An oral dosage form comprising a single dose of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3 sufficient to elevate the serum level in a human to a concentration in the range of 30 ng/ml to 200 ng/ml for at least 7 days and a pharmaceutically suitable oral carrier system, wherein subsequent single doses at least every 7 days are sufficient to sustain the serum level in a human to a concentration in the range of 30 ng/ml to 200 ng/ml at steady-state pharmacokinetics is disclosed. A method of elevating and sustaining the blood level concentration of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3 in a human in need thereof comprising orally administering or parenterally administering by injection or infusion, at least once every 7 days, a single dose of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3 sufficient to elevate the serum level in a human to a concentration in the range of 30 ng/ml to 200 ng/ml for at least 7 days, wherein the single doses orally administered at least every 7 days are sufficient to sustain the serum level in a human to a concentration in the range of 30 ng/ml to 200 ng/ml at steady-state pharmacokinetics is disclosed. The human in need thereof may be a human deficient in vitamin D having a serum level concentration of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3 less than 30 ng/ml.

In 1968, the 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3 (25-(OH)D3) molecule was discovered as the major blood form of vitamin D circulating in the body. (Blunt J W et al., 1968, 25-Hydroxycholecalciferol: A biologically active metabolite of vitamin D3, Biochemistry 7:3317-3322).
25-(OH)D3 was first patented in 1971 by DeLuca et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,607,888). Over the course of many years, measurement of 25-(OH)D3 blood levels has been a significant commercial enterprise.
A large amount of work suggests that 25-(OH)D3 blood levels are an excellent measurement of the vitamin D status of a patient who might be suffering from a metabolic bone disease. (Jones G et al., 1998, Current understanding of the molecular actions of vitamin D, Physiol. Rev. 78:1193-1231).
Recently, a large number of epidemiological studies correlate 25-(OH)D3 blood levels to a reduced risk of a number of conditions: colorectal cancer (Gorham E D et al., 2007, Optimal vitamin D status for colorectal cancer prevention—A quantitative meta analysis, Am. J. Prev. Med. 32(3):210-216); breast cancer (Garland C F et al., 2007, Vitamin D and prevention of breast cancer: Pooled analysis, J. Steroid Biochem. and Mol. Biol. 103:3-5 Special issue, pp. 708-711); prostate cancer (Li H J et al., 2007, A prospective study of plasma vitamin D metabolites, vitamin D receptor polymorphisms, and prostate cancer, Plos Medicine 4(3):562-571); and, autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes (Munger K L et al., 2007, Elevated serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D predicts a decreased risk of MS, Multiple Sclerosis 13(2):290; and, Hyppönen, E Läärä et al., 2001, Intake of vitamin D and risk of type 1 diabetes: a birth-cohort study, Lancet 358:1500-1503). Thus, 25-(OH)D3 plasma levels have become a focal point of public health policy in the United States and many other countries.
25-(OH)D3 is no longer available in the U.S. market. It is not available as a prescription drug nor as a vitamin supplement. However, 25-(OH)D3 plasma levels are measured to assess vitamin D status.
At a 25-(OH)D3 blood level concentration greater than 450 ng/ml, toxicity becomes a concern. (Shepard R M et al., 1980, Plasma Concentration of Vitamin D3 and Its Metabolites in the Rat as Influenced by Vitamin D3 or 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 Intakes, Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 202:43-53).
To promote public health, vitamin D production and administration have focused on exposure to ultraviolet light. (Sayre R M et al., 2007, Reintroduction of a classic vitamin D ultraviolet source, J. Steroid Biochem. and Molecular Biol. 103(3-5 Special Issue):686-688; and, Rajakumar K et al., 2007, Solar ultraviolet radiation and vitamin D: A historical perspective, Am. J. Public Health 97(10):1746-1754).
Dermatologists are not in favor of using skin production of vitamin D to meet increased blood level concentrations. Small amounts of ultraviolet light exposure markedly increases the risk of melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma of the skin. (Lim H W et al., 2007, Commentary: A responsible approach to maintaining adequate serum vitamin D levels, J. Am. Acad. Dermatology 57(4):594-595).
Currently, the only forms of vitamin D available in the U.S. are vitamin D3 and vitamin D2, which are present in cod liver oil. However, cod liver oil contains significant amounts of other biopotent materials such as vitamin A. (Griffing G T et al., 2008, Mother was right about cod liver oil, Medscape J. Med. 10(1):8).
It has been reported that the conversion of vitamin D3 to 25-(OH)D3 in vivo is not quantitative. (Heaney R P et al., 2008, 25-Hydroxylation of vitamin D3: relation to circulating vitamin D3 under various input conditions, Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 87(6):1738-1744).
Upon administration of vitamin D3 or vitamin D2, often, a significant amount of it is deposited in lipid depots, and, vitamins D3 and D2 remain there until the lipid is mobilized. (Mauer E B et al., 1972, Distribution and storage of vitamin-D and its metabolites in human tissues. Clin. Sci. 43(3):413-431 (1972); Rosenstreich et al., 1971, Deposition in and release of vitamin D3 from body fat: Evidence for a storage site in the rat, J. Clin. Invest. 50(3):679-687).
Continued vitamin D3 supplementation intake causes increased concentrations levels in the adipose tissue, which eventually reaches saturation and forces elevated conversion to 25-(OH)D3. Such conversion, however, causes vitamin D intoxication, which is difficult to resolve.
Deficiency or insufficiency of vitamin D exists in the human population, which has been extensively reported in the clinical literature. (Looker A C et al., 2002, Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D status of adolescent and adults in two seasonal subpopulations from NHANES III, Bone 30(5):771-777).
An increased incidence of childhood rickets and osteomalacia has been reported to exist in the inner cities and in dark skinned immigrants living in the Northern hemispheres. (Thacher T D et al., 2006, Nutritional rickets around the world: causes and future directions, Annals of Tropical Paediatrics 26(1):1-16).
Some commentators have theorized that vitamin D insufficiency contributes to the bone erosion process, i.e., osteoporosis. (Looker A C et al., 2008, Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and hip fracture risk in older U.S. white adults, J. Bone Min. Res. 23(1):143-150).
In patients suffering from chronic kidney disease, there is evidence of vitamin D insufficiency that may contribute to continued disease progression (Chonchol M et al., 2007, 25-Hydroxyvitamin D, insulin resistance, and kidney function in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Kidney Int. 71(2):134-139). Hence, there exists a long-felt and important unmet need for maintaining higher blood levels of 25-(OH)D3.

Once-a-week administration of 25-hydroxy vitamin D


A method for interconnecting first and second optical fiber bundles (FIG. 4 ), each bundle comprising a plurality of optical fibers, comprises the steps of accurately forming substantially identical matrix arrays of apertures in first and second thin securing plates (FIG. 1, 20, 17). The use of thin plates for the securing plate makes it possible to form apertures by masking and etching with great precision, but the plates themselves have little mechanical strength. The first and second plates are aligned (by balls 24), and a first support member (31), which is mechanically rugged, is simultaneously contacted to the first securing plate (17) and to a first alignment pin (27). The first support member (31) is bonded to the first securing plate while the first securing plate (17) is in alignment with the second securing plate (20). Thereafter, a second support member (29) is simultaneously contacted to the first alignment pin (27) and to the second securing plate (20) and bonded to the second securing plate is it is held in alignment with the first securing plate. Each optical fiber of the first optical fiber bundle is inserted into a first aperture of the first securing plate, and each optical fiber of the second optical fiber bundle is inserted into a first aperture of the second securing plate. After polishing the optical fibers so that they are each in a common plane with a surface of the securing plate to which it is attached, the two securing plates are abutted (FIG. 4). The first (31) and second (29) support members are simultaneously contacted to a common alignment pin (53), thereby to align the first and second securing plates along with the two contained optical fiber bundles (38, 49). By attaching the support members (29, 31) to the two securing plates when they are in alignment, one provides mechanical strength to the two securing plates while assuring that later alignment of the support members aligns the component fiber of the optical fiber bundles.

The patent of Basavanhally et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,135,590, granted Aug. 4, 1992, hereby incorporated herein by reference, describes a method for arranging the ends of component fibers of an optical fiber bundle into a matrix configuration. The patent points out that a precisely accurate matrix configuration is required, for example, for free-space photonics switching. Optical fiber bundles are also used in other communication equipment for the parallel transmission of large quantities of information in the form of light.
Various techniques have been described for splicing individual optical fibers, that is, abutting successive fibers at their ends with sufficient precision that light can be transmitted through the juncture. One can appreciate that individual splicing of component optical fibers of an optical fiber bundle is time consuming, and adds to the bulk of optical fiber bundles. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,796, of Bonanni et al., granted Apr. 4, 1991, describes optical fiber connectors that can be used to splice the fibers of two optical fiber ribbons. The array of fibers spliced extends in only one direction, rather than two directions, as is true of optical fiber bundles. Accordingly, there is a long-felt need in the industry for a method for conveniently splicing or interconnecting abutting optical fiber bundles, each comprising a plurality of light transmitting optical fibers, with sufficient precision that information-containing lightwaves can be efficiently transmitted through each juncture.


A method of generating a test sequence diagram includes: linking a first action of the plurality of actions with a second action of the plurality of actions and generating a test sequence diagram which maintains the linking.

The present disclosure relates to a system which produces sequence diagrams for rocket engine and rocket engine component hot-fire test from a spreadsheet input.
Sequence diagrams have been utilized as an effective tool to communicate hot-fire test sequence logic. The sequence diagram contains all logic required to set up sequence of the systems (timers, valve commands, redlines, etc). The sequence diagram graphical representation facilitates identification of sequence errors before the error may result in an abort of the actual test.


Methods and apparatus to facilitate autonomous navigation of robotic devices. An example autonomous robot includes a region model analyzer to: analyze a first image of an environment based on a first neural network model, the first image captured by an image sensor of the robot when the robot is in a first region of the environment; and analyze a second image of the environment based on a second neural network model, the second image captured by the image sensor when the robot is in a second region of the environment, the second neural network associated with the second region. The example robot further includes a movement controller to: autonomously control movement of the robot within the first region toward the second region based on the analysis of the first image; and autonomously control movement of the robot within the second region based on the analysis of the second image.

In recent years, many techniques have been developed to enable the autonomous navigation of aerial and ground-based robots. Autonomous navigation of a robot refers to a robot controlling its movement within an environment without real-time input from a human. Enabling robots to autonomously navigate through an environment often requires significant processing and/or memory capacity. More particularly, autonomous navigation is often computationally intensive because robots must process and respond to relatively large amounts of data including, for example, data representing maps of the environment as well as real-time feedback from sensors monitoring the surrounding environment. Further, in some situations, autonomous navigation may also require significant amounts of memory to store the maps of the environment through which the robots are to navigate.
The figures are not to scale. Instead, the thickness of the layers or regions may be enlarged in the drawings. In general, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the same or like parts.
Descriptors "first," "second," "third," etc. are used herein when identifying multiple elements or components which may be referred to separately. Unless otherwise specified or understood based on their context of use, such descriptors are not intended to impute any meaning of priority or ordering in time but merely as labels for referring to multiple elements or components separately for ease of understanding the disclosed examples. In some examples, the descriptor "first" may be used to refer to an element in the detailed description, while the same element may be referred to in a claim with a different descriptor such as "second" or "third." In such instances, it should be understood that such descriptors are used merely for ease of referencing multiple elements or components.


A material for high carburizing steel and a method for producing a gear using the material are provided. The material includes C of about 0.13 to 0.3 wt %, Si 0.7 to 1.3 wt %, Mn of about 0.3 to 1 wt %, P of about 0.02 wt % or less, S of about 0.03 wt % or less, Cr of about 2.2 to 3.0 wt %, Mo of about 0.2 to 0.7 wt %, Cu of about 0.3 wt % or less, Nb of about 0.03 to 0.06 wt %, V of about 0.1 to 0.3 wt %, Ti of about 0.001 to 0.003 wt %, a balance of Fe and other inevitable.

Generally, contact stress is generated as gears are interlocked, and thereby generating fitting and the like on the surface of a gear part. Accordingly, durability of the gear parts may be reduced and noise may occur. Particularly, when load applied to a gear is increased with such a gear which is downsized or minimized and a powertrain has high output, the above-mentioned problems get serious. Due to these durability problems, there have been attempts to improve durability, for example, providing steels with improved fitting resistance, performing a carbonitriding treatment or adding a shot-peening process. However, heavily loaded gears also may cause problems during endurance test.
For example, when the carbonitriding treatment is employed, fitting resistance characteristic can be improved but bending strength is reduced. Moreover, when the shot-peening process is added to the manufacturing process, bending strength can be improved, but fitting resistance characteristic is reduced. Although a high carburizing method is an innovative method in the art by improving the fitting resistance characteristic and the bending strength at the same time, the conventionally performed high carburizing method may not be applied to manufacturing of gears because of deep hardening-depth, brittleness due to formation of carbide in the form of network/coarse, and severe thermal degradation during heat treatment.
Recently, a transmission gear has been produced using steel material having improved fitting resistance or by modified carbonitriding heating method. This steel grade has elevated high-temperature softening resistance due to high contents of silicon (Si) and molybdenum (Mo), and quenching property thereof is improved by increased chromium (Cr) content. In some cases, the modified carbonitriding method has been used for increasing the fitting resistance by increasing the amount of residual austenite and has been used for manufacturing a gear. The conventional high carburizing method has been employed for increasing wear resistance by forming carbide on the surface. However, it is difficult to apply to a gear due to large carbide size and deep hardening-depth. Further, gear tooth may be deformed significantly to cause noise and durability problems when such high carburizing method is applied.
The description provided above as a related art of the present invention is just for helping understanding the background of the present invention and should not be construed as being included in the related art known by those skilled in the art.

Material for high carburizing steel and method for producing a gear using the same


The present invention provides a structure for protecting a corner of a case of an inverter (an on-board device), and provides the structure for protection having improved assembling efficiency. The present Description discloses the structure for protecting a corner of a case of an inverter. The structure includes a protector for covering the corner, and a receiving portion provided on the case. The protector is fixed at least at two points arranged on a straight line on a first surface adjacent to the corner. The receiving portion is provided on a second surface adjacent to the corner. The receiving portion is provided at a position where the receiving portion receives an edge of the protector when the protector rotates around a straight line Pv passing through at least two fixed points.

In an engine compartment (also referred to as a front compartment) of an automobile, various devices (on-board devices) such as an engine, a motor, and their controllers are installed.
In recent years, along popularization of hybrid vehicles, an inverter for supplying power to the motor has also come to be arranged in the engine compartment (Patent document 1).

Structure for protecting on-board device


A method and control system are disclosed for orientating base cutters of a sugarcane harvester. A sugarcane harvester may include a crop divider, a rear base cutter, and a front base cutter. An indicator of a position of the crop divider may be determined. A target orientation of the front base cutter may be determined based upon the position indicator. The front base cutter may be adjusted with respect to a chassis of the harvester, in order to place the front base cutter in the target orientation. If adjusting the front base cutter includes moving the front base cutter beyond a predetermined range of motion, the rear base cutter may be adjusted with respect to the ground.

Harvesters of various types, including sugarcane harvesters, may include harvesting devices of various types. Harvesting devices for a sugarcane harvester, for example, may include assemblies for cutting, chopping, sorting, transporting, and otherwise gathering and processing sugarcane plants. Typical harvesting devices include base cutters assemblies (or "base cutters"), feed rollers, cutting drums, and so on. In various harvesters, harvesting devices may be hydraulically powered by an engine-driven (or other) pump.
To actively harvest crops, a harvester may move along a field with harvesting devices engaged, the harvesting devices gathering and processing material from rows of crop plants. In the case of sugarcane harvesters, gathered sugarcane stalks may be chopped into billets for delivery to a trailing wagon, while leaves and trash may be separated from the billets and ejected into the field.
It may be useful to orient the base cutter(s) of a base cutter in relative close proximity to the ground during harvesting operations. This may, for example, help to ensure that sugarcane plants are cut by the base cutter at a location that is relatively close to the ground, resulting in less waste. Further, in certain instances, rotating disks, paddles, and so on that may be included in various base cutters. The rotation of these components may help to lift already cut sugarcane off of the ground. Accordingly, relative close proximity of the base cutter(s) to the ground (and other devices) may also allow for more effective lifting and routing of sugarcane plants.
With traditional harvester designs, however, executing harvesting operations with base cutter(s) in relative close proximity (s) to the ground may increase the likelihood of various undesirable effects. For example, rises, bumps or other uneven topography in a particular field may result in impacts between the base cutters and the ground. This may result in damage to the base cutters. Further, base cutters oriented too closely to the ground may tend to entrain increased quantities of dirt and other trash into the stream of cut sugarcane, increasing the load on the harvester's feed train and the potential for chokes, jams, or other interruptions to harvesting.

Control of base cutter orientation in sugarcane harvesters


A mobile terminal and a method of operating an antenna thereof are provided. The mobile terminal includes a plurality of antennas.

Nowadays, with rapid technology development, mobile terminals provide various additional functions such as text message transmitting and receiving functions, image photographing function, music reproduction function, digital broadcasting service function, E-mail service function, instant messenger service function, and short range wireless communication function in addition to an audio dedicated communication function. In order to provide various functions, the mobile terminal mounts a plurality of antennas. The mobile terminal may include, for example, a mobile communication antenna, a digital broadcasting receiving antenna, and a short range wireless communication antenna. When the antennas have a similar resonance frequency, a mutual interference phenomenon may occur.
Furthermore, as mobile communication technology develops, a data transmitting speed remarkably increases, and thus a fading phenomenon occurs, thereby deteriorating a reception performance.
The fading phenomenon is a phenomenon in which a reception performance is deteriorated because a receiving electric field is not constant due to multi-path noise of transmitted electric waves.
In order to solve a reception phenomenon deterioration problem due to such a fading phenomenon, mobile terminals including a diversity antenna increase. In a small-sized mobile terminal, a limitation exists in securing a physical distance between antennas for forming a diversity antenna. In a conventional mobile terminal, when a plurality of antennas that use the same or similar frequency band are mounted, a wireless communication performance of the mobile terminal may be deteriorated due to mutual interference between antennas.

Mobile terminal and method of operating antenna thereof

Abstract: A resonance frequency moving unit moves a resonance frequency of at least one of the plurality of antennas. And a controller controls the resonance frequency moving unit to sustain or move a resonance frequency of the at least one antenna according to use of a plurality of antennas. Therefore, by minimizing mutual interference occurring between a plurality of antennas using a similar frequency band, a wireless communication performance can be improved.


The present invention provides novel cyclosporine C (CsC) derivatives having improved protein conjugatibility and hydrolytic stability. The present invention further provides a CsC derivative conjugated to a carrier, e.g., a solid support. Preferably, the solid support is a latex or magnetic particle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to novel cyclosporine derivatives that have improved protein and solid surface conjugatibility and hydrolytic stability. The cyclosporine derivatives of the present invention are useful in assays measurement of cyclosporin A levels, as well as in the production of cyclosporine immunogens and capture conjugates.
2. Background
Cyclosporine A (cyclosporine) is a potent immuno-suppressant that has been widely used in the United States and other countries to prevent the rejection of transplanted organs such as kidney, heart, bone marrow and liver, in humans.
To prevent allograft rejections, minimum level cyclosporine A in the blood is required throughout the lifetime of the patient. Chronic high doses can result in kidney and liver damage. Distribution and metabolism of the drug varies greatly between individuals, as well as in a single individual during the course of therapy. Accordingly, monitoring cyclosporine A levels in the blood or serum of allograph recipients is considered essential.
Laboratory methods for detection of cyclosporine have been developed. These techniques typically involve high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), radioimmunoassay (RIA) and non-radioimmunoassay.
It has been reported that CsA, itself, is non-immunogenic (Donatsch, p. et al., J. Immuno Assay 1981; 2:19). To obtain antibodies, therefore, it is necessary to link CsA to a protein carrier. The side chain of CsA, however, consists most of alliphatic groups. Few of the functional groups customarily used to link a hapten to a carrier. Previous workers have made immunogenic cyclosporine C (CsC) protein conjugates because the CsC has a threonine residue in position 2. Linkage to a protein was via a hemisuccinate linker through an ester group (U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,773). In addition, hemisuccinate coupling chemistry has been used to immobilize CsC to a solid support such as stabilized chromium dioxide particles (U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,348). Due to a number of factors including, for example, short chain length of the hemisuccinate linker, hydrophobicity of the cyclosporine-C hemisuccinate molecule and hydrolytic instability of the hemisuccinate ester linkage, the CsC hemisuccinate derivatives conjugate poorly to protein and solid surface. Furthermore, CsC protein conjugates and CsC immobilized on a solid support by hemisuccinate coupling, are hydrolyticly unstable. Thus, immunoassays developed by using such hemisuccinate CsC derivatives suffer from low sensitivity and poor reagent stability. There is a strong desire to replace the widely used radioimmunoassays and HPLC methods with a more robust and sensitive immunoassay for CsA. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for cyclosporine derivatives that are capable of being conjugated to solid supports and carriers more efficiently and stably.

Cyclosporine derivatives and uses thereof


A medical identification charm bracelet including a housing for housing an electronic circuit that includes an audible output device and a visual output device that is activatable to draw attention to the I.D. bracelet and the information inscribed on the various bracelet charm attachments to notify medical personnel of various medical conditions of the wearer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of jewelry, and more particularly to identification jewelry which provides medical information concerning the wearer.
2. Description of Related Art
As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,138,596; 3,790,775; 4,179,833; 4,256,459; 4,296,459; 4,984,683; and 5,755,116, the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse identification bracelets.
While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are more than adequate for the basic purpose and function for which they have been specifically designed, they are uniformly deficient with respect to their failure to provide a simple, efficient, and practical medical identification charm bracelet including audible and visual output devices.
As a consequence of the foregoing situation, there has existed a longstanding need for a new and improved medical identification charm bracelet and the provision of such a construction is a stated objective of the present invention.


Disclosed is a polishing slurry for CMP which makes it possible to polish a barrier layer, a wiring metal layer and an interlayer dielectric continuously, and restrain a phenomenon that the interlayer dielectric in a region near the wiring metal layer is excessively shaven off so that a depression is generated. A polishing slurry, for CMP, containing abrasive particles, an acid, a tolyltriazole compound represented by the following general formula (I), and water:

In recent years, new finely working techniques have been developed as the integration degree and the performance of semiconductor integrated circuits (abbreviated to LSIs hereinafter) have been improved. Chemical mechanical polishing (referred to as CMP hereinafter) is one of the techniques, and is frequently used in LSI-producing processes, in particular, for making interlayer dielectrics flat, forming metal plugs, forming embedded wiring, and attaining others in the step of forming multilayer interconnection. This technique is disclosed in, for example, the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,836.
In order to make the performance of LSIs high, the use of copper alloy as a wiring material has recently been started instead of that of conventional aluminum alloy. However, copper alloy does not easily undergo fine working based on dry etching, which is used to form aluminum alloy wiring. Thus, the following process (the so-called damascene process) is mainly adopted: a method of depositing a thin film of a copper alloy on an interlayer dielectric in which trenches are beforehand made, so as to embed the film therein, and then removing the copper alloy thin film other than the thin film in the concave regions by CMP, thereby forming embedded wiring. The damascene process is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 02-278822.
Before depositing a thin film of a copper alloy on an interlayer dielectric in which trenches are beforehand made, so as to embed the film therein, a barrier layer made of a barrier metal such as TaN or Ta is formed, on the interlayer dielectric, in order to prevent the copper alloy from diffusing into the interlayer dielectric, or to keep adhesive force between the copper alloy and the interlayer dielectric.
An ordinary method for making a metal such as copper alloy flat by CMP is a method of causing a polishing pad to attach onto a circular polishing table (platen), making the surface of the polishing pad wet by a polishing slurry for metal, pushing a surface of a base substance on which the metal film is formed onto the surface of the polishing pad, and rotating the polishing table in the state that a predetermined pressure (referred to as a polishing pressure hereinafter) is applied from the rear surface of the polishing pad to the metal film, thereby removing convex regions of the metal film by mechanical friction between the polishing slurry and the convex regions of the metal film.
The metal polishing slurry used in CMP is usually composed of solid abrasive particles, an oxidizer, and water. It appears that the metal film surface is first oxidized with the oxidizer to form an oxidized layer and then the oxidized layer is shaven off with the solid abrasive particles. The oxidized layer on the metal film surface in concave regions does not contact the polishing pad much, so that the shaving-off effect based on the solid abrasive particles is not produced thereon. Accordingly, with the advance of the CMP, the oxidized layer on the convex regions of the metal film is removed so that the base substance surface is made flat (see Journal of Electrochemical Society, vol. 138, No. 11, published in 1991, pp. 3460-3464).
As a method for improving the polishing rate in CMP, known is a method of incorporating an oxidized metal solubilizing agent into a metal polishing slurry (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 08-83780). It is stated that when a metal oxide shaven off with solid abrasive particles are dissolved by effect of the oxidized metal solubilizing agent, the shaving-off effect based on the abrasive particles are increased. The polishing rate based on CMP is improved by the incorporation of the oxidized metal solubilizing agent; however, when an oxidized layer on a metal film surface in concave regions is also dissolved (etched) so that the metal film surface is exposed, the metal film surface is further oxidized with the oxidizer. When this is repeated, the etching of the metal film in the concave regions advances so that the flattening effect is damaged. In order to prevent this, an etching inhibitor (protective film forming agent) such as benzotriazole is further added to the metal polishing slurry (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 08-83780). The protective film forming agent is an agent for forming a protective film on the oxidized layer on the metal film surface to prevent the oxidized layer from being etched.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the step of making an LSI flat. In FIG. 1(a), concave regions having a thickness B and convex regions having a thickness A1 are formed in a surface of an interlayer dielectric 1. A barrier layer 2 is formed, following the surface shape of the interlayer dielectric. Furthermore, a wiring metal layer 3 of copper, a copper alloy or the like is formed thereon. When the width of the concave regions is somewhat large, concave regions are made in the wiring metal surface, as illustrated in FIG. 1(a).
The wiring metal layer 3 other than the layer 3 in the concave regions is first removed with a polishing slurry for CMP. As illustrated in FIG. 1(b), at this time, the wiring metal layer 3 on the convex regions may be completely removed. The polishing may also be performed so as to leave the wiring metal layer 3 in a small amount.
Next, polishing slurry for barrier metal CMP is used to polish and remove the barrier layer 2 made of the barrier metal such as TaN or Ta. As illustrated in FIG. 1(c), at this time, a small amount of the interlayer dielectric 1 is polished in order to remove residues of the barrier layer 2 that may be present on the convex regions of the interlayer dielectric 1. Accordingly, the relationship between the thickness A2 of the interlayer dielectric 1 after the polishing and the thickness A1 of the interlayer dielectric before the polishing of the barrier layer is as follows: A1>A2.
Most popularly, the wiring metal layer 3 is copper or copper alloy, the interlayer dielectric 1 is SiO2, and the barrier layer 2 is a tantalum based metal such as Ta or TaN in FIG. 1. However, when the interlayer dielectric 1 is polished as described above in order to remove residues of the barrier layer 2 present on the convex regions of the interlayer dielectric 1, the interlayer dielectric 1 in a region near the wiring metal layer 3 is more largely shaven off than the interlayer dielectric 1 in other regions. Thus, there is easily caused a problem that a depression is generated. Such a depression is called a fang or seam.
FIG. 2(a) is a schematic sectional view of a wired substrate wherein lines and spaces are 100 μm and 100 μm, respectively, in width. FIG. 2(b) is an enlarged schematic view of a portion surrounded by a dot line 4 in FIG. 2(a). An ideal state after the polishing, or a case where the barrier layer 2 present on the convex regions of the interlayer dielectric 1 is completely removed so that the film can be polished into a flat form, is represented by a dot line 5 in FIG. 2(b). In general, however, such ideal polishing is difficult; usually, as illustrated in FIG. 2(b), the wiring metal layer 3 or the barrier layer 2 is somewhat excessively polished. Such somewhat excessive polishing in the wiring metal layer 3 or the barrier layer 2 does not usually become a serious problem. In accordance with the polishing property of the polishing slurry for CMP, a depression, i.e., what is called a seam 6 may be generated near the side of the wiring metal layer 3 or near an interface between the interlayer dielectric 1 and the barrier layer 2.
FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of a wired substrate having a fine wiring region 8, 1000 μm in total width, wherein wiring metal regions, having a width of 9 μm, are arranged to be alternated with interlayer dielectric regions, having a width of 1 μm. A depression, i.e., what is called a fang 7 may be generated near a boundary between the fine wiring region 8, wherein the density of the wiring metal regions is high, and a field region alongside the region 8.
When substrates are laminated onto each other, the upper substrate thereof follows a depression, such as a fang or seam, in the lower substrate; thus, the depression produces a bad effect on attainment of flattening the upper substrate. As the case may be, the depression causes a short circuit in wiring, so as to result in a fall in the production yield of LSIs.
An object of the invention is to provide a polishing slurry for CMP which makes it possible to polish a barrier layer made of a barrier metal such as TaN or Ta, a wiring metal layer and an interlayer dielectric continuously, and restrain, at this time, a phenomenon that the interlayer dielectric in a region near the wiring metal layer is more largely shaved than the interlayer dielectric in other regions so that a depression is generated.

Polishing slurry for CMP, and polishing method

Abstract: wherein R1s each independently represent an alkylene group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and R2 represents an alkylene group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms.


Disclosed is a liquid crystal display device, including: a liquid crystal panel, a light guide plate disposed in a rear direction of the liquid crystal panel, a lamp disposed along at least one side edge of the light guide plate, a lamp housing covering a portion of a circumference of the lamp, and a reflecting plate disposed at a rear surface of the light guide plate, wherein a protrusion portion is disposed at an inner surface of the lamp housing adjacent to the reflecting plate, and an end portion of the reflecting plate is curved to extend toward the protrusion portion, thus to provide a liquid crystal display panel which can obtain uniform luminance and minimized light leakage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly, to a liquid crystal display device which can obtain uniform luminance and minimized light leakage.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a liquid crystal display (LCD) device is a device that displays a desired image by adjusting optical transmittance of liquid crystal cells arranged in a matrix shape according to picture signal information. The liquid crystal display device uses light irradiated from a backlight unit to implement an image on a liquid crystal panel.
As shown in FIG. 1, such liquid crystal display device 1 includes a liquid crystal panel 2 on which liquid crystal cells of a pixel unit are arranged in a matrix shape, a backlight unit 3 uniformly supplying light to the liquid crystal panel 2, a bottom cover 4 for receiving the backlight unit 3, and a top cover 5 coupled to the bottom cover 4 for receiving the liquid crystal panel 2 and the backlight unit 3 therein. And, the backlight unit 3 includes a light guide plate 3a disposed at a rear surface of the liquid crystal panel 2, a lamp 3b disposed along one side surface (incident plane, entrance surface) of the light guide plate 3a, a lamp housing 3c covering the lamp 3b, optical sheets 3d disposed between the light guide plate 3a and the liquid crystal panel 2, and a reflecting plate 3e disposed between the bottom cover 4 and the light guide plate 3a. Here, the reflecting plate 3e is mounted at a lower surface portion of the bottom cover 4, and is spaced from a rear surface of the light guide plate 3a with a certain distance therebetween.
Light from the lamp 3d is incident onto the one side surface (incident plane, entrance surface) of the light guide plate 3a, and the incident light is reflected to the rear surface of the light guide plate 3a, thereby being irradiated onto the liquid crystal panel 2.
However, some of light emitted from the lamp 3d may not be incident onto the incident plane (entrance surface) of the light guide plate 3a, but be incident onto the spaced area between the light guide plate 3a and the reflecting plate 3e. Such undesirable light is reflected to the reflecting plate 3e again, and then is irradiated onto the liquid crystal panel 2, thereby not being considered as light that is uniformly induced by the light guide plate 3a. Such uncontrolled light causes non-uniform luminance of the liquid crystal panel 2 and light leakage.

Liquid crystal display device with uniform luminance


A slide rail for an automotive vehicle seat comprising a first profile, a second profile and a lock, in which:                the lock is movably mounted between an unlocked position and a locked position,        the lock has a first series of teeth and a second series of teeth, remote from one another in an upright direction,        the first series of teeth has a first stop surface and a second stop surface, opposing one another, coming into contact with the first profile to immobilize the lock relative to the first profile along a longitudinal direction, and        the second series of teeth has a first stop surface and a second stop surface, opposing one another, coming into contact with a second profile to immobilize the lock relative to the second profile along the longitudinal direction.

The document DE-10 2005 003 032 discloses a slide rail comprising a first profile, a second profile and a lock. The lock is movably mounted on the second profile between an unlocked position and a locked position, in the unlocked position the lock permitting relative sliding between the first profile and the second profile along a longitudinal direction, and in the locked position the lock preventing said relative sliding. The lock has a first series of teeth and a second series of teeth, the teeth of the first series and the second series each extending in a transversal direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and the first series of teeth is remote from the second series of teeth in an upright direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and the transversal direction.
By "series of teeth" should be understood a succession of teeth arranged consecutively, the series comprising a non-zero number of teeth, which may be equal to 1.

Slide rail for an automotive vehicle seat with lateral locking without clearance


Synchronization of activities requiring coordinated timing across a bank of vending machines, such as harmonious actuation of illumination elements, is performed by specifying, in an application layer (e.g., Zigbee) of a network protocol, actions to be synchronized to a distributed timing event and distributing notice of the specified timing event using physical and media access control layers of the network protocol.

Vending machines offer unattended sales of commodities such as snacks, canned or bottled beverages, or any of a variety of other articles. Many operators will operate a number of different vending machines in conjunction with each other, as for example when a bank of vending machines—some vending snacks or candy and others vending packaged beverages—is placed into operation at a single location, often with the vending machines side-by-side. Coordinating operation of such vending machines is desirable for a variety of reasons, such as offering discounts for "group" purchases including a snack and a beverage or in attracting customer attention to the vending machines.
There is, therefore, a need in the art for improved synchronization of operations within a network of vending machines.

Synchronization of time critical activities across vending machine networks


The present invention relates to a blue fluorescence compound which enables to achieve high brightness, a long lifetime and high efficiency; and an organic electroluminescence device thereof.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present invention relates to a blue fluorescence compound and an organic electroluminescence device thereof, and more particularly, to a blue fluorescence compound which enables to achieve high brightness, a long lifetime and high efficiency; and an organic electroluminescence device using the same.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Being a core technology in the times of information and communication, an image display device which displays different information in pictures is developing in a direction of being thinner, lighter, and high performance while being portable.
As various forms of demands on the display devices increases along with recent development of an information oriented society, active researches on flat display devices, such as LCD (Liquid Crystalline Display), PDP (Plasma Display Panel), ELD (Electro Luminescent Display), FED (Field Emission Display) and so on are underway.
Of the flat display devices, the organic electroluminescence device emits a light as an electron and a hole which form a pair upon injection of charge into an organic electroluminescence layer formed between an electron injection electrode (a cathode) and a hole injection electrode (an anode) annihilate.
The organic electroluminescence device, not only can be formed on a flexible transparent substrate, such as plastic, but also can be driven by a voltage lower than the plasma display panel or an inorganic electroluminescence device, has comparatively low power consumption and an excellent color feeling.
The organic electroluminescence layer can emit a light of red, green, or blue color depending on an organic compound included to the electroluminescence layer. As the organic compounds, 2,2-(diaryl)vinylphosphine compound, a compound in which an aryl group is substituted at an end of a diphenylanthracene structure, and so on are known.
However, since known organic compounds including above compounds have no adequate lifetimes, light emission efficiency, and brightness, and has poor blue color purity, making production of a clean blue color difficult, production of full color display of natural color is difficult.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Blue fluorescence compound and organic electroluminescence device using the same


A gateway device includes an input port for receiving Internet signals, a single RF module, a memory and a processor. The memory has computer executable instructions stored therein, wherein execution of the computer executable instructions by the processor causes the processor to retrieve a channel monitoring time from the memory. The execution of the computer executable instructions further causes the processor to monitor selected channels and develop and store in the memory a value of a confidence level for each channel. Each channel is monitored for a predetermined period of time between transmissions of data and the confidence level associated with a channel indicates the probability that frequencies associated with such channel are used by a radar system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to systems and methods of operating a wireless network, in particular to a system and method select channels for communication that do not interfere with radar systems.
2. Description of the Background of the Invention
In a wireless network, for example, a wireless local area network (WLAN or WiFi LAN), the capacity of a particular channel is affected by signal strength, as measured by the Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) of the channel. Wireless communication devices operating in a wireless network may monitor the RSSI of a channel being used thereby for communication and if the RSSI of the channel drops below an acceptable level, such devices switch to another channel that offers a higher RSSI. The process of channel selection in this manner is called Automatic Channel Selection (ACS).
Wireless networks connect nodes via channels corresponding to certain frequency ranges. Standards using CSMA/CA technologies, such as IEEE 802.11n, define channels such that two neighboring networks may operate using two channels that correspond to frequency ranges that are adjacent (or close) to one another. However, in such cases the error rate of the transmission in each channel increases thereby reducing the channel capacity of such channels. It is therefore advantageous to be able to select channels (frequency ranges) with the least interference from neighboring networks as measured by a channel scan or a Clear Channel Assessment (CCA), which measures the ratio of time for which the channel is not in detectable use.
Typical ACS-capable devices undertake ACS at boot time, where the "best" channel is selected once before regular operation begins, and is not changed until the device is rebooted or the user deliberately triggers ACS. Some devices undertake ACS by randomly changing channels when the channel capacity of the channel being used thereby is detected to drop below a predetermined threshold. Such devices "wander" from channel to channel until a channel that has sufficient capacity is identified. Devices that undertake ACS in this manner may be appropriate for applications in which real-time transmission of data is not critical. However, such devices may not sufficiently support applications in which real-time transmission of data is expected. For example, a wireless transmitter and receiver that undertake ACS in the manner described above would not be effective for transmitting streamed video data from the transmitter to the receiver. If during transmission, the channel capacity used by such transmitter and receiver were to drop, the streamed data may be interrupted while the transmitter and receiver hunt for another channel that has higher capacity. Such an interruption may cause presentation of the video to a user to stall unexpectedly and result in a poor experience for the user. Some devices avoid interrupting transmission during ACS by having two radio frequency units in each device. In such devices, the two RF units operate simultaneously wherein one RF unit monitors the capacity of the channel being used to transmit data and the other RF unit monitors the capacity of the other channels.
Some wireless communication devices that operate in a wireless network that uses a 2.4 GHz frequency band estimate the capacity of a channel using scanning or CCA and perform ACS in accordance with such estimates.
However, wireless communication devices that operate in a wireless network that uses a 5 GHz frequency band may experience interference from or interfere with radar systems operating nearby in the same or similar frequency band. In some jurisdictions, devices that communicate using channels associated with certain frequency ranges may be legally required to detect radar systems that also operate in such frequency ranges and avoid using such channel if a radar system is detected. For example, the "ETSI EN 301 893 V1.5.1 (December 2008) Harmonized European Standard" for 5 GHz wireless networks specifies that devices that operate using frequencies in the ranges of 5.250 GHz-5.350 GHz and 5.470-5.725 GHz frequency ranges must detect and avoid radar interference. A wireless device may detect the presence of a radar system operating in particular frequency range by performing a channel availability-check (CAC), whereby the device switches to a channel associated with a particular frequency range and listens fix radar operation for a predetermined duration before transmitting any data. Typically, upon switching to a new channel, the wireless device may listen for radar operation for between 1 and 10 minutes before transmission. Alternately, the device may detect radar systems by performing an off-channel CAC, whereby the device listens for radar operation in a given frequency range without actually switching channels (i.e., while possibly transmitting over another channel). Once a channel has been selected, the wireless device continues to monitor the channel to detect newly activated radar systems with a certain probability.
Heidari et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0096739, discloses a system that uses downtime (i.e., Off-Channel CAC) or multiple antennas to scan alternative channels and order the scanned channels in order of quality. The entire contents of Heidari et al. are incorporated herein by reference.
Kim, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0150053, and Tsuruno, U.S. Pat. No. 7,715,801 are directed to low-level radar signal detection algorithms and the operation of a CAC module and, in particular, how a CAC may undertaken. The entire contents of Kim and Tsuruno are incorporated herein by reference.
Lin et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0225530 discloses a method of interference-free radar detection in which a device send a clear-to-send signal to itself to reserve a period of time during which the device may perform radar detection. The entire contents of Lin et al. are incorporated herein by reference.
Matsuura, U.S. Patent Application No. 2010/0302966 discloses using one system for transmitting over a channel and another system for simultaneously monitoring the channel being used for transmission or different channel. The entire contents of Matsuura are incorporated herein by reference.
McFarland et al, U.S. Pat. No. 6,870,815 B2 (McFarland et al) discloses a scanning process for CAC that operates in the background. The scanning process uses beacons to clear traffic in the network for a period of time, increasing time between packets in the network, and reducing the network load. The entire contents of McFarland et al. are incorporated herein by reference.
Kurt et al., International Patent Application Serial No. PCT/IB2009/053746 is directed to developing channel selection data in a wireless network. The entire contents of Kurt et al. are incorporated herein by reference.
Birlik, et al., U.S. Provisional Patent Application 61/624,834 is directed to a system and method to equalize transmission delays in communication networks. The entire contents of Birlik et al. are incorporated herein by reference.
Birlik, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/460,139 is directed to a wireless network setup and configuration distribution system. The entire contents of this application are also incorporated herein by reference.

System and method to avoid interference with radar systems

Airties Kablosuz Iletisim San. Ve Dis Tic. A.S.


A robot finger driving module is driven by a driving motor installed in a robot hand. The robot finger driving module receives a driving force of the driving motor by a pulley gear connected to the driving motor through a driving belt. When the robot finger driving module is fixed, a driving direction of a first output gear is opposite to a rotation-driving direction of a second output gear. When the robot finger driving module rotates, even though any one of the first output gear and the second output gear is fixed, the other is driven to rotate in the rotating direction of the robot finger driving module, thereby exhibiting differential gear characteristics.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a robot finger driving module using differential gear characteristics and a robot hand including the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a hand of an industrial robot is called a gripper, and the gripper represents a clip-type robot hand which is frequently used for gripping an article with the entire robot finger or robot hand.
Recently, as the interest in a robot hand for gripping an article is increasing, the design and operating algorithm of a robot finger to perfectly grip an article is intensively studied, and thus a robot hand having a plurality of robot fingers is being developed.
In addition, a robot similar to the human shape is being actively developed, and in order to operate a robot substantially in the same way as the human hand, fabricating a robot hand which is capable of giving power and driving force to every robot finger becomes a very important issue.
However, a robot hand having a plurality of fingers, recently developed, is concentrated just on a perfect gripping operation and ignores its size and easiness in operation, which results in too complicated structure.
For example, FIG. 17 schematically shows a robot hand (produced by SlimLab) generally commercialized.
The robot hand adopts a full-actuated manner in which a driving motor is applied to each joint 91 to 94 of a robot finger. Since this robot hand applies a single driving motor 921 to a single joint, each driving motor 921 has a limitation in its size and output.
In addition, due to the nature of the robot hand, the robot finger should have a small size, and a motor applied thereto should have a great output in comparison to its size in order to operate all robot fingers. In other words, the driving motor applied to each joint should give a great output in spite of its small size. Therefore, the driving motor of the above robot finger should have decelerator mechanisms 923 to 925.
Moreover, in order to solve the problem of the above robot finger, a robot hand using an under-actuated mechanism is being studied.
However, considering that the operation of the robot hand is not limited to simple gripping but should implement other operations such as pinching, hooking, palm contacting or the like, the robot hands which are being currently studied have insufficient functions.

Robot finger driving module using differential gear characteristics and robot hand including the same

Korea Institute of Science and Technology


A preferred integrated circuit (IC) includes a first pad electrically communicating with at least a portion of the IC. The first pad includes a first driver and a first receiver, with the first driver being configured to provide a first pad output signal to a component external to the IC, and the first receiver being configured to receive a first pad input signal from a component external to the IC. The first receiver also is configured to provide, to a component internal to the IC, a first receiver digital output signal in response to the first pad input signal. A first test circuit also is provided that is internal to the IC. The first test circuit is adapted to provide information corresponding to the driver clock-to-q time of the first pad. Systems, methods and computer-readable media also are provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to integrated circuits and, in particular, to systems and methods for facilitating, within an integrated circuit, driver clock-to-output delay testing of pads of the integrated circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, integrated circuit (IC) devices have been tested and verified using a variety of test methods. For example, IC devices have been tested and verified to be defect-free using functional test vectors, such as those applied to the IC by the use of automated test equipment (ATE), which stimulate and verify the IC device functionality at the pin level of the device. A practical limitation to the utilization of ATE for testing IC""s, however, is that the number of IC pins (or pads) that can be tested by a particular ATE has, heretofore, been limited by the physical configuration of the ATE. For instance, the number of pads of the IC to be tested may exceed the number of test channels provided by an ATE, or the number of pads may exceed the capacity of the ATE support hardware, such as by exceeding the maximum number of probes on a probe card, among others. As utilized herein, the term xe2x80x9cpadxe2x80x9d is used to refer collectively to both a physical site, which serves as an electrical contact for an IC, as well as circuitry associated with the physical site for enabling electrical communication between components of the IC and components external to the IC.
Additionally, performance limitations of a particular ATE may impose certain other testing restrictions. For example, the frequency of IC inputs and outputs may exceed the maximum frequency of the ATE, thereby limiting the test frequency of the IC to be tested to the maximum frequency of the ATE. Although configuring an ATE with additional test channels and/or a higher operating frequency may be accomplished, providing an ATE with an appropriately high pin count and/or an appropriately high operating frequency in order to eliminate the aforementioned deficiencies is, oftentimes, cost prohibitive.
In light of the foregoing and other deficiencies, it is known in the prior art to test IC devices utilizing a variety of xe2x80x9cstop-gapxe2x80x9d testing procedures, including: (1) connecting an ATE to less than all of the pins of an IC device; (2) connecting multiple pins of an IC device to a single ATE test channel; (3) testing the IC device in multiple passes of the ATE, with each pass testing a subset of the pins of the entire IC device; (4) testing the device at less than maximum frequency, and; (5) limiting, through design implementation, the pin count and/or frequency of the IC device to accommodate existing ATE, among others. As should be readily apparent, many of these xe2x80x9cstop-gapxe2x80x9d testing procedures may result in a loss of test coverage and, thereby, may lead to an increase in numbers of defective IC devices being shipped. Moreover, the practice of limiting, through design implementation, the pin count and/or frequency of the IC device to accommodate existing ATE is, oftentimes, an unacceptable constraint on IC design.
Referring now to FIG. 1, a representative prior art integrated circuit 100 incorporating built-in self-test circuitry will be described in greater detail. As shown in FIG. 1, integrated circuit 100 includes a core 110 which incorporates logic 112 and digital self-test circuitry 114. Core 110 electrically communicates with pad 116 which is configured to electrically communicate with devices external to the integrated circuit, such as a piece of automated test equipment (ATE) 118, for example. So configured, signals provided from an external device, e.g., ATE 118, may be delivered to the core 110 via a transmission path which includes pad 116.
As is known, digital self-test circuitry 114 is configured to provide functional-based digital testing of logic circuitry contained within core 110. In order to accomplish such testing, digital self-test circuitry 114 typically incorporates a stimulus generator 120 and a response analyzer 122. More specifically, stimulus generator 120 is configured to provide one or more test patterns for testing logic circuitry of the core. The pattern or patterns provided to the logic circuitry are comprised of digital data, i.e., zeros and ones. In response to the various patterns, the logic circuitry under test then provides a response signal or signals to the response analyzer 122 which is able to interpret the response and provide a test result signal, which may be provided externally of the integrated circuit. Thus, the digital self-test circuitry provides for digital, functional testing of the core by applying digital test patterns to the logic circuitry of the core and has, heretofore, substantially removed the need for external test equipment, i.e., ATE 118, to provide stimulus to and check responses from the integrated circuit for facilitating testing of the digital logic circuitry.
Digital self-test circuitry, however, is largely unable to remedy the foregoing and/or other deficiencies. Therefore, there is a need for improved systems and methods which address the aforementioned and/or other shortcomings of the prior art.
Briefly described, the present invention provides driver clock-to-output (henceforth called xe2x80x9cclock-to-qxe2x80x9d) testing functionality within integrated circuits. In this regard, some embodiments of the present invention may be construed as providing integrated circuits (IC""s). In a preferred embodiment, the integrated circuit includes a first pad electrically communicating with at least a portion of the IC. The first pad includes a first driver and a first receiver, with the first driver being configured to provide a first pad output signal to a component external to the IC, and the first receiver being configured to receive a first pad input signal from a component external to the IC. The first receiver also is configured to provide, to a component internal to the IC, a first receiver digital output signal in response to the first pad input signal. A first test circuit also is provided that is internal to the IC. The first test circuit is adapted to provide information corresponding to the driver clock-to-q time of the first pad.
Some embodiments of the present invention may be construed as providing systems for measuring the driver clock-to-q times of pads of an integrated circuit. In this regard, a preferred system includes an IC and ATE. The ATE is configured to electrically interconnect with the IC and to provide at least one stimulus to the IC. The IC includes a first pad that incorporates a first driver, a first receiver, and a first test circuit. So configured, the first test circuit may electrically communicate with the ATE so that, in response to receiving at least one stimulus from the ATE, the first test circuit provides information corresponding to the driver clock-to-q time of at least one of the pads to the ATE.
Some embodiments of the present invention may be construed as providing methods for testing an IC. In this regard, a preferred method includes the steps of: electrically interconnecting ATE with the IC; providing at least one stimulus such that the IC measures the driver clock-to-q time of the first pad; and receiving information corresponding to the driver clock-to-q time of the first pad.
Other embodiments of the present invention may be construed as providing computer-readable media. In this regard, a preferred computer readable medium, which incorporates a computer program for facilitating measuring of the driver clock-to-q times of pads of an IC includes logic configured to enable ATE to provide at least one stimulus to the IC. Additionally, logic configured to enable the ATE to receive information corresponding to the driver clock-to-q time of at least one of the pads of the IC is provided.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following drawings and detailed description. It is intended that all such features and advantages be included herein within the scope of the present invention, as defined in the appended claims.

Systems and methods for facilitating testing of pad drivers of integrated circuits


A rotational angle detecting device includes a sensor portion disposed on a shaft. The sensor portion includes longitudinal hall elements disposed perpendicular to each other for outputting a hall voltage proportional to a magnetic flux induced by a magnet disposed on the shaft. The device also includes an engagement mechanism for maintaining a positional relationship with the magnet in which a center portion of the sensor is aligned with a center portion of the magnet.

Referring to FIG. 17, a conventional lateral Hall sensor (element) 170 is shown in which a magnetic flux 172 appears in a direction perpendicular to the constant current 174. As known by those skilled in the art, the resultant Hall voltage VH can be obtained for detecting the magnetic flux 172.
A rotational angle detecting device for detecting the rotational angle of each of various kinds of rotating members in non-contact style by using a Hall element is generally known. (For example, see JP-A-2003-149000). FIG. 15 shows one of rotational angle detecting devices which is practically used at present.
As shown in FIG. 15, this rotational angle detecting device is equipped with a mold IC (integrated circuit) 24 containing a Hall element 20 at the upper portion of a housing HG. This mold IC 24 is mounted in a holder HD fixed in the housing HG, and a cylindrical magnet 26 is provided at the lower side of the holder HD on the graph so that the gap between the cylindrical magnet 26 and the holder HD (accurately, the mold IC 24) by a center shaft 25 and rotates around the center shaft 25. The magnetic 26 is connected to one end of a rotating shaft 27 in the housing HG, and rotates in connection with the rotation of the rotating shaft 27. Furthermore, a gearwheel 28 is provided to the other end of the rotating shaft 27 which extends to the outside of the housing HG, and the gearwheel 28 is engaged with a gearwheel 32 mounted on a rotating shaft 31 which is a detection target. Therefore, the rotation of the rotating shaft 31 as a detection target is transmitted through these gearwheels 32 and 28 to the rotating shaft 27, and further transmitted to the magnet 26 connected to the rotating shaft 27. At this time, the rotation of the magnet 26 varies the magnetic field intensity in the neighborhood of the holder HD, and an output voltage of the Hall element 20 provided to the mold IC 24, that is, the Hall voltage is also varied in connection with the variation of the magnetic field intensity. That is, the rotational angle of the rotating shaft 31 as the detection target is detected on the basis of the variation of the Hall voltage. When the rotational angle detecting device is a throttle sensor, the rotating shaft 31 is a rotating (driving) shaft of a throttle valve.
FIGS. 16A and 16B schematically show the arrangement relationship between the Hall element 20 containing the holder HD and the magnet 26 in the rotational angle detecting device described above.
FIG. 16A shows a side view showing the structure of the rotational angle detecting device. In this detecting device, a lateral type Hall element which is generally and frequently used as the Hall element 20 described above is adopted, and the lateral type Hall element 20 is adhesively fixed onto the holder HD through an adhesive agent or the like in the form of a resin molded product as the mold IC 24 so that the resin molded product stands on the holder HD. The holder HD is provided with a projecting portion HDa serving as a guide. When the mold IC 24 is mounted on the holder HD, two molds IC 24 are arranged so as to intersect each other at an angle of 90 degrees with respect to the projecting portions HDa as shown in the planar structure of FIG. 16B. Furthermore, as illustrated in FIG. 16A, the rotating shaft 27 connected to the magnet 26 also serves as the center shaft 25 for the sake of convenience. In the mode shown in FIG. 16A, the gap between the holder HD and the magnet 26 is adjusted so that the magnetic flux (magnetic field) emitted from the magnet 26 is accurately incident to the Hall element 20, whereby the rotational angle of the rotating shaft 27, and thus the rotating shaft 31 in the above style can be detected.
The rotational angle detecting device as described above has a structure such that two lateral Hall elements 20 are used and the rotational angle of the rotating shaft 31 as a detection target is detected. Therefore, these Hall elements 20 are required to be disposed to intersect with the holder HD at 90 degrees accurately. Accordingly, the projecting portions HDa are provided to the holder HD to guide the arrangement of the Hall elements 20 (mold ICs 24). The arrangement of the Hall elements 20 (mold ICs 24) on the holder HD is performed by adhesion using adhesive agent or the like as stated above. Therefore, even when the projecting portions HDa serving as the guides are provided, there is a risk that the Hall elements 20 may be adhesively attached to the holder HD while positionally displaced in the lateral direction along the surface of the projecting portion HDa or the 90-degree arrangement relationship cannot be accurately achieved due to dispersion in thickness of the adhesive agent. When the arrangement position of the Hall elements 20 is displaced or the 90-degree arrangement relationship between the Hall elements and the holder HD is not satisfied, the output characteristics of the Hall elements 20 are deteriorated, and the reliability as the rotational angle detecting device is greatly lost.
Furthermore, as described above, according to the rotational angle detecting device, it is required that the magnetic flux (magnetic field) emitted from the magnet 26 acts in parallel to the surface of the holder HD so as to be accurately incident to the Hall elements 20 and also the rotational center of the magnet 26 and the center of the two Hall elements provided on the holder HD are coincident with each other with high precision. However, in the conventional rotational angle detecting device, the tip of the rotating shaft 27 (the center shaft 25) and the lower surface of the holder HD are brought into point-contact with each other, and thus center displacement is liable to occur, which is one factor that may cause lower reliability of the rotational angle detecting device.


A technique for indicating an input cable length includes measuring within a cable equalizer circuit a differential voltage that varies approximately linearly in proportion to cable length. The measured voltage is translated into a cable length measurement corresponding to the connected input cable. The translated input cable length measurements can be provided on a graphical user interface (GUI) in the form of a graphical representation and/or numerical value.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to serial digital interface (SDI) signals. More particularly, this invention it relates to a method and apparatus for indicating the input cable length for SDI signals.
2. Description of Related Art
The length of a cable plays a critical role in the transmission of signals carried thereby. The length of input cable can affect the signals being transmitted both in terms signal degradation and/or a burst of Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) errors. For cables that carry Serial Digital Interface (SDI) signals, the cable length becomes especially important because of the so-called cliff effect, which occurs when the cable losses associated with the SDI signal prevent the ability to receive the signals accurately. Thus, knowledge of the cable length becomes important to make sure the cable conforms to a minimum operating threshold.
One technique for measuring the length of a cable link in a computer network involves sending test signals through a cable and examining the characteristics of the received signal. (See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,614,236). For purposes of fiber optic cables, the length determination enables a determination of a tolerable propagation delay between a repeater and a base station (See for example, U.S. Publication No. 2004/0233874).
A need exists for a simple reliable technique for determining the length of a cable to carry SDI signals.

Method and apparatus for input cable length indication for SDI signals


The present invention provides compounds useful as inhibitors of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaMKII), compositions thereof, and methods of using the same.

Cardiovascular disease remains the number one cause of death in developed countries. Furthermore, incidence of cardiovascular disease has increased dramatically in developing countries. Although cardiovascular disease usually affects older adults, the antecedents of cardiovascular disease, notably atherosclerosis, begin in early life, making primary prevention efforts necessary from childhood. Therefore, there is increased emphasis on preventing atherosclerosis by modifying risk factors, such as healthy eating, exercise, and avoidance of smoking. It is estimated that 1 in 3 people will die from complications attributable to cardiovascular disease. "Global Atlas on Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Control", World Health Organization; January 2012. In order to stem the tide and address the shifting epidemiology of this disease, measures to prevent or reverse cardiovascular disease must be taken.
Obesity and diabetes mellitus are often linked to cardiovascular disease, as are a history of chronic kidney disease and hypercholesterolemia. In fact, cardiovascular disease is the most life threatening of the diabetic complications and diabetics are two- to four-fold more likely to die of cardiovascular-related causes than nondiabetics.
Diet and exercise, even when used in conjunction with the current pharmacotherapy, often do not provide sufficient control of cardiovascular symptoms. The continuing and highly prevalent problem of cardiovascular disease highlights the overwhelming need for new drugs to treat this condition and its underlying causes.


A print inspection apparatus according to the present invention obtains an object for variable printing which is stored in a storage and generates a combined image by combining the obtained object. If the combined image is normally generated, the combined image is set to both of a print image and a collation image. Whereas if the combined image is not normally generated, a different image is set to each of the print image and the collation image. The print inspection apparatus generates a print product by printing the set print image. Then, the print inspection apparatus inspects the print product by comparing image data generated by reading the print product with the set collation image.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to print inspection of variable printing which performs printing while determining a variable object to use immediately before the printing.
Description of the Related Art
Recently, a print on demand (hereinbelow, referred to as POD) market has expanded with increase in speed and improvement of image quality of electrophotographic method and ink-jet method digital printers. Compared to a conventional offset printing, POD can handle a print job with a relatively small lot in a short delivery period and perform variable data printing (hereinbelow, referred to as VDP) making use of characteristics of using electronic data. A VDP document includes an object used in a fixed part (hereinbelow, referred to as a fixed object) and an object used in a variable part (hereinbelow, referred to as a variable object). Printing is performed by changing the variable object for each client, so that the VDP documents of which contents are different from each other can be printed. ISO 16612-2 portable document format/variable data and transactional (PDF/VT) has been issued as the language specification for variable printing.
PDF/VT is a page description language (PDL) based on PDF and has a high affinity for a work flow which handles PDF as print data. Generally, a very large number of records is included in a data source in VDP. In particular, for example, if one record includes 20 pages and there are 1000 records, PDF/VT includes page information of 20000 pages. In other words, it cannot be estimated sweepingly since a data amount of one page information piece depends on complexity (an amount of drawing data) of the page, however, if VDP includes many records, a large number of the page information pieces are also included, and thus an entire data amount would be very large.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-134748 discusses a method for separating VDP data into print data and a data source and combining the print data and the data source at the time of printing. In this method, the print data includes page information for one record and configuration information of a variable part which dynamically changes for each record, and the configuration information of the variable part is combined with the data source at the time of printing, so that a data amount is reduced to an amount of one record.
There is a print inspection technique which reads a print image of a print target and a print product by a scanner or the like and compares the read data pieces with each other to determine whether printing is normally performed. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-000876 discusses a method for using different criteria in comparison of fixed parts and in comparison of variable parts with use of the above-described print inspection technique and a variable printing technique.
However, when an error occurs in image combining processing, an image including an error (abnormal data) is output as an image combining result in some cases. On the other hand, in the case of the variable printing which performs image combining immediately before printing as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-134748, it is premised that image combining is normally performed. Thus, if an error occurs in combining processing of a print image, abnormal data as the error is regarded as the print image as it is, and an image obtained by reading a print product printed based on the print image by the scanner is the same as the print image when being compared with the print image and inspected, so that an inspection error does not occur. In other words, if the inspection processing is performed by the same method as the conventional method, there is a risk that a check on an inspection error does not function.
The present invention is directed to the provision of a print inspection apparatus capable of detecting an error in inspection processing of a print product even in a case where an error occurs when an image is combined in variable printing which performs image combining immediately before printing in consideration of the above-described issue.

Print inspection apparatus and print inspection method


Embodiments described herein relate to a system for processing manufacturing data, comprising: an edge device; a cloud platform; a sensing device configured to collect manufacturing data and to provide the collected data to the edge device; wherein the edge device and the cloud platform are each configured to carry out a plurality of data processing functions on the manufacturing data; the system further comprising a resource manager configured to communicate with the edge device and with the cloud platform, wherein the resource manager is further configured to: determine whether each of the plurality of data processing functions is to be carried out at the edge device or at the cloud platform; if it is determined that the plurality of data processing functions is to be carried out at the edge device, instruct the edge device to carry out the plurality of data processing functions; if it is determined that the plurality of data processing functions is to be carried out at the cloud platform, instruct the cloud platform to carry out the plurality of data processing functions; and if it is determined that at least one of the plurality of data processing functions is to be carried out at the edge device and at least one other data processing function is to be carried out at the cloud platform, instruct the edge device to carry out the at least one of the plurality of data processing functions and instruct the cloud platform to carry out the at least one other data processing function.

'Smart manufacturing' involves the collection of data during the manufacturing process, with the aim of monitoring and optimising the manufacturing process. For example, data concerning the operation of machines on the factory floor, quality of the material and product, and environmental conditions is collected, processed, and analysed in order to determine whether the manufacturing process can be optimised in some way. As an example, following the analysis of data from a particular machine, it may become apparent that the machine should operate at a reduced speed in order to reduce the amount of down-time resulting from maintenance of the machine. As another example, the analysis of data collected from a particular machine may result in an indication that a change to the tooling of that machine would reduce variation in the physical dimensions of a part, thereby improving produce quality and reducing wastage.
Typically, data is collected by Internet of Things (IoT) devices. These devices include a sensor that collects data and a means of transferring the collected data (typically via a wireless communications link) to a computing system in which that data is processed.
In some existing smart manufacturing solutions, all data is analysed close to the point of collection (for example, on the factory floor). However, there are limitations on the amount of computing resources that can be deployed on the factory floor, and their ability to access any additional external data relevant to the process (e.g. offsite data stores, or data from other manufacturing facilities, or from the supply chain). The limitation on computing resources is further compounded by the environmental challenges that are particular to the factory floor (for example, a requirement for the computing resources to be sufficiently robust so as not to be damaged by dirt). These limitations on the amount of computing resources that can be deployed on the factory floor mean that the amount of data that is collected and analysed is limited. That is, only a relatively small window of data can be processed using computing resources deployed on the factory floor. Given the relatively small window of data, and its potential incompleteness, any temporal variations or noise in the manufacturing data can have a significant impact on the outcome of the data analysis.
In other existing solutions, data is collected and processed using cloud platforms (i.e. "in the cloud"), meaning that data is not processed on the factory floor. Analysing the data in the cloud allows an increased amount of data, and data from different locations and facilities, to be analysed (compared with data analysis on the factory floor). However, connectivity to the cloud is not guaranteed. For example, a natural disaster such as a large fire or earthquake may damage communications lines, disrupting the communications link between the factory and the cloud. This means that "mission critical" data processing (i.e. data that is required for the manufacturing process to run) may not be able to be processed, because of the disruption of the communications link. The consequence of the lack of processing of the mission critical data is that the factory may then be unable to run. In addition, there may be constraints related to latency, privacy and security that can limit the availability of data in the cloud.
Accordingly, there exists a need to improve the processing of data in smart manufacturing environments.

Cloud and edge manufacturing data processing system


The invention relates to an apparatus and a method for improved correction of drift in an infrared measuring instrument. The measurement signal furnished by a thermal detector is split into a direct voltage component and an alternating voltage component. By means of calibration curves (24, 27), a calculated comparison variable

The invention relates to an apparatus and a method for determining the proportion of a substance in a gas sample using an infrared measuring instrument.
From European Patent Disclosure EP 584 519 B1, an apparatus and a method for measuring the concentration of a substance in a gas sample with an infrared measuring instrument has been disclosed. A radiation source, triggered by a modulated current, shines through the gas sample to be examined, and the measurement radiation is recorded by a measuring detector and a reference detector. The measurement and reference signals output by the respective detectors are composed of a dark signal, a direct voltage component, and an alternating voltage component. The dark signal is established as a substantially constant offset voltage, when the radiation source is darkened.
The direct voltage component and the alternating voltage component are each dependent on the measured concentration.
The ratio between the alternating voltage component and the direct voltage component is independent of the concentration, and is a function of only the degree of modulation of the radiation source.
The concentration of the substance is determined from the direct voltage component of the measurement signal, and the alternating voltage component of the reference signal is used for standardizing the direct voltage component of the measurement signal.
The known measuring instrument necessitates highly complicated circuitry to split up the measurement signal and the reference signal into the different voltage components. The measurement method is suitable only for detectors that have a defined dark signal, and only short-wave infrared radiation in the absorption range of carbon dioxide can be detected.

Apparatus and method for determining the proportion of a substance in a gas sample using an infrared measuring instrument

Abstract: T      DC    ,    korr    900is formed from a measured, averaged concentration value

Abstract: c    AC1    900    .The correction value ΔT for the drift correction is obtained from the difference between the corresponding measured size of the direct voltage component

Abstract: T  DC  900and the comparison variable

Abstract: T          DC      ,      korr        900    .


A novel method for order processing, manufacturing and distributing integrated circuits (ICs) including the steps of: dry packing a plurality of programmable ICs and placing the dry packed programmable ICs into inventory such that the inventory is re-accessible in an automated manner. A plurality of configuration programs are stored and in response to orders from customers, a subset of the inventoried ICs are unpacked in order to process the order. The process then includes the steps of programming the unpacked ICs with a configuration selected by the customer and re-packing the programmed ICs for shipment.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the manufacturing and distribution of application specific standard product (ASSP) integrated circuits (ICs) including, but not limited to, the manufacturing and distribution of field programmable gate arrays (FPGA).
2. Discussion of the Background
IC fabrication often concludes with the steps of testing, packaging, marking, and dry packing of the IC. Typically, an IC device is tested briefly while still on the wafer. ICs failing this test are discarded. ICs passing the test are packaged (i.e., mounted in plastic or ceramic carriers that protect the IC.) Packaged ICs are then marked (e.g., with product tracking information and other appropriate markings). Packaged ICs that have been marked are then subjected to further tests to determine full functionality and performance. ICs failing these tests are discarded.
Often the fully tested and marked ICs are then dry packed. That is, the ICs are processed to remove residual moisture, usually through baking, and hermetically sealed, typically in vacuum sealed anti-static envelopes.
Conventional ASSP ICs are pre-programmed at the factory to perform a specific function. They have fixed capabilities and are homogenous.
In contradistinction thereto, an FPGA is a programmable IC logic device that includes a matrix of configurable logic blocks (CLBS) embedded in a programmable routing mesh. Thus, an FPGA can be considered a programmable ASSP device and can be programmed after manufacturing. (The device is referred to as an FPGA because the array of CLBs contained on the device can be configured and interconnected in the "field" by the user (as opposed to the manufacturer) by means of special hardware and software.) The combined programming of the CLBs and routing network define the function of the device.
Each CLB can provide one or more of the functions provided by an AND gate, OR gate, flip-flop, latch, inverter, NOR gate, exclusive OR gate, as well as combinations of these functions to form more complex functions. The particular function performed by any one CLB is determined by control signals that are applied thereto from a corresponding control logic circuit. The control logic circuit is formed integrally with, and is part of, the integrated circuit on which the CLB is formed. If desired, control information can be stored and/or generated outside of this integrated circuit and transmitted to the CLB. The actual set of control bits provided to each CLB on the IC depends upon the functions that the CLB and, more globally, the IC are to perform.
Each CLB typically has a plurality of input and output pins, and a set of programmable interconnect points (PIPs) for each input and output pin. The general interconnect structure of the FPGA includes a plurality of interconnect segments and a plurality of PIPs, wherein each interconnect segment is connected to one or more other interconnect segments by programming an associated PIP. An FPGA also includes an access PIP that either connects an interconnect segment to an input pin or an output pin of the CLB.
Because the PIPs in the FPGA are programmable, any given output pin of a CLB is connectable to any given input pin of any other desired CLB. Thus, a specific FPGA configuration having a desired function is created by selected generation of control signals to configure the specific function of each CLB in an FPGA, together with selected generation of control signals to configure the various PIPs that interconnect the CLBs within the FPGA. The configuration data may be read from memory (e.g., an external programmable read-only memory (PROM)) or written into the FPGA by an external device. U.S. Pat. No. 6,020,633 to Erickson and U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,025 to Lawman describe the relationship between the PROM and the FPGA and are incorporated herein by reference.

Method for storing and shipping programmable ASSP devices


The present disclosure relates to chatbot systems, and more particularly, to techniques for identifying an intent for an utterance based on semantic framing. For an input utterance, a semantic frame is generated. The semantic frame includes semantically relevant grammatical relations and corresponding words identified in the utterance. The semantically relevant grammatical relations define context and relationships of words in the utterance. The semantic frame is used to identify an intent for the utterance, based on an intent model. The intent model maps features to corresponding words for a given intent. The semantic frame is compared to a plurality of intent models, and a best-matching intent model is used to identify the intent for the utterance.

Chatbots or bots provide an interface for conversations with human users. Chatbots can be configured to perform various tasks in response to user input provided during a conversation. The user input can be supplied in various forms including, for example, audio input and text input. Natural language understanding (NLU), speech-to-text, and other linguistic processing techniques may be employed as part of the processing performed by a chatbot.
An intelligent bot, generally powered by artificial intelligence (AI), can improve the conversational experience, allowing a more natural conversation between the bot and the end user. Instead of the end user learning a fixed set of keywords or commands that the bot knows how to respond to, an intelligent bot may be able to understand the end user's intention based upon user utterances in natural language and respond accordingly. In many cases, determining the end user's intents in order to respond properly is a challenging task in part due to the subtleties and ambiguity of natural languages.

Using semantic frames for intent classification


A scroll fluid machine comprises a stationary scroll that has a spiral stationary wrap, and an orbiting scroll that has a spiral orbiting wrap to form a compression chamber between the stationary and orbiting wraps. In the stationary and orbiting wraps, an outer low-pressure pressurizing portion is separated from an inner high-pressure pressurizing portion. A plurality of outlets and inlets are formed in the low-pressure and high-pressure pressurizing portions respectively. At least one of the outlets or at least one of inlets is selectively closed.

The present invention relates to a scroll-type fluid machine suitable in use for an air compressor, a vacuum pump and an expansion machine.
A known scroll-type fluid machine is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2,971,652.
The fluid machine comprises an orbiting scroll that is connected to a drive shaft rotated by an AC electric motor to be able to revolve and has a spiral orbiting wrap on one side surface, a stationary scroll that faces the orbiting scroll and has a stationary wrap to form a compression chamber between the stationary and orbiting wraps, and tip seals that seals the compression chamber at the ends of the stationary wraps of the stationary scroll to be in sliding contact with the surface of the orbiting scroll.
For example, if the scroll compressor set by frequency of 50 Hz for East Japan is used in West Japan, the tip seal is made to be shorter not to seal the winding finish of the stationary wrap. Therefore, even if the number of rotation of the AC electric motor becomes higher by the frequency of 60 Hz for West Japan, it prevents the scroll-type fluid machine not to be subject to overload operation. That is, the length of the tip seal can be changed depending on the frequency of AC voltage applied to the AC electric motor.
However, in the known scroll-type fluid machine as above, it is necessary to change the length of the tip seal depending on the condition of use, and thus, various types of tip seals having different lengths have to be provided. Thus, it is impossible to use the same type of tip seals, thereby increasing cost. To replace the tip seal, it is necessary to remove other parts to involve troublesome replacement.
In view of the disadvantages as above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a scroll-type fluid machine that need not replacement of parts even if condition in use is different, to prevent overload.

Scroll-type fluid machine having at least one inlet or outlet of a plurality able to be closed by a closure member