilbe is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Zuidwolde, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program was to create new compact and sturdy Astilbe cultivars with numerous attractive flowers.
The new Astilbe originated from an open-pollination in 1999 in Zuidwolde, The Netherlands, of an unidentified selection of Astilbe chinensis, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unknown selection of Astilbe chinensis, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Astilbe was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled environment in Zuidwolde, The Netherlands in 2002.
Asexual reproduction of the new Astilbe by divisions in a controlled environment in Zuidwolde, The Netherlands since 2004, has shown that the unique features of this new Astilbe are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


A new system of packaging and offering precious gems for sale are disclosed. A precious gem and an abbreviated certificate of authenticity about that gem are sealed within an at least partly see-through security case. The sealed security case is secured inside of an enclosed compartment in a security carton, and the gem and the abbreviated certificate of authenticity are visible through one or more windows in the security carton. Additional information about the gem is stored in a storage compartment in the security carton, which is separately accessible from the enclosed compartment. A retailer displays and offers the gem for sale directly to end consumers in the display package, and the consumer is assured by the display package that the gem has the characteristics disclosed on the abbreviated certificate of authenticity without requiring an intermediate local jeweler to verify the characteristics.

In the past, diamonds and other precious gems were purchased by an end consumer from an independent jeweler retailer, such as at his or her local jeweler. The consumer trusted the jeweler to verify that the diamond had certain quality characteristics. Often, the jeweler would have already sent the diamond to a third party certifying authority, such as the Gemological Institute of America Inc. ("GIA"), which would certify that the diamond had certain quality characteristics, and would return the diamond to the jeweler with a certificate. Although the diamond and the certificate were sent together to the jeweler, the consumer had to trust the jeweler that the diamond to which the consumer actually took possession, actually matched the certificate from the certifying authority.
More recently, on-line diamond vendors effectively cut out the independent jeweler by convincing consumers that they can buy a diamond without the services of a local jeweler so long as the consumer buys a "certified" diamond. The reality is a little different. No grading laboratory will guarantee that the diamond that the consumer receives is actually the same one that they certified; and current safeguards, when they are implemented, are easily manipulated. When currently purchasing on-line, the consumer unknowingly is assuming a large risk. Consumers are already apprehensive, which is why they want a jeweler to validate their purchase. Helping secure the customer's investment addresses this problem, and is an extremely valuable benefit as fraud and misrepresentation are a real and growing concern.
In one card-based security system that has been developed, a jeweler or online retailer sends a precious gem, such as a diamond, to a recognized certifying authority. The certifying authority examines the precious gem for certain characteristics, certifies that the precious gem has certain characteristics, such as carat weight, cut, clarity, color, etc., and produces a printed certificate documenting the same. In addition, the certifying authority may also engrave the precious gem with an identification number and include that identification number on the certificate. The certifying authority then seals both the gem and an abbreviated certificate together into a small sealed security case in such manner that both the precious stone and at least some of the printed information about the characteristics on the certificate are visible to a potential purchaser. The security case generally has the form of two clear plastic compartments that are sealed by lamination or similar technique to a small plastic card. The security case includes a UV seal that helps verify the integrity of the sealed security case and helps prevent fraud. In this manner, the purchaser is assured that the precious gem has certain characteristics because he or she sees both the gem and certificate and knows that the two have been sealed together by the certifying authority without requiring validation by a separate independent jeweler. One example of such a system is the card-based security systems offered by Certiline Srl, of 21050 Cantello-Varese, Italy, Via Varese, 29, and shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
Although the card-based security system helps assure the purchaser of the quality of the diamond, its benefits with regard to branding, display, and direct-to-consumer marketing is relatively limited due to its basic design. Further, the card-based security system does not provide a convenient way to store the complete certificate from the certifying authority and the precious gem within the sealed security case. The present inventor has attempted to improve upon this system to provide additional benefits not heretofore contemplated in the jewelry retail business.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Authentication, security and/or marketing display kit for a precious gem and method


A method for correlating information across distinct domains without requiring feature co-occurrence. The disparate information collections are broken down into features, and a correlation index with correlation score is created. To determine the correlation between distinct domains, an information artifact collection is reduced to a representational set of features, these features are replaced with correlated features using the correlation index, and the new set of features is matched against the second information artifact collection using an appropriate comparison technique. The correlation method allows a single input artifact to be matched against an existing collection, resulting in a set of correlated artifacts from the disparate collection, each ranked by correlation score.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for data correlation, and, more specifically, to a method for correlation of information across distinct domains.
2. Description of the Related Art
In information rich environments, knowledge of the relationships between information artifacts (such as software applications, datasets, websites, news articles, links, or many other types of information and data) is necessary to ensure that relevant information is made available when and where it is needed. The World Wide Web provides a readily available example, with its vast collection of documents and the familiar task of creating search strings to locate desired documents. Numerous examples of similar information retrieval and organization tasks exist in any scenario that involves the production and consumption of information, including government intelligence communities, where collectors and reporters produce information artifacts that must be disseminated to the necessary consumers; criminal investigation and legal services, where vast amounts of documentation must be organized and searched to discover information relevant to a given case; news services, where stories must be categorized and linked based on topical similarity; and customer service management where customer requests and complaints must be routed to the relevant representative or directed to relevant information.
When the environment contains a large number of information artifacts, manual encoding of the relationships between artifacts becomes difficult or impossible. To solve this problem, a number of methods, such as the Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency ("TF-IDF") method have been devised and implemented for automatically determining the relationships between artifacts.
Prior art methods typically determine similarity between two artifacts using features shared in common between the artifacts. For example, correlation between two documents—such as document A and document B—containing English language text can be determined by comparing the similarity of features such as words, phrases, or concepts contained in each document (often requiring some form of natural language pre-processing). The impact of any given feature on the document correlation metric would typically take one or more of the following into consideration:
1. Frequency of occurrence of the feature in document A;
2. Frequency of occurrence of the feature in document B;
3. Frequency of occurrence of the feature in the corpus;
4. Total number of features in document A;
5. Total number of features in document B;
6. Placement of the feature in document A;
7. Placement of the feature in document B; and/or
8. Domain or pragmatic knowledge about the feature (ontologies), among many others.
Such methods have proven effective for identifying artifacts with a high degree of correlation to a given artifact in cases where information in the given artifact and the collection is conveyed using similar features. In cases where the given artifact and the collection use disparate sets of features, this methodology is ineffective due to the lack of feature co-occurrence (i.e., occurrence of a feature both in the given artifact and the target artifact) or the requirement to build and maintain large, complex, and dynamic ontologies.
This disparity between features or artifacts in a given artifact versus a target collection can occur for a number of reasons, including differences in language or culture (for example, an English language query targeted at a collection of French language documents), differences in collection purpose (for example, a marketing brochure matched against a collection of detailed product specifications), differences in format (for example, entries from the sales tracking databases from two companies), differences in sub-language (for example, using a chemical research paper to find similar papers in a repository of medical research papers), or natural shifts in terminology over time (for example, news articles placed in predefined categories based on similarity to legacy news articles), among many, many others.
As a result, there is a continued need for an improved information artifact methodology that correlates information artifacts across distinct domains, including where there is a lack of feature co-occurrence.

Method for cross-domain feature correlation


A rotor for a line-start reluctance motor is provided to improve core area efficiency to make flux flow in one direction. The rotor for the line-start reluctance motor includes a core having an axis coupling hole in a coupling direction of a shaft, a plurality of bars formed in the periphery of the core, and a plurality of flux barriers, one and the other ends of the flux barriers approaching the bars formed in first and second areas facing each other at a predetermined angle on a central line of a first axis on a core plane vertical to the coupling direction, at least parts of the centers of the flux barriers passing through a third or fourth area between the first and second areas, surrounding the axis coupling hole at predetermined intervals.

A line-start reluctance motor is a single phase power alternating motor for performing constant speed motion. It is a combination type of an induction motor and a reluctance motor. The line-start reluctance motor includes a stator for forming a rotating magnetic field by alternating current applied to windings, and a rotor positioned in the stator and rotated by the rotating magnetic field formed by the stator. The line-start reluctance motor uses a rotary force generated when flux of the stator passes through the rotor and the rotor moves in a direction of decreasing reluctance (magnetic resistance). That is, in the start operation, the line-start reluctance motor starts to be rotated by using start torque generated by mutual operations of variations of the flux of the stator and current deserted in bars as in an induction motor, and after the start operation, the line-start reluctance motor is rotated in a constant speed by using reluctance torque making the flux of the stator flow through a core portion of the rotor.
As disclosed in U.S. Laid-Open Patent Application 3,862,446, a rotor for a two pole synchronous reluctance motor includes a core having a pair of effective oppositely disposed salient poles for improving initial start properties of the reluctance motor, a plurality of circumferentially spaced interconnected conductors in each salient pole portion adjacent to the periphery thereof forming main pole windings, the main conductors of each pole encompassing 90 mechanical degrees of the rotor core, flux barriers formed in and extending across the core between the main pole windings with the ends thereof circumferentially spaced from the main pole winding, and at least one additional secondary conductor located in the space between the ends of each main pole winding and each end of the flux barrier adjacent to the periphery of the core, the space between the ends of the main pole windings and the circumferentially nearest secondary conductor being greater than the space between any two adjacent main conductors, the conductors being connected together to form a squirrel.
According to U.S. Laid-Open Patent Application 6,604,134, a rotor assembly for a synchronous reluctance motor includes a shaft, a core having a plurality of shaped supports, the supports being configured, dimensioned and positioned to define a plurality of channels, the core being mounted on the shaft, a plurality of generally arcuate rotor sections, each of the rotor sections secured within a respective channel of the core, and a plurality of bands disposed circumferentially about the rotor sections for securing the rotor sections to the core.
In addition, as suggested in U.S. Laid-Open Patent Application 6,066,904, a mechanical device selected from a synchronous reluctance machine and a switched reluctance machine includes a rotor having a central axis, the rotor formed by a plurality of radial laminations, the laminations being stacked axially and being made of grain-oriented magnetic material having a direction of highest magnetic permeability, the direction of highest magnetic permeability of the magnetic material being parallel to a plane that bisects each of the laminations, each of the laminations having at least one pair of internal slots, at least one pair of internal slots being aligned in a direction at least generally parallel to the plane, and at least one pair of internal slots being symmetric about the plane.
As described above, the conventional rotors have a number of complicated elements, which consumes a lot of time and expenses during the production.
In addition, the conventional rotors require special elements (for example, conductors made of magnetic material).
The conventional arts do not provide maximum outputs and efficiency of the rotor based on a difference between flux density in a high permeable direction (for example, d axis) and flux density in a low permeable direction (for example, q axis).
Furthermore, the conventional arts do not provide shapes and alignments of bars for giving efficient output properties to the rotor by preventing magnetic saturation in the core.


Described are medical graft materials and devices which can be usefully modified with liquid additives such as cell suspensions, bioactive agents, or combinations of these. The medical graft materials and devices can have a first outer surface and a second outer surface and can define an internal chamber between the first outer surface and the second outer surface. The medical graft materials and devices can also have at least one region of the graft material interrupting the chamber and surrounded by the chamber. Also described are methods for making and using these medical graft materials and devices.

The present invention relates in certain of its aspects to medical devices and methods, for example involving medical graft materials that can be modified by the addition of cells or other substances, and to related kits and methods of use and preparation.
Medical grafts and implants have demonstrated significant promise to improve medical treatments for patients across a broad variety of conditions or injuries. One area of study has been that of implantable graft materials that contain additives such as bioactive substances or viable cells from the patient or from other sources. With regard to the harvest and re-introduction of cells or other biologic substances from the patient, termed autologous treatments, methods and systems are known for treating tissue samples from the patient to result in a cellular and/or other biological preparation that can be re-introduced to the patient. In related areas, cells or biologic substances obtained from donors other than the patient, sometimes embodied in stable cell lines or purified extracts, have also been known or proposed for introduction into the patient by themselves or with other implant materials.
In certain modes of use, cells or other substances to be introduced into the patient can be combined with a graft material to form an implantable graft. In respect of cellular grafts, sometimes these involve a culture period in which the number of cells is expanded after application to the graft material. Other modes of using cells do not involve such expansion. Rather, the cells are applied to the graft and implanted without a culture period.
Despite demonstrated promise, the clinical implementation of graft materials has been slow in many areas. Needs exists for more convenient and/or effective ways or materials for combining cells or other modifying substances with graft materials. In certain of its aspects, the present invention is addressed to these needs.

Modifiable medical grafts and related methods and apparatuses


Described herein is a multilayer microporous film or membrane that may exhibit improved properties, including improved dielectric break down and strength, compared to prior monolayer or tri-layer microporous membranes of the same thickness. The preferred multilayer microporous membrane comprises microlayers and one or more lamination barriers. Also disclosed is a battery separator or battery comprising one or more of the multilayer microporous films or membranes. The inventive battery and battery separator is preferably safer and more robust than batteries and battery separators using prior monolayer and tri-layer microporous membranes. Also, described herein is a method for making the multilayer microporous separators, membranes or films described herein.

Known methods of making microporous bi-layered or tri-layered membranes, such as for use as battery separator membranes, include laminating or adhering two or more monolayer precursors together or coextruding more than one layer of membrane at the same time using a coextrusion die. Such methods are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,120, U.S. 2014/0079980, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,223,032, 5,240,655, and U.S. 2005/031943. The aforementioned methods may not fully optimize a balance of strength and/or performance properties for use in applications such as certain primary and/or secondary batteries, such as lithium ion rechargeable batteries. This is especially true as the battery separator requirements are becoming more demanding as customers want thinner and stronger battery separators. For example, a microporous trilayer membrane formed by coextruding the three layers may have reduced strength. Separators formed by laminating monolayers also may eventually not satisfy the ever-increasing demands.
Hence, there is a need for a new and improved multi-layered microporous membranes, base films, or battery separators having various improvements, such as improved tensile strength and improved dielectric breakdown strength.

Microlayer membranes, improved battery separators, and related methods


In a method for controlling a posture of an articulated object, a user inputs an initial configuration of the object, a base point, an end point, a target point and a method for updating the posture. It is determined whether the number of joints positioned between the base and the end points is larger than or equal to three. If the number is smaller than or equal to two, it is determined whether the method for updating the posture is a two-segment or three-segment based method or another method for moving an intermediate end point. If the method is two-segment or three-segment based, the number is rechecked. If the number is smaller than or equal to two, the posture is modified according to the two-segment or three-segment based method. If the posture satisfies a predetermined condition, it is displayed on a screen.

The present invention relates to a method for an animation production; and, more particularly, to a method for controlling a posture of an articulated object by performing a mathematical calculation, in stead of using a numerical analysis or an optimization, in an animation production.
Recently, the Internet is commonly used as a communication network where a virtual environment can be constructed. Further, there are ever-increasing demands for developing technologies for avatars representing users in the virtual environment.
Such avatar technologies are based on the animation of human gestures that have been the center of interests in computer graphics field for a long time. Further, as the performance of computers improves, there have been widely used animations produced by using the three-dimensional graphics technologies based on the three-dimensional model of human. Particularly, the technologies for controlling the posture of an articulated object, which is based on the inverse kinematics, are very important in practice as well as in theory.
According to the prior art, the technologies for controlling the posture can be categorized into two types. One is a key-frame method based on a manual operation. The other is a method based on the inverse kinematics.
In the key-frame method, a user modifies the posture of an articulated object manually or by using an editing software tool. However, this method has a problem that the edition of the posture is time-consuming and far from intuition of the user.
Meanwhile, the inverse kinematics-based method calculates automatically an angle at each of joints of the articulated objects if a base point, an end point and a target point are set. Using the angle at each of the joints, the end point can be moved toward the target point. The inverse kinematics is more intuitive than the key-frame method. Further, the inverse kinematics is more widely used in the computer graphics field. The inverse kinematics-based method can be further categorized into several types: an analytic method based on a mathematical calculation; a numerical analysis method based on the Jacobian matrix; and a method based on an optimization.
The method based on a mathematical calculation is used only for manipulating an articulated object having two segments.
The Jacobian matrix is referred to a matrix representing rates at which the end point changes according to the changes of angles at the joints. The inverse kinematics can be realized by using a pseudo-inverse of the Jacobian matrix. However, the calculation of the pseudo-inverse of the Jacobian matrix requires differential calculus. Further, it is not guaranteed that the pseudo-inverse of the Jacobian matrix can always be found.
The method based on an optimization is to find an optimized joint angle so that the distance between the end point and the target point can be minimized. This method is also time-consuming. Also, it is not guaranteed that the optimized solution can always be found.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a method for controlling the posture of an articulated object, which is represented in a hierarchical structure, in real time by using the inverse kinematics so that an end point moves toward a target point when a user inputs a base point, an end point and the target point being represented by each of joints of the articulated object, respectively.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling a posture of an articulated object in an animation production system, including the steps of: (a) inputting an initial configuration of the articulated object, a base point, an end point, a target point and a method for updating the posture; (b) determining whether the number of joints to be controlled between the base point and the end point is larger than or equal to three; (c) determining whether the method for updating the posture is a two-segment based or three-segment based method or another method when the number of the joints is smaller than or equal to two in the step (b); (d) determining the number of joints to be controlled between the base point and the end point when the method for updating the posture is the two-segment based or three-segment based method in the step (c); (e) performing a modification of the posture of the articulated object according to the two-segment based or three-segment based method when the number of the joints is smaller than or equal to two in the step (d); and (f) displaying the modified posture of the articulated object according to the two-segment based or three-segment based method on a screen when the modified posture thereof satisfies a predetermined terminal condition.

Method for controlling a posture of an articulated object in an animation production

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate and a second substrate facing each other; a gate line and a data line crossing each other to define a pixel region on the first substrate; a thin film transistor on the first substrate and adjacent to the pixel region; a column spacer located on the second substrate; a protrusion located on the first substrate at a location corresponding to the protrusion, the protrusion having a hollow portion and a surrounding wall surrounding the hollow portion, the hollow portion being exposed at the top side of the protrusion; and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly, to a liquid crystal display device and a method for fabricating the same to have protrusions, each of the protrusions having a closed loop-shaped cross section, to firmly support column spacers corresponding to the protrusions, thereby preventing the occurrence of display degradation.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A demand for display devices with various features has been stronger recently. In order to satisfy the consumers' demand, various flat display devices, such as a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), a Plasma Display Panel (PDP), an Electro Luminescent Display (ELD), and a Vacuum Fluorescent Display (VFD), have been developed, and some of those flat display devices have been widely used in various apparatuses.
Among the flat display devices, the LCD, which has several advantages, such as excellent image quality, a light weight, a thin profile, and a low power consumption, is one of the major substitute for a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), and is used in various applications, i.e., monitors of TVs set receiving image signals and displaying the image according to the signals, monitors for desktop computers as well as mobile monitors of notebook computers.
In order to use the above LCD as a display device in various fields, it is important to display a high-quality image having a high definition, a high brightness, and a large size, while maintaining low-profile, light-weight and low-power consumption characteristics.
A general liquid crystal display device comprises a first substrate and a second substrate bonded to each other under the condition that a predetermined space is formed therebetween, and a liquid crystal display layer formed between the first and second substrates.
More specifically, in order to define pixel regions, a plurality of gate lines arranged at regular intervals in one direction and a plurality of data lines arranged at regular intervals in another direction, perpendicular to the direction of the gate lines, are formed on the first substrate. Pixel electrodes are respectively formed in the pixel regions, and TFTs for applying data signals of the data lines to the pixel electrodes according to signals applied to the gate lines are respectively formed at intersections between the gate lines and the data lines.
A black matrix layer for preventing light from leaking at portions except for the pixel regions is formed on the second substrate. R, G, and B color filter layers for expressing colors are formed at the portions corresponding to the pixel regions. Common electrodes for forming an image are formed on the color filter layer.
In the above liquid crystal display device, the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal layer formed between the first and second substrates is oriented by an electric field generated between the pixel electrodes and the common electrode, and the amount of the light transmitted by the light crystal layer is adjusted by the degree of the orientation of the liquid crystal layer. Therefore, the liquid crystal display device displays an image.
The above liquid crystal display device is referred to as a Twisted Nematic (TN) mode liquid crystal display device. The TN mode liquid crystal display device has a narrow viewing angle. In order to overcome the above drawback of the TN mode liquid crystal display device, an In-Plane Switching (IPS) mode liquid crystal display device is developed.
In the IPS mode liquid crystal display device, the pixel electrodes and the common electrodes separated from each other by a predetermined distance are formed in parallel in pixel regions of the first substrate to generate a horizontal electric field between the pixel electrodes and the common electrode, and a liquid crystal layer is oriented by the horizontal electric field.
Spacers for maintaining a predetermined interval for the liquid crystal layer between the first and second substrates of the liquid crystal display device are formed on the first or second substrate.
The spacers are divided into ball spacers and column spacers according to shape.
The ball spacers have ball shapes, and are dispersed on the first or second substrate. The ball spacers are comparatively freely movable even after the first and second substrates are bonded to each other, and have a small contact area with the first or second substrate opposite thereto.
On the other hand, the column spacers are formed during an array process performed on the first or second substrate. The column spacers have column shapes with a predetermined height and are fixed to the first or second substrate. Accordingly, the column spacers have a larger contact area with the first or second substrate opposite thereto than that of the ball spacers.
Hereinafter, with reference to the annexed drawings, a conventional liquid crystal display device having column spacers will be described.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the liquid crystal display device having column spacers. As shown in FIG. 1, the liquid crystal display device comprises a first substrate 30 and a second substrate 40 facing each other, column spacers 20 formed between the first and second substrates 30 and 40, and a liquid crystal layer (not shown) filled in a space between the first and second substrates 30 and 40.
A plurality of gate lines 31 and a plurality of data lines (not shown), which perpendicularly intersect each other for defining the pixel regions, the TFTs formed at the intersections between the gate lines 31 and the data lines, and the pixel electrodes (not shown) formed in the pixel regions, are disposed on the first substrate 30.
A black matrix layer 41 corresponding to the portions except for the pixel regions, a color filter layer 42 in a stripe shape corresponding to the pixel regions in the lengthwise direction parallel with the data lines, and common electrodes or an overcoat layer 43 formed on the entire surface of the second substrate 40 are disposed on the second substrate 40.
The column spacers 20 correspond to predetermined positions of the upper surface of the gate lines 31. Further, a gate insulating film 36 is formed on the entire surface of the first substrate 30 including the gate lines 31, and a passivation film 37 is formed on the gate insulating film 36.
FIGS. 2A and 2B are plane and sectional views of the liquid crystal display device having column spacers, in which a touch defect occurs. As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, when a liquid crystal panel 10 of the above liquid crystal display device having column spacers is touched by hand or using other objects in a predetermined direction, the touched part is stained. This referred to as a touch stain, and generates a touch defect.
It seems that the touch defect is caused by the increase of friction between the column spacers 20 and a first substrate 1 due to a large contact area therebetween, compared to the ball spacers. That is, since the column spacers 20 have a large contact area with the first substrate 1, as shown in FIG. 2B, compared to the ball spacers, it takes a longer time for the first or second substrate 1 or 2, which was shifted by the touch, to return its original state. Accordingly, the touch stain remains until the shifted first or second substrate 1 or 2 has retuned to its original state. The touch stain is well happened when liquid crystal 3 between the first substrate 1 and the second substrate 2 are insufficient.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the liquid crystal display device, in which a gravity defect occurs. As shown in FIG. 3, when the liquid crystal display device, is erected in a high-temperature environment, the liquid crystal 3 is thermally expanded and a cell gap is increased more than the height of the column spacers 20. Therefore, the liquid crystal 3 flows down and a gravity defect, in which the lower end of the liquid crystal display device is swollen, occurs.
The above conventional liquid crystal display device having column spacers has several problems as follows.
First, since a contact area between the column spacers and a substrate opposite thereto is large and the friction therebetween is therefore large, when the substrate is shifted by a force, it takes a longer time for the shifted substrate to return to its original state. Accordingly, a touch defect remains until the shifted substrate returns to its original state.
Second, when the liquid crystal display device is erected in a high-temperature environment, the liquid crystal is thermally expanded and a cell gap is increased more than the height of the column spacers. Therefore, the liquid crystal flows down so that the lower end of the liquid crystal display device is swollen, and becomes opaque.

Liquid crystal display device and method for fabricating the same


A photoacid generator has formula (1). A chemically amplified resist composition comprising the photoacid generator has advantages including a high resolution, focus latitude, long-term PED dimensional stability, and a satisfactory pattern profile shape. When the photoacid generator is combined with a resin having acid labile groups other than those of the acetal type, resolution and top loss are improved. The composition is suited for deep UV lithography.

While a number of efforts are currently being made to achieve a finer pattern rule in the drive for higher integration and operating speeds in LSI devices, deep-ultraviolet lithography is thought to hold particular promise as the next generation in microfabrication technology.
One technology that has attracted a good deal of attention recently utilizes as the deep UV light source a high-intensity KrF excimer laser and an ArF excimer laser of a shorter wavelength. There is a desire to have a microfabrication technique of finer definition by combining exposure light of shorter wavelength with a resist material having a higher resolution.
In this regard, the recently developed, acid-catalyzed, chemical amplification type resist materials are expected to comply with the deep UV lithography because of their many advantages including high sensitivity, resolution and dry etching resistance. The chemically amplified resist materials include positive working materials that leave the unexposed areas with the exposed areas removed and negative working materials that leave the exposed areas with the unexposed areas removed.
In a chemically amplified positive resist composition to be developed with an alkaline developer, a resin and/or compound in which an alkali-soluble phenol or carboxylic acid is partially or entirely protected with acid labile protective groups (commonly referred to as "acid labile groups") is catalytically decomposed with the acid generated upon exposure, to generate the phenol or carboxylic acid in exposed areas, whereupon the exposed areas are removed with the alkaline developer. In a similar negative resist composition, a resin and/or compound having an alkali-soluble phenol or carboxylic acid and a compound capable of bonding or crosslinking said resin or compound under the action of an acid (referred to as "acid crosslinker") are crosslinked with the acid generated upon exposure, to render exposed areas insoluble in an alkaline developer, whereupon unexposed areas are removed with the alkaline developer.
On use of the chemically amplified positive resist composition, a resist film is formed by dissolving a resin having acid labile groups as a binder and a compound capable of generating an acid upon exposure to radiation (referred to as "photoacid generator") in a solvent, applying the resist solution onto a substrate by a variety of methods, and evaporating off the solvent optionally by heating. The resist film is then exposed to radiation, for example, deep UV through a mask of a predetermined pattern. This is optionally followed by post-exposure baking (PEB) for promoting acid-catalyzed reaction. The exposed resist film is developed with an aqueous alkaline developer for removing the exposed areas of the resist film, obtaining a positive pattern profile. The substrate is then etched by any desired technique. Finally the remaining resist film is removed by dissolution in a remover solution or ashing, leaving the substrate having the desired pattern profile.
The chemically amplified positive resist composition adapted for KrF excimer lasers generally uses a phenolic resin, for example, polyhydroxystyrene in which some or all of the hydrogen atoms of phenolic hydroxyl groups are protected with acid labile protective groups. Iodonium salts, sulfonium salts, bissulfonyldiazomethane compounds, N-sulfonyloxydicarboximide compounds and O-arylsulfonyloxime compounds are typically used as the photoacid generator. If necessary, there are added additives, for example, a dissolution inhibiting or promoting compound in the form of a carboxylic acid and/or phenol derivative having a molecular weight of up to 3,000 in which some or all of the hydrogen atoms of carboxylic acid and/or phenolic hydroxyl groups are protected with acid labile groups, a carboxylic acid compound for improving dissolution characteristics, a basic compound for improving contrast, and a surfactant for improving coating characteristics.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,004,724 (or corresponding JP-A 2002-508774) discloses the photoacid generators in the form of O-alkanesulfonyloxime compounds as shown below. They have a satisfactory sensitivity and resolution and are free of such drawbacks as poor compatibility with resins and low solubility in resist solvents as found with other photoacid generators like sulfonium salts and iodonium salts. They are advantageously used as the photoacid generators in chemically amplified resist compositions, especially chemically amplified positive resist compositions adapted for KrF excimer laser. JP-A 2002-202603 describes a wide spectrum of photoacid generators and discloses that by combining resins having acid labile groups, typically acetal groups, with these photoacid generators, improvements in nano-order edge roughness and the footing of resist pattern on silicon nitride substrates are achievable. JP-A 2003-307840 discloses that by combining resins having acid labile groups, typically acetal groups, with oximesulfonate photoacid generators, improvements in line edge roughness on organic antireflective coatings and PED stability are achievable.

As the requisite pattern size is reduced, however, there arise problems. For example, even the use of resist compositions having these photoacid generators combined with the existing acid labile group-bearing resins encounters the problem of poor resolution. In the step where low reflectance substrates such as organic antireflective coatings cannot be used, for example, ion implantation and other steps where resist patterns are formed on inorganic substrates such as silicon, silicon nitride, titanium nitride, silicon oxide substrates and inorganic nitride films, even the use of resist compositions having these photoacid generators combined with the existing acid labile group-bearing resins encounters the problem that the influence of standing waves by substrate reflection or the influence of contamination from the inorganic substrates prevents formation of satisfactory pattern profiles.
Particularly when different species of materials are present on an inorganic substrate, for example, when plural species of materials having different electric properties, like silicon nitride and silicon, are present within a common plane because of device design considerations, the reflectance or the degree of contamination from the substrate shows local variations. Accordingly, in order to form a pattern from a single resist material, there exists a need for a material which is less sensitive to reflectance or contamination from the substrate.
For resolution improvement, it is a practice to use more acid labile groups, typically more acid labile acetal groups. However, the reduction of pattern size invites a tendency of reducing the thickness of resist film as well. When a phenolic resin having acid labile groups of acetal type is used, the resist surface becomes more dissolvable. The dissolution of the resist pattern at the top raises problems including a top loss that the pattern profile shape is rounded at the top. The remaining resist pattern becomes thinner, making it impossible to secure a film thickness sufficient for the etching or ion implantation step.
When the resist is applied onto inorganic substrates such as SiON substrates which are highly reflective substrates, there arises a problem that standing waves prevent formation of a satisfactory pattern shape. One approach for avoiding these problems is to use resins having acid labile groups of tertiary ether or tertiary ester type which are less labile than the acid labile groups of acetal type (see JP-A 2005-8766). This approach is successful in reducing the top loss, but fails to overcome the problems of micro-pattern rectangularity, footing and standing waves, and is low in resolution.
The photoacid generator for use in resist compositions is required to have a fully high solubility (or compatibility) in resist solvents and resins, good storage stability, non-toxicity, ease of application, pattern profile shape, PED stability, high resolution, wide focal depth, and high sensitivity. The O-arene or alkanesulfonyloxime compound photoacid generators and resist compositions comprising the same do not satisfy all these requirements, especially with regard to the pattern profile shape on inorganic substrates.
In the recent stage when the pattern feature of integrated circuits becomes more miniaturized, more stringent requirements are imposed on the problem of pattern profile shape accompanied with a resist thickness reduction.

Photoacid generators, chemically amplified resist compositions, and patterning process


A method of fabricating a stacked capacitor memory cell having a reduced leakage storage node includes the steps of providing a P-type substrate, forming wordlines on a thin gate oxide layer and a field oxide layer, and forming a first conformal TEOS oxide layer. The P-type substrate is doped with an N-type dopant directly through the first TEOS oxide layer to form two N-type diffused areas, which are the first and second current terminals of the memory cell access transistor. A second conformal TEOS oxide layer is deposited. The oxide layers are etched to form a buried contact window above the storage node of the memory cell. The exposed portion of the N-type diffused area forming the memory cell storage node is subsequently doped with germanium through the buried contact window to suppress any outdiffusion due to the doping of subsequently formed layers, such as the first plate of a stacked polysilicon capacitor. The first plate of the stacked capacitor is formed above the buried contact window, and is in contact with the germanium and N-type dopant diffused area. Although the first plate of the stacked capacitor is heavily doped, outdiffusion is limited by the action of the germanium implant.

This invention relates generally to stacked capacitor memory cells, and more particularly to a method of reducing the storage node leakage current in the memory cell.
A partially formed stacked capacitor memory cell is shown in FIG. 1. In pertinent part, the partially formed memory cell includes a P-type substrate 10, polysilicon wordlines 12A and 12B, a first TEOS oxide layer 14A, a thick field oxide layer 16, and a channel stop layer 18. The polysilicon wordline 12A is insulated from the P-type substrate by a thin oxide layer 13. The first TEOS oxide layer 14A is about 1000 Angstroms thick. Referring now to FIG. 2, the partially formed memory cell is blanket implanted with a light N-type dopant implant of phosphorous to form the source and drain of the memory cell access transistor. The phosphorous dopant is implanted with a density of between 1.5 and 2.0.times.10.sup.13 /cm.sup.2. N-type diffusions 20 and 28 can function as both drain and source of the memory cell access transistor, depending upon whether the memory cell is being read from or written to. Diffusion 20 is subsequently referred to as the "storage node" and diffusion 28 is subsequently referred to as the "bitline contact". Referring now to FIG. 3, a second TEOS oxide layer 14B is deposited on top of the first TEOS oxide layer 14A. The second TEOS oxide layer has a thickness of about 2000 Angstroms.
Referring now to FIG. 4, the first and second TEOS layers 14A and 14B, along with a patterned photoresist layer 15 are etched between wordline 12A and the field oxide layer 16 to form a buried contact window 17. The photoresist layer 15 is stripped and the first and second oxide layers are shown as a single oxide layer 14 in FIG. 5. Referring now to FIG. 6, the first polysilicon plate 22 of a stacked capacitor is formed and electrically contacts N-type storage node 20. The first plate 22 of the stacked capacitor is heavily doped with an N-type dopant to form an ohmic contact to storage node 20. The polysilicon storage node capacitor plate 22 is ideally highly doped to a level that allows for good conduction. A typical sheet resistivity for good conduction is in the range of 125 to 300 ohms per square, or less. During subsequent processing steps, however, the depth and lateral extent of storage node 20 increases, primarily because of outdiffusion from the heavily doped capacitor plate 22. Drain 20 expands from about 0.3 microns to drain 20', which is about 0.5 microns or more. FIG. 7 shows the second capacitor plate 26 and dielectric oxide/nitride/oxide ("ONO") layer 24.
Outdiffusion of storage node 20 has a negative impact upon the performance of the memory cell. Normal process and masking variations, as well as the dimensions of the outdiffused drain 20', cause dopants to migrate close to the bitline contact 28 and create a leaky memory cell access transistor. Ideally, when the access transistor is off, it forms a high impedance series resistance and the memory cell has no leakage current. A leaky access transistor, however, bleeds charge off of the storage node 20, effectively diminishing the effective size of the memory cell storage capacitor.
What is desired is a method for minimizing the leakage current from the storage node of a stacked capacitor memory cell due to outdiffusion from a highly doped stacked capacitor plate into the storage node.

Germanium implanted stacked capacitor cell


An apparatus includes a mirror array to form a projected image that includes pixels. The apparatus also includes a circuit to, for each pixel, control the mirror array to selectively combine reflected light from at least two mirrors of the array to regulate an intensity of the pixel.

The invention generally relates to a projection system.
Referring to FIG. 1, a typical mirror-based projection system 20 may include at least one mirror array 10 (a mirror array of a digital micromirror device (DMD), for example) that reflects light in a manner that produces an image on a projection screen 19. The mirror array 10 includes mirrors that are selectively tilted to spatially control the reflection of light (from a light source (not shown)) to and away from the screen 19 to form the image. More specifically, in the projection system 20, each mirror of the array may be uniquely associated with one pixel of the image so that the mirror controls the intensity of the associated pixel. The projection system 20 controls the tilt angle of each mirror to control when the mirror reflects light into a projection cone 18 of light that projection optics 16 (of the system 20) casts onto the projection screen 19. Depending on the desired pixel intensity, the projection system 20 may tilt a particular mirror at a first angle to reflect light into the cone 18 of light to illuminate the associated pixel, or the projection system 20 may tilt the mirror at another angle to reflect light away from the cone 18 of light and darken the associated pixel.
As a more specific example, an exemplary state of the mirror array 10 is depicted in FIG. 2. Assuming a two tone black and white projected image for this example, some mirrors (such as the mirrors 12) of the array 10 are associated with black pixels of the image, and other mirrors (such as mirrors 13) of the array 10 are associated with white pixels of the image. The mirrors that are associated with the black pixels are tilted at angles to reflect incident light away from the cone 18 (FIG. 1) of light; and the mirrors that are associated with white pixels are tilted at angles to reflect the incident light into the cone 18 of light. The reflection of light into or away from the cone 18 of light is depicted in FIG. 1 for an exemplary mirror 14 of the array 10. The mirror 14 controls the intensity of an associated pixel 11 of an image that is formed on the projection screen 19. To produce a white pixel, the projection system 20 tilts the mirror 14 at an angle to reflect light along a path 17 that intersects the pixel 11 and is within the cone 18. To produce a black pixel, the projection system 20 tilts the mirror 14 at an angle to reflect light along a path 15 that falls outside of the cone 18.
To create intermediate pixel intensities (called gray scale intensities) other than the two tone intensities described above, the projection system may use pulse width modulation (PWM). With PWM, the projection system controls the tilt angle of each mirror pursuant to a PWM cycle to establish a particular intensity value for a given pixel. More specifically, pursuant to a PWM cycle, a gray scale intensity for a particular pixel is created by moving the associated mirror rapidly between a position in which the mirror reflects light into the cone 18 (during an "on time" of the PWM cycle) and a position in which the mirror directs the incident light along a path outside of the cone 18 (during an "off time" of the PWM cycle). The fraction of time in which light is directed toward the pixel as compared to the duration of the PWM cycle determines the average brightness, or gray scale intensity, of the pixel. The viewer's eyes integrate these rapid flashes into a perception of a gray scale intensity for the pixel. The gray scale in this sense also applies to color images that result from a projection system that combines red, green and blue images (created by directing red, green and blue light beams toward the mirror array 10) to form a color image.
The conventional projection system updates the projected image pursuant to a frame rate (a 60 Hz rate, for example). This frame rate places a limit on the duration of the PWM cycle, as the PWM period (the inverse of the frame rate) cannot extend beyond the frame period. Other factors may compress the time that is allocated for each PWM cycle. For example, less time is allocated to each PWM cycle if the number of rows in the projected image exceeds the number of rows of mirrors in the mirror array. For this arrangement, the projection system may generate a perceived projected image by scanning the perceived image (once every frame period) with the images that are created by the mirror array. This means multiple updates must be made to the mirror array during each frame period, thereby decreasing the time allocated for each PWM cycle by the corresponding multiple. Furthermore, the mirror array may be used to sequentially form three primary color (red, green and blue, for example) images to produce a perceived color composite image, thereby further compressing the time allocated to each PWM cycle. Additionally, the time allocated to each PWM cycle may be further reduced by multiple refresh operations that redraw the image that the user sees on the projection screen 19 several times during each frame period. Thus, a significantly small time may be allocated for the PWM cycle so that a potential challenge associated with the above-described approach is that the mirror array may not be capable of moving its mirrors rapidly enough to accommodate the allocated PWM cycle time.
Thus, there is a continuing need for an arrangement and/or technique that addresses one or more of the problems stated above as well as an arrangement and/or technique that addresses one or more problems that may not be set forth above.


A holder which is used for installing a part such as a light emitting diode on a printed circuit board, the printed circuit board having a connecting section and a pair of conduction terminals, the connecting section serving to mechanically connect the holder to the printed circuit board, the conduction terminals serving to electrically connect a pair of terminals of the part to the printed circuit board. The holder includes a fitting portion in which the part is inserted, a fixing portion extending from a lower rear position of the fitting portion, and a pressure portion extending rearward from the fitting portion. The fitting portion serves to locate the terminals of the part on the conduction terminals of the printed circuit board, the fixing portion acts to mechanically connect the printed circuit board, and the pressure portion brings the terminals of the part on the conduction terminals of the printed circuit board under pressure due to an elastic deformation of the pressure portion when the part is installed into the fitting portion, allowing electrical connection between the part and the printed circuit board.

The present invention relates generally to part installing holders, and more particularly to a part installing holder for installing a part on a printed circuit board to make an electrical connection between the part and the printed circuit board and for removing the part from the printed circuit board.
Generally, several types of electronic parts are packaged into a printed circuit board (hereinafter referred to as a PC board), the electronic parts being electrically connected to the PC board by soldering them directly or indirectly to the PC board. For example, for an indicating lamp, one method for installing the indicating lamp on the PC board is to install the indicating lamp directly on a display panel and then electrically connect the display panel to the PC board via a connecting wire. Another method for installing the indicating lamp is to solder the indicating lamp directly to the PC board and install the PC board on the display panel. And, still another method for installing a part on the PC board is to solder a socket to the PC board to make an electrical connection between them so that the part can be installed on and removed from the socket.
However, the need to replace an existing electronic part with a new part for specification changes or maintenance purposes occasionally arises after the existing electronic part is installed on the PC board. And in some cases, a demand for a parts exchange regarding the PC board occurs, for example, to change a color specification of an indicating lamp. If the part is soldered to the PC board, it is difficult to remove the part from the PC board without putting an additional burden on the manufacturer who usually supplies finished products on a streamlined basis. Removal of the part from the PC board requires first removing the solder, which often results in a loss of time and assembly line labor. The use of the socket facilitates parts exchange work, but there is still a problem in view of the cost of manufacturing products.

Holder for installing parts on printed circuit board


A camera according to the present invention comprises an operation member provided on an outer periphery of a photographing lens of the camera, a mode determination section for determining an adjustment mode in accordance with a first operation of the operation member, a numerical adjustment section capable of numerical adjustment of shooting parameters in accordance with the determined mode, in accordance with a second operation of the operation member, and a switching section for switching the first operation and the second operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera, and in detail relates to improvement of display and operation when carrying out mode settings and adjustments etc. for a digital camera or video camera or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recent cameras are able to electronically acquire images using an image sensor. As a method of displaying a subject image, therefore, besides optical methods that use an optical lens, display using electronic methods is possible, and a variety of display methods are available. Since a user will perform shooting while looking at a subject using this display, the relationship between the operation method and the display method is an important specification for mobile phones having an imaging function such as a camera.
It is also common practice to provide an operation member on the outer periphery of a photographing lens casing for focus and focal length (zoom) adjustment, and to perform shooting by operating these members. These types of operation member can also improve stability at the time of holding the camera, and it can be considered that they will be accepted by a lot of users in the future. Focusing and zoom operations etc. are basic camera operations, and it is possible to design so that it is easy for the photographer to point at a subject whole making shaking unlikely by providing the previously described operation members at a position on the lens barrel that is held by the photographer when deploying the camera. For example, Japanese patent laid-open No. Hei. 4-073628 (laid-open Mar. 9, 1992) discloses a camera that enables focus even for a subject in a macro region by driving a zoom ring using drive means, when a piston ring is driven by drive means in accordance with detection results of an automatic focus detection unit and the end of the piston ring has been detected.

Camera having a rear-surface display section and an in-viewfinder display section


In an exposure method, a photomask and a substrate having a resist applied thereto are positioned so as to be opposed to a blinking light source that repeatedly emits light and emits no light. The blinking light source is caused to blink with the substrate being continuously conveyed in a direction orthogonal to a direction in which openings in the photomask are aligned, so that multiple exposures are intermittently performed. In each exposure, a speed at which the substrate is conveyed is controlled such that the openings of the photomask overlap a portion of exposed patterns having been obtained by an immediately preceding exposure, thereby obtaining colored layers which are formed into a striped-shape and extend in the direction in which the substrate is conveyed.

In recent years, increase in size of liquid crystal display devices leads to increase in size of color filters for use in the liquid crystal display devices. In a process of producing a color filter, patterning is performed by using a photolithography method to form colored layers. However, since a large exposure mask is very expensive, a problem arises that production cost for the color filters may be increased. Thus, novel exposure methods using small masks have been variously suggested.


For decreasing a recording current and suppressing a cross erase simultaneously, a three-dimensional phase-change memory for attaining higher sensitivity and higher reliability by the provision of a chalcogenide type interface layer is provided, in which an electric resistivity, a thermal conductivity, and a melting point of the material of the interface layer are selected appropriately, thereby improving the current concentration to the phase-change material and thermal and material insulation property with Si channel upon writing.

In recent years, resistance change type memories have been studied as a substitute for flash memories which are now approaching the limit of refinement and, as an example, phase-change memories have been studied vigorously using chalcogenide materials as the recording material. In a basic structure of the phase-change memory, a recording material is put between metal electrodes. The phase-change memory is a resistance, change type solid memory for storing information by utilizing that the recording material between the electrodes has different states of resistance.
The phase-change memory stores information by utilizing that the resistance value of a phase-change material such as Ge2Sb2Te5 is different between an amorphous state and a crystalline state. The resistance is high in the amorphous state and low in the crystalline state. Accordingly, reading is conducted by applying a potential difference across both ends of a device, measuring a current flowing through the device and judging whether the device is in a high resistance state or low resistance state.
In the phase-change memory, data is rewritten by changing the state of the phase-change film between the amorphous state and the crystalline state by the Joule heat generated by current. A reset operation, that is, the operation of changing the film to the amorphous state at a high resistance is conducted by flowing a relatively large current, to the phase-change film thereby melting the film and then quenching the same by rapidly decreasing the current. On the other hand, the setting operation, that is, the operation of changing the film to the crystalline state at a low resistance is conducted by flowing a relatively small current to the phase-change material and maintaining the material to a temperature higher than the temperature of crystallization. Since the volume of the phase-change material that changes the state is decreased by proceeding refinement and the necessary current is decreased, the phase-change memory is suitable to the refinement.
As a method of improving the integration degree of the phase-change memory, JP-A-2008-160004 discloses a technique of forming a plurality of through holes that pass through entire layers to a stack structure formed by alternately stacking gate electrode materials and insulating films each by plurality by corrective fabrication and depositing to fabricate a gate insulating film, a channel layer, and a phase-change film to the inner side of the through holes.
JP-A-2009-117854 discloses a technique of adding a resistance material such as TiN or C between metal electrodes and making it to act as a heater for decreasing the voltage which is necessary when the phase-change material is changed from the amorphous state to the crystalline state.
Change of the electric resistivity of the phase-change material in accordance with the temperature and the electric field intensity is explained in D. Adler et al., "Threshold Switching in Chalcogenide-Glass Thin Films". J. Appl. Phys. 51(6), pp. 3289-3309 (1980). Specifically, in the Non-Patent Document, in the phase-change material, the electric resistance changes by several digits in the amorphous state in accordance with the temperature and the electric field. This shows that the electric resistivity in the amorphous state changes greatly depending on the constitution of a device to be measured and the current cycle voltage conditions, etc. For avoiding misunderstanding caused by the change of the electric resistivity or the electroconductivity depending on such measuring conditions, description is to be made in the present specification while showing the resistivity and the conductivity as values in the crystalline state unless otherwise specified.