A rotary hammer includes a spindle 18 which can be rotatably driven by an intermediate shaft 24 by way of a drive device. A tool holder 16 is arranged for rotation with the spindle 18, and for releasably holding a bit or tool for selective rotation and/or reciprocation. A pneumatic hammering arrangement facilitates repeated impacting of the bit or tool for reciprocation within the tool holder (16). A mode change mechanism includes a knob 18 for selectively operating the rotary hammer in any of three modes, identified as a rotary drive only mode, a hammer only mode and a rotary hammer mode.

This invention relates to a rotary hammer, and particularly relates to a rotary hammer with a mode change mechanism for switching the rotary hammer for operation in any one of a hammer only mode, a rotary drive only mode and a rotary hammering mode.
In a hammer only mode of a conventional rotary hammer, a bit is inserted into a tool holder of the hammer and is repeatedly struck by a hammering mechanism and is not rotatably driven. In a rotary drive only mode, the bit is rotatably driven and is not subject to impacts from the hammering mechanism. In a rotary hammering mode, the bit is repeatedly struck by the hammering mechanism and is simultaneously rotatably driven.
Conventional rotary hammers of this type typically include a spindle mounted for rotation within a housing of the hammer which can be driven by a rotary drive arrangement, selectively engageable and disengageable with a pinion driven by a motor of the hammer. The spindle rotatably drives a tool holder of the hammer which in turn rotatably drives a tool or bit releasably secured within the hammer. A piston is generally slideably located within the spindle and is reciprocally driven by a hammer drive mechanism which translates the rotary drive of a hammer motor to a reciprocating drive of the piston. A ram, also slideably located within the spindle, forward of the piston, follows the reciprocation of the piston due to successive reversing pressures in an air cushion within the spindle between the piston and the ram. The ram repeatedly impacts an anvil slideably located within the spindle forward of the ram which transfers the forward impacts from the ram to the tool or bit, for limited reciprocation within the tool holder at the front of the hammer. The mode change mechanisms for such hammers can selectively engage and disengage the rotary drive to the spindle and the reciprocating drive to the piston.
In a known type of mode change mechanism, a single mode change actuator is used to switch the hammer between different modes. However, mechanisms of this type tend to be relatively complex, use parts which are intricate and/or difficult to manufacture inexpensively in bulk, with sturdy qualities that can withstand sustained use of the hammer, and/or are relatively difficult to assemble.
A known mode change arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,986, and includes a mode change knob having a first cam element for activating and de-activating hammering, and a second cam for activating and deactivating rotary drive. The disclosed arrangement also includes the option of operating at either of two drive speeds. In a first position of the first cam element, rearward movement of the spindle is blocked, which prevents the drive from being transmitted to the hammer drive arrangement. In a second position of the first cam, rearward movement of the spindle occurs when the tool or bit is pressed against a work surface. This rearward movement of the spindle results in the engagement of two coupling parts which allows the drive to be transmitted from an intermediate shaft to the hammer drive arrangement.
The second cam arrangement, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,986, is used to guide an adjustment element along a rod mounted in the housing of the hammer, which adjustment element engages spindle drive gears to shift the gears between three positions. In a first of the three positions, a drive gear engages a spindle lock to prevent rotation of the spindle, and relates to of a surface of the first cam whereby drive is transmitted to the hammer drive arrangement. In a second position, a first drive gear engages the intermediate shaft to drive the spindle at a first speed of rotation, and, in a third position, a second drive gear engages the intermediate shaft to drive the spindle at a second speed. The three positions of the drive gears, as they relate to the orientation of the second cam element, are co-ordinated with the blocking and non-blocking positions, in relation to the orientation of the first cam element, in order to co-ordinate the activation of the spindle at the required speed with the activation of hammering.
The mode change arrangement as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,986 requires many non-standard type parts such as the first and second cam surfaces, an adjustment element, a bearing and a cage, which have to interact to change between the modes of operation. Such parts are relatively expensive to manufacture in such a way that the parts can survive sustained use of the hammer and still provide smooth changes between the different modes of operation of the hammer. Also, the assembling of the parts to provide such a mode change arrangement is relatively difficult, which further adds to the cost of manufacturing such hammers. Further, a biasing means between the knob and the adjustment element is required to bias the gears or teeth into position for meshing until one of the gears has rotated sufficiently to allow actual meshing to occur. This results in additional cost and complexity.


A mobile leakage detecting device according to the present invention is provided for simplifying detecting operations of a leak portion and enhancing operational efficiency, and is characterized by microphones for detecting ultrasonic waves generated at a fluid leak portion, an input device for inputting positional information of the leak portion in a searching area detected based on output signals from the microphones, a photograph device for photographing the leak portion, a display device for indicating the positional information inputted by the input device and photographed image information of the leak portion obtained by the photograph device and data processing device for relating with one another and storing the output data from the microphones, positional information inputted by the input device and photographed image information obtained by the photograph device on the same leak portion.

One example of conventional mobile leakage detecting device of this type comprises a single directional microphone for detecting ultrasonic waves generated from fluid leak portions, and a display device for visually indicating, in digital or bar-graphical representation, detected ultrasonic wave data obtained by processing an output signal from the microphone (see Japanese Patent Application "Kokai" No. Hei. 7-253377, for example).
With this conventional detecting device, it is possible to detect, by detection of the generated ultrasonic waves, an extremely fine leak portion which is not detectable by a detecting device for finding a leak portion based on detection of a sound generated in an audible range. However, it can merely provide a function of detecting the leak portion by utilizing the inaudible generated ultrasonic waves whether the detected ultrasonic wave data is visually indicated as noted above, or is audibly outputted by using an earphone or the like. More particularly, it causes the operator a considerable trouble and burden in carrying out incidental operations for recording in detail a position where the detected fine leak portion is present and peripheral conditions thereof. With respect to these aspects, there still has been room for improvement in simplification of the operations as a whole and enhancement of operational efficiency, for the mobile leakage detecting device to be frequently used for finding fine leak portions successively while moving around a wide range of searching area where piping and devices are in a complex arrangement.
The present invention has been made having regard to the state of the art noted above, and its primary object is to effectively achieve a simplification of the entire detecting operations including detection of the leak portion and operations incidental thereto, and enhancement of the operational efficiency thereof by providing a rational arrangement.


A cartridge heater and method of manufacturing same. In one embodiment, the cartridge includes a sheath having a first end and a second end. The first end of the sheath forms a seat. An elastomeric bushing is swaged against the seat such that it forms a mechanically bonded seal substantially preventing moisture egress into the cartridge heater. A heating element is also disposed in the sheath and is connected to leads protruding from the bushing. The heater includes crushable insulation material disposed within the sheath.

Various configurations of electric cartridge heaters are known in the prior art. A typical cartridge heater includes a metal sheath around a resistance-wire heating element coiled around a core of insulating material. An insulating filler material with appropriate thermal conductivity and electrical insulating properties is used to fill the space between the coil and the sheath. Granulated magnesium oxide is typically used as the insulating filler material. After the sheath is filled, the sheath is subjected to compression forces, for example, by swaging. Compression compacts the granulated magnesium oxide and improves its dielectric and thermal conductivity properties. Lead wires may be attached to the coil before or after filling the sheath and may be held in place with an end plug made of materials such as Teflon, mica and silicone rubber. The lead wires become secured within the plug after swaging. The lead wires may then be potted with sealants to provide moisture resistance. Depending upon the intended application, cartridge heaters of varying sizes and voltage ratings may be required. U.S. Pat. No. 6,172,345, for example, discloses a high voltage cartridge heater which includes a core sleeve of pre-compacted insulating material.
With current manufacturing technology, it has proven to be a challenge to reliably produce high-voltage cartridge heaters for high moisture environments. Heaters in operation in high moisture environments are prone to dielectric breakdown and current leakage problems caused by the egress of moisture and water into the dielectric insulating material. In high moisture environments, dielectric integrity and current leakage must be kept within predetermined limits in order for the cartridge to meet certain industry standards, such as those standards established by Underwriters Laboratories, for example, the UL 471 standards.
One apparent reason for such problems is that the potting sealants and sealant methods used to seal the lead wire end of the cartridge do not provide adequate bonding with the lead wires and the sheath. Sealant materials, such as epoxy and silicone, for example, do not bond adequately with the stainless steel used for the construction of the sheath or with the silicone-coated lead wires. As a result, high-voltage cartridge heaters are traditionally only offered with sealants that do not qualify for certification for high moisture environments under the applicable industry standards.
One embodiment of the invention provides a cartridge heater. The cartridge includes a sheath having a first end and a second end. The first end of the sheath forms a seat. An elastomeric bushing is swaged against the seat such that it forms a mechanically bonded seal substantially preventing moisture egress into the cartridge heater. A heating element is also disposed in the sheath and is connected to leads protruding from the bushing. The heater may include crushable insulation material disposed within the sheath.

Cartridge heater with moisture resistant seal and method of manufacturing same


This invention comprises a weighted, molded, artificial fishing lure having an enlarged belly and thinner torso relative to the belly. The lure generally resembles a wide variety of swimming forage fish and substantially maintains a proper upright orientation when towed through water. The lure also has a dorsal fin with a plurality of spiny rays extending upwardly from its back and a large, protruding eye located on each side of the lure. A hook, eye connector, fresh bait, or any desired configuration or color of jig, worm, apron, etc., may be integrally formed within or secured to a tail portion of the lure.

Within the sports fishing industry, anglers have difficulty submerging their lure to a depth where fish are feeding. To submerge the lure, anglers often use lead weights called sinkers that are attached to a fishing line. Once the sinker is attached to the line, an additional length of line called a leader of approximately eighteen inches (18") to several feet in length is attached to the line below the sinker. The lure is then attached to the loose, terminal end of the leader. When the line is cast into a body of water, the sinker causes the line, leader, and lure to sink to a desired depth.
Much of the skill of fishing is in calculating the precise amount of sinker weight, length of cast line, amounts of expected line and lure drag, and the speed that the lure is traveling with respect to the water to place the lure at the proper depth.
In an effort to eliminate most of the aforesaid factors or variables, many trolling fisherman use what is called a downrigger. A downrigger is a piece of expensive equipment that is attached to the deck or gunwale of a boat. The downrigger generally comprises: a motorized reel having steel cable thereon; a large, round, extremely heavy, lead weight attached to the leading end of the cable; and an extension arm that can be moved to extend the weight over the gunwale of the boat.
During use, the fishing line, with a sufficient length of leader attached thereto and a lure at the end thereof, is removably attached to the weight and the weight is lowered into the water. The weight hangs almost directly downward from the extension arm. The amount of cable that is extended is measured to reveal the general depth of the trailing lure.
Although use of a downrigger system has many advantages, it can only be used while trolling in a relatively deep body of water. In addition, fishermen and women are becoming more aware that fish are very sensitive to seemingly innoxious tackle. For example, simple magnetic fields emitted from a boat have a dramatic impact on the feeding behavior of fish. Unfortunately the downrigger system places the lure nearly directly below the boat. Magnetic fields, engine noise, engine vibrations and resulting wave impulses, trace elements from the weight, cable, line, and/or lure, and many other factors, all combine and contribute to the various disadvantages of using a downrigger system.
An alternative method to place the lure at the desired depth is to use a trolling plane. A trolling plane generally comprises a flat, plate-like planing member that is used in place of a sinker or a downrigger system. The trolling plane is attached to the line at such an angle so that when the plane is dragged through the water, the water that is being pushed aside forces the plane downward to a lower depth. Although there are smaller sized planes that can be cast from shore into a large river, trolling planes are generally restricted to trolling from a boat.
The same drag that forces the trolling plane downward must be overcome to retrieve or reel-in any fish that is caught. Consequently, many different trolling planes have been designed that have two modes or positions of operation. The first mode or position of operation causes the plane to dive to deeper depths. Once a fish has taken the lure, it is intended that the swimming action of the fish causes the plane to pivot and switch to a second mode or position of operation.
When assuming its second more or position of operation, the plane is generally coplanar with the line being retrieved. Consequently, the drag coefficient of the plane with respect to the water within which it is traveling is greatly reduced, allowing for easier retrieval of the fish and tackle.
There are significant disadvantages of using a downrigger system and/or a trolling plane system. For example, both of such systems require use of additional substantial elements that are positioned on the fishing line between the lure and the fisherman. As a result, the line sensitivity or ability of the fisherman to determine whether or not a fish is striking or nibbling upon the bait or lure is greatly diminished.
For a true sport fisherman, the elimination of most all of the factors and variables of the sport, including the physical sensitive interaction between the fish, line, and fisherman translate to a dramatic decrease in the enjoyment of fishing.
Artificial, weighted "jig heads" have also been used within the fishing industry. A jig is typically a segment of rubber, plastic, or leather that generally resembles a worm, shrimp, tadpole, or frog. The jig is usually dressed with hair, feathers, or other protruding "rubbery" tentacles that jerk up and down or to and fro when drawn through water. A weighted ball or bullet-shaped pellet that has an eye connector at one end and a hook protruding from an opposed end is secured to the jig. The hook is used to secure the jig to the "jig head." The eye connector is used to secure the "jig head" to a fishing line.
The "jig head" is heavier than water. When the jig is secured to the "jig head" and both are cast into a body of water, the "jig head" causes the jig to sink.
It is important to note that the "jig head" functions simply as a weight, and generally does not represent anything in particular.
The inventor believes the above-listed apparatus and methods taken alone or in combination neither anticipate nor render obvious the present invention. These citations do not constitute an admission that such disclosures are relevant or material to the present claims. Rather, these citations relate only to the general field of the disclosure and are cited as constituting the closest art of which the inventor is aware.


Fluid detection apparatus including fluid non-retention members and fluid detection members is disclosed. The fluid non-retention members have concave curved portions having a concavity in an outwardly direction from the respective fluid detection member. The fluid non-retention members are configured to prevent retention of the fluid on at least one of the respective fluid detection members.

Fluid detection apparatuses detect the presence and absence of fluid. Fluid detection apparatuses have been used in printing systems such as printing systems having replaceable ink cartridges. For example, fluid detection apparatuses can detect when the respective ink cartridge has a low ink level and, thus, a user can be notified. Therefore, the user can be provided with an opportunity to change the replaceable ink cartridge and prevent the printing system from running out of ink during a print job.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Threads of a process require a shared resource to perform their work. The threads have a shared object, which might include a lock and an expiration time. When the resource has not been acquired and any one of the threads attempts to access the shared resource, that thread locks the lock, acquires the shared resource, sets the expiration time, releases the lock, and then uses the shared resource to perform its work. When any one of the threads requires the resource and the resource has been acquired but the expiration time is within a time threshold, only that thread refreshes the resource, resets the expiration time, and uses the resource to perform its work. When any of the threads require the resource and the resource is available and not expired, the thread uses the shared resource.

Many software applications require an external resource to perform work. Some types of applications may also have many worker threads, executing in parallel, that require the same external resource to do their respective individual work. When the resource is available, the worker threads do their work using the resource and there are no resource-related problems. However, if the resource is unavailable, for instance if it has not yet been acquired or if it has expired, then, as only the inventor has recognized, there can be inefficiencies with how the shared resource is managed by the worker threads.
To understand some of the potential inefficiencies, consider an example application, for instance as shown in FIG. 1. In this example, the application is a server process 100 executing on a device or a cloud service. The server process receives requests from client devices 102, and the worker threads 104 service the requests. In this example, to service the client requests, the worker threads need to access a helper service 110 on another device or cloud service.
To access the helper service 110, however, the worker threads 104 must authenticate with the helper service. The authentication mechanism in this example is a brokered or delegated authentication protocol, where an entity (e.g. a worker thread) authenticates with a broker (a resource provider 106), the broker provides the entity with a security token (the shared resource 105), and the entity presents the token to another service (e.g. the helper service 110) for authentication. The entity is then granted access to the helper service.
Continuing the example, as noted, the server process 100 has a pool of worker threads 104 for handling incoming client requests. When a request is received from a client 102, a worker thread is assigned to handle the request. To do its work, the worker thread needs to access the helper service 110. The worker thread checks to see if a token (shared resource 105) is available before accessing the helper service. If a token is not available, e.g., no token exists or a token is expired, then the worker thread will present credentials to authenticate with the broker, which provides a new token or refreshes an existing token. The worker thread then provides the new/refreshed token to the helper service to authenticate with same and finish servicing the client request.
In the state of the art, although the worker threads might share the same shared resource, they operate autonomously with respect to managing shared resources like security tokens. In the example above, if the server process has just started, there may be no shared token at all. Or, if the server process has been idle for a long time then a shared token may be expired. In these circumstances, as only appreciated by the Inventor, if the server process receives a burst of client requests, then many worker threads may attempt to acquire a new token (or refresh an existing token) at the same time, which can create resource contention, local and remote load spikes, etc. Moreover, as only the inventor has appreciated, this scenario involves significant duplication of effort and therefore inefficient use of computing resources at both ends. Even if the token is shared among the worker threads, each thread is duplicating the token acquisition/refresh effort of the other threads. Not only are there implications for physical resources, there may be cost implications. For example, if the broker service charges money for each token issuance/refresh, then the cost in the scenario described is also multiplied.
What is needed is an approach that allows threads to cooperatively manage a shared resource in ways that reduce overhead.

Efficient and scalable use of shared resources


Fine holes each having a diameter of scores of nanometers are formed in each of diamond thin films at an interval equal to the diameter of the fine hole, and metal electrodes each having a low resistivity are buried in the fine holes, and the distance between metal electrodes and the diamond thin films through which flows an electric current is set at an order of scores of nanometers so as to markedly lower the on-resistance. As a result, provided is a microswitch having a low on-resistance and utilizing the high reliability inherent in diamond.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microswitch and a method of manufacturing the same, particularly, to a microswitch using a thin film made of a carbon series material and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, attentions are paid to a MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) technology for manufacturing an integral structure comprising a fine mechanical structure and an electronic circuit by using a semiconductor fine fabrication technology. The MEMS technology is employed in various technical fields including, for example, a fine mechanical switch, hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cmicroswitchxe2x80x9d. The microswitch exhibits frequency characteristics which are more satisfactory than the semiconductor switch and, thus, is expected to be utilized in the field of telecommunications. Also, the microswitch can be miniaturized and integrated more easily than the conventional relay utilizing the electromagnetic force and, thus, is expected to be utilized in the field of vehicles.
As an example of the microswitch utilizing the particular MEMS technology, a microswitch manufactured by utilizing the Ni plating is disclosed in xe2x80x9cPaul M, Zavracky et al., Micromechanical Switches Fabricated Using Niker Surface Micromachiningxe2x80x9d, which is reported in xe2x80x9cJournal of Microelectro Mechanical Systems, (USA), (IEEE/IEE), 1997, Vol. 6, p. 3, FIG. 2xe2x80x9d.
The method of manufacturing the microswitch is schematically illustrated in FIG. 2 of the publication noted above, and the fabrication procedure is described in this publication with reference to FIG. 2. In the fabrication procedure disclosed in this publication, a silicon oxide film is formed first on a Si substrate, followed by forming on the silicon oxide film a Cr film and a Au film forming a first contact layer. Then, a source electrode, a gate electrode and a drain electrode are formed by the patterning using the photolithography. After formation of these electrodes, a Cu film acting as a sacrificial layer is formed, followed by etching the Cu layer so as to form a hemispherical concave portion and a hole extending to reach the source electrode. Then, a resist layer is patterned so as to form a Au film acting as a second contact layer and subsequently forming a beam by a Ni plating. Finally, the resist layer and the Cu layer acting as the sacrificial layer are removed so as to finish the manufacture of the device.
If a voltage is applied to the gate electrode in the microswitch of the construction described above, the beam is electrostatically deformed toward the substrate. If the voltage exceeds a certain value, the electrostatic force overcomes the elastic force of the beam so as to permit the hemispherical contact formed in the tip of the beam to be brought into contact with the drain electrode, with the result that the source-drain passageway is rendered conductive so as to form an xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d state. If the voltage ceases to be applied to the gate electrode, the beam is brought back to the original state, with the result that the contact is moved away from the drain electrode so as to form an xe2x80x9coffxe2x80x9d state.
In general, Au is widely used as a material of the contact included in the microswitch. It should be noted in this connection that the on-resistance of the microswitch includes in general a contact resistance and a film resistance. The contact resistance is derived from the situation that the irregularity on the contact surface causes the actual contact area to be markedly smaller than the apparent contact area. On the other hand, the covering resistance is derived from the situation that the contact surface is covered with a thin insulating layer. In order to diminish the former one of the contact resistance, it is necessary to increase the contact force so as to enlarge the contact area, or to use a material that is likely to be deformed. On the other hand, in order to diminish the latter one of the covering resistance, it is necessary to increase the contact force so as to mechanical destroy the insulating layer on the surface, or to use a material on which an insulating layer is unlikely to be formed. However, an electrostatic force is used in general as a driving force in the microswitch. What should be noted is that the electrostatic force is very small. In general, the electrostatic force is capable of generating only about xcexcN to mN of the contact force. Such being the situation, Au, which can be deformed easily and on the surface of which an insulating film is not formed, is widely used as the material of the contact included in the microswitch.
However, the microswitch thus manufactured leaves room for further improvement in respect of its life. Particularly, Au used for forming the contact layer is known as a contact material that is likely to bring about a so-called xe2x80x9cstickingxe2x80x9d, which is the phenomenon that the both poles thereof are stuck to each other so as to make it difficult to permit the both poles to be separated from each other. It follows that Au used for forming the contact layer is said to leave a problem in respect of the reliability for a long time.
A microswitch using a diamond thin film is reported as a measure for overcoming the sticking problem noted above in, for example, an article entitled xe2x80x9cSurface micromachined diamond microswitchxe2x80x9d included in a magazine xe2x80x9cDiamond and Related Materials, Vol. 9, p.970, FIG. 2xe2x80x9d by S. Ertl, et al, which was published by xe2x80x9cElsevier Science, the Netherlandsxe2x80x9d in 2000xe2x80x9d.
The method of manufacturing a microswitch by using a diamond thin film is illustrated in FIG. 2 of the publication quoted above. According to the description relating to FIG. 2, an i-type diamond thin film forming an insulating layer is formed first on a Si substrate. Then, a p+-type diamond thin film having a high dopant concentration is formed, followed by patterning the p+-type diamond thin film so as to form a gate electrode and a first contact layer. Further, a SiO2 layer acting as a sacrificial layer is formed, followed by selectively etching the SiO2 layer so as to form a convex portion and a hole. After the selective etching step, a p+-type diamond thin film is formed, followed by pattering the diamond thin film so as to form a beam. In the beam forming step, a contact is formed at the tip of the beam. Finally, the sacrificial layer is removed so as to form a metal electrode, thereby finishing the manufacture of the device.
Likewise, a diamond microswitch structure is disclosed in, for example, an article entitled xe2x80x9cDiamond microwave microswitchxe2x80x9d by M. Adamschik, et al, which is included in a magazine xe2x80x9cDiamond and Related Materials, Vol. 11, p.672xe2x80x9cpublished by xe2x80x9cElsevier Science, the Netherlandsxe2x80x9d in 2002xe2x80x9d. Disclosed in this prior art is the structure that the current passageway starting from the metal electrode to reach again the metal electrode through the contact made of the p+-type diamond and the first contact layer is made as short as possible. It is reported that the particular structure makes it possible to decrease the resistance component derived from the bulk resistance of the diamond thin film.
Graphite, which is made of carbon like diamond, is known to be a material that does not bring about the sticking problem and, thus, was widely used in the past as a material of the sliding contact. It is reported by the research group referred to above that the sticking is not brought about in diamond, too, as reported in, for example, an article entitled xe2x80x9cSurface micromachined diamond microswitchxe2x80x9d included in a magazine xe2x80x9cDiamond and Related Materials, Vol. 9, p.970, FIG. 2xe2x80x9d by S. Ertl, et al, which was published by xe2x80x9cElsevier Science, the Netherlandsxe2x80x9d in 2000xe2x80x9d.
Diamond exhibits satisfactory mechanical characteristics, the thermal conductivity, and the corrosion resistance and, thus, makes it possible to achieve a microswitch capable of stably switching a large current over a long period of time.
The microswitch using a diamond thin film referred to above exhibits satisfactory mechanical characteristics, the thermal conductivity, and the corrosion resistance. In addition, the sticking problem is unlikely to be generated in the microswitch using the diamond thin film. It follows that the microswitch using the diamond thin film provides the possibility of realizing a microswitch capable of stably switching a large current over a long period of time and excellent in its reliability.
However, a serious problem is left unsolved in the device disclosed in the prior art publication referred to above, as pointed out below. Specifically, diamond is basically a semiconductor. The resistivity of a p+-type diamond (B-doped diamond) is at least 1,000 times as high as that of the ordinary metal. The on-resistance of the microswitch made of a metal is determined by substantially the contact resistance at the contact interface. However, the on-resistance of the microswitch made of diamond corresponds to the series resistance of the contact resistance and the bulk resistance of the diamond thin film, i.e., the sum of the contact resistance and the bulk resistance noted above. It follows that, even if the contact resistance is lowered by increasing the contact area by, for example, planarizing the contact surface, it is impossible to lower the on-resistance unless the series resistance is also lowered.
In the structure disclosed by S. Ertl et al, the thickness of the contact made of a p+-type diamond thin film is decreased so as to diminish the distance between the metal electrode on the back surface and the contact surface. However, this technology is limited in terms of the mechanical strength of the diamond thin film. Also, the diamond film is formed in general by a CVD method. In the initial stage of the CVD process for forming the diamond film, the diamond is in the form of isolated particles. Since a continuous film is formed in the stage that the diamond film is allowed to have a reasonable thickness, it is difficult to form a thin continuous film itself. Further, in the structure in question, the distance between the contact surface and the electrode corresponds to the distance in a direction parallel to the film. It follows that it is difficult to decrease the resistance component in the first contact layer.
Incidentally, the sticking problem is unlikely to take place in graphite, which is also the carbon-based material, as in diamond. However, the problem that the resistivity is several places higher than that of metal is inherent in graphite as in diamond.
An object of the present invention is to provide a microswitch having a low on-resistance, which utilizes the high reliability of a carbon-based material, and a method of manufacturing the particular microswitch.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a microswitch, comprising:
a substrate;
a first electrode portion fixed to the substrate and having a first contact surface, the first electrode portion including a first layer formed of a first carbon series material and provided with a group of first fine holes extending to reach the first contact surface, and first metal segments formed of a first metal material and buried in the first fine holes, respectively;
a second electrode portion arranged to face the first electrode portion with a gap provided therebetween and having a second contact surface movable toward the first electrode portion, the second electrode portion including a second layer formed of a second carbon series material and provided with a group of second fine holes each extending to reach the second contact surface, and second metal segments formed of a second metal material and buried in the second fine holes, respectively; and
a deformable structure configured to support the second electrode portion on the substrate to face the second contact surface to the first contact surface with a gap in a non-contact state, and configured to be deformed to shift the second electrode portion and contact the second contact surface with the first contact surface in a contact state.
According to an another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a microswitch, comprising:
forming a first electrode portion having a first contact surface on a substrate such that the first electrode portion is fixed to the substrate, the forming the first electrode portion including:
forming a first carbon series material layer on the substrate;
forming a first metal layer on the first carbon series material layer;
subjecting the first metal layer to an anodic oxidation within an acidic solution so as to form a first porous film in at least a surface region of the first metal layer;
subjecting the first carbon series material layer to an anisotropic etching with the first porous film used as a mask so as to form a group of first fine holes; and
burying a first metal material in each of the first fine holes;
forming a second electrode portion positioned to face the first electrode portion with a gap, the second electrode portion having a second contact surface movable toward the first electrode portion, the forming the second electrode portion including:
forming a sacrificial layer having a pattern on the substrate;
forming a second carbon series material layer on the sacrificial layer and on the substrate;
forming a second metal layer on the second carbon series material layer;
subjecting the second metal layer to an anodic oxidation within an acidic solution so as to form a second porous film in at least a surface region of the second metal layer;
subjecting the second carbon series material layer to an anisotropic etching with the second porous film used as a mask so as to form a group of second fine holes; and
burying a second metal material in each of the second fine holes; and
forming a deformable structure configured to support the second electrode portion on the substrate to face the second contact surface to the first contact surface with a gap in a non-contact state, and configured to be deformed to shift the second electrode portion and contact the second contact surface with the first contact surface in a contact state, the forming the deformable structure including removing the sacrificial layer.

Microswitch and method of manufacturing the same


There is described a non-invasive device designed to assist expectoration pulmonary secretions in humans, particularly in those whose natural exhalation and natural coughing ability are impaired. The device has a valve that opens fully in not more than 10 milliseconds, a pressure sensing means generating a signal indicative of a pressure in the upper part of the subject's respiratory tract, detecting means indicating the imminent collapse of the subject's respiratory tract or a part thereof, and control means opening or closing the valve respectively in response to the signals from the sensing means and the detecting means so as to create supramaximal flows in the respiratory tract in order to stimulate the movement of secretions towards the mouth of the subject. The valve opening/closing sequence is totally subject-controlled in accordance with a method of the invention which comprises the step of inducing supramaximal flows by determining a pressure threshold for the subject to be able to effect multiple openings and closings of the valve during a single respiratory cycle, determining a subject-specified parameter indicative of a substantial collapse of the subject's respiratory tract, and having the subject exhale against the valve to effect a rapid sequence of valve opening/closing cycles which cause the supramaximal flows and resulting movement of secretions towards the mouth of the subject.

Physicians have long realized that patients who are unable to clear their lungs of secretions are at a much greater risk of developing pneumonia or atelectasis. These patients often die prematurely of respiratory failure. The inability to expectorate secretions is considered, by physicians, a prime contributor to the demise of patients suffering from neuromuscular disorders, cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis, pneumonia and obstructive lung diseases. In addition, the excessive morbidity and mortality of critically ill patients requiring mechanical ventilation or patients recovering from abdominal or thoracic surgery has been attributed in part to their inability to effectively expectorate airway secretions. Patients with spinal cord injuries are also at a greater risk of respiratory failure and death because of the effect of the injury on inspiratory and/or expiratory muscles. Such patients are often unable to generate adequately high pleural pressures during coughing to achieve expectoration of secretions. Secretions that are not removed from the respiratory tract in a natural manner not only obstruct the airways thereby interfering with breathing but also become contaminated with pathogenic bacteria. This leads to an inflammatory reaction which may damage the lungs irreversibly.
As secretions can be moved from lower parts of the respiratory tract towards the upper airways (upper bronchi, trachea and mouth) by a high expiratory flow rate of air from the lungs, research work has been undertaken to induce enhanced air flow rates from the patient's lungs. Certain methods typically employ a cyclic manoeuvre in which the lungs of the patient are over pressured prior to the patient exhaling into a source of vacuum. This approach is termed "exsufflation with negative pressure" (E.W.N.P.). Note, pressures denoted negative and positive refer respectively to sub-atmospheric and super-atmospheric pressure.
As defined in Blakiston's Gould Medical Dictionary, Fourth Edition, McGraw-Hill, 1979, exsufflation means "forcible expiration; forcible expulsion of air from lungs by a mechanical apparatus", and exsufflator is defined as "an apparatus that can mimic the effect on the bronchial tree of a vigorous cough, by the sudden production of negative pressure". Urdang Dictionary of Current Medical Terms, John Viley & Sons 1981, defines exsufflation as "the forcible removal of secretions from the air passages by some form of suction apparatus". Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, F.A. Davis Company, Edition 15, 1985, explains exsufflation as "forceful expulsion of air from a cavity by artificial means, such as use of a mechanical exsufflator". It can be seen that the definitions are not quite consistent and the term "exsufflation" has been used in the literature with certain liberty. Although having certain advantages, E.W.N.P. also has negative effects, particularly on patients with pulmonary problems. These aspects were discussed in a paper by G.J. Beck and L.A. Scarrone, Physiological effects of E.W.N.P., Diseases of The Chest, January 1956, Vol. 29, pp. 80-95. That paper describes a breathing control procedure in which the positive pressure in inspiration was built up to 40 mm Hg above atmospheric in two seconds, then a pressure drop to 40 mm Hg negative pressure would occur in 0.04 sec. The negative pressure was maintained for approximately 1.5 sec.
To improve airflow during a natural cough humans contract their expiratory muscles, raising the pleural pressure. The pleural pressure changes are not only transmitted to the alveoli, but also to the airways. Thus, if a person tries to "force" his/her expiration to achieve a relatively high air flow from their lungs, the intrathoracic pressures combined with the low static pressure within the respiratory tract resulting from the increase in expiratory flow rate tend to close, prematurely, certain parts of the respiratory tract (bronchioles, larger bronchi, trachea). The collapse of trachea and/or bronchial tubes (dynamic compression of the airways), while temporarily stopping the expiratory flow or reducing it significantly, creates a serious problem in attempting to assist the patient in breathing.
In particular, with suction applied, researchers have found that the flow of air from the lungs during the application of negative pressure (alternatively with or without positive pressure) cannot be sustained for the full lung volume, or full vital capacity (FVC); instead, the collapse of the airways or some part thereof causes discomfort of the patient. If negative pressure is still applied to the patient's respiratory tract after a partial collapse of the airways has taken place, the patient will experience an unpleasant feeling resultant from the collapse of the cheeks and/or soft palate. This sensation has been dubbed the "alligator effect". To alleviate the patient discomfort the operator must disconnect the vacuum and allow the airways to reopen and the cheeks and soft palate to move to their normal positions. This reopening of the airways and re-positioning of the cheeks and soft palate may be aided with the application of a positive pressure into the mouth. This alternation of negative/positive pressure, or negative/atmospheric pressure has so far been left to the operator's judgment, or based on average person's parameters.
Knudson, R.J. et al., Contribution of airway collapse to supramaximal expiratory flows, Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol. 36, No. 6, June 1974, describe a flowmeter to measure rapid expiratory flow events. Controlled by the patient's pleural pressure, rapid opening and closing of a valve connected with the patient's respiratory tract produced flow rate transients of short duration which exceeded the normal flow rates. The authors found that supramaximal flows generated as a result of very fast valve opening time, below 10 msec, are relatively high although of very short duration.
A Russian Author's Certificate No. 762,890 published Sep. 15, 1980 discloses a device to induce an artificial cough. The invention recognizes the fact that the displacement of secretions from the lower parts of the respiratory tract to the upper parts--bronchi, trachea, mouth--is promoted by a fast flow of air from the lungs during exhalation. The device comprises a mask, a vacuum volume connected to a membrane switching mechanism having an inlet valve connected to a rarefaction source, and an outlet valve connected to the mask. The switching mechanism consists of three membranes and a nozzle. A coughing impulse is created by connecting the rarefaction source with the lungs. The specification is silent on the timing of the alternating vacuum phases.
While the above-described proposals are useful in removing secretions from the respiratory tract, they do not fully solve the problem of expectoration of secretions in weakened individuals without causing their discomfort.

Method and apparatus for assisting expulsional movement of pulmonary secretions via supramaximal flows

National Research Council Canada Intellectual Property Services Office


An apparatus comprises a phased array antenna panel, a plurality of amplifier circuits, and a plurality of beamformer circuits. The phased array antenna panel generally comprises a plurality of antenna elements. Each of the amplifier circuits is mounted on the phased array antenna panel adjacent to a respective one of the plurality of antenna elements and each of the amplifier circuits has one or more first ports directly coupled to the respective antenna element. Each of the beamformer circuits is mounted on the phased array antenna panel adjacent to a number of the amplifier circuits. Each of the beamformer circuits has one or more second ports directly coupled to each of the adjacent amplifier circuits. Each of the beamformer circuits is generally configured to exchange a plurality of radio-frequency signals with each of the adjacent amplifier circuits via the second ports.

Phased array antenna panels are used to generate steerable beams that may be utilized in wireless and satellite communication systems. Phased arrays create a focused beam that can be steered very quickly to maintain a link for any on-the-move communication system. Conventional wireless communications systems can also utilize steerable beams to communicate with multiple wireless nodes by moving the beams from one wireless node to the next. A single beam may service multiple wireless nodes in a sequence and repeat the sequence periodically such that each wireless node appears to be in constant communications with the system.
Beam forming (or steering) is generally implemented utilizing low noise amplifiers (LNAs), power amplifiers (PAs), phase shifters, and/or other components in transceiver circuitry. The amplifiers utilized for beam forming either drive or are driven by respective antenna elements of the phased array antenna to produce and steer the beams. Existing implementations for beamformer-like circuits combine low noise amplifiers (LNAs) and/or power amplifiers (PAs) into a single chip solution. In single chip implementations, performance characteristics such as Noise Figure (NF) of a receive (RX) chain and/or output power of a transmit (TX) chain are degraded due to loss from the feeding network between the beamformer chip and the antenna elements. Single chip embodiments are also more susceptible to input-to-output coupling and external signal jams.
It would be desirable to implement a beam forming module for high-isolation and low noise figure systems.

Beam forming module implementation for high isolation and low noise figure systems


An invention is directed to a method and an installation for producing a hot-rolled steel strip from continuously cast primary material in consecutive work steps, wherein the primary material is brought to hot rolling temperature after solidification and is inserted into a rolling mill for rolling out into a finished strip, wherein the primary material is coiled after reaching the hot rolling temperature, is stored intermediately in a rotary hearth furnace, and is recalled, as needed, uncoiled and rolled out to form a finished strip, the intermediate storage being effected immediately prior to entering the finishing train, the coils being preferably stored intermediately in a horizontal position and with a horizontal coiling axis, a subsequent heating being effectable during the intermediate storage.

The invention relates to a method and an installation for producing a hot-rolled steel strip from continuously cast primary material in consecutive work steps, wherein the primary material is brought to hot roll temperature after solidification and is inserted into a rolling mill for rolling out into a finished strip.
A method which is known from German Offenlegungsschrift Pat. No. 32 41 745 provides that a strip-shaped cast strand be wound into a coil immediately after leaving the casting machine and passing the transverse cutting device and then, after heating to rolling temperature, uncoiled again and fed to a rolling mill for rolling out into final cross sections. A disadvantage of this known installation is that it is difficult to heat wound up coils and a very long time at a great cost in energy and operation costs is required for this.
Known strip casting installations usually use tunnel furnaces in order to bring the primary material to the desired hot rolling temperature, wherein, however, the material strands are not coiled. A substantially lower expenditure of energy is required compared to strip coiling. In multiple-strand installations, holding furnaces must be used in any event because of the resulting long transportation distances.
Bogie hearth continuous furnaces, hoisting hearth or car-bottom furnaces are primarily taken into consideration as holding furnaces; however, all of these have various disadvantages. With the use of a bogie hearth continuous furnace, it is not possible to charge and discharge coils at different times, since when discharging a bogie hearth without another bogie hearth moving up behind it, a gap occurs which is not protected from heat radiation. The charging and discharging must therefore always be effected simultaneously. In addition, the empty bogie hearths must be brought back from the discharge side to the charge side. A subsequent heating of the car, or, at any event, of the ceramic benches, is required in order to avoid black spots (so-called skid marks). During disturbances in the rolling mill train, the coils present at the coil winding station cannot be received by the furnace. There must be an additional storage furnace for storing the coils. Both doors must be opened simultaneously during the charging and discharging of a bogie hearth, which leads to higher heat losses.
A hoisting hearth furnace requires a plurality of separately driven hoisting hearth beam systems (walking-beam type systems) in order to enable a separate charging and discharging of coils. In the event of a disturbance in the rolling mill, no coils can be received by the furnace for storage. A second furnace installation is also required in this case if coils are to be stored.
A car-bottom furnace can receive one or more coils depending on the design. If the storage capacity must be the same as the ladle contents, a plurality of car-bottom furnaces are required. The disadvantage in a plurality of furnaces is that the traveling distances to the uncoilers vary and, because of this, there is no uniformity of temperature of the coils.

Strip casting installation with rotary hearth furnace and method for producing hot-rolled steel strip therefrom


Provided is a sewing machine that enables a user to grasp the position of an interested point that is present inside and outside a stitchwork pattern without relying upon the user's imagination. This sewing machine includes an operation screen that displays, in a screen region, a frame image and a stitchwork image, and receives a user input of an interested point within a stitchwork frame displayed in the screen region. Moreover, the stitchwork frame is horizontally moved until a needle points out a point within the stitchwork frame and corresponding to the interested point input using the operation screen.

Sewing machines form seams in accordance with stitchwork data, thereby sewing a stitchwork pattern on a sewing object. Such sewing machines hold the sewing object stretched by a stitchwork frame. The stitchwork frame moves horizontally along the plane of a bed unit, thereby changing the formation position of a seam. The operation procedures of forming a stitchwork pattern is described in the stitchwork data. For example, in the stitchwork data, the displacement amount of the stitchwork frame for reaching the next seam is described in sequence.
There are cases in which a check is desired for the relative position and range of the stitchwork pattern to be sewn in accordance with stitchwork data. More specifically, in relation to the stitchwork frame, there is a request to confirm that the stitchwork pattern is involved within the range of the stitchwork frame, or that there is no collision between a needle and the stitchwork frame. Moreover, in relation to the sewing object or the other pattern already sewn on the sewing object, there are cases in which a confirmation for a position where the stitchwork pattern is to be sewn is also desired.
In this case, a technology for tracing the range where the stitchwork is to be sewn has been proposed. For example, Japan Patent No. 2756694 B horizontally moves the stitchwork frame in such a way that the needle tip tracks a rectangular outline externally in contact with the stitchwork pattern. JP 2000-271359 A horizontally moves the stitchwork frame in such a way that the needle tip tracks a polygonal like octagon or circular outline that passes through the vertices of the stitchwork pattern. Moreover, J P 2001-120867 A horizontally moves the stitchwork frame in such a way that the needle moves along the entire circumference of the stitchwork pattern.
For example, it is assumed that a user wants to sew, on a table cloth, one flower attached to a cane from which multiple leaves extend. In addition, it is assumed that the pattern of a butterfly has been already sewn on this table cloth. Furthermore, it is assumed that the user wants to adjust the positional relationship between the flower pattern and the butterfly pattern in such a way that the butterfly is appeared to be stopping at the tip portion of a leaf within the flower pattern to be sewn.
This example indicates a case in which the user wants to grasp the position of the user's interested point present inside and outside the stitchwork pattern. When the technology of tracing the sewing range of the stitchwork is applied, although this technology enables the user to know the range, such a technology does not enable the user to know an arbitrary point, in order to grasp the positional relationship between the leaf tip and the butterfly, it is necessary for the user to first memorize the trajectory of the needle, compares the trajectory of needle with the flower attached to the cane from which multiple leaves extend, and to specify the position of the leaf tip on sewing object by comparison.
Such memorizing work, comparison work, and specifying work are carried out in sequence relying upon the user's imagination at all, and the user cannot grasp the positional relationships among the user's interested points present inside and outside the stitchwork pattern unless multiple times of imaginations are carried out in sequence. Hence, it is quite difficult for the user to grasp the positions of the user's interested point present inside and outside the stitchwork pattern, causing an error in grasping work in some cases, and not enabling the user to perform a sewing work with a high quality that can be satisfied by the user.
The present disclosure has been made in order to address the above technical problems of conventional technologies, and an object of the present disclosure is to provide a sewing machine that enables a user to grasp the position of an user's interested point that is present inside and outside a stitchwork pattern without relying upon the user's imagination.


Roofing material consists essentially of a substrate, a hot melt material applied to one side of the substrate, an asphalt material coating the other side of the substrate and roofing granules disposed on said asphalt material coated on the substrate. The hot melt material may be polyethylene, polyethylene-vinyl acetate, polypropylene, polyvinylidene chloride, polyester, nylon and mixtures thereof. The asphalt material may include non-asphaltic filler.

Roofing material has an upper surface intended to be exposed to weather and a lower surface facing in the direction opposite to the upper surface. Traditionally, the lower surface or back of roofing material such as shingles has been coated with asphalt material and covered with finely ground mineral material (fines) so that the asphalt backing does not adhere to contiguous roofing material when packaged for transport and storage. Such finely divided materials include mica flakes, copper slag, coal slag, sand, talc and silica dust. With increasing costs of petroleum based products, it is desirable to reduce the amount of weight of roofing materials (thereby decreasing transportation expenses) and to reduce the asphalt component raw material cost.


The disclosed magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus uses a disc-shaped magnetic recording bearing medium having a magnetizable member mounted at its center. The apparatus includes a recording and/or reproducing magnetic head and a spindle for rotating the record bearing medium. The spindle is provided with a permanent magnet for attracting the magnetizable member of the medium. The permanent magnet is magnetized in a radial direction of the spindle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus, and more particularly to magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus using disc-shaped magnetic record bearing media having a magnetizable members mounted at their centers, and to the magnetic recording discs themselves.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In an apparatus for recording or reproducing video signals and data signals on a storage such as a disc-shaped flexible magnetic sheet, the latter must be steadily and precisely set on the spindle for rotation. Previously, the center hub of the magnetic disc has been provided with a magnetizable plate, such as an iron ring, and the spindle has been provided with a permanent magnet to attract the magnetizable plate. The aim is to provide a steady setting of the magnetic disc by a magnetic chuck.
If the permanent magnet on the spindle has its direction of magnetization coincident with the axis of the spindle, the magnetic flux propagates through the magnetizable plate in the center hub of the magnetic sheet to the recording and/or reproducing head. This creates several potential drawbacks or disadvantages. Specifically, the head can be magnetized badly, and this can deteriorate the quality of the recording or reproducing signal because the leaking magnetic flux distorts the operation of the record bearing medium.

Magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus having a retaining mechanism for a disc-shaped magnetic record bearing medium


A method of determining a location of one or more sensors in a security system is provided. The method including: detecting a first wireless signal from a first sensor; determining a first signal strength of the first wireless signal; associating the first signal strength of the first wireless signal with a first location; detecting a second wireless signal from the first sensor; determining a second signal strength of the second wireless signal; associating the second signal strength of the second wireless signal with the second location; detecting a first sensor trigger using the first sensor; and determining that the first sensor trigger occurred at the second location.

The subject matter disclosed herein generally relates to the field of security systems, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for configuring security systems.
Existing securities systems, once installed, may not be altered or reconfigured by an end user. In order to reconfigure current security systems, an end user must contact the installer of the security system to return and reconfigure the system, which limits the use and flexibility of the security system.

Method for auto configuring wireless sensors in diy security systems


A radio terminal is provided that can provide a flexible transmission power control for an SRS without restrictions due to the transmission power control of a PUSCH, for the purpose of enabling use of an SRS for various purposes in a HetNet CoMP environment. The radio terminal receives a control signal including a transmission power control command (TPC command) to be applied to an aperiodic sounding reference signal (A-SRS), through a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), updates a transmission power value of the A-SRS using the TPC command, and transmits the A-SRS using the updated transmission power value in accordance with a transmission request included in a control signal indicating assignment of a physical downlink data channel (PDSCH) or assignment of a physical uplink data channel (PUSCH).

Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a radio communication terminal apparatus, a radio communication base station apparatus, and a radio communication method.
Description of the Related Art
In LTE (Long Term Evolution) and an evolved version thereof, i.e., LTE-A (LTE-Advanced) formulated in 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), uplink is provided employing SC-FDMA (Single-Carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access) with a small PAPR (Peak-to-Average Power Ratio) and high power usage efficiency in a terminal (for example, see Non-Patent Literature (hereinafter, abbreviated as NPLs) 1 to 4). In uplink of LTE and LTE-A, scheduling for allocating time and frequency resources according to the propagation path environment of the terminal, and adaptive control for controlling a coding rate or a modulation scheme are performed. In order to appropriately perform frequency scheduling and adaptive control to enable high throughput, it is indispensable for a base station side to know the propagation path situation of the terminal.
In order to measure the uplink propagation path situation of the terminal, an SRS (Sounding Reference Signal) is used in uplink of LTE (NPL 1). An SRS is a reference signal transmitted with the last SC-FDMA symbol of an uplink subframe (PUSCH: Physical Uplink Shared Channel) including a plurality of SC-FDMA symbols. A base station can know the uplink situation according to CSI (Channel State Information) calculated using the SRS or the reception quality of the SRS.
LTE employs a P-SRS (Periodic-SRS) transmitted periodically at time indicated by an instruction from a higher layer, such as RRC (Radio Resource Control) information. The base station beforehand instructs the terminal on the transmission subframe for an SRS, the period thereof, the power offset for the SRS to be transmitted, the frequency bandwidth, the frequency position, and an orthogonal resource, such as Comb or CS (Cyclic Shift) for orthogonalization to an SRS of another terminal. The terminal transmits an SRS with the last SC-FDMA symbol in the instructed subframe. In this way, regardless of the presence or absence of transmission of data and a control signal in uplink, the base station can periodically measure CSI of the terminal.
Meanwhile, uplink packet communication generally has high burstiness. It is preferable for a base station to be able to measure CSI on a necessary band when needed. Moreover, even when performing no data communication in uplink or downlink, a terminal periodically transmits an SRS and therefore consumes extra power. For this reason, LTE-A employs an A-SRS (Aperiodic-SRS) to be transmitted on the basis of a transmission request included in DCI (Downlink Control Information) which is a control signal indicating data assignment in uplink and downlink. An A-SRS is transmitted only upon request. This can reduce unnecessary power consumption in the terminal, also reduce interference to and from another cell and improve the efficiency of SRS resources.
Note that, there has been a discussion on the introduction of a heterogeneous network (HetNet) in which a plurality of base stations (hereinafter referred to as nodes) providing different coverage areas are deployed in a cell in LTE Release 11 (hereinafter referred to as Rel. 11), which is a further evolved version of LTE-A. A HetNet enable, for example, reception in a receiving node with a small path loss and offload for traffic, and therefore enables high throughput. Moreover, a terminal can decrease transmission power for a receiving node with a small path loss and can therefore reduce power consumption. For these reasons, in comparison with a non-HetNet involving only a macro node, a HetNet can improve a transmission speed while reducing necessary transmission power for a terminal.
Moreover, CoMP (Coordinated Multi-Point) in which these nodes transmit and receive a signal in cooperation has also been discussed in Rel. 11 HetNet (NPL 4). FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a HetNet CoMP system. HetNet CoMP includes one or more macro base stations (macro nodes), one or more pico base stations (pico nodes), and one or more terminals. CoMP can enhance an SINR (Signal-to-Interference plus Noise Power Ratio), for example, by a plurality of nodes receiving and combining signals transmitted by a terminal that is located at a cell edge and is strongly influenced by interference. Moreover, nodes can transmit and receive in a coordinated manner. Therefore, optimal nodes can be used independently in uplink and downlink. For example, a PDSCH is preferably transmitted by a node maximizing the reception power in a terminal, and a PUSCH is preferably received by a node minimizing a path loss. Introduction of CoMP enables communication with different nodes in uplink and downlink. This prevents large differences in the throughput and quality between uplink and downlink.
In order to acquire the effect of HetNet CoMP, it is important to appropriately select transmitting/receiving nodes participating in communication from among nodes distributed geographically, and to appropriately switch between nodes according to a peripheral situation or the situation of the terminal. Transmitting/receiving nodes may be selected and switched using a reference signal (for example, CRS, CSI-RS, or SRS) transmitted in uplink and downlink. In this case of using a CRS or a CSI-RS transmitted in downlink, a terminal measures CSI to each node and feeds back the CSI using uplink. Then, the base station side determines a transmitting/receiving node on the basis of the fed-back CSI. On the other hand, in the case of using an SRS transmitted in uplink, the base station side can directly measure CSI with an SRS transmitted by the terminal. Therefore, the system using an SRS can decrease the amount of information fed-back from the terminal to the base station in comparison with a system using a CRS or a CSI-RS. Moreover, the time required from measurement of the terminal to the completion of the feedback is omissible, so that a feedback delay can be reduced.
It is known that the reversibility of a channel is satisfied in TDD (Time-division duplex), and that downlink precoding, the scheduling of a PDSCH, or adaptive control is possible on the basis of the CSI measurement result acquired using an SRS. HetNet CoMP involves a high probability of enabling communication with a node having a small path loss since a plurality of nodes are distributed in the cell. Therefore, it can be said that there is a high possibility of also using downlink adaptive control using an SRS.
As described above, in and after Rel. 11 into which HetNet and CoMP are introduced, an SRS may be used for various purposes such as not only uplink scheduling and adaptive control used in the related art, but also selection of a transmitting/receiving node and downlink adaptive control.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Wireless communication terminal device, wireless communication method and integrated circuit for controlling transmission power of sounding reference signal (SRS)


A transparent oxide electrode film is provided to have crystalline indium oxide as its main component, in which the indium in the indium oxide is substituted with titanium at a titanium/indium atomic ratio between 0.003 and 0.120, and the resitivity of the transparent oxide electrode film is 5.7×10−4 Ωcm or less, so as to provide excellent transmittance for both the visible light region and the infrared light region, and low resistivity.

Transparent oxide electrode films have both high conductivity, and high transmittance of the visible light spectrum. Consequently, transparent oxide electrode films are used as the electrodes in solar cells, liquid crystal display elements, and various other photodetectors. In particular, transparent oxide electrode films formed using sputtering targets or ion plating tablets which can form transparent oxide electrode films with low resistance and high transmittance, can make sufficient use of solar energy, and are suitable for use in solar cells.
Widely used varieties of transparent oxide electrode films include tin oxide (SnOz) films doped with antimony or fluorine, zinc oxide (ZnO) films doped with aluminum or gallium, and indium oxide (In2O3) films doped with tin. Indium oxide films doped with tin, that is In2O3:Sn films, are referred to as ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) films, and are particularly widely used because of the ease of obtaining a low resistance film.
Because these films arc transparent oxide electrode films which have high carrier electron concentration, and excellent reflection and absorption characteristics for near infrared wavelengths, they are also used as heat reflecting film for car window glass or building window glass, as a variety of antistatic coatings, and as transparent heating elements for defogging freezing display cases and the like.
Frequently used methods for manufacturing the transparent oxide electrode films mentioned above include sputtering methods and evaporation methods, ion plating methods, and methods involving the application of a transparent conductive layer formation coating. In particular, sputtering methods and ion plating methods are effective when forming a film on a film deposition material (referred to simply as the "substrate" below) using a material with low vapor pressure, or when precise film thickness control is required, and are widely used because of their extreme case of operation.
In a sputtering method, generally a film is formed by causing a glow discharge to occur between the substrate acting as the anode and a target acting as the cathode, under an argon gas pressure below approximately 10 Pa, to generate argon plasma, and then causing the positive argon ions within the plasma to strike the cathode target, thereby ejecting particles of the target component, and causing these particles to be deposited on the substrate.
Sputtering methods arc classified according to the method used to generate argon plasma, and those methods which use RF plasma are called RF sputtering methods, while those using direct current plasma are called DC sputtering methods. Furthermore, methods in which a film is deposited by providing a magnet behind the target and concentrating argon plasma directly onto the target, to raise the collision efficiency of the argon ions even under low pressure, are called magnetron sputtering methods. Normally, a DC magnetron sputtering method is used to manufacture the transparent oxide electrode films described above. Furthermore, sometimes plasma obtained by superposing radio frequency on a base direct current plasma is used. This is called RF superimposed DC sputtering, and enables the discharge voltage to be lowered RF superimposed DC sputtering is often used when creating an oxide film using an oxide target. Because sputtering can be performed at a low discharge voltage, the bombardment of the film by oxygen ions produced from the target can be minimized, and a good quality film can be obtained.
Here, solar cells comprise p-type and n-type semiconductors in a layered structure, and are broadly classified according to the type of semiconductor. The most commonly used type of solar cell uses silicon, which is both safe, and abundant in terms of natural resources. There are three types of solar cells using silicon, those using single cell silicon, polysilicon and amorphous silicon. Furthermore, development is proceeding in the field of solar cells known as compound thin film solar cells, which use thin films of compound semiconductors such as CuInSe3, GaAs and CdTe and the like. Some examples are as disclosed in JP Patent Publication No. Tokukai Hei 5-218479, JP Patent Publication No. Tokukai Hei 9-55526 and JP Patent Publication No. Tokukai Hei 11-145493, and the like. Regardless of the type of solar cell, it is essential that a transparent oxide electrode film be provided as an electrode on the side of the solar cell from which sunlight enters, and conventionally, an ITO film or a zinc oxide (ZnO) film doped with aluminum or gallium or the like has been used.
The following is a detailed description of the compound thin film solar cells mentioned above. The structure of a solar cell which uses a compound thin film is that of a heterojunction of a compound semiconductor thin film with a wide band gap (an n-type semiconductor middle layer) and a compound thin film with a narrow band gap (a p-type semiconductor light absorbing layer). Normally, because of the scarcity of p-type semiconductor thin films with a wide enough band gap (>2.4 eV) for use as the middle layer of a solar cell, and because of the longer minority carrier diffusion length for electrons, an n-type semiconductor is used as the middle layer and a p-type semiconductor is used as the absorbing layer. The p-type semiconductors which can be used as the light absorbing layer include CuInSe2, CuInS2, CuGaSe2, CuGaS2 and solid solutions of these compounds, and CdTe. The conditions required to obtain higher energy conversion efficiency are an optimal optical design allowing a greater number of photoelectric currents to be obtained, and the creation of high quality heterojunctions and thin films where carrier recombination does not occur at the interface and specifically at the absorbing layer. Whether or not a high quality heterointerface is obtained depends largely on the combination of middle layer and absorbing layer, and useful heterojunctions are obtained with CdS/CdTe based, CdS/CuInSe2 based and CdS/Cu (In, Ga) Se2 based layers and the like. Furthermore, the use of a semiconductor with a wider band gap such as CdZnS as the semiconductor thin film of the middle layer in an attempt to increase the efficiency of a solar cell has yielded an improvement in sensitivity to the short wavelength light in sunlight. In addition, a high performance solar cell has been proposed which has high reproducibility due to the placement on the light incident side of a CdS or (Cd, Zn) S thin film, of a semiconductor with a larger band gap than that thin film, for example a ZnO or (Zn, Mg) O thin film, as a widow layer. Conventionally, ITO films, and zinc oxide (ZnO) films doped with aluminum or gallium or the like are employed as the transparent oxide electrode film used as the electrode on the light incident side of the cell.
The properties required of the transparent oxide electrode film used here are low resistance and high transmittance of sunlight. The spectrum of sunlight includes light ranging from 350 nm ultraviolet rays to 2500 nm infrared rays, and in order to effectively convert these forms of light energy into electrical energy, a transparent oxide electrode film is required which can transmit as wide a wavelength range as possible.
The following is a detailed description of the photo detection element. It is necessary to detect weak light for the advancement of optical communication techniques, medical diagnostics and environmental instrumentations. The detection of weak light is also required in the field of the detection of bioluminescence, the photochemical analysis of microdose agent in blood and the like, in addition to the precise spectrum analysis and the astronomic observation. In the prior art, the detection of weak light has been mainly used for the detection in and around the visible light region, however, its demand increases for the detection in the near-infrared-light region. Any of the light emission (wave length: 1.3 μm) of active oxygen, its movement in vivo being worthy of notice, the low-loss region of optical fiber (wavelength: 1.3 μm band or 1.55 μm band) and the safe region of laser wavelength to eyes (wavelength at least 1.4 μm) is the near-infrared-light region, and a variety of photo detection elements for weak infrared light is developed vigorously.
The wavelength used in the communication using optical fiber is in the infrared light region and the infrared light source of 1.3 μm band and 1.55 μm band is mainly used, and therefore photo detection elements of high-performance for infrared light are required to simultaneously detect the infrared light having such wave lengths. Generally, the photo detection element has a structure wherein the layer of photo detection materials is interposed between a pair of electrodes. As the layer of infrared photo detection materials, there are a type using Gc or InGeAs based semi-conductor materials, i.e. photodiode (PD) or avalanche photodiode (APD), the other type using materials wherein at least one element selected from the group of Eu, Ce, Mn and Cu, and at lease one element selected from the group of Sm, Bi and Pb are added to alkaline-earth metal sulfide or selenide as disclosed in JP Patent Publication No. Tokukai Hei 5-102499. APD using the multi-layered structure amorphous silicon-germanium and amorphous silicon is disclosed in JP Patent Publication No. Tokukai 2001-127336. A transparent electrode is used as an electrode on the light incident side of the photo detection element, and an ITO film has been used for it (e.g. JP Patent Publications Nos. Tokukai Hei 5-102499, Tokukai Hei 11-214737, Tokukai 2001-127336).
Generally, when light enters a substance, part of the light is reflected, part of the remainder is absorbed into the substance, and the rest is transmitted through the substance. In2O3 type and ZnO type transparent conductive materials are known as n-type semiconductors, in which carrier electrons are present, the movement of which contributes to electrical conduction. The carrier electrons in these transparent oxide electrode films reflect and absorb infrared rays. Increasing the carrier electron concentration in the film increases the reflection and absorption of infrared rays ("Transparent Conducting Film Technology", Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Ohm Co. Pages 55 to 57). That is, an increase in the carrier electron concentration results in a decrease in the transmission of infrared rays. So as not to decrease the transmission of infrared rays whose wavelength is 1000-1400 mm, the carrier electron concentration should be less than 5.5×1020 cm−3, and preferably less than 4.0×1020 cm−3.
Because the carrier electron concentrations of the conventionally used ITO films and zinc oxide (ZnO) films mentioned above are higher than 1×1022 cm−3, they have low resistance, but they absorb and reflect infrared rays above 1000 nm, letting hardly any through.
Furthermore, generally, the resistivity ρ of a substance depends on the product of the carrier electron concentration n and the carrier electron mobility μ (1/ρ=enμ where e is the elementary charge). In order to improve the transmittance of infrared rays, there should be as few carrier electrons as possible, but in order to minimize the resistivity ρ, the carrier electron mobility μ must be large.
The carrier electron mobility of low resistance oxide electrode films made from conventional materials is approximately 20 to 30 cm−1/Vsec in the case of ITO film, for example. The carrier electron mobility in n-type semiconductors such as indium oxide (In2O3) based semiconductors is said to be governed mainly by ionized impurity scattering and neutral impurity scattering and the like (impurities included in ion form are called ionized impurities, and impurities included in a neutral form with excess oxygen adhered around the periphery are called neutral impurities). If a large volume of impure elements is added to increase the number of carrier electrons, the carrier electrons arc scattered, reducing the carrier electron mobility.
Even with materials such as ITO, it is possible to reduce the number of carrier electrons and improve the infrared ray transmittance by using deposition methods for reducing oxygen deficiency, in which an increased amount of oxygen is introduced during sputtering. However, the use of this method causes an increase in neutral impurities, and a reduction in carrier electron mobility occurs as a result, causing the electrical resistivity to rise.
The use of indium oxide films doped with titanium as transparent oxide electrode films is long known in the art. For example, the oldest such instance is in the document (RCA Review, 1971 Volume 32, pages. 289 to 296) written by J. L. Vossen. This document centers on the properties of ITO films formed by RF sputtering, but also mentions an example of the manufacture of an In2O3 with 20 mol % of TiO2 added as impurities other than tin. However, the composition of this film differs markedly from the film composition of the present invention, and the electrical resistivity (resistivity) of the film is remarkably high at 7.5×10−1 Ωcm.
Furthermore, a method of manufacturing an indium oxide film containing titanium an a polyethylene terephthalate film by means of a sputtering method using an indium oxide target containing 5 mass % titanium oxide is disclosed in JP Patent Publication No. Tokukai Sho 59-204625. However, because organic polymer materials like polyethylene terephthalate melt when heated to over 70° C., specifically over the glass transition temperature, deposition by sputtering can only be performed at substrate temperatures less than 70° C., and the structure of films made under such conditions is either amorphous or amorphous with a partial crystalline phase. Although an assumption is made that if there are amorphous sections within the film then the carrier electron mobility for the film is low, this publication has no disclosure relating to carrier electron concentration, carrier electron mobility, and infrared ray transmittance.
An indium oxide target containing titanium and the characteristics of a film created from this target using a sputtering method are disclosed in JP Patent Publication No. Tokukai Hei 9-209134. The object in this publication is to provide an oxide electrode film with high resistivity for use in touch panels, and in the Examples are described oxide indium films containing titanium which have high resistivity, between 1.0×10−3 and 9.4×10−3 Ωcm. Furthermore, the indium oxide film containing titanium which has the lowest resistivity of those in the comparative examples has resistivity of 0.6×10−3 Ωcm. The resistivity for either case is quite high.
There are several patent applications relating to film materials based on ITO to which titanium is added. However, these are clearly distinguishable from the film of the present invention in that they contain tin. In other words, it is conventionally known that when tin is included in an indium oxide film, a large number of carrier electrons are released, and as such the carrier electrode concentration is high, allowing only films with low transmittance of the infrared light region to be obtained. For example, an indium oxide film containing titanium and tin for use in touch panels is disclosed in JP Patent Publication No. Tokukai Hei 9-161542. However, the resistivity as described in this publication is high at 9.6×10−4 Ωcm.
Furthermore, a film of ITO or of indium oxide to which titanium is added is also disclosed in JP Patent Publication No. Tokukai Hei. 6-349338. However, because polyethylene terephthalate, a molded organic polymer, is used as the substrate, the use of sputter deposition methods which involve heating is problematic. If sputter deposition is performed at temperatures low enough to not cause organic polymers to melt (less than 70° C.), normally only a completely amorphous film structure or an amorphous structure including a partial crystal phase can be obtained, which is clearly different from a crystalline film. Furthermore, the sheet resistance and the film thickness are disclosed, but the resistivity calculated from these values (resistivity=sheet resistance×film thickness) is a high value.
An ITO sintered body target (10 mass % SnO2) to which 50 to 500 ppm of Ti is added in order to raise the density of the sintered body is described in JP Patent Publication No. Tokukai Hei. 7-54132, and also described therein is an oxide electrode film with low resistance of between 1.7×10−4 Ωcm and 2.9×10−4 Ωcm manufactured by performing sputtering using this target while heating the substrate to between 100 and 300° C. However, there is no disclosure referring to the carrier electron concentration, carrier electron mobility or infrared light transmittance of this film, but an assumption can be made that because an ITO based material is used, most of the added elements which contribute to carrier electron production are tin, and the carrier electron concentration is high in line with conventional ITO, and consequently the infrared light transmittance is low.
On the other hand, the inventors of the present invention have proposed an indium oxide material containing tungsten as an indium oxide based transparent oxide electrode film with high transmittance of infrared light, in Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-200534. In this application, a case is disclosed in which an transparent oxide electrode with high infrared light transmittance and low resistance is manufactured with the substrate temperature between 200° C. and 300° C. It is shown that when the transparent oxide electrode film as disclosed in this application is deposited at low temperatures, for example 100° C. or 150° C., the resistivity is increased. In the manufacture of transparent oxide electrode film by means of a sputtering method, because a shortening of the heating time and a reduction in the electric power used to heat the substrate can be realized by using lower substrate temperatures, there remains problems with this invention in terms of manufacturing costs and productivity.
However, a low resistance indium oxide containing both titanium and tungsten has not been reported to date.
Although the ITO films and zinc oxide (ZnO) films described above have low resistance and high transmittance in the visible light region, their transmittance in the infrared light region is low, and the solar cells using these films as an electrode on the light incident side is not sufficient to use the solar energy in the infrared light region. Moreover, the same phenpmenon can be said on the photo detection elements, and the rate of the infrared light entering in the layer of photo detection materials is low and the sensibility consequently becomes wrong in the conventional photo detection elements in which the ITO films and zinc oxide (ZnO) films described above are used as an electrode on the light incident side. Because the reflection and absorption of infrared light by a transparent oxide electrode film increases the higher the carrier electron concentration becomes, it is thought that the reason for the low transmittance of the infrared spectrum of these ITO films and zinc oxide (ZnO) films is that as the converse effect of the low resistance, the carrier electron concentration is high.

Transparent oxide electrode film and manufacturing method thereof, transparent electroconductive base material, solar cell and photo detection element


A method for guiding a user with a suitable composition includes detecting scene information from an input image, recognizing a scene of the input image by using the detected scene information, extracting composition information corresponding to the recognized scene, and displaying the extracted composition information. Accordingly, an apparatus for guiding a user with a suitable composition and a digital photographing apparatus using the method displays a composition suitable for a current scene by automatically recognizing the current scene, so that the user photographs the current scene quickly and easily.

1. Field
One or more embodiments relate to controlling photographing, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for guiding a user with a suitable composition of an image to be captured, and a digital photographing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A photographer may choose a composition, i.e., how to organize compositions on a screen. In order to form a suitable composition, a screen organization may be synthetically considered, such as a line, a shape, a hue, brightness, texture, weight on a main subject and peripheral elements, a distance, a direction, and a motion status.
As disclosed in JP 2007-174548, when a user selects a scene to be photographed in a scene mode, a main subject is determined according to the selected scene. An outline of the determined main subject is extracted and compared with data stored in a composition database, thereby guiding the user via a display device on a location to change the main subject based on information in the composition database.
In such a technology of guiding a user with a suitable composition, the user selects a scene, and thus changes a mode. Specifically, when the user immediately captures an image without changing a current mode that is different from a current photographing circumstance, a wrong subject may be recognized as a main subject. In this case, the user has to change the current mode, and thus may miss a photographing moment. Also, since a composition is set only based on the main subject, a suitable composition may be difficult to be set when there are a plurality of subjects.

Method and apparatus for guiding user with suitable composition, and digital photographing apparatus