A pre-formed insulated wall construction unit comprising a support framework utilizing spaced, spanning members mounted between upper and lower cross members to form a wall unit having a series of open compartments with opposed side edges defined by the spaced, spanning members and opposed end edges defined by the upper and lower cross members. The open compartments are occupied by rigid insulation with grooves cut about the insulation's edges. The opposed side edges and the opposed end edges of the compartments have an attached sealing strip with a T shaped cross-section, the head of the T being an attachment flange to secure the strip to a framework member, and the leg of the T being an engagement flange formed with flexible angled fingers to seal in the grooves in the rigid insulation in order to hold the insulation securely within each open compartment and seal the edges of the insulation. In a second embodiment, the sealing strip is formed from a rigid plane member sandwiched between two longitudinal members such that the protruding edges of the plane member act as a sealing strip.

Numerous pre-fabricated wall construction units are known in the building industry. Methods of insulating these wall units include pouring shavings between wall studs or inserting fiberglass insulation or rock wool inside the wall framework. The main drawback of the foregoing wall construction units is their high cost and the difficulty of manufacturing the units. As well, the insulation methods employed do not completely seal the walls so that the units are not as energy efficient as possible.

Prefabricated construction unit with insulation


A composite video imaging device and related method are provided wherein a first and a second video signal, each of which respresents a plurality of lines of video data, are received and converted into corresponding first and second pixel data signals. The first and second pixel data signals are stored by a first and second storage means at a first and a second frequency, respectively, the loading of the first and second pixel data signals occurring independent of one another to permit the first and second pixel data signals to correspond to first and second video signals with different line and/or frame frequenices. Control means are provided for selecting the first or the second pixel data signal for each pixel to be displayed on a monitor and for delivering each selected pixel data signal to the monitor for display of a resultant composite video image.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for providing a composite video image for display on a monitor, and specifically to a method and apparatus which permit first and second video signals having different line and/or frame frequencies to be selectively displayed on the monitor.
2. Background Information
In previously known systems, in order for a video signal having a first frequency to be delivered to a monitor for display at a second frequency of the first frequency, it is necessary to use two different memory units. While the video signal is being written into the first memory unit at the first frequency, the video signal is being read from the second memory unit at the second frequency. Similarly, while the video signal is being written into the second memory unit at the first frequency, the video signal is being read from the first memory unit at the second frequency. An example of such a device is given below.
These known systems, however, require that the second or output frequency be equal to, or a multiple of, first or input frequency so that the frequency of the output video signal will be synchronized to the frequency of the input video signal. As a result, such previously known systems could not be used to display a composite video image of two or more asynchronous video signals on a monitor.

Composite video image device and related method


An eyeglass structure includes a lens frame and a pair of articulated temples mounted by a respective first hinge pin to one and the other side of the frame, the temples rotating relative to the pin and about a first axis towards and away from one another. The articulated temples each include forward and rearward sections having mating portions that are frictionally engaged and a second hinge pin that connects the sections together for rotation about a second axis, transverse to the first axis thereof, and between a first in use position, wherein the lenses and frame are in position with the eyes, and a stored second position, wherein the lenses and frame are moved up and away from the eyes and seated on the forehead. The second hinge pin operates to increase the frictional gripping force between the mating portions to maintain the sections in a desired angle to one another.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an eyeglass-adjusting device, and more particularly, to a mid-temple hinge arrangement wherein to permit the eyeglass lenses to be moved upwardly and away from normal relationship with the eyes of the wearer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional eyeglass consists of a frame, and a pair of temples, and is mounted on the human head in a manner that like end portions of the temples fit about the ears of the wearer and against the sides of the head, a mid-portion of the frame is supported atop the nose, and lenses retained in the frame are juxtaposed with and in front of the wearer's eyes.
Constant wearing of the eyeglass places weight on the nose and may in some cases lead to eyestrain. The weight of the frame may lead to discomfort such as headaches and wearing of the skin. Pressure on the nose may lead to congestion.
Many solutions have been proposed for an eyeglass arrangement, which is simple and yet addresses the need of the user in having lens available for vision and reading when needed.
Among the solutions, are headbands, such as used by miners, dentists and the like wherein a light and eyepiece may be used to increase the visibility of a work area. These are unsightly. Typically, the wearer of eyeglasses is desirous that the eyeglass be as unobtrusive as is possible.
Further, the user oftentimes does not want to remove the eyeglass. While such removal may reduce pain and fatigue, such removal increases the likelihood if inadvertently stepping or sitting on the glasses, or mislaying them.
There is a need for an eyeglass that addresses the need for the wearer of an eyeglass with an arrangement that enables the lenses and their retainer frame to be removed from operable relation with the eyes, seated atop the nose, and in a manner that obviates the dangers of removing the eyeglasses entirely.


The invention relates to a method for transmitting data packets between an eNodeB and a mobile node (MN) when simultaneously using the HARQ protocol with soft-combining for unicast and multicast transmissions. Unicast transmissions are assigned to HARQ processes by the eNB, whereas multicast transmissions need to be assigned to a HARQ process by the MN. According to a first aspect, the soft-buffer memory is strictly separated into a unicast and multicast section, and HARQ protocol operations for unicast and multicast are independent. Due to the separation, the eNB can still correctly assign the unicast transmissions to a HARQ process. According to a second aspect, the soft-buffer is not separated but commonly used for unicast and multicast. However, in order for the eNB to still be able to correctly assign the unicast transmissions to a free HARQ process, the MN assigns the multicast transmission depending on a rule, known also to the eNB.

W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) is a radio interface for IMT-2000 systems (International Mobile Telecommunication system), which was standardized for use as the 3rd generation wireless mobile telecommunication system. It provides a variety of services such as voice services and multimedia mobile communication services in a flexible and efficient way. The standardization bodies in Japan, Europe, USA and other countries have jointly organized a project called the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to produce common radio interface specifications for W-CDMA.
The standardized European version of IMT-2000 is commonly called UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System). The first release of the specification of UMTS has been published in 1999 (Release 99). In the mean time several improvements to the standard have been standardized by the 3GPP in Release 4, Release 5 and Release 6.
A first step in enhancing or evolving this technology entails introducing High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and an enhanced uplink, also referred to as High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), giving a radio-access technology that is highly competitive.
However, knowing that user and operator requirements and expectations will continue to evolve, the 3GPP has begun considering the next major step or evolution of the 3G standard to ensure the long-term competitiveness of 3G.
The 3GPP recently launched a study item "Evolved UTRA and UTRAN" better known as "Long Term Evolution (LTE)". The study will investigate means of achieving major leaps in performance in order to improve service provisioning, and to reduce user and operator costs. It is generally assumed that Internet Protocols (IP) will be used in mobility control, and that all future services will be IP-based. Therefore, the focus of the evolution is on enhancements to the packet-switched (PS) domain of legacy UMTS systems.
The main objectives of the evolution are to further improve service provisioning, and reduce user and operator costs, as already mentioned. More specifically, some key performance, capability and deployment requirements for the long-term evolution (LTE) are inter alia:                significantly higher data rates compared to HSDPA and HSUPA (envisioned are target peak data rates of more than 100 Mbps over the downlink and 50 Mbps over the uplink),        Mean user throughput improved by factors 2 and 3 for respectively uplink (UL) and downlink (DL),        high data rates with wide-area coverage,        cell-edge user throughput improved by a factor 2 for uplink and downlink,        uplink and downlink spectrum efficiency respectively improved by factors 2 and 3,        significantly reduced latency in the user plane in the interest of improving the performance of higher layer protocols (for example, TCP) as well as reducing the delay associated with control plane procedures (for instance, session setup), and        stand-alone system operation in spectrum allocations of different sizes ranging from 1.25 MHz to 20 MHz.
One other deployment-related requirement for the long-term evolution study is to allow for a smooth migration to these technologies.
The ability to provide high bit rates is a key measure for LTE. Multiple parallel data stream transmission to a single terminal, using multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) techniques, is one important component to reach this. Larger transmission bandwidth and at the same time flexible spectrum allocation are other pieces to consider when deciding what radio access technique to use. The choice of adaptive multi-layer OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing), Adaptive Multi Layer (AML)-OFDM, in downlink will not only facilitate to operate at different bandwidths in general but also large bandwidths for high data rates in particular. Varying spectrum allocations, ranging from 1.25 MHz to 20 MHz, are supported by allocating corresponding numbers of AML-OFDM subcarriers. Operation in both paired and unpaired spectrum is possible as both time-division and frequency-division duplex is supported by AML-OFDM.
OFDM with Frequency-Domain Adaptation
The AML-OFDM-based downlink has a frequency structure based on a large number of individual sub-carriers with a spacing of 15 kHz. This frequency granularity facilitates to implement dual-mode UTRA/E-UTRA terminals. The ability to reach high bit rates is highly dependent on short delays in the system and a prerequisite for this is short sub-frame duration. Consequently, the LTE sub-frame duration is set as short as 1 ms in order to minimize the radio-interface latency. In order to handle different delay spreads and corresponding cell sizes with a modest overhead, the OFDM cyclic prefix length can assume two different values. The shorter 4.7 ms cyclic prefix is enough to handle the delay spread for most unicast scenarios. With the longer cyclic prefix of 16.7 ms very large cells, up to and exceeding 120 km cell radiuses, with large amounts of time dispersion can be handled. In this case, the length is extended by reducing the number of OFDM symbols in a sub-frame.
The basic principle of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is to split the frequency band into a number of narrowband channels. Therefore, OFDM allows transmitting data on relatively flat parallel channels (subcarriers) even if the channel of the whole frequency band is frequency selective due to a multipath environment. Since the subcarriers experience different channel states, the capacities of the subcarriers may vary and permit a transmission on each subcarrier with a distinct data-rate. Hence, subcarrier wise (frequency domain) Link Adaptation (LA) by means of Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC) increases the radio efficiency by transmitting different data-rates over the subcarriers.
OFDMA allows multiple users to transmit simultaneously on the different subcarriers per OFDM symbol. Since the probability that all users experience a deep fade in a particular subcarrier is very low, it can be assured that subcarriers are assigned to the users who see good channel gains on the corresponding sub-carriers. When allocating resources in the downlink to different users in a cell, the scheduler takes information on the channel status experienced by the users for the subcarriers into account. The control information signaled by the users, i.e. CQI, allows the scheduler to exploit the multi-user diversity, thereby increasing the spectral efficiency.
Two different resource allocation methods can be distinguished when considering a radio access scheme that distributes an available frequency spectrum among different users as in OFDMA. The first allocation mode or "localized mode" tries to benefit fully from frequency scheduling gain by allocating the subcarriers on which a specific UE experiences the best radio channel conditions. Since this scheduling mode requires associated signaling (resource allocation signaling, CQI in uplink), this mode would be best suited for non-real time, high data rate oriented services. In the localized resource allocation mode a user is allocated continuous blocks of subcarriers.
The second resource allocation mode or "distributed mode" relies on the frequency diversity effect to achieve transmission robustness by allocating resources that are scattered over time and frequency grid. The fundamental difference with localized mode is that the resource allocation algorithm does not try to allocate the physical resources based on some knowledge on the reception quality at the receiver but select more or less randomly the resource it allocates to a particular UE. This distributed resource allocation method seems to be best suited for real-time services as less associated signaling (no fast COI, no fast allocation signaling) relative to "localized mode" is required.
The two different resource allocation methods are shown in FIG. 1 for an OFDMA based radio access scheme. As can be seen from the left-hand part of the figure, which depicts the localized transmission mode, the localized mode is characterized by the transmitted signal having a continuous spectrum that occupies a part of the total available spectrum. Different symbol rates (corresponding to different data rates) of the transmitted signal imply different bandwidths (time/frequency bins) of a localized signal. On the other hand, as can be seen from the right-hand part of the figure, distributed mode is characterized by the transmitted signal having a non-continuous spectrum that is distributed over more or less the entire system bandwidth (time/frequency bins).
Evolved-MBMS
In the following there will be briefly described an exemplary multicast service to which the previous embodiments of the invention may be applied. As already mentioned such a multicast service can be the Multicast Broadcast Multimedia Service (MBMS)
There will be support for MBMS right from the first version of the LTE specifications. However, specifications for E-MBMS are in early stages. Two important scenarios have been identified for E-MBMS. One scenario is the single-cell broadcast, and the second one is the MBMS Single Frequency Network (MBSFN).
MBSFN is a new feature that is being introduced in the LTE specification. MBSFN is envisaged for delivering services such as Mobile TV using the LTE infrastructure, and is expected to be a competitor to DVB-H-based TV broadcast. In MBSFN, the transmission happens from a time-synchronized set of eNBs using the same resource block. This enables over-the-air combining, thus improving the Signal-to-Interference plus Noise-Ratio (SINR) significantly, compared to non-SFN operation. The Cyclic Prefix (CP) used for MBSFN is slightly longer, and this enables the UE to combine transmissions from different eNBs, thus somewhat negating some of the advantages of SFN operation. There will be six symbols in a slot of 0.5 ms for MBSFN operation versus seven symbols in a slot of 0.5 ms for non-SFN operation.
The overall user-plane architecture for MBSFN operation is shown in FIG. 8. 3GPP has defined a SYNC protocol between the E-MBMS gateway and the eNBs to ensure that the same content is sent over-the-air from all the eNBs. As shown in FIG. 8, the eBM-SC is the source of the MBMS traffic, and the E-MBMS gateway is responsible for distributing the traffic to the different eNBs of the MBSFN area. IP multicast may be used for distributing the traffic from the E-MBMS gateway to the different eNBs. 3GPP has defined a control plane entity, known as the MBMS Coordination Entity (MCE) that ensures that the same resource block is allocated for a given service across all the eNBs of a given MBSFN area. It is the task of the MCE to ensure that the RLC/MAC layers at the eNBs are appropriately configured for MBSFN operation. 3GPP has currently assumed that header compression for MBMS services will be performed by the E-MBMS gateway. Both single-cell MBMS and MBSFN will typically use point-to-multipoint mode of transmission.
However, HARQ operation will probably only be supported for single-cell MBMS transmissions.
For E-MBMS, the following definitions are introduced. FIG. 9 depicts the new MBMS definitions.                MBSFN Synchronization Area: An area of the network where all NodeBs/eNodeBs can be synchronized and perform MBSFN transmissions. MBSFN Synchronization Areas are capable of supporting one or more MBSFN Areas. On a given frequency layer, a NodeB/eNodeB can only belong to one MBSFN Synchronization Area. MBSFN Synchronization Areas are independent from the definition of MBMS Service Areas.        MBSFN Transmission or a transmission in MBSFN mode: a simulcast transmission technique realised by transmission of identical waveforms at the same time from multiple cells. An MBSFN Transmission from multiple cells within the MBSFN Area is seen as a single transmission by a UE.        MBSFN Area: an MBSFN Area consists of a group of cells within an MBSFN Synchronization Area of a network, which are co-ordinated to achieve an MBSFN Transmission. A cell within an MBSFN Synchronization Area may form part of multiple MBSFN Areas, each characterized by different transmitted content and participating set of cells.        MBSFN Area Transmitting and Advertising Cell: A cell within an MBSFN Area which is contributing to the MBSFN Transmission and advertises within the cell the availability of the MBSFN Transmission.        MBSFN Area Transmitting-Only Cell: A cell within an MBSFN Area which is contributing to the MBSFN Transmission but does not advertise within the cell the availability of the MBSFN Transmission. The need for this type of cell is FFS.        MBSFN Area Reserved Cell: A cell within an MBSFN Area, which does not contribute to the MBSFN Transmission. The cell may be allowed to transmit for other services but at restricted power on the resource allocated for the MBSFN transmission e.g. PTP for users at the centre of the cell.LTE Architecture
The overall architecture is shown in FIG. 2 and a more detailed representation of the E-UTRAN architecture is given in FIG. 3. The E-UTRAN consists of evolved Node Bs (eNB), providing the E-UTRA user plane (PDCP/RLC/MAC/PHY) and control plane (RRC) protocol terminations towards the mobile node (referred to in the following as UE or MN).
The eNB hosts the Physical (PHY), Medium Access Control (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC), and Packet Data Control Protocol (PDCP) layers that include the functionality of user-plane header-compression and encryption. It also offers Radio Resource Control (RRC) functionality corresponding to the control plane. Further, it performs many functions including radio resource management, admission control, scheduling, enforcement of negotiated UL-QoS (Quality of Service), cell information broadcast, ciphering/deciphering of user and control plane data, and compression/decompression of DL/UL user plane packet headers. The eNBs are interconnected with each other by means of the X2 interface. The eNBs are also connected by means of the S1 interface to the EPC (Evolved Packet Core), more specifically to the MME (Mobility Management Entity) by means of the S1-MME, and to the Serving Gateway (S-GW) by means of the S1-U. The S1 interface supports a many-to-many relation between MMEs/Serving Gateways and eNBs.
The S-GW routes and forwards user data packets, while also acting as the mobility anchor for the user plane during inter-eNB handovers and as the anchor for mobility between LTE and other 3GPP technologies (terminating S4 interface and relaying the traffic between 2G/3G systems and Packet Data Network Gateway). For idle state UEs, the S-GW terminates the DL data path and triggers paging when DL data arrives for the UE. It manages and stores UE contexts, e.g. parameters of the IP bearer service, network internal routing information. It also performs replication of the user traffic in case of lawful interception.
The MME is the key control-node for the LTE access-network. It is responsible for idle mode UE tracking and paging procedure including retransmissions. It is involved in the bearer activation/deactivation process and is also responsible for choosing the S-GW for a UE at the initial attach and at time of intra-LTE handover involving Core Network (CN) node relocation. It is responsible for authenticating the user (by interacting with the Home Subscriber Server, HSS). The Non-Access Stratum (NAS) signaling terminates at the MME and it is also responsible for generation and allocation of temporary identities to UEs. It checks the authorization of the UE to camp on the service provider's Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) and enforces UE roaming restrictions. The MME is the termination point in the network for ciphering/integrity protection for NAS signaling and handles the security key management. Lawful interception of signaling is also supported by the MME. The MME also provides the control plane function for mobility between LTE and 2G/3G access networks with the S3 interface terminating at the MME from the SGSN. The MME also terminates the S6a interface towards the home HSS for roaming UEs.
L1/2 Control Signaling
In order to Inform the scheduled users about their allocation status, transport format and other data related information (e.g. HARQ), L1/L2 control signaling needs to be transmitted on the downlink along with the data. The control signaling needs to be multiplexed with the downlink data in a sub frame (assuming that the user allocation can change from sub frame to sub frame). Here, it should be noted, that user allocation might also be performed on a TTI (Transmission Time Interval) basis, where the TTI length is a multiple of the sub frames. The TTI length may be fixed in a service area for all users, may be different for different users, or may even by dynamic for each user. Generally, the L1/2 control signaling then needs only to be transmitted once per TTI. However, in some cases it may make sense to repeat the L1/2 control signaling within a TTI in order to increase reliability.
Generally, the information sent on the L1/L2 control signaling may be separated into the following two categories:                Shared Control Information (SCI) carrying Cat 1 information. The SCI part of the L1/L2 control signaling contains information related to the resource allocation (indication). The SCI typically contains the following information:                    User identity, indicating the user which is allocated.            RB allocation Information, indicating the resources (Resource Blocks, RBs) on which a user is allocated. Note, that the number of RBs on which a user is allocated can be dynamic.            Optional: Duration of assignment, if an assignment over multiple sub frames (or TTIs) is possible.                        Depending on the setup of other channels and the setup of the Dedicated Control Information (DCI), the SCI may additionally contain information such as ACK/NACK for uplink transmission, uplink scheduling information, information on the DCI (resource, MCS, etc.).        Dedicated Control Information (DCI) carrying Cat 2/3 information. The DCI part of the L1/L2 control signaling contains information related to the transmission format (Cat 2) of the data transmitted to a scheduled user indicated by Cat 1. Moreover, in case of application of (hybrid) ARQ it carries HARQ (Cat 3) information. The DCI needs only to be decoded by the user scheduled according to Cat 1. The DCI typically contains information on:                    Cat 2: Modulation scheme, transport block (payload) size (or coding rate), MIMO related information, etc.            Cat 3: HARQ related information, e.g. hybrid ARQ process number, redundancy version, re-transmission sequence number.Hybrid ARQ Schemes
A common technique for error detection and correction in packet transmission systems over unreliable channels is called Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ). Hybrid ARQ is a combination of Forward Error Correction (FEC) and ARQ.
Automatic Repeat-reQuest (ARQ) is an error control method for data transmission which uses acknowledgments and timeouts to achieve reliable data transmission. An acknowledgment is a message sent by the receiver to the transmitter to indicate that it has correctly received a data packet. If the sender does not receive an acknowledgment before the timeout, being a reasonable time interval for receiving an acknowledgment, it usually re-transmits the frame until it receives an acknowledgment or exceeds a predefined number of re-transmissions.
Forward error correction is employed to control errors in data transmissions, wherein the sender adds redundant data to its messages. This enables the receiver to detect whether an error has occurred, and further allows to correct some errors without requesting additional data from the sender. Consequently, since within a certain limit FEC allows to correct some of the errors, re-transmission of data packets can often be avoided. However, due to the additional data that is appended to each data packet, this comes at the cost of higher bandwidth requirements.
If a FEC encoded packet is transmitted and the receiver fails to decode the packet correctly (errors are usually checked by a CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check)), the receiver requests a re-transmission of the packet.
Depending on the information (generally code bits/symbols) of which the transmission is composed of, and depending on how the receiver processes the information, the following hybrid ARQ schemes are defined:    Type I: The error detection information (such as CRC) is added to the data packet, which is then encoded with a forward error correction code (such as Reed-Solomon code or Turbo code). In the receiver the FEC code is decoded and the quality of the packet is determined. If the channel quality is good enough, all transmission errors should be correctable, and the receiver can decode the actual data packet correctly. If the channel quality is bad and not all transmission errors can be corrected, then the received coded data packet is discarded and a re-transmission for said data packet is requested by the receiver. In this type of HARQ the re-transmission uses the same FEC code as during the initial transmission. Further, the re-transmission data packets contain identical information (code bits/symbols) to the initial transmission. Resulting from the above, the received transmissions are all decoded separately in the receiver.    Type II: According to the second type of HARQ, if the receiver fails to decode a packet correctly, the receiver stores the information of the (erroneously received) encoded packet as soft information (soft bits/symbols) and a re-transmission is requested from the sender. This implies that a soft-buffer is required at the receiver. Re-transmissions can be composed out of identical, partly-identical or non-identical information (code bits/symbols) compared to the initially transmitted data packet. When receiving a re-transmission the receiver combines the stored information from the soft buffer and the currently received information and tries to decode the packet based on the combined information. The combining of transmissions refers to so called soft-combining, where multiple received code bits/symbols are likelihood combined and solely received code bits/symbols are code combined. Common methods for soft-combining are Maximum Ratio Combining (MRC) of received modulation symbols and log-likelihood ratio (LLR) combining (LLR combining only works for code bits). Type II HARQ schemes are more sophisticated than Type I HARQ schemes, since the probability for a correct reception of a data packet increases with each received re-transmission. This increase comes at the cost of a HARQ soft-buffer at the receiver.            The Type II HARQ scheme can be used to perform dynamic link adaptation by controlling the amount of information to be re-transmitted. E.g. if the receiver detects that decoding has been almost successful, it can request only a small piece of information for the next re-transmission (smaller number of code bits/symbols than in the previous transmission) to be transmitted. In this case it might happen that it is even theoretically not possible to correctly decode the re-transmission packet by itself, wherein this is referred to as non-self-decodable re-transmissions.            Type III: This is a subset of the Type II HARQ with the restriction that each transmission, be it an initial or a re-transmission, must be self decodable.
The HARQ mechanism has been defined for unicast data transmissions, wherein there are two levels of re-transmissions for providing reliability, namely, the Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) at the MAC layer and the outer ARQ at the RLC layer.
However, recently the support of HARQ with soft-combining has been agreed in LTE for multicast transmission, such as MBMS (Multicast Broadcast Multimedia Services). UMTS doesn't support such functionality for multicast transmissions. Therefore, there are some technical challenges introduced, which need to be addressed. One of the problems is the soft-buffer management in case of simultaneously supporting HARQ operation with soft-combining for unicast and multicast transmissions.
Some simple solution would be to add some extra soft-buffer memory for the MBMS HARQ operation in the UE, in addition to the soft-buffer memory used for normal unicast HARQ protocol operation. This approach would not require any changes in the UE respectively eNB behaviour with regard to the HARQ protocol. However, since soft-buffer memory in a mobile terminal is very expensive, this solution might not be very sensible.

Soft-buffer management of a re-transmission protocol for unicast and multicast transmissions


The LED lighting apparatus includes: a rectification block; an LED block including a first light emitting group and a second light emitting group; a charging/discharging block configured to charge electric charges in a charging period, and discharge electric charges in a discharging period; a driving control unit configured to determine a voltage level of a rectified voltage, controls a path selection switch to connect the rectification block to the LED block and controls the charging/discharging block to charge electric charges in the charging period, and controls the path selection switch to connect the rectification block to a ground and controls the charging/discharging block to discharge electric charges from the charging/discharging block to the LED block in the discharging period; and a path selection switch configured to connect the rectification block to the LED block in the charging period, and connect the rectification block to the ground in the discharging period.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an LED lighting apparatus with improved harmonic distortion components of a source current, and more particularly, to an LED lighting apparatus, which increases a power factor by improving a total harmonic distortion (THD) of an input current in such a manner that a waveform of the input current output from a rectification block is made maximally close to a sine wave by using a path selection switch and a charging/discharging block, and improves the lifespan and luminous intensity uniformity of LED elements by actively changing a series/parallel connection relationship among a plurality of LED groups according to a voltage level of a rectified voltage.
2. Description of the Related Art
A light emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor element that is made of a material such as Ga, P, As, In, N, and Al. The LED has a diode characteristic and emits red light, green light, or yellow light when a current flows therethrough. Compared with a bulb or lamp, the LED has a long lifespan, a fast response speed (time until light is emitted after a current flows), and low power consumption. Due to these advantages, the LED has tended to be widely used.
In general, a light emitting element could be driven only at a DC voltage due to the diode characteristic. Therefore, a light emitting device using the light emitting element is restrictive in use and must include a separate circuit, such as SMPS, so as to use an AC voltage that has been used at home. Consequently, the circuit of the light emitting device becomes complicated and the manufacturing cost of the light emitting device increases.
In order to solve these problems, much research has been conducted on a light emitting element that can also be driven at an AC voltage by connecting a plurality of light emitting cells in series or in parallel.
FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a conventional LED lighting apparatus, and FIG. 1B is a waveform diagram illustrating waveforms of a rectified voltage and a rectified current in the conventional LED lighting apparatus of FIG. 1A.
As illustrated in FIG. 1A, the conventional LED lighting apparatus includes an AC power source VAC, a rectification block 10, and an LED block (LED array) 20. The rectification block 10 receives an AC voltage from the AC power source VAC and performs a full-wave rectification to output a rectified voltage Vrec. The LED block 20 includes one or more LEDs that receive the rectified voltage Vrec from the rectification block 10 and emit light. In general, even when the rectified voltage Vrec is applied from the rectification block 10, no current flows from the rectification block 10 to the LED block 20 due to the component characteristic of the LED until before a threshold voltage level VTH capable of driving the LED block 20 is applied. Consequently, in a period during which the voltage level of the rectified voltage Vrec is lower than the threshold voltage level VTH, a current Irec does not flow through the LED block 20. Hence, as illustrated in FIG. 1B, the current Irec output from the rectification block 10 does not have a sine waveform, and a total harmonic distortion (THD) characteristic is bad. In addition, in the case of the conventional LED lighting apparatus, the LED block 20 emits light only in a period during which the voltage level of the rectified voltage Vrec is equal to or higher than the threshold voltage level VTH. Therefore, a power factor is deteriorated. In order to solve these problems, a power factor correction (PFC) circuit may be added to the LED lighting apparatus of FIG. 1A. However, in this case, the size of the LED lighting apparatus increases, and the manufacturing cost of the LED lighting apparatus rises. Also, the circuit configuration of the LED lighting apparatus becomes complicated.
Furthermore, although not illustrated, the conventional LED lighting apparatus may include a plurality of LED arrays and may be configured to perform a so-called sequential driving scheme that sequentially turns on/off the plurality of LED arrays according to the voltage level of the rectified voltage. However, in the case of the LED lighting apparatus using the conventional sequential driving scheme, since the light emission periods of the plurality of LED arrays are different, the luminous intensity uniformity of the LED lighting apparatus is degraded and the lifespan of the LED arrays becomes disproportionate. Therefore, the lifespan of the LED lighting apparatus is subjected to the LED array having a relatively long emission time.

LED lighting apparatus with improved total harmonic distortion in source current


A method for generating profile data indicative of time dependence of a time dependent parameter for navigable elements of a navigable network. For the method, a relative value of a time dependent parameter associated with each segment of a set of segments of the electronic map is obtained for each time period of at least one set of time periods. The segments are then clustered into groups of segments based on the relative values of the time dependent parameter obtained for the segments in each time period of the at least one set of time periods. The relative time dependent parameter data associated with the segments of the group is next used to obtain, for each group of segments, an aggregate profile indicative of the time dependence of the relative value of the time dependent parameter for each of the segments of the group of segments.

Portable navigation devices (PNDs) that include GPS (Global Positioning System) signal reception and processing functionality are well known, and are widely employed as in-car or other vehicle navigation systems.
In general terms, a modern PND comprises a processor, memory (at least one of volatile and non-volatile, and commonly both), and map data stored within said memory. The processor and memory cooperate to provide an execution environment in which a software operating system may be established, and additionally it is commonplace for one or more additional software programs to be provided to enable the functionality of the PND to be controlled, and to provide various other functions.
Typically these devices further comprise one or more input interfaces that allow a user to interact with and control the device, and one or more output interfaces by means of which information may be relayed to the user. Illustrative examples of output interfaces include a visual display and a speaker for audible output. Illustrative examples of input interfaces include one or more physical buttons to control on/off operation or other features of the device (which buttons need not necessarily be on the device itself but could be on a steering wheel if the device is built into a vehicle), and a microphone for detecting user speech. In a particularly preferred arrangement the output interface display may be configured as a touch sensitive display (by means of a touch sensitive overlay or otherwise) to additionally provide an input interface by means of which a user can operate the device by touch.
Navigation devices also typically have access to a digital map representative of a navigable network on which the vehicle is travelling. The digital map (or mathematical graph, as it is sometimes known), in its simplest form, is effectively a database containing data representative of nodes, most commonly representative of road intersections, and lines between those nodes representing the roads between those intersections. In more detailed digital maps, lines may be divided into segments defined by a start node and end node. These nodes may be "real" in that they represent a road intersection at which a minimum of 3 lines or segments intersect, or they may be "artificial" in that they are provided as anchors for segments not being defined at one or both ends by a real node to provide, among other things, shape information for a particular stretch of road or a means of identifying the position along a road at which some characteristic of that road changes, e.g. a speed limit. In practically all modern digital maps, nodes and segments are further defined by various attributes which are again represented by data in the database. For example, each node will typically have geographical coordinates to define its real-world position, e.g. latitude and longitude. Nodes will also typically have manoeuvre data associated therewith, which indicate whether it is possible, at an intersection, to move from one road to another; while the segments will also have associated attributes such as the maximum speed permitted, the lane size, number of lanes, whether there is a divider in-between, etc.
Devices of this type will also often include one or more physical connector interfaces by means of which power, and optionally data signals, can be transmitted to and received from the device, and optionally one or more wireless transmitters/receivers to allow communication over cellular telecommunications and other signal and data networks, for example Wi-Fi, Wi-Max GSM and the like.
PND devices of this type also include a GPS antenna by means of which satellite-broadcast signals, including location data, can be received and subsequently processed to determine a current location of the device.
The PND device may also include electronic gyroscopes and accelerometers which produce signals that can be processed to determine the current angular and linear acceleration, and in turn, and in conjunction with location information derived from the GPS signal, velocity and relative displacement of the device and thus the vehicle in which it is mounted. Typically such features are most commonly provided in in-vehicle navigation systems, but may also be provided in PND devices if it is expedient to do so.
The utility of such PNDs is manifested primarily in their ability to determine a route between a first location (typically a start or current location) and a second location (typically a destination). These locations can be input by a user of the device, by any of a wide variety of different methods, for example by postcode, street name and house number, previously stored "well known" destinations (such as famous locations, municipal locations (such as sports grounds or swimming baths or other points of interest), and favourite or recently visited destinations.
Typically, the PND is enabled by software for searching for a "best" or "optimum" route between the start and destination address locations from the map data. A "best" or "optimum" route is determined on the basis of predetermined criteria and need not necessarily be the fastest or shortest route. The searching for a route along which to guide the driver can be very sophisticated, and the search may take into account historical, existing and/or predicted traffic and road information.
In addition, the device may continually monitor road and traffic conditions, and offer to or choose to change the route over which the remainder of the journey is to be made due to changed conditions. Real time traffic monitoring systems, based on various technologies (e.g. mobile phone data exchanges, fixed cameras, GPS fleet tracking) are being used to identify traffic delays and to feed the information into notification systems.
PNDs of this type may typically be mounted on the dashboard or windscreen of a vehicle, but may also be formed as part of an on-board computer of the vehicle radio or indeed as part of the control system of the vehicle itself. The navigation device may also be part of a hand-held system, such as a PDA (Portable Digital Assistant) a media player, a mobile phone or the like, and in these cases, the normal functionality of the hand-held system is extended by means of the installation of software on the device to perform both route calculation and navigation along a calculated route.
Route planning and navigation functionality may also be provided by a desktop or mobile computing resource running appropriate software. For example, an on-line route planning and navigation facility is provided at routes.tomtom.com, which facility allows a user to enter a start point and a destination, whereupon the server to which the user's PC is connected calculates a route (aspects of which may be user specified), generates a map, and generates a set of exhaustive navigation instructions for guiding the user from the selected start point to the selected destination. The facility also provides for pseudo three-dimensional rendering of a calculated route, and route preview functionality which simulates a user travelling along the route and thereby provides the user with a preview of the calculated route.
In the context of a PND, once a route has been calculated, the user interacts with the navigation device to select the desired calculated route, optionally from a list of proposed routes. Optionally, the user may intervene in, or guide, the route selection process, for example by specifying that certain routes, roads, locations or criteria are to be avoided or are mandatory for a particular journey. The route calculation aspect of the PND forms one primary function, and navigation along such a route is another primary function.
During navigation along a calculated route, it is usual for such PNDs to provide visual and/or audible instructions to guide the user along a chosen route to the end of that route, i.e. the desired destination. It is also usual for PNDs to display map information on-screen during the navigation, such information regularly being updated on-screen so that the map information displayed is representative of the current location of the device, and thus of the user or user's vehicle if the device is being used for in-vehicle navigation.
An icon displayed on-screen typically denotes the current device location, and is centred with the map information of the current road and surrounding roads in the vicinity of the current device location and other map features also being displayed. Additionally, navigation information may be displayed, optionally in a status bar above, below or to one side of the displayed map information, examples of navigation information include a distance to the next deviation from the current road required to be taken by the user, the nature of that deviation possibly being represented by a further icon suggestive of the particular type of deviation, for example a left or right turn. The navigation function also determines the content, duration and timing of audible instructions by means of which the user can be guided along the route. As can be appreciated a simple instruction such as "turn left in 100 m" requires significant processing and analysis. As previously mentioned, user interaction with the device may be by a touch screen, or additionally or alternately by steering column mounted remote control, by voice activation or by any other suitable method.
A further important function provided by the device is automatic route re-calculation in the event that: (i) a user deviates from the previously calculated route during navigation (either by accident or intentionally); (ii) real-time traffic conditions dictate that an alternative route would be more expedient and the device is suitably enabled to recognize such conditions automatically; or (iii) a user actively causes the device to perform route re-calculation for any reason.
Although route calculation and navigation functions are fundamental to the overall utility of PNDs, it is possible to use the device purely for information display, or "free-driving", in which only map information relevant to the current device location is displayed, and in which no route has been calculated and no navigation is currently being performed by the device. Such a mode of operation is often applicable when the user already knows the route along which it is desired to travel and does not require navigation assistance.
Devices of the type described above provide a reliable means for enabling users to navigate from one position to another.
It has been proposed to associate data indicative of a parking probability with segments of a digital (or electronic map). Such data is indicative of the likelihood that a driver will find a parking space on the segment, and is typically time dependent. Various methods have been proposed to determine and use parking probability data. For example, WO 2010/081546 A1, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses methods of determining time dependent parking probability data for segments based on analysis of data indicative of the occupation of parking locations. The parking locations may be inferred from positional data indicative of vehicles being at a standstill at an end of a trip. A parking probability profile associated with a segment may be determined, from which may be obtained a parking probability for each one of a set of predetermined time periods, e.g. every 30 minutes of the day.
The parking probability data in respect of segments may be used in various manners. The parking probability data may be used by route planning algorithms on PNDs on which the map is processed. For example, a user may be presented with an option on their PND to have it generate a route from a current position that maximises the likelihood of finding a parking space in the vicinity. Some exemplary such methods are described in WO 2011/157296 A1, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The Applicant has identified that there remains scope for improvement in methods of generating parking related data, such as a parking probability or expected parking search time in respect of segments of an electronic map.

Methods and systems for generating profile data for segments of an electronic map


This substrate processing apparatus supplies wafers W accommodated in a closed processing container 10 with ozone gas and steam for processing the wafers W. The apparatus includes an ozone-gas generator 40 for supplying the ozone gas into the processing container 10, a steam generator 30 for supplying the steam into the processing container 10 and a steam nozzle 35 arranged in the processing container 10 and connected to the steam generator 30. The steam nozzle 35 is equipped with a nozzle body 35a having a plurality of steam ejecting orifices 35f formed at appropriate intervals and a heater 35h for preventing dewdrops of the steam from being produced in the nozzle body 35a. Consequently, it is possible to prevent the formation of dewdrops of solvent steam, which may produce origins of particles in the closed processing container, unevenness in cleaning (etching), etc., and also possible to improve the processing efficiency.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method. More in detail, the invention relates to substrate processing apparatus and method for processing substrates, for example, semiconductor wafers, glass substrates for LCD, etc. with a processing gas, such as ozone gas, the substrates being accommodated in a processing container capable of establishing a closed atmosphere therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, the manufacturing process for semiconductor devices comprises the following steps of: applying photo-resist on substrates, for example, semiconductor wafers and LCD baseplates; transferring a circuit pattern, which has been scaled down by the photo-lithography technique, to the above photo-resist; developing this pattern; and thereafter removing the photo-resist from the wafers etc. Note, the semiconductor wafers will be simply referred as xe2x80x9cwafersxe2x80x9d, hereinafter.
As means for removing the photo-resist, there exists a substrate cleaning apparatus. In the prior art cleaning apparatus, the operation to remove the photo-resist from the substrates is accomplished by dipping the wafers etc. into a cleaning bath filled up with a chemical liquid generally called xe2x80x9cSPMxe2x80x9d (mixture of H2SO4 and H2O2). To the contrary, there has been a general demand to use a solution of ozone (O3) for the removal operation since its effluent process from a factory is preferable in view of the protection of the environment. In using the solution of ozone (O3) for the removal operation, there is generally employed a cleaning method that the wafers etc. are dipped into a cleaning bath filled up with a solution having ozone melted thereinto, which is so-called xe2x80x9cdipxe2x80x9d type cleaning method. In this method, the photo-resist on the wafers is oxidized and dissolved into carbon dioxide and water etc. by oxygen atomic radicals in the solution.
Incidentally, according to the above-mentioned method, the ozone gas of high concentration is firstly dissolved into pure water in the form of bubbles thereby to produce the xe2x80x9cozonexe2x80x9d solution and thereafter, the resultant solution is supplied into the cleaning bath. Therefore, there sometimes arises a situation that ozone(s) in the solution gradually disappear during the transportation, so that the concentration of ozone is reduced to cause an insufficient removal of the photo-resist. Additionally, the removal operation by dipping the wafers etc. into the ozone solution cannot afford the reaction (oxidation of resist) at high speed. Because, the removal operation is apt to make the quantity of ozone(s) for the resist insufficient although ozone(s) successively disappears as the result of the reaction with the resist.
In place of such a cleaning method for cleaning the wafers etc. by dipping them into the ozone solution, there is newly proposed a cleaning (etching) method for removing the resist from the wafers etc. while using a processing gas, for example, mixture of ozone gas and vapor of solvent, for example, steam. Note, in this specification, the above vapor of solvent will be referred xe2x80x9csolvent vaporxe2x80x9d, hereinafter. According to this cleaning (etching) method, the processing gas, for example, ozone gas is supplied to the wafers accommodated in a closed processing container where the resist is removed from the wafers.
However, the substrate processing apparatus employing the above-mentioned cleaning method has problems to be solved. First, dewdrops of the solvent vapor are produced in a solvent-vapor nozzle disposed in the processing container, thereby causing sources of bacteria and particles. Second, the dewdrops are scattered to stick to the wafers at the time of ejecting the solvent vapor, thereby causing the wafers to be cleaned with unevenness. Additionally, the solvent vapor is condensed into dewdrops of water that sticks to an upside inner wall of the processing container. Then, the waterdrops fall onto the wafers to cause the sources of particles. Further, the dewdrops of water are scattered into the processing container, causing the wafers to be cleaned with unevenness.
Since the above-mentioned substrate processing apparatus includes a steam generator whose inside pressure is constant (almost atmospheric pressure), there exists a limit in producing the steam. Therefore, under a situation that an interior of the processing container is pressurized more than the atmospheric pressure, then a problem arises in that the quantity of solvent vapor to be supplied into the processing container decreases, so that the processing capability of the apparatus itself is lowered.
Under such a circumference as mentioned above, an object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus that restricts the formation of dewdrops of the solvent vapor which may produce sources of particles etc. or cause cleaning (etching) unevenness etc. in the processing container thereby to improve the processing efficiency of the apparatus. Additionally, another object of the present invention is to provide substrate processing method and apparatus by which an amount of solvent vapor generated is so adjusted as to supply the processing container with an appropriate amount of solvent vapor thereby to improve the processing efficiency of the apparatus.
In order to attain the above objects, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus for supplying a substrate to be processed with processing gas and solvent vapor, comprising:
a processing container for accommodating the substrate therein;
a processing-gas supplier for supplying the processing gas into the processing container;
a solvent-vapor generator for generating the solvent vapor to be supplied into the processing container; and
a solvent-vapor nozzle arranged in the processing container and also connected to the solvent-vapor generator,
wherein the solvent-vapor nozzle includes a nozzle body having a plurality of nozzle orifices formed at appropriate intervals and a condensation-proof mechanism for preventing dewdrops from being formed in an inside space of the nozzle body.
According to the second feature of the invention, the condensation-proof mechanism comprises a heater for heating the inside space of the nozzle body. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the solvent-vapor from being condensed into dewdrops in the nozzle body. Also, there is no possibility that the dewdrops of water are scattered onto the substrates at the ejection of the solvent-vapor. Thus it is possible to restrict an outbreak of bacteria due to the formation of dewdrops in the nozzle body and an occurrence of particles due to the scattering of dewdrops.
According to the third feature of the invention, the condensation-proof mechanism comprises a drain port formed on the bottom of the nozzle body to communicate the inside space of the nozzle body with an outside thereof. Accordingly, the drain port can drain the dewdrops from the nozzle body to the outside, preventing the dewdrops of water from being scattered around at the ejection of the solvent-vapor. In connection, the nozzle body may be modified to have an inner pipe inserted thereinto through a clearance and also connected to the solvent-vapor generator, the inner pipe having communication holes formed on the opposite side of the nozzle orifices in the nozzle body. In such a case, the supplied solvent-vapor is ejected from the nozzle orifices after the vapor has entered into a clearance between the nozzle body and the inner pipe through the communication hole. Thus it is possible to eject the solvent-vapor from the nozzle orifices uniformly.
According to the fourth feature of the invention, the drain port is arranged on the side of one end of the nozzle body. The dewdrops collected on respective bottoms of the nozzle body and the inner pipe move toward the end of the nozzle body due to an ejection power of the solvent-vapor. Therefore, owing to the formation of the drain port on the side of the end of the nozzle body, it is possible to discharge the dewdrops of water with ease.
According to the fifth feature of the invention, the nozzle body is arranged beside a plurality of substrates in the processing container, and the drain port of the nozzle body is positioned outside the outermost one of the plural substrates. Thus it is possible to prevent the discharged dewdrops from being blown up to their adhesion to the substrate by air current in the processing container.
According to the sixth feature of the invention, the drain port is arranged multiple ports in the circumferential direction of the one end of the nozzle body.
According to the seventh feature of the invention, the drain port of the nozzle body is arranged so as not to face the substrate arranged in the processing container but to face the processing container""s inner wall on the opposite side of the substrate. Thus it is possible to restrict an occurrence of particles, allowing a uniform cleaning of the substrate to be progressed furthermore.
According to the eighth feature of the invention, the substrate processing apparatus further comprises a heater arranged in the nozzle body.
According to the ninth feature of the invention, there is also provided a substrate processing apparatus for supplying a substrate to be processed with processing gas and solvent vapor, comprising:
a processing container for accommodating the substrate therein;
a processing-gas supplier for supplying the processing gas into the processing container;
a solvent-vapor generator for generating the solvent vapor to be supplied into the processing container; and
a solvent-vapor nozzle arranged in the processing container and also connected to the solvent-vapor generator,
wherein the processing container has its upper part formed with an inner wall which is reverse V-shaped so as to descend from the central part of the processing container toward both ends thereof. With this constitution, the apparatus allows the dewdrops of the solvent-vapor, which adhere to the upside inner wall of the processing container, to flow into both sides of the apparatus via inclined faces forming the upper part of the processing container. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the dewdrops adhering to the upside inner wall from falling and adhering to the substrate. Thus it is possible to restrict an occurrence of particles, allowing a uniform cleaning of the substrate to be progressed furthermore.
According to the tenth feature of the invention, the processing container is provided, in an upper part thereof, with a heater. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the dewdrops from adhering to the upside inner wall of the processing container. Thus it is possible to restrict an occurrence of particles, allowing a uniform cleaning of the substrate to be progressed furthermore.
According to the 11th. feature of the invention, the processing container includes a container body having an upper part provided with a loading/unloading port for loading and unloading the substrate, a container cover for closing up the loading/unloading port through a seal member, and a locking mechanism for fastening the container body to the container cover disengageably. Therefore, it is possible to close up the processing container certainly, allowing the processing efficiency to be improved.
According to the 12th. feature of the invention, there is also provided a substrate processing method for processing a substrate to be processed, by supplying processing gas and solvent vapor to the substrate accommodated in a processing container, the method comprising the steps of:
researching on a pressure of the solvent vapor in a condition before the solvent vapor is supplied into the processing container;
supplying the solvent vapor into the processing container on the basis of the pressure of the solvent vapor. Therefore, it is possible to supply the solvent-vapor of an optimum amount without being influenced by the pressure in the processing container and also possible to process the substrate with the solvent-vapor and the processing gas.
According to the 13th. feature of the invention, the researching step for the pressure of the solvent vapor in the condition before being supplied into the processing container, is carried out by firstly measuring a temperature of the solvent vapor in the condition before being supplied into the processing container and secondly calculating the pressure from the detected temperature.
According to the 14th. feature of the invention, the researching step for the pressure of the solvent vapor in the condition before being supplied into the processing container is carried out by firstly measuring a temperature of a liquid solvent that can generate the solvent vapor to be supplied into the processing container and secondly calculating the pressure from the detected temperature.
According to the 15th. feature of the invention, the substrate processing method further comprises the step of supplying the processing gas into the processing container before supplying the solvent vapor into the processing container.
According to the 16th. feature of the invention, there is also provided a substrate processing method for processing a substrate to be processed, by supplying processing gas and solvent vapor to the substrate accommodated in a processing container, the method comprising the steps of:
supplying the processing gas into the processing container;
elevating a pressure of the solvent vapor before being supplied into the processing container higher than a pressure of the processing gas in the processing container; and
supplying the solvent vapor, whose pressure has been elevated higher than the pressure of the processing gas in the processing container, into the processing container.
According to the 17th. feature of the invention, the substrate processing method further comprises the step of controlling the pressure of the solvent vapor so as to be higher than a pressure of an atmosphere in the processing container, under condition that the pressure of the solvent vapor before being supplied into the processing container becomes higher than the pressure of the processing gas in the processing container.
According to the 18th. feature of the invention, the step of controlling the pressure of the solvent vapor so as to be higher than the pressure of the atmosphere in the processing container is carried, in a closed space where the solvent vapor before being supplied into the processing container is present, by releasing the closed space for a constant period to discharge the solvent vapor of a constant quantity from the closed space so that the pressure of the solvent vapor becomes less than a first pressure which is higher than the pressure of the processing gas in the processing container.
According to the 19th. feature of the invention, there is also provided a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate to be processed, by supplying processing gas and solvent vapor to the substrate accommodated in a processing container, the apparatus comprising:
a processing-gas supplier for supplying the processing gas into the processing container;
a solvent-vapor generator for generating the solvent vapor to be supplied into the processing container; and
a pressure researcher for researching a pressure of the solvent vapor in the solvent-vapor generator.
According to the 20th. feature of the invention, the pressure researcher includes a temperature detector for detecting a temperature of the solvent vapor in the solvent-vapor generator and a pressure calculator for calculating a pressure of the solvent vapor in the solvent-vapor generator from the detected temperature.
According to the 21st. feature of the invention, the pressure researcher includes a liquid-temperature detector for detecting a temperature of a liquid solvent in the solvent-vapor generator and a pressure calculator for calculating a pressure of the solvent vapor in the solvent-vapor generator from the detected temperature.
According to the 22nd. feature of the invention, there is also provided a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate to be processed, by supplying processing gas and solvent vapor to the substrate accommodated in a processing container, the apparatus comprising:
a processing-gas supplier for supplying the processing gas into the processing container;
a solvent-vapor generator for generating the solvent vapor to be supplied into the processing container;
a first opening/closing unit interposed in a supply pipeline that supplies the solvent vapor generated in the solvent-vapor generator into the processing container;
a second opening/closing unit interposed in a discharge pipeline branching from the supply pipeline on the upstream side of the first opening/closing unit;
a pressure researcher for researching a pressure of the solvent vapor in the solvent-vapor generator; and
a controller for controlling respective opening/closing operations of the first opening/closing unit and the second opening/closing unit on the basis of a detection signal outputted from the pressure researcher.
According to the 23rd. feature of the invention, the controller controls the opening/closing operation of the second opening/closing unit on the basis of the detection signal so as to maintain the pressure of the solvent vapor within a constant range.
According to the 24th. feature of the invention, there is also provided a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate to be processed, by supplying processing gas and solvent vapor to the substrate accommodated in a processing container, the apparatus comprising:
a processing-gas supplier for supplying the processing gas into the processing container;
a solvent-vapor generator for generating the solvent vapor to be supplied into the processing container;
a first opening/closing unit interposed in a supply pipeline that supplies the solvent vapor generated in the solvent-vapor generator into the processing container;
a second opening/closing unit interposed in a discharge pipeline branching from the supply pipeline on the upstream side of the first opening/closing unit;
a temperature detector for detecting a temperature of the solvent vapor in the solvent-vapor generator; and
a controller for controlling respective opening/closing operations of the first opening/closing unit and the second opening/closing unit on the basis of a detection signal outputted from the temperature detector.
According to the 25th. feature of the invention, the controller controls the opening/closing operation of the second opening/closing unit on the basis of the detection signal so as to maintain the temperature of the solvent vapor within a constant range.
According to the 26th. feature of the invention, there is also provided a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate to be processed, by supplying processing gas and solvent vapor to the substrate accommodated in a processing container, the apparatus comprising:
a processing-gas supplier for supplying the processing gas into the processing container;
a solvent-vapor generator for generating the solvent vapor to be supplied into the processing container;
a first opening/closing unit interposed in a supply pipeline that supplies the solvent vapor generated in the solvent-vapor generator into the processing container;
a second opening/closing unit interposed in a discharge pipeline branching from the supply pipeline on the upstream side of the first opening/closing unit;
a temperature detector for detecting a temperature of a liquid solvent in the solvent-vapor generator; and
a controller for controlling respective opening/closing operations of the first opening/closing unit and the second opening/closing unit on the basis of a detection signal outputted from the temperature detector.
According to the 27th. feature of the invention, the controller controls the opening/closing operation of the second opening/closing unit on the basis of the detection signal so as to maintain the temperature of the liquid solvent within a constant range.

Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method


It is a principle object of the present invention to reduce a voltage drop of a common power supply wiring in a plurality of amplification circuits to suppress crosstalk generated in other signal output lines. A photoelectric conversion device includes: a plurality of pixels each having a photoelectric conversion area; a plurality of signal output lines through which electrical signals are to be read out from the plurality of pixels; and a plurality of amplification circuits provided in correspondence to the plurality of signal output lines for amplifying the electrical signals, respectively, the plurality of amplification circuits, including at least one constant current circuit portion and being disposed in a predetermined direction of repetitive dispersion, in which a constant current circuit portion includes at least a source grounded field effect transistor (the gate electrode is designated by reference symbol 124G), and a direction (X-axis direction) of a channel length of the source grounded field effect transistor is different from the direction of repetitive disposition of the amplification circuits.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photoelectric conversion device and an image pickup system using the photoelectric conversion device, and more particularly to a photoelectric conversion device including a plurality of pixels each having a photoelectric conversion area, a plurality of signal output lines through which electrical signals are to be read out from a plurality of pixels, and a plurality of amplification circuits which are provided in correspondence to a plurality of signal output lines in order to amplify the electrical signals and which includes at least one constant current circuit portion, and an image pickup system using the photoelectric conversion device.
2. Related Background Art
A photoelectric conversion device for amplifying and reading out signals from a plurality of pixels each having a photoelectric conversion area by column amplifiers, respectively, to read out successively the amplified signals from the column amplifiers by a scanning circuit is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H02-296470 for example.
FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of a photoelectric conversion device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H02-296470. As shown in the drawing, a plurality of pixels for one column are connected to a column amplifier, as an amplification circuit, including a first MOS transistor M1 and a second MOS transistor M2. Thus, a signal from the pixel is inputted and amplified to be accumulated in the form of an offset signal (noise signal) and a sensor signal in capacitors CT1 and CT2 as temporary accumulation means, respectively.
Now, a large output resistance is required for a transistor constituting a constant current circuit in an inside of the column amplifier.
This reason is that if an operating current of the column amplifier changes, then a voltage drop in a common GND wiring into which the operating current is caused to flow changes accordingly (in FIG. 6, a voltage drop in Vvs changes) to generate crosstalk in signals in other columns. For example, when amplifiers for 1,000 columns are disposed in a horizontal direction, and an operating current of each amplifier is 10 μA, then a current of 10 mA in total is caused to flow into the GND wiring. In this case, if the operating currents fluctuate in the amplifiers for 900 columns to be decreased by 1 μA, the current of 0.9 mA in total changes accordingly. A change in operating current is developed in the form of fluctuation of the voltage drop due to a parasitic resistance to exert an influence on an operation for reading the signal.

Photoelectric conversion device and image pickup system using the photoelectric conversion device


A linear actuator that does not require a high assembly precision is provided. A linear actuator includes a motor portion including a rotary shaft, a rotor, and a stator, a first bearing portion that supports a first end of the rotary shaft, a locknut threadably engaged on the first end of the rotary shaft, and a ball screw mechanism including a ball screw nut screwed to the locknut and a ball screw threadably engaged with the ball screw nut. Gaps formed between an outer peripheral portion of the rotary shaft and an inner peripheral portion of the locknut, except a male thread portion formed on the rotary shaft and a female thread portion formed on the locknut threadably engaged with each other, are defined to have respective predetermined sizes.

A linear actuator disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-372118 (JP2002-372118A) and Japanese Patent No. 4251789 (JP4251789) includes a hollow rotary shaft 103, 203 that is rotatable along with rotational motion of a motor, a ball screw nut 115, 215 fixed to the rotary shaft 103, 203, and a ball screw 117, 217 threadably engaged with the ball screw nut 115, 215. Rotational motion of the rotary shaft 103, 203 causes the ball screw 117, 217 serving as an output shaft to make linear motion in the axial direction of the rotary shaft 103, 203. In each of the linear actuators, the ball screw nut 115, 215 is screwed to a locknut 113, 213 threadably engaged with a thread portion 121, 221 provided on an outer peripheral portion of the rotary shaft 103, 203 so that the ball screw nut 115, 215 is fixed to the rotary shaft 103, 203 (see FIGS. 3 and 4). In the linear actuator disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4251789 shown in FIG. 4, in particular, a gap 244 is formed between a flange portion 215B of the ball screw nut 215 and the locknut 213 with an end 203A of the rotary shaft 203 contacting the ball screw nut 215, as a result of which a tightening force for screwing the ball screw nut 215 and the locknut 213 reinforces fixation between the ball screw nut 215 and the locknut 213.
In the linear actuators according to the related art, however, the locknut for fixing the ball screw nut to the rotary shaft is threadably fixed to the outer peripheral portion of the rotary shaft, and therefore backlash or center displacement (displacement between the centers of rotation of two members) tends to occur between the outer peripheral portion of the rotary shaft and the inner peripheral portion of the locknut. Therefore, if the assembly precision is not improved in the linear actuators according to the related art, displacement may occur between the center of rotation of the rotary shaft and the center of rotation of the ball screw, which may cause the center of rotation of the ball screw to be inclined with respect to the axis of the rotary shaft.
In the linear actuators according to the related art, the ball screw nut is fixed to the locknut using a plurality of screws with an end of the rotary shaft contacting the ball screw nut. Therefore, if the ball screw nut is fixed to the locknut using the plurality of screw members and accordingly screw tightening force is large, the end of the rotary shaft may be deformed or damaged.


A centrifugal supercharger includes a case presenting a compressor chamber and a transmission chamber. An impeller in the compressor chamber is mounted to a shaft that extends into the transmission chamber. The impeller shaft is drivingly connected to a power input shaft by intermeshing gears provided on the shafts. A portion of the transmission chamber defines a fluid reservoir in which lubrication fluid is held. The intermeshing gears, as well as the bearing assemblies supporting the shafts, are located outside the fluid reservoir portion of the transmission chamber. A rotatable fluid-propelling element partly submerged in the lubrication fluid contained within the reservoir portion ensures that sufficient but not excessive lubrication fluid is supplied to the intermeshing gears and the bearing assemblies. A dedicated lubricant reserve system ensures that the required operating level of fluid is provided to, and maintained in, the reservoir portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to centrifugal compressors, such as a centrifugal supercharger for providing increased airflow to an engine. More particularly, the present invention concerns an improved transmission lubrication arrangement for effectively lubricating the transmission components that drivingly connect the impeller to the power source, without having to tap into the lubrication system for the engine and without limiting the transmission speed.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Centrifugal superchargers are traditionally provided with an internal step-up transmission that serves to rotate the impeller significantly faster than the input shaft connected to the engine. It is particularly known to provide a centrifugal supercharger with an internal belt drive supported by prelubricated (e.g., grease-packed) bearing assemblies. Although this type of transmission eliminates the need for lubrication (except for that already provided with respect to the bearing assemblies), it is believed to have relatively low operational limitations that effectively prohibit the supercharger from generating large amounts of pressure increase and airflow. On the other hand, a number of conventional centrifugal superchargers, particularly the higher boost models, utilize a gear drive that must, along with the bearing assemblies supporting the gear drive, be continuously lubricated during operation. Those ordinarily skilled in the art will appreciate that gear-type transmissions generally have greater structural integrity and are able to transfer significantly more load than a belt-type transmission. However, a gear-type transmission typically requires dispersion of lubrication fluid generally throughout the transmission chamber.
In the past, such a lubrication requirement has been problematic. First, lubrication fluid is commonly supplied to the transmission chamber of the supercharger from the engine. This almost always requires a fluid line to be tapped into the oil reservoir of the engine, which is often considered highly undesirable. It might be possible to alternatively provide a separate lubrication reservoir dedicated solely to the supercharger, although such a circulating arrangement would obviously be costly and consume a considerable amount of valuable engine compartment space. With respect to either alternative, the manner in which lubrication fluid is typically directed to the transmission components (e.g, jets, wicking arrangements, etc.) is believed to be unreliable, ineffective and/or in other ways problematic.
Although a circulating arrangement for the lubrication system would be costly and space consuming as indicated above, there are some advantages to such a system. For example, the lubricant can be filtered and cooled externally to the supercharger prior to reentry. However, prior art recirculating systems suffer from the undesirable risks associated with tapping into the engine's lubrication system. Furthermore, the prior art recirculating systems are prone to flood, or excessively lubricate the transmission and are undesirably subject to the lubricant draining out of the transmission under certain conditions.
There are also "self-contained" friction ball driven (e.g., Bendix drive) superchargers. That is to say, a number of superchargers wholly contain the lubrication fluid therein. Those ordinarily skilled in the art will appreciate that the transmission chamber of such a supercharger is typically filled with lubrication fluid. It has been determined, however, that a fluid-filled transmission chamber actually reduces the load capacity of the supercharger, as a result of the significant hydraulic separation forces caused by flooding the transmission and bearing assemblies. Furthermore, this type of construction adds heat and fails to provide sufficient cooling of the transmission.

Centrifugal compressor with improved lubrication system for gear-type transmission


A spray system has a base plate, a support member, a first cylinder mechanism and a second cylinder mechanism, a first slide tube and a second slide tube, a first board portion and a second board portion, a first holding bar, and a second holding bar. Each board portion is so constructed that a nozzle cassette is detachably fitted to a board base plate, the nozzle cassette is equipped with a number of spray nozzles, the first cylinder mechanism is so constructed that the first board portion can be moved relative to the support member, and the second cylinder mechanism is so constructed that the second board portion can be moved relative to the support member.

This invention relates to a spray system which sprays mold release agent etc. onto inside surfaces of opened metal molds for a casting machine.
In a conventional spray system, two board portions equipped with spray nozzles for spraying the mold release agent etc. have been unmovable. Replacement of the board portion has been done by detaching and attaching the entire board portion. In addition, a surface of the board portion facing on the inside surface of the metal mold has been flat, and the spray nozzles have been installed on the flat surface.
In the conventional spray system having the foregoing structure has presented the following problems.
(1) Because of the two unmovable board portions, there existed points in the inside surfaces of metal molds to which the mold release agent etc. could not be sprayed so that defective die-cast products would be produced, in case where the inside surface of a metal mold to be sprayed included deep grooved configurations. For this reason, the spray system having such a structure that one-side board portion can be moved is proposed in Publication No. JP-5-329608. According to this system, the occurrence of defective die-cast products can be reduced as compared with the conventional spray system. In the field of die-cast technology, however, it is desired to further reduce the occurrence of defective die-cast products.
(2) Since the entire board portion is heavy, a detaching/attaching operation of the entire board portion has been difficult and dangerous.
(3) Since the spray nozzles are installed on the flat surface of the board portion, the nozzle length has been set to 200 to 500 mm in case where the inside surface of metal mold has included complicated configurations. In case of a long nozzle length, however, it has been difficult to spray the mold release agent etc. onto a spray point accurately because the nozzle is easily affected by vibration etc. of the board portion. For this reason, defective die-cast products would be produced.
An object of this invention is to provide a spray system which can spray the mold release agent etc. onto a spray point of the inside surface of the metal mold accurately and can further reduce an occurrence of defective die-cast products.
A first embodiment is a spray system for spraying a mold release agent etc. onto inside surfaces of opened metal molds for a die casting machine; having a base plate to which a supply device for distributing and supplying the mold release agent etc. is mounted, a support member fixed to the base plate, a first cylinder mechanism and a second cylinder mechanism both fixed to the support member, a first slide tube and a second slide tube both fixed to the support member, a first board portion and a second board portion disposed oppositely on both sides of the support member and equipped with spray nozzles for spraying the mold release agent etc., a first holding bar one end of which is fixed to the first board portion and the other end side of which slidably pierces and extends through the support member, and a second holding bar one end of which is fixed to the second board portion and the other end of which slidably pierces and extends through the support member; in which the first slide tube is freely expandable between the support member and the first board portion and connects a supply outlet of the supply device and a passage inlet of the first board portion, the second slide tube is freely expandable between the support member and the second board portion and connects the supply outlet of the supply device and a passage inlet of the second board portion, each board portion is so constructed that a nozzle cassette is detachably fitted to a board base plate, the nozzle cassette is equipped with a large number of spray nozzles, and the spray nozzle is connected to the passage inlet of the board portion, each cylinder mechanism is composed of a cylinder body fixed to the support member and a rod expanding from and retracting in the cylinder body, the first cylinder mechanism has such a construction as to move the first board portion relative to the support member by expanding and retracting the rod in parallel with the first holding bar, and the second cylinder mechanism has such a construction as to move the second board portion relative to the support member by expanding and retracting the rod in parallel with the second holding bar.
According to the first embodiment, the first board portion and the second board portion can be moved so that the first board portion can be put near to the inside surface of the fixed metal mold and the second board portion can be put near to the inside surface of the movable metal mold. Therefore, the mold release agent etc. can be sprayed onto the inside surfaces of both metal molds accurately and securely. Consequently, the occurrence of defective die-cast products can be prevented.
Since each board portion is so constructed that the nozzle cassette is detachably fitted to the board base plate, each board portion can be replaced only by detaching and attaching the nozzle cassette. Therefore, the replacement work of each board portion can be done easily and safely.
A second embodiment is a spray system under a not-moving state of the first board portion and the second board portion; in which the other end of the first holding bar also slidably pierces and extends through the second board portion, the first slide tube is composed of an external tube and an internal tube expandable from the external tube, the tip end of the internal tube connects to the first board portion, and the external tube pierces and extends through the second board portion.
According to the invention of the second embodiment, the moving distance of the first board portion can be made large. Therefore, the spray nozzle can be put nearer to the inside surface of the fixed metal mold so that more accurate spraying becomes possible.
A third embodiment is a spray system under a not-moving state of the first board portion and the second board portion; in which the other end of the second holding bar also slidably pierces and extends through the first board portion, the second slide tube is composed of an external tube and an internal tube expandable from the external tube, the tip end of the internal tube connects to the second board portion, and the external tube pierces and extends through the first board portion.
According to the third embodiment, the moving distance of the second board portion can be made large. Therefore, the spray nozzle can be put nearer to the inside surface of the movable metal mold so that more accurate spraying becomes possible.
A fourth embodiment is a spray system in which the nozzle cassette has concave and convex configurations corresponding to concave and convex configurations on the inside surfaces of the metal mold to be sprayed, and includes a number of spray nozzles on surfaces of the concave/convex configurations.
According to the fourth embodiment, the mold release agent etc. can be sprayed securely even onto side faces of the concave and convex configurations of the inside surfaces of both metal molds. Therefore, the mold release agent etc. can be sprayed thoroughly onto the inside surfaces of both metal molds. Consequently, an occurrence of defective die-cast products including seizure etc. can be prevented more securely.
A fifth embodiment is a spray system in which each board portion is provided with a shock absorber for moderating a shock occurring when the board portion strikes against the metal mold.
According to the fifth embodiment, the shock occurring when each board portion strikes against the metal mold can be moderated and a breakage of the spray nozzle due to the striking can be prevented.
A sixth embodiment is a spray system in which two base plates stand at right angles to the board portion and are disposed in such a way as to face each other, the supply device is fixed to the one-side base plate, and the two base plates are supported by diagonally connected turnbuckles.
According to the sixth embodiment, the two base plates can be firmly held perpendicular to, and facing, each other.


A diagnostic testing system for a vehicle comprising an oxygen sensor having a heating element for heating the oxygen sensor to its minimum operational temperature, an analyzer having a user interface, a communications link between the analyzer and the vehicle to obtain data from the oxygen sensor, and a diagnostic heuristic analyzing the data and confirming proper operation of the heating element, the diagnostic heuristic being adapted to generate an output and transmit the output to the user interface, the output including the results generated by analysis of the data by the diagnostic heuristic.

An oxygen sensor is used for monitoring the amount of oxygen present in the air/fuel mixture of an internal combustion engine. Oxygen sensors are part of the emissions control system of a vehicle and are typically assembled to an exhaust pipe downstream from the combustion process so that a nose of the oxygen sensor protrudes into the exhaust pipe so that it may sample the combustion gases produced by the engine. The data obtained by the oxygen sensor helps to determine the combustion efficiency of the engine air/fuel mixture. Typically, the stoichiometric air/fuel ratio theoretically necessary for complete combustion is 14.7 to one (14.7 kg of air to 1 kg of fuel). A powertrain control module (PCM) uses data obtained from the oxygen sensor to adjust the amount of air and fuel entering the engine to maintain the desired air/fuel ratio.
A complete combustion process is ideal for a number of reasons. If the combustion process involves a lower level of air (i.e., a higher level of fuel), a "rich" condition exists and not all of the raw fuel will be completely burned in the combustion chamber leading to an increase in hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions from the vehicle. If the combustion process involves a higher level of air (i.e., a lower level of fuel) a "lean" condition exists and the combustions temperatures will elevate, leading to increased levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx) being emitted from the vehicle as well as a the potential to damage the engine and/or catalytic converter.
Generally, oxygen sensors must be heated to temperature prior to beginning the monitoring process. In one embodiment of a known oxygen sensor, the operational temperature of the oxygen sensor is 574 degrees Fahrenheit (° F.). Using this known sensor, while the oxygen sensor is heating to its operational temperature, the engine runs in a so-called "open loop" condition. In practice, the heating takes place using the heat of the combustion gases. As a result, during the heating process, involving actual engine combustion, the PCM does not receive any data from the oxygen sensor on the quality of the combustion gases. While the PCM may adjust the air and fuel based on its best estimates from environmental conditions, the PCM may not be able to obtain the most desired stoichiometric air/fuel ratio to optimize combustion. After the prior art oxygen sensor is brought up to temperature, the engine runs in a so-called "closed loop" condition. When in a closed-loop condition the PCM may obtain data from the oxygen sensor about the quality of the combustion gases and adjust the air/fuel mixture, accordingly.
Heating elements have been developed and added to oxygen sensors in an attempt to heat the oxygen sensor to its operational temperature without having to rely solely on the gases of combustion. The heating element is typically activated as the ignition is turned to the ON position. In practice, these types of oxygen sensors can usually be brought up to operational temperature in less time than sensors that do not have such a supplemental heating mechanism so that the PCM and engine can enter the "closed loop" condition more quickly, permitting the earlier adjustment after engine startup of the air and fuel mixture. Overall pollution related emissions are decreased. Fuel economy is improved. Moreover, powertrain durability is enhanced.
With the ever increasing requirement for vehicle-based on-board diagnostics (OBD), millions of vehicles are brought to dealerships or service stations across the world for problem diagnosis and repair. In the field of vehicle service, verifying the heater operation of an oxygen sensor is not standardized. Also, many service technicians do not fully understand the operation of oxygen sensors. Unfortunately, lack of understanding often leads to fully operational oxygen sensors being inadvertently replaced on vehicles because there is no standard for service technicians to follow. The disclosed diagnostic tool provides an innovative approach to standardizing and automating the verification of heater operation of a vehicle-based oxygen sensor used in conjunction with regulating the air/fuel ratio of combustion gases.

Diagnostic tool for sensing oxygen sensor heater operation