A contoured floating friction ring for general use in automobile lock-up clutch mechanisms of the type which include, a front cover having a friction bearing base surface and circumferential side wall, and a cooperating pressure plate provided with a bonded friction ring. The friction ring includes a base section which is disposed over the friction bearing surface, a bridging section which is disposed in conforming relation to the junction between the base and circumferential side wall of the cover, and an outer edge section which extends outwardly from the bridging section in overlying relation to the circumferential wall.

Torque converter type automatic transmissions are used extensively by the automobile industry in motor vehicle applications. These torque converters operate to hydraulically couple the torque output of the engine to the gear box of the transmission. Lock-up clutches are used in torque converters to improve fuel economy at cruising speeds by reducing the power losses caused by the inherent slippage in the hydraulic coupling. Lock-up clutches are designed to engage above a predetermined minimum vehicle speed and effect a direct mechanical coupling of the engine and the transmission gear box. This results in a bypassing of the hydraulic coupling and an elimination of the slippage in the automobile drive train.
Conventional lock-up clutches have three main components; a pressure plate, a front cover and a friction ring. The mechanical coupling effected by the clutch is achieved by forcibly extending the pressure plate of the clutch until it squeezes the friction ring between itself and the base plate of the front cover. An example of a conventional torque converter lock-up clutch can be found in Mikel U.S. Pat. No. 4,289,048.
An exploded view of the major components of a conventional torque converter manufactured by General Motors Corp., Detroit, Mich. (GM), is shown in FIG. 1. The converter includes a lock-up clutch having a front cover 2, a pressure plate 4 and an annular friction ring 6 bonded to the pressure plate surface 8 facing the front cover 2. The base plate 10 of the front cover 2 has a friction surface 12 for engaging the bonded friction ring 6. The torque converter further includes an impeller 14 which hydrokinetically drives a turbine 16. When assembled, the turbine 16 is connected to the output shaft (not shown) of the converter and the impeller 14 is welded to the front cover 2 which is in turn connected to the engine crankshaft (not shown). Thus, the torque output of the engine is transmitted to the impeller 14 by the front cover 2 and then through the transmission fluid to the turbine 16 and the automobile drive train.
FIG. 2 is a partial cross sectional view of the GM converter clutch showing the clutch in its engaged position. Referring to FIG. 2, the pressure plate 4 which is connected to the turbine 16 has been extended outward from the turbine 16 until the bonded friction ring 6 has contacted the base plate friction surface 12. This effects a direct mechanical coupling of the front cover 2, pressure plate 4 and turbine 16 resulting in a bypassing of the hydraulic coupling and an elimination of the slippage in the drive train. This view also shows that the GM front cover 2 has a rounded inner corner 28 at the intersection of the base plate 10 and the side wall 23.
In conventional applications, the friction ring in the lock-up clutch is made of a heat and wear resistant material. Examples of such prior art material can be found in H. F. Arledter et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,270,846. The ring in conventional applications is either bonded to one of the clutch surfaces or floats freely in between them. Floating friction rings, because of their dual friction surfaces, have longer lives and provide better sealing within torque converters. Conversely, bonded friction rings, which only have a single friction surface, cannot provide these additional benefits. Therefore, when rebuilding torque converter clutches which originally employed bonded friction rings, it would be advantageous to replace them with floating rings. However, these bonded applications are not generally retrofitable with floating friction rings because their front covers do not have squared ring receiving surfaces.
Conventional floating rings are flat annular disks and therefore require that the inside corners of the front cover be square in order to properly interact with the outer edge of the ring. Without the squared corners, the ring cannot be properly piloted and centered within the main bore of the front cover. Therefore, when retrofitting floating rings into bonded applications, machining is necessary to remove the interfering surfaces which exist at the periphery of the base plate of the front cover in order to create a squared receiving surface for the ring. However, this machining cannot be accomplished without significant damage to the front cover and, therefore, the old bonded ring must be replaced by a new bonded ring having the same disadvantages.
FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic cross sectional view of a bonded application clutch 40 retrofitted with a conventional flat floating friction ring 30. This figure is an illustration of the type of problem which the preferred embodiment is designed to eliminate. Referring to FIG. 3, the pressure plate 32 has engaged the friction ring 30 but the base plate 34 of the front cover 36 has an annular interfering surface 35 extending outwardly at its periphery which prevents the floating friction ring 30 from engaging the base plate friction surface 33. Therefore, in order to install the floating friction ring 30 in this type of converter, it is necessary to machine the front cover 36 to remove the interfering surface 35 to allow the friction ring 30 to sit squarely within the bore 37 of the front cover 36 thereby properly engaging the base plate friction surface 33.
Replacement of an old bonded ring with a new one involves removing the old clutch surface and adhesive by mechanical or chemical methods, preparing the metal surface to receive the new ring, applying adhesive and adhering the ring to the clutch surface through the application of heat and pressure, (several examples of bonding frictional materials to metal surfaces can be found in the Arledter patent). On the other hand, retrofitting with a floating friction ring would only require the removal of the old ring and would eliminate the processing associated with adhering a new ring. Therefore, if it were not for the aforementioned problems associated with the interfering surfaces on the base plate, retrofitting a bonded application with a floating friction ring would involve less processing of the clutch parts and result in time and money savings.
Accordingly, it is the broad object of the present invention to provide a contoured floating friction ring for general use in torque converter lock-up clutches.
A more specific object of the invention is to provide a contoured floating friction ring for use in retrofitting conventional bonded ring torque converters.
Another object of the invention to provide method for custom fabrication of the contoured floating friction ring of the invention.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a floating friction ring and method of fabrication which effect economies in materials and retrofitting applications thereof.

Contoured floating friction ring for automatic transmission torque converters


An electrical connector assembly includes two connectors (22, 24), wherein the first connector has a pair of contacts (46A, 46B, FIG. 9 ) which rapidly break engagement as the connectors slowly approach each other. An actuator (60), has a ridge deflector (72) for moving back a contact end portion (52A), the actuator being urged rearwardly (R) by a first spring (100). However, a pair of rearwardly bowed trigger springs (82) press against surfaces (96) to resist rearward (R) actuator movement. As the connectors progressively approach each other, the first spring (100) is progressively compressed, causing increasing deflection of the middles of the trigger springs (82), until resistance offered by the trigger springs suddenly decreases. The actuator then moves rapidly rearward, so its deflector (72) moves back the contact end portion (52A) to rapidly open the switch. The actuator is rapidly moved back by the now-compressed first spring (100).

The present invention relates to a connection assembly of the type comprising two complementary connectors, such as a plug and a socket of the circuit-looping type. This type of connector, also called "self-looping", is used to connect an apparatus in series with a circuit, with the complete breaking of the connection occurring during a brief period such as, for example, on the order of a few hundreds of microseconds. Rapid breaking avoids a moderately high resistance for a considerable period, which could cause arcing, erratic circuit operation, or other problems. The connector may have two switches which must be opened (and later closed) simultaneously, to assure that both switches are always in the same open or closed states.
In prior systems, the triggering speed of the switches depends directly on the relative speed at which the two connector housings approach each other. If mating occurs while a threaded coupling ring on one connector is turned about threads on the other connector, then switch operation may be slow, and two switches may be operated at distinctly different times.

Connection assembly with fast break switches


A laminating system includes a pair of heated laminating rollers (14, 110) for drawing laminating film (12, 114) from supply rolls and preheat members (30, 118) between the supply rolls and the laminating rollers. The preheat rollers are heated internally by a recirculating fluid system or by an electrical mechanism (212-220), while the laminating rollers are heated by a fluid system (70-82) or a separate electrical system. The system also includes pull rollers (18) for drawing the laminated articles from the laminating rollers and a blower system (20, 232) for cooling the articles.

Laminating systems for applying two sheets of plastic film on opposite surfaces of an article have been known for a number of years. Examples of such systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,309,983; 4,268,345; and, 4,090,911. In all of these systems, a pair of supply rolls supply two continuous webs of film between and into the nip of a pair of pressure laminating rolls which also receive the article therebetween.
Respective webs of laminating film have a heat-activated coating on one surface thereof and the system includes shoe-type heating members that are partially wrapped around the laminating rollers to heat the rollers. The respective webs of film are entrained over the arcuate shoes to heat the film sufficiently to activate the adhesive so that it becomes slightly fluent and the pressure laminating rollers bond the heated webs to the article, which is sandwiched therebetween. In this type of system, pull rollers are located downstream of the pressure rollers and maintain tension on the laminated article as it is being moved between cooling fans, located above and/or below the laminated article.
The shoe-type heating members usually are heated through electrical resisting heating elements that are either mounted in the shoes or adjacent the rear surface thereof. The shoes define generally arcuate surfaces over which the laminating film passes to provide extended contact with the film immediately prior to entering the nip of the laminating rollers and thus activate the adhesive.
Certain problems have been encountered with laminating systems of this type and the primary shortcoming is the unevenness of the heat produced by the shoetype member which results in varying temperatures across the entire width of the web. In addition, the partially-heated film immediately enters the laminating area from the heated shoes and does not allow for adequate transfer of the heat applied to the sheets to the adhesive and also does not allow for distribution of the heat across the sheets. It will be appreciated that uneven heat applied across the web of the sheet can produce either overheating or underheating of the web, which will result in a defective product.
Another problem encountered with the prior art systems is the fact that the laminating film must be of a certain character and, thus, the number of different laminating films that can be used is limited. For example, in the systems disclosed in the prior art, all of the heating of the laminating film is done by the stationary heated shoes immediately before the laminating film enters the nip between the pressure rollers. This is necessary to prevent stretching or elongation of the film in the heated condition, which may cause the film to wrinkle. This is particularly true when using a film such as polypropylene and, thus, these types of machines are incapable of laminating articles utilizing films other than polyethylene.
Thus, prior art laminating is effectively limited to using polyethylene films which can be heated by the stationary heated shoes of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,345 without stretching or wrinkling.
A further problem with the prior art types of machines is the fact that the speed is extremely limited since the film must be in contact with the heating shoes a sufficient amount of time to elevate the temperature thereof sufficiently to activate the adhesive. Thus, it is necessary to limit the speed of operation to obtain the proper heating characteristics, which may vary depending upon the adhesive and the type of polyethylene film that are being utilized.


A peripheral interface circuit for an I/O node of a computer system. A peripheral interface circuit for an input/output node of a computer system includes a first buffer circuit, a second buffer circuit and a bus interface circuit. The first buffer circuit receives packet commands and may include a first plurality of buffers each corresponding to a respective virtual channel of a plurality of virtual channels. The second buffer circuit is coupled to receive packet commands from the bus interface circuit and may include a second plurality of buffers each corresponding to a respective virtual channel of the plurality of virtual channels. The bus interface circuit may be configured to translate selected packet commands stored in the first buffer circuit into commands suitable for transmission on a peripheral bus.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer system input/output and, more particularly, to peripheral transaction handling within an input/output node.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a typical computer system, one or more processors may communicate with input/output (I/O) devices over one or more buses. The I/O devices may be coupled to the processors through an I/O bridge which manages the transfer of information between a peripheral bus connected to the I/O devices and a shared bus connected to the processors. Additionally, the I/O bridge may manage the transfer of information between a system memory and the I/O devices or the system memory and the processors.
Unfortunately, many bus systems suffer from several drawbacks. For example, multiple devices attached to a bus may present a relatively large electrical capacitance to devices driving signals on the bus. In addition, the multiple attach points on a shared bus produce signal reflections at high signal frequencies which reduce signal integrity. As a result, signal frequencies on the bus are generally kept relatively low in order to maintain signal integrity at an acceptable level. The relatively low signal frequencies reduce signal bandwidth, limiting the performance of devices attached to the bus.
Lack of scalability to larger numbers of devices is another disadvantage of shared bus systems. The available bandwidth of a shared bus is substantially fixed (and may decrease if adding additional devices causes a reduction in signal frequencies upon the bus). Once the bandwidth requirements of the devices attached to the bus (either directly or indirectly) exceeds the available bandwidth of the bus, devices will frequently be stalled when attempting access to the bus, and overall performance of the computer system including the shared bus will most likely be reduced. An example of a shared bus used by I/O devices is a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus or an extended PCI (PCI-X) bus.
Many I/O bridging devices use a buffering mechanism to buffer a number of pending transactions from the PCI bus to a final destination bus. However buffering may introduce stalls on the PCI bus. Stalls may be caused when a series of transactions are buffered in a queue and awaiting transmission to a destination bus and a stall occurs on the destination bus, which stops forward progress. Then a transaction that will allow those waiting transactions to complete arrives at the queue and is stored behind the other transactions. To break the stall, the transactions in the queue must somehow be reordered to allow the newly arrived transaction to be transmitted ahead of the pending transactions. Thus, to prevent scenarios such as this, the PCI bus specification prescribes a set of reordering rules that govern the handling and ordering of PCI bus transactions.
To overcome some of the drawbacks of a shared bus, some computer systems may use packet-based communications between devices or nodes. In such systems, nodes may communicate with each other by exchanging packets of information. In general, a xe2x80x9cnodexe2x80x9d is a device which is capable of participating in transactions upon an interconnect. For example, the interconnect may be packet-based, and the node may be configured to receive and transmit packets. Generally speaking, a xe2x80x9cpacketxe2x80x9d is a communication between two nodes: an initiating or xe2x80x9csourcexe2x80x9d node which transmits the packet and a destination or xe2x80x9ctargetxe2x80x9d node which receives the packet. When a packet reaches the target node, the target node accepts the information conveyed by the packet and processes the information internally. A node located on a communication path between the source and target nodes may relay or forward the packet from the source node to the target node.
Additionally, there are systems that use a combination of packet-based communications and bus-based communications. For example, a system may connect to a PCI bus and a graphics bus such as AGP. The PCI bus may be connected to a packet bus interface that may then translate PCI bus transactions into packet transactions for transmission on a packet bus. Likewise the graphics bus may be connected to an AGP interface that may translate AGP bus transactions into packet transactions. Each interface may communicate with a host bridge associated with one of the processors or in some cases to another peripheral device.
When PCI devices initiate the transactions, the packet-based transactions may be constrained by the same ordering rules as set forth in the PCI Local Bus specification. The same may be true for packet transactions destined for the PCI bus. These ordering rules are still observed in the packet-based transactions since transaction stalls that may occur at a packet bus interface may cause a deadlock at that packet bus interface. This deadlock may cause further stalls back into the packet bus fabric. In addition, AGP transactions may follow a set of transaction ordering rules to ensure proper delivery of data.
Depending on the configuration of the I/O nodes, transactions may be forwarded through a node to another node either in a direction to the host bridge or away from the host bridge. Alternatively, transactions may be injected into packet traffic at a particular node by a peripheral bus which may be connected locally at that node. In either scenario, a peripheral interface circuit that may buffer and control the peripheral transactions as the transactions are either injected into the communication path or accepted from the communication path may be desirable.
Various embodiments of a peripheral interface circuit for an I/O node of a computer system are disclosed. In one embodiment, a peripheral interface circuit for an input/output node of a computer system includes a first buffer circuit, a second buffer circuit and a bus interface circuit. The first buffer circuit is coupled to receive packet commands from a source such as a receiver. The first buffer circuit may include a first plurality of buffers each corresponding to a respective virtual channel of a plurality of virtual channels. The second buffer circuit is coupled to receive the packet commands from the bus interface circuit and may include a second plurality of buffers each corresponding to a respective virtual channel of the plurality of virtual channels. Each of the first and second plurality of buffers is for storing selected packet commands that belong to the respective virtual channel. Each of the plurality of buffers may be illustrative of a FIFO buffer for example. The bus interface circuit is coupled to the first buffer circuit and may be configured to translate the selected packet commands stored in the first buffer circuit into commands suitable for transmission on a peripheral bus. The bus interface circuit may also be configured to translate the commands suitable for transmission on a peripheral bus into packet commands.
In one particular implementation, the peripheral interface circuit may include a control logic unit coupled to the first buffer circuit and the second buffer circuit. The control logic unit may be configured to control the conveyance of the packet commands to and from the bus interface circuit. Further, the peripheral interface circuit may include a tag logic unit which is also coupled to the first buffer circuit. The tag logic unit may be configured to receive and to generate a tag value for each of the packet commands. The tag value may correspond to the order of receipt of each of the packet commands relative to other packet commands. The peripheral interface circuit may further include an arbitration logic unit which is also coupled to the first buffer circuit and configured to arbitrate between the packet commands stored in the first plurality of buffers depending upon the tag value for each of the control commands.
In another embodiment, a computer system includes one or more processors such as an X86 type processor for example, coupled to one or more input/output nodes via a point-to-point packet bus. The packet bus may be a HyperTransport(trademark) bus for example. The computer system also includes one or more peripheral buses connected to convey address, data and control signals between respective ones of the one or more input/output nodes and one or more peripheral devices. The peripheral bus may be a PCI or PCI-X bus for example. Each of the input/output nodes includes a first transceiver circuit configured to receive a first packet command on a first communication path and a second transceiver circuit configured to receive a second packet command on a second communication path. In addition, the I/O node includes one or more peripheral interface circuits such as the peripheral interface circuit described in the above embodiment.

Peripheral interface circuit for an I/O node of a computer system


Provided is a coated cutting tool having a coating and a substrate. The coating includes at least one chemical vapor deposited (CVD) layer and at least one physical vapor deposited (PVD) layer. The outermost layer of the coating is a PVD layer, containing residual compressive stresses. The substrate is a composite having hard refractory grains bonded together by a binder material.

The present invention relates to the field of coated cutting tools.
In the past, cemented carbide cutting tools have been used in both a coated and an uncoated condition to machine metals and alloys. The application of a coating having one or more layers of a refractory material to a tungsten carbide-cobalt cemented carbide substrate has been used to improve the wear resistance and application range of cemented carbide cutting tools. In the past, refractory coatings, such as TiC, TiCN, TiN, and Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, have been applied by CVD (chemical vapor deposition) techniques. In addition, TiN coatings have been applied by PVD (physical vapor deposition) techniques. Such CVD coatings deposited on cemented carbide substrates are characterized by thermal cracks, and residual tensile stresses. PVD TiN coatings are characterized by a dense, pore free structure without thermal cracks, and may have residual compressive stresses. The application of CVD coatings to cemented carbide substrates results in a reduction in the transverse rupture strength of the insert and, therefore, produces a greater susceptibility to chipping and breakage during use.


The total heating energy to be given to the folded parts of packages (i.e. box-like items) is changed within a short period of time in response to a variation of transferring speed of the box-like items. As the heater moving mechanisms are operated, each of the heater blocks is moved towards or away from the inside parts of each of the package conveying annular belts in synchronization with the transferring speed of the box-like items. The number of heated blocks abutting against the inside parts of each of the annular belts is varied in response to the transferring speed of the box-like items.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sealing device for a packaging machine for utilizing thermoplastic packaging sheet such as cellophane or polypropylene to form a cover on box-like items such as cigarettes covered by a packaging sheet, for example. More particularly, the invention relates to a sealing device in which annular belts are wound around, in opposition to the right and left sides of the box-like items, along both right and left sides of a transferring passage for continuously transferring the box-like items. For example, both of the annular belts are moved toward a transferring direction of the box-like items in synchronism with their transferring speed, a plurality of heater blocks are disposed within each of the annular belts along the transferring direction, and heat from the heater blocks is transmitted to the folding parts of the folded packaging sheet along the right and left side surfaces of the box-like items through the inner sides of each of the annular belts so as to thermally adhere the folding parts of the packaging sheets.
2. Background and Material Information
In the prior art sealing device for a packaging machine, according to a system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 1-294406, a plurality of heater blocks are abutted against the inner sides of each of the annular belts and the right and left side surfaces of the box-like items by springs acting with a specified pressure. As the folded box-like items pass between these right and left annular belts, both folded parts are held by the inner side of each of the annular belts, heat from the heater blocks is transmitted to thermally melt both folded parts and at the same time, a plurality of heater blocks are separately heated so that a temperature of each of the annular belts is controlled in response to a transferring speed of the box-like items. Then, a specified amount of heating calories is given to each of the folded parts that is related to a variation in the transfer speed of the box-like items.
In addition, the sealing device for a packaging machine can be constructed as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 61-39251, for example. A winding device for winding the packaging sheet around the box-like items and a folding device for the projecting ends of the packaging sheet which project from the right and left side surfaces of the wound box-like items in a rectangular cylinder form along the side surfaces are continuously disposed as a pre-stage. An item discharging device for discharging box-like items of poor packaged state quality, a multi-stage piling and discharging device for piling up the items in a predetermined number of stages, and discharging the items into a box packaging stage as a post-stage are continuously disposed and they cooperate with other devices placed thereacross.
However, such a prior art sealing device for a packaging machine has some problems including that a plurality of heater blocks are always abutted against the annular belts. Even if a temperature of the heater blocks is lowered or decreased, for example, the temperature is not decreased rapidly due to its surplus heat. Thus in particular, in case that an operating speed (i.e. a transferring speed of the box-like items) may easily be varied, a total amount of heat transferred to the box-like items in response to the transferring speed may not be changed within a short period of time, even though the transferring speed of the box-like items is required to be rapidly accelerated or rapidly decelerated within a short period of time. As a result, a specified amount of heating calories may not be given to the folded parts of the packaging sheet to be transferred at a different speed, and a finished state of the thermal melting is not made uniform, and a poor item may easily be produced.


An n-type drift region, a p-type first body region and a p-type contact region are formed on an SiC substrate by epitaxial growth. An opening is formed within the contact region by etching such that the first body region is exposed through the opening, and a p-type second body region is formed on the first body region exposed through the opening by epitaxial growth. An n-type source region is formed by epitaxial growth, and an opening is formed within a part of the source region located on the contact region by etching such that the contact region is exposed through the opening. A trench is formed by etching such that the trench extends from the source region to the drift region through the opening of the contact region, and a gate insulating film and a gate electrode are formed within the trench.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-339064 discloses a MOSFET. This MOSFET includes a semiconductor substrate, and an insulated gate electrode located within a trench defined on the semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor substrate includes an n-plus type drain region, an n-minus type drift region located on the drain region, a p-minus type body region located on the drift region, an n-plus type source region located on the body region, the source region appearing on a surface of the semiconductor substrate, and a p-plus type contact region located on the body region, the contact region appearing an the surface of the semiconductor substrate. The trench extends from the surface of the semiconductor substrate to the drift region through the body region. The source region appears on the inner surface of the trench and faces the gate electrode via a gate insulating film. A part of the contact region is located under the source region.

SiC-MOSFET and method of manufacturing the same


A microwave antenna includes a first spiral conduit having a first conduit end, first plural ports in a floor of the first spiral conduit spaced apart along the length of the first spiral conduit; an axial conduit coupled to a rotatable stage; and a distributor waveguide comprising an input coupled to the axial conduit and a first output coupled to the first conduit end.

Technical Field
The disclosure concerns a chamber or reactor for processing a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer using microwave power.
Description of Related Art
Processing of a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer can be carried out using a form of electromagnetic energy, such as RF power or microwave power, for example. The power may be employed, for example, to generate a plasma, for carrying out a plasma-based process such as plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) or plasma enhanced reactive ion etching (PERIE). Some processes need extremely high plasma ion densities with extremely low plasma ion energies. This is true for processes such as deposition of diamond-like carbon (DLC) films, where the time required to deposit some type of DLC films can be on the order of hours, depending upon the desired thickness and upon the plasma ion density. A higher plasma density requires higher source power and generally translates to a shorter deposition time.
A microwave source typically produces a very high plasma ion density while producing a plasma ion energy that is less than that of other sources (e.g., an inductively coupled RF plasma source or a capacitively coupled RF plasma source). For this reason, a microwave source would be ideal. However, a microwave source cannot meet the stringent uniformity required for distribution across the workpiece of deposition rate or etch rate. The minimum uniformity may correspond to a process rate variation across a 300 mm diameter workpiece of less than 1%. The microwave power is delivered into the chamber through a microwave antenna such as a waveguide having slots facing a dielectric window of the chamber. Microwaves propagate into the chamber through the slots. The antenna has a periodic power deposition pattern reflecting the wave pattern of the microwave emission and the slot layout, rendering the process rate distribution non-uniform. This prevents attainment of the desired process rate uniformity across the workpiece.
A limitation on processing rate is the amount of microwave power that can be delivered to a process chamber without damaging or overheating the microwave window of the chamber. Currently, a microwave window, such as a quartz plate, can withstand only low microwave power levels at which DLC deposition processes can require hours to reach a desired DLC film thickness. The microwave window provides a vacuum boundary of the chamber and is consequently subject to significant mechanical stress, rendering it vulnerable to damage from overheating.

Workpiece processing chamber having a rotary microwave plasma antenna with slotted spiral waveguide


A supplementary power supply for a vehicle that includes a main power supply is disclosed. The supplementary power supply includes at least one supplementary power unit dedicated as backup power supply for safety relevant components such as controllers and/or actuators.

The present invention relates to a supplementary power supply, a redundant vehicle power supply system, a method for supplying supplementary power and, in particular, to an asymmetric redundant electric power supply architecture.
The electrification in the automotive sector has triggered replacements of several vehicle components resulting in novel architectures. For example, many components of commercial vehicles used to rely on compressed air as energy source for control and actuation purposes. A redundant power supply system based on compressed air was implemented for several safety relevant components. Due to the electrification many of these pneumatic components are to be replaced by electrically powered components. In addition, automated driving applications set new requirements for the vehicle systems and, in particular, for safety relevant units.
A conventional system is disclosed in DE 10 2006 010 713 A1, wherein a safety-relevant consumer is electrically connected with a primary system and a secondary system. The consumer is redundantly supplied with power by the primary and secondary systems, which are decoupled from one another. Another conventional system is disclosed in DE 10 2007 021 286 A1, wherein an electromechanical braking system and an associated method with a fail-safe power supply is described.
However, there is a demand for further redundant power supply architectures for ensuring controlling and actuating safety of relevant components in a vehicle.
At least some of these problems are solved by a supplementary power supply, a redundant power supply system, and a method, according to the independent claims. The dependent claims refer to specifically advantageous realizations of the subject matter of the independent claims.
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a supplementary (or secondary) power supply for a vehicle that includes a main power supply. The supplementary power supply includes at least one supplementary power unit dedicated as backup power supply for at least one safety relevant vehicle component, in particular for one or more controllers and/or one or more actuators.
Under normal operation the main power supply can provide power to the safety relevant component(s). But if the main power supply exhibits a failure, the supplementary power supply can be engaged to provide the backup power. The supplementary power supply may not supply power as long as the main power supply operates correctly. In addition, the supplementary power supply may be dedicated to specific safety relevant components. It may not be a general redundant power supply for the main power supply to provide additional power to all vehicle components. It is understood that the main power supply may provide its own application independent redundancy.
The safety relevant components that shall be protected by embodiments of the present invention are, in particular, those components (e.g. control units, actuators, sensors etc.) that represent an immediate threat for people and/or the load in case of its failure. A failure of the main power supply does not mean necessarily an error or malfunctioning. The term "failure" refers likewise to the situation, where the main power supply is insufficient or (almost) empty and needs to be recharged. In this case, too, a correct functioning of the vehicle components cannot be ensured by the main power supply.
To further increase the safety level, the supplementary power may include a management unit for monitoring and managing the supplementary power unit. Optionally, the management unit is configured to provide load information (e.g. to the driver) indicating a remaining capacity for performing maneuvers.
Optionally, the at least one supplementary power unit includes different, dedicated electrical energy storage units to provide, in case of a failure of the main power supply, independent power for specific one or more safety relevant components.
Optionally, the at least one supplementary power unit comprises a lower electric capacity compared to an electrical storage capacity of the main power supply. Thus, embodiments relate, in particular, to an asymmetric power supply. The capacity of the supplementary power supply may be adjusted to the particular safety relevant component.
Optionally, the safety relevant component(s) such as one or more controllers or actuators are part of at least one of the following units: a steering unit, a braking unit, an electronic control unit of the vehicle, a light unit, a sensor unit.
Further embodiments relate to a redundant electric power supply system for a vehicle. The system includes a main power supply for providing electric power for operating the vehicle, and a supplementary power supply as defined before to provide backup power for at least one safety relevant vehicle component. The main power supply is adapted to provide power for the safety relevant vehicle component as well as to other vehicle components. On the other hand, the supplementary power supply may be adapted to provide only backup power for the safety relevant vehicle component in case of a failure in the main power supply.
Optionally, the redundant power supply system includes a management unit for the main power supply for monitoring and controlling the main power supply and to provide information indicating a load status of the main power supply (e.g. to the driver).
Further embodiments relate to a vehicle, in particular a commercial vehicle, with a redundant electric power supply system as defined before.
Yet another embodiment relates to a method for providing supplemental power supply for a vehicle with a main power supply. The method comprises the steps of:                detecting a failure in the main power supply (e.g. by one of the management units);        providing supplemental power for safety relevant components (e.g. controllers and/or actuators) from at least one supplementary power supply unit dedicated as backup power supply.
This method or part thereof may also be implemented in or caused by software or a computer program product. Embodiments of the present invention can, in particular, be implemented by software or a software module in an ECU of the vehicle. Therefore, embodiment relate also to a computer program having a program code for performing the method, when the computer program is executed on a processor.
A particular advantage of embodiments of the present invention is the ability to ensure a redundant power supply for a system relying on a primary main power supply by an additional, independent power supply (supplemental power supply) dedicated for safety relevant consumers/applications/components. These include, inter alia, applications or controllers or actuators for several units that are essential for the vehicle security (e.g. relating to braking, steering, sensing the surrounding etc.).
Some examples of the systems and/or methods will be described in the following by way of examples only, and with respect to the accompanying figure.

Supplementary power supply and a method for providing supplemental power

KNORR-BREMSE Systeme fuer Nutzfahrzeuge GmbH


A printing device includes a printing unit, a pair of transporting rollers (a pair of rollers) that is disposed right before the printing unit and that transport a medium to the printing unit, and a transportation direction changing mechanism that is disposed on an upstream side of the pair of transporting rollers and that changes a transportation direction of the medium before the medium is nipped by the pair of transporting rollers. The transportation direction changing mechanism changes a transportation direction of a following medium such that a leading end portion of the following medium overlaps a preceding medium when the printing unit performs printing in a state where the preceding medium is nipped by the pair of transporting rollers.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a printing device that can transport a preceding medium and a following medium while partially overlapping the mediums.
2. Related Art
In the related art, there is a known printing device that can transport a preceding medium (for example, a paper sheet (the same applies to the following)) and a following medium while partially overlapping the mediums for the purpose of improving throughput (for example, JP-A-2015-168237).
In the printing device described in JP-A-2015-168237, a trailing end portion of a preceding medium is pressed down by a lever so that a trailing portion of the preceding medium and a leading portion of a following medium overlap each other (refer to ST5 and ST6 in FIG. 2 of JP-A-2015-168237).
Incidentally, an operation of overlapping a preceding medium and a following medium is performed during printing on the preceding medium. In the related art, the trailing end portion of the preceding medium is pressed down by a lever in the overlapping operation so that the medium is bent. However, if the medium is bent while printing is being performed on the medium, stress based on the bending may be transmitted toward a leading portion of the medium and the state of a portion of the medium, on which printing is performed, may be changed (for example, positional deviation or distortion may occur). In addition, if the state of a portion of the medium, on which printing is performed, is changed during printing, printing quality decreases.


In an information processing apparatus, a control unit receives operation instructions. Each time receiving an operation instruction, the control unit detects the number of operating circuits that are to operate in accordance with the received operation instruction, in a circuit group of circuits that operate in synchronization with a clock signal. In addition, each time receiving an operation instruction, the control unit determines whether power supply noise that is likely to cause a timing error in the circuit group will occur, on the basis of a result of comparing an increase in the number of operating circuits per prescribed time period with a threshold, and lowers the frequency of the clock signal when determining that the power supply noise will occur.

In semiconductor integrated circuits, such as large scale integrated (LSI) circuits, power supply noise (also called simultaneous switching noise) may occur when computational load or an increase in the number of operating circuits per prescribed time period greatly changes. Here, the following possibility exists: If power supply noise occurs, the power supply voltage drops and therefore sufficient voltage is not supplied to internal circuits of the semiconductor integrated circuit, which generates a circuit delay and thus causes a timing error.
To prevent the occurrence of timing errors due to power supply noise, an adaptive clocking control (ACC) circuit has been used (see, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2017-17671). The ACC circuit monitors a drop in power supply voltage using a power supply noise monitor, and when the power supply voltage drops below a threshold voltage that causes a timing error, lowers the frequency of a clock signal to be supplied to internal circuits of the semiconductor integrated circuit, thereby preventing the timing error. Without the ACC circuit, there is a need to determine a clock frequency taking into account timing errors that are caused by the maximum power supply noise within the semiconductor integrated circuit. However, the use of the ACC circuit eliminates the need of such determination. As power supply noise monitors for conventional ACC circuits, there are a voltage sensor that directly detects a drop in power supply voltage, a delay measurement circuit that measures a signal delay due to a drop in power supply voltage, and others.
In this connection, in order to reduce impact of instantaneous power on power supply and battery, there has been used a technique of predicting, before the state of a semiconductor integrated circuit transitions to a new state, power in the new state and controlling a clock frequency on the basis of the predicted power (see, for example, Japanese National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2018-505470). In addition, there has been used a technique of stopping a clock when a voltage drop that causes a system malfunction is detected based on a result of monitoring power supply voltage at a sampling rate higher than an expected frequency of power supply voltage fluctuations (for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2017-58911).
As described above, conventional ACC circuits employ a method of directly detecting a power supply voltage and a method of measuring a signal delay due to a drop in power supply voltage. Therefore, owing to the time for propagation of power supply noise to an ACC circuit and the delay time due to a detection delay of a power supply noise monitor and others, a clock frequency is lowered only after the power supply noise substantially Occurs. That is, it is difficult to handle sudden (instantaneous) power supply noise. To deal with this, the conventional ACC circuits may be designed to set a relatively high threshold so as to start to lower the clock frequency early enough, taking the above delay time into account.
In this case, however, the clock frequency may be lowered even when relatively small power supply noise that is unlikely to cause a timing error occurs (for example, such noise occurs during execution of a program with low computational load). Thus, there is a possibility of increasing the number of times the clock frequency is lowered.

Information processing apparatus and control method


A polarized optical element is disclosed comprising an upper portion and a lower portion defined at opposite parts with respect to a median line passing through the geometric center of the optical element, wherein: a) in the upper portion and at a distance of at least 10 mm from the median line the factor of luminous transmittance is between 3% and 20%; b) in the lower portion and at a distance of at least 10 mm from the median line the factor of luminous transmittance is between 15% and 65%; c) the ratio of the luminous transmittance measured in the lower portion at a distance of at least 10 mm below the median line and the luminous transmittance measured in the upper portion at a distance of at least 10 mm above the median line is not lower than 1.5; d) the colors of the upper and lower portions of the optical element are such that: d1) the absolute value of the difference between the value of the colorimetric coordinate a* of the upper portion measured at a point located 10 mm above the median line and the value of the colorimetric coordinate a* of the lower portion measured at a point located 10 mm below the median line is comprised between 0 and 60, d2) the absolute value of the difference between the value of the colorimetric coordinate b* of the upper portion measured at a point located 10 mm above the median line and the value of the colorimetric coordinate b* of the lower portion measured at a point located 10 mm below the median line is comprised between 0 and 60, e) the degree of polarization of the optical element is uniform both along a vertical and along a horizontal direction and is equal to at least 45% as measured according to European Standard EN 1836.

A first desired feature of optical elements for daily use, such as sunglass lenses, is the reduction of glare, which term refers to the presence of areas or "hot spots" in the field of vision which are of sufficient brightness to cause visual impediment, such as temporary blurring of vision, or ocular fatigue. Glare often occurs when a patch of bright light is reflected from smooth, shiny surfaces, such as water, snow, roadway or glass, into the eye.
A second desired feature of optical elements for daily use, such as sunglass lenses, is the accomplishment of a proper reduction of the visual discomfort which may arise when an object is focused alternately and repeatedly in the presence of an illumino-environmental contrast now limited now high, such as for instance the contrast which exists, respectively, between an object and the ground or an object and the sky that has in itself a markedly higher luminance.
In this regard, some experimental tests carried out by the Applicant in sunny conditions in a varied environment in the presence of vegetation and at the latitude of about 43° North, have shown that the luminance of the sky may be from 1.5 to about 9 times higher than the luminance of the ground.
In such circumstances, the eye must vary continuously the pupillary diameter, consequently adjusting the exposure of the retina to the external light, to face alternately high and low luminosity conditions.
In spite of the efforts of the eye to adapt itself to an average situation, which in any case would not allow an optimal vision, this brings about a visual stress that may lead to visual straining and in some cases also to a partial (even though reversible) damage of the receptors located on the retina.
Such unfavorable phenomenon is always present and particularly marked when playing some sports activities in which the athlete or the sportsman repeatedly passes from the observation of objects in a relatively little luminous field to the observation of objects that are in a markedly more luminous field.
In some circumstances, the visual discomfort to the eye may even be enhanced to levels which impair a good vision and cause great visual stress when an illumino-environmental contrast is coupled to the presence of glare or "hot spots". As can be easily understood, the stress generated to the eye is at a maximum level because the variation of pupillary diameter is forced not only when objects are alternately focused at different relative positions along a vertical direction, but also when they are alternatively focused against the ground in areas having different levels of glare along a horizontal direction.
Additionally, if a condition of relatively low diffused luminance but uniform glare is present at ground level, the eye will adapt itself to this illumination condition by lowering its sensitivity to take account of the glare with a consequent undesired loss of visual acuity.
An example of activity subjected to high visual stress due to the possible simultaneous presence of glare and of a marked illumino-environmental contrast, is driving a vehicle in bright sun conditions and alternately focusing the roadway and the instrumentation inside the vehicle.
Other examples of activities subjected to high visual stresses due to the particular illumination conditions described above are climbing in slopes with snow or climbing glaciers (the climber has continuously to look alternatively to the high glare ground and towards the summit with the sky as a background), or sailing (the skipper has the need of continuously looking alternatively to the sea surface or to objects having the sea surface as background and to the top of the sails with the sky as background).

Polarized optical element having differentiated transmittance properties for use in eye-protecting devices


A standard pattern comparing system recognizes a data by comparing the data with a standard pattern registered in a dictionary, a plurality of kinds of data being supplied to the standard pattern comparing system. The standard pattern comparing system has a plurality of dictionaries including a plurality of normal dictionaries and one master dictionary. All standard patterns stored in each normal dictionary and some of the standard patterns stored in the master dictionary corresponding to one kind of data. There being no duplicate standard pattern included in more than two dictionaries, and each standard pattern included in the master dictionary being commonly used for at least more than two normal dictionaries to correspond to an arbitrary kind of data. The present invention is especially useful for a voice recognition system in which a speaker dependent voice recognizer is used for a personal computer which manages a plurality of application programs. A user of the voice recognizer does not have to register some duplicate words commonly used for at least more than two application programs because of the master dictionary.

The present invention relates generally to standard pattern comparing systems which recognize data by comparing it with a standard pattern registered in a dictionary stored therein, and more particularly to a standard pattern comparing system which uses a proper dictionary in accordance with the kind of data. The present invention also relates to a method for writing out a dictionary used for such a standard pattern comparing system. The present invention is especially useful for a voice recognition system in which a speaker dependent voice recognizer is used with a personal computer which manages a plurality of application programs.
The conventional voice recognition system having a voice recognizer used with a personal computer which manages a plurality of application programs comprises, as shown in FIG. 1, a personal computer 1, an external storage device 2, a voice recognizer 3, and a communication line 4. The personal computer 1 is coupled to the voice recognizer 3 via the communication line 4. The personal computer controls the voice recognizer 3, for example, when a voice dictionary is written out. The personal computer 1 comprises a central processing unit (abbreviated CPU hereinafter) 1a, a memory 1b and a communication controller 1c. The external storage device 2 comprises a voice dictionary data file 2a and a string dictionary data file 2b. The external storage device 2 may comprise a hard disk. The voice recognizer 3, which is a speaker dependent voice recognizer, comprises a recognition part 3a, a voice dictionary data 3b and a string dictionary data 3c. When the voice dictionary is written out, it is temporarily stored in the voice recognizer 3. Since the voice dictionary is volatile in the voice recognizer 3, it is transmitted to the external storage device 2 to be stored therein. The voice dictionary comprises voice dictionary data 3b and string dictionary data 3c. The voice dictionary data 3b specifies a feature of a pronunciation of a word, and the string dictionary data 3c specifies the spelling of the word. The voice and string dictionary data 3b and 3c are respectively stored in voice and string dictionary data files 2a and 2b in the external storage device 2. The voice dictionary is prepared for every application program. The voice recognizer 3 further comprises, as shown in FIG. 2, a microphone 10, a feature-extractor 11, a recognition part 12, voice dictionary data 13, string dictionary data 14, and a plotter 15. As is already known, the feature extractor 11 extracts a feature amount of a voice input from the microphone 10 to generate a feature pattern corresponding to the feature amount. The feature pattern is transmitted to the recognition part 12. The recognition part 12 recognizes the feature pattern by comparing it with the voice dictionary data 13, and outputs a recognition result to the string dictionary data 14. The string dictionary data 14 transmits a string column corresponding to the recognition result to the personal computer 1 via the plotter 15. Voice dictionary data 13 corresponds to string dictionary data 14 for a word number, as shown in FIG.3. A plurality of application programs can be used in the personal computer 1 at the same time.
However, the above conventional recognition system has the following disadvantage. A user must register some duplicate words used for at least more than two application programs, such as "END", "YES" and "NO" as shown in FIG. 4, for every application program, which is troublesome. This disadvantage is present in all standard pattern comparing systems which recognize input data by comparing it with a standard pattern registered therein, the standard pattern comparing system using properly a plurality of standard patterns in accordance with the kind of the input data,

Standard pattern comparing system for eliminating duplicative data entries for different applications program dictionaries, especially suitable for use in voice recognition systems


A method for causing a processor to perform a query on a column-store table of encoded values is provided. The method includes configuring the processor to receive the query, comprising a filter to be applied to at least a first column vector of the encoded values. The processor processes the query for the encoded values in the first column vector, to generate a first vector indicative of respective encoded values passing or failing the filter. The processor determines, from the first vector, an indicator of encoded values passing the filter and encoded values failing the filter, relative to the encoded values in the first column vector. The processor determines a bit length of the encoded values. The processor selects an algorithm for processing the query based on the indicator and the determined bit length of the encoded values. A system and a non-transitory, computer-readable medium are also provided.

As technologies advance, the amount of information stored in electronic form and the desire for real-time or pseudo real-time ability to search such information is ever increasing. Database management systems are designed to organize data in a form that facilitates efficient search and retrieval of select information. Typical database management systems allow a user to submit a "query" in a query language for retrieving information that satisfies particular search parameters.
In known database management systems, a particular query may be processed against data within a database, utilizing a static algorithm or process that is based on the query, without regard for particular features of the query. Because the data against which the query is processed may be extremely large, e.g., hundreds of millions or billions of individual entries, such a static algorithm or process typically takes one or more orders of magnitude more clock cycles than there are individual entries to return a result to the query, making query response time unacceptably large. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to reduce the time required to return results of user queries against database management systems.

Accelerated filtering, grouping and aggregation in a database system


The invention relates to improvements in hot air balloons and the like. An insulation of carbonaceous fibers is provided on the interior of the balloon's envelope and/or the skirt, nozzle or scoop which is light weight and provides flame and scortch protection.

Present hot air sport balloons include a generally sphere-like envelope having an open mouth at the lower end, and certain models include an apex opening at the upper end. The apex opening is selectively covered and uncovered by a circular valve panel, which is controllable by the pilot to permit a controlled venting or deflation of the envelope. A carriage is mounted below the mouth of the envelope for supporting the pilot and other passengers, and a gas burner is mounted on the carriage for heating the air within the envelope.
Hot air ballooning has become an increasingly popular sport in recent years. In virtually all balloons, the hot air required for buoyancy is generated by a burner which uses propane as a fuel. Typical flight durations with these balloons are from one to two hours. However, by carrying a very heavy overload of fuel, a few flights over twelve hours have been possible for hot air balloons. These long flights are for special record-breaking attempts and are not practical for the sport balloonist.
While relatively short flights of one or two hours may be acceptable to many balloonists, it would be most desirable to make longer flights as is commonly the case with gas balloons such as those containing hydrogen or helium. With gas balloons, typical flight durations are more in the range of five to fifteen hours. To make hot air balloons fly, it is necessary to heat air within the balloon sufficiently so that the mass of internal air is less than the mass of the surrounding air by an amount equal to the mass of the balloon and its load.
Additional fuel is required in order to achieve the longer flight time. However, additional fuel not only results in greater hazard because of the presence of flammable fuel but in greater weight.
Additionally, hot air balloons suffer from the problem that during pressurization of the envelope with combustion device it is necessary to hold the envelope stationary to prevent contact of the envelope with hot surfaces that may melt the thin fabric structure. This is not always possible since ballooning primarily occurs outdoors where the balloon is subjected to winds. To avoid the problems of contact with hot surfaces there have been utilized skirts or scoops about the mount or throat of the balloons which acts as a flame barrier. Also, inlet nozzles have been utilized to direct the heated gases into the mouth of the balloon. The flame barriers, skirts and scoops have been generally constructed with fabrics comprising flame retarding high performance fibers such as Kelvar, Nomex or Kynol. Unfortunately, these prior art fabrics add a large amount of additional weight and still are not effective in preventing scorching of the materials if the flame accidently contacts the fabric.
The envelopes of present balloons typically are composed of a plurality of four sided fabric panels, which are interconnected to form a number of vertical gores which extend from the mouth to the apex or deflation port. Light weight fabric such as ripstop nylon and polyester are generally used. To make the envelope non-pervious, the interior is usually coated with polyurethane. Such fabric structures have a maximum operating temperature of 250.degree. F. Temperatures between 250.degree. and 275.degree. F. can only be utilized for only 10 minutes. The lower temperatures are necessary to obtain greater longevity of the fabric since it deteriorates at high temperatures and because of pollutants in the heated gases.

Fire resistant surfaces for hot air balloons


A pre-wired injection molding assembly to be supplied to the customer for installation in a mold. The assembly includes a number of sub-manifolds connected to a main manifold, a wiring frame having a number of elongated fingers connected to the sub-manifolds, and a number of heated nozzles connected to the sub-manifolds. The fingers of the wiring frame extend from a hollow channel member which leads to a connector box. The assembly is pre-wired by the supplier by running the wires from the nozzles along the fingers and through the channel member to the connector box. The pre-wired assembly is mounted from the rear in a matching mold manifold plate which greatly facilitates installation and disassembly for the customer.

This invention relates generally to injection molding and more particular to a pre-wired assembly which greatly facilitates installation of multi-cavity injection molding systems.
Injection molding systems are generally assembled by a molder or moldmaker who makes the mold, including the manifold plate, and installs the manifold and nozzles in it. With the trend toward larger and larger multi-cavity systems, considerable care and precession is required on both the parts of the supplier and the customer If the completed system does not function properly, this division in responsibility can lead to difficulties between them. This has particularly been a problem in regard to the customer wiring systems, with which they are not familiar. Each of the nozzles has a heater wire and usually a thermocouple wire, and therefore wiring large multi-cavity systems can take several days. Furthermore, many existing wired in place systems have manifolds and nozzles installed from one side of a mold manifold plate, with heated components and wiring installed from the opposite side. In addition to the above installation problems, this also makes disassembly and replacement much more difficult.


Large-scale switching array architectures for multiwavelength routing employ absorption-switched micro-ring resonator 2.times.2 switches at all optical cross-points of each of a plurality of series-connected waveguide crossbar matrix switches. The architecture eliminates detrimental waveguide crossovers. Two or four coupled micro-rings made from layered III-V or II-VI hetrostructure material can aid in maintaining cross-talk at very low levels while employing simple switch addressing methods.

The present invention relates to the field of wavelength-division-multiplexed light-signal routing networks.
Dense wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) is an important aspect of advanced long-distance fiber-optic communications networks, especially telecom and antenna remoting networks. Each of the several network fibers transports eight or more independent high-speed optical-wavelength-encoded signals. Voice/video/data signals are encoded on different, but closely spaced, wavelength "carriers" near 1550 nm or 1300 nm. A key component for signal routing and dynamic reconfiguration of the network is the electro-optical WDM crossconnect, an integrated optical switching component that interfaces with M fibers at its input and M fibers at its output. Prior art exists on such crossconnects; however, the prior-art thermooptic silica versions have large area and millisecond response times, the unamplified III-V semiconductor versions have crosstalk greater than -22 dB, and the fast LiNbO.sub.3 versions require actuation voltages greater than 5 volts. There are unmet needs for smaller-area, lower-crosstalk, planar, nonblocking electrooptic crossconnects having restoration times less than one nanosecond and switching voltages less than 5 volts. Other unmet needs of such systems relate to low cost, low optical insertion loss, and being monolithic with commercial electronics. The crossconnect components in this invention offer most of these desired features in one compact chip.

Wavelength-division multiplexed M.times.N.times.M cross-connect switch using active microring resonators

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force


A semiconductor device has an external wiring for GND formed over an underside surface of a wiring substrate. A plurality of via holes connecting to the external wiring for GND are formed to penetrate the wiring substrate. A first semiconductor chip of high power consumption, including HBTs, is mounted over a principal surface of the wiring substrate. The emitter bump electrode of the first semiconductor chip is connected in common with emitter electrodes of a plurality of HBTs formed in the first semiconductor chip. The emitter bump electrode is extended in a direction in which the HBTs line up. The first semiconductor chip is mounted over the wiring substrate so that a plurality of the via holes are connected with the emitter bump electrode. A second semiconductor chip lower in heat dissipation value than the first semiconductor chip is mounted over the first semiconductor chip.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a manufacturing technique for the semiconductor device, and more particularly to a technology effectively applicable to a semiconductor device including HBTs (Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors) and a manufacturing technique for the semiconductor device.
For example, there are semiconductor elements using III-V compound semiconductor such as gallium arsenide (GaAs). The compound semiconductor is characterized in that it is higher in mobility than silicon (Si) and half-insulating crystals are obtained. In the compound semiconductor, mixed crystals can created, and heterojunctions can be formed.
One of semiconductor elements using heterojunction is heterojunction bipolar transistor (hereafter, referred to as "HBT"). The HBT is a bipolar transistor using gallium arsenide for its base layer, and indium gallium phosphate (InGaP), aluminum gallium arsenide (AlGaAs), or the like for its emitter layer. That is, the HBT is a bipolar transistor in which a heterojunction is formed using different semiconductor materials for the base layer and for the emitter layer.
The heterojunction makes it possible to make the forbidden band width of the emitter in a base-emitter junction larger than the forbidden band width of the base. Thus, it is possible to significantly increase carrier injection from emitter to base as compared with reverse charge carrier injection from base to emitter. Therefore, the HBT is characterized in that its current amplification factor is very large.
Since the HBT is very large in current amplification factor, as mentioned above, it is used in, for example, high-frequency amplifying systems (power amplifier modules) incorporated in cellular phones. In the power amplifier module, semiconductor chips in which HBTs are formed are mounted over a wiring substrate.
Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that implements the following: when a semiconductor chip with HBTs formed therein is mounted over a wiring substrate, pressure applied to the electrodes of the HBTs is reduced; further, lead-out electrodes and a package substrate (wiring substrate) are brought into contact with each other without fail for the enhancement of the reliability of the semiconductor device.
A more specific description will be given. An emitter lead-out electrode with which the emitter electrodes of a plurality of HBTs are connected in common is formed. In this emitter lead-out electrode, a dent is formed in the areas positioned above the individual emitter electrodes. Thus, during flip chip mounting during which the emitter lead-out electrode is brought into contact with the package substrate, the dents prevent bonding pressure from being applied to the emitter electrodes.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-244274 (pp. 5 to 6, FIG. 5)

Semiconductor device and manufacturing method therefor


Disclosed is a method of producing a branched cyclodextrin where a liquid containing a cyclodextrin and a branched oligosaccharide is treated with a debranching enzyme. By the method, a branched cyclodextrin having a maltosyl or maltotriosyl group as bonded to the glucose of a CD molecule via an .alpha.-1,6 bond is obtained efficiently.

A cyclodextrin (hereinafter referred to as "CD") is a cyclic dextrin composed of glucoses bonded to each other by an .alpha.-1,4 bond therebetween, and .alpha.-, .beta.- and .gamma.-CD each comprising 6,7 and 8 glucoses, respectively, are well known.
These CDs have cavities in the inside of the molecule and the inside of the cavities is hydrophobic. Therefore, these have an including capacity for forming inclusion (clathrate) compounds, taking various oily substances thereinto. Accordingly, utilizing the property of them, various uses of CDs for 1 stabilization of unstable substances, 2 possession of volatile substances, 3 masking of offensive odor and 4 solubilization of hardly soluble or insoluble substances are taken into consideration.
However, .alpha.-CD and .beta.-CD have a drawback that they nave a low solubility (about several % or less) at a low temperature. In order to overcome the drawback, recently, branched CDs have been developed. Branched CDs have a constitution where a glucosyl group, a maltosyl group or a maltooligosyl group is bonded to the glucose in the CD molecule via an .alpha.-1,6 bond, and they are extremely highly soluble in water and have other various characteristics, being different from non-branched CDs.
For preparing such branched CDs, some methods have heretofore been proposed. Of them, a method which is being utilized most often industrially at present is such that a branched CD is obtained from a high concentration of maltose and the CD is produced by a condensation reaction with pullulanase. In accordance with the method, a maltosyl-CD is produced at a fairly high yield but at the same time a dimaltosyl-CD having an additional maltose of one molecule is bonded to another glycosyl group of a maltosyl-CD via an .alpha.-1,6 bond is also produced. Therefore for the purpose of isolating only a maltosyl-CD from the reaction mixture, much cost and much time are disadvantageously necessary.
Taking the above-mentioned characteristics of branched CDs into consideration, the present inventors variously investigated for the purpose of efficiently producing maltosyl-CDs. As a result, they have completed a method of producing branched CDs by bonding an .alpha.-maltosyl group to the glucosyl group of an .alpha.-, .beta.- or .gamma.-CD from a branched oligosaccharide by transglycosylation of a debranching enzyme.
In addition, they further have found that an isoamylase derived from Pseudomonas amylodelamosa is used for efficiently producing a maltosyl-CD or maltotriosyl-CD having one molecule of maltosyl group or maltotriosyl group as bonded to the glucosyl group of .alpha.-, .beta.- or .gamma.-CD via .alpha.-1,6-bond therebetween by transglycosylation. On the basis of the finding, they have completed the present invention.

Method of preparing branched cyclodextrin


According to one embodiment, a solid state imaging device includes an imaging unit that outputs imaging data by performing an imaging operation, a temperature sensor that outputs a diode voltage according to a diode current, and an output circuit that shares a part of a circuit with the imaging unit and outputs temperature data based on the diode voltage outputted from the temperature sensor in the same semiconductor chip.

In a solid state imaging device, noise and defects in a captured image may become obvious as temperature increases, or distortion may occur in a captured image due to variation of temperature. Therefore, a temperature sensor is mounted in a solid state imaging device and an image signal is corrected based on the temperature of the solid state imaging device.
Here, when a temperature sensor is mounted in a solid state imaging device, it is preferred to reduce a circuit scale of an output circuit of the temperature sensor in order to suppress increase in a circuit scale of the solid state imaging device.
Conventionally, an imaging chip and a temperature measurement semiconductor chip are separated from each other or a circuit block related to temperature measurement is present independently from a signal processing circuit block for the imaging element, and correction is performed in a temperature correction circuit in a later stage by using stored temperature measurement data.


Systems and methods deploy an electrode from a catheter assembly. The systems and methods provide a catheter handle having a trigger lever adapted to carry an actuator rod. The actuator rod is adapted to cause movement of the electrode between a retracted position and an extended position. A pinion is carried by the trigger lever for engagement with a rack carried by the actuator rod. Compression of the trigger lever moves the rack along the actuator rod between a first position corresponding to the electrodes being in the retracted position and a second position corresponding to either the primed electrode firing position or the electrodes being in an extended position.

Catheter-based devices that deploy expandable structures into interior body regions are well known. These structures are typically introduced through a body lumen or vessel in a collapsed, low profile condition. Once at or near the targeted body region, the structures are expanded in situ into an enlarged condition to make contact with tissue. The structures can carry operative elements that, when in contact with tissue, perform a therapeutic or diagnostic function. They can, for example, deliver energy to ablate targeted tissue in the region.
The operative elements often take the form of electrodes carried by a basket assembly surrounding the expandable structure. A push-pull lever causes the electrodes to slide within lumens in the basket arms between a retracted position and an extended position.
The need remains for systems and methods for controlling the actuation and deployment of electrodes from a catheter. In particular, the need remains for actuator systems which can be manufactured in a simple and cost-efficient manner and which are easily manipulated in use.

Applicator system for deploying electrodes


A data acquisition system for dielectric analysis measurements, including a sensor interface configured to connect to one or more sensors located within an active machining zone of an industrial manufacturing machine, a module processor coupled to the sensor interface and configured to receive measurement values from one or more sensors connected to the sensor interface, a cloud interface coupled to the module processor, and a machine interface coupled to the module processor. The measurement values indicate physical properties of workpieces processed in the active machining zone of an industrial manufacturing machine. The cloud interface is configured to connect to cloud-based resources, and the machine interface is configured to connect to a controller of the industrial manufacturing machine. The module processor is configured to transmit the received measurement values from the one or more dielectric sensors to cloud-based resources via the cloud interface and to transmit manufacturing control signals to the controller of the industrial manufacturing machine via the machine interface, the manufacturing control signals being based on parameters received from cloud-based resources via the cloud interface.

Industrial manufacturing of composite components relies on reproducibly controlling curing behavior of thermosetting materials since the properties of the final product heavily depend on the conditions of the curing process. Therefore, it is desirable to be able to closely monitor any such processes in real-time and in situ.
Among the possible measurement methods are dielectric analysis (DEA), dynamic mechanical analysis, thermomechanical analysis, thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis. DEA and the other measurement methods allow for gaining insights in the curing patterns of composite materials, adhesives, coatings or thermosetting resin systems. By employing one or more of the possible measurement methods, multiple physical characteristics such as dielectric loss factor, ion conductivity, viscoelastic properties, dynamic moduli, glass transition temperatures, crystallization temperatures, sublimation temperatures, or ion viscosity may be determined by way of measurement of dipole polarization and ion migration patterns.

Data acquisition system, system and method for real-time in-line monitoring of industrial manufacturing processes


The car power source apparatus switches a pair of contactors (driving battery relays) connected to positive and negative output sides of a driving battery via a switching circuit with an auxiliary battery as power supply. The switching circuit is provided with a voltage detection circuit to detect auxiliary battery voltage, a series switching circuit to connect coils of the pair of contactors in series and switch both contactor contacts on, and a parallel switching circuit to connect coils of the pair of contactors in parallel and switch both contactor contacts on. When auxiliary battery voltage is higher than a set voltage, it connects the pair of contactor coils in series to switch the contacts on via the series switching circuit, and when auxiliary battery voltage is lower than a set voltage, it connects the pair of contactor coils in parallel to switch the contacts on via the parallel switching circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a car power source apparatus with contactors (driving battery relays) connected to the output side of a driving battery that supplies power to an electric motor that drives the car.
2. Description of the Related Art
A power source apparatus intended for a car comprises a driving battery having high output voltage. This power source apparatus has contactors connected to positive and negative sides of its output. When the ignition switch is turned on to drive the car, the contactors are switched on. With the contactors switched on, the power source apparatus is in a state that allows it to supply power from the driving battery to the electric motor that drives the car. The contactors are switched off to cut-off current flow when the ignition switch is off and the car is stopped, or in case of an abnormality. This is to insure safety if a car crash occurs or maintenance is performed. A power source apparatus with contactors connected to the output side of the driving battery has been developed to realize the features described above (Japanese Patent Application Disclosure HEI 8-182115, 1996).