A communication device includes: a reception element for receiving a signal treated with a setting of a modulation scheme based on a modulation scheme designation information and a controlling of a transmission power based on the transmission power designation information by an external transmitter, demodulating the received signal based on a modulation scheme control information, and outputting a received data; a reception level measurement element for measuring a signal level of the signal and outputting the reception level; a designation information output element for outputting the transmission power designation information correlated to the modulation scheme designation information and the modulation scheme based on the reception level; and a transmission element for transmitting the modulation scheme designation information and the transmission power designation information for the transmitter.

A digital microwave communication system has a merit that can be inexpensively constructed in a short period of time compared with a wired line such as an optical fiber. For this reason, the digital microwave communication system is generally employed as a backhaul link in a mobile network in recent years. And it is required for the backhaul link to further increase its capacity due to a development of a mobile broadband communication represented by an LTE (Long Term Evolution) and a mobile WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access).
In the digital microwave communication system, a link budget analysis is generally carried out according to a standard that is specified to G.826 or the like standardized by ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication Standardization Sector). Therefore, in most cases, the digital microwave communication system is operated in a state having a plenty of room for a communication line quality through a year. In recent years, in order to improve more utilization efficiencies and availabilities of the line, an adaptive modulation scheme is coming to be used, which changes over a modulation scheme suitably depending on a state of a transmission path (e.g., patent literature 1 is referred to).
As to the adaptive modulation scheme disclosed in the patent literature 1, an appropriate modulation scheme is selected at a reception side using a reception signal level or error rate information of a demodulated signal, and a selected result is transmitted to an opposite station side. At the opposite station side, a transmission modulation scheme is changed over depending on the selected result. For example, if a transmission path state is favorable, a modulation scheme with a higher transmission rate such as a multi-level modulation scheme is applied. Accordingly, the adaptive modulation scheme makes it possible to increase a communication capacity compared with a system in which a modulation scheme is fixed. On the contrary, if the transmission path state is quite unfavorable, a modulation scheme capable to respond to its environment such as a modulation scheme with a small modulation multi-level number is applied as the adaptive modulation scheme. Therefore, since it is possible to prevent a line disconnection, line operation rate can be increased.
In the radio communication system using the adaptive modulation scheme, it is very important to control a transmission power because an appropriate reception level needs to be kept in different modulation schemes. For example, a transmission power control method in the radio communication system using the adaptive modulation scheme is disclosed in patent literatures 2 and 3.
In the transmission power control method disclosed in the patent literature 2, an amount of the attenuation of the transmission line is obtained from a Carrier to Noise Ratio (hereinafter referred to as "CNR") of a presumed reception signal at a reception side and a transmission power information multiplexed in the reception signal. And the reception side controls the transmission power of the signal transmitted to equipment of an opposite side according to the obtained attenuation so as to satisfy the required CNR in the modulation scheme at that time.
The transmission power control method disclosed in the patent literature 3 determines the modulation scheme and the transmission power of a signal transmitted to equipment on the opposite side based on a difference between a current reception level and a predetermined required reception level.
A method to control the modulation scheme and the transmission power of the reception signal based on the transmission path state is also disclosed in patent literature 4.
There is also an adaptive modulation scheme which controls the modulation scheme and the transmission power at the opposite station (e.g., patent literature 5 is referred to). The adaptive modulation scheme disclosed in the patent literature 5 requires a modification of the modulation scheme and the transmission power for an opposite side equipment based on a difference between the current reception level and a predetermined required reception level.

Communication device, communication control method and a computer-readable storage medium


A music information display control apparatus includes one or more processors configured to display, on a display device, a musical note sequence image in which a musical note iconic image of each musical note is disposed in a musical score area where a time axis is set. The display controller disposes an operation iconic image which accepts an instruction from a user in a vicinity of the musical note iconic image, and changes a display length or a display position of the musical note iconic image in a direction of the time axis according to an instruction to move the operation iconic image.

The present disclosure relates to a technology of displaying the time sequence of a plurality of musical notes.
Various technologies of displaying the time sequence of a plurality of musical notes and accepting an edit instruction from the user have conventionally been proposed. For example, JP-B-4508196 discloses a technology of displaying the time sequence of a plurality of musical notes on a piano role screen where a time axis and a pitch axis are set and editing the duration of each musical note by moving the connection point between two consecutive musical notes (the end point of each musical note) in the direction of the time axis by an operation with a pointing device such as a mouse.
However, there are cases where it is difficult for the user to provide an instruction to edit musical notes. For example, in a case where a touch panel is used as the input device to provide an instruction to edit musical notes, when the user who intends to edit the duration of a musical note puts his/her finger close to the musical note, the musical note is hidden behind the finger and cannot be seen by the user, so that it is difficult to instruct a desired movement amount while accurately designating the end point of the desired musical note. In view of these circumstances, an object of the present disclosure is to make it easy for the user to provide an instruction to edit musical notes displayed on a display device.

Music information display control method and music information display control apparatus


Techniques for improved low latency frequency switching are disclosed. In one embodiment, a controller receives a frequency switch command and generates a frequency switch signal at a time determined in accordance with a system timer. In another embodiment, gain calibration is initiated subsequent to the frequency switch signal delayed by the expected frequency synthesizer settling time. In yet another embodiment, DC cancellation control and gain control are iterated to perform gain calibration, with signaling to control the iterations without need for processor intervention. Various other embodiments are also presented. Aspects of the embodiments disclosed may yield the benefit of reducing latency during frequency switching, allowing for increased measurements at alternate frequencies, reduced time spent on alternate frequencies, and the capacity and throughput improvements that follow from minimization of disruption of an active communication session and improved neighbor selection.

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication such as voice and data. These systems may be based on code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), or some other modulation techniques. A CDMA system provides certain advantages over other types of systems, including increased system capacity.
A CDMA system may be designed to support one or more CDMA standards such as (1) the "TIA/EIA-95-B Mobile Station-Base Station Compatibility Standard for Dual-Mode Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular System" (the IS-95 standard), (2) the standard offered by a consortium named "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP) and embodied in a set of documents including Document Nos. 3G TS 25.211, 3G TS 25.212, 3G TS 25.213, and 3G TS 25.214 (the W-CDMA standard), (3) the standard offered by a consortium named "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2) and embodied in "TR-45.5 Physical Layer Standard for cdma2000 Spread Spectrum Systems" (the IS-2000 standard), and (4) some other standards. An example of a TDMA system is the GSM standard.
In the above named standards, the available spectrum is shared simultaneously among a number of users. Techniques such as power control and soft handoff are employed to maintain sufficient quality to support delay-sensitive services, such as voice. Data services are also available. More recently, systems have been proposed that enhance the capacity for data services by using higher order modulation, very fast feedback of Carrier to Interference ratio (C/I) from the mobile station, very fast scheduling, and scheduling for services that have more relaxed delay requirements. An example of such a data-only communication system using these techniques is the high data rate (HDR) system that conforms to the TIA/EIA/IS-856 standard (the IS-856 standard).
In contrast to the other above named standards, an IS-856 system uses the entire spectrum available in each cell to transmit data to a single user at one time, selected based on link quality. In so doing, the system spends a greater percentage of time sending data at higher rates when the channel is good, and thereby avoids committing resources to support transmission at inefficient rates. The net effect is higher data capacity, higher peak data rates, and higher average throughput.
Systems can incorporate support for delay-sensitive data, such as voice channels or data channels supported in the IS-2000 standard, along with support for packet data services such as those described in the IS-856 standard. One such system is described in a proposal submitted by LG Electronics, LSI Logic, Lucent Technologies, Nortel Networks, QUALCOMM Incorporated, and Samsung to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2). The proposal is detailed in documents entitled "Updated Joint Physical Layer Proposal for 1×EV-DV", submitted to 3GPP2 as document number C50-20010611-009, Jun. 11, 2001; "Results of L3NQS Simulation Study", submitted to 3GPP2 as document number C50-20010820-011, Aug. 20, 2001; and "System Simulation Results for the L3NQS Framework Proposal for cdma2000 1×EV-DV", submitted to 3GPP2 as document number C50-20010820-012, Aug. 20, 2001. These, and related documents generated subsequently, are hereinafter referred to as the 1×EV-DV proposal.
Mobile stations may be designed to operate according to more than one communication standard to allow the use of the mobile station in varying geographical regions in which a single communication is not supported. A wireless communication standard may provide features for facilitating seamless handoff from one Radio Access Technology (RAT) to another. For example, the W-CDMA standard provides compressed mode to allow a mobile station to search for other radio access technologies, such as a neighboring GSM system. Compressed mode is designed to allow a time gap during communications in which forward link transmission to the mobile station is suspended, and reverse link transmission from the mobile station is not required. The mobile station may use this gap to search for alternate available systems.
It is common for various systems to be deployed at various frequencies and with various communication formats. Thus, a mobile station may need to switch from a current frequency and radio access technology to a new frequency to perform measurements to determine the availability of an alternate system. This alternate system may or may not use an alternate radio access technology. In general, it may be desirable for a mobile station to switch to a new frequency quickly to provide for improved communication performance. Furthermore, fast frequency setup may lead to reduced acquisition time, which may be an improvement to performance for any system, regardless of whether multiple radio access technologies are supported. There is therefore a need in the art for low latency frequency switching.


Various systems configured to reduce distortion of a resist during a metrology process are provided. The systems include an electron beam metrology tool configured to measure one or more characteristics of one or more resist features formed on a specimen. The electron beam metrology tool may be configured as a scanning electron microscope. The resist may be designed for exposure at a wavelength of about 193 nm. One system includes a cooling subsystem configured to alter a temperature of the specimen during measurements by the tool such that the resist feature(s) are not substantially distorted during the measurements. Another system includes a drying subsystem that is configured to reduce moisture proximate the specimen during measurements by the electron beam metrology tool such that the resist feature(s) are not substantially distorted during the measurements. An additional system may include both the cooling subsystem and the drying subsystem.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to systems configured to reduce distortion of a resist during a metrology process. Certain embodiments relate to a system that includes a cooling subsystem and/or a drying subsystem coupled to an electron beam metrology tool.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following description and examples are not admitted to be prior art by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
Fabricating semiconductor devices such as logic and memory devices typically includes processing a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer using a number of semiconductor fabrication processes to form various features and multiple levels of the semiconductor devices. For example, lithography is a semiconductor fabrication process that involves transferring a pattern from a reticle to a resist arranged on a semiconductor wafer. Additional examples of semiconductor fabrication processes include, but are not limited to, chemical-mechanical polish, etch, deposition, and ion implantation. Multiple semiconductor devices may be fabricated in an arrangement on a semiconductor wafer and then separated into individual semiconductor devices.
As the dimensions of semiconductor devices shrink, metrology processes used to measure characteristics of the semiconductor devices become increasingly important. For instance, the acceptable variation in the characteristics of the features of the semiconductor devices (e.g., critical dimension, "CD") also decreases. Therefore, accuracy requirements of metrology processes and tools have become more stringent. In addition, as the dimensions of semiconductor devices shrink, the capability of metrology tools (e.g., resolution) have increased. In many instances, previously sufficient technologies (e.g., optical microscopy) have been replaced with more advanced and complex technologies (e.g., scanning electron microscopy, "SEM").
Such advanced technologies, aside from being complex, often have different problems than previously used metrology technologies. For instance, it is well known that 193 nm resist features change size permanently (e.g., shrink) during CD-SEM measurements. The shrinkage will have an effect on the semiconductor features formed using the resist. The extent of the shrinkage, often up to 40 nm, should be compared to the CD metrology budget of 1 nm for features in the 100 nm design rule node, at which 193 nm lithography is expected to enter production for critical layers. Most resist classes and layer schemes exhibit shrinkage to varying degrees depending on their formulations, process history, and measurement conditions. Shrinkage is observed to progress in a non-linear manner with applied e-beam dose, and understanding the mechanisms that contribute to this shrinkage is complex. Several studies have reported the attempt to improve this understanding as a basis to improve the resist materials. As yet, complete elimination of e-beam initiated shrinkage has not been achieved.
Shrinkage has previously been reported to change in an absolute way, rather than as a percentage of feature size. This absolute change implies that shrinkage is a surface effect, which is easily understood due to the limited penetration depth of the electrons from the CD-SEM. As described by Hoffmann et al., in "Investigation of 193 nm Resist Shrinkage During CD-SEM Measurements," Yield Management Solutions, Fall 2001, pp. 32-36, decreasing the electron beam energy reduced the size of all shrinkage mechanisms. Hoffmann et al. demonstrate this effect with measurements taken with a 400 eV beam. This dependency can be understood because the interaction volume is smaller and less energy is deposited in the resist as the energy decreases. Estimates of the range taken from published tables show that expected electron penetration depths are consistent with energy dependence seen in the data. Hoffmann et al. also note that the lower energy data shows greater scattering because the smaller number of secondary electrons emitted from the sample reduces the signal-to-noise ratio of the linescan signals.
First experiments performed by Hoffmann et al. indicated that beam current has little effect on shrinkage. However, further data shows that the intermediate shrinkage region for all beam currents overlap, in agreement with the early observations that this regime is independent of beam current. The long term shrinkage mechanism also changes with beam current. At 40 pA, a higher than normal beam current, a trench can be seen to narrow once the other mechanisms have stabilized. An alternative analysis of the beam current data with different applied offsets could lead to the conclusion that all of the shrinkage regimes depend on beam current. The precision of the data did not vary greatly until the beam current was reduced to 5 pA, which reflects the reduced signal-to-noise at this low beam current, analogous to the trend with beam energy.
Irrespective of the different mechanisms occurring in the resist, the above work has been used to make recommendations for 193 nm resist measurements. Lithographic performance is best characterized by measuring feature dimensions before induced shrinkage. Therefore, it would be advantageous to substantially reduce shrinkage to increase the usefulness of the SEM measurements. In production, after-develop inspection (ADI) is used to control and predict the after-etch (AEI) feature size. The etch environment may quickly cause the resist to shrink in a manner similar to which it shrinks in the CD-SEM. It is tempting to suggest that, under these conditions, measuring the fully shrunken dimensions at ADI might give a reasonable prediction of the AEI dimension.
In determining zero-dose dimensions (i.e., dimensions of the resist before exposure to the electron beam), it is vital to consider sources of random and systematic error in the measurements. Random errors can be attributed to variations in linescans caused by the usual effects that contribute to static and dynamic precision in a CD-SEM. Systematic errors may be attributed to uncertainties in the fits of successive measurements leading to the estimates of the CD of the undosed feature. In 248 nm resist metrology, systematic errors could largely be ignored, and the best conditions could be chosen to optimize dynamic precision. For 193 nm resist metrology, the systematic errors can no longer be ignored.
To reduce systematic errors, multiple measurements could be taken in a dose regime where the medium term mechanism dominates. An e-beam current of 10 pA will allow reduced contributions to the systematic errors from the fast shrinkage mechanism and still allow good signal-to-noise to be obtained. A beam energy of around 500 eV should be the optimum balancing point between "dynamic" and "systematic" errors. Using a beam energy of 400 eV would not provide enough signal-to-noise ratio for good statistics on the linescan data, and challenges the creation of truly robust production recipes. 600 eV may be tolerable, but higher energies would cause greater systematic uncertainties. Manual measurements cannot be used because the uncontrolled dosing of samples would lead to variations in shrinkage.
Once collected, the trend of the data has to be corrected for shrinkage. A linear fit would no longer be sufficient, as the fast shrinkage has to be accounted for in the correction. Accurate correction of this fast shrinkage is likely to give the most problems in future metrology. The coefficient of the fit would depend on the resist and measurement conditions.
As the beam energy and current are reduced, other problems with the SEM performance may arise. For example, low beam energy can produce a relatively small signal-to-noise ratio and loss in image resolution that can introduce uncertainty into the measurements. Therefore, some attempts to offset the low beam energy and current have been made. For example, Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, Calif., has introduced a CD-SEM that provides precision level capabilities that are a result of the design of its electron beam column, and the various algorithms it uses in its measurements. For instance, the tool has an improved accelerating module in the column, which accelerates the electrons about 50 times faster than before, to produce a narrow beam and a small spot size, which results in higher resolution and better precision. However, this is also attained using lower voltages. While a standard CD-SEM operates within a range of 400-800 eV, the new platform is fully operational at less than or equal to 200 eV. This capability provides the device maker with minimal and stable resist shrinkage, enabling tight metrology for 193 nm lithography.
Attempts have, therefore, been made to reduce the current and landing energy (power density) of the incoming beam in a SEM in order to reduce shrinkage. There are, however, several disadvantages to these methods and systems. For example, as current and landing energies are reduced, image resolution and throughput suffer. In addition, current and landing energies have been reduced to a level that still causes shrinkage in the photoresist. The alternative approach requires significant increases in landing energy, to the order of several tens of kV, such that the deposited electron energy is well below the photoresist surface thereby limiting surface damage to the photoresist and reducing line shrinkage. However, such approaches increase the risk that the deposited electron energy may damage other structures that may be present on the wafer. In addition, altering the electron column to increase electron acceleration as described above may increase the complexity and cost of the system.
In a related theme, suggestions have been made that resists could be stabilized, presumably both against e-beam- and etch-induced shrinkage, by introducing a pre-conditioning process such as UV irradiation, e-beam cure, or thermal processing. For example, as described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2003/0132197 by Ke et al., e-beam curing is the use of an e-beam to cure the photoresist so that it subsequently will not shrink when CD-SEM measurements are taken. The cross-linking of the resist caused by e-beam curing, which prevents subsequent resist shrinkage, however, also affects the profile of the photoresist, especially in corner areas. This is disadvantageous because it means that the photoresist itself changes shape, which is problematic for later semiconductor fabrication processing that contemplates usage of a particular shape or profile of the resist. E-beam curing may also potentially cause electron charge damage to the semiconductor device being fabricated. Ke et al. also describe using plasma curing to prevent photoresist shrinkage.
Accordingly, it may be advantageous to develop systems and methods for reducing, and even substantially eliminating, the distortion and/or shrinkage of a resist during a metrology process without decreasing the image resolution and throughput, without increasing the risk of electron beam damage to other structures present on the specimen, and without substantial changes to the electron column, in the case of an electron beam metrology tool.

Systems configured to reduce distortion of a resist during a metrology process and systems and methods for reducing alteration of a specimen during analysis


The invention relates to methods of manufacturing various medical devices and starting materials by utilizing the processes of high speed injection molding and slurry-based, semi-solid die casting applied to biocompatible metals or metal alloys that may have a high melting point temperature. These devices may be made fully consolidated or porous to allow the devices to act as a functional drug delivery vehicle.

This invention relates to medical devices, and more particularly, the invention relates to methods of manufacturing various medical devices utilizing the processes of high speed injection molding and semi-solid (slurry-based) die casting applied to biocompatible metals and metal alloys that may have a high melting point temperature. These devices may be made porous to allow such devices to act as a functional drug delivery vehicle.
Several interventional treatment modalities are presently used for heart disease, including balloon and laser angioplasty, atherectomy, and bypass surgery. In typical coronary balloon angioplasty procedures, a guiding catheter having a distal tip is percutaneously introduced through the femoral artery into the cardiovascular system of a patient using a conventional Seldinger technique and advanced within the cardiovascular system until the distal tip of the guiding catheter is seated at the ostium of the coronary arteries. A guide wire is positioned within an inner lumen of a dilatation catheter and then both are advanced through the guiding catheter to the distal end thereof.
The guide wire is first advanced out of the distal end of the guiding catheter into the patient""s coronary vasculature until the distal end of the guide wire crosses a lesion to be dilated, then the dilatation catheter having an inflatable balloon on the distal portion thereof is advanced into the patient""s coronary anatomy over the previously introduced guide wire until the balloon of the dilatation catheter is properly positioned across the lesion.
Once in position across the lesion, the balloon is inflated to compress the plaque of the lesion against the inside of the artery wall and to otherwise expand the inner lumen of the artery. The balloon is then deflated so that blood flow can be resumed through the dilated artery and the dilatation catheter can be removed therefrom.
One problem that can occur during balloon angioplasty procedures is the formation of intimal flaps which can collapse and occlude the artery when the balloon is deflated at the end of the angioplasty procedure. Another problem characteristic of balloon angioplasty procedures is the large number of patients who are subject to restenosis in the treated artery. In the case of restenosis, the treated artery may again be subjected to balloon angioplasty or to other treatments such as by-pass surgery, if additional balloon angioplasty procedures are not warranted. However, in the event of a partial or total occlusion of a coronary artery by the collapse of a dissected arterial lining after the balloon is deflated, the patient may require immediate medical attention, particularly in the coronary arteries.
A focus of recent development work in the treatment of heart disease has been directed to endoprosthetic devices referred to as stents. Stents are generally cylindrically shaped intravascular devices which are placed within an artery to hold it open. The device can be used to reduce the likelihood of restenosis and to maintain the patency of a blood vessel immediately after intravascular treatments. In some circumstances, they can also be used as the primary treatment device where they are expanded to dilate a stenosis and then left in place.
One method and system developed for delivering stents to desired locations within the patient""s body lumen involves crimping a stent about an expandable member, such as a balloon on the distal end of a catheter, advancing the catheter through the patient""s vascular system until the stent is in the desired location within a blood vessel, and then inflating the expandable member on the catheter to expand the stent within the blood vessel. The expandable member is then deflated and the catheter withdrawn, leaving the expanded stent within the blood vessel, holding open the passageway thereof.
Certain metals and metal alloys, including those capable of being used in the manufacture of various medical devices, exhibit dendritic crystal structures at ambient temperatures. These metals and metal alloys are known as being capable of transforming into a thixotropic state upon the application of heating and shearing. The metal or metal alloy forms into a semi-solid slurry while being heated and maintained at a temperature above its solidus temperature (i.e., temperature at which a material forms into a fully solid state) and below its liquidus temperature (i.e., temperature at which a material forms into a fully liquid state). In order to inhibit the formation of dendritic shaped (i.e., tree-like structure) solid particles in the semi-solid slurry, shearing is applied to and maintained in the slurry mixture. Accordingly, this vigorous shearing action results in the formation of primary solids containing discrete, degenerate dendrites or nodules. The remaining unsolidified liquid alloy of the semi-solid slurry surrounds the degenerate dendrites or nodules. It is this combination of materials that results in the semi-solid slurry being in a thixotropic state.
Various apparatuses for processing thixotropic materials, particularly magnesium and aluminum based alloys, are known in the metallurgical art. Such apparatuses typically include a reciprocating extruder having a barrel that is coupled to a mold (see FIGS. 1 and 2). The extruder barrel has inlet and outlet ends at opposite ends of the apparatus. The inlet end is adapted to receive the metallic material from a solid particulate, pelletized or liquid metal feeder. Depending on the condition of the metallic material as it is being received into the extruder barrel, heating elements either increase the temperature of the metallic material or maintain the material at a predetermined temperature in order for the material to be brought into the two phase solidus-liquidus region. The material is formed into an equilibrium state having both solid and liquid phases while in the extruder barrel. A reciprocating screw positioned in the barrel applies a shearing action to the thixotropic or semi-solid slurry material. The thixotropic material is then ready to be transformed into a mold, and thereafter removed once it has solidified into its net shape.
The processes of high speed injection molding and semi-solid (slurry-based) die casting are primarily used in automotive, consumer electronics, and consumer hardware applications. However, there exists a need to apply these processes in the context of medical device applications using certain biocompatible materials in their thixotropic state to form various types of medical devices. The present invention meets these and other needs.
The present invention is directed to methods of manufacturing various types of medical devices utilizing either one of the processes of high speed injection molding or semi-solid (slurry-based) die casting applied to biocompatible metals and metal alloys that may have a high melting point temperature. The processes are further expanded to include the manufacture of porous tubing or devices for use as drug-eluting medical devices, such as stents.
In view of the foregoing, it is apparent that there still exists a need in the metallurgical art for methods of manufacturing various biomedical devices using known and to be developed biocompatible metals and metal alloys in their thixotropic semi-solid state in combination with one of the processes of high speed injection molding and semi-solid (slurry-based) die casting. Accordingly, the processes of high speed injection molding and semi-solid die casting when applied to a select group of biocompatible metals or metal alloys that may have a high melting point temperature provide methods of manufacturing various medical devices and performs, such as stents, stent tubing (e.g., both straight-walled and variable thickness), endovascular grafts, pacemaker leads, anastomosis clips and anastomosis clip tubing, among others. Manufacture of longer lengths of variable thickness tubing would cut down on the amount of waste seen with today""s manufacturing methods of this type of tubing. Further, in consideration of the development of thin radiopaque novel alloys having magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) compatibility, these processes may allow easier manufacture of such new materials. These processes could be expanded to include the manufacture of porous tubing or devices for use as drug-eluting stents.
One aspect of the present invention involves a method of making a medical device. The method includes providing a biocompatible material, and forming a medical device therefrom utilizing a high speed injection molding process. The material can be a biocompatible metal or metal alloy that may have a high melting point temperature. Exemplary of alloy families that may be used as the biocompatible materials include iron-carbon, cobalt based superalloys, cobalt-chromium, tantalum, titanium, nitinol, niobium, niobium-vanadium, niobium-zirconium, niobium-tantalum-zirconium, titanium-tantalum, tantalum-titanium, niobium-tantalum, tantalum-niobium, niobium-titanium, titanium-niobium, tantalum-tungsten, tantalum-tungsten-hafnium, palladium-silver, silver-palladium, and platinum-iridium. An example of a medical device that can be formed in accordance with the high speed injection molding process includes configuring a stent-having a plurality of connected cylindrical rings.
The high speed injection molding process further includes processing the biocompatible material into a semi-solid thixotropic state while being maintained in a thermally controlled chamber. The biocompatible material is processed into the semi-solid thixotropic state by being heated to a temperature above its solidus temperature and below its liquidus temperature. Since the present invention employs the use of certain biocompatible metals or metal alloys that may have a high melting point temperature, the thermally controlled chamber can be modified to have a higher heating capacity by being fabricated from materials that are capable of accommodating these higher temperature requirements. The heating capacity of the thermally controlled chamber is generally dependent on the particular biocompatible material selected. A shearing action is then applied to the semi-solid thixotropic substrate in the thermally controlled chamber. This shearing action can be by mechanical or electromagnetic means. The semi-solid thixotropic material is injection molded at a high speed into a die. The co-injection of dispersoids such as ceramic or oxide into the injection molded thixotropic material can be used to influence the mechanical properties of the substrate. The die can be fabricated from a less heat resistant material that is thermally sprayed or dip coated with a heat resistant material that acts as a thermal barrier and maintains the integrity of the die. Alternatively, the die can be fabricated entirely from heat resisting materials. The injection molded thixotropic material begins to solidify as it cools. After the material sufficiently cools, it can be removed from the die. Appropriate post-processing steps can be applied to the medical device or perform for further completion of the device.
Another aspect of the present invention involves a method of making a porous medical device utilizing the high speed injection molding process. One way to make the device porous is to mix a binder with the biocompatible material while being maintained in the thixotropic state and then inject the mixture into the die. An additional post-processing step can be applied to the medical device for removal of the binder material, e.g., by dissolving in an appropriate solvent or by baking the part to sublimate or vaporize the binder material. After removal of the binder material, the medical device is ready for impregnation with a drug, such as antiplatelets, anticoagulants, antifibrins, antithrombins, and antiproliferatives. For purposes of this invention, the term xe2x80x9cimpregnatexe2x80x9d means to fill throughout or saturate.
In a further aspect of the present invention, a method of making a medical device utilizing the process of semi-solid (slurry-based) die casting is disclosed. The method includes providing a biocompatible material and forming a medical device. Semi-solid die casting is similar to the process of high speed injection molding as set forth above. The biocompatible material is processed into a semi-solid slurry suspension wherein the biocompatible material is heated to a temperature above its solidus temperature and below its liquidus temperature while in a thermally controlled chamber. A shearing force is simultaneously applied to the semi-solid slurry suspension while being maintained in a semi-solid slurry suspension. After being transferred to the die casting device while being maintained in a thermally controlled environment, the semi-solid suspension is die cast into form at a high temperature. The semi-solid suspension solidifies as it cools, after which time the medical device can be removed from the die. The medical device can be made porous for subsequent impregnation with a drug by mixing a binder into the biocompatible material, while being maintained in a semi-solid suspension, and then casting the mixture into the die.
The present invention also involves methods of making tube stock. In particular, the methods include providing a biocompatible material and forming tube stock using one of the processes of high speed injection molding or semi-solid die casting. Exemplary medical devices that can be formed in accordance with the present invention include an intravascular device, a stent, an embolic protection device, an attachment system for an endovascular graft, a guide wire, a wire lead, a catheter, a pacemaker lead end, and an anastomosis device.

Methods of manufacture of fully consolidated or porous medical devices


A fruit harvesting system includes a vacuum generating subsystem and an end effector connected to the vacuum generating subsystem. The end effector has a first tube having a first diameter, and a second tube having a second diameter smaller than the first diameter so the second tube fits inside the first tube. A fruit harvesting system includes a vacuum generating subsystem, a tube connected to the vacuum generating subsystem and at least one structure coupled to an inside of the tube. A fruit harvesting system includes a vacuum generating subsystem, a first tube connected to the vacuum generating subsystem, and a second tube coupled to the first tube, the second tube having a tubular portion coupled to the first tube in an orientation other than parallel, the second tube having openings on opposite sides of the first tube.

Fruit plucking and harvesting remains a largely manual process. In a fruit orchard in which fruit grows on trees, such as apples, pears, apricots, peaches, etc., a farm laborer may move a ladder near a tree, climb the ladder, pluck the fruit, and transfer the fruit to a temporary storage like a basket. After the worker has plucked all of the ripe fruit in that location, the worker climbs down and moves the ladder to another location, then repeats the process as many times as necessary. The process has high labor requirements, which results in high costs of operation, lowering profits made by the farmers.
Relying on manual labor may also have other undue risks. These risks include the risk of illness or other unavailability of the workers, affecting the labor supply. Additionally, the lack of untrained workers can lead to careless or mishandling of the fruit. While picking fruit seems to require workers of low skill and training, a skilled farm worker may pluck as many as 2 fruits per second with relatively low losses due to damage. Untrained workers may work significantly slower, and may cause much higher losses due to damaged fruit. The cost of training workers may contribute to significant cost increases in operation of the farm.
Another factor contributing to the instability of the fruit harvesting work force lies in changing legal and demographic trends. These trends reduce the availability of immigrant laborers that make up the primary source of farm workers. The aging US population creates competition for this type of labor across several industries, a further disadvantage to the operation of the farms. This has led to an interest in mechanized systems for picking fruit.
Mechanized systems have their own issues related to positioning of the end effector that actually plucks the fruit. Mis-positioning of the end effectors can damage the fruit, lowering the output of the farms, but using mechanical systems overcomes the need to train new pickers. The need exists for mechanical systems that do not require highly accurate positioning.


An arrangement for adapting statistical parsers to new data using a mathematical transform, particularly a Markov transform. In particular, it is assumed that an initial statistical parser is available and a batch of new data is given. The initial model is mapped to a new model by a Markov matrix, each of whose rows sums to one. In the unsupervised setup, where “true” parses are missing, the transform matrix is obtained by maximizing the log likelihood of the parses of test data decoded using the model before adaptation. The proposed algorithm can be applied to supervised adaptation, as well.

Statistical parsing (see: Jelinek et al., "Decision tree parsing using a hidden derivation model", Proc. ARPA Human Language Technology Workshop, pp. 272-277, 1994; Magerman, "Statistical decision-tree models for parsing", Proc. Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, pp. 276-283, 1995; Collins, "A new statistical parser based on bigram lexical dependencies", Proc. Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics", pp. 184-191, 1996; Charniak, "Statistical parsing with context-free grammar and word statistics", Proceedings of the 14th National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 1997; and Collins, "Three generative, lexcialised models for statistical parsing", Proc. Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, pp. 16-23, 1998) has recently shown great success; in fact, close to 90% label precision and recall can now be achieved (see Collins, "Three . . . ", supra). A statistical model is typically constructed by extracting statistics from a large human-annotated corpus. During testing, the statistical model is used to select the parses of input sentences. One issue is that if test data are different in nature from the training data, the performance of a parser will become worse than that of a matched condition.
In order to adapt a statistical model to newly-acquired data, various methods have been proposed in the area of language modeling, which range from interpolating a static model with a dynamic-cache model (see: Jelinek et al., "A dynamic language model for speech recognition", Proc. of the DARPA Workshop on Speech and Natural Language", pp. 293-295, February 1991; Kupiec, "Probabilistic model of short and long distance word dependencies in running text", Proc. of the DARPA Workshop on Speech and Natural Language, pp. 290-295, February 1989; and Kuhn et al., "A cache-based natural language model for speech recognition", IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 12(6):570-583, 1990) to more sophisticated methods using the Maximum Entropy principle (see: Lau et al., "Adaptive language modeling using the maximum entropy principle", Proc. of the ARPA Human Language Technology Workshop, pp. 108-113, March 1993; and Rosenfeld, "Adaptive Statistical Language Modeling: A Maximum Entropy Approach", PhD thesis, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, 1994). These methods can be viewed as smoothing the static model given constraints imposed by, or statistics extracted from the new data. In other developments, transform-based model adaptation (see: Gales et al., "Mean and variance adaptation within the MLLR framework", Computer Speech and Language, 10:249-264, October 1996; and Leggetter et al., "Maximum likelihood linear regression for speaker adaptation of continuous density hidden Markov models", Computer Speech and Language, 9:171-185, October 1995) has been proven successful in capturing channel or speaker variations during the testing of a speech recognizer.
Generally, it has been observed that there is significant performance degradation when a statistical parser is tested on material whose style is different from that of its training material. A straightforward way of improving parsing accuracy is to collect more training data similar to test material and re-train the parser. However, the approach is not appealing in that collecting and annotating data is labor- and time-intensive.
Accordingly, a need has been recognized in connection with improving the performance of a statistical parser by adjusting or adapting the model parameters such that the adapted model can better capture the underlying regularity of test material.

Adaptation of statistical parsers based on mathematical transform

International Business Machines Corporation


A digital switching system (10) in accordance with the invention includes a digital switching matrix (12) having an input bus and output bus; a plurality of information systems (18, 20 and 22) with each information system having an information bus for transmitting and receiving information using a protocol which is different from a protocol used by the information bus of each of the other information systems with the information buses of the information systems being electrically connected to the input and output buses of the matrix to permit information transmitted on any of the information buses to be received by any of the information buses through the input bus, the switching matrix and the output bus; a host processor (34), for controlling the information systems with commands; and a control processor (16), for generating control signals controlling switching of switches of the digital switching matrix.

Digital switching systems have been developed which provide non-blocking digital switching in which pulse code modulation is used to digitize information such as voice channels to permit controllable switching of information on the inputs to the outputs of the digital switch. For example a total of 32 voice channels may be pulse code modulated and time division multiplexed so that selected channels on the inputs of the digital switch are connected to different outputs of the digital switch. The switching required to produce the time division multiplexed switching of different channels between selected inputs and outputs is produced by control switching signals applied to the digital switches of the switching matrix.
In the field of telephony numerous manufacturers make voice digitizing boards which convert individual channels (conversation) into a time division multiplexed PCM encoded format in which multiple bits encode respective samples of each channel. On a wire pair typically 24 or 32 different channels are encoded by assigning individual channels representative of a conversation to a particular time slot within a frame of the time division multiplexed PCM encoded information. Switching of the PCM information on a bus is controlled by a digital switch which permits the selective connection of individual channels through the public switched telephone network to particular telephone lines.
The voice digitizing products of manufacturers such as Dialogic Corporation, Natural Microsystems Corporation, Rhetorex and the assignee of the present invention, American Tel-A-Systems, Inc. have incompatible bus protocols which prevent direct interconnecting of buses of systems made by these manufacturers. The buses utilized by the aforementioned manufacturers and others have several possible clock rates such as 1.544 MHz, 2.048 MHz, 4.096 MHz and different 8 kHz synchronization of the frame rate as provided respectively by specifications of integrated circuits manufactured by National Semiconductor or Mitel Corporation and further synchronization signals which define superframes utilized for T1 service which are a combination of multiples of 6 basic frames at the 8 kHz frame rate. As a result of the diversity of the clock rates, synchronization and other timing signals utilized by the various manufacturers there is no compatible bus protocol for interconnecting information systems which have been made by the interconnection of boards provided by a particular manufacturer with an information system made by interconnecting boards from another manufacturer. As a result a user of a system having digitized voice to date is required to make difficult choices as to which manufacturers' products to purchase which limit the overall functional capability of a system and the ability to modify the system in the future as a consequence of the inability to interconnect subsystems formed from products manufactured by different manufacturers.
Circuit boards are marketed which may be inserted into the expansion slot of a standard PC such as a PC-AT to control different types of analog telephone ports. These boards provide analog telephone line port receptacles for connection to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). The analog ports may be for a station port which supplies battery feed capable of applying ring voltage to a line along with normal line status and control functions for the purpose of interfacing two telephones; a loop start port of the so-called "plain old telephone service" which includes all normal line status monitoring; a ground start port which provides a ground start line interface; a DID port which provides all known RS-464 and IEEE standard DID protocols including wink, immediate start as well as DTMF and pulse dialing; an E & M port which may be configured for type I or II signalling and a battery feed port which provides battery but cannot provide ring voltage. These circuit boards have programmable jumpers or switches which permit each of the ports of the circuit to be programmed to have the desired type of line characteristic. The disadvantage of this type of circuit board is that all of the circuits necessary for supporting the types of possible line interfaces which may be provided must be present on the board even though the customer may only want to use a fraction of the overall number of line type interfaces that are supported by the board. As a result, the expense of the circuit board is increased and further the number of analog lines which may be connected to the board is lessened as a consequence of the necessary electronics for supporting all of the lines taking up space which lessens the number of ports which may be on the board.
Another design of a circuit board for interfacing a PC with analog lines does not permit the programming of the characteristic of the line to which the circuit board is to be connected. Each circuit board of this type is hard-wired to support one or more types of analog line interfaces. As a result, this product is not programmable and may be only used for specific applications for specific connections to analog lines which prevents it from being reconfigured by the customers to interface with different types of analog lines.

Digital switching system interconnecting buses with imcompatible protocols


A tool handling device for machine tools, comprising a tool magazine having a transfer position for the transfer of the tools, including a tool changer movable between the transfer position and an exchange position, which has a rotatable double gripper, and a supporting structure movable on a foundation, on which the tool changer is mounted. In order to achieve fast tool changes in tight spaces on the machine, the supporting structure has an upper slide and a lower slide which can both be displaced by means of spindle drives in the same direction on a foundation, wherein a single drive motor is provided for driving the two spindle drives.

A tool handling device for machine tools is known from German patent publication DE 10 2008 059 422, which has a tool changer including a rotatable tool double gripper that is mounted on the end of a supporting column that can be lifted and lowered and rotated about a longitudinal axis. A mechanical cam gear that has a single drive motor, a cam barrel, and intermediate gearing serves for generating the lifting and rotating movements of the tool double gripper. The cam barrel has a tappet for the rotational drive of the tool double gripper on its upper front. A cam curve is prepared on the peripheral surface of the cam barrel for the lifting movement of the tool double gripper. The supporting column of the tool double gripper, the cam barrel, and the intermediate gearing are accommodated in a housing-like slide that can be displaced on a foundation by means of a motor spindle drive. As the axes of the cam barrel, the Maltese wheel, the intermediate gearing, and the supporting column are successively arranged, the slide has a narrow width so that it occupies a correspondingly small space. However, this known handling device is technically extensive due, for example, to the required intermediate gearing with a Maltese cross drive and both the vertical and rotating motion sequences of the double gripper, the maximally possible travel distance of the device being restricted.


A fuel cell system of the present invention is mounted on a moving object and is equipped with a fuel cell for generating power by chemically reacting a fuel gas supplied to an anode and an oxidizer gas supplied to a cathode; a cooling mechanism for cooling the fuel cell by radiating heat of a refrigerant circulating in the fuel cell into an atmosphere; a speed detection mechanism for detecting a moving speed of the moving object; an outside air temperature detection mechanism for detecting an outside air temperature; a cooling amount estimation mechanism for estimating a cooling amount of the fuel cell by the cooling mechanism, based on the moving speed and the outside air temperature; and an upper limit value set mechanism for setting an upper limit value of a power generation current, based on an estimation result of the cooling amount estimation mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel cell system for a moving object that enables an operation of a fuel cell in a range of overheat not occurring in the fuel cell, even when a temperature detection mechanism of a cooling system malfunctions.
2. Description of the Related Art
These years from such a viewpoint of suppressing a discharge amount of carbon dioxide that causes global warming is noticed a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV). The FCEV mounts a fuel cell (FC) for generating power by electrochemically reacting hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) in air, supplies the power generated by the fuel cell to a traction motor, and produces driving force.
In this connection, the fuel cell becomes highest in its power generation performance (electromotive force) by a temperature thereof being maintained at a predetermined value (for example, 80 degrees Celsius): if the temperature is too low, the power generation performance lowers; and if too high, there occurs a possibility that a fuel cell main body and instruments (piping, valve, and the like) receive heat damage. Therefore, a technology is known that detects a temperature (cooling water temperature), cooling water amount, and the like of the fuel cell by a water temperature sensor and a flow rate sensor, wherein when each value is deviated from a predetermined range, a controller reduces an output of the fuel cell main body by compensation control (for example, see paragraphs 0020 and 0021 and FIG. 1 of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Hei. 8-195208 (hereinafter referred to as patent document 1)). Meanwhile, the FCEV leads cooling fluid circulating within the fuel cell to an radiator placed at a front area of a vehicle body and performs cooling by running wind (for example, see paragraphs 0037 and 0042 and FIG. 1 of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-182379).
However, in the apparatus of the patent document 1, when there occur a malfunction of a water temperature sensor, a disconnection of an electric harness connected to the water temperature sensor, and the like, compensation control based on a cooling fluid temperature results in being not correctly performed and there is a possibility that following problems occur: For example, if the controller recognizes the cooling fluid temperature lower than actual one, an output (power generation current) results in being not limited in spite of the fuel cell temperature being high, and it may happen that an excessive temperature rise occurs in the fuel cell. In addition, if the controller recognizes the cooling fluid temperature higher than actual one, the output is reduced in spite of the fuel cell temperature being an adequate value, and it may happen that the output is gradually reduced and the FCEV results in being unable to run.
Consequently, a fuel cell system is strongly requested that estimates a cooling amount of a fuel cell by a cooling mechanism from a running speed of a moving object and an outside air temperature and sets an upper limit value of a power generation current of the fuel cell based on the cooling amount.


A bevel inspection module for capturing images of a substrate is provided. The module includes a rotational motor, which is attached to a substrate chuck and is configured to rotate the substrate chuck thereby allowing the substrate to revolve. The module further includes a camera and an optic enclosure, which is attached to the camera and is configured to rotate, enabling light to be directed toward the substrate. The camera is mounted from a camera mount, which is configured to enable the camera to rotate on a 180 degree plane allowing the camera to capture images of at least one of a top view, a bottom view, and a side view of the substrate. The module yet also includes a backlight arrangement, which is configured to provide illumination to the substrate, thereby enabling the camera to capture the images, which shows contrast between the substrate and a background.

Advances in plasma processing have facilitated growth in the semiconductor industry. Generally speaking, a plurality of semiconductor devices may be created from dies cut from a single processed substrate. To process a substrate, the substrate may be placed on top of a substrate chuck within a plasma processing chamber. The positioning of the substrate on the substrate chuck may determine which portion of the substrate may be processed to form devices.
Methods are available for aligning a substrate to the center of a substrate chuck. In an example, sensors may be placed in a processing module to determine the positioning of a substrate in regard to a substrate chuck. In another example, an alignment fixture, such as a guided robotic arm may be employed to position the substrate in alignment with the substrate chuck. Although aligning to a hardware center (e.g., center of the substrate chuck) may be performed with some precision, alignment to the hardware center may not always equate to an alignment to the process center.
As discussed herein, the hardware center refers to the center of a hardware, such as a substrate chuck. Also as discussed herein, the process center refers to the focal center of the plasma process. Ideally, at any given radial distance from the focal center, the process result (e.g., the etch rate) remains the same. For example, at a distance of 100 mm from the process center, it is expected that the etch rate remains substantially constant as one follows around a circle having a radius of 100 mm from this focal process center. Due to chamber configuration peculiarities, the process center may not always be the same as the hardware center. As a result, basing alignment on the hardware center alone may cause misalignment during substrate processing. As manufacturers continue to strive to improve yield, efforts are continually made to more precisely center the substrate over the process center during plasma processing to minimize device defect caused by substrate misalignment.

Offset correction methods and arrangement for positioning and inspecting substrates


A face milling insert comprising a pair of main cutting edges which are spaced apart from a center and meet at a corner where they transform into a surface wiping secondary edge, which is intersected by a bisector defining the corner between the main cutting edges, inside each main cutting edge a slope surface being formed, which slopes towards a countersunk bottom surface in a chip surface. A shoulder, having a top side situated at a higher level than the bottom surface, extends inwardly from the secondary edge, the slope surface of the main cutting edge that actively co-operates with the secondary edge, terminating at the shoulder.

Cutting inserts of the type stated above are used in milling tools for face milling. In this application, the cutting inserts are mounted in insert seats in a number of peripherally spaced-apart pockets in a milling cutter body being rotatable around a central axis, which body during machining of a workpiece is set in a translational feeding motion, usually perpendicular to said axis, at the same time as the same is brought to rotate. In this connection, the main cutting edges of the milling cutter are facing radially outward from the rotation axis of the milling cutter body in order to remove chips from the workpiece in a material layer of a desired depth, while the secondary edges of the cutting insert (which by those skilled in the art usually are denominated "wiper edges") are located in a common plane and directed inward from the peripherical main cutting edges, in order to, in such a way, exert a surface-wiping or surface-smoothing effect on the generally planar surface, which is generated in the workpiece after the chip removal.
For different purposes, the cutting inserts, in practice being most often flat, can be located at different angles in relation to the milling cutter body. Thus, the individual cutting insert may be inclined or "tipped-in" in a negative as well as a positive angle with the rotation axis, seen not only axially but also radially. Generally, the cutting inserts work easier and more efficient at larger axial angles than at small or negative axial angles. However, the strength and geometry of the cutting inserts, for example practicable clearance angles, impose limits on the maximal axial angles that can be realized.
The problems that the present invention aims at solving are related to cutting inserts for face mills. Thus, it has turned out that easy-cutting cutting inserts, i.e., cutting inserts having a positive geometry of the type initially mentioned, which are mounted with large axial angles (>15°) in the milling cutter body, run the risk of breaking into pieces and having a short service life. Among other things, such cutting inserts are frequently damaged mechanically by the fact that a limited portion of the chip surface in the immediate vicinity of the secondary edge or wiper edge at a corner and the transition thereof into the main cutting edge, is peeled off by the hot chips. If such damage, limited per se, arises, the chip, being viscous by the heat, will shortly thereafter adhere to and pull along with it the area of the chip surface being inside, and in such a way peel off large parts of the surface layer of the cutting insert that determines the geometry of the chip surface. By those skilled in the art, such damages are denominated "topslice fractures". Damages of this type become particularly frequent when the cutting inserts have large edge rounding offs, and when the material that is machined generates large quantities of heat energy.
A conceivable solution to the above-mentioned problem would be to form the top side of the cutting insert in the shape of a planar, smooth surface. In such a way, the cutting insert in the area of the secondary edge would become stronger and easier be able to resist the planing or shearing effect of the chip. However, such a cutting insert would get a drastically deteriorated performance, among other things because the contact length of the chip against the top side would become considerably larger, with increased cutting forces as a consequence.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,752 discloses a cutting insert intended for milling, which insert, adjacent to each one of four surface-wiping secondary edges or wiper edges, has a planar surface that is located at a higher level than the surrounding parts of the chip surface. However, in this case, the cutting insert lacks any positive chip-cutting slope surface adjacent to the individual main edge. Thus, a channelled or waved part of the chip surface extends inward from the main edge in a negative chip angle, which is even larger than the chip angle of the corner surfaces.
SE 502196 C2 discloses a cutting insert for milling, more exactly 90° square shoulder milling, the cutting insert including, in the vicinity of each corner, a ridge being raised relative to the rest of the ship surface, the ridge extending from a wiper edge towards the center of the insert. In this case, however, the ridge as well as the wiper edge are displaced laterally in relation to the curved edge portion, which forms the actual corner of the insert as defined by a bisector between two meeting main cutting edges. This implies that the insert in question runs exactly the same risk to be damaged as the above-mentioned inserts, more specifically topslice fractures being initiated at the fragile curved edge portion in the corner.


A method and apparatus for forming a subsurface zone having an increased bearing capacity in a preselected area of relatively soft soil is disclosed. A liquefaction generator is provided in the form of a plurality of interconnected perforated pipes forming a grid pattern which substantially extends over the preselected area. Air and water under pressure are supplied to the liquefaction generator while allowing it to sink within the soft soil to a subterranean layer of hard soil or rock. The air and water are continually supplied to the generator until the soil above it is in a state of liquefaction and thereafter a hardenable material and/or rock fragments are added to the liquified soft soil above the generator. Thereafter, the mixed soil and added material is allowed to solidify over a period of time. For sites containing areas of compacted material, cutters may be attached to pipes of the liquefaction generator to further break up the soil material. The method may also be applied to the construction of subterranean cutoff walls with or without embedded, vertical, moisture impervious membranes.

For many civil engineering projects the bearing capacity of existing soil on a building site must be increased in order to withstand the extreme weight of surface structures and also to minimize settling over a period of time. For example, in airport construction, proposed runway extensions often must extend into relatively soft or even marshy soil and such soil must be changed as to its bearing capacity before the runway surface can be installed. In other instances it often becomes necessary to form an impervious subsurface wall known as a cutoff wall in areas where the existing soil is relatively soft or marshy.
Various approaches to the aforesaid problem have been proposed by the prior art. In one previous approach, high permeability materials, such as columns of sand or artificial fabrics forming drain elements, were installed vertically at given intervals throughout the site to the entire depth of the soft soil in order to reduce moisture content of the soil which was responsible for producing settlement when structures were placed upon it. Subsequent to placing such vertical drains, a layer of sand and/or gravel was placed over the entire site. A surcharge in the form of a mound of soil was then placed over the area to provide added weight which tended to compress the soft soil. Water within the soft soil, which was now under pressure from the surcharge weight, gradually migrated to the adjacent vertical drains and was carried through them to the ground surface and eliminated. Accordingly, the moisture content of soft soil was slowly reduced. The surcharge load on the ground surface was maintained until the soft soil lost sufficient moisture content through the vertical drains and gained enough strength to provide the required bearing capacity and settlement characteristics. Use of such vertical drains in the construction industry started several decades ago. Some of the major examples of the use of such drain systems between 1954 through 1988 are described in the following articles:
(a) "Foundation and Fill Studies for the Metropolitan Oakland International Airport", Knappen-Tippetts-Abbett-McCarthy, Airport Consultant, New York, July 1954. PA1 (b) "Soft Clay Engineering", pp 650-669, Elsevier Scientific Publishing company, New York, 1981. PA1 (c) "Wicking Bay Mud", pp 53-55, Civil Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineering, December 1986. PA1 (d) "Osaka International Airport", pp 53-60, October, 1988, Korean Society of Civil Engineering, Vol. 36, No. 5. PA1 (e) "Hong Kong Replacement Airport", Journal of American Society of Civil Engineering, pp 87-146, Vol. 113, No. 2, February, 1987. PA1 (f) "Settlement, Consolidation and Use of Wick Drains", Craig Shields, Harding-Lawson Assoc., Symposium on the Geotechnical and Hydrological Properties of San Francisco Bay Mud, Lafayette, Calif., May 13, 1989.
One serious disadvantage with the aforesaid procedure was that the time required to obtain the desired effect was highly sensitive to the original soil condition, the surcharge weight, and the vertical drain intervals. Normally, use of the vertical drain procedure required two years or more to achieve the desired effects and, frequently, the predicted settlement of the soft soil under the surcharge load on the surface was in error. Once the vertical drain elements and the surcharge load were installed, no construction activities on the site were possible until the required settlement had taken place. Often, readjustment of the predicted settlement was required on the basis of survey results. A waiting period of two years or more for settlement to cease was expensive. Similarly, the installation of an impervious subsurface cutoff wall or barrier by the methods of the prior art was time-consuming and expensive.
Summarizing, the prior art method for increasing the bearing strength of soft and wet soil utilizing vertical drains in conjunction with surface surcharge materials inherently required a gradual reduction of the moisture content of soft soil, a process which required several years to complete due to the very low coefficient of permeability. Secondly, the gain of strength was primarily measured by the magnitude of measured settlement. The settlement rate was predicted on the basis of laboratory consolidation test results, which almost never agreed with the actual conditions at the site, and thus required a modification of the entire program. Lastly, after the protracted procedures of the prior method, the improved site still contained the original soft soil, although with a reduced moisture content and increased strength. However, the site was still subject to long-term settlement, and was also more susceptible to deformation during and after seismic activities.
A problem similar to that of increasing the bearing strength of soft soil is that of providing a subsurface cutoff wall in certain soft soil locations. In some instances where the soil mixture within a slotted wall construction is semi-fluid, a membrane or diaphragm may be lowered into the slotted wall to form an impervious barrier. As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,590, the movement of such a membrane downward through the soil may be increased by use of air bubbles supplied at the bottom of the membrane. The air bubbles serve to reduce the viscosity and thus the shearing stress in the boundary layer along the sides of the membrane. However, this patent provided no solution to the problem of creating a hardenable subsurface slotted or cutoff wall.

Method and apparatus for increasing bearing capacity of soft soil and constructing cutoff wall


The present invention concerns a control arm that may be used to control the movement of a component of a radio controlled vehicle having a center line. The control arm includes a threaded rod as well as first and second base members. The base members are positionable on opposing sides of the component. Each of the base members has a planar surface and an opposingly located raised section that has an outer surface that is partially spherical in shape. An opening is located in each of the base members which extends through the base members. Also provided are opposingly located locking members, each of the locking members has a cavity shaped to engage the spherical section of the clamping member and an internally threaded bore which coacts with the threaded rod. The coaction between the threaded portions creates a biasing force which urges the base members against the components. The engagement of the cavity and spherical section permit the base members to be moveable with respect to the locking members so as to maintain the rod perpendicular to the centerline of the component.

The present invention relates to a novel dual control horn for use with remote controlled apparatus including, but not limited to, aircraft, watercraft, and land vehicles. More specifically, the present invention provides two opposingly located base members that maintain a control rod in a position that is perpendicular to a central axis no matter the angle of the outer surface of the component to be controlled.
In the remote control field, control arms and the like are often used to control the movement of various components or pieces of equipment. For example, a control rod will often be used to control the movement of a rudder used on a remote control airplane. However, because the outer surface of the rudder is angled, securing a control arm so that it is perpendicular to the center line of the component is often difficult because the clamping members used with a control arm are only designed to work on flat surfaces. Thus, when an angled surface is encountered, the clamping members cannot either fully engage the surface or, as is often the case, dig into the surface. Alternatively, shims or inserts are often used to overcome this problem.
The present invention permits use with an angled surface by providing clamping members that have movable portions. The moveable sections conform to the angle of the support surface so as to maintain the control arm perpendicular to the center line of the component.


The invention relates to a method for operating a preferably serial hydraulic hybrid drive system (1), comprising an internal combustion engine (8), a first expulsion machine (11), a second expulsion machine (12), a pressure accumulator (20) and an isolating valve device (30). For the purpose of optimization it is proposed that for various operating modes in each case a total efficiency level is read out from characteristic maps. These total efficiency levels are compared with one another. The operating mode with the best total efficiency level is subsequently selected.

The invention relates to a method for operating a preferably serial hydraulic hybrid drive system.
The Parker company has developed a serial hydraulic drive system, which is available under the name "RunWise". It was developed for heavy commercial vehicles and is additionally retrospectively installed in a mechanical drive. In doing this the mechanical drive train is divided and the "RunWise" system is inserted.
All hybrid drive systems consist of energy converters, revolution rate converters and torque converters connected in series or parallel. Each of said converters, which are also referred to below as components, has operating point dependent efficiency, which usually depends on different external and internal influences.
The efficiency is defined here as the ratio of useful energy to energy expenditure:
                    η        =                              W            useful                                W            expenditure                                              (                  Eq          .                                                    1                )
The operating point at which a component is operated has a significant influence on the efficiency of the component.
For each component the efficiency performance can be stored in the form of characteristic curves and/or characteristic fields.
A serial hydraulic drive train can e.g. comprise the following components: internal combustion engine, hydraulic pump, hydraulic motor and pressure reservoir. The components of the drive train can be operated in different operating modes. Thus the hydraulic motor can also be operated as a pump. When this is the case the hydraulic motor converts the kinetic energy of the vehicle into hydraulic energy and couples it into the pressure reservoir. Moreover, the pressure reservoir can be filled or discharged.
As a rule, the drive train has a different overall efficiency in different operating modes, even if it is providing the same useful power to the driven wheel(s) of the vehicle.

Method for operating a serial hydraulic hybrid drive system


The present invention relates to a method of oligomerizing olefins M selectively to oligomers Mn, involving a catalytic system comprising at least one organometallic complex with a metal of groups 4 to 10 of the periodic table of molecular volume Vmo, and a micro- or mesoporous solid whose average micropore diameter Φ is greater than or equal to Φmin defined as a function of the molecular volume (Vmo+nVmM), where n is the number of monomeric olefins strung together upon obtaining the metallacycle intermediate and VmM the molecular volume of the monomeric olefin.

A recurrent handicap of the methods based on molecular (or homogeneous) catalysis lies in the difficulty in separating the products and the catalyst in order to recycle the latter. In most cases, these methods work on a lost catalyst basis with, in addition, the potential problem of toxicity of the catalytic species present, even as traces, in the products. "Heterogenization" of homogeneous catalysts is thus a problem widely studied. One possible way consists in immobilizing the catalytic species on or in a support, notably mineral.
The article by Zhao et al. (Materials Today, 9, 3, p. 32-39, 2006) reviews several molecular catalyst and enzyme immobilization modes, and it notably mentions chemical grafting, electrostatic grafting, adsorption and encapsulation. Immobilization by adsorption is essentially based on the Van der Waals forces alone, and it is notably very frequently used to immobilize enzymes in ordered mesoporous materials. In fact, this type of immobilization is simple and requires no treatment of the support, which allows not to denature the enzyme.
The worldwide demand for alpha-olefins, intermediaries used in the manufacture of surfactants, additives for lubricants and fuel bases, continues to grow. There are several commercial methods of oligomerizing ethylene to hexene-1 by molecular catalysis and a considerable amount of work is available today on the modification of these systems in order to direct them towards the selective production of octene-1 or higher oligomers.
The article by Deckers et al. (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2001, 40, 2516-2519) presents an organometallic complex wherein the Ti+ ion is coordinated by a hemilabile ligand η5-C5H4CMe2C6H5 and used to selectively produce hexene-1, the co-catalyst used being methylaluminoxane (MAO). The reaction flowsheet corresponding to the trimerization of ethylene in a method using this organometallic complex as the catalyst is detailed in the article by T. de Bruin et al. (Organometallics, 2003, 22, 3404-3413). The mechanism that seems to be well established today involves a succession of metallacycle intermediates and of transition states. For each metallacycle intermediate obtained upon ethylene oligomerization, there is either a possibility of cycle opening through hydrogen transfer, subsequently leading to the desorption of the corresponding alpha-olefin (butene-1, hexene-1, octene-1 or decene-1, respectively for 2, 3, 4 and 5 ethylene molecules strung together), or a possibility of growth of the metallacycle intermediate by two additional links through the insertion of a new ethylene molecule.
It is of particular interest to be able to influence the reactivity by acting on the activity and the selectivity of the catalytic system in order to selectively obtain an alpha-olefin such as, for example, octene-1 or decene-1. The present invention, which furthermore allows easy separation for recycle of at least part of the catalytic system, falls within this scope.

Olefin oligomerization method involving a catalytic system based on organometallic complexes and a porous solid


An intelligent connector is disclosed having a signal processing unit, a first port, and a second port. The signal processing unit communicates signals between a bus and a slave module. The first port is coupled between the bus and the signal processing unit, and is connected to a power supply line. The second port is coupled between the signal processing unit and the slave module, and is positioned to provide a power supply to the slave module.

With the development of electronic technologies, an increasing number of electrical appliances have been integrated with different hardware modules for implementing various physical functions. For example, hardware modules such as electric heaters, fans, motors, and various kinds of sensors, etc., are commonly integrated into household appliances. To control the operations of these hardware modules, a master control board of the electrical appliance has to be connected with each of the hardware modules. The master control board supplies power to each of these hardware modules or to enables signal communication between the master control board and the different hardware modules. In addition, the switches or relays for controlling the power supplied to the hardware modules are commonly integrated on the master control board.
However, for traditional electrical appliances, the implementation of the electrical connections between the master control board and the hardware modules requires each of the respective hardware modules to connect to the master control board separately through wires. This leads to a large number of interfaces on the master control board, and hence a large number of wires lead out from these respective interfaces. This type of control circuit structure has a complicated structure, a low scalability and its maintenance costs are high.
There is a need for a device having a relatively simple structure for coupling the main control module with the slave modules in the electrical appliance.

Intelligent connector and bus controller


A wall cap comprising an end cap and insulating sound-dampening material can be installed with a building structure having an interior wall to decrease the transmission of sound and vibration from the building structure to the interior wall.

Buildings having an exterior façade primarily composed of glass typically comprise a non-loading bearing curtain wall which supports the glass. The curtain wall typically comprises an aluminum frame for supporting the glass comprising a series of mullions for anchoring the frame to the building structure and may also provide a place to abut vertical and/or horizontal building partitions (e.g. walls, floors/ceilings). The mullions provide a space between the building partitions and the glass which may result in undesirable sound transmission between partitioned spaces within the building. The mullion material may also contribute to the transmission of undesirable sound.
Conventional methods for minimizing sound transmission include adding mass to the mullion or adding sound absorbing materials to the mullion, such as filling the mullion with insulation. Another method involves attaching a vibration isolation cover to the mullion face. In another example, a partition wall is cantilevered out to meet the glass and the partition wall is sealed with the glass using caulk.
These methods for minimizing sound transmission often require modifications for each building structure and typically do not provide the desired magnitude decrease in sound transmission. Methods such as cantilevering the partition wall out to meet the glass do not allow for differential movement between the building and the curtain wall system, which can result in tearing of the sealing caulk.

Interior wall cap for use with an exterior wall of a building structure


Provided are a method for emotion communication to share a user's emotions between an emotion signal sensing device and an emotion service providing device. The method for emotion communication includes: the emotion signal sensing device's sensing biological and environmental information of the user and generating an emotion signal and emotion information of the user based on the biological and environmental information; establishing an emotion communication connection with the emotion service providing device; transmitting the emotion signal and the emotion information to the emotion service providing device by the emotion communication connection establishment; and breaking the connection with the emotion service providing device.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for emotion communication between an emotion signal sensing device and an emotion service providing device.
(b) Description of the Related Art
As society is moving toward personalization and aging, emotion-based services for emotion communication are required. Accordingly, studies on the recognition of emotions of a user and the provision of an emotion-based service desired by the user are actively being pursued.
Although studies on a standardized protocol for sending and receiving an emotion signal are being carried out to allow an emotion signal sensing device that senses a user's emotions and an emotion service providing device that provides the user with an emotion service to share information about the user's emotions, these studies have not yet been put into practice.
Hence, there is a need for a practical standard protocol for sending and receiving an emotion signal.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Method for emotion communication between emotion signal sensing device and emotion service providing device

Electronics and Telecommnications Research Institute


A pneumatic temperature control unit having a fluid receptacle containing a fluid capable of expanding or contracting with temperature. The fluid receptacle having a surface capable of movement in response to expansion or contraction of the fluid in the receptacle. A spring positioned to exert a variable force on the receptacle surface. The variable force being calibrated for the corresponding fluid temperature above which the receptacle surface moves a desired amount. A calibrated temperature scale to adjustably set the variable force permits the receptacle surface to move at the desired fluid temperature. An elongated trigger mounted to transmit movement by the receptacle surface to a module having structure for controlling the flow of air between an air inlet port and an air output port. The air valve structure is in communication with the trigger so that expansion and contraction of the fluid actuates the air valve structure to control the flow of air to operate a pneumatic device and ventilate an area to control its ambient temperature.

Ventilation devices such as wall ventilators, ventilating curtains, and ridge vents are often manually controlled to regulate the temperature of an enclosed space. U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,082 discloses a temperature control system that automatically controls the operation of ventilation devices through the use of pneumatics. In that patented device, the ventilation devices are operable by changes in air pressure supplied to the devices by a control unit. The control unit has an adjusting knob for presetting the control unit to operate the ventilation devices when the temperature sensed by the control unit is above the preset temperature. However, the control unit is not easily adjusted by the user to set a specific temperature desired by the user because the control unit cannot be easily calibrated to specific temperature settings.
The present invention allows the user to preset a specific temperature desired by the user above which the pneumatic devices of the temperature control system will operate. This allows a building, typically a livestock containment building, to be ventilated and maintained at a predetermined temperature. Adjustments can be easily made to control the ambient temperature in the building.
These and other advantages of the invention over the prior art will become more apparent after reading the description and claims which follow.


A method of etching a semiconductor substrate. The method includes the steps of applying a photoresist etch mask layer to a device surface of the substrate. A select first area of the photoresist etch mask is masked, imaged and developed. A select second area of the photoresist etch mask layer is irradiated to assist in post etch stripping of the etch mask layer from the select second area. The substrate is etched to form fluid supply slots through a thickness of the substrate. At least the select second area of the etch mask layer is removed from the substrate, whereby mask layer residue formed from the select second area of the etch mask layer is significantly reduced.

Micro-fluid ejection head such as used in ink jet printers are a key component of ink jet printer devices. The processes used to construct such micro-fluid ejection heads require precise and accurate techniques and measurements on a minute scale. Some steps in the ejection head construction process are necessary but can be damaging to the ejection head. Such damage to the ejection head affects the quality of fluid output, and, therefore, has an affect on the value of the ejection device containing the ejection head.
One example of a technique that can result in such damage to an ejection head is the removal of an etch mask layer from photoresist planarization and protection layer on a semiconductor chip in a given ejection head. Ejection heads include a silicon substrate and a plurality of layers including passivation layers, conductive metal layers, resistive layers, insulative layers, and protective layers on the substrate. Fluid feed holes or fluid supply slots are formed in the substrate and various layers in order for fluid to be transferred through the holes or slots to ejection devices on a substrate surface. Such holes of slots are often formed through the semiconductor chip using deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) or mechanical techniques such as grit blasting. A planarization and protection layer is preferably used to smooth the surface of the semiconductor chip so that a nozzle plate may be attached to the substrate more readily. The planarization layer also functions to protect the components between the planarization layer and the surface of the substrate from corrosion.
Before holes or slots are formed in the semiconductor chip containing a planarization layer, the planarization layer is desirably masked by an etch mask layer. Like the planarization layer, the etch mask layer is typically a photoresist material. In order to complete the hole formation process, the etch mask layer must be removed. However, techniques sufficient to remove the etch mask layer may also strip away portions of the planarization layer that are needed for protection of underlying layers. This undesirable effect results in less protection for the semiconductor chip. If, on the other hand, less aggressive stripping of the etch mask layer is conducted, portions of the semiconductor chip are left with an insoluble residue from the etch mask layer which makes the chips unsuitable for use. There is, therefore, a continuing need for a process that will remove substantially all of the etch mask layer without damaging the underlying planarization and protection layer.

Method for making a micro-fluid ejection device


A computer-implemented method (400) to generate an avatar, such as an avatar forming part of synthetic user generated content. The method comprises determining a rigid model based on an appearance error, a shape error and a dimensionality (425) of received images (405), and an appearance component and shape component of the rigid model. The non-rigid digital model may be a person specific active appearance model. Other aspects of include a computer system (200) and software (225).

User generated content (UGC) is becoming more and more popular as digital cameras are now commonplace on a multitude of devices. Users may record a video of themselves or someone else and share it with friends of family via a website or through email.
Synthetic UGC, where video clips are animated by a user, is also increasing in popularity. During elections it is popular to animate avatars representing politicians, and at holidays it is popular to animate characters relating to the holiday, such as elves in relation to Christmas.
Several systems exist that allow a user to animate an avatar through commands. Examples of such commands include commands to make the avatar laugh or smile, show an expression, or move in a particular way. However, a problem with such systems of the prior art is that the avatar can only act based upon a limited set of commands. This often results in a limited ability to express emotion, and accordingly the avatar does not have a life-like appearance.
Certain systems allow for a user to animate an avatar through the user's own movement. Some of these systems include expression detection, wherein a user's expression is detected and then applied to the avatar. Other more advanced systems include modelling of movement and expression of the user, and applying the resulting model to the avatar.
A further problem with these systems of the prior art is that the modelling process can be complex and time consuming. Attempts at reducing complexity can result in a system that is not sufficiently robust and/or wherein the model of the user is not accurate. Similarly, the complex prior art systems are not particularly suited to complexity sensitive applications such as real time and mobile applications.
Yet another problem with systems of the prior art is that the model generated by the systems may not be close to a true representation of the user. This is especially prevalent when a limited amount of training data is provided. In this case, overfitting may occur, wherein the model does not accurately describe the user, yet fits well to the training data.

System and method of generating a non-rigid model

COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION