A group of wires that bonds the first semiconductor chip and the second semiconductor chip together and extends on the first semiconductor chip is formed of a single plated film through plating in one continuous process. The second semiconductor chip is then bonded onto the first semiconductor chip to complete a semiconductor package.

This application is based upon and claims priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-051929, filed on Feb. 27, 2002, the contents being incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device having a layer structure with one semiconductor chip bonded to another, and a method for fabricating the semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recent years have seen semiconductor devices in a package structure with semiconductor chips being stacked in layers to increase packing density and a technique for layering semiconductor chips in the form of wafers. In this case, first, wires are formed on the elements of a wafer to ensure electrical connections with those semiconductor chips to be stacked thereon, and then the semiconductor chip are stacked on the wafer and bonded to the elements. The semiconductor chip to be bonded is connected to the wire formed on the wafer through the use of gold wires, solder bumps, or gold bumps.
However, the aforementioned layering method comprises separate steps of forming wires on the semiconductor chip of the wafer and layering another semiconductor chip to be implemented on the semiconductor chip of the wafer. This makes the fabrication process complicated, resulting in an increase in turnaround time and in manufacturing costs. It is also necessary to apply a pressure at high temperatures to both the semiconductor chips when bonded together. This in turn causes the pressure to be exerted on the wire or circuit underlying the terminal of the chip, possibly leading to degradation in transmission characteristics due to a break or distortion in the wire. In particular, these disadvantages conceivably appear when a porous insulating material, the demand for which will grow increasingly, is used as an interlayer insulating film for wires within the semiconductor element.
The present invention was developed in view of the aforementioned problems. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor device having semiconductor chips stacked in layers and a method for fabricating the semiconductor device. The highly reliable semiconductor device provides a simplified manufacturing process and a reduced turnaround time, thereby reducing costs and easily ensuring prevention of breaks in wires and improvement in transmission characteristics.
As a result of intensive studies, the present inventor has reached the following embodiments of the invention as described below.
The invention is directed to a semiconductor device having a composite structure with a first semiconductor chip being bonded to a second semiconductor chip.
The semiconductor device according to the invention includes a single electrically conductive film that electrically connects between the first semiconductor chip and the second semiconductor chip and extends on the element-formed surface of the first semiconductor chip.
The method for fabricating a semiconductor device according to the invention includes the steps of: temporarily fixing a first semiconductor chip and a second semiconductor chip with their element-formed surfaces being placed opposite to each other; and forming a single electrically conductive film that electrically connects between the first semiconductor chip and the second semiconductor chip and extends on the element-formed surface of the first semiconductor chip.
For example, it is preferable to employ a plating method to form the electrically conductive film with the first semiconductor chip and the second semiconductor chip being temporarily fixed and thereby retained relative to each other without applying a pressure therebetween.

Semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same


An optical instrument for capturing stereo images includes two optical devices for producing a real image in each case, two carriages, which are each movable along a predetermined path relative to one of the optical devices, two image sensors, each with a light-sensitive surface for capturing the respective real image, with one of the image sensors in each case being fastened to the carriage, and one reflecting surface in the beam path between the optical device and the image sensor in each case.

For a long time, every medical endoscope had an eyepiece which facilitated a direct view through the endoscope. Cameras were developed later; these could be mechanically connected and optically coupled to the eyepiece of an endoscope in order to facilitate a reproduction of the image captured by the endoscope on a large screen and optionally to facilitate the storage thereof. Furthermore, this modularity facilitates autoclaving of the endoscope without consideration for the separate camera and combining the same camera with different endoscopes.
A flexible endoscope often has a coherent bundle of optical fibers and can be coupled to a camera, just like a rigid endoscope. Alternatively, an image sensor is arranged at the distal end of the flexible endoscope. US 2007/0100209 A1 describes an endoscope with an image sensor at the distal end. A shape memory element is provided for moving a movable lens or the image sensor in the direction parallel to the optical axis of the lens.
Stereoscopic endoscopes are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,948, EP 0 841 586 B1 and in WO 2014/012103 A1.
EP1514150B1 has disclosed an endoscope for simultaneous video and direct observation, comprising an image sensor and a beam splitter. Image sensor, beam splitter and eyepiece lens are arranged on a movable component which may be displaced parallel to the beam path of the direct observation by actuating a focal rim for focusing purposes. The image sensor is applied laterally to the beam splitter on a bearing column in such a way that the instrument must provide additional installation space for the sensor.
In the case of stereoscopic endoscopes with two image sensors, the adjustment of image sensors is particularly important also in view of the very small cross-sections of the observation beam paths. At the same time, conventional concepts are not transferable, or only transferable with restrictions, to stereoscopic endoscopes due to the small available installation space and the desired autoclavability.


The invention relates to a method for producing a penetrator (10) from a tungsten heavy metal with a high fraction of tungsten and an outer sheath (7), which consists of a material that is more ductile in relation to the penetrator core (6). To produce a penetrator (10) of this type in a cost-effective manner, according to the invention a twin-hopper filling device, which corresponds to the dimensions of the penetrator core (6), is introduced concentrically into a compression mold (1) that corresponds to the outer dimensions of the penetrator (10). The inner pipe (3) is filled with a first tungsten powder blend with a high fraction of tungsten for producing the penetrator core (6), while the annular gap between the outer wall of the inner pipe and the inner wall of the compression mold (1) is filled with a second tungsten powder blend with a lower fraction of tungsten, (approximately between 85% and 91%), than the first powder blend. Once the inner pipe (3) has been removed from the compression mold (1), the powder blend is then compressed in the known manner to produce the penetrator (10), the compressed body is subsequently sintered and cold-formed and the penetrator slug is finally finished.

The invention relates to a method for producing a penetrator having a penetrator core composed of a tungsten heavy metal (THM) with a high fraction of tungsten and an exterior sheath composed of a material that is more ductile compared to the penetrator core.
Penetrators composed of a tungsten heavy metal alloy generally have a high fraction of tungsten (90 to approximately 97 wt.-%) because, due to their high mass, these materials have good penetration performance with vertical impact on simple armored targets. However, the high tungsten fraction causes brittleness in the material such that, in the case of oblique targets or multi-plate targets, the penetrator often breaks, even before penetrating the target. As a rule, due to their low mass, the kinetic energy of the relatively short broken pieces that result is not sufficient to penetrate the remaining target plate(s).
The brittleness of known THM penetrators frequently increases by virtue of the fact that, during mechanical processing, for example, during turning or grinding, cracks occur in the tungsten grains near the surface, which then may lead to an early failure of the penetrator in question due to the spreading of the cracks.
DE 41 13 177 C2 discloses removing the outer tungsten layers in the geometry of the finished penetrator by etching in order to increase the stability of mechanically processed penetrators. It has actually been shown that such an etching off of the exterior tungsten layers causes a considerable increase (i.e., up to 20%) in the impact value of the respective penetrator.
However, the known method has the disadvantage that acids must be used that are harmful to the application and to the environment. Moreover, the production of such penetrators is relatively labor intensive because the predetermined mass of the penetrator may not be influenced by the etching process.
Furthermore, DE 40 16 051 C2 discloses a penetrator in which a breakable penetrator core composed, for example, of tungsten heavy metal, is protected by a ductile shell. For this purpose, the ductile shell, composed, for example, of steel, is applied with a positive fit to the tungsten core by roller spinning. This known method is also relatively costly and time consuming.


The invention concerns a method for forming a coating with excellent adhesion, water resistance and appearance which comprises the combination of steps of applying on the hydrophobic surfaces having a surface tension of 35 dyne/cm or less of a substrate a dry surface treatment selected from vacuum plasma treatment, corona discharge treatment and ozonization treatment, coating thus treated surfaces with a dispersion type aqueous coating composition comprising an aqueous varnish of at least one aqueous resin whose 1 wt % deionized water solution has a surface tension of 51 dyne/cm or less and which has a water tolerance of 4 or more, and water insoluble resin uniformly dispersed in fine particles in said varnish, the water insoluble resin having a SP value which is 1.0 to 2.2 lower than that of said aqueous resin, and baking the coating. The present method is specifically useful in the coating of automobile bodies, appliances and other high-quality products.

From the standviews of resource-saving and environmental health, an aqueous paint based on a water soluble or dispersible binder resin has been widely used. However, most of the surfaces to be coated with such a paint are more or less of hydrophobic nature and therefore, are inadequate for the heretofore proposed aqueous coating compositions because of poor adhesion between the coating and substrate surfaces. An aqueous paint containing a water soluble or dispersible resin has in general a problem of poor water resistance of the formed coating. In the case of the so-called high solid aqueous paint, water insoluble resin particles are included in such a paint for the improvement in sagging property of the coating. However, since a surface active agent is likewise present in the system to assist the desired dispersion stability of the resin particles, the presence of such material will give an additional cause for the decrease in water resistance of the formed coating. Furthermore, an aqueous paint has another problems of poor gloss and smoothness of the coating.
Recently, for the improvements in water resistance and appearance of coating and storage stability of coating composition, have been proposed a technique of dispersing in an aqueous paint fine particles of a solution of insoluble resin in an organic solvent which is immiscible with water (Japanese Patent Publication (unexamined) No. 181367/87); and a technique of using an aqueous paint containing a particular amount of particular F-containing random copolymer (Japanese Patent Publication (unexamined) No. 158766/87) and the like. In these techniques, a particular aqueous resin or water insoluble resin is selectively used, thereby obviating the use of conventional surfactant and preventing the decrease in water resistance of the coating, and water insoluble resin is compounded in an aqueous paint, thereby improving gloss and smoothness of the resulted coating. However, in the formed coating, there always co-exist water soluble or dispersible resin and water insoluble resin, and attainable adhesion properties of the formed coating towards substrate surfaces are not enough.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a novel method for forming, on hydrophobic surfaces of a substrate, an excellent coating in respects of adhesion, water resistance and appearance, by using an aqueous coating composition.


Methods and apparatuses for forming thin microelectronic dies. A method in accordance with one embodiment of the invention includes releasably attaching a microelectronic substrate to a support member with an attachment device. The microelectronic substrate can have a first surface, a second surface facing opposite from the first surface, and a first thickness between the first and second surfaces. The attachment device can have a releasable bond with the microelectronic substrate, wherein the bond has a bond strength that is reduced upon exposure to at least one energy. The support member can be at least partially transmissive to the at least one energy. The method can further include reducing a thickness of the microelectronic substrate and directing a quantity of the at least one energy through the support member to the attachment device to reduce the strength of the bond between the attachment device and the microelectronic substrate. At least a portion of the microelectronic substrate can then be separated from the support member. The support member can accordingly provide releasable support to the microelectronic substrate while the thickness of the microelectronic substrate is reduced.

The present disclosure relates to methods and apparatuses for forming thin microelectronic dies.
Existing microelectronic device packages typically include a microelectronic die attached to a support member, such as a printed circuit board. Bond pads or other terminals on the die are electrically connected to corresponding terminals on the support member, for example, with solder balls or wires. The connection between the die and the support member can be protected by encapsulating the die, forming a device package. The package can then be electrically connected to other microelectronic devices or circuits, for example, in a consumer or industrial electronic product such as a computer.
Electronic product manufacturers are under continual pressure from end users to reduce the size of the products they make. Accordingly, microelectronic die manufacturers are under pressure to reduce the size of the packaged dies incorporated into the electronic products. One approach to reducing the size of the packaged dies is to reduce the thickness of the dies themselves, for example, by grinding the backside of the wafer from which the die is singulated or diced. One drawback with this approach is that the thin wafer is extremely fragile and is therefore difficult to handle without damaging or breaking it. One approach for addressing this drawback is to attach a relatively thick wafer support to the wafer during the grinding process. The wafer support is then removed after grinding, for example, by heating the bond between the wafer and the wafer support, or by dissolving the bond with an acid. The resulting thin wafer is then attached to a dicing frame with an adhesive. The wafer is singulated or diced into individual dies while it is attached to the dicing frame. After the dicing operation, the adhesive is exposed to ultraviolet radiation which reduces its adhesive strength and allows the dies to be removed from the frame and packaged.
One drawback with the foregoing approach is that the wafer support is removed prior to dicing the wafer. Accordingly, the wafer can be vulnerable to damage and/or breakage until it is supported by the dicing frame. A further drawback of the foregoing approach is that the individual dies may be subject to damage and/or breakage from the time they are removed from the dicing frame to the time they are encapsulated. Accordingly, the foregoing process can be inefficient and expensive because it can damage individual dies and/or entire wafers, which must then be replaced.
The present invention is directed toward methods and apparatuses for forming thin microelectronic dies. A method in accordance with one aspect of the invention includes releasably attaching a microelectronic substrate to a support member with an attachment device. The microelectronic substrate can have a first surface, a second surface facing opposite from the first surface, and a first thickness between the first and second surfaces. The attachment device can have a releasable bond with the microelectronic substrate, the releasable bond having a bond strength that is reduced upon exposure to at least one energy. The support member can be at least partially transmissive to the at least one energy. The method can further include reducing a thickness of the microelectronic substrate from the first thickness to a second thickness while the microelectronic substrate is releasably attached to the support member. A quantity of the at least one energy can be directed through the support member to the attachment device to reduce the strength of the bond between the attachment device and the microelectronic substrate. At least a portion of the microelectronic substrate can be separated from the support member.
A method in accordance with another aspect of the invention includes attaching the first surface of the microelectronic substrate to a generally rigid support member, wherein the microelectronic substrate includes first and second microelectronic dies each having at least one circuit element at least proximate to the first surface. The method can further include separating a first portion of the support member adjacent to the first microelectronic die from a second portion of the support member adjacent to the second microelectronic die while the first microelectronic die is releasably attached to the first portion of the support member and the second microelectronic die is releasably attached to the second portion of the support member. The first and second microelectronic dies can be separated from each other while the first microelectronic die is releasably attached to the first portion of the support member and the second microelectronic die is releasably attached to the second portion of the support member. The first microelectronic die can then be separated from the first portion of the support member and the second microelectronic die can be separated from the second portion of the support member.
A method in accordance with still another aspect of the invention includes attaching the first surface of the microelectronic substrate to a generally rigid support member, separating the first microelectronic die and a corresponding first portion of the support member from the second microelectronic die and a corresponding second portion of the support member, and adhesively attaching the first microelectronic die and the first portion of the support member as a unit to a die attach member. The method can further include solidifying a bond between the first microelectronic die and the die attach member while simultaneously reducing the strength of a bond between the first microelectronic die and the first portion of the support member. The first portion of the support member can be separated from the first microelectronic die and the first microelectronic die can be electrically coupled to the die attach member.
The invention is also directed to a microelectronic assembly. In one aspect of the invention, the microelectronic assembly includes a microelectronic substrate having a first surface and a second surface facing opposite from the first surface. The microelectronic substrate can further include a first die and a second die, with each of the first and second dies having at least one circuit element positioned at least proximate to the first surface of the substrate. A first processing support member is positioned proximate to the first surface of the microelectronic substrate and is at least partially transmissive to at least one energy. A first attachment device is disposed between the microelectronic substrate and the first processing support member and includes an adhesive bonded to the support member with the adhesive having a reduced adhesiveness upon exposure to the at least one energy. A second processing support member can be positioned proximate to the second surface of the microelectronic substrate, and a second attachment device can be releasably disposed between the microelectronic substrate and the second processing support member.

Method and apparatus for forming thin microelectronic dies


A photomask blank comprising a transparent substrate (1), an etching stop film (2), a light-shielding film (3), and an etching mask film (4) has on the substrate side a reflectance of up to 35% with respect to exposure light. The etching stop film (2) consists of a first layer (21) which is disposed contiguous to the substrate and functions as an antireflective layer and a second layer (22) functioning as a fluorine-base dry etching-resistant layer, one of the first and second layers is a layer having compressive stress and the other is a layer having tensile stress.

In the recent semiconductor processing technology, a challenge to higher integration of large-scale integrated circuits places an increasing demand for miniaturization of circuit patterns. There are increasing demands for further reduction in size of circuit-constructing wiring patterns and for miniaturization of contact hole patterns for cell-constructing inter-layer connections. As a consequence, in the manufacture of circuit pattern-written photomasks for use in the photolithography of forming such wiring patterns and contact hole patterns, a technique capable of accurately writing finer circuit patterns is needed to meet the miniaturization demand.
In order to form a higher accuracy photomask pattern on a photomask substrate, it is of first priority to form a high accuracy resist pattern on a photomask blank. Since the photolithography carries out reduction projection in actually processing semiconductor substrates, the photomask pattern has a size of about 4 times the actually necessary pattern size, but an accuracy which is not loosened accordingly. The photomask serving as an original is rather required to have an accuracy which is higher than the pattern accuracy following exposure.
Further, in the currently prevailing lithography, a circuit pattern to be written has a size far smaller than the wavelength of light used. If a photomask pattern which is a mere 4-time magnification of the circuit feature is used, a shape corresponding to the photomask pattern is not transferred to the resist film due to influences such as optical interference occurring in the actual photolithography operation. To mitigate these influences, in some cases, the photomask pattern must be designed to a shape which is more complex than the actual circuit pattern, i.e., a shape to which the so-called optical proximity correction (OPC) is applied. Then, at the present, the lithography technology for obtaining photomask patterns also requires a higher accuracy processing method. The lithographic performance is sometimes represented by a maximum resolution. As to the resolution limit, the lithography involved in the photomask processing step is required to have a maximum resolution which is equal to or greater than the resolution limit necessary for the photolithography used in a semiconductor processing step using a photomask.
A photomask pattern is generally formed by forming a photoresist film on a photomask blank having a light-shielding film on a transparent substrate, writing a pattern using electron beam, and developing to form a resist pattern. Using the resulting resist pattern as an etch mask, the light-shielding film is etched into a light-shielding film pattern. In an attempt to miniaturize the light-shielding film pattern, if processing is carried out while maintaining the thickness of the resist film at the same level as prior to the miniaturization, the ratio of film thickness to feature width, known as aspect ratio, becomes higher. As a result, the resist pattern profile is degraded, preventing effective pattern transfer, and in some cases, there occurs resist pattern collapse or stripping. Therefore, the miniaturization must entail a thickness reduction of resist film.
As to the light-shielding film which is etched using the resist pattern as an etch mask, on the other hand, a number of light-shielding film materials have been proposed. In practice, chromium compound films are always employed because there are known a number of findings with respect to their etching and the standard process has been established. Typical of such films are light-shielding films composed of chromium compounds necessary for photomask blanks for ArF excimer laser lithography, which include chromium compound films with a thickness of 50 to 77 nm as described in Patent Documents 1 to 3.
However, oxygen-containing chlorine-base dry etching which is a common dry etching process for chromium based films such as chromium compound films often has a capability of etching organic films to some extent. If etching is carried out through a thin resist film, accurate transfer of the resist pattern is difficult. It is a task of some difficulty for the resist to have both a high resolution and etch resistance that allows for high accuracy etching. Then, for the purpose of achieving high resolution and high accuracy, the light-shielding film material must be reviewed so as to find a transition from the approach relying only on the resist performance to the approach of improving the light-shielding film performance as well.
Also, as to light-shielding film materials other than the chromium based materials, a number of studies have been made. One example of these studies is the use of tantalum in the light-shielding film for ArF excimer laser lithography, as described in Patent Document 4.
On the other hand, it has long been a common practice to use a hard mask for reducing the load on resist during dry etching. For example, Patent Document 5 discloses MoSi2 overlaid with a SiO2 film, which is used as an etch mask during dry etching of MoSi2 with chlorine-containing gas. It is described that the SiO2 film can also function as an antireflective coating.
From the past, studies have been made on metal silicide films, especially molybdenum silicide films, which can be readily etched under etching conditions for fluorine-base dry etching that causes few damages to resist film. They are disclosed, for example, in Patent Documents 5 to 7, all of which basically use a film of silicon and molybdenum=2:1. Also, Patent Document 8 discloses a metal silicide film, which has never been applied to commercial fabrication because of practical problems. In the commercial fabrication process, commonly used chromium-base light-shielding films are improved to accommodate further miniaturization.
Photomasks relying on the super-resolution technology include halftone and Levenson phase shift photomasks. When a photomask blank is processed into a photomask, a portion of light-shielding film causing a phase shift to light is removed. In this step, selective etching between the underlying film or substrate and the light-shielding film is necessary. Since commonly used chromium-base materials are superior in this sense, few studies have been made on the application of other materials.

Photomask blank, making method, and photomask


The imbricated product formation is fed to a wind-up location and is wound-up to form a product roll at this location. At the start of the wind-up operation the leading edge or end of the frontmost printed product is rolled back in a direction towards one side or surface of this frontmost printed product. The wind-up of the following printed products in the imbricated product formation is effected in the same product winding direction. At the end of the wind-up operation an elongated holding element or strapping band is laid around the completed product roll which then holds the product roll together and also possibly protects the same. The winding direction is selected in accordance with the predetermined structure of the imbricated product formation and results in a roll-shaped wound product package which, if desired, can be disassembled starting from the center thereof without the holding element or strapping band having to be released.

The present invention relates to a new and improved method of preparing a self-contained ready-for-shipment package of printed products arriving in an imbricated formation. The present invention also relates to a package of printed products produced in accordance with such method.
At times throughout this disclosure reference to such method and package will simply generally be made with reference to printed products. While the description to follow, as a matter of convenience, refers to the processing of printed products, obviously other types of products can be conveniently handled, and therefore, the use of this term is not to be construed in a limiting sense in any way whatsoever, but merely is to be viewed as an exemplary and desirable field of application for the inventive measures.
In a method for forming packages from printed products arriving in an imbricated formation as known, for example, from German Patent Publication No. 2,752,514 and from the corresponding U.S. Patent No. 4,140,052, the printed products are stacked in a vertical stacking compartment or chute. During formation of the product stack partial stacks or stack sections are placed in a cross-wise configuration upon one another. To obtain a sufficient stability of the stack formed from the superimposed stacked printed products the stack must be compressed during and/or at the end of the stacking operation. Subsequently, there is accomplished an intermediate transport of the stack formed of the printed products which are loosely placed one upon the other to a packing station at which the product package is provided with a protective cover constituted by, for example, a plastic foil by means of a wrapping machine. Then, the thus processed product package is provided with a strapping band. For the strapping operation, which frequently is performed in a cross-wise configuration, there is preferably used a cord or plastic strap or band.
As will be readily recognized from the aforementioned discussion, such a formation of packages ready-for-shipment requires a considerable expenditure with respect to apparatus and time. Additionally, the printed products must be compressed during the stacking operation and also during the strapping operation, as already mentioned. This is undesirable because during such compression there is the danger of smearing the printing ink which has not yet completely dried.
On the side of the receiver of the product package it is necessary to open the product package or package for removal of individual printed products therefrom. This requires releasing of the strapping band and in most cases, also removal of the protective cover. Apart from the work connected therewith the opening of the product package is associated with the disadvantage that the printed products are no longer held together in the product package which thus tends to fall apart. Furthermore, transporting of the opened printed product package to a different location may be quite troublesome or cumbersome unless the product package is restrapped prior thereto.
Other patents of interest are:
German Patent No. 2,207,556, published Aug. 30, 1983; PA1 British Patent No. 1,594,558, published July 30, 1981; PA1 British Patent No. 2,102,771, published Feb. 9, 1983; PA1 British Patent No. 2,121,772, published Jan. 4, 1984; PA1 British Patent No. 2,121,389, published Dec. 21, 1983; and PA1 British Patent No. 2,117,359, published Oct. 12, 1983.

Method of preparing a shipment package of printed products arriving in an imbricated formation and package obtained thereby


A system and method for controlling a vehicle headlamp, the headlamp being equipped with an automatic switching unit between high beam and low beam lighting modes and with a bending light function (DBL). The method comprises a step of making the bending light function (DBL) change from a first active state to a second state for detecting a combination of conditions comprising an active state of the automatic switching unit between high beam and low beam lighting modes and an active state of the high beam lighting mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a motor vehicle low beam and bending light headlamp. The invention also relates to a vehicle equipped with such a headlamp.
2. Description of the Related Art
The field of the invention is, generally, that of motor vehicle headlamps. In this field, various types of headlamp devices are known, which primarily include:
parking lights of low intensity and low range;
dipped or low beam lights of higher intensity and of a range on the road approaching 70 meters, which are mainly used at night and the light beam distribution of which is such that it is possible not to dazzle the driver of an oncoming vehicle;
long range high beam lights, the zone of vision of which on the road is near to 200 meters, and which must be turned off when passing another vehicle in order not to dazzle its driver;
fog-lights; and
dual-mode headlamps, which combine the functions of dipped lights and long range lights.
However, traditional headlamp devices which have just been described, more particularly high beam long range lights, produce light beams which are adaptable when these headlamp devices are used under certain conditions. Thus, a driver is sometimes confronted with situations in which the light beam produced by the low beam lights of his/her vehicle in their traditional configuration could be orientated and distributed in a better way to approach such situations; traditional configuration of a low beam type device is understood to mean the configuration which they are in when they do not have advanced functions, certain examples of which will be mentioned below.
For example, when a vehicle approaches a bend, the headlamps continue to illuminate straight in front of them whereas it would be more sensible to orientate the light beam in the direction of the bend being negotiated.
For this purpose, in addition to the principal functions of traditional, in particular low beam and high beam headlamps, various improvements have gradually appeared. Thus, the development has been seen of elaborate functions, or advanced functions, which include in particular DBL (dynamic bending light) headlamps, here also called headlamps with a bending light function, which enable the orientation of a light beam produced by a light source to be modified, so that when the vehicle approaches a bend, the road is illuminated in an optimum way.
Turning headlamps are understood to mean, in particular, headlamps configured to be able to turn.
On the other hand, the vehicle is also equipped with a system to detect obstacles. This can involve projecting a motif or extracting an object in an image of a camera-based system enabling headlights of oncoming vehicles to be detected.
If the vehicle is equipped with an automatic switching unit between the high beam and low beam lighting modes, and if the high beam lighting mode is in an active state, the camera has a second function: to switch off the high beam lighting mode when a car is detected on the road so as not to dazzle the driver.
The automatic switching systems between the high beam and low beam lighting modes use a camera with a fixed field of view and position. Thus, in certain situations, the oncoming vehicle is unable to appear in the field of view of the camera and therefore cannot to be detected and even so can already be in the high beam of the vehicle equipped with automatic switching between low and high beam. This results in a potential situation of dazzling the driver of the oncoming vehicle. This phenomenon can be worsened by the presence on the vehicle of a DBL bending light function.
When the DBL bending light function is in a default state, the beam of the camera and that of the headlamps essentially cover the same field. A default state is understood to mean the configuration which the headlamps are in when no bend in the road is detected. Obviously, if the DBL function makes the high beams of the headlamps turn after a bend is detected, the beam of the camera, which is fixed and always parallel to the vehicle's direction of travel, and the turning beam of the headlamps diverge from one another, likely to dazzle the drivers of oncoming vehicles since the camera cannot detect certain obstacles.
There is, therefore, a need to provide a system and method for controlling a headlight.

Method for controlling a vehicle headlamp


An aluminum alloy for a slide bearing of the present invention contains: 0 mass % or more and 10.0 mass % or less of Sn and 0 mass % or more and 5.0 mass % or less of Si, 0 mass % or more and 2.0 mass % or less of Cu as a solid-solution strengthening component, at least one of 0.05 mass % or more and 0.35 mass % or less of Cr, 0.05 mass % or more and 1.5 mass % or less of Mn, and 0.05 mass % or more and 0.3 mass % or less of Zr as a precipitation strengthening component, 2.3 mass % or more and 6.0 mass % or less of Ag, a part of which is dissolved to form a solid solution and the rest of which is precipitated, and the balance consisting of unavoidable impurities and Al.

An aluminum alloy for a slide bearing is known, which contains Mg, Ag, and Cu as solid-solution strengthening components, at least one of Cr, Mn, and Zr as a precipitation strengthening component, and the balance consisting of unavoidable impurities and Al (see Patent Literature 1). In Patent Literature 1, since the alloy can be strengthened by solid solution strengthening, a content of hard particles can be suppressed. As a result, frictional heat in the hard particles can be suppressed, and seizure resistance can be improved.

Aluminum alloy for slide bearing, and slide bearing


Systems and methods are provided for improved stability of driver amplifiers. In one example, a system includes an NMOSFET power device operable to generate a current signal at a drain terminal. The system further includes a current comparison amplifier operable to amplify a difference signal comprising a difference between a replica current signal of the NMOSFET power device and a reference current signal to drive a current comparison amplifier voltage output signal. The system further includes a PMOSFET clamp device comprising a source terminal coupled to a gate terminal of the NMOSFET power device operable to limit a voltage at the gate terminal of the NMOSFET power device responsive to the current comparison amplifier voltage output signal.

Many modern devices such as laptop computers, computer tablets, MP3 players, and smart phones provide high fidelity audio signals for internal or external speaker connectivity. Such systems may generate audio content digitally, convert the digital signal to an analog signal, amplify the analog signal, and deliver an amplified analog current signal to an audio transducer. In some high fidelity systems, a main stage driver amplifier circuit includes an over current protection circuit to limit a magnitude of an amplified current signal provided to a headphone speaker, for example. To prevent chip damage, over current protection circuits continuously monitor the amplified current signal provided to the headphone device. Unfortunately, conventional over current protection circuits may become unstable during an over current condition and require additional stabilizing elements such as a miller capacitor, for example, to maintain stability. However, addition of stabilizing capacitors may decrease bandwidth of the main stage driver amplifier circuit resulting in unwanted signal distortion and noise. Thus, a user may be subject to a less enjoyable experience using the headphone device. In view of the foregoing, there remains a need in the art for improved over current protection circuits that provide for improved over current protection stability and driver amplifier performance.

Over current protection with improved stability systems and methods


In a ventilation system, such as anaesthesia machines or ventilators for intensive care, provided with a hosed directed to patient, a breathable gas supplying tube, an exhaustion tube and an antibacterial/antiviral filtering device connected at one side to the hose and at the other side to the breathable gas supplying tube and to the exhaustion tube, the filtering device including a casing, provided with an inlet conduit connected to the breathable gas supplying tube, and an outlet conduit connected to the hose; the casing having at least two chambers having parallel axes, defined by at least a common wall, and in fluid connection one with the other.

The present invention relates to an antibacterial/antiviral filtering device for ventilation systems, such as anaesthesia machines or ventilators for intensive care.
Patients receiving respirator care are often susceptible to infection during the ventilation. For this reason, it is important to filter the air coming from the respirator from foreign bacteria, viruses, or the like. Also, it is very important to prevent the contamination of the ventilation system; a valuable solution is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,018.
Moreover, the air coming from the respirator is dry and has a relatively low temperature which would make the lungs dry up; should the air be not humidified before its introduction into the patient.
To achieve a solution for both the above problems, it has been proposed to provide a device in which the volume of the filter container is increased in order to achieve an adequate heat and moisture exchange capacity. For this reason, such a combination of heat/moisture exchanger and bacterial filter will be larger than in the case of a device comprising only a filter with the same filtering capacity. However, a larger volume increases the so called dead volume in the respiratory system of the patient. A larger dead volume in the respiratory system give rise to a greater degree of rebreathing of the patient""s exhalation air, resulting in a larger content of carbon dioxide in the air inhaled.
In document WO-A-93/16749 a filter is described which is provided, in a relatively small volume, with a large exchange surface. However, even this solution does not eliminate a certain dead volume in the ventilation system.
In document WO 98/22172 a method for providing assisted ventilation which avoids hypoxia and hypocapnia is disclosed, in which a predetermined dead space in an assisted ventilation system is provided to the patient. The method may also be used to create normocapnia or moderate hypercapnia without causing hypoxia during assisted ventilation. The device has a proximal terminal and a coaxial filter device. According to the said prior art device separated flow circuits are provided for the air inspired and for the air expired by the patient.
The main object of the present invention is therefore to provide a filtering device in which the problem of the dead volume is completely eliminated, thus allowing a much more operational liability of the ventilation apparatus.
A further object of the invention is to provide a filtering device of the kind above defined, which is able to provide heat and moisture to the airflow directed to the patient""s lungs.
A subject of the present invention is therefore an antibacterial/antiviral filtering device for ventilation systems, such as anesthesia machines or ventilators for intensive care, provided with a hose directed to patient. A breathable gas supplying tube, an exhaustion tube and an antibacterial/antiviral filtering device are connected at one side to the hose and at the other side to the breathable gas supplying tube and to the exhaustion tube. The filtering device also comprises a casing, provided with an inlet connected to the breathable gas supplying tube, and an outlet conduit connected to the hose. The filtering device is further characterized in that the casing comprises at least two chambers having parallel axes, which are defined by means of at least a common wall, and in fluid connection one with the other. A first chamber is in communication with the inlet conduit, and is provided with an antibacterial/antiviral filter. The second chamber is in communication with a conduit connected to the exhaustion tube, and with the conduit. The pressure of the inlet breathable gas is thus normally higher than that of the exhaled gas.

Antibacterial/antiviral filtering device for ventilation systems


Both controlling damage when assembling an ultrasonic probe using a chip formed with a capacitive ultrasonic transducer and securing operational reliability are achieved. In a semiconductor substrate on which the capacitive ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) is formed on a first primary surface, a protective film is formed on the surface of the ultrasonic transducer which is formed on the first primary surface of the semiconductor substrate which is then thinned by polishing a second primary surface opposite to the first primary surface of the semiconductor substrate, an ultrasonic transducer chip is cutout of the semiconductor substrate, a sound absorbing material is provided on the surface opposite to the surface formed with the ultrasonic transducer, and the protective film formed on the surface of the ultrasonic transducer is removed.

An ultrasonic probe using an ultrasonic transducer has been used for diagnosis of a tumor or the like in a human body by transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic wave.
An ultrasonic transducer using vibration of a piezoelectric body has been used. However, a capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) in which a vibration unit is manufactured on a silicon wafer has been actively developed for the purpose of practical use, as a result of advances in manufacturing techniques using a recent micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) technique. The CMUT has advantages in terms of a wide frequency band of an ultrasonic wave which can be used, and high sensitivity, compared to the ultrasonic transducer using the piezoelectric body in the related art. In addition, the CMUT is manufactured using an LSI processing technique, and therefore, it is possible to carry out microfabrication. As the related prior arts, there is, for example, PTL 1 or PTL 2 which has been previously filed by the inventor of this specification and relates to a simple structure of an ultrasonic transducer that improves the performance of ultrasonic wave transmission/reception.

Production method for ultrasonic probe, ultrasonic probe, and ultrasonic diagnosis device


A measuring apparatus is provided having an illumination unit including a source of electromagnetic radiation, fiber optic apparatus and sensing apparatus. The fiber optic apparatus includes first fiber optic structure having an input end for receiving at least a portion of electromagnetic radiation emitted from the radiation source and an output end for directing the received radiation to a web of material, and second fiber optic structure having an input end for receiving radiation reflected from the web of material and an output end for directing the reflected radiation to the sensing apparatus. The sensing apparatus includes a first detector for sensing electromagnetic radiation of a first wavelength band and generating a corresponding first output signal and a second detector for sensing electromagnetic radiation of a second wavelength band and generating a corresponding second output signal indicative of a first property to be measured of the web of material.

The present invention relates in general to instruments for measuring material properties and, more particularly, to an improved instrument for on-line measurement of material properties by scatter-mode multi-wavelength differential absorption spectroscopy.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,361 discloses a sensor for on-line coating measurements of a moving paper sheet. The sensor includes a light source for transmitting a beam of infrared radiation toward the moving sheet. The infrared radiation encompasses a broad range of wavelengths. Different coatings, such as clay and latex, as well as moisture absorb different wavelengths in varying amounts. In one embodiment, a receiver is located on the same side of the moving sheet as the source for measuring the intensity of the reflected portion of the beam radiation. The receiver comprises at least one beam splitter and a plurality of separate detectors. A band pass filter is associated with each detector to pass that portion of the spectrum falling within the pass band. Hence, a first band pass filter, associated with a first detector, passes wavelengths of the spectrum which are strongly absorbed by a first coating material, e.g., latex. A second band pass filter, associated with a second detector, passes wavelengths of the spectrum which are strongly absorbed by a second coating material, e.g., clay. A third band pass filter, associated with a third detector, passes wavelengths of the spectrum where the radiation is strongly absorbed by the base sheet, but is only weakly absorbed by the first and second coating components. A fourth band pass filter, associated with a fourth detector, passes wavelengths of the spectrum where the radiation is strongly absorbed by moisture.
A first disadvantage of the sensor disclosed in the '361 patent relates to the long paths from the radiation source to the paper sheet and from the paper sheet to the detectors. These long paths result in a decrease in the total amount of signal received by the detectors. A second disadvantage is that the path lengths to the various detectors are not the same, thereby resulting in the detectors having different fields of view. It is also noted that the reflected radiation should be aligned exactly along the axis of the beam splitter, which is problematic to accomplish.
A similar reflective infrared measuring apparatus is also known comprising a substantially clear window through which a light beam exits before impinging upon a moving substrate. Any dust on the window results in light being back scattered toward one or more radiation detectors. To prevent the scattered light from reaching the radiation detectors, a blocking member is provided in the sensor housing. While the blocking member functions to shield a significant portion of light scattered by dust, the blocking member also shields a portion of the light reflected from the moving substrate from reaching the detectors, which reduces the total sensed radiation scattered back by the substrate reducing the instrument signal-to-noise ratio. Further, because the light emitted by the source passes through a different area of the window as compared to the light scattered back by the substrate, the dust on the window, which is typically non-uniform in distribution, may influence the properties of the light impinging on the substrate differently than the properties of the light back scattered by the substrate. This sensor also suffers from the same first and second disadvantages noted above with regard to the sensor disclosed in the '361 patent.
There is a need for an improved infrared measuring apparatus wherein the path lengths to the detectors are substantially equal in length such that the detectors have substantially the same fields of view and the distances between the light source and the moving substrate and the moving substrate and the detectors are minimized.


The present invention discloses a method for treating wounds and for accelerating the healing of wounds by administering an effective amount of a pharmaceutical composition containing type VII collagen protein, mini-C7 protein, variants thereof or any combinations thereof. The pharmaceutical composition may be administered through a variety of routes including intravenous injection, topical application, or oral ingestion. The method may further include administering a genetically modified fibroblast capable of expressing type VII collagen protein, mini-C7 protein, variants thereof or small growth factors to achieve synergistic healing effect.

Healing wounds in human skins is a major medical problem, particularly in the elderly patient population. According to the Wound Healing Society, about 15% of older adults suffer from chronic, hard-to-heal wounds [1]. It is also estimated that about 18% of diabetic patients over the age of 65 years will have chronic, nonhealing skin ulcers [2]. To improve the healing process, researchers have been considering topically applying epidermal growth factor as a promising therapy. This therapy has been shown to accelerate wound closure of acute wounds in patients [3-5]. However, due to the high cost and other practical considerations, this strategy has not been commercially viable as a general solution for wound healing. So far, only platelet-derived growth factor has been approved by the Federal Drug Administration for treatment of nonhealing diabetic foot ulcers. Even with this therapy, practitioners have found it to be limiting and not always successful. One difficulty associated with the topical application of growth factors is that the wound bed is often laden with proteolytic enzymes which tend to degrade and nullify the applied agent.
To investigate better approaches of skin wound healing, various models of skin diseases have been used. In particular, a genetically inherited skin disease known as Dystrophic forms of Epidermolysis Bullosa (DEB) in children has provided valuable insights.
DEB is an incurable genetic disease caused by a gene defect in the gene that encodes for type VII collagen. Children who suffer from DEB are born with skin fragility, blistering, and repeated wounding and healing of their skin wounds [6]. In these children, their wounds will typically heal with fibrosis, scarring, and small epidermal inclusion cysts called milia. Because the outer epidermal layer of the DEB patient adheres poorly to the underlying dermal connective tissue, even the slightest trauma will cause epidermal-dermal disadherence. Therefore, DEB patients suffer from chronic skin wounds. Studies have found that the poor skin adherence is due to a defect in the gene which encodes for type VII (anchoring fibril) collagen (C7); a protein that serves to anchor the epidermis onto the dermis [7,8].
At the molecular level, C7 is composed of three identical alpha chains, each consisting of a 145-kDa central collagenous triple-helical segment, flanked by a large 145-kDa amino-terminal, non-collagenous domain (NC1), and a small 34-kDa carboxyl-terminal non-collagenous domain (NC2) [9,10]. Within the extracellular space, C7 molecules form antiparallel dimers which aggregate laterally to form anchoring fibrils. In normal skin, C7 forms anchoring fibrils ranging from about 200-700 nm in size that emanate from epidermal-dermal junction (EDJ) and extend perpendicularly down into the papillary dermis. In DEB patients, the EDJ is characterized by a paucity of normal anchoring fibrils. Based on the underlying etiology of the disease, one logical approach for treating the disease is to correct the genetic defect through gene therapy.
There are several recent studies related to ex vivo gene therapy for DEB. In the study by Oritz-Urda et at., COL7A1 cDNA was successfully and stably integrated into C7-null keratinocytes from recessive DEB (RDEB) patients using a phi C31 integrase-based non-viral gene transfer approach. By transplanting a human skin equivalent comprising these gene-corrected cells onto severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice, they showed that many of the RDEB features were corrected after gene transfer
In another study by the inventors of the present invention, a minimal lentiviral vector was developed to express C7 in RDEB keratinocytes and fibroblasts (in which C7 was absent). This construct was subsequently used to demonstrate the reversion of the RDEB cellular phenotype [12]. In this experiment, the gene-corrected RDEB cells and native un-corrected RDEB cells were used to create a composite human skin equivalent which was then transplanted onto SCID mice. It was shown that the transplanted human skin made with the gene-corrected RDEB cells (but not the control un-corrected RDEB cells) exhibited C7 at the EDJ and the RDEB skin phenotype was corrected. Moreover, in the skin equivalents composed of gene-corrected (but not gene-uncorrected) cells, the transgene-derived C7 also created anchoring fibril structures that were correctly organized into the basement membrane zone (BMZ) lying between the epidermis and dermis.
However, this type of ex vivo approach requires transplantation of gene-corrected cells onto surgically prepared sites of the patient's skin. The experience of using cultured keratinocyte autografts for transplantation onto human wounds had shown that this technology is often fraught with technical difficulties and poor graft take. Therefore, although this ex vivo type of therapy (i.e. gene correcting cells in culture and then transplanting them back as skin equivalents onto the DEB patient) is theoretically possible, the technical hurdles make it in-efficient, logistically difficult, expensive, labor-intensive and of limited efficacy.
As an alternative approach, a more straightforward "direct in vivo gene therapy" was developed. With this approach, DEB wounded skin is directly injected through intradermal injection with gene-corrected RDEB fibroblasts. The gene-corrected intradermally injected cells then set up residence in the DEB skin and synthesize and secrete C7 which is lacking in the DEB skin. Surprisingly, the secreted C7 in the extracellular dermal tissue, binds to the BMZ of the DEB skin and correctly organizes into anchoring fibril structures. Now, the DEB skin which previously lacked C7 and anchoring fibrils, now has these elements and the DEB skin phenotype is corrected. The poor epidermal-dermal adherence is now corrected. This is called "cell therapy" for DEB by the inventors. The inventors also showed that the same events would occur if they intradermally injected full-length or "mini-C7" into DEB skin, the injected C7 would bind to the BMZ of the DEB skin and form correctly-organized anchoring fibrils and correct the DEB skin phenotype. The inventors called this "protein therapy" for DEB.
Full-length C7 contains a 39 amino acid interruption in the helical sequence which forms site that is highly susceptible to degradation by protease. The mini-C7 was designed by the inventors to contain the intact noncollagenous domains, NC1 and NC2, and half of the central collagenous domain. By excluding the 39 amino acid interrupt, this mini-C7 is made highly stable. The enhanced stability of mini-C7 over native C7 may better withstand proteolytic digestion in RDEB wounds and provide a more sustained gene product in patients. The inventors have shown that the mini-C7 is highly resistant to proteolytic digestion and yet when injected into DEB skin behaves identically to the full-length C7 in that it will bind to the BMZ, create new anchoring fibril structures and correct the DEB skin phenotype. Thirdly, the inventors showed that rather than intradermally injecting RDEB gene-corrected cells or C7 itself into DEB skin, they could inject simply into the DEB skin the lentiviral vector expressing either the full-length C7 or mini-C7. In this case, the exogenously injected vector was taken up by the endogenous dermal fibroblasts within the dermis of the DEB skin. These endogenous fibroblasts which previously lacked the ability to make C7 or mini-C7, now could synthesize and secrete these large proteins into the dermal extracellular environment. There, the C7 or mini-C7 homed to the BMZ of the DEB skin, organized into anchoring fibril structures and corrected the DEB skin phenotype. The inventors called this "vector therapy" for DEB [13-16, the relevant portions thereof are incorporated herein by reference].
In recent experiments, the inventors have shown that the intradermal approach is highly efficient if the agents are delivered in the high papillary dermis using a 30 guage needle with the bevel oriented upward, using a volume between 2 microliters and 2 milliters and injected into four quadrants of DEB skin between 1×1 cm and 6×6 cm.
In a more recent study, the investigators evaluated the feasibility of protein therapy in a C7 null DEB mouse which recapitulates the clinical and ultrastructural features of human RDEB. The investigators intradermally injected purified human C7 (into the new born DEB mice with severe skin blistering and fragility and found that the injected human C7 transported and stably incorporated into the mouse's BMZ and formed anchoring fibrils. The restoration of C7 corrected the DEB murine phenotype as demonstrated by decreased skin fragility and blistering, reduced new blister formation and marked prolonged survival.
Despite the above mentioned advances, there are still no effective methods for treating DEB. Because patients with severe DEB have widespread lesions and multiple wounds spanning large areas of trauma-prone sites such as the sacrum, hips, feet, mouth, scalp, lower back and hands, the treatment of such DEB patients via any of the three above outlined direct intradermal injection approaches would require numerous injections into multiple wound sites. Accordingly, intradermal injections of the therapeutic agents outlined above (gene-corrected cells, recombinant forms of C7 or C7 expressing vectors) would require site-specific treatment of each and every wound by one or more intradermal injections. While this is doable, such a cumbersome method of treatment still leaves much to be desired. It would be ideal to offer patients with DEB or patients with multiple wounds a single therapy that will require only a single route of delivery but that will "home" to all of the wounds automatically upon delivery to correct the skin wounds located at scattered sites.
Therefore, there still exists a great need for better method of treating skin wounds in general and DEB in particular.


The testing circuit for testing internal nodes of a device includes storage for storing the test addresses of selected internal nodes in the device. A decoder responds to a test command from a microprocessor for selecting the test addresses from the storage and supplies the test addresses to an address bus in place of other addresses supplied to the address bus. A test decoder responds only to the test addresses on the address bus for enabling the transfer of data between the selected internal nodes in the data bus for testing the selected internal nodes.

This invention relates in general to the testing and diagnostics of devices, and in particular to systems for testing of the internal nodes of devices.
A semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) is a very complex device. The circuit comprises a multitude of electronic components in a silicon chip. A microprocessor-based IC is frequently a Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) component, with the number of internal logical components, typically transistors, ranging to more than 100,000. From the design of the IC to its final fabrication, a significant amount of time and effort is used for debugging the device. Testing and diagnostics are needed for design verification, for the checking of timing properties and for quality control in the fabrication process. In addition, testing and diagnostics allow more accurate information to be obtained about the actual performance of a device. Among other things, they allow easier design upgrades to be made to a device.
The IC is usually packaged with a limited number of external pins which are connected internally to the inputs or outputs of the IC chip in order to perform a variety and sometimes large number of functions. Because of the limited number of pins, often it is difficult to exhaustively test nodes buried within a circuit, particularly in the case of embedded state machines. Several methods are commonly used. One way is to use an IC tester for inputting special input sequences that must be followed in order to get certain designated internal nodes into specific test states, and to observe the effect as they propagate to the output pins. These test sequences are typically very different for different ICs and in some cases the IC cannot be driven to the state necessary for some types of tests. In the cases where the IC can be driven to the proper state, the input sequence necessary cannot be generated without using expensive and dedicated IC test equipment. Also the process is very time consuming when checking critical timing of the circuit, since the test sequences must be finely divided (micro-sliced) in order to resolve the timing difference.
Certain components in an integrated circuit are particularly difficult to test. Thus, typically the only way to write test data to a FIFO embedded within the receiver of a serial communications device is via a serial bit pattern which must be encoded in one of the established protocols recognized by the device. The data is then internally decoded and shifted onto a parallel bus before being loaded into the FIFO. Similarly, reading from the FIFO of a transmitter usually involves loading data into a shifter, serializing it, and encoding it into recognized data protocol. The output is a serial bit pattern. Designing a serial pattern for a tester, decoding and encoding, and shifting the data through the FIFO are all time consuming during testing of the device. The encoding and decoding make preparing the test patterns a long process.
One way of testing the internal nodes in a device is to use microprobing techniques which are slow, piecemeal and require expensive equipment.
Another common method of testing the internal nodes related to such embedded state machines is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,441,075 issued to M. T. McMahon, U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,066 issued to P. Goel et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,504,784 issued to P. Goel et al. The method is to include extra logic at the inputs of all flip-flops in the IC that, in test mode, forms a long shift register out of these flip-flops. Data is then shifted serially through this shifter to exercise the random logic between the flip-flops. This obviously takes a significant amount of time and does not make use of existing hardware such as the parallel bus interface on a bus oriented device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,586 issued to Magar et al. discloses various test modes for a microprocessor IC chip. In one example, the internal program in the ROM may be read out on the data bus, one opcode at a time, for test purposes without executing the opcodes. The test mode is triggered by an abnormally high voltage forced onto one of the input pins of the device. This disables normal functions and allows a dump of the contents in the normally inaccessible ROM onto the data bus.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the invention to provide improved accessibility to the internal nodes via the bus of an IC device under test mode.
It is another object of the invention to provide addressibility to certain sets of internal nodes which are to be accessed.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a test mode which selects alternative paths for reading data from an addressed set of internal nodes while allowing for the normal functioning of the device.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a test mode which selects alternative paths for writing test data to an addressed set of internal nodes while allowing for the normal functioning of the device.


Throttle valve assembly having a servomotor to control the closure of the throttle valve flap in the range of from 0.degree. to about 4.degree.-15.degree. in accord with predetermined criteria. Wider opening is controlled by the driver actuating the gas pedal. Upon sudden release of the gas pedal, mechanical linkage permits the throttle flap to close to a preset opening in the range of approximately 4.degree.-15.degree., and thereafter the servo permits delayed or timed closing to 0.degree. (plus idle setting). A setting control unit is provided to permit a full range of idle control adjustments. The setting control unit also provides a solenoid stop in the event of failure of the servo motor, and also for cruise control setting. Desired value and actual throttle opening value transmitters provide signals to a microprocessor which integrates the information into control of the servo and the stop assembly solenoid. The servo also prevents stalling and hesitation upon rapid depressing of the gas pedal through preprogrammed opening of the throttle by means of the servo. The microprocessor can also control the throttle based on additional inputs from engine operating conditions, load conditions, wheel spin, angle slip, and the like, to provide optimum engine operation and fuel economy.

An example of an internal Combustion engine having a throttle valve of the general type has been described in DE-OS No. 37 11 779. The throttle valve described therein is controlled by a conventional mechanical throttle linkage and an electronic servomotor. Electronic control of the gas pedal is achieved by using the servomotor to control the throttle valve operation between the phases of the completely closed position and the maximum open position. When the gas pedal is not being depressed, the mechanical throttle linkage will fully close the throttle valve. In the event of a failure of the servomotor, the throttle valve is still fully operable by the manual override capability of the mechanical throttle valve linkage.
However, this servomotor controlled throttle valve operation does not adequately control idle fuel injection. For instance, when the throttle valve is completely closed (i.e. during idle conditions), it is being controlled by the mechanical linkage rather than the servomotor. The engine does not respond quickly to a sudden depression of the gas pedal because of the slight delay inherent in the mechanical linkage involved in opening the throttle valve.
It is desirable to keep the throttle valve open a slight degree (preferably between 0.degree.-10.degree.) during idle conditions to ensure that the engine remains ready to move, and to allow the throttle valve to completely close when the engine is turned off.
Imprecise or inadequate control of the throttle valve usually results in a momentary stall during an acceleration from the idle condition. Thus, there is a definite need in the art to improve engine operating engine performance, and fuel efficiency through more precise control of throttle valve operation.

Method and apparatus for throttle valve control in internal combustion engines


The specification describes a modular gun-rack comprising a stock securing unit 1 and a barrel support unit 26. The stock securing unit comprises one or more modular units 2 and the barrel support unit 26 comprises one or more tubular elements 27. Each modular unit comprises a frame having two vertically oriented tubes 5 and 8 and a cross-bar 11. The frame of the upper most modular unit 4 is completed by a cross member 16. The top of each tube defines a sleeve that is capable of receiving a spigot 14, 15 at the bottom of each tube. The lowermost inner tube 5 is secured to a wall by means of a screw. Access to the screw-hole and head of the screw can be gained through hole 34 in the outer face of tube 5 prior to insertion of cross-bar 11 into hole 34. In use tube 5 is secured to a wall by means of a screw, access to which is gained through hole 34. Cross-bar 11 is inserted through the trigger guard of a gun and inserted into hole 34. Cross-member 16 having a spigot 18 at one end and a flange 18 at the other is inserted into the sleeves defined by the tops of tubes 5 and 8 such that flange 18 protrudes from slot 20. Alternatively, further units 3 and 4 can be assembled above unit 2 and the cross-member 16 inserted into the sleeves defined by the tops of tubes 7 and 10. The other end of cross-bar 11 is then inserted into a corresponding hole in the internal face of tube 8 and locked in position by lock 25.

The present invention relates to gun racks.
As gun laws in countries around the world are tightened there is a growing demand for racks that are capable of securing guns to prevent their theft and misuse. However, gun racks currently available in the marketplace are designed for a set member of guns. Thus, if the gun owner has less than the set member the rack is wasteful, or alternatively, if the owner acquires more guns than the spaces available in the rack, a new rack with sufficient space has to be purchased. The capacity of racks currently available on the market cannot be expanded in a modular fashion.


A tool for use in automatically installing a helical coil insert to a preselected depth in a tapped hole formed in a workpiece. The tool includes a tubular tool body carrying an insert near its lower end, and a mandrel threadedly received in the tool body for engaging the insert and rotatably advanced into the tapped hole by a driver device. An adjusting sleeve encircles the mandrel and is threaded to a selected position in the tool body, to serve as a stop for further advancement of the mandrel, thereby controlling the depth to which the insert is installed. The sleeve's position can be adjusted quickly and conveniently without disassembling the front assembly of the tool from the driver device.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to tools for installing helical coil inserts into tapped holes, and, more particularly, to tools having means for adjusting the depths to which such inserts are installed without requiring disassembling the front portion of the tool from the back end of the tool.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Helical coil inserts are commonly installed into tapped holes of a workpiece such that threaded fasteners, e.g., screws, thereafter can be held more securely. The inserts are frequently installed in relatively soft materials such as aluminum, to improve the gripping of threaded fasteners made of relatively hard materials such as various steel alloys.
Helical coil inserts of this kind are usually installed by compressing them into a smaller diameter and then rotatably threading them into the tapped holes. Once installed, the inserts expand from their compressed diameters and thereby press radially outwardly against the tapped holes and are held securely in place.
Tools for installing the helical coil inserts are typically driven by an air motor and include a tubular tool body having a threaded opening extending along its axis and having means at one end for carrying an insert. A mandrel is received within the threaded opening and is rotatably advanced by the air motor into engagement with the insert. Further advancement of the mandrel forces the insert through a prewinder, which reduces the insert's diameter, and from there into a tapped hole in an adjacent workpiece.
The insertion depth of the helical coil wire insert is controlled by limiting the distance to which the mandrel can be advanced. Typically, this has been accomplished using sleeve of a desired length which is positioned between the tubular tool body and a flange on the mandrel. In order to change the insert's installation depth, the mandrel had to be removed from the tool body and a different-length sleeve or spacer put in position around the mandrel. An exemplary tool of this kind is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,111,751 to Eddy.
The need to remove the mandrel from the tool body in order to adjust the insert's installation depth is unduly time consuming. This has been a particular problem when a large number of inserts have to be installed at a variety of depths.
Another approach has also been used previously, with equal difficulty. A stop collar has been used to limit the distance the mandrel could travel and thereby set the depth to which the helical coil insert could be installed. A set screw secured the collar in a selected position on the mandrel, but the collar would often slide up or down the mandrel after repeated use, because of vibrational forces and the force of the collar jamming against the tool body.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,270 to Czarnowski discloses an installation tool that quickly and conveniently allows the adjustment and setting of insertion depths without, inter alia, having to disengage the mandrel from the tool body. The tool includes a tubular tool body having a threaded opening extending along its axis and having means at its leading end for carrying a helical coil insert, in alignment with the threaded opening. A mandrel is located in the threaded opening for engagement with the insert, and driving means applies a torque to the mandrel sufficient to install the insert into a tapped hole. The tool further includes a sleeve threadedly received in the threaded opening of the tubular body, encircling the mandrel. The sleeve is engaged by an annular shoulder on the driving means, to prevent further advancement of the driving means and mandrel and thereby limit the depth to which the insert is installed in the tapped hole. The insertion depth can be adjusted by controllably threading the sleeve into or out of the tool body. The sleeve has two flats interrupting the threads, on opposite sides of the sleeve. A set screw threaded through the tubular body can be tightened against one of the flats to secure the sleeve's position within the tool body.
Although the tool disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,270 provides significant advantages over prior installation tools, the fact that the front end assembly must be removed from the adapter to expose the slotted upper end of the sleeve to a spanner wrench which in turn grips and threadedly turns the sleeve into or out of the tool body increases the required set-up time during installation of the inserts into workpieces of various thicknesses.
There is thus a need for an installation tool for helical coil inserts that quickly and conveniently allows the adjustment and setting of insertion depths. In particular, there is a need for a tool that can be adjusted without having to disengage the mandrel driver from the rest of the tool body to reduce the setup times for insert installation.

Installation tool for helical coil inserts


A driveline component breather system that utilizes a first and a second valve assembly to control the intake and exhaustion of fluid within the driveline component to regulate internal pressures is provided. When the pressure within the driveline component increases the first valve closes or remains closed and the second valve opens and fluid is exhausted to the atmosphere. When the pressure within the driveline component decreases, the first valve opens and the second valve closes and fluid flows into the driveline component from an interior portion of an associated vehicle.

A. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to the art of methods and apparatuses regarding the manufacture of vehicle drive trains, and more specifically to the art of methods and apparatuses regarding ventilation or breather systems of vehicle drive train driveline components.
B. Description of the Related Art
It is known to use on-demand four wheel drive systems with sport utility vehicles. These sport utility vehicles allow for a relatively reduced weight and increased fuel efficiency without sacrificing four wheel drive performance characteristics. Commonly, the on-demand four wheel drive system employs a clutch mechanism inside the rear differential housing as a torque transfer device. It is known that most driveline components, such as the rear differential, comprise interior components, located within a differential housing assembly, that are required to rotate at very high speeds. These interior components are capable of reaching rotational speeds in excess of 5,000 rotations per minute (rpm) during operation of the associated vehicle. These components require constant immersion in a lubricating fluid and commonly, are bathed in a fluid sump. The interior portions of the differential housing assembly often undergo severe temperature changes ranging from atmospheric temperature to considerably higher temperatures dependent upon the severity of use. Due to the differential housing being generally sealed to prevent loss of lubricant and to prevent foreign particles from entering the interior portion of the housing, the noted temperature changes causes corresponding temperature changes in the lubricant. These temperature changes are reflected in pressure changes within the housing. The temperature and pressure changes can inflict severe strain on the housing seals resulting in premature wear of and even complete failure of the seals. In addition, the high temperatures sustained in pressure build-up within the housing can be detrimental to the moving parts within the housing in causing premature wear or failure of these parts and in addition can undesirably heat other assemblies located near the housing.
It is known to use a ventilation system in conjunction with a vehicle driveline component such as the rear differential. The ventilation system vents the high pressure building within the interior portion of the driveline component to the atmosphere in order to allow the components to operate at or as near to atmospheric pressure as possible. The operation of the driveline component at or near atmospheric pressure ensures the longer life of the seals within the driveline components. The inlet to the ventilation system must be located in a dry, vented area in order to meet performance and marketability requirements. The inlet must be located in a position that does not permit water or other debris to enter through the inlet during vehicle operations, specifically, four wheel drive operations such as off-road driving, water fording, and boat launching. Conventionally, the inlet is coupled to the underside portion of the vehicle body and during four wheel driver operations, the inlet is often positioned under or surrounded by water.

Two valve breather system for rear differential


A vehicle includes a shift sensor and an ECU that switches a shift range based on a combination of shift signals received from the shift sensor. The ECU includes a determining unit and a switching unit. The determining unit determines, based on how a shift signal pattern has changed (the number and type of shift signals that have changed), whether or not to execute first fail-safe traveling in which a shift range before occurrence of a shift abnormality is maintained. In the event of a shift abnormality, in a case where execution of the first fail-safe traveling is permitted, the switching unit executes the first fail-safe traveling to maintain a shift range before occurrence of the shift abnormality, and in a case where execution of the first fail-safe traveling is prohibited, the switching unit executes second fail-safe traveling to switch a shift range to an N range.

A vehicle that employs a shift-by-wire scheme in which a shift range is switched based on a result of electrical detection of the position of a shift lever has been known.
Regarding such a vehicle, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-289067 (PTL 1), for example, discloses a technique of permitting a vehicle to move in a neutral range in a case where there is an abnormality in a parking range, yet the neutral range is normal, on the precondition that a driver is depressing a brake pedal.


The present invention provides a field programmable universal serial bus application specific integrated circuit and a method of operation thereof. In one advantageous embodiment, the field programmable universal serial bus application specific integrated circuit includes a universal serial bus function core configured to transmit and receive data via a universal serial bus and a programmable logic core having an array of dynamically configurable arithmetic logic units. The programmable logic core is configured to interface with the universal serial bus function core and implement at least one application level function capable of performing protocol conversion to at least one processor bus protocol.

The present invention is directed, in general, to integrated circuits and, more specifically, to a field programmable universal serial bus application specific integrated circuit and a method of operation thereof.
Today many computer systems, such as personal computers, include Universal Serial Bus (USB) technology. USB is a Plug-and-Play and Hot-Plugable interface for connecting a computer system to external devices, such as printers, scanners, keyboards, mice, telephones, and digital cameras. Plug-and-Play refers to the ability of a computer system to automatically configure and install the software drivers needed to communicate with the device plugged into the USB interface. Accordingly, with plug and play, there is no need to configure switches, jumpers, or other elements. HotPlugable refers to the ability to add and remove devices to the USB while the computer system is running and have the operating system automatically recognize the change. USB is expected to replace serial and parallel ports and become the preferred means of connecting low and medium bandwidth peripherals.
Typically, a USB supports data transfer rates of up to 12 Mbps (12 million bits per second) and a single USB port can accommodate up to 127 devices, such as mice, modems and keyboards. USB devices typically consist of peripheral function logic, a USB logical device, and the USB interface. A variety of different USB interfaces exist which would prove useful for a number of applications. However, design flexibility problems limit the implementation of USB interfaces.
Two main devices employed within USB interfaces are Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chips and Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) chips, each having its own benefits and limitations. FPGAs provide a great degree of flexibility when employed within a USB interface. Analogous with their name, FPGAs are field programmable devices that employ programmable gates to allow various configurations and can be reprogrammed in the field. This provides the ability to determine and correct any errors which may not have been detectable prior to use. Additionally, the FPGAs may be reprogrammed to accommodate new devices connected thereto.
One of the most noticeable drawbacks of an FPGA, however, is unfavorable performance. While FPGAs may be reprogrammed if a performance issue or an error is detected, this is not always the best solution to the problem. For example, depending on certain factors, an integrated device that may not be reprogrammed may be desired over a device that may be reprogrammed. One such factor may be the latency tolerable in the circuit. Also, compared to other interfaces, FPGAs experience certain density and speed limitation issues. The speed limitation may be attributed to the re-programmable nature of the FPGA""s gates.
As previously stated, ASIC chips are also commonly used and implemented as part of USB interfaces. Compared to FPGAs, ASIC chips are regarded in the industry as being very fast and providing a high performance guarantee. However, ASIC chips also experience certain limitations. One of the main limitations of ASIC chips, and probably the most notable deterrent to using them more frequently, is their inability to be reprogrammed. Because they cannot be reprogrammed, an extremely large amount of time and money must be provided upon inception of design and manufacture.
One of the most common concerns for digital designers for ASIC products is achieving optimum design flexibility without sacrificing performance. In order to support multiple interfaces or increased functionality, designers are typically forced to instantiate almost every conceivable functionality or interface at the expense of the product size and cost. Otherwise, the potential functionality or interface flexibility of the production product will be sacrificed.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a USB interface device that includes the benefits of prior art FPGAs and ASIC chips, however, a USB interface device that does not experience their drawbacks.
To address the above-discussed deficiencies of the prior art, the present invention provides a field programmable universal serial bus application specific integrated circuit and a method of operation thereof. In one embodiment, the field programmable universal serial bus application specific integrated circuit includes: (1) a universal serial bus function core configured to transmit and receive data via a universal serial bus and (2) a programmable logic core having an array of dynamically configurable arithmetic logic units. The programmable logic core is configured to interface with the universal serial bus function core and implement at least one application level function capable of performing protocol conversion to at least one processor bus protocol.
In another embodiment, the present invention provides a method of operating a field programmable universal serial bus application specific integrated circuit that includes: (1) configuring a programmable logic core, having an array of dynamically configurable arithmetic logic units, to interface with a universal serial bus function core and implement at least one application level function capable of performing protocol conversion to at least one processor bus protocol, (2) transmitting and receiving data via a universal serial bus with the universal serial bus function core.
The present invention also provides, in one advantageous embodiment, a universal serial bus protocol adapter system that includes a field programmable universal serial bus application specific integrated circuit having: (1) a universal serial bus function core that transmits and receives data via a universal serial bus, and (2) a programmable logic core having an array of dynamically configurable arithmetic logic units. The programmable logic core interfaces with the universal serial bus function core and implements at least one application level function capable of performing protocol conversion to at least one processor bus protocol. The universal serial bus protocol adapter system further includes a host processor that receives and transmits data with the field programmable universal serial bus application specific integrated circuit in the at least one processor bus protocol, and at least one universal serial bus transceiver, coupled to the field programmable universal serial bus application specific integrated circuit, that provides a physical interface to at least one peripheral device coupled to the universal serial bus.
The foregoing has outlined preferred and alternative features of the present invention so that those skilled in the art may better understand the detailed description of the invention that follows. Additional features of the invention will be described hereinafter that form the subject of the claims of the invention. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that they can readily use the disclosed conception and specific embodiment as a basis for designing or modifying other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. Those skilled in the art should also realize that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention in its broadest form.

Field programmable universal serial bus application specific integrated circuit and method of operation thereof


In accordance with the present application, a method and system is provided for measuring an amount of surface material on a wire. A section of the wire and a beam generating device configured to generate a high energy beam are placed in a positional relationship with each other. The relationship permits a high energy beam generated from the beam generating device to impinge upon a location on the section of the wire. A reflected beam from the high energy beam is reflected from the section of the wire and is detected by a detector positioned at a location to receive the reflected beam. The beam received by the detector is investigated to determine the characteristics of the surface material on the wire.

The present application is directed to the measurement of material on the surface of an object, and more particularly, to the measuring of the amount of a substance on a wire, such as automatic welding wire.
To improve the welding process, the welding wire has a thin substance layer applied to its surface. The substance layer may be a lubricant such as oil. The amount of lubricant on the welding wire is known to have a direct impact on the overall welding process, and the amount and type can vary dependent on a variety of parameters including the type of wire, the type of welding process, as well as the material which is to be welded. The surface of the welding wire may also carry contaminants or residuals from the wire forming process. As shown in FIG. 1, uncoiled drawn welding wire 10, which has been drawn down to its final size, is passed through an applicator 12, which applies a layer of oil 14 or other lubricant to the outer surface of welding wire 10.
It has been noted above that lubrication of welding wire is beneficial in the welding process. In particular, oil or other lubricants provide at least two functions. In an automatic welding environment, the welding wire is automatically fed through a cable into a gun or torch. The cable may be of a significant length, therefore oil or other lubricant is used to lubricate the cable assembly as the wire is pushed through the cable to the gun or torch during the welding process. Additionally at times, stabilizers are used with the oil or lubricant for a smoother welding process.
To gain the benefit of the oil or lubricant application process, certain specifications need to be met. For example, an appropriate amount of oil or lubricant must be on the surface. Additionally, other specifications may permit only a certain amount of contaminants, or certain levels of additives or residual from the wire forming process. Testing is therefore undertaken to determine whether the oil, lubricant, additives, contaminants or residual material on the surface of the wire are within specifications determined to be desirable for a particular wire. Presently, the primary technique for performing the measurements, is by a crude weight loss technique. This technique can only be undertaken after the wire manufacturing process has been completed, and thus only provides results for a small fraction of the wire produced. The technique is also non-specific to the oil or lubricant, and is subject to errors resulting from sample preparation or the presence of other materials removed during the test.
Once the wire has been drawn and oiled, it is wound in large coils, such as coil 16 of FIG. 2, which may have thousands of feet of the drawn and oiled wire. The present testing process requires someone to unwind a portion of the coiled wire and either inspect a portion of the wire, including measuring the amount of oil on the surface, and/or taking a sample of the oil to thereafter measure characteristics of the oil such as the viscosity, oil composition, contaminants or other substances.
If this testing determines the oil is out of specification, additional wire is unwrapped from the coil and further testing is undertaken. In some situations, it may be necessary to unwrap the coil a number of times, peeling off 100 to 200 pounds of wire to perform these tests. This process goes on until the tested oil or lubricant is found to be within specification.
The foregoing testing procedure is cumbersome and tedious, as well as inefficient. Additionally, it is possible that during the application of the oil or other lubricant, the application process may go in and out of specification. Therefore, even if it is determined a portion of the wire is within specification, at a point further back on the coil the application process may have been out of specification, so there is no assurance the entire coil is within specification.
In consideration of the above, it is desirable to provide a method and system for measuring the amount of surface material on a wire, which permits for a faster, and more accurate measurement.

Spectroscopic analysis technique for measuring the amount of surface material on wire