A projection optical system has at least eight reflecting mirrors and is relatively compact in the radial direction. The eight reflecting mirrors (M1˜M8) form a reduced image of a first surface on a second surface. A first reflecting image forming optical system (G1) forms a first intermediate image (IMI1) of the first surface based on light from the first surface, a second reflecting image forming optical system (G2) forms a second intermediate image (IMI2) of the first surface based on light from the first intermediate image, and a third reflecting image forming optical system (G3) forms a reduced image on the second surface based on light from the second intermediate image. The number of reflecting mirrors (M6˜M8) of the third reflecting image forming optical system is greater than the number of reflecting mirrors (M1, M2) of the first reflecting image forming optical system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a projection optical system, an exposure apparatus, and a device manufacturing method and relates, for example, to a reflecting type projection optical system that is ideal for x-ray projection exposure apparatus that uses x-ray to transfer a circuit pattern on a mask onto a photosensitive substrate by means of a mirror projection system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Exposure apparatus that uses x-ray has gained attention as exposure apparatus used in the fabrication of semiconductor devices, etc. If x-ray is used as the exposure light, the usable transmitting optical materials and refracting optical materials will no longer be present, so, in addition to using a reflecting type mask, a reflecting type projection optical system is used. In the past, 8-mirror reflecting type optical systems consisting of eight reflecting mirrors have been proposed as projection optical systems that can be applied to exposure apparatus that uses x-ray as the exposure light, for example, in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 6,710,917 (corresponds to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-139672).
The conventional reflecting type projection optical system disclosed in the second working example of U.S. Pat. No. 6,710,917 is a 3 times image forming type optical system that forms intermediate images between a second reflecting mirror and a third reflecting mirror and between a sixth reflecting mirror and a seventh reflecting mirror respectively. In this example, the sixth reflecting mirror is a reflecting mirror that has a reflecting region (usage region) at the position most separated from the optical axis, that is, the reflecting mirror with the largest effective radius. The reflecting surface of this largest sixth reflecting mirror is formed into a spherical shape, so regardless of the fact that the reflecting region is at a position that is relatively greatly separated from the optical axis, it is relatively easy to detect the surface shape of the reflecting surface of the sixth reflecting mirror using an interferometer. In contrast with this, it is not easy to use an interferometer to detect the surface shape of a reflecting surface with an aspheric surface shape at a position that is relatively greatly separated from the optical axis.
However, in the conventional reflecting type projection optical system discussed above, while the maximum object height H0 is 110 mm, the effective radius Mφ of the sixth reflecting mirror, which is the largest, is as much as approximately 400 mm, so the ratio Mφ/H0 of the maximum effective radius Mφ to the maximum object height H0 is approximately 3.66, resulting in an optical system that has become extremely large in the radial direction. In addition, the total length (the object-to-image distance) TT of the optical system is approximately as much as 1956 mm, so the ratio TT/H0 of the total length TT to the maximum object height H0 is approximately 17.8, resulting in an optical system that has become extremely large in the axial direction. In addition, in the conventional reflecting projection optical system discussed above, the image side numerical aperture NA is 0.4, but there are demands to further increase the image side numerical aperture NA to achieve high resolution.

Projection optical system, exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method


A semiconductor device has a resistor area and wiring area selectively disposed on a semiconductor substrate. In this semiconductor device, a second interlayer insulating film is formed above the semiconductor substrate, and a thin-film resistor is disposed on the second interlayer insulating film in the resistor area. Vias that contact the thin-film resistor from below are formed in the second interlayer insulating film. A wiring line is disposed on the second interlayer insulating film in the wiring area. A dummy wiring line that covers the thin-film resistor from above is disposed in a third wiring layer that is in the same layer as the wiring line, and an insulating film is interposed between the thin-film resistor and the dummy wiring line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device having a thin-film resistor and a method of manufacturing this semiconductor device.
2. Description of Related Art
In high-performance analog devices, it is necessary to have passive parts including thin-film resistors (TaN, SiCr, or the like, for example) that are capable of being laser trimmed. Examples of semiconductor devices provided with thin-film resistors are respectively disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3, for example.
Disclosed in Patent Document 1 is a semiconductor device that includes a thin-film resistor formed on a semiconductor substrate, a middle metal layer formed so as to cover the thin-film resistor, an insulating film formed so as to cover the middle metal layer, and a wiring line connected to the middle metal layer through a contact hole formed in the insulating film.
Patent Document 2 discloses a semiconductor device that includes an interlayer insulating film formed on a silicon substrate, a tantalum nitride (TaN) film formed on the interlayer insulating film, and a via connected to the tantalum nitride film through a via hole formed in the interlayer insulating film.
Patent Document 3 discloses a semiconductor device that includes an interlayer insulating film formed on a silicon substrate, wiring patterns formed on the interlayer insulating film, and a CrSi thin-film resistor that is formed so as to intersect a pair of the wiring patterns facing each other and that is connected to these wiring patterns.

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


The present invention provides a wavemeter for an ultraviolet laser capable of long life beam quality monitoring in a pulsed ultraviolet laser system at pulse rates greater than 2000 Hz at pulse energies at 5 mJ or greater. In a preferred embodiment an enhanced illumination configuration reduces per pulse illumination of an etalon by a factor of 28 compared to a popular prior art configuration. Optics are provided in this embodiment which reduce light entering the etalon to only that amount needed to illuminate a linear photo diode array positioned to measure interference patterns produced by the etalon. In this preferred embodiment two sample beams produced by reflections from two surfaces of a beam splitter are diffused by a defractive diffuser and the output of the defractive diffuser is focused on two separate secondary diffusers effectively combining both beams in two separate spectrally equivalent diffuse beams. One beam is used for wavelength and bandwidth measurement and the other beam is used for calibration. In preferred embodiments an etalon chamber contains nitrogen with an oxygen concentration of between 1.6 and 2.4 percent.

Electric discharge gas lasers are well known and have been available since soon after lasers were invented in the 1960s. High voltage discharges between two electrodes excite a gaseous gain medium. A resonance cavity containing the gain medium permits stimulated amplification of light, which is then extracted from the cavity in the form of a laser beam. Many of these electric discharge gas lasers are operated in a pulse mode.
Excimer lasers are a particular type of electric gas discharge laser and have been known as such since the mid 1970s. A description of an excimer laser, useful for integrated circuit lithography, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,023,884 issued Jun. 11, 1991 entitled xe2x80x9cCompact Excimer Laser.xe2x80x9d This patent has been assigned to Applicants"" employer, and the patent is hereby incorporated herein by reference. The excimer laser described in patent ""884 is a high repetition rate pulse laser. In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the principal elements of the laser 10 are shown. (FIG. 1 corresponds to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 corresponds to FIG. 7 in patent ""884.) The discharges are between two long (about 23 inches) electrodes 18 and 20 spaced apart by about ⅝ inch. Repetition rates of prior art lasers, like the one described are typically within the range of about 100 to 2000 pulses per second. These high repetition rate lasers are usually provided with a gas circulation system. In the above referred to laser, this is done with a long squirrel-cage type fan 46, having about 23 blades 48. The fan blade structure is slightly longer than the electrodes 18 and 20 and provides sufficient circulation so that at operating pulse rates, the discharge disturbed gas between the electrodes is cleared between pulses. A finned water-cooled heat exchanger 58 in FIG. 1 is used to remove heat from the laser gas which is added by the discharges and the fan.
These excimer lasers, when used for integrated circuit lithography, are typically operated on a fabrication line xe2x80x9caround-the-clockxe2x80x9d; therefore, down time can be expensive. For this reason most of the components are organized into modules which can be replaced normally within a few minutes.
Excimer lasers used for lithography must have its output beam reduced in bandwidth to a fraction of a picometer. This xe2x80x9cline-narrowingxe2x80x9d is typically accomplished in a line narrowing module (called a xe2x80x9cline narrowing packagexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cLNPxe2x80x9d) which forms the back of the laser""s resonant cavity. This LNP typically is comprised of delicate optical elements including prisms, a mirror and a grating.
When used as a light source for integrated circuit lithography, the laser beam parameters (i.e., pulse energy, wavelength and bandwidth) typically are controlled to within very tight specifications. This requires pulse-to-pulse feedback control of pulse energy and somewhat slower feedback control of the wavelength of the line narrowed output beam. Wavelength and bandwidth measurements are made using gratings and etalons to produce spectral patterns on photodiode arrays. A doubling or more of the pulse rate requires these feedback control systems to perform much faster.
A need exists for gas discharge laser light sources operating at higher average power than prior art devices in order to facilitate increases in production of integrated circuits. One method of increasing average power is to increase the pulse repetition rate to 4000 Hz and greater while maintaining pulse energies in the range of 5-10 mJ. Another method is to increase the pulse energy. Higher repetition rates and/or increased pulse energies create both thermal and radiation challenges inside and downstream of the resonant cavity of these gas discharge lasers especially with respect to delicate optical instruments such as gratings and etalons.
When high-energy ultraviolet beams, such as 248 nm, 193 nm and 157 nm laser beam pass through air, the photons excite atoms and molecules in the air. These excited molecules and atoms can plate out on sensitive optical components or degrade optical coatings. A known technique to minimize this problem is to enclose and purge the beam path with a purge gas such as nitrogen.
Another prior art reason for purging the beam path especially for the 193 nm and 157 nm lasers, is to eliminate oxygen and other absorbers from the air. Oxygen is a very strong absorber of 157 nm light and a strong absorber of 193 nm light.
What is needed are improvements in the components of these gas discharge lasers to permit high quality performance at these substantially increased average power levels.
The present invention provides a wavemeter for an ultraviolet laser capable of long life beam quality monitoring in a pulsed ultraviolet laser system at pulse rates greater than 2000 Hz at pulse energies at 5 mJ or greater. In a preferred embodiment an enhanced illumination configuration reduces per pulse illumination of an etalon by a factor of 28 compared to a popular prior art configuration. Optics are provided in this embodiment which reduce light entering the etalon to only that amount needed to illuminate a linear photo diode array positioned to measure interference patterns produced by the etalon. In this preferred embodiment two sample beams produced by reflections from two surfaces of a beam splitter are diffused by a defractive diffuser and the output of the defractive diffuser is focused on two separate secondary diffusers effectively combining both beams in two separate spectrally equivalent diffuse beams. One beam is used for wavelength and bandwidth measurement and the other beam is used for calibration. In preferred embodiments an etalon chamber contains nitrogen with an oxygen concentration of between 1.6 and 2.4 percent.

Gas discharge ultraviolet wavemeter with enhanced illumination


Systems and methods for identifying a condition of a user. A treatment apparatus is configured to be manipulated by the user for performing an exercise, and an interface is communicably coupled to the treatment apparatus. One or more sensors are configured to sense one or more characteristics of an anatomical structure of the user. A processing device and a memory is communicatively coupled to the processing device. The memory includes computer readable instructions, that when executed by the processing device, cause the processing device to: receive, from the sensors, one or more sensor inputs representative of the one or more of characteristics of the anatomical structures; calculate an infection probability of a disease based on the one or more characteristics of the anatomical structures; and output, to the interface, a representation of the infection probability.

Subsequent to a procedure (e.g., surgical/invasive procedure to replace a knee or hip), the location of the procedure, or near or distal thereto, may become infected. While some infections may naturally heal without treatment (or without significant treatment), other infections can spread throughout the body, and if left untreated cause, for example, staph or other infections, sepsis (septicaemia), peritonitis, and other life-threatening, life-quality-threatening or other serious medical conditions. For example, a user may be exposed to staphylococcus bacteria during or after a surgical procedure, leading to a staph infection that can spread throughout the users body, i.e., to a location (or locations) other than the location of the procedure. These infections, if left untreated, can cause a range of health issues to the user, from minor skin problems, to amputation of the user's infected limb, to even death in severe cases. Such health issues may occur in temporally, geographically and/or anatomically proximate manners.
To avoid such health issues, some medical professionals schedule routine check-ups, wherein the check-up is based on the type of procedure to the user. In between the routine check-ups, medical professionals may rely on users to detect and "self-diagnose" any health issues resulting from the procedure and to contact them (i.e., the medical professionals) for further diagnosis and/or treatment. In some instances, non-infected users may self-diagnose the health issue incorrectly and schedule unnecessary appointments with their medical professionals, resulting in inefficient uses of medical professional resources.
In some instances, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, medical professionals may schedule remote medical assistance. Remote medical assistance, also referred to, inter alia, as remote medicine, telemedicine, telemed, telmed, tel-med, or telehealth, is an at least two-way communication between a healthcare provider or providers, such as a physician or a physical therapist, and a patient using audio and/or audiovisual and/or other sensorial or perceptive (e.g., tactile, gustatory, haptic, pressure-sensing-based or electromagnetic (e.g., neurostimulation) communications (e.g., via a computer, a smartphone, or a tablet). Telemedicine may aid a patient in performing various aspects of a rehabilitation regimen for a body part. The patient may use a patient interface in communication with an assistant interface for receiving the remote medical assistance via audio, visual, audiovisual, or other communications described elsewhere herein. Any reference herein to any particular sensorial modality shall be understood to include and to disclose by implication a different one or more sensory modalities.
Telemedicine is an option for healthcare providers to communicate with patients and provide patient care when the patients do not want to or cannot easily go to the healthcare providers' offices. Telemedicine, however, has substantive limitations as the healthcare providers cannot conduct physical examinations of the patients. Rather, the healthcare providers must rely on verbal communication and/or limited remote observation of the patients.

Systems and methods for remotely-enabled identification of a user infection


There is provided a service providing system that is capable of preventing personal information on a user who has used a service from being leaked to other users without spoiling the convenience for the user, and increasing the frequency with which the user uses the service. The service providing system includes a service providing apparatus that provides a service for the user, and a password issuing device that issues a password with an expiration date that is made to correspond to identification information held by the user in response to the payment of a fee by the user. The service providing apparatus includes a memory that stores setting data used for simplifying operations relating to the service provided for the user, and a CPU. The CPU authenticates the user according to the identification information on the user, the password issued to the user, and the expiration date thereof, and gives the authenticated user a permission to perform operations on the setting data stored in the memory.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a service providing system, a service providing apparatus, and a service providing method, which provide a service for the user in response to the user's operation, as well as a program for implementing the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
At a convenience store or the like, equipment such as a copying machine or a facsimile machine is installed to provide services for unspecified users. A digital copying machine having not only a copying function but also a facsimile function, an electronic mail function, a function of accumulating images in the machine is also possibly installed at a convenience store or the like. When transmitting documents read by a scanner by such equipment, proper settings as to the reading resolution, the reading mode, and so forth are made and settings as to information to be added to the documents being transmitted are made in accordance with the type of the documents. Further, it is necessary to input the telephone number, the electronic mail address, etc. of a destination.
To simplify such operations carried out in transmission, the above-mentioned equipment is provided with an address book function, a one-touch button control function, a patterned service function of storing transmission settings, a calling function of calling transmission settings from latest ones to ones made a predetermined number of times before the latest setting.
Further, the equipment may be provided with a Box function of temporarily storing documents in the equipment and then carrying out copying, transmission, printing, and so forth.
Every time the user uses the equipment, he or she has to pay a usage fee according to the number of copies made and the communication time.
At an ordinary office or the like where the equipment is used for business and the users may be specified, transmission settings such as facsimile numbers and electronic mail addresses of destinations, which have been registered by the address book function or the patterned service function provided in the equipment, and transmission settings made in the past and called by the calling function may be referred to by users other than the user who made the settings, without any problem.
However, transmission settings such as facsimile numbers and electronic mail addresses of destinations made in the equipment at a convenience store or the like, which are used by unspecified users, can be referred to by persons other than the user who made the transmission settings. This is not preferred in terms of personal information protection. For this reason, every time the user transmits documents via facsimile, he or she has to make settings as to reading and settings as to destinations, and this is very troublesome.
Likewise, it is not preferred that documents stored in the Box are referred to by other users, in terms of personal information protection. However, it is impossible to manage passwords of unspecified users and to apply the Box function using the passwords, and thus, the Box function cannot be provided for the user.
Further, every time the user uses the equipment, he or she has to pay a usage fee charged for the use of the equipment to a store where the equipment is placed. Since this is inconvenient for the user, he or she may not be motivated to come to the store again.

Service providing system, service providing apparatus, service providing method, and program for implementing the method


The present invention relates to a method and a device for controlling at least one drill parameter when drilling in rock with a drilling machine. During drilling, an impulse-generating device uses an impact means to induce shock waves in a tool working against the rock, a pressure level for a shock-wave-generating pressure is controlled during the drilling, and said drilling machine includes a damping chamber that can be pressurized. The contact of the drilling machine against the rock is affected at least partially by the pressure prevailing in said damping chamber. When the pressure in said damping chamber exceeds said first level and is below said second level, the percussion pressure is controlled as a function of the pressure in said damping chamber.

Rock drilling is often carried out by percussion drilling, where a percussion piston, which is often operated hydraulically, is used to create a shock wave with the aid of an impact force that is generated by hydraulic pressure (percussion pressure), the shock wave being transmitted to the drill bit and hence to the rock through the drill steel (drill string). On contact with the rock, pins made of a hard alloy of the drill bit contacting the rock is pushed into the rock, generating a strong enough force to fragment the rock.
In rock drilling of this kind, it is important that the start of the drilling is performed correctly and that drilling is done with care during normal drilling (i.e.
drilling with high impact force) in order to ensure that the drilling takes place in a manner that does not damage the drilling machine/drilling rig.
It applies in general, and especially in the case of drilling under difficult rock conditions and with a strong impact force, that the drill bit should have as good a contact with the rock as possible. A common way of achieving this is to use a piston which works against the drill steel (drill string) and which is usually in the form of a damping piston, which is also used to damp reflexes from the impact of the shock waves against the rock. During drilling, the damping piston is pressed against the drill steel, and the drill steel is thus pressed against the rock, by pressurization of a pressure chamber working against the damping piston. The damping piston is also usually arranged such that, if the damping piston advances too far, i.e. the area in front of the drill steel is soft enough for the impact of the percussion piston to cause the drill steel, and thus the damping piston, to move forwards and past a normal position, an outlet for said pressure chamber is completely or partially opened, resulting in a pressure decrease in the pressure chamber. By detecting this decrease in pressure, the status of the contact with the rock can be determined, and suitable measures can thus be taken.
For example, the percussion pressure can be increased to a normal drilling level when the damping pressure exceeds a defined pressure level, which, for example, can be a pressure level that has been determined as being desirable during normal drilling. Moreover, the percussion pressure can be arranged to be kept at the normal drilling level as long as the damping pressure does not fall below a low-pressure level, which, for example, can be a level that involves lost or poor contact with the rock. If the damping pressure falls below this level, the percussion pressure can be decreased to the start-up drilling level or can be completely shut off. However, this type of control has a number of disadvantages.
For example, there is a considerable risk of idle percussion, i.e. percussion where most of the shock wave is reflected in the drill bit instead of the rock, which leads to a large amount of damaging energy being returned to the drilling machine.
There is therefore a need for an improved method and device for controlling drill parameters, specifically a method and device that at least partially alleviate the problems of the prior art.

Method and device for controlling at least one drilling parameter for rock drilling


An amplifier is provided. The amplifier comprises an H-bridge with two halves. A capacitor and two inductors are coupled to the H-bridge. Each inductor, a half of the H-bridge, and the capacitor are configured as a boost converter.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional amplifier designed to provide high power while operating off a low power source voltage. Amplifier 101 includes a direct current (DC)-DC step-up converter 102 coupled to H-bridge 103. In general, direct current DC-DC step-up converters, such as converter 102, are expensive and bulky because the DC-DC step-up converter requires a large capacitor. For example, DC-DC step-up converter 102 can be more expensive than H-bridge 103.
As a result, there is a need for an inexpensive amplifier that is capable of high power levels operating off a low power source voltage.


A delta robot includes a stationary housing, in which at least three drives are installed, at least three upper arms, at least three pairs of elongate and mutually parallel lower arms, and a movable parallel plate. Each of the upper arms is connected to one of the drives. Each lower arm comprises a corrosion-resistant metal tube having a first end connected to a free end of one of the upper arms through a ball joint and a second end connected to the movable parallel plate through a ball joint. Each ball joint includes a ball head and a ball socket, one of which is attached to the first or second end of one of the tubes.

In the prior art, delta robots have proven their worth in particular for the highly dynamic handling of relatively lightweight objects—such as the packaging of foods in small amounts or medication—since they permit extremely high dynamics of up to three packaging operations per second.
The first delta robots comprised three upper arms. However, variants with four and more upper arms are known.
In each case, three and in some cases four elongate upper arms are mounted so as to be pivotable about an axle in each case. At the free ends thereof, two mutually parallel rods are pivotably mount, which in turn are in pivotable connection with the parallel plate. By a swivelling of the servo drives, the parallel plate can be maneuvered into any desired position of the intended work space. Because the lower arms consist of two parallel rods, the parallel plate thus always moves—as its name suggests—parallel to the base plate.
In the prior art, most delta robots consist of a base plate on which three servo drives are mounted. For applications in hygienically critical areas, such as the production of foods, pharmaceuticals or electronic devices, the base plate is extended within a housing so that lubricants and any abrasion debris from the drives and/or the transmission cannot detach and fall into the product.
In the prior art, the U.S. Pat. No. 6,577,093, Hvittfeldt, discloses a delta robot for hygienic requirements, in which all drives are disposed within a housing. It is thereby avoided that lubricants or abrasion debris from the bearings of the motor and drive escape and thereby contaminate an otherwise hygienic environment. A further, very important advantage is that the housing can also be made of a material that can withstand the very corrosive cleaning agents for equipment in food processing.
However U.S. Pat. No. 6,577,093 disadvantageously gives no indication how it is ensured that the areas of the robot outside the housing, that is to say the arms and the joints of the robot, do not emit contamination during operation and in the event of collisions.
Similarly, there are no indications of how the arms and joints can be adapted to the requirement for maximum dynamics. As is known, a high obtainable cycle rate is always the reason why the principle of a delta robot is chosen at all. For slow movements, simple linear handling may be more suitable. The requirement for high dynamics is thus already implied in the choice of a delta robot.
Despite the stated object of satisfying hygienic requirements, that is to say withstanding the effects of the most aggressive cleaning agents, proposals to this end are lacking. The consequences of a collision are also not discussed.
However, it is quite clear that, for robots with extremely high dynamics, elements of the lowest weight possible are to be preferred in general, specifically the greater their effective movement radius, since the moment of inertia of each mass for movement about the centre of a circle is known to increase with the fourth power of the radius.
From this point of view, the delicate and therefore lightweight universal joint or cardan joint is in principle interesting for connection to the arms and to the parallel plate of a delta robot. The maximum pivoting angles that can thereby be achieved, however, are significantly lower in comparison to a ball joint, consisting of a ball head and a complementary ball socket sliding thereon. Because ball joints thus have a larger pivot angle and thereby permit a larger working space, they are now the joint design most used for delta robots.
In the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,514, Toyama, discloses a delta robot, the arms and parallel plate of which are connected together via ball joints.

Delta robot for increased requirements on dynamics, hygiene and protection against the consequences of collision


This invention discloses semiconductor power device disposed on a semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type. The semiconductor substrate supports an epitaxial layer of a second conductivity type thereon wherein the semiconductor power device is supported on a super-junction structure. The super-junction structure comprises a plurality of trenches opened from a top surface in the epitaxial layer; wherein each of the trenches having trench sidewalls covered with a first epitaxial layer of the first conductivity type to counter charge the epitaxial layer of the second conductivity type. A second epitaxial layer may be grown over the first epitaxial layer. Each of the trenches is filled with a non-doped dielectric material in a remaining trench gap space. Each of the trench sidewalls is opened with a tilted angle to form converging U-shaped trenches.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the semiconductor power devices. More particularly, this invention relates to configurations and methods implemented with trench nano-tubes with trench sidewalls covered with doped epitaxial layer and then filled with insulative material for manufacturing flexibly scalable charge balanced semiconductor power devices with simplified manufacturing processes and achieving improved breakdown voltage and significantly reduced resistance.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Even though there have been many patented disclosures and published technical papers related to semiconductor devices with vertical super junction structure to achieve improved electrical characteristics, those who are involved in the fields of designing and manufacturing the super-junction semiconductor devices are still confronted with technical difficulties and manufacturability limitations. Specifically, the most common super junction devices include the metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) and insulated gate bipolar transistor devices and many patented disclosures are published for these devices including U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,438,215, 5,216,275, 4,754,310, 6,828,631. Fujihira further discloses configurations of the vertical super junction devices in the publication "Theory of Semiconductor Super Junction Devices" (Japan Journal of Applied Physics Vol. 36, October 1997 PP 6254-6262). Specifically, FIG. 2A in Fujihira's paper shows a vertical trench MOSFET super junction device published by Fujihira, shown here as FIG. 1A. Fujihira also discloses in U.S. Pat. No. 6,097,063 a vertical semiconductor device having a drift region in which a drift current flows if it is in the ON mode and which is depleted if it is in the OFF mode. The drift region is formed as a structure having a plurality of first conductive type divided drift regions and a plurality of second conductive type compartment regions in which each of the compartment regions is positioned among the adjacent drift regions in parallel to make p-n junctions, respectively. U.S. Pat. No. 6,608,350 discloses a vertical super junction device implemented with layers of a dielectric material to fill in the trenches and U.S. Pat. No. 5,981,996 discloses a vertical trench MISFET device as that shown in FIG. 1B.
However, the configurations and operational characteristics of the super junction devices as disclosed in these patented and published disclosures still encounter technical limitations thus restricting the practical usefulness of these devices. The difficulties and limitations of the conventional super junction devices include the problems and technical issues involved in filling the deep trenches, the size limitation of the nano tubes formed in the trenches, the preservation of charge balance at the mesa areas adjacent to the termination area, poor unclamped inductive switching (UIS) capability of the super-junction devices, oscillation issue of the super junction power devices, high production cost of super junction devices due to slow epitaxial growth rate, inter-diffusions of the N and P impurities in the superjunction structure at high temperatures, difficulties of integrating different devices on a same chip, and large termination area for high voltage applications.
Therefore, a need still exists in the art of power semiconductor device design and manufacture to provide new device configurations and manufacturing method in forming the power devices such that the above discussed problems and limitations can be resolved.

Configurations and methods for manufacturing devices with trench-oxide-nano-tube super-junctions

Aplha and Omega Semiconductor Incorporated


A paper manufacturing apparatus that can manufacture paper with good mechanical strength and/or water resistance in a dry process.

For centuries paper has been manufactured by screening pulp slurry (paper machine). Even today paper is typically manufactured in a pulp slurry method. Paper manufactured by a slurry method generally has a structure in which cellulose fibers derived from wood, for example, are interlocked and bonded in part by the cohesive force of hydrogen bonds.
Slurry methods are wet methods, however, require a large amount of water, require dewatering and drying after the paper is made, thus requiring significant energy and time. The water that is used must also be appropriately processed as waste water. The equipment used in pulp slurry methods also require large-scale utilities and infrastructure for water, power, and water treatment needs, and is therefore difficult to scale down.
From the perspectives of energy conservation and environmental protection, so-called dry methods that use no or substantially no water are desired as methods of making paper without using a wet slurry, and PTL 1, for example, describes a paper recycling system that defibrates and deinks paper used as the feedstock in a dry process, adds a small amount of water to increase paper strength, and forms paper.

Paper manufacturing apparatus, paper manufacturing method, and paper manufactured thereby

Abstract: A paper manufacturing apparatus according to the invention has a defibrating unit that defibrates feedstock in air; a mixing unit that mixes an additive containing resin with defibrated material that was defibrated; and a heat unit that heats a mixture into which the defibrated material and the additive were mixed.


An interventionless actuator for oil well tools is described wherein the actuator comprises at least one floating piston adapted to equalize a pressure differential and lock onto an actuating member. An interventionless actuator is described that is charged to an initial energy level less than the expected at-depth well pressure and then recharged down hole to approximately the at-depth well pressure by a floating piston. At the time of desired interventionless actuation, the actuator is overcharged to a pressure greater than the at-depth well pressure, which pressure is reacted by an actuating piston to generate an actuating movement.

1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates generally to an interventionless actuator for oil well tools and, more particularly, to an interventionless actuator having a floating piston.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical hydrocarbon well, whether on land or under water, is drilled into the earth's surface to form a well bore. A protective casing may be run into the well bore and the annulus formed between the casing and the well bore filled with a concrete-like mixture. Several types of tools may be run into the cased well bore to complete the well and subsequently produce hydrocarbons from the well. Most of these tools and equipment require that one or more actuating events occur. For example, mechanical actuation can be accomplished by physically pushing, pulling or rotating one or more parts of the down hole equipment. For example, a mechanical well or formation isolation tool may use a shifting tool to open and/or close the isolation element. Such mechanical actuation requires intervention into the well bore and such intervention is often times undesirable. In response, the industry has developed interventionless tool actuators that, as the name implies, do not require mechanical access to the well bore.
In the context of well isolation tools, U.S. Pat. No. 6,662,877 discloses mechanical actuation in the form of a shifting tool that is used to mechanically move a sleeve, which in turn causes the isolation element to transition from closed state to an opened state, and vice versa. This patent also discloses interventionless actuation to open the closed valve element. The interventionless actuator comprises a nitrogen chamber and an indexing mechanism. Repeated pressurization and depressurization of the inside of the tool causes the isolation element to open after a predetermined number of pressure cycles advance the indexing mechanism. To provide the necessary actuation energy, the nitrogen chamber must be charged at the surface to a pressure at least greater than the hydrostatic pressure to be encountered in the well, which may be 8 to 10 kpsi or higher. Such high pressure charging and equipment is potentially dangerous and often times undesirable on the rig floor.
This application for patent discloses an improved interventionless actuator for oil well tools.

Interventionless oil tool actuator with floating piston and method of use


An inerted plate dryer for drying solvent based coating is disclosed. The dryer uses two tiers of substantially parallel heating plates that are located not more than 10 cm apart. A moving web with solvent based coating is passed through the dryer, and runs closer to one of the heating plates. The method of using such inerted plate dryer is also disclosed.

Drying or curing of liquid coatings on a substrate or web is typically achieved by passing the substrate through a drying chamber, in most cases, a conventional oven (either a floatation or roller supported oven), where the liquid is evaporated and the coating is dried or cured. The oven is heated with heating elements. The heat is passed onto the coating through convection or forced gas flow, typically air. Multiple zones of the oven may be employed to allow flexibility in the temperature adjustment. When organic solvent is used in the coating where explosion and fire can be a potential hazard, regulations impose a maximum concentration of the solvent allowable in the drying chamber to ensure safety of operation. This maximum concentration is defined in terms of a fraction or most often as a percentage (% LEL) of the lower explosive limit (LEL) of the solvent or mixture of solvents removed from the coating undergoing drying or curing. LEL is the lowest concentration where a conflagration or explosion can be propagated from an initially ignited point; LEL is a property of the solvent or solvent mixture, whereas % LEL is just a measure of concentration of a particular solvent or solvent mixture referred to the LEL of that solvent or solvent mixture. The maximum allowed solvent concentration in a given dryer (in terms of % LEL) that a dryer is allowed to safely handle by regulation ultimately does limit substrate or web speed.
The solvent removed from the coating is either condensed into liquid form through a condensation system, or more commonly burned by a thermal oxidation unit (TOX). When a condensation system is used, it often includes a tandem of condensers, typically and needs to operate at a low temperature (below 0° C.) to condensate most of the solvent, with a correspondingly high demand on energy. When a TOX unit is used, there is a maximum amount of solvent per unit time that can go through a TOX due to safety (explosivity, which constrains solvent concentration, and energy release, i.e. maximum operating temperature, which constrains the throughput). This imposes a limit on the solvent content out of the combined streams sent to the TOXs, and therefore ultimately imposes a limit on the maximum substrate speed through the oven.
To make a conventional oven inert, i.e. to use inert gas, rather than the oxygen rich air, could alleviate the potential of explosion and fire, and therefore, increase the solvent throughput a dryer can handle. However, the volumes and flow rates of the inert gas involved in that operation can make it expensive and affect adversely the economic viability of the process.
Another typical issue associated with conventional oven is blistering, i.e., appearance of bubbles in the dried coating. It is caused by rapid bubble growth from gases dissolved or entrained in the coating liquid and from the volatile solvents in the coating, which exhibit a high vapor pressure. To alleviate blistering or to allow the healing of blistering, usually both temperature and speed of the gas (commonly air) is reduced, typically in the first zone(s) of the oven when multiple zone are used.
Another approach to increase the throughput of a conventional oven is to add additional heating zones to that oven. However, the size and volume of conventional ovens makes it difficult to add new zones to retrofit existing installations. Accidents involving explosion or conflagration of solvent laden air above LEL concentration would also involve a greater volume of explosive mixture; Inertization becomes more expensive with the additional zones to inert and may take considerable time (15 to 30 or more minutes). This creates further delays in case of web rupture, which need dryer opening, cleaning, rethreading of the web, and re-inertization.
Another type of dryer that can be used for drying liquid coatings is a plate dryer. They may include heated plates at one or both sides of a moving web. They have been used in pultrusion and other curing processes. In these applications process velocities are low (<30 m/min). Typical flows of the inerted gas-solvent mix are in the range of 1 m/s with low external mass transfer and heat transfer, which makes it not suitable for higher speed coating lines.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,927, assigned to Fuji Photo, teaches the benefits of a low volume inerted plate dryer and how the system can include solvent recovery by condensation and how heat can be recovered by placing a heat exchanger between the dryer and the condenser. Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,567, also assigned to Fuji Photo, teaches how the incoming inert stream can be heated by heat exchange with the exhaust of an incinerator where the recovered solvent is burned. Neither patent teaches how the systems are sealed to avoid contamination of the ambient air to the heater and vice versa. Nor do they teach what conditions are needed for the system to be beneficial. Furthermore, both patents consider that the entire dryer exhaust stream undergoes condensation.
One type of plate dryers is designed with internal condensing surfaces, which are sometimes referred to as "gap dryers". In this type of dryer heat is provided by a hot plate or any other suitable source. The carrier web moves over the plate or close by. Condensation occurs inside the dryer, over a cold surface that creates a concentration gradient that drives significant diffusion of the solvent. U.S. Pat. No. 5,581,905 (and sequels) assigned to 3M teaches substantially horizontal configurations of the plates where the cold surface is kept as close as ˜0.5 cm above the drying wet coating. Condensation occurs on the lower surface of the cold top plate which is grooved such that capillarity drives the liquid out towards the edges where it is drained. No significant convective gas flow occurs inside the dryer apart from that induced by web drag. There is the possibility of solvent dripping over the drying coating, as well as water condensation if air enters the system.
Therefore, there is a need for a dryer that can dry solvent based coating with high efficiency, high throughput and more economical than existing dryers.

Inerted plate dryer and method of drying solvent based coating


A heat recovery apparatus, for an absorption apparatus for removing CO2 in combustion exhaust gas emitted from a thermal power plant 112 and for regeneration apparatuses 104 to 107 for regenerating CO2 in an absorbing liquid from the absorption apparatus, includes a regeneration-apparatus-exit-CO2-gas cooling apparatus 100 for cooling CO2 gas from an exhaust port of the regeneration apparatus, and may further include a circulation line 102 for circulating reflux water among boiler feedwater heaters 114 and 116 in the thermal power plant 112 and the regeneration-apparatus-exit-CO2-gas cooling apparatus 100.

The present invention relates to a heat recovery apparatus and to a heat recovery method.
The greenhouse effect caused by CO2 is recognized as a major cause of global warming phenomena. The warming adversely affects the global environment in a devastating way, causing serious results such as unusual weather, including heavy rainfall, flooding, and the like, sea-level rise due to disappearance of glaciers, and resultant submersion of islands. From such viewpoints, measures to reduce CO2 emissions have internationally become an important and urgent issue.
Carbon dioxide is generated in any type of human activity that involves combustion of fossil fuels.
Accordingly, the following methods have been implemented in power generation facilities such as thermal power plants using large amounts of fossil fuels (coal and the like): one in which combustion exhaust gas of a boiler is brought into contact with an amine-based CO2 absorbing liquid, and thus CO2 in the combustion exhaust gas is removed and recovered; and another in which the CO2 thus recovered is stored without being released to the atmosphere. For example, the recovered CO2 is compressed in a CO2 compressor, and it is then sent to a CO2 storage site via a pipeline.
As the processes of removing and recovering CO2 from combustion exhaust gas by use of the CO2 absorbing liquid as described above, there may be employed a process in which combustion exhaust gas and the CO2 absorbing liquid are brought into contact with each other in an adsorption tower, and a process in which the absorbing liquid having absorbed CO2 is heated in a regeneration tower, to release CO2, and simultaneously the absorbing liquid is regenerated and circulated back to the adsorption tower for reuse (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. Hei 10-202054).
Here, the CO2-containing gas from the regeneration tower is heated, and thus, it has a temperature at or around 85° C. The present inventors have hypothesized that efficient recovery of the heat can improve power generation efficiency by at least 0.5%. Moreover, the temperature of the CO2 gas is raised in a CO2 compressor at the time of CO2 compression. Hence, the present inventors have also considered that effective recovery of the heat can further improve power generation efficiency.
Specifically, a CO2 recovery apparatus for a thermal power plant using coal or the like consumes a large amount of steam and a large amount of electricity, and hence causes a large reduction in power generation output. In addition, the CO2 recovery apparatus itself generates a low level of but a large amount of heat as described above. Accordingly, the present inventors have considered that, in order to prevent reduction in power generation output as much as possible, it is important to increase the amount of the power generation by utilizing the amount of heat generated by the CO2 recovery apparatus.
In accordance with this thinking, the present inventors have tried a system having a configuration shown in FIG. 3 (This configuration is not known to the public and is novel over the conventional art).
In a heat recovery apparatus 200 according to this configuration, a boiler feedwater heater 202 is provided upstream of a regeneration tower condenser 204 as in the current situation, and boiler feedwater from a thermal power plant 206 is supplied to the boiler feedwater heater 202 for cooling regeneration-tower-exit CO2 gas. Then, a method is employed in which the boiler feedwater is heated simultaneously with this cooling, and the heated liquid is returned to the thermal power plant 206. Before returned to the power plant, the heated liquid is caused to pass through a feedwater heater of a CO2 compressor, is further heated in the feedwater heater, and is then returned. Thereby, the amount of heat recovered is increased.
Note that the cooled regeneration-tower-exit CO2 gas is recovered as a product CO2 through a regeneration tower reflux drum 208. Moreover, water is recovered by a regeneration tower reflux pump 210 through a bottom portion of the regeneration tower reflux drum 208, and is refluxed to the regeneration tower as reflux water.
However, it turned out that this trial configuration has the following drawbacks and hence is not economical.
(1) Since it is necessary to send a large amount of flow (the entire amount of the boiler feedwater) to the boiler feedwater heater 202 for the effective recovery of heat, considerable modifications of the thermal power plant 206 are necessary.
(2) In a CO2 recovery apparatus for a large-scale coal thermal power plant, the number of heat exchangers increases, and pipes and the like increase, bringing about a problem regarding space limitation. Therefore, it is difficult to install such a CO2 recovery apparatus in an ordinary thermal power plant.
(3) The greater the amount of heat the boiler feedwater recovers from tower top CO2 gas of a regeneration tower, the more economical it is. However, because of the limitation of layout, it is practically impossible under the current situation to install multiple shell and tube type heat exchangers as the boiler feedwater heater 202.
(4) Moreover, pressure loss on a CO2 gas side in the boiler feedwater heater 202 becomes excessively large. Suppose a case in which trouble occurs in the feedwater heater of a CO2 compressor when heat of compression of CO2 in the CO2 compressor is recovered. In such a case, since the pressure of the CO2 gas is higher than the pressure of the boiler feedwater, there is a concern that the CO2 leaks, and exerts a significant effect on the operation of the power plant.
The present inventors have further researched in order to effectively recover heat of the CO2-regeneration-tower-exit CO2 gas and to increase an output of a turbine in a thermal power plant without causing such problems.

Heat recovery apparatus and heat recovery method


Techniques for managing user interactions with items on a user interface are disclosed. In one aspect, a representation of an opening is presented in response to touch input. A display object is moved over the opening, and the display object is processed in response to the moving. In another aspect, touch input pinching two opposite corners of a display object followed by touch input flicking the display object is received and the display object is deleted in response to the inputs. In another aspect, touch input centered over a display object is received and the display object is deleted in response to the input. In another aspect, touch input corresponding to swiping gestures are received and a display object is securely deleted in response to the gestures.

Graphical user interfaces present display objects to users. Each display object can represent a system object. For example, a display object can be an icon that represents a file stored on a device. Users can interact with the display objects in various ways. Users can select (e.g., with a mouse or other input device) display objects to invoke functionality associated with the display objects. For example, a user can select a file to cause a system window displaying the contents of the file to be presented in the user interface.
Users can also drag display objects around the user interface. For example, a user can drag and drop a display object representing a file over a display object representing a folder. In response, the file can be moved into the folder.

Touch inputs interacting with user interface items


A dynamic error correcting table can be embedded on an integrated circuit memory device. The error correcting table includes entries which are created for data when an error is detected and corrected during a read of the data. During subsequent reads, without intervening write or refresh operations, the entry in the table can be used to correct the error by merging the corrected bit with the data output from the array before it is applied to the ECC logic.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to memory devices and systems including error correction code logic.
2. Description of Related Art
Memory technologies used for integrated circuit memories are being developed at smaller and smaller technology nodes, and are being deployed on larger and larger memory arrays on a single integrated circuit. As the technology for memory cells advances, the margins for sensing the data can become tighter. Also, the ability of the memory cells to hold data values in the presence of disturbance of the memory cell state caused by high speed and high volume accesses to the memory cells and to neighboring memory cells can be limited by the tighter margins.
To address issues like those that arise from tighter margins and memory cell disturbance, as these technologies scale in size and density, use of error correcting codes (ECC) embedded with integrated circuit memory has become more widespread. Hamming codes are one known type of ECC, and in common forms can provide for single bit error correction and detection of two bit errors in the protected data. Single bit correction may not be sufficient for some memory technologies. In this case, multibit ECC technologies such as BCH codes can be applied. However, utilizing BCH codes can involve significant hardware overhead, and remains limited in the scope of error correction possible.
It is desirable to improve the performance of ECC technologies, while limiting the hardware overhead needed on integrated circuits in which such technologies are applied.

Memory with dynamic error detection and correction


A portable cleaning assembly for containing a cleaning solution and a mop. The assembly comprises a wheeled bucket with a drain opening and a drain valve. The drain valve comprises a biasing member to force a stopper in a downward direction. The assembly further comprises a pivoting handle and at least one rigid handle on the back and/or front wall of the bucket. The assembly comprises a latch connected to a side wall, wherein the latch retains a wringer handle in a downward position. The assembly also comprises a strainer extending vertically and having an upper opening. The assembly can also comprise a wringer having a channel extending vertically along the front wall thereof. The channel is adapted to retain a mop handle therein in an essentially vertical orientation. The front wall can also comprise at least one flexible member to retain the mop handle within the channel.

When cleaning commercial buildings, such as offices, retail stores, warehouses, and the like, it is common for the floors of such buildings to be wet mopped regularly by janitorial personnel, or any other user, using commercial mops and roll-around cleaning containers. The use of portable cleaning containers, including bucket like containers in connection with various activities, including mopping floors, is well known in the art. Typical mop buckets have wheels secured at the bottom portion thereof, thereby allowing the container to easily move across various surfaces. Commercial mop buckets generally are made of molded plastic that contain water or cleaning solution for wetting the mop.
While numerous body styles have been proposed for mop buckets, the prior art containers have generally failed to address and solve problems relating to the comfort and ease of the person using them. For example, in order to empty these portable mop buckets, most must be actually lifted by the user and the contents emptied into a sink or other receptacle containing a drain. Since a portable mop bucket is generally very bulky and cumbersome to lift even when it is empty, it is understandable why such a cleaning container, filled with cleaning solution, is extremely difficult to lift and empty. There have been attempts made to design portable mop buckets which assist the user in emptying the mop buckets. For example, some mop buckets include a drain opening and stopper disposed in the side or bottom wall. This feature allows the user to move the mop bucket adjacent a floor drain, and by removing the stopper from the drain opening the mop bucket may be easily emptied. There are disadvantages with this particular design since the user has to physically push the stopper into the drain opening to maintain the stopper therein, while other stoppers may allow fluids to leak through the drain opening. In some cases, the user will be required to insert at least one of their hands into the dirty cleaning solution in order to insert or remove the stopper from the drain opening. Therefore, there is a need for a mop bucket having a plug that extends above the cleaning solution and effectively blocks the flow of cleaning solution through the drain opening.
Another problem with commercial mop buckets is due to clogging of drains when the container solutions are disposed, including insoluble materials such as contaminants, mop strings and the like in the drain. Further, after use it is often difficult to sanitize the container and to remove residual insoluble materials therefrom. Therefore, a need has long been recognized for an improved container for use in the cleaning or mopping of floors which solve these and other problems associated with conveniently and safely disposing of used cleaning solutions.
In addition, such mop buckets usually are provided with a wringer assembly for ringing excess water or cleaning solution from the mop after it has been dipped in the bucket and before it is applied to the floor. Wringer assemblies are available in a variety of forms such as, for example, down press wringers and side press wringers, but all function in substantially the same way by compressing the mopping yarns of the mop between opposed surfaces to squeeze excess absorbed liquid from the mop yarns. As liquid is squeezed from the mop yarns, it is expelled from the wringer through perforations or through other openings in the opposed surfaces of the wringer and falls back down into the bucket.
Wringers are typically mounted on the container during cleaning operations and are operable by a handle to squeeze the mop between a wall of the wringer and a movable plate. For convenience of use, the movable plate is spring biased away from such wall of the wringer, and the wringer comprises a mechanical linkage between the plate and the handle that extends the handle longitudinally of the wringer body at such times that the plate is displaced from such wall so that the handle extends generally vertically from the container upon which the wringer is mounted. A handle that extends vertically presents a potential danger to janitorial personnel and other individuals, who can accidentally contact the handle and trip over it or tip the bucket over, spilling its contents. Furthermore, if a bypasser slips near the bucket, he or she can seriously hurt themselves if they fall on the top of the handle. Therefore, there is a need for a bucket that can retain the handle in a retracted position, thereby improving safety for janitorial personnel and other individuals walking nearby.
Another problem with commercial mop buckets occurs when janitorial personnel need to take a break and leave the mop and mop bucket unattended. Since the mopping yarns are usually wet, the mop cannot conveniently be left on the floor and generally must be left in the mop bucket itself. However, since the handles of commercial mops tend to be relatively heavy, they tend to fall over and, in some cases, their weight can flip the entire mop out of the bucket resulting in a mess that must be cleaned. Accordingly, it has been common that, when a mop is to be left unattended, the bucket and mop are rolled to a wall or other structure and the mop handle is leaned against the wall to support it and prevent it from flopping over. This solution is a less than desirable, particularly in large open buildings such as warehouses, since the mop and mop bucket must be moved away from the area being mopped and returned when it is desired to continue the mopping operation. This is inconvenient and can add a surprising amount of unproductive time in simple relocation of the mop bucket during a large mopping operation. Thus, there is a need for a method and apparatus that will eliminate problems caused by mop handles falling over and flipping the mop out of its mop bucket when the mop is unattended. Such a method and apparatus should provide support for the mop handle without requiring that the mop bucket be moved from the area being mopped.
In order to accomplish these goals, those skilled in the art are constantly in search of improved means for filling above listed needs. The disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the present invention.


An X-ray fluoroscopic apparatus comprises an X-ray tube for emitting X-rays to an object to be examined, an image intensifier for converting an X-ray image of the object to an optical image, a TV camera for picking up the optical image through a light-tight optical system coupled to the output portion of the image intensifier, an A/D converter for converting an output analog signal of the TV camera to a digital image signal, a selector for outputting the output of the A/D converter to its first and second outputs, an offset memory connected to the first output terminal of the selector, a subtracter for subtracting the output of the offset memory from the second output terminal of the selector, and an image memory to which the output of the subtracter is supplied. When no X-rays are emitted, the selector is connected to the side of the first terminal and an offset signal for each of pixels for one frame output from the TV camera is written into the offset memory. When X-rays are emitted, the selector is connected to the side of the second terminal and the output of the offset memory is subtracted from the X-ray image signal by the subtracter so that an offset-compensated image signal for each of pixels is stored in the image memory.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup camera for use with an X-ray fluoroscopic apparatus and, more particularly, to offset compensation thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is an X-ray fluoroscopic apparatus which converts an X-ray image of an object under examination irradiated with X-rays emitted from an X-ray tube into an optical image by use of an image intensifier, picks up the optical image with a television camera, and visually displays the fluoroscopic image output from the television camera on a display. In recent years, in television cameras, solid-state pickup devices using CCDs (charge coupled devices) or MOSs (metal oxide semiconductors) have been replacing conventional image pickup tubes.
FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic arrangement of a CCD solid-state pickup device of an interline system as an example of such solid-state pickup devices. A large number of light receiving elements 90 formed of photodiodes are arrayed two-dimensionally. Part of the light receiving elements, in this example, the leftmost column 90a to which hatching is made (plural columns may be used), is shielded from light to determine the level of an offset signal and is thus referred to as an optical black portion. Vertical transferring CCDs 92 are provided to the left of respective columns of light receiving elements including the optical black column 90a and outputs of all the vertical transferring CCDs 92 are coupled to a horizontal transferring CCD 94. Vertical transferring CCDs 92 and horizontal transferring CCD 94 are also shielded from light. Outputs of all the light receiving elements 90 are transferred to corresponding vertical of repeated vertical transfer and horizontal transfer, an output image signal from horizontal transferring CCD 94 is applied to a succeeding display and so on via a buffer 96.
Light receiving element 90 may produce some amount of signal (offset signal) while it receives no light. For obtaining a true image signal, therefore, it is required to subtract the offset signal from the output of buffer 96. Subtracting the offset signal from the camera output is called the offset compensation. For the offset compensation, as shown in FIG. 2, the level Vb of an offset signal from optical black portion 90a which appears at the beginning of each horizontal scanning line signal is sampled and held to subtract the hold value from the succeeding horizontal scanning line signal.
Heretofore, as described above, an offset signal is obtained for each horizontal scanning line and the offset signal is subtracted from a signal of each of pixels on the horizontal scanning line for the offset compensation. However, the offset component varies from pixel to pixel because of variations in manufacturing of the light receiving elements. With the conventional compensating method, therefore, there is a problem of impossibility of accurate compensation for each pixel.
The above description was given of a solid state pickup device. The same problem may arise with image pickup tubes because of variations in coating of a photoelectric film on a photoelectric surface. The same may be said of any applications of the image pickup camera, other than medical apparatus such as a fluoroscopic apparatus.


Ultraviolet energy in the germicidal band is directed towards plants, particularly the grape vines on the vineyard trellis, providing a lethal exposure (irradiation) for the purpose of eradicating microorganisms, and stimulating host plant defense mechamisms.

1. Field of the invention
This invention relates generally to the field of crop agriculture and more particularly to means for providing eradication of harmful viticulture microorganisms.
2. Description of Prior Art
The established viticultural practice for eliminating vineyard microorganisms in its most prevalent form as a fungus and its means of reproduction by spores has been to apply liberal doses of fungicides by broad coverage spraying techniques using spray applicators.
The infection of green tissue, flower clusters and buds by spores results in fungal diseases common to the grape family and most agricultural crops. When spore infection occurs conidia are produced and the disease spreads rapidly throughout the vineyard. The spread of disease is enhanced if the combination of temperature, leaf wetness and time are satisfied. Some of the fungal diseases that attack grapes in particular are: (1) Powdery Mildew, (2) Downey Mildew, (3) Black Rot, (4) Phomopsis Cane and Leaf Spot, (5) Eutypa Dieback.
The sprayers are drawn through the vineyard rows with tractors which may also supply the power to drive the spray pumps. Various spray fungicides are applied at periodic intervals. Generally these intervals are 10 to 14 days but may become shorter resulting in more frequent applications during rainy or high humidity seasons.
The use of pesticides has become frought with problems for the grape grower due to their chemical nature, the necessary safety precautions required, government regulations and the consumers reluctance to eat produce treated with pesticides. The spray operator, for his own safety, is required to wear protective clothing, a special breathing mask, eye goggles and water proof gloves to prevent contamination by toxic pesticides. Present fungicides work in the following manner:
a. The fungicide is absorbed within the plant tissue (the fungicide is systemic) or provides a protective coating on the surface.
b. It acts as an protectant to prevent infection, or if the plant is already infected it acts as an eradicant to stop infection or as an antisporulant to prevent disease spread.
Turning now to a brief consideration of a specific disclosure of interest, U.S. Pat. No. 1,876,737 issued to F. W. Opp on Sept. 13, 1932 discloses an apparatus for the ray treatment of vegetation. This patent was directed primarily to destroying parasitic life specifically with high voltage electrical rays (X-Rays) for the treatment of trees. It is also known to use infra red or colored lights in the visible spectrum for the purpose of stimulating or controlling growth of plants, their seeds or increasing fruit set, as disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,300,727, 3,372,513, 3,931,695, 4,041,642, and 4,506,474. None of the above mentioned references relate to the treatment of plants or vineyards with apparatus using Ultraviolet energy in the germicidal band for its proven fungicidal action.

Method and apparatus for ultraviolet treatment of plants


A mounting assembly (10) for an electronic device (11) is disclosed. The mounting assembly (10) comprises an attachment part (12), a base (16), and an arm (14). The attachment part (12) is coupled to the arm (14) and the arm (14) is coupled to the base (16) such that the arm (14) is lockingly rotatable relative the base (16) about a rotational axis (18). The arm (14) comprises a housing and a locking member (20) being provided with a locking protrusion (30). The locking member (20) is coupled to the housing such that the locking protrusion (30) is radially displaceable in relation to the rotational axis (18). The base (16) is provided with a set of radially extending locking grooves (22). The locking protrusion (30) is received by one locking groove (22a) in response to a displacement of the locking member (20), whereby the arm (16) is rotationally locked.

A mounting assembly can be provided for many different types of devices. This patent application relates to a mounting assembly provided for an electronic device. The electronic device is attached to an attachment part of the mounting assembly. The attachment part is in turn coupled to an arm which in turn is coupled to a base. The base may be arranged on, and optionally fastened to, a surface such as a wall, table or a ceiling. The mounting assembly may be arranged for allowing the attachment part, and thus the electronic device attached thereto, to be moved relative the arm by for example a tilt and/or a rotational movement. Additionally, the arm can be arranged to be rotationally movable relative the base.
The mounting assembly may be constructed to provide a locking of the movement of its parts relative each other, i.e. the arm relative the base and the attachment part, respectively. One type of locking construction is to utilize friction force created in the interface between parts, such as in the interface between the arm and the base. In order to lock the rotational movement of the arm in relation to the base, the mounting assembly may be arranged such that a part of the arm is forced against a part of the base so as to create a tight arrangement. The resulting friction force created by the tight arrangement counteracts movement of the arm in relation to the base. Thus, a rotational movement of the arm in relation to the base may be restricted.
One problem with this type of arrangement is that the tight arrangement of the parts may need to be made very strong in order to achieve a sufficient friction force. Such a tight arrangement may be difficult to achieve and there is a risk that the arrangement come loose over time. This may be a difficult problem to overcome when using certain types of sleek materials of the parts. Metal is an example of such a material. Metal may be a desired material in some constructions for providing a good resistance against both internal and external forces.
A solution to this problem is to provide a friction-increasing material, such as glue material or a friction coating, in the interface between the parts. The friction-increasing material may increase the ratio between the created friction force and how tight the tight arrangement between the parts must be in order to achieve such a friction force.
A problem with friction-increasing materials is that they may be difficult to apply to certain material surfaces and a high level of quality control may be required. Moreover, the friction-increasing material may wear off over time which is difficult to both discover and take care of since the interface is typically not visible without disassembling the mounting assembly.
In addition, in mounting assemblies where it is desirable to provide a conducting path between the arm and the base, to for example fulfill EMC regulations, the friction-inducing material provides an undesired nonconductive barrier which may obstruct the conducting path.
Hence, there is a need for an improved mounting assembly. Specifically, there is a need for an improved locking mechanism between the arm and the base of such a mounting assembly.
Additionally, a cable of the electronic device attached to the attachment part may be arranged to extend through the parts of the mounting assembly, i.e. through the attachment part, the arm, and the base. In such an arrangement, it may be desirable to limit the rotational movement of the parts relative each other. An unlimited rotational movement of the parts relative each other may cause a problem in that the cable may be twisted beyond function, be sheared off, or a continuous rotation may dislodge connectors thereof.


An ESD circuit is disclosed. The ESD circuit includes a pad and a ground and a sensing element coupled between the pad and ground for sensing an ESD current. The sensing element generates an active sense output signal when an ESD current is sensed and an inactive sense output signal when no ESD current is sensed. The ESD circuit also includes a bypass element comprising a bi-polar junction transistor. The bypass element is coupled in parallel to the sensing element between the pad and ground. The active sense output signal causes the bypass element to be activated to provide a current path between the pad and ground.

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) generated from static electricity is usually characterized by fast transient high voltage discharge. An ESD event can occur in electrical and electronic circuits, such as an integrated circuit (IC). It can create sufficiently high voltage to cause destructive breakdown of devices connected to, for example, the inputs and/or outputs of the integrated circuits.
In the case of bi-directional I/O drivers, which have mixed voltage signals, conventional ESD protection includes dual diode or MOS based circuits. Such conventional ESD protection results in leakage currents when the mixed voltage signal is above Vdd or below Vss.
An alternative approach is a silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) ESD protection circuit. However, SCR ESD protection circuits are subject to latch up during normal IC operation. Latch up affects the operation of the IC, rendering it defective.
Therefore, it is desirable to have an ESD protection circuit which can be quickly triggered to avoid damaging internal circuits and immune to latch up during normal operation.


A solenoid actuated pressure control valve includes a solenoid coil having a central passage extending axially through the coil. An armature is movable axially within the coil passage to be magnetically attracted to the pole piece when the coil is energized. Fluid pressure at a supply port of the valve biases the armature to its opposite end limit of movement when the coil is deenergized. Various forms of valving arrangements are disclosed, in one of which valve heads are located on the opposite ends of the armature to engage either of opposed valve seats dependent on whether the coil is energized or not. In other arrangements, the armature engages a push rod to unseat one valve upon energization of the coil while closing a seond valve. The one valve is biased to its closed position by supply port pressure when the coil is deenergized, the push rod opening the other valve. The valves operate to connect a control port to a sump port when the coil is deenergized and to connect the control port to the supply port upon energization of the coil. One form of valve employs a diaphragm to hydraulically isolate the coil, pole piece and armature from the controlled fluid.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to solenoid operated pressure control valves employed in applications where the valve will accurately vary the pressure at a control port in accordance with variations in an electrical control signal, which may be derived from a computer, which varies the on-off time of energization of the solenoid.
II. Description of the Related Art
While there are many applications for such a valve, one application which has been of interest in recent years is that of the control of an automatic transmision for a motor vehicle by independently regulating the engagement pressure applied to each of the various clutches in the transmission. The torque transmitted by a given clutch may be varied by varying the pressure of engagement between the opposed clutch plates. Presently available electronic control units can rapidly and precisely generate the desired electrical output signals in response to sensed vehicle operating conditions. However, converting these electrical control signals into a precisely proportional fluid pressure which will accurately track variations in the electrical control signal has posed problems.
In such a system, a solenoid actuated valve is a logical choice as the interface between the electrical and hydraulic portions of the system. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,145 which describes a solenoid actuated valve for such an application. A system employing a valve of the type shown in that patent is described in some detail in SAE Technical Paper 840448.
As in U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,145 the solenoid actuated valve may be designed to regulate the pressure at a control port by cyclically connecting the control port alternately to a source of fluid under pressure and to a fluid sump, these alternate connections being made in accordance with the energization or deenergization of the solenoid coil. An electronic processor may be employed to regulate the time during each cycle the coil is energized ("on time"), the coil being deenergized for the remainder of the cycle ("off time"), this type of regualtion being commonly referred to as pulse width modulation. A typical operating pulse frequency might be 60 Hz. In steady state operation the pressure at the control port will be that percentage of the fluid source pressure which is equal to that precentage of time which the control port is connected to the fluid source, sump pressure being assumed to be zero.
In order to enable the control port pressure to be varied in a true linear relationship to variations in "on time" of the solenoid coil, the valve member which controls the fluid connection of the control port to pressure supply or sump must be capable of rapid shifting movement in close synchronism with the energization and deenergization of the coil. Further, the valve member should also be movable in response to a relatively small magnetic force in order to minimize the size and power requirements of the solenoid.
Conventionally, in solenoid actuated valves of this general type, a return spring is employed to bias the movable valve member to its solenoid deenergized position. The coil springs so employed pose handling problems in assembling the valve in that when they are supplied in bulk, the individual springs become entangled with each other and must be manually untangled. Good design practice dictates the usage of a minimum number of energy sources and the hydraulic and electrical energy sources should be sufficient.
The present invention is especially directed to a solenoid valve having these last characteristics.

Solenoid operated pressure control valve


A method to create a computer retrievable three dimensional model of a person that can be used as a replacement for manual measurements in the garment industry. The method uses a garment which has geometrical patterns, such as a grid pattern. The garment also contains marks that would identify landmark locations for identifying geodetic points on the person wearing it and thus could be aligned to predetermined points when wearing. A calibrated set of images are captured by multiple cameras with the person wearing this garment. These images are analyzed by a computer program which will calculate the exact spatial location of points along the geometric pattern, thus recreating the measurements of the person. A model thus created can be used in multiple industries such as, but not limited to the garment industry.

1. Field of Invention
This application relates to computer based 3D human modeling particularly for the garment industry. In addition, the invention can be applied to design and retail industries.
2. Description of Prior Art
The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:
U.S. PatentsPat. No.Kind CodeIssue DatePatentee7,584,122B2Sep. 1, 2009Kozinn7,218,752B2May 15, 2007Tsai et al.6,442,419B1Aug. 27, 2002Chu et al.
In the garment industry, consumers often find it difficult to purchase a garment that fits their exact body shape. Take for example a pair of pants. They come in a few standard sizes, and a person gets to choose one of these sizes. There are a large number of people whose body shapes do not conform to these standardized shapes. This is largely due to the absence an automated, non-intrusive, commercial method that has the ability to determine the 3-Dimensional (3D) shape of a person who is looking to make a garment purchase; and there is no computerized way for an individual to test the fit of the hundreds of garments in a store for his or her shape. No such method or apparatus to construct the 3D model of a person wishing to purchase a garment is available today at any leading department store.
However, the technology to create 3D models currently exists. The technology mostly used to create 3D model constructions for the purposes of garment fitting are based on body scanning techniques. Scanning techniques provide an accurate set of data points, but may not provide consistent, reliable set of body landmarks that identify the points of geodetic measurement for every individual, every time. In addition, there is difficulty in turning the large amount of data to a useful set of data-points. In addition, geodetic measurement is based on preset mathematical models, and tailoring the landmark points based on individual uniqueness is not economically viable. The data is applicable for surveys and creating probabilistic models, but may not be an alternative for manual measurement for the purposes of creating a garment.
Another technology that has been used to create 3D imaging that may be of interest is based on 2D to 3D conversions. However, these 2D to 3D conversions are targeted for gaming and toward entertainment value. There are no geodesics or anthropometrics involved as relevant to human modeling in the garment industry.
There is no commercial method currently used widely to convert a 2D image to a corresponding real time 3D image that can create a replication of anthropometric measurements for the purposes of modeling a human form.
Advantages
One or more aspects of this invention are to provide a computerized, non-intrusive apparatus and method that has the ability to gather a 3D shape of individuals swiftly and economically; such a computerized 3D model can be applied in manufacturing, fitting, or in pattern making of a garment for a custom fit. Further, this model can also be fed into other applications such as computer aided design (CAD) for applying this model to test the fit of the hundreds of garments in a given store against the model. In addition, there are several other applications outside of garment industries, where a 3D computerized model of a willing participant can be of use. A 3D computerized model can be stored, and hence has all of the advantages of a readable/writable file. This method and apparatus is written for a single person at a given time, but is applicable to other forms and objects. Another notable advantage is that the landmarks for anthropometric measurement of the human body can be customized prior to each modeling.

Method and apparatus to create 3-dimensional computer models of persons from specially created 2-dimensional images


To create a 3D model of part of a cardiovascular system, two 2D images taken of different orientations of the cardiovascular system may be combined. The 2D images originate from video streams taken at different points in time, which comprise frames showing a beating heart, and thus a moving cardiovascular system. Because of this movement, not just any random set of two 2D images may result in useable 3D model. To select a proper set of two 2D images, a method is provided wherein said selection is based on cardiac cycle data. The cardiac cycle data may comprise heart activity data as a function of time and timing data on cycle events. These cycle events may be repetitive, as the same events occur with every heartbeat. The selected frames are preferably selected at, or approximately at, similar events.

3D models of the cardiovascular system are used in different applications, for example by medical professionals. To create a 3D model, a minimum of two 2D images need to be combined, wherein the two 2D images comprise image data of different views of the cardiovascular system. The two 2D images are often made by the same imaging device, which has to be reoriented between capturing the first and the second 2D image for obtaining the two different views of the cardiovascular system. Because of the reorientation, the two 2D images are disjoint in time. A manual selection of the 2D images has to be made to find a compatible set of 2D images for creating the 3D model.

Heartbeat based selection of images for cardiovascular model


A method and apparatus of a network element that processes a packet in the network element is described. In an exemplary embodiment, the network element receives a data packet that includes a destination address. The network element receives a packet, with a packet switch unit, wherein the packet was received by the network element on an ingress interface. The network element further determines if the packet is to be stored in an external queue. In addition, the network element identifies the external queue for the packet based on one or more characteristics of the packet. The network element additionally forwards the packet to a packet storage unit, wherein the packet storage unit includes storage for the external queue. Furthermore, the network element receives the packet from the packet storage unit and forwards the packet to an egress interface corresponding to the external queue.

A network element, such as an Ethernet switch or router, typically operates in "store and forward" mode. In this mode of operations, the network element receives a packet on some "input port", makes a forwarding decision to decide which output port to send the packet to, and then transmits the packet on the output port. For this network element, transmission is not instantaneous, as a packet that is N bits long sent on an interface that can transmit at K bits per second, will take N/K seconds to transmit. As the packet is being processed for transmission, other packets may be queued for transmission using the same output port. The condition where packets are arriving faster than can be transmitted to some output port is referred to as "network congestion", or just "congestion." Network elements typically store packets in a queue in memory. If more memory is available for packet queuing, then the network element can sustain longer bursts of congestion without dropping one or more packets.
However, many Ethernet network elements are built with small buffers, for cost reasons. Furthermore, a high performance network element is commonly implemented using highly integrated silicon, such as a custom application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or field-programmable gate array (FPGA). In such a device, adding large memories can be prohibitively costly for many reasons, such as increasing the die-size of the integrated silicon, adding an increased number of off-chip memory interfaces to off-chip memory, and that the off-chip memory runs at slower speeds than the ASIC or FPGA.

System and method of a high buffered high bandwidth network element


Systems and methods are provided for enhancing a signal for load modulation from reading a smartcard. According to such methods, an antenna signal is generated by transceiver circuitry. An antenna signal field associated with the antenna signal can be transmitted. A reference signal that is substantially constant in amplitude and phase and substantially in phase with a carrier frequency of the antenna signal can be generated. A modulated antenna signal can be received. The modulated antenna signal can include the antenna signal that has been modulated as a result of the presence of a smartcard within the antenna signal field. The reference signal can be subtracted from the modulated antenna signal to produce a resultant signal. The resultant signal may be provided to receiving circuitry of the transceiver circuitry.

Contactless smartcards, such as proximity or vicinity cards, communicate with a card reader by load modulation. The reader receives the load modulation signal as (amplitude) AM modulation of the carrier frequency, typically 13.56 MHz. The amplitude of the antenna voltage varies depending on the load that the card present to the reader antenna. At close range, when the coupling factor is high between the smartcard and the antenna, the antenna voltage can be fairly low, typically 5-10 volts peak to peak (Vpp). At far range, where the coupling factor is low, the antenna voltage can be high, up to 60 Vpp.
Typical reader integrated circuits (ICs) often have the antenna signal routed directly to the receiver without any signal processing except attenuation. These receivers are typically limited to a signal level of less than 3 Vpp. Since the antenna voltage can be as high as 60 Vpp, it can be necessary to attenuate the signal by as much as 20×. This reduces the load modulation at close range to the point where the receiver fails to decode the signal. If the load modulation from the card results in a change in amplitude of 1%, then the amplitude at close range could be as low as 50 mV or 2.5 mVpp after 20×attenuation. The typical minimum detectable signal on the most common reader ICs is 5 mVpp. Thus, typical readers can fail to detect the modulation. Typical readers use a simple attenuator to bring the signal below the maximum amplitude or supply voltage of the IC. Some more advanced receiver designs filter out the carrier from the received signal, but this requires very close tolerances on the components. Improvements in reading load modulated signals in card readers are desired.


A method (400) for controlling a proportional valve. The method includes the steps of: (i) providing (410) a proportional flow valve system that includes: a closed loop flow controller (110) including a proportional flow control valve (140), a flow sensor (150), and an adjustable gain (180); and an adaptive controller (120) including a model (160) of the closed loop flow controller, and a gain control (170); (ii) actuating (420) the proportional flow control valve; (iii) measuring (430) actual gas flow; (iv) determining (440) a difference between the measured gas flow rate and a desired gas flow rate; (v) adjusting (450) the proportional flow valve using the determined difference; (vi) initiating (460) a response from the model of the closed loop flow controller; (vii) determining (470) a gain for the closed loop flow controller; and (viii) adjusting (480) the adjustable gain of the closed loop flow controller.

Precise control of electrically-controlled proportional flow valves presents a significant challenge, especially when the flow valve is expected to precisely follow an arbitrary trajectory over time, or when the trajectory has rapid acceleration over different ranges of flow. Typical valve characteristics are such that sensitivity of flow to command is very low at the low flow range and much higher at the higher flow range. Because this difference in sensitivity can often be several orders of magnitude, precise control of a proportional flow valves over the full range of possible flow rates is problematic.
In an attempt to provide precision and accuracy, proportional flow valve designers have applied feedback into valve positioning controls that measure and analyze the outlet flow of the valve. With such large differences in valve sensitivity ordinary closed loop controls tend to respond differently depending on what range of flow they are commanded to operate. Accordingly, proportional flow valve designers often modify the control loop gain according to the current operating flow range, and knowledge of the valve sensitivity. However, this can result in additional problems including, for example, that: (1) a requirement that the valve be calibrated prior to operation to determine its sensitivity profile might be introduced; (2) valve sensitivity profiles may be significantly different over a population of valves; (3) the valve upstream pressure changes or varies, thus changing valve sensitivity; and (4) the valve sensitivity may change after a calibration has been done by such effects as temperature changes, wear of valve mechanical components, or any other disturbing influences that tend to change the valve position to flow profile. Operating the closed loop flow control gain adjustments under an assumed flow sensitivity can lead to poor response behavior, or worse instability if the profile changes, and so this approach can present risk where the flow control is critical such as in life support.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a specialized flow valve control method that automatically determines required instantaneous gain adjustments without the need for prior valve profile information. Further, there is a need in the art for simple, direct, and efficient flow valve controls systems and methods that do not require a calibration of the valve.

Methods and systems for controlling gas flow using a proportional flow valve