A circuit arrangement for monitoring leakage currents of a circuit which includes a plurality of valve coils connected in parallel to a supply line and adapted to be connected to ground by way of individual switches, and wherein the supply line is connected by way of a main switch to the positive pole of the supply voltage source and, further, to a testing current source used as a test signal source, is designed such that prior to each closing of the main switch, with the individual switches still open, the testing current source is connected to the supply voltage source and thereby activated. The result is an increase of the voltage potential on the supply line. A comparator establishes the difference between the potentials on the supply line and the supply voltage. If the difference exceeds a threshold value, this indicates leakage current.

German patent application No. 42 42 177 (P 7433) discloses a circuit arrangement of this type which is used to monitor valve coils of a controlled brake system and the associated actuating stages. The valve coils are connected to the positive pole of the vehicle battery by way of a joint main switch or a (semiconductor) relay, on the one hand, and grounded by way of each one final stage or an individual switch, on the other hand. To detect leakage currents, an auxiliary voltage source is connected, by way of a high-ohmic resistor, to the joint supply line which leads from the main switch to the valve coils. The potential on this supply line is measured and evaluated when the main switch is open. The potential on the supply line changes in the event of a shunt or leakage current from the supply line to the supply source or to ground. Shifts in potential which are due to leakage currents are detected and signalled by way of a voltage divider and a potential monitor.
Further, it has been disclosed in a circuit, which is similar to the above circuit in other respects, to connect the auxiliary voltage source that is used for testing purposes by way of a current source which can be comprised of two anti-parallel connected individual current sources. As long as the fault current is within predetermined limit values, the potential on the joint supply line remains approximately constant, while already an insignificant exceeding of these limit values will cause a remarkable (therefore easy to assess) potential variation on the supply line during the testing period (German patent application No. 195 26 435.5, not prior published).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,099,198 discloses a circuit for monitoring the final stages of a plurality of coils which permits detecting failure of the stages and the occurrence of leakage currents or shortcircuits. The final stages are actuated by test signals for error detection. The reactions caused thereby are identified by logical linking of the output signals and evaluated for error detection.
Further, EP-A-0 418 665 discloses a circuit for actuating and monitoring a plurality of coils and the associated final stages, for example, the valve coils of electrically controlled hydraulic valves of an anti-lock system, by way of a joint computer. Fault monitoring and fault determination is performed.
Assigned to each coil is a logic circuit including several detector circuits which respond to various functional faults of the coil circuits (such as shortcircuit, line interruption, permanent signal) . The associated logic circuits are actuated selectively by the joint control and test computer for monitoring the individual coils.
An object of the present invention is to develop a circuit arrangement of the above-mentioned type which permits detecting leakage currents or shunts of various types with a particularly high degree of reliability. Another important objective is a simple design and ease of analysis of the test results.
It has been found that this object is achieved by the circuit arrangement of the present invention which includes a current source as an auxiliary or test signal source which is connected to the supply voltage source, and is thereby activated, prior to each closing of the main switch, with the individual switches still open. Subsequently, the occurring voltage potential on the supply line is determined and evaluated for leakage current detection.
In the test period, i.e., after the activation of the testing current source, the potential on the supply line is increased until almost the total value of the supply voltage or battery voltage by the circuit arrangement according to the present invention. In contrast to known circuits with a low auxiliary voltage and/or high-ohmic resistors in the testing path, the increase of potential to the battery potential level also permits detecting shunts which occur or are caused only at a relatively high voltage level. Impurity spots and defects in the crystal lattice structure of semiconductors may cause shunts which become active only starting with a certain voltage potential. This behavior can be compared with the Zener effect where current flow occurs only above a defined voltage value, i.e., the Zener voltage.
In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the difference between the potential on the supply line and the potential of the supply voltage source is determined in the test period, i.e., after the activation of the testing current source, by way of a comparator. When the difference exceeds a defined, relatively low voltage threshold value, this indicates a shunt or a leakage current. This type of error detection is especially easy to achieve and it is reliable.
It is appropriate to evaluate the potential difference which is produced as a consequence of the activation of the testing current source only after a defined waiting time in order to also cover an induced current which flows via an inductive load, especially via one of the valve coils. This is because due to inductance the potential variation on the supply line will occur under certain conditions only after a defined delay time as a consequence of activation of the testing current source.

Switching arrangement for monitoring leakage current


An 830 nm broad area semiconductor laser having a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) structure. The semiconductor laser supports multiple horizontal transverse modes of oscillation extending within a plane perpendicular to a crystal growth direction of the laser, in a direction perpendicular to the length of the resonator of the laser. The resonator includes a diffraction grating in the vicinity of the emitting facet of the laser. The width of the diffraction grating in a plane perpendicular to the growth direction and perpendicular to the length of the resonator is different at first and second locations along the length of the resonator. The width of the diffraction grating along a direction which is perpendicular to the length of the resonator increases with increasing distance from the front facet of the semiconductor laser.

Solid state lasers, such as Nd-doped YAG (Nd:YAG) lasers and Yb-doped YAG (Yb:YAG) lasers, Yb-doped fiber lasers, and Er-doped fiber amplifiers, etc. employ a semiconductor laser as their pumping source.
Conventional semiconductor lasers are disclosed, e.g., in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-165383, etc. In typical conventional semiconductor lasers, the width of the diffraction grating perpendicular to the length direction of the resonator is uniform along the length of the resonator, as described on page 28 and shown in FIG. 11, etc. of this publication.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H06-313818 discloses a semiconductor laser configured in such a manner that the diffraction grating has a dimension varying periodically along the length of the resonator. However, since the diffraction grating in the semiconductor laser described in this publication extends a relatively long distance along the length of the resonator, the semiconductor laser does not fall into the category of a DBR semiconductor layer, in which a diffraction grating is provided only in the vicinity of the emitting facet of the resonator.
Broad area semiconductor lasers permit a plurality of horizontal transverse modes which extend within a plane perpendicular to the crystal growth direction in a direction perpendicular to the length direction of the resonator. More specifically, in the case of longitudinal modes in a broad area semiconductor laser, they can be controlled by use of a diffraction grating so that the lasing wavelength is equal or approximately equal to the wavelength of the single longitudinal mode.
In the case of horizontal transverse modes, however, a number of modes including low order modes to high order modes appear in the semiconductor laser, since there is little difference between the reflectances of the diffraction grating in these modes. As a result, conventional broad area semiconductor lasers lase in many horizontal transverse modes, making it difficult to condense the light without the need for an additional complicated optical system.
The present invention has been made to solve the foregoing problem. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved semiconductor laser which lases in lower order horizontal transverse modes.


A network node enables a wireless device to communicate with a local service device, such as a printer or a projector, of a Local Area Network (LAN) or Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). The network node is connected both to a communication network and to the LAN or WLAN. The method includes identifying a multicast Domain Name System (mDNS) request, where the mDNS request is received from the wireless device, and assigning a LinkLocal (LL)-address for the wireless device. The method retrieves a local IP-address of an Authentication and Authorization Service (AA-S) having authorization information regarding a local service device, and authenticates, with the AA-S which type of services, that the wireless device is authorized to use. A local IP-address of the local service device is retrieved, and service data is conveyed between the wireless device and the local service device, by applying the LL-address of the local service device.

Wi-Fi as connection technology is becoming more and more important; many new gadgets are equipped with Wi-Fi chip-set to enable connection and usages of different equipment together. As an example of equipment that has Wi-Fi are projectors, cameras, videos and printers.
Apple's implementation of zero configurations is using Bonjour to service discovery, address assignment and host resolutions. Bonjour locates devices such as printers, other computers, and the services that those devices offer on a local area network by using multicast Domain Name System (mDNS) service records and Ethernet as transport, using IP with link-local address in the local domain. Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) is a similar solution that permits network devices, such as PC, printers and Internet gateways, Wi-Fi access point discover each other's for data shearing.
The term "wireless communication device" will be used throughout this description to denote any device which is capable of wireless communications. The term wireless communication device may thus include any device, which may be used by a user for wireless communications. Accordingly, the term wireless communication device may alternatively be referred to as a mobile terminal, a terminal, a user terminal (UT), a user equipment (UE), a wireless terminal, a wireless communication device, a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), a mobile phone, a cell phone, a table computer, a smart phone, etc. Yet further, the term wireless communication device includes MTC (Machine Type Communication) devices, which do not necessarily involve human interaction. MTC devices are sometimes referred to as Machine-to-Machine (M2M) devices.
In office buildings so called small cells or distributed antenna systems (DAS) are often arranged to provide increased access to UEs in cellular communication networks. For instance, the small cells may be implemented as pico or femto cells. Furthermore, internal data communication in office buildings are typically offered to employees and facilities, e.g. conference rooms, by LANs (Local Area Networks). It is common to provide LAN functionality wirelessly by WLANs (Wireless LANs).
UEs and other apparatuses as personal computers, printers, projectors, etc., are allowed to communicate data within the LANs which they are registered in. When connecting to a WLAN, users of UEs and other apparatuses enters a password before being authenticated by an AP (Access Point) of the WLAN.
WLANs are often referred to as Wi-Fi networks. Wi-Fi is a trademark name, and was stated to be a play on the audio term Hi-Fi (High-Fidelity). The Wi-Fi Alliance defines Wi-Fi as any WLAN products that are based on the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 standards. However, since most modern WLANs are based on these standards, the term "Wi-Fi" is used in general English as a synonym for "WLAN".
There are no solutions for 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) device belonging 3GPP network to co-operate and use services at Local Area Networks at IP (Internet Protocol) level. Since the IP-address is obtained from the HSS (Home Subscriber Server) or DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server belonging to an operator, received at the core network and using the GTP-U tunnels, which end-point is terminated at PDN-GW, this makes 3GPP devices live in separate networks, at IP-address level. No connection for the network that is local at the moment for the user. The 3GPP solution using LIPA (Local IP Access) or SIPTO (Selected Internet IP Traffic Offload) is to use a special local PDN-GW (Packet Data Network GateWay) with a separate APN for the local traffic. The local APN (Access Point Name) is owned and controlled by the mobile operator and controls what is accessible locally. At the same time the local PDN-GW requires several mobile core network interfaces, and this makes the solution complex. Providers of WLANs (Wireless Local Area Networks) often offer access to their WLANs to get access to the Internet. Access may be offered both with and without entering a password.
However, unregistered end users are not allowed to use local resources of the WLANs. For instance, a guest who visits an office will be able to connect to the Internet via a WLAN, such as a Wi-Fi network at the office, but will not be able to use WLAN connected apparatuses, such as projectors, printers, etc.
There is a need to devise a flexible and convenient method to enable end users to get access to installed local service devices in LANs.

Method for accessing local services in WLANs


In a lower portion of a movable plate (1) of an injection moulding machine, there are provided a plurality of conveying rollers (10) arranged with a predetermined interval in the horizontal direction. The roller (10) comprises a support block (11) facing the movable plate (1), a support cylinder (12) fitted into an upper portion of the block (11), a roller member (14) externally mounted to the support cylinder (12), a bolt (16) inserted into a bore (15) of the support cylinder (12) through an annular clearance (17) and a positioning pin (18) fitted into a lower portion of the block (11) and the movable plate (1). The bolt (16) is screwed into the threaded hole (29) of the movable plate (1), so that the bolt (16) presses the support cylinder (12) onto the movable plate (1).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a roller adapted to convey a metal mould of an injection moulding machine and the like in the horizontal direction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Among such conveying rollers, conventionally there are ones disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 59-140821. The following two conventional embodiments are described in the publication.
As shown in FIG. 6, a conveying roller 60 of a first conventional embodiment is constructed as follows.
A threaded hole 79 and a circular bore 80 are formed coaxially in series in a fixed plate 51 of an injection moulding machine. A support cylinder 62 is constructed by a supporting portion 72 adapted to be fitted into tile circular bore 80 and a bearing portion 73 adapted to rotatably support a roller member 64 through a bearing 63. An axis of the supporting portion 72 is offset relative to an axis of the bearing portion 73. A bolt 66 is fitted into a cylindrical bore 65 of the support cylinder 62 coaxially to the supporting portion 72 and a leg portion 66a of the bolt 66 is threadably engaged with the threaded hole 79.
When a level of the roller member 64 is adjusted, the bolt 66 is loosened a little and the support cylinder 62 is rotated by a desired angle relative to the bolt 66 under that condition so as to change a height position of a top portion of the roller member 64. After that, the bolt 66 is tightened so as to press and secure the support cylinder 62 to a fixed plate 51 by its head portion 66b.
As shown in FIG. 7, in a conveying roller 60 of a second conventional embodiment, the supporting portion 72 of the first conventional embodiment is omitted from the support cylinder 62 and a midway portion of the bolt 66 is fitted into the circular bore 80. Other construction and the level adjusting method are the same as those in the first conventional embodiment.
In the respective conventional embodiments, when the conveying roller is mounted to the installed infection moulding machine, it is necessary to form the threaded hole 79 and the circular bore 80 in the fixed plate 51 on the working spot by means of a hand drill and so on.
Accordingly, there are the following problems associated with the first conventional embodiment ( refer to FIG. 6 ).
In order that the circular bore 80 rotatably supports the supporting portion 72 of is the support cylinder 62, it is necessary to finish the peripheral surface of the bore 80 with a high accuracy and to form the bore 80 coaxially to the threaded hole 79. Therefore, it is very difficult to carry out the machining in the working spot. As a result, it is troublesome to mount the conveying roller 60.
If the bolt 66 happens to be loosened even a little during conveying of a metal mould 55, the support cylinder 62 is subjected to a shock caused by the metal mould 55 to swing eccentrically about the bolt 66. Thereupon, the height position of the roller member 64 gets out of order. Therefore, it is apprehended that the metal mould 55 can't be conveyed smoothly.
In the second conventional embodiment ( refer to FIG. 7), since the bolt 66 is fitted into the circular bore 80, it is not necessary to hold a high finish accuracy for the peripheral surface of the circular bore 80 in comparison with the first conventional embodiment. But, since it is necessary to form the circular bore 80 coaxially to the threaded hole 79, it is still difficult to carry out the machining in the working spot.
Also in this second conventional embodiment, similarly to the first conventional embodiment, the height position of the roller member 64 gets out of order due to a swing of the support cylinder 62.


An approach is provided for applying post graphic data system (GDS) stream enhancements back to the design stage. Embodiments include receiving a data stream of an integrated circuit design layout from a design stage, determining one or more design constructs based on an analysis of the data stream, determining one or more instructions to implement the one or more design constructs at the design stage, and sending the instructions to the design stage to implement the one or more design constructs.

Manufacturability-aware physical IC design processes, which take into account such factors as yield and reliability, are becoming increasingly important aspects in bridging the gap between what is designed and what is actually produced or fabricated. Traditionally, physical IC design verification has focused primarily on design verification rules-based approaches. For example, design rule checking (DRC) is an area of electronic design automation (EDA) that enables IC designers to determine whether a particular physical layout design satisfies a series of parameters, also referred to as design rules. Design rules are typically provided by IC manufacturers (e.g., foundries) to enable IC designers to verify the "correctness" of their physical layout patterns. In this manner, design rules are often associated with specific manufacturing processes. Thus, a set of design rules may specify certain IC features (e.g., geometric element) and/or connectivity restrictions to ensure sufficient margins are present to account for the variability in one or more manufacturing processes. As such, design rule checking is a major step during physical verification of physical IC layout configurations performed by the IC designers.
As the demand for increased feature densities grows and manufacturing processes evolve, design rule sets are becoming increasingly more complex. Accordingly, one objective of design verification is to achieve a certain level of yield and reliability for a particular physical IC layout pattern. If design rules are violated the design may not be functional. To meet this goal of improving yield and/or reliability, design verification has evolved from simple measurement and Boolean check-based techniques to processes that modify existing features, insert new features, and check entire designs for process limitations. A completed layout consists not only of the geometric representation of the design itself, but also data that provides support for manufacturing the design. While design verification processes do not necessarily ensure a particular physical IC layout pattern will operate correctly, these processes are constructed to at least verify that the physical configuration meets certain processing constraints for given design types and/or manufacturing process technologies. Thus, as physical IC layout patterns become more complex, the execution of design verification techniques is becoming evermore computationally intensive. For instance, some design verification techniques, if executed on a single processing platform, may require several days (if not weeks) to generate results. In competitive environments like the semiconductor industry, however, design cycles need to be as short as possible; lengthy design verification processes only burden such efforts.
The above-described process-driven yield enhancement is performed prior to mask data preparation (MDP), which precludes the possibility of analysis of layout changes on certain design metrics. Thus, potential post-layout enhancements, including changes to the graphic data system (GDS) stream for opportunistic insertion of redundant vertical interconnect accesses (VIAs) and shapes to enhance manufacturability, or shape shifting to improve critical areas (e.g., those susceptible to random defects), are not possible. Further, as technology scales, design analyses must increasingly account for the design performance impact of manufacturing enhancements and the computational scalability of manufacturing enhancement techniques as layout data size quadruples with every technology node.
A need, therefore, exists for methodology enabling the enhancement and/or modification of layout data in the IC design stage with semantics passed from manufacturability analysis/yield enhancement tools at the manufacturer back to the designer. There exists a particular need for methodology enabling the insertion of manufacturability and/or yield-enhancing design constructs during the design stage (e.g., layout synthesis, more specifically, in detail routing) based on analysis from the pre-MDP or IC manufacturability analysis stages. The pre-MDP stage entails detailed analysis of the layout for ensuring its manufacturability in the process, through the use of various design for manufacturability (DFM) tools.

Method and apparatus for applying post graphic data system stream enhancements


Embodiments discussed herein relate to processes of producing a field stop zone within a semiconductor substrate by implanting dopant atoms into the substrate to form a field stop zone between a channel region and a surface of the substrate, at least some of the dopant atoms having energy levels of at least 0.15 eV below the energy level of the conduction band edge of semiconductor substrate; and laser annealing the field stop zone.

IGBTs have been made as punch-through devices (PT-IGBT) in which a DMOS type structure is formed at the top of an epitaxially deposited silicon substrate. The epitaxial layer is formed atop a higher concentration buffer layer, of the same conductivity type, which is in turn formed on a substrate of opposite conductivity type and which acts as a minority carrier injection source. In such punch-through devices, the electric field across the silicon substrate under reverse bias reaches from the top surface of the silicon to the buffer layer, which also acts as a depletion layer stop.
Field stop IGBTs, on the other hand, are made starting from a low doped substrate of a first conductivity type without employing epitaxial layers. The field stop zone has considerably lower doping concentration than the buffer layer in a PT-IGBT.
The field stop zone plays a key role in the operational properties of IGBTs. In particular, thickness and concentration of the field stop zone greatly affect the switching and breakdown voltage characteristics of the device.

Semiconductor device with a field stop zone and process of producing the same


An apparatus comprises a receiver (401) receiving a first image and associated first depth data captured by a first depth-sensing camera. A detector (405) detects an image position property for a fiducial marker in the first image, the fiducial marker representing a placement of a second depth sensing image camera. A placement processor (407) determines a relative placement vector indicative of a placement of the second depth sensing image camera relative to the first depth-sensing camera in response to the image position property and depth data of the first depth data for an image position of the fiducial marker. A second receiver (403) receives a second image and second first depth data captured by the second depth sensing image camera. A generator (409) generates the representation of at least part the scene in response to a combination of at least the first image and the second image based on the relative placement vector.

Traditionally, technical processing and use of images has been based on two-dimensional imaging but increasingly the third dimension is being explicitly considered in image processing.
For example, three-dimensional (3D) displays have been developed which add a third dimension to the viewing experience by providing a viewer's two eyes with different views of the scene being watched. This can be achieved by having the user wear glasses to separate two views that are displayed. However, as this may be considered inconvenient to the user, it is in many scenarios preferred to use autostereoscopic displays that use means at the display (such as lenticular lenses, or barriers) to separate views, and to send them in different directions where they individually may reach the user's eyes. For stereo displays, two views are required whereas autostereoscopic displays typically require more views (such as e.g. nine views).
In many embodiments, it may be desirable to generate view images for new viewing directions. Whereas various algorithms are known for generating such new view images based on image and depth information, they tend to be highly dependent on the accuracy of the provided (or derived) depth information.
Indeed, three-dimensional image information is often provided by a plurality of images corresponding to different view directions for a scene. Specifically, video content, such as films or television programs, are increasingly generated to include some 3D information. Such information can be captured using dedicated 3D or depth-sensing cameras, such as cameras that capture two simultaneous images from slightly offset camera positions.
However, in many applications, the provided images may not directly correspond to the desired directions, or more images may be required. For example, for autostereoscopic displays, more than two images are required, and indeed often 9-26 view images are used.
In order to generate images corresponding to different view directions, view point shifting processing may be employed. This is typically performed by a view shifting algorithm which uses an image for a single view direction together with associated depth information.
A particular example of an application that is based on three-dimensional image processing, is a virtual reality application. In typical virtual reality experiences, right eye and left eye view images may continuously be generated for e.g. a virtual reality headset to match the movement and change of orientation by the user. Such generation of dynamic virtual reality views is typically based on processing of 3D image data representing a given scene corresponding to the virtual reality environment. For example, a virtual reality server may generate view images for specific views based on a three-dimensional model or three-dimensional images, such as images represented by light intensity images and depth maps, or texture maps and depth meshes.
For applications such as virtual reality applications, a sequence of images may e.g. be generated to reflect a user's views as these change due to the user virtually moving or changing view direction/orientation in the virtual environment. In some applications, the images may be generated to reflect changes in the viewer's orientation but without supporting movement in the area. Video reflecting such a scenario is often referred to as omnidirectional video. In other applications, a moving viewing position may also be supported to reflect a user's virtual movement in the virtual reality environment. Video reflecting such a scenario is often referred to as immersive video. The current view of a user may be represented by a view vector which describes relevant positional and directional parameters for a viewpoint.
For omnidirectional video, a view vector typically describes an orientation according to three degrees of freedom (3DoF), typically by providing yaw, pitch and roll values (or azimuth, elevation, and tilt) or a quaternion representation.
For immersive video, a vector typically describes both an orientation and position according to six degrees of freedom (6DoF), typically by providing values for yaw, pitch, roll, and for three spatial dimensions.
However, a particular challenge when trying to develop and support flexible video and image applications supporting variable view positions and/or directions is that these are preferably not limited to a subset of positions and/or directions but all positions and/or directions are ideally supported. For example, for 6DoF immersive video, a viewer may be viewing the scene from any position and in any direction. This requires 3D information to be available for all parts of the scene and from all positions and for all directions. This requirement is difficult or impossible to meet in many practical applications, such as specifically applications wherein the 3D data is based on captures of a real-world scene.
The combination of the position and direction/orientation of an object is in the field typically referred to as a placement or a pose. Thus, a placement or pose vector may comprise six values/components with each value/component describing an individual property of the position/location or the orientation/direction of the corresponding object. Of course, in some situations, placement or pose vectors may have fewer components to represent the position and orientation, for example if one or more components are considered fixed (e.g. if all objects are considered to be at the same height and are level, four components may provide a full representation of the pose of an object).
One of the most difficult challenges to address is that of how to effectively capture a scene such that a representation of the scene can be generated which provides sufficient information to allow suitable viewpoint images of sufficiently high quality to be generated yet still allowing the representation to be easily communicated, stored, adapted, and/or processed.
Many applications are based on capturing a real-world scene or environment using depth-sensing cameras. This allows for visual properties to be captured together with three-dimensional information. In order to capture a scene sufficiently accurately and completely, the use of a plurality; and often a high number, of cameras is often adopted. In some applications, 10, 20 or even more cameras are used to provide a satisfactory capture.
The use of the captured information may be different in different applications. For example, in some embodiments, the captured data may be used to develop a three-dimensional model of the real-world scene. View images for a user being provided with a three-dimensional virtual reality experience may then be generated by evaluating the model from a specific viewpoint. In other applications, images for specific viewports or viewpoints may directly be generated from the captured images and depth information, e.g. by selecting one or more of the closest captured images and performing viewpoint shifting to correspond to the desired viewpoint.
Typically, calibration for multi-view camera capture systems includes different aspects:                1. Calibration of the parameters that are intrinsic to each of the camera sensors:                    a) Lens focal length and distortion model,            b) Sensor size, resolution, position and orientation                        2. Calibration of the parameters that are extrinsic to each camera, i.e. orientation and position of camera nodes with respect to each other.
In particular the second point is often difficult and critical. In order to accurately process the captured data e.g. to generate images for desired viewpoints, it is important that the placements of the depth-sensing cameras capturing the scene is known with a sufficiently high accuracy and reliability. In particular, it is typically required that the relative placements of the depth-sensing cameras with respect to each other is accurately known such that the capture data from different depth-sensing cameras can be reliably and accurately combined, whether by generating an intermediate model or by directly generating images from a plurality of the captured images. In many applications, the requirements for the placement determination are very demanding and difficult to achieve. For example, it is in many practical applications required that the accuracy on azimuth parameters is around 1°, or preferentially even substantially lower.
In some applications, accurate placement information can be ensured by a careful, accurate and highly controlled positioning and orientation of the cameras with known placement parameters. For example, a fixed rig of depth-sensing cameras where each camera is fixed at a known position and with a fixed orientation relative to the other cameras may be used. However, such an approach is impractical or even impossible in many applications. For example, if a large number of cameras are used and/or if cameras are far from each other, it is typically not practical to manually measure or restrict positions and orientations to a high degree of accuracy. Further, the approach is not suitable for dynamic capture applications, such as when cameras may be dynamically added or removed from the capture system, or where one or more of the cameras may be a moving camera.
It has been proposed to address such issues by introducing an automatic determination of the positions of the individual depth-sensing cameras. This may for example be achieved by use of specific position determining functionality being included in the depth-sensing cameras, such as e.g. GPS functionality. However, this not only requires the depth camera sensors to include such functionality, which may often not be the case in practice, but further tends to provide results that are far from sufficiently precise to ensure accurate determination between different cameras, especially for orientation values.
It has further been suggested that placement information may be derived from the captured information. Specifically, it has been proposed that image matching may be used to find overlapping image areas in images from different cameras and that this may further be used to derive information about the relative placements of the cameras. However, the approach tends to be computationally very intensive as the image matching needs to in principle consider all regions of an image relative to all other regions in all other captured images. Further, it has been found that the approach tends to give suboptimal and typically relatively inaccurate results. For example, it is difficult to prevent accidental matching between image regions that do not represent the same object but rather different objects that may have similar visual properties (or the same object from very different directions). Such mismatches may result in erroneous placement determination, which may result in significant errors when using this placement information to combine the data from different cameras.
Hence, an improved approach for capturing scenes, and specifically for determining placement information for capturing depth-sensing cameras, would be advantageous. In particular, an approach that allows improved operation, increased flexibility, facilitated implementation, facilitated operation, reduced complexity, reduced resource demand, improved accuracy, better placement determination, and/or improved performance would be advantageous.

Apparatus and method for generating a representation of a scene


The presence of certain chemicals on the emitting surface of the surface-derivatized photoluminescent semiconductor alters the characteristics of radiation emitted from said surface. This alteration is used to indicate the presence of those chemicals in the environment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to optically-coupled chemical sensing devices and to processes for detecting the presence of certain classes of chemical compounds. More particularly the invention concerns an apparatus for use in sensing pollutants in water such as wastewater.
2. Discussion of the Invention
Introduction
Electroluminescence occurs in semiconductor materials that are capable of emitting visible or near visible radiation when an electrical current passes through the semiconductor. Photoluminescence can also occur in these materials. If external light is used to excite the semiconductor, a characteristic wavelength of light is emitted. These characteristic wavelengths vary amongst different photoluminescent semiconductors and can be varied in a single semiconductor by doping or changing the composition of the material.
Amongst the various studies on the luminescence of photostimulated or electroluminescent materials is "Luminescent Photoelectrochemical Cells", Streckert, H. H., Tong, J. and Ellis. A. B., J. Am Chem. Soc. Vol 104, No. 2, 1982, pp 581-588. It is noted therein that the intensity of light emitted by electroluminescence and photoluminescence varies directly with the applied voltage. The efficiency of charge transfer and good electrical contact at the surface is also noted as important in the efficiency of the process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,780,643 discloses semiconductor electrodes having multicolor luminescence. These semiconductors comprise solid-state solutions of three elements that vary in a vertically anisotropic manner. The preferred solid-state solutions are of cadmium, sulfur and selenium.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,586 discloses a method of forming a multicolor light-emitting array of diodes. The diodes are formed by differentially etching a graded n-type semiconductor and diffusing a p-type dopant into the surface of the n-type semiconductor to form a p-n junction diode.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,932 discloses an apparatus for detecting the presence of certain chemical compounds comprising a photoluminescent semiconductor having a metal coating on a radiation-emitting surface of the semiconductor, a source of actinic radiation that can impinge on the radiation-emitting surface of the semiconductor, and a means for detecting changes in the characteristics of radiation emitted from said radiation-emitting surface. The absorption of hydrogen into the metal layer is suggested as varying the height of the Schottky barrier of the diode and causing a change in spectral characteristics of the radiation emitted.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,476 discloses an optically-coupled sensing apparatus of a photoluminescent semiconductor, a source of actinic radiation that can impinge on a radiation-emitting surface of the semiconductor, and a means for detecting changes in the characteristics of the radiation emitted from the radiation-emitting surface. The radiation-emitting surface has reacted thereon a compound capable of undergoing oxidation and/or reduction, the redox product of which reacted compound has a vertical charge distribution therein with respect to the radiation-emitting surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,588 discloses an optically-coupled sensing apparatus of a photoluminescent semiconductor, a source of actinic radiation that can impinge on a radiation-emitting surface of the semiconductor, and a means for detecting changes in the characteristics of the radiation emitted from the radiation-emitting surface. The radiation-emitting surface has reacted thereon a compound is capable of bonding to certain gases, undergoing oxidative addition and/or reductive elimination reactions, resulting in a change in the vertical charge distribution with respect to the radiation-emitting surface.


The present invention discloses a backplane, a backlight module and an LCD device. A backplane, comprising a plurality of ribs which intersect vertically and horizontally to form a plurality of meshes. In the present invention, because ribs are adopted as basic members of the backplane and the comprehensively intersected ribs form the meshes, all components and parts of the backplane module required to be fixed to the backplane can be fixed to the meshes. The ribs are standard and universal; the meshes formed by the ribs are arranged on the whole backplane and can absolutely satisfy the fixation needs of the components and the parts of different positions and different installation dimensions; therefore, for backplanes of different dimensions, as long as the ribs of different lengths are selected, a standard and universal backplane, a backlight module and an LCD device can be formed.

An LCD device includes an LCD panel and a backlight module, wherein the bottom of the backlight module is provided with a backplane used for sealing the module and fixing a component in the module. In the existing backplanes, integral backplanes are used and are integrally formed in the mode of metal stamping or plastic injection, causing heavy products and high material cost of the products. For large-size backplanes, because larger stamping equipment is needed, the cost is higher, and because the corresponding die size is large and the structure is complicated, the die cost is also very high. With increasingly fierce market competition, it is more and more important to effectively reduce the design cost. As a result, the key research direction of each designer lies in saving the material cost and simplifying the assembly technology.
In addition, because different backlight modules have different component sizes and installing positions, the integral backplane cannot achieve standardized design, and has poor universality.

Backplane, backlight module and LCD device

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.


A radio frequency module is provided. A matching circuit includes an inductor which is connected in series to the power amplifier and is formed in a substrate. The substrate includes a ground layer, a low permittivity portion, and a high permittivity portion. The ground layer at least partially overlaps with a first input terminal of the low-noise amplifier in a plan view from a thickness direction of the substrate. The low permittivity portion at least partially overlaps with the first input terminal in a plan view from the thickness direction, and is provided between the first input terminal and the ground layer. The high permittivity portion is in contact with the inductor and has the permittivity greater than the permittivity of the low permittivity portion.

The present disclosure generally relates to a radio frequency module, and in more detail, to a radio frequency module including a low-noise amplifier and a power amplifier.
There has been known a semiconductor module (radio frequency module) including a semiconductor chip constituting a low-noise amplifier, a semiconductor chip constituting a power amplifier, and a wiring substrate (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-040602).
In the semiconductor module described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-040602, the wiring substrate is a multilayer wiring substrate (multilayer substrate) in which a plurality of insulator layers and a plurality of conductor layers are alternately laminated and integrated.
In addition, in the semiconductor module described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-040602, the semiconductor chip constituting the low-noise amplifier is flip-chip mounted on the wiring substrate to reduce the thickness of the semiconductor module.
In the semiconductor module, parasitic capacitance is generated between an input terminal of the low-noise amplifier and a ground layer formed of one conductor layer among the conductor layers in the wiring substrate, and a noise figure (NF) of the low-noise amplifier is increased.
In addition, in the semiconductor module, when a matching circuit connected to an output terminal of the power amplifier is provided in the wiring substrate, loss in the matching circuit may be increased in an inductor constituted by part of the conductor layer of the wiring substrate.


A data repair and synchronization method of dual flash ROM is provided, which includes a first flash ROM and a second flash ROM that store the same system data, wherein one of the first flash ROM and the second flash ROM is used to perform a data repair on the other flash ROM with damaged data and perform a data synchronization between the two flash ROMs, thereby ensuring that once the data in one flash ROM is damaged during the system operation, the complete system data stored in the other flash ROM is used to recover the damaged operating system and the files in the system. Meanwhile, through performing the data synchronization periodically, important configuration files in the system stored in the two flash ROMs are kept to be updated and completed.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a data repair and synchronization method for a computer system and system files, and more particularly, to a method for performing a data repair and synchronization on a computer system and system files through dual flash read only memory (ROM) architecture.
2. Related Art
Nowadays, people are lived in an information era where information exists everywhere, and Internet, E-mail, and continuously emerged new applications all make people be highly dependent on the information. The development of enterprises depends on the complete and accurate information, and thus, the protection of the enterprise information is critical to the survival and development of the enterprise.
With regard to the importance of the information, many methods or strategies for backup and recovery of the information have been provided in the conventional art, for example, the redundancy strategy of hardware products, fix-point backup strategy, and remote backup strategy, etc. But these techniques are generally used for the backup and recovery of the data that have been stored by the user. Moreover, other important information, for example, the operating system and some configuration files stored in the system, are used for managing the information such as the data stored by the user, and thus, the backup and recovery of the information is necessary.
Generally, the information of the enterprise is stored on a dedicated server. As for a dedicated server, the information, such as the user's data, is stored on a storage device, and the operating system and many important configuration files are individually stored on a disk called flash ROM. On one hand, when the system is booted, the operating system stored on the flash ROM needs to be loaded into the internal memory for being booted. On the other hand, during the system operation, the data on the flash ROM needs to be read and written. Once the flash ROM is damaged, the user will lose some important data. Even worse, if the operating system stored on the flash ROM is damaged, the whole system cannot be booted, and all the data on the flash ROM will be lost. Once such information is lost, other users' information that has been stored will be also damaged.
Some conventional arts are also related to the recovering of the operating system. For example, the Linux system (a free multi-user computer operating system operated on common personal computers) has a tool called Linuxcare bootable business card (BBC for short) in the tool box, which is provided for being used by experienced Linux system administrators to recover the damaged Linux system. The BBC is used for re-establishing a complete and operatable system environment for the user to recover the damaged operating system. However, BBC technique only can be used for recovering the damaged system, but cannot recover the damaged files in the system.
Based on the above, the problems in the above conventional art lie in that, when the flash ROM is damaged or the data stored therein is damaged:
1. the data repair is not performed automatically, but achieved by experienced system administrators through using a specialized software repair tool;
2. if the operating system and the configuration files in the system are all damaged, only the operating system can be recovered, but the files in the system cannot be recovered; and
3. if the hardware of the flash ROM is damaged, it is necessary to replace it with a completely new flash ROM, and thus, the data in the original flash ROM may be totally lost.

Data repair and synchronization method of dual flash read only memory


The improved sample chamber includes an elongated hollow tube closed at one end and having specularly-reflective inwardly facing surfaces. A source of radiation and a detector of radiation are mounted side by side in the open end of the hollow tube, both facing the closed end. A plurality of filtering apertures are formed in the tube, and each aperture is covered by a sheet of a semipermeable membrane that serves to prevent airborne particles larger than a predetermined size from entering the chamber while not interfering with the free diffusion of the gas to be measured into and out of the chamber. The use of an elongated hollow tube that is closed at one end results in no loss in the efficiency with which the radiation is conducted from the source to the detector while decreasing the external length of the chamber by 50 percent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of gas analysis, and specifically relates to apparatus using a nondispersive infrared gas analysis technique to determine the concentration of a particular type of gas present in a sample chamber by sensing the absorption of infrared radiation passing through the gas.
2. The Prior Art
A comparatively new development in the field of nondispersive infrared gas analyzers has been the diffusion-type gas sample chamber. In a diffusion-type gas sample chamber, the gas to be measured enters and leaves the chamber by diffusion.
One example of a diffusion-type gas sample chamber is described in the parent application. In that invention, the sample chamber has the form of a tube composed of a gastight material, having apertures covered by semipermeable membranes through which the gas to be measured enters and leaves the sample chamber by diffusion. This same approach is used in the present invention, with some important modifications.
Another example of a diffusion-type gas sample chamber is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,150 to Burough et al. In their invention, the body of the sample chamber is composed of a porous material through which the gas to be measured passes by diffusion. Burough et al. do not teach or suggest using the walls of the porous tube as reflective radiation-guiding elements.
An example of a non-diffusion-type gas sample chamber is shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-173734(A) of Miyazaki. In that analyzer, the sample cells have the form of helical tubes. The gas to be measured must be pressurized to force it to flow through the sample tube.
Another example of a non-diffusion-type of gas sample chamber is shown in Japanese Publication No. 63-298031 by Fujimura, in which air is rammed into the sample chamber by motion of the sample chamber through the air.
In the present application, the inventor will describe an improvement on the sample chamber described in the parent application to make it more compact while maintaining its radiation-handling efficiency.


An extendable table platform assembly for use with a multihull boat is disclosed. The platform assembly includes a pair of opposing guide channels to be mounted on the underside of the horizontal deck of the multi-hull boat. A rigid elongated platform is including having a platform surface supported by a structural platform frame positioned along the platform surface perimeter. The rigid elongated platform includes a table portion and a cantilever portion. The structural platform frame engages the guide channels such that the rigid elongated table section may be manually slid from a stowed position, underneath the deck, to a deployed position exposing the table portion. The cantilever portion remains underneath the horizontal deck and engaged to the opposing guide channels to support the table portion in the deployed position.

Multihull boats, such as pontoon boats, are popular marine vehicles for entertaining. Their stable and generally flat deck provides a base for comfortable seating and entertainment that is not often found in boats of comparable size. Their low draft allows them access to waterways that would be otherwise inaccessible to traditional hull boats. The low draft also allows them to pull directly up to beaches and sandbars. It is common, therefore, for users to navigate to landing areas to picnic or relax in the shallow waters.
Approaches to modifying these boats often revolve around ingress and egress to the deck. Since the deck resides on top of the pontoons, it may sit significantly above both the waterline and any standing surface in the shallows. As such, modifications have been developed to add swim platforms, gangplanks and diving boards. These modifications require components and mounting structures capable of supporting the body weight of users. Additionally, they are often designed to deliver a body weight bearing surface that transitions from the waterline to the deck.
These designs do not address the needs of individuals who are not looking for ingress or egress of the multihull boat, but are looking for convenience and accessibility while the boat is beached or near a sandbar. In these scenarios, many find it desirable to spend time outside the boat either on the beach or in the shallows. However, during this time they may also desire access to the comforts and accessibility of food and beverages as they have while on the boat.
It may be desirable for boaters to have access to an extendable table that could be extended from a position stowed below the deck of the multihull boat. This would provide them with a picnic/dinner table at any beach or shallow location of their choosing. It would also be desirable for boaters to have access to many of the conveniences located on the boat without having to climb on and off the elevated deck.

Extendable table platform assembly for multihull boats


Systems and methods are described for manufacturing an adhesive tape. An example method includes: providing a plurality of adhesive webs, wherein each web includes a hot melt adhesive adhered to a backing material; providing a fabric web having a fabric material; guiding a first adhesive web from the plurality of adhesive webs into a first position proximate a first side of the fabric web; guiding a second adhesive web from the plurality of adhesive webs into a second position proximate a second side of the fabric web; applying heat and pressure to form a web of the baffle tape in which the first adhesive web is bonded to the first side of the fabric web and the second adhesive web is bonded to the second side of the fabric web; and rewinding the web of the baffle tape into a roll.

Hot melt adhesives (HMAs), such as thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs), are commonly used to form bonds between two or more substrates, such as fabrics, foams, plastics, and other composites and combinations. HMAs can exhibit high tensile strength, excellent flexibility and good abrasion resistance. HMA films can be used with a variety of manufacturing methods, ranging from hot-melt to flame lamination. Various welding operations, including ultrasonic, HF, RF and platen sealing, can be used to activate these films. HMAs can be used to form seams between fabric materials in garment manufacturing processes.
Insulated panels for use in outerwear, sleeping bags, and similar articles generally include a loose insulating material (e.g., down feathers) confined within chambers formed between inner and outer fabric layers. The chambers are typically formed by stitching or bonding the inner and outer fabric layers together to define edges of the chambers.
There is a need for improved systems and methods for manufacturing adhesive materials and using the adhesive materials to manufacture insulated panels.

Systems and methods for forming and using an adhesive tape


One major surface of a light guide plate is formed, in stripe form in a plan view, with a plurality of prism grooves each consisting of a slight slope and a steep slope. The inclination angles of the slight slope and the steep slope are in ranges of 1xc2x0 to 10xc2x0 and 41xc2x0 to 45xc2x0, respectively. The width of the steep slope in the one major surface of the light guide plate increases as the position increases from a light incident surface of the light guide plate such that a ratio of the width of the steep slope at a position farthest from the light incident surface to the width of the steep slope at a position closest to the light incident surface is 1.1 to 1.5.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an illumination device and a liquid crystal display device. In particular, the invention relates to an illumination device which can illuminate a wide area brightly and uniformly though having only a single light source as well as to a liquid crystal display device using it.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, front lights of reflection-type liquid crystal display devices employ a unit that is composed of a light source, an intermediate light guide, a light guide plate, a case body that holds those components in an integral manner and has an inner reflective surface, and other components.
FIG. 23A is a perspective view showing the configuration of a liquid crystal display device having such a configuration. FIG. 23B is a plan view of the liquid crystal display device of FIG. 23A. The liquid crystal display device shown in FIGS. 23A and 23B is composed of a liquid crystal display unit 120 and a front light 110 that is disposed on the front side of the liquid crystal display unit 120. Although not shown in detail, the liquid crystal display unit 120 is a reflection-type liquid crystal display unit that performs display by reflecting light coming from the front side. In the liquid crystal display unit 120, a liquid crystal layer is held between a top substrate 121 and a bottom substrate 122 that are opposed to each other. Display is performed by varying the light transmission state by controlling the liquid crystal orientation state of the liquid crystal layer.
The front light 110 is composed of a flat light guide plate 112, a rod-shaped intermediate light guide 113 that is disposed to a side end face 112a of the flat light guide plate, and a light-emitting element 115 that is disposed adjacent to one end face of the intermediate light guide 113. The top surface of the light guide plate 112 is formed with a prism structure in which a plurality of wedge-shaped (in cross-section) projections 114 are arranged parallel with each other. To prevent a moirxc3xa9 pattern, the projections 114 are formed so as to be somewhat inclined with respect to a light-guide-plate-side end face 112a.
In the front light 110, light that is emitted from the light-emitting element 115 is applied to the side end face 112a of the light guide plate 112 via the intermediate light guide 113 and is thereby introduced into the light guide plate 112. The light is reflected by the prism-shaped top surface of the light guide plate 112 and is thereby changed in traveling direction. As a result, the light is emitted from the bottom surface (see FIG. 23A) of the light guide plate 112 toward the liquid crystal display unit 120.
In portable electronic equipment such as PDAs and portable game machines, the battery drive time greatly influences the ease of use. Therefore, liquid crystal display devices that are used as display sections of such equipment have come to employ, to lower the power consumption of a front light, a single-light front light that is equipped with only a single light-emitting element like the front light 110 shown in FIG. 23A is. That is, it is intended to reduce the power consumption by decreasing the number of light-emitting elements. Further, miniaturization of portable electronic equipment requires that the thickness of the front light 110 be decreased to about 1 mm.
However, in such single-light front lights, it is almost impossible to uniformly illuminate a wide display screen of several inches or more with the combination of the thin light guide plate and the single light-emitting element. More specifically, in the front light 110 shown in FIG. 23A in which the light-emitting element 115 is provided on one side, to uniformly introduce light coming from the light-emitting element 115 into the light guide plate 115, first it is necessary to make the incident light uniform in the longitudinal direction of the side end face 112a of the light guide plate 112 by means of the intermediate light guide 113. However, since making the incident light on the light guide plate 112 uniform by means of the intermediate light guide 113 is difficult in itself, it is very difficult to obtain output light that is uniform over the entire light exit surface of the light guide plate 112. In a serious case, this results in a problem that, as shown in FIG. 23B, a triangular (in a plan view) dark portion 118 may occur close to the light-emitting-element-115-side sideline (left-hand-sideline in FIG. 23B) of the light guide plate 112, which lowers the legibility of the liquid crystal display device.
Where the light guide plate 112 is made thinner to reduce the thickness and size of portable electronic equipment, light traveling inside the light guide plate 112 is prone to leak out of the light guide plate 112 in being reflected by the surfaces of the light guide plate 112. This results in a problem that the light quantity decreases as the position goes away from the light-emitting element 115.
As described above, whereas the demand for the front light using a single light-emitting element as a light source is increasing, no front light has been realized which can illuminate a large area brightly and uniformly though it is thin.
The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and one object of the invention is therefore to provide an illumination device which can illuminate a large area brightly and uniformly though its power consumption is low.
Another object of the invention is to provide a liquid crystal display device that is equipped with such an illumination device and is high in luminance and superior in display quality.
To attain the above objects, the invention employ the following configurations.
The invention provides an illumination device comprising a light source, and a light guide plate for receiving light emitted from the light source through one side end face thereof, and for outputting the light traveling inside the light guide plate through one major surface thereof as a light exit surface, the other major surface, being a light reflecting surface, of the light guide plate being formed, in stripe form in a plan view, with a plurality of prism grooves each of which is formed by a slight slope and a steep slope having an inclination angle larger than that of the slight slope, the inclination angle xcex81 of the slight slope and the inclination angle xcex82 of the steep slope being in ranges of 1xc2x0 to 10xc2x0 and 41xc2x0 to 45xc2x0, respectively, the width of the steep slope in the reflecting surface increasing as the steep slope goes away from the light incident surface in such a manner that the width of the steep slope amounts to 1.1 to 1.5 at a position farthest from the light incident surface if it is assumed that the width of the steep slope is equal to 1.0 at a position closest to the light incident surface.
According to the above configuration, since the shapes and the dimensions of the prism grooves which are formed in the reflecting surface of the light guide plate are set within the above ranges, a high-luminance illumination device can be obtained in which the exit light quantity is uniform in the light exit surface of the light guide plate and the efficiency of utilization of the light source is high. If the inclination angle xcex81 of the slight slope is smaller than 1xc2x0, the desired amount of luminance for the illumination device is not obtained. If it is larger than 10xc2x0, the uniformity of the quantity of exit light that is output from the light exit surface of the light guide plate lowers. Therefore, such ranges of the inclination angle xcex81 are not preferable. If the inclination angle xcex82 of the steep slope is smaller than 41xc2x0 or larger than 45xc2x0, the luminance of the illumination device lowers. Therefore, such ranges of the inclination angle xcex82 are not preferable.
The width of the steep slope is measured in the direction perpendicular to the extending direction of the prism grooves. The proportion of light that is reflected by the prism groove to go down increases as the width of the steep slope increases. Therefore, in the illumination device having the above configuration, the width of the steep slope is set at a proper value in accordance with the distance from the light incident surface of the light guide plate. More specifically, in a region that is close to the light incident surface where the quantity of light traveling inside the light guide plate is relatively large, the width of the steep slope is made relatively small, whereby the proportion of light that is reflected to go down is decreased. Conversely, in a region that is distant from the light incident surface, the width of the steep slope is made large, whereby the proportion of light that is reflected to go down is increased. In this manner, the distribution of the exit light quantity is made uniform over the entire light guide plate. In the invention, the width of the steep slope amounts to 1.1 to 1.5 at a position farthest from the light incident surface if it is assumed that the width of the steep slope is equal to 1.0 at a position closest to the light incident surface, whereby the distribution of the exit light quantity is made uniform. As will be described later in the examples, the present inventors have confirmed that the above setting ranges of the inclination angles of the slopes and the width of the steep slope are proper.
The illumination device according to the invention may be such that the width of the steep slope of each of the prism grooves is approximately constant in the prism groove extending direction, and that the width of the steep slope increases as the prism groove average distance from the light incident surface increases.
More specifically, in the illumination device according to the invention, the prism grooves are formed in such a manner that the width of the steep slope gradually increases as the steep slope goes away from the light incident surface starting from the steep slope closest to the light incident surface. The width of the steep slope farthest from the light incident surface is 1.1 to 1.5 times the width of the steep slope closest to the light incident surface. With this structure, the proportion of light that is reflected by the steep slope to go down increases as the prism groove goes away from the light incident surface of the light guide plate. As a result, the exit light quantity can be made uniform in the light exit surface of the light guide plate.
The illumination device according to the invention may be such that the extending direction of the prism grooves crosses the light incident surface.
Where an object to be illuminated by the illumination device has periodic shapes or patterns that are arranged at prescribed intervals, this structure prevents occurrence of a moirxc3xa9 pattern due to optical interference between the prism grooves of the light guide plate and the shapes and patterns of the object to be illuminated. For example, where the object to be illuminated is a liquid crystal display unit, optical interference between the prism grooves and a matrix-like pixel arrangement would otherwise cause a problem. The above structure prevents occurrence of such a moirxc3xa9 pattern and provides superior legibility.
The illumination device according to the invention may be such that the width of the steep slope of each of the prism grooves increases continuously in the prism groove extending direction as the position goes away from the light incident surface.
With this structure, in the case where the prism grooves are formed so as to cross the light incident surface, the width of the steep slope can be increased as the position goes away from the light incident surface. Therefore, the proportion of light that is reflected by the steep slope to go down can be increased as the position goes away from the light incident surface of the light guide plate. As a result, the exit light quantity can be made uniform in the light exit surface of the light guide plate.
In the illumination device according to the invention, it is preferable that the inclination angle xcex1 of the prism grooves that is formed by the extending direction of the prism grooves and the longitudinal direction of the light incident surface be larger than 0xc2x0 and smaller than or equal to 15xc2x0. It is even more preferable that the inclination angle xcex1 of the prism grooves be in a range of 6.5xc2x0 to 8.5xc2x0.
With this structure, the uniformity of the exit light quantity in the light exit surface of the light guide plate can be increased. Further, the optical interference between an object to illuminated and the light guide plate can be suppressed more efficiently. This advantage is greater in the case where the object to illuminated has periodic shapes or patterns that include straight portions parallel with the light incident surface of the light guide plate and whose repetition direction is perpendicular to the light incident surface of the light guide plate.
The above advantage cannot be obtained if the inclination angle xcex1 of the prism grooves is equal to 0xc2x0 or larger than 15xc2x0. Setting the inclination angle xcex1 of the prism grooves within the range of 6.5xc2x0 to 8.5xc2x0 provides an illumination device with a uniform exit light quantity distribution and that is not prone to cause a moirxc3xa9 pattern due to interference with an object to be illuminated.
In the illumination device according to the invention, the light source may comprise an intermediate light guide consisting of two light guide members that extend along the light incident surface of the light guide plate and a side end face of the light guide plate connecting to the light incident surface, respectively, and that are arranged so as to assume an L shape in a plan view, and a light-emitting element that is disposed adjacent to an end face of at least one of the two light guide members.
This structure makes it possible to supply light through two side end faces of the light guide plate. Since more light can be supplied to the light-emitting-element-side end portion of the light guide plate where the exit light quantity is prone to decrease in conventional single-light illumination devices, the uniformity of the exit light quantity in the light exit surface of the light guide plate is improved.
In the illumination device according to the invention, the light source may comprise an intermediate light guide extending along the light incident surface of the light guide plate and a light-emitting element disposed adjacent to an end face of the intermediate light guide, and a metal reflection film may be formed on a side end face of the light guide plate that connects to the light incident surface.
With this structure, since the reflection film is formed on the side end face of the light guide plate that connects to the light incident surface, leakage of light through, in particular, the light-emitting-element-side end face of the light guide plate can be prevented. Since light that is reflected by this reflection film returns to the light guide plate, decrease in exit light quantity in, in particular, the light-emitting-element-side end portion of the light guide plate can be prevented effectively. As a result, a highly uniform distribution of the exit light quantity can be obtained.
In the illumination device according to the invention, the light source may comprise an intermediate light guide extending along the light incident surface of the light guide plate and a light-emitting element disposed adjacent to an end face of the intermediate light guide, and the light guide plate may project, in the longitudinal direction of the light incident surface, from a display region of the light guide plate through which an object to be illuminated by the illumination device is to be transmission-displayed.
In this illumination device, by projecting the light guide plate in the extending direction of the intermediate light guide, the light-emitting-element-side portion of the light guide plate particularly where the exit light quantity is prone to decrease is excluded from the display region. As a result, an illumination device in which the exit light quantity is substantially uniform can be provided. The display region of the illumination device according to the invention is a region of the light guide plate through which an object to be illuminated that is disposed on the back side of the illumination device is transmission-displayed, and that substantially corresponds to the whole area (in a plan view) or a display area of the object to be illuminated.
The illumination device according to the invention may be such that the projection width xcex94W of the light guide plate, the inclination angle xcex1 of the prism grooves, and the length L of a side end face of the light guide plate connecting to the light incident surface satisfy a relationship xcex94Wxe2x89xa7Lxc3x97tan xcex1.
In this illumination device, since the extension length of the light guide plate is set so as to satisfy the above formula, a dark portion that may occur in the light-emitting-element-side portion of the light guide can reliably be located outside the display region of the light guide plate. Therefore, an illumination device can be provided that is superior in the uniformity of the exit light quantity in the display region.
In the illumination device according to the invention, it is preferable that the outer side face of the intermediate light guide be a prism surface that is formed with a plurality of wedge-shaped (in cross-section) grooves, and that a reflection film be formed on the prism surface.
Light that has entered the intermediate light guide from the light-emitting element is reflected by the prism surface in traveling inside the intermediate light guide, is output from the surface that is opposite to the prism surface, and then enters the light guide plate. With the above structure, the reflection film formed on the prism surface increases the reflectivity of the prism surface and can thereby increase the quantity of light that is reflected toward the light guide plate. As a result, the quantity of light entering the light guide plate is increased, which in turn increases the luminance of the illumination device.
Next, a liquid crystal display device according to the invention comprises any of the illumination devices described above and a liquid crystal display unit that is illuminated by the illumination device.
Provided with the illumination device capable of illuminating a large area uniformly at high luminance, this liquid crystal display device can provide superior display quality having high luminance and a uniform brightness distribution. The brightness uniformity is not lowered though the illumination device has only a single light-emitting element. This makes-it possible to provide a liquid crystal display device that is superior in display quality and low in power consumption.
The liquid crystal display device according to the invention may be such that the illumination device is disposed on the front side of the liquid crystal display unit, and that the prism grooves of the light guide plate have a pitch P1 that is in a range of (xc2xd)P0 less than P1 less than (xc2xe)P0, where P0 is a pixel pitch of the liquid crystal display unit.
By setting the pixel pitch P0 of the liquid crystal display unit and the pitch P1 of the prism grooves so that they satisfy the above relationship, optical interference between those periodic structures can be prevented. This prevents deterioration in the legibility of the liquid crystal display device due to a moirxc3xa9 pattern that would otherwise be caused by such interference.
If the pitch P1 of the prism grooves is smaller than (xc2xd)P0 or larger than (xc2xe)P0, a moirxc3xa9 pattern is prone to occur due to interference between the two structures.
In the liquid crystal display device according to the invention, it is preferable that the angle xcex2 that is formed by the extending direction of the prism grooves and pixel arrangement direction of the liquid crystal display unit that is parallel with the light incident surface of the light guide plate is larger than 0xc2x0 and smaller than or equal to 15xc2x0. It is even more preferable that the angle xcex2 is in a range of 6.5xc2x0 to 8.5xc2x0.
The angle xcex2 is an inclination angle of the prism grooves with respect to the pixel arrangement direction. If the inclination angle xcex2 is 0xc2x0, it is difficult to obtain the effect of preventing a moirxc3xa9 pattern. If the inclination angle xcex2 is larger than 15xc2x0, the display luminance is low and a problem arises that a large dark portion appears in the light guide plate of the illumination device. Setting the inclination angle xcex2 within the range of 6.5xc2x0 to 8.5xc2x0 makes it possible to prevent the optical interference almost completely and thereby realize a liquid crystal display device that is much superior in visibility. The angle xcex2 that is formed by the prism grooves and the pixel arrangement direction of the liquid crystal display unit is equal to the above-mentioned inclination angle xcex1 in the case where the pixel arrangement direction of the liquid crystal display unit is parallel with the light incident surface of the light guide plate of the illumination device.
The liquid crystal display device according to the invention may be such that the liquid crystal display unit comprises a top substrate and a bottom substrate that are opposed to each other, liquid crystal molecules that have positive dielectric anisotropy and are held between the top and bottom substrates, and a reflection layer and color filters that are laid on the inner surface of the bottom substrate, the reflection layer having a reflection characteristic that reflection luminance is approximately constant in a reflection angle range of 10xc2x0 to 40xc2x0 with respect to the normal to a display surface of the liquid crystal display unit.
This structure enables a display in which the luminance is constant in a wide view angle range, and hence makes it possible to realize a liquid crystal display device that can be used comfortably.
In the liquid crystal display device according to the invention, the reflection layer may have a reflection characteristic that a reflection luminance curve is approximately symmetrical with respect to a specular reflection angle of incident light. This structure makes it possible to provide a liquid crystal display device in which reflection light is diffused in a prescribed angle range with respect to a specular reflection angle of incident light.
In the liquid crystal display device according to the invention, the reflection layer may have a reflection characteristic that a reflection luminance curve is not symmetrical with respect to a specular reflection angle of incident light. This structure can increase luminance of reflection light (display light) in a prescribed direction. Even where, for example, the liquid crystal display device is used in a state that a user is not in the specular reflection direction of the liquid crystal display device, sufficient luminance can be secured in the direction of the user. A liquid crystal display device can be obtained that can be used more comfortably.
In the liquid crystal display device according to the invention, the liquid crystal display unit may be an active matrix liquid crystal display unit or a passive matrix liquid crystal display unit. In either liquid crystal display device, since the illumination device according to the invention is disposed on the front side of the liquid crystal display unit, a high-quality display can be obtained that has a uniform brightness distribution over the entire display area and is free of a moirxc3xa9 pattern.

Illumination device having a single light source and liquid crystal display device


The present application relates to a planet carrier assembly for a vehicle door closing actuator. The planet carrier assembly comprises a plurality of planetary gears and a planet carrier body. The planet carrier body comprises a disc portion, a cover portion and an output shaft portion, wherein the plurality of planetary gears are rotatably mounted on the disc portion via a corresponding number of mounting shafts fixed to the disc portion, one end of the mounting shaft protruding from a central hole of the planetary gear is pressed into a corresponding receiving hole on the cover portion, and the planet carrier body is further provided with a rotation locking device to prevent the cover portion from rotating circumferentially relative to the disc portion. The planet carrier assembly according to the present application has the advantages such as low cost, high strength, and simple assembly.

Vehicle doors with automatic opening/closing function have gradually become standard configuration of many passenger cars, especially high-end passenger cars. To enable automatic closing of the vehicle door, an actuator for closing the vehicle door is usually provided. The actuator is usually provided with a planetary gear train to make the vehicle door easy to manipulate by reducing the speed and increasing the torque.
There are a variety of planet carrier assemblies used for door closing actuators in the prior art. However, these planet carriers each has its shortcoming: the planet carrier shown in FIG. 1(a) is manufactured as an integral type, resulting in high manufacturing cost and poor replaceability of components; the planet carrier shown in FIG. 1(b) is manufactured as a split-type, wherein the connection and fastening between the disc portion (on which the planetary gears are mounted) and the cover portion of the planet carrier depend on the multiple shafts provided on the disc portion. However, in order to adapt the strength of the entire planet carrier to heavy load conditions, e.g. the door closing, in addition to the mounting shafts for the planetary gears, many redundant connecting shafts shall be arranged additionally on the disc portion, thus making the assembly procedure of the entire planet carrier rather complicated and the cost very high due to the large number of shafts. Different from the "shaft connection" method in FIG. 1(b), the planet carrier shown in FIG. 1(c) uses screws to fix the disc portion and the cover portion, which greatly increases the number of parts and the difficulty to manage these parts. In addition, since the space available for arranging the door closing actuator is limited, usually only small screws can be selected and in this case the screws are prone to failure during the loading process, which makes the strength of the entire planet carrier insufficient to adapt to a heavy load condition.
Therefore, it's necessary to provide a planet carrier assembly for a vehicle door closing actuator with a novel structure to overcome one or more of the above-mentioned problems and/or other shortcomings in the prior art.

Planet carrier assembly for vehicle door closing actuator


A laundry treating apparatus includes a tub for holding wash water, a drum rotatably supported in the tub and including a shaft disposed perpendicular with the ground, and a sub-drum detachably mounted to an inner circumferential surface of the drum. The sub-drum is configured to wash laundry independently from the drum. A discharging area of the sub-drum includes an inlet hole configured to draw wash water into the sub-drum, an outlet hole formed in a lateral wall of the sub-drum and configured to discharge the wash water outside the sub-drum, and a filter unit disposed under the discharging area and configured to filter wash water drawn into the sub-drum by rotation of the sub-drum.

Generally, a laundry treating apparatus includes a washer configured to perform washing, a dryer configured to perform drying and a laundry machine with washing and drying functions configured to perform both washing and drying.
Such a laundry treating apparatus used as a washer may include a cabinet defining an external appearance; a tub mounted in the cabinet and configured to hold wash water; a drum rotatably provided in the tub and configured to wash clothes or laundry; and a door coupled to the cabinet and provided to facilitate the loading and unloading of the clothes or laundry.
The laundry treating apparatus may be classified into a top loading type having a drum shaft which is vertical with respect to the ground and a front loading type having a drum shaft which is horizontal and parallel with respect to the ground.
In the front loading type laundry treating apparatus, the drum shaft is substantially parallel with the ground and the washing is performed by using a frictional force between the laundry, the drum rotated by the drive force of a motor, and the drop impact of the laundry, in a state where detergent, wash water and laundry are loaded in the drum. Such the drum washing method has little damage to the laundry and little laundry entangling, while having a washing effect like hand-rubbing-and-striking.
In the top loading type laundry apparatus, the drum shaft is substantially vertical with respect to the ground and the drum is mounted in the tub where wash water is held. The washing is performed in a state where the laundry is submerged in the wash water supplied to the drum and the top loading drum laundry apparatus is categorized into a pulsator type and an agitator type. The pulsator type includes a pulsator which is rotatably oriented in a bottom of the drum configured to accommodate wash water and laundry and rotates the wash water and the laundry by rotating the pulsator so as to perform the washing. The agitator type includes an agitator which is projected from the bottom of the drum upwardly and rotates the wash water and the laundry by rotating the agitator so as to perform the washing.
The top loading type laundry treating apparatus is configured to perform the washing by using both the friction between the wash water and the laundry and the chemical action of the detergent which are facilitated by the rotation of the drum or the agitator or pulsator which is provided in the bottom of the drum to create water currents. Accordingly, wash water has to be supplied enough to submerge the laundry to perform the washing in the top loading type laundry treating apparatus and the top loading type laundry treating apparatus requires much wash water.
In the conventional laundry treating apparatus, a washing course, more specifically, the washing course configured of a wash cycle, a rinse cycle and a dry-spin cycle may be performed in one drum. If the laundry has to be sorted based on fabric materials, the washing course has to be performed at least two times and more operations of the laundry treating apparatus have to be performed. Accordingly, the conventional laundry treating apparatus has some disadvantages of detergent waste and energy consumption.
To solve such disadvantages, a laundry treating apparatus according to various embodiments of this disclosure may include a sub-drum detachably mounted in the drum. Such a sub-drum may accommodate water, independent from the tub, and water currents may be formed in the sub-drum by the rotation of the sub-drum so as to perform an additional washing course independently.
Washing for the main-drum and washing for the sub-drum may be independently performed. More specifically, the wash water held in the main-drum may not be mixed with the water held in the sub-drum. If the wash water held in the main-drum and the sub-drum is mixed, there may be an issue with dyeing the laundry. Also, the detergent used for the laundry in the main-drum could be different from the detergent used for the laundry in the sub-drum.
More specifically, it may be desirable that the water supplied to either of the sub-drum or the drum is not mixed with water drained from the other of the sub-drum or the drum.
Accordingly, a laundry treating apparatus is disclosed that may effectively facilitate such independent washing processes.

Clothing treatment device and method for controlling same


An interconnect structure and fabrication method are provided. A substrate can include a semiconductor device disposed in the substrate. At least two porous films can be formed over the substrate and can include a first porous film having a first pore size, and a second porous film having a second pore size formed on the first porous film. The first porous size and the second porous size are different. The interconnect can be formed through the plurality of porous films to provide electrical connection to the semiconductor device in the substrate.

Currently, one of the challenges of integrated circuit design and manufacturing is to reduce resistive capacitive delay during signal transmission. One solution is to replace an aluminum layer with a copper layer to lower the serial metal resistance. Another solution is to form low-k porous films or air gaps between the metal layers to reduce the parasitic capacitance.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional method for fabricating an interconnect structure. The fabrication method includes: providing a substrate 5 and forming semiconductor devices on the substrate 5; depositing a low-k film 4 on the substrate 5; forming a mask 6 on the low-k film 4; patterning the low-k film 4 using the mask 6 to create through-holes (not illustrated); and filling the through-holes with metal to create an interconnect structure connecting to the semiconductor devices. Specifically, the low-k film 4 is porous and the mask 6 is a hard mask.
The porous film contains pores with a dielectric constant of 1, which is lower than the dielectric constant of material surrounding the pores, offering the porous film a lower dielectric constant. In a practical process, however, mechanical strength of the interconnect structure inside the porous film is found weak. The porous film tends to be damaged during subsequent processes (e.g., including a chemical mechanical planarization to remove excessive metal), thus lowering the manufacturing yield of the interconnect structure.

Interconnect structure and fabrication method

SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING INTERNATIONAL (SHANGHAI) CORPORATION


In one example, a system for real-time execution in a non-real-time processing system includes a processor and a processor and storage device. The storage device stores instructions that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to identify a processing unit for a single thread real-time execution environment. The instructions also cause the processor to determine that an application is submitted for real-time execution. The instructions additionally cause the processor to assign a shared memory space to the application. Further, the instructions cause the processor to submit real-time instructions received from a real-time control loop of the application to the identified processing unit.

Real-time equipment control is useful for developers of software applications that control the equipment because there are times when valuable resources may be at risk if the equipment cannot be operated in real-time. Operating in real-time means that when a software application instructs the equipment to take an action, the action is taken in as close to real-time as possible, without preemption. Thus, the software application can include, for example, an emergency stop command that stops the equipment in real-time. Accordingly, if a robot controlled by such software is swinging a heavy instrument in the direction of a person, the robot can be stopped in real-time by the emergency stop command, eliminating the risk of harm.