A specimen box for an electron microscope capable of observing a general specimen or a live cell is formed of a housing. The housing includes a receiving chamber formed therein and at least one view hole formed on each of a top side thereof and a bottom side thereof and communicating with the receiving chamber and coaxially aligned with the other. The distance between a bottom end of the view hole located on the top side of the housing and a top end of the view hole located on the bottom side of the housing is smaller than 50 μm. The housing is ultra-thin to enable penetration of the electron beam therethrough even though a liquid specimen is injected into the housing. A general specimen or a live cell can be put into the housing for the microscopic observation under the electron microscope.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electron microscopes, and more particularly, to a specimen box for an electron microscope capable of observing a general specimen or a live cell.
2. Description of the Related Art
As known in prior art, while a conventional electron microscope is operated to observe an object, the object has to be a nonvolatile solid for further microscopic observation because of the limitation of the vacuum environment of the specimen chamber inside the electron microscope. If the object is volatile, such as liquid, gas, or other fluid, the object will generate a great amount of gas upon after being put into the vacuum specimen chamber, and thus, not only the electron beam of the electron microscope will fail to penetrate the object for successful imaging or experiment of electron diffraction, but also high-vacuum area, like electron beam gun, will lower its vacuum level or cause contamination therein, further damaging the microscope.
Limited to the vacuum environment, the conventional electron microscope could be operated for structural observation of solid substance inside the specimen chamber or for observation of dehydrated biological tissues only, like cells, viruses, and bacteria, neither for observation of any cell, virus or the like having physiological functions under the fluid environment, absolutely nor for observation of biochemical reaction processes, like transcription between deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) inside the nucleus, translation between RNA and protein, microtubules inside the cytoplast, and of any vital biological phenomenon, like physiology of transduction at neuromuscular junctions.
Therefore, there must be a device that the live cell or tissue could be put therein and the device could be put into the electron microscope for observation.
Although some people proposed an observable environment inside the electron microscope, such as Gai P. L. (Gai P. L., Microscopy & Microanalysis 8, 21, 2002) whose research group exhibited an achievement that the gas, liquid, and solid chemical reactions could be observed under the electron microscope. However, such design has the following drawbacks. It failed to effectively control the thickness of the liquid and gas specimen layers, disabling penetration of the electron beam through the specimen and dramatically reducing the resolution of the microscope. Moreover, the massive volatilized vapor or the high-pressure gas injected into the gas chamber from outside will fill the space between upper and lower pole pieces of the microscope to cause very serious multiple electron scattering due to electrons impinging excessive gasiform molecules, further disabling successful imaging of the electron beam or experiment of electron diffraction.
In view of above, after successive trials and experiments, the present invention is finally invented to improve the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art and to receive general specimens or live cells for observation under the microscope.

Specimen box for electron microscope capable of observing general specimen and live cell


It is aimed at improving the reliability of a semiconductor device.

The present invention relates to technology for manufacturing a semiconductor device, and particularly to technology which can be effectively applied to assembling a semiconductor device which is formed by stacking another substrate on a main surface of a substrate having semiconductor chips mounted thereon.
Recently, there has been increasing demand for larger number of pins on semiconductor devices having semiconductor chips mounted thereon. As a semiconductor device meeting such demand, a BGA (Ball Grid Array) is considered effective, having semiconductor chips mounted on the front surface of a wiring substrate, as well as a plurality of solder balls provided at the rear surface side of the wiring substrate to act as external terminals.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-335581 (Patent Document 1), for example, describes the structure of such a semiconductor device. In addition, a plating layer needs to be formed on the surface of each electrode of the wiring substrate used in the semiconductor device, for which the Patent Document 1, discloses a technique of providing a power supply line for electrolytic plating to form a plating layer on each electrode via the power supply line.
In order to increase the number of pins (for higher functionality) of and to downsize a so-called BGA-type semiconductor device using a wiring substrate, it is desirable to arrange a plurality of electrodes (bonding leads and lands) of the wiring substrate not only on the periphery but also on the central part of the wiring substrate as described in Patent Document 1, for example.
Considering the reliability of the semiconductor device, it is desirable to form a plating layer on the surface of each electrode of the wiring substrate by electrolytic plating as described in Patent Document 1. The reason for this is to enhance the joining strength between each electrode (bonding pad) of the semiconductor chip mounted on the wiring substrate or a conductive member (wire and bump electrode) used when coupling to another electronic component (semiconductor device) mounted on the wiring substrate and an electrode of the wiring substrate.
Although electroless plating may be used to simply form a plating layer, it is desirable to use electrolytic plating since electroless plating requires a longer time to form the plating layer (deposition time of a plating film) than electrolytic plating.
If, on the other hand, by electrolytic plating, it is necessary to draw a wiring (power supply line) from each electrode to the periphery of the wiring substrate to supply electric power to each electrode pad of the wiring substrate, as described in Patent Document 1.
However, it has became difficult in terms of space to individually couple the wiring (power supply line) to each electrode mounted on the central part of the wiring substrate as semiconductor devices are downsized and provided with increased number of pins (for higher functionality).
It is thus effective, as described in Patent Document 1, to reduce the number of wirings (power supply lines) drawn as far as the end portion of the wiring substrate by sharing (using in common) the wirings (power supply lines) coupled to each of the electrodes mounted on the central part of the wiring substrate in a region (inside the electrodes mounted on the central part of the wiring substrate, according to Patent Document 1).
In the semiconductor device examined by the inventors of the present application, however, the number of electrodes formed on the wiring substrate has been further increasing, whereby it has become difficult to share (use in common) all the wirings (power supply lines) coupled to each of the electrodes mounted on the central part of the wiring substrate in the central part (inside the electrodes mounted on the central part side of the wiring substrate). This is because the region in the central part of the wiring substrate (region inside the electrodes mounted on the central part side of the wiring substrate) is narrower (smaller) than the region at the periphery of the wiring substrate (region outside the electrodes mounted on the central part side of the wiring substrate).
The inventors therefore examined sharing (using in common), between the electrodes mounted on the central part side of the wiring substrate and the electrodes mounted on the periphery side of the wiring substrate in the plan view, the wirings (power supply lines) coupled to each of the electrodes mounted on the central part side of the wiring substrate, and encountered the following problems.
Since a common signal (including power source electric potential and reference potential) does not flow in each of the electrodes on the wiring substrate, each of the electrodes on the wiring substrate must be electrically separated from each other after a plating layer has been formed on the surface thereof.
However a crack occurred on the wiring substrate starting from a groove formed on the front surface of the wiring substrate due to the above separation step.
When a crack occurs on the wiring substrate, the crack proceeds along the wiring formed on the wiring substrate, which may lead to a problem of broken wiring and thus it is necessary to take preventive measures against such a crack.
An additional examination of the inventors has revealed that, in the case of Patent Document 1, a shared part of the wiring (power supply line) to be removed by the separation step is provided beneath the semiconductor chip (a part covered by the semiconductor chip) and a groove formed by the separation step is filled with a die-bonding material (adhesive agent) for mounting the semiconductor chip, and thus the crack is less likely to start from the groove.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and provides technology which can improve the reliability of a semiconductor device.
It is another object of the invention to provide technology which can increase the number of pins on a semiconductor device.
It is also another object of the invention to provide technology which can downsize a semiconductor device.
The above and other purposes and the new feature of the present invention will become clear from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device

Abstract: In a POP having an upper package stacked on a lower package, an opening of a first solder resist film in a first region between a first group of lands arranged at the periphery of an front surface of a wiring substrate of the lower package and a second group of lands arranged in a central part is filled with a second solder resist film, and thereby the formation of a starting point of cracks in the opening becomes unlikely to suppress occurrence of cracks and improve the reliability of the POP.


The invention provides systems and methods relating to generating a unified determination based on subdetermination, and in particular, generating a unified score based on respective scores. For example, the invention provides a method for generating a unified determination based on subdeterminations, the method including generating a first subdetermination based on first criteria; generating a second subdetermination based on second criteria; and generating a unified determination based on the first subdetermination and the second subdetermination. The generation of the unified determination includes (a) assigning, using iterative processing, an assigned weighting respectively to the first determination and second determination; (b) determining if the assigned weighting satisfies at least one constraint; (c) comparing the assigned weighting to an optimized weighting, which was previously determined, to determine if the assigned weighting is improved over the optimized weighting; and (d) if the assigned weighting is improved, then assigning the assigned weighting to be the optimized weighting.

There are a wide variety of situations where determinations are made at different points through the course of a process and/or where determinations are made based on different data. Such determinations may vary by the particular type of data that is used in the determination. Alternatively, such determinations may involve data that is secured at a different time, i.e., updated data may be used (instead of older data that was used in a prior determination). A determination might be expressed in terms of a score, i.e., some other quantitative representation.
As can be appreciated, such different determinations made over a period of time or made based on different data may vary in the result such determinations yield. For example, a credit card issuer may be conducting a campaign to secure new credit card customers. The campaign might typically involve determining individuals that should be mailed credit card offers. In determining such individuals, the credit card issuer generates a credit risk score for each individual. The credit risk score may be based on data secured from a credit bureau or other data that is assessable by the credit card issuer. At this point in the process, the credit risk score might be characterized as a "front end" risk score. In other words, at actual mailing selection time, the credit card issuer has to select names for offers from the whole credit eligible universe.
Individuals who receive the offer (through mailings, e-mailings, or any other suitable medium) have the opportunity to review and accept the offer. Accordingly, at some later time, the credit card issuer will receive responses from some of those individuals.
Once a response is received from an individual (a respondent), the credit card issuer then determines whether the credit card issuer will indeed issue a credit card to the respondent. In other words, at credit approval/decline time, the business has to make the booking decision among all of respondent applicants. This decision involves determination of a further risk score, i.e., a "back-end" risk. The back-end risk score will thus be determined at a later time, than the front end risk-score, and might also involve different parameters. As a result, it is very likely the back-end risk score is different from the one based on the random sample of the whole eligible credit universe, i.e., different from the front end risk score.
In such situation, the credit card issuer, as between the front-end risk score and the back-end risk score, has two different universes and two different goals. Using known techniques, it is very difficult to provide satisfactory results for one goal while it is developed against another goal. Historically business uses two different scores, one for the front end determination and one for the back end determination. However, that approach sometimes causes problems since the credit card issuer or other business makes the selection decision to mail an offer based on one score, and later the business decides to decline a responder of the offer based on second score. Such action is unfortunately sometimes necessary, from a business perspective, but is not beneficial to the business from a public relations perspective.
The above and other problems are present in known processes.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for performing scoring optimization


A method of reproducing an original document with a reproduction machine to produce a copied document, comprising the steps of: providing a marking member which contains a marking onto the reproduction machine; opening a cover unit of the reproduction machine; placing the original document on a glass surface of a glass unit of the reproduction machine; closing the cover unit so that the glass surface is covered by the cover unit; and pressing a start button of the reproduction machine to start a scanning process such that the marking and the original document are scanned together in the scanning process and are appeared in the copied document. The marking member is provided on the cover unit or the glass unit so as to make sure that the marking is well-positioned and copied in the copied document.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a method of copying and scanning document, and more particularly to a method of copying or scanning document which is capable of providing guidance for adding a marking at a particular position of the resulting copied document.
2. Description of Related Arts
Copying and scanning are common office tasks which are usually done by junior office staff or sometimes by low-skilled labor. The steps involved includes opening a cover of a copier or scanner, placing a document onto a glass of the copier or scanner, then covering the cover or scanner and pressing a button for copying and scanning. The problem is there is no indicator or reminder from the copier or scanner for leaving a margin for binding. For example, important information such as reference number, date or the like may be removed or partially removed during hole-punching on a top side of the copied document. The problem may be curable if the original document is still in the procession of the user. However, most of the time, the copying and scanning work is done by junior office staff and the copied document is reviewed by senior staff some time later. Accordingly, this poses a great challenge to the management in securing a quality copy which contains all the information in the original paper.
In some organizations or government agencies, when making a copy or a scan copy of document, a particular marking is required. When a marking at a top end margin is required for copying identification documents, the person making the copy will have to manually adding the particular marking to the document for each particular document. When the only responsibility of the staff is making copy, it is easy to forget to add the marking. It is also difficult to standardize a particular position of the marking on the paper when it is done manually for each document. Sometimes, the marking may be positioned outside the printable area and is not copied or is partially copied onto the copied documents. Also, the problem of adding the marking onto the margin which may be hole-punched or removed may also occur. When the position of the marking is not standardized at a particular position, it is also possible that the marking has overlapped with the copying object or information on the document at the time of copying and therefore some information of the copied document is not viewable or is not shown clearly or properly.
In view of the importance of data processing, making copy, which is the first step in the process, plays an important role in providing raw information or materials for processing. However, there is no one simple solution which is provided to solve this problem.


The disclosure is directed to a unique apparatus having a gas turbine engine flange assembly. Also disclosed is a unique system having a gas turbine engine flange assembly in which a fluid flow circuit is provided. Also disclosed are apparatuses, systems, devices, hardware, methods, and combinations for gas turbine engine flange assemblies, in which a fluid flow circuit extends between flanges or from a cavity within a turbine engine case to an interior portion of a flange assembly.

Gas turbine engines are an efficient source of useful energy and have proven useful to propel and power aircraft, for electricity generation, as well as for other uses. Gas turbine engines include a number of structures which must be interconnected. Present approaches to interconnection of gas turbine engine structures suffer from a number of disadvantages, limitations, and drawbacks, for example, those respecting weight, mass, complexity, thermal stress, thermal mismatch, ease of assembly or disassembly, part count, engine envelope, engine profile, and others. Thus, there is a need for unique and inventive apparatuses, systems, and methods of interconnecting gas turbine engine structures.

Gas turbine engine flange assembly including flow circuit


A technology for tracking a target object using depth information is disclosed. An object image contain a target object can be obtained from a reference image. A target distance from a robot to the target object can also be derived or accessed. When the robot captures a new image, 2D matching can be performed to find the horizontal and vertical movement of the target object. Distance change or depth change of the target object can also be calculated from the new image. A depth change ratio can be calculated and be utilized to scale a bounding box. The robot can then move to a new location according to the horizontal, vertical and depth changes. A new object image can be extracted from the new image according to the scaled bounding box. The object tracking can be continued using a similar process when the next image is captured.

One of the functionality of robots, such as drones, is to track an object and follow the object. For example, a robot can be configured to identify an object, such as a human, and follow the object to wherever the object goes. This would require the robot to be able to track the object accurately and efficiently.
Tracking methods such as Trackers based on Kernelized correlation Filter ("KCF") have been proposed to track the object. However, these methods involve high computational complexity and are not suitable for robots because of the limited resources of the robots. More importantly, the tracking accuracy of these methods significantly reduces as the object moves for as short as just a few seconds. As such, these methods are not suitable for tracking objects in applications where the robot is required to follow an object for an extended period of time.
The disclosure made herein is presented with respect to these and other considerations.


A computerized system for selecting a cargo carrier includes a host computer system having access to data of a cargo carrier. The host computer system is accessed by a user via an internet connection. Input means are provided for receiving information from the user into the host computer system concerning cargo to be transported. Output means are provided for sending information to a user of possible cargo transportation options.

This invention relates generally to a system of marine, air and land transportation of cargo, freight, materials, and goods. In particular, this invention is concerned with a computerized system for selecting a cargo transporter and arranging for the transportation of cargo. This system is accessible to users via an Internet web site.
Air and marine cargo carriers provide transportation services from ports of loading to ports of discharge. Land (road and rail) cargo carriers provide transportation services from distribution and other pick-up points to various delivery points. Customers or users can contact a carrier directly or through an agent to determine itineraries and prices. In order to determine which carrier provides the best match of service (type of cargo transported, price, delivery time, etc.), it may be necessary to contact several carriers. Contacting many carriers to determine a match and arrange for the transportation of cargo may be time-consuming and complex.
Historically, agents played a large role in marketing and selling space on a cargo vessel such as a ship, an aircraft, or a truck. The large number of options for global cargo transportation services requires that many factors be considered when selecting a cargo carrier. Furthermore, many market factors can significantly affect prices charged for transportation services.

Computerized system for transporting cargo


A system, computer program product and method for designing a cache. A server in a network system, e.g., file system, database system, may receive requests forming a workload. A trace may be performed on the workload to provide information such as the frequency count for each Logical Block Address (LBA) requested in the workload. The trace may then be analyzed by grouping the LBA""s with the same frequency count and determining the number of groups counted in the trace. Upon analyzing the trace, an LRU-LFU cache may be designed. An LRU-LFU cache may comprise one or more stacks of cache entries where the number of stacks corresponds to the number of frequency groups counted in the trace. Each particular stack may then have a length based on the number of logical addresses with the same frequency count associated with that particular stack.

The present invention relates to the field of cache design, and more particularly to designing a cache using a Least Recently Used (LRU)xe2x80x94Least Frequently Used (LFU) array thereby improving the performance of the cache.
A network server, e.g., file server, database server, web server, may be configured to receive requests from clients in a network system to read from or write to a disk, e.g., disk drive, in the network server. These requests may form what is commonly referred to as a xe2x80x9cworkloadxe2x80x9d for the network server. That is, a workload may refer to the requests that need to serviced by the network server.
Typically, a server in a network system comprises a disk adapter that bridges the disk, e.g., disk drive, to the processing unit of the server unit. A server may further comprise a cache commonly referred to as a disk cache within the disk adapter to increase the speed of accessing data. A cache is faster than a disk and thereby allows data to be read at higher speeds. Thus, if data is stored in the cache it may be accessed at higher speeds than accessing the data on the disk.
There have been many methods in designing disk caches that seek to increase the cache hit rate thereby improving performance of the disk cache. A xe2x80x9ccache hitxe2x80x9d is said to occur if an item, e.g., data, requested by the processor in the server or a client in a network system, is present in the disk cache. When an item, e.g., data, requested by the processor in the server or a client in the network system, is not present in the cache, a xe2x80x9ccache missxe2x80x9d is said to occur. A xe2x80x9ccache hit ratexe2x80x9d may refer to the rate at which cache hits occur. By improving the cache hit rate, the performance of the system may be improved, i.e., less data needs to be serviced from the disk.
One method to improve the performance of a disk cache is commonly referred to as the Least Recently Used (LRU) replacement method as illustrated in FIG. 1. The LRU replacement method uses a single stack 101 comprising a set of cache entries where each cache entry stores particular data. As stated above, if an item, e.g., data, requested by the processor in the server or client in a network system is present in the cache, a xe2x80x9ccache hitxe2x80x9d is said to occur. When a cache hit occurs, the cache entry comprising the information, e.g., data, requested moves to the first stack position as illustrated in FIG. 1. As stated above, if an item, e.g., data, requested by the processor in the server or client in a network system is not present in the cache, a xe2x80x9ccache missxe2x80x9d is said to occur. When a cache miss occurs, the requested item is retrieved from the disk and then stored in the first stack position as illustrated in FIG. 1. When a new entry is inserted in stack 101, the cache entry in the last stack position of stack 101 is evicted. The information, e.g., data, may subsequently be discarded.
Another method to improve the performance of a disk cache is commonly referred to as the Segmented LRU (S-LRU) replacement method as illustrated in FIG. 2. The S-LRU replacement method may use two stacks 201A-B. Each stack, stack 201A-B, may comprise a set of cache entries where each cache entry stores particular data. When a cache hit occurs in the first stack, e.g., stack 201A, the cache entry comprising the information, e.g., data, requested moves up to the first stack position of the second stack, e.g., stack 201B, as illustrated in FIG. 2. When a new entry is added to stack 201B, the cache entry at the last stack position of stack 201B is evicted to the first stack position of stack 201A. When a new entry is inserted in stack 201A, the cache entry at the last stack position of stack 201A is evicted. The information, e.g., data, may subsequently be discarded. When a cache hit occurs in the second stack, e.g., stack 201B, the cache entry comprising the information, e.g., data, requested moves up to the first stack position of that stack, e.g., stack 201B, as illustrated in FIG. 2. When a new entry is inserted in stack 201B, the cache entry at the last stack position of stack 201B is evicted to the first stack position of stack 201A. When a new entry is inserted in stack 201A, the cache entry at the last stack position of stack 201A is evicted. The information, e.g., data, may subsequently be discarded. When a cache miss occurs, the requested item is retrieved from the disk and then stored in the first stack position of the first stack, e.g., stack 201A, as illustrated in FIG. 2. When a new entry is inserted in stack 201A, the cache entry at the last stack position of stack 201A is evicted. The information, e.g., data, may subsequently be discarded.
Unfortunately, these methods of cache design do not effectively configure a cache to handle the workload requests efficiently. That is, these methods do not efficiently use memory space thereby improving the cache hit rate since the cache is not designed based on an analysis of the workload.
It would therefore be desirable to develop a cache based on an analysis of the workload thereby improving performance of the cache, i.e., improving the cache hit rate, using a Least Recently Used (LRU)xe2x80x94Least Frequently Used (LFU) array.
The problems outlined above may at least in part be solved in some embodiments by designing a Least Recently Used (LRU)xe2x80x94Least Frequently Used (LFU) cache array based on an analysis of the workload.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a method for designing a cache may comprise the step of a server in a network system, e.g., file system, database system, receiving requests, e.g., read from or write to a disk in the server, from one or more clients. These requests may form a workload comprising the requests that need to be serviced by the server. A trace may be performed on the workload to provide information such as the frequency count for each Logical Block Address (LBA) referenced in the workload, i.e., the number of times each particular LBA was referenced. The trace may then be analyzed by grouping the LBA""s with the same frequency count and determining the number of groups counted in the trace. Upon analyzing the trace, an LRU-LFU cache may be designed based on the analysis of the trace. An LRU-LFU cache may comprise one or more stacks of cache entries where the number of stacks corresponds to the number of frequency groups counted in the trace. Each particular stack may then have a length based on the number of logical addresses with the same frequency count associated with that particular stack. Stacks may be arranged in an array from most frequently used to least frequently used. That is, the stack associated with the highest frequency count may be located at the highest level of the array and the stack associated with the lowest frequency count may be located at the lowest level of the array. The cache entries in each particular stack may be arranged from most recently used to least recently used based on a logical time stamp associated with each particular cache entry. The logical time stamp may indicate the time the information, e.g., data, in the associated cache entry was requested. Upon the storing of a new cache entry in a particular stack, a cache entry located at the least recently used stack position may be evicted. When the cache entry is evicted, the information, e.g., data, associated with the evicted cache entry may be discarded.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the cache entries evicted may be stored at the most recently used stack position in the next higher level stack except if the cache entry is located in the highest level cache of the cache array. In another embodiment of the present invention, the cache entries evicted may be stored at the most recently used stack position in the next lower level stack except if the cache entry is located in the lowest level cache of the cache array.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention.

Designing a cache using an LRU-LFU array

International Business Machines Corporation


Semantic segmentation techniques and systems are described that overcome the challenges of limited availability of training data to describe the potentially millions of tags that may be used to describe semantic classes in digital images. In one example, the techniques are configured to train neural networks to leverage different types of training datasets using sequential neural networks and use of vector representations to represent the different semantic classes.

Semantic segmentation has achieved great progress with the advancement of neural networks in order to locate portions of a digital image that correspond to a semantic class. A computing device, for instance, may train a neural network using machine learning based on training digital images and tags that identify semantic classes exhibited by the digital images. Semantic classes may be used to identify a particular object included in the digital image, feelings invoked by the digital image, and so forth. The model, once trained, is then configured for use by the computing device to identify a location in the digital image that corresponds to the semantic class.
Conventional techniques, however, require examples of tags and associated digital images for each semantic class to be trained. Therefore, conventional techniques are challenged by a limited availability of training data, which is further exacerbated by a number of tags that may be used to identify the same and similar semantic classes. For example, a conventional model trained using machine learning by a computing device for a semantic concept "human" may fail for a semantic concept "person" due to an inability of the conventional model to recognize relatedness of these two semantic classes to each other.

Semantic class localization digital environment


This invention relates to a cover for the bed of a pick-up truck or utility trailer which, in the closed position, can be locked to the bed of the vehicle to provide secure storage of items in the bed but which also may be raised to a vertical position to extend the height of the side walls of the bed to assist in carrying oversize or bulky items. A pair of load support members lie beneath the cover when the cover is in the closed position to increase the load carrying capacity of the covers. The load supports are removable and are positioned between the vertical cover panels when the cover is in a vertical position to convert the cover into a load carrying rack capable of transporting elongated material.

Pick-up trucks are utility vehicles designed to carry cargo in a bed which is incorporated into the vehicle. The bed typically is an open structure having a flat floor, upstanding spaced apart vertical side walls connected to the floor, a front wall interconnecting the floor and the side walls, and a movable rear wall or tailgate. The load carrying capability of the pick-up truck bed is limited by the dimensions of the structure such as width and length of the floor, and the height of the side walls.
Because the pick-up truck bed is a structure open at the top, any equipment or cargo stored or carried in the bed is easily stolen.
A need therefore exists for extending the load carrying capabilities of pick-up truck beds and for providing a lockable cover to secure any equipment or cargo carried in the bed.

Load bearing cover and rack for a pick-up truck


A method for making a graphene oxide membrane and a resulting free-standing graphene oxide membrane that provides desired qualities of water permeability and selectivity at larger sizes, thinner cross sections, and with increased ruggedness as compared to existing membranes and processes.

Dehumidification is widely used, for example, for building air-conditioning systems, for controlling humidity, for dehydration of natural gas, and for moisture regulation in protective apparel. Several dehumidification technologies for controlling temperature and humidity in buildings have been reported in the literature including electro-osmotic dehumidification, solid adsorbents, and liquid desiccants. However, these technologies are capitally intensive, and provide no improvement in energy consumption to promote their adoption. Semi-permeable membranes constructed of various polymer materials have also been used to remove water vapor from humid air streams. Water vapor permeability and H2O/N2 selectivity properties of these membranes depend on the materials used in these membranes. For example, separation membranes made from polyether block amides (e.g., PEBAX®-1074) or sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) perform reasonably well in humid environments. However, polymer separation membranes are still energy intensive in operation.
More recently, graphene oxide (GO) membranes have attracted attention because small-scale membranes prepared via vacuum filtration have shown promise. However, a variety of problems still exist. Typically set-up options for such arrangements are limited and resulting membranes are generally small. More recently, larger GO membranes have been reported in the literature prepared from dilute GO dispersions from graphite powders, which are cast onto a PTFE plate to produce the GO membranes. However, a remaining problem for conventional GO membranes is their small GO flake diameter (<5 micrometers) that cause membranes made from these flakes to be structurally instable and to fracture easily. Thus, conventional GO membranes must be supported in operation. Accordingly, new methods are needed for making GO membranes with sizes that are easily scaled, are strong and pliable, have GO flakes that are structural stable, and further provide a high water selectivity and a superior water vapor permeability compared, e.g., to N2 gas, for dehumidification applications. The present invention addresses these needs.

Enhanced graphene oxide membranes and methods for making same


A control head for a fluidically actuated valve having a main body which comprises a coupling device for fixing the main body to a shaft section of the valve and which supports a control valve device which is designed to provide a control fluid flow for actuating a fluid regulating agent in order to activate the valve, said regulating agent being arranged in the shaft section in a linearly movable manner, and having a path measurement device arranged on the main body, which is designed to determine an axial position of the regulating agent along a movement axis.

The invention relates to a control head for a fluid-actuated valve, comprising a base body having a coupling device for securing the base body to a shaft section of the valve and supporting a control valve device which is designed to provide a control fluid flow for actuating a fluidic control means capable of linear movement in the shaft section in order to actuate the valve, and further comprising a position sensing device located on the base body for the determination of an axial position of the control means along a movement axis.
WO 2007128360 discloses a housing assembly for monitoring, open- and closed-loop control systems for a process valve, in particular for a sterile valve for use in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and cosmetics industries and for the food and drinks industries. The process valve in this specification comprises at least one valve plunger supporting a closing member and a pressure fluid-actuated drive for the valve plunger. On this process valve, the modular housing assembly can be releasably attached to the drive on the side remote from the process valve. Into the housing assembly there is inserted a drive rod connected to the valve plunger and comprising a position indicator which is contacted to the drive rod and which detects the current position of the valve plunger with respect to a fixed reference system. The housing assembly is designed to provide an indication of current positions and for this purpose comprises means for storing the current position indications, means for calculating and comparing position indications and means for visual and/or audible indication and/or for reading the functional state of the process valve.
DE 697 15 022 T2 discloses a valve assembly comprising a pressure-actuated valve and a control unit which is mounted at an end of an actuator which is opposite the valve. The control unit comprises a fluid passage for the provision of a pressure fluid, the fluid passage having a first end where a pressure fluid can be made available. The control unit is provided with coupling means which can be connected to coupling means provided on the actuator in order to ensure a non-rotatable connection between the control unit and the actuator. A second end of the fluid passage is in fluid connection with the actuator. A normally closed valve element is installed into the fluid passage and has a control element which can be coupled to the movable part of the valve and extends through the control unit. An outer end of the control element is connected to the actuator. The valve element is opened against the force of springs or against a differential pressure. As a result, the control unit can be installed and removed using a plug-in connection, and at the same time the valve element can be opened automatically or closed for fast and simple servicing.
DE 401 44 74 C1 discloses a disc valve with a control head mounted on its housing by way of a spacer provided with view openings, its shaft being connected to the rod of the valve disc, wherein the spacer, which can be flange-mounted on the base of the control head, is integrated with a valve housing cover which can be secured to the valve housing, and wherein the valve disc rod extending through the control head is guided in the hollow shaft of the control piston. The shaft of the control piston, which is supported on an annular shoulder of the valve disc rod on the valve side, is put under pressure by a nut which can be screwed onto the section of the valve disc rod which projects beyond the control head.
DE 103 36 065 A1 discloses a pneumatic valve drive with a housing comprising a cylinder and an end wall at each axial end of the cylinder, and with a piston which is connected to an axial spindle and axially guided in the cylinder while being sealed against the cylinder at its circumference, and with a first uniform interface for a control head formed at one of the end walls and a second uniform interface for a valve fitting to be actuated by the spindle formed at the other end wall.
From EP 961 066 A2 is known a freely programmable position indication device with a movable actuator, in particular for valves, wherein a position sensing device which continuously detects the position of the actuator while generating an analogue output signal is assigned to the actuator and wherein the output signal of the position sensing device is applied to an electronic evaluation device for the determination of the position indication.


An apparatus for abrasive jet cutting comprises an abrasive jet perforating tool coupled rotatably to a tubing string and a horizontal indexing tool coupled connectably to the perforating tool. A tubing swivel, an extension tool with protective sleeve, and an anchor may also be used. A method for abrasive jet cutting comprises determining well parameters for a well; assembling, according to the well parameters, the apparatus for abrasive jet perforating; and using the perforating tool to perforate tubular members in the well. A horizontal indexing tool is used to rotate the perforating tool and the perforating tool is used to cut tubular members in the well. An extension tool with a protective sleeve is used to protect the apparatus. A tubing swivel may be used to allow the perforating tool to rotate freely and an anchor may be used to prevent the perforating tool from moving vertically.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of treating wells to stimulate fluid production. More particularly, the invention relates to the field of abrasive jet cutting of tubular members in oil and gas wells.
2. Description of the Related Art
Abrasive jet perforating uses fluid slurry pumped under high pressure to perforate tubular goods around a wellbore, where the tubular goods include tubing, casing, and cement. Since sand is the most common abrasive used, this technique is also known as sand jet perforating (SJP). Abrasive jet perforating was originally used to extend a cavity into the surrounding reservoir to stimulate fluid production. It was soon discovered, however, that abrasive jet perforating could not only perforate, but cut (completely sever) the tubular goods into two pieces. Sand laden fluids were first used to cut well casing in 1939. Abrasive jet perforating was eventually attempted on a commercial scale in the 1960s. While abrasive jet perforating was a technical success (over 5,000 wells were treated), it was not an economic success. The tool life in abrasive jet perforating was measured in only minutes and fluid pressures high enough to cut casing were difficult to maintain with pumps available at the time. A competing technology, explosive shape charge perforators, emerged at this time and offered less expensive perforating options.
Consequently, very little work was performed with abrasive jet perforating technology until the late 1990's. Then, more abrasive-resistant materials used in the construction of the perforating tools and jet orifices provided longer tool life, measured in hours or days instead of minutes. Also, advancements in pump materials and technology enabled pumps to handle the abrasive fluids under high pressures for longer periods of time. The combination of these advances made the abrasive jet perforating process more cost effective. Additionally, the recent use of coiled tubing to convey the abrasive jet perforating tool down a wellbore has led to reduced run time at greater depth. Further, abrasive jet perforating did not require explosives and thus avoids the accompanying danger involved in the storage, transport, and use of explosives. However, the basic design of abrasive jet perforating tools used today has not changed significantly from those used in the 1960's.
Abrasive jet perforating tools and casing cutters were initially designed and built in the 1960's. There were many variables involved in the design of these tools. Some tool designs varied the number of jet locations on the tool body, from as few as two jets to as many as 12 jets. The tool designs also varied the placement of those jets, such, for example, positioning two opposing jets spaced 180° apart on the same horizontal plane, three jets spaced 120° apart on the same horizontal plane, or three jets offset vertically by 30°. Other tool designs manipulated the jet by orienting it at an angle other than perpendicular to the casing or by allowing the jet to move toward the casing when fluid pressure was applied to the tool.
The need to sever tubular goods is common in the oil and gas industry. Mechanical cutters and explosive cutters, employed for many years, are still widely used and being improved upon. Mechanical cutters typically employ blades that pivot out from the tool body while the cutting tool is turned by means of a downhole motor. The blades cut through the casing to sever the pipe. Explosive cutters generally employ a shaped charge to tear the pipe into two pieces. Newer chemical cutters employ corrosive chemicals to dissolve the pipe to sever it. More recently, high pressure abrasive fluid cutters have been employed in conjunction with specialized downhole motors to rotate an abrasive fluid stream against the tubing to sever it.
All of these conventional cutting tools have problems associated with their use. Mechanical cutters have size and strength limitations. Explosive cutters introduce the difficulties of purchasing, transporting, and using explosives, particularly in the United States, but also in the rest of the world. Chemical cutters have temperature and pressure limitations. Current abrasive jet cutters typically employ specially-designed downhole motors (to rotate the abrasive fluid jets), which are expensive. Additionally, tight access size restrictions, non-circular or irregular surfaces to be cut, and horizontal and vertical operation pose problems for all the current cutter types.
The following patents and publications are representative of conventional abrasive jet perforating and cutting tools, along with apparatuses and methods that may be employed with the tools.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,145,776 by Pittman, "Hydra-Jet Tool", discloses protective plates for an abrasive jet perforating tool. The plates, made of abrasive resistant material, are designed to fit flatly to the body of the tool around the perforating jets. The plates are employed to protect the body of the tool from ejected abrasive material that rebounds. The protective plates disclosed in Pittman are not designed to protect the abrasive jets themselves.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,250, by McCormick et al., "Pressure Activated Cleaning Tool", discloses a downhole tool for cleaning tubing, casing and flow lines with pressurized cleaning fluid pumped through coiled tubing. The cleaning tool is rotated by a J-slot indexing tool activated by fluid pressure changes. The McCormick et al. patent does not disclose employing the indexing tool with perforating or cutting tools.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,266,571 by St. John et al., "Casing Slotting" discloses an abrasive jet perforating tool designed to cut slots of controlled length. The slot lengths are controlled by abrasive resistant shields attached to the tool to block the flow from rotating abrasive jets. The St. John et al. patent does not disclose severing tubular members.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,499,678 by Surjaatmadja et al., "Coplanar Angular Jetting Head for Well Perforating", discloses a jetting head for use in an abrasive jet perforating tool. The jet openings in the jetting head are coplanar and positioned at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the tool. The angle is chosen so that the plane of the jet openings is perpendicular to the axis of least principal stress in the formation being fractured. The tool must be custom-made for each job, since the entire jet head is angled into the tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,756 by Jorden et al., "Abrasive Slurry Jetting Tool and Method", discloses an abrasive jet perforating tool with telescoping jetting nozzles. The jetting nozzles are operated perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the tool body, although the nozzle assemblies can pivot back into the tool body for retrieval back up the wellbore. The Jordan et al. patent discloses using the perforating tool for removing a casing section, cutting a window, series of longitudinal slots, or plurality of perforations in a wellbore casing, and removing or cleaning a wellbore formation to enhance perforation. The Jordan et al. patent does not disclose severing tubular members.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,868 B1, by Ferguson et al., "Cutting Tool and Method for Cutting Tubular Member", discloses an abrasive jet perforating tool for severing tubular members, such as production tubing. The jetting nozzles are preferably perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the tool body. The Ferguson et al. patent discloses rotating the cutting tool by means of a downhole motor, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,439,866 B1, by Farkas et al., "Downhole Rotary Motor with Sealed Thrust Bearing Assembly".
U.S. Pat. No. 7,497,259 B2, by Leising et al., "System and Method for Forming Cavities in a Well", discloses a downhole assembly string for perforating wells. The string comprises an anchoring mechanism, a multi-cycle vertical incrementing tool, a swivel orienting device and a perforation tool, suspended from coiled tubing. The perforation tool is moved vertically by the incrementing tool, which is activated by fluid pressure changes. The Leising et al. patent does not disclose employing the incrementing tool to rotate the perforation tool.
SPE publication by Loving et al., "Abrasive Cutting Technology Deployed Via Coiled Tubing", SPE 92866, SPE/ICoTA Coiled Tubing Conference and Exhibition, April 2005, discloses an abrasive jet cutting tool for cutting production tubing, drill pipe, drill collars, completion components, and casing strings. The cutting tool is deployed using conventional coiled tubing and is rotated by pumping an abrasive slurry through a downhole sealed bearing, positive displacement motor mounted above an abrasive cutting head. The abrasive slurry is pumped down the coiled tubing by a conventional high pressure pump.
SPE publication by Hebert et al., "Cutting Concentric Casing Strings with Sand Slurry", SPE 113734, SPE/ICoTA Coiled Tubing and Well Intervention Conference and Exhibition, April 2008, discloses a case history of cutting a 7-in. liner inside a 9⅝-in. casing with an abrasive jet cutting tool. The jet cutting tool was deployed using drill pipe and a downhole slow-rotating hydroblast motor.
Thus, a need exists for an abrasive jet perforating tool and method of use, in particular for severing tubular members, that can pass through tight restrictions and can be used in small inner diameter pipe. Preferably, the perforating tool does not require an expensive downhole motor or means for rotating the deployment tubing from the surface.

Apparatus and method for abrasive jet perforating and cutting of tubular members


A non-reciprocal circuit device comprising a plurality of central conductors 11a-11c overlapping with electric insulation from each other at 120xc2x0, a magnetic body 12 disposed in contact with or close to the central conductors 11a-11c, matching capacitors, a permanent magnet 3 disposed for applying a DC magnetic field to the central conductors 11a-11c and the magnetic body 12, and metal cases 1, 2 for receiving these parts and serving as a magnetic yoke, at least the matching capacitors being integrally constituted by a laminate module 5 having a substantially flat lower surface, and the laminate module 5 being disposed on a flat surface of a composite base 6 comprising an insulation member and conductor plates.

The present invention relates to a non-reciprocal circuit device such as a circulator, an isolator, etc., particularly to a miniaturized, low-loss, highly reliable non-reciprocal circuit device and wireless communications equipment such as a cellular phone comprising such a non-reciprocal circuit device.
Non-reciprocal circuit devices such as circulators, isolators, etc. have characteristics of transmitting a signal to only a particular direction while preventing the signal from being transmitted in the opposite direction, and thus are indispensable parts for transmission circuits of microwave transmission equipment for automobile phones, etc. In such applications, the non-reciprocal circuit devices are required to be miniaturized and reduced in loss. A non-reciprocal circuit device, for instance, an isolator, comprises a magnetic body such as a garnet member, etc., three central conductors disposed on the magnetic body such as a garnet member while overlapping at a 120xc2x0 interval with electric insulation from each other, a permanent magnet for applying a DC magnetic field to the magnetic body, matching capacitors and a metal case serving as a magnetic yoke and containing these parts.
FIG. 15 shows an isolator, one example of the conventional non-reciprocal circuit devices, disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-205011. This isolator comprises a box-shaped resin-conductor composite base 96 disposed on a lower case 92, the resin-conductor composite base 96 having recesses 100 for respectively receiving a central conductor assembly 4 comprising three central conductors 11a-11c disposed on a garnet member 12 with electric insulation from each other, matching capacitors constituted by three flat capacitors 94a-94c, and a chip resistor 95. Each recess 100 of the resin-conductor composite base 96 is defined by an insulating thermoplastic resin partition 101 for positioning each part. Formed at the bottom of the recess 100 is a ground electrode 102 (indicated by hatching) for connecting the central conductor assembly 4 and the capacitors 94a-94c to a ground. Each central conductor 11a-11c has one end connected to an electrode of each capacitor 94a-94c and the other end connected to a ground electrode 102 on the resin-conductor composite base 96. Each flat capacitor 94a-94c has two opposing electrodes, one connected to each central conductor 11a-11c, and the other connected to the ground conductor 102. A resistor 95 is connected to the flat capacitor 94c in parallel. A permanent magnet 93 for applying a DC magnetic field to the central conductor assembly 4 is disposed in an upper case 91, which is combined with the lower case 92 to constitute an isolator.
Each of the upper case 91 and the lower case 92 is formed by an iron-based magnetic sheet such as SPCC (cold-rolled steel sheet) plated with silver for functioning as a magnetic yoke constituting a magnetic circuit for applying a magnetic force of the permanent magnet 93 to the central conductor assembly 4. A conductor plate constituting the ground electrode 102 in the resin-conductor composite base 96 is bent to integrally have ground terminals 97b, 97c exposing from the lower and side surfaces of the resin-conductor composite base, exposed portions of the conductor plate being plated with silver. The resin-conductor composite base 96 is provided on a lower surface with an input/output terminal 97a and ground terminals 97b, 97c. Though not shown, the opposite surface of the resin-conductor composite base is also provided with an input/output terminal 97a and ground terminals 97b, 97c. Accordingly, each of the two central conductors 11a, 11b has one end connected to the input/output terminal 97a via the flat capacitor 94a, 94b, and the other end connected to the ground terminal 97b, 97c via the ground electrode 102. The remaining one central conductor 11c is connected to the ground terminal 102 for termination via the capacitor 94c and the resistor 95.
FIG. 16 shows an isolator, another example of the conventional non-reciprocal circuit devices, disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-55607. This isolator has matching capacitors formed inside a laminate module 105 disposed on a lower case 92, and the laminate module 105 having a center opening 110 for receiving a garnet member 12 and a central conductor assembly 4 constituted by three central conductors 11a-11c, one end of each of three central conductors 11a-11c being connected to a capacitor 106a-106c printed on an upper surface of the laminate module 105. A capacitor 106c connected to one central conductor 11c is electrically connected to a resistor 107 in parallel. The other ends of three central conductors 11a-11c are directly connected to the lower case 92 without using a ground plate. A permanent magnet 93 for applying a DC magnetic field to the central conductor assembly 4 is disposed in the upper case 91, which is assembled to the lower case 92 to constitute an isolator.
Formed in the laminate module 105 are three matching capacitors in single or multi-layers, and electrodes of the matching capacitors are connected to each other through via-electrodes in the laminate module 105, or external terminals of an input/output terminal 108a and ground terminals 108b, 108c printed on side surfaces of the laminate module 105 as in this example. The laminate module 105 has projections 112 on both sides of a lower surface thereof, onto which an input/output terminal and ground terminals (not shown) are mounted, and a recess 114 between the two projections 112 is formed with an electrode (not shown) for connecting to the lower case, whereby the ground terminals are connected to the lower case-connecting electrodes. The other ends of the central conductors 11a-11c, namely the side of the central conductors 11a-11c connected to the lower case 92, are connected to a ground in a circuit board via the lower case 92 and the lower case-connecting electrode and the ground terminals 108b, 108c of the laminate module 105.
The market of microwave communications equipments such as cellular phones, etc. has dramatically been expanding recently, accompanied by the rapid miniaturization of cellular phones. Arising with the miniaturization of cellular phones is a strong demand to miniaturization of such parts as isolators, etc., and particularly the isolators are most strongly demanded to be small in size and low in loss. If the conventional isolator disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-205011 were to be miniaturized, then parts such as a garnet member 12, flat capacitors 94a-94c, etc. would have to be miniaturized. The capacitance of a capacitor is expressed by
C=xcex5rxc2x7xcex5oxc2x7S/dxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
wherein C is a capacitance of a capacitor, xcex5r is a specific dielectric constant of a dielectric body, xcex5o is a dielectric constant of vacuum, S is an area of an electrode, and d is a thickness of a dielectric body between the electrodes.
The formula (1) indicates that to keep the same level of capacitance even when the electrode area S is reduced by the miniaturization of the matching capacitor, it is necessary to use a dielectric body with a large specific dielectric constant xcex5r or to reduce the thickness d of a dielectric body between the electrodes. However, dielectric bodies having large specific dielectric constants generally tend to have large dielectric loss, resulting in the loss characteristics of capacitors and thus increase in the loss of isolators.
When a dielectric body disposed between the electrodes has a small thickness, its handling is difficult during the production process, resulting in cracking and breakage of capacitors, leading to a poor yield. When a garnet member has a small diameter, a central conductor assembly comprising the central conductors and the garnet member has a small inductance, necessitating the capacitors to have larger capacitance to operate at the same operation frequency, causing the same problems as the miniaturization of the capacitors. Though the garnet member having a larger thickness can increase the inductance of the central conductor assembly, it undesirably hinders the reduction of the thickness of an isolator. Further, the miniaturization of parts such as the capacitors and the garnet member results in the complicated structure of a box-shaped resin-conductor composite base, making it difficult to produce the resin-conductor composite base.
Because the isolator of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-55607 has a structure in which matching capacitors are formed inside the laminate module 105, it is considered that capacitance can easily be obtained by forming capacitors in a plurality of layers of the laminate module. The miniaturization of the laminate module is expected, because the above structure makes it easy to reduce an electrode area of a capacitor without reducing capacitance.
However, because the above isolator uses a laminate module 105 having an opening 110, the other ends of the central conductors 11a-11c are directly soldered to the lower case 92, and lower case-connecting electrodes (not shown) in the recess 114 on the lower surface of the laminate module 105 are soldered to the lower case 92. Because the lower case-connecting electrodes on the lower surface of the laminate module 105 are connected to ground terminals 108b, 108c, the other ends of the central conductors 11a-11c are grounded via the lower case 92 and lower case-connecting electrodes on the lower surface of the laminate module 105.
It is generally important that parts operable in a microwave frequency region such as isolators, etc. have internal circuits grounded without loss. In the case of the isolator, it is necessary that there is as little loss as possible in the lower case 92 and lower case-connecting electrodes on the lower surface of the laminate module 105 to ground the central conductor assembly 4 without loss. To suppress loss during the transmission of a high-frequency signal, the case is made of highly conductive materials such as silver, copper, etc., or it is provided with as thick plating or electrode as 30 xcexcm or more to reduce electric resistance. However, the lower case 92 is made of an iron-based metal, because it constitutes a magnetic yoke, thereby having a relatively low electric conductivity. Also, with as thick silver plating as 30 xcexcm or more, the case is as expensive as two times or more than otherwise.
Further, too thick plating tends to cause cracking in the plating layer due to internal stress, resulting in the deterioration of reliability. For instance, if gold is used instead of silver, gold forms a gold-rich alloy with solder components in a lead-tin solder, resulting in the formation of a mechanically brittle intermetallic compound, which leads to poor reliability. These problems indicate that it is difficult to obtain low-loss isolators with the structure of directly soldering central conductors to a lower case.
With respect to the lower case-connecting electrodes formed in a recess 114 on the lower surface of the laminate module 105, deformation is likely to occur in the laminate module with a large electrode thickness during the sintering process, due to the differences in a thermal expansion coefficient, a sintering shrinkage ratio, a sintering shrinkage speed, etc. between the dielectric materials such as ceramics and the electrode materials such as silver. Accordingly, the electrode cannot be made fully thick, resulting in poor electric conductivity in the lower case-connecting electrodes directly formed on the laminate module 105, making it difficult to ground the central conductors without loss. Thus, large loss cannot be avoided in the above isolator.
In the above isolator, external terminals 108a-108c are integrally formed on the bottom or side surfaces of the laminate module 105 for connection to a circuit board. It is considered that the laminate module 105 provided with external terminals is superior to a resin-conductor composite base provided with external terminals like the isolator as shown in FIG. 15, because of a smaller number of parts. However, when connection is kept between the external terminals formed on the laminate module 105 and an external circuit, stress would be concentrated on the external terminals of the isolator, if the parts-mounting circuit board forming the external circuit is deformed for some reasons, for instance, by dropping a mobile terminal, etc. Therefore, the laminate module 105 is easily broken, resulting in breakage of the isolator. Particularly when there is uneven surface flatness in the external terminals, they cannot be precisely positioned on a test plate for measurement of their characteristics, resulting in uneven measurement results. Thus, direct mounting of the external terminals to the laminate module tends to lower the reliability of the isolator.
Further in the above isolator, ridges 112 should be provided on both side ends on the lower surface of the laminate module 105 to provide the laminate module 105 with external terminals 108a-108c. In the production process of the laminate module 105, such integral steps make it impossible to press green sheets uniformly in a plane, leaving difference in density between the ridges and the recesses. This difference in press density leads to difference in a sintering shrinkage ratio between the ridges and the recesses, resulting in a deformed laminate module 105 after sintering. If the laminate module 105 is deformed, the external terminals have poor flatness, resulting in poor connection to the external circuit on the circuit board. Though a vertical load may be applied to the laminate module during sintering to suppress its deformation in a plane, this makes the sintering process complicated, undesirably increasing production cost.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a miniaturized, low-loss, high-reliability, easy-to-produce non-reciprocal circuit device, and a wireless communications equipment comprising such a non-reciprocal circuit device.
The non-reciprocal circuit device of the present invention comprises a plurality of central conductors overlapping with electric insulation from each other at a predetermined angle, a magnetic body disposed in contact with or close to the central conductors, matching capacitors, a permanent magnet disposed for applying a DC magnetic field to the central conductors and the magnetic body, and metal cases for receiving these parts and serving as a magnetic yoke, at least the matching capacitors being integrally constituted in a laminate module having a substantially flat lower surface, and the laminate module being disposed on a substantially flat surface of a composite base comprising an insulation member and conductor plates.
Because the matching capacitors are formed in the laminate module in single or plural layers, the number of layers may be properly set to obtain the desired capacitance. Therefore, the capacitance of capacitors can be increased without increasing an electrode area. Because a reduced electrode area can be achieved with the same capacitance, the laminate module constituting capacitors can be miniaturized, resulting in miniaturization of an isolator. Further, by selecting materials having a small dielectric constant for the laminate module, the capacitors can be provided with reduced dielectric loss, thereby improving the loss characteristics of the isolator.
The laminate module having a flat lower surface is directly disposed on a flat upper surface of the composite base, a wide contact area can be obtained between both ground electrodes. Also, the composite base is disposed on the lower case, and the laminate module is disposed thereon, resulting in easiness in assembling of parts.
In a preferred embodiment, the composite base comprises a ground electrode connected to the central conductors and the capacitors of the laminate module and terminal electrodes connected to the central conductors and the capacitors of the laminate module on the same plane, the ground terminals connected to the ground electrode and the input/output terminals connected to the terminal electrodes being provided as external terminals on side surfaces and/or a lower surface of the laminate module. The laminate module has a ground electrode for connecting the capacitors to a ground on a substantially entire lower surface thereof, the ground electrode of the laminate module being disposed directly on a substantially entire upper surface of a ground electrode of the composite base and electrically connected thereto, and the ground electrode of the composite base being disposed directly on a lower metal case and electrically connected thereto.
With this structure, the lower surface of the laminate module is in close contact with the ground electrode (conductor plate) of the composite base and directly soldered to each other. The ground electrode (conductor plate) on a lower surface of the composite base is in close contact with the upper surface of the lower base and directly soldered to each other. Because this provides a wide contact area, the insertion loss is decreased, thereby providing good connection of the ground electrode and the terminal electrodes without loss. Further, it provides good characteristics of attenuating second and third harmonic, and improved mechanical strength. Thus, the close contact of the laminate module and the resin-conductor composite base to the lower case without gap is an important feature of the present invention.
With respect to external terminals such as the ground terminals connected to the ground electrode and the input/output terminals connected to the terminal electrodes, they are integrally formed on side surfaces and/or a lower surface of the composite base with a conductor plate, low loss can be achieved. Also, because the lower surface of the resin-conductor composite base is highly flat, insufficient contact is not likely with a test board or a parts-mounting circuit board, thereby providing a non-reciprocal circuit device with stable characteristics.
The composite base is desirably a resin-conductor composite base comprising conductor plates having an electric resistance of 5.5xc3x9710xe2x88x928 xcexa9xc2x7m or less integrally molded with an insulating thermoplastic resin. Though insulating materials forming the laminate module may be synthetic resins and ceramics, insulating thermoplastic resins such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), etc. are preferable from the aspect of easy of production and impact resistance. Considering strength and heat resistance, it is preferable to use insulating thermoplastic engineering resins such as liquid-crystal, aromatic polymers containing silica fillers, polyphenylene sulfide, etc.
Though the conductor plate may be made of steel such as SPCC, copper, silver and other metals having the same low electric resistance preferable. Specifically, high-conductivity metals having electric resistance of 5.5xc3x9710xe2x88x928 xcexa9xc2x7m or less or metals plated with silver or copper are preferable. From the aspect of erosion of a circuit board with solder, a copper plate is preferable. From the aspect of formability, a metal plate of 0.03-0.15 mm in thickness is preferable.
With this structure, the insertion loss greatly lowers, and harmonic characteristics are remarkably improved. When the connection of the internal circuit of an isolator to an external circuit is carried out by the external terminals of the resin-conductor composite base, an external circuit board may be deformed for some external causes, for instance, by dropping of a cellular phone. In such a case, a stress that would otherwise be applied to the laminate module 5 would be absorbed by conductor plates of the external terminals and an insulating thermoplastic resin portion around the conductor plates in the resin-conductor composite base. Accordingly, the breakage of the laminate module and the isolator by stress can be avoided.
The terminal electrodes and at least one input/output terminal are integrally formed by the same conductor plate in the resin-conductor composite base. With this structure, an electric resistance can extremely be reduced between the terminal electrodes and the input/output terminals of the resin-conductor composite base, thereby remarkably suppressing electric loss in the connection of the central conductors and the capacitors to the external circuit.
A ground electrode and at least one ground terminal are preferably integrally formed by the same conductor plate in the resin-conductor composite base. With this structure, an electric resistance between the ground electrode and the ground terminals in the resin-conductor composite base can be made extremely low, thereby remarkably suppressing electric loss in the connection of the central conductors and the capacitors to a ground. This is an important feature of the present invention, because the connection of the internal circuit to a ground without loss is important for the reduction of loss in parts operable in a microwave region such as an isolator, etc.
The ground electrode and the terminal electrodes of the resin-conductor composite base preferably have contact surfaces in the same plane. With this structure, the laminate module has input/output electrodes connected to the terminals of the resin-conductor composite base and a ground electrode connected to the ground electrode of the resin-conductor composite base in the same plane on a surface in contact with the resin-conductor composite base. This makes it unnecessary to provide the laminate module with ridges necessary for the conventional non-reciprocal circuit device shown in FIG. 16, thereby avoiding the deformation of the laminate module without complicated production processes.
The resin-conductor composite base preferably has a means for positioning the laminate module on a flat upper surface thereof. Utilizable as a positioning means is, for instance, external terminals provided on side surfaces of the resin-conductor composite base. This structure facilitates the mounting, positioning and fixing of the laminate module onto a flat surface of the resin-conductor composite base, resulting in the simplification of production processes. Further, because improper positioning of the laminate module relative to the resin-conductor composite base can be suppressed, the production yield of the non-reciprocal circuit device is improved.
The central conductors are preferably formed in an integral central conductor laminate comprising a plurality of ceramic sheets having central conductor patterns. The ceramic sheets are preferably formed of magnetic ceramics such as garnet. This structure makes it possible to form the capacitors and the central conductors into an integral laminate, thereby achieving the miniaturization of the non-reciprocal circuit device, the simplification of its structure, and thus shortening the production processes. Also, to obtain high dimension accuracy and stable electric characteristics, it is effective to use a central conductor assembly comprising central conductors formed from a copper plate by etching, which are wound around a microwave magnetic, sintered ferrite member at a predetermined angle.
The electrode patterns in the laminate module are preferably connected through via-electrodes and/or side-surface electrodes. Also, the electrode patterns in the central conductor laminate are preferably connected through via-electrodes and/or side-surface electrodes. With via-electrodes, the number of production can be reduced to lower the production cost of the non-reciprocal circuit device, though they are slightly disadvantageous in miniaturization. In the case of using electrodes printed on side surfaces, the non-reciprocal circuit device can be further miniaturized. Using both via-electrodes and electrodes printed on side surfaces, the resistance of conductors can be suppressed while compensating defects of both electrodes, thereby achieving low loss.
The central conductors are preferably bent along an outer surface of the magnetic body, and insulation films are disposed between the central conductors in their crossing portions. The central conductors and the magnetic body are formed by an integral laminate comprising a plurality of ceramic sheets having central conductor patterns.
In the preferred embodiment, at least a lower case of the metal cases is formed by an integral laminate of a metal having as high saturation magnetic flux density as 0.6 T or more clad with a high-conductivity metal having an electric resistance of 5.5=10xe2x88x928 xcexa9xc2x7m or less, whereby the lower case serves as an electrically conductive magnetic yoke.
The wireless communications equipment of the present invention comprises the above non-reciprocal circuit device, a transmission circuit, a reception circuit, and an antenna. The wireless communications equipment is preferably a cellular phone.

Non-reciprocal circuit device and wireless communications equipment comprising same


A method is disclosed for determining radiation attenuation as a result of an object in a positron emission tomography scanner. In at least one embodiment, a phantom object is arranged in the positron emission tomography scanner during the method. First raw radiation data of the phantom object is acquired while the object is not arranged in the positron emission tomography scanner. A first image of the phantom object is calculated from the first raw radiation data. The object then is arranged in the positron emission tomography scanner (2) and preliminary radiation attenuation of the object is identified. Second raw radiation data of the phantom object is acquired while the object is arranged in the positron emission tomography scanner. A second image of the phantom object is calculated from the second raw radiation data taking into account the preliminary radiation attenuation. The radiation attenuation is determined on the basis of the first image and the second image.

In order to determine an attenuation correction in a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner, use can be made of a combination of a magnetic resonance system and a positron emission tomography system, a so-called MR-PET hybrid system. However, a problem in using such MR-PET hybrid systems is the fact that local coils, which are used to receive the magnetic resonance signals from the examination object (for example, a human body), are not visible in conventional clinical magnetic-resonance scanning techniques. However, these coils can have a significant influence on the emission data of the positron emission tomography scanner, and so the attenuation thereof must be corrected in order to obtain artifact-free and quantitative PET images.
The prior art has proposed various approaches to measure the attenuation of these objects, i.e. the local coils, or to determine the attenuation thereof directly.
By way of example, in "Towards quantitative PET/MRI: A review of MR-based attenuation correction techniques" by M. Hofmann, B. Pichler, B. Schölkopf, and T. Beyer (European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 36 (Supplement 1), 93-104 (03 2009)), the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference, it is proposed to scan the objects in a CT scanner and to transfer the measured transmission values to the attenuation at 511 keV. However, the CT images of the object may contain metallic artifacts. Furthermore, partial volume effects may occur and the transformation of the linear attenuation coefficients for non-tissue material to 511 keV is complicated.
In "Study of MR head and neck coils for its use in an integrated MR/PET-scanner" by Gaspar Delso, Alex Martinez, Ralph Bundschuh, Ralf Ladebeck, David Faul, and Sibylle Ziegler (J. Nucl. Med. Meeting Abstracts 2009 50:1476) and in "Attenuation Correction for MR Table and Coils for a Sequential PET/MR System" by Bin Zhang, Debashish Pal, Zhigiang Hu, Navaeep Ojha, Tiantui Guo, Gary Muswick, Chi-Hua Tung, and Jeff Kaste (IEEE MIC, 2009), the entire contents of each of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference, it is proposed to scan the objects in a PET system with an emission source. However, this acquisition takes a very long time, the resulting image is very rough, and it is not possible to distinguish between small structures.
Finally, there is the option of determining the attenuation images from design drawings by converting CAD structures into volume images, wherein the individual voxels in the volume images are provided with the physical linear attenuation coefficients. However, in general, not all parts are available as a model. Often it is only the plastic parts that are available as a model. Other parts, such as e.g. metal parts, can therefore only be modeled in a generic fashion, as a result of which the actual local structure of the linear attenuation coefficients can only be derived imprecisely and with great difficulty. Moreover, each coil can slightly deviate from the determined attenuation image as a result of production tolerances.

Method for determining radiation attenuation in a positron emission tomography scanner


A disk drive includes media for recording data, disk heads for recording data and reproducing data on the disks. The heads are supported on arms. A head actuator drives the arms moving the head to a predetermined data recording track on the disk. A spindle motor rotates the disk at a predetermined rotating speed. The spindle motor includes a rotor magnet disposed within a stator coil. The disk head and actuator motor are mounted on a pivot on opposed sides of each other. To control head positioning, first positioning data for positioning the disk heads and second positioning data are provided on each data surface. This data is detected by a data head. Second positioning data may be positioned on tracks not used for containing data. The head position is compensated by the stored second positioning information superimposed on the first positioning data.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a magnetic recording device comprising a plurality of magnetic disks (hereinafter referred to as disks), a spindle motor for rotatably driving the disks, an assembly of magnetic heads (hereinafter referred to as heads) for writing and reading data on the disk surfaces, an actuator of the head, and control means for positioning the heads on the disk surfaces accurately.
2. Background Art
The prior magnetic recording devices utilized a large storage capacity and operated at a high access time. A plurality of disks having a diameter of approximately 5.25 to 10 inches are mounted in the prior art device. Further, the spindle motors for rotating the disks at a desired speed may be an in-hub motor which is stored in a hub coupled to the disks, or as in a large-sized device, the power may be transmitted by an external motor through belts. A voice coil motor may be utilized as a head actuator for effecting high speed access. The positioning of the head is effected by utilizing the servo surface and the like.
It is impossible to manufacture the above prior art device in a small size. More particularly, in the hub motor device it is necessary to provide a low stiffness spindle motor which is cost inefficient. In a belt driven motor the spindle motor requires frequent maintenance checks to insure transmission of the power through the belt, therefore, such magnetic recording devices become large-sized and thick in order to effect a large capacity and a high speed access. Furthermore, if such a magnetic recording device is thin, the mounting area of the circuit substrate is reduced by the areas of the spindle motor and the head actuator, thereby making it impossible to mount the data separator and the disk controller on the circuit substrate while at the same time providing a small thin magnetic disk device in which the interface for the host computer is provided for a large capacity and high speed access.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the main part of the spindle motor utilized in the prior art magnetic recording device. A hub 2 is secured at one end of a shaft 1. A plurality of disks 3 are mounted on the hub 2 by a disk clamp plate 5 separated by disk spacers 4. A rotor yoke 6 is secured at the other end of the shaft 1. A rotor magnet 7 is secured to rotor yoke 6. A stator core 8 is disposed at a distance from the inner side of the rotor magnet 7. Stator coils 9 are wound around the stator core 8. Shaft 1 is supported at a bearing 10 and is sealed against dust by a seal 11.
Bearing 10, the seal 11 and the stator core are provided in a housing 12. The rotor magnet 7 is magnetically divided and magnetized in a plurality of polarities in the radial direction. The positioning of the rotor magnet 7 is detected by a magnetic sensor (not shown). The current is sequentially supplied to the stator coils 9 which are wound around the stator core 8 having a plurality of slots dividing the core into a plurality of phases, thereby generating the rotating power to rotate the shaft 1 and the magnetic disks 3.
The above prior art device has been satisfactory. However, the rotor yoke by necessity is very thick in the magnetic recording device, thus, such a device is not suitable for a small, thin magnetic recording device. Further, since the stator coils are disposed so as to be covered with the rotor yoke, if the number of mounted magnetic disks is increased, the necessary spin-up torque of the spindle motor is increased, and the current supplied to the stator coil is increased. Deviation from the track may thus be caused, and as a result, a portion of the stator coil increases more in temperature, compared with the other portions, and the temperature is not uniform within the magnetic recording device.
Still further, the magnetic recording device has a transducer system comprising disks on which data are recorded and the heads for writing and reading the data in the disk. The heads are secured at the mechanical portion of the system for the movement and the positioning, as hereinafter explained in detail. A plurality of concentric recording areas (hereinafter tracks) are provided on the disks. The data are written and read from the disks by the heads as the heads move relative to the tracks. Therefore, it is necessary to position the head on the tracks accurately in order to write and read the data efficiently and accurately. The more the track density is increased and the narrower the track width becomes, the more accurately the head should be positioned. Therefore, a servo system wherein the head is positioned on the track accurately upon generating the positioning signal of the positioning data recorded on the disk, is widely utilized.
In general, there are several types of servo systems, but in view of the advantages of the excellent positioning accuracy and the short positioning time and so on, the servo system has been widely employed wherein one surface of a disk is utilized for recording only positioning data for controlling the position and the remaining surfaces are utilized for recording the data only. The control surface on which only the positioning data is recorded is hereinafter referred to as a servo surface (a disk surface for the data). These two disks are secured to the spindle motor for rotating. In this system, the magnetic recording device has a head (servo head) positioned relative to the servo surface and a plurality of heads (data heads) positioned relative to the data surfaces. These heads are provided on respective supporting arms, the supporting arms being movable in the radial direction of the disks. The driving motor such as VCM (voice coil motor) is secured at the positioning means. Upon detecting the positioning signal received from the servo head, the VCM is controlled so as to make the difference between the position of the servo head and the position of the destination track as small as possible. The data head is positioned at the destination data track secondarily through the positioning means.
The above method has been satisfactory. It is possible to accurately position the servo head relative to the servo track. However, it is not possible to always accurately position the data head relative to the destination data track.
More particularly, the difference between the relative position of the servo head and the servo track and the difference between the relative position of the data head and the destination data track are caused because the supporting arms between the servo head and the data head, the positioning means and the spindle motor are affected during each operation over time, and because the base frame at which the positioning means, the spindle motor or both are secured is affected due to the variance in the temperature, as well as the difference in the swelling amounts between the piled disks due to the difference in the temperature between the disks. As a result, even if the servo head is positioned accurately at the destination servo track, the data head cannot be positioned at the destination data track accurately.
To solve this problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 51-81603 describes a method of positioning the data head on the destination data track which is widely used. The data head is positioned in accordance with a first positioning signal received from the servo head, superimposing a compensation value, calculated in accordance with a second positioning signal received from the data head, on the first positioning signal, and positioning the data head on the destination track accurately.
However, a further problem may be caused by the above method. More particularly, if the above method is not effected, the head may be positioned by only the first positioning signal received from the servo head. But since the data head may be positioned by the first positioning signal generated from the servo head and adjusting the data head slightly by the second positioning signal, the above method requires more time to adjust the head slightly by the second positioning signal. Furthermore, when the second positioning data is recorded on the data track, for example, on one portion of all of the data tracks, during the time of switching the positioning control by the first positioning data to the positioning control superimposed on the second positioning data, the second positioning data must be recorded by the data head. In fact a waiting time during which the second positioning data on the data surface is rotatingly positioned to the data head is required. For example, when the second positioning data is recorded on only one portion of the data track, the average waiting time is equal to the time for rotating the disk by a half rotation. Further, when a plurality of positioning data are recorded on all the data tracks, the above mentioned waiting time becomes shorter, but such a case does not lead to the essential improvement.
FIG. 20 illustrates the relation between the time for positioning the data head and the change of the location of the data head relative to the destination data track. In FIG. 20, the solid line 828 shows the relationship between the change in position and the time for compensating the head by the second positioning data. The broken line 831 illustrates the track position of the data head in response to the first positioning data. After the data head moves to the track position of a destination data track, the data head requires the four types of operating time for positioning it, that is, the operating time comprising a settling time 832 for converging at the destination position as shown in the broken line 831 with the vibrating transient response (the conversion of the transient response is called settling), the waiting time 833 until receiving the second positioning data the time 834 for moving the head at the data track in accordance with compensated value, and the time 835 for settling the head after positioning the data head on the data track.
If the above improvement is not performed, the data head is completely positioned at the end of the settling time 832. As a result, the above improvement requires a long time for positioning the head in its entirety. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an improved magnetic recording device which overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art devices described above.

Head positioning control for a spindle motor disk drive