An advanced, very high transmittance, back-illuminated, silicon-on-sapphire wafer substrate design is presented for enabling high quantum efficiency and high resolution, silicon or silicon-germanium avalanche photodiode detector arrays. The wafer substrate incorporates a stacked antireflective bilayer between the sapphire and silicon layers, comprised of single crystal aluminum nitride (AlN) and non-stoichiometric, silicon rich, amorphous silicon nitride (a-SiNX<1.33), that provides optimal refractive index matching between sapphire and silicon. A one quarter wavelength, magnesium fluoride (λ/4-MgF2) antireflective layer deposited on the back surface of the thinned sapphire provides refractive index matching at the air-sapphire interface. Selecting a composition of x=0.62 for a-SiNX, tunes an optimal refractive index for the layer. Selecting design thicknesses of 52 nm for single crystal AlN, 30 nm for a-SiN0.62, and 120 nm for λ/4-MgF2 yields a back-illuminated optical transmittance T>50% for 250-300 nm, T>70% for 300-400 nm and T>90% for 400-1100 nm.

For the purposes of imaging a scene, at low ambient illumination levels using a focal plane array comprised of solid-state detector devices, it is beneficial for the individual detectors in the array to be sensitive to light over a broad wavelength range and at single photon intensity levels. To support the fabrication of such an array of highly sensitive solid-state light detectors over broad spectral range, the back-illuminated semiconductor wafer substrate on which the detector devices are fabricated should be capable of transmitting light into the detectors with high efficiency from the ultraviolet to the midwave infrared for enabling high quantum efficiency detectors. The back-illumination approach of semiconductor detectors through the transparent supporting wafer substrate is the preferred approach for fabricating large area, solid-state, imaging focal plane arrays due to a higher attainable quantum efficiency and sensitive-area-fill-factor for such detectors compared to front-illuminated detector arrays. Back-illuminated detector arrays can be flip-chip bump-bonded to CMOS readout integrated circuits (ROICs) that control detector operation. Using highly sensitive detector arrays of avalanche photodiodes (APDs) is the preferred approach for implementing compact, solid-state, single photon sensitive, focal plane array (FPA) imagers. The semiconductor wafer substrate should therefore support the light detecting elements to be fabricated with small pixel pitch for enabling high resolution arrays, by providing a means for optical crosstalk isolation between the APD detector elements. Optical crosstalk in solid-state avalanche detector arrays results from light emission during impact ionization that can erroneously trigger neighboring detector pixels in the array and increase the overall detector noise. In addition, the semiconductor wafer substrate should support a high quality single crystal active semiconductor material layer with low defect density, in which light detecting elements characterized by low dark current can be fabricated.
The present invention describes a method for implementing a very high transmittance, back-illuminated, silicon-on-sapphire semiconductor wafer substrate to support the fabrication of large scale, high quantum efficiency and high resolution silicon (Si) or silicon germanium (SiGe) avalanche photodiode focal plane array (APD-FPA) imagers. The very high transmittance silicon-on-sapphire substrate incorporates an antireflective bilayer comprised of refractive index matched single crystal aluminum nitride (AlN) in conjunction with amorphous, non-stoichiometric, silicon rich, silicon nitride (a-SiNX<1.33), designated as (AlN/a-SiNX<1.33), between the sapphire and silicon to improve the transmittance of light from sapphire into the silicon detector device layer. An amorphous, one quarter wavelength magnesium fluoride (λ/4-MgF2) antireflective layer deposited on the back surface of the thinned sapphire wafer is meant to provide refractive index matching and thereby improve the optical transmittance from the ambient into the sapphire. The single crystal AlN component of the antireflective bilayer can be grown by epitaxy in non-polar A-plane orientation on semipolar R-plane sapphire substrates or grown in polar C-plane orientation on lower cost C-plane sapphire substrates. The amorphous, non-stoichiometric a-SiNX<1.33 component of the antireflective bilayer can be deposited by low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) for example, on a full thickness (100) silicon wafer substrate followed by wafer bonding of the non-stoichiometric a-SiNX<1.33 on (100) silicon, to the single crystal AlN-on-sapphire. The (100) silicon wafer can be subsequently thinned using lapping and polishing to an appropriate thickness for fabrication of detector devices.
Using non-stoichiometric a-SiNX<1.33 for the antireflective layer is necessary, to provide proper refractive index matching in conjunction with single crystal AlN, between the sapphire and silicon. The stoichiometric a-SiNX=1.33 or a-Si3N4 has a refractive index that is too low to provide adequate refractive index matching between the AlN and silicon. Moreover, non-stoichiometric, silicon-rich a-SiNX<1.33 has a lower tensile strain than stoichiometric a-SiNX=1.33 when deposited on silicon and this helps to reduce the injection of defects into the silicon device layer. In addition, although a-SiNX<1.33 is meant to function primarily as an antireflective layer in the present invention, it can also perform the important secondary function of passivating the (100) silicon surface and silicon bulk. If the a-SiNX<1.33 thin film layer is deposited at a sufficiently low temperature of 200-450° C. by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) or hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) methods for example, and therefore still retains hydrogen from the gaseous precursor chemicals used for deposition, the hydrogen will diffuse out of the a-SiNX<1.33 layer and into the silicon to passivate the silicon surface and also the silicon semiconductor bulk defects.
The very high transmittance, back-illuminated silicon-(AlN/a-SiNX<1.33)-sapphire substrate with λ/4-MgF2 back-side antireflective layer, readily supports fabrication of silicon mesa detectors with exposed (111) side planes and fixed crystallographic angle φC=54.7° between (100) and (111) silicon planes, by liquid anisotropic etching using tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide (TMAH) to define the mesa APD detector array. The AlN/a-SiNX<1.33 antireflective bilayer and sapphire act as natural etch stopping layers to enable fabrication of highly uniform silicon mesa pixels by crystallographic etching. In addition, monolithic sapphire microlenses can be fabricated beneath each mesa APD detector pixel in the thinned sapphire to focus light under the full height of the detector mesas. The space between mesa APD detector pixels can be filled by an aluminum (Al) or copper (Cu) metal anode grid, forming a common anode electrical connection at the base of each silicon detector mesa. The Al metal common anode grid also performs the important secondary function of providing optical crosstalk isolation between adjacent APD detectors by blocking light emitted during the avalanche gain process.
In the relatively recent past, it has become possible to fabricate solid-state arrays of silicon avalanche photodiodes optimized to operate either in linear mode or in non-linear Geiger-mode and capable of providing single photon sensitivity over a wavelength range from ultraviolet (UV) to near infrared (NIR). Focal plane arrays comprised of such linear or Geiger-mode silicon APD detectors, however, have only been fabricated in less than optimal substrate material systems due to the unavailability of a fully optimized wafer substrate, inherently capable of supporting high broadband quantum efficiency and high resolution, back-illuminated detector arrays with monolithic microlenses and optical crosstalk isolation between adjacent pixels in the array. To date, no effective substrate technology exists that inherently provides nearly 100% broadband, back-illuminated optical transmittance into the silicon semiconductor detector device layer, while supporting small pixel pitch, high resolution APD detector arrays with monolithic microlenses and optical crosstalk isolation between adjacent pixels.
As illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 7,271,376, the design of a silicon avalanche photodiode control circuit and detector device uses a silicon-on-insulator wafer where the starting substrate is described to be either the handle wafer of a p-silicon-on-insulator wafer or a p-Si substrate with a SiO2 insulating layer. This substrate design however, is not optimized to provide nearly 100% back-illuminated optical transmittance into the APD detector or to provide optical crosstalk isolation that will enable high resolution arrays.
As illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 7,268,339, a method is described for forming semiconductor avalanche photodiodes in an n-doped semiconductor wafer using a plurality of doped, opposing trenches in the top and bottom surfaces of the substrate wafer. The substrate design is not optimized to provide nearly 100% back-illuminated optical transmittance into the APD detector or to provide optical crosstalk isolation that will enable high resolution arrays.
As illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,864,965, the imaging focal plane array supports dual-mode operation in both passive and active detection modes using LADAR pulses for the active mode. Switching between detection modes is accomplished by increasing the voltage bias across the detector so as to increase the gain and therefore sensitivity to the active laser pulse returns from objects in a scene. The mercury-cadmium-telluride (HgCdTe) detector pixels are shown to be fabricated in a semiconductor substrate having an antireflective coating applied to the surface. This substrate design is not optimized to provide nearly 100% broadband, back-illuminated optical transmittance into the APD detector or to provide optical crosstalk isolation that will enable high resolution arrays.
In another embodiment of a position sensitive solid-state detector with internal gain, U.S. Pat. No. 6,781,133 B2, the invention describes a detection device and signal readout scheme, that uses an n-silicon substrate that is doped with p-materials using deep diffusion. This substrate design is not optimized to provide nearly 100% broadband, back-illuminated optical transmittance into the APD detector or to provide optical crosstalk isolation that will enable high resolution arrays.
In another embodiment, U.S. Pat. No. 5,892,575, a method and apparatus for imaging a scene are described for resolving the 3-D spatial structure in the scene. The light source emits pulses of laser light toward the object being imaged and the detector system includes an optical system and an array of light detectors operating in non-linear Geiger-mode. The optical system collects a portion of the light scattered off of objects in the scene and directs the collected light toward the array of light detectors. The invention refers to a monolithic array of light detectors operating in the non-linear Geiger-mode and does not describe an optimal substrate design for fabricating the Geiger-mode APD detectors that is capable of providing nearly 100% broadband, back-illuminated optical transmittance into the APD detectors or to provide optical crosstalk isolation that will enable high resolution arrays.
In another embodiment, U.S. Pat. No. 5,757,057, a method for fabricating a large array of avalanche photodiodes using a plurality of pixel contacts that are isolated electrically by one or more isolation structures is revealed. The avalanche photodiode pixels, however, are fabricated in a semiconductor substrate comprised of two oppositely doped layers and is not optimized to provide nearly 100% broadband, back-illuminated optical transmittance into the APD detectors or to provide optical crosstalk isolation that will enable high resolution arrays.
In another embodiment, U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,217, a planar avalanche photodiode device array is realized using a planar block of n-type semiconductor having a plurality of p-type wells in the block surrounded by a foundation of n-type semiconductor material. This substrate design is not optimized to provide nearly 100% broadband, back-illuminated optical transmittance into the APD detector or to provide optical crosstalk isolation that will enable high resolution arrays.
In another embodiment, U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,084, a method for producing a low defect layer of silicon on a sapphire substrate is provided. The silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) wafer is formed by epitaxial deposition of (100) silicon directly on the R-plane sapphire substrate followed by implanting of Si ions near the higher defect density silicon-sapphire interface. Subsequent annealing of the amorphised silicon near the sapphire surface using the low defect density silicon near the top of the epitaxial layer as a template for regrowth, produces an improved quality silicon device layer near the sapphire. The substrate fabrication approach, however, does not describe a method of providing nearly 100% broadband, back-illuminated optical transmittance through the sapphire substrate into the silicon semiconductor layer where APD detectors can be fabricated.
In another embodiment, U.S. Pat. No. 5,441,591, a method for fabricating a silicon-on-sapphire wafer is provided using direct wafer bonding of a silicon wafer to a sapphire wafer by application of pressure and elevated temperature. The full thickness silicon wafer is subsequently thinned by chemical mechanical polishing to an appropriate thickness for fabricating semiconductor devices. The substrate fabrication approach, however, does not describe a method of providing nearly 100% broadband, back-illuminated optical transmittance through the sapphire substrate into the silicon APD detector.
Note that the above solid-state, semiconductor, avalanche detectors and silicon-on-sapphire substrate fabrication approaches do not envision, nor describe a method for realizing an optimal substrate design for silicon APD-FPAs that provides nearly 100% broadband, back-illuminated optical transmittance into the APD detectors and provides an effective means for optical crosstalk isolation between detectors to enable high resolution arrays.

Very high transmittance, back-illuminated, silicon-on-sapphire semiconductor wafer substrate for high quantum efficiency and high resolution, solid-state, imaging focal plane arrays


A device and method for the sanitary provision of wax to the skin of patrons. Paraffin wax containers shaped to conform to the patrons face, hands, and feet provide individual reservoirs of paraffin which are heated and subsequently applied to the patron's body. Exothermic pouches are provided to heat the individual portions of paraffin wax housed in the body-part-shaped containers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the treatment of skin employing paraffin wax or similarly available material applicable to the skin after reaching melting temperature.
More particularly it relates to a device and method for heating individual sterile packages shaped to conform to a body part of the patron receiving the sterile individually applicable paraffin treatments.
2. Prior Art
A popular cosmetic and medicinal treatment for the skin is provided by the application of heated paraffin to various areas of the body in coatings or masks such as the hands, arms, elbows, and in coatings on the face for facials. Conventionally, paraffin wax is heated to approximately 53 degrees Celsius in a suitable deep dish wax heater. Once the wax has substantially reached this temperature, the appropriate body part of the user is initially sprayed or wiped with a disinfectant preparation. Once the body part has been so wiped, the body part to be treated is then repeatedly dipped into the melted wax supply. This concurrently delivers a warm, very pleasant and soothing sensation while the body part is being coated. During this process, a generous layer of wax is accumulated on the body part being treated. In the case of the customer's feet or hands, once so coated, they are inserted into a plastic type bag which is then wrapped in a towel or similar mitt to maintain warmth for approximately twenty minutes during a rest and treatment interval. During this rest interval the wax relaxes muscles of the hands. Concurrently the wax itself is allowed to deeply penetrate the heat-expanded pores of the skin which promotes skin hydration. At the end of this process, the mitts and protective bags are removed and the coated wax on the body part is then peeled away. The result to the user is skin with an enhanced feel and finish and which is more fully hydrated.
In addition to the hydration and softness improvement of the skin so treated, other benefits are provided the user. The application of heated paraffin wax and the subsequent relaxation period with the heated wax applied also increases blood circulation to the area and allows for the restoration of improved skin color. The heat provided by the paraffin can also be employed to ease stiffness and discomfort of joints associated with injury, arthritis, overworked muscles, and other ailments.
Conventionally, in preparing for the treatment, the paraffin wax is heated to approximately 53 degrees Celsius in a suitable deep dish wax heater. Prior to application of the wax to the body, the intended body part is initially sprayed or wiped with a disinfectant preparation in an attempt to prevent germ or other contamination of the reservoir of paraffin. Following the disinfectant treatment, the body part is then repeatedly dipped into the paraffin reservoir to achieve a coating on the body part. Through one or a plurality of these subsequent dips into the reservoir, a generous layer of wax is accumulated on the body part being treated.
In the case of the feet or hands being treated, once the wax layer has accumulated, they are then directly inserted into a plastic type bag and then inserted into a towel or similar mitt or cover for approximately twenty minutes. Having cooled after the elapsed time, the wax is then easily peeled off leaving an amazing feel and finish to the skin.
However, this method of dipping and coating body parts, even after the application of disinfectant, has been determined to be fraught with peril from contamination of the wax reservoir by users. Many germs, bacteria, and viruses have been found to survive not only the disinfectant wipe, but also the heat in the reservoir of paraffin. Some pathogens actually thrive in such an environment.
The same is true of other temporary skin coating material with similar skin and body enhancement properties such as mud, oil, bee's wax, salt, and the like. Communal reservoirs of these materials have been used in the past with the same problems.
As a consequence of this high potential for contamination, the multiple dipping of body parts into a common reservoir, by different consecutive users, has already been outlawed in many countries. This is especially true where the paraffin applique is employed for hair removal applications. However, anywhere a heated wax pot is being employed cosmetically with customers, there is currently an ongoing and intense industry discussion relating to the possible hygiene concerns with current paraffin wax application methods.
Further, from a marketing standpoint with patrons of establishments providing wax treatments, the mere thought of someone else's feet or hands or body parts having been dipped into the same wax reservoir as the next client, can be disgusting. The thought of another person's hair, skin, germs, or even DNA floating in the reservoir of warm wax is more than enough to discourage many patrons from undergoing the procedure.
As a consequence, the beauty industry has either had to discontinue a very profitable procedure, or, provide individualized wax reservoirs which are then discarded. These individual treatments and subsequent disposal of the wax reservoir contents, severely increases the cost of the procedure and is not very ecological in practice.
As such, there is an unmet need for a method and apparatus for providing individual portions of warmed paraffin or material with similar characteristics, for cosmetic and medical treatments. Such a method and device should provide the hygiene and convenience which will encourage more clients to willingly indulge in much desired paraffin treatments. Such a method should provide for quick, easy, and most importantly, hygienic, wax solutions and similar materials which may be applied to the skin of clients. Such a method and device should also allow for widespread standardized use so that clients become familiar with it and feel safe, and, establishments may offer standardized services and order standardized supplies to provide them.

Method and apparatus of paraffin treatment of the skin


A surface-acoustical-wave (SAW) or other lumped intermediate-frequency amplifier filter is followed by an IF amplifier chain and a second detector constructed within the confines of a monolithic integrated circuit. The IF amplifier chain includes three emitter-coupled differential amplifiers, each exhibiting up to about twentyfold voltage gain, cascaded one after the other. Provision is made for automatically controlling the voltage gain of the first two emitter-coupled differential amplifiers. Common-collector amplifiers are used to buffer the application of the balanced output signals from each of the emitter-coupled differential amplifiers to the succeeding emitter-coupled differential amplifier or second detector. Balanced current responses to the direct bias potentials on which the balanced signals supplied to the second detector are respectively superposed, are extracted by lowpass filtering that is on-chip and does not use off-chip IF bypass capacitors. These balanced current responses are fed back to the emitters of the transistors in the common-collector amplifiers used to couple the first gain-controlled emitter-coupled differential amplifier in the IF amplifier chain to the second gain-controlled emitter-coupled differential amplifier in the IF amplifier chain. This completes a direct-coupled feedback loop for degenerating the differences between the direct bias potentials on which the balanced signals supplied to the second detector are respectively superposed.

Television receivers commonly use a type of monolithic integrated-circuit, or IC, which is constructed using bipolar transistors; is designed to follow a surface-acoustical-wave (SAW) or other lumped "block" intermediate-frequency amplifier filter; and comprises a cascade connection of three emitter-coupled differential amplifiers, each exhibiting up to about twentyfold voltage gain, followed by a second detector. Untuned, direct interstage coupling is provided by common-collector-amplifier (or emitter-follower) transistors. Provision is commonly made for automatically controlling the voltage gain of the emitter-coupled differential amplifiers. The second detector may be an envelope detector, but in recent years is more often a synchronous detector or a quasisynchronous detector of the exalted-carrier type. In double-conversion receivers or in an IF amplifier dedicated to generating intercarrier sound, the second detector may be a second mixer for converting a first intermediate frequency to a second intermediate frequency.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/940,220 filed 8 Sep. 1992 by Jack Rudolph Harford and Heung Bae Lee, entitled VARIABLE GAIN AMPLIFIER, describes IF amplifier circuitry modified by the inventor in making embodiments of the invention claimed hereinafter. As is the case in the present application, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/940,220 has been assigned to Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., pursuant to obligations of the inventor(s) to assign his (their) invention(s) at the time the inventions were made. The IF amplifier circuitry described by Harford and Lee meets the automatic gain control range requirements of about 66 dB for a television receiver IF amplifier chain to be met by controlling the voltage gains of first and second emitter-coupled differential amplifiers therein, and a third emitter-coupled differential amplifier therein can be operated with a fixed voltage gain.
Commonly, second detectors are designed to be driven with balanced signals from the IF amplifier chain. Then, the desideratum is for reasonably good matching, at least to within 20 millivolts or so, of the direct bias potentials on which the balanced signals supplied to the second detector are superposed. In previous designs respective low-pass filters, each filter using an off-chip capacitor, extract the direct bias potentials on which these balanced signals supplied to the second detector are superposed. The responses of these low-pass filters are then differentially combined to develop an error signal fed back to the input of the IF amplifier chain, to thereby complete a direct-coupled (d-c) feedback loop for degenerating the error signal. This approach has been found to be disadvantageous. Bringing the fully amplified IF signals off-chip, even to bypass capacitors, increases the risk of undesirable regeneration in the IF amplifier chain. The high voltage gain of the full IF chain under weak-signal conditions and the changes in phase margin that may occur in different portions of the AGC range cause problems of d-c feedback loop stabilization. The reliability of interfaces between the IC and its external environment tends to be lower than the reliability of the electronic circuitry interfaced between. The number of pins required on the IC package affects its cost, and additional pins are often needed for the off-chip capacitors used in the low-pass filters. The off-chip capacitors have to be separately inventoried from the IC during television receiver production.

Using D-C feedback with on-chip filtering to balance I-F drive to second detector in monolithic IC


A method and apparatus for reducing power consumption in integrated memory devices is provided. Banks of memory cells may be individually put into “sleep” mode via respective “sleep” transistors.

In contemporary microprocessors, the size of on-die Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) cache almost doubles every generation. This is largely enabled by technology feature scaling which allows more device integration from one process to the next. As feature length scales, both gate oxide thickness and threshold voltage scale too. This considerably increases gate-oxide and sub-threshold leakage currents, respectively. Larger leakage power is a major concern for mobile and reliable operation. In general, a hefty portion of a microprocessor's total active leakage power is consumed by SRAM cache. This is because on chip SRAM (with millions of cells) is at any given cycle in a "stand-by" state. This means that the SRAM is basically doing nothing except preserving stored data. Upon access, only one row in a given memory bank is activated (either being read or written).
With the partitioning of the SRAM into a larger number of small memory banks, aggressive power management techniques can be employed by collapsing the power supply of unselected memory banks. These techniques leverage the higher intrinsic stability of the SRAM cell when it is unselected. The intrinsic stability of the SRAM cell corresponds to the noise-margin of the cross-coupled inverter loop of the cell when it is disconnected from the bit-lines. In contrast, the read stability of the SRAM cell corresponds to the noise-margin of the inverter loop with the word-line being active and the cell internal nodes being connected to the bit-lines. The read instability is usually worse than the intrinsic stability. Consequently the power supply can be dropped to a far lower value than is the case with the cell being read-out. Powering down the supply may be accomplished by the use of "sleep switches" which are deactivated when cells are idled and activated when the cells are being written or read out.
Standby leakage current is the current which may flow through a logic circuit when a transistor within the circuit is at high impedance and attempting to hold an output voltage at a certain level. Standby leakage current can cause a loss of the signal output and can also increase power consumption of the logic circuit. There is therefore a need to reduce standby leakage current and power consumption of logic circuits.

Reducing power consumption in integrated circuits


This application discloses an authentication method for accessing a network, an authentication device, and a user device. The method includes: an authentication device receives an authentication response message sent by user device, where the authentication response message includes first data, and the first data is data obtained by the user device based on biometric feature data of a target user. The authentication device obtains second data from a server, where the second data is data obtained by the server based on biometric feature data of a user, and generates indication information when the first data is the same as the second data, where the indication information is used to indicate that the user device is authenticated. The authentication device sends the indication information to the user device.

With rapid development of Internet technologies, the Internet can be wirelessly accessed in a home network or a public wireless network. For example, a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) technology can be used to wirelessly access the Internet in the home network or the public wireless network. The Wi-Fi technology is a technology that allows a user device to connect to a wireless local area network. When accessing a network based on the Wi-Fi technology, the user device often needs to perform an authentication operation.
In a related technology, a Wi-Fi technology is used as an example. When the Wi-Fi technology is used to wirelessly access the Internet in a home network or a public wireless network, the user device often performs an authentication operation based on a password. A password-based Internet access authentication manner requires a user to preset a password, and a process of setting the password is relatively complex. Currently, an authentication process for accessing a network is relatively complex, network usability is relatively poor, and security is relatively poor.

Authentication method for accessing network, authentication device, and user device


An example method to clean a continuous substrate involves applying a high pressure, low flow spray of a first cleaning fluid at the continuous substrate from one or more nozzles to remove particulate matter from the continuous substrate; transporting the continuous substrate from a first volume having the high pressure, low volume spray, to a second volume having an agitation bath; vacuuming moisture from the continuous substrate during transporting of the continuous substrate from the first volume to the second volume; directing energy at the continuous substrate in the agitation bath using at least one of a megasonic transducer or an ultrasonic transducer; and drying the continuous substrate.

This disclosure relates generally to production of clean textiles and, more particularly, to systems and methods to clean a continuous substrate.
Conventional systems and methods to clean substrates to levels appropriate for clean-room applications have limited throughput and/or limited ability to remove particulate matter from the substrate. For example, conventional systems and methods

Systems and methods to clean a continuous substrate


A window surface associated with a first application is automatically detected as an exclusive window surface for a display. In response, the system automatically transitions to a full-screen mode in which a graphics processor flushes content to the display. The full-screen mode includes flipping between a front surface buffer and a back surface buffer associated with the first application. It is subsequently detected that the window surface associated with the first application is not an exclusive window surface for the display. In response, the system automatically transitions to a windowed mode in which the graphics processor flushes content to the display. In windowed mode, the system frame buffer is flushed to the display. The transition to windowed mode includes a minimum number of buffer content copy operations between the front surface buffer, the back surface buffer and the system frame buffer.

Content on a computer is frequently displayed on a display screen in one of two modes. One of the modes is called Full-Screen Mode, while the other mode is frequently referred to as Windowed Mode. Full-Screen Mode is used for applications that are the exclusive content provider for a display screen. In other words, when a single application displays content that occupies the full screen and there are no other applications that are displaying content on top of that screen, then that application might run in Full-Screen Mode. Windowed Mode is used when multiple applications, or processes, occupy or share the display screen concurrently. For example, a web browser application might be displayed such that it covers an entire display screen while a pop-up window having volume controls, or some other kind of accessory, might be displayed on top of that browser window. Another example might be a calendar reminder (e.g., issued by a calendaring program) that pops up in front of a word processing application that was previously occupying the full screen. In these situations, when multiple processes or applications are sharing the display screen, Windowed Mode is used to composite the content onto the display screen.
Both the Windowed Mode and Full-Screen Mode have various advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of Windowed Mode, obviously, is that content from multiple applications, or processes, can be composited onto a display screen at the same time. Full-Screen Mode, on the other hand, can have the advantage, for example, of reducing the need for buffer space in video memory and can allow certain types of content (e.g., video content) to display more efficiently and with less jitter, delay and/or other errors.
In a very generic way, the ability to manually switch between Windowed Mode and Full-Screen Mode is known in the art. However, there are challenges involved in automatically switching between the Windowed Mode and the Full-Screen Mode. Traditional systems may not automatically detect conditions that allow the system to switch between a Full-Screen Mode and Windowed Mode. Further complexity is added when a system for displaying video content is "double buffered." Double buffering involves the use of multiple buffers to prepare video content, or other display content from an application, for rendering to a display screen.

Memory management based on automatic full-screen detection


A vision-based user interface includes an image input unit for capturing frame images, an image processor for recognizing a posture in at least one of the captured frame images, and generating a recognized gesture according to the posture, and a control unit for generating a control command corresponding to the recognized gesture.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to user interfaces applied to electronic devices, and more particularly to a vision-based user interface and related method that take hand gestures as input.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Naturalness and ease of use are two main objectives in research of human-computer interaction (HCI). For a long time, in interacting with electronic devices such as television sets, computers, cameras, and mobile phones, people have had to use special input devices, such as keyboards, buttons, touch screens, and remote controllers. Although people have become used to these input devices, some inherent drawbacks exist. For example, with the increased popularity of handheld devices, and the decrease in size of such devices, keyboards and buttons are hard to integrate as input devices, or become so small that a user struggles to activate his/her intended button.
Direct use of the hand as an input device is an attractive method for providing natural human-computer interaction. Some existing techniques use electro-mechanical or magnetic sensing devices, such as data gloves, to acquire hand gestures. However, the use of such sensors increases both cost and inconvenience.

Vision-based user interface and related method

ArcSoft (Hangzhou) Multimedia Technology Co., Ltd.


In a washing nozzle for use on vehicles for applying a liquid cleaning or washing medium, means are provided for acting within the nozzle on a main jet generated in the nozzle with a collision jet in order thus to modify the nozzle jet which emerges.

The invention relates to a washing nozzle and, more particularly, to a washing nozzle for use in washing or cleaning systems on vehicles for cleaning vehicle windows, in particular front windows or windscreens, headlamps, rear lights and/or cameras.
Within the context of the invention, a washing nozzle is therefore in particular a nozzle for applying the liquid cleaning or washing medium to an area of the vehicle which is to be cleaned, that is to say for example to vehicle windows, in particular front windows or windscreens, headlamps, rear lights and/or cameras. Within the context of the invention, the liquid cleaning or washing medium is in particular water, preferably with active washing additives and/or frost protection agents.
Within the context of the invention, a punctiform nozzle jet is a nozzle jet having a cross section which remains constant or essentially constant, that is to say a nozzle jet which does not diverge or diverges only slightly. Within the context of the invention, a flat or fan-shaped nozzle jet is in particular a nozzle jet which has a rectangular cross section at least when it strikes the surface to be cleaned and which, starting from the washing nozzle or nozzle opening, increasingly widens in an axis which runs perpendicular to the jet axis.
Washing nozzles for use on vehicles, in particular road vehicles, for applying a liquid cleaning or washing medium are known in various designs. For example, windscreen washing nozzles are known (WO 00/12361) which consist of a nozzle body with a line for supplying the cleaning or washing medium and with a plate-shaped nozzle chip or insert arranged in a recess of the nozzle body, said insert being accommodated in a form-fitting manner in the recess of the nozzle body and being provided on one side of its surface with a number of channel grooves which, when the insert is mounted in the nozzle body, form nozzle channels which are connected to the supply channel and which each form a nozzle opening, namely for generating a number of diverging jets of the liquid cleaning or washing medium.
Also known are windscreen washing nozzles (DE 44 22 590 A1) for generating a fan-shaped or flat nozzle jet, comprising a nozzle body in which a supply channel for the liquid cleaning or washing medium is formed, which merges via a narrowing into a nozzle channel or expansion chamber which expands in terms of its width in the flow direction and ends in an essentially slot-shaped nozzle opening.
It is also known (DE 1 205 404) to deflect an essentially punctiform nozzle jet emerging from a single nozzle opening by means of a deflection plate provided outside the washing nozzle and thus to deform said jet such that the cleaning medium is distributed as widely as possible over the surface to be cleaned, that is to say the windscreen.
Known nozzles in principle have the disadvantage that the jet form and/or jet type, in particular including the droplet size and the speed thereof in the emerging nozzle jet, are not sufficient for an optimal cleaning or wiping effect, and/or the volume stream and thus the consumption of liquid cleaning medium is too great in comparison to the effect achieved.

Washing nozzle for discharging a liquid cleaning or washing medium


A brake control device for a brake system, wherein the brake system has at least one electromagnetic track brake device, which can be supplied with current at variable amperage according to the brake control device to create a braking force, and wherein the brake control device is designed to actuate the at least one electromagnetic track brake device at a cleaning amperage during travel in order to clean a rail. Also disclosed is a brake system having such a brake control device, a rail vehicle, and a method for cleaning a rail by means of an electromagnetic track brake device.

Modern rail vehicles often have brake systems having a plurality of brake devices which act in different ways. A service brake device, such as a pressure-operated brake device, for example a hydraulic or pneumatic brake, is generally provided. Besides this, eddy current brakes, retarders or else magnetic track brakes, amongst others, are additionally used. In contrast to the eddy current brake, the magnetic track brake device here is a friction brake device which, when it is operated, is brought into frictional contact with the rail. As a result of current being applied, the magnetic track brake device is magnetized and adheres strongly to the rail. The magnetic track brake device is subject to considerable wear in the process. Magnetic track brake devices are used for supporting the braking action of the normal service brake device, in particular when carrying out rapid braking or emergency braking. If the magnetic track brake device is in frictional contact with the rail, it can also remove materials such as leaves, water, etc. which are located on the rail during travel. Therefore, the use of a magnetic track brake device also serves to clean the rail, as a result of which, in particular, the adhesion between wheel and rail can be improved, this generally being parameterized as an adhesion coefficient.
Disclosed embodiments allow improved operation of a magnetic track brake device during track cleaning. Wear of the magnetic track brake device is intended to be reduced in the process.

Brake system having an electromagnetic track brake device

KNORR-BREMSE SYSTEME FUR SCHIENENFAHRZEUGE GMBH


The present invention relates generally to recycled plastics which exhibit noxious odors. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a method of reducing unwanted odors in such recycled plastics by incorporating a polyalkylene imine ("PAI"), more preferably polyethylene imine ("PEI").

Polyalkylene Imine ("PAI")
A co-inventor of the present invention is also a co-inventor to "Novel Packaging Compositions That Extend The Shelf Life Of Oil-Containing Foods", U.S. Ser. No. 07/724,421, filed Jul. 3, 1991, in which PEI is disclosed to have aldehyde scavenging capabilities (which can extend shelf life of oil-containing foods) when used as part of a packaging material.
The present inventors are also the inventors of U.S. Ser. No. 07/974,042, filed Nov. 10, 1992, which is directed to specific compositions comprising a blend of olefinic polymer and PAI. The compositions are taught to be particularly useful in packaging applications, since they are capable of extending the shelf life of oil-containing foods.

Method for reducing odors in recycled plastics and compositions relating thereto


A non-aqueous electrolyte secondary cell is provided with a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a non-aqueous electrolyte solution, wherein said positive electrode comprises sulfur and said non-aqueous electrolyte solution comprises a room-temperature molten salt having a melting point of 60° C. or less.

As one type of secondary cells featuring high energy density, a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary cell has come into practical use, wherein a non-aqueous electrolyte solution is employed and charge/discharge is performed by way of transferring lithium ions between a positive electrode and a negative electrode.
Such a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary cell generally employs a positive electrode which is a lithium-transition metal compound oxide such as LiCoO2 and the like, a negative electrode which is lithium metal, a lithium alloy, or a carbon material capable of absorbing and desorbing lithium, and a non-aqueous electrolyte solution wherein an electrolyte of lithium salt, such as LiBF4 or LiPF6, is dissolved in an organic solvent such as ethylene carbonate or diethyl carbonate.
Recently, further, such a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary cell has come into practical use as an electric current source of portable equipment and the like, and accordingly, the non-aqueous electrolyte secondary cell having higher energy density has been desired.
Unfortunately, however, in such an ordinary non-aqueous electrolyte secondary cell, the lithium-transition metal compound oxide such as LiCoO2 employed as the positive electrode thereof is large in weight and small in reactive electron number, therefore, capacity per unit weight is not sufficiently improved.
Further, sulfur is generally known as positive electrode material having large theoretical capacity, however, where a simple substance of sulfur is employed as the positive electrode, very high temperature is required for reversible reaction with lithium, therefore, the resultant non-aqueous electrolyte secondary cell can not come into a generous use.
Therefore, recently, there has been proposed use of an organic disulfide compound including DMcT (2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole) as the positive electrode material having large capacity and high energy density. However, the organic disulfide compound used as the positive electrode material reversibly reacts with lithium only at a high temperature of more than 60° C., therefore, the resultant non-aqueous electrolyte secondary cell can not come into the generous use.
Further, more recently, Japanese Patent Application Nos.4-267073, 8-115724, and so on have proposed the use of the positive electrode material which is a compound of the organic disulfide compound including DMcT with conductive macromolecule including polyaniline for the purpose of charge/discharge reaction at normal temperature.
However, even in the use of the organic disulfide compound as the positive electrode material, a part concerned with the charge/discharge reaction is only disulfide linkage portion, and other portions such as carbon portion or hydrogen portion are not concerned with the reaction, therefore, the capacity per unit weight is not sufficiently improved.

Non-aqueous electrolytic secondary battery


A cabinet includes a cabinet body, multiple drawers and a safety device. The drawers are mounted moveably in the cabinet body. The safety device is mounted in the cabinet body and has a control member and multiple hook members. The control member is mounted on the rear panel of the cabinet body and has a supporting base, a pivotal member and a resilient element. The pivotal member is mounted pivotally on the supporting base. The resilient element is connected to the supporting base and the pivotal member. The hook members are mounted respectively on the drawers and are aligned with the pivotal member. When a drawer is opened, the corresponding hook member pushes the pivotal member to pivot the pivotal member and stretch the resilient element and a hook flange on the pivotal member engages the hook members on other drawers to prevent other drawers from being opened.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a cabinet, and more particularly to a cabinet with a safety device that can improve safety of the cabinet when a drawer is opened.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional cabinet with multiple drawers may be used to classify objects into different groups by putting objects having similar characteristics into a corresponding drawer. For example, hand tools, electrical tools and fasteners can be classified by putting them respectively into drawers of a tool cabinet. However, when drawers of the conventional cabinet load objects, each drawer may bear a heavy weight. When a drawer is pulled, other drawers may be brought out to escape from the conventional cabinet. When several drawers are opened at the same time, the conventional cabinet may collapse down to hurt people and damage objects held in the conventional cabinet.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a cabinet with a safety device to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.


A memory device comprises an array of bitcells arranged as a plurality of rows of bitcells and a plurality of columns of bitcells, and has a plurality of wordlines and a plurality of readout channels. A control unit is configured to control access to the array of bitcells, wherein in response to a memory access request specifying a memory address the control unit is configured to activate a selected wordline and to activate the plurality of readout channels, and to access a row of bitcells in said array storing a data word and addressed by the memory address. The data word consists of a number of data bits given by a number of bitcells in each row of bitcells. The control unit is further configured to be responsive to a masking signal and, when the masking signal is asserted when said memory access request is received, the control unit is configured to activate only a portion of the selected wordline and a portion of the plurality of readout channels, such that only a portion of the data word is accessed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to memory devices. More particularly, this invention relates to controlling the access to such memory devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a known data processing apparatus which is embodied as a system-on-chip (SoC) device 10. Within this SoC device 10 are provided a processor unit (CPU) 11 and two memory banks 12 and 13. The CPU 11 uses the memory banks 12 and 13 to store data which it makes use of in its data processing operations. The CPU 11 accesses the memory banks 12 and 13 via a system bus 14 which couples these components together. The CPU 11 is configured to issue a memory access request onto the system bus 14 when it requires access (whether read or write) to data stored in one of the memory banks. As schematically illustrated in FIG. 1, the CPU 11 therefore passes an address onto the system bus and sends or receives (depending on whether the memory access request is a read or a write operation) data to/from the system bus. Each memory bank 12, 13 is respectively provided with a control unit 15, 16 which administers overall control of the respective memory bank, in particular interpreting the address received from the CPU 11 via the system bus 14 to cause the correct storage locations within the memory bank (typically configured as an array of bit cells) to be accessed.
The CPU 11 is additionally configured to generate a chip select signal which is also passed via the system bus 14 to the memory banks 12, 13. This chip select signal acts as an overall enable signal with respect to the memory banks, and causes the entire memory bank to be powered up or powered down. The chip select signal may serve to indicate which of the memory banks 12, 13 the address passed from the CPU 11 should be applied to, for example in the situation where each memory bank covers the same address space and therefore the chip select signal is required to distinguish between the two. Even if there is no overlap in the memory spaces used by the two memory banks, it is generally desirable in a SoC device to reduce its power consumption as far as possible and accordingly the CPU 11 can make use of the chip select signal to power down a memory bank which is not currently in use. The control units 15, 16 of the memory banks 12, 13 are therefore configured to respond to the assertion of a chip select signal identifying that particular memory bank by causing it to power up or power down as appropriate. Whilst this technique is advantageous in terms of the power saving advantages it brings, the process of powering up/powering down a memory bank comes at the cost of some delay whilst this is carried out.
It would be desirable to provide an improved technique for reducing the power consumption of such memory devices.

Memory access control in a memory device


An illuminating nail clipper for clipping the nails of an animal such as a dog, cat, bird, or the like which allows for the clipping of an individual nail at the desired length to prevent injury or improper length cutting for the animal. The device includes a hand-actuated clipping blade used in conjunction with an adjustable in size nail holder which includes a cutting hole and which allows the nail to be clipped to be firmly held at a particular position relative to the nail cutting blade. A light source illuminates an animal's nail to make it translucent, allowing the operator to see the capillaries within the nail and thus to avoid cutting to the live portion of the nail.

Professional quality animal nail clippers used by both veterinarians and animal owners in trimming the nails of animals, such as those of dogs and cats, have been successfully made and sold for over forty years under the trademark "RESCO" by Tecla Company, Incorporated of Walled Lake, Mich. Such clippers were initially made in accordance with the principles and features of the Laing U.S. Pat. No. 2,955,354 and later pursuant to the improvements of the Clark U.S. Pat No. 3,838,507, both incorporated herein by reference. More recently a nail clipper of this type has been successfully modified for use in clipping human artificial fingernails by employing the principles and features of the Reiswig U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,190, also incorporated herein by reference. Other prior art patents of general interest directed to guillotine-type cutters and clippers are disclosed in the following U.S. patents , the entirety of all of which are herein incorporated by reference: 165,402; 205,088; 1,347,651; 1,927,234; 2,820,292; [2,955,354;] 3,101,535; 3,299,505; 3,430,340; [3,838,507;] 3,845,553; 3,855,699; 3,903,596; 4,228,585; 4,228,585; 4,449,297; [4,856,190;] 5,065,513; 5,101,563; 5,123,430; and 5,533,363 all of which are herein incorporated by reference.
During the course of the use of a nail clipper of the prior art, the groomer typically locates the cutting jaws, blades or other cutting means about the nail which is desired to be trimmed, and actuates the cutting mechanism of the clipper, often by squeezing the handles on the clipper device. However, the nail includes not only the dead portion which is desired to be trimmed off of the animal, but also includes a live root portion from which the nail grows, which root portion includes various tissues, including blood vessels and nerves. Owing to the variability across species of the amount which the root protrudes from the limb of the animal, it is not uncommon during a nail trimming procedure for the groomer to inadvertently cut into the root portion, causing pain to the animal, in addition to bleeding and the possibility of infection of the wound so created, which is an inherent disadvantage in the prior art. Nails, claws and talons are examples of keratinous growths.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to alleviate and eliminate the cutting into the root or the "quick" of a nail during a nail trimming procedure, with the "quick" being the nerve bundle and blood supply capillaries. It is a further object of the invention to provide a nail clipping tool through the use of which it is possible to alleviate and eliminate the cutting into the root of a nail during a nail trimming procedure. It is also an object of the invention to provide a nail clipper meeting the aforesaid objects, which is ergonomical to the user. These and other objects satisfied by the present invention shall become apparent from the disclosure which follows.


An structurally simplified actuation mechanism for swinging an aircraft door from a frame on an aircraft fuselage. The actuation mechanism includes a cantilever rotatably mounted to the frame and including a receiving region, a universal joint supported in the receiving region, and an actuation device disposed on the cantilever. The universal joint defines a vertical axis of rotation and is configured to receive a door fitting. The actuation device includes an output drive connected to the universal joint at the vertical axis of rotation.

This application claims priority to German Patent Application No. 102 07 033.4, which is incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to an actuation mechanism for swinging an aircraft door. A cantilever is rotatably mounted to a frame on the fuselage side, a universal joint is supported in a receiving region of the cantilever and receives a door fitting connected to the door structure.
The aircraft door is preferably a passenger door. The movement of a door during the opening or closing operation relates to the lifting or lowering and to the swinging of the passenger door.
Such a passenger door is described in European Patent Application EP 465 785 A1. The lifting device has associated therewith an actuation device. The actuation device of the lifting device acts, via a connecting rod, on a lower door fitting, preferably an A-arm which provides the connection between the door structure and the cantilever so that the cantilever is guided upward or downward about its axis which is fixed with respect to the door, finally resulting in a lifting or lowering of the passenger door. For example, during an opening operation, the swinging of the passenger door takes place after the passenger door has been lifted.
The swinging movement of the door is produced by another actuation device. The actuation device is a program-controllable electric motor as is generally known. In the known passenger door, this actuation device for swinging is in continuous engagement with the cantilever at the output end. The actuation device itself is arranged at the door frame on the fuselage side. A power transmission means having a complex design runs from the output drive to a door fitting, preferably an A-arm, which is connected to the door structure.
This solution requires additional fastening means for attaching the actuator to the frame on the fuselage side. At the same time, the means for transmitting power to the support arm must allow the lifting or lowering movement of the cantilever with the passenger door. Therefore, the power transmission means requires a special structural design. This also requires appropriate procedures for adjustment with respect to the actuator.
An object of the present invention is to structurally further simplify the swinging of a passenger door which is supported and guided by a cantilever, reducing the required number of components for mounting the actuation device for swinging and the power transmission thereof.
The present invention provides an actuation device for swinging an aircraft door pivoted to a cantilever, the cantilever being rotatably mounted to a frame on the fuselage side, the cantilever further having a universal joint which is supported in a receiving region and receives a door fitting connected to the door structure. The actuation device (5) for swinging is arranged on the cantilever (1), and the output drive of the actuation device (5) is connected to the vertical axis of rotation (E) of the universal joint (3) supported in the receiving region (2) of the cantilever (1).
The output drive of the actuation device (5) may be connected to a gear which is connected to the vertical axis (E) of the universal joint (3).
On the fuselage side, the cantilever of the passenger door is supported on the frame on an axis of rotation. On the door side, the cantilever features two receiving regions which each have a universal joint supported therein. Linked to each of the universal joints is a door fitting, a generally known A-arm, which is rotatable about a horizontal axis which is fixed with respect to the door. The A-arm is connected to the door structure. The output drive of the actuator for swinging the passenger door is directly (i.e., by the shortest possible path) connected to the axis segment located on the vertical axis of the universal joint by means of a power transmission means (e.g., a gear). This relates to one universal joint. In this manner, a torque is transmitted from the actuator to the universal joint, the universal joint rotating about its vertical axis and transmitting this torque directly to the door structure via the A-arm. In the process, the actuator supports itself against the cantilever by a suitable connection. The actuator can be a program-controllable electric motor, other forms of energy being possible as well, for example, a hydraulic motor or a compressed-air motor. The actuator can also be used for swinging the passenger door in case of an emergency opening.
However, the functionality of xe2x80x9cswinging the passenger door as a comfort functionxe2x80x9d and the functionality xe2x80x9cswinging the passenger door during emergency openingxe2x80x9d can also be separated and covered by two systems that are different from each other.
In this case, provision must be made for the possibility of mechanically separating the emergency opening operation from the swing actuator to allow each system to operate autonomously and to eliminate the possibility of mutual interference. This could be accomplished, for example, by a mechanism (coupling) integrated into the swing actuator as well as by an externally acting device.
Using the present invention, a change in position of the actuator away from the frame on the fuselage side to an axis that is closer to the passenger door has been achieved. Advantageously, the output drive of the actuator is integrated in the axis of rotation of the passenger door. In this manner, the power transmission path is considerably shortened.
The present invention advantageously eliminates the need for fastening means for the actuator on the frame on the fuselage side, which were required in known methods heretofore, as well as the need for complex power transmission means from the position of the frame on the fuselage side to the cantilever, which were heretofore required to allow the relative movement of the actuator for swinging during the lifting or lowering operation. The connection according to the present invention between the actuator for swinging and the universal joint is not subject to stress resulting from the lifting or lowering of the door. This constitutes an advantage.
There is no need for an adjustment of this actuator for swinging. An additional adjustment of the actuator with respect to the universal joint or to the A-arm is not required.
A further advantage lies in the fact that the functionalities of xe2x80x9cemergency openingxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cswingingxe2x80x9d can be dealt with separately. Thus, for example, it would be possible to retrofit already existing passenger doors with this actuator without affecting any safety functions that are relevant for approval.

Actuation mechanism for swinging an aircraft door


The present invention relates to a method of producing the sensors for monitoring corrosion of heat exchanger tubes in a thermal power plant. The sensor is made of the tubes taken out from actual heat-exchanger. As a result, the sensor not only has the same material as the actual heat-exchanger tubes, but also has the same surface state where it contacts the working medium. Therefore, a serious technical difficulties have been solved that the sensor made by the prior art can't measure different corrosion states of actual heat-exchanger tubes, that the corrosion rate measured is different from the corrosion rate of actual heat-exchanger tubes, and that the cost of anti-corrosive treatments is high . By use of the sensor made by the present invention, the different corrosion states of actual heat-exchanger tubes can be measured, not only the rate of uniform corrosion of actual heat-exchanger tubes can be measured but also the rate of localized corrosion of the heat-exchanger tubes can be measured. Moreover, the cost of treatment of anti-corrosion can be decreased.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of producing a sensor for monitoring corrosion of the heat-exchanger tubes of a heat exchanger.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are several thousand to several ten thousand of heat-exchanger tubes in a heat exchanger in a thermal power plant. For example, there are more than twenty thousand of heat-exchanger tubes in a condenser in a thermal power generating unit with power of 300 MW. In the most common cases, corrosion or severe corrosion occurs only in a relatively small number of heat-exchanger tubes, while no corrosion or slight corrosion occurs in a relatively large number of heat-exchanger tubes. Leakage resulted from corrosion of heat-exchanger tubes leads to corrosion and scaling of the boiler heating surface, explosion of the boiler tubes and accumulation of salt on a steam turbine in a thermal power plant. As a result, the direct economic losses resulting from the unplanned shutdown of the power generation units and replacing of the water walls of the boiler together with the indirect losses resulting from deterioration of the boiler and the turbine efficiency because of scaling amount up to several million RMB. In a conventional method of producing sensors for monitoring corrosion of heat-exchanger tubes, the sensors are made of the same material as that of the heat-exchanger tubes. However, the sensors made by the above conventional method have the following disadvantages:
1. As there are several thousand to several ten thousand of heat-exchanger tubes in a heat exchanger, corrosion with different degrees occurs in different heat-exchanger tubes of the heat exchanger. However, different corrosion states of the different heat-exchanger tubes can not be monitored by a conventional sensor for monitoring corrosion of heat-exchanger tubes. Especially, a conventional sensor for monitoring corrosion of heat-exchanger tubes can not measure the localized corrosion rate of a corrosion pit in which the most severe corrosion occurs.
2. The corrosion rate measured by a conventional sensor for monitoring corrosion is different from the corrosion rate of actual heat-exchanger tubes. The electrodes of a conventional sensor for monitoring corrosion are made of unused metal material which is the same as that of the heat-exchanger tubes. Although the conditions of the sensors, such as the composition of material, water quality, flow rate of water, heat load and temperature of water, can be regulated to be the same as those of actual operating heat-exchanger tubes, the surface state of sensor is different from that of the actual interior surfaces of the heat-exchanger tubes. In most cases, the corrosion of the heat-exchanger tubes mainly depends on the interior surface state of the heat-exchanger tubes. Therefore, the corrosion rate measured by a conventional sensor for monitoring corrosion is different from the corrosion rate of the actual heat-exchanger tubes.
3. The cost of anticorrosion treatments for heat-exchanger tubes is high. Considering that the thermal power generating unit operates continuously and the conventional sensors for monitoring corrosion can not measure the different corrosion states of the heat-exchanger tubes in which corrosion has occurred, it is difficult to determine whether an anticorrosion treatment is effective or not. As a result, the cost of anti-corrosion treatment is high and appropriate opportunity for performing anti-corrosion treatment of the heat-exchanger tubes is easily to be missed.

Method of producing sensors for monitoring corrosion of heat-exchanger tubes


The present invention provides systems and methods for providing television schedule information to a viewer, and for allowing the viewer to link, search, select and interact with information in a remote database, e.g., a database on the internet. The television schedule information can be displayed on a variety of viewer interfaces, such as televisions screens, computer monitors, PCTV screens and the like. The television schedule information may be stored on the viewer's computer, television, PCTV, or a remote server (e.g., a website), or the television schedule information may be downloaded from a remote database to the viewer's computer, television or PCTV.

The present invention generally relates to systems and methods for providing information to television viewers, and more particularly to systems and methods for allowing the viewer to retrieve, search, select and interact with television schedule information located in a remote database, computer network or on-line service, e.g., a network server on the Internet or World Wide Web.
As the number of television stations in a metropolitan area or on a cable network has increased, the number of programs of potential interest that are presented to a viewer has risen dramatically. With the use of dish antennas capable of receiving direct satellite signals, the multitude of programs available to the viewer has further increased. Consequently, television schedule systems that are provided directly on the viewer's television screen have been developed to assist the viewer in sorting through these various programs and determining which programs to watch or record. One such television schedule system is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,121 (Young et al.), the complete disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. In one embodiment of Young, the television schedule includes a series of menu screens having an array of cells corresponding to different television programs. The viewer may scroll through the cells to view which television programs are being presented on various channels at various times. In addition, the viewer may select certain cells to obtain more information on the associated program or to pull up other submenus with additional options.
The recent development of television schedule systems, such as the above described patent to Young, have created many new challenges and opportunities. One such challenge and opportunity is to provide viewers with additional information associated with a particular program in the television guide. As a television viewer is browsing through the television programs, he or she may wish to obtain more information relating to specific areas of interest or concerns associated with the show, such as the actors, actresses, other movies released during the same time period, or travel packages or promotions that may be available through primary, secondary or third party vendors. Offering this type of information to the television viewer can be difficult, however, because their are hundreds of different programs broadcast every day. In addition, the available information changes at a rapid pace, which makes it even more difficult to provide this information in present television schedule guides.
In television broadcasting, it may also be desirable to interact with the viewer. There are many commercials and programs which request viewer action such as purchasing an advertised product, making a monetary contribution, responding to a survey, answering a question, or participating in contests with other viewers, for example. One problem with this existing system is that it is often difficult to motivate a viewer to request information or send in a contribution after the broadcast of the commercial or program. Viewers will often forget the advertisement or simply lose motivation to spend money or request information after the commercial or program is over. Another problem is that companies sponsoring these commercials or programs would often like to provide their viewers with further information, if the viewers could be identified or if the viewer requests the additional information. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a ready and efficient method to facilitate an exchange of information between television viewers and producers, promoters and advertisers during the broadcast of the commercial or program.

Systems and methods for contextually linking television program information


Systems and methods for handling information communicated by voice. The method may comprise: (i) receiving a call from a caller, the call comprising utterances from the caller; (ii) verbally communicating information to the caller through a customer service representative, the agent interacting with a display; (iii) processing the utterances with a computing device; (iv) determining content of the utterances; and (v) displaying information on the display based on the content.

In the modern world, goods or services may be offered through or supported by a telecommunications-based network of call centers that can receive and handle calls from various customers. Such call centers often comprise a combination of human (e.g., customer service representatives) and machine resources that are intended to serve and be responsive to the needs or desires of the customers. Typically, the customer service representatives have varying levels of expertise on particular products and/or services, interpersonal skills, company policies, or any of a number of other areas. Additionally, the customer service representative typically must use a wide array of software applications and programs to access pertinent data. An important objective of a call center network is to provide each customer who calls in with the highest quality of service within the shortest amount of time by the most qualified customer service representative available who has at his or her disposal the appropriate information for a particular customer call.
An incoming call can be received initially by any one of the agents or customer service representatives staffed at the call centers. These customer service representatives, however, might not be able to adequately and/or efficiently handle the needs of the caller. For example, the customer service representatives may not have the skill set, training, understanding of the goods/services, or understanding of the customer service representative user interface to perform the needed tasks accurately and efficiently. In some cases, the customer service representative might need to transfer the caller to a second customer service representative who can properly handle the requests of the caller. At a minimum, the transfer requires an incoming line supporting the call into the receiving call center, an outgoing line from the first customer service representative, and an incoming line into the second customer service representative or call center to which the call was transferred. Transferring a call also might add to the total length of the call for the caller, which could be undesirable. In other cases, if the customer service representative does not transfer the caller, the customer service representative might spend an excessive amount of time to address the issue of the caller. This time may be spent by the customer service representative maneuvering through the multiple screens and programs of the customer service representative user interface to locate the proper information for the caller.
Consequently, in order to provide quality service to customers, it is important to have a customer service representative who is knowledgeable of the goods and services supported by the call center and who can access relevant information with the customer service representative user interface quickly and efficiently. In some instances, it is also important for the customer service representative to recommend promotions or products that may be of interest to the particular caller. The ability to efficiently recommend these promotions or products may require additional training or supervision. Ultimately, in order for a customer service representative to be proficient, the customer service representative typically must be trained and supervised by a supervisor or manager during customer calls. In some cases, a supervisor may "listen in" to the calls to aid in the training. Such training and supervision requires resources and expenses.
Speech recognition systems have previously been developed to process and recognize human speech, and may also take action or carry out further processes. Developments in speech recognition technologies support "natural language" type interactions between automated systems and users. A natural language interaction allows a person to speak naturally. Voice recognition systems can react responsively to a spoken request. Speech recognition technologies typically have been implemented with customer call centers in the area of automatic call routing ("ACR"). A goal of an ACR application is to replace the customer service representative or to lessen the role of a customer service representative during a call. An ACR application typically requires the caller to speak one of a finite set of answers in response to automated questions. The ACR application then attempts to route the caller to an appropriate agent or destination for servicing the caller's request.
ACR systems, however, may not accurately route calls to the proper customer service representatives if the speech recognition system partially understands or misunderstands the caller's intent. Additionally, callers typically prefer to speak directly with a human customer service representative when initiating a call with a call center instead of with an ACR application. As discussed above, even if the caller engages a customer service representative, that particular customer service representative may not have the proper training or skills to adequately address the caller's issue.

Automated assistant for customer service representatives


Provided is a powdered paint containing powdered particles and inorganic particles, the powdered paint having an attenuation factor AF[30-300] (%) represented by an absolute value of [(Q30−Q300)/Q30] is 30% or more and 60% or less, wherein Q30 represents electric charge amount in an adherent layer including 100 g/m2 of the powdered paint adhered to a substrate 30 seconds after forming the adherent layer, and Q300 represents electric charge amount in the adherent layer 300 seconds after forming the adherent layer.

In recent years, a powder coating technology using a powdered paint is attracting the attention in global environment protection in view of the facts that the emission amount of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in a coating step is small and after coating, a powdered paint that was not adhered to an object to be coated can be recovered and reused. For this reason, various powdered paints are investigated.

Powdered paint and electrostatic powder coating method


An apparatus (10) for use in inflating a vehicle occupant restraint includes a storage chamber (22b) which stores a gas under pressure, and an ignitable material (46b) which produces combustion products when burning. The ignitable material (46b) is contained in a combustion chamber (108b). The combustion chamber (108b) communicates with the storage chamber (22b) before the ignitable material is ignited. The combustion chamber (108b) is closed and isolated from the storage chamber (22b) when the ignitable material (46b) is burning. A burst disk (200) is ruptured by the combustion products in the combustion chamber (108b) to permit passage of the combustion products into the storage chamber (22b) when the combustion products reach a predetermined elevated pressure.

An inflator assembly for inflating an air bag is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,723,205. The inflator assembly disclosed in the '205 patent includes a container which holds a gas under pressure. When the air bag is to be inflated, a squib is electrically actuated to ignite a gas generating material. As the gas generating material burns, the pressure in the container is increased due to the gases and heat provided by burning of the gas generating material. When a predetermined pressure is reached, a burst disk is ruptured to enable gas to flow from the container to the air bag.
An inflator assembly for inflating an air bag is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,680. The '680 patent discloses a body of ignitable pyrotechnic material which is disposed within a container in which gas is stored. An igniter assembly is actuatable to ignite the pyrotechnic material. The igniter assembly includes an ignition material which rapidly burns at a relatively high temperature to generate heat and flame which initiate burning of the body of pyrotechnic material.
In the inflator assembly of the '680 patent, an actuator assembly is operable to actuate the igniter assembly and to rupture a burst disk to release a flow of gas from the container. The actuator assembly includes a pyrotechnic charge which, when ignited, generates pressure against the head end portion of a piston to move the piston. The moving piston ruptures the burst disk and strikes the igniter assembly to ignite the ignition material of the igniter assembly. The ignition material, in turn, ignites the body of pyrotechnic material disposed in the container. As the body of pyrotechnic material in the container burns, flame and hot combustion products enter the container and both heat and supplement the stored gas.


A method of polishing substrates enables the size of a polishing table to be reduced. A surface of a substrate to be polished is brought into contact with a polishing surface of a polishing table in such a manner that a portion of the surface of the substrate extends outwardly from an outer periphery of the polishing surface. The substrate is rotated about its center axis while keeping its surface in contact with the polishing surface of the polishing table. The attitude of the substrate carrier is controlled so that the surface of the substrate is kept parallel with the polishing surface of the polishing table during a polishing operation.

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for polishing substrates such as semiconductor wafers.
FIGS. 1(a)-1(c) show a typical example of a process of fabricating an interconnect or wiring circuit on a semiconductor substrate W. In FIG. 1(a), the semiconductor substrate W comprises a base layer 101, an electrically conductive layer 101a, a SiO2 insulating layer 102 in which a contact hole 103 and a groove 104 forming a circuit wiring or interconnect pattern have been formed by lithograph-etching, a barrier layer 105 made of TiN or the like, and a seed layer 107. The semiconductor substrate W is, as shown in FIG. 1(b), plated with metal having a high electrical conductivity, in this example copper, so that a copper layer is formed over the substrate W with the contact 103 hole and the groove 104 being filled with the copper 106. The semiconductor substrate is thereafter subjected to chemical-mechanical polishing to remove the copper layer together with the seed layer 107 and the barrier layer 105 on the surface of the insulating layer 102, leaving the copper 106 in the contact hole 103 and the groove 104 in such a manner that the outer surface of the copper 106 in the hole 103 and the groove 104 is flush with the surface of the insulating layer 102, whereby the copper 106 forms a circuit wiring or interconnect of the substrate.
It is necessary for the polishing process mentioned above to be conducted through several steps in which different polishing conditions are respectively set since the polishing is conducted on a plurality of layers formed on the insulating layer 102 including the copper layer, the seed layer and the barrier layer. In a conventional polishing apparatus, there are provided a plurality of polishing tables suitable for those polishing steps. Accordingly, the conventional polishing apparatus is large, complex in construction, expensive and inefficient or of low throughput.
Further, in a polishing operation of the prior art, a substrate carrier brings the entire surface of a substrate to be polished into contact with the polishing surface of the turntable at a position spaced away from the center of the polishing surface in order to increase the polishing speed. Thus, the polishing surface of the turntable is required to have a large diameter. For example, to polish a substrate having a diameter of 200 mm, the polishing surface is required to have a diameter of about 600 mm. Furthermore, if it is required to make a real-time measurement of a thickness of a surface layer of a substrate which is being polished, a special arrangement of a thickness measuring device (for example, embedding a thickness measuring device into a turntable) must be prepared.


One example of a fairing for a rotorcraft includes an outer mold line portion (OML portion) and a bearing portion extending from the OML portion. The OML portion provides at least a portion of an outer mold line of the rotorcraft. Both the OML portion and the bearing portion shield a portion of a structural member. The bearing portion can protect the portion of the structural member from damage resulting from foot traffic associated with accessing an area nearby the structural member.

An outer mold line (OML) provides an aerodynamic path for air to flow around the aircraft during flight and generally comprises an outer surface of an aircraft. The OML is an aerodynamic outer surface of the aircraft that reduces aerodynamic drag. The OML comprises many contiguous surfaces of different components and/or fairings. Fairings and cowlings provide a relatively smooth outer surface that reduces aerodynamic drag experienced by the aircraft. For example, some rotorcrafts include fairing assemblies configured to protect propulsion related components, auxiliary power units (APU), and environmental control units (ECU). For example, a fairing may be used for general drag reduction, but also for providing an aerodynamic flow path from the exterior of the fairing assembly to the engine inlet engine, as well as for decorative purposes. Fairings and cowlings have, in the past, been constructed of aluminum or other light-weight metals but, more recently, are increasingly constructed from composite materials, such as carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP). In some rotorcraft configurations, ECUs and internal ducts, often for cooling purposes, are arranged in a compartment underneath the fairing. The components located in the compartment underneath the fairing require occasional or periodic inspection and maintenance which necessitates at least partial removal of the fairing to access the components in the compartment.

Fairing integrating with outer mold line and protective portions


The present invention provides methods of evaluating CHO cells.

Many recombinant therapeutic biopharmaceutical products are produced in mammalian cell cultures such as Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells. Mammalian cell cultures are preferred over other expression systems such as yeast and prokaryotic systems for the production of recombinant glycoproteins, largely because the mammalian cell cultures produce glycoproteins with glycosylation patterns that are generally recognized and tolerated by humans.
The potentially adverse effects of terminal alpha-linked galactose (gal-α-1,3-gal) linkages are known Chung et al., N Engl J Med, 358:11 (2008). It has been previously reported that such terminal alpha-gal linkages are not present in recombinant glycoproteins produced by Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells. For example, while an anti-CDw52 antibody, Campath, produced in NSO, a murine-developed myeloma cell line, includes potentially immunogenic glycoforms having nonreducing terminal alpha-linked galactose residues, Campath produced from CHO cells contained primarily three glycoforms which are consistent with normal human IgG. Sheeley et al., Analytical Biochemistry 247:102-110 (1997).

Gal α1-3gal-containing N-glycans in glycoprotein products derived from CHO cells


A process comprising, providing an agricultural biofuel to a fluidized bed reactor and combusting the agricultural biofuel to produce heat and/or steam is disclosed. In one embodiment, the agricultural biofuel is selected from the group consisting of agricultural crops, crop residues, grain processing facility waste, value-added agricultural facility byproducts, livestock production facility waste, livestock processing facility waste and food processing facility waste. In one embodiment, the heat and/or steam is used to generate electricity. In other embodiments, the heat and/or steam is used to power the grain processing facility, livestock production facility, livestock processing facility or food processing facility. In another embodiment, one or more environmental controls are used. In a particular embodiment, ethanol byproducts are used as the agricultural biofuel.

Production waste streams are quickly becoming a significant liability due to increasingly stringent environmental standards requiring proper disposal. As disposal costs continue to increase, options for disposing of production waste continue to decline.
In some industries, such waste streams have commercial value and can be sold at a profit. However, due to dramatic domestic growth in many industries, such as value-added agricultural industries, the value of such byproducts continues to decrease. One example of a value-added agricultural industry experiencing dramatic growth is ethanol production from corn. As a result, the ethanol byproduct known as "distiller's dry grain with solubles" (DDGS) is expected to lose value in the near future due to market oversupply.
Thus, what is needed is a safe and profitable means for handling production waste streams that meet stringent new environmental regulations.

Methods for generating energy using agricultural biofuel


An optical pickup includes an object lens; a moving part including the object lens and coils; rod-shaped support members disposed in a focusing direction, one end of each of the support members being attached to side surfaces of the moving part in a tracking direction; a fixing part for fixing the other end of each of the support members; a yoke including magnets; and gel holding parts, each of the gel holding parts including walls on both sides of the support members in the tracking direction, and the support members being disposed on both sides of the moving part in the tracking direction. Each of the gel holding parts includes an opening at one end on an optical disc side in the focusing direction and includes a cutout in the wall farther from the object lens in the tracking direction, the cutout extending from an edge of the opening.

One of the conventional technologies of the field of the invention is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-346367. This document discloses an object lens actuator including gel holding parts in which gel for a damper is poured into gaps between a fixing part which support members are attached to and a bent parts which are formed by bending the both ends of a yoke in the tracking direction so as to stand the ends in the focusing direction.
The abstract of this document says that an object lens actuator device can be provided which easily forms the gel holding parts which the gel is poured into.
Another conventional technology is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-265516. This document discloses an optical pickup in which openings including taper parts and grooves are formed in a fixing part which the support members are attached to for respective support members, and gel holding parts which gel for a damper is poured into are formed in the positions adjacent to the respective grooves.
This document says that an optical pickup can be provided which facilitates pouring of the gel and prevents variation of pouring.
According to the technology in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-346367, it is difficult to visually confirm a defect that the gel does not reach the lowest of the support members disposed in the focusing direction because the inside of the gel holding part is visible only from the optical disc side in the focusing direction. In this case, the amplitude of the translational mode of a moving part, which is decided by the rigidity of the support members and the mass of the moving part, may not be sufficiently damped and setting of the servo gain, which is for making the position of the object lens follow axial and radial run-out of the optical disc, may become difficult.
According to the technology in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-265516, gel is partitioned by walls forming the gel holding parts because the gel holding parts which the gel is poured into are equipped for respective support members. In this case, it possibly takes time for assembling because a gel applying step and an irradiation with ultraviolet light step are required. In the gel applying step, gel applying should be performed at least the times equal to the number of the support members. In the irradiation with ultraviolet light step, in order to harden the surface of the gel, irradiation should be performed from both sides in the tracking direction or performed for each side at least two times changing the posture of the fixing part.
The object of the present invention is to provide an optical pickup for reducing the cost and variation of the performance by achieving both of simplification of assembling and reduction of variation in the applying condition of the gel.


A semiconductor device includes a drift region of a device structure arranged in a semiconductor layer. The drift region includes at least one first drift region portion and at least one second drift region portion. A majority of dopants within the first drift region portion are a first species of dopants having a diffusivity less than a diffusivity of phosphor within the semiconductor layer. Further, a majority of dopants within the second drift region portion are a second species of dopants. Additionally, the semiconductor device includes a trench extending from a surface of the semiconductor layer into the semiconductor layer. A vertical distance of a border between the first drift region portion and the second drift region portion to the surface of the semiconductor layer is larger than 0.5 times a maximal depth of the trench and less than 1.5 times the maximal depth of the trench.

New generations of semiconductor devices (e.g. power devices) may have to be optimized with respect to costs. High doping levels in power semiconductor devices may lead to strong diffusion out of semiconductor doping regions and to flat and wide diffusion profiles. These may lead to increased turn-on resistance of the devices, and/or reduced robustness against avalanche conditions, for example.

Semiconductor devices, power semiconductor devices, and methods for forming a semiconductor device


The present invention relates to a polymerizable liquid crystal compound, a liquid crystal composition including the same, and an optically anisotropic body. The polymerizable liquid crystal compound according to the present invention has not only high birefringence but also excellent coating orientation, and thus it is possible to prepare a optically anisotropic body which is thin but superior in optical properties.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a polymerizable liquid crystal compound, a liquid crystal composition including the same, and an optically anisotropic body.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A phase retarder is a type of optical element changing the polarization state of light passing through the same, and equally said a wave plate. When a light passes through an electromagnetic phase retarder, the polarization direction (direction of electric field vector) becomes a sum of two elements (an ordinary ray and an extraordinary ray) parallel or perpendicular to the optic axis, and changes after passing the phase retarder because the vector sum of two elements varies according to the birefringence and the thickness of the phase retarder.
Recently, one of big issues of preparing optical film which can be used to the phase retarder is to prepare a high performance film at a small charge. Because, when liquid crystal compounds having high birefringence are used for preparing an optical film, it is possible to realize the necessary retardation value with small quantity of liquid crystal compounds. And, when such liquid crystal compounds are used, it is possible to prepare a thinner folial film.
Therefore, many studies for obtaining the liquid crystal compounds having high birefringence have been carried out actively, but there was a limitation on applying them to the industry in practice because of the orientation problem of the membrane when prior liquid crystal compounds were coated on a film.

Polymerizable liquid crystal compound, a liquid crystal composition comprising the compound, and an optically anisotropic body